Deck 28: America in the Information Age

Question 1

One of the most negative changes that has taken place in communications in recent years is that

A) Americans tend to get the same slant on news from different sources, since so many are owned by the same giant corporations.
B) people can now know so much about what is happening around the world that it can be overwhelming to them.
C) most people no longer pay any attention to world events, because there are so many entertainment channels available.
D) pornography has become much more difficult to control.
E) it is virtually impossible to tell what political agenda any one entity is supporting.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of these was true of the 1996 election?

A) Clinton chose to modify his stance a bit more to the left, since so many Americans were angry with the Republican right.
B) Bob Dole was the Republican candidate, and he campaigned on his experience and age.
C) The Democrats were free to focus on getting Clinton reelected without opposition, while the Republicans had to battle each other to determine a candidate.
D) The entry of H. Ross Perot into the campaign, as in 1992, helped ensure Clinton's victory.
E) Clinton became the first Democrat since Harry Truman to be elected to two terms as president.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following is true about the Republican house majority under Newt Gingrich's leadership?

A) The Senate rejected many of their proposals.
B) Gingrich damaged the Republican coalition and his own popularity when he threatened to shut down the federal government in a budget dispute.
C) Clinton vetoed a number of items that made it through the Senate.
D) Clinton conceded one of their most important principles when he said in a State of the Union speech that "the era of big government is over."
E) All of these choices.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

The L.A.riots of 1992 occurred after

A) white officers were filmed beating a black man.
B) black officers were relieved of their duties after being charged with police brutality.
C) O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of killing his ex-wife.
D) a black and white jury found four white police officers guilty of beating a black man, Rodney King.
E) an all-white jury found four white police officers not guilty of beating a black man, Rodney King.

Question 5

One of the issues that was most contentious during the culture wars of the 1990s was

A) legalization of drugs.
B) multicultural education.
C) prostitution.
D) Rock'n Roll.
E) interracial marriage.

Question 6

During the 1990s,America's international agenda was oriented toward reducing trade barriers and

A) dealing with the aftereffects of the Cold War.
B) keeping Saudi Arabia happy.
C) bringing democracy to countries around the world.
D) helping the U.N. end poverty.
E) maintaining friendly relations with the Western European countries.

Question 7

The word that would best describe what took place in corporate America during the 1990s would be

A) incorporation.
B) competition.
C) consolidation.
D) monopoly.
E) innovation.

Question 8

Which of these is not a criticism of globalization?

A) It is depriving working class Americans of jobs.
B) It has created polluting industries in countries ill-equipped to handle them.
C) Western ideals have been forced onto people from very different cultures.
D) It has contributed to the emergence of groups angry enough with the United States to take violent action against the country.
E) It increased the wealth of terrorist Osama bin Laden, which helped finance his assault on America.

Question 9

Which of the following was true of the 1994 election?

A) It ushered in the reign of Newt Gingrich as Senate Majority Leader.
B) The Republicans gained a net total of sixty seats in the House.
C) The House came under the control of the Republicans for the first time since Eisenhower was president.
D) Though the Republicans gained a great many seats in Congress, the Democrats managed to maintain a substantial majority in the Senate.
E) Though the Republicans gained a great many seats in Congress, Clinton managed to reach across the aisle and reach many agreements with them, especially after their ill-conceived plan to shut down the federal government to show their disagreements over the budget.

Question 10

In 1998,President Clinton was able to report that the federal government

A) was going to reduce taxes dramatically.
B) was going to dramatically cut military spending.
C) was moving from a budget deficit to a budget surplus.
D) was going to reopen the facilities the Republican Congress had shut down in its protest in 1994.
E) was drastically shrinking its labor force.

Question 11

Bill Clinton took office with a decidedly centrist world view,as evidenced by his

A) support for globalization.
B) liberal social principles and conservative economic views.
C) appeal to members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.
D) strong relationship with the former president, George H.W. Bush.
E) centrist Supreme Court nominees.

Question 12

Which of these is descriptive of the nation's economy during the last half of the 1990s?

A) The NASDAQ more than doubled.
B) Unemployment remained high.
C) Between 1997 and 1999, the GDP grew at a rate of six percent.
D) The average price of stocks more than tripled and the economy improved during the decade.
E) Clinton received a great deal of credit for the improvements in the economy, especially since he had to deal with a Republican Congress.

Question 13

Clinton's worst political defeat during his first term was

A) the unpopularity of his "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays in the military.
B) his failure to get the Senate to pass NAFTA on its first round through the legislative process.
C) the failure of Congress to vote for joining the WTO.
D) welfare reform.
E) the failure of his administration to achieve health care reform.

Question 14

Which of these views did Bill Clinton not espouse as he campaigned for the presidency?

A) Political centrism
B) Support for tough anticrime measures
C) Anti-NAFTA
D) Advocacy of welfare reform
E) Support for the Head Start program

Question 15

Bush's bid for re-election in 1992 was stymied by all of the following except

A) too much competition from within his own party.
B) the candidacy of independent H. Ross Perot drew voters away from Bush.
C) a scandal within his own family soured the American public on him.
D) the declining economy.
E) the youth and charisma of his opponents, Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Question 16

Digital technology sparked economic growth by

A) improving international transportation.
B) streamlining manufacturing processes and helping companies reach overseas markets.
C) requiring companies to retrain workers.
D) leading to new jobs for Americans overseas.
E) All of these choices.

Question 17

The "Contract With America"

A) was authored by House minority leader Newt Gingrich.
B) was a Republican effort to mobilize voters against Clinton.
C) was a call for tax and budget cuts, greater state power, and looser environmental restrictions.
D) helped put more Republicans in Congress.
E) All of these choices.

Question 18

Which of the following is not indicative of growing multiculturalism in America in the years since 1965?

A) Hispanics have become the nation's largest minority group.
B) Projections that Protestants will become the nation's largest segment of the population by 2020.
C) Increased calls for political and social recognition from African Americans, Chicanos and American Indians.
D) Rising concerns about illegal immigration.
E) A surge in the numbers of Asians emigrating to America.

Question 19

During his confirmation hearings,Clarence Thomas had to defend himself against charges of

A) bribery.
B) income tax evasion.
C) taking bribes.
D) sexual harassment.
E) shady real estate dealings.

Question 20

Which of these is not a true statement about Clinton and impeachment?

A) The House voted for impeachment in December of 1998.
B) The vote on impeachment went according to party lines.
C) The Senate declined to impeach Clinton but did agree he was guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.
D) Senate Democrats had more than 34 votes needed to block Clinton's removal from office.
E) Clinton completed his term as president.

Question 21

Discuss the role of multiculturalism in contemporary society.How diverse is this nation today? What opportunities and what challenges arise out of this?

Question 22

Most illegal immigrants to America in the decades after 1965 were from

A) the Middle East.
B) China.
C) Southeast Asia.
D) Latin America, but especially from Cuba.
E) Latin America, but especially from Mexico.

Question 23

Unlike his predecessors Ronald Reagan and George H.Bush,President Bill Clinton

A) was reluctant to intervene in foreign conflicts.
B) had to learn the art of political compromise.
C) was a fiscal conservative at heart.
D) could just ignore the events that were unfolding in Africa and the Balkan.
E) did not have to deal with third party challengers.

Question 24

Discuss the emergence of "two Americas" in the 1990s.What does this term mean? What kinds of changes contributed to this divisiveness?

Question 25

What kinds of fields would be included under the term "information technologies"? Why is this term so important to us today?

Question 26

What is the purpose of NAFTA? What is the purpose of the WTO? How successful have those two institutions been?

Question 27

Describe the circumstances that enabled Bill Clinton to become president in 1992.

Question 28

In the 2000 presidential election,

A) over sixty percent of eligible voters participated.
B) only forty percent of eligible voters voted.
C) George Bush eventually was named the winner, with only three electoral votes separating him and Al Gore.
D) it could be argued that most voters were voting against either George W. Bush or Al Gore, rather than for either of them.
E) most people polled said that they were disgusted with politics in general.

Question 29

The 2000 presidential election effectively ended when

A) the state of Florida had completed its manual recount.
B) George W. Bush took the oath of office.
C) the United States Supreme Court ordered the halt of the Florida recount in a 5 to 4 decision.
D) the poll booths closed on election day.
E) None of these choices.

Question 30

The telecommunications industry was deregulated by a Congressional act in 1996.

Question 31

Monica Lewinsky will long be remembered for having had an affair with President Bill Clinton while she served as

A) a page in the Senate.
B) his secretary.
C) a White House intern.
D) liaison to the Senate majority leader.
E) Newt Gingrich's personal assistant.

Question 32

In regard to reaching across the aisle to work with members of the other party,George W.Bush had a better record than Al Gore going into the election of 2000.

Question 33

What promises did globalization hold for Americans and others? What have been the misgivings?

Question 34

Which of the following was not a presidential candidate in 1992?

A) Bill Clinton
B) H. Ross Perot
C) Patrick Buchanan
D) Newt Gingrich
E) George H. W. Bush

Question 35

Republicans seemed more concerned about the well-being of immigrants than did the Democrats.

Question 36

Which of the following was NOT affected by the government shutdown in 1995?

A) national parks
B) federal agencies
C) federal government employees
D) state parks
E) national museums

Question 37

It was clear from the 2000 election that

A) fraud had definitely occurred somewhere along the line.
B) a three-party system was the way of the future.
C) election officials in Florida did not know how to count votes correctly.
D) the nation was pretty much split along the lines of social liberals vs. Republican defenders of pre-1960s morality.
E) George W. Bush entered the White House with a great deal of "political capital."

Question 38

Republicans lost a number of elections in 1998 due to their prosecution of the president for what many considered frivolous reasons.

Question 39

Timothy McVeigh was arrested and prosecuted for

A) the murder of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man in Wyoming.
B) the Oklahoma City bombing.
C) killing law officers trying to raid the antigovernment settlement of Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
D) participating in the hate-crime murder of James Byrd, Jr., in Texas.
E) his role in several massacres in Vietnam during the 1970s.

Question 40

"A high tech lynching for uppity blacks" was the phrase used

A) to describe the murder of James Byrd, Jr.
B) to explain the horrific attack on Matthew Shepard.
C) by Clarence Thomas regarding charges he faced at his Supreme Court nomination hearing.
D) to denounce the failure to pass legislation making certain crimes against African Americans "hate crimes."
E) by Rodney King to describe televised reports of his beating by white police officers.

Question 41

The controversial head of the Federal Reserve Board through the 1990s was Alan Greenspan.

Question 42

Bill Clinton was the first presidential candidate to emerge from the baby-boom generation.

Question 43

Unlike many previous riots in Los Angeles and other cities in the 1960s,the Los Angeles riots of 1992 were multi-ethnic and involved African American,Asian Americans,and Latinos.

Question 44

President Bill Clinton named his vice president,Al Gore,to head a committee to develop a new health care plan for Americans.

Question 45

"Don't Ask,Don't Tell" prevented the military from asking about recruits' sexual orientation but still allowed them to remove gays from service.