FSOT : United States Society Questions! Trivia Quiz

Megan's Law requires that officers of the law and members of communities into which a sex offender moves be given advance notification.

Jihad translates from Arabic into English as holy war. Diaspora is a word of Greek origin that translates into English as scattering or dispersion. Coup d'etat is a French language phrase, whose literal translation means attack on the state. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is also the holy month during which faithful religious adherents of the Islamic faith observe a daily fast from dawn until sunset.

Mexican Americans constitute America's largest Hispanic group. Approximately two-thirds (63 percent) of all U.S. Citizens classified by the U.S. Census Bureau as Hispanic (or Latino/Latina) identified themselves as being of Mexican ancestry. Approximately ten percent are of Puerto Rican ancestry. Approximately eight percent are of Caribbean or other origin. The remainder are either of Cuban (5 percent) or Central and South American ancestry (14 percent).

The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing caused the most extensive damage to a federal office building. NO U.S. Post Office building, hospital, or high school suffered damage.

In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was stormed and 90 hostages were taken.

Nikita Krushchev was the Secretary General of the Communist Party of the USSR who agreed to remove the nuclear missiles from Cuba under U.N. supervision. George Malenkov was Krushchev's predecessor. Brezhnev and Andropov were his successors.

The 4th Amendment makes unreasonable searches and seizures unlawful. The 1st Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, speech, press and assembly. The 2nd Amendment gives citizens the right to bear arms. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery.

Alberto Gonzales is the first Latino U.S. Attorney General. Cesar Chavez was a Latino civil rights activist and founder of the United Farm Workers union. Orlando Cepeda is a former professional baseball player. Vicente Fox is president of Mexico.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were a husband and wife team convicted of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. As a result of charges made against him by Whittaker Chambers (a Time magazine employee), former State Department official Alger Hiss was convicted (in 1950) of having committed perjury by denying that he had once sent copies of confidential state documents to the Soviet Union.

In 1993, U.S. Black Hawk helicopters flew over Mogadishu, which is located in Somalia.

According to renowned art historian E.H. Gombrich, American painter Jackson Pollock "is widely recognized as one of the initiators of action painting or Abstract Impressionism." Jan Vermeer van Delft was a 17th century Dutch painter known for his richly colorful still-life paintings. John Ruskin was an influential art critic of the 19th century. Matthew Paris lived during the 13th century and is, among other things, known for having drawn the first elephant -- sent by St. Louis, King of France, to Henry III in 1255 -- to have been seen in England.

America's major television networks rely primarily on data collected by the A.C. Nielsen organization to determine the size and demographic characteristics of the viewers of its nationally telecast television programs. Arbitron measures the size of radio audiences in local markets. The Gallup organization conducts national polls and surveys of, among other things, political and social attitudes and behaviors, as well as lifestyle trends. Based in California, the Field organization conducts polls and surveys that focus primarily on the social and political attitudes and lifestyle trends of Californians.

The United States is not a signatory of the Kyoto Protocols, which mandate caps on the emission of greenhouse gases within the United States and Europe.

Persons classified by the U.S. Census Bureau as Hispanic (or Latino/Latina) now constitute America's largest ethnic group. Up until the beginning of the 21st century, persons classified as African American constituted the largest group.

Charles De Gaule was not present at the Yalta Conference in 1945. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin were present.

The 18th Amendment prohibited the manufacture, import, and export of intoxicating liquor. The 21st Amendment (1933) repealed the 18th Amendment. The 19th Amendment (1920) gave women the right to vote. The 20th Amendment (1933) changed the dates on which members of Congress and the president and vice president are inducted into office.

Operation Desert Storm began when invaders refused to withdraw from Kuwait.

The G.I. Bill was passed as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act. The National Security Act (1947) placed the Army, Navy, and Air Force under the direction of the newly created Department of Defense. It also authorized the creation of the National Security Council and the CIA. The National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) mandated that codes of fair competitive and labor practices be drawn up for different U.S. industries. The Johnson Act (1924) placed limits on the number of persons who could immigrate to the United States during any given year.

The CIA came into existence in 1947; the Sputnik satellite was launched ten years later, in 1957. It was created during the presidency of Harry Truman, in response to the threat of a communist takeover in Greece and Turkey and as was, thereby, a direct outgrowth of America's policy of containment (of communism).

The first group of Puritan separatists (from the Church of England) to land at what became the Plymouth Colony were the Pilgrims. As the name suggests, an antidisestablishmentarian stands on opposition to the withdrawal of government support or recognition from an established church. The Mennonites trace their origins back to the 16th century Europe and are the forefathers of today's Amish, who descend from the followers of Jacob Amman, a 17th century Swiss Mennonite bishop.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo did not grant former Mexican nationals residing on the land ceded to the United States the right to be educated in Spanish. But it did results in the U.S. acquiring approximately one-third of its present-day North American continental territory. Implementation of the treaty was also contingent on a $15 million payment to Mexican government officials. Former Mexican nationals on the land taken over by the United States were given the option of becoming U.S. citizens.

Herbert Hoover was President of the United States during the economic panic of 1929 that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Warren G. Harding was president from 1921 to 1923. Calving Coolidge was president from 1923 to 1929. Franklin D. Roosevelt was President from 1933 to 1945.

America's first female Secretary of State was Madelyn Albright, who was appointed to that position in 1997 by President Bill Clinton, Janet Reno was appointed to the office of Attorney General by President Bill Clinton (1992-2000). In 2005, Condoleezza Rice became Secretary of State under newly reelected President George W. Bush.

Settled in 1607, Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the New World. The Roanoke Island colony, established in 1585 by Sir Walter Raleigh, was short-lived, lasting less than two years. The first group of Pilgrims arrived in what is now Massachusetts and established the Plymouth Colony in 1620. colony status was never conferred on the Massachusetts town of Concord, the scene of a 1775 colonial militiamen victory over the Redcoats.

During the War of 1812, British troops burned down the city of Washington.

Gerald Ford is the only person to have served as both vice-president and president of the United States without having been elected to either office. He became vice-president upon the resignation of elected vice-president Spiro Agnew, and president upon the resignation of president Richard Nixon. Arthur, Roosevelt, and Coolidge were each elected to the office of vice-president before becoming president.

In 1952, Jonas Salk developed the first effective polio vaccine. During the late-1950s, Albert Sabin developed an oral polio vaccine. Wallance Sabin (1868 - 1919) created the science of architectural acoustics. Thus, a unit of sound-absorbing power is called the sabin in his honor. In 1921, Margaret Sanger founded the Birth Control League, which is now Planned Parenthood.

It is not true that SALT ceased to be held after the election of Richard Nixon.

The five employees of the 1972 Nixon presidential campaign caught trying to burglarize Democratic Party offices in the Watergate Hotel were attempting to bug the telephones.

Plessy v. Ferguson was the U.S. Supreme Court decision that gave legitimacy to separate but equal schools and other public accommodations. In its decision in Marbury v. Madison (1803), the Supreme Court gave itself the right to review the constitutionality of acts of Congress. In the Dread Scott decision, the Supreme Court ruled that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress did not have the right to make laws prohibiting slavery in any territory. In Myers v. United States (1826), the Supreme Court ruled that the president had the right to fire executive branch employees, thereby making null and void the Tenure of Office Act of 1867 that was brought forth to impeach Andre Johnson.

The present-day Amish are not largely of Scottish extraction. They are largely of Germanic-Swiss extraction. They are the direct descendants of the Anabaptist of 16th century Europe who, among other things, rejected infant baptism, advocated complete freedom of religious belief and practice, believed in the separation of church and state, and were pacifists opposed to military service of any kind They began arriving in America in sizable numbers during the early 18th century, when their first permanent settlements were established in Pennsylvania. The largest local concentrations of Amish are in Holmes County, Ohio, and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Although the U.S. Census Bureau does not track the U.S. Amish population, estimates by journalists and scholars place their population as approximately 200,000, spread across more than twenty states.

Robert McNamara was Secretary of Defense in 1967. Dean Rusk was Secretary of State. General William Westmoreland was in command of military forces in Vietnam. Henry Kissinger was called to serve as Secretary of State by Richard Nixon.

Tobacco was first brought back to Europe from America by Sir Walter Raleigh, for whom the city of Raleigh, North Carolina, located in America's tobacco belt, was named. Raleigh also established the first British colony in North America, located on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina. John Smith was the military commander (1607-1609) of the Jamestown settlement. After obtaining a charter from King Charles I, Lord Baltimore came to North America, where he founded the colony of Maryland.

During the 1950s and 1960s, it was more common for white artists to cover songs recorded by black artists than vice-versa. By the mid-1950s, R&B had become so popular among white youth that it was banned on some radio stations in the South and other parts of the country. During the mid-1950s, it was picked up and fused with country music by Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and other white artists. During the 1950s, it would have been accurate to state that to label a song R&B was to state that it was recorded by a black artist and was, therefore, popular among African Americans. But this is no longer true because, since the 1950s, there have been many popular white R&B artists -- New Kids on the Block and Norah Johns -- just to name a few.

In 1950, South Korea was invaded by communist-backed forces from North Korea, prompting the United States to call for the imposition of sanctions against the invaders.

Lyndon B. Johnson put forth the creation of The Great Society as one of the goals of his administration.

On February 1, 2003, the U.S. space shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas, thereby killing all seven astronauts on board. The destruction of the space shuttle Challenger, killing all seven crew members, occurred on January 28, 1986. There has been no space shuttle named Intrepid. Sputnik was the first space satellite launched by the Soviet Union (1957).

John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November of 1963.

Born in 1782, Martin Van Buren was the first president to be born after the colonists declared their independence from Britain, and thus was America's first native-born president. Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson were born, respectively, in 1732, 1743, and 1767, and thus came into the world as British subjects.

The Berlin Wall was in existence from 1961 to 1989.

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America's first computer network was designed by the Department of Defense.

The terms culturally pluralistic or cultural pluralism do not appear in any Supreme Court judge's opinion in the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education decision. From all indications, the intent of the decision was not to preserve African American cultural heritage. Its intent appears to have been to make African Americans fully (socially, politically and economically) integrated members of U.S. society -- which, if achieved, could actually cause the loss of some distinctly African American linguistic and other cultural characteristics. The decision led to more open racial conflict and hostilities in the South, as some southern Caucasians engaged in violent acts of resistance to attempts to integrate schools and other public accommodation facilities. A great many Caucasians along with a great many African Americans, were also physically involved in the efforts to desegregate public schools, as well in the staging of ride-ins and sit-oins staged to integrate trains, buses, lunch counters, and other public accommodation facilities. The ride-ins, sit-ins, and attempts to desegregate schools received extensive coverage by foreign media, which is one reason Martin Luther King, Jr. was sufficiently well-known abroad to become the recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.

One of the results of the Bargain of 1876 (between leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties) was that Rutherford B. Hayes became president of the United States. Ulysses S. Grant occupied the office of president from 1873 to 1877; James A. Garfield from March 4, 1891 to September 19, 1891; Chester A. Arthur from 1881 to 1885.

It is not true that before 1914, most states permitted the sale of alcoholic beverages to persons under 14 years of age. But is is true that before 1914, there were no legal controls or restrictions on the sale of opium or heroin, and that cocaine was an ingredient in early 20th century Coca-Cola. It is also true that before the 1930s, there were no legal controls or restriction on the use or possession of marijuana.

Enron was headquartered in Houston, TX.

It is not true that the Federalist Party and its early leaders stood as representatives and supporters of urban mercantile interests. They represented rural agrarian interests. But Alexander Hamilton was one of their early leaders, and they were in favor of the establishment of a national bank and a strong central government.

Historians generally agree that the first Africans brought to America arrived in 1619 on a Dutch ship. This is so because there exist no records of prior arrivals of Africans.

The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963, was written by Betty Friedan. Bell Hooks (actually she preferred that her name be presented in lower case) is a black scholar and feminist writer. Her first full-length book, Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism was published in 1981. She has been a member of the faculties of Yale University, Oberlin College, and CCNY. Feminist and scholar Patricia Hill Collins is the author or numerous feminist books and articles, including Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Feminist author and lecturer Gloria Steinem helped establish the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971 and the Coalition of Labor Union Women in 1972. She also became the founding editor of Ms Magazine in 1972. Among her published books are Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, and Moving Beyond Words.

According to 2004 U.S. Bureau of Census data, one-third of all American who begin their first year of college do not return the following year to begin their second year of college.