Obscure American history trivia

This US senator was nicknamed "the wizard of ooze."

 

Bzzt. It was Everett McKinley Dirksen, whose syrupy diction can be heard on the 1968 spoken-word Top-40 hit, "Gallant Men."

 

I knew that, I swear! I just didn't see the question.

 

Dirksen was a big deal back in the day, as you probably knew as well. He broke the Southern filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Bill.

Here's one that you may not know, although I remember offering it up on a trivia-obsessed forum, possibly this one. In what well-known movie did a marching band play "Gallant Men?"

 

You got me on that one, friend.

 

Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper were thrown in jail after crashing the parade in "Easy Rider."

 

The great grand-nephew of which American president was killed at the Battle of New Market?

 

I'm gonna guess Zachary Taylor, since he was the last southern president before the Civil War. Second guess would be John Tyler.
New Market is a battle filled with trivia -- Breckenridge was there, along with the student body of VMI. Very interesting.

 

Lot of variables, but let's say he was one of the Keydets. Taylor, Tyler, or Harrison are most likely as Virginians.
The whole great-grand nephew thing is troublesome. That could just as easily make it an older guy on either side.

 

I’ll go old skool and say George Washington.

 

Found the answer to the New Market question. The youth who was killed was indeed a VMI cadet, and his great-great uncle has not yet been named.

 

It's got to be someone earlier than Taylor to be a great-grand nephew, doesn't it? And a Virginian. I'm gonna say Jefferson 'cause he's the most famous (other than George, of course), but I think it could be Madison or Monroe, too.