Deck 32: Twenty-first-century America, 1993-present

Question 1

George W. Bush won the popular vote in the 2000 presidential election.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

In 2014, President Obama announced that the United States and Cuba were going to:

A) restore normal diplomatic relations
B) war
C) join forces to defeat ISIS
D) boycott Russia
E) sign a free-trade agreement

Answer 2

restore normal diplomatic relations

Question 3

By 2015, what was the percentage of people who were living in cities across America?

A) over 60
B) over 70
C) over 90
D) over 65
E) over 80

Answer 3

over 80

Question 4

President George W. Bush gave control of Iraq's oil supply as one major reason for the 2003 invasion.

Question 5

Yousef al Otaiba, the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States, warned that the radical Islamist leaders of the Islamic State posed:

A) "no threat to either Europe or Asia"
B) "no threat to the United States"
C) "only a small threat to Israel"
D) "an existential threat to those of us who believe in the true nature of Islam as a religion of peace"
E) "only a minor threat to Islam"

Question 6

In 2008, Barack Obama ran an impressive Internet-based campaign.

Question 7

Bush clinched reelection in 2004 by carrying the electoral votes of Ohio.

Question 8

The economic-stimulus bill is also called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Question 9

By 2011, the conservative insurgency led by the Tea Party focused on the record-breaking federal deficit and the tepid economic recovery (2011 home sales were the worst in history).

Question 10

By 2015, for the first time in the nation's history, the majority of immigrants came not from Europe but from other parts of the world.

Question 11

Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives.

Question 12

In Afghanistan in 2001, the United States installed a democratic government led by the Taliban.

Question 13

The Dodd-Frank bill called for government agencies to exercise less oversight over highly leveraged and highly complex new financial instruments.

Question 14

President Obama stated that the ACA "was an experiment."

Question 15

President Clinton, trying to persuade Congress to reject a free-trade bill, said that if the bill passed, the country would hear a "giant sucking sound" of American jobs being drawn to Mexico.

Question 16

By 2015, the largest number of legal immigrants to the United States came from:

A) Canada
B) Mexico
C) India
D) Korea
E) Nigeria

Question 17

In 2013, the United States held its first high-level talks with Iran since 1979, when Iranian militants took U.S. embassy employees in Tehran hostage.

Question 18

One legislative victory for President Clinton came when Congress approved NAFTA.

Question 19

Between 1997 and 2006, home prices rose very impressively in Sunbelt states.

Question 20

What was the major factor in the Republican takeover after the 1994 midterm election?

A) the health-care bill disaster
B) the end of the cold war
C) the Gulf War
D) the national debt
E) gays in the military

Question 21

During the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush:

A) emphasized how different a president he would be from his father
B) promised he would be known as the environmental president
C) stated his opposition to "nation building" overseas
D) promised to attack and "take out" Saddam Hussein
E) accused Al Gore of being a tool of the oil industry

Question 22

Joseph Stiglitz is best associated with:

A) economics
B) mathematics
C) biology
D) physics
E) psychology

Question 23

In 1999, NATO air strikes helped stop "ethnic cleansing" in:

A) Bosnia
B) Somalia
C) Haiti
D) Kosovo
E) Northern Ireland

Question 24

Ultimately, the outcome of the 2000 election depended upon the final result in:

A) Iowa
B) Texas
C) California
D) Ohio
E) Florida

Question 25

All of the following were features of the economy during the Clinton years EXCEPT:

A) declining worker productivity
B) surging stock prices
C) low unemployment
D) federal budget surpluses
E) a proliferation of dot-com enterprises

Question 26

As a result of the Starr Report:

A) Clinton was completely exonerated
B) the Senate convicted Clinton of obstruction of justice
C) Clinton had no influence for the rest of his presidency
D) Clinton was impeached
E) the personal lives of presidents were declared to be off-limits

Question 27

The major purpose of the passage of NAFTA was to:

A) give Clinton an easy political victory
B) protect American industries such as steel and textiles
C) reward Clinton's supporters in organized labor
D) promote freer trade with Canada and Mexico
E) send American jobs overseas

Question 28

Bush's major legislative victory in 2001 came with Congress's passage of:

A) new environmental regulations
B) health-care reform
C) term limits
D) a tax cut
E) banking-industry regulation

Question 29

The Republican Contract with America:

A) aimed to reduce big government and limit the welfare state
B) was enacted by the new Republican Congress
C) gave the Republicans a winning platform in the 1996 election
D) revived the moderate Republicanism of the Eisenhower era
E) stated general principles, but lacked specific proposals

Question 30

The welfare-reform measure passed by Congress in 1996:

A) was opposed by the Republicans
B) was applauded by liberals
C) limited the amount of time one could receive welfare payments
D) quickly began to lower poverty rates
E) significantly increased federal funding for welfare

Question 31

In 1993, Clinton was able to preside over the signing of a peace agreement between the leaders of Israel and:

A) Egypt
B) Syria
C) Lebanon
D) Jordan
E) the PLO

Question 32

What nearly cost Clinton his presidency was:

A) his long history of improper sexual behavior
B) lying about his relationship with a White House intern
C) using public office to illegally enrich himself
D) improper hiring and firing practices in the White House
E) trying to pressure members of a grand jury

Question 33

Clinton's plan for universal medical coverage:

A) was partially approved
B) was shot down in Congress
C) increased his already impressive approval ratings
D) was a minor part of his legislative agenda
E) would make doctors federal employees

Question 34

The fundamental source of instability in the Balkans in the 1990s was:

A) the poverty of the region
B) conflict over supplies of petroleum
C) the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991
D) German and Italian ambitions in the area
E) conflict between Orthodox Christians and Catholics

Question 35

The Christian Coalition:

A) unlike the Moral Majority, tended to favor Democrats
B) founded a national chain of megachurches
C) became a major political force in the 1990s
D) advocated government anti-poverty programs
E) was dominated by mainline Protestants such as Methodists and Presbyterians

Question 36

The DREAM Act of 2012 centered on what issue?

A) sleep
B) the American dream
C) undocumented immigrants
D) oil
E) trade

Question 37

All of the following were arguments in favor of health-care reform EXCEPT:

A) the need to contain soaring medical costs
B) the huge number of people without health insurance
C) the costs to businesses of insuring their employees
D) the idea that health alliances would benefit everyone
E) the support of drug companies and the insurance industry for reform

Question 38

The conservative mood of the mid-1990s especially manifested itself in a number of court rulings that limited:

A) capital punishment
B) government spending
C) church-state separation
D) affirmative action
E) sexual freedom

Question 39

The politician who led the Republican takeover of Congress in the mid-1990s was:

A) Kenneth Starr
B) Newt Gingrich
C) Dick Cheney
D) Pat Buchanan
E) Alan Greenspan

Question 40

The dramatic growth in American exports in the last years of the twentieth century was mainly indicative of:

A) American military power
B) globalization
C) government regulation of trade
D) the breakup of the Soviet Union
E) the falling cost of transportation

Question 41

The issue that dominated the last couple of months of the 2008 campaign was:

A) health care
B) the economic crisis
C) the war on terror
D) Iraq
E) illegal immigration

Question 42

Most Americans personally encountered the war on terror at home by:

A) being recruited into the military
B) having the government tap their phones
C) being exposed to biological warfare
D) being limited in their choice of reading material
E) enduring more extensive airport security and screening

Question 43

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina:

A) devastated the Texas Gulf coast
B) caused the most deaths of any natural disaster in American history
C) destroyed much of New Orleans
D) brought an efficient response from government at all levels
E) again allowed Bush to show his leadership skills during crisis

Question 44

In the war against Iraq and Saddam Hussein, the United States was most closely supported by:

A) Germany
B) France
C) Great Britain
D) Russia
E) Japan

Question 45

The housing industry crash in 2007:

A) affected only some reckless speculators
B) proved the virtue of free-market capitalism
C) sent bank profits soaring, given all the homes they were able to acquire through foreclosure
D) froze credit and provoked a recession
E) had long been predicted by the Bush administration

Question 46

After Katrina, Bush's presidency was marked by:

A) renewed confidence and vigor
B) growing public disapproval
C) a series of legislative victories
D) continued Republican unity
E) serious attempts of impeachment

Question 47

The most evident sign of the economic crisis by October 2008 was:

A) plummeting stock prices
B) fuel shortages and long lines at gas stations
C) a drying up of illegal immigration
D) a large number of bankers being sent to prison
E) growing public support for socialism

Question 48

All of the following are true of Barack Obama EXCEPT that he:

A) graduated from Columbia University
B) is biracial
C) went to Harvard Law School
D) was born in Kenya
E) was a U.S. senator from Illinois

Question 49

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, did all of the following EXCEPT:

A) paralyze the United States in fear and disunity
B) kill about 3,000 people
C) include the Pentagon as a target
D) destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Center
E) turn the lower end of Manhattan into a hellish scene

Question 50

President Bush's response to the financial crisis was to:

A) state publicly that nothing could be done until the markets corrected themselves
B) support a federal bailout of the banking industry
C) put the unemployed to work building roads and bridges
D) say he had lost faith in the free-enterprise system
E) blame it on Americans being greedy and not saving

Question 51

Bush won a second term in 2004 by defeating:

A) Al Gore
B) John Edwards
C) Howard Dean
D) John Kerry
E) Hillary Clinton

Question 52

Within a few weeks of the September 11 attacks, U.S. forces led an attack on:

A) Pakistan
B) Iraq
C) Saudi Arabia
D) Afghanistan
E) Iran

Question 53

By the 1990s, the most dangerous enemies of the United States became:

A) the world's remaining Communist countries such as Cuba
B) left-of-center governments in Latin America
C) neo-Nazis in Germany and eastern Europe
D) shadowy terrorist organizations
E) computer hackers and other high-tech saboteurs

Question 54

As a result of the "surge" ordered in Iraq by President Bush:

A) Americans once more began to support our involvement there
B) the Iraqi government became a model of democracy
C) attacks on American troops stopped
D) the war in Iraq dramatically decreased in its monetary cost
E) levels of violence in Iraq declined

Question 55

The Bush Doctrine emphasized:

A) close coordination of U.S. foreign policy with the United Nations
B) preemptive military action against terrorists and terrorist regimes
C) a determination to contain terrorism by keeping it where it already existed
D) strengthening America's nuclear deterrent
E) using terrorism against terrorists

Question 56

Osama bin Laden was all of the following EXCEPT:

A) a wealthy Saudi
B) leader of al Qaeda
C) founder and leader of the Taliban
D) a Muslim extremist
E) a fanatical enemy of the United States

Question 57

The fight with Saddam Hussein's army:

A) lasted just a few weeks
B) resulted in thousands of American deaths
C) was primarily a series of tank battles
D) was won strictly through air assaults
E) required the use of some small nuclear weapons

Question 58

The Iraq Study Group concluded that:

A) U.S. combat troops should be withdrawn from Iraq
B) President Bush was wrong in deciding to invade Iraq in the first place
C) Iraq should be divided into semi-independent states governed by Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites
D) the United States should immediately cut its losses by leaving Iraq
E) as soon as Iraq was stable, the United States should invade Iran and install a democratic government there

Question 59

Bush's stated rationale for attacking Iraq in 2003 was:

A) that country's presumed threat to the United States
B) his personal hatred of Saddam Hussein
C) the need to acquire Iraq's oil
D) the desire to make Iraq a democracy
E) revenge for Iraq's involvement in the September 11 attacks

Question 60

The housing bubble of the early 2000s was contributed to by all of the following EXCEPT:

A) predatory loan agreements
B) rising home prices
C) people purchasing homes with large down payments
D) speculative behavior
E) recovery from the 2001 recession

Question 61

Discuss the issue of increasing polarization in American politics. How has President Obama tried to lessen the tension, and has he been successful?

Question 62

Discuss the issue of global terrorism. How has this affected all aspects of American society?

Question 63

Did American foreign policy change significantly when Bill Clinton became president? Fully explain.

Question 64

The crowning achievement of President Obama's anti-terrorism efforts was:

A) victory in Iraq
B) defeat of ISIS
C) the discovery of Osama bin Laden's hideout
D) defeat of Afghanistan
E) closing Guantánamo Bay

Question 65

Detail the election of 2000. Discuss the major candidates and issues. How was the outcome of this election ultimately decided?

Question 66

Discuss the devastating situation in the Gulf coast region of the United States as a result of Hurricane Katrina. How did the government respond to the crisis, and what impact did this have on the presidency of George W. Bush?

Question 67

MATCHING
Match each description with the item below.
George W. Bush

A)was an Alaska governor and Tea Party favorite
B)carried Florida by 537 votes in 2000
C)became House Speaker as a result of the 2006 election
D)was the independent counsel who prosecuted Bill Clinton
E)finished third in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections
F)authored the Contract with America
G)was appointed secretary of state by Barack Obama
H)was the Federal Reserve Board chairman
I)was appointed secretary of defense by Barack Obama
J)was a central figure in a major sex scandal

Question 68

Describe the new patterns of immigration to the United States. What might account for this?

Question 69

In endorsing same-sex marriage, President Obama:

A) knew the courts would rule in its favor
B) sided with the Tea Party
C) understood the issue had powerful political implications
D) kept a campaign promise
E) followed the lead of Russia

Question 70

In January 2009, angry activists coalesced into a decentralized nationwide protest movement soon labeled the:

A) Green Party
B) Reform Party
C) New Republican Party
D) Party of Hope
E) Tea Party

Question 71

Detail the election of 2004. Who were the major parties, and which issues dominated this campaign?

Question 72

What factors might account for the Republican gains in the 1994 elections?

Question 73

Briefly assess Clinton's achievements in domestic policy.

Question 74

MATCHING
Match each description with the item below.
Hillary Clinton

A)was an Alaska governor and Tea Party favorite
B)carried Florida by 537 votes in 2000
C)became House Speaker as a result of the 2006 election
D)was the independent counsel who prosecuted Bill Clinton
E)finished third in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections
F)authored the Contract with America
G)was appointed secretary of state by Barack Obama
H)was the Federal Reserve Board chairman
I)was appointed secretary of defense by Barack Obama
J)was a central figure in a major sex scandal

Question 75

The centerpiece of President Obama's effort to restore the economy was:

A) rejected by Congress
B) a huge economic stimulus package
C) immediately successful in ending the recession
D) tax cuts for the wealthy
E) noncontroversial

Question 76

Explain the historic victory of Barack Obama in 2008.

Question 77

In moving quickly on key issues and campaign pledges just after his inauguration, President Obama:

A) lost much of his public support
B) worsened economic conditions
C) showed his inexperience
D) was mimicking the government's actions in the 1930s
E) won the support of a good number of Republicans in Congress

Question 78

MATCHING
Match each description with the item below.
Monica Lewinsky

A)was an Alaska governor and Tea Party favorite
B)carried Florida by 537 votes in 2000
C)became House Speaker as a result of the 2006 election
D)was the independent counsel who prosecuted Bill Clinton
E)finished third in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections
F)authored the Contract with America
G)was appointed secretary of state by Barack Obama
H)was the Federal Reserve Board chairman
I)was appointed secretary of defense by Barack Obama
J)was a central figure in a major sex scandal

Question 79

What factors accounted for the public's view of the Bush presidency by the time of the 2008 election?

Question 80

Detail Operation Iraqi Freedom. Include the reasons given for the invasion and the status of the war as described in chapter 32.