TJC US History Chapter 27
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.
Why did President Truman veto the McCarran Internal Security Act?
He felt it promoted thought control.
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 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 is true of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947?
It allowed the president to impose a "cooling-off" period during major strikes.
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.
What was the role of the Truman Doctrine?
It committed the United States to help "free peoples" facing pressure from communism.
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 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 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.
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
In response to Truman's actions and policies up to that point, the 1946 congressional elections resulted in
Republican control of Congress.
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
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.
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 stance of the Dixiecrats in the 1948 campaign?
They supported states' rights and racial segregation.
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.
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.
UN forces reaching the Yalu River brought about
a massive Chinese intervention
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
On the domestic front, President Truman soon made clear his intention to
enlarge the New Deal.
Senator McCarthy was very effective in
exploiting public fears.
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.
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
Truman's response to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin in 1948 was to
launch a massive airlift of supplies into West Berlin.
The Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb in 1949 inspired Truman to
order the development of a hydrogen bomb.
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.
Truman viewed the results of the 1948 election as a mandate for
social welfare programs.
In 1947, President Truman took actions to banish Communists from ________ by issuing an executive order known as the Loyalty Order.
the federal government
The Yalta pledges of democratic elections in Eastern Europe were
violated by the Soviet Union.
