Deck 29: Civil Rights, Vietnam, and the Ordeal of Liberalism

Question 1

In the early 1960s,the SNCC was formed primarily by

A) college students.
B) Republicans.
C) rural blacks.
D) the urban poor.
E) Catholics.

Answer 1

college students.

Question 2

Lyndon Johnson was similar to John Kennedy in his

A) political career.
B) family background.
C) active use of power.
D) personality.
E) All these answers are correct.

Answer 2

active use of power.

Question 3

In February 1960,the first "sit-in" demonstration protesting segregation was held at a

A) church.
B) swimming pool.
C) movie theater.
D) lunch counter.
E) bus station.

Answer 3

lunch counter.

Question 4

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech

A) was given during the greatest civil rights demonstration in the nation's history.
B) was made shortly after Lyndon Johnson become president.
C) saw King call for a significant shift in tactics in the quest of civil rights.
D) was made before a joint session of Congress and the Senate.
E) was given to commemorate passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Question 5

In 1961,the "freedom rides" sponsored by CORE attempted to

A) bring northern civil rights activists into the South to register black voters.
B) transport black children to formerly all-white schools.
C) force the desegregation of bus stations.
D) help move poor blacks out of the South.
E) transport black workers to white-only businesses.

Question 6

Great Society reforms

A) were generally proven to be cost-effective.
B) improved the lives of whites far more than blacks.
C) contributed to the greatest reduction in poverty in American history.
D) grew in popularity over the next decade and a half.
E) made no dent in reducing hunger in America.

Question 7

Legislation to prohibit segregation in all public accommodations was proposed

A) and approved during the Kennedy administration.
B) and approved during the Johnson administration.
C) by Eisenhower and approved during the Kennedy administration.
D) by Johnson and approved during the Nixon administration.
E) by Kennedy and approved during the Johnson administration.

Question 8

The 1964 election saw

A) Lyndon Johnson distance himself from the memory of John Kennedy.
B) Lyndon Johnson win a decisive victory over Richard Nixon.
C) Republicans gain control of the Senate, but not the House.
D) Lyndon Johnson receive a larger plurality than any candidate before or since.
E) Lyndon Johnson carry the entire South.

Question 9

President Lyndon Johnson's Medicare program

A) was broadly unpopular in the form in which it was enacted.
B) provided benefits to all seniors regardless of need.
C) appealed mainly to poor and working-class Americans.
D) built on the success of his Medicaid program.
E) angered doctors by forcing them to lower their fees.

Question 10

Only weeks after taking office,President Lyndon Johnson declared a "war" on

A) racism.
B) crime.
C) intolerance.
D) illiteracy.
E) poverty.

Question 11

The Housing Act of 1961 provided federal funds for all of the following EXCEPT the

A) construction of low-income public housing.
B) preservation of open space in cities.
C) development of mass-transit systems.
D) subsidization of middle-income housing.
E) revitalization of decaying cities.

Question 12

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and subsequent related measures

A) offered aid to both public and private schools.
B) based aid on student need rather than school need.
C) managed to circumvent objections that the Kennedy administration had faced.
D) both offered aid to public and private schools, and based aid on student rather than school need.
E) All these answers are correct.

Question 13

Which of the following is true of the assassination of President John Kennedy?

A) Vice President Lyndon Johnson had made a last-minute decision not to accompany Kennedy.
B) The president died instantly.
C) Lee Harvey Oswald was shot and killed while in police custody.
D) Kennedy was struck by three bullets.
E) The president was shot while in a motorcade in downtown Houston.

Question 14

In the 1960 presidential election,

A) John Kennedy narrowly won the popular vote but fared slightly better in the electoral vote.
B) Richard Nixon was soundly defeated.
C) Richard Nixon won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote and the election.
D) Dixiecrat HarryF. Byrd swept the Deep South.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 15

In 1963,civil rights activist Medgar Evers was murdered the same day

A) a black church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.
B) a federal court ruled James Meredith could attend the University of Mississippi.
C) Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech.
D) George Wallace tried to prevent black students from enrolling in the University of Alabama.
E) Attorney General Robert Kennedy mandated the integration of bus and train stations.

Question 16

The Johnson administration's Office of Economic Opportunity

A) eliminated poverty in many regions of the nation.
B) called for the relocation of many of the nation's urban poor.
C) was criticized for its absence of minority appointments.
D) included a controversial community action program.
E) spent less than $500 million in its first two years of existence.

Question 17

The Immigration Act of 1965

A) ended the strict limits on the total number of immigrants to be admitted each year.
B) allowed people from all parts of Latin America to enter the United States on an equal basis.
C) had little impact on the character of the American population.
D) maintained strict restrictions on immigrants from Africa.
E) eliminated rules that gave preference to immigrants from northern Europe.

Question 18

The Warren Commission investigation of the assassination of President John Kennedy concluded

A) Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin of Kennedy.
B) Jack Ruby killed Oswald on the orders of an unknown third party.
C) An unknown second gunman shot from a "grassy knoll" behind the motorcade.
D) both that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin of Kennedy, and that Jack Ruby killed Oswald on the orders of an unknown third party.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 19

In 1961,President John Kennedy saw legislative success in

A) a major civil rights bill.
B) tariff reductions.
C) improved Soviet-American relations.
D) a major tax increase.
E) a reduction of Social Security.

Question 20

One of the chief obstacles in John Kennedy's presidential bid in 1960 was his

A) religion.
B) public image.
C) wealth.
D) womanizing.
E) lack of resources.

Question 21

In the 1962 Cuban missile crisis,the

A) Cubans attempted to install defensive nuclear weapons.
B) United States ordered a naval and air blockade of Cuba.
C) United States made an air attack on Cuban missile sites.
D) Soviet Union launched a missile at an American naval destroyer.
E) Soviet Union attempted to invade Cuba.

Question 22

In the summer of 1967,racial conflicts in the United States

A) resulted in more than a hundred major disorders.
B) saw 43 people die in a riot in Detroit.
C) went ignored by the Johnson administration.
D) both resulted in more than a hundred major disorders, and went ignored by the Johnson administration.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 23

In 1965,Malcolm X

A) denounced the Black Panthers.
B) was assassinated by white racists.
C) advocated nonviolence to end segregation.
D) belonged to the Nation of Islam for a time.
E) argued in favor of integration.

Question 24

In 1956,scheduled national elections for Vietnam were cancelled because

A) the communist government in North Vietnam refused to participate.
B) a leading presidential candidate was assassinated.
C) the pro-Western government in South Vietnam refused to hold them.
D) the United Nations asserted it would be impossible to prevent election fraud.
E) actions by the National Liberation Front (NLF) prevented free and open elections.

Question 25

The National Liberation Front was

A) created by Ngo Dinh Diem.
B) also known in the United States as the Viet Cong.
C) an organization attempting to overthrow the North Vietnamese government.
D) both created by Ngo Dinh Diem and also known in the United States as the Viet Cong.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 26

President Lyndon Johnson's first major foreign policy test came in 1961 during a crisis in

A) Singapore.
B) the Middle East.
C) the Dominican Republic.
D) Brazil.
E) Laos.

Question 27

During the Bay of Pigs operation,President John Kennedy decided to withhold

A) American ground troops.
B) participation by CIA agents.
C) military air support.
D) the participation of Cuban exiles.
E) a planned rocket bombardment.

Question 28

In 1956,the United States' interest in South Vietnam

A) was nearly nonexistent.
B) was mainly in replacing the corrupt Ngo Dinh Diem government.
C) had made the country a recipient of large amounts of American aid.
D) was purely commercial.
E) was predicated on Diem agreeing to hold free and open elections.

Question 29

In the 1960s,the philosophy of "black power"

A) called for an increased awareness of racial differences.
B) helped to unite the many different black civil rights groups.
C) encouraged greater racial assimilation.
D) disavowed the use of violence in the civil rights movement.
E) was rejected by groups such as SNCC and CORE.

Question 30

The correct chronological order of the following events is

A) Vienna summit, Berlin Wall, Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuban missile crisis.
B) Cuban missile crisis, Berlin Wall, Bay of Pigs, Vienna summit.
C) Berlin Wall, Vienna summit, Cuban missile crisis, Bay of Pigs.
D) Bay of Pigs, Vienna summit, Cuban missile crisis, Berlin Wall.
E) Bay of Pigs, Vienna summit, Berlin Wall, Cuban missile crisis.

Question 31

The Civil Rights Act of 1965 primarily focused on the issue of

A) desegregation of public accommodations.
B) voting rights.
C) fair employment practices.
D) housing discrimination.
E) violence directed against civil rights workers.

Question 32

All of the following actions were initiated by President John Kennedy EXCEPT

A) an expansion of the Green Berets.
B) the creation of the "Alliance for Progress."
C) the CIA plan to overthrow Fidel Castro.
D) the creation of the Peace Corps.
E) the creation of the Agency for International Development.

Question 33

The Cuban missile crisis ended after President John Kennedy agreed to

A) remove American missiles from West Germany.
B) restore diplomatic ties with Cuba.
C) provide economic aid to Cuba.
D) not invade Cuba.
E) withdraw American troops from West Berlin.

Question 34

In 1961,President John Kennedy believed the major struggle against communism in the future would be waged in

A) the Baltic.
B) Western Europe.
C) China.
D) Eastern Europe.
E) the Third World.

Question 35

In 1965,the first major race riot in the United States since World War II took place in

A) Detroit.
B) Chicago.
C) Los Angeles.
D) Cleveland.
E) Memphis.

Question 36

The 1964 murder of civil rights activists Andrew Goodman,Michael Schwerner,and James Chaney

A) was supported by local police.
B) took place in Montgomery, Alabama.
C) prompted Congress to pass legislation to end segregation in public accommodations.
D) never resulted in anyone being convicted for the crimes.
E) led to the formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

Question 37

The 1965 civil rights march in Selma,Alabama,involved all of the following EXCEPT the

A) call for voting rights for blacks.
B) involvement of Martin Luther King Jr.
C) televised attack on demonstrators by local police.
D) resignation of Governor George Wallace.
E) murder of two northern whites.

Question 38

George Kennan stated the "most disastrous" undertaking in the United States' history involved

A) Vietnam.
B) Haiti.
C) Cuba.
D) Somalia.
E) Korea.

Question 39

Under the terms of the Geneva Conference accords,Vietnam was

A) permanently divided into two parts along the 17th parallel.
B) to hold elections in 1956.
C) to receive military aid from the United States.
D) to be controlled by France.
E) to unify with nearby Laos and Cambodia.

Question 40

The 1961 Vienna summit between the United States and the Soviet Union

A) was canceled in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs.
B) saw Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev make a veiled threat of war.
C) saw President John Kennedy agree not to invade Cuba.
D) saw President Kennedy criticize the construction of the Berlin Wall.
E) saw the United States and the Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.

Question 41

In 1967,President Lyndon Johnson responded to mounting inflation at home by

A) raising the Federal Reserve interest rate.
B) increasing taxes while agreeing to large funding reductions in Great Society programs.
C) reducing the American troops in Vietnam.
D) calling for a tax reduction.
E) reinstalling the wartime wage and price controls of the Truman administration.

Question 42

The Johnson administration

A) sent the first American military advisers to South Vietnam.
B) sent the first American combat troops to South Vietnam.
C) inherited a substantial American commitment to maintain South Vietnam.
D) believed all of Vietnam should be restored to French control.
E) began removing military advisers from South Vietnam.

Question 43

In 1965,President Lyndon Johnson responded to an attack on Pleiku by

A) sending 250,000 American troops to Vietnam.
B) warning China and the Soviet Union not to be involved in Vietnam.
C) organizing the Tet Offensive.
D) mining the harbor of Haiphong.
E) bombing North Vietnam.

Question 44

In Vietnam,the American "pacification" strategy

A) called for a peaceful settlement with the North Vietnamese.
B) eliminated the Viet Cong's ability to attack American patrols.
C) was successful in the South, but not in the North.
D) was replaced by the more heavy-handed "relocation" strategy.
E) included giving Vietnamese villages significant economic aid.

Question 45

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

A) resulted in a U.S. declaration of war on North Vietnam.
B) gave President Lyndon Johnson wide latitude to escalate the conflict.
C) called for 250,000 U.S. combat troops to be sent to Vietnam.
D) both gave President Lyndon Johnson wide latitude to escalate the conflict, and called for 250,000 U.S. combat troops to be sent to Vietnam.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 46

In 1968,antiwar protesters at the Democratic convention in Chicago

A) invaded the convention hall.
B) forced significant changes to the party platform.
C) were attacked by police in a bloody riot.
D) went on a destructive rampage through city streets.
E) organized a massive hunger strike that drew worldwide notice.

Question 47

Robert Kennedy's assassin had apparently been angered by Kennedy's

A) association with the civil rights movement.
B) statements in favor of Israel.
C) attacks on corruption in organized labor.
D) criticism of the nation's wealthy elite.
E) opposition to the war in Vietnam.

Question 48

In Vietnam,the American military "attrition" strategy

A) prevented North Vietnam from sufficiently resupplying their soldiers.
B) led the United States to abandon its air bombardment campaign.
C) eventually broke the resolve of North Vietnam.
D) both prevented North Vietnam from sufficiently resupplying their soldiers, and led the United States to abandon its air bombardment campaign.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 49

By the end of 1967,the number of American troops in Vietnam had surpassed

A) 200,000.
B) 500,000.
C) 750,000.
D) 1,000,000.
E) 1,250,000.

Question 50

Which of the following individuals was NOT at one point a candidate in the 1968 Democratic primaries?

A) Hubert Humphrey
B) George McGovern
C) Lyndon Johnson
D) Eugene McCarthy
E) Robert Kennedy

Question 51

The 1968 presidential election results

A) were extremely close.
B) saw Hubert Humphrey win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote.
C) saw George Wallace carry the entire South.
D) saw both George Wallace carry the entire South, and Hubert Humphrey win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 52

In 1968,George Wallace ran for president

A) based on a variety of conservative grievances.
B) as a critic of the war in Vietnam.
C) as a Democrat.
D) until he was wounded in an assassination attempt.
E) to draw attention to his opposition to segregation.

Question 53

As the presidential campaign of 1960 got under way,Richard Nixon won the Republican nomination almost uncontested.

Question 54

The 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was in response to

A) alleged attacks by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on American destroyers.
B) a Vietminh attack on an American-occupied air base in South Vietnam.
C) mortar attacks on the American embassy in Saigon.
D) the decision by North Vietnam to arm its allies in the South.
E) the so-called "Tet Offensive" by North Vietnamese soldiers.

Question 55

The 1968 Tet offensive

A) was a major political defeat for President Lyndon Johnson.
B) was a military victory, in terms of the physical battles, for the United States.
C) permanently depleted the ranks of the NLF.
D) both was a major political defeat for President Lyndon Johnson, and was a substantial military victory for the United States.
E) All these answers are correct.

Question 56

The overthrow of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963

A) resulted in Diem's imprisonment and eventual exile.
B) was carried out by Soviet KGB operatives.
C) brought short-term political stability to South Vietnam.
D) was carried out by the National Liberation Front.
E) was supported by the Kennedy administration.

Question 57

In the 1968 presidential campaign,Richard Nixon called for

A) an end to the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
B) an immediate withdrawal of American military forces in Vietnam.
C) a new commitment to effective social reform.
D) stability and national law and order.
E) the diplomatic recognition of China.

Question 58

In the Vietnam War,the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" was

A) eventually destroyed by American bombing raids.
B) continually moved by the North Vietnamese.
C) used by American troops to stage attacks on North Vietnam.
D) both continually moved by the North Vietnamese and eventually destroyed by American bombing raids.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 59

All of the following statements regarding the 1968 Tet offensive are true EXCEPT that it

A) began on a Vietnamese holiday.
B) saw the communists fighting on the grounds of the American embassy in Saigon.
C) saw American troops inflict enormous casualties on the communists.
D) suggested to the American public something of the brutality of the fighting in Vietnam.
E) involved the fall of Saigon to the communists.

Question 60

In January 1966,highly publicized hearings airing criticisms of the war were staged by

A) Senator William Fulbright.
B) Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford.
C) General William Westmoreland.
D) Senator Robert Kennedy.
E) Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.

Question 61

When the Warren Commission issued its findings on the assassination of President Kennedy,most Americans did not agree with its conclusions.

Question 62

President Kennedy's Alliance for Progress was designed to be a complement to NATO by improving the military security of the Caribbean.

Question 63

Martin Luther King Jr.confined his civil rights campaigns to the South.

Question 64

The first major race riot of the post-World War II period took place outside the South.

Question 65

President Kennedy called for a significant tax cut to promote economic growth early in his presidency.

Question 66

President Kennedy canceled military air support for the Bay of Pigs operation.

Question 67

In the mid-1960s,the battle against school desegregation had moved beyond the initial assault on de jure segregation to an attack on de facto segregation.

Question 68

President Johnson managed to pass Kennedy's proposed tax cut in 1964.

Question 69

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech was part of a civil rights march on Washington to celebrate the passage of major civil rights legislation by Congress.

Question 70

The Kennedy administration created the plan to oust Castro from Cuba that became the Bay of Pigs operation.

Question 71

The Immigration Act of 1965 maintained a strict limit on the number of immigrants to be admitted to the United States,even as it eliminated much of the "national origins" system of the 1920s.

Question 72

"Black power" moved the civil rights movement away from the goal of assimilation and created a schism within the movement.

Question 73

In the 1960 presidential election,Richard Nixon lost the popular vote by a wide margin.

Question 74

Prior to 1960,John Kennedy had not proven himself a committed crusader for civil rights.

Question 75

In the 1960s,the percentage of Americans living in poverty was nearly cut in half.

Question 76

Both Medicare and Medicaid were enacted during the Kennedy administration.

Question 77

The Vienna summit meeting between Kennedy and Khrushchev took place shortly after the Bay of Pigs disaster.

Question 78

President Johnson based his proposals for federal aid to education on the needs of the schools themselves rather than on the needs of their students.

Question 79

President Johnson supported civil rights legislation but opposed affirmative action.

Question 80

For a time,President Johnson was successful both as a social reformer and a coalition builder.