Quiz 4: 25-27
The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was part of the Japanese plan to
knock out a significant portion of American naval bases in the Pacific.
One consequence of the Korean War was a
massive increase in U.S. defense spending.
The most important changes in civil rights in United States in the 1950s were instituted by
ordinary African Americans.
In February 1945, the Big Three met at Yalta to discuss
postwar self determination for the people of Eastern Europe.
The objective of the Neutrality Act of 1937 was to
prevent increasing American involvement in European affairs.
In the Atlantic Charter in August of 1941, the United States and England agreed to
protect the freedom of the seas, free trade, and the right of national self-determination.
Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's fundamental military strategy after the attack on Pearl Harbor was to
quickly conquer and secure Japan's targets, before the United States could mobilize its manpower and resources.
What was President Eisenhower's most important and far
reaching domestic initiative?-The passage of the Interstate Highway and Defense System Act of 1956
The Montgomery, Alabama, police arrested Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955, because she
refused give up her seat on the bus to a white man.
The work of 1950s authors Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac was known for
rejecting almost every aspect of the mainstream culture.
The smog that plagued Los Angeles in the 1950s was the result of
sprawling urban and suburban settlements without efficient public transportation.
In February 1948, while Congress debated the Marshall Plan, the Soviet Union was
staging a coup and installing a Communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
The revolution in the visual arts that began in New York City in the 1950s
stressed energy and spontaneity over recognizable forms.
The Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 can be characterized as
symbolic.
By 1947, the intense rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States was called
the Cold War.
One reason many Americans moved to the Sun Belt in the 1950s was
the advent of air conditioning, which made it possible to live and work in the region more comfortably.
One unintended consequence of the federal government's program to relocate Native Americans was
the emergence of a militant pan-Indian movement two decades later.
In his campaign for the presidency in 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower emphasized
the threat of communism and the need to win decisively in Korea.
The Allies divided Germany in 1946 because
they could not agree on the country's future.
In the post-World War II era, the term third world was used to refer to
those outside the Western and Eastern blocs that had yet to develop industrial economies.
The United States reacted to the Soviet Union's successful launch of Sputnik in 1957
with a feeling of inferiority about U.S. scientific and technological development.
How many American women saw combat duty during World War II?
0
About how many soldiers and sailors served in the U.S. armed forces by the end of World War II?
16 million
Between 1955 and 1961, the United States spent $800 million in South Vietnam, most of it to
fund the South Vietnamese army.
Operation Wetback revealed that most white Americans
generally opposed the permanent immigration of Mexicans.
In the Tripartite Pact of 1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan agreed to
form a defensive alliance among imperial powers.
In which countries did the United States first use the policy of containment? Why?
A United States policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad. A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge communist influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam.
What occurrence made April 30, 1945, a turning point in the war?
Adolf Hitler killed himself in his underground bunker.
Which group was forced to train in segregated camps, live in segregated barracks, and serve in segregated units during World War II?
African Americans
The Double V campaign called for both victory in the war and victory for
African Americans fighting racial prejudice at home.
How did U.S. involvement in Korea reflect the nation's Cold War containment policy?
American involvement in the Korean War in the early 1950s reflected the American policy of containment of communism.
Why did Joseph Stalin feel that U.S. foreign policy after World War II was hypocritical?
Americans were demanding democratic elections in Eastern Europe but supporting friendly dictatorships in Latin America.
Why were there so many labor strikes in the United States after World War II?
Because of the staggering increase in the cost of living after WWII, as well as the end of wartime bonuses and overtime, organized labor demanded higher wages and went on strikes when employers refused.
How did the war in Korea affect the 1952 presidential election in the United States?
Because people were tired of the war, they wanted it to be over with. They equated Stevenson with Truman, who had not been able to bring the war to an end. They thought that Eisenhower would be more assertive and would get the war over with one way or another.Although Dwight D. Eisenhower might well have won the 1952 election without the Korean War, that war helped him be more certain of victory. The stalemate in the war and Eisenhower's credibility as a hero from World War II helped to seal his victory. By 1952, the war in Korea had become a stalemate. As such, it had become rather unpopular in the United States. Eisenhower used the people's unhappiness over the war to his benefit. One of the major themes of his campaign was that the Democrats had mishandled the war. He charged that the Democrats had not been sufficiently prepared for a war. Because of that, he said, the war had ended up in a stalemate. He had credibility on such issues because of WWII. He promised to find a way to end the war if elected. This, too, helped make him more popular.
How did the Eisenhower administration's Indian policy represent a shift from New Deal-era policy? How did compensation, termination, and relocation affect Native Americans?
Beginning in 1953, Eisenhower signed bills transferring jurisdiction over tribal lands in several states to state and local governments; the loss of federal hospitals, schools and other special arrangements devastated the indigenous populations. The government encouraged Native Americans to move to cities, providing one-way bus tickets and relocation centers to help with housing, job training, and medical care. About 1/3 of the indigenous population who were relocated eventally went back to the reservation and those who stayed faced difficulties, such as racism, lack of adequately paying jobs and poor housing, which created "indian ghettos."
Why did U.S. policymakers support a non
Communist South Korea?-They believed South Korea was key to the revival of the Japanese economy and crucial to U.S. defense strategy in Asia.
What was the immediate consequence of the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941?
Congress endorsed President Roosevelt's call for a declaration of war.
What factors accounted for the tremendous surge of consumerism in the United States in the 1950s?
Consolidation of consumer culture: BY the 1950's, consumption had become the dominant American Cultural value. Due in large part to advertising, the traditional emphasis on hard work, saving, and thrift gave way to a consumer culture that encouraged satisfaction and happiness through the purchase and use of new products. Increase in income and expenditures: The median family income and gross national product each grew 25 percent between 1950 and 1960. While this economic expansion did not touch all Americans, many enjoyed more disposable income to acquire goods. The postwar baby boom and the development of suburbs expanded demand for goods, which in turn stimulated industry,. Americans in the 1950's assumed new levels of personal debt that enabled them to acquire durable goods otherwise beyond their reach. Married women participated in the workforce in increasing numbers in part to increase their families' disposable income.
Discuss the origin of containment as a U.S. foreign policy.
Containment was a United States policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad. A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge its communist sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam. It represented a middle-ground position between détente and rollback.
What did British prime minister Winston Churchill suggest about the Soviet Union in his iron curtain speech of 1946?
Its suppression of the popular will in eastern and central Europe had isolated those regions from the free world.
The Allied assault against the German army on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944, is commonly known as
D Day.
Evaluate the Eisenhower administration's nuclear arms policy. Did that policy ease or accelerate the nuclear arms race?
Eisenhower believed that defense spending was a robbery from the poor; nonetheless, he pursued nuclear domination (as opposed to a traditional fighting force) in the end, this strategy turned into "brinkmanship", the willingness to go to the brink of nuclear, which clearly indicates acceleration of arms race. Eisenhower needed a large enough arsenal to ensure MAD. Under Eisenhower the nuclear arsenal quadrupled, ICBMs were installed in America and allied countries. When Eisenhower left office it was a growing military-industrial complex.
How did the Eisenhower administration respond to Brown v. Board of Education and issues of racial justice in the second half of the 1950s?
Eisenhower did not endorse or support Brown in his disapproval of "separate but equal" teaching facilities
What was the good neighbor policy? Why was it so important to the United States?
Franklin D. Roosevelt policy in which the U.S. pledged that the U.S. would no longer intervene in the internal affairs of Latin American countries. This reversed Teddy Roosevelt's Big Stick Policy. Important to keep peace between US and Latin American countries.
What event sparked the beginning of World War II?
Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939
The U.S. government's policy of containment was first implemented when President Truman asked Congress to send military and economic missions and $400 million in aid to
Greece and Turkey.
What did President Roosevelt mean when he went on the radio in 1940 and told the American people that the United States must be the great arsenal of democracy? How did the nation accomplish that goal?
He expalined the importance of supplying the people of Europe, at the time primarily Britain with the "implements of war". He said that the United States "must be the great arsenal of democracy". War orders from Europe as well as American defense spending revilatalized the ecnomy. Workers had money again and spent. Corporations making cars and other consumer products like washinging machines and refrigerators had their best years in 1940 and 41 since the 1929 Wall Street Crash. Cars had the time used maassive quantities of steel and chrome.
How did President Truman respond to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin in 1948 and 1949?
He ordered the airlifting of more than two million tons of goods to West Berliners.
In the 1950s, the CIA intervened in the internal affairs of
Iran, Guatemala, and Cuba.
In which of the following ways did television affect U.S. politics in the 1950s?
It allowed candidates to appeal directly to voters in their homes, which elevated the importance of politicians' personal attractiveness.
What allowed the United States to emerge from World War II as the most powerful nation in the world?
It had both a monopoly on atomic weapons and expanded production capacity.
How did rock and roll challenge American social and cultural norms in the 1950s?
It was sexually suggestive.
What was demonstrated during the six month battle to force the withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal in February 1943?
It would be extremely costly and difficult to defeat Japan.
The naval battles in the Coral Sea and at Midway Island signaled to the American military that
Japanese domination of the Pacific was weakening.
What factors motivated the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941? Was the attack a victory for, or a miscalculation on the part of, Japan's leaders?
Japanese wanted to knock out a significant portion of American naval bases in the Pacific.quickly conquer and secure Japan's targets, before the United States could mobilize its manpower and resources. Tojo ordered a surprise attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii early on December 7, 1941. Japanese airplanes damaged or destroyed 19 ships, smashed American airplanes on the ground, and killed more than 2400 people. Roosevelt said that it was "a date which will live in infamy." He asked Congress to declare war on Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.
Which of these men was the most infamous crusader against communism after World War II?
Joseph R. McCarthy
How did American labor unions respond to the production demands of World War II?
Labor unions granted the government's request that they pledge not to strike.
Which elements of the kitchen debate indicated a slight thaw in the Cold War? Which elements indicated that the war was ongoing?
Meeting of two countries: The existence of American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959 indicated a slight thaw in the Cold War; this cultural exchange probably would not have happened when the Cold War was at its height. Also the tension in the words/ threats exchanged between Nixon and Khrushchev during the Cold War
Define modern Republicanism, as practiced by Dwight D. Eisenhower and cite at least two examples from the 1950s.
Modern Republicanism: Eisenhower's vision of modern Republicanism meant resisting additional federal intervention in economic and social life, but without efforts to turn the clock back to the 1920s. Examples???
How did the U.S. government deal with issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation in the armed forces during World War II?
Race: The Selective Service Act provided for the registration of all men eligible for the draft prohibited discrimination. Although minorities severed in larger numbers, they faced discrimination, including, for African Americans, segregated units. The pressing need for personnel in Europe Late in 1944 led military leaders to place black soldiers in combat positions in large numbers rather than using them almost exclusively for manual labor, as they had earlier in the war. Gender: The armed forces allowed when to enlist and about 350,000 women joined the Nurse's Corps and the women's military units in the army, navy, and marines. These women were barred from combat but they worked in every other noncombatant capacity and eroded traditional barriers to women's military service. Sexual Orientation:
What was the outcome of the congressional elections of 1946?
Republicans captured Congress.
What was sociologist David Riesman's criticism of American society in his 1950 book The Lonely Crowd?
Riesman lamented the growing conformity in American society.
How did containment policy shape the Eisenhower administrations decisions to intervene in the internal affairs of Guatemala, Cuba, and Iran in the 1950s?
Role of containment policy: The Cold War led Eisenhower administration to perceive nationalist uprisings as Communist threats to democracy. In the name of containment, the United States intervened against governments in Latin America and the Middle East that seemed to leftist and also threatened U.S. economic interests. Guatemala: In Guatemala, the CIA organized and supported an opposition army that overthrew the elected government of Jacob Arbenz because he accepted support from the local Communist Party and tired to nationalize land owned by United Fruit Cuba: Eisenhower broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba and authorized the CIA to train Cuban exiled for an invasion after Fidel Castro drove out the U.S. supported dictator Fulgencio Batista and appealed to the Soviet Union for aid Iran: In Iran, the CIA again intervened to oust Mohammed Mossadegh, a left leaning, popular elected prime minister who nationalized oil fields and refineries. When Mossadegh accepted support from Iranian Communists and Challenged the power of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the CIA instigated a coup and restored the Shah to power.
Describe the Allied leaders' conflict over the question of when and where to open a second front against the Nazis in Europe. Why did Roosevelt and Churchill make the decisions they did?
Roosevelt and Churchill promised that they would open a second front in Europe, but they chose to strike first in North Africa in order to help secure Allied control of the Mediterranean. By 1943, once they defeated the Germans in North Africa, Roosevelt and Churchill decided to focus next on a invasion of Italy, which left the Soviets to bear the brunt of the Nazis in Europe for another year.
In what ways was President Roosevelt an isolationist?
Roosevelt believed that the nation's economic woes were largely home-grown
A reluctant isolationist, President Roosevelt believed during the 1930s that
free trade was necessary for America's domestic prosperity.
Why did President Truman's Fair Deal fail?
The Fair deal was Truman's plan to expand FDR's New Deal. He worked to successfully expand Social Security benefits so domestic workers (maids) and railway workers received benefits (the original Social Security Act excluded these groups). Truman also was the first US president to support federal healthcare programs and federal laws to abolish segregation, lynching, and voting discrimination. Truman's efforts to enact laws to end discrimination and to provide healthcare to the poor failed Truman's Fair Deal failed because he was unable to get support from conservative Republicans & Dixiecrats).
What occurred with the flight of the Chinese Nationalists from China in 1949?
The People's Republic of China was established.
Which new civil rights organization chose Martin Luther King Jr. as its leader in January of 1957?
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
Joseph Stalin's primary goal after World War II was to
ensure friendly governments on its borders in Eastern Europe.
Describe the impact—good and bad—of technological advances on life in post-World War II America.
The impact of good and bad technological brought us as a country eons a head of the decades before because inventions like the enigma machine ( the now computer) that were complete break throughs in technology. This made way for both good and bad uses of the inventions.
How did television offer American families respite from Cold War anxieties?
The new medium of television offered Americans a welcome respite from cold-war anxieties. Viewers especially tuned in to watch comedies that projected the family ideal and the feminine mystique into millions of homes.
What motivated the U.S. government to place Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II?
The relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps during World War II was one of the most flagrant violations of civil liberties in American history. According to the census of 1940, 127,000 persons of Japanese ancestry lived in the United States, the majority on the West Coast. One-third had been born in Japan, and in some states could not own land, be naturalized as citizens, or vote. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, rumors spread, fueled by race prejudice, of a plot among Japanese-Americans to sabotage the war effort. In early 1942, the Roosevelt administration was pressured to remove persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast by farmers seeking to eliminate Japanese competition, a public fearing sabotage, politicians hoping to gain by standing against an unpopular group, and military authorities.
What effect did the growth of the suburbs in the 1950s have on American society?
The suburbs brought the growth of the automobile industry up tremendously, as people were no longer walking to work. This movement also led to the rise in the real estate corporations, which would later lead to the collapse of the real estate industry in 2008. The suburbs also led to the age of conformity, as each house was built exactly the same; an age where everyone tried to fit into the social normality, which would then cast out people who didn't fit into this social norm. This movement would help lead to a turbulent society pitting one another against each due to this conformity. (then leads to the 60s, where society began to question these social boundaries)
Describe the changes experienced by American families during World War II.
The war caused disruptions at home. Americans faced shortages that required them to deal with the hassle of rationing. They had to provide the necessary coupons—issued by the Office of Price Administration—to be able to purchase items in short supply like sugar, or meat, or gasoline. Housing shortages plagued people moving to war-production centers. Women were, without question, second-class citizens at the start of the struggle. Facing discrimination in the job market, they found many positions simply closed to them. In jobs they could find, they usually earned less than men. But then the huge productive effort that began in 1940 gave women the chance to do industrial work.
What impact did technological advances have on American industry in the 1950s?
They chipped away at the number of jobs in the steel, copper, and aluminum industries.
Why did American scientists begin to develop a superbomb in 1942?
They didn't want the Germans to develop one first.
Which of the following statements describes the relationship between American ethnic minorities and the armed forces during World War II?
They fought in large numbers in the armed forces despite discriminatory treatment.
What factors likely motivated President Truman to authorize the use of atomic bombs against Japan in August 1945?
Truman felt the bomb would save more lives in the long run, due to avoiding another six or more months of carnage that the war was known for. Truman later said he estimated fighting losses numbered in the several hundred thousands, while bomb losses numbered in the tens of thousands since he intended to spare as many women and children as humanly possible. Using the bomb pretty much guaranteed that the U.S. would occupy Japan without the Soviets as well as sending a clear message to the Soviets to go slow and careful in Europe and it's territories. Also, the billions spent on the bomb project was only to be justified by proving the military worth of the Atom Bomb in actual use.
Which of the following was among the factors responsible for the postwar economic boom in the United States?
War torn countries' spending on American products
The Maginot Line of World War II was
a concrete fortification that separated much of France from Germany.
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade of 1936 was
a group of Americans who enlisted to fight with the Spanish Republicans against the Nationalist rebels in Spain.
President Roosevelt authorized the roundup and internment of all Americans of Japanese descent in 1942 because
a large number of people believed that Japanese Americans were potential sources of espionage and subversion.
One cause of the unparalleled material abundance of the United States in the 1950s was
a population increase of almost 30 million.
The National Security Council was established to
advise the president on defense planning.
Between 1950 and 1960, the percentage of American families with television sets grew from less than 10 percent to
almost 90 percent.
Levittown, New York, was
an example of the assembly-line approach to producing affordable housing.
President Eisenhower believed the development of nuclear power for domestic purposes should
be left in the hands of private enterprise.
What technological development ultimately led Hitler to withdraw the infamous U
boats from the North Atlantic?-Radar detector
The goal of Franklin Roosevelt's good neighbor policy was to
buy property and raw materials from Latin American nations instead of sending in troops to take those resources.
Identify specific ways in which the U.S. entry into World War II improved the national economy and ended the Great Depression.
by supplying other countries with planes, weapons and other war affects the US was bring in enough money to supply more jobs and enough money to establish the market and end the depression
Congress rejected a number of President Truman's Fair Deal proposals, including
civil rights measures and federal aid to education.
In the 1950s, most employed American women worked in
clerical, service, and domestic jobs.
When Hungarian freedom fighters mounted a revolt against the Soviet
controlled government of their country in 1956, the Eisenhower administration-did nothing, because Eisenhower was unwilling to risk American soldiers or possible nuclear war.
The executive order President Truman issued in 1948 during his reelection campaign was designed to
desegregate every aspect of the American armed services.
In the context of President Eisenhower's policy toward Native Americans, termination meant
ending the federal government's special relationship with the Indians by transferring jurisdiction over tribal lands to state and local governments.
