AP US History · Topic 9.2
Reagan and Conservatism Practice
Part of Period 9: 1980–Present.
Practice questions
14
Sample questions
5 of 14 — sign in to practice the rest with adaptive difficulty and mastery tracking.
Sample 1difficulty 3/5
"Today we are taking an historic chance to make welfare what it was meant to be—a second chance, not a way of life… A long time ago I concluded that the current welfare system undermines the basic values of work, responsibility, and family." — President Bill Clinton, signing PRWORA, August 22, 1996
Clinton's signing of PRWORA exemplified the political strategy advisers labeled
- A
rollback, attempting to reverse Soviet gains in Eastern Europe
- B
containment, limiting communist expansion abroad
- Ccheck_circle
triangulation, positioning between traditional Democratic liberalism and Republican conservatism
- D
massive resistance, mobilizing southern Democrats against federal authority
Why
Adviser Dick Morris's "triangulation" strategy had Clinton co-opt Republican issues like welfare reform after the GOP's 1994 midterm victory, alienating some liberals but securing reelection.
- A
Sample 2difficulty 3/5
"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace." — Ronald Reagan, Berlin, 1987
Reagan's posture marked a shift from which 1970s approach?
- A
Containment under Truman
- B
Massive ground invasion of Vietnam
- C
Massive retaliation under Eisenhower
- Dcheck_circle
Detente pursued by Nixon, Ford, and Carter
Why
Reagan abandoned Kissinger-era detente accommodations for confrontation paired with arms-control diplomacy in his second term.
- A
Sample 3difficulty 3/5
"ERA means abortion funding, means homosexual privileges, means whatever else. Why should we lower ourselves to 'equal rights' when we already have superior rights, including the right to keep our husband's name and the right to be a full-time wife and mother? STOP ERA stands for Stop Taking Our Privileges." — Phyllis Schlafly, 1972
Schlafly's STOP ERA campaign helped block ratification by appealing to
- A
Wall Street financial interests
- B
Civil rights leaders
- Ccheck_circle
Traditionalist women fearing loss of homemaker protections
- D
Anti-war student activists
Why
Schlafly mobilized housewives in key state legislatures, framing ERA as a threat to alimony, custody norms, and female draft exemptions.
- A
Sample 4difficulty 3/5
"So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride—the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and labeling both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire." — Ronald Reagan, Address to the National Association of Evangelicals, March 8, 1983
Which policy initiative best reflected the strategic posture Reagan articulated in this speech?
- A
The SALT II Treaty signed by President Carter in 1979
- Bcheck_circle
The Strategic Defense Initiative announced later in March 1983
- C
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968
- D
The Helsinki Accords signed in 1975
Why
Two weeks after this address, Reagan announced SDI ("Star Wars"), proposing a missile-defense shield consistent with his rejection of parity and his framing of the USSR as an aggressor.
- A
Sample 5difficulty 3/5
"We know big government does not have all the answers. We know there's not a program for every problem. We have worked to give the American people a smaller, less bureaucratic government in Washington. And we have to give the American people one that lives within its means. The era of big government is over. But we cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves." — Bill Clinton, State of the Union, January 23, 1996
Clinton's declaration most directly reflected which mid-1990s political reality?
- A
A bipartisan consensus to expand New Deal-style entitlements
- B
Supreme Court rulings dismantling federal regulation
- C
The end of the Cold War producing a unified domestic agenda
- Dcheck_circle
The 1994 Republican takeover of Congress and the Contract with America
Why
After Newt Gingrich led Republicans to capture the House in 1994, Clinton triangulated toward the center, embracing welfare reform and limits on federal expansion.
- A