Quiz for Sources for America’s History, Chapter 28

Question

1. How did Lyndon Johnson conceive of American college and university students in “The Great Society” speech he gave at the University of Michigan in 1964 (Document 28-1)?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is c. In his speech, Johnson spoke to the student audience as if they were his allies and his supporters. He aimed to sway them over to his position by saying, “For better or for worse, your generation has been appointed by history to deal with those problems and to lead America toward a new age. You have the chance never before afforded to any people in any age. You can help build a society where the demands of morality, and the needs of the spirit, can be realized in the life of the Nation. So, will you join in the battle to give every citizen the full equality which God enjoins and the law requires, whatever his belief, or race, or the color of his skin? Will you join in the battle to give every citizen an escape from the crushing weight of poverty?”
Incorrect. The answer is c. In his speech, Johnson spoke to the student audience as if they were his allies and his supporters. He aimed to sway them over to his position by saying, “For better or for worse, your generation has been appointed by history to deal with those problems and to lead America toward a new age. You have the chance never before afforded to any people in any age. You can help build a society where the demands of morality, and the needs of the spirit, can be realized in the life of the Nation. So, will you join in the battle to give every citizen the full equality which God enjoins and the law requires, whatever his belief, or race, or the color of his skin? Will you join in the battle to give every citizen an escape from the crushing weight of poverty?”

Question

2. According to John Kerry’s testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1971 (Document 28-2), American veterans of the war in Vietnam were the angriest about which of the following?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is d. Kerry detailed many reasons for the veterans’ anger about the war but indicated that they were most upset by the lies the U.S. government had perpetrated about the war’s purpose. He wrote, “We are probably angriest about all that we were told about Vietnam and about the mystical war against communism. We found that not only was it a civil war, an effort by a people who had for years been seeking their liberation from any colonial influence whatsoever, but also we found that the Vietnamese whom we had enthusiastically molded after our own image were hard put to take up the fight against the threat we were supposedly saving them from. We found most people didn’t even know the difference between communism and democracy. They only wanted to work in rice paddies without helicopters strafing them and bombs with napalm burning their villages and tearing their country apart.”
Incorrect. The answer is d. Kerry detailed many reasons for the veterans’ anger about the war but indicated that they were most upset by the lies the U.S. government had perpetrated about the war’s purpose. He wrote, “We are probably angriest about all that we were told about Vietnam and about the mystical war against communism. We found that not only was it a civil war, an effort by a people who had for years been seeking their liberation from any colonial influence whatsoever, but also we found that the Vietnamese whom we had enthusiastically molded after our own image were hard put to take up the fight against the threat we were supposedly saving them from. We found most people didn’t even know the difference between communism and democracy. They only wanted to work in rice paddies without helicopters strafing them and bombs with napalm burning their villages and tearing their country apart.”

Question

3. In its 1969 manifesto (Document 28-3), the women’s liberation organization known as Redstockings wrote, “Because we have lived so intimately with our oppressors, in isolation from each other, we have been kept from seeing our personal suffering as a political condition. This creates the illusion that a woman’s relationship with her man is a matter of interplay between two unique personalities, and can be worked out individually. In reality, every such relationship is a class relationship, and the conflicts between individual men and women are political conflicts that can only be solved collectively.” This analysis of women’s position in American society is best represented by which of the following feminist expressions?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is b. The Redstockings argued in the late 1960s that the problems women experienced in their families and in their relationships with men were perceived as personal problems but that, in reality, they were political problems that could only be addressed through political organization and revolution. Women’s liberationists, including Redstockings, used the phrase “the personal is political” and argued that raising consciousness was the means through which women could gain the “female class consciousness” they needed to change the world.
Incorrect. The answer is b. The Redstockings argued in the late 1960s that the problems women experienced in their families and in their relationships with men were perceived as personal problems but that, in reality, they were political problems that could only be addressed through political organization and revolution. Women’s liberationists, including Redstockings, used the phrase “the personal is political” and argued that raising consciousness was the means through which women could gain the “female class consciousness” they needed to change the world.

Question

4. In his “Letter from Delano” (Document 28-4), Cesar Chavez emphasized and reiterated his commitment to nonviolence. The content of the letter suggests that Chavez was motivated to write the letter to the grower E. L. Barr Jr. in 1969 because he

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is c. Although Chavez’s letter emphasizes the power of nonviolence throughout, it also refers repeatedly to the possibility that violence will likely emerge in the conflict between the farm workers and the grape growers in California. In the context of 1969, after the assassinations of King and Kennedy, Chavez seemed to believe that violence was inevitable. The letter asks for Barr’s assistance against violence, but also makes clear that Chavez planned to do everything he could to discourage it from erupting at all.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Although Chavez’s letter emphasizes the power of nonviolence throughout, it also refers repeatedly to the possibility that violence will likely emerge in the conflict between the farm workers and the grape growers in California. In the context of 1969, after the assassinations of King and Kennedy, Chavez seemed to believe that violence was inevitable. The letter asks for Barr’s assistance against violence, but also makes clear that Chavez planned to do everything he could to discourage it from erupting at all.

Question

5. Which of the following groups would have been most likely to line up in support of the goals Barry Goldwater outlined in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in 1964 (Document 28-5)?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is a. Barry Goldwater’s speech outlined an anticommunist and antigovernment platform and promoted free enterprise and a strident foreign policy that included the use of nuclear weapons. Young Americans for Freedom, which attracted conservative students who asserted their faith in “God-given free will” and feared that the federal government “accumulates power which tends to diminish order and liberty,” would have issued strong support for Goldwater’s agenda.
Incorrect. The answer is a. Barry Goldwater’s speech outlined an anticommunist and antigovernment platform and promoted free enterprise and a strident foreign policy that included the use of nuclear weapons. Young Americans for Freedom, which attracted conservative students who asserted their faith in “God-given free will” and feared that the federal government “accumulates power which tends to diminish order and liberty,” would have issued strong support for Goldwater’s agenda.