Deck 21: The New ERA, 1920-1929

Question 1

For the American economy, the period after World War I into 1922 was a time of

A) declining farm prices and rapidly rising unemployment.
B) increasing exports and heavy consumer spending.
C) record investment spending and rising prices.
D) low unemployment and double-digit inflation.

Answer 1

declining farm prices and rapidly rising unemployment.

Question 2

At their party's 1924 national convention, Democrats ____________________.

A) nominated Robert La Follette as a compromise candidate
B) approved a resolution calling for an end to Prohibition
C) failed to pass a resolution condemning the Teapot Dome scandal
D) failed to pass a resolution condemning the Ku Klux Klan

Answer 2

failed to pass a resolution condemning the Ku Klux Klan

Question 3

Which of the following is true of progressive reform in the 1920s?

A) Both social and political reforms were enacted at the state and local levels.
B) The government-owned hydroelectric power project at Muscle Shoals, Alabama was sold to private interests.
C) Major federal regulatory agencies were dismantled.
D) The federal government stepped up its antitrust activity.

Answer 3

Both social and political reforms were enacted at the state and local levels.

Question 4

Which of the following statements best expresses the Supreme Court's ruling in Coronado Coal Company v. United Mine Workers?

A) A striking union can be prosecuted for illegal restraint of trade.
B) A corporation can be prosecuted for directing a hired security force to use violence against a striking union.
C) A corporation can be prosecuted for not allowing its workers to organize into a union.
D) A striking union can be prosecuted for encouraging violent tactics.

Question 5

The new consumerism between 1922 and 1929 was fueled mostly by

A) installment plans.
B) declining prices.
C) the advent of department stores.
D) modern advertising.

Question 6

Which of the following is true of the League of Women Voters during the 1920s?

A) It joined with organizations composed of African American women to fight for the rights of minority women.
B) It supported legislation to improve working conditions for employed women.
C) It encouraged women to engage in bloc voting.
D) It became the champion of feminism by campaigning for an Equal Rights Amendment to guarantee women's equality with men in all parts of society.

Question 7

In the 1920s, the ultimate symbol of social equality was the _____________________.

A) washing machine
B) radio
C) house with electricity
D) automobile

Question 8

What caused the great influx of Puerto Rican citizens to the mainland United States in the 1920s?

A) The brutality of military rule in Puerto Rico
B) A shift in the Puerto Rican economy from sugar to coffee production
C) Positive encouragement from Puerto Ricans already living on the mainland
D) Federal financing for Puerto Ricans who wanted to come to the mainland

Question 9

Which of the following is true of the National Woman's Party during the 1920s?

A) It joined with organizations composed of African American women to fight for the rights of minority women.
B) It campaigned tirelessly for enactment of sex-based labor legislation to protect employed working-class women.
C) It campaigned for a constitutional amendment to guarantee women's equality with men under the law.
D) It encouraged women to engage in bloc voting.

Question 10

Which of the following was one of Harding's major problems as president?

A) He could not work with Congress.
B) He was too liberal.
C) He sought military solutions to most international problems.
D) He appointed friends to government positions who, through bribery and fraud, used their offices for personal gain.

Question 11

The Supreme Court's ruling in Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Company ______________________.

A) overturned a minimum-wage law for women
B) upheld mandatory retirement policies
C) established the precedent that a striking union could be prosecuted for illegal restraint of trade
D) voided restrictions on child labor

Question 12

What does welfare capitalism refer to?

A) Policies adopted by some companies of offering benefits such as profit sharing and pension plans to their employees in an effort to make unions less appealing
B) The nationalization of all industry
C) The public ownership of utilities and all means of transportation
D) Tax breaks for corporations

Question 13

Which facet of the economy suffered most in the west after the First World War?

A) Railroads and mining industry
B) Import and export shipping
C) The agriculture industry
D) Cottage industry

Question 14

What caused Americans to be blinded to increasing debt and uneven prosperity?

A) Consumer culture that dominated Hollywood films
B) Concerns over national defense
C) European political squabbles
D) International affairs

Question 15

President Warren G. Harding ______________________.

A) sought the repeal of all federal regulatory legislation
B) initiated a long era of Democratic party dominance
C) appointed a head of the Veterans Bureau who was later convicted of fraud and bribery
D) appointed excellent Supreme Court Justices

Question 16

President Calvin Coolidge __________________.

A) raised tax rates on incomes over $50,000
B) engaged in deficit spending
C) vetoed bills that would have established government-backed price supports for staple crops
D) supported attempts to enforce antitrust laws more strictly

Question 17

After the First World War demobilized soldiers, the workplace was flooded and unemployment jumped to a high of ____________ in 1921.

A) 20 percent
B) 12 percent
C) 30 percent
D) 2 percent

Question 18

The Universal Negro Improvement Association declined in the mid-1920s for which of the following reasons?

A) The Black Star steamship line went bankrupt and Marcus Garvey was deported for mail fraud.
B) The death of Marcus Garvey deprived the association of its persuasive and charismatic leader.
C) Investigations revealed that the Black Star shipping line was engaged in smuggling.
D) Poor African Americans, feeling exploited by Marcus Garvey, began to reject the UNIA's radical agenda.

Question 19

Which of the following statements is most consistent with the philosophy of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association?

A) African Americans should demand integration in all areas of American society.
B) African Americans should separate themselves from corrupt white American society.
C) African Americans must elect their own candidates to state and national offices in order to become an integral part of white society.
D) African Americans must prove their ability at manual jobs in order to achieve upward mobility.

Question 20

Which of the following was true of the Justice Department during the 1920s?

A) It was the target of a congressional investigation concerning the harassment of dissidents.
B) It was the branch of the federal government that most assertively enforced liberal reform measures.
C) In a setback for organized labor, it helped end a nationwide strike by miners.
D) It supported the right of state governments to regulate business corporations in particular ways.

Question 21

The Sacco and Vanzetti case __________________.

A) reflected a growing resistance to reactionary, racist organizations
B) revealed that political and ethnic biases extended to the courts
C) proved African Americans could not be guaranteed a fair trial in the South
D) revealed that the Red Scare had disappeared

Question 22

New domestic technology changed the role of housewives in which of the following ways?

A) Housewives began to be seen as specialists in certain tasks.
B) Fewer child-raising responsibilities were placed on the housewife.
C) Management of the household became more of a shared family responsibility.
D) The housewife became the family's chief shopper rather than its chief producer.

Question 23

What was the common lament expressed by writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and T.S. Eliot?

A) The preoccupation with money in American society
B) The decline of intellect
C) The decline of manhood
D) The sexual liberation of women

Question 24

Which factor contributed to the failure of Prohibition?

A) It became obvious that the "noble experiment" caused serious economic problems.
B) Enforcement of prohibition laws was lax at both the federal and state levels.
C) Americans became disillusioned with Prohibition once they recognized that it was linked to organized crime.
D) It was completely outside the traditional American value system.

Question 25

Which of the following is considered America's most distinctive art form?

A) Jazz
B) Motion pictures
C) Musical comedy
D) Ragtime

Question 26

By the early 1930s, the increase in life expectancy and the accompanying increase in the number of elderly Americans caused what to occur?

A) The federal government established a national program of old-age insurance.
B) State governments began to provide assistance to the needy elderly.
C) Most corporations began offering retirement plans to their employees.
D) The federal government established a comprehensive retirement plan for federal employees.

Question 27

Which of the following is true of women in the work force in the 1920s?

A) Women began moving into occupations previously restricted to men.
B) Married women made up the majority of women workers by the end of the decade.
C) Married women joined the work force in increasing numbers.
D) Sex segregation in the workplace became less noticeable.

Question 28

Which of the following is true of family life in the 1920s?

A) Parental influence increased.
B) The percentage of families with five or more children increased.
C) Family members devoted more time to family tasks.
D) The divorce rate rose.

Question 29

Modernists claimed victory in the Scopes trial because _________________.

A) they believed the testimony in the trial proved fundamentalism to be illogical
B) they believed that William Jennings Bryan's eloquent defense of academic freedom led to greater national acceptance of that concept
C) the Supreme Court subsequently overturned the conviction of John Scopes
D) the state of Tennessee repealed its law prohibiting public-school instructors from teaching the theory of evolution

Question 30

Which of the following male icons was a reflection of the sexual liberalities of the 1920s?

A) Charlie Chaplin
B) Charles Lindbergh
C) Rudolph Valentino
D) Bobby Jones

Question 31

Beginning in the 1920s, the constancy with which same-age children were brought together in graded school classes, sports, and clubs ___________________.

A) made the transition to adolescence easy for most children
B) increased the importance of the peer group in socializing children
C) made children more accepting of their parents
D) reduced the self-esteem of most children

Question 32

Immigration quotas established by Congress in the 1920s ______________.

A) reflected a desire to increase immigration
B) favored northern Europeans
C) were opposed by labor unions
D) were opposed by business executives

Question 33

As a result of the growth of the suburbs, _________________

A) the boundaries of most central cities expanded as they annexed outlying areas
B) the peer group's influence on children began to decline while the family's influence increased
C) pollution and trash were spread over a larger area
D) nonwhites were able to escape the overcrowding of the inner-city ghettos

Question 34

The Ku Klux Klan of the early 1920s __________________.

A) was anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, and anti-black
B) was confined to the Deep South
C) repudiated the vigilante tactics of previous years
D) appealed to fewer people than in previous years

Question 35

Called "The Lone Eagle," he and was the most notable news hero of the 1920s:

A) Floyd Collins
B) Jack Dempsey
C) Charles A. Lindbergh
D) John Scopes

Question 36

Which of the following became a standard job benefit for white-collar workers in the 1920s?

A) A company car
B) Annual vacations
C) Company-sponsored day-care centers
D) Dental insurance

Question 37

Which of the following is true of racist, nativist, and fundamentalist groups in the 1920s?

A) Such groups engaged in terrorist acts with the ultimate aim of overthrowing the U.S. government.
B) Almost all of the members of such groups were from poor, depressed rural areas.
C) Congress labeled such groups as subversive and required their members to register with the U.S. government.
D) The members of such groups were attempting to defend the older values associated with the late nineteenth century against the materialism and rapid social change of the 1920s.

Question 38

Many of the writers of the Harlem Renaissance ___________________.

A) accepted the accommodationist approach of Booker T. Washington
B) expressed the same feelings as those expressed by the white "Lost Generation" writers
C) rejected their African heritage
D) rejected white culture and exalted the "New Negro"

Question 39

The National Origins Act of 1927 _________________.

A) allowed Europeans to freely immigrate to the United States, except for those who were defined as potential paupers
B) based immigration quotas on the 1890 census
C) was the first immigration act to exempt individuals with desirable professions from immigration quotas
D) did not establish quotas for immigrants from the Western Hemisphere

Question 40

What feature of the 1928 presidential election had the greatest significance for the future of the Democratic party?

A) The Republican candidate made significant inroads in the South.
B) The Republican candidate captured the women's vote.
C) The Democratic candidate carried the nation's twelve largest cities.
D) The Democratic candidate captured a majority of the African American vote.

Question 41

Which of the following statements accurately characterizes the American response to Europe in the years immediately following the First World War?

A) The United States government announced a fifteen-year postponement of all Allied debts.
B) The United States government generously canceled the Allied debts.
C) The United States government pressed for debt payment from France but not from Great Britain.
D) Private American charities and official relief programs provided massive amounts of foodstuffs to needy Europeans.

Question 42

Which of the following is true of the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

A) It committed the United States to a defensive alliance with France.
B) It stated that the nations signing it renounced war as an instrument of national policy.
C) It linked the nations of the Western Hemisphere in a defensive alliance.
D) It committed the nations signing it to substantial reductions in their armed forces.

Question 43

Why did European nations begin to default on repaying their debts to the United States in the late 1920s?

A) They had begun massive rearmament programs.
B) They were experiencing severe inflation.
C) They were pouring massive sums into social welfare programs.
D) They depended on reparations payments from Germany to pay their loans and, since American banks had stopped making loans to Germany, those reparations payments ceased.

Question 44

Which of the following is true of America's economic relations with the rest of the world during the 1920s?

A) American overseas investments increased substantially.
B) The nation suffered from an adverse balance of trade.
C) The nation experienced a reduction in its foreign trade.
D) The United States organized and supported the World Bank.

Question 45

Which of the following factors contributed to the Great Depression?

A) Risky stock market speculation
B) A high rate of inflation
C) The elimination of protective tariffs
D) A large and growing federal deficit

Question 46

After the First World War demobilized soldiers, the workplace was flooded and unemployment jumped to a high of ____________ in 1921.

A) 20 percent
B) 12 percent
C) 30 percent
D) 2 percent

Question 47

Which of the following statements concerning the conduct of United States foreign policy during the 1920s is correct?

A) American officials discreetly participated in meetings of the League of Nations.
B) The United States belatedly joined the League of Nations.
C) American diplomats showed no interest in the activities of the League of Nations.
D) The United States joined the World Court in Geneva.

Question 48

Discuss the philosophy espoused by Marcus Garvey, and explain his rise and ultimate decline as an influential African American leader during the 1920s.

Question 49

Which facet of the economy suffered in the west after the First World War?

A) Railroads and mining industry
B) Import and export shipping
C) The agriculture industry
D) Cottage industry

Question 50

The Dawes Plan ____________________.

A) reduced Germany's annual reparations payments
B) shortened the time period for German repayment of reparations debts
C) canceled Germany's war debts
D) stopped American loans to Germany until all past-due reparations payments were made

Question 51

Explain the emergence and expansion of the consumer society during the 1920s, and discuss the social and economic impact of consumerism and modern advertising on Americans, their institutions, and their values.

Question 52

During which span of years did Europe suffer from tens of millions of deaths as the result of world war, civil war, and an influenza epidemic?

A) 1920 to 1935
B) 1930 to 1950
C) 1914 to 1924
D) 1900 to 1915

Question 53

Which of the following is true of the Johnson Act, as passed by Congress in 1934?

A) The act forbade the government from extending loans to foreign governments that were in default on debts owed to the United States.
B) By the terms of the act, the United States returned to the gold standard.
C) The act declared a moratorium on war debts owed to the United States.
D) Through the act, American banks were permitted to open foreign branch banks.

Question 54

Which of the following was true of many American businesses in 1929?

A) In anticipation of an economic downturn in the 1930s, they had significantly reduced their inventories.
B) Having misrepresented their assets to obtain loans, they were overburdened with debt.
C) They enjoyed relatively high profits because of the expansion of foreign markets.
D) They incurred heavy losses of capital by shifting their investments from the United States stock market to less profitable European markets.

Question 55

Discuss the impact of the automobile on the American family, the American economy, and American values during the 1920s.

Question 56

Which of the following best expresses the prevailing thought in 1929 concerning economic depressions?

A) Massive government aid to business is the best way to overcome a depression.
B) Economic downturns are natural and simply must be allowed to run their course.
C) The proper course during a depression is to lower tariff levels and raise taxes.
D) The key to overcoming a depression is to raise interest rates.

Question 57

Explain the nature and extent of reform at the state and local levels during the 1920s.

Question 58

Discuss the relationship between American business interests and the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government during the 1920s.

Question 59

Explain the influx of Mexican and Puerto Rican immigrants into the United States during the 1920s, and discuss the characteristics of their lives.

Question 60

Those who called themselves isolationists wanted to ___________________.

A) withdraw from foreign affairs
B) close all foreign diplomatic missions
C) stay out of Europe's political squabbles and military alliances so that the United States would not be dragged into war
D) place an embargo on foreign trade

Question 61

Discuss the philosophy espoused by the revived Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s, and explain the growth and subsequent demise of this reactionary organization.

Question 62

Examine the changes that took place in the American family and its individual members during the 1920s.

Question 63

Explain the means by which the United States maintained its dominance over Latin America between the World Wars.

Question 64

Explain the weaknesses in the American economic system that caused the 1929 stock market crash and subsequently led to the Great Depression.

Question 65

Discuss the impact of Prohibition on Americans and their society during the 1920s, and explain the failure of "the noble experiment."

Question 66

Discuss the major themes and ideas expressed by the African American intellectuals and artists who participated in the Harlem Renaissance.

Question 67

Analyze the ways in which Scopes Trial represented ideological shifts and conflicts in 1920s America.

Question 68

Discuss the leisure-time activities of Americans during the 1920s.

Question 69

Discuss the international economic policies of the United States from 1918 to the beginning of the Great Depression, and explain why those policies failed to sustain a healthy world economy.

Question 70

Discuss the impact of change during the 1920s on the American value system.

Question 71

Discuss the American policy toward the war debts and reparations issue after the First World War, and explain the consequences of that policy.

Question 72

Explain the entry of women in increasing numbers into the American labor force during the 1920s, and discuss the extent to which new opportunities and lifestyles became available to women during that period.

Question 73

Discuss the issues and personalities in the 1928 presidential campaign, and explain the outcome of the election.

Question 74

Discuss American efforts to create a stable, orderly, and peaceful world in the interwar years.

Question 75

Discuss the ways in which consumerism led to a new sense of the heroic, and what types of heroes emerged as a result of mass culture.