Deck 24: America in a Global Context, 1989-Present

Question 1

Who ran as a third-party candidate in the 2000 presidential election,which may have helped to hand Bush the presidency by splitting the Democratic vote?​

A)John Kerry
B)Joe Lieberman
C)​Ralph Nader
D)​Ross Perot

Answer 1

​Ralph Nader

Question 2

Which statement regarding U.S.troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2008 is true?​

A)Most of the Iraqi troops under Saddam Hussein had stepped aside once the war began.
B)Public support for U.S.involvement in Iraq soared after weapons of mass destruction were found.
C)​Although hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed or injured,fewer than 500 American troops were killed in Iraq.
D)​The Bush administration had anticipated a quick victory in Iraq and had not adequately planned for remaining there as an occupying force.

Answer 2

​The Bush administration had anticipated a quick victory in Iraq and had not adequately planned for remaining there as an occupying force.

Question 3

​What was the goal of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996?

A)to help Americans get off welfare
B)to provide loans for small businesses
C)​to reform secondary school education
D)​to provide health care for uninsured Americans

Answer 3

to help Americans get off welfare

Question 4

​In 1992,Manuel Noriega was tried in a Florida court and convicted of

A)drug trafficking.
B)crimes against humanity.
C)​embezzling public funds.
D)​planning a terrorist attack.

Question 5

The "Contract with America" proposed by the Republican Party in 1994 is most closely associated with which of the following politicians?​

A)Newt Gingrich
B)John McCain
C)​Sarah Palin
D)​Dan Quayle

Question 6

Which of the following terrorist attacks occurred first?​

A)the attack on the U.S.S.Cole in Yemen
B)the truck bombing of the World Trade Center
C)​the series of attacks on American embassies in Africa
D)​the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon

Question 7

The dot-com bubble refers to a period of time in which speculative investors poured money into​

A)construction-related stocks.
B)Internet-related stocks.
C)​real estate.
D)​savings bonds.

Question 8

Between 2010 and 2013,unemployment​

A)remained at the highest level since the Great Depression.
B)rose dramatically.
C)​rose slightly.
D)​declined steadily.

Question 9

A federal government budget surplus was realized under which president?​

A)George H.W.Bush
B)George W.Bush
C)​Bill Clinton
D)​Barack Obama

Question 10

Who was John McCain's running mate in the 2008 presidential election?​

A)Joseph Biden
B)Hillary Clinton
C)​John Kerry
D)​Joseph Lieberman
E)​Sarah Palin

Question 11

Operation Desert Storm was a series of strikes carried out against what country?​

A)Afghanistan
B)Iran
C)​Iraq
D)​Kuwait

Question 12

Which of the following statements about the 2004 election is true?​

A)Two third-party candidates won electoral votes.
B)Republican candidate Bush won the presidency by a landslide.
C)​The Republicans picked up seats in both the House and the Senate.
D)​Democratic candidate John Kerry contested the outcome of the election.

Question 13

​Results of the close presidential election of 2000 were called into question due to irregularities in what state?

A)California
B)Florida
C)​Tennessee
D)​Texas

Question 14

​What position did Barack Obama hold prior to becoming president?

A)director of the NAACP
B)U.S.Senator from Illinois
C)​U.S.Senator from Hawaii
D)​Secretary of State

Question 15

In 2003,President George W.Bush sent troops to Iraq in response to reports that Saddam Hussein​

A)was preparing to attack Israel.
B)was hiding a cache of weapons of mass destruction.
C)​had made terrorist threats toward the U.S.government.
D)​dhad orchestrated the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Question 16

What was America Online?​

A)an early Internet retailer
B)one of the first online blogs
C)​an Internet service provider
D)​a conservative television news station

Question 17

President George W.Bush's waning popularity at the beginning of his second term was due in large part to his proposal for which of the following?​

A)education reform
B)changes to Social Security
C)​a national health-care system
D)​an end to unemployment insurance

Question 18

In 1994,the United States intervened in what country to help push out the military rulers as a prelude to a more democratic government?​

A)Cuba
B)Haiti
C)​Mexico
D)​Nicaragua

Question 19

The Internet went from being in less than 10 percent to more than half of American homes during which years?​

A)1990-1995
B)1996-2001
C)​2002-2007
D)​2008-2013

Question 20

During Bill Clinton's first two years as president,U.S.economy experienced all of the following except:​

A)tax increases.
B)free trade agreements.
C)​an economic recession.
D)​a decrease in the federal deficit.

Question 21

First Lady Hillary Clinton headed a task force to prepare a national health-care plan for the Clinton administration.​

Question 22

The United States was the primary leader in drafting the Kyoto Protocols,which seek to address climate change by reducing pollution.​

Question 23

During the Occupy Wall Street movement,thousands of protestors occupied financial districts to call attention to​

A)bank foreclosures
B)the nation's economic disparity
C)​the funding of repressive regimes
D)​the lack of funding for AIDS research

Question 24

The 1992 acquittal of four white police officers accused of beating Rodney King after he was stopped for speeding sparked race riots that left 53 people dead in what city?​

A)Atlanta
B)Chicago
C)​Los Angeles
D)​New York

Question 25

Subprime loans were the only loans that survived the downturn of the housing market in 2007.​

Question 26

What state's Supreme Court upheld same-sex marriages in a 2005 ruling?​

A)Alaska
B)California
C)​Massachusetts
D)​Utah
E)Vermont​

Question 27

All of the following statements about Obama's health-care reform act are true except​

A)the website hosting the program crashed.
B)the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law in 2012.
C)​the legislation was intended to provide health insurance coverage to millions of Americans.
D)​the proposed legislation received unprecedented nonpartisan support from Democrats and Republicans.

Question 28

What television network began in 1997 to give voice to the conservative perspective of commentators?​

A)Bloomberg News
B)Fox News
C)​MSNBC
D)​C-SPAN

Question 29

What did the National Congress of American Indians allege in a federal court case?​

A)The U.S.government was encouraging suicide among young Native Americans.
B)The U.S.government had unfairly regulated casino gambling on reservation land.
C)​The Indian Trust Fund had been depriving Native Americans of their payments for decades.
D)​The policy of pushing Native Americans onto reservation land violated their constitutional rights.

Question 30

​In 2005,there were an estimated 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.

Question 31

In 2013,the Supreme Court struck down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.​

Question 32

Osama bin Laden,the architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks,was killed by a team of U.S.Navy SEALs in a private compound in Pakistan.​

Question 33

President Bush issued economic sanctions against China following the brutal crackdown on student demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.​

Question 34

What U.S.senator authored the 1992 book Earth in the Balance,which alerted readers to the dangerous consequences of global warming?​

A)Joe Biden
B)Bob Dole
C)​Al Gore
D)​John Kerry
E)John McCain​

Question 35

The federal government was blamed for ineptitude following Hurricane Katrina,which resulted in hundreds of deaths and massive devastation after the failure of levees around what city?​

A)Biloxi
B)Galveston
C)​Mobile
D)​New Orleans
E)Pensacola​

Question 36

The "Don't Ask,Don't Tell" policy introduced by the Clinton administration strengthened privacy laws for medical patients.​

Question 37

Same-sex marriage became legal in Canada before the United States.​

Question 38

Conservatives such as Lynne Cheney and David Horowitz viewed "political correctness" as​

A)the cornerstone of a multicultural democratic society.
B)an overemphasis on the importance of Western culture.
C)​a violation of the principle of separation of church and state.
D)​an insistence on conforming to liberal views on race and gender.

Question 39

The Kyoto Protocols of 1997 sought to address which of the following?​

A)world hunger
B)the spread of AIDS
C)​greenhouse gases and pollution
D)​the proliferation of nuclear weapons