Deck 25: Troubled Innocence

Question 1

Truman's unsuccessful veto of the Taft-Hartley Act was motivated by

A) postwar shortages of manufactured goods.
B) pressure from former vice president Henry Wallace.
C) Democratic losses in the 1946 midterm elections.
D) the popularity of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act.

Answer 1

Democratic losses in the 1946 midterm elections.

Question 2

Vital center liberal voters in the 1948 elections were opposed to

A) taxation.
B) communism.
C) integration.
D) welfare.

Answer 2

communism.

Question 3

One consequence of African American participation in World War II was

A) heightened expectations among black citizens for equal treatment in postwar America.
B) white Americans' recognition of African American service and sacrifice during the war years.
C) an end to white supremacist violence against and harassment of minority citizens.
D) the ending of racial segregation of public accommodations in the southern states.

Answer 3

heightened expectations among black citizens for equal treatment in postwar America.

Question 4

The growth of the middle class during the mid-twentieth century can be attributed to the increase in

A) union membership.
B) college attendance.
C) population.
D) consumerism.

Question 5

The slow transition from wartime to peacetime manufacturing resulted in

A) another depression.
B) passage of the GI Bill.
C) shortages of consumer goods.
D) declining corporate profits.

Question 6

The Democratic Party's loss of its majority in Congress in 1946 can be attributed to President Truman's

A) anti-Communist fervor.
B) aggressive foreign policy.
C) opposition to civil rights.
D) anti-union policies.

Question 7

In the postwar period, the auto industry produced large, powerful cars

A) to accommodate growing families.
B) because gasoline was cheap and plentiful.
C) to reflect America's superior status.
D) to use steel no longer needed for weaponry.

Question 8

Rising divorce rates following World War II were the result of

A) women working outside the home.
B) the rise of juvenile delinquency.
C) economic uncertainty and food shortages.
D) the lengthy separations imposed by the war.

Question 9

Early marriage and a high birthrate were encouraged because they would help the United States

A) forestall another economic depression.
B) contain the spread of communism.
C) increase the market for private homes.
D) keep women from seeking paid labor.

Question 10

Americans who voted for Henry Wallace were motivated by

A) dissatisfaction with Truman's labor policies.
B) concern about postwar economic trends.
C) anxiety about the state of the American family.
D) opposition to Truman's Cold War foreign policy.

Question 11

The report To Secure These Rights, which called for desegregation and the extension of voting rights to black Americans, was produced by the

A) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
B) Congress of Racial Equality.
C) President's Committee on Civil Rights.
D) National Association of Colored Women.

Question 12

California's economic and demographic growth was symbolized by

A) its acquisition of the Dodgers baseball team.
B) the increased availability of air conditioning.
C) the mass production of suburban houses.
D) the construction of new highways.

Question 13

Progressive Henry Wallace's presidential campaign was an expression of the

A) degree to which Truman had alienated the left wing of the Democratic Party.
B) African American community's frustration with the slow pace of civil rights reform.
C) labor movement's disgruntlement over Truman's lack of support for their agenda.
D) disbanding of the New Deal coalition constructed by President Roosevelt.

Question 14

Although a Democrat like his predecessor, Truman was less inclined than Roosevelt to support the agenda of

A) African Americans.
B) organized labor.
C) farmers.
D) women.

Question 15

Adlai Stevenson's graduation address at Smith College was part of the postwar effort to get American women to

A) focus on marriage, children, and home life.
B) contribute to the nation's economic growth.
C) become more socially responsible.
D) enter the realm of electoral politics.

Question 16

One consequence of Truman's decision to desegregate the military was

A) a surge of violent attacks against black veterans.
B) the integration of major league baseball.
C) the founding of the Congress of Racial Equality.
D) Strom Thurmond's third-party presidential campaign.

Question 17

Jackie Robinson was the first African American

A) author of a federal government report.
B) baseball player in the major leagues.
C) World War II veteran shot by a Ku Klux Klansman.
D) to found a post-World War II civil rights organization.

Question 18

African American activists linked the civil rights struggle to the Cold War to capitalize on the Truman administration's interest in

A) preventing black citizens from becoming Communists or sympathizers.
B) maintaining America's image as a bastion of freedom and equality.
C) alienating southern Democrats who were white supremacists.
D) keeping Henry Wallace from running against Truman in 1948.

Question 19

During the 1950s, Henry Ford's influence was crucial to the development of the

A) national highway system.
B) Salk polio vaccine.
C) Levittown suburbs.
D) Sun Belt industries.

Question 20

Which group benefited from the postwar economic boom?

A) Only white-collar workers
B) Only blue-collar workers
C) Both white- and blue-collar workers
D) The already wealthy

Question 21

For white fans of jazz and rock-and-roll, "blackness" represented

A) suffering and oppression.
B) authenticity and nonconformity.
C) popularity and acceptance.
D) morality and virtuousness.

Question 22

Popular television programs of the 1950s were known for

A) appealing primarily to children.
B) fair depictions of African Americans.
C) moral absolutes and happy endings.
D) realistic depictions of family life.

Question 23

Dr. Spock gave a sense of scientific validity to the popular view that

A) women should start having children while they were young.
B) mothers should stay home with their children rather than work.
C) the ideal woman focused on advancing her husband's career.
D) it was impossible for an unmarried woman to be happy.

Question 24

Redlining and restrictive covenants were designed to enable

A) suburban growth.
B) housing segregation.
C) home ownership.
D) long-term mortgages.

Question 25

Both the research of Alfred Kinsey and fiction of Grace Metalious challenged standard assumptions about

A) extramarital sex.
B) out-of-wedlock births.
C) homosexuality.
D) sex education.

Question 26

Elvis Presley was a transformative figure because he was

A) the first teen idol to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.
B) a southern performer who achieved national popularity.
C) a white performer singing and dancing to "black" rhythms.
D) the first rock singer to sell more records than Frank Sinatra.

Question 27

The popularity of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen and the Reverend Norman Vincent Peale can be attributed to their

A) ability to connect religious practice to secular fulfillment.
B) passionate anti-Soviet and anti-Communist viewpoints.
C) proposed solutions to the arms race with the Soviet Union.
D) advocacy for adding "under God" to the pledge of allegiance.

Question 28

The intent of Brown v. Board of Education was to guarantee that

A) white and black students went to the same integrated schools.
B) black students had access to the same educational resources as whites.
C) black teachers were paid the same amount as their white counterparts.
D) funding for schools attended by only white students would decrease.

Question 29

The characters played by Doris Day suggested to young women that they

A) should marry at an early age.
B) could have fulfilling careers.
C) should work only until marriage.
D) were capable of outwitting men.

Question 30

Americans who joined churches and synagogues during the 1950s were looking for

A) help raising their children.
B) a path to salvation.
C) entertainment.
D) a sense of community.

Question 31

Teenagers played an important role in shaping the culture of the 1950s because they

A) had disposable income.
B) introduced new genres of music.
C) adopted new styles of dress.
D) grew up watching television.

Question 32

William Levitt refused to sell houses to

A) veterans.
B) Communists.
C) single people.
D) minorities.

Question 33

The novelists Grace Metalious, Sloan Wilson, and J. D. Salinger all critiqued American

A) women's morals and sexuality.
B) wealth and consumerism.
C) hypocrisy and complacency.
D) mental health institutions.

Question 34

Alfred Kinsey's research was significant because it

A) supported widely held assumptions about the sexual behavior of most Americans.
B) demonstrated that Americans' sexual practices were more diverse than previously assumed.
C) showed that women tended to be much less interested in sex than men were.
D) found that the overwhelming majority of Americans waited till after marriage to have sex.

Question 35

One consequence of the Cold War for Americans' day-to-day lives was

A) increased visits to churches and synagogues.
B) more wives working outside the home.
C) more teenagers completing high school.
D) an increase in juvenile delinquency.

Question 36

Levittown houses were known to be

A) constructed very quickly.
B) too expensive for young families.
C) accessible to African Americans.
D) large and luxurious.

Question 37

James Dean and Marlon Brando were popular with young people during the 1950s because they represented

A) the achievement of financial success.
B) the fulfillment of nuclear family life.
C) rebelliousness and nonconformity.
D) toughness and street smarts.

Question 38

White middle-class teenagers began to adopt the styles and mores of working-class youth after

A) seeing the musical West Side Story.
B) going to high school with them.
C) watching them on television.
D) Marlon Brando became popular.

Question 39

Staying in the closet hampered the ability of homosexuals to

A) find sexual partners.
B) organize politically.
C) establish meeting places.
D) serve in the military.

Question 40

The writers Sloan Wilson and Jack Kerouac both explored the

A) experience of taking mind-altering drugs.
B) innovative power of jazz and be-bop music.
C) relationship of white and black artists.
D) emptiness of middle-class suburban lifestyles.

Question 41

The National Defense Education Act reflected Americans'

A) desire to get a "bigger bang " from government spending on defense.
B) interest in preparing students for careers in diplomacy and foreign affairs.
C) commitment to expanding government investment in the military-industrial complex.
D) anxiety about falling behind the Soviets in the development of advanced technologies.

Question 42

Unlike some civil rights activists, members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee believed that

A) racial integration was necessary to achieve true democracy in America.
B) equitable distribution of economic resources was more important than integration.
C) the movement for racial equality should be a movement of African Americans alone.
D) desegregation of public spaces, whether schools or lunch counters, was the main goal.

Question 43

In their campaign to uphold white supremacy, the White Citizens' Council relied on

A) violence and terror.
B) electoral politics.
C) economic pressure.
D) Christian rhetoric.

Question 44

The Little Rock Nine were known for

A) getting arrested at a lunch counter sit-in.
B) integrating a previously all-white school.
C) organizing a local bus boycott spinoff.
D) their role in founding the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Question 45

President Eisenhower broke away from traditional Republican policies when he

A) established the federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
B) invested defense funds in nuclear weapons rather than ground troops.
C) arranged the overthrow of the Iranian government by the CIA.
D) undermined foreign governments that appeared sympathetic to communism.

Question 46

Both the Brown decision and rock-and-roll were attacked by the White Citizens' Council because they

A) brought black and white young people together.
B) were publicized by the disc jockey Alan Freed.
C) were antithetical to southern culture and values.
D) appeared to have been imposed from the North.

Question 47

A key factor leading to John F. Kennedy's victory in the 1960 presidential election was his

A) support of Martin Luther King Jr.
B) Roman Catholicism.
C) physical attractiveness.
D) record as a senator.

Question 48

The first victories in the effort to desegregate education affected

A) elementary schools.
B) high schools.
C) colleges.
D) graduate schools.

Question 49

Figure 25.2, The Baby Boom, 1946-1964, shows which of the following very clearly?

A) Americans used contraceptives beginning in 1940.
B) Birthrates changed most dramatically between 1944 and 1946 and between 1964 and 1966.
C) The average marriage age declined after 1960.
D) Fewer couples divorced between 1946 and 1964 than before or after.

Question 50

In this photo, taken during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956, a group of black women are shown commuting on foot. What is significant about the demographic shown in this image?

A) Black women made up the majority of bus riders, making their choice to boycott particularly effective.
B) Young women were the group most likely to boycott city buses in Montgomery.
C) Black women were not as vulnerable to intimidation and threats as black men.
D) Such walks were only popular among black women at the beginning of the boycott because they quickly gave up.

Question 51

Figure 25.1, Economic Growth, 1945-1965, makes which of the following trends visible?

A) The American economy expanded immediately after the end of the war.
B) The American economy experienced deep depressions about every three to five years between 1945 and 1957.
C) American income equality increased threefold during this time.
D) American economic growth in the postwar years resulted in increased consumption for many.

Question 52

Map 25.1, Lunch Counter Sit-Ins, February-April 1960, shows the eruption of sit-ins in fifty-eight cities across the South. Which state witnessed the largest number of them?

A) South Carolina
B) North Carolina
C) Virginia
D) Tennessee

Question 53

Eisenhower's style of Republicanism was called "modern" because his administration

A) tried to control defense spending.
B) accepted and built upon the New Deal.
C) continued Truman's containment policy.
D) paid attention to the Middle East.

Question 54

The Brown decision sparked the

A) activist career of Martin Luther King Jr.
B) founding of the Women's Political Council.
C) organization of the Montgomery bus boycott.
D) third incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan.