Grandfather gets Father's Day gift from grandson

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Take the Father’s Day Challenge

Honoring our dads goes way beyond giving socks and neckties. Find out how much you really know about this popular holiday

By AARP Staff

En español

Published June 10, 2021

9 Questions

Take the Father’s Day Challenge

[ {
  "question" : "En español | 1. Which state hosted the first citywide Father’s Day celebration of the modern era?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "California",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Washington",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Arkansas",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "New Hampshire",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "West Virginia",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Sponsored by the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA, the first citywide Father’s Day celebration took place on June 19, 1910, in Washington state. Sonora Smart Dodd came up with the idea so she could pay homage to her father, William Jackson Smart, a single dad who raised six children after Dodd’s mother died. Two years earlier, a special one-time Father’s Day sermon was held in Fairmont, W.Va., at the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "2. This U.S. president signed the bill that made Father’s Day a national holiday.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Woodrow Wilson",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Lyndon B. Johnson",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Franklin D. Roosevelt ",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Richard Nixon",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Harry S. Truman",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Although the first bill to recognize Father’s Day as a national holiday was introduced in Congress in 1913, it wasn’t until 1972 that Richard Nixon signed it into law.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "3. How does Father’s Day rank among U.S. holidays with the largest number of greeting cards exchanged?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "10th",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "7th",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "4th",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "11th",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "According to the Greeting Card Association, Father’s Day is the fourth-largest card-giving holiday in the U.S., with more than 90 million cards exchanged annually. Christmas ranks first, Valentine’s Day is second and Mother’s Day comes in third.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "4. Which government agency commissioned a 30-minute episode of Father Knows Best called “Twenty-Four Hours in Tyrantland,” which was created to promote the buying of saving bonds?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "U.S. Department of Treasury",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "U.S. Federal Reserve System",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Internal Revenue Service",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Small Business Administration",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The U.S. Department of Treasury commissioned the episode in 1959; the AFL-CIO paid for the actors, producers and all production costs. Although the episode never aired on television, it was distributed to schools, civic organizations and churches.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "5. In the mid-1960s this jazz pianist composed and recorded “Song for My Father,” which has since become a world-renowned standard.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Herbie Hancock",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Bud Powell",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Thelonious Monk",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Bill Evans",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Horace Silver",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Horace Silver composed the song, the title track from his 1965 LP. The album cover featured a photograph of Silver’s father, John Tavares Silva, who was from Cape Verde.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "6. How many pairs of fathers and sons have served as president of the United States?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "1",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "2",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "3",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "4",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "5",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Two sets of fathers and sons have been elected: John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "7. Who is the patriarch of the famous Marsalis jazz dynasty?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Wynton",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Branford",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Ellis",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Jason",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Delfeayo",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Pianist Ellis Marsalis is the father. Besides being a noteworthy composer, he’s a renowned educator who taught (in addition to his sons) major stars such as pianist and singer Harry Connick Jr., and trumpeter and movie scorer Terence Blanchard.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "8. English author A.A. Milne created this fictional character as a gift to his son, Christopher.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Winnie-the-Pooh",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Donald Duck",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Foghorn J. Leghorn",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Papa Smurf",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Uncle Remus",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "A.A. Milne created Winnie-the-Pooh, named after a teddy bear given to his son, Christopher Robin. The character made his first appearance in 1924 in his book of poems titled \"When We Were Young.\"",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "9. Who invented and patented the 1912 drinking water fountain as a tribute to his father?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "George Washington Carver",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Thomas Edison",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Garrett Morgan",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Benjamin Franklin",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Halsey W. Taylor",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Taylor invented and patented the Puritan sanitary drinking fountain in 1912 after his father died in 1896 of typhoid fever contracted from contaminated water.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

Quiz Progress

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