Studied by 11 people
Who was the democratic president from 1913-1921?
Woodrow Wilson
Who was president for WW1?
Wilson
Who was the republican president from 1921-1923
Warren G. Harding
Who was the republican president from 1923-1929
Calvin Coolidge
Who was the republican president from 1929-1933
Herbert Hoover
Why did the republicans win the 1920 election? (3)
Democratics focused their campaign on the League of Nations
Voters were more concerned about rising prices
Presented a return to ‘normalcy’
What percentage of votes did the republicans win in 1920?
61%
What emerged in 1923 about Harding?
There was corruption within his administration, with several men imprisoned for misappropriating funds or accepting bribes
What was Coolidge’s philosophy?
Laissez-faire
What did Coolidge become a symbol of?
Traditional values which were threatened by the forces of change
What economic problems faced Hoover?
1929- Wall Street Crash —> the Great Depression
When was the Prohibition era?
1920-1933
What is ‘rugged individualism’?
The belief that government intervention in the economy should be kept to a minimum
What did many Americans attribute the successes of the1920s to?
Big business'- ‘We want less government in business and more business in government’
How did Americans feel about the League of Nations?
Wilson hoped that it would maintain peace, however many Americans were against US involvement internationally, resulting in the Senate refusing to ratify the Versailles Treaty.
Why were Americans weary of getting involved in international affairs in the 20s and 30s? (2)
Unhappy that they had entered WW1
Preoccupied with the economic consequences of the Great Depression
Who was the democratic president from 1933-1945?
Franklin D. Roosevelt
When did Roosevelt pass the first New Deal?
1933- passed in his first 100 days
What was in the New Deal? (3)
Alphabet agencies- AAA (paid farmers to produce less), FERA (helped those who were homeless and on the brink of starvation)
Programmes aimed at providing economic relief to workers and farmers
Regulated the stock market
How did Roosevelt address the country?
Fireside chats- used more casual language to discuss key political matters
What was in the second New Deal? (5)
Roosevelt wanted to create a more structural, long-term approach to solve the issues created by the Great Depression
Works progress Administration (WPA)- set up schemes to create jobs in public building projects
The WPA became the country’s biggest employer, employing more than 8 million Americans over eight years
Highest rate of tax raised to 75% for over $5 million
Workers allowed to join trade unions
Minimum wage enforced and child labour ended
Provided pensions benefits for the elderly as well as small payments to groups including disabled people, the unemployed, widows and orphans
Nothing for famers or domestic service though
How had Hoover laid the foundations for the New Deal? (3)
Intervened in the economy during the Great Depression
Set up the Federal Farm Board to bolster farm prices
1932- federal budget ended up being $2.7 billion in the red- largest peacetime deficit in US history
What opposition did Roosevelt face?
Attempted to ‘court-pack’ the Supreme Court, which resulted in a split in the Democrats and a storm of protest from his opposition. They believed he had dictatorial ambitions.
When did the USA enter WW2?
1941- Pearl Harbour
What had been established under Roosevelt?
A semi-welfare state
What was the Neutrality Act?
1935- required the President to have an impartial arms embargo on all belligerents
How did Roosevelt support Britain in WW2? (2)
Gave 40 destroyers in return for bases in the Caribbean
Roosevelt introduced lend-lease, where he has the authority to aid any nation whose defense he believed vital to the United States and to accept any repayment
Who was the democratic president from 1945-1953?
Harry Truman
Who was the republican president from 1953-1961?
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Who was the democratic president from 1961-1963?
John F. Kennedy
Who was the democratic president from 1963-1969?
Lyndon B. Johnson
Who was the republican president from 1969-1974?
Richard Nixon
How did Truman end WW2?
Dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945
When was the first Red Scare?
1919
What happened in the first Red Scare? (3)
Palmer Raids- 9,000 people arrested, 500 deported
32 states banned unions
Anarchist bomb killed 38 people on Wall Street
What had triggered the first Red Scare?
1917 Russian Revolution and emergence of American Communist movement (largely foreign born membership)
What caused the second Red Scare?
Fear of Communism during Cold War
What did Truman do against communism within the government in 1947? (2)
Established a Loyalty Review Board to investigate all federal employees
Allowed the FBI to investigate subversives
What was McCarthyism?
1950- McCarthy claimed he had evidence that 205 Communists had infiltrated the State Department, placing himself art the centre of the anti-Communist movement.
What did Roosevelt do for Veterans?
GI Bill of rights 1944- included unemployment benefits and low-interest mortgage
What percentage of the world’s arms did USA produce?
1945- 45% meaning it prospered during the war
Why did the USA emerge as a superpower? (3)
Suffered the lowest loss of lives- 292,000 deaths
Avoided being bombed or invaded
Benefitted economically
What was the Truman Doctrine? (3)
1947
USA didn’t return to isolationism
$400 million to Greece and Türkiye to help ensure they didn’t fall to Communism
What was Marshall Aid? (4)
1948
$13 billion to European countries struggling from poverty and chaos
Aimed to promote Europe economically so Europeans would buy American goods
Prevented poverty-struck Europe from adopting Communism
What agency was created in 1947?
CIA
What did the USSR do in 1948?
Blockaded West Berlin, so Truman organised a massive air lift with 13,000 tons of goods per day
When was the Korean War?
1950-1953
What was the first movie shown in the white house?
1915- Birth of a nation, KKK portrayed as a heroic force
Who ended the Korean war?
Eisenhower
What were the three central points in the 1952 election?
Communism, Korea and corruption
What did liberals support? (4)
Civil Rights
Opposed Vietnam
Wanted the government to help poor Americans
Alternative lifestyles
How did Johnson align with liberals? (2)
Supported civil rights
Wanted to create a Great Society
How didn’t Johnson align with liberals? (2)
Vietnam war
Had little sympathy for counter-cultural movements
What were hippies? (2)
Rejected society’s emphasis on competitiveness, individualism and materialism
Woodstock rock festival 1969- 400,000 people attended
When was the first TV debate for presidents?
1960
What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?
1962- the Soviet Union began to secretly install missiles in Cuba to launch attacks on U.S. cities. The confrontation that followed, known as the Cuban missile crisis, brought the two superpowers to the brink of war before an agreement was reached to withdraw the missiles.
Who took the US to Vietnam?
Kennedy
Who did Nixon pride himself for representing?
Middle America- ‘silent majority’
What was ‘counter-culture’?
Those who protested against the dominant culture- feminists, anti-war activists and hippies
What protests happened under Nixon? (2)
1969-70- anti-war
pro-civil rights protests
How did Nixon decrease the number of protests? (3)
withdrew troops from Vietnam
ordered FBI surveillance of disruptive groups
threatened to end federal scholarships and loans for student trouble-makers
What did the religious right believe in?
Against: abortion, feminism, divorce, drugs, pre-marital sex and homosexuality
How many men were in Vietnam by 1968 vs. 1970?
538,000- required the birthday draft —> 40,000
How many anti-war protests happened in 1968?
220
When was the Vietnam war?
1963-73
What was the Watergate scandal?
Nixon sent men to the Democrat Party headquarters in 1972 to try discover their plans
What was the impact of Watergate? (3)
Led to a decline in America’s international standing
Seen as the end of the imperial presidency
Contributed to the decline in confidence in the presidency
When did Americans begin to lose trust in the presidency?
Johnson (Vietnam, continued divisions and economic problems)
Who was the republican president from 1974-1977?
Ford
How did Ford continue to help the decline in confidence? (2)
Pardoned Nixon
Easy to make fun of in the media- fell over a lot
How did people feel about Ford and Carter?
75% felt they lacked presidential quality
Only 54% of eligible voters voted
Who was the democratic president from 1977-1981?
Carter
Who seemed to be winning the cold war in the 1970s?
USSR
What did Carter fail to manage in 1979?
Iran Hostage crisis
Note 
Flashcard (53)