CHAPTER 29: SHAKEN TO THE ROOTS, 1965–1980
Multiple Choice
1. Effects of the Vietnam War included the __________.
A) erosion of the nation’s confidence in its government
B) obliteration of communism in Asia
C) surrender of the Viet Cong
D) growth of support for further wars to halt nationalist movements
2. The search-and-destroy strategy began to fail because __________.
A) the Chinese sent reinforcements to the aid of North Vietnam
B) Congress would not expand use of the military draft
C) South Vietnamese guerrillas were more of a force than North Vietnam’s troops
D) the United States was reluctant to back up infantry detachments with air strikes
3. How did the North Vietnamese see the goals of the Vietnam War differently than the United States?
A) They were fighting a total war of revolution and national liberation.
B) They believed the war was a limited effort to stifle them economically.
C) They wanted to be independent from southern Vietnam.
D) They believed that southern Vietnam was under their control and that the war was necessary to gain
recognition of their supremacy.
4. President Johnson’s advisers convinced him that __________.
A) it was unwise to form a political alliance with Martin Luther King, Jr.
B) he should not pursue significant social reforms
C) the Air Force should not be used in Vietnam
D) controlled military escalation could secure Vietnam
5. American involvement in Vietnam peaked in __________.
A) 1963
B) 1965
C) 1969
D) 1973
6. The majority of the draftees and enlistees for military service in Vietnam __________.
A) were college students
B) came from the Lower South
C) averaged about 25 years of age
D) were from working-class families
7. The Model Cities Program __________.
A) rejected the philosophy of self-help
B) was not supported by the New Left
C) discouraged grass-roots activism
D) encouraged community involvement in urban planning
8. Millions of young people in the second half of the 1960s expressed their alienation from American
society by sampling drugs or chasing the rainbow of a youth culture; this is referred to as __________.
A) the “yuppie culture”
B) the counterculture
C) consumerism
D) the “drug culture”
9. The growth of the “Woodstock Generation” in the 1960s revealed that __________.
A) many Americans were turning toward socialism
B) there was no connection between social dissent and the counterculture
C) hippies were usually from the poorest segments of American society
D) a feeling of alienation existed within American society
10. Which of the following statements about the Haight-Ashbury district is true?
A) It became a center of the conservative counterculture.
B) 1967’s “Summer of Love” brought thousands of people to the district.
C) The community’s radicals preached an anti-drug message.
D) It helped spur the growth of hippie districts in abandoned buildings.
11. Which of the following cities was one of the first to have a comparatively large openly gay subculture in
the 1970s?
A) Washington, D.C.
B) San Francisco
C) St. Louis
D) Houston
12. Events in the Watts section of Los Angeles in 1965 showed that __________.
A) the Democratic Party was calming the anger of poor Americans
B) grass-roots democracy was succeeding by using non-violence
C) there was growing power in non-violent civil disobedience
D) racial unrest could result in violent riots
13. Which statement about riots in urban ghettos in the 1960s is true?
A) The riots were instigated by outside agitators.
B) The riots showed the frustrations of residents who had legitimate grievances.
C) Politicians such as Governor Ronald Reagan sympathized with the rioters.
D) The riots were confined to cities in the South.
14. The phrase “Black Power” was connected to which of the following?
A) the emphasis of Christian love in civil-rights strategies
B) celebrating African American heritage
C) undermining local black communities through political activism
D) the messages of speeches given by Lyndon Johnson
15. Malcolm X was assassinated by rivals within the Black Muslims after he __________.
A) began to consider limited acceptance of white culture
B) advocated a bloody race war
C) refused to run for president
D) announced he would not make a pilgrimage to Mecca
16. Which of the following statements is true about the American Indian Movement?
A) The organization attempted to protect Indians from domestic violence.
B) The organization refused to ally itself with other Indian groups.
C) It was part of the group that took over Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1973.
D) It aimed to increase educational opportunities for Native Americans.
17. Bobby Seale and Huey Newton began the Black Panthers in their home area of __________.
A) Oakland, CA
B) Mobile, AL
C) Chicago
D) Washington, D.C.
18. Reies López Tijerina led a movement that __________.
A) condemned anti-union businesses in Texas
B) demanded the return of land to Hispanics in New Mexico
C) rejected local organization and grass-roots democracy
D) resulted in his nomination for president
19. The 1962 Baker v. Carr decision required that legislative seats be apportioned __________.
A) on a population basis
B) as state legislatures saw fit
C) by geographic area
D) in such a way as to increase racial diversity in legislatures
20. The impact of the Tet Offensive was magnified by which of the following facts?
A) television coverage that appeared to show a Viet Cong victory
B) U.S. officials had predicted that American armies were near defeat
C) the permanent loss of Saigon due to the Viet Cong’s surprise offensive
D) the U.S. embassy in Bangkok was momentarily taken over by guerrillas
21. In the wake of the Tet crisis __________.
A) American officials censored all television coverage of the war
B) the Republican Party overwhelmingly opposed the war
C) President Johnson decided to withdraw all American troops from Vietnam
D) advisers told Lyndon Johnson that the war was not winnable in traditional American terms
22. President Johnson decided not to run for reelection because __________.
A) he had become overwhelmed by the war and challenges within his party
B) his health made it impossible for him to run
C) he had been barely elected in the election of 1964
D) he believed that Eugene McCarthy was a better spokesman for domestic reform
23. In 1968, the Soviet Union militarily suppressed moves toward democracy and liberalization in
__________.
A) Hungary
B) Poland
C) East Germany
D) Czechoslovakia
24. “Red Spring,” which included student uprisings and grassroots rebellions in Europe, occurred in
__________.
A) 1965
B) 1968
C) 1970
D) 1973
25. Why did Columbia students begin the protests that became the “Red Spring”?
A) They thought that Columbia’s classes were too philosophically conservative.
B) They disagreed with Columbia’s support for the Vietnam War in allowing military recruiters on
campus.
C) They believed that tuition was too high.
D) They were unhappy with Columbia’s cooperation with a Pentagon-funded group and rejected the
construction of a gym on a public park.
26. Which two men were assassinated within months of each other in 1968?
A) Malcolm X and Robert Kennedy
B) Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Kennedy
C) John Kennedy and Malcolm X
D) Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.
27. Which third-party candidate earned 46 electoral votes in the election of 1968?
A) Eugene McCarthy
B) Dick Gregory
C) George Wallace
D) Eldridge Cleaver
28. Hubert Humphrey’s narrow defeat in 1968 was due, in part, to __________.
A) his conservative views on race
B) Richard Nixon’s promise to escalate the war in Vietnam
C) the violence that had occurred at the Democratic convention in Chicago
D) the antiwar movement’s support for Richard Nixon’s candidacy
29. Four students were killed by the National Guard at Kent State University during a protest of
__________.
A) Richard Nixon’s reelection
B) Lyndon Johnson’s decision to bomb North Vietnam
C) the Gulf of Tonkin resolution
D) the American bombing of Cambodia
30. After Richard Nixon’s election, it became apparent that __________.
A) relations with the Soviet Union would worsen
B) antiwar protests would immediately decline
C) he did not have a secret plan to end the war
D) Vice President Agnew would not support Nixon’s war policies
31. Security adviser Henry Kissinger arranged Richard Nixon’s surprising diplomatic trip to __________.
A) North Vietnam
B) North Korea
C) England
D) China
32. The term détente has been used to describe President Nixon’s __________.
A) threat to use nuclear weapons in the Vietnam War
B) foreign policy to ease tensions between the United States and China and the Soviet Union
C) campaign of illegal wiretapping of alleged “enemies” of his administration
D) psychological state in the last years of his presidency
33. President Nixon’s domestic policies included __________.
A) extending Lyndon Johnson’s extensive aid to troubled cities
B) rejecting price and wage freezes in dealing with a struggling economy
C) funneling more money to suburbs through “no–strings” grants
D) cordial public relations with New Left reformers
34. Economic problems during the early 1970s included which of the following?
A) lowering energy costs
B) low inflation
C) 25 percent unemployment
D) increased gas prices
35. Stagflation included which of the following?
A) rapid economic growth
B) low unemployment
C) high inflation
D) substantial declines in wages
36. Successes of the environmental movement included which of the following?
A) paving the way to achieve Superfund cleanup legislation for areas ravaged by pollution
B) convincing big industry to cut back its dependence on nuclear energy
C) the expansion of the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce environmental laws
D) informing people about the poor environmental conditions in wealthy areas
37. The foundation of the Watergate crisis was centered on __________.
A) Richard Nixon’s near defeat in the election of 1972
B) Richard Nixon’s overestimation of his opponent’s political strengths
C) the military’s growing success in the Vietnam War
D) the inability of Congress to pass any legislation
38. Tapes of White House meetings revealed that President Nixon __________.
A) was actually opposed to the Vietnam War
B) did not want to run for reelection
C) had lied about his innocence in the Watergate cover-up
D) had no knowledge of the “enemies list”
39. Jimmy Carter won the election of 1976 because he __________.
A) was viewed as an alternative to Washington insiders
B) appealed to conservative Republicans
C) had been a leader in the antiwar movement
D) did not attempt to reassemble LBJ’s political coalition
40. The “plumbers” were __________.
A) a violent wing of the Students for a Democratic Society
B) members of the Nixon administration in charge of preventing leaks
C) a political-action group that lobbied for environmental reform
D) a group of working-class hippies
41. The Pentagon Papers detailed American military involvement in __________.
A) the support of various right-wing dictators in Latin America
B) Vietnam
C) Korea
D) the Dominican Republic in 1965
42. In the presidential election of 1972, Richard Nixon easily defeated the liberal Democrat __________.
A) Hubert Humphrey
B) George McGovern
C) George Wallace
D) Jimmy Carter
43. In the 1976 presidential election, Gerald Ford won the entire __________.
A) South
B) Northeast
C) Midwest
D) West
44. What were President Carter’s policies on the environment?
A) new proposals to solve the energy crisis and change the nation’s energy habits
B) proposed cuts in federal spending for the Environmental Protection Agency
C) tax credits for clean energy use
D) promoting recycling
45. In a speech in 1979, President Carter expressed that __________.
A) he would not run for a second term of office
B) the problems of the economy had been overrated
C) no actions were needed to solve the energy crisis
D) he felt the nation was experiencing a spiritual and moral crisis
46. In the Camp David Agreement, President Carter presided over __________.
A) an international forum on energy consumption
B) talks that led to the United States and Soviet Union cutting defense spending
C) a treaty that normalized relations between Egypt and Israel
D) a meeting that addressed the nation’s continuing inflation problems
47. SALT II was technically killed when the Soviet Union invaded __________ in 1979.
A) Afghanistan
B) Iran
C) Hungary
D) Czechoslovakia
48. Former president __________ won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
A) Richard Nixon
B) Gerald Ford
C) Jimmy Carter
D) George Herbert Walker Bush
49. The roots of the Iranian hostage crisis resided in __________.
A) Jimmy Carter’s emphasis on human rights
B) the Shah of Iran’s despotic regime
C) economic inflation in the United States
D) America’s isolationist stance in foreign affairs
50. Similarities between the Vietnam War and the Iranian hostage crisis included that both conflicts
__________.
A) were ignited by Communist insurgents
B) were not closely followed by the American public
C) resulted from American support for democratic regimes
D) destroyed the credibility of the presidents involved
Essay Questions
51. Discuss the connections between the antiwar movement, hippies, the counterculture, and the Black
Power movement. What were the successes and failures of the New Left?
52. Analyze the dynamics of the election of 1968. What events, strategies, and factors resulted in Richard
Nixon’s narrow triumph over Hubert Humphrey?
53. How did the backgrounds and individual personalities of Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Carter shape
their successes and failures as national leaders?