AP US History (APUSH) Unit 8: Period 8, 1945-1980 Practice Questions with Explanations
Questions
Period 8 (1945–1980) is defined mainly by
- the Revolution and the writing of the Constitution
- industrialization, immigration, and the rise of big business
- westward expansion and the coming of the Civil War
- the Cold War, civil rights, and social change
Which tension runs through much of Period 8?
- Arguments over joining the League of Nations
- Conflict between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans
- Liberal activism versus a growing conservative backlash
- Debate over whether to keep slavery in the western territories
After 1945, the United States emerged as
- an isolated regional power
- a declining industrial nation
- a colony of Britain
- a global superpower
The U.S. Cold War policy of containment aimed to
- roll back communism in the Soviet Union by invading it directly
- withdraw American forces from Europe and Asia after 1945
- stop the spread of communism
- share atomic weapons technology with the Soviet Union
The Truman Doctrine (1947) pledged U.S. support for
- the Soviet Union's control of Eastern Europe after the war
- colonial empires seeking to keep their Asian colonies
- Japan's rebuilding as a military power in the Pacific
- free peoples resisting communist pressure
The Marshall Plan (1948) provided
- military bases for U.S. troops in the Soviet Union
- funds to build the atomic bomb
- loans to the Soviet Union to rebuild its industry
- economic aid to rebuild Western Europe
The Berlin Airlift (1948–1949) responded to
- a communist revolution in East Germany
- the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961
- a Soviet blockade of West Berlin
- a German attack on Soviet forces
NATO, formed in 1949, was
- an economic union of communist nations in Eastern Europe
- a trade agreement between the U.S. and Japan
- an alliance of the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe
- the United Nations agency for refugees
The Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955 in response to
- West Germany joining NATO
- the Korean War armistice
- the Marshall Plan
- the Cuban Missile Crisis
Which two events in 1949 alarmed Americans about the spread of communism?
- The Korean War armistice and Stalin's death
- The launch of Sputnik and the U-2 incident
- The Soviet atomic bomb and the communist victory in China
- The building of the Berlin Wall and the failed Bay of Pigs invasion
NSC-68 (1950) recommended
- sharing nuclear secrets with the Soviet Union
- withdrawing U.S. troops from Europe after the war
- cutting the defense budget to reduce the deficit
- a massive military buildup to contain communism
The Korean War began in 1950 when
- the Soviet Union invaded Manchuria
- the U.S. invaded North Korea
- China invaded Japan
- North Korea invaded South Korea
Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur in 1951 because MacArthur
- supported withdrawing from Asia
- refused to fight in Korea
- publicly pushed to widen the war against China
- negotiated a secret peace with North Korea behind Truman's back
The Korean War ended in 1953 with
- a communist victory over all of Korea
- a U.S. invasion of China
- the unification of Korea under the South
- an armistice near the 38th parallel
Eisenhower's "massive retaliation" policy relied on
- the threat of nuclear weapons to deter aggression
- large ground armies stationed in every allied nation
- economic aid and foreign trade alone
- covert action and spies to overthrow every communist government
The domino theory held that
- nuclear war was unavoidable
- if one nation fell to communism, its neighbors would follow
- communism would collapse on its own within a decade without U.S. action
- the U.S. should give up Asia to the Soviet Union
The CIA helped overthrow elected governments in which two countries in the 1950s?
- Cuba and Mexico
- Poland and Hungary
- Vietnam and Laos
- Iran and Guatemala
The Soviet launch of Sputnik (1957) led the U.S. to
- sign a treaty banning space exploration
- join the Warsaw Pact
- create NASA and expand science education
- abandon its missile programs
The Bay of Pigs invasion (1961) was
- the start of the Vietnam War
- a Soviet attack on Florida
- a successful U.S. naval blockade that removed Soviet missiles from Cuba
- a failed CIA-backed invasion of Cuba by exiles
During the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), Kennedy responded to Soviet missiles in Cuba with
- a naval "quarantine" of Cuba
- an immediate nuclear strike on Moscow
- a full invasion of Cuba by U.S. troops
- the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Europe
Which agreement followed the Cuban Missile Crisis?
- The Limited Test Ban Treaty (1963)
- The Marshall Plan
- The SALT II treaty
- The Warsaw Pact
Détente in the 1970s meant
- easing tensions with the Soviet Union and China
- invading Soviet allies in Africa
- cutting all trade with communist nations
- escalating the arms race with new nuclear weapons
SALT I (1972) was significant as
- a treaty ending the Vietnam War and withdrawing all troops
- the creation of NATO
- a trade deal with China
- an agreement limiting U.S. and Soviet nuclear arms
Nixon's 1972 trip to China was significant because it
- created a permanent U.S. military base on the Chinese mainland
- started the Cuban Missile Crisis
- opened relations with the People's Republic of China
- ended the Korean War
The Camp David Accords (1978), brokered by Jimmy Carter, led to
- a U.S. alliance with the Soviet Union
- peace between Egypt and Israel
- the end of the Iran hostage crisis
- the return of the Panama Canal
The Iran hostage crisis (1979–1981) began when
- Iran invaded neighboring Iraq and seized its oil fields
- the Soviet Union invaded Iran
- Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran
- the CIA overthrew the shah
The U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest
- Soviet support for North Vietnam
- the building of the Berlin Wall
- the Iran hostage crisis
- the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Eisenhower warned in his 1961 farewell address about the growing influence of
- communist sympathizers in Hollywood
- civil rights activists in the South
- the military-industrial complex
- labor unions in the steel industry
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to
- protect NATO troops from attack
- keep West Germans and NATO soldiers out of East Berlin
- stop East Germans from fleeing to the West
- divide Berlin into four zones
The Korean War ended with a peace treaty that unified Korea.
Which were part of the U.S. policy of containment?
- The Truman Doctrine
- The Marshall Plan
- NATO
- The Warsaw Pact
What 1957 Soviet satellite sparked the space race? (name)
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated
- civil rights groups in the South and their funding
- suspected communists in government and Hollywood
- labor unions accused of supporting the Republicans
- corruption in the Truman administration's cabinet
Senator Joseph McCarthy became famous in 1950 by
- claiming communists worked in the State Department
- writing the Truman Doctrine
- exposing Soviet spies in the Manhattan Project
- leading the U.S. Army in Korea
McCarthy's influence collapsed after
- the televised Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954
- he was elected president in 1952
- the Korean War began in 1950
- the Rosenbergs were executed in 1953
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in 1953 for
- leading the Communist Party's Hollywood branch in Los Angeles
- organizing a general strike
- passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union
- assassinating a U.S. senator
Alger Hiss, a former State Department official, was convicted in 1950 of
- leading the Bay of Pigs invasion
- bribing members of Congress
- perjury related to spying accusations
- sabotaging the Marshall Plan
Truman's Loyalty Review Board (1947) was created to
- review the loyalty of NATO allies
- test soldiers before the Korean War
- approve Marshall Plan spending
- investigate federal employees' loyalty
The term "McCarthyism" now refers to
- a policy of containing communism through foreign aid
- making reckless accusations of disloyalty
- a plan to rebuild Japan after World War II
- support for civil rights legislation in the South
Hollywood studios responded to the Red Scare by
- blacklisting writers and actors suspected of communist ties
- refusing to cooperate with HUAC
- producing films praising communism
- moving film production to the Soviet Union to avoid HUAC investigations
Joseph McCarthy was censured by the U.S. Senate.
The GI Bill (1944) helped veterans by
- giving each veteran 160 acres of public land
- paying for college and offering home loans
- exempting veterans from all federal taxes
- guaranteeing government jobs for life
The "baby boom" refers to
- a sudden drop in the U.S. birth rate during World War II
- a wave of immigration from Asia after 1965
- the growth of factories in the South
- a sharp rise in births from about 1946 to 1964
Levittown, New York, became a symbol of
- integration in northern neighborhoods
- urban renewal and public housing towers
- mass-produced suburban housing
- rural electrification under the New Deal
The Interstate Highway Act (1956)
- banned trucks from crossing state lines
- created Amtrak and passenger rail service
- funded a national system of highways
- paid for public transit in cities
The Sun Belt refers to
- states along the Canadian border
- northern industrial cities losing population
- farming regions of the Great Plains
- fast-growing southern and western states
The Taft-Hartley Act (1947), passed over Truman's veto,
- merged the AFL and CIO
- limited the power of labor unions
- guaranteed the right to strike
- created the minimum wage
Which group was often excluded from the benefits of suburban growth in the 1950s?
- White veterans
- African Americans
- Factory managers
- Middle-class families
Michael Harrington's The Other America (1962) called attention to
- the spread of communism in Asia
- poverty that persisted amid postwar prosperity
- the decline of the middle class in the suburbs
- the dangers of nuclear war
The OPEC oil embargo of 1973 caused
- a boom in American car sales
- a sharp drop in gasoline prices for American drivers
- the end of the Vietnam War
- gas shortages and rising prices in the U.S.