|
Election of 1980 |
By this time, the Republican party was ready to challenge the Democrat’s hold on the White House. As Americans were not pleased with Jimmy Carter’s administration,and the "ABC" (Anybody but Carter) movement gained steam. On the democratic side, Carter battled out the primary elections with Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, the last of the Kennedy brothers. Carter won because Kennedy was involved in an automobile accident where his car plunged off a bridge and he escaped but a young woman assistant was drowned. The Republican candidate was of course Ronald Reagan who won the election. |
|
Ronald Reagan |
An actor-turned-politician who went on to become the President of the United States of America and brought about the resurgence of Conservatism. He pursued smaller-government policies and dismantled the welfare state that the New Deal and Great Society programs had focused on. |
|
"supply-side" economics / Reaganomics |
Ronald Reagan’s economic policies as President which consisted of deep tax reduction and budgetary discipline which would stimulate new investment, boost productivity, foster dramatic economic growth, and even reduce the federal debt. However, this policy actually increased government deficits. |
|
Strategic Defense Initiative |
Popularly known as "star wars", this was Reagan’s plan for a high-technology missile defense system that called for orbiting battle stations in space that could fire laser beams to vaporize intercontinental missiles and would throw an "astrodome" defense shield over American cities. |
|
Iran-Contra Scandal |
a shady deal that was unknown to the American public when some Washington officials saw a possible linkage betwen the two thorny problems of the Middle Eastern hostages and the Central American Sandinistas. In 1985, American diplomats secretly arranged arms sales to embattled Iranians in exchange for Iranian aid in obtaining the release of American hostages who were held by middle-eastern terrorists. This money from the deal was then diverted tto the contra rebel troops in Nicaragua. |
|
"Black Monday" |
Oct 19.1987 , when the leading stock-market index plunged 508 points, the largest one-day decline in history, which followed the bailouts of many banks as the federal and international trade deficit continued to grow as falling oil prices hurt the economy of the Southwest, slashing real estate values and undermining hundreds of savings and loan institutions. |
|
Jesse Jackson |
in 1988, this African-American candidate (of rousing speeches) for the democratic presidential nominee tried to win by assembling a "rainbow coalition" of minorities and disadvantaged and campaigning energetically. |
|
Michael Dukakis |
the central governor of Massachusetts who ending up winning the Democratic nomination for president but didn’t address the ethical and economic sore spots and came across to American tv viewers as devoid of emotion, and so lost to George H.W. Bush in the presidential election, badly. |
|
George H W Bush |
was the 42st president of the United States, previously being Ronald Reagan’s vice-president. His policies and ideals derived heavily from his predecessor and were built on them. He was a well-to-do oil tycoon before devoting himself to the public. He served as a congressman, emissary to China, ambassador to the UN, director of the CIA, and vice president before becoming president. |
|
Mikhail Gorbachev |
was the Soviet leader that was installed as chairman of the Soviet Communist Party in March 1985. He was amicable, energetic, and most of all committed to reforming the Soviet Union. He championed two policies: glasnost and perestroika. These measures would promote "openness" and "restructuring" of the economy. These measures, however, required that the Cold War be put to an end. His cooperation with Ronald Reagan has earned the two leaders great praises. |
|
START II |
was the accord signed with Russian president Boris Yeltsin by George H.W. Bush in early 1993. It placed a limit on the amount of nuclear weapons the two superpowers could have; they committed to reducing the amount of long-range nuclear arsenals by two-thirds within ten years. |
|
Operation Desert Storm, |
or the "hundred-hour war", was started on February 23, 1991. It was a series of air strikes and ground attacks in which UN forces destroyed or captured many opposing forces in blazing speed while suffering very few casualties. The UN made sure there were no biological or nuclear weapons while also liberating Kuwait. While Americans cheered on from home, Saddam Hussein was not removed from power, entrenching the United States deeper into their Middle Eastern conflict. |
|
ADA |
an act that was signed by George H.W. Bush in 1990, for a "kinder, gentler America." It was a landmark law prohibiting discrimination against any of the 43 million US citizens with mental or physical disabilities. |
|
William J. Clinton |
was the 42nd president of the United States, the first of the "Baby-Boomer" era. He claimed to be a "new Democrat" to combat allegations against him. His main goals were to fix the economy, which he did by suppressing unemployment rates, controlling inflation, funding social programs, and installing NAFTA. He was also caught in a scandal involving Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. |
|
Ross Perot |
was the independent presidential candidate in the elections of 1992 and 1996. He was a Texas billionaire who criticized the federal deficit and boasted that he never held any public office. He won 20% of the popular vote in 1992, the most of an independent or 3rd party since TR’s Bull Moose campaign. In 1996 his Reform Party received less than half his votes of the last election |
|
NAFTA |
an agreement created in 1993, formed a free-trade zone encompassing Mexico, Canada, and the United States. This trade agreement was supported by President Clinton, and helped him win the 1992 election by bucking the opposition of protectionists within his own party. |
|
Janet Reno |
was the first female attorney general. She is considered one of the most popular attorney generals in recent times. She was part of a number of minority appointments made by Clinton during his presidency. |
|
Sandra Day O’Connor |
was a justice in the Supreme Court. Appointed by President Reagan, was a brilliant, public-spirited Arizona judge. When she was sworn in on September 25, 1981, she became the first woman to ascend to the high bench in the Court’s nearly two-hundred year history. |
|
Oklahoma City Bombing |
a bombing that destroyed a federal office building in 1995, taking 168 lives, presumably in retribution for a standoff in Waco, Texas, between federal agents and a fundamentalist sect known as the Branch Davidians. |
|
Waco, Texas |
This was where a standoff took place between federal agents and a fundamentalist sect known as the Branch Davidians. That showdown ended in the destruction of the sect’s compound and the deaths of many Branch Davidians, including women and children. These episodes brought to light a lurid and secretive underground of paramilitary private "militias" composed of alienated citizens armed to the teeth and suspicious of all government. |
|
Columbine High School |
This high school was the location of a shooting that occurred. On an April morning in 1999, two students at this school in Colorado, killed twelve fellow students and a teacher. This shooting brought emphasis to gun control as well as school violence. |
|
Michael Moore |
was a filmmaker who created awareness for gun control. In his popular 2002 documentary, Bowling for Columbine, he agitated for gun control. |
|
Alan Greenspan |
was the Federal Reserve Chairman during President Clinton’s presidency. Many observers credited the robust prosperity of Clinton’s presidency to his skillful management of the money supply. A Republican first appointed by Ronald Reagan, he led the Federal Reserve Board in carefully adjusting interest rates to control inflation while promoting economic growth. |
|
WTO |
. It was made under Bill Clinton’s term as president in 1994. It was a step toward a global free-trade system |
|
Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal |
it was a scandal in which Clinton was accused of having a sexual affair with a woman named Monica Lewinsky, and then lied about it when he testified under oath in another women’s lawsuit accusing him of sexual harassment. He was suddenly caught in a legal and political trap. He was ultimately charged with eleven possible groundings for impeachment. |
|
Million Mom March |
It was a march in Washington, D.C., in May 2000. It further demonstrated the growing public support for new anti-gun measures, which, however, were slow in coming. It happened due to the shooting at Columbine High School. |
|
Election of 2000 |
This election was between Albert Gore and George W. Bush. There were many problems with counting votes. Many Democrats and Republicans counted for revote in some states because they were so close. There was a problem in Florida which led there to be a court meeting at the Supreme Court. They ruled Bush the White House but gave him a dark shadow of illegitimacy over his presidency. |
|
George W Bush |
He was the Republican nominee in the election of 2000. He was the eldest son of George H. W. Bush. Many people found him to be reckless and more of a divider rather than a uniter. He challenged research on global warming, didn’t support abortions, limited research on embryonic stem cells, and allowed Vice President Cheney to hammer out his administration’s energy policy behind closed doors. |
|
USA Patriot Act |
this was passed through Congress in 2001 after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The Act permitted extensive telephone and e-mail surveillance and authorized the detention and deportation of immigrants suspected of terrorism. |
|
"Axis of evil" |
It consisted of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. Bush claimed that these three countries gravely menaced American security. Iran and North Korea were known for pursuing nuclear weapons programs, and Iran also supported terrorist operations in the Middle East. |
|
Iraq War |
This was when Bush and Britain launched the long-anticipated invasion on Iraq on March 19, 2003. Saddam Hussein’s vaunted military collapsed immediately. In less than a month, Baghdad had fallen and Saddam had been driven from power and into hiding. |
Share This
Flashcard
