levo

In Search of the American Dream: The USA, c1917–96

  • 16 subtopics
  • 48 things to know
  • Paper 1
  • Paper 1 breadth option, chosen from eight

What In Search of the American Dream: The USA, c1917–96 covers

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.

Where it is assessed

Paper 1

Breadth study with interpretations, one option of eight.

Check the Pearson Edexcel specification ↗

The 16 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

How did the New Deal affect black Americans?

Key term

How successful was deregulation as a reduction of government?

Key term

How far had the presidency and US politics been revitalised by 1996?

Key term

Who became president in 1933 and launched the New Deal?

Key term

What is 'rugged individualism'?

Key term

What was the Great Migration?

Process

How did the Second World War change women's roles?

Key term

What media shaped culture 1917–50?

Key term

What described the post-war economy?

Key term

What leisure trend grew across the century?

Who and when

Why did Republicanism collapse after 1929?

Numbers

What were the Red Scares?

Key term

Which two wars damaged confidence in US leadership?

Who and when

Why did the USA reject the League of Nations?

Key term

What triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955?

Key term

What was Black Power?

Key term

Which other minorities campaigned for rights, 1960–80?

Key term

What 1969 event launched the gay rights movement?

Key term

What movement sought women's equality from the 1960s?

Who and when

How did immigration shape American cities before 1941?

Numbers

How did the Second World War change immigration policy?

Numbers

What was the Hays Code?

Key term

What economic challenges hit the 1970s?

Key term

What happened to living standards in the 1920s?

Who and when

How far did living standards fall in the Depression?

Key term

What consumer good transformed leisure and travel?

Key term

What is supply-side economics?

Numbers

What was the PATCO strike, and why was it significant?

Key term

What was the New Federalism?

Who and when

What anti-poverty programme did Johnson launch?

Key term

How had American society changed by 1996 in terms of race?

Key term

What was the state of the presidency in 1980?

Key term

What were the fireside chats?

Key term

What conservative reaction emerged c1960–80?

Who and when

What did isolationism mean in practice between the wars?

Key term

What segregation system operated in the South?

Numbers

Name two major civil rights laws of the 1960s.

Key term

What were Native American grievances by the 1960s?

Key term

Who was the flapper, and how representative was she?

Numbers

What was the Bracero programme?

Numbers

How did television affect politics?

Key term

What boosted the economy in the 1940s?

Key term

What was the consumer society of the 1950s?

Who and when

Why did leisure time increase across the century?

Key term

What were the effects of deregulation?

Who and when

Why did federal spending nonetheless rise under Reagan?

Key term

What were the culture wars?

Key term

What was the Iran-Contra affair?

Take In Search of the American Dream: The USA, c1917–96 further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

  • 'Return to normalcy' vs Red Scares

    'Return to normalcy': Harding's 1920 promise to return to pre-war stability and isolationism. Red Scares: Waves of anti-communist fear; after 1917–20 and the McCarthyism of the late 1940s–50s.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Who became president in 1933 and launched the New Deal?

    Model answer

    Franklin D. Roosevelt.

  2. 2

    Why did the Republicans dominate the presidency in the 1920s?

    Model answer

    Harding, Coolidge and Hoover offered a return to limited government, low taxes and business freedom after the strain of war and Wilsonian reform, and prosperity seemed to vindicate them.

  3. 3

    What was Coolidge's approach to the presidency?

    Model answer

    Minimal. He believed the business of America was business, cut taxes, avoided regulation and took an inactive view of the office.

  4. 4

    Why did Republicanism collapse after 1929?

    Model 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.

  5. 5

    How did Franklin Roosevelt change the presidency?

    Model answer

    He made the federal government responsible for economic security, used radio to speak directly to voters, and vastly expanded the executive branch and the president's legislative role.

  6. 6

    What were the fireside chats?

    Model answer

    Roosevelt's radio addresses explaining policy in plain language, which created a direct relationship between president and public that no predecessor had had.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

The Crusades, c1095–1204
England, 1509–1603: Authority, Nation and Religion
Britain, 1625–1701: Conflict, Revolution and Settlement
Britain, c1785–c1870: Democracy, Protest and Reform

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Luis de .
RequesensAlbaGranvelle

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe government admitted 96 dead and 333 wounded.
BOther estimates run to several hundred dead.
COpponents claimed thousands.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Robert Aske led the Pilgrimage of Grace.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

In Search of the American Dream: The USA, c1917–96 revision questions

What does In Search of the American Dream: The USA, c1917–96 cover in Edexcel A-Level History?
16 subtopics: a changing presidency, influences on the political landscape, the impact of war on domestic politics, black american civil rights, c1917–55, black american civil rights, c1955–80, the search for minority rights, 1960–80, the changing position of women, 1917–80, the impact of immigration, 1917-80, popular culture and the news media, economic influences on american life, changing living standards, leisure and travel, reagan’s economic policies, the extent to which big government was reduced, the nature and extent of social change and the revitalisation of the presidency and us politics. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is In Search of the American Dream: The USA, c1917–96 organised?
By the Edexcel 9HI0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

Every question in In Search of the American Dream: The USA, c1917–96, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.