CHAPTER 25 The Sixties, 1960–1968
TEST BANK
Learning Objectives
1. Identify the major events in the civil rights movement in the early 1960s.
2. Explain the major crises and policy initiatives of the Kennedy presidency.
3. Examine the purposes and strategies of Johnson’s Great Society programs.
4. Discuss how the civil rights movement changed in the mid-1960s.
5. Analyze how the Vietnam War transformed American politics and culture.
6. Assess the sources and the significance of the rights revolution of the late 1960s.
7. Examine the ways in which 1968 was a climactic year for the 1960s.
Multiple Choice
1. What did the Greensboro sit-in protest?
a. the arms race
b. a lunch counter at Woolworth’s that refused to serve blacks
c. segregated public schools
d. the Vietnam War
e. the use of DDT and other chemicals that were polluting waterways
2. What philosophy did the protesters at the Greensboro sit-in adhere to?
a. militancy
b. Marxism
c. violence as self-defense
d. nonviolence
e. Buddhism
3. In addition to sit-ins, other forms of direct action
a. encountered very little resistance by local white authorities.
b. included “wade–ins,” where black activists attempted to integrate California beaches.
c. attracted national attention, especially the 1961 “Freedom Rides.”
d. were limited to marches and demonstrations.
e. included integrated groups riding city buses into the Midwest, where drivers and conductors attacked them.
4. The Freedom Rides of 1961 traveled through which of the following states?
a. Texas and Missouri
b. Maryland and Massachusetts
c. Florida and South Carolina
d. Alabama and Mississippi
e. Washington and Oregon
5. Birmingham started integrating downtown businesses in 1963. What else occurred in the city that year?
a. Medgar Evers was assassinated.
b. Four girls were killed in a church bombing.
c. Martin Luther King Jr. served five months in prison.
d. Black students were allowed to go to the white college.
e. George Wallace was elected mayor.
6. How could Birmingham police chief Eugene Connor have undermined Martin Luther King Jr.’s strategy in
Birmingham in May 1963?
a. He could have arrested more of the protesters.
b. He could have requested the National Guard from the governor of Alabama.
c. He could have requested federal assistance from President John F. Kennedy.
d. He could have allowed the protesters to march unimpeded.
e. He could have organized a counterprotest by the Ku Klux Klan.
7. How did the African-American civil rights protesters that marched in June 1963 in more than 186 cities feel
about the danger of getting arrested?
a. They had tried to avoid any encounter with the police as best they could.
b. Too many police officers had infiltrated the civil rights movement.
c. Most of the protesters came from privileged backgrounds and knew that they would get off easy.
d. The very point of the protests was to illustrate the punitive nature of southern Jim Crow justice.
e. Until that time, the police had had a reputation of being highly sympathetic to the civil rights movement.
8. How did John Kennedy’s inaugural address strike a different tone?
a. It downplayed the Soviet Union as a threat.
b. It urged Americans to move beyond the consumer culture of the 1950s.
c. It focused on communism in the Caribbean.
d. It talked about reverence for the adults who lived through the Great Depression.
e. It explicitly focused on the topics of segregation and race.
9. Regarding civil rights during his presidency, John F. Kennedy
a. immediately addressed the demands of black activists.
b. remained completely uninvolved.
c. was reluctant to address the movement’s demands until 1963.
d. instructed his brother Robert Kennedy to immediately enforce desegregation in the South.
e. proposed a civil rights bill his first week in office.
10. What event forced John F. Kennedy to take meaningful action in support of the civil rights movement?
a. Selma-to-Birmingham March
b. March on Washington rally
c. King’s demonstrations in Birmingham
d. Greensboro sit-ins
e. Freedom Summer campaign
11. Why did John F. Kennedy consider civil rights a moral crisis for the nation?
a. He saw how racial tensions divided his own family.
b. He had personally witnessed the hardships of Jim Crow growing up.
c. He did not think racial equality in the United States possible without reparations for slavery.
d. He found racial discrimination incompatible with the United States’ claim for leadership of the free world.
e. He considered civil rights an issue for women and gays as well as for African-Americans.
12. The Civil Rights Act
a. prohibited racial discrimination in places of public accommodation, but not private accommodation.
b. was seen by Lyndon Johnson as “a fitting memorial” to John F. Kennedy, after his assassination.
c. did not include a ban on discrimination on the basis of “sex” until the original bill was amended two years
later.
d. prohibited racial discrimination in places of employment only.
e. was amended a year later to prohibit racial discrimination in private accommodations.
13. In addition to prohibiting racial discrimination, what did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 accomplish?
a. It banned discrimination on the grounds of national origin.
b. It banned discrimination on the grounds of sex.
c. It banned discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
d. It banned discrimination on the grounds of religion.
e. It banned discrimination on the grounds of economic status.
14. During Freedom Summer
a. very few white college students participated.
b. only black activists participated in the voter registration campaign.
c. signers of the Southern Manifesto launched a campaign against integration.
d. a coalition of civil rights groups launched a voter registration drive in Mississippi.
e. there was little violence.
15. What was the purpose of Freedom Summer?
a. to bring national attention to the growing strength of Klan members in Mississippi
b. to register new candidates for local office across the state of Mississippi
c. to address the failure of the Civil Rights Act to include a provision on voting rights in the South
d. to provide field experience for new recruits to CORE and SNCC
e. to bring down the Democratic Party and secure the Republican majority in Congress.
16. Why did the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) emerge at the Democratic Party convention in
Atlantic City in 1964?
a. The MFDP had won local elections in Mississippi.
b. The MFDP was the white supremacist delegation sent to New Jersey by white Mississippians.
c. The MFDP had received a personal invitation from the family of the deceased President John F. Kennedy.
d. The MFDP challenged the state Democratic Party’s claim that it represented Mississippi fairly.
e. The MFDP organized white supremacists in Mississippi unhappy with Lyndon Johnson’s civil rights plank.
17. Democrats painted Barry Goldwater as what during the 1964 election?
a. weak
b. anti-intellectual
c. greedy
d. out of touch
e. extremist
18. Barry Goldwater’s conservative movement
a. marked a departure from the radical conservatism of William Buckley.
b. did not find traction among midwestern and eastern transplants to Southern California.
c. was strongly embraced by the Young Americans for Freedom.
d. essentially ended with his landslide defeat in the 1964 presidential election.
e. rebuilt the traditional conservative voting base.
19. The 1960 sit-in at Greensboro, North Carolina,
a. sparked similar successful demonstrations throughout the North.
b. ended with integration of the Woolworth’s lunch counter.
c. was violent and ended with the death of 10 students.
d. was not supported by any the white locals.
e. lasted for over a week.
20. What best describes Young Americans for Freedom (YAF)?
a. communists who demanded representation in government
b. conservative students who aimed to take control of the Republican Party
c. retired veterans who demanded reasonable pensions
d. young women who wanted to be able to vote
e. radical Democrats who wanted to limit federal power
21. What did the defeat of Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater show?
a. The success of the civil rights movement had made conventional Republicans unelectable.
b. The success of the New Deal state had made libertarianism unattractive to Americans.
c. The changing demographic image of the United States had made older presidential candidates unappealing.
d. The civil rights movement had redrawn the political map and opened the South to the Republican Party.
e. Americans were not yet ready for a Jewish presidential candidate.
22. Which of the following groups was the leading force in advocating desegregation?
a. college students
b. southern blacks
c. the urban working class
d. the suburban middle class
e. business owners
23. Which of the following statements is accurate of the 1965 Voting Rights Act?
a. Its passage was prompted by fear of violent protests.
b. It upheld the right of county officials to oversee black voter registration in cases where provided for by local
statute.
c. It empowered federal officials to oversee voter registration.
d. It was strongly endorsed by President Nixon.
e. Congress was slow to pass the act after the president’s speech.
24. Why did King decide to send black schoolchildren to protest in the streets of Birmingham?
a. He believed they were the future.
b. He believed the police would use force against them, and in return, he would use those images to build
support for the civil rights movement.
c. They were easily manipulated.
d. He believed the image of children marching would show they had no schools in which to get an education.
e. He knew it was a peaceful city and nothing would happen to them.
25. Who was Martin Luther King Jr. addressing in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”?
a. Jim Crow
b. a local clergyman
c. white segregationists
d. the president of the United States
e. an international audience
26. The Great Society
a. included new health care, education, and urban development initiatives paid for with federal funds.
b. established the Environmental Protection Agency.
c. actually reduced federal power, as most of its programs were administered at the local level.
d. was the derisive description applied by the conservative press to President Johnson’s massive expansion of
the federal government.
e. dramatically worsened poverty for rural whites with its Medicare program.
27. What does the textbook identify as the centerpiece of Johnson’s Great Society?
a. Medicaid
b. the National Endowments for Humanities and for the Arts
c. the Public Broadcasting Service
d. the War on Poverty
e. the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
28. The War on Poverty
a. was first proposed by Richard Nixon as a means to gain the support of congressional Democrats during
Eisenhower’s second term.
b. was not a part of Johnson’s Great Society agenda.
c. concentrated on equipping the poor with skills and rebuilding their spirit and motivation.
d. guaranteed an annual income for most Americans.
e. focused on understanding economic changes and responding to them.
29. In which of the following ways did the March on Washington expose tension within the movement?
a. Some activists wanted to resort to violence and brought arms to the March.
b. Even though women played crucial roles within the movement, all speakers were men.
c. Speakers refused to moderate their speeches.
d. Women were not allowed to play key roles within the movement.
e. Whites were not allowed to march.
30. Who led the 1963 March on Washington?
a. Ella Baker
b. Rosa Parks
c. John Lewis
d. Martin Luther King
e. A. Philip Randolph
31. The 1963 March on Washington
a. was led by women activists.
b. focused on economic equality.
c. showed blacks and whites marching together.
d. was extremely violent.
e. did not include civil rights groups.
32. Which of the following statements best describes the legacy of the War on Poverty?
a. Its overwhelming success suggested that restoring Americans’ economic security was ultimately more
important than securing their civil rights.
b. It cemented Lyndon Johnson’s reputation as one of the most popular presidents in American history.
c. It transformed the condition of life in poor urban neighborhoods.
d. It helped significantly reduce America’s incidence of poverty.
e. It had a large effect on the infrastructure of the South.
33. Blacks’ hopes for social justice mainly rested on
a. the federal government.
b. local governments.
c. civic institutions.
d. the international community.
e. local businesses.
34. To combat communism, one of John Kennedy’s first acts was to
a. enhance diplomatic talks with the Soviet Union.
b. promote the production of the hydrogen bomb.
c. destroy nuclear weapons.
d. create the Peace Corps.
e. increase military spending.
35. Why are the riots in American cities during the 1960s best understood as battles?
a. The Department of Defense deployed regular army units to suppress these uprisings.
b. African-American rioters often had received military training in Cuba and Venezuela.
c. Urban blacks saw the predominantly white police force as an occupying army.
d. Rioters frequently employed weapons otherwise only used in military combat operations.
e. Riot squads were organized by the Department of Defense.
36. Which was Kennedy’s policy regarding Latin America?
a. He signed a pact with the leaders of the region stating he would not interfere with their internal affairs.
b. Through the Alliance for Progress, he sent economic aid to the region hoping to alleviate poverty.
c. He formed military alliances with governments that would help the United States defeat communism.
d. He sent economic aid to promote democracy in the region.
e. He helped Latin American countries professionalize their armed forces in case of an attack by the Soviet
Union.
37. Why did the Alliance for Progress fail?
a. Communism was already strong in the area.
b. Local governments rejected U.S. assistance, as they mistrusted American intentions.
c. The aid was administered by local elites who kept the money to themselves.
d. Funds were invested in unfruitful industries.
e. The amount of money sent was insufficient.
38. What did President John F. Kennedy have in common with his predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower?
a. Both believed the future relied on the younger generations.
b. Both believed consumerism was fundamental to the growth of the country.
c. Both fought in World War II.
d. Both focused on the internal affairs of the country and not on the Cold War.
e. Both distrusted Fidel Castro.
39. The Bay of Pigs invasion
a. demonstrated the CIA was successfully operating in Latin America.
b. stopped all commercial relations with Cuba.
c. restored Fulgencio Batista to power.
d. was a complete failure.
e. facilitated Castro’s invasion of the United States.
40. The Berlin Wall
a. was built to stop the emigration from West Berlin.
b. was built by the U.S. Army.
c. separated Berlin from the rest of Germany.
d. was a tangible symbol of Cold War dynamics.
e. was supposed to be temporary.
41. The Cuban Missile Crisis
a. strengthened Kennedy’s position regarding the Cold War.
b. started when Moscow informed Washington they it installed missiles in Cuba.
c. ended with the Castro-Kennedy agreement.
d. ended when the Soviet Union agreed to dismantle the missiles it had installed in Cuba.
e. led to televised and open negotiations between Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy.
42. What did the Kerner Report cite as the cause of urban riots in the 1960s?
a. an influx of immigrants
b. segregation and poverty
c. environmental issues
d. crack cocaine abuse
e. education
43. What opened Malcolm X up to the possibility of interracial cooperation in the United States?
a. The interracial harmony he witnessed among Muslims in Saudi Arabia.
b. The tragedy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.
c. The goodwill displayed by white college students of the New Left movement.
d. The progressive legislation pushed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
e. The anti-war protests of college students.
44. What set President Lyndon B. Johnson apart from his predecessor, John F. Kennedy?
a. He was more concerned with the Cold War.
b. He was not interested in making civil rights part of his agenda.
c. He was more interested in foreign affairs.
d. He was born into a powerful family.
e. He grew up in a poor part of the United States.
45. What did students of the New Left movement think was missing in American liberalism in the 1960s?
a. the willingness to address poverty
b. the reluctance of companies to recognize unions
c. the commitment to legislate on behalf of Social Security
d. the practice of true participatory democracy
e. a concern about the threat of monopoly in industrial capitalism
46. What was the New Left’s greatest inspiration?
a. the communist revival
b. the Great Society
c. pre–World War I bohemians
d. the black freedom movement
e. 1950s writers
47. In the 1964 election Barry Goldwater suffered a major defeat even though he succeeded in the Deep South.
What did this suggest?
a. There was a strong opposition among whites to the civil rights movement.
b. That the South understood it was necessary to address racial inequalities.
c. That segregation was finally over.
d. That the Republican Party would not be able to survive in the long run.
e. That religious prejudices continued to be divisive.
48. The free speech movement
a. failed in its efforts to establish free speech on college campuses.
b. began in Berkeley to protest a campus ban on political activism.
c. began in Los Angeles to protest a campus ban on political literature.
d. began in Port Huron to protest a campus ban on political literature.
e. had little support among college students at the time.
49. Why did the United States continue to support South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem’s corrupt and weak
regime?
a. Diem had the support of his people, which pointed to an eventual South Vietnamese victory over the
communists.
b. By 1963, Diem’s forces had regained much of the Vietnamese countryside from the outnumbered Viet
Cong.
c. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson feared losing Vietnam to communism.
d. U.S. officials were caught by surprise when a military coup led to Diem’s death.
e. Diem had built a stable and broad base of support for his government using advice from American officials.
50. On what grounds could foreign nationals apply for immigrant status in the United States after 1965?
a. political views
b. knowledge of U.S. history
c. family ties
d. country of origin
e. military experience
51. The Gulf of Tonkin resolution
a. was a nonbinding measure that passed both the House and Senate, calling for peace negotiations between
North and South Vietnam.
b. was opposed by the majority of lawmakers in Congress.
c. authorized a ground invasion by U.S. troops into North Vietnam.
d. authorized the president to take “all necessary measures to repel armed attack” in Vietnam.
e. outlined attack and exit strategies in South Vietnam.
52. Before his assassination, Kennedy
a. saw victory in Vietnam as certain.
b. supported all of Ngo Dinh Diem’s actions on principle.
c. aggressively pursued policies to increase the fighting in Vietnam.
d. actively attempted to end the Vietnam War.
e. questioned the wisdom of involvement in Vietnam.
53. By 1968, the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam
a. was less than in 1965.
b. was decreasing as the peace process accelerated.
c. exceeded half a million as the war became more brutal.
d. was reduced, as President Johnson considered running for another term.
e. was of little concern to most Americans.
54. The Hart-Celler Act of 1965
a. only limited southern and eastern Europeans from migrating to the United States.
b. abandoned the category of “illegal aliens.”
c. lifted all caps on immigration.
d. provided special provisions for Latin Americans.
e. abandoned the national-origins immigration quota system.
55. What was one duty of government, according to Barry Goldwater’s speech at the Republican National
Convention (1964)?
a. promoting educational equality
b. retaining strong, centralized control
c. maintaining a foreign military presence
d. pursuing justice with caution and moderation
e. enforcing law and order
56. Which of the following was at the center of the civil rights agenda by the mid-1960s?
a. foreign policy
b. access to public schools
c. gay rights
d. the economic divide between blacks and other Americans
e. unemployment
57. According to the National Organization for Women’s Statement of Purpose, what did equal partnership
between men and women require?
a. a better plan for education
b. encouraging men to become the primary homemakers
c. de-emphasizing religion
d. a new vision of marriage
e. more scrutiny of homemakers
58. The anti-war movement
a. attracted only draft-age males.
b. was of little interest to civil rights activists.
c. never built a mass constituency.
d. had little impact on public opinion.
e. challenged the foundations of Cold War thinking.
59. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Bill of Rights for the Disadvantaged” was an early call for what would come to be
known as
a. color-blind hiring.
b. grandfathering.
c. unionization.
d. affirmative action.
e. communism.
60. Malcolm X
a. supported integration.
b. believed in the nonviolent struggle for equality.
c. was deeply Catholic.
d. insisted blacks should control their own resources.
e. agreed with King on how the black movement should behave.
61. Who was the intellectual father of Black Power?
a. Luther King
b. Ella Baker
c. John Lewis
d. Philip Randolph
e. Malcolm X
62. In what ways did the counterculture represent the fulfillment of the consumer marketplace?
a. The counterculture extended the concept of individual choice into every realm of life.
b. The counterculture made mass consumption more affordable for college students.
c. The counterculture revived the concept of free competition and innovation.
d. The counterculture extended the privilege of consumption and leisure to the young.
e. Members of the counterculture were the primary consumers of new technology.
63. Black Power emerged as a response to which of the following factors?
a. frustrations over the federal government’s coddling of civil rights workers
b. the Republican Party’s attempts to determine the civil rights movement’s strategy
c. the civil rights movement’s failure to have any impact on the economic problems of black ghettos
d. white Americans’ tendency to specify their European ethnicity
e. the passage of the Civil Rights Act
64. The Black Panther Party
a. promoted peaceful integration between blacks and whites.
b. created multiple charity events for the poor.
c. worked alongside California police departments.
d. advocated armed self-defense.
e. rapidly spread throughout the country.
65. Who founded the Youth International Party?
a. Abbie Hoffman
b. Bobby Seale
c. Timothy Leary
d. Elvis Presley
e. Richie Havens
66. The New Left
a. embraced the twentieth-century version of liberalism.
b. spoke of loneliness, isolation, and alienation.
c. comprised mainly uneducated whites.
d. viewed the Soviet Union as a model to follow.
e. believed the working class was the agent of social change.
67. Why was liberation theology so popular in Latin America in the 1960s?
a. The Second Vatican Council had sanctioned birth control.