Your knowledge of the 20th century far exceeds that typical of my recent classes. Congratulations.
In general, you do a good job identifying US presidents. As we get further from government, your knowledge of the century diminishes. You also do better on putting events into decades, but there is still room for some humbleness.
We are going to be able to work with your knowledge quite well in the class. I will be laying out some history at each step so even those who scored lower will find the history manageable.
Following are the answers. Figures are number correct out of 31 responses. Time of event is counted as correct if within the decade.
Woodrow Wilson 31/31
Benjamin Palmer 0/31. Attorney General of the United States. Arrested and deported radical socialists in a process known as the "Palmer Raids."
Margaret Sanger 12/31. Advocate of birth control in the 1920s. Several of you claimed she was a "feminist" but she would not have known the term.
Franklin Roosevelt 31/31
Joseph McCarthy 13/31. US Senator from Wisconsin. Gave his name to McCarthism, the charges that communists were common in the US government in the early 1950s.
Dean Acheson 1/31. Secretary of State during the late 1940s. Oversaw the beginnings of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
John Foster Dulles 0/31. US Secretary of State early 1950s. Promoted a policy of "containment" of Communism including initiating US protection of South Vietnam.
Bill Gates 31/31
Bobby Seale 1/31. Leader of the Black Panther Party, a militant Black Power group from the 1960s. The eighth of the "Chicago Eight" tried for the demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic Convention.
Janette Rankin 1/31. First woman to be a member of Congress. Only person to vote in Congress against declaring war in both World War I and World War II.
Richard Nixon 30/31. President during the Watergate scandal of the 1970s.
Huey Long. 2/31. Political boss, governor and US Senator from Louisiana. Formulated the "Share the Wealth" Program in opposition to Roosevelt's New Deal. Would redistribute wealth from the wealthy to the poor.
Ronald Reagan 31/31.
Newt Gingrich. 8/31. Speaker of the House in the 1990s. Led the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 1994.
Jerry Falwell 5/31. Lynchburg VA minister. Leader of the Moral Majority, the largest organized Christian Right political organization of the 1980s.
World War I 20/31 within the decade. 1914-18. US Involvement, 1917-18.
World War II 21/31. 1939-45. US Involvement, 1941-45.
Cold War 23/31. 1947-1990.
Korean War 5/31. 1950-53.
Vietnam War 24/31. 1951-1975; US troops present in large numbers, 1962-74.
Great Depression 20/31. 1929-40.
Launching of Sputnik 8/31. 4 October 1957.
Resignation of Richard Nixon 14/31. 9 August 1974
Woodstock I 14/31. 15-17 August 1969.
Fall of the Berlin Wall 15/31. 9 Nov 1989.
Scopes Monkey Trial 4/31. Trial in Dayton TN of high school teacher John Scopes for teaching evolution, illegal under TN law.
Lindburgh’s flight across the Atlantic 2/31. 20-21 May 1927. First flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
Civil Rights March on Washington. 21/31. 28 August 1963.
Ronald Reagan’s Inaugural 15/31. 20 January 1981.
Integration of Little Rock Central High School 5/31. 23 September 1957. Eisenhower nationalized the Arkansas National Guard to enforce a court order to admit African American children to Little Rock Central High School.