Lesson 2Q.1.1

2Q.1.1 Prosperity, inequality and Superpower status, 1945–1963 Quiz: AQA History, Unit 27

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 2Q.1.1, Prosperity, inequality and Superpower status, 1945–1963: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA History (7042), Unit 27: 2Q The American Dream: reality and illusion, 1945–1980, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which policy announced by President Truman in 1947 committed the USA to supporting free peoples against communist pressure?

    • The Fair Deal
    • The Truman Doctrine
    • The Marshall Plan
    • The Eisenhower Doctrine

  2. Which 1948 programme provided American economic aid to rebuild Western Europe?

    • The Dulles Plan
    • The Young Plan
    • The Dawes Plan
    • The Marshall Plan

  3. Which legislation of 1944 gave returning US servicemen access to education and housing loans?

    • The Wagner Act
    • The Civil Rights Act
    • The GI Bill
    • The Taft-Hartley Act

  4. Which Senator led a campaign in the early 1950s alleging communist infiltration of US government and institutions?

    • Robert Taft
    • Richard Nixon
    • Estes Kefauver
    • Joseph McCarthy

  5. Which 1950 document, produced in the USA, called for a large military build-up to contain the USSR?

    • The Kennan Telegram
    • NSC-68
    • The Atlantic Charter
    • The Yalta Agreement

  6. Which 1954 Supreme Court case declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional?

    • Brown v. Board of Education
    • Gideon v. Wainwright
    • Roe v. Wade
    • Plessy v. Ferguson

  7. Which event of 1955-1956 marked the start of a mass protest movement against segregation in Alabama?

    • The March on Washington
    • The Freedom Summer campaign
    • The Greensboro sit-in
    • The Montgomery bus boycott

  8. Which event of 1957 saw federal troops used to enforce school desegregation in Arkansas?

    • The Watts riots
    • The Little Rock crisis
    • The Birmingham church bombing
    • The Selma march

  9. Which Cold War crisis of 1961 saw the USA support an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba?

    • The Berlin Crisis
    • The Cuban Missile Crisis
    • The Tonkin incident
    • The Bay of Pigs

  10. Which 1960 presidential candidate was the Democrat who campaigned on the 'New Frontier'?

    • Richard Nixon
    • John F. Kennedy
    • Dwight Eisenhower
    • Adlai Stevenson

  11. Which 1962 crisis brought the USA and USSR to the brink of nuclear war over missiles in Cuba?

    • The Cuban Missile Crisis
    • The Gulf of Tonkin incident
    • The U2 incident
    • The Korean War armistice

  12. Which action of 1961 was a major symbol of the Cold War division in Berlin?

    • The Allied occupation of Vienna
    • The construction of the Berlin Wall
    • The division of Korea
    • The Berlin Airlift

  13. Which factor best explains the decline of McCarthyism by 1954?

    • A decision by the Supreme Court to ban all anti-communist activity
    • The signing of the Test Ban Treaty in 1963
    • Victory of the Democrats in the 1950 congressional elections
    • Loss of public support after the Army-McCarthy hearings and a Senate censure

  14. Which phrase best describes Eisenhower's domestic approach as president from 1953?

    • Dynamic conservatism
    • Fair Deal socialism
    • Great Society
    • New Deal liberalism

  15. Which 1956 law, supported by Eisenhower, began a large federal programme of motorway construction?

    • The Civil Rights Act
    • The Federal Aid Highway Act
    • The Voting Rights Act
    • The Social Security Act

  16. Which group in the 1950s gained rising living standards through car ownership, television and suburban housing?

    • Migrant farm workers in California
    • Urban African-American families in the South
    • White middle-class families
    • Native Americans on reservations

  17. Which 1957 event was an early sign of Soviet technological challenge to the USA?

    • The signing of NATO
    • The Korean armistice
    • The launch of Sputnik
    • The Bay of Pigs

  18. Which statement best describes the position of African-Americans in the South in the late 1940s and 1950s?

    • They were excluded only from employment, not from schools or housing
    • Full legal equality had been secured by the end of the Second World War
    • Legal segregation and violence limited their rights, despite growing protest
    • They had the right to vote and enjoyed equal access to public facilities

  19. Which factor best explains US superpower status by 1963?

    • A decline in industrial output and population growth
    • The collapse of the dollar and the end of the Bretton Woods system
    • Economic strength, a large nuclear arsenal and global alliances such as NATO
    • The complete withdrawal of US forces from Europe in 1950

  20. Which statement best summarises the 'American Dream' in the period 1945-1963?

    • The American economy stagnated throughout the 1950s after the war
    • Prosperity was shared equally by all races and regions of the USA
    • The Cold War ended by 1950, allowing domestic reform to proceed unhindered
    • Prosperity was widespread but unequally shared

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