Final Jeopardy: 20th Century History (7-15-26)
The Final Jeopardy question (7/15/2026) in the category “20th Century History” was:
The U.N. Conference of April 25, 1945 opened with a speech that said this man “gave his life while trying to perpetuate these high ideals”
9x champ Caleb Groen, a law & policy student orig. from Thousand Oaks, CA, has a 9-day total of $240,600. In Game 10, he goes for superchamp status against:
Marisa Rizzuti, a director of planned giving orig. from Centerport, NY; and Armando Marin, an attorney from Queens, NY
Round 1 Categories: Historic Ships – Gardening – Movie Sequel Subtitles – Religion – Barber Shop – Quortets
Caleb found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Barber Shop” under the $800 on the 9th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $3,400, $2,800 more than Armando in second place. Caleb bet $1,000 and he was RIGHT.
This London Street that was the epicenter of British journalism is also the site of some Barber-ous murders in a classic musical show
Caleb finished in the lead with $8,600. Armando was in second place with $4,400. Marisa was last with negative $800. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Doctors – British Songstresses – Notorious – U.S. Mountains – Poems – Real & Metaphorical Roads
Caleb got the first Daily Double in “Notorious” under the $1,600 clue on the 2nd pick of the round. He was in the lead with $9,800 now, $5,400 more than Armando in second place. Caleb bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.
Robert Stroud, who became a self-taught ornithologist during his years in solitary, is best known by this nickname show
On the very next pick, Caleb got the last Daily Double in “Poems” under the $1,200 clue. In the lead with $13,800, he had $9,400 more than Armando in second place. Caleb bet $5,000 this time and he was RIGHT.
Milton’s poem this man “Agonistes”, meaning enduring a struggle, describes him as “eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves” show
Caleb finished in the lead with a runaway $38,000. Armando was in second place with $4,400. Marisa was last with $3,200. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (FDR)
The San Francisco Conference that began on 4/25/1945 resulted in the creation of the United Nations’ Charter. President Franklin D. Roosevelt played a large part in the creation of the UN. He even coined its name. FDR was scheduled to speak at the conference, but his health was so bad that it is very likely that duty would have fallen to Vice-President Harry S. Truman anyway. However, FDR died suddenly on 4/12/1945 from an intracerebral hemorrhage and Truman gave the opening speech at the conference as U.S. President. After the words in the clue, Truman added: “This Conference owes its existence, in a large part, to the vision, foresight, and determination of Franklin Roosevelt.”
The conference ended with the signing of the Charter on 6/26/1945. Ironically, just 6 weeks later, Truman ended World War II by dropping atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While world peace was FDR’s hope and vision, he also aimed to be prepared when initiating the Manhattan Project in 1939.
Marisa had no response. She lost $1,201 and finished with $1,999.
Armando got it right. He bet $2,001 and finished with $6,401.
Caleb got it right, too. He bet $22,067 and won the game with $60,067 for a 10-day total of $300,567.
A triple stumper from each round:
GARDENING ($800) This 10-letter gardening tool is great for loosening weeds & soil in a garden
REAL & METAPHORICAL ROADS ($1600) “Life is Difficult” is the first line of this classic self-help book BY M. Scott Peck
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “LITERARY CHARACTERS”
In a 1980 National Book Award winner, we learn this title character gets his name from the rank of his late dad–technical sergeant show
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I can’t believe Marisa said “What’s a hoe?” in the Jeopardy! Round.
I was 3/3 on DD and got FJ. I laughed a bit, because another person who died around that time was Patton, and ain’t nobody ever said he was peaceful!
One clue and one DD both were right in my wheelhouse. I took a class on Milton in my senior year, and, although I was a B.S. Bio major and French minor, the instructor tried briefly to convince me to go for an MA in English, then consider a PhD in Milton! I just took to it like a magnet to steel or moth to a flame. I still quote Paradise Lost to this day.
The other was the final clue in DJ. Dr Sam Katz – you know the phrase, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything”? I have nothing to say. Actually, I do. He was at Duke, and, first quarter, he talked to us emergency medicine residents. First thing he told us was that he created that vaccine. Then, he said, with a domineering air, “Any housestaff (residents) that don’t get the flu vaccine should be sent home!” Something about Duke, especially old days, was, when someone became an attending physician, they expected a god-like deference – as if every word out of their mouths was directly from the Almighty into their ear. Yeah, no. As they say, “never meet your heroes”. He wasn’t my hero, but he was still among the greats – and that made him insufferable.
Although, I did meet Dr Edwin Krebs (not related to Dr Hans Krebs, of the hated undergrad organic chemistry “Krebs Cycle), who shared the 1992 Nobel in Physiology or Medicine with Dr Edmond Fischer, for their work in working out phosphorylation. What we take for rote, now, was a terra nova for them. Dr Krebs was a funny guy, but probably because he wasn’t teaching a class!
We had a semblance of a game till the first DD appeared. When I was in London ages ago I visited the Times, inquiring about a possible job after college. The man I spoke with was the brother, I think, of a nice older woman from Australia I’d met earlier in another European country. Knew the 2nd DD (great movie with Burt Lancaster) and might have hit the 3rd had Caleb not jumped at it. Didn’t get Final, although I briefly considered FDR. “Gave his life” threw me off; I was thinking of someone more heroic like Gandhi, but he didn’t die until 1948. Caleb had such a lead that I knew he’d bet large at the end. Sure, it’s a risk, but where else in life will someone give you $22K for answering one question?
I did get that FJ from 2 years ago, even though “tech sergeant” didn’t lead me to it. Knew the 10-letter garden tool (Marisa dug herself into a big hole with “hoe”); rubeola (I had all the childhood diseases; chicken pox got me out of a 6th grade class trip to Connecticut to see “Henry IV Part I”); the A section of the Appalachians; and guessed the country to be in during April
I went to that Shakespeare theater in Stratford, CT when I was in 9th grade. I’m not sure but I think the play was Midsummer Night’s Dream. I do remember feeling carsick on the bus ride home.
Now that you mention it, I definitely recall going there twice, once for Lear and once for Midsummer, probably in jr high. But the only plays I remember reading were Julius C in 9th grade and Hamlet and Macbeth in 12th.
Hey, maybe we were there at the same time for Midsummer. 😎
I had chickenpox and rubeola before the vaccines came out but I never had the mumps.
Caleb now has the highest one day total of the season with 60,067 breaking his own biggest payday of Season 42 and becoming the 5th superchampion of Season 42. This season ties the record for the most amount of superchampions. Season 38 has 5 superchampions and this season also has 5 superchampions. Caleb is the fifth champion—following Austin Rogers, James Holzhauer, Matt Amodio, and Amy Schneider—to record winnings of $60,000 or more on at least two games. There are 7 games left this season.
Wow! Caleb really clobbered ’em today — the show included. Maybe he bet so big because he liked the FJ! category but it was still quite a risk! He could have ended up with less than $16K if he was wrong. But he still would have become a superchamp.