AMSCO AP US HISTORY COMPREHENSIVE EXAM
2026/2027 QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔immigration issues - ✔✔In the 1950s, Congress dropped the bans on Chinese and
other Asian immigrants and eliminated race as barrier to naturalization. (p. 590)
✔✔Operation Wetback - ✔✔In the early 1950s, this program forced an estimated 3.8
million people to return to Mexico. (p. 590)
✔✔homogeneity - ✔✔A description of American 1950s culture. (p. 590)
✔✔popular culture - ✔✔In the 1950s, white suburbanites conformed to societal norms.
(p. 590)
✔✔paperbacks - ✔✔This innovation in books, started in the 1950s, and led to the sales
of a million copies per day by 1960. (p. 591)
✔✔television - ✔✔A curiosity in the late 1940s, by 1961 there were 55 million of these
devices in America. (p. 591)
✔✔rock and roll - ✔✔Teenagers loved this popular music which was available as
inexpensive records during the 1950s. (p. 591)
✔✔consumer culture - ✔✔In the 1950s, consensus and conformity were hallmarks of
the American culture. Television, advertising, and the middle-class move to the suburbs,
contributed to this culture. (p. 590)
✔✔fast food - ✔✔There was a proliferation of these restaurants in the 1950s. (p. 591)
✔✔credit cards - ✔✔A new method of payment in the 1950s. (p. 591)
✔✔conglomerates - ✔✔In the 1950s, large businesses with diversified holdings began
to dominate industries such as food processing, hotels, transportation, insurance, and
banking. (p. 591)
✔✔social critics - ✔✔In the 1950s, conformity was valued. William
Whyte documented the loss of individuality in his book, "The Organization Man" (p. 591)
✔✔The Lonely Crowd - ✔✔In 1958, this book by Harvard sociologist David Riesman
criticised the replacement of inner direct individuals with other directed conformists. (p.
592)
, ✔✔The Affluent Society - ✔✔In 1958, economist by John Kenneth Galbraith wrote this
book about the failure of wealthy American to address the need for increased social
spending for the common good. (p. 592)
✔✔The Catcher in the Rye - ✔✔A 1950s book by J. D. Salinger, it provided a classic
commentary on phoniness as viewed by a troubled teenager. (p. 592)
✔✔Catch-22 - ✔✔A 1950s book by Joseph Heller that satirized the stupidity of the
military and war. (p. 592)
✔✔beatniks - ✔✔A group of rebellious writer and intellectuals led by Jack Kerouac and
Allen Ginsberg. They advocated spontaneity, use of drugs, and rebellion against
societal standards. (p. 592)
✔✔ elections of 1952, 1956 - ✔✔In these two presidential elections Dwight Eisenhower
and Richard Nixon defeated Adlai Stevenson quite easily. (p. 580-581)
✔✔Dwight Eisenhower - ✔✔The United States general who supervised the invasion of
Normandy and the defeat of Nazi Germany. In the election of 1952 he became the the
34th President of the United States. (p. 579)
✔✔Adlai Stevenson - ✔✔An Illinois governor and the Democratic presidential nominee
in 1952 and 1956. He lost both elections to Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. (p.
580)
✔✔Richard Nixon - ✔✔He was vice president under Dwight Eisenhower. In 19868, he
would become the 37th President of the United States, but in 1974 he resigned in
disgrace after the Watergate scandal. (p. 580)
✔✔modern Republicanism - ✔✔President Eisenhower's term for his balanced and
moderate approach to governing. Claiming he was liberal toward people but
conservative about spending money. He helped balance the federal budget and lowered
taxes without destroying existing social programs. (p. 580)
✔✔Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) - ✔✔In 1953, President Eisenhower
consolidated welfare programs under this new department, run by Oveta Culp Hobby,
the first woman in a Republican cabinet. (p. 580)
✔✔soil-bank program - ✔✔President Eisenhower created this program as a way to
reduce farm production, thereby increasing farm income. (p. 580)
✔✔Highway Act; interstate highway system - ✔✔The most permanent legacy of the
Eisenhower administration was this act passed in 1956. It created 42,000 miles of
highway linking every major city in the nation. (p. 580)
2026/2027 QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔immigration issues - ✔✔In the 1950s, Congress dropped the bans on Chinese and
other Asian immigrants and eliminated race as barrier to naturalization. (p. 590)
✔✔Operation Wetback - ✔✔In the early 1950s, this program forced an estimated 3.8
million people to return to Mexico. (p. 590)
✔✔homogeneity - ✔✔A description of American 1950s culture. (p. 590)
✔✔popular culture - ✔✔In the 1950s, white suburbanites conformed to societal norms.
(p. 590)
✔✔paperbacks - ✔✔This innovation in books, started in the 1950s, and led to the sales
of a million copies per day by 1960. (p. 591)
✔✔television - ✔✔A curiosity in the late 1940s, by 1961 there were 55 million of these
devices in America. (p. 591)
✔✔rock and roll - ✔✔Teenagers loved this popular music which was available as
inexpensive records during the 1950s. (p. 591)
✔✔consumer culture - ✔✔In the 1950s, consensus and conformity were hallmarks of
the American culture. Television, advertising, and the middle-class move to the suburbs,
contributed to this culture. (p. 590)
✔✔fast food - ✔✔There was a proliferation of these restaurants in the 1950s. (p. 591)
✔✔credit cards - ✔✔A new method of payment in the 1950s. (p. 591)
✔✔conglomerates - ✔✔In the 1950s, large businesses with diversified holdings began
to dominate industries such as food processing, hotels, transportation, insurance, and
banking. (p. 591)
✔✔social critics - ✔✔In the 1950s, conformity was valued. William
Whyte documented the loss of individuality in his book, "The Organization Man" (p. 591)
✔✔The Lonely Crowd - ✔✔In 1958, this book by Harvard sociologist David Riesman
criticised the replacement of inner direct individuals with other directed conformists. (p.
592)
, ✔✔The Affluent Society - ✔✔In 1958, economist by John Kenneth Galbraith wrote this
book about the failure of wealthy American to address the need for increased social
spending for the common good. (p. 592)
✔✔The Catcher in the Rye - ✔✔A 1950s book by J. D. Salinger, it provided a classic
commentary on phoniness as viewed by a troubled teenager. (p. 592)
✔✔Catch-22 - ✔✔A 1950s book by Joseph Heller that satirized the stupidity of the
military and war. (p. 592)
✔✔beatniks - ✔✔A group of rebellious writer and intellectuals led by Jack Kerouac and
Allen Ginsberg. They advocated spontaneity, use of drugs, and rebellion against
societal standards. (p. 592)
✔✔ elections of 1952, 1956 - ✔✔In these two presidential elections Dwight Eisenhower
and Richard Nixon defeated Adlai Stevenson quite easily. (p. 580-581)
✔✔Dwight Eisenhower - ✔✔The United States general who supervised the invasion of
Normandy and the defeat of Nazi Germany. In the election of 1952 he became the the
34th President of the United States. (p. 579)
✔✔Adlai Stevenson - ✔✔An Illinois governor and the Democratic presidential nominee
in 1952 and 1956. He lost both elections to Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. (p.
580)
✔✔Richard Nixon - ✔✔He was vice president under Dwight Eisenhower. In 19868, he
would become the 37th President of the United States, but in 1974 he resigned in
disgrace after the Watergate scandal. (p. 580)
✔✔modern Republicanism - ✔✔President Eisenhower's term for his balanced and
moderate approach to governing. Claiming he was liberal toward people but
conservative about spending money. He helped balance the federal budget and lowered
taxes without destroying existing social programs. (p. 580)
✔✔Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) - ✔✔In 1953, President Eisenhower
consolidated welfare programs under this new department, run by Oveta Culp Hobby,
the first woman in a Republican cabinet. (p. 580)
✔✔soil-bank program - ✔✔President Eisenhower created this program as a way to
reduce farm production, thereby increasing farm income. (p. 580)
✔✔Highway Act; interstate highway system - ✔✔The most permanent legacy of the
Eisenhower administration was this act passed in 1956. It created 42,000 miles of
highway linking every major city in the nation. (p. 580)
