U.S. History Final Exam

Question 1

What was the history of Vietnam?

Answer 1

It had essentially belonged to Europeans (French) from the 1800s.

Question 2

What did the French extract from Vietnam for profit?

Answer 2

rice and rubber

Question 3

Why did the French rulers restrict freedom of speech and jail Vietnamese nationalists?

Answer 3

they encountered unrest among Vietnamese peasants

Question 4

Who was A. Peter Dewey?

Answer 4

the first American to die in Vietnam

Question 5

Who was Ho Chi Minh?

Answer 5

a Communist ruler who led the Indochinese Communist Party against the French

Question 6

What was Vietminh?

Answer 6

an organization whose goal was to win Vietnam’s independence

Question 7

What was the Domino theory?

Answer 7

Eisenhower’s theory that countries on the brink of communism would fall one after another

Question 8

Who was Ngo Dinh Diem? Why was he so unpopular?

Answer 8

He was South Vietnam’s anti-Communist president. He refused to take part in the countrywide election of 1956. He was a Catholic and restricted Buddhist practices. He moved Vietnamese people to safer locations due to the Vietcong. This upset the people. He also persecuted Buddhist monks, who reacted by setting themselves on fire. This disturbed America and caused a few American rogues to go against President Kennedy’s wishes and kill Diem.

Question 9

What was the Vietcong?

Answer 9

a Communist opposition group in the South that attacked the Diem government. They were later referred to as the National Liberation Front (NFL). Ho Chi Minh supported them and gave them weapons via the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Question 10

What was the Ho Chi Minh Trail?

Answer 10

a network of paths along the borders of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia that were utilized by Ho Chi Minh and the Vietcong.

Question 11

What happened after Diem’s assassination?

Answer 11

more chaos entered South Vietnam. There was a string of terrible leaders and the Vietcong presence grew and grew.

Question 12

What was the Tonkin Gulf Resolution?

Answer 12

the result of attacks on U.S. ships. It allowed Johnson to escalate the war any way he wanted. He did not inform Congress about it until later.

Question 13

Who was Barry Goldwater?

Answer 13

Johnson’s opponent who spoke in a heated manner and wanted to start a war against the Soviet Union.

Question 14

Who was William Westmoreland? Why did he request more and more U.S. troops?

Answer 14

he was the U.S. commander in South Vietnam that requested more troops and was disappointed in the South Vietnam Army (the Army of the Republic of Vietnam).

Question 15

How did the Vietcong gain the upper hand?

Answer 15

Though the Vietcong’s weapons were inferior, they used hit-and-run and ambush tactics as well as a keen knowledge of the jungle terrain to their advantage. They also disguised as citizens and dug networks of tunnels. They set booby traps and disassembled and re-wired American traps.

Question 16

What was Westmoreland’s strategy for defeating the Vietcong? Was it successful?

Answer 16

he planned to destroy their morale through a war of attrition. He introduced the concept of the body count. This plan did not succeed. The U.S. greatly underestimated the Vietcong.

Question 17

What was the battle for “hearts and minds”? How was this strategy difficult?

Answer 17

Edward G. Lansdale’s strategy to win the support of South Vietnam’s rural population. U.S. troops made this difficult by dropping napalm to expose Vietcong tunnels and hideouts and spraying Agent Orange. These deadly weapons wounded civilians and left villages in ruins.

Question 18

What is napalm?

Answer 18

a gasoline-based bomb that set fire to the jungle of Vietnam. It was used to expose Vietcong tunnels and hideouts.

Question 19

What was Agent Orange?

Answer 19

a leaf-killing toxic chemical

Question 20

What were search-and-destroy missions?

Answer 20

the strategy of uprooting civilians with suspected ties to the Vietcong, killing their livestock, and burning villages.

Question 21

What factors led to the sinking of American troop morale?

Answer 21

awful jungle conditions, guerrilla warfare, being required to fight a war they did not support, and the realization that they were fighting even when the government was deciding whether or not to withdraw. There was also much corruption inside the South Vietnamese government.

Question 22

How did the Vietnam War affect America’s economy?

Answer 22

the war grew more costly and the nation’s economy began to suffer. The inflation rate tripled and Great Society programs were halted.

Question 23

What was the “living-room” war?

Answer 23

Americans watched the war through televisions and became dissatisfied with the current events despite Westmoreland’s claims of Vietcong’s imminent surrender.

Question 24

What was a credibility gap?

Answer 24

a gap that was growing between what the Johnson administration reported and what was really happening

Question 25

What were ways men found ways around the drafting to Vietnam? What was the most common one?

Answer 25

they sought out sympathetic doctors, changed residences, and joined the National Guard or Coast Guard. One of the most common ways was to receive a college deferment, by which a young man enrolled in a university could put off his military service.

Question 26

Why were most of the men who fought in Vietnam lower-class whites or minorities?

Answer 26

because university students during the 1960s tended to be white and financially well-off

Question 27

What was the New Left?

Answer 27

the growing youth movement of the 1960s. This movement supported organizations like Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Free Speech Movement.

Question 28

What was Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)?

Answer 28

A New Left organization that believed that corporations and large government institutions had taken over America. It called for a restoration of “participatory democracy” and greater individual freedom.

Question 29

What was the Free Speech Movement (FSM)?

Answer 29

a movement that gained prominence at the University of California at Berkeley. It grew out of a clash between students and administrators over free speech on campus. It focused its criticism on what it called the American “machine”, the nation’s faceless and powerful business and government institutions.

Question 30

Who led the Free Speech Movement?

Answer 30

Mario Savio, a philosophy student

Question 31

Why did many students protest the Vietnam War?

Answer 31

1. they believed that the conflict in Vietnam was basically a civil war and that the U.S. had no business there
2. they thought that the oppressive South Vietnamese regime was no better than the Communist regime it was fighting
3. the U.S. could not police the entire globe and war was draining American strength in other important parts of the world
4. morally unjust

Question 32

What happened at Washington’s Lincoln Memorial in 1967?

Answer 32

after listening to the speeches, 30,000 demonstrators locked arms for a march on the Pentagon to protest. As hundreds of protestors broke past the military police and mounted the Pentagon steps, they were met by tear gas and clubs. About 1,500 demonstrators were injured and at least 700 arrested.

Question 33

What caused about 10,000 Americans to flee (many to Canada)?

Answer 33

Nixon phased out the draft in the early 1970s. During these years, the U.S. government accused more than 200,000 men of draft offenses and imprisoned nearly 4,000 draft resisters.

Question 34

Describe the events of the Tet offensive.

Answer 34

the Vietnamese celebrated their New Years’ Eve, which was known as Tet. Villagers took advantage of the truce proclaimed for Tet and streamed into cities across South Vietnam. At the same time, many funerals were being held for war victims. The coffins, however, contained weapons and many of the villagers were Vietcong agents. That night the Vietcong launched an overwhelming attack on over 100 towns and cities in South Vietnam, as well as 12 U.S. air bases. The fighting was especially fierce in Saigon. The Vietcong even attacked the U.S. embassy in Saigon, killing five Americans. The Tet offensive continued for about a month before U.S. and South Vietnamese forces re-gained control of the cities.

Question 35

How did the Tet offensive affect the American public?

Answer 35

It greatly shook them because they had been constantly told that the enemy was close to defeat. More and more minds began to change.

Question 36

Who was Clark Clifford?

Answer 36

Johnson’s pick to fill the defense secretary position left vacant by Robert McNamara. He used to be a friend and supporter of the president’s Vietnam policy. However, after the Tet offensive, Clifford concluded that the war was un-winnable.

Question 37

What helped Nixon become president?

Answer 37

The turmoil and dysfunction that Americans found in the Democratic party after watching protestors being beaten on television by police officers. He also promised to restore law and order, which appealed to many middle-class Americans tired of years of riots and protests. He also promised to end the war in Vietnam.

Question 38

Who was Hubert Humphrey?

Answer 38

President Johnson’s vice president who was pitted by Democrats against Eugene McCarthy.

Question 39

Who was Eugene McCarthy?

Answer 39

a Minnesota senator that planned to run against Johnson to end the war in Vietnam.

Question 40

Who was George Wallace?

Answer 40

a third-party candidate who was a former Alabama governor and was a longtime champion of school segregation and states’ rights. He was defeated easily.

Question 41

Who was president Richard Nixon? What part did he play in the Vietnam War?

Answer 41

he was elected president in 1969. He promised to end the war, but it took five more years to end it. He was known for slowly pulling out troops but continuing to fight.

Question 42

Who was Nguyen Van Thieu?

Answer 42

South Vietnam’s incompetent ruler at the time of President Nixon.

Question 43

Who was Henry Kissinger?

Answer 43

a German emigrant who was Nixon’s expert on international relations and National Security Adviser.

Question 44

What was Vietnamization?

Answer 44

Nixon and Kissinger’s plan that called for the gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops in order for the South Vietnamese to take on a more active combat role in the war.

Question 45

What was the “peace with honor” strategy?

Answer 45

a part of Nixon and Kissinger’s Vietnamization policy that they hoped to establish. Nixon intended to maintain U.S. dignity in the face of its withdrawal from the war.

Question 46

What was another goal Nixon hoped to establish with his Vietnamization policy?

Answer 46

to preserve U.S. clout at the negotiation table, as Nixon still demanded that the South Vietnamese government remain intact. However, Nixon secretly ordered a massive bombing campaign against supply routes and bases in North Vietnam.

Question 47

Who made up Nixon’s “silent majority”?

Answer 47

moderate, mainstream Americans who quietly supported the U.S. efforts in Vietnam.

Question 48

What was the My Lai incident?

Answer 48

In 1968, a U.S. platoon under the command of Lieutenant William Calley, Jr., had massacred innocent civilians in the small village of My Lai in northern South Vietnam. Calley was searching for Vietcong rebels. Finding no sign of the enemy, the troops rounded up the villagers and shot more than 200 innocent Vietnamese.

Question 49

What was the result of the My Lai incident?

Answer 49

troops insisted that they were not responsible for the shootings because they were only following orders. 25 army officers were charged with some degree of responsibility, but only Calley was convicted and imprisoned. Americans were in shock but seemed less explosive by 1970 since the war appeared to be winding down.

Question 50

Why did 1.5 million American students close down 1,200 campuses? What event lead up to the Kent State University scandal?

Answer 50

In 1970, President Nixon announced that U.S. troops had invaded Cambodia to clear out North Vietnamese and Vietcong supply centers.

Question 51

What happened at Kent State University?

Answer 51

a massive student protest led to the burning of the ROTC building. The mayor called the National Guard. The Guards fired live ammunition into a crowd of protestors, wounding nine people and killing four, including two who had not even participated in the rally.

Question 52

What action caused Congress to repeal the Tonkin Gulf Resolution?

Answer 52

Nixon’s policy to bomb and invade Cambodia without notifying Congress.

Question 53

What was the significance of the Pentagon Papers? Who revealed them?

Answer 53

Daniel Ellsberg leaked them. It was a 7,000-page document written for former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, which revealed among other things that the government had drawn up plans for entering the war even as President Johnson promised he would not send American troops to Vietnam. They also showed that there was never any plan to end the war.

Question 54

How were returning American veterans treated?

Answer 54

many veterans faced indifference or even hostility from America.

Question 55

What was the aftermath of the Vietnam War?

Answer 55

Nixon created a peace treaty between the South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese people. The agreement collapsed and South Vietnam soon surrendered to North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese people became oppressive, causing many South Vietnamese people to flee.

Question 56

What was the War Powers Act?

Answer 56

it stipulated that a president must inform Congress within 48 hours of sending forces into a hostile area without a declaration of war. In addition, the troops may remain there no longer than 90 days unless Congress approves the president’s actions or declares war.

Question 57

Who was César Chávez?

Answer 57

a Mexican-American farmer who tried to organize a union for California’s mostly Spanish-speaking farm workers. He established the National Farm Workers Association. They ended up merging with a Filipino agricultural union to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee.

Question 58

Who were the Brown Berets?

Answer 58

a Chicano community action group formed under the leadership of David Sanchez. They demanded smaller classes, more Chicano teachers and administrators, and programs designed to reduce the high Latino dropout rate.

Question 59

What was the La Raza Unida?

Answer 59

an independent Latino political movement created by José Angel Gutierrez. It ran Latino candidates in five states and won races for mayor, as well as other local positions on school boards and city councils.

Question 60

What group was the poorest of Americans and suffered from the highest unemployment rate?

Answer 60

Native Americans

Question 61

What was the American Indian Movement (AIM)?

Answer 61

a militant Native American rights organization formed by young Native Americans. It began as a self-defense group against police brutality and branched out to include protecting the rights of large Native American populations in northern and western states.

Question 62

Describe the events of the “Trail of Broken Treaties.”

Answer 62

AIM leader Russell Means organized this march in Washington D.C., to protest the U.S. government’s treaty violations throughout history. They sought to restore 110 million acres of land.

Question 63

What did the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 do?

Answer 63

it gave more than 40 million acres to native peoples and paid out more than $962 million in cash.

Question 64

Define feminism.

Answer 64

the belief that women should have economic, political, and social equality with men.

Question 65

What was the irony of women trying to seek affirmation within civil rights and antiwar movements?

Answer 65

men led most of the activities while women were assigned lesser roles. When women protested this arrangement, the men usually brushed them aside.

Question 66

What did NOW (National Organization for Women) push for?

Answer 66

the creation of child-care facilities that would enable mothers to pursue jobs and education. It also pressured the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) to enforce more vigorously the ban on gender discrimination in hiring. NOW’s efforts prompted the EEOC to declare sex-segregated job ads illegal and to issue guidelines to employers, stating that they could no longer refuse to hire women for traditionally male jobs.

Question 67

Who was Gloria Steinem?

Answer 67

a journalist, political activist, and ardent supporter of the women’s liberation movement. She helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus, a moderate group that encouraged women to seek political office. She was also the founder of Ms. magazine.

Question 68

What was the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)?

Answer 68

a law that guaranteed that men and women would enjoy the same rights and protections under the law.

Question 69

What were the concerns of those who opposed the ERA (such as Phyllis Schlafly)?

Answer 69

women would be drafted, laws protecting homemakers would be ended, a husband’s responsibility to provide for his family would end, and same-sex marriages would become legal.

Question 70

How did the New Right emerge?

Answer 70

conservatives built a new “pro-family” movement. It focused on social, cultural, and moral problems. It debated family-centered issues such as whether the government should pay for daycare, which the New Right opposed.

Question 71

What was counterculture?

Answer 71

a movement made up mostly of white, middle-class college youths who had grown disillusioned with the war in Vietnam and injustices in America during the 1960s. Instead of challenging the system, they turned their backs on traditional America and tried to establish a whole new society based on peace and love.

Question 72

What city was known as the hippie capital in the mid-sixties? Why?

Answer 72

Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco because California did not outlaw hallucinogenic drugs until 1966.

Question 73

What events and other factors hastened the decline of the counterculture movement?

Answer 73

the peace and harmony became violence and disillusionment. The urban communes turned seedy and dangerous. People were living on the street with no place to stay. The hippies had to rely on each other. People fell apart over roles and discovered that “do your own thing” did not provide enough guidance for how to live. Many had fallen victim to the drugs they used, experiencing addition and mental breakdowns.

Question 74

What did rock ‘n’ roll symbolize for American youth?

Answer 74

it was a loud and biting anthem of protest. The music was an offshoot of African-American rhythm and blues music that had captivated so many teenagers during the 1950s.

Question 75

What was the Woodstock Music and Art Fair?

Answer 75

a festival that represented the 60s movement of peace and love and some higher cultural cause. For three days, the most popular bands and musicians performed.

Question 76

Why were conservatives angry about the counterculture?

Answer 76

Some believed that “revolutionary terrorism” was a threat on campuses and in cities. Other conservative critics warned that campus rebels posed a danger to traditional values and threatened to plunge American society into anarchy.

Question 77

What was the goal of Nixon’s New Federalism?

Answer 77

to distribute a portion of federal power to state and local governments. He planned to decrease the size and influence of the federal government.

Question 78

What was revenue sharing?

Answer 78

a plan Nixon proposed to give more financial freedom to local governments in order for New Federalism to work. Under it, state and local governments could spend their federal dollars however they saw fit within certain limitations.

Question 79

What was the Family Assistance Plan (FAP)? Was it successful?

Answer 79

under the FAP, every family of four with no outside income would receive a basic federal payment of $1,600 a year, with no provision to earn up to $4,000 a year in supplemental income. Unemployed participants, excluding mothers of preschool children, would have to take job training and accept any reasonable work offered them. It was attacked in the Senate and went down in defeat.

Question 80

In what ways did Nixon both strengthen and weaken federal programs?

Answer 80

He increased Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid payments and made food stamps more accessible. However, he also worked to dismantle other social programs. He tried unsuccessfully to eliminate the Job Corps program that provided job training for the unemployed and in 1970 he vetoed a bill to provide additional funding for Housing and Urban Development. He also impounded (withheld) necessary funds for programs. The federal courts eventually ordered the release of the impounded funds. He also abolished the Office of Economic Opportunity, Johnson’s antipoverty program.

Question 81

Why had many Democratic voters in the South become potential Republican supporters by 1968?

Answer 81

many white Southern Democrats had grown disillusioned with their party. It had grown too liberal. This conservative backlash first surfaced in the 1968 election, when thousands of Southern Democrats helped former Alabama governor George Wallace, a conservative segregationist running as an independent, carry five Southern states. Nixon won over these voters and other discontented Democrats. He hoped to recapture a majority in Congress.

Question 82

Why did President Nixon oppose the extension of the Voting Rights Act?

Answer 82

The act had added nearly one million African Americans to the voting rolls, and Nixon was trying to attract white voters in the South by slowing the country’s desegregation.

Question 83

What was stagflation?

Answer 83

high inflation and high unemployment

Question 84

What factors brought on the country’s economic problems in the late 1960s and early 1970s?

Answer 84

High inflation caused by Lyndon Johnson’s policy to fund the war and social programs through deficit spending. Also, increased competition in international trade and a flood of new workers including women and baby boomers, which led to stagflation. Also, the nation depended heavily on foreign oil. Egypt and Syria got into a war. When the U.S. aided Israel, Arab oil-producing nations cut off all oil sales. When they resumed selling oil, the prices had quadrupled.

Question 85

How did Nixon battle stagflation?

Answer 85

he attempted to reverse deficit spending by raising taxes and cutting the budget. Congress refused to go along with this plan. He also tried to slow inflation by reducing the amount of money in circulation by urging that interest rates be raised. This slowed down the economy. The president soon froze workers’ wages as well as businesses’ prices and fees for 90 days. Inflation eased for a short time, but recession continued.

Question 86

What was the philosophy of realpolitik?

Answer 86

means “political realism”. It stated that foreign policy should be based solely on consideration of power, not ideals or moral principles. Kissinger believed in evaluating a nation’s power, not its philosophy or beliefs. If a country was weak, it was often more practical to ignore that country, even if it was Communist.

Question 87

What was détente?

Answer 87

Nixon and Kissinger’s foreign policy that stemmed from realpolitik. It was aimed at easing Cold War tensions.

Question 88

How did Nixon’s trip change the United States’ relationship with China?

Answer 88

By going to China, Nixon was partly trying to take advantage of the decade-long rift between China and the Soviet Union. American observers noted that his trip opened up diplomatic and economic relations with the Chinese and resulted in important agreements between China and the U.S. The two nations agreed that neither would try to dominate the Pacific and that both would cooperate in settling disputes peacefully. They also agreed to participate in scientific and cultural exchanges as well as to eventually reunite Taiwan with the mainland.

Question 89

What was the SALT I Treaty?

Answer 89

the result of Nixon’s trip to Moscow to visit the Soviet Union. It was a five-year agreement that limited the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched missiles to 1972 levels. These foreign policies helped reelect Nixon as president in 1972.

Question 90

What was the Watergate scandal?

Answer 90

it centered on the Nixon administration’s attempt to cover up a burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office and apartment complex in Washington, D.C.

Question 91

Why would the Nixon campaign team take such risky actions as breaking into the opposition’s headquarters?

Answer 91

Nixon wanted to appeal to the “silent majority” and destroy antiwar movements.

Question 92

What steps did the White House take to cover up its involvement in the Watergate break-in?

Answer 92

Workers shredded all incriminating documents in Haldeman’s office. The White House, with Nixon’s consent, asked the CIA to urge the FBI to stop its investigations into the burglary on the grounds of national security. In addition, the CRP passed out nearly $450,000 to the Watergate burglars to buy their silence after they were indicted.

Question 93

Who was John Sirica?

Answer 93

the judge at the trial of the Watergate burglars. He was tipped off by James McCord, who indicated that he had lied under oath and that powerful members of the Nixon administration had been involved.

Question 94

What was significant about the revelation that Nixon taped his conversations?

Answer 94

Nixon taped his conversations to help him write his memoirs, but the Senate committee knew the tapes were key to revealing what Nixon knew about the Watergate scandal and if he was behind it.

Question 95

What events led to the Saturday Night Massacre?

Answer 95

Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor whom Elliot Richardson had appointed to investigate the case, took Nixon to court to obtain the tapes. Nixon refused and ordered Attorney General Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused the order and resigned. The deputy attorney general also refused the order and was fired. Solicitor General Robert Bork finally fired Cox. Cox’s replacement, Leon Jaworski, proved equally determined to get the tapes. Several months after this incident, the House Judiciary Committee began examining the possibility of an impeachment hearing.

Question 96

Why was Ford’s call for voluntary actions to help the economy unsuccessful?

Answer 96

Ford responded with a program of massive citizen action, called “Whip Inflation Now” or WIN. The president called on Americans to cut back on their use of oil and gas and to take other energy-saving measures. In the absence of incentives, the plan fell flat. Ford then tried to curb inflation through a “tight money” policy. This triggered the worst economic recession in 40 years.

Question 97

What factors played a significant role in Carter’s election?

Answer 97

He was soft-spoken, down-to-earth, and personable. He held “fireside chats” over the radio and failed to reach out to Congress in a similar way, refusing to play the “insider” game of deal making. Relying on a team of advisers from Georgia, Carter even alienated congressional Democrats.

Question 98

What was the National Energy Act?

Answer 98

the act placed a tax on gas-guzzling cars, removed price controls on oil and natural gas produced in the U.S., and extended tax credits for the development of alternative energy.