149 Fun Facts About Political

The political terms 'left' and 'right' come from where members sat in which body?

In the French National Assembly of 1789, supporters of the king sat to the president's right and revolutionaries to his left, a seating split that named the political spectrum.

Which animal did the Boston Gazette liken Elbridge Gerry's twisted 1812 district to?

The Boston Gazette likened a contorted district drawn to help Elbridge Gerry's party to a salamander, coining 'Gerry-mander' in 1812; Gerry lost the governorship that year anyway.

Which senator filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1957 for 24 hours 18 minutes?

Strom Thurmond spoke for 24 hours 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the longest solo filibuster in Senate history at the time, reading out state election laws and the Declaration of Independence.

The Watergate scandal began with a 1972 break-in at the headquarters of which organisation?

Five burglars were caught inside the Democratic National Committee's offices at the Watergate complex in June 1972, and were soon linked to Nixon's re-election campaign.

Which US president is the only one to have resigned from office?

Richard Nixon resigned on 9 August 1974 rather than face near-certain impeachment over the Watergate cover-up; no other US president has resigned.

How many years did Nelson Mandela spend in prison before his release in 1990?

He was held first on Robben Island, and four years after his release he became South Africa's first black head of state.

Which South African president released Mandela and later negotiated the end of apartheid with him?

F. W. de Klerk freed Mandela in February 1990 and negotiated the end of apartheid with him; the two shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize before Mandela won the 1994 election.

Before entering politics, Margaret Thatcher trained and briefly worked as what?

Margaret Thatcher read chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked as a research chemist at BX Plastics and J. Lyons before qualifying as a barrister in 1954.

Which 1978-79 wave of British strikes helped bring Thatcher to power in 1979?

The Winter of Discontent, a wave of public-sector strikes in 1978-79, undermined Callaghan's Labour government; the Conservatives' 'Labour Isn't Working' campaign won a majority in May 1979.

Angela Merkel holds a doctorate in which field?

Angela Merkel earned a doctorate in quantum chemistry in 1986 and worked as a research scientist in East Berlin before entering politics in 1990; she became Germany's first female chancellor in 2005.

Who became the world's first woman elected prime minister, in 1960?

Sirimavo Bandaranaike became prime minister of Ceylon in July 1960, a year after her husband's assassination, and went on to lead the country three separate times.

Which country elected the world's first female president in a democratic vote, in 1980?

Iceland elected Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, a former theatre director, as president in June 1980; she served four terms, until 1996.

Established in 930, which is the oldest legislature in the world?

Iceland's Althing was founded at Thingvellir in 930 and met there until 1798; abolished in 1800, it was restored in Reykjavik in 1845 and is the oldest surviving parliament.

How many members sit on the United Nations Security Council?

The Security Council has fifteen members: five permanent veto-holders (the US, UK, France, Russia and China) and ten elected for two-year terms, a size fixed by a 1965 expansion from eleven.

Which country introduced compulsory voting for national elections in 1924?

Turnout had ranged from 47 to 78 percent before; Belgium has the oldest system still in force.

How many single-member constituencies elect the UK House of Commons?

The Commons has 650 single-member constituencies, each returning one MP by first-past-the-post; the 2023 boundary review redrew seats but kept the total at 650.

Who is regarded as the first British prime minister, taking office in 1721?

Robert Walpole, First Lord of the Treasury from 1721 to 1742, is counted as the first prime minister and remains the longest-serving at nearly 21 years.

Which British prime minister served the shortest tenure, seven weeks?

Liz Truss resigned in October 2022 after 49 days, the shortest premiership on record; George Canning's 119 days in 1827, ended by his death, had been the previous low.

In 1997 Tony Blair moved Prime Minister's Questions to a single weekly session on which day?

Tony Blair merged the two 15-minute sessions into one 30-minute Wednesday slot in 1997; the fixed slot dates from a 1961 experiment under Harold Macmillan, originally on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Instant-runoff (ranked-choice) voting is used to elect the lower house of which country's parliament?

Voters rank candidates and the last-placed is eliminated round by round; Papua New Guinea and Ireland's presidency use it too.

The 'Australian ballot' refers to what democratic innovation first used in Tasmania in 1856?

The 'Australian ballot' is voting in secret on a government-printed paper, first legislated in Tasmania in 1856; before it, American parties handed voters pre-filled tickets, and Massachusetts adopted the secret ballot in 1888.

Which self-governing colony became the first to grant women the national vote, in 1893?

New Zealand granted women the vote on 19 September 1893 after Kate Sheppard's petition of nearly 32,000 signatures, about a quarter of the colony's adult European women.

Emmeline Pankhurst founded which militant British suffrage organisation in 1903?

Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union in Manchester in 1903 under the motto 'deeds, not words'; British women over 30 won the vote in 1918.

In which year did the Berlin Wall fall?

The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989 after spokesman Günter Schabowski's botched press conference sent crowds to the checkpoints and overwhelmed guards opened the gates.

In which year did East Germany begin building the Berlin Wall?

East Germany began building the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961; about 3.5 million East Germans, roughly a fifth of the population, had fled west before it went up.

Winston Churchill delivered his 'iron curtain' speech in 1946 in which US state?

Churchill spoke at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, on 5 March 1946, with President Truman present, describing an iron curtain 'from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic'.

Where did John F. Kennedy declare 'Ich bin ein Berliner' in June 1963?

Kennedy spoke from the steps of Rathaus Schöneberg, West Berlin's city hall, on 26 June 1963; East German authorities hung red banners across the Brandenburg Gate to block his view.

Which country did Fidel Castro lead from 1959 until 2011?

Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959, formally handed the presidency to his brother Raúl in 2008 and gave up leadership of the Communist Party in 2011.

Robert Mugabe led which country from 1980 until his removal in 2017?

Robert Mugabe was Zimbabwe's first prime minister from 1980 and its president from 1987 until a military takeover forced him out in November 2017.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female head of state, led which country?

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018; the Harvard-trained economist had fled after Samuel Doe's 1980 coup and worked for Citibank before returning.

Benazir Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead which Muslim-majority country?

Benazir Bhutto was elected prime minister of Pakistan in 1988 and again in 1993; a former president of the Oxford Union, she was assassinated in Rawalpindi in December 2007.

Golda Meir, Israel's prime minister from 1969, grew up in which American city?

Golda Meir's family left Kyiv for Milwaukee in 1906; she trained as a teacher at Milwaukee's teachers' college before emigrating to Palestine in 1921 and became prime minister in 1969.

Lech Wałęsa had worked as what at the Gdańsk shipyard?

Lech Wałęsa was an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, fired in 1976 for union activism; he led the 1980 Solidarity strikes there and won the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize.

Who was the last leader of the Soviet Union, from 1985 to its dissolution in 1991?

Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary in March 1985 after the brief tenures of Andropov and Chernenko; his glasnost and perestroika reforms preceded the Union's dissolution in December 1991.

Since which year has the European Parliament been directly elected by EU citizens?

The first direct elections to the European Parliament were held in June 1979; before that its members were delegated by national parliaments. Simone Veil became its first elected president.

Who became the first woman to serve as President of the European Commission, in 2019?

Ursula von der Leyen, a German physician who had served in every Merkel cabinet including as defence minister, took office as Commission president in December 2019.

Which chamber of Germany's federal parliament is directly elected by the people?

The Bundestag, created by the Basic Law of 1949, is elected every four years; the Bundesrat is made up of state-government delegates. A 2023 reform fixed the Bundestag at 630 seats from the 2025 election.

Israel's parliament, the Knesset, is named after an ancient assembly said to have how many members?

The Knesset takes its name and its 120 seats from the Knesset HaGedolah, the Great Assembly of the Second Temple era said to have had 120 members; the modern unicameral body elects Israel's president.

Norway's parliament, the Storting, was established by the constitution of which year?

Norway's constitution, signed at Eidsvoll on 17 May 1814, created the Storting; the 169-member body appoints the five-person committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize.

Which emperor introduced the first State Duma to the Russian Empire in 1905?

Nicholas II conceded an elected State Duma in the October Manifesto of 1905 but kept an absolute veto and dissolved the first Duma after 72 days in 1906; the modern Duma dates from 1993.

The first politburo was created in 1917 by which group?

Its seven original members included Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin; the word is short for 'political bureau'.

Which US president is the only one to have served more than two terms?

Franklin D. Roosevelt won four elections from 1932 to 1944 and died in office in April 1945; a constitutional amendment ratified in 1951 then capped presidents at two elections.

Who was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the US House of Representatives?

Nancy Pelosi took the Speaker's gavel in January 2007 and again in 2019, the first former Speaker to reclaim it since Sam Rayburn in 1955.

How many electors make up the US Electoral College?

The 23rd Amendment gave Washington, D.C. three electors, taking the total from 535 to 538.

How many electoral votes does a US presidential candidate need to win?

An absolute majority of all electors is required; without one, the House of Representatives picks the president.

Which two US states split their electoral votes by congressional district?

Maine (since 1972) and Nebraska (since 1992) award two electoral votes statewide and one per congressional district; every other state uses a winner-take-all general ticket.

How many articles does the original US Constitution contain?

Gouverneur Morris was the primary author of the final draft, which also carried a preamble and a closing endorsement.

How many amendments have been adopted to the US Constitution?

The most recent, the 27th, waited more than 202 years between proposal and ratification.

In which city was the US Constitution drafted and signed in 1787?

The Constitutional Convention met at Independence Hall in Philadelphia from 25 May to 17 September 1787, when 39 delegates signed the finished document.

Which amendment limits US presidents to two elected terms?

The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951 when Minnesota became the 36th of 48 states to approve it, limits presidents to two elected terms after Franklin Roosevelt's four.

How long is a term for a member of the US Senate?

Senators serve six-year terms, staggered so that about a third of the 100-member chamber faces election every two years; each state sends two.

Who chairs the US Senate when the VP is away?

The president pro tempore presides in the vice president's absence; by tradition the post goes to the most senior senator of the majority party, who usually lets junior senators take the chair.

Under what circumstance may the US vice president vote in the Senate?

The vice president, as president of the Senate, votes only to break a tie; John Adams cast 29 such votes and Kamala Harris 33.

Who was the first vice president of the United States?

John Adams became the first vice president in 1789 after finishing runner-up to Washington in the electoral vote; under the original rules the runner-up took the job, as Jefferson did in 1796.

How many justices sit on the US Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court has nine justices, one chief and eight associates, a number fixed by the Judiciary Act of 1869.

Which 1803 case established judicial review in US federal law?

In Marbury v. Madison (1803) Chief Justice John Marshall held that courts may strike down laws that conflict with the Constitution; he did not recuse himself despite having failed to deliver Marbury's commission as secretary of state.

Who is second in the US presidential line of succession, after the vice president?

The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 placed the Speaker of the House directly after the vice president, ahead of the president pro tempore and the cabinet secretaries.

Which Irish-born architect designed the White House?

James Hoban, born in County Kilkenny, won the 1792 competition to design the President's House and supervised its construction until John Adams moved in, in November 1800.

Which Dublin building served as the model for the US executive mansion?

Hoban's White House design drew on Leinster House, the Duke of Leinster's 1740s Dublin mansion, which has housed the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament, since 1922.

During which war did British forces burn the White House?

British troops burned the White House on 24 August 1814, during the War of 1812, gutting the interior and charring much of the stone exterior.

Which king gave 10 Downing Street to Robert Walpole in 1732?

George II offered the house to Robert Walpole in 1732; Walpole accepted it in 1735 only as the official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury, joining three buildings into one.

What job title does the resident cat of 10 Downing Street hold?

The title is Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office; Larry, a tabby from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, was given it in 2011.

Up to how many Church of England bishops sit in the House of Lords?

Up to 26 bishops, the Lords Spiritual, sit in the Lords: the archbishops of Canterbury and York, the bishops of London, Durham and Winchester, and 21 others by seniority.

What is the Woolsack in the House of Lords?

The Woolsack is the Lord Speaker's seat, a large red cushion stuffed with wool at the front of the chamber; the Lord Chancellor sat on it until 2006.

How many nations were represented at the first UN General Assembly in 1946?

Representatives of 51 nations attended the first General Assembly session, which opened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall, London.

Who was the first elected secretary-general of the United Nations, serving from 1946?

Trygve Lie, Norway's wartime foreign minister, was elected the first UN secretary-general in February 1946 and served until 1952.

In which city did the UN Conference on International Organization open in April 1945?

The conference opened in San Francisco on 25 April 1945 and produced the UN Charter, signed there on 26 June by 50 nations.

Which numbered provision of the NATO treaty says an attack on one member is an attack on all?

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty declares an attack on one member an attack on all; it was invoked for the first time after the 11 September 2001 attacks.

In which year was NATO founded?

The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington on 4 April 1949 by twelve founding members.

In which city is NATO's main headquarters?

NATO's political headquarters has been in Brussels since 1967, when France's withdrawal from the integrated command forced a move from Paris; its military command, SHAPE, sits near Mons.

Which treaty, signed in 1992, formally established the European Union?

The Maastricht Treaty, signed on 7 February 1992 and in force from 1 November 1993, created the European Union and set the timetable for a single currency.

How many senators are usually needed to invoke cloture and end a filibuster?

Cloture needs three-fifths of all senators duly chosen and sworn, 60 of 100; a two-thirds vote is required only to end debate on a change to Senate rules.

In which year was the US Republican Party founded?

The Republican Party was founded in 1854, with an early meeting at Ripon, Wisconsin, by anti-slavery activists opposed to the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Which cartoonist gave the Republican Party its elephant symbol in 1874?

Thomas Nast's cartoon 'The Third-Term Panic' in Harper's Weekly on 7 November 1874 showed the Republican vote as an elephant, and the symbol stuck.

What does the Republican nickname 'GOP' stand for?

GOP stands for Grand Old Party, a nickname in print since the 1870s; 'gallant old party' was an earlier variant.

Founded in 1828, what is described as the world's oldest active political party?

It organised around the election of war hero Andrew Jackson.

Which animal is the traditional mascot of the US Democratic Party?

Cartoonists of the 1800s popularised it, alongside the Republican elephant.

What is the colloquial nickname of the UK Conservative Party?

The party was founded in 1834 out of the old Tory Party.

In which year was the UK Labour Party founded?

The Labour Representation Committee, formed by trade unions and socialist societies in February 1900, took the name Labour Party after winning 29 seats in 1906.

Which section of Labour's 1918 constitution committed it to common ownership?

Clause IV of Labour's 1918 constitution pledged 'common ownership of the means of production'; Tony Blair had it rewritten in 1995.

What Senate majority is needed to convict an impeached US official?

Conviction needs a two-thirds vote of senators present; the chief justice presides when a president is tried, as John Roberts did in 2020.

Which English king sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215?

King John sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede on 15 June 1215 under pressure from rebel barons; he was the third Angevin king, after Henry II and Richard I.

What direct communications link was created after the Cuban Missile Crisis?

The Moscow-Washington hotline, agreed in June 1963, was a teletype link between the Pentagon and the Kremlin rather than a telephone; its first test message was 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'.

What word did Kennedy use instead of 'blockade' for the US naval action around Cuba?

Kennedy announced a 'quarantine' of Cuba on 22 October 1962 because a blockade is an act of war under international law.

Which US missiles in Turkey and Italy were traded away to end the Cuban Missile Crisis?

The US secretly agreed to withdraw its Jupiter intermediate-range missiles from Turkey and Italy, which had become operational in 1961-62; they were gone by April 1963.

In which year was The Communist Manifesto published?

The Communist Manifesto was published in London in February 1848, written by Marx and Engels on commission for the Communist League.

Which state's vote completed ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920?

Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify on 18 August 1920, when 24-year-old legislator Harry Burn switched his vote at his mother's urging; the amendment was certified on 26 August.

What share of the vote did Leave win in the 2016 Brexit referendum?

Leave won 51.9 percent to Remain's 48.1 on 23 June 2016, a margin of about 1.3 million votes; Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar voted to remain.

On what date did the UK formally leave the European Union?

An eleven-month transition period followed.

How many members make up Switzerland's Federal Council?

The Federal Council has seven members, elected by the Federal Assembly, who act as a collective head of state and government; the presidency rotates among them each year.

Which country was expelled from the G8 in 2014?

Russia was suspended from the G8 in March 2014 after annexing Crimea, and the group reverted to the G7; Russia had been a member since 1997.

In which city is the African Union Commission based?

The African Union Commission is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the Organisation of African Unity was founded in 1963.

Before Jacinda Ardern in 2018, which elected head of government had given birth in office?

Benazir Bhutto gave birth to her daughter Bakhtawar in January 1990 while prime minister of Pakistan; Jacinda Ardern's daughter Neve arrived in June 2018.

What was the first name of Justin Trudeau's father, himself a Canadian prime minister?

Pierre Trudeau was prime minister from 1968 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984; Justin was born in Ottawa on Christmas Day 1971, during his father's first term.

For which agency did Vladimir Putin work for 16 years before politics?

Putin served in the KGB from 1975 to 1991, including a posting in Dresden, and left with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

In which year did China remove presidential term limits from its constitution?

The National People's Congress removed the two-term limit on the presidency in March 2018, allowing Xi Jinping to begin a third term in 2023.

What is the address of the Canadian prime minister's official Ottawa residence?

24 Sussex Drive has been the prime minister's official residence since 1951, though it has stood empty for renovation since 2015; Harrington Lake is the country retreat.

Which Indian prime minister held office for 16 years and 286 days?

Jawaharlal Nehru served as prime minister from August 1947 until his death in May 1964, a tenure of 16 years and 286 days.

Where did Nelson Mandela begin his prison sentence?

Mandela served the first 18 years of his life sentence on Robben Island, from 1964, before transfers to Pollsmoor in 1982 and Victor Verster in 1988.

Which joint monarchs were offered the English throne under the 1689 Bill of Rights?

Parliament offered the crown jointly to William III and Mary II in February 1689, declaring James II to have abdicated; the Bill of Rights enacted the settlement that December.

Which rotten borough, a near-deserted Wiltshire hill, returned two MPs until 1832?

Old Sarum, an abandoned hilltop settlement outside Salisbury, returned two MPs chosen by a handful of landowners until the 1832 Reform Act abolished it.

Which newspaper coined the word 'suffragette' in 1906?

Daily Mail journalist Charles Hands coined 'suffragette' in 1906 as a put-down for the militant WSPU, which adopted the label proudly.

At which 1913 race did suffragette Emily Davison run in front of the king's horse?

Emily Davison stepped in front of George V's horse Anmer at the Epsom Derby on 4 June 1913 and died of her injuries four days later.

The Chartist movement took its name from which 1838 document?

The People's Charter of 1838 set out six demands, including universal male suffrage, the secret ballot and annual parliaments, and gave the Chartists their name.

What was the official name of the Marshall Plan?

The Marshall Plan was formally the European Recovery Program, enacted in April 1948; it sent about $13 billion in aid to Western Europe over four years.

In which year was the Warsaw Pact signed?

The Warsaw Pact was signed on 14 May 1955, days after West Germany joined NATO, by the Soviet Union and seven Eastern Bloc allies.

In which building has the German Bundestag met since 1999?

The Bundestag has met in the Reichstag building in Berlin since April 1999, after Norman Foster's rebuild topped it with a glass dome.

Which two leaders signed the 1978 Camp David Accords?

Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin signed the accords at the White House on 17 September 1978 after 13 days of talks brokered by Jimmy Carter, and shared that year's Nobel Peace Prize.

The 1998 Good Friday accord in Northern Ireland is also named after which city?

The Good Friday Agreement is also called the Belfast Agreement, after the city where it was signed at Stormont on 10 April 1998.

The term 'semi-presidential system' was coined to describe which country's government?

The term 'semi-presidential' was coined for France's Fifth Republic, founded in 1958, where a directly elected president shares power with a prime minister answerable to parliament.

What was the name of Franklin Roosevelt's presidential aircraft, a Douglas C-54?

The Sacred Cow, a Douglas C-54 Skymaster delivered in 1944, was the first aircraft built for presidential use; Truman signed the National Security Act aboard it in 1947.

Which cabinet member ranks highest after the US vice president?

The Secretary of State heads the cabinet's order of precedence and is fourth in the line of succession, after the vice president, the Speaker and the president pro tempore.

How many members were in Washington's first cabinet, including the president himself?

Washington's first cabinet had five members: the president plus Jefferson at State, Hamilton at Treasury, Knox at War and Randolph as attorney general.

Which president revived delivering the State of the Union in person, in 1913?

Woodrow Wilson addressed Congress in person in April 1913, reviving a practice Thomas Jefferson had dropped in 1801 as too monarchical.

What is the cabinet member who skips the State of the Union address called?

The designated survivor is a cabinet member kept at a secure location during the address so that someone in the line of succession survives a catastrophe; the practice dates from the Cold War.

Which political-science law says first-past-the-post voting produces two dominant parties?

It is named after French political scientist Maurice Duverger.

In gerrymandering, what is 'packing'?

Its counterpart, cracking, spreads opposition voters thinly across many districts.

How many elected members sit in India's Lok Sabha?

The Lok Sabha, India's lower house, has 543 elected members from single-member constituencies; the two nominated Anglo-Indian seats were abolished in 2020.

What is the name of the Australian prime minister's primary residence in Canberra?

The Lodge, in the Canberra suburb of Deakin, has been the prime minister's official residence since 1927; Kirribilli House in Sydney is the second residence.

At what age did Emmanuel Macron become the youngest president in French history?

Emmanuel Macron was 39 when he won the May 2017 run-off against Marine Le Pen, a year after founding the centrist En Marche movement.

Kamala Harris was the first woman elected to which California statewide office, in 2010?

Kamala Harris narrowly won the California attorney general race in November 2010, becoming the first woman, the first African American and the first South Asian American to hold the post.

How many knocks does Black Rod give the Commons door at the State Opening of Parliament?

Black Rod strikes the Commons door three times after it is slammed shut, a ritual of the chamber's independence dating from Charles I's attempt to arrest five MPs in 1642.

Who was the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany?

Konrad Adenauer, a former mayor of Cologne, became the first chancellor in September 1949 at the age of 73 and held office for 14 years.

What is the upper chamber of Japan's National Diet called?

The House of Councillors, created by the 1947 constitution to replace the House of Peers, is the upper house; the House of Representatives is the lower.

What does the Irish word 'Taoiseach' literally mean?

Taoiseach is Irish for 'chief' or 'leader'; the 1937 Constitution adopted it as the title of the head of government, with Éamon de Valera the first holder.

What is the official residence of the French president?

The Élysée Palace, built in 1722, has housed the president since Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte moved in after his 1848 election; Hôtel Matignon is the prime minister's residence.

The parliamentary term 'whip' is borrowed from which activity?

The term comes from fox hunting, where the 'whipper-in' keeps the hounds from straying; Parliament applied it to party discipline in the 18th century.

From 1972 to 2020, which state held the first caucus of the US nomination season?

Iowa's Democratic caucuses went first from 1972 and Republicans followed in 1976; for 2024 the Democrats moved South Carolina ahead, while Iowa Republicans kept their first-in-the-nation caucus.

Under what pseudonym were the Federalist Papers written?

Hamilton, Madison and Jay signed all 85 essays 'Publius', after Publius Valerius Publicola, a founder of the Roman Republic.

In which state was the Teapot Dome oil reserve at the centre of the 1920s scandal?

Teapot Dome is a naval oil reserve in Natrona County, Wyoming; Interior Secretary Albert Fall leased it secretly in 1922 and became the first cabinet member sent to prison.

What office did John Profumo hold when his 1963 scandal broke?

John Profumo was Secretary of State for War when his affair with Christine Keeler, who also knew a Soviet naval attaché, forced his resignation in June 1963; Macmillan quit that October.

New York's Tammany Hall political machine was named after a chief of which people?

Tamanend, a Lenape (Delaware) chief who made treaties with William Penn in the 1680s, became a folk hero; the Society of St Tammany took his name in 1789.

Which amendment, adopted in 1967, addresses presidential disability and succession?

The 25th Amendment, ratified in February 1967, lets the vice president and cabinet declare a president unable to serve, and fills a vacant vice presidency by nomination, first used for Gerald Ford in 1973.

From which election did the 12th Amendment's separate presidential and VP ballots first apply?

The 12th Amendment was ratified in June 1804 and first governed that year's election, after the 1800 electoral tie between Jefferson and Burr exposed the single-ballot system.

What colour is the UK House of Commons chamber?

The Commons chamber is furnished in green leather, a tradition at least 300 years old; the Lords chamber is red.

Which company publishes the Democracy Index?

The Economist Intelligence Unit, part of The Economist Group, has published the Democracy Index since 2006, sorting countries into full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes.

Which was the first known political party in the United States?

Alexander Hamilton led it as it dominated national government from 1789 to 1801.

Who was Japan's longest-serving prime minister?

Shinzo Abe served 3,188 days in total, in 2006-07 and 2012-20, passing Taro Katsura's century-old record in November 2019.

Machiavelli's The Prince was first printed in which year?

The Prince was written around 1513 but first printed in Rome in 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death.

Machiavelli served as secretary to the second chancery of which republic?

Machiavelli was secretary of Florence's second chancery from 1498 to 1512, while the Medici were out of power; their return cost him the post.

The word 'ombudsman' comes from which language family?

It derives from the Old Norse umboðsmaðr, meaning representative.

How is a newly elected UK Commons Speaker traditionally taken to the chair?

The custom recalls the days when the job could cost the Speaker his head.

Which architect won the competition to design the new Houses of Parliament in London?

Charles Barry won the 1836 competition with a Gothic Revival design, with Augustus Pugin detailing the interiors; building began in 1840 and took about 30 years.

Which state is the smallest sovereign state in the world by both area and population?

Vatican City covers about 44 hectares and has under 1,000 residents, the smallest sovereign state by both measures; it became independent under the 1929 Lateran Treaty.

Which US president received the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize?

Barack Obama received the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, announced less than nine months into his presidency, for efforts to strengthen international diplomacy; the choice drew both praise and criticism.

Which union did Ronald Reagan lead twice before entering politics?

Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952 and again in 1959-60, before winning the California governorship in 1966.

In which year did China's Communist Party hold its first National Congress, in Shanghai?

The Chinese Communist Party held its first congress in Shanghai in July 1921 with about a dozen delegates, among them Mao Zedong; the meeting finished on a boat on Jiaxing's South Lake.

The word 'filibuster' ultimately derives from a Dutch term meaning what?

Filibuster traces to the Dutch vrijbuiter, 'freebooter' or pirate, via the Spanish filibustero; English applied it in the 1850s to adventurers like William Walker before it meant legislative obstruction.

Before it described politicians, 'lame duck' was 18th-century slang at the London Stock Exchange for what?

A 'lame duck' was a broker who defaulted on his debts; Horace Walpole asked in 1761 whether a friend knew 'a Bull and a Bear and Lame Duck', and the political sense appeared in 1863.