Cabinet & Customs

Multiple-Choice.

Below is a bar graph with the demographic data of past Cabinet members. Study the graph and then answer the questions.

1. Which of the following statements is reflected in the series of bar graphs?

(A) Only Democrat presidents appointed women to prominent Cabinet posts. 

(B) Of the presidential Cabinets depicted, the most demographically diverse Cabinet is President Obama’s

(C) Only one president appointed mostly white men to his Cabinet.

(D) No women were appointed to Cabinets before Reagan.

 

2. What is a likely cause of the trend in the chart?

(A) The advice and consent power of the Senate has recently changed to include women and minorities.  

(B) The Senate has become as diverse as the nation at large, and therefore so has the Cabinet.

(C) Presidential executive orders have dictated quotas to assure that some Cabinet appointees are women or minorities.

(D) Over time, institutions have opened their doors to women and minorities, and thus presidents have more qualified women and minorities to nominate.

 

3. Which of the following is an example of the president using the “bully pulpit”?

(A) A president ordering a federal agency director to carry out a presidential decision.

(B) A president giving speeches to achieve his goals or to convince Congress to act.

(C) A president criticizing the press or refusing to answer questions from the media.

(D) Nominating hard-liner judges to the Supreme Court.

 

4. Presidential claims to the right to executive privilege are based on the separation of powers and

(A) The U.S. Constitution

(B) International Law

(C) The need to protect top-secret information

(D) The desire for continued candid advice from advisers

And the answers are . . .
B, D, B, and D

What could you examine or review to assure you can answer on this type of question, or a harder one, next time again?