TEST 3: PRESIDENCY
ID_______________
Matching
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
ab.
Robert McNamara
MacGeorge Bundy
C. Douglas Dillion
Robert Kennedy
Dean Rusk
John McCone
ac.
ad.
ae.
bc.
bd.
be.
General Maxwell Taylor
Dean Acheson
Nikita Khrushchev
Andrei Gromyko
Adlai Stevenson
John Kennedy
1. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who has been in favor of Airstrikes from the outset.
2. The Soviet Premier
3. The CIA Director who compared “diplomacy” in this situation to “appeasement” before WWII.
4. Was the first one to inform the President of the Missiles, initially informed the President to bomb
them out, then changed to a Blockade.
5. Made speech to the American People informing them that we were going to Blockade Cuba
because of the Missiles.
6. Is President Kennedy’s Secretary of State who changed his mind from Airstrikes to Blockade.
7. Was the first one to come up with the idea of a Blockade.
8. Disagreed with the blockade, but still represented JFK on a trip to inform de Gaulle.
9. Filled in as the leader of the Committee (ExComm) when President Kennedy was not there.
10. Suggested to the committee that we needed to get the Diplomatic support of our Allies at the UN
before we did anything.
11. Secretary of the Treasury in favor of Airstrikes in the beginning, then changed to a Blockade.
12. Promised JFK in a meeting that the missiles in Cuba were “strictly defensive”.
Multiple Choice
13. What is the indirect method we use to elect the president?
a. Executive College b. executive agreement c. Electoral College d. electoral agreement
14. Who follows the vice president in succession to the presidency?
a. Speaker of the House b. secretary of state c. attorney general d. secretary of defense
15. The president may issue a ____ to delay a person’s punishment until a higher court can hear the
case.
a. pardon b. executive order c. reprieve d. restraining order
16. What is the most important role of the president?
a. head diplomat b. Chief Executive c. chief of state d. economic leader
17. The Twenty-fifth Amendment makes provisions for presidential
a. impeachment. b. pardons. c. protection. d. succession.
18. What is the basic goal of American foreign policy?
a. national security b. treaty negotiation c. trade sanctions d. embargo resolution
19. The president can bypass the Senate by making
a. a treaty. b. an embargo. c. a trade sanction. d. an executive agreement.
20. What is the term for efforts to punish another nation by imposing trade barriers?
a. blockades b. trade sanctions c. tariffs d. spoils
21. The United States Postal Service is an example of
a. an executive agency. b. a regulatory board. c. a government corporation. d. an independent
agency.
22. The ____ is the clearest statement of the administration’s plans and goals for the coming year.
a. cabinet b. bureaucracy c. federal budget d. Council of Economic Advisers
23. A state has as many ____ as the total of its U.S. senators and representatives.
a. spoils b. electoral votes c. points d. ballots
24. Where does the president live and work?
a. Camp David b. Capitol c. White House d. Monticello
25. The president has the power to issue an ____, which is a rule or command that has the force of
law.
a. executive order b. economic sanction c. amnesty order d. execution order
26. The president may grant ____ to pardon a group of people.
a. sanctions b. treaties c. executive agreements d. amnesty
27. According to the War Powers Act, the president must notify ____ immediately when troops are
sent into battle.
a. the Pentagon b. Congress c. the attorney general d. the public
28. What is a nation’s overall plan for dealing with other nations?
a. embargo b. trade sanction c. foreign policy d. treaty
29. ____ is a formal agreement between two or more countries.
a. An executive agreement b. A treaty c. An embargo d. An accord
30. What is money, food, military assistance, or other supplies given to help other countries?
a. international trade b. trade sanctions c. ambassadors d. foreign aid
31. What is an agreement among a group of nations that prohibits them all from trading with a target
nation?
a. an embargo b. a blockade c. a sanction treaty d. a tariff
32. The civil service system is a ____ system.
a. spoils b. congressional c. merit d. regulatory
33. Which member of the President’s cabinet is nearest to the front of the line of succession?
a. Vice President b. Speaker of the House c. President Pro Tempore of the Senate
d. Secretary of State
34. In the 2000 presidential election, which candidate carried most of New England and the Middle
Atlantic states? ____ Which carried most of the states west of the Mississippi River? ____
a. Gore; Bush b. Bush; Gore c. Gore; Gore d. Bush; Bush
35. Which power and duty does the president exercise when he or she negotiates treaties with
foreign leaders?
a. legislative leader b. economic leader c. commander in chief d. chief diplomat
36. Which of these departments in the EOP would be least likely to be dealing primarily with
economic issues?
a. Office of Management and Budget b. National Security Council c. Council of Economic
Advisors d. Office of the United States Trade Representative
37. Reagan and Clinton served two terms; George H.W. Bush served one. Taking that into account,
which of the three presidents issued, on average, the fewest executive orders per term?
a. Clinton b. Bush c. Reagan d. Clinton and Bush (exact tie)
38.
Which of these statements is NOT true of the 1960 presidential election?
a. Kennedy won, with 303 electoral votes. b. Nixon carried most of the states west of the
Mississippi River. c. An independent candidate received 15 electoral votes. d. Nixon did not
win a majority of the popular votes, but he won more of them than Kennedy did.
39. Efforts by the president to ensure that terrorist activity like that of 9/11/01 never happen again
would probably be categorized under which U.S. foreign policy goal?
a. world peace b. international trade c. national security d. promote democracy
40. Which EOP would probably have the most input on issues involving air and water pollution?
a. Office of Science and Technology b. Council on Environmental Quality c. Office of
Homeland Security d. none of the above
41. Which president on the chart had the highest percentage of his vetoes overridden?
a. Andrew Johnson b. George Washington and Andrew Jackson (tie) c. Franklin Pierce
d. Ronald Reagan
42. Which best describes the cartoonist’s view of Theodore Roosevelt’s “New Diplomacy”
a. brutal b. enlightened c. ineffective d. humane
Journalist Lincoln Steffens called Theodore Roosevelt “the first reformer president”--a leader
who cleaned up political corruption. According to Steffens’s account, when President McKinley
was assassinated and Vice President Roosevelt ascended to the presidency, the new president
tried to seem sad--but couldn’t pull it off.
. . . His offices were crowded with people, mostly reformers, all day long, and the
president did his work among them with little privacy and much rejoicing. He strode
triumphant around among us, talking and shaking hands, dictating and signing
letters, and laughing...One evening after dusk, when it was time for him to go home,
he grabbed William Allen White with one hand, me with the other, and saying, "Let's
get out of this," he propelled us out of the White House into the streets, where, for an
hour or more, he allowed his gladness to explode. With his feet, his fists, his face
and with free words he laughed at his luck. He laughed at the rage of Boss Platt and
at the tragic disappointment of Mark Hanna; these two had not only lost their
President McKinley but had been given as a substitute the man they had thought to
bury in the vice-presidency. T. R. yelped at their downfall.
43. Inferring from context: Who were Boss Platt and Mark Hanna?
a. political leaders who supported Roosevelt’s reforms b. cronies of TR’s c. journalists
d. political leaders who had helped McKinley rise to power
President Wilson addressed Congress early in 1918, stating his war aims and setting forth a basis
for peace. He began as follows:
We entered this war because violations of right had occurred which touched us to
the quick and made the life of our own people impossible unless they were corrected
and the world secured once for all against their recurrence. What we demand in this
war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and
safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation
which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be
assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force
and selfish aggression. All the peoples of the world are in effect partners in this
interest, and for our own part we see very clearly that unless justice be done to
others it will not be done to us.
44. According to President Wilson, why did the U.S. enter World War I?
a. to make life safe for Americans b. to make life safe for all the peoples of the world c. to
respond to violations of acceptable behavior by other nations d. all of the above
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, the nation was undergoing economic
disaster. People were unemployed, hungry, and afraid of the future. The nation looked to
Washington for emergency relief, and Roosevelt came to its rescue. The following is a part of his
First Inaugural Address.
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work...It is to be hoped that the
normal balance of Executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to
meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented
demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from
that normal balance of public procedure.
... I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the
crisis—broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as
the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.
45. Roosevelt pledges that, if the normal interplay between the Executive and Legislative branches
does not create jobs quickly enough, he will ____
a. declare war. b. temporarily suspend the Constitution c. blame Congress. d. ask Congress
for broad Executive powers.
Eleanor Roosevelt was the first activist First Lady. Her enormous vitality and passionate
devotion to causes, often publicized in her newspaper column, brought her attention and respect-and also criticism. This excerpt from a profile by journalist Raymond Clapper captures the
public perceptions she had to overcome.
As a newspaper columnist Mrs. Roosevelt is able to bring to public attention
many conditions which need airing and which can be corrected by simply giving
them publicity. True, she has been criticized for writing professionally, and for her
hopping about the country, some 40,000 miles a year, often driving her own car, but
the criticism never really took hold. After all, she had always led her own life.
Although some criticized her, they had to agree in the end that, even though she
was the wife of the President, she had a right to conduct her personal affairs as she
pleased.
46. Clapper doesn’t explain directly--but what does he indicate Eleanor Roosevelt was criticized for?
a. for behaving in ways people thought inappropriate for a First Lady b. for driving unsafely
c. for not really writing the newspaper column that bore her name d. for supporting unpopular
causes
War had begun in Europe in 1940. Nazi Germany had conquered France, and Great Britain was
on the verge of military collapse. Franklin Roosevelt delivered his State of the Union speech on
January 6, 1941. In a famous passage, named what he considered the four essential human
freedoms.
In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world
founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—
everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means
economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime
life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a
world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough
manner that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical
aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.
47. Which of Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms indirectly refers both to the gathering storm of World War
II and the issue of arms control?
a. freedom of speech b. freedom or religion c. freedom from want d. freedom from fear
In his farewell address to the nation, President Eisenhower spoke about the potential dangers of
the military establishment combining with the arms industry.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms
industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic,
political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the
federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet
we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and
livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
...We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether
sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the
disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or
democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and
knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial
and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that
security and liberty may prosper together..
48. According to President Eisenhower, the military-industrial complex poses a potential threat to
____
a. research and development. b. military preparedness. c. liberty and democratic processes.
d. all of the above.
49. Which letter did Robert Kennedy want to avoid responding to?
a. Letter 1 b. Letter 2 c. Letter 3 d. Letter 1 and 2 e. he did not want to respond at all.
50. Who did Robert Kennedy personally deliver the letter to?
a. Khruchshev b. Dobrynin c. Gromyko d. Zorin e. Stalin
51. How many hours did Kennedy give Khrushchev to respond?
a. 12 hours b. 24 hours c. 16 hours d. 72 hours e. none of the above.
52. What did Robert Kennedy offer in his “secret meeting”?
a. to remove the missiles in Turkey. b. to remove the missiles in Italy. c. both a and b. d. to
remove the missiles in Turkey at a later date. e. he did not offer anything.
53. What was Khruchshev response to Kennedy’s letter, which became the final agreement?
a. that they would remove the missiles in Cuba. b. that we would remove the missiles in
Turkey. c. that we would agree not to invade Cuba. d. all of the above. e. both a and c.
54. What was NATO?
a. a group of countries aligned with the Soviet Union to deter western aggression. b. a group of
countries aligned with the United States to deter Communist aggression. c. a group of people
that helped overthrow of the Batista regime in 1959. d. all of the above. e. none of the above.
55. What was the WARSAW PACT?
a. a group of countries aligned with the Soviet Union to deter western aggression. b. a group of
countries aligned with the United States to deter Communist aggression. c. a group of people
that helped overthrow of the Batista regime in 1959. d. all of the above. e. none of the above.
56. Who supported Fidel Castro?
a. a group of countries aligned with the Soviet Union to deter western aggression. b. a group of
countries aligned with the United States to deter Communist aggression. c. a group of people
that helped overthrow of the Batista regime in 1959. d. all of the above. e. none of the above.