New Puzzler: President Puzzler

RAY: Ha! We're back. You're listening to --

TOM: Don't scare me like that!

RAY: You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the new Puzzler. Now this was sent in by, I can only assume, a young man whose name is Christopher, from Atlanta. I can't tell anything else, no last name or anything like that, but he's somewhere out in cyberspace. Sent by e-mail. Even though I don't accept e-mail puzzlers, I accepted this because it was grammatically correct and no spelling mistakes.

TOM: Good!

RAY: Here it is. It says, in honor of President's Day, and don't forget, this is for the kids in the group.

TOM: In honor of President's Day, which was what, five or six months ago?

RAY: Hey! No, this is a year old, this was!

TOM: Oh, OK.

RAY: It's for next year's President's Day.

TOM: In honor of President's Day, OK.

RAY: He writes: My friend, Max says to me, I just read that three of the first five presidents of the United States died, ready for this? On the Fourth of July. Did you know that? It was the fireworks that did it, I think. What do you think the odds of that happening are? I reply, No idea. But, I'll give you 10 to one odds that I can name at least one of the three. Now I don't know anything, he writes, about the first five presidents except that their names are: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. In that order.

TOM: That's four more than I knew.

RAY: Yeah, me too. Well, I knew Lincoln, and Reagan. How am I justified in offering my friend 10 to one odds when guessing randomly, I have only a three-in-five chance? That's the question. Now, if you think you know the answer, write it on the back of a --

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]