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Embarrassing Chapters in US History

Guess these people, places, and things in American history that the country would probably rather forget.
Selected by the Quizmaster from this complete series
Easily offended? Here are some more chapters to get mad about.
Quiz by kalbahamut
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Last updated: September 10, 2018
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First submittedMay 3, 2018
Times taken30,444
Average score65.0%
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The U.S. goes to war with this country, ostensibly over "WMDs" which are never found
Iraq
The CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion fails in this country
Cuba
The federal government botches the response to this 2005 natural disaster
Hurricane Katrina
Congress and the American public develop an unhealthy obsession with Bill Clinton's sex life,
particularly his affair with this intern
Monica Lewinsky
The U.S. starts a war with this country in 1898, provoked mostly by yellow journalism
Spain
This 1925 trial in Tennessee sees a high school teacher charged with teaching human evolution
Scopes Trial
Nearly 300 Lakota Indians are victims of this massacre in 1890
Wounded Knee
Photos of detainee abuse at this prison are released in 2006
Abu Ghraib
From 1692 to 1693, 20 people are executed for witchcraft in this Massachusetts town
Salem
Nathan Bedford Forrest and others form this organization in 1865 to promote white supremacy
Ku Klux Klan
At the height of the Red Scare, this senator leads sensationalist
attacks against alleged Communists
Joseph McCarthy
In 1857, this slave sues for his freedom but is told by the Supreme Court that he
can not be a US citizen due to his race and status as property
Dred Scott
After appearing to win the Tour de France multiple times, this man is found guilty of cheating
Lance Armstrong
This city is captured and burned by British troops in 1814 following the Battle of Bladensburg
Washington D.C.
In response to French opposition to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Congress renames
the french fries served in its cafeterias to this
Freedom Fries
After a bungled intervention by the federal government, followers of cult leader David Koresh
burn to death near this city in Texas
Waco
Over 58,000 Americans die in this war which ultimately ends in failure
Vietnam War
In 1830 this president signs the Indian Removal Act
Andrew Jackson
As a result of the above, near 50,000 people are forcibly relocated west. Thousands perish
en route. Their journey becomes known as this.
Trail of Tears
Racist laws passed from 1876 to 1965 in various states establish segregation,
prohibit miscegenation, and restrict voting rights. Collectively, these laws are known as this.
Jim Crow Laws
104 Recent Comments
+2
Level 58
Sep 28, 2018
It feels like you're just a "little bit" left of Jesse Jackson. Tone it down.
+11
Level 67
Sep 28, 2018
Sorry reality hurts your feelings. All of these things happened, and they were all embarrassing. And the quizmaker included Bay of Pigs, which was approved by one of the liberals' favorite icons. The only clue that maaaaybe deserves reconsideration is that the quizmaker chose, out of many embarrassing options relating to the whole fiasco, to focus on the public's obsession with Bill Clinton's sex life rather than Clinton lying to Congress. But the public was indeed obsessed in a juvenile way with the sexual aspect, and it was indeed very embarrassing that the public acted that way, so the clue is legitimate. Nothing else here could be viewed as "left" except by those with an axe to grind. The Bush administration had a lot of embarrassing moments. Not because it was Republican, but because it was a largely inept administration. Just accept it and move on.
+1
Level 81
Sep 28, 2018
Jackson was a Democrat, as were most of those originally in the KKK. Other installments of the series include these (among other) things embraced by Democrats or that happened while they were in office: Japanese internment; the bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden and Tokyo; Snowden; Manning; the Cuban missile crisis; Slavery; My Lai; Tonkin; etc etc etc
+1
Level 81
Sep 28, 2018
^ I mean Andrew Jackson, not Jesse Jackson.
+3
Level 81
Sep 28, 2018
I'm not. I'm a committed non-partisan. But biased people of every political extreme often label me as an extremist on the opposite end of the spectrum, so...
+3
Level 65
Sep 28, 2018
You may be non-partisan, as you don't identify as a Democrat or Republican, but you are most certainly biased to one side. Maybe not entirely, as I, believe it or not, actually do agree with some of what you say.
+1
Level 81
Sep 28, 2018
Prove it.
+3
Level 65
Oct 2, 2018
So, if I asked you about the following topics, you would give a centrist point of view?

1. Separation of church and state

2. Healthcare reform

3. Abortion

4. Gun control

5. Tax reform

6. Hate speech (more specifically the definition of)

I would be very surprised to see how you approach these. I think you are more left leaning than you believe you are.

+4
Level 81
Oct 2, 2018
1. I agree with all of the founding fathers that this is vital and important. I side with them against Democrats and Republicans, none of whom would today say anything against religion and very few of whom would say anything about the encroachment of religion into politics. So I'd get painted as an extremist by both. I didn't say I was centrist I said I was non-partisan. I am a realist and skeptic who believes in things based on evidence.

2. I don't think going with Republican Bob Dole's healthcare plan (Obamacare) was a good idea. A single payer system would be better. I don't think healthcare should be a privilege for the wealthy.

3. I fully understand the arguments of those who believe life begins at conception and respect those. I don't think there's a war on women or that pro-lifers wish to attack or take away the rights of women. They are trying to protect the rights of the unborn. That said, I'm pro-choice, though I'd be willing to accept some restrictions.

+4
Level 81
Oct 2, 2018
4. Despite what partisans wish to believe there is no strong correlation between rates of gun ownership and gun deaths or mass shootings, in either direction. I'm not a fan of guns and wouldn't mind seeing them all banned, but I also understand it's a complex issue and solving the problem of gun violence isn't as simple as gun control. But we should investigate the problem using non-partisan facts, not cynical arguments supplied to us by organizations that make and sell firearms.

5. Horse and sparrow economics is proven to not work. Short-term gains for oligarchs should never be prioritized over the general health of the economy, which is driven mostly by having a large and healthy middle class. But I'm fiscally conservative and not a fan of government waste.

6. Free speech is a sacred value and vital part of a functioning democracy and free society. Being protected from hurt feelings is not a right. Everyone has a right to an opinion, even unpopular or hateful ones.

+2
Level 81
Oct 2, 2018
I'm sure that I am less biased than you. If my opinions are labeled as "left" or "right" that's because the "left" or "right" have decided, on those issues, to favor a more realistic and honest opinion. Like I said I routinely get labeled as an extremist on the other side of the political spectrum by people who ARE biased, like you. Or like any far-left liberal who I've talked to about... #metoo, or Intersectional Feminism, or Hillary Clinton, or social justice, or the wage gap, or white privilege, or cultural appropriation, or Bradley Manning, or pronouns, or European socialism, or American foreign policy, or Iran, or Israel, or male privilege, etc.

How many times have *you* been accused of being a raging liberal, I wonder? Or do you line up almost perfectly with the political right and therefore only ever get accused of being on one side? Because I get accused of being on both. Which means I'm not on either.

+2
Level 65
Oct 2, 2018
Bob Dole was an idiot. That is a perfect example of a time when I voted against a Republican even though I am a conservative. I feared he would be bad for the US. At the time I voted for Ross Perot which probably helped Clinton win re-election. But I was only 20 years old then and didn't think it through.
+3
Level 65
Oct 2, 2018
I must say Kal, that these posts intrigued me. I appreciate the well thought out responses. You have obviously thought these through without letting the media do the thinking for you. I applaud you for that. I will concede that you are not automatically biased toward a liberal viewpoint.
+2
Level 81
Feb 20, 2019
I also was rooting for Perot that year. and Nader in 2000.
+1
Level 83
Jul 28, 2019
Do you teach or write kal? it would be something of a shame if you didn't
+1
Level 81
Jul 28, 2019
both. Though I haven't taught since the end of 2015 and I've never written much professionally or publicly.
+1
Level 56
Mar 8, 2024
I believe that everyone is biased in some way, whether they realize it or not.
+1
Level 55
Sep 30, 2018
If we're going US history then the question about the 1692-1693 shouldn't be there considering it was only the US since 1776...
+1
Level 81
Sep 30, 2018
It's American (US) history in the same way that they will teach you about Clovis in French history and Qin Shi Huang in Chinese history. The history of the land and peoples that would eventually come to form the modern state.
+1
Level 81
Sep 30, 2018
But American history would probably have been a better title for the quiz.
+1
Level 51
Dec 31, 2018
Surprised there is no MKUltra.
+1
Level 81
Feb 16, 2019
We are part of the cover up.
+1
Level 81
Sep 8, 2019
Just recently learned about the relationship of this program to the Unabomber and his time as a teenager at Harvard. That's really screwed up. Ethics seems to have been a completely foreign concept to researchers in the 40s, 50s, and 60s.
+1
Level 72
Apr 9, 2019
You missed some, the rest of US history, *grabs popcorn* *stirs the pot with the other hand*
+1
Level 81
Apr 9, 2019
brilliant
+1
Level 36
Apr 9, 2019
19/20. Missed Lance Armstrong.
+6
Level 72
Sep 9, 2019
First thing I tried typing was "Trump"... He has got to be the most embarrassing thing to have ever happened to that country..
+2
Level 55
Oct 22, 2019
Nice quiz, although you forgot to add several important items. If you plan on making a sequel to this quiz, I suggest adding: 9/11, Dropping nuclear bombs on Japan, Creating Al Qaeda and ISIS, Illegal bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, Wars in Syria and Afghanistan, Meddling into elections and regime change of sovereign nations (insert a random Central or South American country), Watergate, Execution of JFK, Election 2016... There's plenty :)
+1
Level 81
Oct 22, 2019
There are several quizzes in the original series. They do include questions about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 9/11, Augusto Pinochet, the 2016 election, and some belief in conspiracy theories. The US did not create Al Qaeda or ISIS and had nothing to do with the war in Syria. I don't think I put Afghanistan on any of the quizzes but I did put on Iraq. I don't consider the coalition invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taleban and fight AlQaeda, or the NATO bombing of Serbia to stop an ongoing genocide, to be embarrassing for the US. They were on the right side in both instances. I don't remember if I put on anything about Watergate and I'm not sure what you consider embarrassing about the assassination of JFK.
+1
Level 81
Oct 22, 2019
I checked. Watergate is on part 1 of the original series. Link above and to the right.
+2
Level 55
Oct 23, 2019
Sorry, I didn't see that there are other quizzes on this topic.

Of course they did, funded and created both of these terrorist organizations. The embarrassing part about Afghanistan is that the same guys they supported and funded against USSR during the 80s, now became enemies in a guerila war that ultimately can't be won. Of course, the lucrative part are the natural resources of Afghanistan and it's strategically important position. They can't let it go now, since China became highly interested in that area, but that's another topic.

There was definitely no genocide on Kosovo, Serbian police and military fought with an ISIS-like organization KLA. The "mass murder" in Racak that ultimately triggered the bombing was later proved to be fabricated, but it didn't matter, since the job was already done. The bombing happened without permission of the UN.

+2
Level 55
Oct 23, 2019
Most of the casualties of the bombing were civilians, very few military goals were achieved, apart from destroying several dozen tanks made of cardboard :) But USA goes by the Macchiavellian: "the end justifies its means", so now they have a fake narco statelet that can be controlled and exploited at will. But from the political and especially ethical viewpoint, it was indeed a huge embarrasment.
+1
Level 81
Oct 23, 2019
of course? Source? and think maybe you're a little biased on the Kosovo matter? You've made 4 quizzes and 3 of them seem to have been made with this particular political axe to grind.
+2
Level 55
Oct 29, 2019
Not biased. It's just that I have more information about the topic. The purpose of this site is also to be educational. :)
+1
Level 81
Oct 29, 2019
mm hm... well, no offense, but from someone who believes the USA created AlQaeda, you might have "information," but I'm skeptical of your sources. And you live next to Kosovo and like I said made 4 quizzes, 3 of which seem to have been made to deny the existence of Kosovo, and yet assert you have no bias... we all have bias... it's a challenge to be aware of your own.
+3
Level 70
Dec 7, 2019
Created Al Qaeda is indeed not correct. But the USA have established and supported (not to say reborn/invented) the radical islam. By the way, there is ample evidence that ISIS was tacitly considered to be an ally. Israel in particular but also its western allies hestitated to pushback ISIS, this useful foe of Syria and Iran. THAT is embarrising! And as we are talking about Syria, we can drop just some more American war crimes: the bombing of Syria by Obama and Trump without UN mandate.
+3
Level 81
Dec 8, 2019
The USA established radical Islam?? What? Come on that's even dumber than asserting that Hillary Clinton founded ISIS. And, no, ISIS has never been, tacitly or otherwise, an ally of the USA. The situation in Syria was and remains complex. When Assad's crackdown on the protests turned violent, the US would have liked to support the protesters, but mostly did not because they thought, probably correctly, that Syrians minds had been so poisoned for decades against the US that any American intervention in Syria would lend validity to the other side and just be counter productive. So, for a long time, the US just did nothing.

As the violence grew and the crackdown turned in to civil war, lots of foreign aid, arms, and fighters began pouring in to Syria. But, at least at first, none of this was coming from the US. It was mostly from other Muslim countries, and soon both inside and outside Syria there was a complex web of tangled loyalties and motivations driving things.

+1
Level 81
Dec 8, 2019
When the US finally did get involved, it was with the aim of supporting the factions that were fighting against Assad - a brutal murderous dictator and enemy of the United States who had been using abhorrent violence against civilians in the name of holding on to power - but at the same time the assistance the US offered was slow in coming and given with much trepidation because the State department was trying to figure out which, if any, of the many different factions fighting against Assad were most moderate. They didn't want to create another Al Qaeda or Taleban.

However, in spite of this caution and frequent second-guessing, the situation progressively deteriorated further and further, loyalties shifted, factions merged or disbanded or changed leaders, and eventually many of the more radical and hardline Sunni Islamist fighters in Syria coalesced into the Islamic State. Exactly what the US wanted to avoid.

+1
Level 81
Dec 8, 2019
and while it's true that ISIS was fighting Assad, and the US was hoping for Assad's ouster, that doesn't make ISIS and the US allies. ISIS was not allies with anyone. Least of all the US. American foreign policy eventually shifted away from seeking the ouster of Assad and toward the annihilation of ISIS. It wouldn't take long for that to become the Americans' biggest priority. As bad as Assad was, ISIS was clearly worse. To that end, the US worked with its Arab allies in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and Baghdad to contain and harass ISIS, and there's some rumors that the US may have even been coordinating with Iran. Nobody wanted ISIS around. Even the original AlQaeda and the Taleban hated them and called them too extreme.

As far as bombing goes, it's an enormous stretch to call these war crimes, especially the bombing that Trump authorized, which was probably coordinated with his masters in the Kremlin and caused no serious damage. It was just a PR stunt and distraction.

+2
Level 81
Dec 8, 2019
Some embarrassing moments in US foreign policy history related to the Middle East not included in these quizzes (IMO) would include: Failure to oust the Taleban sooner, the botched Iran hostage rescue, the accidental bombing of a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory, support of Saddam Hussein in the 80s, abandoning the Kurds in 1991 (bad), abandoning the Kurds in 2019 (worse), probably could go on for a while. The US has far from a spotless record in the region. But, at the same time, they're also blamed for way more than they actually deserve.
+2
Level 83
Dec 28, 2019
It's really sad that the Serbian bombing is not a part of this. I guess it's still not considered an embarrassing moment.
+7
Level 81
Dec 28, 2019
Outside of Serbia and Russia, no, it's really not. Serbia is generally seen as in the wrong and the military intervention is seen as justified to stop further atrocities. Even if you reject that there was an ongoing Serbian campaign of ethnic cleansing and accept the absolute minimum estimate for number of innocent Albanian Kosovars killed (and ignore the other types of oppression they were experiencing at the time), the number of casualties inflicted by NATO on the Serbian population are significantly smaller. Also, if it were embarrassing, it was a NATO operation anyway. and finally, this quiz is not meant to be comprehensive.
+2
Level 71
Mar 22, 2020
Finally we reach the point here re Serbia. It was a NATO operation therefore out of scope in this quiz. I had though always imagined that NATO was a defensive alliance, I am not at all sure that such intervention could have been justified for any reason, not unless you believe that NATO has a responsibility to police the entire world.
+1
Level 49
Feb 4, 2020
Got all but Waco
+2
Level 57
May 30, 2020
I'm enjoying these "embarrassing" quizzes. Thank you! On to France now...
+1
Level 59
Oct 20, 2020
Just wanted to see how many times the word "Trump" was said on this quiz's comments... 39! 40 with this comment!
+2
Level ∞
Oct 20, 2020
Ugh. At some point I'll probably go through and delete all of them. We don't encourage culture war flashpoints in our comments section. It's so tiresome.
+1
Level 81
Oct 21, 2020
I wish some of you could feel how tiresome it is for those who know what's happening in the world trying to explain to others that, no, these times are not normal. And yes, American democracy and even Western civilization could in fact fail and we're not being hyperbolic. Then having these very real and valid concerns dismissed casually like they don't matter, or you're overreacting, or you are misinformed (by people who are themselves hopelessly ignorant). Exhausting. I very much hope that in a few months time I'll never have to utter the word Trump again; am doing what I can to increase the likelihood of that outcome.
+1
Level 81
Oct 21, 2020
and it doesn't seem to me like Johnny's comment was a complaint, but more a comment on the fact that on a quiz about embarrassing chapters in US history, you would expect to see many mentions of Trump...
+2
Level 59
Oct 21, 2020
Oh no, not a complaint. Merely an observation.
+1
Level 38
Apr 30, 2021
how is that a bad part? it was one of the most succesful times for the US
+2
Level 81
Feb 13, 2022
points for name selection: 0/10
+1
Level 57
Jan 27, 2021
42 as of 1/27/2021
+2
Level 47
Dec 31, 2020
I'm surprised more people know about "freedom fries" than the Dred Scott case.
+2
Level 68
Feb 28, 2021
It is more recent.
+8
Level 71
Jan 8, 2021
The Capitol Hill riots would probably be a worthy inclusion here. And that isn't a partisan statement, it's a fact.
+2
Level 68
Feb 28, 2021
Yeah, no, I would agree.
+1
Level 38
Apr 30, 2021
what about all the other riots from the past year?
+1
Level 81
Feb 13, 2022
embarrassing elements of each, including the embarrassing fact that so many conflate the two things to try and minimize the seriousness of the former.
+1
Level 54
Apr 29, 2021
Please add something about discrimination against asians here (PBS has a five-part series about this)
+4
Level 81
Apr 29, 2021
I kind of think that PBS series is itself embarrassing. I mean, yeah, Asian immigrants and Asian-Americans have faced discrimination in the United States... but... so have all minority ethnic groups. And the hyperfocus on it lately is political (trying hard to paint the picture that Donald Trump saying "Kung Flu" has somehow had a major impact on the world) and a bit ridiculously hyperbolic. Like when that guy shot up those massage parlors and everyone wanted to act like it was because he hated Asian people and it had nothing to do with that, but even pointing this out got you labeled a racist.

Anyway, if you look at the whole series I did on the subject, there is a question on one of the installments about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War 2. And the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which I consider in part motivated or justified by racism. If I were to add anything else it might be about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

+3
Level ∞
Apr 29, 2021
Given that Asians have an average income well above that of white Americans I'd say this would be a better topic for "Proud Chapters in US History". The United States is one of only a few countries in the whole world where immigrants are truly welcomed and embraced.
+1
Level 51
Apr 30, 2021
Well, I'd have to say, the BLM protests + racial inequality is a huge embarrassment to the U.S.
+1
Level 81
May 3, 2021
Slavery, Jim Crow, and George Zimmerman (inspiration for BLM) all feature in the series. More recently #BLM itself has become an embarrassment. And the death of George Floyd. And the response to it. Plenty of embarrassment to go around.

But as far as racial inequality in the present goes, America in reality has very little. Historically? Sure. Though not really any more than many other multi-ethnic nations with a colonial past. But presently? The US is a contender for most racially equitable and non-racist country in the world. Though it is a terrible shame that obsession and hyperfocus on race issues the past 10-15 years has led to a sharp social and cultural regression, and given many both there and abroad the false impression that things are very much worse than they really are, while simultaneously making them worse. But this focus on race issues is the result of Americans feeling that racial equity matters. Many other countries simply don't even care to address it.

+1
Level 81
May 3, 2021
Historyman: that's a stretch. To just pull out one example, Loving v Virginia wasn't decided until 1967. And though I guess you could argue that after 1954 any places that practiced segregation did so "illegally" as it was ruled unconstitutional... at the state and local level many places still did. Cleveland High School of Cleveland, Mississippi was desegregated by court order as recently as 2016.
+1
Level 38
May 4, 2021
my point is that all the people who say "America is a racist country" are overexaggerating, possibly even straight up lying
+2
Level 81
May 4, 2021
Depends on what they mean.
+2
Level 74
Feb 15, 2022
No, the US is a racist country. But most countries are so...
+1
Level 81
Feb 15, 2022
How so?
+1
Level 56
Nov 15, 2021
"Freedom Fries" are probably one of the most American names ever.
+1
Level 80
Dec 20, 2021
I was waiting to see the Japanese internment camps during WWII.
+2
Level 81
Dec 21, 2021
check out the rest of the series
+1
Level 64
Feb 10, 2022
Please allow Nunna Daul Tsuny for the Trail of Tears! That’s the native Cherokee word for it, and it’s the name I was taught in school as well.
+1
Level 75
Feb 13, 2022
Seems like it should be allowed.

I tried "walk" of tears, "march" of tears, "road" of tears - just couldn't quite get it out from the depths of my brain.

Good quiz - was expecting Watergate though!

+1
Level 57
Feb 13, 2022
Iraq had WMDs tho:

>But others contained the nerve agent sarin, which analysis showed to be purer than the intelligence community had expected given the age of the stock.

>The analysis of sarin samples from 2005 found that the purity level reached 13 percent — higher than expected given the relatively low quality and instability of Iraq’s sarin production in the 1980s, officials said. Samples from Boraks recovered in 2004 had contained concentrations no higher than 4 percent.

>An internal record from 2006 referred to “agent purity of up to 25 percent for recovered unitary sarin weapons.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/world/cia-is-said-to-have-bought-and-destroyed-iraqi-chemical-weapons.html

+2
Level 81
Feb 13, 2022
oh come on. You have to know how much you're reaching there, don't you? I feel like a serious reply to this would just make me look like I'd taken the bait.
+1
Level 56
Feb 13, 2022
Silly comments debating whether US is great or not! Who cares? Nation is an interim asumption of contextual association. No country lasts forever. No big deal forgetting to honor a social hallucination, nor killing in the name of it. It's just history happening around. No worse obstinate is the present itself.

Individual realization doesn't even depend over a practial belief of nation, it's just pure need of circumstantial social experience, over a credible platform to act over. I might be interested but awfully triggered by the fact that many would rather believe the insubstantial delirium as a genuine inalterable circumstance needed to ever last. The stubbornish attitudes of the man rely over its need to keep a fact, effortless enduring the acts of a severe empiric arousal of reality.

+3
Level 78
Feb 13, 2022
Žižek, is that you?
+5
Level 65
Feb 13, 2022
time to update the quiz - I've got one How about the time when a clearly demented dumber than a box of rocks corrupt hair sniffing, child grabbing, weirdo inappropriate showering dad, corrupt guy got 81 million votes somehow when 5 states mysteriously stopped counting votes at the exact same time and when they resumed the totals had magically increased and one county in Wisconsin had thousands of voters who all had the same birthday - Jan 1, 1918?????
+2
Level 85
Feb 13, 2022
Agreed. The U.S. should be embarrassed of our current president.
+4
Level 81
Feb 13, 2022
This comment is embarrassing. If I make a part 6 in the original series I'll consider adding it.
+1
Level 54
Feb 14, 2022
+1
+5
Level 72
Feb 14, 2022
You left out the part where every single court immediately tossed out the "evidence" of tampering because it was just a bunch of stuff made up on the internet by Eastern European propagandists that only an absolute blithering idiot would take seriously.

You also left out the part where these same sore loser idiots stormed the Capitol, viciously attacked police officers, and took steamers on the floor.

You also left out the part where their savior, Tweety Amin, completely turned his back on them when he no longer found them useful...which is what he has done to everyone he has ever known.

+1
Level 69
Feb 13, 2022
Now do China. Start with the Great Leap Forward starving millions to death.
+2
Level 81
Feb 13, 2022
It's already been done.
+4
Level 69
Feb 13, 2022
Declassified records on both sides of the Iron Curtain proved Joseph McCarthy right. The only thing shameful is the continued vilification of the man.
+1
Level 81
Feb 13, 2022
... or the fact that so many in the US presently are starting to openly praise men like him, Nixon, etc? The recent efforts to rehabilitate the image of the irredeemable monsters of our past are both troubling, and at least as embarrassing as similarly recent efforts to try and demonize so many great men from history by other groups. I feel like both camps have probably been given strength by the moral and other failures of our recent leaders: on the one hand making the villains of the past look not-nearly-so-bad by comparison and giving moral cover to those morally questionable individuals who might have previously been too embarrassed of voicing their admiration for these figures; on the other hand so triggering other people that they've become hypervigilant, seeing racists, sexists, sexual predators and "white" supremacists everywhere they look whether they're there or not.
+2
Level 57
Feb 13, 2022
Where's when they gave blacks the clap and let them die?
+1
Level 81
Feb 13, 2022
check out the rest of the series
+1
Level 81
Feb 14, 2022
... though.. syphilis is not the clap and the clap is not fatal.
+1
Level 56
Feb 13, 2022
great quiz! we need to be able to earnestly reflect on the more backwards, regressive parts of our country's history in order to move forward and progress as a society
+3
Level 59
Feb 14, 2022
Lance Armstrong? Really? I wouldn't call that a particularly embarrassing chapter in our nation's history, especially when compared to certain things you didn't mention. The My Lai massacre and the Alien & Sedition Acts could take its place. Also just about anything Woodrow Wilson did.
+1
Level 81
Feb 14, 2022
This isn't a best of list. My Lai is on the original series.
+2
Level 47
Feb 15, 2022
Add the question "Police dropped a bomb on this city to contain MOVE, a radical pro-conservation group, consequently destroying 61 homes in 1985"
+1
Level 81
Feb 15, 2022
wow that's crazy. Never heard of this happening until today.
+1
Level 54
Feb 16, 2022
"Embarrassing" is an interesting term as there are still a not insignificant amount of Americans who AREN'T embarrassed by most, if not all of this list.
+1
Level 81
Feb 16, 2022
Would be hard or impossible to find something that was universally felt to be embarrassing. But I'd say most of these come as close to that as you could hope to get.
+2
Level 91
Apr 17, 2022
The venona transcripts not only proved Mccarthy was right about everything, but that the problem of infiltration by soviet agents was far more extensive than even he thought
+1
Level 81
Apr 17, 2022
Because there were some Soviet spies working in the United States, something that nobody to my knowledge has ever denied, this somehow exonerates McCarthy and his unhinged, overzealous, and commonly partisan attacks and harassment against innocent people for alleged thought crimes? You don't get how bonkers that makes you sound?
+1
Level 46
Jun 17, 2022
Only 27% of people got Abu Ghraib; it's the second most missed answer... hopefully that's mostly people failing to spell it :p
+1
Level 81
Jun 17, 2022
I'm slightly surprised that it is less guessed than the Scopes Monkey Trial, but only slightly. The other things I would expect to be better-known or more easily guessed.
+2
Level 51
Apr 20, 2023
I disagree with the characterization as an "unhealthy obsession with Bill Clinton's sex life." A boss having a sexual relationship with a subordinate, particularly if that boss is the president, is a serious ethical concern. There's a major power imbalance between the two, and it's generally considered to be an abuse of power. Add onto that the fact that Clinton lied about it to a grand jury, which is a crime, and it's a major scandal. Yet the quiz seemingly writes it off as tabloid fodder, placing the blame on those who were concerned by the scandal, not those who perpetrated it.
+1
Level 81
Feb 11, 2024
cool. Reminds me of that South Park episode when PC Principal and vice principal Strong Woman started having feelings and this made everyone sick, because, of course it would...

If culture continues on this present trajectory I feel like the species is going to die out within the next 100 years or so.

+1
Level 67
Aug 30, 2024
Armstrong isn't embarrassing imo... literally everyone was cheating in those years. It's more embarrassing that Bjarne Riis, Pantani and Ullrich still have their TDF trophies.