Deck 29: America at Midcentury, 1945-1960

Question 1

Many Americans accepted which of the following beliefs in the 1950s?

A) The diversity within American society means that tension and conflict are inevitable in the United States.
B) Citizens in a mass democracy must always harbor a healthy distrust of their elected officials and question their decisions.
C) Americans must work to bring about the moral regeneration of American society.
D) As the United States struggles against the Soviet Union for the future of the world, critics of America are suspect and perhaps even unpatriotic.

Answer 1

As the United States struggles against the Soviet Union for the future of the world, critics of America are suspect and perhaps even unpatriotic.

Question 2

Which of the following was accomplished during the Eisenhower years?

A) Congress authorized construction of the interstate highway system.
B) Federal funding was provided for civilian aviation research.
C) The Amtrak system was created to centralize control over the nation's railroads.
D) Congress provided the first federal grants for construction of urban mass transit facilities.

Answer 2

Congress authorized construction of the interstate highway system.

Question 3

Which of the following is a reason for Eisenhower's victory in the 1952 presidential election?

A) Many voters hoped he would end the Korean War.
B) African Americans were led to believe he would actively work for enactment of civil rights legislation.
C) He publicly denounced Joseph McCarthy.
D) He promised to end American support of the French in Indochina.

Answer 3

Many voters hoped he would end the Korean War.

Question 4

President Eisenhower responded to the three recessions that occurred during his presidency by

A) resorting to deficit spending.
B) persuading Congress to increase taxes.
C) increasing farm subsidies.
D) ordering massive budget cuts.

Question 5

What was the main reason for the rash of strikes that began in late 1945 and extended through 1946?

A) Major unions were competing with one another to get the best deal for their members.
B) The Communist Party had actively recruited workers during the war and was now ready to assert itself.
C) Most major corporations had withdrawn vacation and pension benefits that had been extended during the war years.
D) With the end of price controls, workers were hit hard by skyrocketing inflation.

Question 6

In his final radio and television address, President Eisenhower warned the nation about

A) world overpopulation and starvation.
B) the "military-industrial complex."
C) the threat of environmental pollution.
D) the "international communist conspiracy."

Question 7

Which of the following explanations of Truman's 1948 victory is correct?

A) His opponents were political unknowns.
B) The Democratic party was united.
C) He won the African American vote in key northern states, thus gaining those states' electoral votes.
D) He won the Progressive vote.

Question 8

One of the goals of the GI Bill was to

A) require employers to reserve a set percentage of new job openings for returning soldiers.
B) prop up the sagging post-war housing industry.
C) prevent demobilized veterans from flooding the civilian job market.
D) outlaw deficit spending for peacetime purposes.

Question 9

Which of the following was a consequence of the Highway Act of 1956?

A) It led to the revitalization of inner-city neighborhoods.
B) It caused a weakening of the tourist industry.
C) It further separated the South from the rest of the nation.
D) It encouraged the process of suburbanization.

Question 10

The 1958 National Defense Education Act was passed in response to

A) an alarming decline in the literacy rate of army draftees.
B) the launching of the first earth-orbiting satellite by Russia.
C) the growing problem of juvenile delinquency.
D) the decline in American exports to the world market.

Question 11

The Dixiecrats who attracted national attention in 1948 were

A) southern activists who fought to end the poll tax and voter literacy requirements.
B) teams of Carolina businessmen promoting new industry in their region.
C) a political party made up of breakaway Democrats opposed to the Democratic Party's position on civil rights.
D) union leaders who lobbied southern state legislatures to pass pro-union laws.

Question 12

If striking workers in an industry considered vital to national security refused a presidential order to return to work, Truman requested that Congress

A) fire all strikers and prevent them from ever returning to their jobs.
B) imprison strikers who refused to negotiate in good faith with management representatives.
C) force labor and management to settle their differences within a specified period of time.
D) draft all such strikers into the armed forces.

Question 13

Which of the following is true of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947?

A) It repealed most of the 1935 Wagner Act.
B) It allowed states to pass right-to-work laws outlawing the "closed shop."
C) It weakened labor unions by making collective bargaining illegal.
D) It allowed union contributions to political funds in federal elections.

Question 14

The aspects of elementary and high-school education that the National Defense Education Act most focused on were

A) textbooks and equipment.
B) school lunches and school breakfasts.
C) ROTC and physical education programs.
D) programs in mathematics, foreign languages, and the sciences.

Question 15

In the 1948 presidential election, Henry Wallace of the Progressive Party

A) advocated friendship with the Soviet Union.
B) advocated that Americans defy the desegregation order of the Supreme Court.
C) advocated the passage of immigration-restriction laws.
D) pledged to send troops to Europe to liberate Eastern Europe from Soviet domination.

Question 16

President Truman contributed to American anticommunism after the Second World War by

A) recommending that "procommunist" books be removed from the nation's libraries and bookstores.
B) claiming that all liberal Democrats were communist sympathizers.
C) releasing classified information revealing an international communist conspiracy.
D) ordering investigations into the loyalty of federal employees.

Question 17

The National Defense Education Act of 1958

A) offered fellowships and loans to college students.
B) provided federal research grants to major universities.
C) created the ROTC program.
D) desegregated the Naval Academy.

Question 18

Which of the following is true of the amendments to the Social Security Act signed into law by President Eisenhower?

A) They raised benefits and expanded the program's coverage.
B) They raised benefits and reduced the program's coverage.
C) They lowered benefits and reduced the program's coverage.
D) They lowered benefits and expanded the program's coverage.

Question 19

One result of the anticommunist crusade during the late 1940s and early 1950s was the dismissal as security risks of

A) alcoholics, homosexuals, and debtors in the employ of the federal government.
B) J. Edgar Hoover from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
C) Ethel and Julius Rosenberg from the State Department.
D) Henry A. Wallace as Secretary of Commerce.

Question 20

William Levitt is noted for which of the following?

A) The design of the modern mobile home
B) Modular home construction
C) On-site assembly of factory-built homes
D) The adaptation of assembly-line methods to the process of home construction

Question 21

The target of Rosa Parks's protest in Montgomery, Alabama, was the denial of the right of African Americans to

A) use Montgomery city buses to transport African American children to after-school activities.
B) sit wherever they liked on city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, without having to give up their seats to white passengers.
C) secure jobs driving Montgomery city buses.
D) ride on Montgomery city buses during the evening hours.

Question 22

With regard to school desegregation, President Eisenhower

A) ordered the Justice Department to speed desegregation through court suits.
B) encouraged white resistance to the Brown decision by speaking ambiguously on the issue of federal enforcement of desegregation.
C) refused to do anything in response to southern resistance to school desegregation.
D) sought but failed to pass federal legislation to desegregate public schools in the South.

Question 23

Supreme Court decisions in such 1940s cases as Smith v. Allwright, Morgan v. Virginia, and Shelley v. Kramer suggest that by the 1950s

A) environmentalists had little reason to expect help from the Supreme Court.
B) the NAACP had some reason to hope for a favorable ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
C) big business could be virtually sure of a sympathetic hearing in the Supreme Court.
D) labor unions had no reason to expect pro-labor rulings from the Supreme Court.

Question 24

Within the labor movement, how did the CIO respond to the anticommunist hysteria of the late 1940s?

A) It labeled it as un-American.
B) It called for solidarity among all workers against management while also pledging its support for the capitalist system.
C) It participated in it by expelling some unions for allegedly being dominated by communists.
D) It denounced it as a management tool to weaken organized labor.

Question 25

How did Senator Joseph McCarthy finally contribute to his own downfall?

A) He charged that fellow senators were communist dupes.
B) He took on the U.S. Army in front of millions of television viewers.
C) He appeared on the Senate floor in an obviously inebriated state.
D) He publicly stated that President Eisenhower was a "communist sympathizer."

Question 26

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., urged his followers to adhere to the philosophy of

A) accommodation.
B) socialism.
C) nonviolent civil disobedience.
D) Black Power.

Question 27

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court accepted the argument that

A) educational facilities that are separate are, by their very nature, unequal.
B) society's need for an educated citizenry outweighed any freedom-of-association rights of minors.
C) segregation of any public facility threatened American relations with other nations.
D) as taxpayers, African Americans were part owners of all facilities paid for by taxes and therefore had the right of equal access to those facilities

Question 28

Which of the following statements is most consistent with the ideas expressed by Martin Luther King, Jr., in his speech launching the Montgomery bus boycott?

A) Whites must be excluded from the African American protest movement.
B) African Americans should rely on bloc voting to end the oppression under which they live.
C) African Americans should attack white racism with the same tactics used by their oppressors, namely violence and intimidation.
D) The African American protest movement is just and is right in the eyes of God.

Question 29

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court ruled that

A) states could require a period of silent meditation in public schools.
B) racially-segregated public educational facilities were unconstitutional.
C) pro-Communist statements expressed by a public school teacher were sufficient grounds for the teacher's dismissal.
D) local school boards could require students to complete a sex-education course without infringing on students' religious rights.

Question 30

Which of the following is true of the Civil Rights Act of 1957?

A) It was vetoed by President Eisenhower.
B) It suspended literacy tests for voting.
C) It outlawed racial discrimination in public accommodations.
D) It created the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Question 31

Which of the following is true of the 1954 Communist Control Act?

A) It put all labor unions suspected of communist domination under surveillance.
B) It effectively made membership in the Communist Party illegal.
C) It provided for the internment of known communists during a national emergency.
D) It denied employment to communists in defense-related industries.

Question 32

The Supreme Court's decision in Smith v. Allwright benefited African Americans by

A) ending racially-discriminatory hiring practices.
B) desegregating the nation's public schools.
C) desegregating all public accommodations.
D) outlawing whites-only primaries.

Question 33

In its report To Secure These Rights, President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights proposed which of the following?

A) An increase in the number of Supreme Court justices
B) Federal aid to African American colleges
C) The enactment of antilynching and antisegregation legislation
D) Legislation to bring about a redistribution of wealth in the United States

Question 34

Which of the following is considered a major contributor to the postwar economic boom?

A) The success of labor unions in gaining more control over corporate affairs
B) Government spending
C) The growth of service industries
D) Television production

Question 35

Which of the following made possible the computer revolution?

A) The invention of the transistor
B) The use of radar in the Second World War
C) The founding of IBM
D) Funding from the federal government

Question 36

Which of the following statements best expresses the significance of the report issued by President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights?

A) It indicated the willingness of the president to acknowledge the federal government's responsibility to strive for racial equality.
B) It indicated that the president was willing to respond to congressional demands that he provide a comprehensive legislative agenda to protect minority rights.
C) It indicated the government's willingness to bow to public pressure and actively protect the rights of minorities.
D) It indicated that the president was unwilling to support ideas that would cost him white votes in the southern states.

Question 37

Which of the following is true of White Citizens' Councils?

A) Made up primarily of the white power elite within southern communities, they denounced the racist beliefs of the Ku Klux Klan.
B) Members of these organizations attempted to implement the Brown decision in a peaceful and orderly manner.
C) Made up primarily of rural whites, these organizations advocated the violent overthrow of the government of the United States.
D) Supported by white professionals and businesspeople, they used their economic power against African American civil rights activists.

Question 38

Which of the following is true of the Internal Security (McCarran) Act of 1950?

A) It stipulated that critics of American foreign policy could not hold defense jobs.
B) It prohibited American citizens from traveling to the Middle East, China, or Eastern Europe.
C) It required members of "Communist-front" organizations to register with the government and prohibited them from holding government jobs.
D) It made it illegal to belong to an organization that advocated the violent overthrow of the United States government.

Question 39

Richard Nixon, Alger Hiss, Julius Rosenberg, and Ethel Rosenberg all gained national attention during the late 1940s and early 1950s because they were all associated with

A) civil rights infringement trials.
B) Cold War spy trials.
C) Korean War profiteering trials.
D) stock price manipulation trials.

Question 40

The 1950 agreement known as the Treaty of Detroit between the United Auto Workers and General Motors was significant because

A) it gave workers a greater role in company management.
B) it paved the way for other corporations to provide workers with health insurance, pensions, and protection against inflation.
C) organized labor obtained representation on federal and state safety inspection agencies.
D) organized labor's use of paid lobbyists increased its influence in Congress.

Question 41

In his bestselling book, William H. Whyte advanced which of the following arguments?

A) Many corporate employees succeed through conformity rather than through individual initiative and hard work.
B) Women should seek fulfillment by pursuing a career rather than through motherhood.
C) When the children of the 1950s become adults, they will be more secure and more independent than any previous generation.
D) Most American men suffer from an unhealthy emotional attachment to their mothers.

Question 42

In his book Baby and Child Care, Dr. Benjamin Spock asserted that

A) mothers should not breast-feed their babies.
B) fathers should take an active role in bringing up their children.
C) a mother's full-time attention was necessary for the well-being of her child.
D) mothers should ignore a baby's crying except at feeding time.

Question 43

Which of the following is true of organized labor during the 1950s?

A) The major unions were unsuccessful in getting pension plans for their members.
B) Union membership grew slowly because of the transition to a service-oriented economy.
C) Since most of the new jobs created were for blue-collar workers in heavy industry, union membership increased dramatically.
D) Through collective bargaining, workers considerably narrowed the wage gap between men and women.

Question 44

One of the features of the classic movie Rebel Without a Cause that ties it to the 1950s is its reflection of

A) early Cold War fears of communist corruption of American youth.
B) parental fears that rock 'n' roll music promoted sexual promiscuity among American teenagers.
C) popular psychological theories of the 1950s such as "the crisis of masculinity."
D) post-World War II pacifism.

Question 45

During the 1950s, most Americans who were poor

A) were nonwhite.
B) lived in households headed by a person with an eighth-grade education or less.
C) were over sixty-five and lived on fixed incomes.
D) lived in households headed by a single woman.

Question 46

Industry was attracted to the Sunbelt for which of the following reasons?

A) The availability of credit in the region
B) The progressive political leadership in the region
C) The region's right-to-work laws which outlawed closed shops
D) The region's technical schools

Question 47

The roots of 1950s rock 'n' roll music lay in

A) early jazz.
B) folk songs.
C) Indian war songs.
D) African American rhythm-and-blues.

Question 48

One thing that the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, William H. Whyte's The Organization Man, and J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye had in common was that they all

A) promoted the acceptance of family values as the salvation of American society.
B) criticized the social conformity present in 1950s American society.
C) reflected American fears of the Soviet Union.
D) demonstrated the popularity of science fiction during the 1950s.

Question 49

The Beats were important because they

A) introduced the "bebop" style.
B) produced some important literary works through which they laid the groundwork for the counterculture of the 1960s.
C) were the first group to perform rock 'n' roll publicly.
D) introduced the new, sophisticated advertising techniques associated with the television era.

Question 50

During the 1950s, unionized blue-collar workers

A) found that their wages did not keep pace with inflation.
B) frequently discovered that they could not afford to retire.
C) were able to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle.
D) increased tremendously in numbers and influence.

Question 51

One way in which Alfred Kinsey's work on human sexuality was important is that it

A) immediately led to a nationwide demand for sex education in American schools.
B) let many Americans know that they were not alone in breaking certain sexual rules.
C) removed the stigma attached to young women who had children outside of marriage.
D) triggered a nationwide movement to close down Playboy magazine.

Question 52

The Beat writers of the 1950s

A) praised rock 'n' roll as the music of a revolutionary generation.
B) rejected the conventional world of the middle class.
C) produced shallow, juvenile writings that had virtually no long-term significance.
D) ended up leaving America for a self-imposed exile in Paris.

Question 53

Which of the following was a consequence of the increased use of automated electronic processes in American industry during the 1950s?

A) Industrial productivity increased.
B) Small corporations could compete successfully with large corporations.
C) White-collar workers successfully unionized.
D) Job opportunities for women increased.

Question 54

The importance of religion in the Cold War era was demonstrated by

A) congressional legislation requiring every school in America to open each day with a prayer.
B) the introduction of a prohibition amendment in Congress.
C) the religious messages included in popular TV shows like Leave It to Beaver.
D) the growth of membership in mainline Christian churches.

Question 55

Which of the following was an important social trend during the 1950s?

A) Early marriages
B) A high divorce rate
C) Low interest in religious activities
D) Small families

Question 56

The acronym COLA refers to contractual agreements that guaranteed workers

A) protection against inflation.
B) job security.
C) a percentage of corporate profits.
D) the right to participate in labor unions.

Question 57

During the 1950s, books such as The Crack in the Picture Window and The Lonely Crowd

A) praised rock 'n' roll as the music of a revolutionary generation.
B) criticized middle-class culture and the rise of conformity in American life.
C) were shallow, juvenile writings that had virtually no long-term significance.
D) chastised American teenagers for their political complacency and hedonistic lifestyle.

Question 58

As a result of Silent Spring,

A) most farmers stopped using pesticides until they were proven to be environmentally safe.
B) the widespread use of DDT in the United States ended.
C) the government established a process by which it began to test the safety of America's farm produce.
D) environmentalists organized a boycott that was successful in forcing farmers to stop using harmful pesticides.

Question 59

Federal housing programs after the Second World War

A) provided increased subsidies for the construction of rental units.
B) sometimes made the lives of poor Americans worse.
C) helped to further suburban racial integration.
D) primarily benefited low-income families.

Question 60

During the 1950s, it was increasingly likely that poor Americans lived in

A) small towns.
B) community-sponsored shelters for the homeless.
C) the inner cities.
D) rental suburban houses.

Question 61

Which of the following was a consequence of the growth of large agribusinesses and the mechanization of agriculture in the South?

A) Rural poverty was largely eliminated.
B) Many tenant farmers were displaced.
C) Migrant workers in the region could no longer find work.
D) African American landowners could compete successfully with white landowners.

Question 62

Which of the following is true of the Eisenhower administration's termination policy?

A) It ended attempts to assimilate Indians into mainstream American society.
B) It placed control of federal benefit programs on Indian reservations in the hands of Indian leaders.
C) It allowed reservation lands to be sold, thus worsening the lives of many Indians.
D) It allowed reservation lands to be sold, thus improving the lives of many Indians.

Question 63

Which of the following made up the nation's poorest group after the Second World War?

A) Single women
B) Mexican Americans
C) Native Americans
D) African Americans