Deck 12: Postwar Culture and Politics, 1945-1960

Question 1

What was President Eisenhower's most important and far-reaching domestic initiative?

A) The establishment of the Department of Health,Education,and Welfare
B) The passage of the Interstate Highway and Defense System Act of 1956
C) Funding for a huge increase in Social Security benefits
D) The most progressive civil rights bill since Reconstruction

Answer 1

B

Question 2

President Eisenhower viewed communism in Vietnam as

A) a force that had to be stopped because the French,an important U.S.ally,wanted it stopped.
B) something his administration had to stamp out no matter what the costs.
C) a force that had to be stopped before it spread to Japan,Taiwan,and the Philippines.
D) a low-priority issue because Vietnam was in Southeast Asia and not in Eastern Europe.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

When Hungarian freedom fighters mounted a revolt against the Soviet-controlled government of their country in 1956,the Eisenhower administration

A) engaged in emergency negotiations with Nikita Khrushchev to prevent American-Soviet hostilities.
B) sent troops to protect the protesters but did not aid the insurrection.
C) did nothing,because Eisenhower was unwilling to risk American soldiers or possible nuclear war.
D) sent arms and supplies to aid the freedom fighters but did not commit any troops to the ground.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

How did the United States react to the Soviet Union's successful launch of Sputnik in 1957?

A) It cut funding for education and diverted it to the military.
B) It passed legislation providing support for students in math,foreign languages,science,and technology.
C) It initiated covert plans for the CIA to infiltrate the Soviet missile agency and steal its technology.
D) It initiated a plan for a satellite defense system to protect the United States and Western Europe from new Soviet weapons.

Question 5

What was the key to President Eisenhower's New Look in foreign policy?

A) A conventional army three times the size of the Soviet army
B) A smaller conventional army bolstered by strength in airpower and nuclear weapons
C) The dismantling of Truman's containment policies
D) A commitment to raise arms against all nations unfriendly to Western capitalism

Question 6

The three-part program for compensating,"terminating," and relocating Native Americans reflected the Eisenhower administration's commitment to

A) expanding the size and scope of the federal government.
B) strengthening tribal governments and preserving Indian culture.
C) encouraging Native American militancy.
D) limiting the scope of federal government activity.

Question 7

What did anti-Communist zealot Senator Joseph McCarthy do that led to his condemnation by the U.S.Senate?

A) He charged that President Eisenhower was a Communist.
B) He insisted that thousands of federal employees were disloyal to the United States.
C) He announced that Communists in the Republican party outnumbered those in the Democratic party.
D) He conducted televised hearings in which he charged that the U.S.army was full of Communists.

Question 8

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles supported a foreign policy strategy of

A) talking with Soviet officials to make sure the Soviet Union and the United States understood each other.
B) going to the brink of war to halt the Soviets' efforts to extend their territory any farther.
C) rotating diplomatic personnel between the Soviet Union and the United States so the two nations could better understand each other's foreign policy.
D) an all-out nuclear assault on the Soviets if they even looked as though they were about to encroach on the free world.

Question 9

Between 1955 and 1961,the United States spent $800 million in South Vietnam,most of it to

A) fund U.S.troops who were deployed there.
B) fund the South Vietnamese army.
C) prime the economy there.
D) build new U.S.air bases there.

Question 10

Why did many Cuban people support the uprising led by Fidel Castro against Fulgencio Batista in 1959?

A) They were charmed by Castro's charisma and swayed by his eloquence.
B) They had a strong desire for political and economic autonomy.
C) They believed that Batista had stolen the election from Castro in 1958.
D) They had a strong belief in capitalism as the best economic system.

Question 11

Which Egyptian leader seized the Suez Canal in July 1956?

A) Gamal Abdel Nasser
B) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
C) Mohammed Mossadegh
D) Jacobo Arbenz

Question 12

In what direction did Eisenhower,the first Republican to serve as president after the New Deal,take the federal government during his second term?

A) He reduced the federal government's size and functions.
B) He extended government protection for corporate interests in every instance.
C) He left the size and functions of the federal government intact.
D) He dismantled much of the Democratic social welfare state.

Question 13

In the context of President Eisenhower's policy toward Native Americans,termination meant

A) stopping all forms of discrimination against American Indians.
B) stripping Native Americans of their U.S.citizenship.
C) ending the federal government's special relationship with the Indians by transferring jurisdiction over tribal lands to state and local governments.
D) removing the funding limits Congress had placed on federal aid to Native Americans and increasing spending to provide hospitals and schools on reservations.

Question 14

What was the military-industrial complex Eisenhower warned Americans about before he left office?

A) A lobby of major industrialists eager to reduce government expenditures on military weaponry
B) A partnership between military leaders and industrialists to raise the rate of inflation
C) An association between the military and defense contractors to spend more money on increasingly powerful weapons systems
D) A collaboration between the military and industry to push the economy toward technology for which most American workers were not trained

Question 15

President Eisenhower believed that the development of nuclear power for domestic purposes should

A) be left in the hands of private enterprise.
B) be controlled by the government.
C) be monitored by regional commissions.
D) not be considered because it was too dangerous.

Question 16

What was the Eisenhower administration's approach to social welfare programs?

A) It rolled back federal expenditures on social welfare programs.
B) It quietly killed social welfare programs that benefited the poor.
C) It allowed the welfare state to grow and the federal government to take on new projects.
D) It turned over most social welfare programs to the states with the promise of matching federal funds.

Question 17

In the 1950s,the CIA intervened in the internal affairs of which of the following countries?

A) Ethiopia
B) Afghanistan
C) Guatemala
D) Hungary

Question 18

What was the purpose of the Eisenhower Doctrine?

A) To aid any Middle Eastern nation requesting assistance against armed aggression from any country controlled by international communism
B) To assume the obligation to monitor human rights violations in Latin America and address them with diplomatic and military solutions,if necessary
C) To protect and defend the state of Israel from any threats mounted by Arab or Islamist terrorists
D) To promote democracy and capitalism around the world through art,literature,music,and other cultural media

Question 19

What was one unintended consequence of the federal government's program to relocate Native Americans?

A) A militant pan-Indian movement emerged two decades later.
B) Almost all Native Americans permanently moved from reservations to cities.
C) Native Americans migrated to the locations that had been World War II internment camps for Japanese Americans.
D) Native Americans experienced unprecedented financial prosperity.

Question 20

Which of the following describes President Dwight D.Eisenhower's "middle way" politics in the early 1950s?

A) His domestic agenda and leadership style were guided by moderation.
B) He promised to share more of his duties with his liberal vice president.
C) He asked Congress to allocate half the U.S.budget to domestic concerns and the other half to fighting the Cold War.
D) He sought a middle ground between Democrats and Republicans by setting out to dismantle New Deal policy.

Question 21

Why were the South and West sometimes referred to as the Gun Belt?

A) The incidence of violent crime there had increased along with the population.
B) The regions had captured the lion's share of Cold War spending.
C) Most of the major small arms manufacturers in the nation had shifted their operations to the regions.
D) None of the states in those regions required that civilians have a license to carry firearms.

Question 22

What was Levittown,New York?

A) An example of mass-produced affordable housing in the suburbs
B) An example of one of the worst slums in an American city in the Northeast
C) A successful attempt at the racial integration of an American housing development
D) A failed suburban housing development that contributed to the rebirth of cities across the nation

Question 23

In the 1950s,most employed American women worked in

A) a variety of professional positions.
B) clerical,service,and domestic jobs.
C) production-line jobs in heavy industry.
D) various administrative occupations in higher education.

Question 24

In most cities during the 1950s,the black population

A) dropped by 50 percent as African Americans migrated to the suburbs.
B) doubled as African Americans sought economic opportunities.
C) remained about the same because the growth of black suburbs cancelled out African Americans' urban migration.
D) dropped by nearly 50 percent as African Americans migrated south for agricultural work.

Question 25

Between 1950 and 1960,the percentage of American families with television sets grew from less than 10 percent to

A) 25 percent.
B) almost 50 percent.
C) 77 percent.
D) almost 90 percent.

Question 26

What was one reason many Americans moved to the Sun Belt in the 1950s?

A) The growing expense of heating fuels,which made the warm climate more economical
B) Eisenhower's policy of termination,which freed up millions of acres of former Indian reservation land
C) The advent of air-conditioning,which made it possible to live and work in the region more comfortably
D) The move toward an automobile-based society,which made it easier for most people to move south and west

Question 27

Some critics suggested that the reason for renewed interest in religion during the 1950s was

A) a conservative conspiracy organized by the Christian Right.
B) Americans' need for conformity and for social outlets.
C) American veterans' need to seek relief from the effects of their wartime traumas.
D) the rapid growth of televangelism alongside the television industry.

Question 28

How did rock and roll challenge American social and cultural norms in the 1950s?

A) It advocated for racial discrimination.
B) It was sexually suggestive.
C) It celebrated crime and drugs.
D) It encouraged political radicalism.

Question 29

What impact did technological advances have on American industry in the 1950s?

A) They increased the number of jobs available to unskilled industrial workers.
B) They coincided with a decrease in union activity and membership.
C) They chipped away at the number of jobs in heavy industry.
D) They chipped away at the number of service jobs in the American economy.

Question 30

What caused the smog that plagued Los Angeles in the 1950s?

A) Sprawling urban and suburban settlements without efficient public transportation
B) Massive industrial growth combined with limited population
C) A huge electric power project that required diversion of the city's waterways and the cutting of its trees
D) The inefficiency of the diesel-powered buses and trains that made up the city's extensive public transportation system

Question 31

According to Map 27.2: The Rise of the Sun Belt,1940-1980,which of the following statements is true?

A) Very few states saw a decrease in population decrease between 1940 and 1980.
B) Every state saw a population increase of at least 4% between 1940 and 1980.
C) In general,the states that saw the highest population increase were along the Canadian border.
D) The states in New England were affected the most by population increases between 1940 and 1980.

Question 32

What did "Operation Wetback" reveal about most white Americans?

A) They supported large-scale immigration from Latin America.
B) They generally opposed the permanent immigration of Mexicans.
C) They favored more U.S.aid to Mexico over immigration.
D) They were willing to base their political decisions on candidates' positions on Mexican immigration.

Question 33

Which of the following describes higher education in the United States between 1940 and 1960?

A) It became increasingly available to veterans,the middle class,and African Americans.
B) It was less expensive than before World War II but still available only to the privileged.
C) It was available for women of traditional college age but was not available to married women.
D) Because of major demographic changes,it became more available to women than to men.

Question 34

In which of the following ways did television affect U.S.politics in the 1950s?

A) It aired Richard Nixon's "Checkers" speech,which nearly ruined his political career.
B) It allowed candidates to appeal directly to voters in their homes,which elevated the importance of politicians' personal attractiveness.
C) The expense of TV ads made political parties,which raised money for candidates,larger,stronger,and more important.
D) Television was dominated by liberals,who had a strong influence on American voters.

Question 35

What was sociologist David Riesman's criticism of American society in his 1950 book The Lonely Crowd?

A) He lamented the growing conformity in American society.
B) He criticized Americans' disregard for the plight of the poor.
C) He wrote that American parents failed to address rising rates of juvenile delinquency.
D) He criticized the society's rejection of capitalism and traditional gender roles.

Question 36

Who wrote the best-selling books Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female?

A) William H.Whyte Jr.
B) Alfred Kinsey
C) Vance Packard
D) Allen Ginsberg

Question 37

What was one cause of the unparalleled material abundance of the United States in the 1950s?

A) The practice of purchasing stocks on margin
B) A population increase of almost 30 million
C) War reparations from Germany,Italy,and Japan
D) The declining power of American labor unions

Question 38

In her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique,Betty Friedan argued that

A) the idealization of domesticity pressured women to seek fulfillment in serving others.
B) women should not be entering the workplace but should be at home with their children.
C) divorced fathers should never be given custody of children under age fourteen.
D) women were not as intelligent as men even with access to higher education and training.

Question 39

What did Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton Minow call television after he surveyed what it offered to Americans in 1961?

A) A cultural marvel
B) A government-sponsored propaganda machine
C) A vehicle that Americans can use to surpass the rest of the world
D) A vast wasteland

Question 40

How did union membership as a percentage of the labor force in the United States change during the 1950s?

A) It fell to its lowest point of the twentieth century.
B) It hit the highest point at 49 percent in 1954.
C) It peaked at just over 27 percent in 1957.
D) Having peaked in 1949,it fell throughout the decade.

Question 41

"We regard the decision of the Supreme Court in the school cases as a clear abuse of judicial power.It climaxes a trend in the Federal judiciary undertaking to legislate ...and to encroach upon the reserved rights of the states and the people. The original Constitution does not mention education.Neither does the Fourteenth Amendment nor any amendment....The Supreme Court of the United States,with no legal basis for such action,undertook to exercise their naked judicial power and substituted their personal political and social ideas for the established law of the land.
This unwarranted exercise of power by the court,contrary to the Constitution,is creating chaos and confusion in the states principally affected.It is destroying the amicable relations between the white and negro races that have been created through ninety years of patient effort by the good people of both races....
We pledge ourselves to use all lawful means to bring about a reversal of this decision which is contrary to the Constitution and to prevent the use of force in its implementation."
What was one argument that the Southern Manifesto on Integration gave for challenging the Brown decision?

A) That the Warren Court had no jurisdiction over states' educational systems
B) That the decision would sour relations between northern and southern blacks
C) That the judges acted on their own beliefs rather than their judicial duties
D) That African Americans in the South strongly opposed integration

Question 42

In what way did the civil rights movement of the 1950s and early 1960s differ from previous efforts to end racial segregation and discrimination in the United States?

A) Fewer African Americans and more whites were involved.
B) Activists tended more toward rhetoric than toward direct confrontation.
C) It involved masses of people who used civil disobedience to bring about change.
D) African Americans increasingly used violent means to achieve their objectives.

Question 43

The Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56 persisted until

A) exhausted and demoralized black protestors began riding the buses again.
B) Martin Luther King Jr.called an end to the boycott.
C) the U.S.Supreme Court overturned Alabama's state and local laws requiring segregation on buses.
D) the U.S.Supreme Court upheld Alabama's right to enact any laws it thought appropriate to govern its people.

Question 44

Which new civil rights organization chose Martin Luther King Jr.as its leader in January of 1957?

A) The Black Panthers
B) The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
C) The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
D) The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Question 45

Why did the Montgomery,Alabama,police arrest Rosa Parks on December 1,1955?

A) She would not sit in the black section of the city bus.
B) She refused give up her seat on the bus to a white man.
C) She was unwilling to leave the bus and board it again through the rear door.
D) She was distributing flyers challenging the city's segregation ordinances.

Question 46

The revolution in the visual arts that began in New York City in the 1950s

A) marked a return to the influence of seventeenth-century Flemish and Dutch masters.
B) was based on nineteenth-century French impressionism.
C) evolved from the socialist realism of the 1930s and was strictly representative.
D) stressed energy and spontaneity over recognizable forms.

Question 47

How did President Eisenhower ultimately respond to the Arkansas National Guard's attempts to block the enrollment of nine black students in Little Rock's Central High School in 1957?

A) He stayed silent because of his preference for limited federal intervention in the states.
B) He went to Arkansas to escort the black students into the school personally.
C) He sent the Federal Bureau of Investigation to Arkansas to arrest the troops and the state's governor.
D) He sent army troops to Little Rock to oversee the integration of the school.

Question 48

The Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 can be characterized as

A) symbolic.
B) regressive.
C) ground-breaking.
D) aggressive.

Question 49

The work of 1950s authors Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac was known for

A) celebrating the incredible achievements of the modern United States.
B) rejecting almost every aspect of the mainstream culture.
C) suggesting that popular music would change the world.
D) challenging Americans to tune in,turn on,and drop out.

Question 50

"We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race,even though the physical facilities and other 'tangible' factors may be equal,deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does....In McLaurin [a 1950 case],the Court,in requiring that a Negro admitted to a white graduate school be treated like all other students,again resorted to intangible considerations: '...his ability to study,to engage in discussions and exchange views with other students,and,in general,to learn his profession.' Such considerations apply with added force to children in grade and high schools.To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.
We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place.Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
What position did Chief Justice Earl Warren take with respect to the notion of "separate but equal" in his landmark 1954 Brown v.Board of Education opinion?

A) The notion of "separate but equal" is wrongheaded in all arenas.
B) The notion of "separate but equal" is fundamentally incorrect in the case of school segregation.
C) The notion of "separate but equal" is logical in theory but rarely implemented in practice.
D) The notion of "separate but equal" is logical and fairly implemented,and thus should be maintained in the case of public schools.