SparkNotes: Franklin D. Roosevelt: Review Test

1. What were the names of FDR's parents?

(A) James and Eleanor Delano Roosevelt

(B) James and Anna Delano Roosevelt

(C) James and Sara Delano Roosevelt

(D) Theodore and Sara Delano Roosevelt

2. What fault in his upbringing did FDR's experience at Groton reveal?

(A) He had no experience with other children of his own age

(B) He had learned German and French at home instead of the required Latin

(C) He had no experience with anyone other than the wealthy

(D) He had seen less of the world than other boys of his age

3. Which school did FDR enter in 1900?

(A) Columbia

(B) Yale

(C) Harvard

(D) Princeton

4. Which characteristic led to Roosevelt's success at Harvard and election as editor-in-chief of the school paper, the Crimson?

(A) Intelligence

(B) Enthusiasm

(C) Skill at oratory

(D) Political Guile

5. Biographers speculate that despite the differences in their upbringing, Franklin and Eleanor may have shared:

(A) An interest in social reform

(B) Size ten shoes

(C) Insecurities about their ability to garner the love of those around them

(D) Aspirations for a successful political career

6. How did Sara Roosevelt react to her son's decision to marry so early in his life?

(A) She blessed the union heartily

(B) She approved of Franklin's choice of the able-minded Eleanor

(C) She resented the union for diverting Franklin's affections from her

(D) She believed that it was unorthodox for distant cousins to marry

7. How many surviving children did the Roosevelts have?

(A) Five

(B) Four

(C) Three

(D) Six

8. To which state legislature was Roosevelt elected in 1910 at the age of twenty- nine?

(A) Massachusetts

(B) New Jersey

(C) New York

(D) New Hampshire

9. Who was the campaign manager whose successful partnership with FDR would last well into the White House Years?

(A) Harry Hopkins

(B) Louis Howe

(C) Al Smith

(D) Huey Long

10. When FDR lost his first battle to Tammany Hall in the legislature, which presidential candidate did he support in order to further his chances of an appointment in Washington?

(A) Herbert Hoover

(B) Theodore Roosevelt

(C) Calvin Coolidge

(D) Woodrow Wilson

11. To what position was FDR appointed in the Wilson administration?

(A) Assistant Secretary of State

(B) Assistant Secretary of the Navy

(C) Assistant Secretary of Labor

(D) Assistant Secretary of Defense

12. When World War I broke out in Europe, what course of action did Roosevelt actively support while in office?

(A) Isolationism

(B) Immediate entry into the war

(C) Army and Navy preparedness

(D) The lend-lease plan

13. Why do historians surmise that James Cox, with Roosevelt as his vice- presidential running mate, running on the platform of support for the League of Nations and administrative reform in Washington, lost so decidedly?

(A) Voters were disappointed that Woodrow Wilson, who had led Americans to victory in WWI, did not run again

(B) Voters were unimpressed by Roosevelt's short list of political achievements

(C) The Democratic Party was divided over the Prohibition issue

(D) Voters did not want to risk any more involvement with other nations after the bloodiness of WWI

14. What disease struck Roosevelt unexpectedly as he vacationed with his family at Campobello?

(A) Polio

(B) Multiple Sclerosis

(C) Sickle Cell Disease

(D) Muscular Dystrophy

15. What effect do many biographers believe that paralysis had on Roosevelt?

(A) His illness kept him from achieving the greatness for which he was originally destined

(B) It allowed him to gain the sympathy of the voters and thereby, their vote

(C) It increased his empathy for the day-to-day suffering of the majority of Americans

(D) It made him depressed and reserved for a number of years

16. Which member(s) of Roosevelt's closest circle kept his name alive in politics while he recovered from his illness?

(A) Eleanor Roosevelt and Louis Howe

(B) Louis Howe

(C) Sara Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt

(D) Governor Al Smith

17. What political motive did Al Smith have for asking Roosevelt to run for governor in New York during his campaign for President in 1928?

(A) He wanted the Roosevelt name to strengthen the Democratic Party in that state

(B) He wanted Roosevelt and Tammany Hall to be forced to secure a peace

(C) He wanted to offset the negative effects of his urban, Catholic background in New York

(D) He believed that Roosevelt would be a supporter of his Progressive political agenda

18. Why do historians suspect that Roosevelt began to encourage state spending to offset the effects of the Depression in New York?

(A) He sought to broaden his voter base in preparation for a possible presidential nomination in 1932

(B) Eleanor, a strong social reformer and liberal, encouraged him to do so

(C) He was a Progressive, and by now, strongly believed that the government should care for the basic welfare of its citizens

(D) The New York budget had a large surplus with which he was eager to dispense

19. What was the name given to the group of advisers Roosevelt gathered together to help him secure the Presidential nomination in 1932?

(A) The Secret Seven

(B) The Brain Trust

(C) The Famous Five

(D) The Fabulous Four

20. Which of the following is a good description of Herbert Hoover in office during the Depression?

(A) Viewed as impotent against the rising crisis by the suffering populace

(B) A hardworking conservative who was reluctant to spend federal money on direct aid to the poor

(C) Neither of the above

(D) Both of the above

21. Roosevelt's behavior to Hoover during the lame duck period, the time between the election and the inauguration of the new President, can be best described as:

(A) Very cooperative

(B) Somewhat cooperative

(C) Neutral

(D) Uncooperative

22. What crisis did President Roosevelt attack first in office?

(A) The Bonus Army

(B) The banking crisis

(C) Severe unemployment

(D) The plight of the farmers

23. For approximately how many days did the Emergency Session of Congress convened by President Roosevelt meet?

(A) Thirty

(B) Fifty

(C) 100

(D) 130

24. What was the primary mechanism the Agricultural Adjustment Act of May 1933 used to increase farmers' profits?

(A) Controlling production to increase prices

(B) Taxing processors of farm products

(C) Arbitrarily declaring higher prices

(D) Declaring a farmers' holiday

25. Which of the following programs, one of Roosevelt's favorites, paid young men to do conservation work in work camps run by the army?

(A) AAA

(B) NRA

(C) WPA

(D) CCC

26. The National Recovery Administration (NRA) represented the Roosevelt administration's uneasy initial alliance with

(A) The Soviet Union

(B) Latin America

(C) Big business

(D) Labor

27. The Civil Works Administration, the organization that enabled many American to survive the bitter winter of 1933–1934, was under the able leadership of :

(A) Harry Hopkins

(B) Louis Howe

(C) Harold Ickes

(D) Raymond Moley

28. Which group of businessmen and conservatives attacked Roosevelt's policies from the right?

(A) Tammany Hall

(B) The Atlantic Charter

(C) The American Liberty League

(D) The Rough Riders

29. Which left-wing opponent of Roosevelt created the "Share our Wealth" movement, which called for all large fortunes to be liquidated, and for all citizens to receive a yearly income of $2,500?

(A) Dr. Francis Townsend

(B) Francis Perkins

(C) Reverend Charles Coughlin

(D) Senator Huey Long

30. What effect did the Supreme Court decision overturning the NRA have on Roosevelt's political agenda?

(A) This decision alone forced him into proposing the court-packing plan

(B) He realized that he could no longer support labor

(C) He ended the uneasy alliance with big business

(D) He was forced to become more conservative, as seen in the Second New Deal

31. Who ran against Roosevelt in the election of 1936?

(A) Wendell Wilkie

(B) Alfred Landon

(C) Herbert Hoover

(D) Thomas Dewey

32. Which group of voters, hardest-hit by the Depression and reliant on the New Deal relief programs, became strong supporters of the Democratic Party in this election?

(A) Irish Americans

(B) Japanese Americans

(C) Native Americans

(D) African Americans

33. What plan of Roosevelt's, introduced in the wake of his landslide victory in the 1936 presidential election, was roundly denounced by citizens and legislators?

(A) The court-packing plan

(B) The lend-lease plan

(C) The national industrial recovery plan

(D) The bank holiday

34. Roosevelt would often say of the court-packing plan that he had lost the battle but won the war. What apparent benefit did the court-packing plan have for Roosevelt?

(A) It allowed him to gain the support of conservatives and liberals alike

(B) By showing that he could fight against even the Supreme Court, Roosevelt increased the power of the executive

(C) As many of the most conservative judges either retired or passed away, the Supreme Court ceased to be a barrier against reform legislation

(D) It revealed his complete control over Congress and the voters

35. What ill effects did the court-packing plan have for Roosevelt?

(A) The bill's abrupt end at his own party's hands revealed the limitations of the thus-far invincible President, and allowed for the rise of a conservative bloc in Congress

(B) Combined with the recession of 1937, it contributed to a downturn of Roosevelt's popularity.

(C) Both of the above

(D) Neither of the above

36. What is the primary cause of the economic downturn of 1937?

(A) Low farm prices

(B) High tariffs

(C) Slowdown in world trade

(D) Roosevelt's eagerness to cut deficit spending

37. The New Deal almost completely ended in 1938 because of Roosevelt's preoccupation with

(A) Lucy Mercer

(B) The Supreme Court

(C) His bad relationship with big business

(D) Foreign policy

38. Roosevelt was the first President to actively pursue a friendly relationship with:

(A) China

(B) The Soviet Union

(C) Germany

(D) Japan

39. Roosevelt actively sought out an alliance with the Soviet Union because

(A) He wanted to increase American trade with the U.S.S.R.

(B) He mistakenly hoped that the Soviet Union would be a trustworthy ally against Germany and Japan's rising power

(C) He was secretly pursuing an internationalist policy while giving lip service to isolationism

(D) Both A and B (C is open to debate)

40. Most Americans at the beginning of WWII in Europe believed that American intervention in WWI had been:

(A) Necessary

(B) The right thing to do

(C) A tragic mistake

(D) Excessive

41. Roosevelt decided to run for a third term because

(A) There were no Democrats to continue the New Deal

(B) Of the international situation

(C) He had decided to stay in office until he died

(D) His closest aides advised him to do so

42. Which of Roosevelt's opponents was a former Democrat who shared many of his views?

(A) Wendell Wilkie

(B) Henry Wallace

(C) Thomas Dewey

(D) Alfred Landon

43. Which acts passed by an isolationist Congress did Roosevelt circumvent through the Lend-Lease Act, which allowed a penniless Britain to borrow or lease munitions from the United States?

(A) The Neutrality Acts

(B) The Reciprocal Trade Agreements

(C) The Wagner Act

(D) The Social Security Act

44. Like President Wilson before him, Roosevelt hesitated to ask Congress for a declaration of war against Germany, Italy, or Japan because:

(A) He realized that the isolationist Congress would not wholeheartedly approve

(B) He did not want to shoulder the blame for the United States' entry into war

(C) Neither of the above

(D) Both of the above

45. Why do most historians reject the idea that Roosevelt conspired or encouraged the attack at Pearl Harbor, which brought the US into WWII?

(A) Roosevelt's actions before the war point to his being strongly and sincerely isolationist

(B) Roosevelt had been consistently tightening the noose on Japanese trade, finally ending all exports of US oil to them in July of 1941

(C) Roosevelt considered Germany to be the ultimate enemy, and spent less time developing the army in the Pacific

(D) Roosevelt had been pushing Congress to prepare for war even though the country was reluctant because he could see that war was looming

46. What part of the war effort did Roosevelt realize, from his days as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, was the most important piece in securing an American victory?

(A) Military strategy

(B) Efficient mobilization and better resources

(C) A larger army

(D) A big bomb

47. Where did most of the funds for the war effort come from?

(A) Increased taxes

(B) Business donations

(C) Deficit spending

(D) Munitions sales

48. Why did Churchill want to postpone a cross-channel invasion of Europe even though Roosevelt and American military leaders and Stalin desperately desired it?

(A) He wanted to postpone what he knew would be a bloodbath from his experience in WWI

(B) He felt that the British did not have sufficient military strength to undertake such an offensive quickly

(C) He preferred that the Soviet Union face the brunt of Germany's power in Europe alone so that their power too would be decreased

(D) He did not trust Roosevelt

49. Where did the "big three" meet for the last time?

(A) Malta

(B) Tehran

(C) Newfoundland

(D) Yalta

50. What do historians, in hindsight, view as Roosevelt's primary failure at Yalta?

(A) He failed to create a peacekeeping body of the world's most powerful nations

(B) He failed to see a clear picture of who the great powers in the post-war would be

(C) He did not prevent the foundations of the Cold War from being created in the agreements reached at Yalta

(D) He did not dismantle colonialism

51. Which woman was Roosevelt spending time with when he died in Warm Springs on April 12, 1945?

(A) His wife, Eleanor

(B) His mother, Sara

(C) His former mistress, Lucy

(D) His secretary, Missy

52. Which characteristic of Roosevelt's is often ignored by historians who are full of praise for his defeat of Hitler and his creation of a welfare state?

(A) His charisma

(B) His intelligence

(C) His piousness

(D) His deviousness