Between the World Wars
This quiz of familiarity with American history throughout the period between the two World Wars.
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What is your name? *
1. Which of the following men served as President of the United States throughout the 1920s and early 1930s (and therefore are associated with Prohibition in America). *
3 points
Required
2. What political party did all three of the U.S. Presidents who served throughout the Prohibition Era (1920-1933) belong to? *
2 points
3. Which of the several scandals of the Harding Administration (1921-1923) is generally considered the biggest and best known? *
2 points
4. What was at the heart of the "Teapot Dome Scandal"? *
2 points
5. What is the nickname often applied to the 1920s decade in American popular culture? *
2 points
6. Why are Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Buster Keaton, Anna May Wong, and Rudolph Valentino famous? *
2 points
7. Who was the man who led the "Anti Saloon League," which fought to outlaw intoxicating beverages throughout the United States beginning as early as the late 1800s? *
2 points
8. What Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibited the production, transport, and sale of Alcoholic beverages? *
2 points
9. What law enabled the federal government to enforce the prohibition of alcohol throughout the U.S.? *
2 points
10. What year did the Volstead Act take effect, thereby starting the Prohibition Era? *
2 points
11. Look at the political cartoon below, then select the option that best describes the likely intention of the artist in drawing it.  *
3 points
Captionless Image
12. Once prohibition began, speakeasies began opening up all over America.  What are speakeasies? *
2 points
13. Why are Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and Cab Calloway famous? *
2 points
14. What first-ever accomplishment in world history did  Charles Lindbergh achieve in 1927? *
2 points
15. Why are Al Capone, Bugs Moran, Bugsy Siegel, and Lucky Luciano famous? *
2 points
16. What was the name of the incident that occurred in Chicago in early 1929 in which seven men from the "North Siders" gang were murdered by four of their rivals from the "Chicago Outfit" gang? *
2 points
Read the following paragraph taken from an NPR interview with author Daniel Okrent: "I definitely think that styles of activism and political agitation come directly from what happened in the years leading up to Prohibition.  The issue wasn't entirely Prohibition; that was a stand-in issue for a whole set of issues.  Just the same way today, I think we can say same-sex marriage is a stand-in issue.  If you tell me what you think of same-sex marriage, I can probably tell you what you think about ten other things."

Note: to read the full NPR article, click here.  
17. What do you think Mr. Okrent meant when he spoke of a "stand-in" issue in the quote above? *
3 points
18. What name is given to the day (Oct. 29, 1929), when panic trading resulted in a crash (i.e., a catastrophic loss of value) in the stock market? *
2 points
19. What major historical phenomenon began with the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929 (mentioned in the previous question)? *
2 points
20. What was the Great Depression? *
2 points
21. How bad did unemployment get during the Great Depression of the 1930s? *
2 points
22. Who was the U.S. President at the beginning of the Great Depression and throughout its first few years?
2 points
Clear selection
23. Which of the following 1930s American pop songs became one of the best-known to express the anxiety of the Great Depression? *
2 points
24. What massive project was begun in 1931 to supply water and electricity to the southwestern U.S.? *
2 points
25. What was the common name for 1930 communities of people living in homes they made mostly from scrap materials? *
2 points
26. What is the name of the crowd of WW-1 veterans who gathered in Washington in 1932 to demand early cash redemption of their service bonus certificates?
2 points
Clear selection
27. Who was the Army general who led the effort to disperse the protesting veterans in Washington D.C. in 1932? *
2 points
28. How did the U.S. Army disperse the protesting veterans gathered in Washington D.C. in 1932? *
2 points
29. Who won the election of 1932 (which was held near the height of the Great Depression)? *
2 points
30. What natural disaster struck farmers in Nebr., Kans., Okla., Tex., N. Mex., and Colo. throughout the latter years of the Great Depression? *
2 points
Read the following passage from the fifth chapter of "The Grapes of Wrath" (Steinbeck, 1939):

       Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold.  And all of them were caught in something larger than themselves.  Some of them hated the mathematics that drove them, and some were afraid, and some worshiped the mathematics because it provided a refuge from thought and from feeling.  If a bank or a finance company owned the land, the owner man said, The Bank—or the Company—needs—wants—insists—must have—as though the Bank or the Company were a monster, with thought and feeling, which had ensnared them.  These last would take no responsibility for the banks or the companies because they were men and slaves, while the banks were machines and masters all at the same time.  Some of the owner men were a little proud to be slaves to such cold and powerful masters.  The owner men sat in the cars and explained.  You know the land is poor.  You’ve scrabbled at it long enough, God knows.
       The squatting tenant men nodded and wondered and drew figures in the dust, and yes, they knew, God knows.  If the dust only wouldn’t fly.  If the top would only stay on the soil, it might not be so bad.

Note: to access the full "Grapes of Wrath" novel, click here.    
31. Why does Steinbeck describe the banks and finance companies as "machines and masters all at the same time"? *
3 points
32. Who was appointed as Prime Minister of Italy by King Victor Emmanuel III in October of 1922? *
2 points
33. What system of government was invented by the new Prime Minister of Italy and used to govern that nation in the 1930s and early 1940s? *
2 points
34. Who was appointed as Chancellor of Germany by Pres. Paul von Hindenburg in January of 1933? *
2 points
35. What German political party is strongly associated with Adolf Hitler? *
2 points
36. What American track and field athlete won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic games? *
2 points
Captionless Image
37. What 1937 disaster signaled the end of passenger airship travel? *
2 points
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