In Search of the American Dream: the Usa, c1917-96 | Edexcel A-Level History (9HI0)

In Search of the American Dream: the Usa, c1917-96

161 questions
16 subtopics
Paper 1: the breadth study, one route of eight
Paper 1

A Paper 1 breadth study of the United States from the First World War to the mid-1990s, covering the changing presidency and political landscape, the civil rights and minority rights campaigns, the position of women, immigration, popular culture and living standards.

The historical interpretations section asks how far Reagan's presidency changed America.

Sample questions from In Search of the American Dream: the Usa, c1917-96

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

A changing presidency

Why did Republicanism collapse after 1929?

Show the answer
Hoover's reluctance to use federal power against the Depression made the party appear indifferent to suffering, and the Democrats held the presidency for the next twenty years.
The impact of war on domestic politics

Why did the USA reject the League of Nations?

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The Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, fearing Article X would commit America to foreign wars without congressional consent, and Wilson would not compromise.
Black American civil rights, c1955–80

What was the significance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

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It lasted a year, ended segregation on the city's buses, showed the power of mass non-violent action, and made Martin Luther King a national figure.
The changing position of women, 1917–80

What did the Nineteenth Amendment do?

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Ratified in 1920, it gave women the vote nationally, though it did not remove the barriers that kept black women in the South from voting.
Popular culture and the news media

What was the Hays Code?

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The industry's self-censorship code adopted in 1930, restricting depiction of sex, crime and religion in film, which shaped Hollywood output for a generation.
Changing living standards

How did the Second World War affect living standards?

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Full employment and overtime raised incomes sharply, while rationing and the absence of consumer goods forced saving, producing the pent-up demand that fuelled the post-war boom.
Reagan’s economic policies

How was inflation brought down in the early 1980s?

Show the answer
By the Federal Reserve under Volcker raising interest rates sharply, which cut inflation from over 13 per cent to about 4 per cent but caused the severe recession of 1981-82.
The nature and extent of social change

What was the significance of the Los Angeles riots of 1992?

Show the answer
The acquittal of officers filmed beating Rodney King triggered six days of violence, showing that legal equality had not resolved policing, poverty and race in the cities.

The 16 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
A changing presidency	Recall questions on Republican dominance in the 1920s, Roosevelt's transformation of the office, the fireside chats, the imperial presidency, and Watergate.	10
Influences on the political landscape	Recall questions on the two Red Scares, McCarthyism and its fall, how New Deal ideas changed assumptions, and the breakdown of the Democratic coalition.	10
The impact of war on domestic politics	Recall questions on the rejection of the League, interwar isolationism, the effect of Pearl Harbor, Korea, and the credibility gap over Vietnam.	10
Black American civil rights, c1917–55	Recall questions on southern conditions and the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, the New Deal's uneven effects, the Double V campaign, and Brown v. Board.	10
Black American civil rights, c1955–80	Recall questions on the Montgomery boycott, the sit-ins and Freedom Rides, Birmingham and the March on Washington, and the turn to Black Power.	10
The search for minority rights, 1960–80	Recall questions on the American Indian Movement and the end of termination, Chavez and the grape boycott, Stonewall, and the conservative backlash.	10
The changing position of women, 1917–80	Recall questions on the Nineteenth Amendment and the flapper, work in the Depression and the war, The Feminine Mystique, Title IX, and why the ERA failed.	11
The impact of immigration, 1917-80	Recall questions on the 1924 quotas, Sacco and Vanzetti, the Bracero programme, the 1965 Act and how it changed the country, and Cold War refugees.	10
Popular culture and the news media	Recall questions on cinema and the Hays Code, radio and jazz, the arrival of television, rock and roll, and the influence of broadcast news.	10
Economic influences on American life	Recall questions on the causes of the 1920s boom and who missed it, the Crash and the Depression, post-war affluence, and the stagflation of the 1970s.	10
Changing living standards	Recall questions on the 1920s consumer boom, Depression poverty, wartime savings, the GI Bill and suburbia, the other America, and 1970s stagnation.	10
Leisure and travel	Recall questions on shorter hours and paid holidays, the automobile, spectator sport and Jackie Robinson, cinema and television, and air travel.	10
Reagan’s economic policies	Recall questions on supply-side tax cuts, the Volcker interest rate shock, deregulation and the savings and loan crisis, deficits, PATCO, and the Rust Belt.	10
The extent to which big government was reduced	Recall questions on New Federalism, which programmes were cut, why entitlements grew anyway, and how far federal spending actually fell.	10
The nature and extent of social change	Recall questions on race and the Los Angeles riots, women's advance, the culture wars, changing family structure, and welfare reform in 1996.	10
The revitalisation of the presidency and US politics	Recall questions on the state of the office in 1980, Reagan's restoration of confidence, Iran-Contra, the 1994 midterms, and enduring distrust of government.	10

In Search of the American Dream: the Usa, c1917-96 is 161 of the 6,832 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £9

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.