Deck 28: Cold War America, 1950-1959

Question 1

The Civil Rights Act established the Civil Rights Commission and a new Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

In the Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka,Kansas,decision,the Supreme Court:

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

Answer 2

struck down "separate but equal" in public education.

Question 3

The postwar economic boom was fueled mainly by:

A)a massive government jobs program.
B)new inventions.
C)cold war-related military spending.
D)the work ethic of the American population.
E)trade with Europe and Japan.

Answer 3

cold war-related military spending.

Question 4

The First Indochina War ended when the French suffered a major defeat at:

A)Dien Bien Phu.
B)Hanoi.
C)Saigon.
D)Taipei.
E)Khe Sanh.

Question 5

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

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT true of the GI Bill?

A)It caused a dramatic increase in college enrollments.
B)It enabled many veterans to buy new homes.
C)Its huge cost did not justify its benefits.
D)It led to the creation of the Veterans Administration.
E)It is also known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act.

Question 7

The postwar era witnessed economic depression and falling social contentment.

Question 8

Many adults,having experienced the Depression and wartime rationing,were eager to consume more in the 1950s.

Question 9

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 10

The years after World War II witnessed a second Great Migration.

Question 11

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

Question 12

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

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

Question 13

While college enrollments soared in the postwar period:

A)most professors were dull and uninspiring.
B)black veterans encountered barriers to entrance.
C)student debt became a major problem.
D)few students were able to finish and earn a degree.
E)campuses became hotbeds of student protest and misbehavior.

Question 14

The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 began after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man.

Question 15

After the war,Americans were most eager to:

A)purchase.
B)save.
C)travel.
D)pursue education.
E)work overtime.

Question 16

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

Question 17

All of the following countries were physically devastated during World War II EXCEPT:

A)Great Britain.
B)France.
C)Japan.
D)the United States.
E)Germany.

Question 18

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

Question 19

A very important reason for passage of the GI Bill was to:

A)keep men in the military beyond their term of enlistment.
B)spend surplus funds in the federal budget.
C)help Roosevelt get reelected.
D)prevent the return of the Depression.
E)create a bureaucracy to administer it.

Question 20

During the 1950s,the black population in the North decreased as a result of the great migration.

Question 21

One major reason for religion's growing appeal in the 1950s was:

A)the desire to combat godless communism.
B)tax breaks for people who joined churches.
C)the fire-and-brimstone style of television preachers.
D)widespread guilt over the country's material abundance.
E)huge new churches that sponsored social and recreational activities.

Question 22

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

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

Question 23

Jack Kerouac wrote on what topic?

A)travel books
B)short stories
C)satire
D)the Beats
E)literary criticism

Question 24

When the U-2 spy plane was shot down over Russia,Eisenhower first:

A)tried to cover it up.
B)worked hard to secure the release of Gary Powers.
C)admitted the plane was a spy plane.
D)blamed the CIA.
E)blamed China.

Question 25

In which state was the first Levittown located?

A)California
B)New York
C)Maryland
D)Arizona
E)Massachusetts

Question 26

Blacks who moved to northern cities found:

A)middle-class status.
B)quality public housing.
C)acceptance and respect.
D)an inability to vote.
E)new problems and forms of exploitation.

Question 27

Many critics of American life in the 1950s believed that middle-class society suffered from:

A)declining purchasing power.
B)declining sexual morality.
C)an absence of stable families.
D)excessive conformity.
E)lack of leisure time and recreation.

Question 28

Most blacks who moved to the North were fleeing terrible poverty in:

A)southern cities such as Memphis and New Orleans.
B)the rural South.
C)the dust bowl.
D)New England.
E)other northern cities.

Question 29

Suburban growth was spurred by all of the following EXCEPT:

A)federally insured loans.
B)highway construction.
C)increases in car ownership.
D)veterans' benefits.
E)new construction of mass public transportation.

Question 30

Houses in Levittown in the early 1950s all sold for just under:

A)$1,000.
B)$10,000.
C)$20,000.
D)$50,000.
E)$100,000.

Question 31

By the mid-1950s,an increasing number of workers:

A)were self-employed.
B)did mental rather than physical labor.
C)were industrial wage laborers.
D)worked in small businesses.
E)were discontented and rebellious.

Question 32

The nation's suburban population by 1970 was overwhelmingly:

A)elderly.
B)in the Northeast.
C)upper class.
D)white.
E)Democratic.

Question 33

By 1960,about 65 percent of Americans:

A)read the Bible.
B)prayed.
C)believed in God.
D)believed in evolution.
E)belonged to a church.

Question 34

The interstate highway system was:

A)funded by gasoline taxes.
B)a total disaster.
C)to be used only by the military.
D)funded by the state department.
E)a plan put together by the CIA.

Question 35

The youthful rebels known as the Beats:

A)formed their own political party.
B)numbered about 1 million.
C)favored road trips,Buddhism,and jazz.
D)preferred country living to urban living.
E)were based primarily in Los Angeles.

Question 36

Life magazine's 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)having babies.

Question 37

With the end of World War II,women workers were encouraged to:

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

Question 38

The postwar era witnessed its most dramatic population growth in:

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

Question 39

The baby boom:

A)has been overrated in importance as a social phenomenon.
B)produced a generation devoted to sacrifice.
C)started in the early days of World War II.
D)continued the twentieth century's steady increase in the birthrate.
E)started in 1941.

Question 40

In The Affluent Society,John Kenneth Galbraith pointed out the:

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

Question 41

As president,Eisenhower reverted to the nineteenth-century view that Congress:

A)should declare war whenever it desires.
B)be in charge of foreign policy.
C)has no power over the budget.
D)should make policy,and the president should carry it out.
E)should ask the president for money.

Question 42

Detail the postwar great black migration.What impact did African Americans have on the new locations in which they settled?

Question 43

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

Question 44

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

Question 45

How did the image of women reflect the corporate life of the 1950s?

Question 46

Alan Freed was a notable:

A)musician.
B)songwriter.
C)record company owner.
D)record producer.
E)disc jockey.

Question 47

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

Question 48

Trace the rise of youth culture in the 1950s.

Question 49

Detail the provisions and effects of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act,more popularly known as the GI Bill.

Question 50

Show briefly how playwrights,novelists,painters,and the Beats reacted to the corporate life.

Question 51

Elvis Presley's recordings:

A)were never very commercially successful.
B)blended a variety of musical styles.
C)appealed equally to all ages and generations.
D)are best remembered for his guitar and piano playing.
E)truly promoted "a pagan concept of life."

Question 52

In regard to New Deal programs,Eisenhower:

A)was intensely hostile.
B)ended subsidies to agriculture.
C)promised to outdo Roosevelt.
D)retained most programs and even expanded some.
E)wanted to privatize Social Security.

Question 53

Before becoming president,Eisenhower was most shaped by his experience in:

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

Question 54

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

Question 55

Elvis was especially controversial because of his:

A)rude manner toward adults.
B)scandalous sex life.
C)identity as an atheist.
D)fondness for Beat poetry.
E)suggestive gyrations on stage.

Question 56

Adlai Stevenson was:

A)a senator revealed by Joseph McCarthy to be a Communist.
B)secretary of state for most of Eisenhower's presidency.
C)Eisenhower's opponent for president in both 1952 and 1956.
D)appointed by Eisenhower to be chief justice of the Supreme Court.
E)a leader unusually skilled in communicating with common people.

Question 57

Describe those who challenged the moral complacency and social conformity of American life in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Question 58

Many concerned observers blamed teen delinquency on:

A)rock and roll.
B)drugs.
C)cars.
D)smoking.
E)petting.

Question 59

The music Alan Freed labeled "rock and roll" was actually:

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

Question 60

One of rock and roll's most important contributions was to:

A)bridge class and racial divisions.
B)encourage new interest in dancing.
C)give kids an outlet for excess energy.
D)spur manufacture of electric instruments.
E)boost the popularity of radios.

Question 61

MATCHING
Match each person with one of the descriptions below.
Ho Chi Minh

A)was an Arkansas governor
B)wrote The Affluent Society
C)wrote On the Road
D)was the U.S.president in the 1950s
E)was a U-2 spy-plane pilot
F)challenged bus segregation in Montgomery,Alabama
G)proclaimed the creation of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam
H)advocated "massive resistance" to integration
I)was a young Memphis truck driver
J)was a Supreme Court chief justice

Question 62

MATCHING
Match each person with one of the descriptions below.
Elvis Presley

A)was an Arkansas governor
B)wrote The Affluent Society
C)wrote On the Road
D)was the U.S.president in the 1950s
E)was a U-2 spy-plane pilot
F)challenged bus segregation in Montgomery,Alabama
G)proclaimed the creation of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam
H)advocated "massive resistance" to integration
I)was a young Memphis truck driver
J)was a Supreme Court chief justice

Question 63

MATCHING
Match each person with one of the descriptions below.
John Kenneth Galbraith

A)was an Arkansas governor
B)wrote The Affluent Society
C)wrote On the Road
D)was the U.S.president in the 1950s
E)was a U-2 spy-plane pilot
F)challenged bus segregation in Montgomery,Alabama
G)proclaimed the creation of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam
H)advocated "massive resistance" to integration
I)was a young Memphis truck driver
J)was a Supreme Court chief justice

Question 64

MATCHING
Match each person with one of the descriptions below.
Dwight D.Eisenhower

A)was an Arkansas governor
B)wrote The Affluent Society
C)wrote On the Road
D)was the U.S.president in the 1950s
E)was a U-2 spy-plane pilot
F)challenged bus segregation in Montgomery,Alabama
G)proclaimed the creation of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam
H)advocated "massive resistance" to integration
I)was a young Memphis truck driver
J)was a Supreme Court chief justice

Question 65

MATCHING
Match each person with one of the descriptions below.
Earl Warren

A)was an Arkansas governor
B)wrote The Affluent Society
C)wrote On the Road
D)was the U.S.president in the 1950s
E)was a U-2 spy-plane pilot
F)challenged bus segregation in Montgomery,Alabama
G)proclaimed the creation of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam
H)advocated "massive resistance" to integration
I)was a young Memphis truck driver
J)was a Supreme Court chief justice

Question 66

MATCHING
Match each person with one of the descriptions below.
Rosa Parks

A)was an Arkansas governor
B)wrote The Affluent Society
C)wrote On the Road
D)was the U.S.president in the 1950s
E)was a U-2 spy-plane pilot
F)challenged bus segregation in Montgomery,Alabama
G)proclaimed the creation of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam
H)advocated "massive resistance" to integration
I)was a young Memphis truck driver
J)was a Supreme Court chief justice

Question 67

MATCHING
Match each person with one of the descriptions below.
Jack Kerouac

A)was an Arkansas governor
B)wrote The Affluent Society
C)wrote On the Road
D)was the U.S.president in the 1950s
E)was a U-2 spy-plane pilot
F)challenged bus segregation in Montgomery,Alabama
G)proclaimed the creation of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam
H)advocated "massive resistance" to integration
I)was a young Memphis truck driver
J)was a Supreme Court chief justice

Question 68

MATCHING
Match each person with one of the descriptions below.
Harry Byrd

A)was an Arkansas governor
B)wrote The Affluent Society
C)wrote On the Road
D)was the U.S.president in the 1950s
E)was a U-2 spy-plane pilot
F)challenged bus segregation in Montgomery,Alabama
G)proclaimed the creation of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam
H)advocated "massive resistance" to integration
I)was a young Memphis truck driver
J)was a Supreme Court chief justice

Question 69

MATCHING
Match each person with one of the descriptions below.
Orval Faubus

A)was an Arkansas governor
B)wrote The Affluent Society
C)wrote On the Road
D)was the U.S.president in the 1950s
E)was a U-2 spy-plane pilot
F)challenged bus segregation in Montgomery,Alabama
G)proclaimed the creation of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam
H)advocated "massive resistance" to integration
I)was a young Memphis truck driver
J)was a Supreme Court chief justice

Question 70

MATCHING
Match each person with one of the descriptions below.
Francis Gary Powers

A)was an Arkansas governor
B)wrote The Affluent Society
C)wrote On the Road
D)was the U.S.president in the 1950s
E)was a U-2 spy-plane pilot
F)challenged bus segregation in Montgomery,Alabama
G)proclaimed the creation of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam
H)advocated "massive resistance" to integration
I)was a young Memphis truck driver
J)was a Supreme Court chief justice