The USA, 1954-75: Conflict at Home and Abroad, is the modern depth study that focuses on the development of the civil rights movement, the challenges it faced and to what extent it overcame those challenges. The course also investigates why and how the USA was involved in the Vietnam War, and the reaction to that involvement. You will focus on crucial events during this period, and study the different social, cultural, political, economic and military changes that occurred.

This study enables you to understand the complexities and challenges that the USA faced at home and abroad. You will investigate themes such as civil rights, protest, segregation, integration, government, domino theory, guerrilla warfare and the impact of the media. This course will enable you to develop the historical skills of causation and consequence, and encourage you to analyse and evaluate contemporary sources as well as interpretations of the time period.

The USA, 1954-75: Conflict at Home and Abroad is split into 4 key topics:

• ❖ Topic 1 looks at the development of the civil rights movement between 1954 and 1960. You will study to what extent the movement made progress and the obstacles that had to be overcome. You will also study the opposition to the movement.
• ❖ Topic 2 looks at the later development of the civil rights movement from 1960 to 1973. You will also study how the movement radicalised with the development of Black Power and the impact of individuals such as Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael.
• ❖ Topic 3 looks at why and how the US became involved in the Vietnam War. You will study how US involvement changed under presidencies of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon.
• ❖ Topic 4 looks at how Americans reacted to US involvement in the Vietnam War and why US involvement ended. You will study the key reasons for the growth in opposition to the war. The reasons why the USA failed to win the war will also be explored.

Some of the key individuals studied on this course include:

• ❖ Martin Luther King.
• ❖ Rosa Parks.
• ❖ Malcolm X.
• ❖ President Johnson.
• ❖ President Nixon.
• ❖ Ngo Dinh Diem.

Some of the key events you will study on this course include:

• ❖ Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka.
• ❖ The murder of Emmett Till.
• ❖ Little Rock High School.
• ❖ Civil Rights Act 1957.
• ❖ The March on Washington.
• ❖ My Lai Massacre.
• ❖ The Fall of Saigon.

The USA, 1954-75: Conflict at Home and Abroad is paper 3, which you have a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete. There will be 3 exam questions which will assess what you have learnt. Question 3 will be broken down into a, b, c and d. You answer all questions.

• ❖ Question 1 is worth 4 marks. This question will require you to make two inferences from a source that answers the question asked. You will need to support each inference with relevant detail from the source. This could be in the form of a quote, detail from a visual source or by paraphrasing what the source states.
• ❖ Question 2 is worth 12 marks. This question will require you to explain why an event occurred. You need to identify three reasons, support each one with accurate and relevant factual detail that is precisely selected and then clearly explain how each cause made the event happen.
• ❖ Question 3a is worth 8 marks. This question asks you to explain how useful two sources are for a specific enquiry using the content of the source, the provenance of the source and your own contextual knowledge.
• ❖ Question 3b is worth 4 marks. This question asks you to identify the main difference in the views of two historical interpretations on a specific topic. You have to support the main difference with details from both interpretations.
• ❖ Question 3c is worth 4 marks. This question asks you to suggest one reason why the views of the two historical interpretations might be different. You have to support the main difference with details from both interpretations and you could can use the sources from question 3a to help you answer the question.
• ❖ Question 3d is worth 16 marks and an additional 4 marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar. This question asks you to explain how far you agree with one of the interpretations. In your explanation you have to evaluate both interpretations, using your own knowledge of the historical context to come to your conclusion.