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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. Who were the two attorneys in the Scopes monkey trial?
(a) Theodore Dreiser and John Pershing.
(b) Clarence Darrow and Henry Cabot Lodge.
(c) William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow.
(d) William Jennings Bryan and Andrew Still.

2. What was the art discussed in "The Comedian"?
(a) Stage acting.
(b) Street musicianship.
(c) Pantomime.
(d) Television situational comedy.

3. Where did the Scopes monkey trial take place?
(a) Dayton, Tennessee.
(b) St. Louis, Missouri.
(c) Baltimore, Maryland.
(d) Chicago, Illinois.

4. What was Roosevelt's strategy at the Democratic National Convention of 1932?
(a) He wished to delay as much as possible, and honor every minor parliamentary procedure.
(b) Roosevelt had a comic struggle to obtain the highest podium, so he might look the tallest.
(c) He wished to bribe key officials for the nomination.
(d) He wished to rush motions through and bypass parliamentary procedures.

5. Which was one of the architectural styles Mencken mentioned as part of the "new architecture"?
(a) Modernism.
(b) Victorian.
(c) Cubism.
(d) American colonial.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following was true in regard to statements made by Mencken about chiropractic?

2. In "Valentino," what did the press find in a men's bathroom that caused them to mock Valentino and his "Latin Lover" image?

3. What did Mencken attribute to the fall of the "good man" in "A Good Man Gone Wrong"?

4. What aspect of old-time education did Mencken miss most in modern education?

5. What would best describe Mencken's attitude toward Oliver Wendell Holmes?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Mencken take issue with Oliver Wendell Holmes' final court case?

2. For what reasons did Mencken admire Grover Cleveland?

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

4. What was the nature of film actor Valentino's problem, as related in "Valentino"?

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

6. In "The Noble Experiment," what story did Mencken relate about acquiring alcohol at the Republican National Convention?

7. Why did Mencken miss corporal punishment in schools in "Travail"?

8. What was Mencken's opinion of stage acting?

9. What did Mencken feel were the true and most damaging consequences of the Civil War, according to "The Calamity of Appomattox"?

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

(see the answer keys)

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