History 21 Final
Which of the following was not a key factor behind President Carter's electoral defeat in 1980?
A general feeling that Carter was morally corrupt, and hopelessly indifferent to the concerns of the people.
The Roosevelt administration paid little attention to global affairs before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
False
Which of the following was not a theme of Franklin Roosevelt's 1937 Second Inaugural Address (Doc: "One Third of a Nation": FDR's Second Inaugural Address)?
It is essential now that we expand the New Deal, even if it means going beyond Constitutional restraints.
Which of the following was not a major target of the anticommunist crusade of the late 1940s and early 1950s?
Laissez-faire conservatism.
Which of the following was not a significant feature of the 1948 presidential election?
Lively debate between opponents and supporters of America's war in Korea.
Which of the following books was not a major influence on the radical protest movements of the 1960s?
Michael Harrington's The Other America.
Which of the following was not a key motivation behind the New Deal?
Reviving America's commitment to family values, at a time when they appeared to be in decline.
Which of the following was not an underlying factor behind the stock market crash of 1929?
Runaway inflation spurred by high union wages had undermined prosperity.
Which of the following was not a key episode in the course of World War II?
The Battle of the Somme.
Which of the following was not one of the climactic moments of 1968?
The Cuban Missile Crisis.
Which of the following was not a central aim of U.S. foreign policy during the Eisenhower years?
The U.S. will always respect the sovereignty of foreign democracies -- even those whose policies may differ from ours.
Which of the following was not a purpose of the U.S. Office of War Information?
To keep the public apprised of the military's war plans.
During the Reagan years, tax rates for the affluent dropped from 70% to 28%.
True
FDR agreed to establish the Fair Employment Practices Commission only after black leader A. Philip Randolph threatened to lead a march on Washington to protest racial discrimination in defense industries.
True
Following the U.S.'s entry into WWII, the federal government assumed massively expanded oversight of the American economy.
True
In this 1984 address to the Democratic National Convention, New York Governor Mario Cuomo describes President Reagan as woefully out of touch with the hardships facing many Americans. (Doc: Mario Cuomo, A Tale of Two Cities)
True
Most of the bloodshed that took place in Europe during WWII occurred on the eastern front.
True
Over the course of the 1960s, movements for rights sprang up among a variety of long marginalized groups, including Hispanics, American Indians, women, and gays.
True
Resentment over local efforts to desegregate public schools was a significant factor in the conservative groundswell of the 1970s.
True
The 1936 election saw the crystallizing of the "New Deal coalition."
True
The National Industrial Recovery Act boosted the prospects for labor unionism, but did little to restore economic prosperity.
True
The Tennessee Valley Authority provide electric power to many Americans who never had it before.
True
The Works Projects Administration not only provided work for millions of unemployed Americans, but did much to develop infrastructure and promote the arts around the country.
True
The economic down-turn of the Seventies undercut the living standards and collective power of American workers.
True
The emerging civil rights challenge to Jim Crow drew encouragement from Cold War rhetoric presenting America as a bastion of freedom and democracy.
True
With the coming of peace, women employed in wartime industries encountered mounting pressure to quit their jobs and resume their roles as homemakers.
True
Which of the following was not a significant phrase arising in the WWII era?
"A Chicken in Every Pot."
Which of the following was not a celebratory slogan for the America of the 1950s?
"For what it's worth."
Which of the following was not a term or phrase that entered currency during the 1980s?
"Normalcy"
Which of the following was not a factor behind the winding down of New Deal reform by the close of the 1930s?
A belief that the New Deal, having ended the Great Depression, was no longer needed.
Which of the following was not a significant consequence of the 1990s computer revolution?
A bridging of the gulf between the affluent and the poor.
Which of the following was not a part of America's Cold War approach during the late 1940s and early 1950s?
A conviction that the U.S. must share information on nuclear weaponry with the Soviet Union, in order to build trust between the world's two superpowers.
Which of the following was not a widespread response shown by Americans in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks?
A determination to move out of big cities, where the risks of further attacks could be greatest.
Which of the following was not a source of the confidence that most Americans felt -- at first -- about their country's military venture in Vietnam?
A general faith that the Vietnamese people -- being age-old allies of the U.S. --would never allow hostilities to arise between the two countries.
Which of the following was not a major development in global affairs during the 1990s?
A lessoning of religious and ethnic tensions.
Which of the following was not an important sign of the country's mounting economic troubles during the 1970s?
A mass exodus from the cities to the farmlands.
Which of the following was not a key feature of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime?
A policy of nationalizing German industry, and replacing capitalism with communism.
Which of the following was not a major trend in America during the second half of the 1960s?
A revival of McCarthy-style anti-communist crusades.
Which of the following was not a major trend in 1950s America?
A wave of student radicalism on the college campuses.
Which of the following was not a key policy goal of the Obama administration?
A weakening of gun control restrictions.
Which of the following was not a feature of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy?
African Americans must not pursue complete racial equality too quickly; before they attain that, they must first prove their worthiness to all America.
Which of the following was not a significant impact of wartime mobilization on American society?
Americans of German background were rounded up and placed in internment camps, on the grounds that their loyalties could not be trusted.
Which of the following was not a significant feature of suburban married life during the 1950s?
An increasing tendency of wives and husbands to share the roles of homemaker and breadwinner.
Which of the following was not a hot spot of U.S./Soviet tensions during the 1980s?
Canada
Which of the following was not a leading factor behind the rise of the Cold War ?
Churchill's call for a massive wall to divide East Germany from West Germany.
Which of the following was not a major piece of New Deal legislation?
Civil Rights Act.
Which of the following was not a key difference between liberal and conservative visions for postwar America?
Conservatives perceived capitalism as essential to America's future; liberals perceived socialism as essential to America's future.
Which of the following was not the setting for a major campaign of the civil rights movement?
Dallas
Which of the following was not a common means of survival for hard-off Americans in the opening years of the Great Depression?
Drawing federal unemployment benefits.
Which of the following was not a feature of U.S. involvement in World War II?
FDR agreed to a wartime alliance with Russia only after Stalin pledged to abolish Soviet communism after the war.
After the Republican electoral wave of 1994, President Clinton pledged to defend the tradition of New Deal liberalism.
False
Breaking up large corporations was a core mission of the New Deal.
False
By the end of President Reagan's second term, American conservatism was a spent force; after all, its agenda had been fully achieved.
False
Discredited by the Watergate scandal, the Republican party did not regain its momentum for another two decades.
False
FDR's Executive Order 9066 ordered the internment of Japanese-Americans who refused to sign an oath of loyalty to the United States.
False
From the mid-1950s through the mid-1960s, the civil rights movement stayed focused solely on desegregation efforts, deferring the quest for voting rights to another day.
False
George W. Bush campaigned for president in 2000 as a right-winger, but governed as a moderate.
False
In 1950s America, political dissent was more conspicuous than cultural dissent.
False
In his 1946 letter to President Truman (Doc: Henry A. Wallace, Letter to President Truman), Henry Wallace urges Truman to toughen up his approach to Soviets, as "force is the only language they understand."
False
In his 1979 speech, President Carter scolds Americans for their excessive optimism, and obliviousness to the problems confronting the nation. (Doc: Jimmy Carter, The Crisis)
False
In his 1981 inaugural address, President Reagan declares that only government could solve the problems that government has created. (Doc: Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address)
False
In the 2000 election, George W. Bush won the popular vote, but lost the electoral vote to Al Gore.
False
In the 2012 election, Mitt Romney outpolled President Obama in the popular vote, but lost to Obama in the electoral college.
False
President Dwight Eisenhower took office intent on dismantling the New Deal.
False
President Johnson's Great Society programs failed to reduce poverty to any meaningful extent.
False
President Kennedy entered office determined to rid U.S. foreign policy of its Cold War assumptions.
False
Richard Nixon won the 1968 presidential election by the largest political landslide in U.S. history.
False
Signed by 96 members of Congress in 1956, the Southern Manifesto welcomed the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision as an overdue assertion of federal power over the authority of the states. (Doc: Southern Manifesto)
False
The "zoot suit" riots broke out in Detroit, when white auto workers began attacking black migrants from the South.
False
The Congress of Industrial Organizations found ample appeal among skilled workers, but little support from America's millions of unskilled workers.
False
The Greensboro lunch counter sit-in campaign of 1960 represented the first major defeat for the civil rights movement.
False
The New Deal continued to expand dramatically during Roosevelt's second term; only with the coming of World War II would its momentum start to slow.
False
The United Nations supported the U.S. invasion of Panama, but disapproved of Operation Desert Storm.
False
Under the Truman Doctrine, only those governments that respected the sovereignty of other peoples and the democratic rights of their own citizens could expect friendship and support from the United States.
False
Wartime mobilization dramatically strengthened the size and stature of organized labor.
False
Wartime mobilization raised the industrial Northeast out of the Depression, but left the economies of the West and the South more or less untouched.
False
While the situation of Mexican-Americans improved substantially under the New Deal that of American Indians grew markedly worse.
False
Which of the following issues was not a focus of political controversy during the 1970s?
Federal problems addressing AIDS.
Which of the following was not a source of growing disillusionment among Americans during the 1970s?
Global warming.
Which of the following was not a key theme raised by critics of Reagan's presidency?
His spending cuts have left America unable to contain Soviet expansionism.
Which of the following was not a characteristic of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s?
In local campaigns across the South, women remained more or less on the margins of civil rights activism.
Which of the following was not an important cause of the economic prosperity of the 1950s?
Large-scale cuts in income and business taxes.
Which of the following was not a significant aim of President Johnson's "Great Society" program?
Legalization of same-sex marriage.
Which of the following was not a provision of the Republican party's 1994 "Contract with America?" (Doc: Republican Contract with America)
More rigorous restrictions on the sale of handguns.
Which of the following was not a reason for President George W. Bush's declining popularity during his second term?
Revelations of an attempt by his administration to plant listening devices in the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.
Which of the following was not an important demographic trends during the 1990s?
Rising rates of emigration from the U.S. to Europe.
Which of the following is not a threat to America identified by Donald Trump in his 2015 announcement of candidacy (Doc: Donald Trump, Announcement of Candidacy)?
Secret efforts by Russia to undermine American elections.
Which of the following was not an argument raised in the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling (Doc: United States Supreme Court, Brown v. Board of Education decision)?
Segregation laws can be constitutional only if approved by a majority of voting citizens in the state where they are enacted.
Which of the following gatherings did not play a key role in the planning of the postwar world order?
The Munich conference.
Which of the following was not an argument raised by conservative critics of the New Deal?
The New Deal failed to address racial or gender inequalities.
Which of the following was not a significant event during the 1980s?
The break-up of the Beatles.
Which of the following was not a reason for American reluctance to confront the rise of Nazism and fascism in Europe during the 1930s?
The ethnic loyalties of many Americans of German, Italian, or Irish descent.
Which of the following was not a theme of Popular Front radicalism?
The labor movement must play a leading role in the crusade for social justice.
Which of the following was not a key element of the Four Freedoms promoted by President Roosevelt (FDR) (Doc: Franklin Roosevelt, The Four Freedoms)?
The only things Americans have to fear is fear itself.
Which of the following was not a significant event of the 1970s?
The removal of the Berlin Wall.
A key principle of the Students for a Democratic Society's 1962 Port Huron Statement was "participatory democracy." (Doc: Students for a Democratic Society, Port Huron Statement)
True
According to Adlai Stevenson (Doc: Adlai Stevenson, A Purpose for Modern Woman), a woman in postwar America can find her greatest fulfilment, and make her greatest contribution, as a homemaker.
True
According to former president Herbert Hoover (Doc: Herbert Hoover, Crisis to Free Men), the New Deal posed an alarming threat to American freedom.
True
According to the Bush administration's doctrine of "preemption," the U.S. may start a war against another country that it deems hostile, even if that country poses no imminent threat to the U.S. (Doc: National Security Council, The National Security Strategy of the United States)
True
According to the National Security Council's 1950 statement (Doc: NSC 68), Soviet communism poses a grave threat to American-style freedom.
True
Although it was happening all over the country, 1950s suburbanization found its greatest momentum out West.
True
Amid the rise of the Cold War, America tended to define "human rights" in terms of political freedom, while Russia stressed social and economic entitlements.
True
As WWII drew to a close, tensions emerged among Allied powers over Stalin's reluctance to allow self-rule in eastern Europe, and Churchill's reluctance to allow self-rule for Britain's colonies.
True
During the Fifties, material consumption come increasingly to surpass economic independence and democratic engagement as the leading measure of American freedom.
True
During the first decade of the 21st century, consensus grew in the scientific community that climate change posed a dire threat to life on Earth.
True
Grassroots protest crusades -- such as those led by Huey Long, Upton Sinclair, Father Charles Coughlin, and Dr. Francis Townsend -- did much to fuel the passage of the 1935 Social Security Act.
True
In 1983, President Reagan shook up U.S./Soviet relations by announcing a Strategic Defense Initiative, designed to create a defensive shield against incoming Soviet missiles.
True
In his speech at a black church at the outset of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Dr. Martin Luther King assures his listeners their protests are consistent with the doctrines of the Constitution and of Christian scripture. (Doc: Martin Luther King, Jr., Address to Mass Meeting in Montgomery)
True
In the 1990s, African Americans figured disproportionately among the ranks of incarcerated citizens.
True
In their respective statements (Docs: Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Speech on Communists, and Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, Declaration of Conscience), Senator McCarthy speaks to the urgency of rooting out communist infiltration, while Senator Smith speaks to the urgency of protecting individual liberty.
True
In their respective statements, Gloria Steinem speaks out against pervasive discrimination against women, and Jerry Falwell speaks out against the cultural threat posed by feminism. (Docs: Gloria Steinem, Testimony, and Jerry Falwell, Feminism)
True
The Occupy movement that arose in 2011 drew its energy from a conviction that class inequalities in America had grown to grotesque extremes.
True
The impeachment of President Clinton failed to gain the support of most Americans.
True
Which of the following was not a provision of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act?
Unions cannot discriminate on the basis of race.
Which of the following was not a policy implemented by the federal government during the Clinton era?
Universal Health Care
Which of the following was not a major thrust of the "Second New Deal" (1935-36)?
Universal health care.
Which of the following was not a major cause of Franklin Roosevelt's landslide victory over Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential election?
Voters were impressed by the elaborate blueprints for Roosevelt's "New Deal" program.
Which of the following was not a key theme of the Reagan revolution?
We need to revive the government activism pioneered by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Which of the following questions was not a focus of debate within the civil rights movement?
Whether it's worth crusading to eliminate Jim Crow.
Which of the following was not a significant point of debate between supporters and critics of the U.S. war in Iraq?
Whether or not Saddam Hussein was a humane and popular leader.
