Deck 28: The Suburban ERA 1945-1963

Question 1

The chapter introduction uses the automobile as a symbol for the 1950s in order to make the point that

A) a culture of mobility developed, featuring abundance and a high degree of movement, especially to the suburbs.
B) the variations and yearly changes in car design reflected the diversity and divisions in American life.
C) government programs no longer focused on people (as in the New Deal), but on things (as with the Interstate Highway System).
D) car-buying adults were more influential than children and their toys in shaping American culture.

Answer 1

a culture of mobility developed, featuring abundance and a high degree of movement, especially to the suburbs.

Question 2

An earlier chapter pointed out that by 1920, more than half the American population lived in urban places. By 1960, 40 years later, half the population lived in

A) the Sunbelt.
B) western states.
C) cities of 100,000 or more.
D) suburbs.

Answer 2

suburbs.

Question 3

All of the following help explain the rise of suburbia EXCEPT

A) "white flight," which lured rural residents to the glamour and high living standards of metropolitan areas.
B) the "baby boom," which provided a large number of young families seeking their own houses.
C) availability of affordable single-family houses on their own lots.
D) availability of transportation that allowed commuting to a job elsewhere.

Answer 3

"white flight," which lured rural residents to the glamour and high living standards of metropolitan areas.

Question 4

Which of the following contributed to the explosive growth of suburbs?

A) television advertising
B) the baby boom
C) new light rail lines
D) the GI Bill of Rights

Question 5

Which one of the following was NOT a major social or economic trend of the post-World War II era?

A) a booming residential construction industry, especially in suburbia
B) rising prosperity for many Americans
C) a high birth rate
D) a cultural consensus enthusiastically supported by all segments of society

Question 6

As Henry Ford had been to mass production of automobiles, so William Levitt was to the mass production of

A) ships.
B) houses.
C) baby products.
D) religion.

Question 7

American life in the 1950s has been described-then and since-as a time of "consensus."What does your text recognize as a dark side to this consensus?

A) growing opposition to Communism
B) the growing materialism of society
C) the "beat" generation
D) mindless conformity

Question 8

Church membership in the 1950s

A) for the first time in the twentieth century declined to less than half the population.
B) for the first time in the twentieth century grew to more than half the population.
C) grew steadily in the suburbs but declined sharply in cities and rural areas.
D) became irrelevant to the consumer-oriented culture of the suburbs.

Question 9

Religion in the 1950s was

A) increasingly seen as unimportant to everyday life.
B) usually a unifying factor in the conformist communities of suburbia.
C) one way Americans in suburbia maintained a sense of identity and community.
D) marked by declining church membership in most faiths.

Question 10

Which stereotype of women was most common in the 1950s?

A) independent and career-oriented
B) an equal partner in American democracy
C) domestic and motherly
D) genteel and cultured

Question 11

Popular design features that marked the houses of suburbia included

A) simple, formal lines with clearly delineated spaces.
B) windows.
C) split-level construction.
D) basements.

Question 12

Alfred Kinsey's famous mid-century research dealt with

A) conformity.
B) human sexuality.
C) juvenile delinquency.
D) business prosperity.

Question 13

Modern Republicanism in practice meant

A) support of a universal health care plan.
B) fiscal conservatism.
C) selective cutbacks in New Deal programs like farm price supports.
D) significant hikes in military spending.

Question 14

The form of corporate growth used to minimize shocks in specific markets, used when General Electric entered markets for appliances, X-ray machines, and elevators, is known as

A) vertical integration.
B) horizontal growth.
C) diversification.
D) conglomeration.

Question 15

What phrase did President Eisenhower coin to describe the vulnerable neighbors of a country like Vietnam threatened with a Communist takeover?

A) "sitting ducks"
B) "at the brink of war"
C) "our firm friends"
D) "a row of dominoes"

Question 16

For corporations in the 1950s, diversification and conglomeration were

A) hedges against major recessions.
B) keystones of federal economic policies.
C) innovations not previously characteristic of American firms.
D) ways to avoid becoming involved overseas.

Question 17

Which of the following statements about the domestic policy style of the Eisenhower era is most accurate?

A) As president, General Eisenhower was predictably an activist and decisive leader.
B) "Ike's" presidency stressed a pragmatic and moderate approach.
C) As a staunch conservative, Eisenhower sought to eliminate as many New Deal welfare state programs as he could get away with.
D) Eisenhower used his personal popularity to persuade the Republican-dominated Congress to enact most of his legislative proposals.

Question 18

Which of the following was true at the height of the cold war in the 1950s?

A) The United States tended to rely on conventional weapons in order to save money.
B) Armed hostilities between the U.S. and USSR grew more and more intense.
C) The two superpowers competed for the allegiance of the newly independent nations of the Third World.
D) Unrest, nationalism, and even revolution plagued the countries of Europe.

Question 19

Which of the following statements about the foreign policies of the Eisenhower era is NOT true?

A) In the final stages of the French-Vietnamese war, the United States was subsidizing the costs of the French war effort.
B) The CIA orchestrated covert operations in the Middle East and Latin America that toppled governments.
C) In 1956, a joint French-British force invaded Egypt after Gamal Abdel Nasser seized control of the Suez Canal, but the U.S. sided with Egypt against its NATO allies.
D) Because of the Berlin blockade, the summit meeting scheduled for 1960 between Dwight Eisenhower and Nikita Khrushchev was never held.

Question 20

The "New Look"in cold war policy, identified with Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles, proclaimed a U.S. commitment to

A) limited war in peripheral areas.
B) "summit" negotiations with Soviet leadership.
C) containing the Soviets through security and trade agreements, covert action, and the threat of a full nuclear response.
D) continuing the Truman administration's approach to containing Communism through primary reliance on allies.

Question 21

In the final stages of the French-Vietnamese war, the United States

A) adopted a policy of strict neutrality.
B) was subsidizing the costs of the French war effort.
C) deployed nuclear weapons in support of the French.
D) contributed ground combat troops in support of the French.

Question 22

Just before leaving office in 1961, President Eisenhower warned Americans of the

A) growing Russian hostility toward China.
B) dangers of the military-industrial complex.
C) threat from internal Communist agents.
D) risks of a "missile gap."

Question 23

Which of the following offered, directly or implicitly, conscious dissent from the consensus-oriented, organizational culture of the 1950s?

A) white culture
B) rock and roll
C) the TV preachers
D) the mass media

Question 24

In the election of 1960, which of the following were key components in Kennedy's victory?

A) religion
B) race
C) ethnicity
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 25

The cornerstone of Kennedy's foreign policy in Latin America was a program known as

A) the Alliance for Progress.
B) the Peace Corps.
C) NATO.
D) the Voice of America.

Question 26

What event was Khrushchev speaking of when he said the world had come close to "destroying the human race"?

A) the Cuban missile crisis
B) the Bay of Pigs invasion
C) the construction of the Berlin Wall
D) the U-2 shoot-down over the USSR

Question 27

The National Defense Education Act of 1958, passed in response to the Soviet launch of ________, authorized federal funding of science and foreign language programs in public schools.

Question 28

The Eisenhower administration proposed the 20-year plan to create today's system of ________ highways.

Question 29

Consistent with suburbia's leisure-minded lifestyle was a new household technology that burgeoned in the 1950s: ________

Question 30

When ________ asked the United States to intervene against the Viet Minh in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, President Eisenhower refused the request.

Question 31

Identify three factors that explain suburban growth after World War II.

Question 32

Explain how each of the following affected (or were affected by) the growth of the suburbs: the federal highway system, the film industry, housewives, and African Americans.

Question 33

Describe the key features of conglomerates and diversified corporations.

Question 34

What connections were made during the 1950s between popular culture and juvenile delinquency? Why were such connections made and were they convincing, in your opinion?

Question 35

Explain how social class, religion, and ethnicity affected suburban communities.

Question 36

Explain the role of nuclear deterrence and covert operations in Eisenhower's foreign policy.

Question 37

Compare the quality of life in the suburbs with the quality of life either on farms or in cities.

Question 38

What impact did the rise of large organizations have on the American tradition of individualism?

Question 39

Compare and contrast the Eisenhower-Dulles conduct of foreign policy with that of the Truman administration.

Question 40

Critics condemned the suburban culture of the 1950s and the popular culture of the mass media. What claims did these critics make? What economic and social developments were they reacting to? In your opinion, were the criticisms justified?

Question 41

How did Dulles and Eisenhower counterbalance each other in the making of foreign policy? What were the principal swings of foreign policy during the Eisenhower administration?

Question 42

Explore the civil rights movement of the 1960s. What were the major struggles? Who were the main figures on both sides? What were some of the cases that came out as a result? Who is NOW? What, if any, advances were made by Mexican Americans? African Americans?