Time Current Affairs Test

(THIS TEST COVERS THE PERIOD JUNE THROUGH SEPTEMBER 1947)

Prepared by The Editors of TIME in collaboration with Alvin C. Eurich and Elmo C. Wilson

Co-Authors of the Cooperative Contemporary Affairs Test for the American Council on Education

(Copyright 1947 by TIME Inc.)

This test is to help TIME readers and their friends check their knowledge of recent news. In recording answers, make no marks at all opposite questions. Use one of the answer sheets printed with the test: sheets for four persons are provided. After taking the test, check your replies against the correct answers printed on the last page of the test, entering the number of right answers as your score on the answer sheet. On the June 1947 TIME Current Affairs Test, the scores of TIME readers (as reported in letters to TIME’S editors) averaged 79, ranging from a low of 44 to a high of 103, reported by David W. Knight—a student at the University of Southern California. As always, this test is given under the honor system—no peeking.

HOW TO SCORE

For each of the text questions, five possible answers are given. You are to select the best answer and put its number on the answer sheet next to the number of that question. Example:

0. The President of the United States is:

1. Dewey. 3. Truman. 5. Wallace.

2. Hoover. 4. Vandenberg.

Truman, of course, is the correct answer. Since this question is numbered 0, the number 3—standing for Truman—has been placed at the right of 0 on the answer sheet.

U. S. AFFAIRS

Congressional Record 1. The man who dominated the opening sessions of the 80th Congress more than any other was:

1. Congressman Taber.

2. Congressman Martin.

3. President Truman.

4. Senator Taft.

5. Senator Vandenberg.

2. Most controversial legislation passed by Congress was the Taft-Hartley labor law, which does all but one of these:

1. Bans closed shops.

2. Bans union shops.

3. Calls for a secret ballot of workers before a strike.

4. Curtails jurisdictional strikes.

5. Guarantees an employer’s right to speak to his employees on labor policies.

3. But Mr. Truman twice vetoed the G.O.P.’s attempt to:

1. Ban union participation in elections.

2. Bar government employees from political action.

3. Change the electoral system.

4. Cut off U.S. relief to Europe.

5. Reduce income taxes.

4. A prime target of the Republican economy drive was ex-Assistant Secretary of State Benton’s:

1. Advisory Council (reportedly Communist-influenced). 2. “Buy American” advertising campaign in foreign magazines.

3. Proposed renewal of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act.

4. Unvouchered expense accounts.

5. Voice of America broadcasts to foreign nations.

5. Even under the urging of a distinguished investigating committee headed by famed Physicist Karl Compton, Congress failed to vote:

1. Anti-poll tax legislation.

2. Federal aid to education.

3. Funds for peacetime atomic research.

4. A Fair Employment Act.

5. Universal military training.

6. And despite increasing public pressure, little consideration was given to the Stratton Bill providing for:

1. Admission of 400,000 displaced persons to the U.S.

2. Extension of credit controls.

3. Flood control.

4. A housing program for veterans.

5. Presidential succession.

7. The rent control extension bill passed by Congress had a gimmick in it which:

1. Exempted “new construction” from controls.

2. Exempted rentals over $50 a month.

3. Exempted rentals over $100 a month.

4. Permitted landlords to avoid controls in “hardship” cases.

5. Permitted “voluntary increases” of 15% if landlord and tenant agree. 8. With an eye on the veteran vote in 1948, Congress passed a bill:

/. Giving every ex-G.I. a $1,500 bonus.

2. Granting veterans free hospitalization and medical care for life.

3. Offering veterans four years of job-training with pay.

4. Permanently exempting veterans from further military service.

5. Permitting ex-G.I.s to cash terminal leave bonds.

9. Just before Congress adjourned, Senate Republicans were beaten in their efforts to renew the investigation into:

1. Alleged misuse of the President’s wartime powers.

2. James Roosevelt’s income-tax returns.

3. The May-Garsson war contracts.

4. The Progressive Citizens of America.

5. Vote frauds in Kansas City.

10. But U.S. history held few more dramatic demonstrations of national unity than the record of the 80th Congress on:

1. Foreign affairs.

2. Housing.

3. Safety devices at airports.

4. The St. Lawrence Waterway.

5. Support of the President.

Politics 11. Robert A. Taft opened his drive for the White House with a speech which:

1. Flatly predicted his own election.

2. Highly praised President Truman.

3. Tossed bouquets at Dewey and Stassen.

4. Was chiefly a recital of accomplishments of the 80th Congress.

5. Was remarkable for its mildness.

12. Later, on a western tour, the Ohio Senator gave his off-the-cuff opinion of a way to allay high food prices:

1. “Boost income taxes for farmers.”

2. “Eat less.”

3. “Just stop sending most of our food to Europe.”

4. “Revive OPA at once.”

5. “Shoot the middleman.”

13. Candidate Dewey, meanwhile, completed an extensive vacation through the West during which he:

1. Finally tossed his hat in the ring.

2. Lined up hundreds of delegates, insisted the trip was nonpolitical.

3. Made several speeches before enthusiastic crowds.

4. Told newsmen he would like Stassen as a running mate.

5. Was repeatedly photographed in Indian warbonnets.

14. Some anti-Truman Liberals tried to launch a third party led by:

1. General MacArthur.

2. Harold L. Ickes.

3. Henry A. Wallace.

4. Robert La Follette Jr.

5. William Langer.

15. The world of politics lost one of its most colorful personalities in September, when death came to Fiorello LaGuardia, who had been all but one of these:

/. Deputy Attorney General of New York State.

2. Director General of UNRRA.

3. Governor of New York twice.

4. Mayor of New York City 12 years.

5. Member of Congress for many years.

16. Kenneth C. Royall, John L. Sullivan and W. Stuart Symington are:

1. Members of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

2. New Supreme Court Justices.

3. Probable candidates for the Vice Presidency on the Truman ticket.

4. Forrestal’s top lieutenants in his new Department of Defense.

5. Some of the businessmen who help administer the Taft-Hartley Act.

Labor 17. When the Supreme Court upheld the Lea Act, it outlawed a practice under which radio stations had been forced to:

1. Accept whichever musicians the union wanted them to hire.

2. Ban all transcribed music.

3. Contribute to the musicians’ old age home.

4. Hire stand-by orchestras when broadcasting transcribed programs.

5. Sign union shop contracts with the A.F. of M.

18. Early in July the Ford Motor Co. ended a three-year-old labor experiment when it:

1. Abandoned its 24-hour week policy.

2. Dissolved its system of bonuses for white collar workers.

3. Gave up its system of collecting union dues from workers’ pay checks.

4. Refused to negotiate a new contract with a foremen’s union.

5. Reinstated the piece work plan.

19. John L. Lewis not only got miners the best wages they have ever had, but also forced operators to cripple the Taft-Hartley Act with a clause:

1. Declaring miners would work only when “willing and able.”

2. Declaring supervisory employees must join the U.M.W.

3. Forcing all labor disputes into arbitration.

4. Permitting him to declare “work holidays” at his discretion.

5. Prohibiting suits by operators against the union.

Business and Finance 20. Housewives were cheered in June when rationing ended on:

L Butter. 4. Salad oils.

2. Coffee. 5. Sugar.

3. Meat.

21. But prices got higher and higher, and a plea from Truman to businessmen to withhold increases came right after:

1. The coal wage pact.

2. Congress passed the second tax reduction bill.

3. Food prices alone shot up 10% in one month.

4. Rent controls were lifted.

5. Sears-Roebuck pioneered by cutting all prices 15%.

22. Aftermath of this request was that:

1. The Bureau of Labor’s cost-of-living index shot up ten points.

2. The National Association of Manufacturers promised to abide by the President’s request.

3. Prices held the Jine for six weeks, longest period since war’s end.

4. Prices on steel, aluminum and copper actually dropped.

5. Steel, automobile price increases were announced a few days later.

23. Later, as part of his drive on prices, Truman gave his blessing to:

1. An anti-trust investigation of price-fixing by industry.

2. Devaluation of the dollar.

3. Resumed OPA controls.

4. The revival of NRA.

5. Sale of gold on the open market.

24. For the first six months of 1947, retail sales:

1. Dropped 25%.

2. Fell slightly under 1946.

3. Reached a record high.

4. Were exactly the same as in 1929.

5. Were exactly the same as in 1946.

25. For the first time since 1930, the U.S. Treasury ended the fiscal year with:

1. A deficit of less than a billion.

2. A deficit of less than a million.

3. Outgo exactly equal to income.

4. No outstanding obligations.

5. A surplus.

Sport 26. Famed not only as a band leader, but as the defending champion in speedboat races this summer was:

1. Fred Waring. 4. Phil Spitalny.

2. GuyLombardo. 5. Tommy Dorsey.

3. Harry James.

27. The champions of the American League, the New York Yankees, defeated the champions of the National League, the:

1. Boston Red Sox.

2. Brooklyn Dodgers.

3. Chicago Cubs.

4. New York Giants.

5. St. Louis Cardinals.

Here & There

28. Across the land this summer, man was making it rain by:

1. Beating on giant drums.

2. Dropping dry ice into clouds.

3. Exploding a new magnesium bomb.

4. Focusing the powerful Langfer Water Attractor on the sky.

5. Projecting sound rays into the stratosphere. 29. Generally regarded as “mass hysteria” were the reports of:

1. Balloons from Mars.

2. Falling meteors.

3. Flying saucers.

4. Russian planes over the U.S.

5. Sea monsters.

30. Scripps-Howard Columnist Robert Ruark stirred up a War Department investigation with a series of articles in which he:

1. Accused the General Staff of getting rich during the war.

2. Adversely compared the American command in Berlin with Soviet forces there.

3. Attacked the “teaching methods and caste system” of West Point.

4. Charged General Lee of the Mediterranean Theater with misusing government property, mistreating the G.I.s.

5. Condemned G.I. fraternizing with Japanese girls.

31. Late in July, President Truman flew to Missouri to:

1. Announce he would run in 1948.

2. Be away from Washington during

the closing days of Congress.

3. Be at the side of his critically ill

mother.

4. Look into the charge of vote frauds in Kansas City.

5. Play poker with old cronies.

32. The Library of Congress staged the biggest show in its history when:

1. All its employees marched into the Senate Chamber.

2. All the Senators used its reading room.

3. A collection of Lincoln’s papers was opened to scholars.

4. The original of the Declaration of Independence was displayed for the first time.

5. Papers signed on V-E Day were shown for the first time.

33. By early summer a half billion dollars damage was caused by the highest floods in 103 years on the:

1. Colorado. 4. Monongahela.

2. Mississippi. 5. Ohio.

3. Missouri.

34. In Gary, Ind. 1,300 high school pupils went on strike because the:

1. Food in the school lunchroom was “just plain lousy.”

2. Football coach was fired.

3. Principal refused to let them cut classes to hear Frank Sinatra.

4. School admitted Negro boys and girls to its classes.

5. State Board of Education made Latin a required subject.

35. Cussed and discussed by men and women alike was “The New Look” in fashion which calls for all but one of these:

1. Back and side bustles.

2. Fully covered bosoms for both daytime and evening wear.

3. Hobble skirts, hoop skirts, skirts that flap around the ankles.

4. Unpadded shoulders, padded hips.

5. Wasp-waists.

AROUND THE WORLD WITH THE NEWS

Directions: Located on this map, and identified in the statements below, are scenes of recent developments in the news. Write on the answer sheet (opposite the number of each statement) the number which correctly locates the place or event described. 36. Where European nations, minus Russia and satellites, met to implement Marshall Approach.

37. Gunmen wiped out Premier and seven Cabinet Ministers here.

38. An ex-Governor of Nebraska administers the Truman Doctrine in this area.

39. Where the Communists arrested Juliu Maniu and hundreds of other Liberals.

40. Here both sides fought on after telling U.N. they would quit.

41. Where a hurricane struck in mid-September.

42. Lieut. General Albert C. Wede-meyer visited here to help determine the future course of U.S. relations with this country.

43. Changed its mind about attending conference on Marshall Approach after a word to the wise from Generalissimo Stalin.

44. Where representatives of 21 republics met and George Marshall got the hemisphere defense treaty he wanted.

45. Here the people danced in the streets and blessed their city upon its 800th anniversary.

INTERNATIONAL

Two Worlds 46. In a momentous speech at Harvard, Secretary Marshall offered U.S. aid to European nations if they would first:

1. Abandon tariff barriers against U.S. products.

2. Devise a reconstruction plan for Europe as a whole.

3. Draw up a plan for a United States of Europe.

4. Outlaw Communism in their countries.

5. Sign a pact guaranteeing civil liberties in each nation.

47. Denouncing the whole Marshall Approach as a capitalist trap to enslave Europe, Russia countered by speedily:

1. Breaking off relations with all cooperating nations.

2. Increasing food rations for her dissatisfied people.

3. Launching a “Molotov Plan”—trade agreements with her satellites.

4. Marching troops into northern Italy.

5. Mobilizing troops on her western frontier. 48. And when a general conference of European nations was called to discuss the Marshall Approach, all but one of these countries declined to attend:

1. Hungary.

2. Italy.

3. Poland.

4. Rumania.

5. Yugoslavia.

49. As the experts drew up a blueprint for Europe’s future, it became apparent that the indispensable first step was:

1. Access to Spain’s tremendous iron ore resources.

2. Conversion of Germany to an agricultural economy.

3. A drastic increase in Ruhr coal and steel production.

4. More government control over the agencies of production.

5. The rebuilding of Europe’s railway system.

50. In the struggle to turn Italy away from Communism and toward Democracy, the U.S. in August took an important tactical step by:

1. Agreeing to admit 50,000 Italian students to the U.S.

2. Cancelling Italy’s war debt of about $1 billion.

3. Coming out strongly for Italian control of the Dodecanese Islands.

4. Contracting to buy all surplus Italian spaghetti.

5. Urging U.N. agreement to the return of Libya to Italy. 51. In Greece, meanwhile, General Markps Vafiades, leader of Communist guerrillas:

1. Decided to visit the U.S. to seek funds.

2. Denounced U.S. “invaders” in a speech before the Greek Senate.

3. Surrendered after hiding in the mountains for six months.

4. Proclaimed a “Free Greek” state in northern Greece.

5. Requested a peace conference with General Napoleon Zervas.

U.N.— Problems and Progress 52. In Cairo and Lake Success, Moslems rioted at a rumor that U.N. might reject Egypt’s demand that:

1. British troops clear out of the Nile Valley.

2. A Moslem state like Pakistan be set up in Libya.

3. Reparations be paid for World War II damages.

4. The Suez Canal be internationalized.

5. U.N. settle the long-disputed boundary with Ethiopia.

53. The Soviet Union vetoed a U.S. plan to protect Greece by:

1. Authorizing U.N. to watch over the Greeks’ northern borders for two years.

2. Establishing a 50-mile-wide “neutrality belt” on either side of Greece’s northern frontiers.

3. Lending Greece $37 million to build frontier fortifications.

4. Ordering Yugoslavia and Bulgaria to “keep the peace.”

5. Sending U.N. troops to Athens. 54. U.S. response to this was to:

1. Boycott all further discussion of the Greek problem.

2. Hint at possible action outside the U.N. to protect Greece.

3. Introduce a resolution condemning “Soviet obstructionism.”

4. Threaten to veto all Russian, U.N. proposals in the future.

5. Warn Greece nothing further could be done for her.

55. The Russians consistently blocked efforts to set up U.N. control of atomic weapons by refusing to:

1. Accept international inspection except under their own conditions.

2. Agree that atomic power could be used for peacetime production.

3. Agree to a single one of the Baruch proposals.

4. Destroy her atom bombs.

5. Divulge what secrets her spies had obtained in Canada and the U.S.

56. In a bold bid for a showdown with Russia, Secretary Marshall made an address to U.N. in September in which he did all but one of these:

1. Blamed Russia for deadlock over Korea.

2. Challenged Russia to surrender the veto power in all but the gravest cases.

3. Expressed faith that, U.N. will soon end the stalemate over world control of atomic energy.

4. Proposed a new, vetoless 55-country Assembly committee to be in constant session.

5. Said the U.S. plans to put “great weight” behind the recommendations of U.N.’s Palestine Committee. 57. Russia promptly called the U.S.

guilty of preparing for war in a fiery

speech by Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei:

1. Gromyko. 4. Vasiliev.

2. Molotov. 5. Vishinsky.

3. Morozov.

Rocky Road to Peace

58. Earlier, Russia refused Secretary Marshall’s proposal, also urged by General MacArthur, that:

1. Both U.S. and Russia quit Korea.

2. Japan be permitted to rebuild her merchant marine.

3. Japanese reparations be canceled.

4. Soviet troops quit Manchuria.

5. Work should begin on a Japanese peace treaty immediately.

59. After 30 days of discussion, the Allied-drawn peace treaty was ratified by the Constituent Assembly of:

1. Albania. 4. Poland.

2. Czechoslovakia. 5. Yugoslavia.

3. Italy.

FOREIGN NEWS

Europe

60. In a desperate attempt to meet Britain’s deepening economic crisis, Attlee, Bevin and the Labor Government did all but one of these:

1. Asked the U.S. to redistribute its gold reserve.

2. Forbade Britons to travel abroad for pleasure.

3. Proposed a tax which would take 75% of the gross earnings of U.S. films in Britain.

4. Made slashing cuts in the food rations.

5. Reduced the number of Britain’s traditional “Bank Holidays.”

61. Under the threat of fines, reduced rations or loss of jobs for not voting, the Spanish people cast a 12-to-l majority in favor of:

1. Life office for Dictator Franco, succession of his candidates.

2. A limited monarchy.

3. A new constitution which contains no civil liberties guarantees.

4. Separation of Church and State.

5. Spanish withdrawal from U.N.

62. Throughout the Spanish world, plain people mourned the death of Manolete, the:

1. Bullfighter.

2. “Champion of the peon.”

3. Chess master.

4. Cinemactor.

5. Jai-alai star.

The Far East 63. On August 15, British India:

1. Became an independent Crown Colony within the British Empire.

2. Became the first Communist government in the Far East except Siberia.

3. Completely separated from the British Commonwealth,

4. Signified its intention of remaining part of the British Empire.

5. Split into two Dominions within the British Commonwealth.

64. Soon thereafter, 40,000-150,000 people were killed in two weeks by the war between Moslems and Sikhs in:

1. Baluchistan. 4. The Punjab.

2. Hyderabad. 5. Travancore.

3. Kashmir.

65. Mid-summer saw no letup in the civil war between Communists and Nationalists for control of:

1. Manchuria 4. Siam.

2. Indo-China. 5. Sumatra.

3. Malaya.

CANADA AND LATIN AMERICA 66. Ontario’s Premier George Drew eased his province’s manpower shortage by:

1. Advertising in U.S. for workers.

2. Getting U.N. to leave 100,000 German prisoners in Canada.

3. Importing workers from Britain.

4. Introducing a speed-up work plan.

5. Pushing through a 48-hour week law.

67. The visiting speaker who told the Canadian Parliament in June that “we intend to support those who are determined to govern themselves in their own way and who honor the right of others to do likewise” was:

1. Clement Attlee.

2. President Aleman of Mexico.

3. President Truman.

4. The Secretary General of U.N.

5. Winston Churchill.

68. Imagine Harry Truman governing with the help of the Republicans, while his own Democrats, labor and the Communists intrigue behind his back; that is the picture of President Dutra of:

1. Argentina. 4. Cuba.

2. Brazil. 5. Peru.

3. Chile.

69. In an address to Mexico’s Congress, President Aleman reported that his hopes for the future are far from fulfillment because of all but one of these:

1. Foot-&-mouth disease, locusts, drought, torrential rains have recently plagued the country.

2. Mexico does not yet raise enough food to feed itself.

3. There seems no possibility of settling the oil expropriation row with Britain.

4. Unemployment is growing.

5. War-born industries are wobbly.

70. And Argentina’s Five-Year Plan for modern industrialization is running into difficulties because of:

1. A shortage of hydroelectric power.

2. A shortage of foreign exchange.

3. Opposition from President Peron.

4. Opposition from Russia.

5. Opposition from the U.S.

71. Meanwhile, hundreds of exiles were reported gathering in Cuba for a filibuster against the dictatorship of President Trujillo of:

1. Colombia.

2. Costa Rica.

3. The Dominican Republic.

4. Haiti.

5. Venezuela.

72. The Inter-American Highway through Central America:

1. Includes several hundred miles that are still impassable.

2. Is now paved to the Panama Canal.

3. Is now open for traffic all the way.

4. Will be dedicated next January 1.

5. Was completed by the U.S. Army during the war.

73. In July, Congress handed U.S. medicine a $14 million purse to fight:

1. Cancer.

2. The common cold.

3. Heart diseases.

4. Infantile paralysis.

5. Tuberculosis.

74. The most powerful wallop ever dealt by man—that of smashing some atoms into 22 to 30 pieces—was achieved by: 1. The Hanford plant in Washington.

2. Harvard’s James Bryant Conant.

3. Scientists working on the Los Alamos project in New Mexico.

4. University of California’s 184-inch cyclotron.

5. University of Chicago scientists.

75. Through a prefrontal lobotomy brain operation, it may be possible to:

1. Bring a person back to life if applied within 24 hours of death.

2. Create supermen,

3. Cure seasickness.

4. Cure sleeping sickness.

5. Revamp a psychopathic personality.

76. Fourteen months after the underwater atom-bomb explosion Bikini Atoll is:

1. Beginning to sink gradually into the ocean.

2. Just giving birth to vegetable life again.

3. Safe for humans if they don’t stay more than a year.

4. Slowly returning to its normal temperature.

5. Still quaking.

77. Dr. Rudolf Degkwitz, a German who spent part of the war in concentration camps, developed a new method of:

1. Operating on the brain.

2. Shooting “an aimed injection” of a healing drug at a given organ of the body.

3. Socialized medicine.

4. Surgery for cancer.

5. Treating the insane. 78. Still a new science is the use of plants as:

1. A basis for predicting the weather.

2. A means of flood control.

3. Mineral “indicators.”

4. Recorders of volume of rainfall.

5. A source of water.

79. In tne hope of relieving ulcers, hand sweating, high blood pressure and hiccups, surgeons all over the U.S. are:

1. Cutting and tying blood vessels.

2. Cutting nerves.

3. Removing excess fat.

4. Suggesting greater use of alcohol to relax people.

5. Using packs of penicillin,

80. Bones of the ceolophysis—one dinosaur that had always eluded diggers—were found recently in:

1. Egypt. 4. Italy.

2. Greece. 5. New Mexico. 3. Guatemala. 81. Flyer Bill Odom set a new record by circling the globe solo in an hour and five minutes more than:

1. One day. 4. Seven days.

2. Three days. 5. Ten days.

3. Six days.

82. The Kon-Tiki, whose activities were headlined throughout the summer, is:

1. A big log raft on which a group of scientists crossed the Pacific.

2. Howard Hughes’s giant plane.

3. The new atom smasher at U.N. headquarters.

4. A new plague that swept Africa.