US History 1302 Exam 3

What was so ironic about Dean Acheson's speech to the Delta Council in 1947?

Acheson praised the president's defense of democratic institutions in the place that did not know democracy.

What was the "final solution"?

Adolf Hitler's plan to mass-exterminate "undesirable" peoples

Organized labor assisted in the war effort by:

Agreeing to a no strike pledge

"D-Day" refers to the:

Allied invasion of Europe at Normandy

Men like Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and Father Coughlin were members of the:

America First committee, an isolationist group.

​Why did the US back away from pressuring its European allies to grant self-government to colonies in Asia and Africa?

American diplomats valued nations like France more highly for their alliance in the European Cold War

How did wartime experiences change Mexican-American life in California?

Employment opportunities in the defense sector prompted Mexican-Americans to find work outside of their neighborhoods.

In the 1950s what did the term "totalitarianism" describe?

Fascism, Nazism, communism

What does Henry Luce see as the cure for America in his book The American Century?

For America to exert its influence on the world.

Who did publisher Henry Luce credit with the provision of "the abundant life" in his blueprint for postwar prosperity, The American Century?

Free enterprise

What obstacle did Harry Truman face when he assumed the presidency following the death of Franklin Roosevelt in April 1945?

Harry Truman had absolutely no experience in foreign policy, the most important qualification at this point in American history.

Why did Franklin D. Roosevelt announce his candidacy for a third term in 1940?

He argued that the recovery was too fragile and the international situation too dangerous for him to leave his post.

What made Elvis such a popular celebrity?

He brought the rhythms and sexually provocative movements of black musicians to white audiences.

How did President Dwight D. Eisenhower surpass the New Deal in government involvement in the economy?

He presided over the construction of 41,000 miles of interstate highways

On what grounds did the Austrian-born economist Friedrich A. Hayek reject the New Deal state?

He was convinced that even the best intentioned government planning efforts would threaten individual liberties.

​Why was it inevitable that the US and the Soviet Union would eventually come into conflict after the war ended?

Historically, both nations had never shared long-term interests or values

​How did the Soviet focus on social and economic rights in the Cold War human rights debate affect American attitudes?

In the climate of anti communist hysteria, it prompted many Americans to condemn these rights as a first step to socialism

What did Roosevelt mean by the phrase "Freedom from Want?"

Initially, it was a call to eliminate barriers to international trade. AND It suggested the Great Depression would not continue after the war.

What made the Army-McCarthy Hearings unusual for American television programming of the 1950s?

It was deeply political and controversial

How did World War II affect the west coast of the United States?

Millions of Americans moved to California for jobs and military service.

What about the golden age of capitalism between 1946 and 1960 was most beneficial for Americans?

Most monetary gains reached ordinary citizens through rising wages

How did "Patriotic Assimilation" differ from "Americanization"?

Patriotic assimilation described the American way of life, where people of different backgrounds could live together in freedom and unite as a people.

The policy of "containment" can best be described as:

Preventing the spread of communism world wide

Why were American suburbs of the 1950s so heavily segregated?

Residents, brokers, and realtors dealt in contracts and mortgages that barred the sale to non-white residents.

What did Eleanor Roosevelt do of particular significance several years after the war ended?

She chaired the committee that drafted the United Nation's "Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Why did the United States Supreme Court not order the immediate implementation of its ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954?

Some justices on the Court feared the outbreak of widespread violence with such a bold ruling.

After World War II, the only nation that could rival the United States was:

Soviet Union

How did World War II change the role of corporations in American life?

Technological innovation and high productivity in the war effort restored the reputation of corporations from its Depression lows.

How did the Freedom Train suggest the meaning of freedom remained controversial?

The Wagner Act, the law guaranteeing workers' right to form unions, was removed from inclusion in the documents display

What gave conservatives of the 1950s their political unity?

The common enemies of the Soviet Union and the federal government

Why was it unlikely that the Soviet Union was going to embark on a new military campaign in the years following World War II?

The communist nation had suffered more than 20 million casualties, along with immense devastation

Why did the Eisenhower administration embrace the doctrine of "massive retaliation"?

The constant threat of mutually assured destruction under the doctrine made for more cautious diplomacy.

​What inspiration did Martin Luther King Jr. gain from Mahatma Gandhi?

The idea of peaceful civil disobedience.

How did American companies contribute to the influx of Puerto Rican migrants by the hundreds of thousands beginning in the 1950s?

The increasing control of land by U.S. sugar companies on the island pushed small tobacco and coffee farmers off the land and into a search for jobs on the mainland.

How had the political climate changed in the South during World War II in the early Cold War years?

The number of African-Americans in the region that were registered to vote increased sevenfold.

What taste of freedom did women enjoy in World War II?

The perks of doing men's jobs.

Why did nearly 5 million workers walk off their jobs over the course of 1946?

The removal of price controls resulted in a drop in workers' real income

Why did the United States allow West Germany to become part of a defensive alliance less than ten years after the defeat of Nazi Germany?

The successful Soviet detonation of a nuclear bomb underlined the importance of a militarily united West.

What did Henry Luce and Henry Wallace have in common?

They both put forth a new conception of America's role in the world based in part on internationalism and on the idea that the American experience should serve as a model for all other nations.

Why did so many American workers walk out of their jobs between 1943 and 1944?

They charged their employers with the unseemly expansion of corporate profits

Why did the Soviet Union strongly support the national independence movements in the new Third World?

They hoped to convince new nations to ally themselves with the eastern bloc against European and American imperialists.

How did black organizations employ the language of the Cold War?

They noted how the Russians could use racism to damage America's image abroad, given its hypocrisy about the meaning of "freedom" at home.

Why did American policymakers agree to spend billions of dollars on the economic recovery of Europe under the Marshall Plan?

They were afraid that if they did not help with the recovery, western European nations might fall into the Soviet sphere of influence.

Why did anticommunist Harry Truman veto the McCarran-Walter Act?

Truman had become alarmed at the excesses of the anticommunist crusade

How did the United States respond to Joseph Stalin's blockade around Berlin?

Truman ordered that supplies be brought to Berlin via an airlift

Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed which kind of individuals to his cabinet?

Wealthy businessmen to run the government like an efficient business.

The charges against which of the following organizations led to the downfall of Joseph McCarthy in 1954?

army

The impact of the Cold War on American culture was:

especially evident in the movies.

Who were the "Dixiecrats"?

southern Democrats who withdrew from the Democratic Party during the 1948 presidential election as a result of the Democratic Party's proposed civil rights legislation.

William Levitt, with the help of the GI Bill, gave many Americans the opportunity to:

to buy a home