Current Affairs Test
Prepared by
ALVIN C. EURICH, Stanford University
and
ELMO C. WILSON, University of Minnesota
Co-Authors of the Cooperative Contemporary Affairs Test for the American Council on Education (Copyright, 1940, by Time Inc.)
EXPLANATION
This test is to enable Time readers to prove their own knowledge of Current Affairs. In recording answers, make no marks at all opposite questions. Use one of the answer sheets printed with the test. In all, answer sheets for four persons are provided. After taking the test, you can check your replies against the correct answers printed on the last page of this test, entering the number of your right answers as your score on your answer sheet. On previous Time Tests College Student scores have been reported averaging 60; Time Reader scores have averaged 89.7.
This test is given under the honor system--no peeking.
DIRECTIONS
For each of the questions five possible answers are given. You are to select the best answer and put its number on the line at the right of the number of the question on the answer sheet. Example: 0. The President of the U. S. is (1 Coolidge, 2 Roosevelt, 3 Morgan, 4 Garner, 5 Hoover).
Roosevelt is the correct answer. Since the number of this question is 0, the number 2--standing for Roosevelt--has been placed at the right of 0 on the answer sheet.
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
AMERICA AND THE WAR
1. Way back in January President Roosevelt asked Congress for new taxes to help finance:
1. A $2,000,000,000 loan to the Allies.
2. 50,000 airplanes.
3. A two-ocean navy.
4. A new inter-ocean canal for navy use.
5. A moderate increase in preparedness.
2. Congress okayed the expenditure but would not consider taxes to finance it in an election year--until:
1. The G.O.P. promised not to criticize.
2. Mrs. Roosevelt made a personal appeal.
3. Premier Reynaud asked for help.
4. The blitzkrieg swept into France.
5. Wendell Willkie backed up the President.
3. By that time, the President, thoroughly aroused, had asked almost $3,000,000,000 more for defense and also for permission to:
1. Conscript the CCC.
2. Arm American merchant ships.
3. Seize Greenland.
4. Call out the National Guard.
5. Triple the Marine Corps.
4. Mr. Roosevelt kept mum about what he learned by sending to Europe special war-investigating envoy:
1. Sumner Welles.
2. Charles A. Lindbergh.
3. Secretary Cordell Hull.
4. General Pershing.
5. Jimmy Cromwell.
5. Meanwhile the U. S. regular army was having trouble recruiting to its authorized strength of:
1. 350,000.
2. 280,000.
3. 750,000.
4. 575,000.
5. 400,000.
6. To mobilize industrial preparedness, President Roosevelt named a Defense Advisory Commission of seven including:
1. Henry Ford and Owen D. Young.
2. Alfred E. Smith and Herbert Hoover.
3. Ernest T. Weir and Alfred P. Sloan Jr.
4. William S. Knudsen and E. R. Stettinius Jr.
5. Wendell Willkie and Alfred Landon.
7. When one member of this counsel asked "Who's boss?" President Roosevelt significantly replied:
1. You are.
2. The whole Commission.
3. Congress.
4. The Secretary of War.
5. I am.
8. Asking to see a typical army plane, Henry Ford announced he could:
1. Build an anti-aircraft motor fleet.
2. Produce 1,000 a week.
3. Produce 1,000 a day after six months.
4. Build better planes than any in use.
5. Turn his plants into plane factories in a week.
THE COMING ELECTION
9. 1940 Republican and Democratic Conventions will be held in:
1. Philadelphia and Chicago.
2. Minneapolis and Boston.
3. New York and San Francisco.
4. Detroit and Baltimore.
5. Seattle and Milwaukee.
10. According to Columnist Ernest K. Lindley, Roosevelt opposes Farley as a Democratic Presidential candidate because:
1. Jim opposed the 1938 Democratic "purge."
2. Farley has failed as Postmaster General.
3. Of his religion.
4. He could not carry the West and Middle West.
5. He is a strong prohibitionist.
11. Most striking fact about Dewey's campaign is that:
1. He stuck to his job as District Attorney.
2. So many young people turned out to hear him.
3. He made no direct attacks on the New Deal.
4. No campaign contributions larger than $1 were accepted.
5. His wife did most of the talking.
12. The primaries made it certain that only his own refusal can keep the Democrats from nominating on the first ballot:
1. Cordell Hull.
2. James A. Farley.
3. Paul V. McNutt.
4. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
5. John L. Lewis.
13. Glenn Frank's Republican "Chart of Action" criticized the New Deal chiefly for:
1. Reckless and cynical radicalism.
2. Spirit of defeatism.
3. "Starry-eyed" optimism.
4. Ignoring the diminishing birth rate.
5. Failure to develop Alaska.
14. The Nazi victories in France:
1. Strengthened the Isolationist candidates.
2. Made both major parties postpone their conventions.
3. Increased sentiment for a Roosevelt Third Term.
4. Led Congress to outlaw the Nazi Party.
5. Made Martin Dies a leading candidate.
15. Hardly mentioned in April, by June the outstanding G.O.P. dark horse was:
1. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
2. Newspaperman William Allen White.
3. Businessman Wendell L. Willkie.
4. Governor Harold E. Stassen.
5. Pundit Walter Lippmann.
16. Alf Landon emerged from a White House luncheon to say:
1. He had accepted a "coalition cabinet" post.
2. He might run for Vice-President with F.D.R.
3. Roosevelt should renounce a third term at once.
4. His hat was in the Presidential ring.
5. The Presidential election should be postponed.
LABOR
17. Westbrook Pegler keeps right at his one-man campaign to:
1. Repeal the Wagner Act.
2. Expose and jail racketeer union officials.
3. Settle the C.I.O.-A.F. of L. dispute.
4. Put John L. Lewis in the White House.
5. Revive the Knights of Labor as a C.I.O. rival.
18. Most important happening at the United Mine Workers convention was John L. Lewis':
1. Support of Roosevelt for a third term.
2. Attack on F.D.R. and prediction of his defeat.
3. Offer to join the A. F. of L. to help win the war.
4. Statement that the A. F. of L. is dead.
5. Demand that the U. S. enter the war.
19. In the largest election ever conducted by the N.L.R.B., C.I.O. won a sweeping victory over the A. F. of L. in the plants of:
1. Ford Motors.
2. General Motors.
3. Firestone Rubber.
4. U. S. Steel.
5. General Electric.
20. In Apex Hosiery Co. versus C.I.O. hosiery workers' union, the Supreme Court decided the Sherman Anti-Trust Act:
1. Outlaws sit-down strikes.
2. Does not cover normal union activities.
3. Covers normal union activities.
4. Is as dead as a dodo.
5. Covers nationwide but not intrastate strikes.
CONGRESS
21. Secretary Hull's pet project was assured three years more of life when Congress extended the President's power to:
1. Manage the currency.
2. Fortify territorial possessions.
3. Negotiate reciprocal trade agreements.
4. Help stabilize dollar, pound and franc.
5. Pay parity prices for five specified crops.
22. In March an unenthusiastic Senate passed Hatch Bill II, extending the ban on political activities of Federal employes to:
1. All State employes.
2. Families of Federal employes.
3. State employes paid in part by Federal funds.
4. The President.
5. The Cabinet and members of Congress.
THE WORLD AT WAR
BATTLE OF FRANCE
23. After Hitler had driven the British from Flanders, the great question was whether he would strike to destroy France or:
1. Invade Scandinavia.
2. Seize the Rumanian oil fields.
3. Invade England for the first time since 1066.
4. Join Italy in attacking the Balkans.
5. Give his exhausted army a rest.
24. "One more defeat and France will have to sue for a separate peace," said Daladier after Dunkirk--and was promptly:
1. Elected head of the French Socialist party.
2. Hailed by the Deputies for his "realism."
3. Kicked out as Foreign Minister by Reynaud.
4. Thrown in the Bastille.
5. Assassinated by the widow of a poilu.
25. After Nazis broke through on both flanks, the French government:
1. Quickly moved first to Tours, then to Bordeaux.
2. Went Communist.
3. Was replaced by the Weygand cabinet.
4. Conscripted all men from 19 to 35.
5. Fled to Rouen.
26. Paris was saved from destruction when Weygand:
1. Decided not to defend it, made it an "Open City."
2. Put his secret Paris defense in action.
3. Counterattacked at the Westwall.
4. Resigned as Generalissimo.
5. Sent the garrison to the front in taxicabs.
27. Italy chose this moment, when France had her back to the wall, to declare war--and immediately afterwards:
1. Sent 500,000 troops up the Rhone Valley.
2. King Vittorio Emanuele abdicated in protest.
3. Shelled Gibraltar, laid siege to it.
4. Bombed the Dalmatian Coast.
5. Attacked the Allies' Mediterranean possessions.
28. When Reynaud asked Britain and America for "massive help," the former, also threatened by invasion:
1. Turned her entire air force over to Weygand.
2. Regretfully refused and withdrew more Tommies.
3. Nevertheless sent 1,000 men in four days.
4. Landed a new expeditionary force.
5. Asked for 500,000 poilus to defend England.
29. Final disaster seemed near when the Nazis took Verdun, drove on through Champagne--and France:
1. Abandoned its almost surrounded Maginot Line.
2. Withdrew from the entire coast south to Spain.
3. Lost 600,000 men in a trap near Chartres.
4. Admitted the loss of half its air fleet.
5. Was refused aid by America.
30. Only 38 days after the blitzkrieg began, France ceased hostilities, just after a new French cabinet was formed under:
1. Maxime Weygand.
2. Marshal Peeain.
3. Paul Reynaud.
4. Paul Bonnet.
5. Pierre Laval.
HEROISM AND DISASTER IN FLANDERS
31. When the Nazis broke through at Sedan, defense-minded Generalissimo Gamelin was hurriedly replaced by attack-minded:
1. Henri Giraud.
2. Marshal Petain.
3. Marshal Lyautey.
4. Pierre Etienne Flandin.
5. Maxime Weygand.
32. 1,000,000 troops were trapped in Flanders when they failed to cut the narrow neck of the German salient to the channel, only 12 1/2 miles wide between:
1. Dunkirk and Ostend.
2. Abbeville and Amiens.
3. Bapaume and Peronne.
4. Sedan and Verdun.
5. Chateau-Thierry and Rouen.
33. The plight of this Northern Army became desperate when:
1. Heavy rains soaked their ammunition.
2. The King of the Belgians and his army surrendered.
3. Nazi bombers cut off relief by sea.
4. Premier Reynaud decided to abandon them.
5. Duped by forged orders, their right wing gave up.
34. But against fearful odds, it hacked its way free in a masterly retreat under:
1. "Cobber" Kane.
2. Lord Gort.
3. Liddell Hart.
4. Earl Haig of Flanders.
5. The Duke of Northumberland.
35. At Dunkirk, where nearly 1,000 Allied ships formed a floating lane across the Channel, 335,000 Allied troops:
1. Sailed to England in a hell of bombs and shells.
2. Landed to reinforce the pocketed armies.
3. Mutinied and refused to land for rescue work.
4. Were killed or wounded in a sudden Stuka raid.
5. Crossed a 23-mile pontoon bridge to safety.
ACROSS THE NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM
36. Because it will be a famous date in history, you should know the Nazis invaded the Low Countries early on the morning of:
/. April 25.
2. May 4.
3. May 20.
4. April 30.
5. May 10.
37. On that same day:
1. Churchill became Britain's Prime Minister.
2. Reynaud succeeded Daladier in France.
3. The King of the Belgians surrendered.
4. The British withdrew from Norway.
5. The Queen of The Netherlands fled.
38. In their Lowlands attack, the Nazis used all but one of these methods extensively:
1. Dropping parachute troops behind enemy lines.
2. Using bombing planes in place of artillery.
3. Poisoning local water supplies.
4. Establishing armed groups of spies in enemy centers long before the attack.
5. Sending mechanized attack columns far in advance of the main body of troops.
39. Dutch Foreign Minister van Kleffens in his capitulation statement shocked the world by claiming that:
1. Japan was about to grab the Dutch East Indies.
2. 100,000 Dutch soldiers (1 in 4) had been killed.
3. The women of entire Dutch towns had been raped.
4. The German-born Prince Consort had Quislinged.
5. Holland's army had been afraid to fight.
40. The sudden capture of Fort Eben Emael at Liege was swiftly followed by:
1. A vigorous Allied attack on the Siegfried Line.
2. News that unscrupulous Belgian contractors had built the fort of inferior materials.
3. The opening of the dikes around Liege.
4. Evidence of Fifth Column treason.
5. Rumors of a mysterious new nerve gas.
THE THEATRE OF WAR
Directions: The following statements identify scenes of important recent war developments in Europe. On the answer sheet, opposite the number of each statement below, write the number on the map which correctly locates the place or territory described.
51. Where British military weakness was first revealed.
52. Where sailors rescued Allied Army from Hitler's trap.
53. Where history (1870) repeated itself (1940).
54. Skaggerak.
55. Great city half captured by midnight parachutists.
56. New seat of Dutch Government.
57. Vital frontier fortress Belgians held for weeks.
58. Where French came within 13 miles of trapping Germany's famed Panzer Divisions.
59. Great fortification along Albert Canal which Belgians abandoned at once.
60. Weygand Line, June 6.
THE WAR IN THE NORTH
41. The only major Norwegian ports which the Germans failed to seize at once were:
1. Andalsnes and Namsos.
2. Trondheim and Namsos.
3. Stavanger and Trondheim.
4. Bergen and Narvik.
5. Oslo and Bergen.
42. The easy German success in seizing all other important Norwegian ports was aided by:
1. The friendly attitude of King Haakon.
2. The treason of Norwegian Nazis like Quisling.
3. The secret cooperation of Swedish border troops.
4. Labor unrest in Norway.
5. Sunspots which upset radio and wire service.
43. Four days before the Germans invaded Norway, Chamberlain:
1. Resigned as Prime Minister.
2. Sent the whole fleet to the Mediterranean.
3. Warned Norway Britain could not help her.
4. Cried "Hitler has missed the bus."
5. Cabled his daughter in Oslo "Return home at once."
44. King Haakon ordered his soldiers to cease fighting June 9, only ten days after the British finally captured the isolated German landing party at:
1. Bergen.
2. Lulea.
3. Kiruna.
4. Petsamo.
5. Narvik.
45. The ill-equipped Anglo-French Expeditionary Force was routed and driven out of Norway after a futile dash to cut off the Germans in:
1. Namsos.
2. Andalsnes.
3. Trondheim.
4. Oslo.
5. Tromsoe.
THE WINTER WAR
46. Until February 1 the fighting in the Russo-Finnish War was notable for the surprising:
1. Failure of the Mannerheim fortifications to resist artillery fire.
2. Efficiency of the Russian Supply Service.
3. Inactivity of the Russian bombing planes.
4. Finnish successes in isolating and annihilating entire Russian divisions.
5. Speed with which Soviet forces adapted themselves to snow-fighting.
47. But the tide of war turned when Russians blasted Mannerheim Line and drove through to final victory at :
1. Murmansk. 4. Viipuri
2. Helsinki 5. Petsamo
3. Suomussalmi
48. All but forgotten by early summer, Russo-Finnish War ended with Russia getting all but one of the following:
1. The entire Karelian Isthmus and north shore of Lake Ladoga.
2. A lease on Hanko Peninsula.
3. All of Finland's northern nickel deposits.
4. Transit across Finland to Norway and Sweden.
5. Part of Rybachi Peninsula near Petsamo.
49. Through March, soldiers' hardships on the western front were intensified by:
1. Poison gas in some sectors.
2. Time bombs dropped from planes.
3. A major influenza epidemic.
4. The century's coldest winter in Europe.
5. Reduction of cigaret rations to two a day.
50. Meanwhile, experts agreed that if Germany could get all the oil both Russia and Rumania could spare:
1. She would have enough to carry on the war in definitely.
2. She would have enough for two years of war.
3. She would just get through a year of stalemated war.
4. She would need 25,000,000 barrels more for one year of active warfare.
5. The Allies would immediately sue for peace.
(51-60 THEATRE OF WAR questions and map on preceding page)
FOREIGN NEWS
61. Nazi-U. S. relations last winter were calm but Sen. Lundeen wanted to seize Bermuda when Britain wouldn't stop:
1. Seizing Germans traveling on U. S. ships.
2. Sending warships into the 300-mile Pan-American Neutrality Zone.
3. Stopping and censoring U. S. mail.
4. Impressing British-born American seamen.
5. Stationing a battle fleet at Bermuda.
62. The Canadian Elections in March:
1. Gave a landslide to Liberal Mackenzie King.
2. Brought the Conservatives back to power.
3. Made Mitchell Hepburn majority leader.
4. Showed discontent with conduct of the war.
5. Necessitated a coalition government.
63. "Lord Haw-Haw" is:
1. Winston Churchill's epithet for Goring.
2. Germany's contemptuous name for Chamberlain.
3. Britain's affectionate name for Lord Halifax.
4. Name given Duke of Windsor by British troops.
5. Germany's foremost English-speaking broadcaster.
64. Angered at Britain's refusal to grant immediate independence, the Indian National Congress was prevented only by the influence of Gandhi from voting to:
1. Begin a campaign of civil disobedience.
2. Withhold Indian war funds.
3. Revolt against Britain unless independence is granted by July 1.
4. Enter the war on Germany's side.
5. Encourage Russia's Indian ambitions by declaring itself Communistic.
65. Relatively quiet during the last six months, the Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine was stirred up again early in March when the British Government:
1. Announced restriction of Jewish land purchases.
2. Attempted to draft Arabs into the army.
3. Executed the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.
4. Closed Palestine to all Jewish immigration.
5. Ordered the Arabs not to enter Tel Aviv.
66. New Governor General of Canada is:
1. Anthony Eden.
2. Baron Teasdale.
3. Lord Throttlebottom, former Viceroy of India.
4. Queen Mary's brother, the Earl of Athlone.
5. The Duke of Kent.
67. 20,000 Mexican workers paraded in protest after Secretary Hull sent a note to President Cardenas:
1. Demanding the return of confiscated estates.
2. Threatening to stop silver purchases in Mexico unless tariff discrimination against U. S. goods was ended.
3. Suggesting arbitration of U. S. oil claims.
4. Asking a border commission to define the boundary between Old and New Mexico.
5. Asking deportation of Trotsky and other Reds.
68. Relations between Russia and France were further strained late in March when:
1. Four Communists were guillotined in France.
2. A raid on the Soviet Embassy in Paris revealed a plot to dynamite the Bank of France.
3. Stalin warned France against extending the Allied Blockade to Russia.
4. A Paris newspaper cartoon depicted Stalin playing Charlie McCarthy to Hitler's Edgar Bergen.
5. France forced the recall of the Russian envoy.
69. Following Germany's invasion of The Netherlands, French marines occupied the Dutch West Indian possession:
1. The Virgin Islands.
2. Haiti.
3. Curac,ao
4. Trinidad.
5. Jamaica.
70. The I. R. A., headlined in news since war began, is:
1. Imperial Russian Army.
2. Italian Royal Air Force.
3. Irish Republican Army.
4. Industrial Reserve Association (of Britain).
5. Incendiary Raiding Air Force (of Germany).
86
Directions: Each of the ten personalities pictured is identified by one of the following phrases. Place number of correct phrase on your answer sheet opposite number of picture.
1. Monarch who quickly fled overseas.
2. No. 1 businessman antagonist of F.D.R.
3. Hero of British escape from Flanders.
4. Head of German Gestapo.
5. Teacher ousted for ideas on morals.
6. U. S. woman Minister to Norway.
7. Motor Tycoon on Preparedness Board.
8. Maestro touring South America.
9. Most effective rooter for Taft.
10. Monarch who hid two months in hills.
11. U. S. "Inquiring Reporter" to Europe.
12. New Allied Generalissimo.
13. Monarch who surrendered in 18 days.
14. French Premier who ousted Daladier.
15. Dictator-King of Rumania.
BUSINESS AND FINANCE
81. Early in January the biggest bankruptcy in U. S. business history brought into court:
1. Associated Gas & Electric.
2. U. S. Steel. 4. American Tel. & Tel.
3. Western Union. 5. Aluminum Co. of America.
82. A tradition of many years was set aside by the House of Morgan in February when it decided to:
1. Act as fiscal agents for Great Britain and France.
2. Carry on large scale stock speculations.
3. Change from a partnership to a corporation.
4. Launch a nation-wide good-will advertising campaign.
5. Carry on open-market operations in competition
with the Federal Reserve System.
83. Recent ICC plans for bringing the Milwaukee, the New Haven, the Missouri Pacific and other railroads out of bankruptcy are notable for:
1. Ending the receiverships so speedily.
2. A provision for Jower freight rates.
3. Giving the publics place on the boards.
4. Wiping out the stockholders.
5. Recommending one big railway union.
84. Largely as a result of the war, U. S. exports in first three months of 1940 compared with first quarter of 1939 were:
1. Up 51%. 2. About the same. 3. Up 12%.
4. Down 17%. 5. Tripled.
85. Most immediate effect on U. S. business of the German attack on Denmark and Norway was:
1. A shortage of lumberjacks in Minnesota.
2. The development of Swedish cooperatives here.
3. A rush to buy cotton and tobacco.
4. Speculation in meat packing and paper stocks.
. 5. A cut in imports of iron ore from Scandinavia.
86 The German invasion of The Netherlands touched off a speculative boom in:
1. Molybdenum and nitrates.
2. Nickel and cotton.
3. Sulphur and tulips.
4. Tin and rubber.
5. Aluminum.
87. Caught between fear of a quick German victory and hope for a national defense boom, stock prices when Hitler swept into France:
1. Plunged to the lowest point since June, 1938.
2. Remained almost stationary.
3. Leveled off, then boomed after Roosevelt's rearmament message.
4. Rose gradually to a new 1940 high.
5. Nosedived, but recovered when Weygand was made Allied Generalissimo.
88. In the first five months of 1940 the Federal Reserve Board Production Index:
1. Climbed to the highest point in three years.
2. Rose steadily with occasional minor drops.
3. Showed little change.
4. Tumbled back to the pre-war level.
5. Dropped to the lowest point since 1932.
SCIENCE
89. Safely to New York harbor after a secret race across the Atlantic sped the largest ship afloat, the:
1. Queen Mary.
2. Normandie.
3. Mauretania.
4. Bremen.
5. Queen Elizabeth.
90. Radios went dead and telephone and cable services were disrupted one night in March by:
1. An eclipse of the moon.
2. A sunspot rampage.
3. Unheralded reappearance of Halley's comet.
4. Violent earthquake in the middle of Pacific.
5. One of Orson Welles's Martian disturbances.
91. The Allison engine used by U. S. Army to power some of its fastest new airplanes indicates a trend towards:
1. Streamlined, liquid-cooled engines.
2. Blunt, air-cooled, radial engines.
3. Heavy duty oil-burning Diesels.
4. Pusher type planes.
5. Cheap, shorter-lived, mass-production engines.
92. Recently demonstrated to have 28 times more vitamins per pound than dried fruits or vegetables is common:
1. Grain grass.
2. Whole wheat flour. 4. Baking powder.
3. Olive oil. 5. Corn meal mush.
93. When tested, Inventor Barlow's oxygen bomb--so much more powerful- than TNT that Senators burned the minutes describing it:
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