The American Nation: A History of the United States

The following questions correspond to the chapter readings in The American Nation: A
History of the United States, Volume 2: Since 1865 textbook.

Chapter 28 Questions. Choose four questions to answer.
28.1 Why did the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States come to a
head in Berlin in June 1948?
28.2 What was ‘McCarthyism’ and what made McCarthyism in the 1950s such a
dangerous political trend?
28.3 Explain what the Cold War was and describe President Eisenhower’s military
strategy for the Cold War.
28.4 Explain what the Brown v Board of Education decision was and describe the
consequences of this decision in America.
28.5 Compare and contrast the presidential candidates of 1960.
Chapter 29 Questions. Choose four questions to answer.
29.1 Why was John F. Kennedy so reluctant to embrace the civil rights issue when he
was president?
29.2 What was the Great Society and what did Lyndon B. Johnson hope to achieve with
it?
29.3 What caused the downfall of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968?
29.4 Discuss the foreign policy initiatives of Richard M. Nixon.
29.5 Explain what the ‘Watergate scandal’ was. Why did Richard Nixon get caught up in
the Watergate scandal and why did it force his resignation?

Chapter 30 Questions. Choose four questions to answer.
30.1 How did Gerald Ford become president, and why did he fail to get elected in his
own right as president?
30.2 Discuss how Jimmy Carter changed the nation’s foreign policy direction.

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30.3 How did Ronald Reagan intend to remedy the nation’s economic troubles and how
did the Reagan Revolution actually change the economy?
30.4 Identify the different causes for the collapse of authoritarian regimes in Eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union.
30.5 Assess both the positive and negative aspects of the legacy of President Bill Clinton.
Chapter 31 Questions. Answer all four questions.
31.1 How did immigration in the United States change after 1965 from the way it had
been before and why?
31.2 Why did women’s demands for equality generate such a strong conservative
countermovement?
31.3 What was the ‘law and order’ movement and what impact did it have on Americans
in the 1980s and 1990s?
31.4 What problems will the nation face with the aging of the baby boomers?