Game #192: House of Games
Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:17 am
Game #192: House of Games
Identify the 100 people in the clues below. Then, match them into 50 pairs according to a Tangredi, or principle you must discover for yourself.
There will undoubtedly be alternate matches, but only one solution will allow you to use each name once.
1. He was the only Founding Father to sign the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, and the Constitution.
2. This singer was the only artist to have seven consecutive releases hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100.
3. In an influential 1651 work, this philosopher wrote, “The only way to build a common power is to entrust the power and strength to one man, or Assembly that would reduce all their wills, by majority rule in a single will.”
4. This scientist has said that almost all of the technology involved in his great innovation already existed by 1989 and that he “just had to put them together.”
5. This director’s masterpieces were a silent film that depicts events leading to the protagonist being burned alive – and a sound film that depicts events leading to the protagonist being burned alive.
6. He was a 42-1 underdog in the fight that made him undisputed champion of the world.
7. The stanzaic form invented, and named for, this poet consists of eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single line in iambic hexameter, with the rhyme scheme ABABBCBCC.
8. DJMQ: After this dancer-choreographer broke with the Denishawn company, she began to develop her own technique based on the principle of “fall and recovery.”
Another DJMQ appears at #57.
9. A major artistic movement got its name from this artist’s 1874 painting of a port at sunrise.
10. His leadership and genius for public relations helped make the union he cofounded in 1962 the recognized bargaining agent for more than 50,000 workers.
11. This aviator and explorer is the only person to have received three tickertape parades in New York City.
12. When this entrepreneur arrived in Texas in 1919, he intended to purchase a bank, but got sidetracked into buying a different kind of establishment instead – and an empire was born.
13. This Union general is best known for suffering a humiliating defeat to a force half the size of his own in 1863. (His more popular claim to fame is probably a myth.)
14. Her guilt over driving her gay husband to suicide played a major role in her descent into madness. (Her brother-in-law didn’t make things any better.)
15. Along with his two colleagues, this New Zealand scientist won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing polymers material that conduct electricity.
16. This British veteran of the Kosovo War only had one hit in the U.S. – but it went all the way to #1 on the Pop, Adult, and Adult Contemporary charts.
17. In 1868, this Congressman became the third person to lay in state in the Capitol rotunda; his honor guard consisting entirely of African American soldiers.
18. She received a Tony award and an Oscar nomination for her role as a stenographer who suffers an unexpected – and hilarious - pregnancy.
19. Truman Capote famously said of this novelist’s seminal work - and the method by which he produced it - “That’s not writing, it’s typing.”
20. The eye injury that prematurely ended the career of this NHL Hall of Famer led many goalies to switch from fiberglass face masks to the cage-and-helmet variety.
21. Among his nicknames were “American Moses” and the “Lion of the Lord.”
22. This Nobel Prize-winning economist crossed over into sociology with his studies of such topics as criminal law and racial discrimination, and was one of the founders of what became known as the New Home Economics.
23. The year after she appeared on the cover of a popular magazine, this model married a man who had made many appearances on the cover of the same magazine.
24. This mass murderer died in a mental hospital sixty years after his infamous “Walk of Death” left 13 people dead in 21 minutes.
25. Subjects of this pioneering portrait photographer – whose studio was a converted chicken coop – included Charles Darwin, Ellen Terry, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
26. This activist has served as Chief Executive of a highly influential – and highly controversial – national organization since 1991.
27. This organic chemist committed suicide at the age of 41, and thus never became aware of the lasting importance of his own work.
28. As a result of covert operations in Chile, he became the only CIA director ever convicted of misleading Congress.
29. One of the premier interpreters of the Great American Songbook, this singer and pianist married his longtime partner in 2008 – in a ceremony presided over by Judge Judy.
30. She was the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in downhill skiing.
31. Her silent film career included roles that would later be replayed in the talkies by Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo; her talkie career consisted of only two movies, after which she retired with a buttload of money and never looked back.
32. This playwright helped introduce the flashback and expressionism to the American stage, but his Pulitzer Prize came for a work that was the epitome of stage realism.
33. He has a master’s degree in Divinity and a doctorate in clinical psychology, but he is best known as an Internet Yenta.
34. His most famous broadcast during his 35 years with CBS was anchoring the live coverage of the Challenger – signing off, then immediately signing on again.
35. This would-be terrorist got caught in the act on December 22, 2001 – and has slowed the rest of us down ever since.
36. She was the only female character in a very popular comic strip from its debut on October 2, 1950 until the introduction of a second girl four months later.
37. His cogent aphorism on the reason for studying history is probably better remembered today than any of his philosophical works, such as his seminal 1896 study of aesthetics.
38. This influential American historian stirred considerable controversy with his 1913 book that expounded the thesis that the structure of the U.S. Constitution was based on the economic interests of the Founding Fathers.
39. This singer’s first single was the only country song to debut at #1 on the U.S. pop charts.
40. He served as an officer in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, but his greatest impact came with his leading role in the settlement of the Northwest Territory.
41. In 1842, he became the first surgeon to use ether as an anesthetic.
42. He had been king of England for just over nine months when he died in a famous battle.
43. Sergeant Cuff, introduced in this author’s 1868 masterpiece, is one of the earliest examples of a classic fictional detective.
44. As far as I’ve been able to determine, this Hall of Fame tackle was the first player to amass three Super Bowl rings.
45. In 1985, this newspaper cartoonist introduced a titular character named after someone who is the answer to one of the preceding clues.
46. The health company that this entrepreneur and her husband began in the 1980s is now part of Nestle’s Nutrition.
47. This actor’s sixteen years with the Honolulu police department certainly prepared him for his best known role.
48. This Kentucky plantation owner - who freed his slaves and started an antislavery newspaper – not only survived an assassination attempt but, with the bullet still in his chest, attacked the gunman and purportedly cut out his eyes with a Bowie knife. (No passive resister he.)
49. This carpenter on a popular home makeover show was named one of the sexiest men on television by People magazine.
50. This philosopher’s most famous principle is often misinterpreted as advocating simplicity, but he was actually arguing that, when presented with competing hypotheses that yield the same prediction, one should select the one with the fewest assumptions.
51. The punch card system that he patented in 1889 is one of the milestones in the development of automatic data processing.
52. This gentleman “was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character.”
53. In 1936, she became Time magazine’s first woman of the year, even though she hadn’t actually done much herself.
54. This American woman achieved a political first on January 5, 1925 – beating out another woman for the honor by two weeks.
55. In a 1952 Downbeat readers’ poll, he finished second to Charlie Parker in the category of Best Alto Saxophonist.
56. His grim 1899 novel about an unlicensed dentist is perhaps the best example of naturalism in American fiction.
57. DJMQ: Until her retirement at the age of 50, this Canadian dancer was prima ballerina with the New York City Ballet.
58. Her onscreen husbands have included Gene Hackman, John Lithgow, Alan Arkin, and the director of the movie for which she won her first Oscar.
59. He was the first athlete to win the Decathlon in two consecutive Olympic games.
60. As a result of some controversial statements about Islam, the Pentagon rescinded this evangelist’s invitation to speak at a 2010 National Day of Prayer. (He attended anyway.)
61. As an Egyptologist, she became the first woman ever to unwrap a mummy – but it was her anthropological studies on folklore that earned her the nickname “Grandmother of Wicca.”
62. This suffragist cofounded the National Woman’s Party with her friend Alice Paul.
63. A prominent muckraker with McClure’s magazine, this journalist also won a Pulitzer for his biography of an American President.
64. In 1844, this neoclassicist became the first American sculptor to exhibit a life-size statue of a fully nude female figure.
65. Although this Nobel Prize-winning physicist first developed his method of three-dimensional imaging in 1947, it didn’t become practical until the invention of the laser.
66. He was overthrown in 1971, regained power in 1980 when the man who overthrew him was overthrown, was overthrown again in 1985, died in exile twenty years later, and (surprisingly) was brought back to his own country for a state funeral.
67. A member of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, this minimalist composer has also received three Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe.
68. Before launching his very successful career as a director of feature films, he earned six Emmy nominations as a writer on The Larry Sanders Show.
69. One of the biggest literary feuds of the 20th century finally exploded in a lawsuit based on a remark this novelist made to Dick Cavett about a notable playwright.
70. During his rookie year, he set a Nets record for most points scored in a single season.
71. This entrepreneur opened the first of his franchise restaurants in South Salt Lake, Utah, in 1952.
72. In 1690, this philosopher wrote, “Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.”
73. A movie about the political education of this Boy Ranger was a major hit of Hollywood’s greatest year and made a major star of the actor who played him.
74. His bold action in destroying a captured American ship made him a national hero – and helped him become the youngest man ever to achieve the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy.
75. Like Coco Chanel, this French fashion designer won renown for an iconic little black dress, worn in a 1961 film.
76. First recipient of the Pritzker Prize, this architect’s notable designs included his own Connecticut residence, inspired by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House.
77. The death of his five year-old son in 1977 almost caused this rock singer to leave the music industry – partly out of grief, partly out of resentment that two of his three bandmates did not attend the funeral.
78. Americans can make folk heroes out of terrorists – or at least, they did in the case of this war criminal turned bank robber.
79. With the White House still under reconstruction, this First Lady hosted her first inaugural ball at her private residence on I Street.
80. This playwright co-founded a Massachusetts theatre company that galvanized native American drama – and launched the career of a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. (She would later win a Pulitzer Prize of her own.)
81. In 1950, this activist – whose partners included an American character actor and an Austrian fashion designer – founded one of the first gay rights groups in the United States.
82. The death of his wife – and the fact that he never found out she was ill until after she was buried – spurred this painter to explore new means of rapid communication.
83. His famous reluctance to engage in oral questioning has been attributed to self-consciousness about his speaking style, but he will sometimes pass a note along to one of his colleagues.
84. As host of a popular 1950s kiddie show – and composer of its iconic theme song – he was always the last to introduce himself.
85. A member of the PBA Hall of Fame, he introduced the “cranker” style of delivery and was the first bowler to convert a 7-10 split on national television.
86. During World War I, the test developed by this American psychologist was administered to 1.7 million American soldiers.
87. Although he appeared in only a single 1930 novel and four short stories, he is one of the most influential and best remembered of all the Great Detectives in fiction.
88. Little is known about this Apostle, although his title seems to identify him with a revolutionary political movement.
89. As of June 2019, this Internet entrepreneur is ranked by Forbes magazine as the twelfth richest person in the world – three spots ahead of his longtime business partner.
90. Although he was a maître d’hotel rather than a chef, he is credited with creating a popular salad made with celery, apples, walnuts, and grapes.
91. Co-founder of a major African American political organization, he was murdered by a member of a far more radical African American organization.
92. This American physician led the team that confirmed the theories of Cuban epidemiologist Carlos Juan Finlay.
93. Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But... has been described as this artist’s Mona Lisa.
94. One of my favorite songs by this lyricist includes this delightful triple rhyme: “Sir Paul was frail, he looked a wreck to me/At night he was a horse’s neck to me/So I performed an appendectomy.”
95. He completes the following list: Jack Albertson, Anne Bancroft, Shirley Booth, Yul Brynner, Jose Ferrer, Joel Grey, Lila Kedrova, Paul Scofield.
96. He completes the following list: Henry Arnold, Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George Marshall.
97. This navigator sailed into the river that now bears his name in 1609, and an even larger body of water that now bears his name the following year.
98. In his 1966 Hall of Fame induction speech, this baseball legend prophetically said, “I hope someday Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson will be voted into the Hall of Fame as symbols of the great Negro players who are not here only because they weren’t given the chance.”
99. This poet’s ashes are interred in a Harlem center for research into black culture, under an inscription that reads, "My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”
100. He served four terms in the state legislature and one term in the U.S. Congress – and that was the sum total of his experience in elective office before becoming President more than a decade later.
Identify the 100 people in the clues below. Then, match them into 50 pairs according to a Tangredi, or principle you must discover for yourself.
There will undoubtedly be alternate matches, but only one solution will allow you to use each name once.
1. He was the only Founding Father to sign the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, and the Constitution.
2. This singer was the only artist to have seven consecutive releases hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100.
3. In an influential 1651 work, this philosopher wrote, “The only way to build a common power is to entrust the power and strength to one man, or Assembly that would reduce all their wills, by majority rule in a single will.”
4. This scientist has said that almost all of the technology involved in his great innovation already existed by 1989 and that he “just had to put them together.”
5. This director’s masterpieces were a silent film that depicts events leading to the protagonist being burned alive – and a sound film that depicts events leading to the protagonist being burned alive.
6. He was a 42-1 underdog in the fight that made him undisputed champion of the world.
7. The stanzaic form invented, and named for, this poet consists of eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single line in iambic hexameter, with the rhyme scheme ABABBCBCC.
8. DJMQ: After this dancer-choreographer broke with the Denishawn company, she began to develop her own technique based on the principle of “fall and recovery.”
Another DJMQ appears at #57.
9. A major artistic movement got its name from this artist’s 1874 painting of a port at sunrise.
10. His leadership and genius for public relations helped make the union he cofounded in 1962 the recognized bargaining agent for more than 50,000 workers.
11. This aviator and explorer is the only person to have received three tickertape parades in New York City.
12. When this entrepreneur arrived in Texas in 1919, he intended to purchase a bank, but got sidetracked into buying a different kind of establishment instead – and an empire was born.
13. This Union general is best known for suffering a humiliating defeat to a force half the size of his own in 1863. (His more popular claim to fame is probably a myth.)
14. Her guilt over driving her gay husband to suicide played a major role in her descent into madness. (Her brother-in-law didn’t make things any better.)
15. Along with his two colleagues, this New Zealand scientist won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing polymers material that conduct electricity.
16. This British veteran of the Kosovo War only had one hit in the U.S. – but it went all the way to #1 on the Pop, Adult, and Adult Contemporary charts.
17. In 1868, this Congressman became the third person to lay in state in the Capitol rotunda; his honor guard consisting entirely of African American soldiers.
18. She received a Tony award and an Oscar nomination for her role as a stenographer who suffers an unexpected – and hilarious - pregnancy.
19. Truman Capote famously said of this novelist’s seminal work - and the method by which he produced it - “That’s not writing, it’s typing.”
20. The eye injury that prematurely ended the career of this NHL Hall of Famer led many goalies to switch from fiberglass face masks to the cage-and-helmet variety.
21. Among his nicknames were “American Moses” and the “Lion of the Lord.”
22. This Nobel Prize-winning economist crossed over into sociology with his studies of such topics as criminal law and racial discrimination, and was one of the founders of what became known as the New Home Economics.
23. The year after she appeared on the cover of a popular magazine, this model married a man who had made many appearances on the cover of the same magazine.
24. This mass murderer died in a mental hospital sixty years after his infamous “Walk of Death” left 13 people dead in 21 minutes.
25. Subjects of this pioneering portrait photographer – whose studio was a converted chicken coop – included Charles Darwin, Ellen Terry, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
26. This activist has served as Chief Executive of a highly influential – and highly controversial – national organization since 1991.
27. This organic chemist committed suicide at the age of 41, and thus never became aware of the lasting importance of his own work.
28. As a result of covert operations in Chile, he became the only CIA director ever convicted of misleading Congress.
29. One of the premier interpreters of the Great American Songbook, this singer and pianist married his longtime partner in 2008 – in a ceremony presided over by Judge Judy.
30. She was the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in downhill skiing.
31. Her silent film career included roles that would later be replayed in the talkies by Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo; her talkie career consisted of only two movies, after which she retired with a buttload of money and never looked back.
32. This playwright helped introduce the flashback and expressionism to the American stage, but his Pulitzer Prize came for a work that was the epitome of stage realism.
33. He has a master’s degree in Divinity and a doctorate in clinical psychology, but he is best known as an Internet Yenta.
34. His most famous broadcast during his 35 years with CBS was anchoring the live coverage of the Challenger – signing off, then immediately signing on again.
35. This would-be terrorist got caught in the act on December 22, 2001 – and has slowed the rest of us down ever since.
36. She was the only female character in a very popular comic strip from its debut on October 2, 1950 until the introduction of a second girl four months later.
37. His cogent aphorism on the reason for studying history is probably better remembered today than any of his philosophical works, such as his seminal 1896 study of aesthetics.
38. This influential American historian stirred considerable controversy with his 1913 book that expounded the thesis that the structure of the U.S. Constitution was based on the economic interests of the Founding Fathers.
39. This singer’s first single was the only country song to debut at #1 on the U.S. pop charts.
40. He served as an officer in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, but his greatest impact came with his leading role in the settlement of the Northwest Territory.
41. In 1842, he became the first surgeon to use ether as an anesthetic.
42. He had been king of England for just over nine months when he died in a famous battle.
43. Sergeant Cuff, introduced in this author’s 1868 masterpiece, is one of the earliest examples of a classic fictional detective.
44. As far as I’ve been able to determine, this Hall of Fame tackle was the first player to amass three Super Bowl rings.
45. In 1985, this newspaper cartoonist introduced a titular character named after someone who is the answer to one of the preceding clues.
46. The health company that this entrepreneur and her husband began in the 1980s is now part of Nestle’s Nutrition.
47. This actor’s sixteen years with the Honolulu police department certainly prepared him for his best known role.
48. This Kentucky plantation owner - who freed his slaves and started an antislavery newspaper – not only survived an assassination attempt but, with the bullet still in his chest, attacked the gunman and purportedly cut out his eyes with a Bowie knife. (No passive resister he.)
49. This carpenter on a popular home makeover show was named one of the sexiest men on television by People magazine.
50. This philosopher’s most famous principle is often misinterpreted as advocating simplicity, but he was actually arguing that, when presented with competing hypotheses that yield the same prediction, one should select the one with the fewest assumptions.
51. The punch card system that he patented in 1889 is one of the milestones in the development of automatic data processing.
52. This gentleman “was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character.”
53. In 1936, she became Time magazine’s first woman of the year, even though she hadn’t actually done much herself.
54. This American woman achieved a political first on January 5, 1925 – beating out another woman for the honor by two weeks.
55. In a 1952 Downbeat readers’ poll, he finished second to Charlie Parker in the category of Best Alto Saxophonist.
56. His grim 1899 novel about an unlicensed dentist is perhaps the best example of naturalism in American fiction.
57. DJMQ: Until her retirement at the age of 50, this Canadian dancer was prima ballerina with the New York City Ballet.
58. Her onscreen husbands have included Gene Hackman, John Lithgow, Alan Arkin, and the director of the movie for which she won her first Oscar.
59. He was the first athlete to win the Decathlon in two consecutive Olympic games.
60. As a result of some controversial statements about Islam, the Pentagon rescinded this evangelist’s invitation to speak at a 2010 National Day of Prayer. (He attended anyway.)
61. As an Egyptologist, she became the first woman ever to unwrap a mummy – but it was her anthropological studies on folklore that earned her the nickname “Grandmother of Wicca.”
62. This suffragist cofounded the National Woman’s Party with her friend Alice Paul.
63. A prominent muckraker with McClure’s magazine, this journalist also won a Pulitzer for his biography of an American President.
64. In 1844, this neoclassicist became the first American sculptor to exhibit a life-size statue of a fully nude female figure.
65. Although this Nobel Prize-winning physicist first developed his method of three-dimensional imaging in 1947, it didn’t become practical until the invention of the laser.
66. He was overthrown in 1971, regained power in 1980 when the man who overthrew him was overthrown, was overthrown again in 1985, died in exile twenty years later, and (surprisingly) was brought back to his own country for a state funeral.
67. A member of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, this minimalist composer has also received three Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe.
68. Before launching his very successful career as a director of feature films, he earned six Emmy nominations as a writer on The Larry Sanders Show.
69. One of the biggest literary feuds of the 20th century finally exploded in a lawsuit based on a remark this novelist made to Dick Cavett about a notable playwright.
70. During his rookie year, he set a Nets record for most points scored in a single season.
71. This entrepreneur opened the first of his franchise restaurants in South Salt Lake, Utah, in 1952.
72. In 1690, this philosopher wrote, “Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.”
73. A movie about the political education of this Boy Ranger was a major hit of Hollywood’s greatest year and made a major star of the actor who played him.
74. His bold action in destroying a captured American ship made him a national hero – and helped him become the youngest man ever to achieve the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy.
75. Like Coco Chanel, this French fashion designer won renown for an iconic little black dress, worn in a 1961 film.
76. First recipient of the Pritzker Prize, this architect’s notable designs included his own Connecticut residence, inspired by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House.
77. The death of his five year-old son in 1977 almost caused this rock singer to leave the music industry – partly out of grief, partly out of resentment that two of his three bandmates did not attend the funeral.
78. Americans can make folk heroes out of terrorists – or at least, they did in the case of this war criminal turned bank robber.
79. With the White House still under reconstruction, this First Lady hosted her first inaugural ball at her private residence on I Street.
80. This playwright co-founded a Massachusetts theatre company that galvanized native American drama – and launched the career of a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. (She would later win a Pulitzer Prize of her own.)
81. In 1950, this activist – whose partners included an American character actor and an Austrian fashion designer – founded one of the first gay rights groups in the United States.
82. The death of his wife – and the fact that he never found out she was ill until after she was buried – spurred this painter to explore new means of rapid communication.
83. His famous reluctance to engage in oral questioning has been attributed to self-consciousness about his speaking style, but he will sometimes pass a note along to one of his colleagues.
84. As host of a popular 1950s kiddie show – and composer of its iconic theme song – he was always the last to introduce himself.
85. A member of the PBA Hall of Fame, he introduced the “cranker” style of delivery and was the first bowler to convert a 7-10 split on national television.
86. During World War I, the test developed by this American psychologist was administered to 1.7 million American soldiers.
87. Although he appeared in only a single 1930 novel and four short stories, he is one of the most influential and best remembered of all the Great Detectives in fiction.
88. Little is known about this Apostle, although his title seems to identify him with a revolutionary political movement.
89. As of June 2019, this Internet entrepreneur is ranked by Forbes magazine as the twelfth richest person in the world – three spots ahead of his longtime business partner.
90. Although he was a maître d’hotel rather than a chef, he is credited with creating a popular salad made with celery, apples, walnuts, and grapes.
91. Co-founder of a major African American political organization, he was murdered by a member of a far more radical African American organization.
92. This American physician led the team that confirmed the theories of Cuban epidemiologist Carlos Juan Finlay.
93. Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But... has been described as this artist’s Mona Lisa.
94. One of my favorite songs by this lyricist includes this delightful triple rhyme: “Sir Paul was frail, he looked a wreck to me/At night he was a horse’s neck to me/So I performed an appendectomy.”
95. He completes the following list: Jack Albertson, Anne Bancroft, Shirley Booth, Yul Brynner, Jose Ferrer, Joel Grey, Lila Kedrova, Paul Scofield.
96. He completes the following list: Henry Arnold, Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George Marshall.
97. This navigator sailed into the river that now bears his name in 1609, and an even larger body of water that now bears his name the following year.
98. In his 1966 Hall of Fame induction speech, this baseball legend prophetically said, “I hope someday Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson will be voted into the Hall of Fame as symbols of the great Negro players who are not here only because they weren’t given the chance.”
99. This poet’s ashes are interred in a Harlem center for research into black culture, under an inscription that reads, "My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”
100. He served four terms in the state legislature and one term in the U.S. Congress – and that was the sum total of his experience in elective office before becoming President more than a decade later.