CWI Ch. 23 : Reagan & GHW Bush

Liberal

A person who tends to support government intervention to help the needy and favors laws protecting the rights of women and minorities

Conservative

Person who tends to support limited government involvement in the economy, community help for the needy, and traditional values

Neoconservatism

Political movement supported by reinvigorated conservative groups in the latter half of the twentieth century

Unfunded mandate

Program of action required but not paid for by the federal government

Ronald Reagan

President from 1981 to 1989

Supply-side economics

Economic theory that held that the government should increase the supply of labor and goods to achieve long-term growth, rather than increasing demand through government spending

Deregulate

Reduction or removal of government controls over and industry

Budget deficit

Shortfall between the amount of money spent and the amount taken in by the federal government

National debt

Total amount of money that the federal government owes to the owners of government bonds

Sandra Day O'Connor

first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court

AIDS

A disease with no known cure that attacks the immune system. It began spreading in the early 1980s and remains a serious global health crisis today

SDI

Nicknamed "Star Wars," President Reagan's plan to develop innovative defenses to guard the United States against nuclear missile attacks

Glasnost

Russian term for "openness;" a policy in the Soviet Union in the 1980s calling for open discussion of national problems

Perestroika

A policy in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s calling for restructuring of the stagnant Soviet economy

Mikhail Gorbachev

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991

Iran-contra scandal

Political scandal under President Reagan involving the use of money from secret arms sales to Iran to illegally support the Contras in Nicaragua

George H.W. Bush

President from 1989-1993

Tiananmen Square

Site in Beijing where Chinese students' pro-democracy protests were put down by the Chinese government

Saddam Hussein

President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003.

Persian Gulf War

Conflict from 1990 to 1991 between Iraq and a coalition of countries led by the United States to remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait

Apartheid

Political system of strict segregation by race in South Africa

Nelson Mandela

South African statesman who was released from prison in 1990 and was elected president in 1994