1. The 1950s
Test Review

2. True or False?
Increased consumer spending enabled the economy to continue to grow after WWII.

3. True.

4. True or False?
Many of the citizens left behind in the cities as families fled to the suburbs were African Americans.

5. True.

6. True or False?
Corporations in the ‘50s valued free-thinking individuals as part of their push to innovate.

7. False.

8. As a result of the GI Bill, many returning soldiers
Found jobs in business
Decided to make a career in the military
Attended college
Received awards and bonuses for their wartime service.

9. Answer: C Attended College.

10. President Truman ended the miners’ strike by ordering government seizure of the mines while
Pressuring owners to grant most union demands.
Pressuring strikers to accept a minimum pay increase.
Pushing through a law that banned strikes in energy industries.
Pushing through a law that required mine owners to negotiate with unions.

11. Answer: A Pressuring owners to grant most union demands.

12. The States’ Rights Party formed for the 1948 election as a reaction to
The “Do-Nothing Congress”
Truman’s aggressive federal spending.
Truman’s support of civil rights.
Truman’s support of big business.

13. Answer: C Truman’s support of civil rights.

14. After WWII, labor unrest was triggered by
Rising inflation
Falling wages
Lack of jobs.
Poor working conditions.

15. Answer: A Rising inflation.

16. Topping the list of juvenile crimes in the 1950s was
Assault
Shoplifting
Vandalism
Car theft

17. Answer: D Car Theft

18. Rock “n” roll grew out of the sounds of
Jazz
Swing
Rhythm and blues
Ragtime.

19. Answer: C Rhythm and Blues

20. To benefit from a cheaper labor pool, some businesses in the 1950s began to
Hire African Americans
Hire teenagers
Expand overseas
Move to the sunbelt

21. Answer: C Expand overseas

22. In Nixon’s famous “Checkers speech” “Checkers” referred to
His political opponents
The pieces of his defense plan
His daughters
His dog

23. Answer: D His Dog.

24. Name three ways the Taft-Hartley Act limited the power of unions.

25. Outlawed the Closed Shop
Prohibited Featherbedding
Allowed right to work laws.

26. Congress passed all of the following parts of Truman’s agenda EXCEPT
A minimum wage increase.
An expansion of Social Security.
A national housing act.
A civil rights act.

27. Answer: D A Civil Rights Act.

28. According to this author, postwar America had an “economy of abundance” .

29. Who was Kenneth Galbraith?

30. Some observers criticized suburbia because it
Lacked diversity
Represented conspicuous consumption
Represented a departure from traditional values
Contributed to urban sprawl.

31. Answer: A Lacked Diversity

32. Many of the early television comedy shows were adopted from popular
Movies
Radio shows
Novels
Stage plays

33. Answer: B Radio Shows

34. Many quiz shows left the air when
Fraud was discovered in one of them.
Comedy became more popular.
They were accused of gambling.
Young audiences lost interest.

35. Answer: A Fraud was discovered in one of them.

36. The federal government’s termination policy was intended to
End poverty in the inner city by replacing slums with new high-rise buildings.
Bring Native Americans into mainstream society.
Fight juvenile delinquency.
End the dependence of poor Americans on government aid.

37. Answer: B Bring Native Americans into the mainstream.

38. While the film industry may not have been collapsing, it certainly did suffer after the war due to the popularity of
Live theater
Television
Reading
radio

39. Answer: B Television

40. What epidemic brought a wave of terror to postwar America?
Polio
Yellow fever
Influenza
Whooping cough

41. Answer: A Polio

42. About 85 percent of new home construction in the 1950s was found in
The suburbs
The city
Rural towns
The South

43. Answer: A The “Burbs”

44. What became the largest growing industry in the U.S. during the ‘50s?
Construction
Food
Advertising
Medical reseach

45. Answer: C Adverting

46. Eisenhower came to an agreement with Canada to build this waterway to aid international shipping.

47. What is the Great Lakes- St. Lawrence Seaway.

48. Truman won the election of 1948 with strong support from laborers, farmers, and which group?

49. Answer: African Americans.

50. Who was Dwight Eisenhower’s running mate in the presidential election of 1952?

51. Richard Nixon

52. With a few notable exceptions, television tended to shut out
African Americans
The middle class
Women
White-collar workers

53. Answer: A African Americans

54. Who eventually claimed the title of King of Rock and Roll?

55. Elvis Presley

56. By 1957 how many television sets were in use in the U.S.?
3 million
40 million
10 million
5 million

57. Answer: B 40 Million

58. By the middle of the 1900s, what group of people were the poorest in the nation?
Native Americans
African Americans
Irish Americans
German Americans

59. Answer: A Native Americans

60. The cores of numerous cities deteriorated as middle class flight deprived urban areas of
Termination policies
Minorities
Tax dollars
Cultural events

61. Answer: C Tax Dollars

62. The programs that tried to eliminate poverty by tearing down slums and erecting new high- rise buildings for poor residents were called
Tenements
Soup kitchens
Welfare
Urban renewal

63. Answer: D Urban renewal

64. The practice of forcing business owners to hire only union members.

65. Closed Shop

66. The period of rapidly increasing birthrates between 1945 and 1961.

67. The Baby Boom

68. These laws outlawed union shops.

69. Right to Work

70. In the ‘50, rock ‘n’ roll helped to create a cultural separation between children and their parents that became known as this.

71. Generation Gap

72. He developed an injectable vaccine for polio.

73. Jonas Salk

74. Dixiecrat Party candidate for president in 1948

75. Strom Thurmond

76. Name for Truman Domestic Agenda.

77. Fair Deal

78. Businesses in which a person owns and runs one or several stores of a chain opeation.

79. Franchise.

80. Required physical labor

81. Blue Collar

82. Practice of limiting work output in order to create more jobs.

83. Featherbedding.

84. The largest public works program in American history.

85. Federal Highway Act.

86. One of the earliest suburbs, which was located 10 miles east of New York City.

87. Levittown