Final Jeopardy: 1950s Politics (2-28-24)
The Final Jeopardy question (2/28/2024) in the category “1950s Politics” was:
In 1959 Bob Bartlett & Hiram Fong each won a coin flip to gain this alliterative title
Today’s ToC contestants are: Nick Cascone, an orthopedic physician assistant orig. from Queens, NY; Jake DeArruda, a delivery routing assistant orig. from Ludlow, VT; and Yogesh Raut, a social and personality psychologist from Vancouver, WA.
Round 1 Categories: Shall We Dance? – Alliterative Phrases – That’s in Asia – The Emmys – Feeling Charitable – A Little Histor”e”
Jake found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Feeling Charitable” under the $600 clue on the 8th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $6,600, $1,800 more than Yogesh in second place. Jake went all in and he was RIGHT.
May 28, 1961, when the newspaper story “The Forgotten Prisoners” ran, is considered the founding date of this organization show
Jake finished in the lead with $14,400. Yogesh was in second place with $5,600. Nick was last with $1,000. All clues were shown. Upon returning from commercial, Ken noted that Jake’s score was the highest first round score of this season.
Round 2 Categories: New U.S. Stamps for 2024 – Women in Lit – Name that Tomb – British Actors & Actresses – In the Dictionary – Lesser-Known Sciences
Nick found the first Daily Double in “Name That Tomb” under the $1,200 clue on the 10th pick of the round. He was in last place with $5,800, $6,600 more than Yogesh’s lead. Nick made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
Cyrus the Great’s tomb still stands at Pasargadae in this country, but his gold Sarcophagus is gone show
On the next selection, Nick found the last Daily Double in “In the Dictionary” under the $1,600 clue. He was in second place now with $11,600, $800 less than Yogesh’s lead. Nick bet $10,000 and guessed improvisation. That was WRONG.
Spur-of-the-moment, or a piano piece that’s meant to sound spontaneous like Chopin’s Opus 29 show
Yogesh finished in the lead with $26,800. Jake was in second place with $14,400. Nick was last with $2,400. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS SENIOR SENATOR?
U.S. senators are ranked by the length of their tenure in the Senate. The senator with the longer time in office is the senior senator and the other is junior senator. When 2 senators enter the Senate on the same day, a coin flip can be used to determine their ranking. Senate Seniority, however, lists other tie-breaking methods.
When Alaska joined the Union in Jan. 1959, according to the UVA Center for Politics, Sens. Bob Bartlett (D) and Ernest Gruening (D) flipped a coin to see who would draw first on term length. Gruening drew a 4-year term and Bartlett drew a two-year term. The Univ. of Alaska says an earlier coin flip had already decided that Bartlett would be the senior senator.
Hawaii entered the Union in Aug. 1959. Sens. Hiram Fong (R) and Oren Long (D) had a coin toss to determine who would draw a term card first. Long got to draw first but ended up with a 2-year term. Fong got the 6-year term. I think that’s longer term is what gave Sen. Fong seniority. I’ll have to check some more to see if they had a separate coin toss.
Nick went with state senator. He lost $2,399 and had a dollar left.
Jake also had state senator. He lost $12,401 and finished with $1,999.
Yogesh thought it was president pro tempore. He lost $2,001 but won the game with $24,799. Yogesh Raut joins the cast of semifinalists.
A triple stumper from each round:
THAT’S IN ASIA ($1000) Lake Tengiz is in this large -stan that’s on the northern border of 3 other -stans
LESSER-KNOWN SCIENCES ($1600) Silvics is the study of these, & silviculture, the art of their propagation
2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “Play Characters”
A 1949 review noted the “wrong formulas for success” of this character & “fatal misconceptions about his place in the scheme of things” show
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR CHANGES TO THE SHOW OR COMPLAINTS, PLEASE SEND YOUR FEEDBACK DIRECTLY TO JEOPARDY!
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
Well, that was an eclectic mix of contestants. Nick, a nice guy, Jake, annoying, and Yogesh, who had MFed Jeopardy! after being on. I had my favorite, Nick, and he washed out.
I didn’t get Final, despite a few things. First, I lived in HI, and was aware of history. Second, though, and more telling: just 2 hours before, I was telling a friend something I’ve said – had I had any guidance or direction, I would be the junior senator from NY, instead of Kirsten Gillibrand. Those are my literal words. Yet, I still didn’t come up with it!
Politics is my thing, and I knew Fong was a Hawaiian US Senator, but it wasn’t till I saw the first “state senator” miss that it came to me. Then immediately remembered that AK and HI both became states in 1959, therefore neither had a senior senator.
Speaking of alliterations, that exhaustive itemization was tricky but definitely knowable by one of these three smart guys.
That “large -stan” is one of the largest countries in the world, but no one took a shot.
Super-smart group tonight, but Yogesh is awfully tough to beat. Didn’t realize till tonight that he’s from just across the river from me.
Kazakhstan is a much larger country than most people realize. It’s the 4th largest country in Asia, after India and before Saudi Arabia, and it has the largest land border with Russia.
I’m definitely spending too much time on research projects these days. I completely ignored the year in the fj clue. In hindsight that was the biggest hint in the clue. Instead I focused on “coin flip.” I wonder if the contestants felt the same way? This was an exciting match to watch though. I definitely enjoyed the ups and downs.
Wow, a tough FJ to be sure.
That was a tough final as we got a triple stumper.
For the second day in a row, we had back-to-back daily doubles. Like Hannah from yesterday, Nick bet too much on his second daily double and got it incorrect and it cost him the game. It’s the second day in a row where we had daily double drama.