Mastering The USA, 1918-41: Edexcel IGCSE History Study Notes

The USA, 1918-41, is a study in extremes: a decade of extraordinary prosperity followed by the worst economic collapse in modern history, then a sweeping programme of government intervention that reshaped American society.

This topic appears in Paper 2 of the Pearson Edexcel IGCSE History specification (4HI1) as a Historical Investigation. Paper 2 lasts 90 minutes and carries 60 marks. The Historical Investigation section requires you to analyse sources alongside your own knowledge, so understanding the factual detail behind this period is essential.

These edexcel igcse history revision notes are structured around the five key areas the specification identifies. Each section below follows the syllabus closely, so nothing examinable is left uncovered.

The Roaring Twenties

The United States emerged from the First World War as the world's leading economic power. While European nations were burdened with war debts and rebuilding costs, America had profited from supplying the Allies with food, raw materials and manufactured goods. By 1920, the USA produced almost half of the world's industrial output.

Several factors combined to fuel the economic boom of the 1920s:

The boom transformed daily life. Car ownership reshaped geography: suburbs grew, motels and petrol stations appeared, and the road construction industry boomed. Radio united the nation around shared entertainment. The film industry, centred in Hollywood, became a major cultural force. Jazz music, pioneered by African American musicians like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, provided the soundtrack for an era that F. Scott Fitzgerald called "the Jazz Age."

The position of women changed visibly, though unevenly. "Flappers" challenged traditional norms by wearing shorter skirts, bobbing their hair, smoking in public and going out without chaperones. The Nineteenth Amendment (1920) gave women the vote. More women entered the workforce, though they remained concentrated in lower-paid roles, and the flapper lifestyle was largely limited to younger, urban, middle-class women.

Not everyone shared in the prosperity. Farmers suffered from overproduction: wartime demand had encouraged them to expand, but when European agriculture recovered, prices collapsed. By 1929, the average farmer's income was less than a third of the national average. African Americans in the South faced entrenched poverty, racial violence and legal segregation. Older industries like coal and textiles declined as new energy sources and materials emerged.

Increased social tensions in the 1920s

Beneath the surface glamour, the 1920s were marked by deep social divisions. Immigration was a flashpoint. Between 1901 and 1920, over 14 million immigrants had arrived, many from southern and eastern Europe. Nativist sentiment, fed by fears that immigrants were bringing radical politics, led to the Emergency Quota Act (1921) and the Immigration Act (1924), which sharply restricted entry from non-western European countries.

The Palmer Raids of 1919-20 saw Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer authorise mass arrests of suspected communists and anarchists, particularly targeting immigrants. Around 6,000 people were detained, many without warrants. The Red Scare reflected a wider anxiety about Bolshevism spreading from Russia to America.

The Sacco and Vanzetti case crystallised these tensions. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian-born anarchists, were convicted of murder in 1921 on questionable evidence. Despite widespread protests and appeals, they were executed in 1927. Many believed the verdict was influenced by prejudice against their ethnicity and political beliefs.

The Ku Klux Klan experienced a dramatic revival in the 1920s, expanding far beyond the South to reach an estimated membership of four to five million by 1925. The new Klan targeted not only African Americans but also Catholics, Jews, immigrants and anyone who did not conform to their vision of white Protestant America.

The Monkey Trial of 1925 exposed the tension between modernity and traditional values. John Scopes, a high school teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was prosecuted for teaching evolution in violation of state law. The trial, featuring the famous confrontation between defence lawyer Clarence Darrow and prosecutor William Jennings Bryan, became a national sensation. Scopes was found guilty and fined, but the trial humiliated the fundamentalist position in the eyes of much of urban America.

Prohibition, introduced by the Eighteenth Amendment (1920) and enforced by the Volstead Act, banned the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages. It was widely flouted. Speakeasies (illegal bars) multiplied, and organised crime figures like Al Capone in Chicago built vast empires on the profits of bootlegging. By the time Prohibition was repealed in 1933, it was widely regarded as a failed experiment that had increased crime rather than reducing it.

The USA in Depression, 1929-33

The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 brought the boom to a devastating end. Share prices had been inflated by speculation, and when confidence faltered, panic selling set in. On "Black Thursday" (24 October) nearly 13 million shares were traded. On "Black Tuesday" (29 October) the market lost $14 billion in a single day. By mid-November, share values had fallen by around $30 billion.

The Crash exposed fundamental weaknesses in the economy. Banks had lent recklessly, both to speculators and to each other. When borrowers defaulted, banks failed: over 5,000 closed between 1929 and 1933. Without deposit insurance, millions of ordinary Americans lost their savings overnight.

The consequences were catastrophic:

• Unemployment: By 1933, around 13 million Americans were out of work, roughly one in four of the labour force.
• Industry: Industrial production fell by almost half between 1929 and 1932. Factories closed or cut hours and wages.
• Agriculture: Crop prices collapsed. Cotton fell from 18 cents to 6 cents a pound. Farmers who could not meet mortgage payments lost their land. In the Great Plains, drought combined with poor farming practices to create the Dust Bowl, driving thousands of families westward.
• Homelessness: Shanty towns of makeshift shelters appeared on the edges of cities, bitterly nicknamed "Hoovervilles" after President Hoover.

Hoover's response was shaped by his belief in "rugged individualism" and limited government. He opposed direct federal relief, fearing it would undermine self-reliance. He did take some action, including the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which lent money to banks and businesses, but his measures were too limited and too late to stem the crisis.

The Bonus Marchers of 1932 highlighted Hoover's isolation. Around 20,000 unemployed war veterans marched on Washington to demand early payment of a bonus due in 1945. When Congress refused, most left, but several thousand set up a camp. Hoover ordered the army, led by General Douglas MacArthur, to clear the camp. Troops used tear gas and bayonets, and the camp was burned. The spectacle of soldiers attacking veterans destroyed what remained of Hoover's public standing.

Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1933-41

Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1932 presidential election in a landslide, carrying 42 of 48 states. His campaign promised a "New Deal for the American people" and projected optimism at a time of despair. In his inaugural address he declared, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

The Hundred Days (March-June 1933) saw an extraordinary burst of legislation. Roosevelt closed all banks for four days (the "bank holiday") and reopened only those judged sound, restoring public confidence. He launched a series of agencies, often known as the Alphabet Agencies, each targeting a specific problem:

The Second New Deal (1935 onwards) went further. The Social Security Act (1935) established a system of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance for the first time in American history. The Wagner Act (1935) guaranteed workers the right to join trade unions and bargain collectively, strengthening organised labour. The Banking Act of 1935 gave the Federal Reserve greater control over the money supply.

Roosevelt's New Deal had real achievements: it reduced unemployment, restored confidence in the banking system, introduced basic welfare provision, and built infrastructure that served the nation for decades. The TVA alone transformed the economy of an entire region. However, the New Deal did not end the Depression. Unemployment never fell below 14% during the 1930s, and it was ultimately the massive military spending of the Second World War that restored full employment.

The opposition to the New Deal

The New Deal faced criticism from both the political right and the political left. The Supreme Court struck down key measures, ruling the NRA unconstitutional in 1935 (Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States) and the AAA unconstitutional in 1936. Roosevelt's attempt to "pack" the Court by adding extra justices was defeated in Congress and damaged his reputation.

Republicans and business interests accused Roosevelt of expanding government power beyond constitutional limits, wasting public money, and undermining free enterprise. The Liberty League, funded by wealthy industrialists, campaigned against the New Deal as creeping socialism.

From the left, critics argued the New Deal did not go far enough:

• Huey Long, Senator from Louisiana, proposed his "Share Our Wealth" programme, calling for heavy taxes on the rich and a guaranteed minimum income for every American family. His populist appeal was cut short by his assassination in 1935.
• Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest with a radio audience of up to 40 million, initially supported Roosevelt but turned against him, calling for nationalisation of banks and currency reform. His broadcasts became increasingly extreme and anti-Semitic.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Confusing causes of the boom with causes of the Crash: The factors that drove the boom (credit, speculation, overproduction) are also the weaknesses that caused the Crash. Make sure your answer distinguishes between the two directions clearly.
• Treating Prohibition as a simple failure: Prohibition did reduce alcohol consumption in some areas and among some groups. The exam rewards nuance: it failed to eliminate drinking, it fuelled organised crime, but it was not without any effect.
• Listing Alphabet Agencies without explaining their impact: Knowing what the TVA or CCC stood for is not enough. You need to explain what each agency actually achieved and where it fell short.
• Ignoring those who did not benefit from the boom: Farmers, African Americans and workers in declining industries missed out on 1920s prosperity. Examiners regularly ask about the limits of the boom, and weak answers focus only on the positives.

Self-check questions

1. What factors explain the economic boom of the 1920s, and which groups did not share in it?
2. How did attitudes to immigration change during the 1920s, and what laws were passed?
3. What were the causes and consequences of the Wall Street Crash?
4. Why was Hoover's response to the Depression considered inadequate?
5. Assess the achievements and limitations of Roosevelt's New Deal.
6. Why did the New Deal face opposition from both the right and the left?

If you can answer each of these questions with specific evidence and a clear line of argument, you have a solid grasp of the usa, 1918-41 edexcel igcse content. Where you find gaps, return to that section of your edexcel igcse history notes and work through the material again before moving to timed practice.

The Green Bridge CBT platform provides edexcel igcse history revision notes and practice questions for this topic, helping you test yourself under exam conditions. The more you practise explaining historical events in your own words and backing up your claims with precise factual detail, the more prepared you will be when the exam arrives.