Edexcel GCSE History · Option 33

The USA, 1954–75: conflict at home and abroad

50 exam-style questions with answers for Option 33 The USA, 1954–75: conflict at home and abroad in Edexcel GCSE History (spec 1HI0). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below.

All 50 questions and answers

Question 1 · Option 33, Key topic 1.1
Define the term ‘Jim Crow laws’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Laws in Southern states that enforced racial segregation.
Question 2 · Option 33, Key topic 1.1
Describe two ways Black Americans in the South were prevented from voting in the early 1950s. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: literacy tests (1); poll taxes (1); intimidation and violence, including by the Ku Klux Klan (1); 'grandfather clauses' (1).
Question 3 · Option 33, Key topic 1.1
What was the NAACP? [2 marks]
Answer:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1); it fought segregation mainly through court cases, such as Brown v. Topeka (1).
Question 4 · Option 33, Key topic 1.2
What did Brown v Topeka Board of Education (1954) decide? [1 mark]
Answer:
That segregated schools were unconstitutional.
Question 5 · Option 33, Key topic 1.2
Explain why the Brown v. Topeka case (1954) was significant. [2 marks]
Answer:
It overturned the 'separate but equal' ruling of 1896, so segregation was declared unconstitutional (1); it encouraged the civil rights movement but provoked fierce white opposition in the South (1).
Question 6 · Option 33, Key topic 1.2
What happened at Little Rock (1957)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Nine African American students tried to attend a white high school (1); President Eisenhower sent federal troops to protect them (1).
Question 7 · Option 33, Key topic 1.3
What happened in the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956)? [2 marks]
Answer:
After Rosa Parks’ arrest, African Americans boycotted buses for over a year (1); the Supreme Court ruled bus segregation illegal (1).
Question 8 · Option 33, Key topic 1.3
Explain why Rosa Parks was significant in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. [2 marks]
Answer:
Her arrest in December 1955 sparked the boycott (1); she was a respected NAACP member, which made her a good test case (1).
Question 9 · Option 33, Key topic 1.3
State two reasons why the Montgomery Bus Boycott succeeded. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: Black people made up about 75% of bus passengers, so the company lost money (1); car pools organised by the MIA (1); the community stayed united for 381 days (1); the Supreme Court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional in 1956 (1).
Question 10 · Option 33, Key topic 1.3
What was the Civil Rights Act of 1957? [1 mark]
Answer:
A law setting up a Civil Rights Commission to investigate voting discrimination, though it had little effect.
Question 11 · Option 33, Key topic 1.3
What was the SCLC? [2 marks]
Answer:
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, set up in 1957 (1); led by Martin Luther King to coordinate non-violent protest through Black churches (1).
Question 12 · Option 33, Key topic 1.3
Describe Martin Luther King’s methods. [2 marks]
Answer:
Non-violent direct action, such as marches, boycotts and sit-ins (1); speeches, eg ‘I have a dream’ at the 1963 March on Washington (1).
Question 13 · Option 33, Key topic 1.4
What happened to Emmett Till in 1955? [2 marks]
Answer:
A 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago murdered in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman (1); his killers were acquitted by an all-white jury, which shocked the nation (1).
Question 14 · Option 33, Key topic 1.4
Who were the 'Dixiecrats'? [1 mark]
Answer:
Southern Democrat politicians who opposed civil rights and desegregation.
Question 15 · Option 33, Key topic 1.4
What were White Citizens' Councils? [2 marks]
Answer:
Groups of middle-class white southerners set up after 1954 to resist desegregation (1); they used economic pressure, such as sacking Black workers who supported civil rights (1).
Question 16 · Option 33, Key topic 2.1
What happened at Greensboro in 1960? [2 marks]
Answer:
Four Black students held a sit-in at a whites-only lunch counter in Woolworths (1); it sparked a wave of sit-ins across the South and the founding of SNCC (1).
Question 17 · Option 33, Key topic 2.1
Who were the Freedom Riders (1961)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Black and white activists from CORE who rode interstate buses into the South (1); to test the Supreme Court ruling that segregation on interstate travel was illegal (1).
Question 18 · Option 33, Key topic 2.1
Explain why the James Meredith case (1962) was significant. [2 marks]
Answer:
Meredith, a Black student, was blocked from the University of Mississippi and riots broke out (1); Kennedy sent federal troops, showing the government would enforce desegregation (1).
Question 19 · Option 33, Key topic 2.2
Why did King choose Birmingham for a campaign in 1963? [2 marks]
Answer:
It was one of the most segregated cities in the USA (1); the police chief 'Bull' Connor was likely to react violently, which would gain national publicity (1).
Question 20 · Option 33, Key topic 2.2
What happened at the March on Washington (August 1963)? [2 marks]
Answer:
About 250,000 people marched to support a civil rights bill (1); King gave his 'I have a dream' speech (1).
Question 21 · Option 33, Key topic 2.2
What was Freedom Summer (1964)? [2 marks]
Answer:
A campaign in Mississippi to register Black voters, using many white student volunteers (1); three volunteers were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan (1).
Question 22 · Option 33, Key topic 2.2
What did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 do? [1 mark]
Answer:
It banned discrimination and segregation in public places and employment.
Question 23 · Option 33, Key topic 2.2
What did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 do? [2 marks]
Answer:
It banned literacy tests (1); and allowed federal officials to register voters in the South (1).
Question 24 · Option 33, Key topic 2.3
Describe Malcolm X’s views. [2 marks]
Answer:
He criticised integration and non-violence, supporting separation and self-defence (1); he was a leader in the Nation of Islam (1).
Question 25 · Option 33, Key topic 2.3
Explain why Malcolm X changed his views in 1964. [2 marks]
Answer:
He left the Nation of Islam after a split with its leader Elijah Muhammad (1); after a pilgrimage to Mecca he accepted that Black and white people could work together (1).
Question 26 · Option 33, Key topic 2.3
Define the term ‘Black Power’. [1 mark]
Answer:
A movement from the mid-1960s stressing Black pride, self-reliance and sometimes armed self-defence, eg the Black Panthers.
Question 27 · Option 33, Key topic 2.3
Who was Stokely Carmichael? [1 mark]
Answer:
The leader of SNCC from 1966, who made 'Black Power' a popular slogan.
Question 28 · Option 33, Key topic 2.3
What happened at the 1968 Mexico Olympics? [1 mark]
Answer:
Medallists Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised gloved fists in a Black Power salute on the podium.
Question 29 · Option 33, Key topic 2.3
Who were the Black Panthers? [2 marks]
Answer:
An armed group set up in 1966 to protect Black communities from police brutality (1); they also ran free breakfasts and health clinics (1).
Question 30 · Option 33, Key topic 2.4
What was the Kerner Report (1968)? [2 marks]
Answer:
A report into the riots of 1965–67 (1); it blamed white racism and poverty, and warned the USA was becoming two societies, one Black, one white (1).
Question 31 · Option 33, Key topic 2.4
What was the impact of the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968? [2 marks]
Answer:
Riots broke out in over 100 cities (1); it weakened the non-violent movement, but helped the 1968 Civil Rights Act pass (1).
Question 32 · Option 33, Key topic 3.1
Define the term ‘Domino Theory’. [1 mark]
Answer:
The belief that if one country fell to communism, its neighbours would follow, like falling dominoes.
Question 33 · Option 33, Key topic 3.1
Explain why Diem was unpopular in South Vietnam. [2 marks]
Answer:
He was a Catholic who persecuted Buddhists in a mainly Buddhist country (1); his government was corrupt and favoured landowners (1).
Question 34 · Option 33, Key topic 3.1
How did Kennedy increase US involvement in Vietnam? [2 marks]
Answer:
He increased the number of military advisers to about 16,000 (1); he sent helicopters and supported the Strategic Hamlets programme (1).
Question 35 · Option 33, Key topic 3.1
What was the Strategic Hamlets programme? [2 marks]
Answer:
Peasants were moved into fortified villages to separate them from the Vietcong (1); it was unpopular and failed because villagers resented being moved (1).
Question 36 · Option 33, Key topic 3.2
What was the Gulf of Tonkin incident (1964)? [2 marks]
Answer:
North Vietnamese boats were reported to have attacked US destroyers (1); Congress passed a resolution giving Johnson power to wage war (1).
Question 37 · Option 33, Key topic 3.2
Explain why Johnson escalated the war after 1964. [2 marks]
Answer:
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave him power to use force (1); he believed South Vietnam would fall without US combat troops, so he sent the first marines in 1965 (1).
Question 38 · Option 33, Key topic 3.3
Describe the Vietcong’s guerrilla tactics. [2 marks]
Answer:
They used hit-and-run attacks, booby traps and tunnels (1); they blended in with villagers, making them hard to identify (1).
Question 39 · Option 33, Key topic 3.3
Describe Search and Destroy tactics. [2 marks]
Answer:
US troops raided villages to find and kill Vietcong (1); civilians were often killed and villages destroyed, turning people against the USA (1).
Question 40 · Option 33, Key topic 3.3
What was Operation Rolling Thunder? [1 mark]
Answer:
The mass US bombing campaign against North Vietnam from 1965 to 1968.
Question 41 · Option 33, Key topic 3.3
What was the Tet Offensive (1968)? [2 marks]
Answer:
A surprise Vietcong and North Vietnamese attack on more than 100 cities in the South (1); it was a military defeat for the communists but a propaganda victory (1).
Question 42 · Option 33, Key topic 3.4
Define the term ‘Vietnamisation’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Nixon’s policy of withdrawing US troops and handing the fighting over to the South Vietnamese army.
Question 43 · Option 33, Key topic 4.1
Explain why student protests grew in the USA. [2 marks]
Answer:
The draft sent young men to fight in an unpopular war (1); television images of casualties and civilian deaths turned many against it (1).
Question 44 · Option 33, Key topic 4.1
What happened at My Lai (March 1968)? [2 marks]
Answer:
US soldiers killed around 350–500 unarmed villagers (1); news emerged in 1969 and increased opposition to the war (1).
Question 45 · Option 33, Key topic 4.1
What happened at Kent State University (May 1970)? [2 marks]
Answer:
National Guardsmen fired on students protesting against the invasion of Cambodia (1); four students were killed, increasing anti-war feeling (1).
Question 46 · Option 33, Key topic 4.2
Who were the 'silent majority'? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Americans Nixon claimed quietly supported the war, in contrast to the noisy protesters.
Question 47 · Option 33, Key topic 4.2
Who were the 'hard hats'? [2 marks]
Answer:
Construction workers who supported the war (1); in May 1970 they attacked anti-war student protesters in New York (1).
Question 48 · Option 33, Key topic 4.3
What did the Paris Peace Agreement (January 1973) agree? [2 marks]
Answer:
A ceasefire and the withdrawal of US troops (1); the return of prisoners of war (1).
Question 49 · Option 33, Key topic 4.4
What was the Ho Chi Minh Trail? [1 mark]
Answer:
A network of paths through Laos and Cambodia used to supply the Vietcong from North Vietnam.
Question 50 · Option 33, Key topic 4.4
State two weaknesses of the US armed forces in Vietnam. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: many young, inexperienced conscripts on one-year tours (1); low morale and drug use (1); they could not tell Vietcong from civilians (1); training for conventional, not jungle, warfare (1).

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The USA, 1954–75: conflict at home and abroad

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