Deck 33: Into the Global Millennium, America Since 1992

Question 1

Which of the following is true of the Family and Medical Leave Act?

A) It required employers to either grant workers paid family or medical leave or add an additional two weeks to the vacation time extended to workers.
B) It required employers to grant a three-day work week to workers with a documented family or medical emergency.
C) It required employers to grant workers up to fifty-two weeks of unpaid family or medical leave.
D) It required employers to grant workers time off to care for ailing relatives or newborn children.

Answer 1

It required employers to grant workers time off to care for ailing relatives or newborn children.

Question 2

In the aftermath of President Clinton's impeachment,

A) the media pledged not to delve into or report on the private lives of politicians.
B) Newt Gingrich, Republican Speaker of the House, resigned when evidence surfaced that he had engaged in an extramarital affair.
C) Congress passed a joint resolution pledging not to use sexual misconduct or infidelity as a reason for the impeachment of high government officials.
D) the Republican congressmen responsible for his impeachment resigned their seats in the House of Representatives.

Answer 2

Newt Gingrich, Republican Speaker of the House, resigned when evidence surfaced that he had engaged in an extramarital affair.

Question 3

Which of the following is considered one of the roots of the Los Angeles riots of 1992?

A) The failure of Congress to renew the Voting Rights Act
B) The all-white composition of the Los Angeles City Council
C) The dramatic increase in hate crimes against ethnic minorities in Los Angeles
D) Strained relations between African Americans and Korean immigrants

Answer 3

Strained relations between African Americans and Korean immigrants

Question 4

Which of the following best describes the plan accepted by President Clinton concerning gays in the military?

A) Discrimination against gays in the military was prohibited as long as their sexual orientation was not revealed.
B) Discrimination against gays in the military was prohibited.
C) Gays could serve in the military as long as they disclosed their sexual orientation at the time of their enlistment.
D) Discrimination against gays in the military was prohibited, but they were to be housed in separate barracks.

Question 5

During his first term, President Clinton suffered a major defeat concerning his

A) proposal to ban the sale of all assault weapons.
B) plan to reduce federal spending.
C) health-care plan.
D) welfare-reform proposals.

Question 6

Which of the following is a reason that the media no longer turn a blind eye to sexual misconduct and infidelity by presidents?

A) In retrospect, it has become obvious that the extramarital affairs of Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower affected their job performance.
B) Twenty-four-hour news channels rely on scandal to increase their viewership.
C) The leaders of the New Right have insisted that their exposés of the private lives of high government officials be made public.
D) In recent years, more emphasis has been placed on the clause in the Constitution that states that moral turpitude is a basis for impeachment.

Question 7

The Republican "Contract with America" called for which of the following?

A) Decreased defense spending
B) Passage of a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution
C) An increase in the capital gains tax
D) A law prohibiting discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation

Question 8

The label that most accurately identifies the placement of President Bill Clinton on the American political spectrum is

A) liberal.
B) ultra-progressive.
C) centrist.
D) conservative.

Question 9

As a result of the 1994 midterm elections,

A) Democrats won a majority of the state governorships.
B) most Republican incumbents failed to win reelection.
C) Republicans gained majorities in both houses of Congress.
D) Democrats retained control of the House but lost control of the Senate.

Question 10

Which of the following was appointed as a co-chair of President Clinton's health-care task force?

A) First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
B) Vice President Al Gore
C) Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman
D) Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop

Question 11

Which of the following was a provision of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996?

A) It shifted responsibility for the management of all welfare programs from the states to the federal government.
B) It limited welfare benefits to a total of five years over an individual's lifetime.
C) It virtually eliminated all federal funding for the nation's welfare programs.
D) It guaranteed that the federal government would provide cash assistance to the nation's poor children and to immigrants.

Question 12

Due in part to Proposition 13, the state of California in 1992

A) provided state-funded health care to all California citizens.
B) faced bankruptcy.
C) repudiated its debt.
D) requested federal funds to prevent bankruptcy.

Question 13

The terrorists who struck the two towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, made full use of which of the following?

A) Arms sales on the international black market
B) The agreement to discontinue passport requirements for travel between the United States and the nations of the European Union
C) The web of commercial and technological connections that constitute globalization
D) The absence of border patrols between the United States and Canada

Question 14

When, in late 1995, President Clinton refused to give in to the demands of the Republican-controlled 104th Congress concerning the federal budget, the Congress

A) adjourned.
B) brought impeachment charges against President Clinton.
C) publicized incriminating evidence from the Whitewater investigation concerning Hillary Rodham Clinton.
D) refused to pass a continuing budget resolution, thus forcing the government to suspend all nonessential action.

Question 15

In the first year of his presidency, President Bill Clinton's major goal, a program to assure affordable health care for all Americans, was defeated by

A) a close vote in the House of Representatives.
B) a betrayal by liberal Democrats who wanted to punish Clinton for being too conservative.
C) special interest groups that were too powerful to be defeated by the health-care task force.
D) the fear of the American public that the health-care plan was the first step toward socialized medicine.

Question 16

Which of the following was a reason for Clinton's victory in the 1996 presidential election?

A) He put forward a plan to overhaul the nation's health-care system.
B) He took a strong stand against gun-control legislation.
C) The proposals of his Republican opponent seemed reactionary to the electorate.
D) He successfully redefined the "family-values" issue, thus reclaiming it from conservatives.

Question 17

In December 1998, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Clinton on two counts, including

A) depriving Americans of their constitutional right of free speech.
B) manipulation of the media for the purpose of defrauding the public.
C) obstruction of justice.
D) abuse of power.

Question 18

The response of Americans to the legislative agenda of the Congress elected in the midterm 1994 elections indicates which of the following?

A) Americans wanted a balanced federal budget despite the consequences.
B) Americans favored economy in government, but they did not favor cuts to programs such as Medicare and Social Security.
C) Americans supported dismantling social programs designed to provide a "safety net" to the nation's disadvantaged citizens.
D) Americans no longer believed that the federal government should assume responsibility for protecting citizens from environmental hazards or dangers in the workplace.

Question 19

Which of the following is true of Newt Gingrich?

A) He was the Reform Party candidate for president in 1996.
B) He was a Georgia congressman who led the 1994 Republican Revolution.
C) It was a type of frog ecologists wanted placed on the endangered species list and protected from logging operations in the Northwest.
D) He was a White House lawyer whose suicide was widely attributed to revelations in the Whitewater investigation.

Question 20

Polls in late 1998 and early 1999 clearly indicated that a majority of Americans disagreed with congressional Republicans regarding whether or not

A) President Clinton lied about his relationship with a White House intern?
B) President Clinton's sexual relationship with a White House intern and his untruthful statements about it justified impeachment, conviction, and removal from office.
C) President Clinton's sexual encounters with a White House intern were morally wrong.
D) the Senate was the proper venue for the trial of an impeached president.

Question 21

The mastermind of the 1995 Riyadh bombing and the bombing of the destroyer U.S.S Cole was

A) Yasir Arafat.
B) Saddam Hussein.
C) Osama bin Laden.
D) Ali-Hassan al-Majid.

Question 22

Environmentalists who opposed globalization did so for which of the following reasons?

A) They argued that it exported pollution and toxic waste into countries that were not prepared to deal with them.
B) They argued that by shifting jobs to developed countries, it increased industrial pollution in those countries.
C) They argued that it caused a lowering of international environmental protection standards.
D) They argued that it had virtually abrogated the Law of the Sea Treaty.

Question 23

Which of the following was one of the roots of the economic boom of the 1990s?

A) The increased influence of organized labor
B) The rapid development of information technology
C) The revival of heavy industry
D) The dramatic increase in U.S. exports

Question 24

Which of the following is true of the average real wages of American workers from 1973 to the mid-1990s?

A) They rose at the highest rate in the nation's history.
B) They declined steadily.
C) They steadily rose and caused a significant increase in the size of the middle class.
D) They declined at a higher rate than during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Question 25

Organized labor's reaction to NAFTA and the 1999 demonstration at the World Trade Organization's meeting in Seattle suggest that

A) many Americans were less enthusiastic about globalization than was President Clinton.
B) both ordinary workers and multinational corporations were becoming more hostile to the realities of a global market economy.
C) it is impossible for activists to mount large demonstrations when the issues are financially complex.
D) globalization made it easier than ever before for automobile workers to wage a Buy American campaign.

Question 26

During President Clinton's tenure in office

A) Congress failed to reduce federal spending.
B) the United States economy was mired in recession.
C) tax revenues declined.
D) the federal deficit was erased, which lowered interest rates and increased investment.

Question 27

In the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, groups believing that the federal government was controlled by "sinister forces"

A) made substantial gains in membership.
B) began to make more use of the Internet to spread their beliefs.
C) were identified and shut down by the FBI.
D) began to buy advertisements in national publications to promote their reactionary agenda.

Question 28

Which of the following was the victim of a hate crime against gays in 1998?

A) James Byrd, Jr.
B) Vincent Chin
C) Rodney King
D) Matthew Shepherd

Question 29

Which of the following is true of the 1993 agreement signed by Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin?

A) It allowed Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip.
B) It placed Jerusalem under U.N. control.
C) It called for the dismantling of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
D) It settled the disagreement between Israel and the PLO concerning refugees.

Question 30

Which of the following is true of the North American Free Trade Agreement?

A) The United States, Mexico, and Canada agreed to buy certain products exclusively from nations in South America in an effort to ease their debt burdens.
B) It ended the trade war between Japan and the nations of North America.
C) It lowered trade and investment barriers between the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
D) It established a free trade zone between the nations of North America and the European Economic Community.

Question 31

During the Clinton years, the American economy featured

A) its highest unemployment rate in thirty years.
B) a rising standard of living for both the nation's richest people and the nation's poorest people.
C) a rapidly declining stock market.
D) an ever-narrowing gap between the incomes of the rich and the poor.

Question 32

Which of the following is true of U.S. involvement in the United Nations humanitarian efforts in Somalia in the early 1990s?

A) Boris Yeltsin responded to the operation by issuing a formal protest with the U.N. Security Council against that body's meddling in African affairs.
B) The presence of U.N. peacekeepers led rival clans in Somalia to enter into a cease-fire agreement and a democratic regime was installed in the war-ravaged land.
C) Libya responded by invading Somalia in an attempt to prevent its "westernization."
D) When troops loyal to a Somali warlord began deadly attacks against American soldiers, the United States withdrew its troops.

Question 33

Which of the following was one of the effects of the high-tech industry on the American economy in the 1990s?

A) It caused an overall loss of jobs.
B) It generated improved productivity.
C) It caused a significant rise in the cost of electricity.
D) It fostered a revitalization of heavy industry in the Northeast.

Question 34

In 1999, the breakdown of the 1995 peace agreement concerning the Balkan crisis led to which of the following?

A) President Clinton tried to persuade Congress to send arms to the Bosnian Muslims.
B) Secretary of State Madeleine Albright publicly praised the abrogation of the agreement.
C) U.S.-led NATO forces began an aerial bombardment of Serbia.
D) Congress demanded the withdrawal of all American forces from the region.

Question 35

In the 2000 presidential election,

A) experts agreed that the type of ballot used was of no significance.
B) the Supreme Court played no role.
C) Al Gore won the popular vote but did not win the presidency.
D) the third-party candidacy of Ralph Nader had no impact on the election's outcome.

Question 36

With regard to international efforts to protect the environment, the Clinton administration

A) opposed the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Treaty as an attack on American industry.
B) refused to fulfill the previous Bush administration's pledge to support the war against global warming.
C) signed the 1997 Kyoto protocol on carbon dioxide emissions but never submitted it for ratification to the Republican-controlled Senate.
D) showed its disdain for the 1997 Kyoto protocol, which it had signed only to mollify the nation's environmentalists, by secretly lobbying against its ratification in the Senate.

Question 37

Which of the following was at the heart of the technological revolution of the 1990s?

A) The microprocessor
B) The transistor
C) Robotics
D) Cellular phones

Question 38

Which of the following statements is true concerning foreign policy during the Clinton administration?

A) President Clinton's heavy reliance on American military might to solve international problems ended with the U. S. involvement in Bosnia.
B) President Clinton's willingness to use American military might to end civil wars in developing nations was apparent in his decision to send troops to end the genocide in Rwanda.
C) President Clinton's reluctance to intervene militarily in foreign countries may be seen in his refusal to yield to congressional demands that he send troops to Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
D) President Clinton's mistrust of foreign military interventions was strengthened by the difficulties that accompanied U.S. involvement in Somalia.

Question 39

The goal of the perpetrator of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was to avenge

A) an American attempt to kill Osama bin Laden at a pharmaceutical plant.
B) America's unquestioning support of Israel.
C) the deaths of members of the Branch Davidian religious sect whom he believed had been deliberately killed by the FBI.
D) American undermining of the government of Haiti's Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Question 40

Which of the following was a reason for the extension of full diplomatic recognition to Vietnam in 1995?

A) A pledge by the Clinton administration to the People's Republic of China
B) Pressure from major corporations that wanted to take advantage of the emerging market in Vietnam
C) A desire to support the democratization of the Vietnamese government
D) The renunciation of Communist ideology by the government of Vietnam

Question 41

Which of the following is considered the centerpiece of President George W. Bush's domestic agenda when he took office in 2001?

A) Health-care reform
B) Severe budget cuts with the aim of balancing the federal budget
C) A new energy policy that attempted to prevent further global warming
D) A massive tax cut

Question 42

Contrary to traditional conservative thought, President George W. Bush

A) believed that the federal government had no role in the nation's public education system.
B) called for tax increases for the wealthiest Americans.
C) oversaw the passage of a prescription drug plan for American seniors under Medicare.
D) held that the management of national emergencies should be dealt with at the state level, not at the federal level.

Question 43

Which of the following is true of President George W. Bush in the months prior to launching the war against Iraq?

A) He invoked the War Powers Act of 1973 before undertaking military action against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq.
B) He made it clear that he would not be bound by a resolution against military action although it was passed by both houses of Congress.
C) He launched the war against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq without invoking the War Powers Act of 1973 or asking for congressional approval.
D) He sought the approval of Congress before launching the war against Saddam Hussein's regime, although he contended he did not really need that approval for such a step.

Question 44

The American electorate began seriously to question the competence of the Bush administration as a result of

A) the administration's attempts to privatize Social Security.
B) the mismanagement of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina.
C) the charges of perjury brought against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
D) the indecisiveness of the administration regarding how to deal with the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Question 45

With regard to the Iraq war, policymakers in the Bush administration

A) wanted a United Nations peacekeeping force to stabilize Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
B) insisted that responsibility for postwar Iraq be put in the hands of the State Department.
C) paid very close attention to studies done by the State Department concerning possible problems that might be encountered in postwar Iraq.
D) seemed not to have planned for the postwar period.

Question 46

In the presidential election of 2000,

A) Al Gore's refusal to allow a recount of the votes in Florida gave that state's electoral votes and the presidency to George W. Bush.
B) no candidate received a majority of the electoral votes, and thus the election was decided by the House of Representatives, which gave the presidency to George W. Bush.
C) the Supreme Court, in a narrow 5-to-4 vote, ended the vote recount in Florida, thus giving Florida's electoral votes and the presidency to George W. Bush.
D) a fifteen-member Electoral Commission gave Florida's electoral votes and the presidency to George W. Bush.

Question 47

Which of the following caused the international community to condemn the United States?

A) Revelations of abuse and torture of prisoners by American guards at Abu Ghraib prison
B) The U. S. invasion of Afghanistan after the attacks of September 11, 2001
C) The U. S. decision to impose a constitution on Iraq without consulting with the Iraqi people
D) Revelations that the United States intelligence community knew that an attack on the World Trade Center was imminent, yet did nothing to prevent it

Question 48

The economic crisis that began in 2007 caused which of the following?

A) The paralysis of credit markets
B) Severe inflation
C) A record increase in interest rates on home mortgages
D) The collapse of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Question 49

Which of the following demonstrates that notions of one's biological race are sometimes problematic in American society?

A) New categories in the 2000 U. S. government census that allowed Americans to identify themselves as belonging to more than one race
B) Studies by the Centers for Disease Control concerning the distribution of health problems among the American population between 1990 and 2000
C) Difficulties encountered by the U.S. Immigration Service in 2002 and 2003 in tracking the whereabouts of immigrants in the country
D) The answers given by Americans to questions on forms to apply for a marriage license

Question 50

President Bush's announcement that the United States would withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia and build a national missile defense system was an indication of which of the following?

A) George W. Bush was more sympathetic to his father's views on foreign affairs than to Ronald Reagan's.
B) George W. Bush was a sly politician who, by refusing to be swayed by the criticisms of foreign governments, intended to win over the conservative Democrats he needed to push his agenda through Congress.
C) George W. Bush was an independent thinker who was not going to be controlled by strong-minded members of his administration such as Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
D) George W. Bush wanted the United States to plot a unilateralist course in international affairs.

Question 51

In the aftermath of the attacks against America on September 11, 2001,

A) President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld began seriously to contemplate toppling the Saddam Hussein government in Iraq.
B) Definitive and incontrovertible evidence was uncovered that Saddam Hussein was on the verge of building a nuclear weapon.
C) The Bush administration seemed confused and indecisive regarding how to respond to the attacks.
D) It was revealed that Saddam Hussein was part of the Al Qaeda plot to attack the United States.

Question 52

Which of the following is true of the administration of George W. Bush?

A) It was strongly opposed to drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
B) It asked Congress to repeal all environmental regulations.
C) It oversaw the dismantling of environmental restrictions on the oil, timber, and mining industries.
D) It supported severe restrictions on emissions by automobiles and power plants to prevent further depletion of the earth's ozone layer.

Question 53

In the aftermath of 9/11, which of the following caused many civil libertarians to charge that the U.S. Justice Department was threatening the freedoms enjoyed by Americans?

A) The way in which the Justice Department enforced the Homeland Security Act
B) The Justice Department's order that private planes not fly over Washington, D.C.
C) The Department's decree that all people entering shopping malls had to undergo a search for weapons and incendiary devices.
D) The Justice Department's granting of new powers to FBI agents to monitor the Internet, mosques, and rallies

Question 54

In the months prior to waging war against Iraq, the Bush administration said that military action against that country was necessary because

A) Saddam Hussein was planning another invasion of Kuwait.
B) Saddam Hussein was attempting to acquire nuclear weapons.
C) Saddam Hussein was plotting an attack against Israel.
D) Saddam Hussein was planning to end sales of Iraqi oil to the United States.

Question 55

In 2007, which of the following contributed to a dramatic reduction in violence in Iraq?

A) Political reconciliation among the competing factions in Iraq
B) A "surge" in U.S. forces in Iraq along with an anti-insurgency strategy that emphasized protecting the civilian population
C) A change in U.S. strategy that effectively closed the border between Iraq and Iran
D) The U.S. led reconstruction of Iraq's schools, hospitals, electric power plants, and water-purification facilities

Question 56

In the aftermath of 9/11, many governments allied to the United States objected when the Bush administration

A) announced that it would hold accountable any nation from which an attack on American soil, American facilities, or American citizens was mounted, and that the United States would respond immediately and militarily to any such attack.
B) adopted the most restrictive immigration policy in the nation's history.
C) asserted that the United States would not wait for security threats to become real, but would instead employ preemptive action to defend the nation.
D) asserted that America would use its military power solely for the physical protection of the United States and U.S. citizens.

Question 57

Which of the following contributed to the nation's economic crisis that began in 2007?

A) The influence peddling scheme of the "Keating five" which led to a housing "bubble."
B) Deregulation of financial institutions, which allowed them to engage in risky practices such as "subprime" mortgages.
C) The collapse of hundreds of savings and loan institutions, which had a ripple effect throughout the American economic system.
D) Overregulation of Wall Street, which began in the Clinton administration, eventually paralyzed credit markets.

Question 58

Which of the following is true of the beliefs of neoconservatives with regard to military action against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq?

A) They believed that such a war would allow the United States to reshape the Middle East, oppose tyranny, and spread democracy.
B) They warned that instability in Iraq could make that country a refuge for Taliban leaders and supporters fleeing Afghanistan.
C) They warned that a very large military force would be needed to stabilize post-war Iraq.
D) They believed that such a move would destabilize the entire Middle East.

Question 59

When Barack Obama took office in 2009, he inherited which of the following from his predecessor?

A) A balanced federal budget
B) The danger of war in the Middle East between Israel and Syria
C) A major recession that had the potential to turn into a global meltdown
D) Unemployment figures which were high but were steadily going down

Question 60

In an attempt to prevent the collapse of the U.S. financial system, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law

A) the Federal Housing and Banking Authority Program
B) the National Banking Recovery Act
C) the Reconstruction Finance Act
D) the Troubled Asset Relief Program

Question 61

Which of the following indicates a rising level of support in the early twenty-first century for the legal equality of gay and lesbian Americans?

A) The ruling by the Supreme Court striking down all laws that ban adoption by gay couples
B) The extension of domestic partner benefits to gay couples by many states and private corporations
C) The passage by Congress of the Defense of Marriage Act
D) The 2008 repeal of the military's "don't-ask-don't-tell" policy

Question 62

Which of the following is true of Al Qaeda during the decade following 9/11?

A) It became clear that by the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century that Al Qaeda's home base was in Iran.
B) By the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, the United States and its allies had largely destroyed Al Qaeda' s terror network and create a safer more stable world order.
C) Operating through small cells of terrorists and using the interconnectivity present in a globalized world, Al Qaeda became a truly transnational threat.
D) With the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Al Qaeda was rendered headless and powerless.

Question 63

By 2003, the second largest ethnic group in the United States was

A) African Americans.
B) Anglo Americans.
C) Asian Americans.
D) Latino Americans.