The Answers, er, Questions for America Jeopardy 2018!
I hope you enjoyed playing this annual homage to America’s favorite game show and everybody’s favorite Catholic magazine. Below are the correct responses for this year, phrased, as always, in the form of a question.
1. Who is Vincent Lombardi? A graduate of Fordham University and a two-time Super Bowl champion, this well-known football coach was a lifelong subscriber to America.
2. Who is Joyce Kilmer? The author of “Trees” wrote six times for America in 1915 and 1916. He died in France during World War I, fighting with New York’s famous 69th Regiment.
3. Who is Eleanor Roosevelt? The longest-serving first lady of the United States wrote to the sixth editor in chief of America, John LaFarge, S.J., to say that her hairdresser had given her a copy of his latest book. The book was about race relations, a cause championed by both Father LaFarge and Mrs. Roosevelt.
4. Who is Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J.? The grandfather of James T. Keane, a senior editor at America, served in the same New York City mounted police unit as the father of the 10th editor in chief and future president of Fordham University.
5. Who are the Vanderbilts? The father of John LaFarge, S.J., sixth editor in chief, designed the stained glass windows at The Breakers, the Newport mansion built by this famous family.
6. Who is Roger Haight, S.J.? As a novice in the Society of Jesus in 1955, this future contributor to America and author of Jesus Symbol of God observed the interment of the famous French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin at the Jesuit novitiate in Poughkeepsie N.Y.
7. Who is Dwight D. Eisenhower? In 1959, America’s editors applauded Ike’s warning about an expanding “military-industrial complex,” delivered as part of his farewell address as president.
8. Who is Ed Koch? After visiting America in 1972, the future mayor of New York, famous for asking voters, “How’m I doing?” remarked to an aide, “If I can win over those Jesuits at America, I can be mayor of this city.”
9. Who is Fay Vincent? This friend of the 11th editor in chief, George W. Hunt, S.J., is a longtime subscriber. He served as chairman of Columbia Pictures and succeeded A. Bartlett Giamatti to become the eighth commissioner of Major League Baseball.
10. Who is Clare Booth Luce? She caused quite a stir when she said America was the best magazine in the country. Her husband was publisher of TIME and LIFE.
11. Who is Edmund G. “Pat” Brown? This 32nd governor of California was a longtime subscriber to America. His son, Jerry Brown, a former Jesuit novice, succeeded his father as both the 34th and 39th governor.
12. What is Georgetown University? Appropriately enough, the fourth editor in chief (1925-36), Wilfrid Parsons, S.J., and the fifth editor in chief (1936-44), Francis Xavier Talbot, S.J., are buried next to each other in the cemetery at the oldest Jesuit college in the United States.
13. Who is Idi Amin? In March 1971, the editors praised Amin, who had recently seized power by a military coup in Uganda, for his “common-sense voice.” Only God is perfect.
14. What is “Bridge of Spies”? James B. Donovan, a subscriber to America and a friend of Thurston N. Davis, S.J., eighth editor in chief, was portrayed by Tom Hanks in this 2015 espionage film, directed by Steven Spielberg.
15. Who is Joseph McCarthy? Many did not approve when Robert Hartnett, S.J., seventh editor in chief, used the pages of America to repeatedly criticize this U.S. senator from Wisconsin, whose name has become synonymous with “witch hunt.”
16. Who is Richard Nixon? Philip Lacovara, a current member of America’s board of directors, successfully argued U.S. v. Nixon, which sealed the fate of the president by forcing him to release his secretly made tape recordings.
17. Who is John F. Kerry? Kerry, who was once his party’s nominee for president of the United States, was the first sitting U.S. secretary of state to have a cover story in America.
18. Who is Paul Ryan? In 2014 the future speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives debated his fellow Catholic and colleague Joseph P. Kennedy III in the pages of America.
19. Who is Flannery O’Connor? The editors had to apologize to this author of Wise Blood for butchering her prose during the editing of an article by her in America. Again, only God is perfect. Though O’Connor’s prose comes close.
20. Who are Sargent and Eunice Shriver? My grandparents are buried in Hyannis, Mass., next to Sarge, who was his party’s nominee for vice president, and Eunice, who founded the Special Olympics. Ironic, since my grandparents were Republicans. To which Sarge might say: Only God is perfect.
