Dave’s History Quiz
Here is a quiz. Below is a narrative of major events in the second half of an exciting American century.
Afterwards, there is a question. This is fun, see of you can get it.
America was one year into a new decade. A failed coup to liberate Cuba ended in fiasco. America had been victorious in its foreign war back in the ’40s, but was now involved in a new war that divided the nation. The women’s movement was strong and fighting for an equal rights amendment to the Constitution. Johnson did not suspect that he would succeed to the presidency, but was sworn in after the president was assassinated. President Johnson would see the Civil Rights Act passed during his term. The first successful artificial insemination of a human being took place around this time.
Trouble came to Washington. Congress and the conservative Republican president were at odds over the president’s alleged abuses of power and there were enough votes in the Senate to impeach him. Despite the strong Republican reelection in ’72, many administrative figures were implicated by scandal that broke in the newspaper. Financial crisis and downturn in ’73 did not make things easier. While still in office, however, the president opened the door to a major power overseas who had formerly been our adversary. Though he lived with failure after leaving the White House, the president’s memoirs would become an acclaimed work. The solar powered motor was designed in ’76.
Telecommunications advanced in ’80 when Bell transmitted sound on a beam of light. In ’81, the president was resting under the care of doctors after being struck by a bullet. The government authorized a military build up in ’83 that used new technology. In the ’90s, America liberated a small land from a powerful aggressor in a war that gained strong public support back home. The war was won in surprisingly brief time with record low war casualties for America. The election of ’92 ended a one-term presidency for the incumbent Republican. Democrats took the White House with their first candidate that could win two elected terms to the presidency since the ’30s. Sexual scandal plagued the president, however. His affairs outside marriage made him the object of widespread jokes and media coverage with a great deal of talk among the people.
Do many of these events seem familiar?
The question comes from the first line in the story,
“America was one year into a new decade.”