AS History₇₀₄₁

This option provides for a study in depth of the challenges faced by the USA at home and abroad as it emerged from the Second World War as a Superpower. For many Americans, post-war prosperity realised the ‘American dream’ but the prosperity was not shared by all and significant problems at home and abroad challenged the extent to which the ‘American dream’ was a reality. It explores concepts and ideas such as American identity at home and abroad, anti-communism, social equality, ethnic identities and federal versus states’ rights. It also encourages students to reflect on the nature of democracy in a pluralist society, political protest and the power of the media.

Prosperity, Inequality and Superpower status, 1945–1963

Truman and Post-war America, 1945–1952

• The United States in 1945 and the legacies of the world war: the powers of the presidency; the main political parties; post-war prosperity; regional, ethnic and social divisions
• The USA as a Superpower: Truman’s character and policies; post-war peace making; the Cold War and ‘containment’ in Europe and Asia; the response to the rise of Communism in Asia
• Truman and post-war reconstruction: the economy; political divisions and domestic problems; the rise of McCarthyism
• African-Americans in North and South: the impact of the Second World War; campaigns for Civil Rights; the responses of the federal and state authorities

Eisenhower: tranquility and crisis, 1952–1960

• The presidency: Eisenhower’s personality and the policies of ‘dynamic conservatism’; Nixon as Vice-President; the Republican Party; the end of McCarthyism
• The growth of the American economy in the 1950s and the impact of the ‘consumer society’
• The USA and the Cold War: Superpower rivalry and conflict with the USSR; responses to developments in Western and Eastern Europe; reactions to the rise of Communism in Asia; responses to crises in the Middle East
• African-Americans in North and South: the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement; the policies and attitudes of the main political parties; the responses of the state and federal authorities

John F Kennedy and the 'New Frontier', 1960–1963

• The presidential election of 1960 and reasons for Kennedy’s victory; the policies and personalities of the Kennedy administration; the ideas behind the ‘New Frontier’
• Challenges to American power: the legacy of crises over Berlin and relations with Khrushchev; the challenge of Castro’s Cuba; deepening involvement in Vietnam
• African-Americans in North and South: the rise of the Civil Rights Movement; the opponents of Civil Rights, including within the Democratic Party; Kennedy’s policies in response to the pressures for change
• The United States by 1963: its position as a world power; economic prosperity; the growing pressures for social change from women and youth