Today’s contestants:
Niki Peters, a sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley from Boise, ID |
Noah Cowan, a freshman at Brown University from Bethesda, MD |
Ziad Ali, a freshman at North Carolina State University from Oak Ridge, NC |
Scores going into Final Jeopardy:
Niki $21,400
Noah $15,000
Ziad $10,800
Final Jeopardy! category: U.S. PRESIDENTS
Final Jeopardy! clue: He was the only 20th century President who never delivered an inaugural address
Who is Gerald Ford?
Ziad 10800 + 10800 = 21600
Noah 15000 – 2000 = 13000 (Coolidge)
Niki 21400 + 3000 = 24400
When Gerald Ford took office in 1974, in his opening remarks to the country, he stated (emphasis mine):
I feel it is my first duty to make an unprecedented compact with my countrymen. Not an inaugural address, not a fireside chat, not a campaign speech–just a little straight talk among friends. And I intend it to be the first of many.
(contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com)
You can find the full speech here at the Ford presidential library website:
Semifinals & Wild Card Tracker:
Monday winner: Emily Sun
Tuesday winner: Emily Bingham
Wednesday winner: Sam Deutsch
Thursday winner: Gus Woythaler
Friday winner: Niki Peters
1. Ziad Ali $21,600 ($10,800)
2. Sarah Dubnik $14,801 ($16,000)
3. Hannah Norem $14,400 ($7,400)
4. Kate Laubscher $14,400 ($7,200; $3,200 after J! round)
—
5. Michael Sieja $14,400 ($7,200; $2,600 after J! round)
6. Kevin Brown $14,000 ($12,600)
7. Amanda Rosner $13,200 ($6,600)
8. Noah Cowan $13,000 ($15,000)
9. Adam Antoszewski $0 ($6,400)
10. Carissa Pekny $0 ($5,000)
(When commenting, please note that first-time commenters may have their comments held in moderation by WordPress. Also, all comments should be either positive in nature or have to do with gameplay.)
Love Jeopardy!
I still think that Noah should be asked back for College Jeopardy! 2017. That question hinges on a technicality that the speech was a “swearing-in speech” Many history books say, and Noah remembered, that at his inaugural Ford said: “Our long national nightmare is over…” So he went to “Silent Cal”, which was a pretty good guess.
But, Susan: Ford himself says “Not an inaugural address”. It’s not the show’s fault that secondary sources chose to include the remarks Ford made for sake of completeness.
If you can’t take the President of the United States at his word, then what can you trust?
Also Calvin Coolidge delivered an Inaugural Address, when elected in his own right in 1925.