Correct: B. John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy was the 35th U.S. President in office during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, which is widely considered the closest the world has ever come to full-scale nuclear war. The crisis began when U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba, leading to a tense 13-day political and military standoff. Kennedy successfully negotiated a peaceful resolution by establishing a naval "quarantine" and agreeing to a secret deal to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.

Correct: A. Jews

The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during World War I, expressing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. The declaration, written as a letter from Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, played a crucial role in the eventual founding of the State of Israel. It remains one of the most significan't and controversial documents in the history of the modern Middle East.

Correct: B. The Teapot Dome Scandal

The Teapot Dome scandal was considered the 'greatest and most sensational scandal in the history of American politics' before Watergate. Secretary Albert Fall accepted bribes to lease Navy petroleum reserves in Wyoming and California to private oil companies without competitive bidding. Fall eventually became the first former cabinet member to be sentenced to prison for crimes committed while in office.

Correct: C. Soviet Union

John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, had a brief affair with a model named Christine Keeler, who was also simultaneously involved with a Soviet naval attach. The security implications of this 'love triangle' during the Cold War caused a national sensation and led Profumo to lie to the House of Commons. The resulting loss of trust severely damaged the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan, which lost the following general election.

Correct: B. Hu Yaobang

Hu Yaobang was a high-ranking leader who had been purged for being too lenient on student activism, and his mourning period became a catalyst for demands for greater political freedom. The protests lasted for seven weeks before the Chinese government declared martial law and sent in the military to clear the square on June 4th. The events remains one of the most sensitive and heavily censored topics in mainland China today.

Correct: B. Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt invited representatives from Russia and Japan to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to negotiate the end of the conflict in 1905. The resulting Treaty of Portsmouth recognized Japan's dominance in Korea and South Manchuria but was unpopular in Japan because it did not include a war indemnity. Roosevelt's successful mediation marked the first time the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to an American.

Correct: C. Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170 by four knights who believed they were acting on King Henry II's wish to be rid of the 'turbulent priest.' Becket had been a close friend of the King before becoming Archbishop, at which point he became a fierce defender of the Church's rights against royal authority. The murder turned Becket into a martyr and forced the King to do public penance to maintain his throne.

Correct: B. Avoid paying federal excise taxes on liquor

The Whiskey Ring involved distillers bribing Internal Revenue agents to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes on the production of whiskey. The scandal reached deep into the White House, with Grant's own private secretary, Orville Babcock, being indicted as a member of the ring. While Grant himself was not personally implicated in the graft, the scandal severely damaged his administration's legacy of reform.

Correct: A. South America

The South Sea Company was granted a monopoly on trade with South America (the South Seas) in exchange for taking over the British national debt. Shares skyrocketed due to unrealistic expectations of wealth, but the bubble burst in late 1720, ruining thousands of investors and leading to a major political shakeup. Robert Walpole's skillful management of the crisis led to him becoming Britain's first 'Prime Minister.'

Correct: B. The Diamond Necklace Affair

The Diamond Necklace Affair involved a con artist, the Countess de la Motte, who tricked a high-ranking Cardinal into thinking the Queen wanted to secretly purchase an incredibly expensive necklace. Although Marie Antoinette was completely innocent and unaware of the plot, the public believed she had used a double to meet the Cardinal and had then refused to pay. The scandal solidified the Queen's image as a decadent and corrupt foreigner, contributing to the unrest that led to the French Revolution.

Correct: C. The Stuarts

The Court of Star Chamber was originally created to ensure the fair enforcement of laws against powerful nobles, but under the Stuart kings, it became a tool of royal tyranny. It operated without a jury, held sessions in secret, and was known for using torture to extract confessions. The court was finally abolished by Parliament in 1641, and its name remains a synonym for secretive and unfair legal proceedings.

Correct: B. The Liberators

The conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius, believed that Caesar's appointment as 'Dictator in Perpetuity' was the end of the Roman Republic. They stabbed him at a meeting of the Senate in the Theatre of Pompey, hoping to restore the old order of governance. Instead, the assassination triggered a series of civil wars that ultimately led to the rise of the Roman Empire under Augustus.

Correct: B. Cicero

Lucius Sergius Catilina (Catiline) led a group of disgruntled aristocrats in a plot to assassinate the consuls and seize power by force. Cicero, serving as consul at the time, delivered four blistering speeches (the Catiline Orations) that drove Catiline from the city and led to the execution of his co-conspirators. The event highlight the deep social and economic instability that plagued the late Republic.

Correct: B. Truman, Churchill, Stalin

The conference began in July 1945 with Harry S. Truman (who succeeded the late FDR), Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. During the conference, Churchill was replaced by Clement Attlee after his party lost the British general election. The leaders discussed the administration of defeated Germany and issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding Japan's unconditional surrender.

Correct: B. Martin Luther

Emperor Charles V presided over the assembly where Martin Luther was called to recan't his revolutionary religious writings. Luther famously refused, stating 'Here I stand, I can do no other,' which solidified the Protestant Reformation's break from the Catholic Church. The resulting 'Edict of Worms' made it a crime for anyone in the empire to provide Luther with food or shelter.

Correct: B. Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson became president after Lincoln's assassination and immediately clashed with Radical Republicans over his lenient policies toward the former Confederate states. He was impeached in 1868 for violating the Tenure of Office Act by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Johnson was acquitted by the Senate by a single vote, allowing him to finish his term in a state of political paralysis.

Correct: B. The Pope

The Western Schism occurred when two, and later three, rival popes were elected by different factions of cardinals, leading to a split in the Catholic Church's authority across Europe. The crisis was driven as much by national politics (particularly between France and the Italian city-states) as it was by religious differences. It was eventually resolved by the Council of Constance, which deposed all claimants and elected Pope Martin V.

Correct: B. Stern

Stern magazine announced it had discovered the personal diaries of Adolf Hitler, which had allegedly been recovered from a plane crash in 1945. Within weeks, forensic experts proved the diaries were crude forgeries made using modern paper, ink, and historical inaccuracies. The scandal ruined the reputations of the editors involved and remains one of the most embarrassing episodes in modern journalism history.

Correct: A. Mossack Fonseca

The leak consisted of 11.5 million documents that revealed how the wealthy and powerful used offshore shell companies to hide assets and avoid taxes. The investigation was coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and led to the resignations of the Prime Ministers of Iceland and Pakistan. It remains one of the largest and most impactful data breaches in the history of financial journalism.

Correct: A. The Tuskegee Study

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study lasted for 40 years (1932-1972), during which 600 men were misled into believing they were receiving treatment for 'bad blood.' Even after penicillin was established as a cure in the 1940s, it was withheld from the participants so researchers could observe the long-term effects of the disease. The exposure of the study led to the creation of the Office for Human Research Protections and the requirement for informed consent in all medical research.