Presidential Quote Listing

George Washington

First President
(1789-1797)

"I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."

Clues:

1. He never attended college but he had a classical education in morals, manners and gentlemanly conduct;
2. Planter, farmer and soldier, he was a professional surveyor at age 16;
3. His pet was a horse he named "Nelson."

John Adams

Second President
(1797-1801)

"It is weakness rather than wickedness which renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited power."

Clues:

1. A Harvard-educated lawyer, his early life was devoted to diplomatic service;
2. He was considered more of a philosopher than a politician;
3. He was the first Vice President of the United States of America.

Thomas Jefferson

Third President
(1801-1809)

"Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom."

Clues:

1. A wealthy Virginia land owner, he attended the College of William and Mary and read law;
2. A brilliant writer, he was noted for being a poor public speaker;
3. His height of 6 feet, 2.5 inches made him "head and shoulders" above other men of his times.

James Madison

Fourth President
(1809-1817)

"Respect for character is always diminished in proportion to the number among whom the blame or praise is to be divided."

Clues:

1. At 5 feet, 6 inches tall, he was one of the shortest men to ever serve as president;
2. He attended Princeton which was called the College of New Jersey at the time;
3. He helped create the Bill of Rights.

James Monroe

Fifth President
(1817-1825)

"National honor is the national property of the highest value."

Clues:

1. A female admirer of this President stated on meeting him, "His manner was quiet and dignified. From the frank, honest expression of his eye ... I think he well deserves the encomium passed upon him by the great Jefferson, who said, [he] was so honest that if you turned his soul inside out there would not be a spot on it.'
2. He served as a United States Senator before being elected President;
3. He was the first President to ride a steamboat.

John Quincy Adams

Sixth President
(1825-1829)

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."

Clues:

1. A Harvard University educated lawyer, he was a linguist of note;
2. In an odd twist of a desire for exotic creatures, he kept silk worms and an alligator as pets;
3. He followed in his father's footsteps: Harvard, diplomatic service, the Presidency.

Andrew Jackson

Seventh President
(1829-1837)

"There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses."

Clues:

1. A self educated lawyer, he was the first man from Tennessee elected to the House of Representatives;
2. He was the first advocate for term limits (yes, back in the first half of the 19th Century);
3. When a man insulted this gentleman's wife, he killed him in a duel.

Martin Van Buren

Eighth President
(1837-1841)

"It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't."

Clues:

• Known as the "Little Magician," his 5 foot, six inch height enabled him to disappear in a crowd;
• He gave us the acronym OK (okay), which were the first two letters of his boyhood home, "Old Kinderhook."
• The son of a tavern keeper, he was a slick New York City political boss before emerging on the national scene.

William Henry Harrison

Ninth President
(1841)

"There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power."

Clues:

1. Attended Hampden-Sydney College (classics and history) and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School (Medicine);
2. In a career switch, he became an Army officer and was the hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe;
3. His Presidential career was brief - he died in office of a "cold" a month after becoming President.

John Tyler

Tenth President
(1841-1845)

"There will be found to exist at all times an imperious necessity for restraining all the functionaries of the Government within the range of their respective powers."

Clues:

1. His detractors called him "His Accidency" because he was thrust into the Presidency on the death of the first President to die in office;
2. After serving his term as President, he supported creation of the Confederate States of America as a states rights movement in 1861;
3. He was the second half of, "Tippecanoe and ____ too!"

James K. Polk

Eleventh President
(1845-1849)

"Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our government."

Clues:

1. An Honors Graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, this President and distinguished lawyer was considered to be one of the hardest working men to ever occupy the office of President;
2. He was an expansionist and creator of the policy of "Manifest Destiny;"
3. He died from exhaustion shortly after leaving office.

Zachary Taylor

Twelfth President
(1849-1850)

"I have no private purpose to accomplish, no party objectives to build up, no enemies to punish--nothing to serve but my country."

Clues:

1. Born in Virginia, he was raised in Kentucky and made his home in Louisiana and on a plantation in Mississippi;
2. A career US Army officer, he was opposed to slavery and advocated abolishment of the practice;
3. He fell ill from the heat at a 4th of July celebration at the Washington Monument and died four days later during the second year of his term.

Millard Fillmore

Thirteenth President
(1850-1853)

"An honorable defeat is better than a dishonorable victory."

Clues:

1. This Vice President ascended to the Presidency when the July weather in Washington, D.C. claimed the life of the sitting President;
2. He attended a one room frontier school in New York, married the teacher and amassed great wealth after an early life of deprivation;
3. A Whig, his constant arguments with party leaders led to his expulsion from the Whigs and formation of the "Know Nothing" Party.

Franklin Pierce

Fourteenth President
(1853-1857)

"I wish I could indulge higher hope for the future of our country, but the aspect of any vision is fearfully dark and I cannot make it otherwise."

Clues:

1. Born in New Hampshire, this President was graduated from Bowdoin College and then read law;
2. Two months before he took office, he and his wife saw their eleven-year-old son killed when their train was wrecked. Grief-stricken, he entered the Presidency nervously exhausted.
3. He was an active expansionist purchasing land for western expansion.

James Buchanan

Fifteenth President
(1857-1861)

"What is right and what is practicable are two different things."

Clues:

1. A graduate of Dickinson College, he was a fierce debater and ranked as an excellent lawyer;
2. All his lawyerly skills did nothing to help him understand the slavery issue in The United States;
3. His lack of resolve and his unwillingness to act resulted in "government by stalemate" and hastened the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln

Sixteenth President
(1861-1865)

"I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside me."

Clues:

1. Born in a log cabin, this President was a self educated lawyer who spent eight years in the Illinois legislature;
2. A brilliant writer and speaker, several of his speeches and letters are historical treasures;
3. A love for the theater proved to be his undoing.

Andrew Johnson

Seventeenth President
(1865-1869)

"Tyranny and despotism can be exercised by many, more rigorously, more vigorously, and more severely, than by one."

Clues:

1. A former tailor, this President was raised in poverty in North Carolina;
2. He oversaw Reconstruction of the South at the conclusion of the War Between the States;
3. He kept white mice as pets.

Ulysses S. Grant

Eighteenth President
(1869-1877)

"The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity."

Clues:

1. In his early life, his initials were HUG and the H represented "Horace." He later changed his name;
2. Although a man of scrupulous honesty, as President he accepted handsome presents from admirers.
3. Although popular, he was described as a failure at the Presidency: "….a puzzled pathos, as of a man with a problem before him of which he does not understand the terms."

Rutherford B. Hayes

Nineteenth President
(1877-1881)

"Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office-seeking. Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts of meanness."

Clues:

1. Once described as the most contentious election in history, this President's 6,000 popular vote, one Electoral College vote victory, foreshadowed the Florida battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore;
2. A former Army general, he refused to campaign for President, saying, "An officer fit for duty who at this crisis would abandon his post to electioneer... ought to be scalped."
3. His favorite hobby was playing croquet on the White House lawn.

James A. Garfield

Twentieth President
(1881)

"If there is one thing upon this earth that mankind love and admire better than another, it is a brave man, -- it is the man who dares to look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil."

Clues:

1. He was the last of the log cabin presidents;
2. A self made man, he attended Williams College and was a professor, and later president, at Western Reserve Eclectic Institute in Ohio;
3. Scrupulously honest, he refused to make patronage appointments and was shot by a rejected office seekers and died several weeks later.

Chester A. Arthur

Twenty-First President
(1881-1885)

"Men may die, but the fabrics of our free institutions remain unshaken."

Clues:

1. Tall and handsome, this President attended Union College and practiced law in New York City
2. He was a firm believer in the 'spoils' system of government as Vice President and scrupulously honest as President;
3. When this President died in 1886. Publisher Alexander K. McClure recalled, "No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired ... more generally respected."

Grover Cleveland

Twenty-Second & Twenty-Fourth President
(1885-1889, 1893-1897)

"What is the use of being elected or reelected unless you stand for something?"

Clues:

1. He was the only President to enter on his office a bachelor and later to marry in the White house;
2. He is the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms as President;
3. When railroad strikers in Chicago violated an injunction, Cleveland sent Federal troops to enforce it. "If it takes the entire army and navy of the United States to deliver a post card in Chicago," he thundered, "that card will be delivered."

Benjamin Harrison

Twenty-Third President
(1897-1893)

"When I came into power, I found that the party managers had taken it all to themselves. I could not name my own cabinet. They had sold out every place to pay for election expenses."

Clues:

1. He was the grandson of the ninth President of the United States;
2. He attended Miami University of Ohio and practiced law;
3. He fell far short of his opponent in the popular vote but won enough electoral votes to become President.

William McKinley

Twenty-Fifth President
(1897-1901)

"Our differences are politics. Our agreements are principles."

Clues:

1. Prior to ascending to the Presidency, he served in the House of Representatives and as the Governor of Ohio for two terms;
2. The 100 Day War between the United States and an Island nation occurred during his tenure;
3. A deranged anarchist assassinated him during his second term.

Theodore Roosevelt

Twenty-Sixth President
(1901-1909)

"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."

Clues:

1. At age 43, he became the youngest president in U.S. History;
2. His first wife and his mother died on the same day;
3. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War.

William Howard Taft

Twenty-Seventh President
(1909-1913)

"Failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done is a great weakness in any man"

Clues:

1. A noted jurist, he served as Secretary of War;
2. He was selected by the sitting President as his successor;
3. Uncomfortable in the role of President, he stated on leaving office, "I don't remember that I ever was President."

Woodrow Wilson

Twenty-Eighth President
(1913-1921)

"If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself."

Clues:

1. He developed a program of progressive reform and asserted international leadership in building a new world order.
2. In 1917 he proclaimed American entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world "safe for democracy."
3. After graduation from Princeton (then the College of New Jersey) and the University of Virginia Law School, he earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University.

Warren G. Harding

Twenty-Ninth President
(1921-1923)

"We must have a citizenship less concerned about what the government can do for it and more anxious about what it can do for the nation."

Clues:

1. His speeches were once described as "…an army of pompous phrases moving across the landscape in search of an idea."
2. His administration was rife with misdeeds by opportunists;
3. He once asked Secretary of Commerce Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover. "If you knew of a great scandal in our administration, would you for the good of the country and the party expose it publicly or would you bury it?" Hoover urged publishing it, but fearing the political repercussions, this president hid the scandal and died a few days later of a heart attack.

Calvin Coolidge

Thirtieth President
(1923-1929)

"Character is the only secure foundation of the state."

Clues:

1. At 2:30 on the morning of August 3, 1923, while visiting in Vermont, he received word that he was President and was sworn in by his father who was a notary public;
2. His political genius according to author Walter Lippmann, was his talent for effectively doing nothing
3. He was a remote, distant man who spoke in clipped phrases and was famous for one word answers to questions.

Herbert Hoover

Thirty-First President
(1929-1933)

"When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned."

Clues:

1. A mining engineer, he was the son of a Quaker blacksmith;
2. He was a hero for his risking his life to save Chinese children during the Boxer Rebellion with the true nature of his bravery revealed only after this death;
3. He entered office only to be faced with the Stock market crash that began the Great Depression.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Thirty-Second President
(1933-1945)

"Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Clues:

1. He suffered from poliomyelitis;
2. He is the only President to have served more than two consecutive terms;
3. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia.

Harry S. Truman

Thirty-Third President
(1945-1953)

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. "

Clues:

1. He was Vice President for only a few weeks before becoming President;
2. He saw the President seldom during his term as Vice President;
3. While he served in the shadow of a wartime president, he blossomed in his second term expanding Social Security and creating NATO.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Thirty-Fourth President
(1953-1961)

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."

Clues:

1. A professional soldier, he became President of Columbia University before becoming President of the United States;
2. He presided over the build up that lead to the Cold War;
3. As desegregation of schools began, he sent troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, to assure compliance with the orders of a Federal court; he also ordered the complete desegregation of the Armed Forces.

John F. Kennedy

Thirty-Fifth President
(1961-1963)

"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived, and dishonest--but the myth--persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic."

Clues:

1. Participated in the first televised Presidential debate;
2. His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country," which is remarkably similar to a quote made by another president 40 years before;
3. He served only 1,000 days in office.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Thirty-Sixth President
(1963-1969)

"Doing what's right isn't the problem. It's knowing what's right."

Clues:

1. A Texan through and through, he was famous for his boots and hat;
2. During World War II he served briefly in the Navy as a lieutenant commander, winning a Silver Star in the South Pacific.
3. He found himself running the nation during an unpopular war.

Richard M. Nixon

Thirty-Seventh President
(1969-1974)

"A public man must never forget that he loses his usefulness when he as an individual, rather than his policy, becomes the issue."

Clues:

1. He had brilliant educational achievements at Whittier College and Duke University Law School.
2. His accomplishments while in office included revenue sharing, the end of the draft, new anticrime laws, and a broad environmental program.
3. Faced with what seemed almost certain impeachment, he resigned.

Gerald R. Ford

Thirty-Eighth President
(1974-1977)

"I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances.... This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts."

Clues:

1. He was the first Vice President chosen under the terms of the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
2. He starred on the University of Michigan football team, then went to Yale, where he served as assistant coach while earning his law degree.
3. He viewed himself as himself as "a moderate in domestic affairs, a conservative in fiscal affairs, and a dyed-in-the-wool internationalist in foreign affairs."

Jimmy Carter

Thirty-Ninth President
(1977-1981)

"We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles."

Clues:

1. He was a graduate of the US Naval Academy.
2. He served as Governor of Georgia.
3. He is handy with a hammer.

Ronald Reagan

Fortieth President
(1981-1989)

"They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right."

Clues:

1. He attended high school in Dixon, Illinois and then worked his way through Eureka College.
2. He became a radio sports announcer, an actor and the Governor of California.
3. He obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense.

George H.W. Bush

Forty-First President
(1989-1993)

"America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world."

Clues:

1. He was a student leader at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts;
2. At Yale he excelled in both sports and academics and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa;
3. He was a former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

William J. Clinton

Forty-Second President
(1993-2001)

"I ask that all Americans demonstrate in their personal and public lives... the high ethical standards that are essential to good character and to the continued success of our Nation."

Clues:

1. He excelled as a student and as a saxophone player and once considered becoming a professional musician.
2. He served as Attorney General and as Governor of Arkansas.
3. He was the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives.

George W. Bush

Forty-Third President
(2001-Current)

"I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character."

Clues:

1. His father served as President; his grandfather was a Senator.
2. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
3. He has called on all Americans to be "citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building communities of service and a Nation of character."

This document is part of a collection of useful ethics tools available at www.ethics.org. You may reproduce them for your own personal, internal use as long as attribution is given to the ERC as their creator. For information about licensing or reproducing a document for commercial, educational or other purposes, please contact the ERC at ethics@ethics.org.