Q 01/05

What is the first lady's traditional role at the White House?

A) Head of household staff

B) Curator of the collection

C) Chief of protocol

D) Hostess of the residence

Answer · why

D) Hostess of the residence

Hostess of the residence is the tradition, though the role has never been codified or officially defined, and she still figures prominently in the nat...

Q 02/05

Which future first lady urged her husband in a 1776 letter to 'remember the ladies'?

A) Martha Washington

B) Abigail Adams

C) Dolley Madison

D) Martha Jefferson

Answer · why

B) Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams wrote it as John Adams worked toward independence, warning that if women were ignored they were 'determined to foment a rebellion'.

Q 03/05

Which first lady's portrait appeared on the US $1 silver certificate in 1886?

A) Julia Grant

B) Martha Washington

C) Frances Cleveland

D) Lucy Hayes

Answer · why

B) Martha Washington

Martha Washington appeared on the 1886 and 1896 notes, though she never heard herself called first lady: the title was not coined until after her deat...

Q 04/05

Who, in 1860, became the first woman known to be called 'first lady' while holding the White House role?

A) Dolley Madison

B) Mary Todd Lincoln

C) Martha Washington

D) Harriet Lane

Answer · why

D) Harriet Lane

Harriet Lane ran the White House for her uncle James Buchanan, the only president who never married, and Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper used the phras...

Q 05/05

Which first lady's family adopted Rebecca, a raccoon sent to the White House in 1926 as Thanksgiving dinner?

A) Lou Hoover

B) Helen Taft

C) Grace Coolidge

D) Ellen Wilson

Answer · why

C) Grace Coolidge

Grace Coolidge's family kept the raccoon a Mississippi supporter had sent for the table, and that Christmas gave Rebecca an embroidered collar reading...