USA 1918-29 Big Fact Checker
Below are questions you should know the answers to before the exam! Test yourself again
and again until you know the answer to each one by heart. Get someone at home to test
you regularly. When you are confident, practise some of the past paper questions you have
been given.
How and why did the USA achieve prosperity in the 1920s?
Isolationism and its effects: p219 of core text, p82- 83 of revision guide
1. What year did the USA enter WW1?
2. How many soldiers did the USA lose in WW1?
3. Who wrote the Fourteen Points, the basis for the Versailles settlement and the League of
Nations?
4. Give three reasons why Americans were not keen on joining the League of Nations.
5. Which party controlled Congress at this time & were against joining the League?
6. Who was the Democrat candidate in the 1920 Presidential Election?
7. Warren Harding won the Presidency in 1920. What were his two slogans, linked to
isolationism?
8. Summarise the reasons for America’s isolationist policy.
9. Identify three outcomes of this policy of isolationism.
10. Who took over from Harding when he died in 1923, carrying on his policies?
Fordney McCumber Tariff Policy: p220 of core text, p83 of revision guide
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What was the aim of the tariff policy i.e. what was the intended outcome?
In what year was this policy introduced?
How did the policy work, i.e. what did it do?
Name one positive and one negative outcome of the policy for American industry.
Mass Production: p222-3 of core text, p83-4 of revision guide
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Identify three ways in which the US economy was strong before 1920.
Identify two ways that the US economy had benefited from WW1.
Describe how mass production worked.
Describe the work of Henry Ford.
Explain the importance of the motor industry.
Explain how mass production helped the US economy boom.
What were consumer goods and can you give an example?
Explain how the sale of consumer goods & the expansion in advertising techniques
helped the economy boom.
9. Describe the ‘cycle of prosperity’.
Finance: hire purchase, shares and the stock market: p.223 of core text, p.84 of
revision guide
1. What was hire purchase?
2. Why did this help create a boom in the economy?
3. Explain why the value of shares rose in the 1920s. Include the term ‘buying on the
margin’.
4. Describe the two main policies of the Republican government.
5. By what per cent did share prices rise in the 1920s?
Summarise why there was a boom in the economy during the 1920s.
Entertainment: p229-230 of core text, p85 of revision guide
1. Why was the decade known as ‘the Roaring Twenties’?
2. ‘The cinema had become a national….’
3. How many Americans were going to the cinema each week by 1929?
4. Describe the film industry in Hollywood in the 1920s.
5. Name a couple of 1920s film stars.
6. Describe the silent films.
7. What was the name of the first ‘talkie’ and in which year was it released?
8. Describe the new dances.
9. Describe the popularity of jazz music using as many key terms as you can.
10. How did the radio help to increase the popularity of jazz?
11. How did car ownership help the new forms of entertainment?
12. What was the reaction of the older generation?
How and why did the USA achieve prosperity in the 1920s?
Rich Versus Poor: p224 of core text, p. 85 of revision guide.
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Give a statistic to illustrate the divide between rich and poor.
Why did farmers have a hard time in the 1920s?
Why did African Americans have a hard time in the 1920s?
Why did workers in older industries have a hard time in the 1920s?
Sum up the differences between rich and poor in America at this time.
Race: Immigration: p.220 of core text, p. 85-86 of revision guide.
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Describe the diversity of the USA by the 1920s.
Explain why there were growing fears about an ‘open’ policy towards immigration.
Using figures, describe the 1917 Immigration Law.
Using figures, describe the 1921 Immigration Quota Act.
Using figures, describe the 1924 National Origins Act.
Using figures, describe the 1929 Immigration Act.
Race: The Ku Klux Klan: p225-6 of core text, p87 of revision guide
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Describe the segregation/ Jim Crow laws that existed.
Describe the origins and intentions/beliefs of the KKK.
How did its membership grow between 1920- 25?
What kind of people became members of the KKK?
5. Explain why membership grew (i.e. feelings towards specific groups of people in the
USA).
6. Describe the meetings and ceremonies of the KKK.
7. Describe the crimes the KKK committed.
8. Explain why KKK members were often not punished for their crimes.
9. Explain why membership dwindled after 1925 (see your exercise book for the case of DC
Stephenson)?
Prohibition: p226-8 of core text, p88 of revision guide
1. Identify and explain at least 3 reasons why Prohibition was introduced.
2. When did Prohibition come into force?
3. By 1918, what percentage of US states were already ‘dry’?
4. Identify two temperance (pro-prohibition) groups.
5. Identify one anti- prohibition group.
6. Give 2 reasons why they opposed Prohibition.
7. Give at least 4 reasons why enforcement was difficult.
8. How many Prohibition agents did the government employ?
9. What percentage were sacked for taking bribes?
10. Describe the work of Einstein and Smith.
11. Describe the role played by criminal gangs during Prohibition.
12. How many men did Al Capone employ and how many murders were linked to gang
activities in the mid-1920s?
13. What was the St Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929?
14. When did Prohibition end?
15. Sum up the causes and the consequences of Prohibition.
16. Sum up why Prohibition failed, including the points you identified for Q.7.
Young People: p229 of core text, p89 of revision guide
1. Why did young people have more freedom in the 1920s?
2. Describe the fashion and the activities of the flappers.
3. Describe the reaction of the older generation.
Why did the US stock exchange collapse in 1929?
Long term causes: p231-232 of core text, p89-90 of revision guide
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What effect did over production have on agriculture?
What effect did over production have on consumer goods?
What effect did the lack of credit control/ financial regulation have?
What effect did the tariff policy have?
Why was the unequal distribution of wealth important?
Short term causes: p231-232 of core text, p89-90 of revision guide
1. Describe the problems with ‘financial speculation’.
2. Explain why US businesses didn’t continue to grow with the rise in share prices.
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What was the problem with people ‘buying on the margin’?
What ‘c’ did the rise of share prices depend on?
What happened in September 1929?
Describe ‘Black Thursday’ and the reaction of a group of bankers.
Describe ‘Black Tuesday’, 29th October 1929.
The immediate effects: p232-233 of core text, p90-91 of revision guide
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What was the ‘cycle of depression’?
Why did many individuals become bankrupt?
What happened to many homeowners?
What happened to savers?
What happened to farmers?
How many banks collapsed in 1929 alone?
How many failed between 1929- 33?
Why did so many companies collapse?
Summarising the possible bias of Section A sources. Identify what opinions of the
economy/ the boom/ living conditions/ the collapse of the stock market the
following organisations might have:
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The Republican Party?
The Democrat Party?
An American magazine for aspirational readers, like Time or the New Yorker?
A stock market trader?
A large American corporation who sells consumer goods?