21. The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was aimed at assisting ailing
a. banks.
b. refineries.
c. homeowners.
d. stock exchanges.
e. textile mills.
22. The burst of the housing bubble, personal loan defaults, contraction of corporate and
consumer spending, and failed banks all contributed to the onset of the
a. Great Recession.
b. Panic of 2007.
c. Great Economic Collapse.
d. Bush Downfall.
e. Voodoo Economic Downturn.
23. Who was Barack Obama’s chief rival for the 2008 Democratic nomination for president?
a. Bill Clinton
b. Hillary Clinton
c. Al Gore
d. Chuck Hagel
e. William Snow
24. Barack Obama’s opponent in the 2008 presidential race was
a. Chuck Hagel.
b. George W. Bush.
c. John McCain.
d. Wilt Chamberlain.
e. Winston Churchill.
25. Barack Obama was the first __________elected president in U.S. history.
a. person under 40 years old
b. African American
c. noncitizen
d. naturalized citizen
e. Muslim
26. Which of the following was a significant problem faced by the nation that President Obama
inherited when he was inaugurated?
a. War in the Balkans
b. The collapse of the Soviet Union
c. An arms race
d. The Great Recession
e. Crude oil shortages
27. In the end, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was not large enough to generate
a robust economic recovery. What method did this bill include in an effort to achieve this
goal?
a. Providing cash to states to spend on various economic stimulus projects
b. Bailing out the financial community
c. Providing operating funds for General Motors and Chrysler Motors
d. Increasing the amount of money available for financial aid
e. Propping up the ailing economy of Russia
28. What was one of the goals of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)?
a. Repealing the individual mandate that had required uninsured adults to buy an approved
private insurance policy
b. Making health insurance more affordable and making health care accessible for all,
regardless of income
c. Providing health insurance for everyone except people with preexisting illnesses
d. Offering lower taxes to employers who did not offer health insurance
e. Lowering Medicare payroll taxes and preventing drug companies from needing to pay
government fees
29. Who cast the deciding vote in the landmark case that upheld the constitutionality of the
Affordable Care Act?
a. John G. Roberts
b. Rod Rosenstein
c. Joe Biden
d. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
e. Kenneth Starr
30. The __________ reformed Wall Street and provided greater oversight of transactions by
federal authorities.
a. Smoot-Hartley Act
b. Mongrel Tariff
c. The New Deal
d. Dodd-Frank bill
e. Financial Reform Act
31. President Obama’s stated belief that the United States could no longer afford to continue to
police the world was known as
a. the Bush Doctrine.
b. the Clinton Doctrine.
c. the Obama Doctrine.
d. the Contract with America.
e. globalization.
32. The Tea Party’s left-wing opposite on the political spectrum was the __________
movement.
a. Occupy Wall Street
b. Serenity Now
c. Greenpeace
d. Independents
e. National Socialists
33. The Obama administration was __________ at the same time the executive order was issued
that said undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children could remain in
the U.S. legally.
a. first instating the DADT policy
b. deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants
c. compromising on immigration issues with anti-immigration Republicans
d. deporting the so-called Dreamers
e. helping negotiate the formation of NATO
34. What was an effect of Shelby County v. Holder (2013)?
a. It allowed states to deny spousal benefits to same-sex couples who had been legally
married.
b. It declared that same-sex marriage is a right guaranteed by the American Constitution.
c. Counties and states in the South were able to push through laws making it harder for
minorities and poor people to vote.
d. It outlawed requirements that all voters provide driver’s licenses or other forms of
identification.
e. It allowed corporations to spend indefinite amounts of money in support of political
campaigns.
35. Barack Obama was the first U.S. president to visit __________ since Coolidge in 1928, in
an attempt to reestablish diplomatic relations.
a. Taiwan
b. Venezuela
c. Cuba
d. Colombia
e. Russia
36. During the Democratic party primaries leading to the 2016 presidential election, Hillary
Clinton appealed to the more mainstream party members, whereas __________ appealed to
the progressive young Democrats.
a. Barack Obama
b. Nancy Pelosi
c. Ralph Nader
d. Chuck Schumer
e. Bernie Sanders
37. Which of the following statements about the 2016 campaign is accurate?
a. The campaign was mean-spirited and the most unconventional in American history.
b. Polls predicted Clinton’s loss, and she was thought to have lost the three televised
debates.
c. Trump received the support of all leading Republicans after winning the Republican
nomination.
d. Clinton avoided the announcement of any scandals in the months before the election.
e. Trump emphasized the importance of NAFTA and promised to keep the agreement.
38. Donald Trump used the social media outlet __________ to communicate effectively with
his base of supporters and reinforce the anger and resentment many felt toward the
government in Washington.
a. Facebook
b. Twitter
c. MySpace
d. Pinterest
e. Snapchat
39. In pledging to “make America great again,” one of the items Donald Trump promised was
to
a. decrease military spending and withdraw from Iraq.
b. enhance Obamacare and reinvigorate relations with Mexico.
c. repeal and replace Obamacare and increase military spending.
d. accept more Muslim refugees from Syria and other unstable Arab states.
e. promote conservationist policies to protect the environment.
40. In the presidential election of 2016, Hillary Clinton won __________ but Donald Trump
won __________, thus becoming the forty-fifth president of the United States.
a. the popular vote; the electoral vote
b. the electoral vote; the popular vote
c. the votes of working-class whites; the votes of immigrants
d. the Rust Belt; New York
e. the western states; the northeastern states
41. Which of the following did Donald Trump succeed in doing during the first year of his
presidency?
a. Repealing and replacing Obamacare
b. Filling his cabinet with working-class people
c. Confirming his Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch
d. “Draining the swamp” in Washington, D.C.
e. Building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border
ESSAY
1. What factors might account for the Republican gains in Congress in the 1994 elections? How
did President Clinton respond to the new Republican majorities in the House and Senate?
2. Describe the new patterns of immigration to the United States from the 1990s–2000s. What
might account for the change?
3. What was the Bush Doctrine, and what were some of the ways it influenced decisions made
during the Iraq War?
4. What factors accounted for the declining popularity of George W. Bush during his second
term, and how did those same factors help Barack Obama win in 2008?
5. Discuss the issue of increasing polarization in American politics from the 1990s through
2017. What roles, wittingly or unwillingly, have Presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama, and
Trump played in the divisiveness?
6. Describe the Great Recession. What factors led up to it? How did it affect U.S. society?
MATCHING
Match each person(s) with one of the following descriptions.
a. Was the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) leader who signed a historic agreement
with Israeli prime minister
b. Was the first female Speaker of the House
c. Served as the independent counsel who prosecuted Bill Clinton
d. Lost the controversial 2000 election to George W. Bush
e. Was the first Republican Speaker of the House in more than forty years
f. Was appointed secretary of state by Barack Obama
g. Was the Federal Reserve Board chairman
h. Was one of the 2016 GOP presidential candidates and said Donald Trump would be a “chaos
president”
i. Was a central figure in a major sex scandal involving President Clinton
j. Was appointed to lead a special counsel to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016
presidential election
k. Was the director of the FBI who announced the “October Surprise” of the 2016 presidential
campaign and who President Trump fired in 2017
1. Yasir Arafat
2. Hillary Clinton
3. Monica Lewinsky
4. Newt Gingrich
5. Alan Greenspan
6. James Comey
7. Al Gore
8. Jeb Bush
9. Nancy Pelosi
10. Kenneth Starr
11. Robert Mueller III
