Q&A Hero

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

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

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

Q: 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.

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

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

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

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

Q: 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.

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

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

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

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

Q: Native Americans continued to remain outsiders in the postwar years.

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

Q: Blacks did not encounter segregation and discrimination in northern cities.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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

Q: Latino immigrants in the United States after World War II came from A) Mexico. B) Central America. C) Cuba. D) All of the above.

Q: 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 Congressthe 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: What problems did black sharecroppers experience? A) foreign competition B) mechanization C) eviction D) All of the above.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: A prominent member of the Beat Generation was A) Jack Kerouac. B) Betty Friedan. C) Elvis Presley. D) Dwight Eisenhower.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: The first commander of the United Nations forces during the Korean War was General ________.

Q: The Allied powers had decided to divide Germany into four occupation zones at the ________ Conference.

Q: The key Republican senator responsible for gaining congressional support for the Truman Doctrine was ________ of Michigan.

Q: The individual primarily responsible for developing the American containment policy during the Cold War was ________.

Q: Upon his death in 1953, Joseph Stalin was succeeded by ________ as the leader of the Soviet Union.

Q: Imagine that you were the Central American correspondent of an American news magazine during the 1950s. How would you evaluate the economic and political conditions of Latin America, and how would you explain the United States's reaction to the Castro revolution in Cuba?

Q: Suppose that you had been General Douglas MacArthur leading the United Nations' forces in the Korean War. Explain your objectives in the war, as well as how you would respond to President Truman's approach to the war.

Q: Suppose you were a Chinese communist leader in 1950. Explain how you would have felt about the situation in China, as well as about the response of the United States to that situation.

Q: Discuss the development of the United States' containment policy and explain the major attempts of the American government to implement it prior to 1950.

Q: Discuss the issue of American aid to the Allies at the end of World War II and explain how the American position contributed to the development of Cold War with the Soviet Union.

Q: Discuss the background to the Polish question and illustrate how it became the first confrontation in the Cold War.

Q: Characterize the foreign policy interests of American presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, as well as the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

Q: Contrast the American worldview with the Soviet worldview at the end of World War II.

Q: Assume that you were Val Lorwin. Describe your position in relation to the United States government from November 1950 through March 1952.

Q: In 1948, starving Navajos were given federal assistance despite their "communistic" way of life.

Q: Black leaders Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Du Bois were criticized for communist leanings during the era.

Q: During the Cold War, Congress targeted homosexuals working in government service as a security risk.

Q: The Cold War produced a reactionary period of hysteria that included a loyalty program that violated civil liberties.

Q: In 1950, President Truman authorized the development of a new hydrogen bomb.

Q: In 1939, the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear bomb.

Q: Americans were initially excited about nuclear weapons in the late 1940s.

Q: During the 1950s, many Americans began to equate the Nazi and Soviet systems, as they had done during the 1930s.

Q: Presidents Truman approved of communism.

Q: During the 1950s, a government employee could be dismissed from his or her job if accused of being a security risk, even if she or he was denied knowledge of the accuser.

Q: In 1949, which of the following unions expelled many of its affiliated unions for alleged communist ties? A) AFL B) IWW C) CIO D) UMW

Q: The arrest in 1950 of which of the following couples led to a major communist witchhunt trial? A) Ronald and Nancy Reagan B) George and Laura Bush C) Ethel and Julius Rosenberg D) Jane and John Goodall

Q: The major congressional investigating committee on communism was known by the initials A) WPA. B) HOLC. C) HUAC. D) COINTELPRO.

Q: Which of the following revolutions first brought communism into the international order? A) Chinese B) Russian C) Vietnamese D) French