Name ____________________________________ Period ___________
STAAR Review Chapters 29 - 31
Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
1. Which of the following U.S. industries was most badly hurt by deindustrialization in the 1970s?
a. Automobile
b. Textile
c. Steel
d. Furniture
2. The War Powers Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Fair Campaign Practices Act, and the Federal
Intelligence Surveillance Act were passed as a result of
a. the Vietnam War.
b. Nixon’s imperial presidency.
c. the CIA’s increasing influence on national politics.
d. the Watergate scandal.
3. Why did President Ford pardon Nixon a month after Ford took office in 1973?
a. Nixon had been punished enough by having to resign the presidency.
b. Putting Nixon on trial would reveal information damaging to national security.
c. He wished to spare the country the agony of rehashing Watergate.
d. Nixon was depressed and suicidal.
4. Who was the presidential candidate who ran as a Washington outsider and promised to clean up
government?
a. Jimmy Carter
b. Richard Nixon
c. Gerald Ford
d. Hubert Humphrey
5. Which of the following factors accounted for the demographic growth of the Sunbelt in the 1970s and
1980s?
a. Global warming
b. Northeastern elitism
c. Deindustrialization
d. The West’s conservatism
6. In an attempt to combat stagflation, President Carter
a. created an industrial policy to bail out manufacturing companies.
b. took the United States off the gold standard.
c. issued temporary price and wage controls.
d. deregulated the transportation industries.
7. How did President Carter respond to the energy crisis of the 1970s?
a. Carter called for tighter federal controls on oil and natural gas prices.
b. Carter advocated for energy conservation efforts as “the moral equivalent of war.”
c. He imposed rationing on gasoline and heating fuel, and he placed tariffs on
imported petroleum.
d. He liberalized environmental laws and increased reliance on coal and nuclear
power.
8. In the case of Bakke v. University of California (1978), which of the following issues was under review?
a. Affirmative action
b. Abortion rights
c. Environmental pollution
d. Corruption in Congress
9. Which of the following describes the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)?
a. The law was first proposed by the National Organization for Women (NOW) in
1970.
b. It was ratified by thirty-four states by the end of 1974, but its progress stalled.
c. President Nixon, an ardent opponent of feminism, vetoed it in 1973.
d. The issue divided moderate from radical feminists, causing the decline of the
movement.
10. Which of the following was detrimental to expanding women’s rights in the 1970s and 1980s?
a. Phyllis Schlafly’s STOP ERA
b. The House of Representatives
c. The National Women’s Political Caucus
d. Title IX
11. The Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade was based on
a. misuse of federal funds.
b. reverse discrimination.
c. the right to privacy.
d. separation of church and state.
12. What happened to the typical American worker’s real wages between 1973 and the early 1990s?
a. Real wages increased by 5 percent.
b. Wages declined by 10 percent.
c. Wages declined by 25 percent.
d. Wages stayed the same.
13. Which of the following issues did evangelicals disregard as they fought against the influences of what
they believed to be an immoral society?
a. Individual rights
b. The nuclear family
c. Strict gender roles
d. Motherhood
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14. How did the conservatives of the Cold War era differ from the American conservatives of the early
twentieth century?
a. Cold War conservatives embraced big government.
b. Cold War conservatives favored corporate regulation.
c. Cold War conservatives reversed their earlier isolationism.
d. Cold War conservatives supported civil rights.
15. The person who contributed most directly to the rise of conservatism in American politics after World
War II was
a. George H. W. Bush.
b. Barry Goldwater.
c. Nelson Rockefeller.
d. Gerald Ford.
16. Conservative Protestants and Catholics joined together as part of the Religious Right and condemned
a. American poverty.
b. deregulation of transportation.
c. feminism.
d. welfare reform.
17. The Moral Majority was founded by which of the following evangelical Christians?
a. Pat Robertson
b. James Dobson
c. Jerry Falwell
d. Billy Graham
18. The Moral Majority favored
a. the Equal Rights Amendment.
b. a ban on abortion.
c. welfare payments for single mothers.
d. court-mandated busing.
19. Which of the following describes the New Right in 1980?
a. The New Right was controlled by religious leader Billy Graham.
b. The New Right never gained any support at the federal level.
c. Its leaders sought a strong government to ameliorate the problem of poverty.
d. Its leaders opposed big government and feared declining social morality.
20. Which of the following was the central theme of Carter’s foreign policy throughout his administration?
a. Use of covert military action to overthrow communist regimes
b. Economic aid to noncommunist countries
c. A commitment to human rights
d. American control over the sources of imported petroleum
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21. What was President Carter’s major achievement for world peace in 1978?
a. Agreeing to return control of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama
b. Ending human rights abuses in the Philippines and Korea
c. Stopping apartheid in South Africa
d. Brokering a “framework for peace” for Egypt and Israel
22. Which of the following precipitated a crisis in American-Iranian relations in 1979?
a. A communist revolution in Iran
b. President Carter’s criticism of the Iranian secret police
c. American support for the deposed shah of Iran
d. Iranian terrorist activity in the United States
23. After the 1980 election, which of the following parties gained control of the U.S. Senate for the first time
since 1954?
a. The Democrats
b. The Republicans
c. The Reagan coalition
d. The Religious Right
24. Ronald Reagan’s 1980 victory can be attributed to
a. Americans’ frustrations over the nation’s declining prosperity and power.
b. the ineptitude of his predecessor, Gerald Ford.
c. his adept handling of the hostage crisis during his first term.
d. Americans’ frustrations over the Iran-Contra affair.
25. Which of the following additions to the Republican platform reflected the influence of the Religious
Right in 1980?
a. A mandatory death penalty for certain crimes
b. Making assault weapons more difficult to attain
c. Support for the Equal Rights Amendment
d. Protection for the rights of all religions in public schools
26. Which of the following was true of Republicans in the 1980s?
a. They supported quotas to ensure equal employment opportunities.
b. They opposed government inaction in social welfare issues.
c. Their core was upper-middle-class white Protestants.
d. To save money, they wanted to cut defense spending.
27. Which of the following issues did the New Right reject during the 1980 presidential election?
a. Banning abortion
b. Permitting voluntary school prayer
c. Opposing the Equal Rights Amendment
d. Increasing federal spending on social welfare programs
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28. Supply-side economics, as practiced by the Reagan administration, rested on
a. balancing the federal budget as the highest priority.
b. using tax cuts to stimulate investment, which would eventually result in higher tax
revenues.
c. stimulating the national economy by increasing federal spending.
d. increasing the money supply with lower interest rates, which would improve the
economy.
29. Which of the following was an outcome of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981?
a. A return to the gold standard
b. A higher tax rate for millionaires
c. Corporate income tax increases to offset cuts in personal income taxes
d. A $200 billion cut in the federal government’s annual revenue
30. Reaganomics increased the share of wealth held by
a. corporations and wealthy Americans.
b. the working poor and welfare recipients.
c. the Religious Right and the working poor.
d. the Religious Right and other religious groups.
31. Which of the following is true of the Reagan presidency?
a. The gap between rich and poor narrowed.
b. The national debt tripled.
c. Reagan’s policies reduced homelessness.
d. Federal aid to poor families increased.
32. Which of the following describes Sandra Day O’Connor?
a. She was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court.
b. O’Connor was the leader of NOW during the 1980s.
c. She was among the first women to be appointed to a presidential cabinet post.
d. She was a vocal opponent of Clarence Thomas’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
33. America’s main economic competitors in the world market in the 1980s were
a. France and Australia.
b. West Germany and Japan.
c. Canada and England.
d. China and Mexico.
34. Who did President Reagan christen as the “heroes for the eighties”?
a. Self-made entrepreneurs
b. The U.S. hockey team that defeated Russia in the Olympics
c. Actors who put on AIDS benefits
d. The U.S. military for defeating communism
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35. By increasing America’s arms buildup in its defense against communism, President Reagan abandoned
the diplomatic policy of
a. Harry Truman.
b. Dwight Eisenhower.
c. Lyndon Johnson.
d. Richard Nixon.
36. During the Reagan administration, the CIA funded an anticommunist movement in
a. Cuba.
b. Eastern Europe.
c. Central America.
d. Southeast Asia.
37. The profits from the secret sale of arms to Iran in the 1980s were used to
a. finance President Reagan’s reelection campaign.
b. aid the Contras, an opposition group in Nicaragua.
c. free all hostages held by pro-Iranian forces in Lebanon.
d. bolster Kuwait’s defenses against Iraq.
38. American foreign policy changed dramatically as a result of President Reagan’s rapport with
a. Ayatollah Khomeini.
b. Mikhail Gorbachev.
c. Saddam Hussein.
d. Margaret Thatcher.
39. Which of the following is true regarding the 1991 Persian Gulf War?
a. Women comprised about 10 percent of American troops but were not sent to
combat zones.
b. It was hindered by continuing influence of the Vietnam syndrome.
c. The United States acted with the approval of the UN Security Council.
d. President Bush’s popularity plummeted as a result of the war.
40. Which nation quadrupled its gross domestic product between 2000 and 2008?
a. The United States
b. Russia
c. Germany
d. China
41. Which group of nations signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993?
a. Jamaica, Haiti, and the United States
b. The United States, Mexico, and Canada
c. The United States, Cuba, and Panama
d. Mexico, the United States, and Haiti
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42. Globalization advanced in the 1990s due to corporations’ quest for new markets and their
a. need for raw materials.
b. search for cheaper sources of labor.
c. effort to borrow money at lower interest rates.
d. desire to improve the quality of life in the developing world.
43. Which of the following developments has transformed business and the economy since the mid-1990s?
a. Television
b. The Internet
c. Fax machines
d. Immigration
44. When Patrick Buchanan referred to “a culture war” in the 1980s, he was talking about
a. a struggle over the public funding of the arts and humanities.
b. the confrontation between American Christianity and Middle Eastern Islam.
c. a national struggle between rights liberalism and Christian family morality.
d. the long-standing debate over the difference between high- and lowbrow culture.
45. The overwhelming majority of immigrants to the United States between 1970 and 2000 came from
a. East Asia and Latin America.
b. Canada and Great Britain.
c. Europe and Africa.
d. Africa and Canada.
46. In the 1990s, conservatives expressed their belief that multiculturalism would
a. strengthen the nation by making it more diverse.
b. confer preferential treatment on minority groups.
c. make it easier for immigrants to acculturate to American society.
d. decrease tensions between blacks and Asians in the inner city.
47. President Bill Clinton’s strategy for getting elected in 1992 was to
a. appeal to the Democratic Party’s liberal base.
b. reject his party’s platform entirely and create one that appealed to the opposing
party’s base.
c. make no promises he could not keep.
d. promote centrist “New Democrat” policies that reflected some elements of
conservatism.
48. Which of the following hurt President George H. W. Bush’s reelection efforts in 1992?
a. The economy had been weak during his term.
b. The media revealed that he had been a draft dodger.
c. He was a card-carrying member of the ACLU.
d. He claimed to be a Texas resident even though he lived in Maine.
49. Which of the following posed a major stumbling block to Bill Clinton’s political agenda?
a. Republican gains in the 1994 midterm elections
b. The president’s centrist approach
c. An increasingly troubled economy
d. The Supreme Court
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50. Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996) in
response to public concern about
a. poverty.
b. dependence on welfare.
c. immigration.
d. health costs.
51. President Bill Clinton was officially impeached in 1998 for
a. adultery.
b. sexual misconduct.
c. real estate fraud.
d. perjury and obstruction of justice.
52. Muslim fundamentalists began to target Americans in the 1990s because
a. they had always hated the United States.
b. Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran directed the attacks.
c. they objected to the American presence in Saudi Arabia.
d. Americans threatened civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.
53. The Clinton administration addressed the emergence of the Al Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan by
a. ignoring it.
b. deploying ground troops in the region.
c. ordering air strikes on its bases.
d. ordering the CIA to find and assassinate Osama Bin Laden.
54. The election of 2000 was historically significant because
a. it was the first time a third-party candidate swayed the results.
b. it had the highest voter turnout since 1968.
c. the Supreme Court intervened and decided the outcome.
d. it was the first time the Solid South voted Republican.
55. The defining event of President George W. Bush’s administration was
a. the Iraq War.
b. Hurricane Katrina.
c. nuclear proliferation.
d. global warming.
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