Q 01/05

Which president fired over 11,000 striking air traffic controllers in 1981 after they ignored his back-to-work order?

A) Bill Clinton

B) Ronald Reagan

C) George H. W. Bush

D) Lyndon Johnson

Answer · why

B) Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan had once led a union himself, serving twice as president of the Screen Actors Guild. The fired controllers were barred from federal jobs...

Q 02/05

Which icon of women war workers began as a 1942 song before appearing on a Saturday Evening Post cover?

A) Rosie the Riveter

B) Wendy the Welder

C) Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl

D) Jenny on the Job

Answer · why

A) Rosie the Riveter

Rosie the Riveter was a hit song by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb before Norman Rockwell painted her. The flexing-arm Westinghouse poster now tied to...

Q 03/05

Which carmaker astonished industry in 1914 by more than doubling most workers' pay to five dollars a day?

A) Horace Dodge

B) Ransom Olds

C) Henry Ford

D) Louis Chevrolet

Answer · why

C) Henry Ford

Henry Ford wanted to stop workers quitting: turnover was so heavy that departments hired 300 men a year to fill 100 jobs. Afterwards the best mechanic...

Q 04/05

Which witness to the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire became the first woman to serve in a US presidential cabinet?

A) Mary McLeod Bethune

B) Jane Addams

C) Florence Kelley

D) Frances Perkins

Answer · why

D) Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins went on to spend twelve years as secretary of labor, longer than anyone else in the job. Witnessing the fire was a pivotal event in he...

Q 05/05

Which farm labor leader led the Delano grape strike of 1965 to 1970 and co-founded the United Farm Workers?

A) Cesar Chavez

B) Reies Tijerina

C) Corky Gonzales

D) Bert Corona

Answer · why

A) Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez took his methods from Gandhi, pressing growers with picketing, boycotts and fasts rather than force. The strike ended with a union contra...