The American Dream: Reality and Illusion 1945-80

What percentage did America contribute to world manufacturing in 1945?

50%

What percentage did America contribute to the world steel trade in 1945?

57%

What percentage did America contribute to the world oil trade in 1945?

62%

What percentage did America contribute to world car manufacturing in 1945?

80%

What percentage of the USA was unemployed in 1945?

4%

What percentage of world income did America receive in 1945?

42%

What percentage did America make up of the world's population in 1945?

7%

Compared to Canada what was the United States per capita income in 1945?

2x

What percentage of the USA was unemployed during the Great Depression?

25%

What year did Roosevelt offer the American people a New Deal?

1933

What year did Congress grant Roosevelt money to establish the Social Security Act?

1935

What year did Congress approve the War Powers Act?

1941

What percentage of Americans were college educated in 1939?

10%

What percentage of Americans were college educated in 1948?

15%

What was the population of the United States in 1945?

140 million

By 1945, what fraction of people had left their homes for training camps?

1/9

By 1945, what fraction of people had left to serve overseas?

3/4

By 1945, what fraction of people had changed their country of residence?

1/8

By 1945, what percentage of people had made a permanent move to another state?

8 million

How many black Americans were there in the United States in 1945?

14 million

How many Hispanic Americans were there in the United States in 1945?

1.2 million

How many Native Americans were there in the United States in 1945?

350,000

What year did Congress pass the GI Bill of Rights?

1944

What year was the wartime conference in Tehran held?

1943

What year was the wartime conference in Yalta held?

1945

What years was Joseph Stalin the leader of the USSR?

1925-53

What years was Winston Churchill the British Prime Minister?

1940-5 1951-5

What years was Chiang Kai-shek the Nationalist leader of China?

1928-49

What year did Truman, Churchill and Stalin meet in Potsdam?

1945

Between what years did the Council of Foreign Ministers meet for peace negotiations?

1945-1947

By what percentage did defence expenditure increase under Truman?

300%

What year was the Truman Doctrine speech speech given to Congress?

1947

How much money did Truman ask Congress to grant in aid to Greece and Turkey?

$400 million

How much money did Truman pump into the restoration of West European countries in 1947?

$13 million

How much money was granted in aid to the French in Vietnam?

$15 million

What year did George Marshall announce the Marshall plan?

1947

In what year did Stalin block Western access to the Western zones of Berlin?

1948

What year did Truman airlift millions of tons of supplies into West Berlin?

1949

What year was a constitution drawn up for a West German state?

1949

What year did the Soviets set up an East German state?

1949

What year did Mao Zedong become founding father of the People's Republic of China?

1949

What year did Kim Il Sung's Communist North Korea stage a full-scale attack on Syngman Rhee's pro-American South Korea?

1950

During what years was the Korean War?

1950-1953

What year did Truman establish NATO?

1949

How much aid did the United States give to Chiang Kai-shek before deciding he was a hopeless case?

$2 billion

What was the casualty rate of the Korean war?

30%

What was the name of the General who turned the war around with an assault on Inchon in September 1950?

Douglas MacArthur

How many demobilised American veterans returned home in 1945?

12 million

What bill did Congress pass empowering federal government 'to use all practical means' to foster 'maximum employment' in 1945?

The Employment Act

How many weeks unemployment pay was given to returning veterans in Roosevelt's GI Bill of Rights in 1944?

52

How much money did the GI Bill of Rights distribute between 1945 and 1955?

$20 billion

How many veterans benefited from the GI Bill of Rights between 1945 and 1955?

7.8 million

How high was inflation between 1945-46?

25%

What office established by Roosevelt did Truman use to tackle inflation in 1946?

Office of Price Administration (OPA)

What act passed by Roosevelt in 1935 increase union power?

Wagner Act

In 1945, how many workers were unionised?

15 million

What percentage of the non-agricultural force was unionised in 1945?

36%

How many steelworkers walked out in January 1946?

800,000

How many miners walked out in April 1946?

400,000

What year did Truman take the United Mine Workers to court for staging another protest?

1946

How many strikes took place in 1946?

4985

How many workers in total were involved in the the strikes in 1946?

4.6 million

How many working days were lost in total in 1946?

116 million

In what year did did the Republican-controlled Congress pass the Taft-Hartley Act to curtail union power?

1947

What year did steelworkers threaten to strike after not having had a pay rise since 1950?

1953

Under what executive order did Truman seize control of the steel mills in 1952?

Executive Order No. 10340

When steelworkers striked in 1952, by what fraction was military output cut?

1/3

What year did Truman extend the Social Security Act to 1 million more Americans?

1950

What was the minimum wage raised to in 1950?

$0.75 per hour

What year did the Housing Act promise to build 810,000 federally subsidised public housing units for low-income Americans?

1949

How many federally subsidised public housing units were actually built under the Housing Act by 1953?

150,000

What year did the 22nd Amendment set a two term limit on Presidents?

1951

In what year did Republicans seize control of Congress for the first time since 1928?

1946

How many bills proposed by Truman did Congress override?

12

How many bills proposed by Congress did Truman veto?

250

What year did Truman pass the National School Lunch Act?

1946

What year did Truman introduce the phrase 'Fair Deal' to describe social reforms he was urging Congress to pass?

1949

What percentage of the first $6300 of a person's income did Truman propose to tax for a national health insurance scheme?

4%

What year did Republicans dominate HUAC and Congress?

1947

What was the name of the group of writers and directors investigated by HUAC, convicted of contempt of Congress and given one year prison sentences?

Hollywood 10

What was the name of the executive order issued by Truman to investigate into the loyalty of federal employees in 1947?

Executive Order No. 9835

What year did Congress pass the Internal Security Act (McCarran Act) that made it necessary for members of Communist affiliated organisations to register with the federal government or face prison or fines?

1950

What was the name of FBI chief who ordered his men to follow up all leads on subversives, however trivial?

Edgar Hoover

How many investigations took place between 1947 and 1952?

3 million

How many dismissals took place between 1947 and 1952?

1000

What was the name of scientist who was arrested for betraying atomic secrets to the Soviets in 1950?

Karl Fuchs

What was the name of the of the State Department official who was arrested in 1950?

Alger Hiss

What was the name of the Communists who were the only American citizens executed for espionage during the Cold War?

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

In Spring 1948 what percentage of Americans considered Truman too soft on the Soviets?

73%

What year did McCarthy make a series of speeches saying there were card-carrying Communists in the State Department?

1950

What was the name of the Conservative Democrat who led a committee established by the Senate to investigate McCarthy's charges?

Millard Tydings

What year did Millard Tydings fail to get re-elected after a fake photo of him and Earl Browder was circulated?

1950

What year did McCarthy head congressional committees that investigated Communist subversives in the United States?

1952

When state legislatures joined the anti-Communist witch hunt how many government employees lost their jobs?

500

When state legislatures joined the anti-Communist witch hunt how many school teachers lost their jobs?

600

When state legislatures joined the anti-Communist witch hunt how many college professors lost their jobs?

150

What percentage of Southern black people could vote in 1940?

3%

What percentage of Southern black people could vote in 1947?

12%

What year did Rosa Parks 'fail' the literacy test when she tried to register to vote?

1943

How much did Rosa Parks have to pay when she finally registered to vote in 1945?

$16.50