Deck 41: America Confronts the Post-Cold War ERA

Question 1

In the 1992 national elections, Democratic candidate Bill Clinton

A) campaigned as a "new Democrat" who proposed to move away from his party's traditional liberalism.
B) campaigned on a platform criticizing President Bush's leadership in the Persian Gulf War.
C) effectively prevented third-party candidate Ross Perot from taking votes away from the Democrats.
D) stayed away from economic issues because of the growing prosperity under President Bush.
E) proved inarticulate and unable to respond to sharp Republican attacks on his character and record.

Answer 1

campaigned as a "new Democrat" who proposed to move away from his party's traditional liberalism.

Question 2

Bill Clinton's primary political advantage in the 1996 election was

A) his personal cleverness and verbal skills.
B) his reputation as a courageous and forthright leader.
C) the tremendous success of America's post-Cold War foreign policies.
D) the tremendously prosperous economy.
E) his ability to appeal to some Republicans as well as Democrats.

Answer 2

the tremendously prosperous economy.

Question 3

The leader of the right-wing movement that won a sweeping victory for Republicans in the 1994 Congressional elections was

A) businessman H. Ross Perot.
B) Congressman Newt Gingrich.
C) Senator Robert Dole.
D) special prosecutor Kenneth Starr.
E) Congressman Henry Hyde

Answer 3

Congressman Newt Gingrich.

Question 4

The powerful antigovernment mood of the early 1990s was shown by all of the following except

A) Ross Perot's winning 20 percent of the vote in the 1992 election.
B) the passage of term limits by many states.
C) the organization of private paramilitary "militias."
D) the shooting of high school students in Littleton, Colorado.
E) the Contract with America proposed assault on welfare programs.

Question 5

One of Bill Clinton's few early successes in advancing his reform agenda during his first term was

A) his health care program.
B) permitting gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.
C) the restriction of unfunded federal mandates on the states.
D) campaign finance reform.
E) a deficit reduction bill and new gun control laws.

Question 6

The Branch Davidians were

A) an organization of fiscal conservatives promoting a reduced deficit.
B) a fundamentalist sect whose compound was destroyed by the federal government.
C) a branch of the "House of David" with the Jewish community.
D) an underground militia plotting rebellion against the federal government.
E) a group of liberal Democrats opposed to Clinton's "new Democratic" policies.

Question 7

President Clinton's approach to the controversial policy of affirmative action was

A) wholehearted support.
B) a plea to "mend it, not end it."
C) to support it for private business and universities but not for the federal government or public universities.
D) to extend it from African Americans to other minorities.
E) to work toward its eventual abolition.

Question 8

Facing a Republican Congress during his second term, Bill Clinton embraced more cautious and conservative policies, including notably his support for

A) ending affirmative action.
B) the right to bear arms.
C) a constitutional amendment to prohibit the sale of tobacco.
D) a welfare reform bill.
E) campaign finance reform.

Question 9

After they gained control of both houses of Congress in the 1994 mid-term elections, the Republicans

A) successfully pushed through their Contract with America.
B) overreached with conservative policies that bred a backlash favoring President Clinton.
C) worked to keep the federal government running despite a confrontation with President Clinton.
D) modified their more radical conservative ideas to take account of political reality.
E) failed to achieve even one of their political goals.

Question 10

As President, perhaps Bill Clinton's greatest legacy was

A) reversing the conservative revolution of the Reagan-Bush administrations.
B) restoring Democrats as the majority party in the Congress and the country.
C) ending the gender gap by winning equal numbers of men back to Democratic ranks.
D) consolidating the Reagan-Bush revolution of lowered expectations for government's ability to solve social ills.
E) heightening respect for the dignity and moral responsibility of public service.

Question 11

The two charges on which President Clinton was impeached and then acquitted after a Senate trial in January and February 1999 were

A) bribery and adultery.
B) perjury before a grand jury and obstruction of justice.
C) sexual harassment and accepting bribes in exchange for presidential pardons.
D) conspiracy and failure to faithfully execute the laws of the United States.
E) corruption in the Whitewater land deal and complicity in the death of aide Vincent Foster.

Question 12

Two of President Clinton's early political blunders occurred in the areas of

A) gun control and the environment.
B) deficit reduction and foreign trade.
C) military preparedness and relations with Latin America.
D) gays in the military and health care.
E) sexual involvement with his staff and relations with the Supreme Court.

Question 13

The razor-thin election of 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore was finally resolved when

A) the U.S. Supreme Court ended further vote recounts in Florida, giving Bush the electoral vote victory.
B) Al Gore conceded that Bush had won a majority in Florida and should therefore be declared the winner.
C) the Florida State Supreme Court determined that Bush had won the state by a few hundred votes.
D) Congress settled the issue by accepting Bush's Florida electors rather than Gore's.
E) Bush agreed to appoint Democrats to the cabinet and govern as a "compassionate conservative" if Gore would drop his electoral challenge.

Question 14

All of the following were areas where President Clinton's foreign policy stumbled except

A) human rights and trade with China.
B) American troops in Somalia.
C) bringing democracy to Haiti.
D) ethnic conflict in the Balkans.
E) relations with Germany and France.

Question 15

A widespread public attitude of the early 1990s that affected many areas of politics and society was

A) disillusionment and mistrust of the federal government.
B) fear of attack from Islamic fundamentalism.
C) confidence in the purpose and direction of American foreign policy.
D) a greater faith in the federal government than in local and state government.
E) a belief that the doctrine of separation of church and state was outmoded.

Question 16

Which of the following was not among the polarizing conservative policies that George W. Bush pursued when he initially assumed the presidency?

A) appointing extreme conservatives to the Supreme Court
B) sharply cutting federal taxes
C) withdrawing American support from international programs sanctioning abortion
D) refused to permit government-sponsored stem cell research
E) repudiating the Kyoto Treaty and opening Alaska to more oil exploration

Question 17

George W. Bush's first foreign policy moves indicated

A) a desire to reduce American military commitments around the globe.
B) strong commitment to international human rights and environmental concerns.
C) an inclination to pursue American unilateral interests without much regard for world opinion.
D) the inexperience of his foreign policy advisors.
E) a concern to shift American attention to the Third World.

Question 18

One highly unusual issue in the 2000 presidential campaign between Al Gore and George W. Bush was

A) how many more American troops should be sent overseas.
B) how to cut back protections for the environment.
C) how to prevent third-party candidates from becoming a nuisance in presidential elections.
D) how to prevent America from being attacked by foreign terrorists.
E) how to spend the huge federal budget surpluses.

Question 19

The Clinton foreign policy in Africa, the Balkans, and China was marked by

A) uncertainty, caution, and a reluctance to engage American diplomatic or military power.
B) a ready willingness to protect American interests and end human rights abuses.
C) an attempt to achieve comprehensive settlements of long-standing conflicts.
D) a reliance on U.N. peacekeeping forces rather than the American military.
E) frequent threats of American military intervention.

Question 20

The primary issue that enabled Bill Clinton to defeat President Bush and Ross Perot in the 1992 election was Bush's

A) bungled foreign policy toward the Soviet Union and China.
B) insufficient attention to gender and racial issues.
C) management of a seriously slumping economy.
D) inability to use the English language properly.
E) inadequate defense of energy and environmental concerns.

Question 21

The response to the terrorist attacks raised concerns for protection of the civil liberties of

A) Al Qaeda members.
B) Arab Americans and American Muslims.
C) environmentalists
D) French Americans.
E) Mexican immigrants.

Question 22

To destroy the bases from which the terrorist organization Al Qaeda operated, the United States in late 2001 launched an invasion of

A) Pakistan.
B) Afghanistan.
C) Iraq.
D) Kuwait.
E) France.

Question 23

In two affirmative action cases involving the University of Michigan decided in 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that

A) any form of affirmative action violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
B) racial quotas were permissible for as many years as discrimination had been practiced.
C) numerical formulas for minority admission were unacceptable but flexible individually-based procedures were constitutional.
D) preferences for children of alumni were unconstitutional.
E) all forms of affirmative action were acceptable under the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act.

Question 24

Osama bin Laden, identified as the figure behind the September 11 terrorist attacks, was a native of

A) Saudi Arabia.
B) Lebanon.
C) Afghanistan.
D) Iraq.
E) Egypt.

Question 25

George W. Bush's highest domestic policy priority in his first year in office was

A) campaign finance reform.
B) achieving a balanced budget.
C) ending affirmative action.
D) cutting taxes.
E) reducing the barriers between church and state.

Question 26

Among Bush's advisers who pushed most strongly for the invasion of Iraq were

A) Secretary of State Colin Powell and the State Department.
B) Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and the CIA.
C) former President George H. W. Bush and the foreign policy "realists."
D) Vice President Cheney and administration neoconservatives.
E) Former President Clinton and the "New Democrats" in Congress.

Question 27

To President Bush, "the axis of evil" that menaced American security consisted of the nations of

A) Germany, Russia, and Italy.
B) Russia, China, and Cuba.
C) Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.
D) Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.
E) Sudan, Egypt, and Libya.