On September 11, one hijacked airliner struck the Pentagon, headquarters of the Department of Defense, in northern Virginia.
Missing Word
Pentagon
The Pentagon is the five-sided headquarters of the U.S. military in Arlington, Virginia. Its attack, along with the strikes on the World Trade Center, showed the hijackers targeting symbols of American military and economic power.
Category: War on Terror
Question 2
Afghanistan's radical Islamist rulers, the Taliban, sheltered al-Qaeda and refused to surrender Osama bin Laden after the attacks.
Missing Word
Taliban
The Taliban took control of most of Afghanistan in the 1990s and allowed al-Qaeda to train there. U.S. and Northern Alliance forces drove them from power in late 2001, but they fought on for two decades and retook the country in August 2021 as the last U.S. troops left.
Category: War on Terror
Question 3
Iraq's capital, Baghdad, fell to American forces in April 2003, only weeks after the invasion began.
Missing Word
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq. Its quick capture, marked by the televised toppling of a Saddam Hussein statue in Firdos Square, was followed by a long, violent occupation that critics and later official reviews said the United States had not adequately planned for.
Category: War on Terror
Question 4
After Saddam Hussein's fall, sectarian fighting between Iraq's Shia and Sunni Muslims fueled years of violence.
Missing Word
Sunni
Sunni and Shia are the two main branches of Islam. Saddam Hussein's government had been dominated by Sunnis, and their rivalry with the Shia majority after his removal helped drive the insurgency.
Category: War on Terror
Question 5
Massachusetts senator John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, lost the 2004 presidential election to George W. Bush.
Missing Word
Kerry
John Kerry was the Democratic nominee in 2004. His earlier vote supporting the Iraq invasion weakened his attacks on the war, and Bush won a narrow reelection.
Category: Bush Domestic Policy
Question 6
President George W. Bush supported school vouchers, publicly funded certificates that parents could spend on private school tuition.
Missing Word
vouchers
A school voucher is a certificate of public money that families can spend on private schooling. Supporters saw vouchers as giving parents choice, while critics said they drained funds from public schools.
Category: Bush Domestic Policy
Question 7
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the levees protecting New Orleans and devastated the Gulf Coast.
Missing Word
Katrina
Katrina struck Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, killed more than a thousand people and left tens of thousands stranded in New Orleans. The halting federal response hurt President Bush's standing.
Category: Bush Domestic Policy
Question 8
In January 2007, Nancy Pelosi of California became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House.
Missing Word
Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi took the post after Democrats won both houses of Congress in the 2006 midterms, amid public discontent with the Iraq War and the Katrina response.
Category: Bush Domestic Policy
Question 9
Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke worked with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to contain the financial crisis of 2008.
Missing Word
Bernanke
Ben Bernanke led the Federal Reserve, the nation's central bank, from 2006 to 2014. He and Paulson pressed Congress to pass the bank rescue that became the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Category: Great Recession
Question 10
Republican nominee John McCain chose Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008.
Missing Word
Palin
Sarah Palin was the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket. Her selection energized many conservatives, but shaky television interviews raised doubts about her readiness.
Category: Obama Presidency
Question 11
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who had signed a state health care law, lost the 2012 presidential election to Obama.
Missing Word
Romney
Mitt Romney won the Republican nomination in 2012 while taking more conservative positions than he had as governor, which critics called a shift to win over the party's base. Obama won reelection, though Republicans kept control of the House.
Category: Obama Presidency
Question 12
Hurricane Sandy battered the coasts of New Jersey and New York one week before the 2012 presidential election.
Missing Word
Sandy
Sandy struck in late October 2012 and affected millions of people. FEMA's response was widely seen as faster and better than its performance after Katrina in 2005.
Category: Obama Presidency
Question 13
Former vice president Al Gore released the 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth to warn the public about human-caused climate change.
Missing Word
Gore
Al Gore, who lost the disputed 2000 election, had worked on environmental issues since his early years in Congress. His film won an Academy Award, and he shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his climate work.
Category: New Century Disputes
Question 14
Before same-sex marriage spread, Vermont created civil unions in 2000, giving same-sex couples the state legal rights of married couples.
Missing Word
Vermont
Vermont was the first state to offer civil unions. The status granted the legal benefits of marriage under state law without using the word marriage, and other states soon followed with civil unions or full marriage.
Category: New Century Disputes
Question 15
Obama chose Delaware senator Joseph Biden as his running mate in 2008, partly to balance the ticket with foreign policy experience.
Missing Word
Biden
Joseph Biden had served in the Senate since the 1970s and chaired its Foreign Relations Committee. He served as vice president for both of Obama's terms.
Category: Obama Presidency