Recent American history

The official answer for why the United States entered the Korean War is the same as for Vietnam: to stop the spread of communism.

The last history section, Recent American History and Other Important Historical Information, runs from question 100 to 118. It covers the wars of the 1900s, the Great Depression, the Cold War, the civil rights movement and the attacks of September 11, 2001, and it ends with two open questions about American Indian tribes and American innovations.

Two world wars and a depression

Question 100 asks for a war of the 1900s: World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War or the Persian Gulf War. The United States entered World War I in 1917 because Germany attacked U.S. civilian ships, and to support the Allied Powers against the Central Powers (question 101). Woodrow Wilson was president during that war, a question on the 2008 test. Women won the right to vote nationally in 1920 with the 19th Amendment (question 102).

The Great Depression was the longest economic recession in modern history (question 103). It started with the stock market crash of 1929, the Great Crash (question 104). Franklin Roosevelt was president during the Great Depression and World War II (question 105). The country entered World War II after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, and fought the Axis Powers, Germany, Italy and Japan (question 106). Dwight Eisenhower was a general in World War II and then the 34th president, in office at the end of the Korean War; he signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which created the Interstate System (question 107).

The Cold War

After 1945 the main rival of the United States was the Soviet Union, the USSR (question 108), and the main concerns were communism and nuclear war (question 109). The United States entered both the Korean War, which began in 1950, and the Vietnam War to stop the spread of communism (questions 110 and 111). Korean-speaking learners can note that the two answers are worded identically, so one sentence covers both questions.

Civil rights

The civil rights movement fought to end racial discrimination (question 112). Martin Luther King, Jr., the subject of a starred question (question 113), fought for civil rights and worked for equality for all Americans. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were major results of the movement. King’s birthday is now a federal holiday, on the third Monday in January.

Since 1990

The United States entered the Persian Gulf War in 1991 to force the Iraqi military from Kuwait (question 114). On September 11, 2001, terrorists took over four planes; two crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and one, aimed at Washington, D.C., crashed in a field in Pennsylvania (question 115, starred). Military conflicts after the attacks include the Global War on Terror and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (question 116).

Question 117 asks you to name one American Indian tribe; the 2025 list gives 25, including Cherokee, Navajo, Sioux and Apache, and points to bia.gov for the complete list. Question 118 asks for an American innovation: the light bulb, the automobile, skyscrapers, the airplane, the assembly line, landing on the moon or the integrated circuit.

2008 version: questions 78 to 87