-176617 CHAPTER 28—AFFLUENCE AND ITS DISCONTENTS, 1953-1963 Murrin, Johnson, McPherson, Fahs, Gerstle, Rosenberg & Rosenberg Copyright © 2008 Wadsworth Group Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People, 5e 0704lep5e.bmp
Times Instructions: Identify the following term(s). Eisenhower's "New Look" argued that the government had to pump more money into the domestic economy. Washington had to take a leading role in the struggle for equal rights. the defense of the United States would rely less on ground forces and more on cheaper air power. federal intervention in the economy would cease. the federal government should subsidize the fashion industry. C Average p. 860 Analytical 1 The U.S. corporation that worked closely with the CIA to undermine the Guatemalan government in 1954 was IBM. Westinghouse. Coca-Cola. Ford Motor Company. United Fruit Company. E Most Difficult p. 861 Factual 1 ____ overthrew Fulgencio Batista and became the Communist ruler of Cuba. Venito Sandino Fidel Castro Che Guevara Daniel Ortega Jose Marti B Least Difficult p. 862 Factual 1 The Eisenhower Doctrine can best be described as an attempt to defend Middle Eastern countries from Communist aggression. an attempt to defend Latin American countries from Communist aggression. an attempt to defend Western Europe from Communist aggression. an attempt to defend Asia from Communist aggression. the end of the Cold War. A Average p. 863 Analytical 1 The Communist leader of the Vietnamese war for independence from France was Mao Tse Tung. Ho Chi Minh. Ngo Dinh Diem. Jiang Jieshi. Chen Chang. B Least Difficult p. 863 Factual 1 According to President Eisenhower in 1961, the greatest danger to the United States was communism. Latin American revolutions. the Soviet Union. the military-industrial complex. Middle Eastern terrorists. D Average p. 864 Factual 1 The 1950s political science doctrine which argued that interest groups would hold countervailing power to giant corporations was called capitalist autocracy. socialism. pluralism. political power elites. economic democracy. E Most Difficult p. 868 Factual 1 The black patron who in 1955 refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white patron was Rosa Parks. Coretta Scott King. Marian Anderson. Fannie Lou Hamer. Ella Fitzgerald. A Least Difficult p. 877 Factual 1 The founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference included Stokely Carmichael. Malcolm X. Orval Faubus. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Strom Thurmond. D Least Difficult p. 878 Factual 1 The government effort to return illegal Mexican immigrants to Mexico was known as Operation Return. Rio Grande. Wetback. Red, White, and Blue. Bracero. C Average p. 880 Factual 1 The 1957 Gaither Report advocated a substantial cutback in federal military spending. an immediate increase in federal military spending. no changes in military spending. the complete militarization of U.S. society. the elimination of the military. B Most Difficult p. 883 Factual 1 John F. Kennedy's call for American renewal was labeled the New Democracy. Freedom. Frontier. Order. Step. C Average p. 885 Factual 1 The program that sent Americans overseas to work on developmental projects was the Green Berets. Peace Corps. Green Peace. Jobs Corps. Volunteer Corps. B Average p. 886 Factual 1 In 1961, a U.S.-backed Cuban military force attempting to overthrow Fidel Castro was defeated at the Bay of Cows. Guantanamo Bay. Havana. the Bay of Pigs. the Bay of Naples. D Average p. 886 Factual 1 After great deliberation during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, President Kennedy ultimately ordered Cuba to be bombed. annexed. quarantined. ignored. invaded. C Average p. 887-888 Factual 1 The president of South Vietnam during the Eisenhower and Kennedy years was Ho Chi Minh. Mao Tse Tung. Ngo Dinh Diem. Bao Di. Jiang Jieshi C Most Difficult p. 888 Factual 1 The policy of "flexible response" in Vietnam resulted in using Green Berets as counterinsurgency forces. employing social scientists to help in the process of "nation-building." revamping South Vietnam's internal security forces. sending 11,000 U.S. troops as advisors to the South Vietnamese military. all of the above. E Average p. 888 Analytical 1 The president first associated with the idea of "flexible response" was Harry Truman. John F. Kennedy. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Lyndon B. Johnson. Richard Nixon. B Average p. 888 Factual 1 The civil rights group most involved in the "freedom rides" of the Kennedy presidency was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Black Panthers. A Average p. 889 Factual 1 Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Montgomery, Alabama statehouse. steps of the U.S. Capital. 1968 Democratic Convention. United Nations General Assembly. steps of the Lincoln Memorial. E Average p. 891 Factual 1 The author of The Feminine Mystique (1963) was Betty Friedan. Gloria Steinem. Phyllis Schlafly. Andrea Dworkin. Eleanor Roosevelt. A Least Difficult p. 891 Factual 1 The person accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy was James Earl Ray. Lee Harvey Oswald. Jack Ruby. Sirhan Sirhan. Lyndon Johnson. B Least Difficult p. 893 Factual 1 The Chief Justice who wrote the decision in Brown v. Board of Education was Warren Burger. Earl Warren. Louis Brandeis. Felix Frankfurter. William Howard Taft. B Average p. 874 Factual 1 French involvement in Vietnam ended with their defeat at Laos. Tet. Saigon. Dien Bien Phu. Cambodia. D Most Difficult p. 863 Factual 1 During the 1950s and Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency, the United States rejected its former role as protector of the free world. United States economy fell into a prolonged economic recession. United States experienced a period of economic growth and affluence. domestic programs of the Roosevelt and Truman eras were completely eliminated. Bay of Pigs invasion failed. C Most Difficult p. 864 Factual 1 Eisenhower's administration fought communism by all the following means except increasing the size and power of the CIA. giving economic aid to friendly nations. funding Radio Free Europe, Voice of America, Radio Asia, and other propaganda agencies. threatening the Soviet Union with nuclear attack if U.S. security were threatened. refusing to support any government that did not have democratic principles. E Most Difficult p. 861-863 Factual 1 Dwight D. Eisenhower's response to the civil rights movement was reluctant and gradualist. aggressive and determined. nonexistent. radical. violent suppression. A Average p. 879 Analytical 1 The National Liberation Front in Vietnam was a group of South Vietnamese nationalists and Communists who opposed the Diem government. an organization of pro-French colonialists who supported the return of French rule. a Christian missionary group dedicated to liberating Vietnam from Buddhism. an anti-Communist movement in North Vietnam. a women's rights organization. A Most Difficult p. 863 Factual 1 Which of the following was not part of the 1950s domestic scene? The federal government funded the construction of an interstate system of high-speed expressways. Billions of dollars were allocated for water projects in western states. Labor unions became increasingly militant and violent. U.S. companies dominated both the national and international marketplaces. White Americans moved to the suburbs in large numbers. C Most Difficult p. 867-868 Analytical 1 Economist John Kenneth Galbraith asserted that the gap between the rich and the poor in the United States was widening. real wages of workers were declining. United States government had been infiltrated by Communists. level of poverty dropped to less than two percent. U.S. consumer society was creating an affluent lifestyle for the masses. E Most Difficult p. 884 Analytical 1 U.S. religious life in the 1950s was characterized by a decline in church membership. a growth in and dominance of the Catholic Church. the spread of anti-Semitism. an emphasis on a pluralistic faith in the Judeo-Christian tradition. unusual growth of the Jewish faith. D Average p. 869 Analytical 1 Social critics of the 1950s portrayed the United States as a society of rugged individualists. "other-directed" conformists. "inner-directed" rebels. semiliterate comic-book readers. violent rebels. B Average p. 870 Analytical 1 Rock 'n' roll music signified the development of a consumer-oriented, middle-class youth culture in the United States. was a sinister Communist plot to corrupt American society. was the first musical style to appeal equally to all generations of Americans. promoted segregation by culturally dividing ethnic minorities from mainstream society. was imported from Europe. A Most Difficult p. 871 Analytical 1 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. proposed to end segregation through violent confrontation. compromise and accommodation. nonviolent direct action. interracial marriage. Supreme Court rulings. C Average p. 878 Factual 1 In the 1950s, U.S. policy in Latin America initiated social and economic reforms. encouraged and supported the spread of democracy. often supported military dictatorships that suppressed leftist movements. withdrew support from oppressive regimes. supported Communist regimes. C Most Difficult p. 862 Factual 1 Eisenhower's American Indian policy included violent suppression of resistance. forced removal of Indians to South and Central America. increased federal aid. a constitutional amendment awarding civil rights to Indians. the termination of reservations and tribal states. E Average p. 879-880 Factual 1 The urban policies of the Truman and Eisenhower administrations revitalized the inner cities and rated industrial development. successfully provided safe, comfortable, affordable housing for low-income families. offered loans and subsidies to nonwhites in marginal neighborhoods. created low-rent housing projects for people with little hope of economic improvement. financed minority families to purchase homes in the suburbs. D Average p. 881 Factual 1 John F. Kennedy's popularity was based on his success in getting Congress to pass every bill he asked for. mild, diplomatic approach to the Cold War. reputation as a deeply religious, Protestant family man. image as an intelligent, charming, youthful leader. rags-to-riches personal story. D Most Difficult p. 885 Analytical 1 John F. Kennedy's foreign policy included all of the following except strong support for West Berlin. economic sanctions and assassination plots directed at Cuba. establishment of a direct phone line between Washington and Moscow to prevent nuclear war. a proposal to pull American advisors out of Vietnam. creation of the Peace Corps. D Most Difficult p. 886-889 Factual 1 Nikita Khrushchev was the Soviet leader who built the Berlin Wall and put nuclear missiles in Cuba. greatly admired John F. Kennedy and personally attended Kennedy's funeral. refused to meet with any U.S. leaders and cut off diplomatic relations with the United States. was the first Russian leader to be educated in the West and to be fluent in English. launched the Korean War. A Most Difficult p. 886-887 Factual 1 When Hungarian rebels led by Imre Nagy rebelled against the Stalinist regime in 1956, the U.S. sent air support for the rebels. supported the communist government. was unaware of the rebellion. sent the CIA to help the rebels. could not provide military support so close to the Soviet Union. E Least Difficult p. 861 Factual 1 The worst fiasco of the Kennedy administration was the Bay of Pigs invasion. construction of the Berlin Wall. Cuban missile crisis. assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem. revelation of his numerous sex scandals. A Average p. 886-887 Analytical 1 The CIA helped to influence political developments in all of the following during the 1950s except Iran. Hungary. the Philippines. Guatemala. Lebanon. B Average p. 861-862 Factual 1 All of the following invaded Egypt in October 1956 except Israel. France. Great Britain. the United States. none of the above. D Least Difficult p. 862-863 Factual 1 In The Organization Man, William H. Whyte, Jr. criticized corporate conformity. racial inequality. military spending. government secrecy. poverty in the U.S. A Average p. 870 Factual 1 William H. Whyte, Jr. and David Riesman were both historians. economists. sociologists. journalists. politicians. C Average p. 870 Factual 1 In 1953 the CIA staged a coup in Iran that ensured that it would develop a democratic government. led to the rise of a communist state. established a popular, pro-western government. overthrew a legitimate elected government to establish a ruthless dictatorship. resulted in the creation of five new nations in that region. D Most Difficult p. 861 Analytical 1 The mastermind behind the pro-U.S. government in South Vietnam was John Kennedy. Richard Nixon. Achmed Sukarno. Joseph McCarthy. Edward Lansdale. E Most Difficult p. 837 | p. 864 Factual 1 President Eisenhower supported the Highway Act of 1956 based on its positive impact on the automobile industry. national security considerations. its role in creating jobs. the need to spend the government surplus. his bid for reelection. B Most Difficult p. 867 Analytical 1 The water-diversion projects that President Eisenhower supported in the West most benefited small farmers and ranching interests. local communities in several western states. large-scale agribusiness and ranching interests. Native Americans. the Democratic Party. C Average p. 867 Analytical 1 The author of The Organization Man (1956) was William H. Whyte, Jr. T Average p. 870 Factual 1 During the Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy ordered an Air Force attack on Soviet forces in Cuba. F Least Difficult p. 868 Factual 1 The Cuban missile crisis grew out of the U.S. attempt to build missile silos in Cuba. F Least Difficult p. 867 Factual 1 The agreement that divided Vietnam into two states, North and South, was the Paris Peace Accords of 1954. F Most Difficult p. 863 Factual 1 The Warren Commission concluded that the Kennedy assassination was the result of a vast conspiracy. F Average p. 893 Factual 1 The Warren Commission's account of a lone assassin came under intense scrutiny soon after its report was published. T Average p. 893 Factual 1 The period from 1954 to 1963 was one of generally steady economic growth. T Least Difficult p. 864 Factual 1 John F. Kennedy's opponent in the 1960 presidential election was Richard M. Nixon. T Least Difficult p. 885 Factual 1 The first artificial satellite ever launched into space was the Mercury. F Most Difficult p. 884 Factual 1 The Cuban-exile invasion of Castro's Cuba, approved by John F. Kennedy, was first proposed during the Eisenhower presidency. T Average p. 886 Factual 1 In the 1950s the real wages and fringe benefits of U.S. workers improved steadily. T Average p. 868 Factual 1 Dwight D. Eisenhower was aggressive in supporting civil rights. F Average p. 879 Analytical 1 In the late 1950s, secret flights over the U.S.S.R. by U-2 spy planes revealed that the Russians were militarily far ahead of the United States. F Most Difficult p. 883 Factual 1 John F. Kennedy endorsed lower taxes as a means of stimulating economic growth. T Least Difficult p. 889 Factual 1 The Kennedy administration advanced the idea of "massive retaliation." F Least Difficult p. 860 Factual 1 West Germany became a member of NATO in 1955. T Average p. 860 Factual 1 President Dwight D. Eisenhower toured the Soviet Union in 1959. F Average p. 860 Factual 1 The Paris summit of 1960 was very productive. F Average p. 860 Analytical 1 Foreign policy dominated the last six months of the Kennedy presidency. F Average p. 889-890 Factual 1 The Eisenhower administration supported democratic regimes throughout Latin America. F Average p. 862 Analytical 1 The Soviet Union provided direct support for Fidel Castro's campaign to overthrow Fulgencio Batista. F Average p. 862 Factual 1 U.S. prestige in the Middle East benefited from the Suez Canal crisis. F Average p. 863 Analytical 1 The Eisenhower administration rejected the idea of covert CIA activities to remove or assassinate leftist political leaders in the Third World. F Most Difficult p. 863 Analytical 1 Despite his fiscal conservatism, Dwight D. Eisenhower was never able to balance the budget. F Average p. 866 Analytical 1 The AFL and the CIO merged in 1955. T Least Difficult p. 868 Factual 1 John Kenneth Galbraith advanced a theory that "power elites" were effectively strangling political and economic life in the U.S.. F Average p. 868 Analytical 1 Earl Warren was appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower as chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1953. T Average p. 875 Factual 1 The Southern Manifesto supported school desegregation. F Most Difficult p. 877 Analytical 1 Dwight D. Eisenhower was reluctant to use the power of the Federal government to address the issue of racial discrimination. T Average p. 879 Factual 1 John F. Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1946. F Least Difficult p. 885 Factual 1 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 set up a mechanism for expediting lawsuits by African Americans who claimed that their voting rights had been abridged. T Average p. 878 Factual 1 Dwight D. Eisenhower won a landslide reelection victory in 1956. T Least Difficult p. 883 Factual 1 Sputnik led to reconsideration of the American educational system. T Average p. 884 Analytical 1 The National Defense Education Act of 1958 overcame congressional opposition to federal aid to education. T Average p. 884 Analytical 1 The Peace Corps was one of the John F. Kennedy's most popular initiatives. T Average p. 886 Factual 1 The Alliance for Progress was a solid success. F Average p. 886 Factual 1 John F. Kennedy was slow to fulfill his campaign promises of increased federal spending to speed economic growth. T Average p. 889 Factual 1 CENTO and SEATO were designed to extend the U.S. nuclear umbrella throughout Central and Southeast Asia. T Average p. 860 Analytical 1 Radio Liberty broadcast to the Soviet Union. T Least Difficult p. 860 Factual 1 Imre Nagy sought to create a multiparty democracy in Hungary. T Average p. 861 Factual 1 According to the Eisenhower doctrine of "massive ____________________" the threat of U.S. atomic weaponry would hold Communist powers in check. retaliation Average p. 860 Factual 1 0 The so-called ____________________ theory claimed that the loss of Southeast Asia to Communist aggression would endanger the security and stability of Europe. domino Least Difficult p. 863-864 Factual 1 0 The Supreme Court case of ____________________ v. Topeka Board of Education declared that segregation in the public schools was unconstitutional. Brown Least Difficult p. 875 Factual 1 0 The book ____________________ sparked a new phase of the feminist movement, articulating the dissatisfactions of many middle-class women. The Feminine Mystique Average p. 891 Factual 1 0 The Russian leader who came to power when Joseph Stalin died was ____________________. Nikita Khrushchev Least Difficult p. 860 Factual 1 0 The Protestant minister who wrote The Power of Positive Thinking was ____________________. Norman Vincent Peale Least Difficult p. 869 Factual 1 0 Mexican agricultural workers brought legally into the United States under short-term contracts were called ____________________. braceros Average p. 880 Factual 1 0 In December 1953, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called for a review of the U.S. military and strategic powers; this review came to be known as the "____________________". New Look Most Difficult p. 860 Factual 1 0 ____________________ led an anti-Soviet coup attempt in Hungary in 1956. Imre Nagy Most Difficult p. 861 Factual 1 0 The ____________________ emerged in South Vietnam to oppose the government of Ngo Dinh Diem. National Liberation Front Average p. 888 Factual 1 0 In 1954, historian David Potter called Americans a "people of ____________________." plenty Most Difficult p. 864 Factual 1 0 ____________________ wrote the 1958 best-seller The Affluent Society. John Kenneth Galbraith Least Difficult p. 866 Factual 1 0 Catholic Bishop ____________________ hosted an Emmy-winning TV program called Life Is Worth Living. Fulton J. Sheen Average p. 869 Factual 1 0 In the 1955 film ____________________ , a racially mixed gang of high school students terrorized teachers and mocked adult authority. The Blackboard Jungle Average p. 872 Factual 1 0 The "King" of pop music in the 1950s was ____________________.. Elvis Presley Least Difficult p. 871 Factual 1 0 Dwight D. Eisenhower's opponent in 1956 was ____________________. Adlai Stevenson Average p. 883 Factual 1 0 By 1967, almost ____________________ of the nation's Native Americans were living in relocation cities. half Average p. 880 Analytical 1 0 By 1950, more than ____________________ percent of Mexican Americans were living in urban areas. 65 Average p. 880 Factual 1 0 Arizona Republican ____________________ criticized postwar leaders for a weak defense policy in his book Conscience of a Conservative. Barry Goldwater Average p. 882 Factual 1 0 The Kennedy administration's covert program against Fidel Castro was called ____________________. Operation Mongoose Average p. 887 Factual 1 0 Nikita Khrushchev talked of ____________________ between the United States and the Soviet Union. peaceful coexistence Average p. 860 Factual 1 0 Funding for Egypt's Aswan Dam was ultimately provided by ____________________. the Soviet Union Average p. 863 Factual 1 0 In 1953, President Eisenhower called in U.S. marines to help maintain an anti-Nasser government in ____________________ Lebanon Beirut Most Difficult p. 863 Factual 1 0 Historians are still debating the role of the CIA in the 1961 assassination of Congolese nationalist ____________________. Patrice Lumumba Most Difficult p. 863 Analytical 1 0 David Riesman's 1950 study of the shift in the United States from an "inner-directed" society to an "outer-directed" one was called ____________________. The Lonely Crowd Average p. 870 Factual 1 0 Phyllis Schlafly's ____________________ became one of the leading manifestos of the Republican Party's right wing. A Choice, Not an Echo Average p. 891 Factual 1 0 John F. Kennedy appointed ____________________ to head his Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. Eleanor Roosevelt Average p. 891 Factual 1 0 President Eisenhower proposed a program called ____________________ to allow the United States and the Soviet Union to both use reconnaissance flights to verify disarmament efforts. Open Skies Most Difficult p. 860 Factual 1 0 Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist crusade was discredited in televised hearings after he had speculated about subversives in the ____________________. U.S. Army Average p. 858 Factual 1 0 President Eisenhower's secretary of state was ____________________. John Foster Dulles Least Difficult p. 860 Factual 1 0 Michael Harrington: social activist who brought the issue of poverty in the United States back to national attention. During the affluent 1950s, the American media had more or less ignored the one-third of the population that lived in poverty. Harrington, in a series of articles and later a book, brought this continued problem to national attention. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Operation Wetback: official Eisenhower policy instituted in 1952 to return illegal Mexican workers to Mexico. Many Mexican workers had entered the United States legally under the "bracero" program. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Martin Luther King, Jr.: Baptist minister who gained national prominence and fame during the Montgomery bus boycott. King helped form the SCLC and advocated nonviolent resistance in order to further civil rights legislation and end discrimination in America. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 "New Look": Eisenhower's foreign policy initiative that attempted to reduce costs in the military budget by emphasizing air power and nuclear weaponry. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Bay of Pigs: site of the failed U.S.-trained Cuban-exile invasion of Cuba that attempted to overthrow Fidel Castro in 1961. President Kennedy received blame on two fronts: first, for financing the invasion and allowing it to take place; and, from other quarters, for not immediately extending military assistance when the invasion began to falter. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 real wages: the amount of money workers make after their paychecks are adjusted for inflation. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 the sit-in movement: when young civil rights protestors demanded equal access to segregated lunch counters and other public facilities, they seated themselves and asked for service. Began in Greensboro, NC, in early 1960. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Ho Chi Minh: the European-educated Vietnamese Communist nationalist leader who fought the French, Japanese, and Americans to establish a unified, independent Vietnam. As a result of the Geneva Peace Accords of 1954, Ho Chi Minh's government was established in North Vietnam. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 redlining: practice adopted by many banks and loan institutions during the 1950s. Denied funds for home buying and business expansion in neighborhoods that were considered "decaying" or "marginal" because they contained aging buildings, dense populations, and growing numbers of nonwhites. Effectively kept money and construction projects away from the cities. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 "spirit of Geneva": describes the conciliatory spirit that followed the summit conference in Geneva, Switzerland, where the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France met. Though little progress was made in arms reduction, cultural exchanges followed and Cold War tensions eased somewhat. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Examine the beginnings of U.S. involvement in Vietnam from 1954 to 1960. U.S. involvement began on the heels of the French withdrawal from Vietnam in 1954 following their defeat by leftist forces under Ho Chi Minh at Dien Bien Phu. At first, U.S. assistance was in the form of economic aid to the new (at that time, temporary) government of South Vietnam, separated from that of Ho's Communist regime in the north by the U.S.-sponsored Geneva Accords. But even this economic assistance (and other forms of covert aid) reveal how Vietnam was located strategically within Eisenhower's broader foreign policy goal of containing any Communist threat around the world. Ho was a nationalist Communist and was seen as hostile to U.S. interests. The United States installed Ngo Dinh Diem, an American-educated Catholic, into the presidency of South Vietnam, a country that was overwhelmingly Buddhist. With U.S. support, Diem reneged on the Geneva Accords and canceled the general election that they mandated. The Diem government began to build an army and, with billions of dollars of U.S. aid, to support limited land redistribution. As many U.S. diplomats recognized, however, Diem's government was corrupt and alienated from those who called for the extension of democratic reforms, the decline of U.S. influence, and the end of Diem's corrupt government. Failing to see any other alternative to a Communist take over, the Eisenhower administration continued to send money and some one thousand military advisors to prop up the Diem government; but Eisenhower refused to commit U.S. ground troops. As Eisenhower left office, he admitted to John F. Kennedy that he was leaving him with serious problems in Vietnam. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Describe the changing strategies that labor employed in their dealings with industry during the "affluent" 1950s. Both labor and corporate leaders altered their strategies of dealing with one another during the 1950s. During the late 1930s and 1940s, some labor unions had begun to demand a greater role in economic decision making and were willing to use militant means, such as the sit-down strike, in order to achieve their goals. During the 1950s, labor unions, led by the United Auto Workers, recognized "management prerogatives"--particularly on issues such as reorganization of the daily work routine and the introduction of new technology--in order to concentrate on higher wages and better fringe benefits. Corporate leaders and academic commentators referred to this new working relationship as "industrial democracy." The business community saw "industrial democracy" as a victory. By lessening conflict with labor, it could maintain control over crucial decision-making parts of the industrial process. But business did pay a substantial price, with significant wage increases and more extensive benefit packages. Without question, many U.S. workers during the 1950s benefited from this change, seeing a real gain in their standard of living. In the process, however, unions had given up significant power--specifically over organization of the industrial work process itself. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Analyze the importance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to the emerging civil rights movement in the 1950s. Although significant civil rights initiatives were being discussed and supported by the U.S. Supreme Court, a broad pattern of political inactivity at the state and federal level convinced many younger leaders of the developing civil rights movement that more concerted, direct action would have to be taken in order to restructure race relations in the United States. The first dramatic action was taken in Montgomery, Alabama, where a bus boycott by African Americans led to the end of legal segregation in the city's transit system. During the struggle in Montgomery, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged as a vigorous and thoughtful leader. During the 1950s, Dr. King helped to push the civil rights movement across the Deep South to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). A more activist group than the NAACP, this organization promoted Dr. King's philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience. Often using religious imagery, King argued that the civil rights movement was attempting to bring "redemption and reconciliation" to America. King's crusade was aided mightily by the national media, which highlighted the emerging civil rights movement and its increasingly violent opposition, the segregationist organizations that were attempting to retain a racist, dual system of life in the South. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Outline President John F. Kennedy's foreign policy problems as they related to Cuba. When John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960, Fidel Castro had been the Communist leader of the tiny island of Cuba (some 90 miles off the U.S. coast) for several years. In part, Kennedy was elected on a promise to fight the "Cold War" more vigorously than had Dwight D. Eisenhower. Acting on his past policy statements and seeing Communist Cuba as a threat to U.S. interests, Kennedy supported a planned invasion (first conceived under Eisenhower) of Cuba through use of anti-Castro Cubans. This invasion failed miserably at the Bay of Pigs, humiliating Kennedy and sending Castro into the Soviet Union's camp. It also led to a far more dangerous and precipitous foreign policy problem, the Cuban missile crisis. Kennedy became more determined to topple Castro, and the Soviet Union sought to satisfy the Cuban leader's demands for greater support. In October 1962, U.S. spy planes detected missile-launching sites (with weapons presumably aimed at the United States) in Cuba. The Kennedy administration responded dramatically by "quarantining" Cuba and demanding that the missile silos be dismantled and the missiles returned to the Soviet Union. The United States and the Soviet Union moved to the brink of nuclear war. Complicated negotiations resolved the issues, however, as the Soviets removed the silos and the missiles, and the United States promised not to invade Cuba. But neither Kennedy nor the CIA ceased their efforts to remove Castro by other means. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Examine the 1960 election and the "New Frontier." In 1960, Democrat John F. Kennedy defeated Richard M. Nixon, the Republican vice president, in a very close, highly contested election. Kennedy and his political advisers showed great skill in wresting the nomination away from several Democratic rivals and in devising a strategy that included effective media tactics against Nixon. Kennedy promised a "New Frontier," including government assistance in the area of civil rights and antidiscrimination legislation; federal assistance to rebuild rural communities and improve urban conditions; government stimulation of the economy in order to promote faster growth; and more vigorous pursuit of Cold War policies. Kennedy's presidency brought a sense of youth and vigor not only to the White House, but to the national consciousness. Kennedy seemed more interested in foreign than domestic issues, and a series of "crises"--in Cuba, Berlin, and Vietnam--often dominated popular attention. Beginning cautiously on domestic policymaking, Kennedy finally urged tax cuts to encourage income expansion and proposed programs that would fulfill other goals of the "New Frontier," including civil rights and urban revitalization. Kennedy's 1963 death in Dallas ended the "New Frontier," though many of its promises became part of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society." TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Thirty-five years after his death, John F. Kennedy is still one of the most popular and enigmatic leaders in U.S. history. Examine Kennedy's background image and analyze the reasons for his continued popularity. John F. Kennedy came from a wealthy, politically-active Irish Catholic family. Both of his grandfathers were successful machine politicians, and his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, was U. S. ambassador to Great Britain. John Kennedy graduated from Harvard University; was a naval hero in World War II; and served in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. He was handsome, smart, articulate, charming, and energetic. His wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, was one of his greatest assets. From the onset of his presidency, the youthful Kennedys dazzled the nation with their grace, good taste, and style. They brought a "star quality" to the presidency and attracted enthusiastic idealistic young supporters to Washington. At age 43, when elected, Kennedy was the second youngest president in U.S. history. Kennedy's inaugural challenge to the nation to "ask . . . what you can do for your country" invited the attention of the public and inspired activism among young Americans. As a cold warrior, he challenged the Russians at the Berlin Wall and faced them down in the Cuban missile crisis. Even the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion was spectacular in its failure. Kennedy is also associated with the civil rights movement. Though his support for equality was lukewarm in the beginning, he used the power of his office to protect freedom riders and to integrate the Universities of Mississippi and Alabama. In the summer of 1963, Kennedy reluctantly supported the "March on Washington" and thereby helped provide a podium for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s memorable "I Have a Dream" speech. Although he could not persuade Congress to support his reform bills and deepened the American commitment in Vietnam, he is often remembered as a successful leader. The most important reason for his popularity, probably, is the fact that he was assassinated. In many ways, John F. Kennedy's presidency was more a matter of image than of substance, and it is the image of the young, romantic hero who died tragically, as well as the controversy over his death, that keeps him in the public's memory. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Examine the impact of television on U.S. society in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1950s and 1960s, television became a basic part of the everyday lives of many Americans. Interior decorators and designers organized the house plans and furniture arrangements to center around the TV set. Families moved out of the dining room to eat in front of the TV; they sat in new recliners, eating TV dinners off TV trays. Instead of having conversations, family members read TV Guide and argued over which show to watch. Television advertisers sponsored programs that idealized middle-class suburban life. In Father Knows Best, the wise father was the breadwinner for his stay-at-home-happy-housewife and his typical scrubbed-clean children. Such shows encouraged the public to emulate the consumer lifestyle portrayed on the "boob tube." Critics complained that television was destroying regional and local cultural distinctions and spreading an artificial and empty "junk" culture across the nation. Television also influenced political and social movements. In the election of 1960, the televised debates between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy won support for the Democrats. Kennedy's youthful appearance and calm demeanor contrasted sharply with Nixon's haggard looks and nervous behavior. The advent of TV made political image more important than ever before. Nightly news programs in the 1960s also zeroed in on the civil rights movement. Millions of Americans were won over to the cause of equal rights as they watched peaceful demonstrators attacked by police dogs, heard President Kennedy plead for peaceful acceptance of integration, and listened to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Discuss the role of religion in American life during the 1950s. American religious life during the 1950s reflected the pluralism that also characterized American politics. Congress emphasized general religious values by constricting a nondenominational prayer room on Capitol Hill; by adding the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance; and by declaring the phrase "In God We Trust" the official national motto. President Eisenhower urged people to practice their own religious creed, whatever it might be, and religious leaders de-emphasized the differences between the major faiths in America--Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish. Increasingly people spoke of the "Judeo-Christian tradition." During this decade a number of religious leaders became national celebrities. Norman Vincent Peale, a Protestant minister, emphasized the relationship between religious faith and everyday "peace of mind." Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen hosted an Emmy-winning prime-time TV program called Life Is Worth Living. Oral Roberts and Billy Graham--two younger, charismatic TV ministers--began to spread their fiery brand of Protestant evangelism during the 1950s. In contrast to these religious figures, who identified themselves with conservative, anticommunist causes, Dorothy Day waged a campaign for world peace and a program aimed at redistributing wealth at home through the pages of The Catholic Worker. Church leaders and laypeople from all of the three major denominations supported the antidiscrimination cause and came to play important roles in the civil rights movement. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Trace and evaluate the Eisenhower administration's Native American policies. The Eisenhower administration attempted to implement the twin goals of "termination" and "relocation" with regard to Native Americans, two goals that had been proposed under Harry S. Truman. Termination called for the national government to end its oversight of tribal affairs and to treat Native Americans as individuals rather than as members of tribes. Its long term goals were to abolish the reservations, to liquidate assets of the tribes, and to end the kinds of federal services offered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Under the relocation program, Native Americans were encouraged to leave their rural reservations and take jobs in urban areas. Both programs encouraged Native Americans to migrate to become assimilated into the social mainstream. Unfortunately, both of these programs were flawed. Almost 12,000 people lost their status as tribal members, and the bond of communal life for many Native Americans grew weaker. At the same time, nearly 1.4 million acres of tribal land were lost, often falling into the hands of land speculators. People from terminated tribes lost both their exemptions from state taxation and the social services provided by the BIA and gained almost nothing in return. Most terminated Native Americans sank into deep poverty. Relocation was similarly disastrous. Most of the relocated Native Americans found only low-paying, dead-end jobs and racial discrimination. Gradually, both Native Americans and civil rights activists mobilized against both termination and relocation. By 1957, the BIA had scaled back its initial timetable for liquidating every tribe within five years, and in 1960 both the Republicans and the Democrats repudiated termination entirely in their party platforms. The program itself was terminated in 1962. Relocation, however, continued, and by 1967 almost half of the nation's Native Americans were living in relocation cities. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Compare the foreign policy strategies of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. Essay should address several key points: A. Eisenhower and the "New Look" 1. Purpose was to keep down military expenditures a. Planned to rely less on conventional forces b. Would save lives and money 2. Proposed use of air power and nuclear capabilities 3. Advocated idea of "massive retaliation" a. Threat to use nuclear weapons to halt Communist advance b. Creation of SEATO and CENTO B. Kennedy and "flexible response" 1. Aimed at providing a variety of methods to combat growth of communism a. Formation of the Green Berets b. Economic implications 2. Development of counterinsurgency a. Use of CIA's covert capabilities and other government organizations to prevent Communist-backed insurgencies. b. Economic implications 3. Use of social scientists to assist in "nation-building" 4. Other organizations such as Peace Corps
TYPE: Long Essays 1 -1 Describe the emergence of a "mass" consumer culture and the emerging critique of this culture in 1950s America. Essay should address several key points: A. Emergence of post-World War II youth culture 1. Beginnings of rock music a. Generational rebellion b. Parental reaction 2. Consumption-oriented youth culture B. Emergence of mass culture 1. Commercially produced culture a. Beginnings of a "homogeneous society" b. Popular appeal 2. Mass culture increasingly dominated by television a. Networks and mass media b. National audiences/national tastes C. Critics of mass culture 1. Decreasing taste of Americans a. "Bad" art was driving "good" art from the marketplace b. Education of public needed 2. Role of network television a. Television programs as "products" b. Programs featured consumption-oriented suburban families 3. Social implications of television a. Breakdown of traditional community institutions b. Reshaping of household space
TYPE: Long Essays 1 -1 Explore the origins of the civil rights movement in the 1950s. Essay should address several key points: A. Judicial background of civil rights movement 1. Supreme Court and Brown v. Board of Education a. Segregation declared unconstitutional b. Implications 2. White backlash to court rulings a. Little Rock school crisis b. Violent resistance B. Martin Luther King, Jr. and grassroots civil rights 1. Montgomery bus boycott and emergence of Southern Christian Leadership Conference a. Strategy of civil disobedience b. King becomes de facto leader of the movement, especially in eyes of national media 2. Youth organizations spearhead movement a. Congress of Racial Equality b. Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee 3. Attention of media a. Close attention of network television b. Southern racism brought under close scrutiny but less attention to problems in the North
TYPE: Long Essays 1 -1 Discuss the background, personality, presidential election, foreign policy, and domestic policies of John F. Kennedy. Evaluate his legacy. Essay should address several key points: A. Background 1. Family and career 2. Personality and image B. Election of 1960 1. Clever use of the Catholic issue 2. Televised debate with Nixon 3. New Frontier 4. Narrow victory C. Foreign policy crises 1. Failure of Bay of Pigs invasion 2. Confrontation with Khrushchev, Berlin Wall built 3. Cuban missile crisis 4. Flexible response in Vietnam D. Domestic policy 1. Tax breaks and government spending 2. Cautious support for civil rights a. Protection for freedom riders b. Support for integration c. March on Washington 3. Support for women's rights E. Assassination and evaluation
TYPE: Long Essays 1 -1