Deck 40: The Resurgence of Conservatism

Question 1

Ronald Reagan's supply side economic advisers assured him that the combination of cutbacks in social programs and tax reduction would do all of the following except

A) stimulate new investment.
B) create greater income equality.
C) boost productivity.
D) foster dramatic economic growth.
E) reduce the deficit.

Answer 1

create greater income equality.

Question 2

Senator Edward Kennedy's campaign to take the presidential nomination away from Jimmy Carter in 1980 was handicapped by

A) his poor performance as a senator.
B) a growing dislike for the Kennedys.
C) Carter's popularity.
D) lingering suspicions about his involvement in an automobile accident in which a young woman was killed.
E) his inability to reach beyond New England.

Answer 2

lingering suspicions about his involvement in an automobile accident in which a young woman was killed.

Question 3

Ronald Reagan abandoned his liberal New Deal political philosophy and began to espouse a conservative, antigovernment line

A) after being elected governor of California.
B) during World War II.
C) when he discovered communist infiltration in Hollywood.
D) when he became a wealthy movie star.
E) when he became a spokesman for General Electric.

Answer 3

when he became a spokesman for General Electric.

Question 4

Many Democrats, especially liberals, were disaffected with Jimmy Carter's

A) Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt.
B) handing over of the Panama Canal to Panama.
C) failure to aggressively pursue civil rights.
D) unwillingness to use military force to rescue the hostages in Iran.
E) apparent political and administrative ineptitude.

Question 5

The neoconservatives of the 1980s believed in all of the following except

A) free-market capitalism.
B) détente with the Soviet Union.
C) a return to traditional values of individualism and the centrality of the family.
D) fewer government restraints on the economy.
E) challenging affirmative action policies.

Question 6

In the 1980s, for the first time in the twentieth century,

A) income gaps widened between the richest and the poorest Americans.
B) middle-class incomes rose.
C) the poor made economic gains.
D) the economy stopped growing.
E) the majority of Americans were middle class.

Question 7

Conservative Democrats who helped Ronald Reagan to pass his budget and tax-cutting legislation were called

A) blue dogs.
B) sagebrush rebels.
C) scalawags.
D) neoconservatives.
E) boll weevils.

Question 8

Besides a landslide victory for Ronald Reagan, the 1980 election was notable because

A) a third-party candidate, John Anderson, won electoral votes for the first time since 1968.
B) southerner Jimmy Carter failed to win a single southern state.
C) Carter displayed bitterness and anger in defeat.
D) the Republicans won the Senate for the first time in twenty-five years.
E) the Republicans abandoned their traditional anti-big government line.

Question 9

The "new right" movement that helped to elect Ronald Reagan was spearheaded by

A) fiscal conservatives.
B) evangelical Christians.
C) Wall Street and big business.
D) Midwesterners.
E) Catholics and Jews.

Question 10

Ronald Reagan was similar to Franklin D.Roosevelt in that both men

A) disliked big business.
B) championed the "common man" against vast, impersonal menaces.
C) were raised in wealthy families.
D) favored social engineering by the government.
E) had run for vice president before being elected president.

Question 11

The term "yuppies" was slang applied to

A) the animal-rights movement.
B) people who maintained homes on both the east and west coast.
C) high-living young people who practiced conspicuous consumption.
D) young people who volunteered for service in the inner city.
E) new age liberals.

Question 12

Ronald Reagan's essential domestic goal as president was to

A) cutting back on military expenditures.
B) remove government interference in people's private lives in such areas as abortion and pornography.
C) dismantle the welfare state and shrink the federal budget and lower taxes.
D) transfer welfare programs to the states.
E) reform public education.

Question 13

True to his campaign promises, as president, Ronald Reagan

A) cut taxes.
B) reduced the federal deficit.
C) reduced the international trade deficit.
D) balanced the federal budget.
E) eliminated abortion rights.

Question 14

Which of these social issues was not a primary concern for the new right?

A) birth control
B) pornography
C) homosexuality
D) abortion
E) affirmative action

Question 15

The immediate consequence of President Reagan's new economic policies was

A) an unprecedented though short-lived economic boom.
B) a decline in military strength.
C) a rise in investment in new technology.
D) a rise in the value of the dollar.
E) a deep though temporary economic recession.

Question 16

Perhaps Jimmy Carter's greatest weakness as president was his

A) mediocre intelligence.
B) inability to articulate his views.
C) lack of managerial talent.
D) fiscal irresponsibility.
E) lack of compassion.

Question 17

Many "new right" activists were most concerned about

A) cultural and social issues.
B) economic freedom.
C) foreign policy.
D) social justice.
E) separation of church and state.

Question 18

Ronald Reagan differed from Franklin D.Roosevelt in that Roosevelt

A) saw big government as the foe of the common man, while Reagan named big business as the foe.
B) appealed to the working class, while Reagan appealed primarily to the rich.
C) advocated a "populist" political philosophy, while Reagan did not.
D) branded big business as the enemy of the common man, while Reagan depicted big government as the foe.
E) made effective use of the media to promote his message while Reagan did not.

Question 19

Ronald Reagan's major goal as president was to

A) slash military spending.
B) expand federally funded social programs.
C) reduce the size of the federal government.
D) prevent the government from dealing with moral issues.
E) assist big business.

Question 20

In the 1980 presidential campaign,

A) Edward Kennedy challenged incumbent President Carter for the nomination of the Democratic party.
B) Ronald Reagan failed to gain control of either house of Congress for the Republican party.
C) third-party candidate John Anderson prevented Ronald Reagan from winning a majority of the popular vote.
D) Ronald Reagan won the presidency by the closest margin since the Kennedy-Nixon election of 1960.
E) Reagan tailored his campaign to appeal to independents and liberal Democrats.

Question 21

Ronald Reagan's massive federal deficits actually helped him to achieve his key political goal of

A) linking Japanese and Swiss bankers more closely to the United States.
B) winning a permanent majority for the Republican party.
C) containing or shrinking the big-government welfare state.
D) controlling the Federal Reserve Board.
E) ending the moral permissiveness of the 1970s.

Question 22

The first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court was

A) Elizabeth Dole.
B) Sandra Day O'Connor.
C) Anita Hill.
D) Geraldine Ferraro.
E) Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Question 23

President Reagan came to be labeled the "Teflon president" because

A) he seemed always able to avoid blame for failed policies.
B) he seemed unable to stick to any policy and see it through to completion.
C) his presidential leadership consisted more of image than real substance.
D) he was an unusually hard-working president.
E) it was easy for him to come clean about mistakes.

Question 24

"Solidarity" was

A) the nickname for southern Democrats who supported Reagan.
B) a massive working-class labor union that toppled Poland's communist puppet government in 1989.
C) the mutual pledge between the United States and its western European allies.
D) the slogan of the Moral Majority.
E) the slogan of the revived U.S.labor movement.

Question 25

Democrats had high hopes for the 1988 election because of

A) Vice President George Bush's apparent political weakness.
B) the disaffection of women with the Republican party.
C) the Iran-Contra affair and savings-and-loan scandals.
D) the charisma of their candidate, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis.
E) the failures of President Reagan's policies toward the Soviet Union.

Question 26

During Ronald Reagan's presidency, United States troops invaded

A) Cuba.
B) Nicaragua.
C) Grenada.
D) El Salvador.
E) Iraq.

Question 27

Some economists believe that the economic upturn in the 1980s was the result of

A) lower energy costs.
B) higher rates of savings.
C) massive military expenditures.
D) major tax cuts.
E) new capital investment.

Question 28

The Supreme Court in the case of Webster v.Reproductive Health Services

A) overturned the Roe v.Wade abortion decision.
B) prohibited abortion in cases of rape or incest.
C) strongly affirmed a woman's right to have an abortion.
D) permitted states to place some restrictions on abortion.
E) permitted abortion opponents to engage in "sidewalk counseling" and other tactics near abortion clinics.

Question 29

Much of the massive federal debt of the 1980s was funded by

A) higher estate taxes.
B) inflating the currency by printing more dollars.
C) selling "freedom bonds" to the American public.
D) investment in speculative technology stocks.
E) borrowing from the Japanese and other foreigners.

Question 30

The Iran-Contra investigations revealed Ronald Reagan as a president who

A) was an intellectual giant.
B) paid little attention to what his subordinates were doing.
C) was losing his popularity.
D) paid too much attention to detail.
E) planned cleverly calculated foreign policy moves.

Question 31

Which of the following was not among the ways that the "New Right" of the 1980s imitated the tactics and approaches of the "New Left" of the 1960s?

A) "making the personal political"
B) practicing "identity politics"
C) seizing control of colleges and universities
D) using small group sessions to "raise consciousness"
E) engaging in tactics of street protest and civil disobedience

Question 32

To President Reagan, "the focus of evil in the modern world" was

A) anti-American terrorists.
B) the federal bureaucracy.
C) secular humanism.
D) the Soviet Union.
E) Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.

Question 33

In the 1988 campaign, George Bush essentially ran on a platform of

A) restoring American energy independence while protecting the environment.
B) modifying the strong Reagan stand against abortion and affirmative action.
C) reducing deficits and restoring a balanced budget.
D) continuing the Reagan record of strong defense, prosperity, and conservative social issues.
E) bringing about the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Question 34

Israel badly strained its bonds of friendship with the United States by

A) allowing new settlements to be established in the occupied territory of the West Bank.
B) failing to protect American troops in Lebanon adequately.
C) lending assistance to Iran.
D) destroying a nuclear reactor in Iraq.
E) spying on the United States.

Question 35

The greatest increase in the national debt in the twentieth century occurred

A) during World War II.
B) under Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.
C) during Ronald Reagan's two terms in office.
D) under Lyndon Johnson.
E) under William Clinton.

Question 36

The issue that dominated Ronald Reagan's second term as president was

A) the economy.
B) abortion.
C) prayers in school.
D) the environment.
E) foreign policy.

Question 37

In response to China's crushing of its pro-democracy movement, the United States under President George Bush

A) placed economic sanctions on China.
B) maintained normal relations with China.
C) urged that a trade embargo be placed on China.
D) announced U.S.recognition of the independence of Tibet.
E) recognized Taiwan as the government of China.

Question 38

In 1983 President Reagan sent United States marines to ____ where more than two hundred of them died in a suicide bomber attack.

A) Nicaragua
B) Grenada
C) Saudi Arabia
D) Iran
E) Lebanon

Question 39

The first woman to receive the vice-presidential nomination of a major political party was

A) Elizabeth Dole.
B) Sandra Day O'Connor.
C) Hillary Rodham Clinton.
D) Geraldine Ferraro.
E) Janet Reno.

Question 40

For Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) to work in the Soviet Union, it was essential that the

A) Soviets keep control of Eastern Europe.
B) Communist party open itself to democratic competition.
C) Middle East oilfields be controlled by Soviet allies.
D) United States send aid to Russia.
E) Cold War end.

Question 41

Assess the validity of the following statement, "George H.W.Bush's administration was essentially a 'third term' Reagan administration in its policies and goals."

Question 42

The result of the Persian Gulf War was that

A) Kuwait was liberated but Saddam Hussein stayed in power.
B) the United States and Iraq bogged down in a stalemate in the desert.
C) the United States won the war with air power alone.
D) the tensions in the Middle East were substantially reduced.
E) Saddam Hussein was overthrown by rebel Iraqis who received American aid.

Question 43

Assess the validity of the following statement, "the greatest success of the conservative movement came in reversing the previously liberal direction of the Supreme Court."

Question 44

What were Ronald Reagan's goals as he entered the presidency in 1981? How successful was he in implementing them? In what ways did he fail to achieve his goals? Why?

Question 45

Compare and contrast Ronald Reagan as a leader and agent of political change in the 1980s with that of Franklin D.Roosevelt in the 1930s.

Question 46

The United States joined its allies in the Persian Gulf War in order to

A) regain control of the Middle East oil supply.
B) roll back Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
C) demonstrate that the U.S.military could conduct a major ground war thousands of miles from its home bases.
D) support Israel against the growing threat from the Arab states.
E) guarantee a permanent U.S.naval presence in the Middle East.

Question 47

Describe and critically analyze President Reagan's approach to foreign affairs.Was it effective? Why or why not?

Question 48

Why did conservatism gain such strength in the 1980s and 1990s? Where did modern American conservatism come from?

Question 49

As one consequence of the demise of the Soviet Union,

A) there was a strong revival of religion in Russia.
B) NATO declared that it would remove nuclear weapons from Europe.
C) the entire European continent became more stable.
D) long-suppressed ethnic hatreds flared in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics.
E) the rivalry between Russia and China ended.

Question 50

What were the successes and failures of Ronald Reagan's supply side economics (Reaganomics)?

Question 51

In response to the collapse of the Soviet Union, President George Bush called for a "new world order" where

A) Russia would join the democratic West in containing communist China.
B) the United States would serve as policeman for the world.
C) the United Nations would assert sovereignty over the rival nation-states.
D) global capitalism would supersede all regional and local economies.
E) democracy would reign supreme and diplomacy would replace weaponry.

Question 52

What do you think have been the three most important world events since 1980? Assess America's public reaction and presidential leadership in relation to these events.

Question 53

The explosive Senate hearings that nearly prevented Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from being confirmed involved charges that Thomas was guilty of

A) racial discrimination.
B) jury tampering.
C) plagiarism.
D) sexual harassment.
E) disrespecting civil liberties and the First Amendment.

Question 54

Why, after the crushing defeat of its candidate in 1964, was the conservative right in America able to achieve a landslide victory for Ronald Reagan in 1980? Was this victory the result of a difference between Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, or of changes that had occurred in America and the world in the intervening sixteen years? Explain.

Question 55

Was the Persian Gulf War a complete American triumph or only a qualified success? What were its long-term consequences?

Question 56

To what extent did the United States and the administrations of Reagan and Bush contribute to the collapse of the Soviet Union? How did the Soviet Union's demise alter America's place in the world?