Deck 28: The Affluent Society Key

Question 1

During the 1950s,the American Federation of Labor in the United States

A) was intimidated by powerful and wealthy corporations.
B) merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
C) represented nearly half of all working Americans.
D) saw its president, David Beck, charged with the misappropriation of union funds.
E) made significant concessions in benefits in order to gain higher wages.

Answer 1

merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Question 2

The popularity in the 1950s of suburban living in the U.S.is partly explained by

A) both the social importance placed on the family, and a desire for racial segregation.
B) a desire for larger homes.
C) All these answers are correct.
D) the social importance placed on the family.
E) a desire for racial segregation.

Answer 2

All these answers are correct.

Question 3

Between 1945 and 1960,the birth rate in the United States

A) peaked in 1949.
B) led to a doubling of the nation's population in this period.
C) reversed a long pattern of decline.
D) fell precipitously from its World War II highs.
E) led to shortages of many consumer goods.

Answer 3

reversed a long pattern of decline.

Question 4

The primary goal of the American Apollo program was to

A) build an orbiting space station.
B) develop a reusable spaceship.
C) send men to Mars.
D) land men on the moon.
E) launch manned vehicles into space to orbit the earth.

Question 5

All of the following researchers made important contributions to the development of antibiotics EXCEPT

A) Paul Muller.
B) Louis Pasteur.
C) Howard Florey.
D) Joseph Lister.
E) Alexander Fleming.

Question 6

During the 1950s,the general economic conditions of the United States included

A) stagnant economic growth.
B) a slowly rising gross national product.
C) high inflation.
D) low federal government spending.
E) low unemployment.

Question 7

All the following statements regarding the use of DDT are true EXCEPT that

A) it was first used on a large scale in Italy in 1943-1944, during a typhus outbreak.
B) the pesticide likely saved the lives of thousands of soldiers during World War II.
C) after its introduction, it quickly gained a positive reputation for its effectiveness.
D) scientists during WWII knew the pesticide had a long-term toxic effect on humans and animals.
E) the pesticide was recognized to be extremely toxic to insects.

Question 8

Following World War II,American scientists made a critical contribution to the development of penicillin by

A) discovering the antibacterial properties for which the drug was named.
B) discovering it could be used to treat streptococcal blood infections.
C) effectively using the antibacterial agent known as sulfanilamide.
D) developing methods for its mass production and commercial distribution.
E) demonstrating the value of antiseptic solutions to prevent infection.

Question 9

During the 1950s,the U.S.government's primary motive for the development of rocket and missile technology was

A) the long-range delivery of weapons.
B) exploration of outer space.
C) to catch up with German knowledge of rocketry.
D) the quest to land a man on the moon.
E) the establishment of communication and spy satellites around the earth.

Question 10

In 1946,Dr.Benjamin Spock's best-selling Baby and Child Care contended that

A) children should not be breast-fed or allowed to sleep with their parents.
B) fathers needed to spend as much time as mothers in the care and raising of their children.
C) families should not have more than three children.
D) mothers should stay at home with their children.
E) the ages of children in a family should not be spaced out over more than five years.

Question 11

The United States first successfully launched a missile from a submarine in 1960,with the

A) Titan.
B) Atlas.
C) Minuteman.
D) Polaris.
E) Mercury.

Question 12

All of the following statements regarding early television are true EXCEPT that

A) all three major television networks had started as radio companies.
B) television quickly became the most powerful medium of mass communication in history.
C) in the 1920s there were experiments in broadcasting pictures and sound.
D) the federal government largely kept big business sponsorship out of television advertising.
E) in 1946 there were 17,000 television sets in the United States.

Question 13

The correct chronological order for developments in electronic technology,from earliest to latest,is

A) integrated circuit, transistor, vacuum tube.
B) vacuum tube, integrated circuit, transistor.
C) transistor, integrated circuit, vacuum tube.
D) vacuum tube, transistor, integrated circuit.
E) transistor, vacuum tube, integrated circuit.

Question 14

The first significant public awareness of computers in the United States came during the

A) 1961 Mercury space flight.
B) 1950 U.S. Bureau of the Census tabulations.
C) 1957 launch of Sputnik.
D) 1958 launch of the first American satellite.
E) 1952 election tabulations.

Question 15

The first American to be launched into space,in 1961,was

A) Yuri Gagarin.
B) John Glenn.
C) Alan Shepard.
D) Edwin Aldrin.
E) Neil Armstrong.

Question 16

During the 1950s in the United States,married women who worked outside the home

A) increased in number throughout the decade.
B) All these answers are correct.
C) accounted for nearly one-third of all married women.
D) both increased in number throughout the decade, and accounted for nearly one-third of all married women.
E) faced social pressures to stay at home with their children.

Question 17

Between 1945 and 1957,the growth of American consumerism was aided by

A) the development of credit cards.
B) an 800-percent increase in consumer credit.
C) revolving charge accounts.
D) easy-payment credit plans.
E) All these answers are correct.

Question 18

In the early twentieth century,the vaccine that raised the most safety concerns in the United States was for the prevention of

A) typhoid.
B) tetanus.
C) tuberculosis.
D) rubella.
E) small pox.

Question 19

During the 1950s,the region of the United States that experienced the most dramatic change as a result of economic growth was

A) Alaska and Hawaii.
B) the East.
C) the North.
D) the West.
E) the South.

Question 20

In 1954,the American scientist Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for the prevention of

A) yellow fever.
B) typhoid.
C) polio.
D) influenza.
E) tuberculosis.

Question 21

During the 1950s,the American environmental preservation movement was mobilized by

A) the construction of a dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley at Yosemite National Park.
B) the diverting of water from Owens Valley to Los Angeles, California.
C) a proposed dam on the Green River in Echo Park, Utah.
D) the growing proliferation of nuclear power plants.
E) the nuclear incident at Three Mile Island.

Question 22

Michael Harrington's 1962 book,The Other America,focused on the problems of

A) McCarthyism.
B) racism.
C) sexism.
D) poverty.
E) the alienation of youth.

Question 23

During the 1950s,television networks

A) refused to show how the lower classes lived in America.
B) both refused to show how the lower classes lived in America and generally conveyed an idealized image of America.
C) created conditions that helped to ameliorate social conflict.
D) None of these answers is correct.
E) generally sought to convey an idealized image of a homogeneous America.

Question 24

All of the following were factors in rising poverty rates in inner cities in the 1950s,EXCEPT

A) increasing automation.
B) persistent racial discrimination.
C) large numbers of poor people migrating into these areas.
D) a growth of unskilled industrial jobs in these areas.
E) the movement of factories and mills to new locations.

Question 25

The Supreme Court decision in Brown v.Board of Education (1954)

A)reaffirmed the 1896 Plessy v.Ferguson decision.
B)set specific timetables for enactment.
C)arose from a case involving segregation in Mississippi.
D)passed by a narrow 5-4 vote.
E)declared that separate educational facilities were unlawful.

Question 26

Factors in the rise of the civil rights movement included

A) the growth of the urban black middle class.
B) Cold War politics.
C) the rapid spread of television.
D) the events of World War II.
E) All these answers are correct.

Question 27

In his 1950 book,The Lonely Crowd,sociologist David Riesman argued that Americans were

A) increasingly interested in winning approval from their family.
B) increasingly more concerned with winning approval in the community or larger organization.
C) both increasingly more likely to judge themselves on the basis of their own values, and increasingly interested in winning approval from their family.
D) increasingly more likely to judge themselves on the basis of their own values.
E) All these answers are correct.

Question 28

Rural America

A) lost nearly 10 percent of its population in 1956 alone.
B) both nearly lost 10 percent of its population in 1956 alone, and saw its percentage of the national income drop to less than two percent within the decade of the 1950s.
C) saw its percentage of the national income drop to less than 2 percent in the 1950s.
D) All these answers are correct.
E) saw the South increase plantings of cotton as a cash crop in the 1950s.

Question 29

Like many early white rock musicians,Elvis Presley drew heavily from black traditions in

A) gospel.
B) rhythm and blues.
C) folk.
D) country western.
E) jazz.

Question 30

In his 1956 book on corporate America,The Organization Man,William H.Whyte Jr.contended

A) corporate wealth was not being fairly shared with workers.
B) women and minorities had little chance for advancement in American corporations.
C) a worker's most valuable trait in the corporate work setting was to get along and "work as a team."
D) the ideal of rugged individualism had been reestablished in the business community.
E) the "inner-directed man" had become "other-directed."

Question 31

In 1960,the city in the United States with the largest Mexican American population was

A) San Diego.
B) San Antonio.
C) Los Angeles.
D) Chicago.
E) New York.

Question 32

The popular "beat" novel On the Road (1957)was written by

A)William Burroughs.
B)Allen Ginsberg.
C)J.D.Salinger.
D)Jack Kerouac.
E)Saul Bellow.

Question 33

All of the following statements regarding poverty in America between 1950 and 1960 are true EXCEPT that

A) the percentage of the population living in poverty rose during the decade.
B) many rural Americans lived on the margins of the affluent society.
C) more than 30 million Americans lived in poverty at any given time during the year 1960.
D) Native Americans were the single poorest group in the country.
E) most of the poor experienced poverty only temporarily.

Question 34

The Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-1956

A) was sparked by a beating of an African American woman.
B) was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court.
C) led to the creation of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).
D) failed to end the segregation policies on public city buses.
E) marked the emergence of an effective form of racial protest.

Question 35

The rapid rise in the popularity of rock music was partly due to

A) jukeboxes.
B) innovations in television programming.
C) the success of American Bandstand.
D) innovations in radio programming.
E) All these answers are correct.

Question 36

In the 1950s,crimes committed by juveniles

A) were the most visible evidence of widespread restiveness among young Americans.
B) soared, particularly in categories of violent crimes.
C) did not dramatically increase.
D) resulted in widespread social unrest during the decade.
E) did not receive much public attention.

Question 37

Martin Luther King Jr.was leader of the

A) United Negro Improvement Association.
B) Congress of Racial Equality.
C) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
D) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
E) Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Question 38

As part of his economic agenda,President Dwight D.Eisenhower

A)maintained the wage and price controls of the Truman administration.
B)allowed the federal deficit to rise due to high military spending.
C)generally followed the lead of the right wing of his party.
D)cut back public welfare programs.
E)lowered federal support for farm prices.

Question 39

In the civil rights movement,the spirit of "massive resistance" is associated with the actions of

A) southern whites.
B) southern blacks.
C) northern whites.
D) northern blacks.
E) progressive liberals.

Question 40

In 1957,the effort to integrate Central High School in Little Rock,Arkansas,required

A) the arrest of hundreds of whites protesting at the school.
B) the presence of federal troops to enforce court orders.
C) President Dwight Eisenhower to remove the governor of Arkansas from office.
D) the Supreme Court to issue another decision, Brown II.
E) the replacement of many of the school's teachers.

Question 41

Between 1945 and 1959,U.S.policy in the Middle East saw

A) the U.S. refuse to join in a UN resolution denouncing British and French actions during the Suez crisis.
B) the CIA engineer a coup that brought the shah of Iran to power.
C) the Truman administration refuse to recognize the state of Israel.
D) the Eisenhower administration assist in the construction of the Aswan Dam.
E) President Eisenhower seek to end the rule of Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser during the Suez crisis.

Question 42

The Soviet Union's announcement in 1960 that it had shot down an American U-2 spy plane

A) occurred at the close of an important summit conference in Paris.
B) proved to be false.
C) resulted in a UN proclamation that criticized the United States.
D) led Soviet Premier Khrushchev to withdraw his invitation to Eisenhower to visit Moscow.
E) compelled President Dwight Eisenhower to apologize for invading Soviet airspace.

Question 43

Economic growth was at its peak in the early 1950s,when military spending was at its highest.

Question 44

Dr.Benjamin Spock made a career of helping women have professional careers and be mothers at the same time.

Question 45

The first American space satellite went into orbit shortly before the Soviet Union achieved the same feat.

Question 46

In his farewell address to the nation,President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the dangers of

A) the "military-industrial complex."
B) global nuclear war.
C) the growing communist threat.
D) "brinkmanship" diplomacy.
E) excessive consumer materialism.

Question 47

The prosperity of the 1950s occurred with relatively low inflation.

Question 48

In 1954,the United States Senate voted to

A) charge Senator McCarthy with slander and libel.
B) expel Joseph McCarthy from the Senate.
C) censure Joseph McCarthy for "conduct unbecoming a senator."
D) convict Senator McCarthy of perjury.
E) fine Senator McCarthy.

Question 49

The most significant and largest public works project of the federal government under President Dwight Eisenhower involved

A) a federal highway system.
B) the space program.
C) a large tax cut.
D) a nuclear energy program.
E) a national healthcare system.

Question 50

John Glenn was the first American launched into space.

Question 51

Under John Foster Dulles's policy of "massive retaliation," announced in 1954,the United States would

A) rely primarily on large conventional forces in local conflicts to defeat communism.
B) use military force before diplomacy in dealing with the Soviet Union.
C) win the Cold War regardless of the financial cost.
D) counter any Soviet military move with a larger American force.
E) use nuclear weapons against communist aggression.

Question 52

Between 1945 and 1950,10 percent of all the new businesses in the United States began in Los Angeles.

Question 53

By the late 1950s,the Remington Rand Company was the largest American maker of business computers.

Question 54

Until the early 1950s,the country the United States assisted in trying to control Vietnam was

A) England.
B) Japan.
C) France.
D) Taiwan.
E) China.

Question 55

The Eisenhower administration responded to Fidel Castro's coming to power in Cuba by

A) None of these answers is correct.
B) blockading Cuban ports.
C) establishing a military presence in Guantanamo Bay.
D) ending diplomatic relations, blockading Cuban ports, and establishing a military presence in Guantanamo Bay.
E) ending diplomatic relations.

Question 56

In 1954,the Eisenhower administration ordered the CIA to help overthrow the government of

A) Panama.
B) Guatemala.
C) Cuba.
D) Colombia.
E) Haiti.

Question 57

By the late 1950s,the United States could send a guided missile several thousand miles.

Question 58

Consumer credit cards were developed in the years following World War II.

Question 59

The political decline of Senator Joseph McCarthy began when he investigated

A) the Central Intelligence Agency.
B) the civil rights movement.
C) Dwight Eisenhower's family.
D) the army.
E) the United States Senate.

Question 60

The first large-scale use of the pesticide DDT was to improve American crop production.

Question 61

The Eisenhower administration is responsible for the largest public works project in American history.

Question 62

In what ways did television during the 1950s both encourage conformity and spark desires for rebellion and change?

Question 63

Who were the leading domestic critics of the America of the 1950s? What were their major criticisms?

Question 64

What were the various technological advances brought together to develop the American space program in the late 1950s and the 1960s?

Question 65

The Eisenhower administration used the CIA to put friendly governments in place in Iran and Egypt.

Question 66

Senator Joseph McCarthy was eventually expelled from the United States Senate.

Question 67

Examine earlier periods of medical advancement covered in the text.Explain why the development of antibiotics was of such profound importance to medical science.

Question 68

How do you account for the prosperity of America during the late 1940s and 1950s? How was this prosperity similar to and different from that of the 1920s?

Question 69

The Supreme Court set no specific timetable for the desegregation of schools.

Question 70

What factors account for the broad-based and rapid progress of science and technology following World War II? Why did this progress not occur sooner?

Question 71

While radio made an enormous contribution to the popularity of rock music in the 1950s,television tended to limit its appeal.

Question 72

What were the major changes in America as a result of the growing availability and reliance on private automobiles?

Question 73

The Eisenhower administration was eager to join the battle over desegregation in Little Rock,Arkansas.

Question 74

How and why has the primary focus of the American space program changed since its founding to the present day?

Question 75

The crime rate of American youths soared during the 1950s.

Question 76

The rise of rock musicians such as Elvis Presley is an example of the limited willingness of white audiences at the time to accept black musicians.

Question 77

The number of women working outside the home declined between 1945 and 1960.

Question 78

In his book,The Organization Man,William Whyte Jr.praised modern corporations.

Question 79

In the 1950s,advertisers played an enormously important role in television programming.

Question 80

Consider the automobile and television.Which of these two products had the most influence in changing American society during the 1950s? Why?