Final Jeopardy: 20th Century Presidential Elections (11-20-14)
The Final Jeopardy question (11/20/2014), in the category “20th Century Presidential Elections” was:
In this year, there were no Pres’s or VPs running, but 3 of the 4 men on the 2 major party ballots would become President
Today is the first match of the 2-day finale of the 2014 Tournament of Champions. The finalists (followed by their semi-finals scores) are: Ben Ingram $29,800: Arthur Chu, $25,601; and Julia Collins, $16,500.
Alex Trebek said “Ben was not mouthing I love you to me. That was for someone else.” He also noted that the players won a total of 39 games and about $700,000 in prizes in their original runs, “which means they’re good.”
Round 1: Arthur found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Books & Arthurs” under the $800 clue. He was in second place lead with $2,400, $200 behind Ben’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
Chapter 1 of this 1889 novel begins, “‘Camelot– Camelot… I don’t seem to remember hearing of it before.'” show
Arthur finished in the lead with $8,400. Ben was second with $6,400 and Julia was last with $2,400.
Round 2: Julia found the first Daily Double in “Initials to Roman Numerals to Numbers II” under the $1,600 clue. (No. I was in the Battle of the Decades. Ken Jennings slayed it in his quarter-final match). She was still in third place but now had $4,400, $6,800 less than Arthur’s lead. Alex wondered why her voice suddenly went up half an octave when she made it a true Daily Double. Whatever the reason, she was RIGHT.
For the judge best known for the 1994 O.J. Simpson case. show
Julia found the last Daily Double in “Paint by Years” under the $1,600 clue. Now in second place with $10,800, she had $4,000 less than Arthur’s lead. She bet $5,000 and she was RIGHT. Her cheering section went wild.
1577: Shortly after his arrival in Spain, this foreign-born man paints his “Assumption of the Virgin”. show
Arthur finished in the lead with $25,600. Julia was next with $18,200 and Ben was in third place with $12,800.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
“By 1920, World War I was over…. The giants who had dominated the political scene for a generation were gone — Theodore Roosevelt died in 1919 and Woodrow Wilson was a broken invalid living in seclusion…. On June 8, 1920, the Republicans nominated Warren G. Harding, an Ohio newspaper editor and United States Senator, to run for president with Calvin Coolidge, governor of Massachusetts, as his running mate. The Democrats nominated another newspaper editor from Ohio, Governor James M. Cox, as their presidential candidate, and thirty-seven-year-old Franklin Delano Roosevelt for vice president.” (American Memory: The Presidential Election of 1920)
Ben got it right and doubled his score. He finished with $25,600.
Julia came up with 1952, crossed it out and wrote it down again. She lost her $11,800 bet, finishing with $6,400.
Arthur wrote down 1936, then crossed that out in favor of 1932. He lost $10,000 and finished up with $15,600.
Today’s scores will be carried over to tomorrow’s match when a winner will be determined. As Alex Trebek noted, and as we have seen ourselves, anything can happen tomorrow. Here is today’s post-game chat:
2 years ago:: NONE of the players got this FJ in “Nutrition”
The word coined for these substances in 1912 was meant to suggest they were essential to life & contained nitrogen. show
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What about 1960? Kennedy/Johnson, Nixon/Lodge
Nixon was the current Vice-President under Eisenhower, thus contradicting the first requirement of the question.
Imo, Ben and Chu are better players than Julia, but she may still win tomorrow.
Btw, Arthur hopping around the board to find DDs isn’t working in his favor. Julia found 2/3. Trebek warned him about doing that but he didn’t listen. Someone who has been hosting the show 30 years surely knows what he is talking about but Chu was too stubborn to take his advice. Wild!
Ha ha, Chu gave a stupid answer for the FJ. He should have instantly realized that Hoover was running for re-election in 1932.
He knows a lot about a lot of things, but I get a kick out of rubbing in a mistake because I just flat out don’t care for his personality.
He said in the interview that he’d been called names on the Internet, but he couldn’t say them on television. H’mn. Anyone know what some of them were?
@Tom, by the time Chu got to fj he was too exhausted from hopping around the board looking for DDs. At that point he probably was too tired to think straight. Win, lose, or draw he is one stubborn guy…book smart but STUBBORN.
Arthur looked quite pissed to me. He was awfully tense while Ben and Julia were at least enjoying the game.
As for names he’s been called, the top one is the Jeopardy Villain, so idk why he couldn’t say it. He’s really got as many fans as folks who don’t care for him, but he likes to focus on the ones that don’t like him for some reason.
What about 1960. Nixon/Lodge vs Kennedy/Johnson?
Nixon was the VP at the time.
exactly, something i overlooked at first.
(see my earlier post)
funny that the 2 wrong guesses were not 1960. that was the most tempting one, imo (and that of other guests here as well) for forgetting that tricky dick was sitting vp (eisenhower as pres.)
1932 you had incumbent hoover (the depression cost HIM the election, fdr won in a landslide, i think the only time that a sitting president took such a heavy blow seeking re-election), 1936 had incumbent fdr and 1952 was only correct in terms of the first part of the clue, but only 2 (not 3) (eisenhower and nixon) would become president. sooo close. and 30 seconds are really short.
well, i said it before: if anyone can beat arthur, it’s ben. if julia would have had another 30 seconds or so, she would probably have been able to see the one tiny mistake and work it out. but it was only day one. how often have we seen the last one after day one win the whole thing. but ben has a 10K lead and without the help of any dd.! expect arthur to go WILD on any dd clue tomorrow, should he find any.
i am looking forward to see the game. according to the numbers before fj there were obviously not many misses. tough fj clue, but worthy of a ToC final. let’s hope for an exciting day 2!
and as a p.s.: tough fj today to figure it out in 30 seconds. so double kudos to ben!!
I’m glad Arthur Chu did not win.
It’s not over until tomorrow, although I’m rooting for Ben.
yup, see my post,no dd for ben etc.. you beat me to it. and ben IS in a very good position.
Umm, it’s a 2-day finale so nobody wins yet.
yes, the fat lady has not sung yet. but barring some major mistakes by ben, he should be able to put this away. however, the fj tomorrow will decide, nothing else.
i too hope that it will a category ben is good at.