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Prior Offices
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Answer
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Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation from Virginia; Member of the U.S. House from VA-5, VA-15; Secretary of State
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James Madison
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Member of the U.S. House from MI-5 and House Minority Leader; Vice President
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Gerald Ford
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Mayor of Greeneville; Member of the U.S. House from TN-1; Governor of Tennessee; U.S. Senator from Tennessee; Military Governor of Tennessee; Vice President
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Andrew Johnson
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Surrogate of Columbia County; Member of the New York Senate; Attorney General of New York; U.S. Senator from New York; Governor of New York; Secretary of State; Minister to the United Kingdom; Vice President
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Martin Van Buren
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Member of the U.S. House from OH-2; Governor of Ohio
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Rutherford B. Hayes
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Member of the New York State Assembly; President of the New York City Board of Police Commissioners; Assistant Secretary of the Navy; Governor of New York; Vice President
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Theodore Roosevelt
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Member of the U.S. House from TN-at-large; Justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court; Territorial Governor of Florida; U.S. Senator from Tennessee
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Andrew Jackson
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Member of the U.S. House from OH-19
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James Garfield
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Judge in Jackson County, Missouri; U.S. Senator from Missouri; Vice President
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Harry S. Truman
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Collector of the Port of New York; Vice President
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Chester A. Arthur
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Member of the Illinois Senate; U.S. Senator from Illinois
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Barack Obama
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Secretary of the Northwest Territory; Delegate to the U.S. House from the Northwest Territory; Governor of the Indiana Territory; Member of the U.S. House from OH-1; Member of the Ohio Senate; U.S. Senator from Ohio; Minister to Gran Colombia
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William Henry Harrison
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U.S. Senator from Indiana
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Benjamin Harrison
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Director of the U.S. Food Administration; Secretary of Commerce
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Herbert Hoover
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Governor of Texas
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George W. Bush
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Commanding General of the U.S. Army and Acting Secretary of War
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Ulysses S. Grant
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Member of the U.S. House from MA-11; U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
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John F. Kennedy
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Sheriff of Erie County; Mayor of Buffalo; Governor of New York
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Grover Cleveland
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Member of the U.S. House from TX-7; Ambassador to the United Nations; Chair of the RNC; Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office to China; Director of the CIA; Vice President
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George H. W. Bush
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President of Princeton University; Governor of New Jersey
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Woodrow Wilson
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Member of the New York Senate; Assistant Secretary of the Navy; Governor of New York
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Attorney General of Arkansas; Governor of Arkansas
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Bill Clinton
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Town Meeting Moderator for Hillsborough; Member of the New Hampshire House from Hillsborough and speaker of the New Hampshire House; Member of the U.S. House from NH-at-large; Senator from New Hampshire
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Franklin Pierce
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Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from Fairfax County, Frederick County; Delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia; Commander in Chief of the Continental Army
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George Washington
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Delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia; Governor of Virginia; Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation; Minister Plenipotentiary; Minister to France; Secretary of State; Vice President
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Thomas Jefferson
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None
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Donald Trump
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Member of the Massachusetts House; Mayor of Northampton; Member of the Massachusetts Senate and President of the Massachusetts Senate; Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts; Governor of Massachusetts; Vice President
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Calvin Coolidge
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Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation from Virginia; United States Senator from Virginia; Minister to France; Minister to the United Kingdom; Governor of Virginia; Secretary of State; Secretary of War
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James Monroe
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Major General in the United States Army
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Zachary Taylor
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Military Governor of the U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany; Army Chief of Staff; Supreme Allied Commander Europe; President of Columbia University
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Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Delegate to the Continental Congress from Massachusetts; Envoy to France; Minister to the Netherlands; Minister to the United Kingdom; Vice President
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John Adams
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Governor of California
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Ronald Reagan
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Comptroller of New York; Member of the U.S. House from NY-32 and Chair of the Ways and Means Committee; Vice President
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Millard Fillmore
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U.S. Solicitor General; Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; Governor-General of the Philippines; Provisional Governor of Cuba; Secretary of War;
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William Howard Taft
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Member of the Ohio Senate; Lieutenant Governor of Ohio; U.S. Senator from Ohio
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Warren G. Harding
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Member of the U.S. House from TN-9, TN-6 and Chair of the Ways and Means Committee and Speaker of the House; Governor of Tennessee
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James K. Polk
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Member of the Georgia State Senate; Governor of Georgia
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Jimmy Carter
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Member of the Pennsylvania House from Lancaster County; Member of the U.S. House from PA-3, PA-4 and Chair of the Judiciary Committee; Minister to Russia; Senator from Pennsylvania; Secretary of State; Minister to the United Kingdom
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James Buchanan
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Member of the U.S. House from OH-17, OH-16, OH-18, OH-20 and Chair of the Ways and Means Committee; Governor of Ohio
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William McKinley
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Member of the U.S. House from VA-23; Governor of Virginia; U.S. Senator from Virginia and President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate; Vice President
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John Tyler
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Member of the U.S. House from TX-10; U.S. Senator from Texas and Senate Majority Leader; Vice President
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Lyndon B. Johnson
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Member of the Illinois House from Sangamon County; Member of the U.S. House from IL-7
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Abraham Lincoln
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Member of the Massachusetts Senate; U.S. Senator from Massachusetts; Secretary of State
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John Quincy Adams
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Member of the U.S. House from CA-12; U.S. Senator from California; Vice President
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Richard Nixon
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I learned a fair amount by making this quiz--I especially thought it was interesting how some presidents came in with so little experience that they would certainly be "unqualified" by today's standards. Lincoln is the obvious example--he had 8 years in the Illinois Legislature and just 2 years of experience in Congress a decade before being elected president, yet he managed the country exceptionally well through a crisis. Chester A. Arthur was definitely "unqualified" but surprised everyone with how well he executed the office. Teddy Roosevelt became vice president after 2 years as Governor of New York, then was vaulted into the presidency at 42 after just 6 months and accomplished quite a lot. While the federal government is certainly larger and harder to manage than in the past, experience clearly isn't everything.