Every card in The twentieth-century world, Year 10: the Second World War, post-war prosperity and McCarthyism (America 1920–1973 option)
The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.
- What was Lend-Lease, which began in March 1941?
The USA supplied war goods to Britain and other allies without immediate payment
HintAmerica was still officially neutral at the time.
WhyThe Act let the President lend or lease war supplies to any nation judged vital to US defence. Aid went first to Britain, and later to many other Allies.
- How did the Second World War affect unemployment in the USA?
It fell sharply, as war production needed workers
HintFactories ran day and night.
WhyWartime demand for weapons, food, fuel and raw materials boosted many parts of the economy, not only arms factories.
- Wartime propaganda figure symbolising women who took factory jobs, such as joining metal parts in aircraft plants
Rosie the Riveter
HintA first name, then her trade.
WhyMillions of women took war jobs, but they were often paid less than men.
- What did President Roosevelt's Executive Order 8802 of June 1941 forbid?
Racial discrimination in defence industries and government jobs
HintA. Philip Randolph's planned march on Washington helped to force it.
WhyIt created the Fair Employment Practices Committee to enforce the new policy, but Black Americans still faced discrimination, and the armed forces stayed segregated.
- What did the 'Double V' campaign of Black Americans in the Second World War call for?
Victory over fascism abroad and over racism at home
HintFighting two enemies, one overseas and one in their own country.
WhyAfrican Americans joined the armed forces but served in segregated units.
- What was the 'American Dream' of the post-war years?
The belief that anyone could succeed and prosper through hard work
HintSuccess was said to be open to all, whatever their background.
WhyIncomes rose and many families bought homes, cars and televisions, helped by the GI Bill.
- How did the 1944 GI Bill help returning soldiers?
It paid for education and training and helped with loans for homes and businesses
HintIt was meant to ease the return to civilian life.
WhyMillions of veterans used its benefits, helping to drive the post-war growth of colleges and suburbs.
- Making accusations of communism against people with little or no proof, as in the hunt for communists in the USA in the early 1950s
McCarthyism
HintIt is named after a senator from Wisconsin.
WhyMcCarthy rose to fame in February 1950 when he claimed in a speech at Wheeling, West Virginia, to have a list of communists in the State Department. The number he gave soon varied.
- Which televised hearings of 1954 helped to destroy Senator McCarthy's reputation?
The Army-McCarthy hearings
HintLive coverage let viewers see him at work.
WhyAs the public watched him, support for his crusade began to fade, and in December 1954 the Senate voted to censure him.
- Fast, beat-driven music that became the sound of 1950s teenagers, with stars such as Elvis Presley
Rock and roll
HintMany parents thought it a bad influence.
WhyMany adults criticised teenage culture, yet it helped to create a new 'teenage' identity in the 1950s.
1★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0196
2★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0197
3★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0198
4★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0199
5★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0200
6★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0201
7★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0202
8★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0203
9★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0204
10★ GCSE-HIST-TWE-0205
Keep what you learn
Here, nothing is saved. In your child’s own sky every card is scheduled — it comes back just before they’d forget it — and the professor who wrote it is one tap away.