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60 free Richard Nixon trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Richard Nixon trivia quiz covers the whole arc: a Quaker boyhood on a failed lemon ranch, a Duke law degree, Navy poker winnings, the Alger Hiss case, the Checkers speech, eight years as Eisenhower's vice president, the loss to Kennedy, the 'last press conference', the comeback of 1968, China and détente, the EPA and the Moon landing, and then Watergate, the tapes, the Saturday Night Massacre and the helicopter on the South Lawn. The easy questions are the ones everyone knows: which number president, what he did that no other president has done, who pardoned him. The medium ones cover his early career, the 1960 debates, his running mates, his foreign policy and the scandal's key players. The hard ones dig into the Orthogonian Society, the Herter Committee, Operation Menu, the Philadelphia Plan, the 18-and-a-half-minute gap and the David Frost interviews. It works for a US history class, a Cold War pub round or a Watergate anniversary night. Every answer has been checked against a reference encyclopaedia, and each question shows its explanation and citation once you have answered.
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Q 01Richard Nixon was which number president of the United States?
37th
He had earlier been the 36th vice president, under Eisenhower.
Q 02Nixon is the only US president to have done what?
Resigned from office
He resigned on August 9, 1974, facing near-certain impeachment and removal over Watergate.
Q 03Nixon was born into a poor family belonging to which religious group?
Quakers
Quaker observances of the time meant no alcohol, dancing or swearing in the household.
Q 04Nixon was born in a house his father built on what kind of farm?
A lemon ranch
The ranch failed in 1922 and the family moved to Whittier, where his father opened a grocery store and gas station.
Q 05Four of the five Nixon boys were named after British kings; the future president after which one?
Richard the Lionheart
His brothers were Harold, Donald, Arthur and Edward.
Q 06Snubbed by Whittier College's Franklins club, Nixon helped found a rival called what?
The Orthogonian Society
The society that rejected him, the Franklins, was full of boys from prominent families.
Q 07Nixon turned down a tuition grant to which university because he was needed at the family store?
Harvard
He stayed home for Whittier College and later went to Duke law school on a scholarship.
Q 08From which university's law school did Nixon graduate in 1937?
Duke
He finished third in his class and was president of the Duke Bar Association.
Q 09Which federal agency did Nixon hope to join after law school, before budget cuts cancelled his appointment?
The FBI
He never got a reply to his application at the time.
Q 10Nixon was president of a company that went bankrupt trying to sell what product?
Frozen orange juice
Citra-Frost lasted 18 months.
Q 11How did Nixon meet his future wife Pat Ryan in 1938?
Acting together in a community play
He called it love at first sight, but she turned him down several times before agreeing to date him.
Q 12What were the names of Nixon's two daughters?
Tricia and Julie
Julie later married David Eisenhower, grandson of Nixon's old boss.
Q 13Nixon helped finance his first congressional campaign with winnings from what?
Poker
He became a very good five-card stud player in the Navy and once skipped dinner with Charles Lindbergh to host a game.
Q 21Why did Vice President Nixon have no formal power to act during Eisenhower's 1955 heart attack?
The 25th Amendment had not yet been proposed
He presided over Cabinet meetings for six weeks anyway, and was praised for not trying to seize power.
Q 22In which two South American cities were the Nixons spat on and their limousine attacked in 1958?
Lima and Caracas
His courage under the pipe-wielding mob in Venezuela won grudging respect even from enemies.
Q 23Nixon's impromptu 1959 argument with Khrushchev took place in front of what?
A model American kitchen
Q 14Which Democratic incumbent did Nixon defeat to win his House seat in 1946?
Jerry Voorhis
Nixon suggested Voorhis's endorsement by a group linked to communists meant he must hold radical views.
Q 15Nixon first gained national attention through his role on which congressional body?
House Un-American Activities Committee
His persistence there helped break the Alger Hiss spy case in 1948.
Q 16What were the microfilms Whittaker Chambers hid in a field during the Hiss case called?
The Pumpkin Papers
Hiss was convicted of perjury in 1950 for denying he had passed documents to Chambers.
Q 17Nixon's 1950 Senate campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas earned him what lasting nickname?
Tricky Dick
His campaign's 'Pink Sheet' compared her voting record to a reputed communist congressman.
Q 18Nixon's 1952 televised defence of his political fund became known by what name?
The Checkers speech
About 60 million people watched, then the largest television audience ever.
Q 19What kind of animal was Checkers, the gift Nixon said he would not give back?
A cocker spaniel
Six-year-old Tricia named the dog, which had been sent from Texas.
Q 20In his 1952 fund speech, Nixon said his wife owned no mink but wore what?
A respectable Republican cloth coat
Pat Nixon was embarrassed by the need to reveal how little the family owned.
It happened at the American National Exhibition in Moscow and became known as the Kitchen Debate.
Q 24Who was Nixon's running mate in the 1960 presidential election?
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Lodge had lost his Senate seat to Kennedy eight years earlier.
Q 25By how many popular votes did Nixon lose to Kennedy in 1960?
112,827
That was 0.2 percent; Nixon refused to contest fraud allegations in Texas and Illinois.
Q 26What was the title of the bestselling book Nixon wrote after leaving the vice presidency?
Six Crises
It covered the Hiss case, Eisenhower's heart attack and the fund crisis among others.
Q 27After losing the 1962 California governor's race, Nixon told reporters they wouldn't have him to do what?
Kick around
He called it his 'last press conference'; the loss was widely thought to have ended his career.
Q 28Where was Nixon on the morning of November 22, 1963?
Dallas
He flew out of Love Field an hour before Air Force One arrived, well before Kennedy was shot.
Q 29Which Maryland governor did Nixon pick as his running mate in 1968?
Spiro Agnew
Agnew resigned in 1973 after being convicted over bribery and tax evasion from his time as governor.
Q 30What term did Nixon use for the socially conservative Americans he appealed to in 1968?
The silent majority
He portrayed himself as a figure of stability amid protests and counterculture.