a. conformity.
b. communism.
c. democratic socialism.
d. agnosticism
e. socialism.
22. A controversial new group of young artists, writers, and poets emerged in the 1950s that
rejected traditional middle-class values and materialism. What were they known as?
a. Beats
b. Hippies
c. Yuppies
d. Baby boomers
e. Mods
23. According to the textbook, Beat writers and poets wanted their art to change __________
rather than address social ills.
a. civil rights
b. consciousness
c. foreign policy
d. the electoral system
e. party politics
24. Some patriotic cultural conservatives of the 1950s claimed that rock ‘n’ roll was
a. in keeping with Roman Catholicism.
b. developed in Nazi Germany.
c. part of a communist plot to corrupt American youth.
d. part of a vast liberal conspiracy to get eighteen year olds to vote Democrat.
e. a mind-control experiment conducted by fascists.
25. During the Cold War, Soviet diplomats used __________ to draw attention to defects in the
American way of life.
a. union activity
b. America’s lack of religious affiliation
c. America’s racial discrimination
d. the materialistic lifestyle in the suburbs
e. the declining productivity of U.S. workers
26. Eisenhower considered that __________ was the biggest mistake he had ever made.
a. the D-day invasion
b. campaigning for the presidency
c. abolishing segregation in all areas
d. appointing Chief Justice Earl Warren
e. only running for one term
27. According to the textbook, the most important social movement in the United States in the
twentieth century was
a. universal women’s suffrage.
b. the call for foreign aid.
c. civil rights.
d. civil liberties.
e. abolishing land requirements to vote.
28. The first Supreme Court case to tackle the separate but equal standard in the twentieth
century was
a. Plessy v. Ferguson.
b. William v. McKinley.
c. Sweatt v. Painter.
d. Brown v. Board of Education.
e. Hill v. Stone.
29. In the case __________, the Supreme Court ruled the concept of “separate but equal”
unconstitutional.
a. Plessy v. Ferguson
b. Brown v. Board of Education
c. Sweatt v. Painter
d. Hill v. Stone
e. Smith v. Allwright
30. What finding did the Supreme Court cite in its ruling of Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka, Kansas?
a. Even if segregated schools were equal in quality, the very practice of segregating
schools caused feelings of inferiority among black students.
b. It would be better for the economy to wait to decide on the case until the next
Administration after Eisenhower’s took over.
c. Desegregating schools would be a “clear abuse of judicial power” that would cause a
“dangerous” state of affairs in the South.
d. African American students experienced more academic success when learning in
racially segregated classrooms.
e. Instead of focusing on integrating schools, administrators should devote more time and
money to training teachers.
31. On December 1, 1955 __________, an African American seamstress, refused to relinquish
her seat to a white man on a city bus.
a. Rosa Parks
b. Emma White
c. Wilma Ruble
d. Lynda Johnson
e. Sheryl Clements
32. Although largely ineffective in the South, what was the Civil Rights Act of 1957 primarily
intended to do?
a. End the Montgomery Bus Boycott
b. Decrease the involvement of the federal government in matters of civil rights
c. Declare all forms of segregation unconstitutional
d. Ensure that Americans, no matter their race or ethnicity, could vote
e. Give African Americans better jobs and pay equal to that of whites
33. In 1957, nine African American students attended Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas for the first time. Which of the following statements accurately describes the
actions taken by Eisenhower?
a. Eisenhower did not take federal action because the students’ first day had gone so
smoothly.
b. Eisenhower reluctantly dispatched federal troops there to maintain law and order,
angering many southern politicians.
c. Eisenhower passionately enforced desegregation, insisting that dispatching troops was a
moral judgment on his part.
d. Eisenhower overrode desegregation rulings and forced the students to return to their
previous segregated schools.
e. Eisenhower openly joined in the rallying cry for “massive resistance.”
34. First organized by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957, the __________ grew into a powerful
group that would lead civil rights protests and activities into the 1960s.
a. Massive Resistance
b. Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
c. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
d. Southern Christian Leadership Conference
e. Beats
35. What was the line of thinking behind the creation of Dulles’s and Eisenhower’s strategy of
mass retaliation?
a. The United States could not afford more military expenditures like those of the Korean
War, so it would use the threat of nuclear warfare to combat the global threat of
communism.
b. The United States should continue Truman’s containment policy because it was already
on a massive enough scale in its efforts to liberate the “captive peoples” of Eastern
Europe and China.
c. The United States should counterattack the Soviet Union in response to their detonation
of nuclear weapons at the end of the Korean War.
d. The only way for the United States to eradicate communism in the Soviet Union would
be to begin a ground war, sending massive numbers of American soldiers overseas.
e. The United States and Soviet Union should join forces in bombarding North Korea
because they would then have double the number of soldiers, resources, and weapons.
36. During the Cold War at the time of the promotion of their mass retaliation strategy, Dulles
and Eisenhower secretly began to use the __________ to influence world politics.
a. FBI
b. CIA
c. DEA
d. NSA
e. ORP
37. What was one way in which the intervention of the United States in Iran in the 1950s was
significant?
a. Intervening in Iran proved to be the first and last time since World War II that the
United States detonated a nuclear weapon, signaling the height of the Cold War.
b. The rise of an increasingly authoritarian regime in Iran as a result of U.S. involvement
convinced Eisenhower that he must refuse to target the government of Guatemala.
c. The United States proved unsuccessful in toppling Iranian rulers and lost many soldiers
in the process, causing Eisenhower to prevent similar interventions in the future and
adopt a more isolationist policy.
d. A CIA-engineered coup in Iran was viewed as successful and emboldened Eisenhower
to authorize other secret operations to undermine governments thought to be falling
victim to communism.
e. By giving assistance to the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, U.S. forces made Iran more
stable, earned the trust of the Iranian people, and ensured peaceful interactions with Iran
decades later.
38. In Indochina, the League for Independence of Vietnam was led by
a. Ho Chi Minh.
b. Sun Tzu.
c. Mao Tse-tung.
d. Chiang Kai-shek.
e. Viet Cong.
39. President Eisenhower used the __________ theory to explain why the United States needed
to fight communism in Vietnam.
a. social Darwinist
b. Asian inferiority
c. Chinese empirical
d. western superiority
e. falling domino
40. Encouraged by Radio Free Europe, __________ nationalists rebelled against occupying
communist troops in 1956.
a. Prussian
b. Serbian
c. Hungarian
d. Austrian
e. Bulgarian
41. The first step in Egyptian General Gamal Abdel Nasser’s bid to become the leader of the
Arab world was
a. joining with the Soviets.
b. declaring an armistice with Hungary.
c. seizing the Suez Canal.
d. establishing a caliphate in Egypt.
e. establishing a democracy.
42. The idea that by the late 1950s the United States had to replace Great Britain and France as
the protector of Western interests in the Middle East was known as the
a. Eisenhower Doctrine.
b. Dulles Doctrine.
c. Kennan Doctrine.
d. Nixon Doctrine.
e. MacArthur Doctrine.
ESSAY
1. Describe the growth in the postwar American economy. Elaborate on the factors that
accounted for this growth.
2. Describe the various groups who challenged the moral complacency, social conformity, and
middle-class values of postwar American life in the 1950s and early 1960s.
3. Describe President Eisenhower’s “Middle Way.” What were the political, economic, and
social aspects of this philosophy?
4. Describe America’s increasing involvement in Indochina during the 1950s. What was at the
heart of the internal conflicts in Vietnam, French interests, and U.S. decisions to intervene?
5. Describe the civil rights movement in the 1950s. What civil rights did blacks achieve and by
what means did the progress occur?
MATCHING
Match each person with one of the following descriptions.
a. Was a rabid segregationist Arkansas governor
b. Bravely attended Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas as one of its first black
students
c. Was the Beat author of On the Road
d. Was the leader of Guatemala forced into exile in Mexico in 1954
e. Was a U-2 spy-plane pilot
f. Challenged bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama
g. Was a senator who advocated “massive resistance” to integration
h. Contributed to the controversial spread of rock ‘n’ roll and included sexual suggestion in
music
i. Was a Supreme Court chief justice who sided with desegregation and helped bring about
social and political change
j. Was a leader of suburban development
k. Wrote short stories often set in suburbs portrayed as “cesspools of conformity”
l. Was the prime minister of Iran who cut diplomatic ties with Great Britain and was later
overthrown
1. Elizabeth Eckford
2. John Cheever
3. Rosa Parks
4. Francis Gary Powers
5. Mohammed Mossadegh
6. Jack Kerouac
7. Harry Byrd
8. Earl Warren
9. Elvis Presley
10. Orval Faubus
11. Jacobo Arbenz Guzman
12. William Levitt
