Chapter 27 Flashcards
the largest public works program in American history
Federal Highway Act
the practice of limiting work output in order to create more jobs
featherbedding
Eisenhower’s term for the federal government’s continuing aid to businesses
“creeping socialism”
Truman’s domestic policy
Fair Deal
balancing economic conservatism with some activism
dynamic conservatism
In 1947 the conservative Congress set out to curb the power of organized labor by passing the -
a) Fair Deal
b) Federal Highway Act
c) Taft-Hartley Act
d) GI Bill
c) Taft-Hartley Act
Dwight Eisenhower’s running mate (Vice President) in the presidential election of 1952 was -
a) Richard Nixon
b) Adlai Stevenson
c) Strom Thurmond
d) Thomas Dewey
a) Richard Nixon
What did Eisenhower end that many conservatives had viewed as unnecessary federal control over the business community -
a) government work programs
b) the GI Bill
c) government price and rent controls
d) union shops
c) government price and rent controls
Truman won the election in 1948 with strong support from laborers, farmers, and -
a) wealthy socialists
b) Southern Democrats
c) the new Progressive Party
d) African Americans
d) African Americans
Eisenhower came to an agreement with Canada to build an American-Canadian waterway to aid international shipping called the -
a) Chesapeake Bay Seaway
b) Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway
c) American-Canadian Seaway
d) St Lawrence River locks
b) Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway
one of the nation’s earliest computers
ENIAC
developed an injectable vaccine for polio and tested it on himself, his wife and his three sons
Jonas Salk
one of the earliest suburbs, which was located 10 miles east of New York City
Levittown
a period from 1945 to 1961 when more than 65 million children were born in the United States
baby boom
economist who wrote the 1958 book The Affluent Society
John Kenneth Galbraith
What became the fastest-growing industry in the US during the 1950s?
a) construction
b) food
c) advertising
d) medical research
c) advertising
About 85 percent of new home construction in the 1950s was found in -
a) the suburbs
b) the city
c) rural towns
d) the South
a) the suburbs
Many large corporations competed with each other and some expanded overseas, creating -
a) conglomerates
b) franchises
c) multinational franchises
d) multinational corporations
d) multinational corporations
What epidemic brought a wave of terror to postwar America -
a) polio
b) yellow fever
c) influenza
d) whooping cough
a) polio
What did John Bardeen, Walther H. Brattain, and William Shockley develop in 1947 -
a) a nuclear reaction
b) the transistor
c) radiowaves
d) microwaves
b) the transistor
cultural separation between children and their parents
generation gap
hosted Toast of the Town
Ed Sullivan
African American rock ‘n’ roll singer
Little Richard
enjoyed television success with routines of bad violin playing and stingy behavior
Jack Benny
beat member who published On the Road in 1957
Jack Kerouac
While the film industry may not have been collapsing, it certainly did suffer after the war due to the popularity of -
a) live theater
b) television
c) reading
d) radio
b) television
What music had a loud and heavy beat that made it ideal for dancing -
a) reggae
b) country
c) rock ‘n’ roll
d) jazz
c) rock ‘n’ roll
With a few notable exceptions, television tended to shut out -
a) African Americans
b) the middle class
c) women
d) white-collar workers
a) African-Americans
Who eventually claimed the title of King of Rock ‘n’ Roll -
a) Little Richard
b) Allen Ginsberg
c) Elvis Presley
d) Alan Freed
c) Elvis Presley
By 1957 how many television sets were in use in the United States -
a) 3 million
b) 40 million
c) 10 million
d) 5 million
b) 40 million
a figure the government set to reflect the minimum income required to support a family
poverty line
antisocial or criminal behavior of young people
juvenile delinquency
the federal government’s withdrawal of all official recognition of Native Americans groups as legal entities
termination policy
chronicled poverty in the US in his book, “The Other America”
Michael Harrington
a conservative commentator
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
By the middle of the 1900s, what group of people were the poorest in the nation -
a) Native Americans
b) African Americans
c) Irish Americans
d) German Americans
a) Native Americans
The programs that tried to eliminate poverty by tearing down slums and erecting new high-rise buildings for poor residents were called -
a) tenements
b) soup kitchens
c) welfare
d) urban renewal
d) urban renewal
Due to the Bracero program during the 1940s and 1950s, the country witnessed a sharp rise in the number of immigrants from -
a) Italy
b) Mexico
c) Spain
d) Portugal
b) Mexico
Studies of life in Appalachia revealed high rates of infant mortality and -
a) polio
b) juvenile delinquency
c) nutritional deficiency
d) suicide
c) nutritional deficiency
The cores of numerous cities deteriorated as middle-class flight deprived urban areas of -
a) termination policies
b) minorities
c) tax dollars
d) cultural events
c) tax dollars
African American actor who expressed resentment for having to play stereotypical roles in 1950s movies
Sidney Portier
African American singer who recorded hi songs in the fifties
Chuck Berry
Dixiecrat Party candidate for president in 1948
Strom Thurmond
beat poet who blasted modern American life
Allen Ginsberg
developed an oral vaccine for polio
Albert Sabin
Eisenhower’s vice president
Richard Nixon
disc jockey who helped launch rock ‘n’ roll by playing African American music on the air
Alan Freed
“Every segment of our population has a right to expect from … government a fair deal.”
Harry S Truman
As a result of the GI Bill, many returning soldiers -
a) found jobs in business
b) decided to make a career in the military
c) attended college
d) received awards and bonuses for their wartime service
c) attended college
President Truman ended the miners’ strike by ordering government seizure of the mines while -
a) pressuring owners to grant most union demands
b) pressuring strikers to accept a minimal pay increase
c) pushing through a law that banned strikes in energy industries
d) pushing through a law that required mine owners to negotiate with unions
a) pressuring owners to grant most union demands
The States’ Rights Party formed for the 1948 election as a reaction to -
a) the “Do-Nothing Congress”
b) Truman’s aggressive federal spending
c) Truman’s support of civil rights
d) Truman’s support of big business
c) Truman’s support of civil rights
In Nixon’s famous “Checkers speech,” “Checkers” referred to -
a) his political opponents
b) the pieces of his defense plan
c) his daughters
d) his dog
d) his dog
Eisenhower used the term “creeping socialism” to refer to -
a) public support for national health care
b) the expansion of Social Security
c) the expansion of the welfare system
d) the federal government’s continuing aid to businesses
d) the federal government’s continuing aid to businesses
To benefit from a cheaper labor pool, some businesses in the 1950s began to -
a) hire African Americans
b) hire teenagers
c) expand overseas
d) move to the Sunbelt
c) expand overseas
The development of the transistor made possible the -
a) mass production of radios
b) miniaturization of radios
c) development of the computer
d) mass production of computers
b) miniaturization of radios
Rock ‘n’ roll grew out of the sounds of -
a) jazz
b) swing
c) rhythm and blues
d) ragtime
c) rhythm and blues
In his book “The Other America”, Michael Harrington wrote about -
a) the beat movement
b) street gangs
c) poverty
d) the generation gap
c) poverty
Topping the list of juvenile crimes in the 1950s was -
a) assault
b) shoplifting
c) vandalism
d) car theft
d) car theft
As president, Eisenhower had a conservative side and an activist side. Describe some of his programs and actions that reflected these two sides.
Eisenhower showed his conservative side:
- appointing several business leaders to his cabinet.
- ended government price and rent controls
- tried to curb the federal budget by vetoing a school construction bill and slashing government aid to public housing.
- supported some modest tax reductions
- abolished the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and slashed funding for the Tennessee Valley Authority. He displayed his activism by
- advocating passage of the Federal Highway Act
- authorizing construction of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway
- extended the Social Security system to an additional 10 million people
- extended unemployment compensation
- increased the minimum wage
- continued to provide some government aid to farmers
Three broad categories of factors that contributed to the baby boom. Explain each of these factors and how they contributed to the baby boom -
- War’s End
- Government
- Popular Culture
Several factors contributed to the baby boom -
- young couples who had delayed marriage during WW II and the Korea Way could now marry. buy homes and begin their families
- The government encouraged the growth of families by offering generous GI benefits for home purchases
- Television and in magazines, popular culture celebrated pregnancy, parenthood and large families
businesses in which a person owns and runs one or several stores of a chain operation
franchises
banned union shops
right-to-work laws
physical labor
blue-collar jobs
early computer that handled business data
UNIVAC
business in which new workers were required to join the union
union shop
provided loans to veterans
GI Bill
group of mostly white artists who sought to live unconventional lives
beats
forcing business owners to hire only union members
closed shop
movies shown on large, panoramic screens
cinemascope
After WW II, labor unrest was triggered by -
a) rising inflation
b) falling wages
c) lack of jobs
d) poor working conditions
a) rising inflation
Which of the following choices best completes the following:
Taft-Hartley Act - outlawed the Closed Shops
prohibited featherbedding
?
a) supported unions’ right to contribute to political campaigns
b) allowed right-to-work laws
c) increased the minimum wage
d) outlawed strikes
b) allowed right-to-work laws
Congress passed all of the following parts of Truman’s Fair Deal EXCEPT:
a) a minimum wage increase
b) an expansion of Social Security
c) a national housing act
d) a civil rights act
d) a civil rights act
President Eisenhower described his political beliefs as -
a) conservative
b) liberal
c) progressive
d) middle of the road
d) middle of the road
According to John Kenneth Galbraith, postwar America had an “economy of abundance” because of -
a) the huge numbers of new workers returning from the war
b) new business techniques and improved technology
c) the new consumer culture
d) the growth of suburbs
b) new business techniques and improved technology
Some observers criticized suburbia because it -
a) lacked diversity
b) represented conspicuous consumption
c) represented a departure from traditional values
d) contributed to urban sprawl
a) lacked diversity
Many of the early television comedy shows were adapted from popular -
a) movies
b) radio shows
c) novels
d) stage plays
b) radio shows
Many quiz shows left the air when -
a) fraud was discovered in one of them
b) comedy became more popular
c) they were accused of gambling
d) young audiences lost interest
a) fraud was discovered in one of them
The government unwittingly encouraged residents of public housing to remain poor by -
a) increasing the rent as they earned more money
b) evicting them as soon as they began to earn any money
c) requiring them to pay for maintenance
d) locating the housing too far from available jobs
b) evicting them as soon as they began to earn any money
The federal government’s termination policy was intended to -
a) end poverty in the inner city by replacing slums with new high-rise buildings
b) bring Native Americans into mainstream society
c) fight juvenile delinquency
d) end the dependence of poor Americans on government aid
b) bring Native Americans into mainstream society
What were some reasons for the rapid growth of suburbia in the 1950s
- some moved to the suburbs to escape the crime and congestion of the city
- Others viewed life in the suburbs as a move up to a better life
- the GI Bill offered low-interest loans making new housing affordable during the postwar period
- the government’s offer of income tax deductions for home mortgage interest payments and property taxes
- suburbs came to symbolize the American dream
Describe how the rise of television affected Hollywood, and how Hollywood responded.
As television gained popularity, movies lost viewers. Throughout the 1950s Hollywood struggled to recapture its audience - it tried contests, door prizes and advertising, but most of these tactics failed to lure people out of their living rooms.
Then Hollywood tried to make films more exciting by introducing 3-D films which worked for a short-time. Cinemascope gave Hollywood a boost, and they began to film programs especially for television and also sold old movies which could be cheaply rebroadcast to the networks.
