Deck 30: After the Cold War, 1988-2000

Question 1

What Silicon Valley company did Steve Jobs found in the mid-80s?

A)NeXT Computer
B)Atari
C)Apple
D)Macintosh

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In which Eastern European nation did a violent uprising sweep aside the communist government in 1989?

A)Bulgaria
B)Poland
C)Romania
D)Eastern Germany

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Why did George H.W. Bush pick Indiana Senator Dan Quayle for his running mate in the 1988 presidential election?

A)He needed support from the Midwest.
B)Quayle had foreign policy experience.
C)Quayle was young, handsome, and conservative.
D)Quayle was a former J.P. Morgan CEO.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What prompted Congress to update the Clean Air and Water Act?

A)the pollution caused by the Exxon Valdez disaster
B)new data on smog in American cities
C)the falling water level of the Colorado River
D)the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island

Question 5

Why did conservatives gain new hope in 1990 that the nation would turn further to the right?

A)Liberal pro-immigration laws in California were turning public opinion to the right.
B)The nomination of David Souter to replace William Brennan might switch the court to the right.
C)The murder of a member of the Bush family was likely to result in tougher law and order measures.
D)The fall of the Soviet Union allowed the U.S. to openly embrace and support foreign dictators.

Question 6

George H.W. Bush's Secretary of Defense was

A)Brent Scowcroft.
B)Colin Powell.
C)Dick Cheney.
D)James A. Baker III.

Question 7

The Berlin Wall came down on November 9, 1989 after months of

A)protests in West Berlin.
B)mass demonstrations in East Germany.
C)diplomatic negotiations between East and West Germany.
D)preparation by the CIA and other secret services.

Question 8

Why had the Reagan and Bush administrations not objected to Iraq's acquisition of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons during the 1980s?

A)They knew that American firms needed the sales.
B)They considered Iraq a useful counterweight to Iran.
C)They considered Iraq a useful counterweight to Israel.
D)They needed to curry Iraq's favor for cheap oil exports.

Question 9

Why were prominent Democrats not eager to seek their party's presidential nomination in 1992?

A)The job seemed impossibly difficult at the time.
B)They felt their party was still tainted from the Carter years.
C)Bush's soaring public approval rating made victory unlikely.
D)The increasing danger of right-wing assassins made them weary.

Question 10

Why did Ross Perot lose much of the fervent followers he initially drew to his campaign?

A)He dropped out of the race and then entered it again weeks later.
B)Revelations about his extramarital affair undermined his social conservative agenda.
C)His aggressive push for regulating the car and oil industries alienated his supporters.
D)Perot's long record in Texas state government turned out to be filled with corruption scandals.

Question 11

What ignited the new economic growth of the 1990s?

A)Americans working longer hours.
B)Americans earning better wagers.
C)Americans working more productively.
D)Americans buying fewer foreign goods.

Question 12

By 2001, how many out of the 107 million American households had internet access?

A)1 million
B)21 million
C)51 million
D)101 million

Question 13

Why did so many Americans - over 50 percent of American families - invest in stocks in the late 1990s?

A)The automobile industry was booming.
B)Internet-based companies were booming.
C)Hedge funds were getting popular.
D)The defense industry saw a revival.

Question 14

What was Google's motto in the 1990s?

A)"Do good."
B)"Ask 'Why?'"
C)"Imagine all the people."
D)"Don't be evil."

Question 15

Which American city saw a large Arab immigrant community grow in the last third of the twentieth century?

A)Seattle, WA
B)Houston, TX
C)Dearborn, MI
D)Indianapolis, IN

Question 16

How did California voters respond to the growing number of immigrants in 1994?

A)They voted to cut off access to public education and healthcare for undocumented immigrants.
B)They voted for a bond measure that would have paid for the construction of a border wall.
C)They voted for tax increases on corporations that would fund bilingual public education programs.
D)They formed "One California" clubs in which citizens and immigrants met and learned from each other.

Question 17

In 1998, the Latino population of Los Angeles county in California

A)was almost as large as the African American population.
B)was one million larger than the non-Hispanic white population.
C)was beginning to decline because of anti-immigrant measures.
D)comprised 75 percent of the total county population.

Question 18

Which of the following national issues did Bill Clinton tackle most successfully?

A)The right of gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military
B)reducing the federal deficit
C)curbing executive compensation
D)halting the decline of manufacturing jobs in the U.S.

Question 19

Why did labor unions strongly oppose the North American Free Trade (NAFTA) agreement of 1993?

A)They feared it raise costs for consumers.
B)They were concerned it would harm workers in Mexico.
C)They feared it would accelerate the move of jobs to Mexico.
D)They feared that NAFTA did not give American products a fair chance.

Question 20

Which of the following assessments of the 1994 midterm election is accurate?

A)Republicans reaped the anger of Americans for their tax increases.
B)Republicans captured both houses of Congress for the first time in forty years.
C)Voter turnout in 1994 was almost double that of 1992.
D)Republicans governed all but the nine most populous states.

Question 21

Why did the federal government shut down twice - in November and in December - in 1995?

A)Democrats boycotted the President.
B)A Republican Senate blocked the House Democrat's budget.
C)A Republican controlled Congress did not deliver Clinton an acceptable budget.
D)President Clinton failed to prepare a budget for Congress to pass.

Question 22

Why did the independent candidate, Texas billionaire Ross Perot, lose significance over the course of the 1996 presidential election?

A)He got caught in a compromising position with a White House intern.
B)He got entangled in a scandal surrounding his campaign donations.
C)He got no longer afford to run a first-rate campaign.
D)His key issue - the deficit - faded with Clinton's realistic balanced budget.

Question 23

Why was Bill Clinton an easy target for scandalous allegations?

A)He was from Arkansas, a state notorious for scandals.
B)He was a union man, where corruption ran rampant.
C)He was an agnostic, which made him an enemy to many Americans.
D)He had a reputation for womanizing and extramarital affairs.

Question 24

How did President Bill Clinton fare with the American public in fall 1998?

A)His ratings dropped precipitously with the Lewinsky scandal.
B)He rating were in the high nineties because of America's state of war on terror.
C)His approval ratings rose to 60 percent because of the Special Prosecutor's exaggerated inquiry.
D)His ratings were in the low thirties because of the burst of the dot.com bubble.

Question 25

What charge against President Bill Clinton did Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr's report ultimately deliver to Congress?

A)high crimes
B)sexual misconduct
C)treason
D)dereliction of duty

Question 26

What immediately preceded Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's resignation in the late 1990s?

A)His effort to impeach President Bush had failed.
B)He admitted to having had an affair with a staff member.
C)He had failed to get a house budget passed in time.
D)With a gay son, he refused to support the Defense of Marriage Act.

Question 27

What prompted Americans' opposition to President Clinton's troop deployment in Somalia in 1993?

A)TV images of U.S. casualties publicly dragged through the streets
B)the arrival of Soviet troops in the Southern part of Somalia
C)a surge in the federal budget deficit and rising costs of the military operation
D)reports that indicated that U.S. soldiers had failed to deliver humanitarian aid

Question 28

Why did President Bill Clinton try to pressure the Taliban in Afghanistan to expel Osama Bin Laden in October 2000?

A)Clinton was hoping for a quick success story for the presidential election in November
B)Al Qaeda commandos had blown a hole into the U.S.S. Cole in a harbor off the coast of Yemen
C)Clinton had been in pursuit of Osama Bin Laden since his first terror attack on the World Trade Center
D)He had promised Bin Laden's Saudi family, with whom he was good friends, to bring him back alive

Question 29

Which of the following did President George W. Bush emphasize in his run for president in 2000?

A)his Harvard degree
B)his Yale degree
C)his family's political connections and pedigree
D)his ties to Texas and plainspoken style

Question 30

In the 2000 presidential election Republican candidate George W. Bush received 50.4 million votes. How many did Al Gore receive?

A)44.1 million
B)48.6 million
C)51 million
D)55 million

Question 31

Which of the following was not a major American export in the 1980s?

A)computer software
B)agricultural products
C)textiles
D)weapons

Question 32

Which of the following nations avoided major ethnic rivalries in the 1990s?

A)Yugoslavia
B)Iraq
C)Rwanda
D)Somalia

Question 33

What made Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen a good running mate for Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election?

A)He was young and handsome.
B)He had solid conservative credentials.
C)He had already been John F. Kennedy's vice-president.
D)He had defeated George Bush for the Senate in 1970.

Question 34

Which of the following significant civil rights reforms did President George H. W. Bush sign into law in 1990?

A)Americans with Disabilities Act
B)"don't ask don't tell"
C)Equal Rights Amendment
D)Defense of Marriage Act

Question 35

Which of the following statements best assesses the government of President George H.W. Bush?

A)He campaigned on the right but governed from the center.
B)He was a strong campaigner, but a weak President.
C)He turned out to be more liberal than Bill Clinton.
D)His tax cuts were responsible for the nation's growing deficit.

Question 36

During Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearings, reports surfaced that he had sexually harassed an African-American law professor, Anita Hill, when she worked for him

A)as a law clerk.
B)at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
C)as an assistant prosecutor.
D)in the civil rights division of the Justice Department.

Question 37

How often did President George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev meet in 1989 and 1990?

A)Not once
B)once
C)three times
D)six times

Question 38

Why had President Ronald Reagan ignored the drug running and money laundering activities of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega?

A)He had let the CIA use his territory to funnel aid to Nicaraguan Contras.
B)He did not want to risk losing the Panama canal.
C)Noriega was a reliable informant on Columbia's major drug cartels.
D)Noriega was a reliable campaign donor to Republican candidates in the U.S.

Question 39

Only 227 allied troops died in the first Gulf War. How many Iraqis died?

A)Between 2000 and 4800
B)Between 10,000 and 18,000
C)Between 50,000 and 80,000
D)Between 200,000 and 800,000

Question 40

What triggered the sharp economic downturn of 1992?

A)the war against Iraq
B)the fear of Bill Clinton's presidency
C)the implosion of the dot-com bubble
D)the Savings and Loans crisis

Question 41

Which of the following was an asset that President George H.W. Bush brought to his reelection campaign of 1992?

A)experience in foreign policy
B)a Texan charm and sunny optimism
C)empathy and approachability
D)The support of militant conservatives

Question 42

The end of communism in Europe

A)hastened the pace of globalization.
B)created broad fears in the United States.
C)only further invigorated the Soviet Union.
D)Prompted the stagnation of Japan's economy.

Question 43

over the course of the Clinton administration, income inequality

A)shrank.
B)grew.
C)lost its economic significance.
D)remained stable.

Question 44

Which of the following technological advance changed the way scientists worked?

A)ARPAnet
B)GPS
C)VHS
D)DVD

Question 45

Which of the following was NOT one of the 10 fastest-growing states in the 2000 census?

A)California
B)Nevada
C)Arizona
D)Idaho

Question 46

Like most economists at the time, Bill Clinton expected globalization to

A)move along very slowly.
B)inevitably result in the decline of the United States.
C)increase wealth as it sped the flow of data and goods.
D)create a new set of terrorist insurgent groups.

Question 47

What followed in the wake of Democratic tax increases in 1993?

A)The deficit grew.
B)Employment grew.
C)The economy shrunk.
D)Exports declined.

Question 48

Who did President Bill Clinton put in charge of his healthcare reform initiative?

A)Hillary Clinton
B)Madeline Albright
C)Al Gore
D)Ted Kennedy

Question 49

What made Republicans in Congress optimistic about their prospects in the November 1994 midterm election?

A)their defeat of Clinton's health reform
B)news of the Lewinsky scandal
C)public opposition to NAFTA
D)the nation's economic recession

Question 50

What did President Bill Clinton say in his 1996 State of the Union address?

A)"Government is not the solution, government is the problem."
B)"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
C)"The era of big government is over."
D)"Extremism in the pursuit of virtue is no vice."

Question 51

Why did Americans not take much notice of the 1997 investigation in Bill Clinton's fundraising practices?

A)Times were good.
B)The Lewinsky affair loomed larger.
C)The war in Yugoslavia grabbed the headlines.
D)The shut-down of the federal government distracted them.

Question 52

How did Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr find out about the affair of President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky?

A)He learned this from one of Hillary Clinton's depositions.
B)He accidentally walked in on them.
C)Lawyers for Paula Jones, who charged Clinton with harassment, told him.
D)A French newspaper, Le Monde, ran an unconfirmed story on the affair.

Question 53

Which American president sent troops to Somalia for a humanitarian mission?

A)Ronald Reagan
B)George H.W. Bush
C)Bill Clinton
D)George W. Bush

Question 54

Which long-lasting conflict did Clinton seem to come poignantly close to mediating successfully in 1993?

A)The Greek-Turkish one over Cyprus
B)The Irish-British one over Northern Ireland
C)The Indian-Pakistani one over the Kashmir province
D)The Israeli-Palestine one over the West bank and Gaza

Question 55

Why did President Bill Clinton order airstrikes on Al Qaeda headquarters in Afghanistan in 1998?

A)because of the bomb attack on the World Trade Center.
B)They believed, erroneously, that Al Qaeda was responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing.
C)because of the detonation of two truck bombs in front of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.
D)Because he believed that Saddam Hussein was hiding there at the time.

Question 56

Which of the following did Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush NOT promise during his campaign?

A)nation-building
B)tax cuts
C)regulatory reform
D)fewer foreign commitments

Question 57

In the wake of the November 2000 presidential election, Florida governor Jeb Bush tried to

A)destroy Democratic votes.
B)stop any recount.
C)complete the recount
D)threaten and bully election officials.

Question 58

The intervention of the United States Supreme Court in the 2000 presidential election was

A)surprising.
B)expected.
C)unconstitutional.
D)unavoidable.

Question 59

Which of the following Supreme Court justices dissented from the majority opinion in Bush v. Gore (2000)?

A)John Paul Stevens
B)Anthony Kennedy
C)Clarence Thomas
D)William Rehnquist

Question 60

When did Iraq invade Kuwait?

A)1988
B)1990
C)1992
D)1999

Question 61

Identify who, what, where, when, and/or why the following are important:
1. "SteveNotes"
2. Planned Parenthood v. Casey
3. Boris Yeltsin
4. World Wide Web
5. telecommuting
6. grunge
7. global cities
8. triangulation
9. ethnic cleansing

Question 62

Why did George H.W. Bush's rivals for the Republican nomination in the 1988 presidential race call him an "inauthentic conservative"?

A)He defended Roe v. Wade.
B)He believed in civil rights.
C)He had called Reagan's tax proposals "voodoo economics."
D)He had worked with Democrats in Congress in the past.

Question 63

Why did government spending soar in 1989?

A)The Bush administration bought defaulted properties from Savings and Loans.
B)The Bush administration ramped up the defense budget in preparation for the Iraq War.
C)Democrats overrode Bush's veto and expanded Social Security benefits.
D)Another oil crisis forced the United States to subsidize American oil consumption.

Question 64

What was the mission of the international military coalition that amassed in Saudi Arabia in 1990?

A)invade Iraq and capture Saddam Hussein
B)invade Iran and destroy its nuclear weapons
C)liberate Kuwait
D)liberate Saudia Arabia

Question 65

What share of the popular vote did President George H.W. Bush receive in the 1992 presidential elections?

A)51 percent
B)47 percent
C)43 percent
D)37 percent

Question 66

Where did the global positioning system originate?

A)in the Hubble Telescope
B)with Apple Computers
C)with Motorola
D)with the military

Question 67

By 2000, the share of foreign-born in the U.S. population was the highest since

A)1965
B)1945
C)1918
D)1900

Question 68

Why, according to NEC chairman Robert Rubin, would an attack on the federal deficit prompt an economic recovery?

A)If everyone could live within their means, the economy would do fine.
B)If Wall Street saw signs of decreased borrowing, interest rates would fall.
C)A smaller deficit would make the United States less beholden to China.
D)A smaller deficit would put more money in people's pockets.

Question 69

How did President Bill Clinton recover from the midterm election setback of 1994?

A)adapting a strategy of triangulation
B)sticking to his liberal principles
C)embracing most conservative principles
D)focusing on foreign policy issues

Question 70

Why did President Bill Clinton decide not to intervene in Rwanda in 1994?

A)The public did not want more engagements in Africa in the wake of Somalia.
B)He did not think the situation was worth a troop deployment.
C)His European allies had promised him they would secure the African nation.
D)Clinton only learned about the genocide when it was too late.

Question 71

Who was the Republican dissident that challenged the candidacy of George W. Bush on the right?

A)John McCain
B)Al Gore
C)Ralph Nader
D)Pat Buchanan

Question 72

What were the larger repercussions of Anita Hill's allegations that Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her when they had worked together?

Question 73

How did technological innovations in data processing expedite globalization?

Question 74

Why did Clinton's health reform plan fail?

Question 75

Why did the Republican effort to impeach Presiden Bill Clinton fail?

Question 76

In 1995, what ended the hopes for a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians?

Question 77

Discuss the economic boom of the 1990s. What brought it about, and what ended it? Who were its winners, and who were its losers?

Question 78

What were the culture wars? Was this simply a matter of domestic social politics, or can you see connections to globalizing trends from the 1980s to the end of the millennium?

Question 79

Identify who, what, where, when, and/or why the following are important:
1. Exxon Valdez
2. Anita Hill
3. "the new world order"
4. "irrational exuberance"
5. "McJobs"
6. Don't Ask Don't Tell
7. Monica Lewinsky
8. Al Qaeda
9. "nation building"
10. Bush v. Gore

Question 80

What brought presidential candidate George H.W. Bush the loudest cheers during his 1988 campaign?

A)He called Reagan's supply side economic "voodoonomics."
B)He called the Soviet Union an "evil empire."
C)He promised to tell congressional Democrats, "Read my lips, no new taxes."
D)He turned to Michael Dukakis and said "It's the economy, stupid."