Deck 27: Reconsidering National Priorities, 1972-1979

Question 1

How did the American public respond to Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon?

A) Most Americans approved of Ford's action.
B) Most Americans thought Ford should be impeached.
C) Most Americans thought Ford was part of the Watergate cover-up.
D) Most Americans disapproved of Ford's action.

Answer 1

Most Americans disapproved of Ford's action.

Question 2

Why did Gerald Ford's approval rating plummet shortly after he took office?

A) He announced his support for the ERA.
B) The U.S. pulled out of Vietnam.
C) He pardoned Richard Nixon.
D) The economy grew weaker.

Answer 2

He pardoned Richard Nixon.

Question 3

Which of the following was true of Richard Nixon's presidency?

A) He rejected the use of covert actions to achieve foreign policy objectives.
B) He blocked all efforts to pass environmental legislation.
C) He used federal agencies to harass his political enemies.
D) He governed as a hard-core social conservative.

Answer 3

He used federal agencies to harass his political enemies.

Question 4

SALT I __________.

A) placed limits on above-ground nuclear testing
B) banned antiballistic missiles
C) scaled back conventional weapons
D) limited offensive nuclear weapons

Question 5

Which of the following did Nixon see as essential to successful revision of foreign policy?

A) secrecy
B) coalition building
C) transparency
D) congressional involvement

Question 6

Who was fired in the Saturday Night Massacre?

A) Alexander Butterfield
B) Archibald Cox
C) Sam Ervin
D) Howard Baker

Question 7

Who was Richard Nixon's most influential foreign policy advisor?

A) Gerald Ford
B) Henry Kissinger
C) William Westmoreland
D) H. R. Haldeman

Question 8

Nixon stunned the world in 1972 when he __________.

A) announced a trip to China
B) signed a peace treaty with North Vietnam
C) began sending aid to the Soviet government.
D) opened trade with Cuba.

Question 9

Why did Nixon embark on a policy of "triangular diplomacy"?

A) to improve American relations with Britain and France
B) to bring China and Vietnam closer
C) to exploit tensions between the Soviet Union and China
D) to improve relations between the Soviet Union and East Germany

Question 10

Triangular diplomacy involved the United States, the Soviet Union, and __________.

A) Great Britain
B) Japan
C) Vietnam
D) China

Question 11

Which of the following was true of the Watergate scandal?

A) Nixon directed the cover-up from the beginning.
B) Nixon had no knowledge of the cover-up.
C) Nixon only became aware of the cover-up after it was well under way.
D) Nixon tried to stop the cover-up.

Question 12

Stagflation combined inflation and __________.

A) rising wages
B) slow growth
C) high unemployment
D) economic volatility

Question 13

Nixon and Kissinger prided themselves on their "__________" approach to foreign policy.

A) realpolitik
B) isolationist
C) New Look
D) American Values

Question 14

In the aftermath of Watergate, __________ went to prison.

A) H. R. Haldeman
B) Richard Nixon
C) Archibald Cox
D) Howard Baker

Question 15

What was one purpose of CREEP?

A) to spy on the Nixon administration
B) to undermine civil rights organizations
C) to play political dirty tricks
D) to destabilize foreign governments

Question 16

Nixon's visit to China had which of the following benefits?

A) Trade between China and the U.S. increased.
B) The Soviet Union withdrew from eastern Europe.
C) China announced new democratic elections.
D) Chinese immigration to the U.S. increased.

Question 17

How did the brutal Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet come to power?

A) He was elected by the people of Chile.
B) The CIA secretly funded a right-wing military coup.
C) The Soviet Union toppled the previous government.
D) He personally assassinated the previous president.

Question 18

Why was Vice President Agnew forced to resign?

A) He was found guilty of tax evasion.
B) He was implicated in the Watergate cover-up.
C) He lied to Congress about Vietnam.
D) He destroyed evidence related to the Pentagon Papers.

Question 19

Richard Nixon beat __________ in the 1972 election in a landslide.

A) Eugene McCarthy
B) Jimmy Carter
C) George McGovern
D) Hubert Humphrey

Question 20

What was the goal of the Watergate burglars?

A) to steal secret papers
B) to install secret listening devices
C) to steal valuable art works
D) to plant incriminating evidence

Question 21

The crisis at Love Canal in upstate __________ helped bring the issue of toxic waste home to Americans.

A) New York
B) Pennsylvania
C) Ohio
D) Illinois

Question 22

During the 1970s, __________.

A) real wages declined
B) the number of Americans living in poverty fell
C) unemployment reached a peak of 21 percent
D) the gap between the rich and poor narrowed

Question 23

Which of the following contributed to the reassertion of Congressional power?

A) defeat in Vietnam
B) the oil embargo
C) the election of Jimmy Carter
D) the Three Mile Island disaster

Question 24

The War Powers Act required the chief executive to obtain explicit congressional approval for keeping U.S. troops in an overseas conflict longer than __________.

A) fourteen days
B) six months
C) one year
D) ninety days

Question 25

The American economic decline of the1970s stemmed in part from ____________.

A) the inefficiency of American workers
B) competition from abroad
C) insufficient government oversight of the economy
D) overproduction in the agricultural sector

Question 26

In 1973 OPEC initiated an oil embargo against the United States in retaliation for U.S. support of __________.

A) the Soviet Union
B) Saudi Arabia
C) China
D) Israel

Question 27

In the aftermath of the oil embargo, ______________.

A) the U.S. sought to colonize oil producing regions
B) Americans cut their energy consumption by 50 percent
C) the U.S. government launched a concerted effort to move away from fossil fuels
D) membership in environmental groups soared

Question 28

Exercise, especially __________, began to become an increasingly common activity for middle-class adults.

A) swimming
B) yoga
C) running
D) martial arts

Question 29

Carter sought to turn the page on America's colonial past by __________.

A) cutting off U.S. aid to Chile
B) returning sovereignty of the Panama Canal to Panama
C) returning part of Arizona to Mexico
D) apologizing to the people of the Philippines

Question 30

The Camp David accords were an agreement between __________ and Israel.

A) Syria
B) Egypt
C) Iran
D) Iraq

Question 31

Which of the following was true of Jimmy Carter?

A) He promised a new openness and accountability in government.
B) He was an economic liberal and a social conservative.
C) He was the first president elected from the South.
D) He was born into a wealthy banking family.

Question 32

The partial nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island in __________ brought new attention to the dangers of nuclear power plants.

A) Florida
B) California
C) Pennsylvania
D) New York

Question 33

Which of the following was the outsider in politics who won the presidential election in 1976?

A) Jimmy Carter
B) Walter Mondale
C) George Wallace
D) George Bush

Question 34

Which of the following undermined Ford's reelection campaign in 1976?

A) his marital infidelities
B) his financial dealings
C) the weak economy
D) the war in Vietnam

Question 35

What role did the U.S. play in the 1973 war that pitted Israel against Egypt and Syria?

A) The U.S. sent ground troops to aid the Israelis.
B) The U.S. was careful to remain neutral.
C) The U.S. provided Israel with critical supplies.
D) The U.S. supplied weapons to both sides.

Question 36

Which of the following contributed to the inflation of the early 1970s?

A) the cost of the Vietnam War
B) the cost of Social Security
C) falling export rates
D) the implementation of environmental regulations

Question 37

Which of the following cabinet departments was created by the Carter administration?

A) Department of Labor
B) Department of Education
C) Department of Energy
D) Department of Homeland Security

Question 38

Jimmy Carter was a(n) __________.

A) social moderate but an economic conservative
B) economic liberal but a social conservative
C) social radical but an economic liberal
D) social and economic conservative

Question 39

The soaring membership in the Audubon Society during the 1970s was representative of which larger trend?

A) reassessment of gender roles
B) rising worries over peace in the Middle East
C) détente with the Soviet Union
D) increasing concerns about American consumption

Question 40

All the President's Men told the story of __________.

A) the Roosevelt administration
B) the Watergate scandal
C) Eisenhower's use of covert operations
D) Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War

Question 41

Why did the American economy go into a prolonged decline in the 1970s?

Question 42

Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman __________.

A) nominated as a vice-presidential candidate
B) to travel into space
C) to be elected as a state governor
D) appointed to the Supreme Court

Question 43

Which of the following titles became popular in the 1970s?

A) Ms.
B) Mrs.
C) Mr.
D) Miss

Question 44

The Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade was rooted in __________.

A) constitutional privacy rights
B) two centuries of reproductive law
C) the protections offered by the First Amendment
D) the protections offered by the Third Amendment

Question 45

How did Congress attempt to reassert its power over foreign policy in the 1970s?

Question 46

Phyllis Schlafly took the lead in the fight against __________.

A) voting rights
B) affirmative action
C) school busing
D) the ERA

Question 47

Describe the emergence of the environmental movement in the 1970s.

Question 48

The percentage of female students in law school shot up from 5 percent to __________ percent between 1970 and 1980.

A) 15
B) 25
C) 40
D) 55

Question 49

The Equal Rights Amendment failed because __________.

A) it did not pass in the Senate
B) it was voted down in a national referendum
C) it was ratified by too few states
D) it did not pass in the House of Representatives

Question 50

Why did Nixon seek to improve U.S. relations with China?

Question 51

Title __________ of the Educational Amendments of 1972 required schools to spend comparable amounts on women's and men's sports programs.

A) IX
B) XII
C) XV
D) LV

Question 52

Which of the following best characterizes Phyllis Schlafly?

A) She was a neoconservative.
B) She was an antifeminist.
C) She was a liberal lobbyist.
D) She was a black nationalist.

Question 53

The Hyde Amendment forbade the use of Medicaid funds for __________.

A) contraception
B) abortions
C) sex education
D) gynecological exams

Question 54

Which of the following was true of American families in the 1970s?

A) More and more married women with children worked outside of the home.
B) Traditional gender roles for men and women were completely abandoned.
C) More and more families had only one wage earner.
D) The divorce rate steadily fell.