The Affluent Society

Question 1

America’s economic prosperity in the 1950s was fueled by

Answer 1

• (ALL OF THESE ANSWERS ARE CORRECT)
• increased public funding of schools, housing, veterans’ benefits, welfare, and interstate highways
• massive military spending inspired by the Cold War
• the “baby boom” and rapid expansion of the suburbs
• increased spending on social programs

Question 2

Prosperity helped many Americans to ignore which of the following pressing issues during this period?

Answer 2

• (ALL OF THESE ANSWERS ARE CORRECT)
• the 20 percent of Americans who lived in poverty in the 1950s
• the discrimination suffered by minorities
• the discontent of many American women in their traditional roles
• the discontent of returning veterans

Question 3

Which portion of the nation grew most rapidly during the late 1940s and 1950s?

Answer 3

West

Question 4

The prosperity of the 1950s was accompanied by

Answer 4

corporate mergers and the formation of conglomerates.

Question 5

All of the following trends marked the American labor movement of the 1950s EXCEPT

Answer 5

greater success in organizing new workers than in winning benefits for workers already organized in strong unions.

Question 6

According to many social observers, American culture in the 1950s seemed dominated by a(n)

Answer 6

absorption with consumer goods by a growing middle class.

Question 7

In contrast to that of the central cities, life in suburbia became attractive to many American families in the 1950s because the suburbs seemed to provide

Answer 7

larger, safer, and more private homes.

Question 8

According to the widely respected child-care expert of the late 1940s and 1950s, Dr. Benjamin Spock, mothers should

Answer 8

subordinate their activities and interests to the needs of their children.

Question 9

According to the text, during the 1950s, television

Answer 9

heightened the sense of alienation and powerlessness among minority groups.

Question 10

According to the text, the most widely revered heroes of the United States during the early 1960s were the nation’s

Answer 10

astronauts

Question 11

Critics of the increasing influence of organized society argued that these changes

Answer 11

made Americans more focused on their own values and less on the concerns of society.

Question 12

Both the beats and rock ‘n’ roll

Answer 12

tried to resist the conformity of American culture in the 1950s

Question 13

When the governor of Arkansas and, later, an angry mob of citizens attempted to prevent the court-ordered racial integration of a high school in Little Rock, President Eisenhower responded by

Answer 13

sending federal troops to uphold the court order.

Question 14

The Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott was significant in establishing a new form of racial protest and in elevating which black leader to prominence as a new leader in the civil rights movement?

Answer 14

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Question 15

Joseph McCarthy’s influence in the nation waned quickly mainly as a consequence of

Answer 15

his behavior in the Army-McCarthy hearings.

Question 16

The expression “more bang for a buck” was related to Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’s announced policy of

Answer 16

massive retaliation.

Question 17

In his farewell address in January 1961, Eisenhower warned the American people against

Answer 17

the influence of the military-industrial complex.

Question 18

Which of the following scientists made his most valued contribution during the 1950s?

Answer 18

Jonas Salk

Question 19

What outcome did UNIVAC correctly predict for CBS television news, marking a breakthrough in public awareness of computer technology?

Answer 19

Eisenhower’s election in 1952

Question 20

Which of the following events served to revitalize the environmental movement in the 1950s?

Answer 20

Echo Park

Question 21

To whom is the quote “what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa” attributed?

Answer 21

Charles Wilson