Henry Cisneros
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40 free Henry Cisneros trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Henry Cisneros grew up on the west side of San Antonio, Texas, and went on to lead the city he was born in. In 1981 he was elected mayor at just 33, and voters returned him to the job three more times. He later moved to the national stage, running the federal department that deals with housing and cities. This quiz turns his story into fun facts: his family and student days, the big projects and famous visitors of his years as mayor, the presidents and politicians he worked with, and what he did after leaving government. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so each question teaches something new. The questions are written with young readers in mind, which makes them handy for a class report, a Hispanic Heritage Month lesson or a classroom quiz. Grown-ups who remember the 1980s and 1990s will find a few tougher ones too.
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Q 01Which religious leader drew enormous crowds to San Antonio in 1987, when Henry Cisneros was mayor?
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II celebrated an outdoor Mass there for hundreds of thousands of people, a crowd often described as the largest in Texas history.
Q 02Where did HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros spend a night in December 1994 to understand a top-priority problem?
A homeless shelter
A homeless shelter in Minnesota's Twin Cities was his bed after an evening walking the streets and talking with people who had nowhere to live. The next day he announced $7.3 million for local projects.
Q 03Mayor Henry Cisneros helped attract which famous theme park brand to San Antonio, where it opened in 1988?
SeaWorld
SeaWorld opened its San Antonio park in May 1988, billed as the largest marine-life theme park in the world, and 75,000 people came to the opening.
Q 04Which stadium did Mayor Henry Cisneros persuade San Antonio voters to pay for, his signature accomplishment?
Alamodome
Alamodome doors opened in 1993, four years after he left office, at a cost of $186 million. Cisneros chaired the committee that advised on its construction.
Q 05Henry Cisneros was named after which relative, who made the request from his own deathbed?
His uncle
His uncle Henry, a younger brother of his mother Elvira, died of Hodgkin's disease as a teenager after asking that his sister give his name to her son.
Q 06San Antonio paid Mayor Henry Cisneros a stipend of under $5,000 a year, so how did he add to his income?
Teaching college classes
Teaching college classes at Trinity University, along with paid speeches, topped up one of the lowest salaries of any big-city mayor in the country.
Q 07Which president chose Henry Cisneros in 1993 to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development?
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton had leaned on him as an adviser during the 1992 campaign, and later called Cisneros a brilliant public servant.
Q 08After leaving government in 1997, Henry Cisneros became president of which Spanish-language TV network?
Univision
Univision was the largest Spanish-language broadcaster in the United States and had grown into the fifth most-watched television network of any kind.
Q 09Even as mayor of San Antonio, Henry Cisneros kept living in a small west side house once owned by whom?
His grandfather
His grandfather had lived in the modest house, and after his years in national government Cisneros and his wife moved back to that same inner west side neighborhood.
Q 10As a student in the Corps of Cadets, Henry Cisneros commanded which large uniformed group on campus?
The marching band
The marching band he led as combined band commander, with more than 400 cadets, is known as the largest military marching band in the United States.
Q 11Which university, famous for its Corps of Cadets, did Henry Cisneros enter in 1964 and later serve as a regent?
Texas A&M
Texas A&M gave him a bachelor's degree in English in 1968 and a master's in urban and regional planning two years later.
Q 12As head of a federal department from 1993 to 1997, Henry Cisneros was a member of which body?
The Cabinet
The Cabinet is made up of the heads of the executive departments, who advise the president. Cisneros was the tenth person to hold his post since the department was created in 1965.
Q 13Which body voted unanimously in January 1993 to confirm Henry Cisneros as a department secretary?
The US Senate
Q 21Before Henry Cisneros won in 1981, who had been the last Hispanic mayor of San Antonio, back in 1842?
Juan Seguín
Juan Seguín, a veteran of the Texas Revolution, resigned in 1842, and 139 years passed before San Antonio chose Cisneros.
Q 22Which 1984 presidential nominee named Henry Cisneros a finalist to be his vice presidential running mate?
Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale, who had been vice president under Jimmy Carter, considered the young San Antonio mayor before choosing another running mate.
Q 23Henry Cisneros was a finalist for the 1984 vice presidential spot that went to which New York congresswoman?
Geraldine Ferraro
The US Senate has to approve a president's picks for these jobs, and not a single member voted against Cisneros, who was sworn in on January 22, 1993.
Q 14Henry Cisneros, who spoke at a 1984 national convention in San Francisco, belongs to which political party?
Democratic
Democratic leaders saw him as a rising star, and that same summer the mayor was a finalist to be the nominee for vice president.
Q 15The family of Elvira Munguía, mother of Henry Cisneros, left which country in 1926 and settled in San Antonio?
Mexico
Mexico was in upheaval after its revolution when her father, a well-connected printer and intellectual, moved the family north.
Q 16Mayor Henry Cisneros sent over $200 million to San Antonio's west side, easing which long-standing problem?
Flooding
Flooding and poor drainage had plagued the long-neglected Hispanic west side, so the money went into streets, gutters, libraries and parks.
Q 17Henry Cisneros created the nonprofit Our Pledge to help which people take a fuller part in American life?
Immigrants
Immigrants were encouraged by Our Pledge to sharpen their English and to take part in civic activities and military service.
Q 18After returning to San Antonio in 2000, Henry Cisneros founded a company, later called CityView, to build what?
Affordable homes
Affordable homes for people such as police officers, nurses and city workers were the aim of the firm, which was first named American City Vista.
Q 19Mary Alice Perez, who married Henry Cisneros in 1969, had been his sweetheart since which stage of life?
High school
High school sweethearts, the two built a life in politics together: Mary Alice Cisneros later held his old San Antonio city council seat from 2007 to 2011.
Q 20HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros took a leading role in the cleanup after a 1994 earthquake struck which city?
Los Angeles
Los Angeles was jolted by the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake in January 1994, and three years later Cisneros moved his own family to the city.
Geraldine Ferraro became the first woman on a major party's national ticket, though that ticket lost in November.
Q 24Which Republican president named Mayor Henry Cisneros to a national commission on Central America?
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan reached across party lines for the 1983 panel, picking a big-city mayor still in his thirties to help study the region's troubles.
Q 25Young Henry Cisneros helped run San Antonio's Model Cities program, part of which president's Great Society?
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson also signed the 1965 law creating the federal department that Cisneros would lead a generation later.
Q 26Which future governor of New York did HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros bring in as an assistant secretary in 1993?
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo ran community planning and development under Cisneros, then succeeded him as secretary in 1997.
Q 27Which former Buffalo Bills quarterback preceded Henry Cisneros as HUD Secretary and later wrote books with him?
Jack Kemp
Jack Kemp was a Republican, yet he and Cisneros shared a 2005 Common Ground Award for working across party lines on national housing policy.
Q 28Which later mayor of San Antonio followed the path of Henry Cisneros by becoming HUD Secretary in 2014?
Julián Castro
Julián Castro left the mayor's office in 2014 to run the department for President Barack Obama, then sought the presidency himself in 2020.
Q 29Which magazine named Henry Cisneros its Mayor of the Century in 1999, praising how San Antonio had changed?
Texas Monthly
Texas Monthly credited him with turning a poor and somewhat sleepy town into a culturally and economically vibrant model for urban America.
Q 30Which TV news program profiled Mayor Henry Cisneros of San Antonio, introducing him to a national audience?
60 Minutes
60 Minutes was one of many national outlets drawn to his rise: The Wall Street Journal, Esquire and The New Yorker also ran features on him.