| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| This agency’s first head was serving as an army captain when he co-wrote the Selective Service Act of 1917. A review board analyzing this agency was led by Clarence Darrow, claimed it led to the creation of (+) cartels, and was largely ignored. This agency was first led by Hugh S. Johnson, who promoted the adoption of a “blanket code.” Its logo featured a figure holding lightning bolts and a gear. Symbolized by a (*) “Blue Eagle,” this agency ceased operations after the 1935 “sick chicken” Supreme Court case, but many of its goals would live on in the Wagner Act. For the points, name this New Deal agency that tried to establish “codes of fair competition” in industries and which was created by the NIRA. | National Recovery Administration [or the NRA] |
| A person in this field wrote a diary that became the subject of a Pulitzer-winning book by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. One of the only formal classes in this field was taught at Penn by William Shippen Jr., who outraged Americans by teaching both (+) genders. In southern colonies, African-Americans in this field were frequently called “granny.” In Massachusetts, people in this field like Martha Ballard would take testimonies from (*) unwed mothers and even observe autopsies. This mostly amateur field faded in importance as obstetrics became dominated by professional doctors. For the points, name this field dominated by colonial women, who provided assistance during childbirth. | midwifery [or midwives; prompt on “medicine”; do not accept “doctors” or “nursing”] |
| A man involved in this scandal later took a worldwide trip that inspired Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days and was named George Francis Train. A cartoon mocking this scandal features congressmen told to commit (+) hara-kiri as Carl Schurz watches. This scandal was partly the brainchild of businessman Thomas C. Durant, while Oakes Ames added a later component of graft to it. This scandal resulted in (*) Schuyler Colfax being dropped from a presidential ticket and led to stock given as bribes to politicians such as James Garfield. For the points, name this scandal that implicated both of Ulysses Grant’s vice-presidents, in which the namesake construction company overcharged the Union Pacific Railroad. | Cr´edit Mobilier of America scandal |
| The losing candidate in this election year promised to fight for “the politics of joy.” A candidate for the Republican nomination in this election year remarked that he had been (+) “brainwashed” by the military. A strong showing in this year’s New Hampshire Democratic primary was made by a candidate who urged followers to shave facial hair and “get clean for Gene.” This was the most recent year in which a third party candidate (*) won a state. A year after winning this year’s election, the winning candidate described his target audience as “the silent majority.” In this year, the American Independent Party nominated conservative George Wallace. For the points, name this presidential election year in which Richard Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey. | Election of 1968 US History Bee 2018-2019 Playoff Round 1 - JV Semifinals, V Quarterfinals |
| This man’s wife wrote the “physiological cookbook” called Christianity in the Kitchen, and he, his wife, Julia Ward Howe, and her husband went on a dual honeymoon together. This man won reelection as a (+) Free Soil candidate after he lost a Whig nomination by one vote due to his feud with Daniel Webster. Ralph Waldo Emerson said this man wasted the last years of his life as the first president of (*) Antioch College. As a Whig congressman, he succeeded the deceased John Quincy Adams, and he previously set up a normal school system in places like Lexington. For the points, name this former secretary of the Massachusetts board of education, who was known as the father of the Common School movement. | Horace Mann |
| This person’s niece, Olive Byrne, whom this writer once rescued from a snowbank, is a possible inspiration for the character of Wonder Woman. This author of the book The (+) Pivot of Civilization once said “we don’t want the word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population,” a line frequently taken out of context. This woman’s estranged husband was arrested for giving one of her pamphlets to an agent of Anthony (*) Comstock. This person started a newsletter titled The Woman Rebel and an organization she founded in 1921 eventually became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. For the points, name this woman who opened the first birth control clinic in the U.S. | Margaret Higgins Sanger [or Margaret Louise Higgins; accept Margaret Sanger Slee] |
| Lawyer Elmer Gertz sued this group for libel after it claimed he wanted to merge all police agencies into one large force. The second head of this group, Congressman Larry McDonald, was killed in 1983 when (+) Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by the Soviets. This group was founded by the manufacturer of the candy Sugar Daddies, Robert Welch Jr., who claimed Dwight Eisenhower was guilty of “deliberate treason.” Its founding members included (*) Fred C. Koch [coke], the namesake of Koch Industries. This group’s namesake was a missionary killed by Chinese Communists, who was supposedly the first American casualty in the Cold War. For the points, name this far-right organization founded in 1958. | John Birch Society [or JBS] |
| A battle fought on this body of water is nicknamed the “False Nile,” referring to how the results were the complete opposite of Nelson’s Battle of the Nile. George (+) Pr´evost was removed from duty after a battle fought near this body of water won by Thomas Macdonough. After an earlier battle on this body of water, a commander sent his fleet to Crown Point, which he then burned. (*) Benedict Arnold scored a strategic victory in an October 1776 battle named for this body of water’s Valcour Island. The Battle of Plattsburgh in the War of 1812 was fought on this lake, stopping a British invasion into the northern states. For the points, name this body of water, a lake shared by Vermont, New York, and Quebec. | Lake Champlain US History Bee 2018-2019 Playoff Round 1 - JV Semifinals, V Quarterfinals |
| The month before this event, Governor Dixy Lee Ray issued an order that created a “red zone.” A folk hero prior to this event was a lodgekeeper who owned 16 cats, had the improbable name of (+) Harry Truman, and refused to leave his home despite pressure from the government. More than three decades after this event, there are still large masses of floating logs on nearby Spirit Lake. USGS scientist David Johnston shouted (*) “Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!” before dying in this incident. About 57 people were killed in this event, which resulted in lahars reaching as far as the Columbia River. For the points, name this 1980 event in Washington state, a destructive volcanic eruption. | Mount St. Helens eruption |
| The namesake of one of these locations reportedly revealed a plot by Thomas Hickey, a bodyguard of George Washington, to murder his employer. Another one of these locations in Philadelphia is traditionally claimed to be where the U.S. Marines held their first (+) recruitment drive. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Foreign Affairs, Finance, and War Departments had offices at one of these places in New York, the same place where (*) Washington bid farewell to his troops in 1783. Samuel Fraunces was the proprietor of one of these places, where John Adams said both “bastards and legislators are frequently begotten.” For the points, name these locations where colonial Americans frequently met and drank at. | taverns [or inns; prompt on “breweries” or “bars”] |
| This man’s “triumph” is the subject of a recent book by George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove. The notoriously incompetent Russell Alger resigned from this man’s cabinet partly due to a scandal involving (+) “embalmed” beef. This president, who was referred to by a future ally as having “no more backbone than a chocolate eclair,” picked the possibly senile John Sherman as his first secretary of state. This president won reelection using the campaign slogan of a (*) “Full Dinner Pail,” but his campaign manager, Mark Hanna, balked at a “damn cowboy” being his running mate. For the points, name this president who, after being shot by an anarchist, was succeeded by Teddy Roosevelt. | William McKinley |
| This man and Chandler Owen founded the magazine The Messenger, which stridently attacked Marcus Garvey. He was the first head of a group later led by E.D. Nixon, who helped establish it in Montgomery. The passage of Franklin Roosevelt’s (+) Fair Employment Act pushed this man, A.J. Muste, and a younger colleague to call off a 1941 march on Washington. This man and Bayard Rustin would later serve as the official organizers of the (*) 1963 march on Washington. This man was the first president of a group that primarily represented Pullman Company employees. For the points, name this African-American civil rights leader, a co-founder and first president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. | Asa Philip Randolph US History Bee 2018-2019 Playoff Round 1 - JV Semifinals, V Quarterfinals |
| Dr. John Potts probably poisoned 200 members of this group during a peace ceremony. A leader of this group, who was over 90 years old, was paraded in front of a crowd and then shot in the back and killed by a man assigned to guard him. Regional commanders known as (+) “weroances” reported to the leader of this group, who founded a capital at Werowocomoco. The founder of this group offered to sell food to a colony during its (*) “Starving Time” and would war with it several times in the future. The daughter of the founder of this group married tobacco planter John Rolfe and mythically saved John Smith from execution. For the points, name this group of native peoples in Virginia, whose founder was the father of Pocahontas. | Powhatan Confederacy [or Powhatans] |
| A1907publicationaboutthisactivityincludeddifferingopinionsfromJohnMontgomery Ward and Henry Chadwick. Historian John Thorn has debunked claims that Alexander (+) Cartwright should be considered the “father” of this activity. An early form of this activity was known as “three-corner cat.” The Mills Commission analyzed a story about this activity taking place at Elihu Phinney’s cow pasture. An early group in this activity played using (*) “Knickerbocker Rules.” A 1903 essay claimed this activity evolved from the game of “rounders,” while Albert Spaulding claimed it was invented in 1839 by a future Civil War general. For the points, name this sport which was mythically invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown. | baseball [or town ball; prompt on “round ball”] |
| Agent Mike Gilbert wrote a book about this event, saying he advised his client to stop taking arthritis medicine to make his hands swell in an effort to foil a test run by Christopher Darden. Audio tapes were played during this event, showing that Detective (+) Mark Fuhrman repeatedly used racial slurs. This event briefly made house guest Kato Kaelin a celebrity. After this event, a man was forced to pay millions to the families of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. During this event, lawyer (*) Johnnie Cochran quipped “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” referring to the so-called “bloody glove.” For the points, name this 1995 event that ended with a former NFL player acquitted on double murder charges. | O.J. Simpson murder trial [or Orenthal James Simpson trial; or People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson] |
| William Gallagher won a Pulitzer Prize for taking a photo of this man showing a hole in the sole of his right shoe. During primaries, his opponents painted him as subservient to political boss Jacob (+) Arvey. While governor of Illinois, this man was criticized for serving as a character witness for Alger Hiss. This politician, the grandson of a vice president, served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the (*) Cuban Missile Crisis. At one of the last open political conventions, this man edged out Estes Kefauver for a presidential nomination, although critics of this Democrat mocked him as an “egghead.” For the points, name this man who lost two presidential elections in the 1950s to Dwight Eisenhower. | Adlai Ewing Stevenson II US History Bee 2018-2019 Playoff Round 1 - JV Semifinals, V Quarterfinals |
| This businessman established what became known as the Robert Stuart House on Michigan’s Mackinac [mack-in-aw] Island. He used the ship Macedonian to ship Turkish opium to China. This man and James (+) Lenox were the original namesakes of the lions outside the New York Public Library, and he commissioned author Washington Irving to write a history of his company in 1836. This man financed an expedition that discovered the South Pass through the (*) Rocky Mountains, and a fort named for him was built on the Columbia River in 1811 as the first U.S. community on the Pacific coast. For the points, name this man commonly listed as the U.S.’ first multi-millionaire, the founder of the American Fur Company in the Pacific Northwest. | John Jacob Astor [or Johann Jakob Astor] |
| The attorney general tried to revoke the mailing privileges of this man’s journal, Social Justice. Comedian Eddie Cantor was briefly blacklisted for attacking this man, who joined Gerald L.K. Smith and Francis Townsend to back William (+) Lemke’s Union Party in a presidential election. While he once proclaimed “Roosevelt or Ruin,” he eventually encouraged his followers to vote for anti-New Deal candidates. This man was based out of the National (*) Shrine of the Little Flower near Detroit, and his activities received indirect funding from Nazi Germany. For the points, name this Michigan-based, anti-Semitic priest who was a popular radio commentator. | Father Charles Edward Coughlin |
| A well-known photograph showed a man from this country posing with twelve-year-old Theodora Alice Shew. This country apologized for an 1846 incident in which its soldiers physically attacked Nicholas (+) Biddle’s brother, James. After a treaty was negotiated with this country by Townsend Harris, this country sent an expedition to the U.S. in an unsuccessful attempt to change its rather unequal terms. American vehicles named for the (*) smoke from their coal-fired steam engines visited this country and attempted to change an exclusive trade agreement it had with the Dutch. The 1850s “black ships” of Commodore Matthew Perry opened, for the points, what Asian country for trade with the U.S.? | Japan [accept Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku] |
| A lobbying group ran Operation Coffee Cup to oppose this program. According to a 1961 record, this program is unnecessary, due to the Kerr-Mills Act. Ronald Reagan said “There you go again” while refuting Jimmy Carter’s claims that Reagan once (+) opposed this program, even though Reagan produced a recording denouncing this program as “socialist.” A lobbying campaign throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s against this program was run by the (*) AMA. The first recipients of this program were Harry Truman and his wife. This program was created under Title XVIII of the Social Security Amendments of 1965. For the points, name this health insurance program for Americans aged 65 and older. | Medicare [accept Medicaid until “Reagan”] US History Bee 2018-2019 Playoff Round 1 - JV Semifinals, V Quarterfinals |
| After one of these events took place in Massachusetts, Thomas Prince wrote a text referring to them as “tokens” of God’s “just displeasure.” A large one of these events in 1755 that affected (+) Boston and was blamed on God’s wrath was named for Cape Ann. Legendarily, after the Creeks refused to join his tribal confederacy, Tecumseh predicted one of these events in 1811, which alarmed James Madison enough to write to (*) Thomas Jefferson about. The most powerful of these events to hit the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains was named after the Missouri town of New Madrid. For the points, name these natural disasters, the aforementioned one of which was followed by massive aftershocks. | earthquakes |
| In 2017, this company was ordered to pay a three million dollar fine after organizing archaeological looting in Iraq. This company’s founder, David Green, is the father of the primary funder of the Museum of the Bible. A court case in which Cabinet member (+) Sylvia Burwell was the petitioner consolidated this company’s case with that of a Mennonite furniture company’s. A 2014 Supreme Court decision ruled that this company, which had sued the government two years earlier, could choose to be exempt from the (*) Affordable Care Act’s mandate to cover emergency contraceptives for its employees. For the points, name this Oklahoma-based corporation which runs a chain of arts-and-crafts stores. | Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. |
| This event created a new position filled by an Union general who had killed his superior officer, “Bull” Nelson, and was amusingly named Jefferson C. Davis. While his former ally, Horace Greeley, was the most outspoken opponent of this event, (+) Charles Sumner spoke in favor of it in a three-hour Senate speech, referencing research by the Smithsonian. Eduard de Stoeckl tried to previously initiate this event during the Buchanan presidency. This event, which cost the U.S. about (*) $7.2 million, was mockingly called “Seward’s Folly” by the few critics who thought the U.S. had acquired an “icebox.” For the points, name this 1867 event in which the U.S. acquired a future state from Russia. | purchase of Alaska [accept Seward’s Folly until mentioned] |
| At a 2005 forum, this man remarked “it’s a hell of a hoot” to shoot men who abuse women. After his wedding to Alice Gillis was called off, he never married and became known as the “Warrior Monk.” An Internet meme depicts this man as the (+) “saint” of Quantico and the “patron saint of chaos.” In 2010, he replaced David Petraeus as the commander of U.S. Central Command. Like George Marshall, this man required a waiver of the National Security Act in order to serve in the Cabinet. Receiving a (*) 98 to 1 vote in his confirmation, this man joined Mike Pompeo in urging the Senate not to sanction Saudi Arabia. For the points, name this former Marine Corps general nicknamed “Mad Dog,” Donald Trump’s first Secretary of Defense. | Jim Mattis [or James Norman Mattis] US History Bee 2018-2019 Playoff Round 1 - JV Semifinals, V Quarterfinals |
| This man wrote a majority opinion in a case rejecting Martin Luther’s contention that the Supreme Court should enforce the Guarantee Clause in the Constitution. Benjamin (+) Curtis reportedly resigned from the court because of disagreements with this man, who previously was the first rejected Cabinet nominee after a failed bid to become secretary of the treasury. A never-acted upon arrest warrant was issued for this man after his ruling in (*) Ex parte Merryman that the president could not suspend habeas corpus, even during wartime. This justice wrote a majority opinion stating that African-Americans could not be citizens. For the points, name this chief justice during the Dred Scott decision. | Roger Brooke Taney |
| For his actions in this country, Henry Johnson finally and posthumously won the Medal of Honor in 2015. Corporal Alvin York made his celebrated capture of 132 enemy soldiers in this country. Upon his return from this country, (+) Billy Mitchell became a staunch advocate of air power in the military. The largest offensive and deadliest battle in U.S. history occurred in this country, with death rates inflated due to a particularly nasty outbreak of (*) Spanish flu. It’s not Mexico, but this was the primary country that U.S. soldiers known as “doughboys” fought in. For the points, name this European country where U.S. troops fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive at the Western Front in World War One. | France [or French Third Republic] |
| Leaders of this group, the Bellecourt brothers, were accused of ordering the murder of Anna Mae Aquash. The actor Russell Means was an early leader of this group. To support a 1973 action of this group, (+) Marlon Brando asked a woman to speak on his behalf at the Oscars that year. In 1978, this group began the Longest Walk, which began on Alcatraz Island and was a 3,200 mile walk across the country. This group staged a 1970 protest in which it seized a (*) replica of the Mayflower in Boston. As part of a 1973 protest, activists from this organization occupied the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation. For the points, name this advocacy group founded in 1968 that represents Native Americans. | American Indian Movement[orAIM;prompton“OglalaLakota”or“Lakota”or“Sioux”] |
| With William Slade, a member of this family founded the Board of National Popular Education, which sent teachers out west. Another member of this family was president of an institution near Walnut Hills when “rebels” broke away to found (+) Oberlin College. In 1841, a female member of this family wrote an influential essay on “domestic economy” for women. Victoria Woodhull notoriously accused a member of this family of having an affair with his friend’s wife, (*) Elizabeth Tilton. This family, which includes author Catharine and Lane Seminary president Lyman, had an abolitionist member whose “bibles” were actually weapons used during the Bleeding Kansas struggle. For the points, name this family of famous minister Henry Ward. | Beecher US History Bee 2018-2019 Playoff Round 1 - JV Semifinals, V Quarterfinals |
| This man was praised in an embarrassing letter sent by the British ambassador to a Republican operative using the alias “Charles Murchison.” As president, he still holds the record, at 414, of the most presidential (+) vetoes during one term, and while in office, he married a 21-year old, the youngest ever First Lady. During his presidency, the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act reduced tariffs but also established a small income tax. The (*) Mugwumps left the Republican Party to support this man, who both lost and won a presidential election against Benjamin Harrison. He was the only Democrat elected president between 1860 and 1900. For the points, name this only president who served two nonconsecutive terms. | Grover Cleveland [or Stephen Grover Cleveland] |
| George W. Bush’s picks to head both the Department of Labor and this department both had to withdraw after revelations that they employed undocumented workers. Bernard (+) Kerik was unsuccessfully nominated to lead this department, which was led during the Obama presidency by the current head of the University of California system. First led by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, this department was recently led by a woman who told Congress she did not know (*) Norway was a predominantly white country. John Kelly left this department to become chief of staff and was eventually succeeded by Kirstjen Nielsen. For the points, name this newest Cabinet department, created after the 9/11 attacks to fight terrorism. | Department of Homeland Security [or DHS] |
| This law was applied to the actions of a bank manager in the case Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson. In order to get a tax cut through Wilbur Mills’ Ways and Means Committee, this law was temporarily held up in the House. (+) Howard W. Smith controversially added an amendment regarding sex to this law, which many felt was a cynical attempt at making it more unpopular. The argument that this law violated the Fourteenth Amendment was rejected in the case (*) Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States. Lyndon Johnson declared passing this law was an appropriate eulogy for John F. Kennedy, who was killed the year before. For the points, name this 1964 law outlawing discrimination based on race. | Civil Rights Act of 1964 |
| This man was the original editor-in-chief of The Kernel, which he claimed would fix “technology journalism.” Leaked emails suggested much of his content for a website was ghostwritten by (+) Allum Bokhari, and that this man contacted people like the head of The Daily Stormer for ideas. His book Dangerous was dropped from publication after this man made comments seemingly defending pedophilia. He was banned from (*) Twitter for reportedly encouraging abuse against Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones. This man’s 2017 speech at Berkeley was cancelled after violent protests. For the points, name this British-born conservative, a former senior editor at Breitbart. | Milo Yiannopoulos [or Milo Hanrahan; or Milo Andreas Wagner] US History Bee 2018-2019 Playoff Round 1 - JV Semifinals, V Quarterfinals |
| The very first person to resign from the Senate did so to become governor of this state and became a Supreme Court justice three years later. David Hosack and William Peter Van Ness watched a man suffer a fatal wound in this state, although (+) Ron Chernow disputes that the latter man was “deloping” during the encounter. That confrontation in this state occurred after one man helped another man lose the (*) 1800 gubernatorial race in a nearby state. William Paterson proposed a plan named for this state at the Constitutional Convention which proposed one vote per state in the legislature and was seen as favoring “small” states. For the points, name this state where Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton at Weehawken. | New Jersey |