Will another white male be elected president in 2008?

It is also worth noting that 10 of the 42 presidents – we call George W. Bush No. 43 because Grover Cleveland served two nonconsecutive terms and is counted twice – had the same last name as another president. In fact, eight came from the same family as another president. There were two father/son combinations – John and John Quincy Adams and George H.W. and George W. Bush. Benjamin Harrison was the grandchild of William Henry Harrison, and Franklin Roosevelt was a fifth cousin of Theodore Roosevelt. Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson were not related.

In addition to their gender, racial, ethnic, and religious homogeneity, presidents have come from only a few states. They shifted from the East to the South and West as Americans migrated. But for more than 40 years, with the exception of Gerald Ford, all the occupants of the White House have come from Southern or Western states. (The Nebraska-born Ford grew up in Michigan.)

More than half the presidents (23 out of 42) were born in one of four states: Virginia (eight), Ohio (seven), Massachusetts (four) and New York (four).

Is America ready to change these patterns? We're confident that it is, and that either a woman or a minority candidate will be elected to the presidency in a matter of years, not decades. It is certainly a distinct possibility for 2008.

1. If elected president, would Arizona Republican John McCain be the first former prisoner of war to serve in the White House?

2. Two engineers have served as president. Who were they?

3. Which Founder president had red hair?

4. Which three presidents were shot in the chest and survived (one before he was president, one when he was president, one after he was president)?

5. Which president wrote his memoirs in a desperate attempt to pay his debts?

6. Which president was so nearsighted that he traveled with 12 pairs of glasses in case of loss?

7. How many occupants of the White House have been college or university presidents and who were they?

8. Who was the last president to lack a college degree?

9. Can you name the president who was a former professional model?

10. Which two presidents coached college football?

Answers:

1. No. The British captured Jackson during the Revolutionary War.
2. Hoover, Carter
3. Jefferson
4. Jackson (before), Reagan (while president), Theodore Roosevelt (after).
5. Grant
6. Theodore Roosevelt
7. Three: Wilson (Princeton), Eisenhower (Columbia), and Garfield (Hiram College)
8. Truman
9. Ford
10. Ford (Yale) and Wilson (Wesleyan)

• David Drew, a sociologist, holds the Platt chair in education and management at Claremont Graduate University. Hedley Burrell is a former Washington Post editor and writer, and was a media adviser to US government agencies.

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