The Usa, 1954-75: Conflict at Home and Abroad | Edexcel GCSE History (1HI0)

The Usa, 1954-75: Conflict at Home and Abroad

169 questions
16 subtopics
Paper 3
Paper 3

The USA, 1954–75: Conflict at Home and Abroad is examined in Paper 3, Modern depth study.

It covers the position of Black Americans in the early 1950s, Developments in education, 1954–60, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and its impact, 1955–60, opposition to the civil rights movement, Developments, 1960–62, peaceful protests and their impact, 1963–65, Malcolm X and Black Power, 1963–70, the civil rights movement, 1965–75, reasons for US involvement in the conflict in Vietnam, 1954–63, Escalation of the conflict under Johnson, the nature of the conflict in Vietnam, 1964–68, changes under Nixon, 1969–73, opposition to the war, support for the war, the peace process and end of the war and reasons for the failure of the USA in Vietnam.

Sample questions from The Usa, 1954-75: Conflict at Home and Abroad

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

The position of Black Americans in the early 1950s

What was a literacy test and how was it used against Black voters?

Show the answer
A reading and writing test taken before a person could register, marked so harshly by white officials that Black applicants failed while white applicants passed.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and its impact, 1955–60

What was the Montgomery Improvement Association?

Show the answer
The organisation set up by local ministers to run the protest, with Martin Luther King as its president.
Developments, 1960–62

Which student organisation grew out of the sit-in movement?

Show the answer
SNCC, the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, formed in 1960 to link student protest across the South.
Malcolm X and Black Power, 1963–70

What changed Malcolm X’s attitude in 1964?

Show the answer
He broke with Elijah Muhammad and made the pilgrimage to Mecca, where he prayed alongside Muslims of every colour and came to accept that white people could be allies.
Reasons for US involvement in the conflict in Vietnam, 1954–63

What support did Eisenhower give South Vietnam?

Show the answer
Large sums of aid, weapons and equipment, and military advisers to train its army.
The nature of the conflict in Vietnam, 1964–68

What did the Vietcong keep in their tunnel complexes?

Show the answer
Living quarters, hospitals, kitchens, weapon stores and workshops, so whole units could survive underground for long periods.
Opposition to the war

How did the draft work?

Show the answer
Young men were called up for two years’ service, at first by local boards and later by lottery, with deferments available for college and certain jobs.
The peace process and end of the war

What brought the North Vietnamese back to the negotiating table?

Show the answer
Eleven days of heavy bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong over Christmas 1972, while Nixon quietly promised Thieu continued American aid.

The 16 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
The position of Black Americans in the early 1950s	The Jim Crow laws and Plessy v. Ferguson, segregation in daily life, literacy tests, poll taxes and fear as barriers to voting, the work most Black Southerners did, the NAACP and CORE and their methods, and the lawyer Thurgood Marshall.	10
Developments in education, 1954–60	Oliver Brown's case, the Supreme Court ruling of 1954 and the overturning of Plessy v. Ferguson, why change was slow, why the ruling mattered, Little Rock in 1957, Elizabeth Eckford, Eisenhower's paratroopers and its significance.	10
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and its impact, 1955–60	Rosa Parks, the bus rules, car pools and taxis, the Montgomery Improvement Association, the cost to the bus company, the Supreme Court ruling, the 1957 Civil Rights Act, the SCLC and King's leadership.	12
Opposition to the civil rights movement	The Ku Klux Klan, its methods and its growth in the mid-1950s, the murder of Emmett Till in 1955, the acquittal of his killers and the wider impact of the case, the Dixiecrats, the White Citizens' Councils and the legal tricks used to avoid desegregating schools.	10
Developments, 1960–62	The Greensboro sit-in and its spread, why sit-ins worked, SNCC, the Freedom Riders of 1961, the Anniston firebombing, the federal response, and James Meredith at the University of Mississippi.	10
Peaceful protests and their impact, 1963–65	Why King chose Birmingham, Bull Connor's dogs and hoses, the March on Washington and the dream speech, Freedom Summer and the Mississippi murders, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Selma and the Voting Rights Act.	12
Malcolm X and Black Power, 1963–70	The Nation of Islam, the name Malcolm X, his early rejection of integration and non-violence, his change after Mecca, his murder, why Black Power emerged, Stokely Carmichael, the Mexico Olympics and the Black Panthers.	13
The civil rights movement, 1965–75	The Watts riots, Newark and Detroit, the Kerner Report's findings and recommendations, King's Chicago campaign and why it stalled, his assassination in Memphis and the Fair Housing Act, and the gains and limits by 1975.	10
Reasons for US involvement in the conflict in Vietnam, 1954–63	The French defeat and the Geneva division of 1954, the domino theory, the cancelled election of 1956, Eisenhower's aid, Diem's unpopular and repressive government, Kennedy's advisers, the Strategic Hamlet Program and its failure, and Diem's overthrow in 1963.	10
Escalation of the conflict under Johnson	Who the Vietcong were and their growing threat, their support among peasants, the Gulf of Tonkin incident and Resolution, the first combat troops in 1965, why Johnson escalated and troop numbers by 1968.	10
The nature of the conflict in Vietnam, 1964–68	Vietcong guerrilla tactics, booby traps and tunnel complexes, why they were so hard to beat, Search and Destroy and its effect on peasants, Operation Rolling Thunder, Agent Orange and napalm, and the Tet Offensive of 1968 and why it was a turning point.	10
Changes under Nixon, 1969–73	Vietnamisation, why Nixon adopted it and why it failed, his promise to Asian allies, the pace of withdrawal, the attack on Cambodia, Laos in 1971, and the bombing of the North in 1972.	10
Opposition to the war	Student protest and the draft card burnings, the television war, how the draft worked and why it was unfair, refusing to serve, My Lai and its exposure, Calley's trial, Kent State and its effect.	11
Support for the war	Why most Americans backed the war at first, Cold War anti-communism, why protest seemed disloyal, the groups that backed it, economic reasons, the hard hats, Nixon's silent majority and how support fell after Tet.	10
The peace process and end of the war	Why the USA wanted a settlement, the Paris talks, the December collapse and the Christmas bombing, the terms of 1973, why they mattered and failed, and the cost in lives, money and returning soldiers.	10
Reasons for the failure of the USA in Vietnam	Soviet and Chinese support for the North, the Ho Chi Minh Trail and why bombing failed to close it, Vietcong tactics, poor American morale, the one-year tour, tactics that alienated villagers and opposition at home.	11

The Usa, 1954-75: Conflict at Home and Abroad is 169 of the 2,881 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

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.