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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was Calvin Coolidge's chief trait, according to Mencken?
(a) "A great appetite for jams and jellies."
(b) "A hide as tough as a rhinoceros, and a horn to match."
(c) "A terrific ability to arrive at the wrong place, but at the right time."
(d) "Self-induced narcolepsy."

2. What was the general atmosphere of the Democratic National Convention of 1932, as reported by Mencken?
(a) A complete circus.
(b) Like Mafia men meeting at a restaurant, as the politicians are all corrupt.
(c) Stuffy and mannered.
(d) Quiet, like a gentlemen's club.

3. What aspect of death did Mencken find most interesting?
(a) How so often people die not gloriously or with grace, but ridiculously.
(b) How people are able to find God so quickly on their death bed.
(c) What the great poets have said about death.
(d) The physiological and chemical processes involved in death.

4. What memorable simile did Mencken use for Grover Cleveland?
(a) Cleveland was like a newborn babe gazing at the stars for the first time.
(b) Cleveland was like a crocodile waiting to snap his jaws around the American public.
(c) Cleveland was like a steel ship loaded with monoliths of granite.
(d) Cleveland was like a fragile butterfly with wings of dynamite.

5. Who did Mencken NOT count among the "crackpots" present in "The Wallace Paranoia"?
(a) Bible-belt evangelists.
(b) Communists.
(c) Psychopaths.
(d) Career political operatives.

Short Answer Questions

1. Complete the following aphorism found in "Sententiae": "Democracy is..."

2. How was Mencken able to get a taxi driver to drive him to a speakeasy in Pennsylvania?

3. What did Mencken call for in "Mencken's Last Stand"?

4. What might Mencken say about a writer's sense of beauty?

5. What was the flaw of FDR's opponent in the Democratic National Convention of 1932?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of people attended the Progressive Party convention of 1948?

2. How was FDR able to win the Democratic National Convention of 1932?

3. What stance did Mencken take in "Mencken's Last Stand"?

4. How did Mencken distinguish between plutocracy and aristocracy in "A Glance Ahead"?

5. Did Mencken's aesthetics conform to the ideals of the "new architecture"? Explain.

6. Describe the religious service Mencken witnessed in "The Hills of Zion."

7. What opinion did Mencken have about the English translation of the Bible?

8. What were the general features of Anglo-Saxons, according to Mencken in "The Anglo-Saxon"?

9. According to "The Wallace Paranoia," what did candidate Henry Wallace do during the convention of the Progressive Party?

10. What was Mencken's opinion of chiropractic?

(see the answer keys)

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