AQA A-level HISTORY 7042/1K Component 1K The making of a Superpower: USA, 1865– 1975 Version: 1.0 Final IB/M/Jun23/E4 7042/1K A-level HISTORY// QUESTION PAPER & MARKING SCHEME/ [MERGED] Marl( scheme June 2023

AQA A-level HISTORY 7042/1K Component 1K The making of a Superpower: USA, 1865– 1975 Version: 1.0 Final IB/M/Jun23/E4 7042/1K A-level HISTORY Component 1K The making of a Superpower: USA, 1865–1975 Wednesday 24 May 2023 Morning Time allowed: 2 hours 30 minutes Materials For this paper you must have: • an AQA 16-page answer book. Instructions • Use black ink or black ball-point pen. • Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7042/1K. • Answer three questions. In Section A answer Question 01. In Section B answer two questions. Information • The marks for questions are shown in brackets. • The maximum mark for this paper is 80. • You will be marked on your ability to: – use good English – organise information clearly – use specialist vocabulary where appropriate. Advice • You are advised to spend about: – 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A – 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B. 2 IB/M/Jun23/7042/1K Section A Answer Question 01. Extract A From 1954, there were times when Eisenhower seemed tempted to involve American military forces in Vietnam, but he took steps to avoid escalating conflict. With no clear policy, the United States increasingly relied on Diem to govern South Vietnam and poured economic and military aid into the South in the hope of making him a viable leader. Eisenhower’s policy decisions were continued by future presidents as a commitment to the protection of South Vietnam from Communism. The situation in Vietnam began to deteriorate by 1963 but Kennedy had no well-considered long-range plans and gave the situation in Vietnam little attention. Johnson followed the paths of Eisenhower and Kennedy and spoke of his desire for peace. Throughout his administration, he took great care not to provoke the Soviet Union. It was Nixon who escalated and prolonged the war and failed to save South Vietnam. Nixon thought that he could scare the enemy into peace negotiations and he stepped up military pressure by bombing heavily and greatly expanding South Vietnamese forces. Adapted from J Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974, 1996 5 10 Extract B By 1956 the United States had undermined the Geneva Agreements. All of the subsequent developments during the Diem era arose from the failure of America to uphold those Agreements. The Kennedy administration escalated the conflict with increased military aid, and helicopter units began attacking unarmed villages. Kennedy’s views reflected Eisenhower’s, which were used to convince the public that the United States had to stay on course in Vietnam. The massive and sustained bombing of North Vietnam during Johnson’s presidency was one of the key elements of Vietnam policy. The election of Richard Nixon brought no basic change to policy in Vietnam. He attempted to find a way to allow the United States to survive a long war without losing its Asian empire. The American war in Vietnam was an example of imperial aggression, built upon the need to extend and maintain its control in Asia. However, by 1972 the United States was forced to negotiate an agreement to end the war. Adapted from J Marciano, The American War in Vietnam, 2016 5 10 3 IB/M/Jun23/7042/1K Turn over ► Extract C Concern over Vietnam stemmed from the larger fear of the People’s Republic of China, as the United States and China came close to war a number of times in the 1950s. Eisenhower inherited the war in French Indochina and passed it on to his successors. Policymakers were worried that if the Communist Vietminh guerrillas won in Vietnam, first all Southeast Asia, then resource-starved Japan, would fall like dominoes. After this, the Pacific Ocean would become a Communist lake. However, presidents like Johnson wanted to break the will of the North Vietnamese without provoking a military response from China. To minimise the risk, the army avoided bombing close to China’s borders and, for the same reason, Johnson denied repeated requests from the military to invade North Vietnam with ground troops. Nixon, offered no specific way to end the war but felt that détente with China would force Hanoi to offer concessions. Adapted from Schaller, Scharff and Schulzinger, The United States since 1945, 1996 5 10 0 1 Using your understanding of the historical context, assess how convincing the arguments in these three extracts are in relation to American policies in Vietnam. [30 marks] Turn over for Section B 4 IB/M/Jun23/7042/1K Section B Answer two questions. 0 2 ‘The growth of the US economy, from 1865 to 1890, was due to the opening of the West.’ Assess the validity of this view. [25 marks] 0 3 To what extent did social and ethnic divisions increase in the USA in the years 1890 to 1920? [25 marks] 0 4 ‘In the years 1921 to 1941, all presidents were committed to an increased role for the federal government in domestic politics.’ Assess the validity of this view. [25 marks] END OF QUESTIONS Copyright information For confidentiality purposes, all acknowledgements of third-party copyright material are published in a separate booklet. This booklet is published after each live examination series and is available for free download from Permission to reproduce all copyright material has been applied for. In some cases, efforts to contact copyright-holders may have been unsuccessful and AQA will be happy to rectify any omissions of acknowledgements. If you have any queries please contact the Copyright Team. Copyright © 2023 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. *236A7042/1K* A-level HISTORY 7042/1K Component 1K The making of a Superpower: USA, 1865–1975 Mark scheme June 2023 Version: 1.0 Final *236A7042/1K/MS* MARK SCHEME – A-LEVEL HISTORY – 7042/1K – JUNE 2023 2 Mark schemes are prepared by the Lead Assessment Writer and considered, together with the relevant questions, by a panel of subject teachers. This mark scheme includes any amendments made at the standardisation events which all associates participate in and is the scheme which was used by them in this examination. The standardisation process ensures that the mark scheme covers the students’ responses to questions and that every associate understands and applies it in the same correct way. As preparation for standardisation each associate analyses a number of students’ scripts. Alternative answers not already covered by the mark scheme are discussed and legislated for. If, after the standardisation process, associates encounter unusual answers which have not been raised they are required to refer these to the Lead Examiner. It must be stressed that a mark scheme is a working document, in many cases further developed and expanded on the basis of students’ reactions to a particular paper. Assumptions about future mark schemes on the basis of one year’s document should be avoided; whilst the guiding principles of assessment remain constant, details will change, depending on the content of a particular examination paper. Further copies of this mark scheme are available from Copyright information AQA retains the copyright on all its publications. However, registered schools/colleges for AQA are permitted to copy material from this booklet for their own internal use, with the following important exception: AQA cannot give permission to schools/colleges to photocopy any material that is acknowledged to a third party even for internal use within the centre. Copyright © 2023 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. MARK SCHEME – A-LEVEL HISTORY – 7042/1K – JUNE 2023 3 Level of response marking instructions Level of response mark schemes are broken down into levels, each of which has a descriptor. The descriptor for the level shows the average performance for the level. There are marks in each level. Before you apply the mark scheme to a student’s answer read through the answer and annotate it (as instructed) to show the qualities that are being looked for. You can then apply the mark scheme. Step 1 Determine a level Start at the lowest level of the mark scheme and use it as a ladder to see whether the answer meets the descriptor for that level. The descriptor for the level indicates the different qualities that might be seen in the student’s answer for that level. If it meets the lowest level then go to the next one and decide if it meets this level, and so on, until you have a match between the level descriptor and the answer. With practice and familiarity, you will find that for better answers you will be able to quickly skip through the lower levels of the mark scheme. When assigning a level, you should look at the overall quality of the answer and not look to pick holes in small and specific parts of the answer where the student has not performed quite as well as the rest. If the answer covers different aspects of different levels of the mark scheme you should use a best fit approach for defining the level and then use the variability of the response to help decide the mark within the level, ie if the response is predominantly Level 3 with a small amount of Level 4 material it would be placed in Level 3 but be awarded a mark near the top of the level because of the Level 4 content. Step 2 Determine a mark Once you have assigned a level you need to decide on the mark. The descriptors on how to allocate marks can help with this. The exemplar materials used during standardisation will help. There will be an answer in the standardising materials which will correspond with each level of the mark scheme. This answer will have been awarded a mark by the Lead Examiner. You can compare the student’s answer with the example to determine if it is the same standard, better or worse than the example. You can then use this to allocate a mark for the answer based on the Lead Examiner’s mark on the example. You may well need to read back through the answer as you apply the mark scheme to clarify points and assure yourself that the level and the mark are appropriate. Indicative content in the mark scheme is provided as a guide for examiners. It is not intended to be exhaustive and you must credit other valid points. Students do not have to cover all of the points mentioned in the Indicative content to reach the highest level of the mark scheme. An answer which contains nothing of relevance to the question must be awarded no marks.