Deck 27: The Optimism and Anguish of the 1960s

Question 1

Why did the University of California at Berkeley send out police to arrest a group of students in the fall of 1964?

A)The students were collecting money for a civil rights organization that registered voters in Mississippi.
B)The students were demonstrating their Second Amendment rights by marching across campus with guns.
C)The students - all of whom were African-Americans - wanted to enroll in the University's engineering program.
D)The students were suspected to have dealt drugs to undergraduates and faculty.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The 1960s had started with widespread optimism about

A)forever ending the nation's dependency on oil.
B)bringing the troops back from Vietnam.
C)getting inflation and unemployment under control.
D)Sharing postwar prosperity more widely.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which protest movement began with the sit-ins at Greensboro and elsewhere in 1960?

A)Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
B)Young Americans for Freedom (YAF)
C)Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
D)Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What prompted the riots at the University of Mississippi in the fall of 1962?

A)A white police officer had shot a young black man.
B)Air Force veteran James Meredith wanted to become the first black student.
C)The University administration had refused to allow women on campus.
D)Student activists had tried to interfere with an ROTC event.

Question 5

Why did John F. Kennedy and Soviet Communist Party Chairman Nikita Khrushchev meet in Vienna in June 1961?

A)discuss the future of Austria
B)discuss the Berlin question
C)resolve the Cuban missile crisis
D)find an agreement on Vietnam

Question 6

Which of the following was a consequence of the Cuban missile crisis?

A)Americans and Soviets set up a "hotline" between the White House and the Kremlin in case of future emergencies.
B)The Department of Defense reorganized the Armed Forces and created a "Joint Chiefs of Staff."
C)Congress authorized the creation of a "National Security Council."
D)Congress ordered the construction of an underground bunker to which key members of government could be evacuated.

Question 7

What happened to John F. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald?

A)He fled to Cuba and joined the Castro regime.
B)He still lives in a federal prison in a remote part of Minnesota.
C)He served his time and now operates a nightclub in downtown Dallas.
D)He was killed two days after the assassination by a Dallas nightclub owner.

Question 8

Why did most of John F. Kennedy's top aides eventually leave the Johnson administration after the assassination?

A)They suspected that president Johnson had had a hand in the assassination.
B)Johnson had politely but clearly indicated that they were no longer welcome.
C)They felt that it was their duty since they knew how much Kennedy disliked Johnson.
D)They could not overcome their grief and felt that Johnson was an unworthy successor.

Question 9

What distinguished Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater from other Republican candidates since 1940?

A)He came from humble origins and entered the race with a modest income.
B)He considered the federal government an adversary of personal liberty.
C)He took a hard line against the Soviet Union and communism worldwide.
D)He had little interest or passion for the civil rights movement.

Question 10

What effect did the passage of the voting rights act of 1965 have on national party politics?

A)It's bolstered the position of the Republican Party in the American West.
B)It tended to make the two national parties more equal in the demographics.
C)It significantly reduced the significance of women at the polls.
D)It deepened the racial divide between the major parties.

Question 11

Which of the following is true about Medicare?

A)The original plan did not include hospital insurance.
B)Medicare included mandatory insurance to cover nursing home charges.
C)It was a health plan created by Kaiser Permanente for workers under 65.
D)Medicare reduced poverty among the elderly and narrowed the healthcare gap.

Question 12

By the late 1970s, what percentage of immigrants to the United States came from Latin America and Asia?

A)17 percent
B)37 percent
C)77 percent
D)97 percent

Question 13

In which of the following cases did the United States Supreme Court rule that government and local school boards could not demand prayers in public schools?

A)New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
B)Engle v. Vitale (1962)
C)Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
D)Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Question 14

What preceded Israel's attack on Egypt in June 1967?

A)Egypt's Gamal Abdulla Nasser closed the Strait of Tiran for ships to Israel.
B)The Palestinian Liberation Front launched shells from the Sinai into Israel.
C)Syria launched a strike against Israel that had conquered the Golan Heights.
D)Jordan had withdrawn troops from the heretofore occupied East Jerusalem.

Question 15

What was the unemployment rate in 1966?

A)1 percent
B)under 4 percent
C)over 9 percent
D)close to 15 percent

Question 16

Why did American confidence in science and technology begin to waver over the course of the 1960s?

A)Children's vaccinations were proven to cause autism.
B)The first heart transplant took place in Moscow, embarrassing the American medical profession.
C)An extended series of airplane crashes set back the nation's aerospace industry for decades.
D)The superior technology of the American military could not seem to deliver victory on the battlefield in Vietnam.

Question 17

Which of the following was NOT a feature of the Sunbelt region?

A)strong unions
B)available land
C)low taxes
D)minimal regulation

Question 18

Who was greeted at Kennedy International Airport in New York by a mob of thousands of screaming teenage girls in February 1964?

A)John Travolta
B)the Rolling Stones
C)the Beatles
D)John F. Kennedy

Question 19

The Beatles inspired American folk singer Bob Dylan to

A)go electric.
B)play eclectic.
C)wax poetic.
D)defy aesthetics.

Question 20

Why did the focus of the civil rights movement begin to shift from legal segregation in the South by the mid-1960s?

A)Civil rights leaders saw no possibility of breaking legal segregation in the South.
B)By 1965, the challenges to racial segregation in the South had been suppressed.
C)By the mid-1960s, the federal government had strongly turned against civil rights activism in the South.
D)Many of the most pressing problems for blacks had little to do with segregated public places.

Question 21

What drove so many young people to the black power movement in the mid-1960s?

A)the slow progress of nonviolent disobedience
B)rock 'n roll and the counterculture
C)drugs and alcohol consumption
D)communist incitement

Question 22

Why did the black power leader Stokely Carmichael change his name later in life?

A)He worked as an undercover agent for the civil rights division of the Justice Department.
B)He was found guilty of interstate narcotics trade and escaped prosecution by going underground.
C)He attempted a career in pop music, which failed quickly.
D)He emigrated to Guinea where his new name honored two African nationalists.

Question 23

Some Latinos criticized the head of the National Farm Workers Association Cesar Chavez for his

A)racism towards blacks.
B)violent tendencies.
C)gambling habits.
D)commitment to nonviolence.

Question 24

Patterned on the Black Panthers, Puerto Rican activists in New York City in the mid-1960s created the

A)Young Lords.
B)Young Guns.
C)Young Latinos.
D)Young Ricos.

Question 25

The equal rights amendment to the United States Constitution was first proposed in

A)1923
B)1943
C)1963
D)1973

Question 26

Which of the following environmental acts was aimed at limiting pollution?

A)Wilderness Act (1964)
B)National Wildlife Refuge System (1966)
C)Water Quality Act (1965)
D)National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (1968)

Question 27

What inspired the formation of the Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Michigan in 1960?

A)teach-ins against the Vietnam War
B)the Cuban missile crisis
C)the steel strike during that year
D)the civil rights movement

Question 28

Which of the following did the counterculture of the 1960s and early 70s prize in particular?

A)materialism
B)responsibility
C)individual freedom
D)community service

Question 29

The majority of teenagers and college students in the late 1960s

A)participated in radical politics at one point or another.
B)never graduated because of their activism.
C)stayed away from radical politics.
D)embraced the counter-culture's rejection of mainstream society.

Question 30

Which of the following cases before the United States Supreme Court made ownership of contraceptives legal as a private matter?

A)New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
B)Engle v. Vitale (1962)
C)Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
D)Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Question 31

What was the political orientation of Clark Kerr, the president of the University of California at Berkeley?

A)conservative Republican
B)Socialist Party
C)libertarian
D)liberal Democrat

Question 32

How did John F. Kennedy inspire millions of Americans?

A)with this evangelical fervor
B)with his strong antiwar message
C)with his youthful appearance and idealistic appeals
D)with his bold support for the civil rights movement

Question 33

The grassroots origins of the civil rights movement in postwar America lay

A)in hundreds of black Southern churches and colleges.
B)in liberal law offices in New York City.
C)among a community of Ivy League intellectuals in the Northeast.
D)at the headquarters of the Democratic Party in Washington DC.

Question 34

How did events such as the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in September, 1963, change the course of the civil rights movement?

A)Broad media coverage forced Kennedy to propose civil rights legislation.
B)It intimidated activists and prompted them to pull back from protest marches.
C)It forced the civil rights movement to move its attention to northern cities.
D)It turned local police forces into open supporters of civil rights activists.

Question 35

Why did the Soviets build the Berlin wall in August of 1961?

A)Khrushchev was responding to a US military buildup in West Berlin.
B)West German agitators were crossing the border to incite a revolution.
C)Each week more than 4,000 people fled East Berlin for the West.
D)Kennedy's declaration "Ich bin ein Berliner" suddenly made the Soviets defensive.

Question 36

What effect did Operation MONGOOSE have on Cuba?

A)It undermined Fidel Castro's revolutionary forces.
B)It put Castro more formally into the Soviet camp.
C)It destroyed the nation's sugar industry for good.
D)It prompted the emigration of pro-American Cubans.

Question 37

How did the national mood change in the course of the 1960s?

A)It changed from pessimistic to angry.
B)It changed optimism into frustration.
C)It moved from humility to confidence.
D)It turned internationalism into parochialism.

Question 38

How did President Lyndon Baines Johnson bring about the enactment of the civil rights law in 1964?

A)He allowed Congress to negotiate a bipartisan agreement.
B)He asked Americans to write their congressman in support of the law.
C)He campaigned for the law on TV talk shows and on the radio.
D)He pleaded with and threatened members of Congress to pass the law.

Question 39

During his presidential campaign of 1964, Lyndon Baines Johnson describes himself as

A)a "Texan president."
B)a "president of all the people."
C)an "old-fashioned New Dealer."
D)"everyone's second choice."

Question 40

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 succeeded in

A)preserving democratic majorities in the South for the next generation.
B)turning the South into a bastion of liberalism.
C)preventing voter fraud amongst African-Americans.
D)dramatically increasing black voter participation.

Question 41

In his first State of the Union address in January 1964 President Johnson declared "unconditional war on

A)poverty."
B)bigotry."
C)communism."
D)conservatism."

Question 42

Why did many white Americans reject the Great Society in the last two years of Johnson's presidency?

A)They blamed city riots on the generosity of anti-poverty programs.
B)They disliked the bureaucracy and slow process.
C)Great Society programs were too focused on rural regions.
D)They feared the consequences of a federal deficit.

Question 43

What did the United States Supreme Court rule in the case of Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)?

A)The case expanded the Fifth Amendment prohibition on self-incrimination.
B)The court ruled that the defendant was entitled to a defense lawyer even if he or she could not afford one.
C)the court expanded the rights of news media to write about public officials and well-known public figures.
D)The court declared that state and local courts must exclude from trial evidence gathered without a search warrant.

Question 44

Why did Soviet Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin not want to assist President Lyndon B. Johnson in trying to find an end to the Vietnam War?

A)He was hoping that a unified Vietnam would at one point become part of the Soviet Union.
B)Kosyigin begrudged President Johnson's invasion of the Dominican Republic, which had been friendly to the Soviets.
C)Kosygin was trying to improve relations with People's Republic of China, and approaching the U.S. would have sent the wrong signal.
D)Kosygin was competing with the People's Republic of China for the favor of the North Vietnamese.

Question 45

In 1970, what percentage of Americans had at least on TV at home?

A)66
B)76
C)86
D)96

Question 46

What did Jean-Jacques Servan Schreiber argue in his book The American Challenge (1967)?

A)Schreiber claimed that American competitiveness was at the core of its global success.
B)He argued that the Cold War was the product of American provocation.
C)Schreiber argued that Europe was becoming an economic and cultural satellite of the U.S.
D)He thought that the American landing on the moon was the beginning of a new era in human history.

Question 47

What was the federal budget for the Apollo program that began in 1961?

A)$1 billion
B)$ 2 billion
C)$10 billion
D)$20 billion

Question 48

Economic and infrastructural development of the South and West came at a significant cost to

A)the aerospace industry.
B)the natural environment.
C)the tourism industry.
D)suburban peace.

Question 49

Which of the following was one of the significant American influences on the Beatles?

A)Chuck Berry
B)Scott Joplin
C)The Who
D)The Rolling Stones

Question 50

Which of the following was NOT a strategy of civil rights organizations in 1960s America?

A)sit-ins
B)mass demonstrations
C)riots
D)lawsuits

Question 51

Nearly all of the 34 dead of the Watts riots of August 1965 were

A)black.
B)white.
C)police.
D)children.

Question 52

Who assassinated Malcolm X in 1965?

A)the Ku Klux Klan
B)black Muslims
C)the FBI
D)the KGB

Question 53

Why did National Farm Workers Association leaders Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta organize a nationwide boycott of grapes?

A)to get workers better healthcare
B)to establish maximum working hours
C)to make farmworkers eligible for Social Security
D)to force growers to recognize the union

Question 54

In June 1961 seven hundred representatives from 64 different Indian nations met in Chicago to draft a Declaration of Indian Purpose which stated that "we have the

A)duty to fight the white man."
B)right to build casinos."
C)responsibility of preserving our heritage."
D)chance to abandon our reservations."

Question 55

What changes in attitudes toward marriage and divorce enhanced the appeal of the new feminism?

A)Divorce rates, social workers, and analysts revealed that the family was not the haven that it had long been proclaimed.
B)As women earned their own money they were less interested in husbands and children and decided to stay single.
C)Changes in federal tax policies made family formation ever more costly and unattractive to the lower middle class.
D)The growing number of fake marriages of green card applicants led to a growing number of divorces.

Question 56

In 1970 women earned 59 cents for every dollar earned by men; by 2000 it was

A)65 cents for every dollar.
B)76 cents for every dollar.
C)95 cents for every dollar.
D)110 cents for every dollar.

Question 57

Which caretaker principle of colleges and universities did student protesters challenge along with restrictions on free speech in the 1960s?

A)in loco parentis
B)quid pro quo
C)summa cum laude
D)stare decisis

Question 58

What drew young men and women to the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco during the Sommer of Love in 1967?

A)organic food and green living
B)free contraception and STD tests
C)volunteer work and political campaigning
D)drugs and music

Question 59

Where did the drug LSD first emerge?

A)in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco
B)in the U.S. military
C)in Mexican drug cartels
D)in the New York fashion scene

Question 60

Identify who, what, where, when, and/or why the following are important:
1. Berkeley's Free Speech Movement
2. Freedom riders
3. Berlin Wall
4. Civil Rights Act of 1964
5. Office of Economic Opportunity
6. Mapp v. Ohio
7. Yuri Gagarin
8. Beatlemania
9. Black Power
10. "sexism"

Question 61

How did the campus react when the University of California, Berkeley, brought charges against the leaders of the 800 students who sat-in at the administration building on December 3, 1964?

A)Students organized an even larger strike.
B)Students boycotted classes and seminars.
C)Students turned away from political activism.
D)Students organized a student defense fund.

Question 62

How did President John F. Kennedy react to the freedom ride from Washington D.C. to Alabama in 1961?

A)He publicly applauded the riders' courage.
B)He ordered the desegregation of interstate bus travel.
C)He asked his brother Robert F. Kennedy to join the activists.
D)He thought the freedom riders were too militant.

Question 63

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

A)outlawed segregation in restaurants, accommodations, and transportation.
B)enforced voting rights for African-Americans and Mexican-Americans.
C)desegregated the Army, Navy, and the Marines.
D)created the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Job Corps.

Question 64

The immigration law of 1965

A)introduced a national quota system to regulate immigration.
B)imposed the quota system on Mexican-American migrants.
C)changed the main source of immigration to Asia and the Americas.
D)Established a guest-worker program called Bracero.

Question 65

Why did President Lyndon Johnson cancel his visit to the Soviet Union in August 1968?

A)The rising number of urban riots required his presence but home.
B)The unrest at the Democratic convention in Chicago required his mediation.
C)The Soviet Union had sent armed forces into Prague, Czechoslovakia.
D)The North Vietnamese Tet Offensive required Johnson to travel to Saigon.

Question 66

Which album pushed the Beatles to produce their psychedelic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?

A)Thriller, by Michael Jackson
B)Rubber Soul, by the Beatles
C)Pet Sounds, by the Beach Boys
D)Between the Buttons, by the Rolling Stones

Question 67

How long did the grape strike and boycott of the National Farm Workers Association last?

A)two months
B)six months
C)one year
D)five years

Question 68

Which American president signed legislation bringing the Environmental Protection Agency into existence?

A)Dwight D. Eisenhower
B)John F. Kennedy
C)Lyndon B. Johnson
D)Richard M. Nixon

Question 69

What was at the center of American culture for young people in the 1960s?

A)drugs
B)sex
C)rock music
D)TV

Question 70

When was the national organization for women (NOW) founded?

A)1957
B)1963
C)1966
D)1972

Question 71

What prompted the construction of the Berlin wall?

Question 72

How did president Johnson make the case for the voting rights act of 1965?

Question 73

How did the United States Supreme Court of the 1960s expand the notion of citizenship?

Question 74

What triggered the Watts riots in Los Angeles in August 1965, and what were its immediate consequences?

Question 75

What was the purpose of the American Indian Movement?

Question 76

Under Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights movement was committed to nonviolent protest. How successful was this strategy?

Question 77

Historian Terry H Anderson concluded on the so-called "British invasion" that the "sixties would not just be an American phenomenon." What did he mean by that?

Question 78

Identify who, what, where, when, and/or why the following are important:
1. sit-in
2. Operation MONGOOSE
3. Medicaid
4. Juan Bosch
5. Six-Day Way
6. Whole Earth Catalog
7. British Invasion
8. "the problem that has no name"
9. "participatory democracy"
10. Rolling Stone Magazine

Question 79

Which of the following is true about John F. Kennedy?

A)He suffered from a variety of serious health problems.
B)He was a devoted family man and loyal husband.
C)He was the most liberal president ever elected.
D)He lived his life according to his faith.

Question 80

How many demonstrators gathered for the March on Washington on August 28, 1963?

A)less than 50,000
B)approximately 100,000
C)over 200,000
D)almost 1 million