Dr Nikolaus Unger

Preston High School

AP United States History Exam Prep Roadmap
B-Day, Monday, April 29, 2013
Truman, Ike, and JFK: The Cold Warriors (19451963)
From the Fair Deal to the Great Society: The Triumph of Reform (19451968)
Required Reading:
PRINT & READ OUTLINES (and as much of the text as time allows)
The American Pageant, Ch. 37-38
A People and a Nation, Ch. 28-30
Corresponding Content in AP Review Book
Key Discussion Topics: Cold War in Europe; the beginning of atomic diplomacy; containment (Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan,
NATO); crisis in Berlin; the Cold War expands: the loss of China and the Korean War; the Cold War at home: McCarthyism; Ike,
Dulles, and the Cold War in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America; JFK and flexible response: the Second Berlin Crisis; the
Cuban missile crisis, the postwar economic boom and the rise of the suburbs; did the 1950s represent the true good life?; the civil
rights struggle; the New Frontier; the Warren court; and the Great Societys War on Poverty.
Themes: Economic transition, governmental powers, social mores (values), civil liberties, and civil rights
Content: Election of 1948, Truman, Truman Doctrine, Containment Policy, NATO, Warsaw Pact, Red China, Korea, Baby Boom, GI
Bill of Rights, election of 1952, peaceful coexistence, HUAC, Red Scare and McCarthyism, Containment, President Eisenhower: civil
rights, foreign policy, massive retaliation; communism, homogenized society, modern media, advertising, cultural development
(appliances, housing, suburbia, jobs, television, fast food, hotel chains, cars, etc.), interstate highways, Beatniks and the beginning of
counterculture, the beginning of the modern civil rights movement, the Warren Court, Brown vs. Board of Education, and societal
changes after WWII
Practice Free Response Questions:
To what degree were public fears about communist infiltration in the United States justified?
Analyze the degree to which civil liberties were bridged in TWO of the following situations:
World War I
The Red Scare of the 1920s
World War II
McCarthyism in the 1950s
Discuss the relationship between foreign affairs and domestic politics during the Truman presidency (1945-1953).
"The 1950s was an era of conformity and timidity." Assess the validity of this statement.
Assess the social, economic, and politics factors that account for the rise of suburbia (1945-1960).
C Day, Tuesday April 30, 2013
Protest and Turmoil: The 1960s. Vietnam and Watergate
Required Reading:
PRINT & READ OUTLINES (and as much of the text as time allows)
The American Pageant, End of Ch 38, Ch. 39 (pp. 911-945)
A People and a Nation, Ch. 31
Corresponding Content in AP Review Book
Internet Document to PREVIEW: Republican Party Platform of 1960, July 25, 1960
(http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25839)
Documents in American Issues:
27.1 Challenge and Response: The Gulf of Tonkin, Lyndon Baines Johnson (primary source)
27.2 A Soldier's Experience in Vietnam, Specialist 5 Harold "Light Bulb" Bryant (primary source)
27.3 America's Failure in Vietnam: Lessons Learned, George C. Herring (secondary source)
27.4 Demonstrations and Protest Against the War (visual source)
27.5 The War Powers Act: A President's View, Richard M. Nixon (primary source)
27.6 Black Power, Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton (primary source)
27.7 The End of Watergate: Pardoning Nixon, Gerald R. Ford (primary source)

Dr Nikolaus Unger
Preston High School
AP United States History Exam Prep Roadmap
Key Discussion Topics: Involvement and escalation in Vietnam; Vietnam dilemma and stalemate; the student revolt; Black Power and
Womens Lib; the election of 1968 (electoral college map reading skills practice); Nixon, Kissinger ending the Vietnam War; the
election of 1972 (electoral college map reading skills practice); and Watergate.
Themes: The United States on the world stage, societal changes
Content: election of 1960, Kennedys New Frontier, Kennedy assassination, the election of 1968, Johnsons Great Society programs,
War on Poverty, Freedom Summer, SNCC, CORE, SCLC, sit-ins, Black Panthers, Martin Luther King Jr., March on Washington,
Malcolm X, Civil Rights Act of 1964, and changing social mores, Vietnamization, Watergate, Nixon and resignation
Practice Free Response Questions:
Compare the policies and actions of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon in regard to the Cold War. "President Richard Nixon's historical legacy will be shaped more by his foreign policy achievements than by his ignoble fall."
Assess the validity of this statement.
Evaluate the level of success of social movements in the 1960s with reference to TWO of the following movements:
Gay liberation movement
Chicano rights movement
American-Indian Movement
Women's liberation movement.
Discuss, with respect to TWO of the following, the view that the 1960s represented a period of profound cultural change.
Education
Gender Roles
Music
Race Relations
Practice DBQs:
1995 Civil Rights
2007 Great Society
2008 Vietnam War

E Day, Thursday May 2, 2012

Malaise: Ford, and Carter in the Seventies; The 1980s and Beyond: Conservatism Triumphant
Required Reading:
PRINT & READ OUTLINES (and as much of the text as time allows)
The American Pageant, Ch. 40-41
A People and a Nation, Ch. 32-33
Corresponding Content in AP Review Book
Documents in American Issues:
28.1 Presidential Leadership and Public Confidence, Jimmy Carter; Ronald Reagan (primary sources)
28.2 Politics and Moral Issues, Jerry Falwell (primary source)
28.3 Energy Crisis and Environmental Issues, Martin V. Melosi (secondary source)
28.4 Sunbelt, Frostbelt, and Rustbelt (map)
28.5 Implementing Equality: Affirmative Action, U. S. Commission on Civil Rights (primary source)
28.6 Reaganomics: Economic Policies and Results in the Eighties (visual sources)
28.7 The Cold War in the 1980s, Michael Mandelbaum and Strobe Talbott (secondary source)
29.2 Dilemmas of the Lone Superpower, Kirk Anderson, Henry H. Shelton (visual and primary sources)
29.3 Conserving the Environment: Global Climate Change, George Bush (primary source)
29.4 Resistance to American Technology: The Conflict Over Genetically Improved Foods, Robert Paarlberg (secondary
source)
29.5 The United States and the "New Terrorism", Mark Juergensmeyer (secondary source)
30.1 The Role of the Supreme Court in Resolving Political Controversy, Bush v. Gore (primary source)
30.2 Changing Views on Immigration, James Goldsborough (secondary source)
30.3 Who Decides? The Health Care Controversy, Steve Greenberg (visual source)
30.4 The Baby-Boomers Grow Old: Implications of an Aging Society, Peter G. Peterson (graphs)
30.5 The Republic Subverted? The Impact of Voter Initiatives, David S. Broder (secondary source)
2

Dr Nikolaus Unger
Preston High School
AP United States History Exam Prep Roadmap
Key Discussion Topics: OPEC and the oil shock; inflation and the new economy; the start of affirmative action; setbacks and gains
for women; the election of 1976; Carter; Sadat; Khomeini; and disillusionment and the renewed Cold War.
To understand the role of America and its future in the world today, the student will be able to:
A. Explain the causes and results of the downfall of the Nixon administration
B. Characterize society under the Ford and Carter administrations
Themes: Economic stagnation, foreign policy, human rights, civil rights (continued), continuity and change, Cold War episodes,
human rights, globalization, self-interests and the American character, economic stability, cultural mores, societal changes
Content: Ford administration, WIN, inflation and stagflation, OPEC, election of 1976, Carter administration (domestic and foreign
policies), Camp David Accords, Iran Hostage Crisis, election of 1980, election of 1980, Reaganomics, the Strategic Dtente Initiative,
perestroika/ glasnost, end of the Cold War, Iran-Contra Affair, election of 1988, Bush and economic policies, fall of Communism,
Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, election of 1992, Clinton Administration, Somalia, Kosovo, terrorist hijackings and
bombings, scandals, health care system, election of 2000, Bush II, 9-11, war on terror, foreign policy, civil liberties, globalization,
new world role, US Supreme Court Cases up to 1990
Practice Free Response Questions:
Analyze the elements of the coalition that comprises the New Right.
Assess the legacy of Ronald Reagan with reference to TWO of the following:
The Iran-Contra Scandal
The fall of communism
The deficit rate in the United States in the 1980s
Illegal drug use in the United States in the 1980s
Assess the response of the United States to the terrorist attacks of September 2001.
Analyze attempts by the United States to help achieve a comprehensive peace between Israel and its neighbors between 1976 and
2001.
G Day, May 6, 2013
Supreme Court Cases: 1803-2000
Corresponding Content in AP Review Book
http://www.apstudynotes.org/us-history/supreme-court-cases/ap-us-history-supreme-court-cases/
http://www.course-notes.org/US_History/Court_Cases
Practice Free Response Questions:
Analyze the impact of decisions by the Warren Court on American society.
How did the Marshall court reflect judicial nationalism?

A Day, Wednesday, May 8 E Day, Tuesday, May 14, 2013

7-Day Review for the AP U.S. History Exam: In-Class May, 8, 9, 10 & 14; After-School May 13 & 14
The two chief aspects of the review period are the assignment of three or four chapters per night for review and a quiz made up of 10
15 multiple-choice questions taken from older AP exams to be given the next morning, graded immediately, and discussed. For the
remaining 25-30 minutes of each class, an essay question or DBQ is placed on the board (selected to dovetail with the previous nights
review chapters), and the class analyzes, brainstorms, and outlines an answer to it.
After the exam, the class prepares for the Regents Exam in late June. First, the class studies a series of lessons on the Constitution and
U.S. government and current events and special topics chosen by student request. Finally, the class culminates with practice in
answering Regents-style essays.