Deck 26: The New World of the Cold War, 19451960

Question 1

Why did Helen Gahagan Douglas oppose Truman's plan for dealing with the crisis in Greece?

A) She wanted the United States to work through the United Nations.
B) She wanted Truman to support the authoritarian Greek government.
C) She believed that only war would avert the crisis in Greece.
D) She believed that Truman was trying to pacify the Soviet Union.

Answer 1

She wanted the United States to work through the United Nations.

Question 2

What impact did World War II have on the Soviet Union?

A) It served as a major economic stimulus.
B) It solidified the Soviet commitment to isolationism.
C) It was less costly in terms of Soviet wartime casualties than it had been for the United States.
D) It killed more than twenty million Soviet citizens.

Answer 2

It killed more than twenty million Soviet citizens.

Question 3

By 1947, the intense rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States was called

A) the iron curtain.
B) the Cold War.
C) Communist hysteria.
D) the Red scare.

Answer 3

the Cold War.

Question 4

Why did President Truman approve the development of a hydrogen bomb in 1949?

A) U.S. scientists were warning that the atomic bomb would not be effective in a nuclear war.
B) U.S. intelligence sources were reporting that China had developed an atomic bomb.
C) The United States had confirmed that the Soviets had detonated an atomic bomb.
D) Experts believed it would be a more cost-effective weapon than the atomic bomb.

Question 5

What allowed the United States to emerge from World War II as the most powerful nation in the world?

A) The public was solidly behind the presidential administration.
B) Government economists had prepared for the postwar economic downturn.
C) It had both a monopoly on atomic weapons and expanded production capacity.
D) Its heroic role in the war made other nations willing to submit to American authority.

Question 6

In February 1948, while Congress debated the Marshall Plan, the Soviet Union was

A) undermining western efforts to establish a republic in Germany.
B) staging a coup and installing a Communist regime in Greece.
C) staging a coup and installing a Communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
D) making overtures to U.S. allies in Asia.

Question 7

What did Winston Churchill, then Britain's former prime minister, suggest about the Soviet Union in his iron curtain speech of 1946?

A) It was quickly becoming an industrial nation that would threaten the American economy.
B) Its expansion had successfully been contained by the United States and its European allies.
C) Its suppression of the popular will in Eastern and Central Europe had isolated those regions from the free world.
D) Its military power was as superior and as strong as iron despite its wartime losses.

Question 8

Joseph Stalin believed that U.S. foreign policy after World War II was hypocritical because the United States

A) was demanding territorial integrity in European nations but not in Japan, China, or the Middle East.
B) was demanding democratic elections in Eastern Europe but supporting friendly dictatorships in Latin America.
C) consistently refused to support efforts to create democratic nations around the globe.
D) applied containment policy only to the Soviets and not to other aggressor nations around the world.

Question 9

The U.S. government's policy of containment was first implemented when President Truman asked Congress to send military and economic aid to

A) Poland and Bulgaria.
B) Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
C) Greece and Turkey.
D) Romania and Yugoslavia.

Question 10

Why did the Allies divide Germany in 1946?

A) They could not agree on the country's future.
B) The British feared the Soviets would rearm the Germans.
C) They had agreed to divide Germany at Yalta in 1945.
D) The Germans didn't want to be under complete Soviet control.

Question 11

How did President Truman respond to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin in 1948 and 1949?

A) He ordered the airlifting of more than two million tons of goods to West Berliners.
B) He considered retaliation but decided in the end to ignore the blockade.
C) He called Stalin's bluff and dispatched American soldiers to Germany.
D) He asked Congress to approve a declaration of war, but it refused.

Question 12

European nations used most of the U.S. funds provided by the Marshall Plan of 1948 to

A) develop their own atomic defense systems.
B) buy American products.
C) counter the spread of communism throughout Western Europe.
D) oust oppressive, autocratic regimes.

Question 13

Who was the author of the 1946 rationale for a hard-line U.S. foreign policy of containment?

A) Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson
B) Secretary of State James F. Byrnes
C) British prime minister Winston Churchill
D) Career diplomat George F. Kennan

Question 14

Why was the Central Intelligence Agency established?

A) To engage in peaceful negotiations with the Soviet Union and other Communist nations
B) To develop a computer network that would analyze the data collected by U.S. intelligence sources
C) To gather information relevant to the national defense and to perform any functions and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security
D) To oversee military outposts in strategic secret locations in Western and Eastern Europe and throughout the Middle East

Question 15

The National Security Council was established to

A) advise the president on defense planning.
B) oversee the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
C) monitor the activities of Communist parties abroad.
D) prevent the United States from forming military alliances with other nations.

Question 16

The first instance of Soviet expansionism after World War II was in

A) Poland and Bulgaria.
B) China.
C) Iran.
D) Finland and Sweden.

Question 17

Which factor aroused Soviet suspicions of the Western Allies during World War II?

A) The Western Allies' refusal to fight alongside Soviet troops after the Normandy invasion
B) President Truman's refusal to thank the Soviet Union for its wartime sacrifices
C) President Truman's refusal to recognize Stalin as a legitimate leader
D) The Western Allies' long delay in opening a second front in Western Europe

Question 18

What was the purpose of the National Security Act of 1947?

A) To pledge economic aid to democratic European governments
B) To create an agency to identify and ferret out Communists in the United States
C) To place oversight of all branches of the military under the secretary of defense
D) To establish and fund the Subversive Activities Control board under the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Question 19

What was the peacetime military alliance created by the United States, Canada, and Western European countries to deter attacks from the Soviet Union?

A) Civil Defense Commission
B) North Atlantic Treaty Organization
C) Warsaw Pact
D) Bretton Woods Alliance

Question 20

What was Joseph Stalin's primary goal after World War II?

A) To demilitarize and reindustrialize Germany
B) To partition Germany into three spheres of influence
C) To ensure friendly governments on its borders in Eastern Europe
D) To make Poland and Germany into a massive agricultural region

Question 21

What occurred with the flight of the Chinese Nationalists from China in 1949?

A) Mao Zedong's Communist China Republic was established.
B) Indonesia granted the Nationalist government asylum so it could rule in exile.
C) Nationalist officers mounted a military coup and placed General Chiang Kai-shek in power.
D) The People's Republic of China was established.

Question 22

How did the U.S. government respond to the fall of China's Nationalist government?

A) The president replaced senior officials in the State Department because they were responsible for the loss of China.
B) It persuaded the world's other democratic countries to welcome the People's Republic of China into the United Nations.
C) It formulated a plot to send the CIA to China to attempt to infiltrate the Communist forces and assassinate Mao Zedong.
D) It refused to grant official recognition to the Communist government and aided the exiled Nationalists.

Question 23

The G.I. Bill help to boost the U.S. economy after World War II

A) by ensuring that veterans could return to their old jobs.
B) with the provision of job training, education, and low-interest home loans.
C) by providing veterans and their spouses with a free college education.
D) with the provision of full medical and mental health benefits for life.

Question 24

Which of the following describes labor strikes in the United States in 1946?

A) There were fewer than at any other time in the nation's history.
B) They increased public exasperation with and hostility toward unions.
C) They were related to returning veterans replacing women in the workforce.
D) They increased public hostility toward big business.

Question 25

How did President Truman's efforts to advance the cause of blacks' civil rights compare with those of previous presidents?

A) They were weak and ineffectual.
B) They were bold and forward-looking.
C) They were the same as his predecessors'.
D) They constituted a step backward.

Question 26

How did women fare in the post-World War II economy?

A) Their wartime earnings remained unchanged.
B) They continued to work in heavy industries.
C) Their earnings saw significant decline.
D) They gained significant increases in income.

Question 27

The founding of the American G.I. Forum in 1948 and subsequent efforts by Mexican Americans to challenge their segregation in public schools demonstrated

A) the growing mobilization of Mexican Americans in the Southwest.
B) a high level of cooperation between Mexican and African Americans after 1945.
C) competition between Mexican and African Americans for recognition for their struggles.
D) the growing mobilization of Mexican Americans in the Northeast and South.

Question 28

The United States ended its official occupation of Japan after World War II

A) in 1950, when the United States was forced by necessity to divert its diplomatic and military efforts to Korea.
B) in 1949, as soon as it was clear that China would not become an American economic center in Asia.
C) once General Douglas MacArthur had established political and military stability there in late 1949.
D) after the two nations signed a peace treaty and a mutual security pact in September 1951.

Question 29

The purpose of the Employment Act of 1946 was to

A) formalize the U.S. government's responsibility for keeping the economy healthy.
B) make the National Jobs Council responsible for keeping Americans employed.
C) strengthen the New Deal's Wagner Act by extending workers' rights to organize and strike.
D) provide unemployment insurance and other federal aid to unemployed World War II veterans.

Question 30

The executive order President Truman issued in 1948 during his reelection campaign was designed to

A) guarantee African Americans' right to fair housing.
B) ensure that black Americans had the same job opportunities as whites.
C) prohibit racial segregation in parks and other public facilities in the South.
D) desegregate every aspect of the American armed services.

Question 31

Which of the following was among the factors responsible for the post-World War II economic boom in the United States?

A) War-torn countries' spending on American products
B) A steadily declining birthrate in the Northeast and Midwest
C) Inflation and higher wages in the South and Southwest
D) The decline of labor unions

Question 32

What was the outcome of the congressional elections of 1946?

A) Democrats gained seats in Congress.
B) Republicans captured Congress.
C) The balance of power in Congress did not shift.
D) There were contested election results in seven states.

Question 33

How did the United States' Asian policy change after the collapse of China's Nationalist government in 1949?

A) It shifted its focus to Japan.
B) It began to consider the need to protect Vietnam from communism.
C) It beefed up its military presence in Japan.
D) It sought to establish an Asian equivalent to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Question 34

According to President Truman, what was the government's role in the postwar economy?

A) Government intervention was unnecessary because the economy was strong.
B) Federal money should go toward international aid rather than domestic welfare issues such as housing and health care for the poor.
C) The government should continue to regulate the economy while it adjusted to peacetime production.
D) The government should focus on only four or five economic proposals at a time.

Question 35

Which African American received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950?

A) Gwendolyn Brooks
B) Ralph Bunche
C) Medgar Evers
D) Isaac Nixon

Question 36

Passed despite Truman's veto in 1947, the Taft-Hartley Act

A) was a huge blow to American labor.
B) removed government influence over labor unions.
C) was a major victory for American labor.
D) was also opposed by the Republican party.

Question 37

What accounted for Harry Truman's victory in the presidential election of 1948?

A) The Democratic party was strong and fully united behind him.
B) Thomas E. Dewey's high-profile campaign made him appear overconfident.
C) Broad support for his foreign policy and the popularity of New Deal reform led to Truman's victory.
D) After sixteen years of Democratic presidents, voters were nervous about a change in administration.

Question 38

What was President Truman's initial response to the Israeli declaration of statehood in 1948?

A) He instituted a special State Department committee to research and make recommendations on the situation.
B) He quickly recognized Israel and pledged to make its defense a cornerstone of U.S. policies in the Middle East.
C) He went along with his advisors' recommendation that he stay neutral on the question, but he reversed his position before the election.
D) He took the position that he could not support Israel or its defense until it signed a peace agreement with the Arabs.

Question 39

In the post-World War II era, the term third world was used to refer to Latin America and

A) countries with standards of living below those of the United States and most of Western Europe.
B) those countries where English was not the primary language.
C) Eastern European countries whose economies were under the control of the Soviet Union.
D) countries that had won their independence from war-weakened imperial powers.

Question 40

How did the experience of World War II influence African American veterans returning from overseas?

A) It convinced them that their civil rights could not be protected.
B) It led them to expect a sharp decline in racial violence in the South.
C) It increased their resolve to fight racial injustices in the United States.
D) It lowered their expectations for the federal government's aid on civil rights issues.

Question 41

Who did Eisenhower select as his running mate in the presidential election of 1952?

A) Robert A. Taft
B) Helen Gahagan Douglas
C) Adlai E. Stevenson
D) Richard M. Nixon

Question 42

Which of these men was the most infamous crusader against communism after World War II?

A) Richard M. Nixon
B) Julius Rosenberg
C) Joseph R. McCarthy
D) Alger Hiss

Question 43

What did Dwight D. Eisenhower emphasize in his campaign for the presidency in 1952?

A) The need for large government expenditures to solve domestic problems
B) The need to get U.S. troops out of Korea immediately to prevent the loss of more lives
C) The importance of reducing defense spending and increasing the federal budget for education
D) The threat of communism and the need to win decisively in Korea

Question 44

Compare the circumstances facing African Americans and Mexican Americans in the years immediately following World War II. What gains had each group achieved by 1953?

Question 45

What was one consequence of the Korean War?

A) A reduction in Cold War tension around the globe
B) A 50 percent decrease in U.S. military spending in 1953
C) A massive increase in U.S. defense spending
D) A lessening of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia

Question 46

How did the war in Korea affect the 1952 presidential election in the United States?

Question 47

Congress rejected a number of President Truman's Fair Deal proposals, including

A) improvements in Social Security.
B) an increase in the minimum wage.
C) housing reform.
D) civil rights measures.

Question 48

Which of the following describes Truman's authorization for General MacArthur to lead his troops across the thirty-eighth parallel in Korea?

A) Truman's orders were disregarded by MacArthur, who steadfastly refused to advance into North Korea.
B) It was the only time during the Cold War that the United States tried to roll back communism by force.
C) It provoked a crisis with the Soviet Union, which, for the first time, threatened to use nuclear weapons.
D) It was censured by the United Nations, which had authorized troops to advance to the thirty-eighth parallel only.

Question 49

Why were there so many labor strikes in the United States after World War II?

Question 50

During the anti-Communist scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s,

A) many subversives and illegal immigrants were deported to other countries.
B) federal employees were investigated for Communist subversion.
C) many teachers were jailed for refusing to answer Senate investigators' questions.
D) labor unions were exempt from investigation because of they had signed the no-strike pledge during the war.

Question 51

Which groups found themselves under attack during the postwar Red scare? What did these groups have in common?

Question 52

Why did President Truman's Fair Deal fail?

Question 53

Which of the following describes President Truman's decision to deploy 1.8 million troops in the Korean War without a formal declaration of war from Congress?

A) Truman's action violated the spirit if not the letter of the Constitution.
B) The deployment was clearly within Truman's authority as president.
C) The decision overburdened the sixteen other nations that were taking part in the conflict.
D) Truman's rapid decision guaranteed a swift victory for the United States and South Korea against the Communists.

Question 54

Discuss the origin of containment as a U.S. foreign policy.

Question 55

How did U.S. involvement in Korea reflect the nation's Cold War containment policy?

Question 56

President Truman justified intervention in Korea by comparing events there to the crisis in which European nation?

A) Germany
B) Czechoslovakia
C) Poland
D) Greece

Question 57

What triggered U.S. military action in Korea in 1950?

A) The invasion of South Korea by troops from Communist North Korea
B) Mao Zedong's mobilization of Chinese troops to North Korea
C) President Truman's firing of General MacArthur
D) Joseph Stalin's ordering the North Koreans to attack and capture Seoul

Question 58

In which countries did the United States first use the policy of containment? Why?

Question 59

What was the Soviet Union's position on expanding its influence after World War II? Why did it take that position?

Question 60

Why did some Republicans in the United States accuse President Truman of losing China?

Question 61

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
Law passed by the Republican-controlled Congress in 1947 that amended the Wagner Act and placed restrictions on organized labor that made it more difficult for unions to organize workers.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine

Question 62

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
Top-secret government report of April 1950 warning that national survival required a massive military buildup. The Korean War brought nearly all of the expansion called for in the report, and by 1952, defense spending claimed nearly 70 percent of the federal budget.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine

Question 63

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
Agency created by the National Security Act of 1947 to expand the government's espionage capacities and ability to thwart communism through covert activities, including propaganda, sabotage, economic warfare, and support for anti-Communist forces around the world.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine

Question 64

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
Law authorizing the construction of 810,000 units of government housing. This landmark effort marked the first significant commitment of the federal government to meet the housing needs of the poor.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine

Question 65

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
President Harry S. Truman's commitment to "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures." First applied to Greece and Turkey in 1947, it became the justification for U.S. intervention into many countries during the Cold War.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine

Question 66

What were the causes and consequences of U.S. military involvement in the Korean War?

Question 67

Assess the presidency of Harry S. Truman. To what extent did the Cold War contribute to or impede his Fair Deal reform agenda?

Question 68

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
Congressional committee especially prominent during the early years of the Cold War that investigated Americans who might be disloyal to the government or might have associated with Communists or other radicals. It was one of the key institutions that promoted the second Red scare.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine

Question 69

How did distrust between the United States and Soviet Union and the two powers' competing worldviews lead to the Cold War?

Question 70

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
Aid program begun in 1948 to help European economies recover from World War II. Between 1948 and 1953, the U.S. provided $13 billion to seventeen western European nations in a project that helped its own economy as well.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine

Question 71

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
The post-World War II foreign policy strategy that committed the United States to resisting the influence and expansion of the Soviet Union and communism. The strategy shaped American foreign policy throughout the Cold War.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine

Question 72

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
Metaphor coined by Winston Churchill in 1946 to demark the line dividing Soviet-controlled countries in Eastern Europe from democratic nations in Western Europe following World War II.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine

Question 73

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
Conflict between North Korean forces supported by China and the Soviet Union and South Korean and U.S.-led United Nations forces over control of South Korea.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine

Question 74

In what ways did the return of American servicemen and women affect postwar economic and political life in the United States? To what extent did their wartime experiences shape their positions in postwar America?

Question 75

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
Term given to the tense and hostile relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1989.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine

Question 76

What factors led to the postwar Red scare? What was Senator Joseph McCarthy's role in the movement? What impact did the crusade against communism have on civil liberties in the United States?

Question 77

Use the following to answer questions :
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
Military alliance formed in 1949 among the United States, Canada, and Western European nations to counter any possible Soviet threat. It represented an unprecedented commitment by the United States to go to war if any of its allies were attacked.

A)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
B)Cold War
C)containment
D)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
E)Housing Act of 1949
F)iron curtain
G)Marshall Plan
H)North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
I)NSC 68
J)Korean War
K)Taft-Hartley Act
L)Truman Doctrine