the Use practice questions below to gauge your knowledge of the chapter. (The answers are at the bottom of the page.) All questions courtesy of Houghton Mifflin's The American Pageant Quiz book; Tenth Edition 1994 PRACTICE TEST CHAPTER 38: The Eisenhower Era, 1952 1960 Multiple Choice 1. Prospects for a Democratic victory in the 1952 presidential election were poor for all the following reasons except a. the military deadlock in Korea. b. Truman's refusal to seek another term. c. inflation. d. A scandal in the White House. 2. Richard Nixon was selected as Dwight Eisenhower's vice-presidential running mate in 1952 as a concession to the a. isolationists. b. liberal Republicans. c. hard-line anticommunists. d. moderate Republicans. 3. During the 1952 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower declared that he would __________ to help end the Korean War. a. use atomic weapons. b. blockade the China coast and bomb Manchuria. c. personally go to Korea. d. order United Nations troops to invade North Korea. 4. In terms of politics, television did all of the following except a. threaten the traditional role of political parties. b. apply the standard of show business and commercialism to political messages. c. enable political parties to continue their role of educating and mobilizing the electorate. d. allow lone-wolf politicians to address voters directly. 5. Dwight Eisenhower's greatest asset as president was his a. enjoyment of the affection and respect of the American people. b. willingness to take a partisan stand. c. commitment to social justice. d. willingness to involve himself in rough campaigning. 6. Among anticommunists, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy was the a. most effective. b. first. c. only true World War II hero. d. one who most damaged free speech. 7. The record would seem to indicate that president Eisenhower's strongest commitment during his presidency was to a. social justice. b. social harmony. c. party loyalty. d. racial desegregation. 8. In response to Senator McCarthy, President Eisenhower a. publicly denounced him when he attacked General George Marshall. b. urged him to continue his attacks on Democrats. c. publicly opposed his ruthless tactics and privately disliked him. d. allowed him to control personnel at the State Department. 9. During his anticommunist crusade, Senator McCarthy a. had the strong personal support of president Eisenhower. b. had the approval of a majority of the American people. c. actually exposed fifty-seven members of Congress who were communists. d. was shunned by his Republican party colleagues in Washington.
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10. As a result of Senator McCarthy's crusade against communist subversion in America, a. the FBI was shown to have had several spies working as communist agents. b. the United States Army was forced to give dishonorable discharges to more than one hundred officers. c. the State Department lost a number of Asian specialists who might have counseled a wiser course in Vietnam. d. Eisenhower nearly lost the Republican presidential nomination in 1956. 11. Senator McCarthy's anticommunist crusade ended when he a. began to attack the personal integrity of his critics. b. alleged that there were communists in the State Department. c. alleged that there were communists in the Foreign Service. d. alleged that there were communists in the army. 12. The new militancy and restlessness among many members of the African American community after 1945 was generated by a. the presidency of Harry Truman. b. World War II. c. the appointment of Thurgood Marshall, chief legal counsel of the NAACP, to the Supreme Court. d. Dwight Eisenhower's commitment to civil rights. 13. The effort to overturn Jim Crow laws and the segregated system that they had created, African Americans used all of the following methods except a. economic boycotts. b. Removal of the legal underpinnings of segregation. c. appeals to foreign governments to pressure the United States to establish racial justice. d. mobilization of black churches on behalf of black rights. 14. The Supreme Court began to advance the cause of civil rights in the 1950s because a. the Court was the only branch of government with the constitutional authority to do so. b. the courts were dominated by the socialist movement. c. President Eisenhower had requested the court's assistance. d. Chief Justice Earl Warren believed in legislation by the judiciary in default of legislation by Congress. 15. In the epochal 1954 decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court a. declared that the concept of "separate but equal" facilities for blacks and whites was unconstitutional. b. upheld the earlier decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. c. rejected desegregation. d. supported the "declaration of Constitutional Principles" issued by Congress. 16. The 1954 Supreme Court case that ruled racially segregated school systems "inherently unequal" was a. Roe v. Wade. b. Plessy v. Ferguson. c. Brown v. Board of Education. d. Baker v. Carr 17. Which one of the following is least related to the other three? a. Orval Faubus b. Martin Luther King, Jr. c. Rosa Parks. d. Montgomery bus boycott. 18. On the subject of racial justice, President Eisenhower a. had demanded the integrated of the armed forces as early as 1948. b. publicly endorsed the 1954 Supreme Court school-desegregation decision. c. vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. d. had criticized President Truman's call for establishing a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission. 19. President Dwight Eisenhower's attitude toward racial justice can best be described as a. not inclined toward promoting integration. b. very supportive. c. endorsing the concept of using laws to compel people to change their opinions and actions. d. supporting racial justice over harmony.
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20. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was an outgrowth of the a. antiwar movement of the 1960s. b. "sit-in" movement launched by the young southern blacks. c. ban-the-bomb movement of the 1950s. e. Civil Rights Act of 1957. 21. As president, Dwight Eisenhower supported a. military budget cuts. b. the transfer of control over offshore oil from the states to the federal government. c. the dismissal of his secretary of health, education, and welfare for condemning free distribution on the Salk polio vaccine as "socialized medicine." d. the continuation of the Tennessee Valley Authority. 22. A perennial economic problem of the 1950s was low a. gross national product. b. corporate profits. c. farm prices. d. industrial wages. 23. Dwight Eisenhower's policies towards Native Americans included a. efforts at tribal preservation. b. the establishment of tribes as legal entities. c. incentives for tribes to hold onto their land. d. a return to the assimilation goals of the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887. 24. The bracero program between the United States and Mexico involved a. legally importing Mexican farm workers to the United States. b. sending illegal aliens back to Mexico. c. transferring manufacturing jobs to Mexico in return for Mexico's efforts to stem the tide of illegal immigration. d. establishing a vast irrigation project using water from the Rio Grande. 25. During his presidency, Dwight Eisenhower accepted the principle and extended the benefits of a. the Social Security system. b. the Tennessee Valley Authority. c. deficit spending. d. racial equality. 26. The largest public works during project Eisenhower's presidency was a. the space program. b. the building of Grand Coulee Dam. c. offshore drilling. d. construction of the interstate highway system. 27. President Eisenhower's "new look" foreign policy in the 1950s planned for a. the dismantling of the military-industrial complex. b. massive new military spending. c. greater reliance on air power and the deterrent power of nuclear weapons. d. a buildup of unconventional and guerrilla-warfare forces. 28. In 1956, when Hungary revolted against continued domination by the Soviet Union, the United States under Dwight Eisenhower a. sent money to the rebels. b. did nothing to defeat the communists. c. refused to admit any Hungarian refugees. d. gave only outdated military equipment to the Hungarian freedom fighters.
29. The leader of the nationalist movement in Vietnam since World War I was a. Mao Zeding (Mao Tse-tung). b. Ngo Dinh Diem. c. Dien Bien Phu. d. Ho Chi Minh.
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30. The 1955 Geneva Conference a. unified the two Vietnams. b. made Ngo Dinh president of Vietnam. c. called for the two Vietnams to hold national elections within two years. d. created the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. 31. The Cold War seemed to thaw a little when, in 1955, the Soviet Union agreed to a. provide Hungary with substantial political independence. b. end its military occupation of Austria. c. sign a formal nuclear test-ban treaty with the United States. d. The reunification of East and West Germany. 32. In 1956 the United States condemned ________ as the aggressors in the Suez crises. a. Egypt and Israel. b. The Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact members. c. Britain and France. d. Lebanon and Syria. 33. During the 1950, the Central Intelligence Agency engineered pro-American political coups in both a. Iran and Guatemala. b. Iraq and Nicaragua. c. Lebanon and El Salvador. d. Libya and Costa Rica. 34. The Suez crises marked the last time in history that the United States could a. use the threat of nuclear war to win a concession. b. use its "oil weapon." c. condemn its allies for their actions in the Middle East. d. invoke the Eisenhower Doctrine. 35. The 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine empowered the president to extend economic and military aid to the nations of ________ that wanted to help to resist communist aggression. a. Southeast Asia. b. Africa. c. Central and Eastern Europe. d. the Middle East. 36. During his second term, President Eisenhower took a more active role than before in governing the country because he a. no longer trusted the vice president, Richard Nixon, to lend assistance. b. hoped that doing so would enable him to win a third term. c. lost his two most trusted aides, Sherman Adams and John Foster Dulles. d. believed that the civil rights movement needed his personal involvement if it were to succeed. 37. In response to the launching of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in 1957, a. Harry Truman condemned the Republicans for allowing a scientific gap to occur. b. President Dwight Eisenhower remarked that this event should not cause "one iota" of concern. c. the United States spent nearly a decade trying to equal this achievement. 38. Which of the following is least related to the other three? a. the launching of Sputnik. b. Landrum-Griffith Act. c. National Defense Education Act. d. the "missile" gap. 39. The Paris summit conference for 1960 was aborted by the a. Suez crises. b. U-2 incident. c. Quemoy episode. d. launching of Sputnik.
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40. By the end of the 1950s, Latin American anger toward the United States had intensified because Washington had done all the following except a. extend massive aid to Europe and little to Latin America. b. continue to intervene in Latin American affairs. c. support bloody dictators who claimed to be fighting communism. d. allow Cuba to fall into the hands of the communists. 41.What may well have tipped the electoral scales for John F. Kennedy in the presidential election of 1960 was a. his age. b. his religion. c. his televised debates with Richard M. Nixon. d. President Eisenhower's heavy loss of popularity in his last two years in office. 42. When Dwight Eisenhower left the Presidency in 1961, a. it was noted that his second term had produced little of value, since he was a "lame duck." b. congress was firmly in the hands of the Republicans. c. he remained an extraordinary popular figure. d. he had clearly lost control of the Democratic-nominated Congress. 43. The affluent life-style developed in America during the 1950s was stimulated mainly by a. the new technology of television. b. a return to the ethic of rugged individualism. c. foreign investment in the United States. d. the growth of the stock market. 44. All of the following were harbingers of the emerging new life-style of leisure and affluence except a. easy credit. b. fast-food production. c. new forms of recreation. d. the maturity of radio. 45. Several critics of the new consumerism of the 1950s charged that the American people a. had become too individualistic. b. were buying too many foreign-made products. c. were relying too much on government welfare. d. had developed into a generation of conformists. 46. Arrange the following in chronological order: (A) fall of Dien Bien Phu, (B) marines sent to Lebanon, (C) Suez crises. a. A, C, B b. A, B, C c. B, C, A d. C, A, B
YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO ANSWER ANY OF THE ESSAY QUESTIONS BELOW IN ORDER TO RECEIVE BONUS POINTS ON YOUR TEST. NEVERTHELESS, WHEN YOU STUDY, YOU MAY WANT TO SELECT ONE TO PRACTICE YOUR WRITING. GIVE YOURSELF A TIME LIMIT. REMEMBER ON THE AP TEST, YOU HAVE 30 MINUTES TO WRITE A COMPLETE ESSAY.
Essay Questions 1. Why was there such strong popular support for McCarthy's anticommunist crusade in the early 1950s? Would you have supported his goals? His tactics? Why or why not? 2. Compare and contrast Truman's and Eisenhower's foreign policies. What was new about the "new look"? What illustrates the basic continuity of the containment doctrine? 3. Assess the diplomatic and military policies of John Foster Dulles. Do you think that they were realistic? Why or why not? 4. Do you think that you would have liked "Ike" in the 1950s? Why or why not? Which of his (a) personal qualities, (b) domestic programs, and (c) foreign-policy decisions do you find most admirable? For what may be criticized?
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5. Describe President Eisenhower's response to a. McCarthyism; b. The civil rights movement; c. Social-welfare programs of the New Deal. Do you agree with his news on any one or all of these? Which ones? Why? 6. In what ways did the Eisenhower administration contribute to the developing American involvement in Vietnam? Why were these decisions made? 7. Present evidence from the elections of the 1950s to show that "Eisenhower was more popular than his [political] party." 8. What do you think was the most important domestic issue or development of the 1950s? The most significant foreign-policy decision or event of the 1950s? Explain your choices. 9. Interpret the author's observations that "in Dwight Eisenhower, the man and the hour apparently met. In what way was President Eisenhower "good for," and a reflection of, his times? 10. Evaluate President Eisenhower's response to a. the fall of Dien Bien Phu; b. the Hungarian revolt; c. the Suez Crises; d. Castro's revolution in Cuba. Was the "right" decision made in each case? Explain.
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