Quiz 26: The United States in a Troubled World, 1920-1941

Which of the following statements is most consistent with the foreign policy of independent internationalism? A) The United States seeks total isolation from international affairs. B) The United States wants to be active on a global scale but retain its independence of action. C) The United States wants to become involved in various mutual security arrangements. D) The United States will support all decisions made by the League of Nations.

Those who called themselves isolationists wanted to A) withdraw from foreign affairs. B) close all foreign diplomatic missions. C) stay out of Europe's political squabbles and military alliances so that the United States would not be dragged into war. D) place an embargo on foreign trade.

Which of the following correctly states the American response to Europe in the years immediately following the First World War? A) The United States government announced a fifteen-year postponement of all Allied debts. B) The United States government generously canceled the Allied debts. C) The United States government pressed for debt payment from France but not from Great Britain. D) Private American charities and official relief programs provided massive amounts of foodstuffs to needy Europeans.

Which of the following statements concerning the conduct of United States foreign policy during the 1920s is correct? A) American officials discreetly participated in meetings of the League of Nations. B) The United States belatedly joined the League of Nations. C) American diplomats showed no interest in the activities of the League of Nations. D) The United States joined the World Court in Geneva.

Which of the following is true of the agreements reached at the Washington Naval Conference? A) Nations with possessions in the Pacific were allowed to build new fortifications. B) Japan was allowed to develop a navy larger than that of Great Britain. C) No mention was made of the Open Door policy. D) The three naval-armaments treaties that came out of the conference placed no limits on submarines, destroyers, or cruisers.

Which of the following is true of the Kellogg-Briand Pact? A) It committed the United States to a defensive alliance with France. B) It stated that the nations signing it renounced war as an instrument of national policy. C) It linked the nations of the Western Hemisphere in a defensive alliance. D) It committed the nations signing it to substantial reductions in their armed forces.

Which of the following is true of America's economic relations with the rest of the world during the 1920s? A) American overseas investments increased substantially. B) The nation suffered from an adverse balance of trade. C) The nation experienced a reduction in its foreign trade. D) The United States organized and supported the World Bank.

Both the Webb-Pomerene Act of 1918 and the Edge Act of 1919 indicated which of the following? A) The United States government encouraged foreign economic expansion. B) Congress feared that foreign investments would destabilize American foreign policy. C) Congress fostered arms sales to European nations. D) The United States gradually moved toward elimination of all tariffs.

During the 1920s, Europeans branded Americans as stingy because of America's A) humanitarian food program. B) refusal to aid Russians during a period of famine. C) handling of war debts and reparations. D) huge military arms buildup.

Which of the following is true of the Dawes Plan? A) It reduced Germany's annual reparations payments. B) It shortened the time period for German repayment of reparations debts. C) It canceled Germany's war debts. D) It stopped American loans to Germany until all past-due reparations payments were made.

Which of the following is true of the Johnson Act, passed by Congress in 1934? A) The act forbade the government from extending loans to foreign governments that were in default on debts owed to the United States. B) By the act, the United States returned to the gold standard. C) The act declared a moratorium on war debts owed to the United States. D) Through the act, American banks were permitted to open foreign branch banks.

Which of the following was a consequence of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff? A) It made it easier for Europeans to sell their goods in the United States. B) It led other nations to raise their tariff rates against American imports. C) It stimulated trade in the Western Hemisphere by creating a free-trade zone throughout the Americas. D) It encouraged European nations to eliminate tariff barriers and to create a free-trade zone throughout Europe.

At the London Conference in 1933, President Roosevelt A) refused to allow U.S. cooperation in attempts to stabilize international currency. B) called upon all nations in attendance to adopt the concept of free trade. C) agreed to lower U.S. tariff rates. D) announced the cancellation of war debts owed by European nations to the United States.

In reference to the problems associated with world trade in the early 1930s, Secretary of State Cordell Hull believed which of the following to be the "king of evils?" A) The international gold standard B) The Federal Reserve System C) The protective tariff D) The League of Nations

Under the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934, the president had the power to A) reduce American tariffs through special agreements with other nations. B) participate in economic conferences and agreements sponsored by the League of Nations. C) join international economic boycotts against nations engaging in aggression. D) authorize American companies to enter into binding trade agreements with foreign companies.

Which of the following is true of the Export-Import Bank of the United States? A) It provided loans to Latin American entrepreneurs to encourage industrialization in Latin American nations. B) It provided monetary grants to American businesses wishing to increase their export trade. C) It provided loans to foreign nations for the purchase of American goods. D) It provided monetary grants to American businesses to purchase foreign industries primarily engaged in exports to the United States.

President Roosevelt approved diplomatic recognition of the Soviet government because he A) had a lifelong fascination with Russian history and culture. B) believed that such an act would prevent Stalin from entering into an alliance with Nazi Germany. C) gave in to the adamant demands of left-wingers and Communist sympathizers within the Democratic party. D) hoped that strengthened relations with the Soviet Union would deter Japanese expansion.

In 1932, Secretary of State Henry Stimson recognized that Japanese incursions into China were analogous to A) Austria-Hungary's conduct prior to the First World War. B) Germany's takeover of Poland. C) Soviet conduct in eastern Europe. D) the military policy of the United States in Latin America.

Which of the following was true of the conduct of the United States under the Good Neighbor policy? A) It did not provide support for military dictators in Latin America. B) It provided substantial economic assistance for industrial development in Latin America. C) It no longer intervened militarily in Latin America. D) It was less blatant in its domination of Latin America.

As part of the Good Neighbor policy, President Roosevelt A) agreed to vacate the U.S. naval base in Cuba. B) encouraged Latin American countries to confiscate all foreign assets. C) joined other pan-American nations in pledging that no nation in the Western hemisphere would intervene in the affairs of any other nation. D) agreed to reschedule the debts owed by Latin American countries to American banks.

With regard to Latin America, the Roosevelt administration A) sought to stimulate economic diversification and industrial development throughout the region. B) was willing to support dictatorial regimes in the hope they would promote stability in the region. C) strictly adhered to a policy of noninterference in the domestic affairs of nations in the region. D) fostered democracy by sending impartial observers to oversee free elections in the region.

Great Britain and France responded to Germany's first aggressive moves between 1935 and 1938 by A) committing military forces to defend Ethiopia. B) pursuing a policy of appeasement. C) establishing a military alliance with the Soviet Union. D) making stern threats of war.

In the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939, A) Britain and France extended military aid to the Loyalists. B) the United States dispatched marines to aid the Loyalists. C) Russia supported the forces of Francisco Franco. D) Hitler and Mussolini sent military aid to Franco's insurgents.

The Munich accord of 1938 concerned Germany's demands on A) the Polish corridor. B) Austria. C) the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia. D) the Rhineland.

Isolationist thought in the United States in the 1930s was A) most powerful in the Northeast. B) largely confined to conservatives. C) the majority opinion in the nation. D) greatest among the less educated.

Congressional hearings chaired by Senator Gerald Nye in the mid-1930s provided evidence of which of the following? A) American corporations had largely supported the campaign for arms control legislation. B) American corporations had bribed foreign politicians to improve arms sales in the 1920s and 1930s. C) American businesspersons and financiers had pushed the nation into the First World War. D) American businesspersons and financiers had in no way influenced the nation's involvement in the First World War.

Records from the 1930s concerning American business practices abroad indicate that A) all American firms severed economic ties with Germany after learning about the Nazi persecution of Jews. B) major American corporations such as Dow Chemical and General Motors severed their business ties with Germany when the Nazis gained power. C) American petroleum exports to Italy increased despite that country's attack on Ethiopia. D) arms manufacturers in the United States supported international arms-control efforts.

Which of the following was a feature of the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s? A) The president had the authority to sell arms to nations engaged in a defensive struggle against an aggressor nation. B) All trade with nations declared to be belligerents was prohibited. C) Arms sales and loans to belligerents were forbidden. D) Belligerent nations had to post a monetary bond to insure American ships carrying trade items to them.

In a speech delivered in August 1936 at Chautauqua, New York, President Roosevelt A) pledged that the United States would act to prevent German aggression. B) called upon Congress to appropriate money for a major U.S. defense buildup. C) stood strongly against the Munich accord. D) promised that the United States would not become entangled in the conflict in Europe.

Upon learning of Kristallnacht, President Roosevelt A) recalled the United States ambassador to Germany. B) broke trade relations with Germany. C) called upon Congress to loosen the United States tough immigration-restriction laws. D) signed an executive order to admit into the United States all German children attempting to escape Nazi Germany.

In 1939, over 900 Jewish refugees on the St. Louis were A) forced to return to Europe. B) taken as prisoners after the ship was fired on by a German destroyer. C) allowed to enter the United States. D) given honorary Canadian citizenship and allowed to enter that country.

In the aftermath of the 1938 Munich crisis, President Roosevelt A) refused a French request to buy bombers from the United States. B) publicly condemned the appeasement of Hitler by Great Britain and France. C) requested that Congress appropriate funds to build up the U.S. air force. D) requested that Congress pass a resolution allowing him to use any means necessary to stop German aggression.

In a secret protocol attached to the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact, A) the Soviet Union pledged to wage war against Great Britain in the event of a British declaration of war against Germany B) the Soviet Union was allowed to take the eastern half of Poland. C) Hitler agreed to turn over the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia to the Soviet Union. D) Germany was allowed to take Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.

Great Britain and France declared war on Germany because of A) German intervention in the Spanish Civil War. B) German aggression in the Rhineland. C) Germany's invasion of Ethiopia. D) Germany's attack on Poland.

With the outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939, President Roosevelt A) declared the neutrality of the United States. B) asked Congress for a declaration of war. C) warned Germany that the United States would defend France from military attack. D) loaned a massive quantity of military supplies to Britain and France.

In 1939, after declaring the United States neutral in the war in Europe, Roosevelt A) secured congressional repeal of the arms embargo. B) provided Lend-Lease assistance to Britain and France. C) placed a total embargo on exports to Nazi Germany. D) initiated the first peacetime draft in the nation's history.

What Chinese leader in the late 1920s ousted the Communists from the Guomindang party? A) Soong Meiling B) Jiang Jieshi C) Sun Zhongshan D) Mao Zedong

The United States responded to the Japanese seizure of Manchuria from China in 1931 by A) issuing the Stimson Doctrine, which amounted to a moral lecture. B) asking the League of Nations to condemn Japanese aggression. C) doing nothing. D) imposing trade sanctions against Japan.

As a result of President Roosevelt's "quarantine" speech in response to Japan's attack on China in 1937, A) confirmed isolationists were pleased that the president responded to the incident by invoking the Neutrality Acts. B) those who believed the United States had been too soft on Japan in the past were pleased by Roosevelt's denunciation of Japan. C) Congress froze Japanese assets in the United States. D) the State Department formulated a program designed to halt Japanese aggression in the Far East.

The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 A) prohibited the drafting of American men into the armed forces until Congress adopted a formal declaration of war. B) required the racial integration of the armed forces of the United States. C) was the first peacetime military draft in American history. D) allowed women as well as men to be drafted into the armed forces of the United States.

The primary purpose of the Lend-Lease Act of 1941 was to A) sell arms to whatever nation could afford them. B) stop Japanese expansion in Asia. C) make military supplies available to an impoverished England. D) aid the Chinese in building up their military forces.

Which of the following is true of the incident in which a German submarine fired on the American destroyer Greer? A) It showed that Hitler wanted war with the United States. B) It demonstrated that American ships could be attacked at any time without provocation. C) It led President Roosevelt to give the navy the authority to fire first when threatened. D) It led Roosevelt to demand assurances from Hitler that such an attack would never occur again.

Which of the following was a consequence of the loss of the destroyer Reuben James? A) After considerable debate, Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany. B) Congress approved a revision of the Neutrality Acts to permit the transport of munitions to England on armed American merchant ships. C) The United States broke diplomatic relations with Germany. D) By joint resolution, Congress ended the use of American naval vessels to convoy British merchant ships carrying munitions.

After Japan entered the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, President Roosevelt A) waged an undeclared war against Japanese naval forces in the Pacific. B) secured legislation that gave him the power to enforce the Open Door policy in the Far East. C) imposed an embargo on shipments of aviation fuel and scrap metal to Japan. D) signed mutual defense treaties with Far Eastern nations threatened by Japanese aggression.

President Roosevelt responded to the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in July 1941 by A) adopting a wait-and-see attitude. B) freezing Japanese assets in the United States. C) sending American troops to Thailand. D) breaking diplomatic relations with the Japanese.

Why was the American fleet caught by surprise when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor? A) Cryptographers erred in translating the Japanese message and believed that the Japanese planes were on their way to the Philippines. B) President Roosevelt deliberately did not warn the fleet that an attack was imminent. C) Faulty radar equipment prevented detection of Japanese aircraft as they approached the naval base. D) The message warning of the imminence of a Japanese attack was transmitted by a slow method and arrived too late.

President Roosevelt described which of the following as "a date which will live in infamy?" A) The date on which the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor B) The date on which the British and the French allowed Hitler to take the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia C) The date on which the Japanese army seized Manchuria D) The date on which Italy attacked Ethiopia