Musings of the Sundarman

History 101: The Stormy Sixties: 1960-1968

1. Question: Who did John F. Kennedy elect to be the new attorney general when he became president?

Answer: His brother Robert Kennedy

2. Question: This industry increased their prices shortly after Kennedy came to office, much to his anger.

a. Auto

b. Aerospace

c. Steel

d. Entertainment

Answer: C

3. Question: Which of the following was NOT one of Kennedy's actions in response to attacks by big business?

a. He slashed taxes

b. He promoted more government spending

c. He directed money into private hands

d. He promoted project for moon landing

Answer: B

4. Question: After the investment of 24 billion dollars, American astronauts landed on the moon in what year?

a. 1966

b. 1967

c. 1968

d. 1969

Answer: D

5. Question: When Kennedy met with Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev in 1961, what was the threat made by the Soviet leader?

Answer: That he would cut off Western access to Berlin after making a treaty with East Germany.

6. Question: What did the Soviet Union do in Germany instead of cutting off Western access to Berlin?

Answer: They built the Berlin Wall, blocking the immigration from East to West Germany through Berlin.

7. This free-trade area called __________________ eventually became the European Union.

Answer: Common Market

8. Question: France, under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle, prevented the acceptance of this nation into the Common Market membership, because of concerns for American dominance over Europe.

a. Soviet Union

b. Britain

c. Germany

d. Spain

Answer: B

9. Question: Which nation's leader demanded an independent Europe, free of American and Soviet influence?

a. Britain

b. France

c. Germany

d. Spain

Answer: B

10. Question: This nation was thought to be a possible way for communism from China to spread into the rest of Southern Asia. In 1962, the Geneva conference ordered peace in that nation.

Answer: Laos.

11. Question: What was Kennedy's response to Vietnam's Anti-Diem agitators, who threatened to overthrow their pro-American government?

Answer: He decided to send in significantly more U.S. troops in order to enact social reforms and protect Diem from communism.

12. Question: True or false. Throughout the entire time U.S. was in Vietnam, it continued to support the power of the right-wing Diem government.

Answer: False.

13. Question: In 1960, Kennedy and Johnson administration adviser Walt Whitman Rostow, published this influential book, which charted path to the age of mass-consumption.

Answer: The Stages of Economic Growth

14. Question: Aimed at calming communists by bridging gap between rich and poor in Latin America, Kennedy extended a helping hand in the form of this plan in 1961.

Answer: Alliance for Progress (Alianza para el Progreso).

15. Question: Kennedy stepped up to take responsibility for the failure of which attempt to overthrown Fidel Castro of Cuba in 1961?

Answer: Bay of Pigs invasion