Deck 25: Postwar America at Home, 1945-1960

Question 1

The key to Ray Kroc's success was

A) advertising.
B) uniqueness.
C) standardization.
D) conservative thinking.

Answer 1

standardization.

Question 2

By 1960, a majority of all American families

A) had little extra spending money.
B) had made few gains from the Depression years.
C) could attain a middle-class lifestyle.
D) found they could not keep up with the cost of living.

Answer 2

could attain a middle-class lifestyle.

Question 3

During the Eisenhower administration, an important factor in promoting the material development of the United States was

A) a population shift away from suburban areas.
B) less corporate control of the American economy.
C) construction of the interstate highway system.
D) control of the economy by the Office of Price Administration.

Answer 3

construction of the interstate highway system.

Question 4

As a result of defense spending in the 1950s, all of the following occurred EXCEPT

A) aircraft and electronic industries were stimulated.
B) half the federal budget went to the armed forces.
C) most citizens protested the huge expenditures.
D) business-government ties grew stronger.

Question 5

During the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, corporate development in the United States

A) declined in importance economically.
B) was unable to expand into foreign markets.
C) was discouraged by government policy.
D) was characterized by increasing concentration of control.

Question 6

By 1956, the majority of workers in the United States

A) worked in factories.
B) were engaged in agricultural pursuits.
C) held white-collar jobs.
D) faced a decline in their living standards.

Question 7

In the late 1940s, workers

A) enjoyed great support from the federal government.
B) lost basic rights.
C) decided that strikes were ineffective.
D) went on several strikes.

Question 8

Part of labor's cooperation was gained by material concessions such as General Motors' 1948 introduction of

A) double time for overtime.
B) profit sharing.
C) cost-of-living adjustment.
D) guaranteed annual wage.

Question 9

During the 1950s, agricultural developments in the United States

A) were influenced by important new technology.
B) ceased to be important to the American economy.
C) tended to focus on the family farm.
D) required a greater number of farmers than in the Depression years.

Question 10

In early post-World War II America,

A) Americans became less mobile.
B) Elvis Presley died.
C) the birthrate in the United States increased.
D) shopping centers became less important in American society.

Question 11

Which areas benefited the most from the military expenditures of the 1950s and 1960s?

A) Atlantic Coast and Alaska Territory
B) New England and the Midwest
C) the Pacific Coast and the West
D) the mid and Deep South

Question 12

In the years since World War II,

A) the American population has shifted away from the West and Southwest.
B) the rich have become more concentrated in the center of American cities.
C) American housing has become less standardized.
D) suburbs have become more important in American society.

Question 13

The major influence on American societal norms that developed after World War II was

A) movies.
B) radio.
C) newspapers.
D) television.

Question 14

During the 1950s, material consumption in the United States

A) was generally uninfluenced by advertising.
B) was facilitated by installment plans.
C) tended to be limited because many Americans who had experienced the Depression resisted purchasing luxury goods.
D) was yet to be influenced by easier credit.

Question 15

During the 1950s, ethnic Americans in general

A) constituted an increasingly greater percentage of the American population.
B) tended to become less homogeneous with the rest of the American population.
C) became more readily assimilated into American society.
D) unlike most Americans, were influenced little by television.

Question 16

Religious developments in the United States during the 1950s

A) were characterized by a strong concern with doctrinal issues.
B) emphasized the differences between various religious beliefs.
C) were characterized by less church attendance than in the previous decade.
D) showed improved knowledge of doctrine.

Question 17

For women in the United States, the 1950s was a period when

A) male attitudes significantly changed concerning their role in society.
B) they faced tremendous pressure to conform.
C) fewer married women worked.
D) they showed little resistance to returning to their traditional role in society.

Question 18

An Esquire magazine article in 1954 asserted that

A) women deserved the advantages given to men.
B) working wives were a "menace."
C) women should continue working in military plants.
D) lower-class women could attain middle-class affluence.

Question 19

Which one of the following was LEAST likely to reinforce the traditional image of women in the 1950s and 1960s?

A) Adlai Stevenson
B) Benjamin Spock
C) Betty Friedan
D) Doris Day

Question 20

The conviction that a woman's main role was still homemaking was used to

A) keep married women out of the workplace altogether.
B) redefine some occupations as acceptable for women.
C) justify lower wages and denial of promotions.
D) limit job choices to domestic work or child care.

Question 21

In American society during the Truman and Eisenhower years,

A) sexuality was seldom discussed publicly.
B) white, well-educated women had little difficulty in reassuming their traditional roles.
C) the attitude toward women's roles drastically changed.
D) black women frequently lost the jobs they had held during the war.

Question 22

During the Eisenhower years of the 1950s, African American women

A) joined the women's movement.
B) were able to move into white-collar jobs.
C) did not succeed in increasing their income.
D) had to take domestic work to survive.

Question 23

During the 1950s, a group of authors who promoted unconventional values in their writings were known as

A) litterateurs.
B) the Beat Generation.
C) conformists.
D) hippies.

Question 24

A prominent member of the Beat Generation was

A) Jack Kerouac.
B) Betty Friedan.
C) Elvis Presley.
D) Dwight Eisenhower.

Question 25

Among those considered to be cultural rebels during the 1940s and 1950s in the United States was

A) General Douglas MacArthur.
B) John Wayne.
C) Elvis Presley.
D) Marilyn Monroe.

Question 26

A major concern of the Truman administration was

A) a lack of consumer goods.
B) the expansion of the welfare state.
C) a lack of population growth.
D) a return to the economic conditions of the Depression.

Question 27

In terms of economic goals during this administration, President Truman attempted to

A) reduce government interference in the economy.
B) guarantee full employment through government action.
C) restrict the policies of the New Deal.
D) resist the liberal policies of the Republicans.

Question 28

In the midterm elections of 1946, the American voters

A) demonstrated reservations about Truman's competency.
B) indicated their enthusiasm for Truman's leadership.
C) overwhelmingly endorsed the principles of the Fair Deal.
D) defeated Truman for reelection.

Question 29

The passage of the Taft-Hartley Act

A) was an indicator of public reaction against unions.
B) reinforced the Democratic labor policies of the New Deal era.
C) gave federal protection for the concept of the "closed shop."
D) had the strong support of Harry Truman.

Question 30

In the election of 1948, the Democratic Party

A) faced defections from the right and left wings of the party.
B) had no significant opposition from the Republicans.
C) was able to compromise satisfactorily on the civil rights issue.
D) refused to renominate Truman as their candidate.

Question 31

Truman's Fair Deal program

A) was an overwhelming success.
B) had the strong support of Congress.
C) suffered because of the president's concern about the Cold War.
D) promised gains for a select few in American society.

Question 32

In comparison to his predecessors, Dwight Eisenhower

A) had difficulty in getting people to work for him.
B) had little desire to be president.
C) was abrupt and aggressive in his actions.
D) had limited experience with everyday politics.

Question 33

In Eisenhower's perception of the function of the government,

A) the government should have a limited role in the economy.
B) the role of the president should be expanded.
C) economic activism was an important role for the government.
D) the size of the federal government should continue to grow to meet the needs of the nation.

Question 34

When President Eisenhower left the presidency in 1961, he

A) was extremely unpopular with most Americans.
B) had been unable to reduce the role of government in the economy at all.
C) accepted the fundamental features of the welfare state.
D) had managed to sell the Tennessee Valley Authority to private interests.

Question 35

What problems did black sharecroppers experience?

A) foreign competition
B) mechanization
C) eviction
D) All of the above.

Question 36

How did many rural blacks respond to southern problems?

A) They moved to northern cities.
B) They placed their children in better schools in southern cities.
C) They found better jobs in southern cities.
D) All of the above.

Question 37

All of the following describe the black church in northern cities EXCEPT

A) it provided day-care facilities.
B) it played an important role in sustaining black life.
C) it hosted Girl and Boy Scouts events.
D) it often rejected poor black families.

Question 38

All of the following statements explain the efforts of President Truman regarding civil rights EXCEPT:

A) In 1946 he created a committee to investigate lynching and other racial problems.
B) In 1948 he presented a civil rights program to Congress-the first president to do so.
C) He issued a ban against discrimination in federal employment.
D) He helped Congress to pass major civil rights legislation and voting bills.

Question 39

Latino immigrants in the United States after World War II came from

A) Mexico.
B) Central America.
C) Cuba.
D) All of the above.

Question 40

Which Latin American nation created a partnership with the United States to provide labor during and after World War II?

A) Chile
B) Mexico
C) Peru
D) Panama

Question 41

All of the following relate the history of the braceros EXCEPT

A) working conditions were harsh.
B) some workers were deported by the federal government.
C) many workers stayed beyond their official agreement.
D) all braceros were returned to their home nation.

Question 42

Following World War II, Puerto Ricans

A) were forced to immigrate to the United States.
B) settled primarily in the Southwest of the United States.
C) failed to enjoy the promise of the American dream as immigrant people.
D) enjoyed widespread wealth and prosperity.

Question 43

By the end of the 1960s, the city with the largest Puerto Rican population in the world was

A) San Salvador.
B) San Juan.
C) New York City.
D) Miami.

Question 44

The Immigration and Nationality Act

A) removed the long-standing ban on Japanese immigration.
B) established a quota of 100 immigrants a year for each Asian nation.
C) provided that first-generation Japanese Americans were now eligible for citizenship.
D) All of the above.

Question 45

Because of the anxieties created by the Cold War, Americans reflected little optimism in the two decades after World War II.

Question 46

The two decades after World War II were a period of sustained economic growth in the United States.

Question 47

From 1951 to 1953, the United States defense budget more than doubled.

Question 48

Oligopolies, conglomerates, and franchises were all part of post-World War II expansion.

Question 49

African Americans and other minorities fully shared in the prosperity enjoyed by the white middle class during the 1950s.

Question 50

In 1960, the federal government determined that approximately 40 million Americans, or one-quarter of the population, lived in poverty.

Question 51

In the 1950s, Detroit's black population increased from 16 percent to 29 percent.

Question 52

Blacks did not encounter segregation and discrimination in northern cities.

Question 53

President Eisenhower enthusiastically endorsed the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Brown case in both public and private.

Question 54

Native Americans continued to remain outsiders in the postwar years.

Question 55

For Asian Americans, conditions deteriorated drastically immediately following World War II.

Question 56

In 1958, President Eisenhower changed the federal Indian policy of termination to require tribal consent before tribes could be terminated and reservation lands sold.

Question 57

Discuss the general economic conditions of the United States in the decade and a half after the end of World War II.

Question 58

Discuss the major developments in corporate business in the later 1940s through the 1950s.

Question 59

Assume that you were a typical white, middle-class, white-collar employee during the 1950s and 1960s. Describe your working conditions and your living environment.

Question 60

Discuss union gains from the end of World War II through the 1950s. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of those gains.

Question 61

Discuss the major demographic trends and settlement patterns of the postwar era.

Question 62

Suppose you are a typical consumer of the postwar era. Describe your activities and abundance.

Question 63

Discuss the conformities as well as changes for various levels of American women.

Question 64

Suppose you were a nontypical American college student during the period form 1945 to 1960. Describe your probable interests and the culture figures that would most probably appeal to you.

Question 65

Jackie Robinson became the first__________to play in Major League Baseball in 1947.

Question 66

The ________fought legal battles against racial discrimination during the 1900s.

Question 67

The Brown v. Board of Education case of 1954 originated in the state of________.

Question 68

President Eisenhower in 1957 sent the ________into Little Rock, Arkansas.

Question 69

The ________Act of 1957 established a Civil Rights Commission.