C2 – The USA 1917 – 54: Boom, Bust & Recovery



Year 13 History

Unit 3

The USA 1917 – 54: Boom, Bust & Recovery

The focus of this topic is on the domestic history of the USA in the period from 1917, through the period of boom and bust and the economic recovery after 1941, and on the impact of both boom and bust on US society.

The key areas of study required for section A are summarised in the four bullet points and the two associated controversies to be examined in section B are clearly delimited underneath in the unit content section of the specification. Collectively, they offer a framework for the study of the period 1917-54.

Although the bullet points are defined and clarified separately here, students should appreciate the links between them, since questions may be set which target the content of more than one bullet point. For example, students might draw on elements from each of the first two bullet points in an explanation of the impact of prohibition on US society in the 1920s and early 1930s.

The first bullet point covers the economy of the US in the 1920s in the 'boom' years. Questions will not be set specifically on the period before 1917, but students should have an understanding of the condition of the USA's economy in 1917 in order to understand the impact of the war and its legacy. Students should have knowledge and understanding of the reasons for the prosperity of the 1920s. It is expected that students understand the way in which government policies helped create and perpetuate this 'boom', in particular: the Emergency Tariff Act of 1921 and the Fordney-McCumber Act of 1922, tax reductions and Coolidge's general policy of 'laissez-faire'.

The second bullet point relates to social and political tension in the USA in the period to 1933. Students should have knowledge and understanding of: the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, federal immigration policy, the 'Red Scare', reactions to social changes, to the women's suffrage issue and to racial tensions. Students should also understand why prohibition was introduced into the US. In addition, they should be able to consider the positive and negative attributes of prohibition and its impact on US society.

The third bullet point relates to opposition to Roosevelt as President in the period 1933-45 and opposition to the New Deal. Students should have knowledge of Supreme Court opposition via its legal rulings and Roosevelt's response to it. It also relates to business opposition within the US and political challenges from both left and right perspectives.

The fourth bullet point deals with the impact on the USA of its entry of the US into the Second World War and the consequences of this involvement in the period to 1954. Students should have knowledge and understanding of the growth of federal intervention in the economy in the period 1941-54. Students will be expected to know about the economic benefits of the war for US society and how this laid the foundations for the post-war boom. 'Anti-communism’ refers mainly to the impact of McCarthyism on US society why so many people supported the anti-communist and anti-trade union activity. Students are not expected to have knowledge of the military campaigns in which the USA was involved in this period.

In section B, students will use their knowledge of the period as a whole to provide a broad context but, in addition, they will need detailed knowledge of the two issues selected as subjects of historical controversy and an understanding of why this area has been the subject of debate.

The first controversy requires a study of the nature of the depression in the years 1929-33, both long and short term causes of this and why it lasted so long. Students should be aware of the historical debate which surrounds this period with historians stressing various factors: structural imbalances within the USA, the weaknesses in the US banking system and the lack of financial regulation by the federal government, the problems of international trade etc.

The second controversy requires a study of the New Deal and its impact on the US economy and society in the period 1932-41. In terms of success, some historians see the initiatives of President Roosevelt and federal government as being of importance. Others have argued that recovery only really came when the US decided to rearm in 1938 and the Second World War broke out in 1939, thus providing millions of new jobs for both men and women.

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