American Issues
The American Presidency
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Multiple choice test
1.
The two major political parties in the USA are?
a) The Republican Party and the American Party
b) The Democratic Party and the Republican Party
c) The Democratic Party and the Liberty Party
d) The Republican Party and the Libertarians
2. The president of the USA is elected every
a) 3rd year
b) 4th year
c) 5th year
d) 6th year
3.
The president must be at least
a) 30 years old
b) 32 years old
c) 35 years old
d) 40 years old
4. According to the 1951, 22nd Amendment to the American Constitution
no president can serve for more than two terms, which is to say for eight
years. One American president was elected to four terms. Who?
a) George Washington
b) Ulysses S. Grant
c) Franklin D. Roosevelt
d) John Adams
5.
A newly elected president gives his inaugural address on
a) the 20th of January
b) the 1st of January
c) the 20th of November
d) the 1st of February
6. How many presidents have held the American presidency so far?
(Including the one elected on November the 20th 2008)
a) 43
b) 44
c) 42
d) 41
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7.
In the USA you can vote from the age of
a) 21
b) 18
c) 19
d) 20
8. The US legislative branch consists of two assemblies called
a) The House of Democrats and the Senate
b) The Capitol and the Senate
c) The House of Representatives and the Senate
d) The delegates and the senators
9.
Each State of the USA has
a) 2 senators
b) 2 or three senators depending on population rate
c) 4 senators
d) 1 senator
10.Senators serve for a period of
a) 2 years
b) 4 years
c) 5 years
d) 6 years
11.Congressmen serve for
a) 2 years
b) 4 years
c) 6 years
d) 8 years
12.How are the Supreme Court justices appointed?
a) They are elected by the voters.
b) They are nominated by the President and the nomination is
confirmed by the Senate
c) They are nominated by Congress, but the President can veto
the nomination
d) They are elected by an electoral college
13.A Supreme Court Justice serves for
a) life
b) 20 years
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c) 4 years
d) 7 years
14.The Supreme Court decision in the case of Roe versus Wade (1973)
a) was about equal pay for women.
b) was about abortion rights.
c) was about equality for all races.
d) Was about prisoners’ rights.
15.In Miranda versus Arizona (1966) the Supreme Court decided that
a) A suspect of a criminal offence has the right to keep silent
during questioning by the police.
b) A suspect of a criminal offence has the right to an attorney.
c) A suspect of a criminal offence has the right to one phone-call.
d) A suspect of a criminal offence has the right to decide in what
state he or she should have his case tried.
16.In Brown versus Board of Education (1954)
a) All children were granted the right to free education.
b) It was decided that segregation in school was unequal and
unconstitutional.
c) It said that freedom of speech also included school-teachers
about educational matters.
d) That all girls’ schools were unconstitutional.
17) The Supreme Court has
a) 7 justices
b) 5 justices
c) 12 justices
d) 9 justices
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Assignment
How is the President of the United States elected?
Enumerate the events of the election chronologically from 1-6
On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every four years
all 50 states are scheduled to hold elections and select members of the
Electoral College, which have a total of 538 votes. The candidate has to
achieve at least 270 votes in order to win the presidency.
At the primaries or caucuses candidates for the presidency are chosen.
Members of the Electoral College meet to cast their votes for President
and Vice President, which is to some extent only a formality since they
have their mandate from the voters. However so-called faithless electors,
i.e. electors who disregard the popular vote, have emerged throughout
history but have never affected the outcome.
The President is inaugurated and gives his inaugural address.
At the Democratic respectively the Republican National Conventions
candidates for the presidency and the vice presidency are nominated.
The votes of the electors of the Electoral College are sent to Congress,
which counts the votes and formally approves its choice of president.
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Assignment
a) List the following American presidents in chronological order, starting with the one who was first elected president.
1. James E. Carter, junior
2. George W. Bush
3. John F. Kennedy
4. George H. W. Bush
5. Richard Nixon
6. Harry S. Truman
7. William J. Clinton
8. Lyndon B. Johnson
9. Dwight D. Eisenhower
10. Franklin D. Roosevelt
11. Gerald Ford
12. Ronald Reagan
b) Divide the presidents above according to the political parties they
represented.
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Assignment:
Which campaign slogan for which presidential candidate?
Herbert Hoover
Putting People First
Bill Clinton
Not Just Peanuts
George Bush
Ross for Boss
Jimmy Carter
I Like Ike
George W. Bush
A chicken in every pot and a car in
every garage
Dwight Eisenhower
Kinder, Gentler Nation
Ross Perot
Prosperity and progress
Al Gore
Leave no child behind
(Source: http://www.presidentsusa.net/campaignslogans.html)
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Assignment
a) Compare the presidential campaign slogans below.
b) How are they similar? How are they different?
c) Discuss whether it is easy or not to decide if the slogans are launched
by a Republican or a Democratic candidate.
1980
Ronald Reagan: Are you better off than you were four years
ago?
1984
Ronald Reagan: It’s morning again in America
1984
Walter Mondale: America Needs a Change
1992
Bill Clinton: Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow
1996
Bill Clinton: Building a bridge to the 21st century
1996
Bob Dole: The Better Man for a Better America
2004
John Kerry: Let America be America Again
2004
George W. Bush: Yes, America Can!
2008
John McCain: Reform, Prosperity and Peace
2008
Hillary Clinton: Ready for change. Ready to lead
2008
Barack Obama: Change We Can Believe In
(Source: http://www.presidentsusa.net/campaignslogans.html)
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Assignment:
Complete the following sentences
A swing state is a state in which......
A blue state is defined by a majority of ...... A red state holds a majority of...
A carpetbagger is a politician, who .........
If you flip-flop in politics, you tend to ..........
A maverick is a term used about a politician, who.....
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Assignment:
Who is who? John McCain or Barack Obama?
1. He said, ”We need to listen to the views of our democratic allies” in
a speech about foreign policy.
(Source: Newsweek vol. 151, No 14, 2008)
2. Presently he is a US Senator from Illinois.
3. Presently he is a US Senator from Arizona.
4. He first ran for the Senate in 1986.
5. His now former pastor Jeremiah Wright turned out to be a liability
to his campaign.
6. In 2006 he published his ”thoughts of reclaiming the American dream
in his highly publicized book called ”Audacity of Hope”.
7. In 2002 he published a book called ”Worth the Fighting for”.
8. In a Newsweek interview this presidential candidate was asked, ”Do
you agree that we are engaged in a ”War on Terror,” as President
Bush has defined it?”
He answered the question as follows,
”I think it’s a military, intelligence, diplomatic and ideological conflict. Most importantly, in the long run it is an ideological struggle...
within the Muslim community, between those who are extremists and
those who are moderate. And then another struggle exists between
everything we stand for and value and the extremists who have gained
significant influence in some parts of the world.”
9. This candidate is a graduate of Harvard Law School.
10.This is what this presidential candidate said in his announcement for
President on February 10, 2007,
”Most of all, let’s be the generation that never forgets what happened
on that September day and confront the terrorists with everything
we’ve got. Politics doesn’t have to divide us on this anymore - we can
work together to keep our country safe. I’ve worked with Republican
Senator Dick Lugar to pass a law that will secure and destroy some
of the world’s deadliest, unguarded weapons. We can work together
to track terrorists down with a stronger military, we can tighten
the net around their finances, and we can improve our intelligence
capabilities. But let us also understand that ultimate victory against
our enemies will come only by rebuilding our alliances and exporting
those ideals that bring hope and opportunity to millions around the
globe.”
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Assignment
Insert the missing words in the word patterns below
Noun
Adjective
(a concept/abstract)
Noun
(a person)
1. Opportunism
_________________
_________________
2. _________________
politician
_________________
3. _________________
radical
_________________
4. Patriotism
_________________
_________________
5. Zealotism
_________________
_________________
6. Presidency
president
_________________
7. _________________
liberal
_________________
8. _________________
_________________
populist
9. Idealism
_________________
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