APUSH Chapter 35 & 36 Vocabulary

Watergate break-in, June 1972

The White House Plumbers tried to infiltrate the National Democratic Headquarters but get caught. Nixon tried to cover it up using "hush money" to the White House Plumbers

White House Plumbers

Determined to hunt down "leaks" to the press about the president's activities, Nixon's chief domestic policy advisor John Ehrlichman assembled this team of political operatives in 1971. They became infamous for breaking into the Watergate building in 1972.

Senator Sam Ervin

held hearings for the Watergate Scandal; he is remembered for his work in the investigation committees that brought down Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954 and President Richard Nixon in 1974

John Dean III

He was a former white house lawyer that testified about the involvement of the top levels of the White House. He talked of the president, the Watergate cover-up and accused the president of violating justice. His claims were later supported by Nixon's tape recordings.

Spiro Agnew

VP under Nixon, resigned for extortion and bribery charges

Archibald Cox

The Special Prosecutor that was hired to investigate the Watergate Scandal

Saturday Night Massacre (1973)

name given to an incident in which Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor who was relentlessly investigating Watergate; Richardson refused and resigned along with his deputy, who also refused to carry out Nixon's order. A subordinate then fired Cox. The incident created a firestorm of protest in the country.

Gerald Ford and the 25th Amendment

He replaced Agnew as VP by this amendment adopted in 1967 to establish procedures for filling vacancies in the office of president and vice president as well as providing for procedures to deal with the disability of a president

Nixon Pardon

Among his first acts as president, Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon, shielding him from prosecution for obstruction of justice.

Equal Rights Amendment

constitutional amendment passed by Congress but never ratified that would have banned discrimination on the basis of gender

The Carter-Ford debates

Carter was seen as a humble and sincere man who's honesty could clean up the disorderly White House with all its scandals.

Panama Canal Treaty

Passed by President Carter, it called for the gradual return of the Panama Canal to the people and government of Panama. They provided for the transfer of canal ownership to Panama in 1999 and guaranteed its neutrality.

Allen Bakke

CA medical school applicant whose 1978 case led a divided Supreme Court to uphold limited forms of affirmative action for minorities--trial said that preference cannot be given to members on basis of race alone, but can be taken into account in order to assemble a diverse student body

Anwar Sadat

Egyptian leader who signed a peace agreement with Israel

Iranian Revolution of 1979

Opposition to the Shah, Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, grew from the brutality, inefficiency, and corruption of his regime. The shah had exiled his main opponent, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and massive street demonstrations and crippling strikes against the existing government forces the shah to leave the country in 1979.

Ayotollah Khomeini

the militant Islamic leader who took power in Iran, starting the Iran hostage crisis

Camp David Accords

The first signed agreement between Israel and an Arab country, in which Egyptian president Anwar Sadat recognized Israel as a legitimate state and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.

The Shah of Iran

Great friend of the US for two and a half decades but Iranians want to nationalize their oil and improve economy, sparks Iranian Revolution and Shah is overthrown in 1979

supply-side economics

An economic theory, first applied during the Reagan administration, holding that the key task for fiscal policy is to stimulate the supply of goods, as by cutting tax rates.

Boll weevil Democrats

Conservative southern Democrats who supported Reagan's economic policies in Congress

"The focus of evil"

Reagan called the Soviet Union this and accused them of pursuing world conquest.

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

A proposed defense system - popularly known as Star Wars - intended to protect the United States against missile attacks

Mikhail Gorbachev

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe.

Glasnost

A policy of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev which called for more openness with the nations of West, and a relaxing of restraints on Soviet citizenry.

Perestroika

A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society

Ferdinand Marcos

Philippine politician; he was elected president of the Philippines in 1965, but soon became an authoritarian dictator. He imposed martial law, arrested his political opponents, and stole millions from his country's treasury.

Corazon Aquino

Elected in 1986, she was the first female president of the Philippines.

INF Treaty

Reagan and Gorbachev signed this treaty, which provided for the dismantling of all intermediate range nuclear weapons in Russia and all of Europe. Considered by some to be Reagan's single most important piece of foreign policy.

Teflon President

term given to Reagan because of his ability to avoid blame even when things went wrong

The Moral Majority

A movement begun in the early 1980's among religious conservatives that supported primarily conservative Republicans opposed to abortion, communism and liberalism.

Jerry Falwell

Prominent evangelical minister, leader of the Moral Majority

Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services, 1989

allowed states to ban abortions from public hospitals and permitted doctors to test to see if fetuses were viable

Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)

States can regulate abortion, but not with regulations that impose "undue burden" upon women; did not overturn Roe v. Wade, but gave states more leeway in regulating abortion

Sandra Day O'Connor

first woman supreme court justice; appointed by Reagan

Robert Bork

1987 nominated by Ronald Regan to be a Supreme Court Justice, Democratic majority in the Senate prevents him from being instituted, beginning of the extreme politicization of Supreme Court Justices

Black Monday, 1987

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.

"A kindler, gentler America"

George H.W. Bush issued a call for this kind of America when he became president in 1989

Tiananmen Square

Site in Beijing where Chinese students and workers gathered to demand greater political openness in 1989. The demonstration was crushed by Chinese military with great loss of life.

START II

signed by President Bush in accord with the Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, committing both powers to reduce their long range nuclear arsenals by 2/3 within ten years

Saddam Hussein

President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. Waged war on Iran in 1980-1988. In 1990 he ordered an invasion of Kuwait but was defeated by United States and its allies in the Gulf War (1991). Defeated by US led invasion in 2003.

Operation Desert Storm

the United States and its allies defeated Iraq in a ground war that lasted 100 hours

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 1990

Protects individuals with disabilities from being discriminated against in the workplace. Employers must take steps to accommodate individuals covered by the act.

Anita Hill

Former associate of Clarence Thomas, who accused him of sexual harassment in Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.