Deck 27: Reagans America

Question 1

The Iran Contra affair involved clandestine sales of American armaments to provide money for a guerilla group in

A) Iraq.
B) Israel.
C) Nicaragua.
D) Syria.
E) Afghanistan.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The New Right that emerged in the 1980s concentrated on

A) moral issues of the lost generation.
B) fighting desegregation.
C) social justice.
D) electoral reform.
E) popular culture and moral issues.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Reagan's relationship with the Soviet Union regarding nuclear weapons could be best characterized as

A) harsh, as evidenced by willingness to violate the 1972 IBM treaty with his Star Wars program.
B) soft, as evidenced by his agreement with Gorbachev to slow the nuclear buildup.
C) flexible, as evidenced by his stand on Afghanistan.
D) All of these choices.
E) None of these choices.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Why did manufacturers claim they left northern cities during the 1980s for the South and West?

A) They disliked hiring blacks and Latinos who were the majority of laborers in the northeast.
B) They wanted to establish well-organized, union-run shops.
C) They sought a cheap labor supply and lower taxes.
D) Those regions offered incentives to lure businesses to relocate.
E) All of these choices.

Question 5

Which drug appeared in the mid-1980s and quickly took hold of inner city youth?

A) crack
B) opium
C) heroin
D) methamphetamines
E) LSD

Question 6

All of the following are true statements about Reagan's economic programs except

A) His trickle-down theory was ultimately proven a vital strategy for dealing with economic downturns.
B) His cuts to government spending focused on social programs such as welfare and unemployment compensation.
C) He dramatically increased defense spending.
D) His policies led to an increasing number of billionaires in America.
E) The middle class diminished while the number of people living below the poverty line increased.

Question 7

Between 1981 and 1988,more than 57,000 cases of AIDS had been diagnosed in the United States,yet politicians were slow to respond to the epidemic because

A) that was still considered too low a figure to qualify to be a true epidemic.
B) government research funds were very limited.
C) leaders, including President Reagan, dismissed it as a gay disease.
D) it was difficult to diagnose.
E) All of these choices.

Question 8

The first Eastern European country to demonstrate that the Soviet Union was losing control over the countries in its "sphere of influence" was

A) Germany.
B) Belgium.
C) Poland.
D) Romania.
E) Lithuania.

Question 9

When the Soviet Union removed its troops from Afghanistan as part of Gorbechev's Perestroika policy,

A) the American-supported Mujahideen took temporary control before the country fell to the Taliban.
B) Iran tried to invade the mountainous state from the west, with no luck.
C) Pakistan was also willing to settle its dispute with the neighbor.
D) it met one of the demands Reagan had made for the resumption of disarmament talks.
E) it did so only because Soviet leaders realized that it would eventually gain control of Afghanistan another way, with American assistance.

Question 10

Reagan was the perfect conservative candidate and president because of his belief in

A) the free market system.
B) traditional family values.
C) anticommunism.
D) reducing social programs.
E) All of these choices.

Question 11

Reagan advocated the deregulation of all of the following except

A) airlines.
B) savings and loan institutions.
C) air pollution restrictions.
D) military contractors.
E) motor vehicles.

Question 12

Hezbollah was the terrorist organization responsible for

A) the bombing in a Berlin nightclub in 1986 that killed two Marines.
B) leading the fight against the Soviets inside Afghanistan.
C) an attack on a Marine barracks in Lebanon that killed 241 American troops.
D) attacking American oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
E) helping Iran fight off the Iraqi invasion.

Question 13

Reagan won reelection handily in 1984,in large part because

A) the economy had temporarily improved.
B) Americans liked his strong anti-communist stance.
C) Walter Mondale chose an African American as his running mate.
D) he had ended the Cold War.
E) he had developed a friendly relationship with the leader of the Soviet Union.

Question 14

Several issues plagued Carter in his bid for reelection,including all of the following except

A) his moralism and bid for austerity.
B) the faltering economy.
C) the apparent weakness of the United States in comparison to the Soviet Union.
D) Reagan's personality.
E) the Iran hostage crisis.

Question 15

Reagan's supply-side economics program focused first on

A) providing extra time for people on unemployment.
B) cutting taxes to generate investments in the economy.
C) trimming Social Security.
D) increasing federal revenues.
E) increasing protective tariffs.

Question 16

It could plausibly be stated that Reagan was at least partly to blame for the

A) success of the Polish Solidarity movement.
B) lack of a peace settlement in the Middle East.
C) bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.
D) failure of Star Wars.
E) Savings and Loan debacle.

Question 17

The fact that the possession of only small amounts of crack cocaine carried the same penalties as possession of considerably larger amounts of cocaine indicated that

A) in the war against drugs, public officials began to target the poor more than the wealthy.
B) fears of minorities high on crack ran high.
C) Americans were terrified that the entire younger generation would be lost to drugs.
D) gang wars would escalate exponentially.
E) the American criminal justice system was not functioning effectively.

Question 18

All of the following Supreme Court Justices were on the bench between 1980 and 1992,EXCEPT:

A) Anthony Kennedy.
B) William Rehnquist.
C) Antonin Scalia.
D) Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
E) Sandra Day O'Connor.

Question 19

The first woman on a national presidential ticket was

A) Phyllis Schlafly.
B) Geraldine Ferraro.
C) Sandra Day O'Connor.
D) Sarah Palin.
E) Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Question 20

The temporary improvement in the American economy during Reagan's early tenure was mainly the result of

A) defense spending.
B) tax cuts.
C) the success of supply-side economics.
D) the collapse of the Soviet Union.
E) Republican control of the Senate.

Question 21

How did the Berlin Wall come to "fall" when it did? What was the reaction of the world to this event? What happened to East and West Germany afterward?

Question 22

Discuss the rationale for Reagan's supply-side economics.

Question 23

One of George Bush's most effective campaign strategies in the 1988 election was to portray his opponent,Michael Dukakis,as

A) soft on defense.
B) soft on crime.
C) communist.
D) too inexperienced.
E) out of touch with American values.

Question 24

Which of the following was not an important reason for the break-up of the Soviet Union?

A) A CIA plot designed to undermine the Soviet Union
B) Eastern European independence movement of 1989
C) Mikhail Gorbachev
D) Widespread poverty
E) The American policy of containment in conjunction with the arms race

Question 25

The disputes over the different visions of America put forth by New Right Conservatives and their left-wing opposition have been labeled

A) People for the American Way.
B) the "culture wars."
C) People for American Justice.
D) the Cold War.
E) "America Comes of Age."

Question 26

Describe the relationship that developed between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union,and assess the significance of that relationship to the changes that brought down communist governments in Europe.

Question 27

The distinction held by the Persian Gulf War of 1991 was that

A) it was the first televised war.
B) it was won in such a short time.
C) it demonstrated the effectiveness of U.S. military hardware and troops.
D) it was the first war to be televised in real time.
E) it was conducted by the United States and a large number of other countries.

Question 28

All of the following are true statements about the Savings and Loan crisis except

A) It was caused by allowing S&Ls to invest in risky ventures such as shady real estate deals.
B) One of the biggest S&L failures was investing in large companies that used the money to buy up weaker competitors.
C) It led to layoffs and heavy corporate debt.
D) Millions of Americans lost all their savings.
E) President Bush created a plan to resolve the crisis - at a taxpayer cost of $500 million.

Question 29

The pro-democracy rallies in China's Tiananmen Square

A) were instigated by Buddhist monks.
B) led to strained U.S.-China relations due to the Chinese government's response.
C) demonstrated that the Chinese were willing to liberalize some policies, especially in the area of economics.
D) disenchanted and dismayed the communist party members.
E) None of these choices.

Question 30

How did most Americans,and the American government,react to the first revelations about the new disease called AIDS? Why?

Question 31

Which of these events took place first?

A) The Soviet Union collapsed.
B) The United States pulled nuclear missiles out of Western European countries.
C) The Berlin Wall came down.
D) The two Germanys were reunited.
E) Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia declared their independence from the Soviet Union.

Question 32

Reagan's plan to build a missile-defense system in space to shoot down incoming nuclear missiles was sarcastically nicknamed "Star Wars."

Question 33

What did George Bush do to upset Americans so much that he lost his bid for re-election in 1992?

A) He campaigned in 1988 as a loyal follower of Ronald Reagan, but once in office, he began to dismantle many of his predecessor's programs.
B) He invaded Iraq and rescued Kuwait from Saddam Hussein, but he failed to remove the dictator from power.
C) He pushed his sons into politics, creating what many feared would become a national political dynasty.
D) He promised the American people not to raise taxes and then he raised taxes.
E) He vocally chastised Reagan for the Savings and Loan disaster.

Question 34

In October 1983,a Libyan air raid on the Lebanese city of Beirut killed 241 U.S.Marine peacekeepers.

Question 35

Explain how the Iran-Contra Affair developed.What were the first goals of the president and his advisors? Describe how those goals morphed into something quite different.

Question 36

Evaluate the presidency of George H.W.Bush.What was one of his strengths? What was one of his weaknesses?

Question 37

What social effects did Reagan's economic policy have on Americans?

Question 38

Which of these is NOT a true statement about the Persian Gulf War?

A) It began when Saddam Hussein attempted to reestablish Iraq's control over the Middle East.
B) Hussein took over the oil-rich country of Kuwait, which led Bush to fear for American oil supplies.
C) It ended when Bush decided to invade Iraq.
D) The U.S. intercepted bombs heading from Iraq and targeting Israel.
E) It was a very brief war - one that lasted just days.

Question 39

Discuss the escalation of the Culture Wars.What repercussions of the confrontation between Liberals and the New Right do you detect in the politics of today?

Question 40

The term used for the complete expulsion of an entire ethnic population from a particular area is

A) ethnic decongestion.
B) ethnic devolution.
C) ethnic cleansing.
D) perestroika.
E) ethnic containment.

Question 41

George Bush's appointment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court increased the number of conservatives on the bench.

Question 42

The irony of Japan's economic success in its competition with the United States was that this was due at least in part to U.S.aid and assistance given to the Japanese after their defeat in World War II.

Question 43

People for the American Way was one of the New Left organizations founded during the 1980s to promote moral conservatism.

Question 44

Oliver North's testimony during the Iran-Contra hearings indicated that President Reagan was probably not aware of the transfer of arms sale profits to Nicaraguan right-wing guerillas.

Question 45

In his 1988 presidential campaign,George H.Bush turned "liberal" into a derogatory term that implied a connection between Democratic policies and social disorder.

Question 46

One of the main reasons for the decline of American inner cities by the 1980s was that the middle class fled for the suburbs and industries and social organizations also departed,leaving cities with scant tax-based funds for improvements.

Question 47

Even though it meant that he had to break a promise made to the American people in his nomination speech,President George Bush bowed to necessity and raised taxes in 1990.

Question 48

The person who began the "Just Say No" campaign against drug use was Ron Reagan,the son of the president.