Review Chapter 39
All of the following contributed to Richard Nixon's landslide victory over George McGovern in 1972 EXCEPT a) Nixon's successful execution of his southern strategy. b) McGovern's alienation of white working-class voters. c) an unusually strong level of political support among feminists and racial minorities for President Nixon and the Republicans. d) the announcement by National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, just days before the election, that a peace agreement in Vietnam would be forthcoming in a few days. e) the forced removal of Thomas Eagleton as McGovern's vice-presidential nominee because of a revelation that he had undergone psychiatric care.
A
What legal claim did President Nixon unsuccessfully make to the U.S. Supreme Court to resist the efforts of the Watergate special prosecutor and Congress to obtain his taped conversations with aides in the White House? a) Executive privilege (presidential confidentiality) allowed him to withhold the tapes. b) Releasing the tapes would violate his right to privacy. c) Releasing the tapes would violate his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. d) The president has absolute sovereign immunity in all criminal investigations. e) Release of the tapes would interfere with his constitutional right to make foreign policy as commander in chief.
A
Which of the following events prompted congressional passage of the War Powers Act in 1973 over President Nixon's veto? a) The revelation of the secret bombing of Cambodia b) The Arab oil embargo c) The My Lai Massacre d) The Arab-Israeli Six-Day War e) The U.S.-supported Chilean army overthrow of the democratically elected Marxist president of Chile.
A
Which was the most controversial action of Gerald Ford's presidency? a) Pardoning Richard Nixon for any known or unknown crimes that Nixon had committed during his presidency b) Signing the Helsinki accords with the Soviet Union c) Frantically evacuating the last Americans and Vietnamese by helicopter during the fall of South Vietnam to the communists. d) Arranging the deal whereby Nixon resigned as president e) Pardoning Vietnam War draft resisters and evaders.
A
The list of illegal activities perpetrated by the law-and-order Nixon administration that were uncovered in the Watergate scandal included all of the following EXCEPT a) breaking into the Democratic party headquarters in order to bug it so that the administration could gain information about the Democrats' plans for the 1972 presidential campaign. b) using the International Revenue Service to harass Nixon's political enemies. c) forging documents to discredit prominent Democratic politicians. d) bribing U.S. Supreme Court justices to write favorable judicial opinions. e) using the FBI and the CIA to conceal and cover up previous crimes of the Nixon adminstration.
B
Why did the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) arouse such bitter opposition among many businesspeople? a) The actions of these new federal agencies undermined strong efforts that businesses were already making to protect the environment and worker safety. b) The work of these two agencies directly involved the federal government in many aspects of business decision making. c) These two federal agencies were financed by new corporate taxes. d) These two businesses operated under laws passed by an antibusiness administration. e) Richard Nixon appointed environmentalist Rachel Carson to lead the EPA and labor and consumer activist Ralph Nader to head OSHA.
B
What was the guiding principle of President Carter's foreign policy? a) Isolationism b) Containment c) Unilateralism d) Human rights e) rolling back communism in less developed countries (sometimes called Third World countries.)
D
Which of the following best characterizes President Nixon's policy of detente? a) It was designed to improve relations between the Soviet Union and China. b) It was aimed at ending the political division of Germany and Korea. c) It found support in the Democratic party but not the Republican party. d) It ushered in an era of relaxed bilateral tensions between the United States and the two leading communist powers, China and the Soviet Union. e) It was shaped by President Nixon's chief foreign policy adviser, Spiro Agnew.
D
All of the following were sources of the economic stagnation that plagued America in the 1970s EXCEPT a) a drastic decline in worker productivity. b) inflationary and unsustainable government spending on military and social-welfare matters. c) sharply rising oil and energy prices that fed spiraling inflation. d) the loss of the competitive advantage that America business had historically held in key sectors of the economy e) steep tax increases in the 1960s and early 1970s to fund increased domestic and military spending.
E
President Richard Nixon's Vietnam policy included all of the following EXCEPT a) the congressionally unauthorized extension of the war to Cambodia. b) a gradual handover of the ground war to the South Vietnamese. c) massive bombing campaigns in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. d) creating a draft lottery and reducing draft calls. e) steadily increasing American troop commitments in Vietnam.
E
Which of the following was NOT a decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court during the Warren Court era? a) The Court upheld a married couple's right to use contraceptives based on a constitutional right to privacy. b) The Court held that all defendants in serious criminal cases were entitled to legal counsel, even if they were too poor to afford it. c) The Court guaranteed the right of the accused to remain silent and to enjoy other constitutional protections against self-incrimination. d) The Court cited the First Amendment in prohibiting required prayers and Bible reading in the public schools. e) The Court upheld the right of state legislatures to disregard the one-man-one-vote principle in apportioning legislative districts.
E
Which were NOT among the notable achievements of the feminist movement in American during the 1970s? a) Congressional passage of title IX, prohibiting sex discrimination in any federally funded education program or activity, including intercollegiate and interscholastic athletics. b) The Supreme Court decision in Roe v Wade, holding that state laws prohibiting abortion were unconstitutional because they violated a woman's constitutional right to privacy. c) Supreme Court decisions expanding women's legal protections in the areas of sex discrimination in legislation and employment. d) A major rethinking of traditional gender roles in American society that helped catapult millions of American women into the workplace. e) The ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), constitutionally guaranteeing women equality of rights under law in all fifty states.
E
The presidency of Jimmy Carter was undermined by all of the following EXCEPT a) the inflationary oil shocks of the 1970s. b) the ominous reheating of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. c) The Iranian hostage crisis. d) an overreliance on small circle of Georgia advisers for politcial advice.. e) armed conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Egypt.
E?
Which of the following most accurately describes the key holding of the Supreme court in the Bakke case? a) The white Californian, Allan, BAkke, who challenged he constitutionality of the medical admissions program at the University of California at Davis should have been awarded a minority preference in admissions because he was Jewish. b) Public universities could impose racial quotas, but private universities were barred from doing so. c) All forms of affirmative action in university admissions constituted unconstitutional reverse discrimination. d) It was legally permissible for universities to establish minority-based educational programs and housing arrangements. e) Racial quotas were unconstitutional, but race could be taken into account as one plus factor in university admissions.
E?
