| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Ronald Reagan | (1981-89) 40th Pres.Republican; was a Hollywood actor and then govnr of CA before running for pres. known for "ending" the Cold War (with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall) after spending tons of $$ on the arms race |
| Reaganomics | refers to the economic policies adopted by Reagan, which were based on tax-cuts, budget-cuts, and the belief of trickle down economics. caused a great deal of discontent, but after he left office, the country was no longer troubled by high inflation and unemployment. |
| Supply Side Economics | economic philosophy that holds the sharply cutting taxes will increase the incentive that people have to work, save, and invest. Greater investments will lead to more jobs, a more productive economy, and more tax revenues for the government. |
| Sandra Day O'Connor | the 1st female Justice of the Supreme Court. served as a Supreme Court Justice from 1981 until her retirement in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. |
| Clarence Thomas | African-Ame jurist, and a strict critic of affirmative action. He was nominated by George H. W. Bush to be on the Supreme Court in 1991; became the 2nd African American to hold a seat in the Supreme Court |
| Mikhail Gorbachev | ruled USSR from 1985-1991; did not force Eastern Europe to stay communist. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe. His policies caused the end of the Soviet Union |
| Iran-Contra Affair | (Nov. 1986) a political scandal in the US over an arms-for-hostages deal w/ Iran and funding for the Nicaraguan Contras.The Iranians promised to do everything in their power to achieve the release of 6 US hostages, who were being held by the Lebanese Shia Islamist group Hezbollah.The plan eventually deteriorated into an arms-for-hostages scheme, in which members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the Ame hostages. |
| Sandinistas | (1979) Members of a leftist coalition that overthrew the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Anastasia Somoza and attempted to install a socialist economy. US financed armed opposition by the Contras |
| Oliver North | National Security Council member involved in the clandestine sale of weapons to Iran. formulated the 2nd part of the plan: diverting proceeds from the arms sales to support the Contra rebel group in Nicaragua. |
| Jerry Falwell | right-wing religious conservative known for his support for racial segregation and blaming world on gays, feminist, pagans, and abortionist |
| New Religious Right | denounced abortion, pornography, homosexuality, feminism, and especially affermative action. They championed prayer in the schools and tougher penalties for criminals. Together, the Old and New Right added up to a powerful political combination, devoted to changing the very character of American society |
| George H.W. Bush | 41st pres. Republican. encouraged the US and the Soviets to scrap a significant portion of their nuclear weapons in a series of agreements. (Sept 1991) also canceled the around the clock alert status for Ame bombers outfitted w/ atomic bombs. For the first time in four decades, Soviet and American nuclear weapons were no longer standing ready to destroy capitalism, communism, and life itself. |
| Americans With Disabilities Act | (1991) banned discrimination against the disabled in employment and mandated easy access to all public and commerical buildings. |
| Saddam Hussein | dictator in Iraq who tried to take over Iran and Kuwait violently in order to gain the land and the resources. also refused to let the UN into Iraq in order to check if the country was secretly holding weapons of mass destruction. |
| Operation Desert Storm | (1991) Series of non-nuclear air strikes against Iraq trying to force Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait. military operations started on January 16 w/ a bombing campaign, followed by a ground invasion on February 23 and 24. the ground war lasted 100 hours and resulted in a spectacularly one-sided military victory for the Coalition. |
| Tiananmen Square | (1989) protests were a series of demonstrations beginning on April 14, led mainly by students and intellectuals and sparked by the death of pro-market and pro-democracy official, Hu Yaobang, whom protesters wanted to mourn. |
| Gulf War | [aka Persian Gulf War](Aug 2 1990 – Feb 28 1991) a UN authorized military conflict b/w Iraq and a coalition force from 34 nations commissioned with expelling Iraqi forces from Kuwait after Iraq's occupation and annexation of Kuwait in August 1990 |
| Ross Perot | blunt, forthright TX billionaire who became an independent candidate by tapping popular resentment of the federal bureaucracy and by promising tough, uncompromising leadership to deal with the fiscal crisis and other problems of govt. |
| Bill Clinton | 42nd pres. Democrat. young govnr of AK runner in the 1992 pres election, as a result of a skillful campaign that emphasized broad economic issues instead of the racial and cultural questions that had divided Democrats in the past. Clinton survived a bruising primary campaign and personal controversies to win his party's nomination. |
| Boris Yeltsin | 1st pres of the Russian Federation (1991-1999) the era was a traumatic period in Russian history—a period marked by widespread corruption, economic collapse, and enormous political and social problems |
| Columbine High School Shooting | (April 20, 1999) Columbine, CO. 2 students [Eric Harris; dylan Klebold] killed 12 students and a teacher, and also wounded 23 others before committing suicide. massacre provoked debate regarding gun control laws, the availability of firearms in US, and gun violence involving youths |
| Branch Davidians | ...idk... |
| Newt Gingrich | Republican Representative from GA, served as speaker from 1995-1997. Got the House Republicans to form a cohesive team, and centralized power in the HOR. was given more power over the committees. pushed for more conservative legislation during Clinton's presidency. |
| Contract With America | (1994) Congressman Newt Gingrich had Republican candidates sign a document in which they pledged their support for such things as a balanced budget amendment, term limits for members of Congress, and a middle-class tax cut |
| World Trade Organization (WTO) | entity that promotes free trade among members nations by eliminating trade barriers and educating individuals companies and govnts about trade rules around the world |
| Whitewater | an Ame political controversy that began with the real estate dealings of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their associates, [Jim and Susan McDougal] in the Whitewater Development Corporation, a failed business venture. David Hale, the source of criminal allegations against Clinton, claimed in November 1993 that Bill, while govnr of AK, pressured him to provide an illegal $300,000 loan to Susan McDougal |
| Ken Starr | Ame lawyer and former judge who was appointed to the Office of the Independent Counsel to investigate the suicide death of the deputy White House counsel Vince Foster and the Whitewater land transactions by Clinton. |
| Monica Lewinsky | had affair with Clinton, who denied it under oath, but there was physical evidence; he was impeached for perjury and his resulting political battles kept him from being productive in his final term paving way for the seemingly moral Bush in 2000 |
| Al Gore | Clinton's VP. ran for pres. in 2000. saw the value of universally accessible info sharing network, and invested all sorts of federal funds in building a backbone capable of connecting computers around the world |
| George W. Bush | 43rd pres. Republican. agreed with Blair to put troops into Iraq because they both believed there were weapons of mass destruction being concealed there |
| Enron Corporation | an Ame energy company based in Houston, TX. one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, pulp and paper, and communications companies. At the end of 2001 it was revealed that its reported financial condition was sustained substantially by institutionalized, systematic, and creatively planned accounting fraud, known as the "Enron scandal". |
| September 11, 2001 | series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the US. The US responded to the attacks by launching a "War on Terrorism", invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, who had harbored al-Qaeda terrorists, and enacting the USA PATRIOT Act. Many other countries also strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded law enforcement powers. |
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