Anna Gassett

History 1320

The American Yawp

Chapter 26 – The Affluent Society

1. What was the relationship between the federal government and economic growth in the
aftermath of World War II?
a. Federal spending created more economic growth
b. Federal spending slowed economic growth
c. Economic growth resulted from less federal spending
d. Economic stagnation resulted from less federal spending
A. Federal spending created more economic growth. Pg. 290. Government spending during
and after the war pushed the country out of depression and into an economic boom.

2. Which of the following enabled the rising purchase of consumer goods?

a. Increased production that lowered prices
b. Use of installment plans
c. Mass-distribution of credit cards
d. All of the above
D. All of the above. Pg. 291. The rising purchase of consumer goods is as result of installment
plans, increased industry production, and the major use of credit cards.

3. How did federal housing programs discriminate against Americans of color?

a. Redlining neighborhoods that included Americans of color
b. Claiming that Americans of color were at a greater risk of defaulting on FHA loans
c. Creating self-fulfilling prophecies that racially integrated neighborhoods would have
depreciating home values
d. All of the above
D. All of the above. Pg. 292-293. Federal housing programs discriminated against colored
Americans through redlining, claiming that diverse a neighborhood would have lower home
values, and assuming that people of color would default on FHA loans.

4. What was the result of Brown v. Board of Education?

a. Ruled against segregated public schools
b. Overturned the legal logic of Plessy v. Ferguson
c. Extended the reach of the Fourteenth Amendment
d. All of the above
D. All of the above. Pg. 295. Brown v. Board of Education resulted in overturning Plessy v.
Ferguson, declared segregated schools to be unconstitutional, and found that segregation
violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
5. Who first challenged segregation on buses?
a. Mary-Louise Smith
b. Rosa Parks
c. Sarah Keys
d. Emmett Till
C. Sarah Keys. Pg. 299-300. Years before Rosa Park’s bus confrontation, a woman named
Sarah Keys refused to give her seat up on a Montgomery city bus and it landed her in jail.

6. Why was Emmett Till murdered?

a. Allegedly whistling at a white woman
b. Refusing to give up a bus seat to a white woman
c. Sneaking into a movie theater with a white girlfriend
d. Protesting segregation in Mississippi public schools
A. Allegedly whistling at a white woman. Pg. 300. Emmett Till was murdered by two white
men for allegedly whistling at Carolyn Bryant.

7. What did the Civil Rights Act of 1957 accomplish?

a. Created a Civil Rights Commission in the Department of Justice to investigate claims
of racial discrimination
b. Legalized interracial marriage
c. Demanded the integration of all public colleges and universities
d. All of the above
A. Created a Civil Rights Commission in the Department of Justice to investigate claims
of racial discrimination. Pg. 301. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 created the Department of
Justice’s Civil Rights Commission that looked into cases of racial discrimination.

8. Which of the following best describes the marketing techniques of early television
executives?
a. Finding programming that would appeal to the widest possible audience
b. Using targeted regional programming that created different shows for different
regions of the country
c. Creating new channels to market directly to smaller groups whose attention was
particularly desired by advertisers
d. Designing programming that appealed primarily to children
A. Finding programming that would appeal to the widest possible audience. Pg. 303. Because
of the limited number of channels, television networks chose programs that could appeal to
the largest possible audience.

9. What groups experienced the increased fertility rates associated with the baby boom?
a. Wealthy Americans from all racial backgrounds
b. White Americans from all economic levels
c. Americans of color from all economic levels
d. Americans from all racial, social, and class lines
A. Wealthy Americans from all racial backgrounds. Pg. 303. Families that were wealthy
enough had large families with larger homes.

10. What was the name of the 1950s counterculture that rejected the values of conformity and
domesticity?
a. Hippies
b. Beats
c. Toughs
d. Zoot Suiters
B. Beats. Pg. 305. The Beat Generation broke out of the typical ways of living and sought a
deeper meaning to life.

11. The churches most common in suburban America tended most frequently celebrated which
of the following cultural values?
a. Social justice
b. Economic individualism
c. Nonviolence and peacemaking
d. Communal unity
B. Economic individualism. Pg. 307. Churches in suburban communities reinforced
conservation views as well as economic individualism.

12. Who were the “Brass Hats?”

a. Union leaders who encouraged a new wave of strikes in the 1950s
b. Reformers in the Catholic church who tried to highlight American principles already
present in ancient church teachings
c. The leadership of the National Association of Manufacturers who created advertising
campaigns supporting free enterprise.
d. Young Americans who grew disenchanted with consumerism and instead embraced
artistic creativity as he ultimate end of life
C. The leadership of the National Association of Manufacturers who created advertising
campaigns supporting free enterprise. Pg. 306. The “Brass Hats” were the NAM, who
campaigned for “free enterprise.”

13. Which of the following right wing think tanks were created in the first decade following
WWII?
a. Foundation for Economic Education
b. Mont Pelerin Society
c. Both of these
d. Neither of these
C. Both of these. Pg. 307. The FEE and MPS were both created to help legitimize the
libertarian ideology.

14. What is the name of the University of Chicago economist who helped to develop the
intellectual position of libertarian economics?
a. Leonard Reed
b. Jasper Crane
c. John Maynard Keynes
d. Milton Friedman
D. Milton Friedman. Pg. 307. Milton Friedman was an economist from the University of
Chicago that became the president of MPS.

15. Congressional opposition from which faction plagued Dwight D. Eisenhower’s

administration?
a. Liberal Democrats
b. Conservative Republicans
c. Both
d. Neither
C. Both. Pg. 309. Because of Eisenhower’s moderate political stance, Conservative
Republicans and Liberal Democrats both gave him a hard time.

What were the contradictions of the Affluent Society?

Although the American economy was experiencing massive growth through consumer
goods, there were flaws in the system. Women still struggled to gain equal rights to men in
society, the poor struggled to gain access to adequate schooling, jobs, and healthcare, and
with the popularity of suburban living, the cities became impoverish and dangerous.
Although some people experienced lifestyles of liberation, others found religion and
schooling to be conforming and strict. Black Americans still faces segregation and
discrimination while white Americans were experiencing booming opportunity.

How did American life change in the 1950s?

A sense of conformity was common among Americans in the ‘50s as many followed
the social norms. However, the “Beat Generation” stepped out of the box and challenged the
typical norms and patterns of society. This resulted in the birth of rock and roll music and
other new forms of art. American economy evolved to becoming consumer-oriented where
the middle class had conveniences that may have been priorly held by upper-class Americans.
Also, the population of the suburbs exploded as homes became more affordable for many.