Deck 28: Cold War America

Question 1

What were President Eisenhower's foreign policy priorities? What was his influence on global affairs?

Answer 1

Answers will vary.

Question 2

Due to the overall prosperity of the decade, blacks were able to close the income gap with
whites by the end of the 1950s.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Society's message to women in the 1950s was that they should strive to combine motherhood
and professional careers.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

What were the criticisms of postwar society and culture? What were the various forms of dissent and anxiety?

Question 5

The United States supported Britain and France as they tried to seize control of the Suez
Canal in 1956.

Question 6

What were the goals and strategies of the civil rights movement? What was its impact?

Question 7

By 1960, millions of homes in the United States had a television set.

Question 8

Middle-class whites organized Citizens' Councils after the Brown decision to organize support
for integration and African American civil rights.

Question 9

The Beats took their name because of their belief that society had beaten them, or triumphed
over their spirits.

Question 10

The Federal-Aid Highway Act was the largest federal project in history.

Question 11

The loss of Dien Bien Phu signaled the end of French rule in Indochina.

Question 12

The Viet Cong supported and defended Ngo Dinh Diem's government in South Vietnam.

Question 13

During the 1950s, the black population in the North decreased as a result of the Second
Great Migration.

Question 14

Dwight
D. Eisenhower tried to reduce Social Security and other entitlement programs.

Question 15

The phrase "In God We Trust" was added to coins and currency in the 1950s.

Question 16

Joseph McCarthy was tried for perjury and sentenced to serve time in jail for his crusade
against Communists.

Question 17

What were President Eisenhower's political philosophy and priorities?

Question 18

During Dwight
D. Eisenhower's presidency, moderate republicanism involved the promise of
restoring the authority of state and local governments.

Question 19

What factors contributed to America's postwar prosperity? To what extent did all benefit from it?

Question 20

The GI Bill of Rights provided financial assistance for home loans and college expenses.

Question 21

How did Eisenhower describe his domestic policy of dynamic conservatism?

A) "a Square Deal that was fairer to the American people than either the New Deal or Fair Deal"
B) "liberal in terms of the economy, and conservative in terms of welfare programs"
C) "a quest for brand new government projects rather than for things the government can stop doing"
D) "a movement to raise taxes, increase military expenses, and stimulate the arms race"
E) "conservative when it comes to money, and liberal when it comes to human beings"

Question 22

The single most important stimulant to the postwar economy was

A) a massive government jobs program.
B) low government spending.
C) cold war-related military spending.
D) the discovery of alternative fuels to oil.
E) increased European competition.

Question 23

Blacks who moved to northern cities tended to find

A) middle-class status.
B) quality public housing.
C) acceptance and respect.
D) the inability to vote.
E) new problems due to racial prejudice but better lives overall.

Question 24

What was the significance of the Federal-Aid Highway Act (1956)?

A) It was vetoed by Eisenhower because it was too expensive, which turned much of Congress against him early on in his presidency.
B) It was a joint project with Canada, which led to a closer relationship between the two countries especially in the face of the cold war.
C) It forced private businesses to repair deteriorating highways without drawing from federal taxes or other government funds.
D) It created a large network of interstate highways, which in turn helped create jobs, tourism opportunities, and economic growth.
E) It is largely regarded as the greatest failure of Eisenhower's administration and went uncompleted due to a lack of funds.

Question 25

Which of the following efforts were examples of Eisenhower's "middle way" approach?

A) raising taxes and increasing the power of the federal government
B) funding new technology and relying purely on other countries for agricultural goods
C) balancing the federal budget and increasing the minimum wage
D) promoting the weapons industry and providing aid for the homeless
E) lowering the minimum wage and increasing the national debt in the name of the public good

Question 26

What was Levittown, designed by William Levitt?

A) a luxury Manhattan apartment complex made possible by new building techniques
B) a new type of urban community completely cut off from government assistance
C) an upscale drive-in movie theater with the latest films and music
D) housing intended for African American families, especially those of veterans
E) a suburban planned community geared toward white lower-middle-class Americans

Question 27

The Eisenhower Doctrine committed the United States to provide economic and military
assistance to Arab nations that were threatened by communism.

Question 28

Which of the following was an effect of the availability of air conditioning during the postwar years?

A) major environmental benefits due to how little energy window-units used
B) a decrease in the size of the middle class and in average income
C) an increase in the population of the Sun Belt states
D) widespread economic decline because customers were less likely to enter retail stores
E) an increase in the population of the states in the Great Lakes region

Question 29

What trend did home ownership tend to follow between 1945 and 1960?

A) It declined, due to the construction of cheap apartments.
B) It significantly increased.
C) It was hampered due to shortages of credit.
D) It became almost universal.
E) It was not as popular as government-provided public housing.

Question 30

Which of the following statements accurately describes the impact of the GI Bill on African Americans?

A) African American veterans received preference when applying for federal government jobs or loans because the creators of the bill recognized difficulties they faced.
B) Benefits experienced by African Americans were limited because for example, most colleges and universities remained racially segregated and refused to admit blacks.
C) The GI Bill stipulated that only white American veterans would receive the benefits due to the content of contracts African American veterans had to sign when joining the military.
D) Because the GI Bill tended to help veterans attend public rather than private universities, African American veterans rarely experienced racial discrimination there.
E) Although African American veterans continued to face discrimination after the war, the GI Bill made it common and encouraged them to buy homes in white neighborhoods.

Question 31

What was the state of car ownership in America by 1955?

A) Car ownership was still limited to only the wealthiest and most elite members of society, contributing to the overwhelming public sentiment that emphasized the group over individualism.
B) Few American households owned a car due a slew of major improvements made to public transit systems such as buses and the movement of white people from suburbs to cities.
C) Half of American households owned a car, which caused a crisis in the hotel industry since people could now travel far more quickly as well as a fall in commute times since it was easier to relocate.
D) Car ownership was so widespread that it had little to do with social status, as few models of cars existed and car manufacturers were still hurting from increased Second World War production levels.
E) Most American households owned a car, resulting in a greater range of choices such as the growth of fast-food restaurants as well as unintended consequences such as environmental pollution.

Question 32

Senator Joseph McCarthy's power began to unravel when he made reckless charges about Communist influence in

A) the Democratic party.
B) the U.S. Army.
C) Ivy League colleges.
D) the Eisenhower administration.
E) the media.

Question 33

By the 1950s, suburban life was marked by an increasing

A) uniformity.
B) cultural innovation.
C) diversity.
D) intellectual excitement.
E) economic stagnation.

Question 34

Before becoming president, Eisenhower was MOST shaped by his experience in

A) business.
B) the military.
C) higher education.
D) politics.
E) the law.

Question 35

Which of the following differentiated the postwar era from earlier periods of prosperity?

A) a consumer culture in which a large number of people participated
B) the decline of the middle class but a surge in blue-collar income
C) the outlawing of labor unions, especially in industries such as steel
D) the emphasis of most Americans on saving money and rationing goods
E) the absence of financing innovations such as credit cards

Question 36

Which of the following statements accurately characterizes the United States in the 1950s?

A) Although foreign affairs remained unprecedentedly stable during this period, domestic affairs took a turn for the worse, as several epidemics brought shorter average life spans and economic growth brought increased crime.
B) Because the cold war had come to an end soon after the Second World War, Americans came to experience prosperity in their day-to-day lives and could focus on rebuilding the economy without the threat of nuclear war in the background.
C) Most Americans had emerged from the Second World War disappointed by their country's exhausted industrial capacity and declining international stature and looked to the cold war as a means of becoming a world power once again.
D) The period was dominated by American presidents who leaned toward extremes in all ways, much as the leaders of the Axis powers had during the Second World War-refusing to take an approach of moderation and insisting on fighting fire with fire.
E) Although white, middle-class Americans enjoyed unprecedented economic growth, the idealized image of America at the time was much more complicated in terms of race and class, and many feared what the new age of nuclear terror might bring.

Question 37

What stance did Eisenhower take in terms of New Deal programs?

A) He was intensely hostile to New Deal programs and sought to dismantle them,
Believing that the president alone should make policy and Congress should be the one
To carry it out.
B) He ended subsidies to agriculture, fought against the rise of unions, and generally
Sought to limit production levels because he believed it would be better for the
Economy.
C) He promised to outdo Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and establish his own completely
Separate deal that would be far more honest, more successful, and wider in scope.
D) He retained most New Deal programs and even expanded some of them, while also
Working to rid the government of the "excesses" that had resulted from many years of
Democratic control.
E) He transformed New Deal programs due to his desire to privatize Social Security and
Belief that conservatism was incompatible with welfare programs.

Question 38

The postwar era witnessed its most dramatic population growth in

A) the suburbs.
B) the Midwest.
C) rural areas.
D) the Northeast.
E) the Mississippi Valley.

Question 39

An important reason for passage of the GI Bill was to

A) keep men in the military beyond their terms of enlistment.
B) spend surplus funds in the federal budget.
C) help Roosevelt get reelected.
D) prevent widespread unemployment.
E) promote renting over buying homes.

Question 40

What was the phenomenon of "white flight" in the 1950s after the Second World War?

A) It was a type of housing discrimination shown toward African Americans that soon stopped when the federal government banned it and funded many mixed communities.
B) It was the movement of poor whites fleeing the South for jobs in big northern cities since the economic boom following the war never arrived in the South.
C) It was the return of white Americans to the rural countryside, as farming became the most lucrative occupation in part due to the lack of food Americans had during the war.
D) It was the movement of many whites to suburbs in response to the migration of African Americans from the rural South to northern cities in search of better opportunities after the war.
E) It was the movement of Puerto Rican Americans to Puerto Rico because there was a shortage of housing in northern cities after large numbers of white Americans moved there after the war.

Question 41

Jack Kerouac's style of writing is commonly grouped under which of the following?

A) expressionism
B) romanticism
C) satire
D) the Beats
E) literary criticism

Question 42

What was the Supreme Court's decision in the case Brown v. Board of Education?

A) It struck down "separate but equal" in public education.
B) It ordered an immediate end to Jim Crow segregation.
C) It rejected the legal arguments of the NAACP.
D) It was closely divided.
E) It recognized the high quality of black schools in the South.

Question 43

The American policy of "massive retaliation" refers to the

A) use of the navy to blockade the harbors of aggressive nations as well as submarines modeled off those of the Germans during the Second World War.
B) willingness to deploy tens of thousands of troops around the world to deter Communist aggression, no matter what the financial cost.
C) strategy of using the threat of nuclear war to prevent Communist aggression and, thus, keeping the financial cost manageable.
D) funding of pro-American dictatorships if it meant they would stand up to communism and agree to declare war.
E) tactic of joining forces with the Soviet Union to bombard North Korea because they would then have double the weapons and bring a quick end to the Korean War.

Question 44

Which of the following statements accurately describes Elvis Presley's recordings?

A) They were never very commercially successful at the time.
B) They blended a variety of musical styles.
C) They appealed equally to all ages and generations.
D) They are best remembered for his piano playing.
E) They were part of a Communist plot.

Question 45

By 1960, which American city had the largest concentration of Mexican Americans?

A) New York, New York
B) Chicago, Illinois
C) Miami, Florida
D) Los Angeles, California
E) Nashville, Tennessee

Question 46

In 1957, nine African American students attended Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas for the first time. Which of the following statements accurately describes the
Actions taken by Eisenhower?

A) Eisenhower did not take federal action because the students' first day had gone so smoothly, marking a success for the civil rights movement.
B) Eisenhower reluctantly dispatched federal troops there to maintain law and order, angering many southern politicians.
C) Eisenhower passionately enforced desegregation, insisting that dispatching troops was a moral judgment on his part.
D) Eisenhower overrode desegregation rulings and forced the students to return to their previous segregated schools.
E) Eisenhower used the events as cause to initiate the court case of Brown v. Board of Education and successfully prevented the public schools of Little Rock from closing.

Question 47

What did the writers John Cheever and John Keats have in common?

A) They both were African American writers who helped promote racial inclusiveness through their work.
B) They both focused on celebrating the prosperity of the 1950s United States and the benefits shared by mass society.
C) They both directed their attention to portraying life abroad during the 1950s, which helped influence similar developments in the United States.
D) They both were Beats poets whose primary focus was highlighting social inequalities and promoting feminism and selfless activism.
E) They both treated the upper-middle-class suburbs and the culture of comfortable conformity of the 1950s as literary targets.

Question 48

Which of the following was a consequence of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

A) It officially ended segregation in public schools in the South.
B) It showed that well-coordinated, nonviolent black activism could cause major changes.
C) It was the last major accomplishment of Martin Luther King Jr. before his assassination.
D) It proved that Eisenhower was willing to directly intervene to help achieve civil rights victories.
E) It promoted the cause of black nationalism and led it to spread across the country.

Question 49

Which of the following statements accurately describes the Beats?

A) The group of activists changed the political landscape of the 1950s by launching the gay rights movement and helping to instate legal same-sex marriage in many states.
B) This musical group played traditional music and made it accessible to people of all backgrounds by touring and offering free shows.
C) This political group had many women members and experienced its greatest success in promoting equality for women through a series of marches and demonstrations.
D) This controversial group of artists was self-absorbed and reckless, and often rejected traditional responsibilities of middle-class life.
E) This academic group studied the devastation brought by the Second World War, wrote extensively on its impact on the American economy, and refused to take part in risky behavior.

Question 50

Which of the following statements accurately describes the baby boom in the United States?

A) It has been romanticized and vastly overemphasized in importance as a social phenomenon because the effects on society were hardly noticeable decades later.
B) It resulted in the majority of mothers at the time also pursuing professions such as teaching, nursing, accounting, and working as attorneys in law offices.
C) It started in the early days of the Second World War because advertising campaigns tended to focus on the need for children to help with the war effort.
D) It resulted in an increase in the number of mothers but a decrease in the number of babies overall, as women were generally having fewer children.
E) It was a postwar trend that reinforced the idea that a woman's place was in the home and helped drive economic growth due the market of goods centered on children.

Question 51

According to the advertisements in popular magazines at the time, the ideal woman of the mid-1950s was

A) educated and single.
B) career oriented.
C) able to juggle home and career.
D) an equal partner with her husband.
E) a white suburban housewife.

Question 52

One of the factors that contributed to religion's growing appeal in the 1950s was

A) the desire to combat "godless" communism.
B) tax breaks for Americans who joined churches.
C) the fire and brimstone style of television preachers.
D) the widespread idea that Americans must repent for their material abundance.
E) backlash to Eisenhower's refusal to connect religion with patriotism.

Question 53

What tactic did Martin Luther King Jr. and the activists who organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott follow in their protest?

A) Marxist-Leninism
B) black nationalism
C) massive resistance
D) McGarveyism
E) nonviolent civil disobedience

Question 54

What happened to the U.S. marriage rate during the fifties?

A) It reached record lows.
B) It reached an all-time high.
C) It, for the first time, included same-sex marriages.
D) It showed the average age of marriage rise for women.
E) It only reported recent marriages due to lost records.

Question 55

Which of the following statements accurately describes President Eisenhower's civil rights record?

A) Despite being reluctant to directly support the civil rights movement, he appointed Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren with the hope that he would promote civil rights from the bench.
B) He actively supported segregationists who ran for office and refused to enforce the Brown decision when it was challenged throughout the South.
C) He was an activist president and contributed more to furthering the civil rights movement than the Supreme Court or Congress during his time in office.
D) Although committed in principle, he took a very passive approach to civil rights in reality, preferring to leave the issue to local and state governments.
E) He actively collaborated with black civil rights leaders to achieve legislative victories toward ending segregation and protecting black voting rights.

Question 56

With the end of the Second World War, women workers who had taken on traditionally male jobs during the war were encouraged to

A) give up their jobs to returning veterans.
B) work longer hours.
C) limit family sizes.
D) stay single.
E) advance their job skills through college.

Question 57

Elvis was controversial at the time because of his

A) rude manner toward adults.
B) African American background.
C) bland conformity.
D) elite upbringing.
E) suggestive dancing onstage.

Question 58

In The Affluent Society, John Kenneth Galbraith pointed out the

A) benefits of limited government.
B) infallibility of the marketplace.
C) persistence of poverty in the 1950s.
D) economic value of the cold war.
E) environmental costs of prosperity.

Question 59

John Foster Dulles's policy of "roll back" involved

A) "liberating" people under Communist rule rather than just containing its expansion.
B) detonating the first atomic bomb since the Second World War as a quick resolution to the conflict.
C) investing less money into the American military to focus more on domestic issues.
D) moving away from free enterprise, which he viewed as at odds with Christianity.
E) abandoning the containment policy in favor of seeking common ground with the Soviets.

Question 60

The music Alan Freed labeled "rock 'n' roll" was actually

A) jazz.
B) rhythm and blues.
C) pop.
D) gospel.
E) big band swing.

Question 61

Detail the postwar great black migration. What impact did it have on the new locations that
were settled?

Question 62

Discuss how the various aspects of culture changed in the 1950s. Focus particularly on
theater, literature, and painting.

Question 63

Why did the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) work to replace the leaders of Guatemala and Iran in the 1950s?

A) Both countries had governments viewed as "unfriendly" regimes, and it was feared they would join the Soviet bloc.
B) Both countries had sponsored terrorist activities against American companies operating abroad.
C) Both countries had declared socialist governments and formed alliances with the Soviet Union.
D) Both countries had welcomed former Nazi leaders into their countries and were in danger of fascist rule.
E) The leaders of those countries were guilty of human rights abuses undertaken toward American soldiers.

Question 64

How did America become involved in Indochina? How did that involvement escalate during Eisenhower's administration?

Question 65

What were among the most significant developments of the civil rights movement in
the 1950s? Why?

Question 66

What was one way in which the 1957 Soviet launch of Sputnik was significant?

A) It led to increased U.S. government funding for science education and defense spending.
B) An American aircraft shot it down over Cuba, starting a tense confrontation with the Soviet Union.
C) The satellite was armed with weapons and posed a clear threat to the United States.
D) It was a major feat in that it was the first manned spacecraft launched from Earth.
E) The satellite was based on stolen U.S. plans, alerting the government to espionage.

Question 67

Compare the achievements of Eisenhower's "dynamic conservatism" to those of the New Deal.

Question 68

What were the prevailing images of middle-class women during the 1950s?

Question 69

Discuss possible reasons why American youth rebelled during a decade of unprecedented
prosperity rather than during the hard times of the Great Depression.

Question 70

Why did Eisenhower's popularity decline between 1956 and 1958?

Question 71

What was the cultural reaction to the growth of affluence in American society in the 1950s?

Question 72

What was one way in which the intervention of the United States in Iran in the 1950s was significant?

A) Intervening in Iran proved to be the first and last time since the Second World War that the United States detonated a nuclear weapon, signaling the height of the cold war.
B) The rise of an increasingly authoritarian regime in Iran as a result of U.S. involvement convinced Eisenhower that he must refuse to target the government of Guatemala.
C) The United States proved unsuccessful in toppling Iranian rulers and lost many soldiers in the process, causing Eisenhower to become more isolationist and avoid similar future interventions.
D) A CIA-engineered coup in Iran was viewed as successful and emboldened Eisenhower to authorize other secret operations to undermine governments thought to be falling victim to communism.
E) By giving assistance to the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, U.S. forces made Iran more stable, earned the trust of the Iranian people, and ensured peaceful interactions with Iran decades later.

Question 73

The first step in Egyptian General Gamal Abdel Nasser's bid to become the leader of the Arab world was

A) forming an alliance with the United States.
B) declaring an armistice with Hungary.
C) requesting the aid of British forces.
D) establishing a caliphate in Egypt.
E) seizing the Suez Canal.

Question 74

How did religious revival and neo-orthodoxy fit into the culture of the 1950s?

Question 75

What was the significance of the "falling-domino" theory?

A) The theory was a tactic of debilitating a rival country's economy by applying progressively harsh sanctions, which Eisenhower came to adopt reluctantly because the United States had become increasingly dependent on the Soviet economy.
B) Holding that the United States must be the first domino to fall by exemplifying the virtues of democratic governance, the theory was used to back Eisenhower's decision to turn away from foreign policy and focus on domestic issues at home.
C) The theory was an effective on-the-ground military strategy adopted by U.S. commanders of toppling enemy bases in quick succession, used for the first time in Vietnam and a radical departure from how the United States had fought wars in the past.
D) First used to retroactively describe how all of Southeast Asia had already fallen to Communist governments, the theory was intended to justify the Eisenhower administration's new focus on preventing communism from spreading to Europe.
E) Describing how quickly communism would spread once it infiltrated a nation, the theory was used by Eisenhower to justify beginning conflicts such as the Vietnam War, despite the fact that anti-colonial insurgencies often resulted from nationalist motives.

Question 76

Why did the U-2 Summit end so poorly for the United States?

A) The Soviets were able to use their shooting down of a U.S. spy plane to embarrass Eisenhower.
B) Khrushchev attended the meeting drunk and made outrageous accusations that angered Eisenhower.
C) Terrorists planned to bomb the building, leading both sides no choice but to call off the summit.
D) Eisenhower was recovering from surgery, leading Khrushchev to act more aggressively in the negotiations.
E) The United States had refused to engage in spying efforts against the Soviets and, thus, came across as weak.

Question 77

What were the main reasons for suburban growth in this period? How did it affect American
society?

Question 78

Describe the growth in the postwar American economy. What factors might account for
this growth?

Question 79

Encouraged American propaganda broadcasts through Radio Free Europe, ________ nationalists rebelled against occupying Communist troops in 1956.

A) Prussian
B) Serbian
C) Hungarian
D) Austrian
E) Bulgarian

Question 80

Since the nineteenth century, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia had been ruled by

A) China.
B) Japan.
C) France.
D) Great Britain.
E) themselves.