Period 8: 1945–1980

"If a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes. A change in social or racial occupancy generally leads to instability and a reduction in values... [Therefore] written covenants of a type which run with the land are the most effective method of preventing the infiltration of inharmonious racial groups."

— Federal Housing Administration, *Underwriting Manual*, 1938 (utilized to guide postwar housing loan policies through the 1950s)

Which of the following was a primary demographic or economic consequence of the federal policies described in the excerpt during the post–World War II era?

“I believe that history will record that we have made a grave mistake in subverting and circumventing the Constitution of the United States. . . . We are in effect giving the President war-making powers in the absence of a declaration of war. I believe that is a violation of the Constitution. . . . We cannot justify this resolution on the ground of defense. It is not defense we are talking about; it is the unilateral delegation of power to the executive branch to commit American forces to a conflict in Asia.”

—Senator Wayne Morse, speech in the United States Senate, August 1964

Which of the following developments in the 1970s was a direct political consequence of the debate surrounding the congressional resolution described in the excerpt?

“The direct and immediate cause of our difficulties is not a lack of power, but a confusion of power, an arrogance of power which leads us to believe that we can reshape other societies in our own image. . . . The war in Vietnam is not a struggle of freedom against tyranny, but a civil conflict in which we have intervened to support a series of corrupt and unrepresentative regimes. In doing so, we have not only weakened our moral standing but also diverted critical resources from the pressing domestic needs of our own Great Society.”

— Senator J. William Fulbright, *The Arrogance of Power*, 1966

The criticism of United States foreign policy expressed in the excerpt most directly challenged which of the following assumptions of the containment doctrine?

Source: Andrei Zhdanov, Soviet representative, report delivered at the founding conference of the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform), September 1947:

"The imperialist camp, headed by the United States, is striving for world domination and the destruction of democracy. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan are both parts of a single, coordinated campaign to subject Europe to American economic and political control. Under the pretext of offering aid to war-torn nations, the United States seeks to create a bloc of states bound to it by financial obligations, thereby establishing military outposts on the borders of the Soviet sphere. The democratic forces must unite to resist this new American aggression and defend national sovereignty."

Which of the following post-World War II developments most directly contributed to the United States foreign policy initiatives criticized in the excerpt?

Source: President Dwight D. Eisenhower, statement upon signing the Civil Rights Act of 1957, September 9, 1957.

"This bill, the first civil rights legislation to be enacted by the Congress in eighty-two years, is a moderate measure. Its basic purpose is to support the Constitution of the United States by securing for all of our citizens the right to vote... The bill provides for the establishment of a bipartisan Commission on Civil Rights... It also provides for an additional Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice to oversee a new Civil Rights Division."

Which of the following best explains the historical significance of the legislative action described in the excerpt?

"The Southern Student Protest Movement now going on in the South is bigger than a hamburger or even a giant-sized Coke. It is an effort to secure these rights for ourselves and for our children. But even more than that, it is an effort to rid America of the scourge of racial segregation and discrimination, not only at lunch counters, but in every aspect of life."

— Ella Baker, "Bigger Than a Hamburger," 1960

Which of the following developments in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was a direct result of the grassroots activism described in the excerpt?

"If we were not already involved as we are today in Vietnam, I would know of no reason why we should wish to become so involved, and I could think of several reasons why we should wish not to. ... South Vietnam is not a region of major military-industrial importance. ... Even a situation in which [communist] control were quite complete would not, in my opinion, present dangers to this country... comparable to those which would arise from a victory by the Soviet Union in Europe."

—George F. Kennan, testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, February 1966

Kennan’s testimony in the excerpt most directly challenges which of the following assumptions of United States foreign policy during the Cold War?

Source: National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68), April 1950:

'The assault on free institutions is worldwide now, and in the context of the present polarization of power, a defeat of free institutions anywhere is a defeat which is consistent with progress toward achieving our fundamental purpose... [This requires] a rapid build-up of political, economic, and military strength in the free world... [to] frustrate the Kremlin design.'

The policy recommendations outlined in the excerpt most directly contributed to which of the following developments in United States foreign policy during the Cold War?

"We take this action not for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam and winning the just peace we all desire. We have made and will continue to make every possible effort to end this war through negotiation. . . .

If, when the chips are down, the world’s most powerful nation, the United States of America, acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and free institutions throughout the world."
— President Richard Nixon, Address to the Nation on the Situation in Southeast Asia, April 30, 1970

Which of the following was a direct domestic consequence of the military actions described in the excerpt?

Source: Walter Lippmann, journalist and foreign policy analyst, *The Cold War*, 1947.

"The policy of containment... is a strategic monstrosity. It would require the United States to expend its resources and prestige in a series of coalitions with weak and unstable governments all along the perimeter of the Soviet empire... A policy of containment, which is based on the assumption that the Soviet power is temporary and will eventually collapse, is a policy of choosing to fight on the ground which the adversary chooses, and at the time which he chooses."

Lippmann's argument in the excerpt most directly anticipated which of the following post-Second World War developments?

Excerpt from Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

'All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.'

Which of the following tactics used by civil rights activists in the early 1960s most directly pressured the federal government to pass this legislation?

Source: President Lyndon B. Johnson, Commencement Address at Howard University, 1965.

"You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, 'you are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe that you have been completely fair. Thus it is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates. This is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result."

Which of the following best describes how the federal social welfare policies of the Great Society differed from those of the New Deal, reflecting the perspective in the excerpt?

"We regard the decision of the Supreme Court in the school cases as a clear abuse of judicial power. It climaxes a trend in the Federal judiciary undertaking to legislate, in derogation of the authority of Congress, and to encroach upon the reserved rights of the States and the people. . . . We pledge ourselves to use all lawful means to bring about a reversal of this decision which is contrary to the Constitution and to prevent the use of force in its implementation."

— Declaration of Constitutional Principles (The Southern Manifesto), 1956

The ideas expressed in the excerpt represent a continuation of which of the following historical debates?

"The current energy shortage has brought us to a critical crossroads. For years, we have enacted stringent environmental guidelines without fully considering their impact on our industrial capacity and fuel supplies. If we do not temporarily suspend certain provisions of the Clean Air Act to allow utilities to burn coal instead of imported oil, we face widespread blackouts and further inflation. We must balance our ecological aspirations with the immediate economic survival of our nation's working class."
— Congressional testimony on energy policy, 1974

The debate described in the excerpt most directly reflects which of the following historical developments during the 1970s?

"Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species—man—acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world. ... The most alarming of all man’s assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials."

— Rachel Carson, *Silent Spring*, 1962

The arguments expressed in the excerpt most directly contributed to which of the following?

Source: American Indian activists, draft manifesto for the 'Trail of Broken Treaties' caravan, 1972

'We seek a new treaty relationship with the United States government. The Native American people are not seeking charity; we are demanding justice and the restoration of our sovereign rights. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has failed to protect our lands, our resources, and our cultures. We call for the abolition of the government's termination policies and a return to the recognition of our treaty rights as sovereign nations. Only through self-determination can our people find their rightful place in modern America.'

The demands expressed in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following goals of the Native American civil rights movement in the 1970s?

Source: Congress of the United States, Preamble to the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964

"Although the economic well-being and prosperity of the United States have progressed to a level surpassing any achieved in world history... poverty continues to be the lot of a substantial number of our people. The United States can achieve its full economic and social potential as a nation only if every individual has the opportunity to contribute to the full extent of his capabilities and to participate in the workings of our society. It is, therefore, the policy of the United States to eliminate the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty in this Nation by opening to everyone the opportunity for education and training, the opportunity to work, and the opportunity to live in decency and dignity."

The goals expressed in the excerpt most directly led to the creation of which of the following?

Excerpt from a leaflet distributed by the San Francisco Diggers, a community action group, 1967:

"We are hip to the fact that to be free, one must give up the illusion of property. We are creating a free city within the city, where food, shelter, clothing, and medical care are shared without money. The capitalist machine demands your conformity and your labor to produce weapons for imperialist wars. We choose to drop out, create our own cooperative culture, and live without the constraints of the establishment."

Which of the following developments in the 1960s was the most direct cause of the sentiments expressed in the excerpt?

"The decade spanned by the Montgomery bus boycott and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 will go down as the first phase of the Negro revolution. This phase was write-in, walk-in, sit-in, and pray-in protest. Its tactics were direct action; its goals were primarily legal and social... but we must recognize that in desegregating public accommodations we were not seeking to introduce new categories of law, but to extend existing rights to Negroes... Now the movement is faced with a new task: the realization of socio-economic demands. It is not enough to desegregate a lunch counter if one cannot afford the hamburger."

— Bayard Rustin, "From Protest to Politics," 1965

The ideas expressed in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following shifts within the civil rights movement during the 1960s?

"There shall be established a loyalty investigation of every person entering civilian employment in any department or agency of the executive branch of the Federal Government. . . . The standard for the refusal of employment or the removal from employment in an executive department or agency on a grounds of disloyalty to the Government of the United States shall be that, on all the evidence, reasonable grounds exist for belief that the person involved is disloyal."

—President Harry S. Truman, Executive Order 9835, 1947

The policy described in the excerpt was primarily designed to address which of the following domestic concerns?