Edexcel A-Level History: USA 1917–1980 Revision Flashcards

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the economic, political, social, and civil rights history of the United States from 1917 to 1980, including the Reagan presidency.

Fordism

Mass production techniques using the assembly line to produce consumer goods, central to the 1920s economic boom.

Fordney-McCumber (1922)

A high tariff policy introduced by Republican administrations to protect US industry from foreign competition.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (1932)

A limited relief measure introduced by President Hoover in response to the Great Depression, providing loans to businesses.

Social Security Act (1935)

Part of the Second New Deal, creating a federal system of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

Wagner Act

New Deal legislation that established the legal rights of workers to join unions and bargain collectively.

GI Bill (1944)

Legislation providing education and housing benefits for veterans, which fueled middle-class growth after WWII.

Levittown

Iconic suburban developments that symbolized the post-war consumer boom and shift toward mass car ownership.

Interstate Highway Act 1956

A major infrastructure project under Eisenhower that facilitated suburbanization and increased mobility.

Great Society

LBJ's domestic program including the War on Poverty, Medicare, and Medicaid, aimed at reducing poverty and racial injustice.

Stagflation

A combination of high inflation and high unemployment that plagued the US economy during the 1970s.

New Deal Coalition

A realignment of voters including urban workers, Catholics, Black voters, and the South that supported Democratic policies from the 1930s.

Teapot Dome Scandal

A major political corruption scandal involving oil leases during the Harding administration.

McCarthyism

Anti-communist hysteria in the early 1950s led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, impacting domestic politics and civil liberties.

Great Migration

The movement of hundreds of thousands of Black Southerners to Northern cities for industrial jobs during and after WWI.

Harlem Renaissance

A flourishing of Black art, literature, and music in the 1920s that served as a cultural assertion of identity.

Executive Order 8802

An order issued by FDR in 1941 banning discrimination in defense industries following pressure from A. Philip Randolph.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Supreme Court ruling that school segregation was unconstitutional, overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

Civil Rights Act (1964)

Federal legislation that outlawed discrimination in employment and public accommodations.

Voting Rights Act (1965)

Law that removed barriers to Black voter registration, such as literacy tests, following the Selma to Montgomery marches.

Black Panther Party

A militant organization founded in 1966 that emphasized Black Power, community programs, and armed self-defense.

Prohibition

The period from 1920 to 1933 when the 18th Amendment banned alcohol, eventually repealed by the 21st Amendment.

Scopes "Monkey" Trial (1925)

A high-profile legal case representing the tension between evolution and fundamentalist religious beliefs.

The Feminine Mystique (1963)

A book by Betty Friedan that helped spark second-wave feminism by critiquing the nuclear family ideal.

Stonewall Riots (1969)

A series of demonstrations that marked the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.

Reaganomics

Supply-side economic policies including tax cuts ($Economic Recovery Tax Act 1981$), deregulation, and increased defense spending.

INF Treaty (1987)

A nuclear arms control agreement signed by Reagan and Gorbachev, contributing to the end of the Cold War.

Iran-Contra Affair (1986–87)

A political scandal involving secret arms sales to Iran to fund Contras in Nicaragua, damaging Reagan's reputation.