TJC US History Exam 4
Though Johnson believed the United States had an obligation to keep its promises to South Vietnam, another reason why he committed American forces to combat operations was to
"Americanize" the war and avoid the political damage of seeming soft on communism by losing.
How did Eisenhower describe his domestic policy of dynamic conservatism?
"conservative when it comes to money, and liberal when it comes to human beings"
What was one way in which the intervention of the United States in Iran in the 1950s was significant?
A CIA-engineered coup in Iran was viewed as successful and emboldened Eisenhower to authorize other secret operations to undermine governments thought to be falling victim to communism.
Which of the following occurred at Columbia University in 1968?
A student protest shut down the campus.
Which of the following was true of the settlement ending the Vietnam War, known as the Paris Peace Accords?
Although Nixon and Kissinger ended America's combat role and claimed North Vietnam had changed its basic stance, North Vietnam had actually left Communist troops in South Vietnam.
Which of the following statements accurately describes President Eisenhower's civil rights record?
Although committed in principle, he took a very passive approach to civil rights in reality, preferring to leave the issue to local and state governments.
Which of the following is an accurate assessment of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960?
Although they were the first civil rights laws since the late nineteenth century, they ultimately were watered down in terms of enforcement and, thus, failed to have much consequence.
Which of the following statements accurately characterizes the United States in the 1950s?
Although white, middle-class Americans enjoyed unprecedented economic growth, the idealized image of America at the time was much more complicated in terms of race and class, and many feared what the new age of nuclear terror might bring.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago?
Anti-war protests outside it turned into massive riots following the arrival of police.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the impact of the GI Bill on African Americans?
Benefits experienced by African Americans were limited because for example, most colleges and universities remained racially segregated and refused to admit blacks.
Why did the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) work to replace the leaders of Guatemala and Iran in the 1950s?
Both countries had governments viewed as "unfriendly" regimes, and it was feared they would join the Soviet bloc.
Why was the summit between Gorbachev and Reagan at Reykjavik significant?
Both sides agreed that a nuclear war was undesirable and began discussing disarmament.
Which of the following was a result of the massive national debt?
Bush had to recommend tax increases.
After April 1970, American troops entered ________ to "clean out" hidden Communist military bases, thereby extending the Vietnam War.
Cambodia
Nixon's new relationship with China was made possible by
China's growing fear of the Soviet Union.
What obstacles did John F. Kennedy face in terms of enacting his domestic programs?
Conservative southern Democrats joined with Republicans in blocking efforts such as those to increase federal aid to education.
What was the significance of the "falling-domino" theory?
Describing how quickly communism would spread once it infiltrated a nation, the theory was used by Eisenhower to justify beginning conflicts such as the Vietnam War, despite the fact that anti-colonial insurgencies often resulted from nationalist motives.
How has the public and historical perception of Truman's presidency evolved over time?
During Truman's presidency, many Americans blamed him for issues such as higher taxes and higher prices for consumers brought by the war, but years later, many have come to view him more positively, appreciating that he dealt with a complex set of problems.
By the spring of 1945, the United States and Britain were becoming deeply concerned over Soviet actions in
Eastern Europe.
In 1957, nine African American students attended Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas for the first time. Which of the following statements accurately describes the actions taken by Eisenhower?
Eisenhower reluctantly dispatched federal troops there to maintain law and order, angering many southern politicians.
Where in Central America was the Reagan administration seriously concerned that Communist-backed revolutionaries might take over, spurring a new "domino" theory?
El Salvador
Since the nineteenth century, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia had been ruled by
France
As the 1972 election approached, the biggest threat to Nixon's reelection seemed to be
George Wallace's potential to drain away conservative votes from the Republicans.
The governor of Alabama who stood in the door to prevent black students from entering, proclaiming "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!" was
George Wallace.
What were some ways in which Reagan's presidency was transformational?
He accelerated the nation's shift toward conservatism and helped diffuse the cold war.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the approach Carter took in his 1979 Crisis of Confidence speech?
He appeared to blame Americans themselves for focusing on materialism rather than on what he felt was important in life.
What did Reagan accomplish as president that was likely to please his more conservative supporters at the time?
He appointed a number of conservative judges to the federal court system.
Which of the following statements accurately summarizes John F. Kennedy's stance on civil rights?
He celebrated racial equality but was reluctant to promote it himself due to the fear of alienating potential political allies.
Martin Luther King Jr. took which of the following approaches in writing his "Letter from Birmingham Jail"?
He declared his preference for nonviolent civil disobedience.
Why did President Truman veto the McCarran Internal Security Act?
He felt it promoted thought control.
By 1968, how did Johnson see his position in relation to the Vietnam War?
He felt trapped in that he saw neither a clear path to victory nor a way to withdraw without appearing weak.
Which of the following accurately describes Richard Nixon in the years leading up to the 1960 presidential election?
He had a reputation for hardline anti-communism and a tendency to conceal his real ideas.
Which of the following statements describes the role State Department official George Kennan played in the onset of the cold war?
He recommended that the United States contain Soviet expansionist tendencies through efforts to undermine the appeal of Soviet communism.
What stance did Eisenhower take in terms of New Deal programs?
He retained most New Deal programs and even expanded some of them, while also working to rid the government of the "excesses" that had resulted from many years of Democratic control.
Which of the following did Richard Nixon do in order to undermine the Democrats and increase his own chances of winning the election in 1968?
He secretly contacted the South Vietnamese government and offered better terms for peace negotiations, hoping to sabotage Johnson's efforts to end the war sooner.
What is significant about the way Truman got the United States involved in the Korean War?
He was able to do it without a congressional declaration, bypassing a constitutional provision.
Which of the following statements accurately describes Lyndon Johnson?
He yearned to be recognized as a transformational leader.
The figure who MOST influenced Nixon's foreign policy was
Henry Kissinger.
Encouraged American propaganda broadcasts through Radio Free Europe, ________ nationalists rebelled against occupying Communist troops in 1956.
Hungarian
What was one impact of the Tet offensive?
In part due to its scope, intensity, and surprise nature, it decisively turned public opinion against Johnson's war policy.
Which of the following is true of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947?
It allowed the president to impose a "cooling-off" period during major strikes.
Which of the following statements accurately describes Lebanon by the early 1980s?
It became an anarchic battleground for warring factions.
As a result of the global burdens the United States assumed after the Second World War, how did the federal government change?
It became larger, more powerful, and more secretive, in part due to the actions of both major political parties and the lobbying efforts of the military-industrial complex.
Which of the following is true of the Cuban missile crisis?
It brought the United States and the Soviet Union close to nuclear war.
What was the role of the Truman Doctrine?
It committed the United States to help "free peoples" facing pressure from communism.
What was the significance of the Federal-Aid Highway Act (1956)?
It created a large network of interstate highways, which in turn helped create jobs, tourism opportunities, and economic growth.
What did the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) do to punish the United States for supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War?
It cut off oil shipments to the United States.
What role did Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique play in American history?
It explained the challenges of many upper- and middle-class women and helped launch the second phase of the feminist movement.
Which of the following was true of Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative?
It forced the Soviets to spend extensively to keep pace.
In retrospect, what was an effect of Johnson's approach to addressing poverty in the United States?
It generated middle-class resentment that benefited the Republican party.
By the end of 1991, what was the state of the Soviet Union?
It had fallen apart, as most of its fifteen republics had proclaimed their independence.
What was one way in which the 1957 Soviet launch of Sputnik was significant?
It led to increased U.S. government funding for science education and defense spending.
What was one reason why the Iranian hostage question was significant?
It loomed over Carter's presidency and became a symbol of his failures.
Which of the following is true of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
It outlawed segregation in public facilities on the basis of race, sex, or national origin.
What did Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 do?
It prohibited educational programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance from showing gender discrimination.
What was the role of the GI Bill?
It provided loans to veterans for education, job training, and the building of homes and businesses.
What is one way the Chinese civil war proved significant for the cold war?
It resulted in the victory of Communists over Chinese Nationalists, and the Communists would go on to intervene in the Korean War to aid their North Korean allies.
What trend did home ownership tend to follow between 1945 and 1960?
It significantly increased.
What was the Supreme Court's decision in the case Brown v. Board of Education?
It struck down "separate but equal" in public education.
Which of the following was a legacy of the Watergate scandal?
It suggested the lesson that not even a president is above the law, even though Nixon did avoid jail time.
In early 1968, what was one result of increasing opposition to the war within Johnson's own party?
It ultimately led Johnson to opt out of the presidential race.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)?
It was a civil rights organization led by Martin Luther King Jr. that coordinated activities between a cluster of organizations such as churches and community groups.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the baby boom in the United States?
It was a postwar trend that reinforced the idea that a woman's place was in the home and helped drive economic growth due the market of goods centered on children.
What was the role of the Marshall Plan?
It was an international economic recovery program that also sought to reduce socialist influence in Europe and reestablish a strong Western Europe rooted in American values.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the result of the 1960 election?
It was likely determined by African American votes in a few key states.
What was the phenomenon of "white flight" in the 1950s after the Second World War?
It was the movement of many whites to suburbs in response to the migration of African Americans from the rural South to northern cities in search of better opportunities after the war.
In 1964, which of the following was true of the University of California at Berkeley?
It was the site of the formation of the free-speech movement (FSM) following a student sit-in.
Which of the following was true of the Bay of Pigs invasion?
It was thoroughly bungled and embarrassed Kennedy.
Which of the followings statements describes the state of South Vietnam in the early 1960s at the beginning of Kennedy's term?
Kennedy was increasing the number of American military "advisers" there because the Viet Cong had been undermining the government of Ngo Dinh Diem.
Which of the following occurred in Asia with the end of the Second World War?
Korea became divided into northern and southern halves, with the Soviets organizing a Communist government in the north and the Americans then helping to establish a democratic government in the south.
The Gulf War was triggered by Saddam Hussein's invasion of
Kuwait
Who was the reform-minded Soviet premier who emerged in the mid-1980s and sought to restructure the economy through perestroika?
Mikhail Gorbachev
What was the state of car ownership in America by 1955?
Most American households owned a car, resulting in a greater range of choices such as the growth of fast-food restaurants as well as unintended consequences such as environmental pollution.
Which of the following is true of Truman's Fair Deal proposals by and large?
Most of them were simply extensions or enlargements of New Deal programs, and a bipartisan conservative coalition in Congress successfully stopped their passage.
Authored by Paul Nitze, ________ endorsed a massive militarized version of containment that guided American foreign policy for decades.
NSC-68
Which of the following reorganized the American defense and intelligence establishment in 1947, creating the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of Defense, National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency?
National Security Act
What had happened in South Vietnam by the end of 1975 following the Paris Peace Accords?
North Vietnamese troops gained the upper hand over South Vietnam, successfully invading and capturing Saigon.
In response to Truman's actions and policies up to that point, the 1946 congressional elections resulted in
Republican control of Congress.
Which of the following occurred during or as a result of the 1964 election?
Republicans continued to make gains in the Deep South, highlighting the region's shift to that party.
Which of the following led to Clinton's election to the presidency?
Ross Perot's third-party candidacy took Republican votes from Bush.
Which of the following was a result of the 1991 First Gulf War?
Saddam Hussein remained in power, but some Arabs felt humiliated by the American triumph.
John F. Kennedy described which country as the "cornerstone of the free world in Southeast Asia"?
South Vietnam
An impact of the Korean War was that Truman authorized increased assistance for French troops fighting a Communist independence movement in a French colony in ________, beginning U.S. military involvement there.
Southeast Asia
What was the significance of the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade?
The Court ruled that women have a "right to choose" whether to keep a pregnancy, as it would affect their health and well-being.
Which of the following statements is true in regard to Israel's founding in 1948?
The United States became the first country to recognize the Jewish state.
Which of the following complicated American efforts to defeat the Viet Cong in South Vietnam?
The Viet Cong were made up of men and women who blended in among the civilian population.
What did the events in the neighborhood of Watts reveal about the state of the civil rights movement in 1965?
The civil rights movement had begun to fragment, and what came to be called "black power" was competing with the integrationist, nonviolent philosophy of leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr.
Why was the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) significant to American foreign policy?
The commitment to NATO as a mutual defense alliance against the Soviet Union marked an end to isolationism in the United States.
What was the state of the American economy after the Gulf War, and what was one way it was significant?
The economy was depressed, creating anxiety among Americans and affecting the 1992 election results between Bush and Bill Clinton.
Which of the following statements accurately characterizes the period of the 1960s and early 1970s?
The forces that contributed to the complacent prosperity of the fifties had ironically contributed to the sense of upheaval and unprecedented counterculture that helped define the sixties and early seventies.
What was the state of the hippie movement at the very end of the 1960s?
The hard realities the hippies experienced, such as poverty and drug addiction, had caused the hippie phenomenon to begin to fade.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
The law ensured all citizens the right to vote, resulting in the dramatic expansion of black votes in the South.
What was the idea behind the New Frontier according to John F. Kennedy?
The metaphor lent itself to Kennedy's intentions for America to explore science and space, embark on issues of poverty and surplus, and be more aggressive in waging the cold war than Eisenhower.
Which of the following statements characterizes the 1970s in the United States?
The nation experienced public frustration and a loss in self-confidence in the wake of the failed Vietnam War, Watergate scandal, and spike in oil prices.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the youths of the counterculture?
They focused more on cultural and individual change than political activism.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the burglars arrested at the Watergate apartment complex?
They had connections to the CIA and the Nixon campaign, helping engage in partisan sabotage.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the Pentagon Papers?
They revealed that the Johnson administration had deceived the public in regard to war policy, having never given them the full story on the Gulf of Tonkin incident of 1964.
How did unions tend to fare during the 1980s?
They suffered steady declines in membership.
What was the stance of the Dixiecrats in the 1948 campaign?
They supported states' rights and racial segregation.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the Beats?
This controversial group of artists was self-absorbed and reckless, and often rejected traditional responsibilities of middle-class life.
During Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency, moderate republicanism involved the promise of restoring the authority of state and local governments.
True
Which of the following statements accurately describes the political climate as the 1948 election approached?
Truman had not yet successfully cast away the widespread impression that he was not up to the role of president, and most political analysts assumed he would lose the next election.
Nixon's trip to the Soviet Union resulted in
U.S. wheat sales to the Soviets.
Richard Nixon's victory in the election of 1968 was made possible by what shift in voting behaviors?
White wage earners from both the North and South were increasingly voting Republican instead of Democrat.
What was the significance of the birth-control pill in the 1960s?
Widespread access to the pill led to more open discussion of birth control, reproduction, and sexuality in general.
What contributed to the end of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe?
With his eyes on the future, Gorbachev sought harmony and trade with the West and renounced the history of Soviet intervention in other Communist countries.
What were among the main U.S. foreign policy concerns following the Second World War and why?
With the elimination of German Nazism, the United States and the Soviet Union no longer seemed to share a united goal; the power vacuums in Europe and Asia due to the defeat of the Germans and Japanese left the Americans and Soviets competing for global influence.
Which of the following differentiated the postwar era from earlier periods of prosperity?
a consumer culture in which a large number of people participated
Who were the Yippies?
a countercultural and anarchistic group who wanted to overthrow the power structure
UN forces reaching the Yalu River brought about
a massive Chinese intervention
The Nixon Doctrine implied a foreign policy that was shaped largely by
a need to be selective in its commitments abroad.
What was one major factor working in Reagan's favor in his 1984 reelection bid?
a robustly growing economy
Economists coined the term "stagflation" in the early 1970s to describe
a simultaneously stagnant economy with inflationary prices.
According to the advertisements in popular magazines at the time, the ideal woman of the mid-1950s was
a white suburban housewife.
The hippie movement sought to
achieve personal liberation by exceeding limits, embracing plain living, and rejecting the pursuit of wealth and careers.
Drawing on the assumptions of the "domino theory," Truman believed the Soviet and Communist activities in Greece would
allow for the fall of the other nations in eastern Mediterranean, followed by those in Western Europe, if unchecked.
To what did Winston Churchill compare the boundary between Soviet-occupied Eastern Europe and Western Europe?
an iron curtain
What was the Moral Majority?
an organization that campaigned for the political and social objectives of the Christian Right, including the reversal of the legalization of abortion and the reduction of the size of the government
The major motivation behind the "Saturday Night Massacre" was Nixon's desire to
avoid handing over the key White House tapes.
By 1966, black leaders like Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown were proponents of what they termed
black power.
Nixon's southern strategy involved winning southern support by
capitalizing on southerners' skepticism of federal social welfare programs.
The single most important stimulant to the postwar economy was
cold war-related military spending.
In part because of the Black Power movement, by the mid-1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. had decided to
emphasize the need for economic uplift for the black urban poor.
On the domestic front, President Truman soon made clear his intention to
enlarge the New Deal.
The energy crisis of the early 1970s increased support for
environmentalism
By 1960-1961, a number of students had become inspired to become social reform activists by the
example of the American civil rights movement, such as that of the Greensboro four.
Senator McCarthy was very effective in
exploiting public fears.
The feminist movement experienced a setback with the
failure of the states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.
What prompted Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?
false reports that the North Vietnamese had fired on two American naval ships
The marine lieutenant colonel at the center of the Iran-Contra affair, Oliver North, was using profits from the sale of arms to Iran to
finance the Nicaraguan Contras.
Why did Truman fire General MacArthur?
for insubordination
One of Truman's strengths as he assumed the presidency was his
genuine demeanor and ability to arise above his limitations.
President Johnson's first priority on the domestic front was to
get Kennedy's legislative program through Congress.
false reports that the North Vietnamese had fired on two American naval ships
get Kennedy's legislative program through Congress.
With the end of the Second World War, women workers who had taken on traditionally male jobs during the war were encouraged to
give up their jobs to returning veterans.
Which of the following did Nixon's policy of "Vietnamization" involve?
gradually reducing the number of American troops in Vietnam
President Carter's greatest foreign policy success was
helping negotiate the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt.
One of President Carter's greatest flaws involved
his efforts to do too much too quickly without consulting with Democratic legislators.
Which of the following helped Jimmy Carter win the 1976 election?
his non-Washington background in the aftermath of Watergate
Which of the following appears to have led to the cold war in retrospect?
ideological competition between democratic capitalism and totalitarian communism and their opposing views of what the postwar world should become
What triggered the 1987 "Black Monday" stock market crash?
investors' fears that the federal government would never address the growing budget deficits
The Panamanian government of Manuel Noriega was at odds with the Bush administration because of its
involvement in the drug trade.
The Reagan administration's initial response to AIDS was to
largely ignore it as a "gay" disease.
Truman's response to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin in 1948 was to
launch a massive airlift of supplies into West Berlin.
By the end of 1970, the unemployment rate in the United States
nearly doubled.
Blacks who moved to northern cities tended to find
new problems due to racial prejudice but better lives overall.
What tactic did Martin Luther King Jr. and the activists who organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott follow in their protest?
nonviolent civil disobedience
The Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb in 1949 inspired Truman to
order the development of a hydrogen bomb.
Nixon's Watergate-related resignation came with the revelation that he had
ordered a cover-up of the original Watergate break-in.
Gerald Ford suffered terrible political damage when he
pardoned Nixon.
In The Affluent Society, John Kenneth Galbraith pointed out the
persistence of poverty in the 1950s.
A huge demographic factor behind Reagan's electoral success was
population growth in the South and the West.
Michael Harrington's book The Other America influenced President Johnson to declare war on
poverty
An important reason for passage of the GI Bill was to
prevent widespread unemployment.
During the 1980s, the U.S. economy shifted from being ________ to being increasingly ________.
production oriented; service oriented
Which of the following was one of President Jimmy Carter's early successes?
pushing significant environmental initiatives through Congress
One major reason that the Second World War inspired postwar changes in race relations in the United States was the
racist nature of opponents of the United States, such as the Nazis, during the war.
The music Alan Freed labeled "rock 'n' roll" was actually
rhythm and blues.
The first step in Egyptian General Gamal Abdel Nasser's bid to become the leader of the Arab world was
seizing the Suez Canal.
In the election of 1968, Richard Nixon appealed to those he described as the ________ of working- and middle- class Americans who viewed protesters of the time with contempt.
silent majority
Truman viewed the results of the 1948 election as a mandate for
social welfare programs.
What was the policy of "massive resistance" as promoted by senators such as Harry F. Byrd of Virginia?
southern opposition led by the Citizens' Councils and local and state governments against federal efforts to integrate public schools
The American policy of "massive retaliation" refers to the
strategy of using the threat of nuclear war to prevent Communist aggression and, thus, keeping the financial cost manageable.
Essential to breaking the Watergate case was the 1973 testimony before the Ervin committee of White House legal counsel John Dean. What did he testify?
that the president had approved a White House cover-up
What did President Johnson label his overall program of domestic reform?
the Great Society
***What was glasnost?
the Russian term for "openness," which was applied to the loosening of censorship in the Soviet Union
Senator Joseph McCarthy's power began to unravel when he made reckless charges about Communist influence in
the U.S. Army.
Violence erupted in 1962 when James Meredith attempted to integrate
the University of Mississippi.
The guerilla fighters in South Vietnam who sought to overthrow the U.S.-backed government were known as
the Viet Cong.
During the election of 1968, candidate George Wallace hoped for what scenario?
the absence of an electoral majority for Humphrey and Nixon, resulting in the election going to the House of Representatives
One of the factors that contributed to religion's growing appeal in the 1950s was
the desire to combat "godless" communism.
Johnson's Medicare program provided medical benefits to
the elderly.
Which of the following were among John F. Kennedy's shortcomings?
the fact that much of the glamour surrounding him was cosmetic
In 1947, President Truman took actions to banish Communists from ________ by issuing an executive order known as the Loyalty Order.
the federal government
What key invention led to computers becoming smaller and more common in American households in the 1980s?
the microprocessor
Who were known as the "great silent majority"?
the middle-class Americans whose votes had brought Richard Nixon to the presidency
Before becoming president, Eisenhower was MOST shaped by his experience in
the military.
Which of the following did James (Jimmy) Carter Jr. represent?
the new moderate wing of the Democratic party
What protest tactic did black students in Greensboro, North Carolina initiate?
the sit-in
The postwar era witnessed its most dramatic population growth in
the suburbs.
What did George H. W. Bush's goal or approach as president seem to be?
to consolidate Reagan's policies and achievements
What was the main reason the Soviets placed missiles in Cuba?
to deter another American-supported invasion of Cuba
By the 1950s, suburban life was marked by an increasing
uniformity
To many voters in 1980, Ronald Reagan, in contrast to Jimmy Carter, seemed to be a(n)
upbeat personality who offered appealing, simple solutions to issues.
During his presidency, Gerald Ford achieved a record for
vetoes
The Yalta pledges of democratic elections in Eastern Europe were
violated by the Soviet Union.