Period 9 APUSH

Reaganomics

Reaganomics

Ronald Reagan’s economic policies were based on the theories of supply-side economists and centered on tax cuts and cuts to domestic programs.

supply-side economics

Economic theory that tax cuts and industry deregulation raise wages and lower unemployment, thereby promoting economic growth.

Economic Recovery Tax Act

Act signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 that slashed income and estate taxes, especially on those in the highest income brackets.

air traffic controllers strike

1981 strike by air traffic controllers for better working conditions and pay. President Reagan responded by firing employees who did not return to work within 48 hours.

acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)

An immune disorder that reached epidemic proportions in the United States in the 1980s, especially among gay men and drug users.

Immigration Reform and Control Act

Law signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, extended amnesty to undocumented immigrants in the United States for a specified period and allowed them to obtain legal status. At the same time, the law penalized employers who hired undocumented workers.

Strategic Defense Initiative

Policy first announced by Ronald Reagan in 1983 proposing a missile defense system that would use satellite lasers to protect the United States from military attack by shooting down enemy missiles. The initiative was never completed.

Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START)

Negotiations between the Reagan administration and the Soviet Union that began in 1982 under the principle of “zero option,” which called for the USSR to dismantle all its intermediate-range missiles. The Soviets ultimately rejected these terms, believing they promoted the idea of American nuclear superiority.

Sandinistas

Also known as the National Liberation Front, Nicaraguan revolutionaries of the 1970s overthrew the dictator Anastasio Somoza with the support of the USSR. As a result, the U.S. supported the overthrow of the Sandinista government.

Contras

Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries, trained by the United States CIA, fought to overthrow the new Sandinista government in Nicaragua during the 1980s.

Boland Amendment

1982 act of Congress prohibiting direct aid to the Nicaraguan Contra forces.

invasion of Grenada

A U.S. invasion that installed a pro-American government after a 1983 coup toppled the Caribbean island’s leftist, Soviet-supported government. Communist “totalitarian” regimes, which were not.

Apartheid

Legal and institutionalized system of discrimination and segregation based on race in South Africa from 1948 until 1994.

The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act

of 1986 act prohibiting new trade and investment in South Africa because of apartheid. President Reagan vetoed the act but Congress overrode his veto.

Terrorism

The use of violence to inspire fear in service of achieving a political goal.

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)

The organization was founded in 1964 to achieve independence from Israel, through armed force if necessary. For many years the PLO was considered a terrorist organization by the U.S.

Iran-Contra Affair

Reagan administration scandal involving the funneling of funds from an illegal arms-for-hostages deal with Iran to the Nicaraguan Contras in the mid-1980s.

Perestroika

Policy of economic “restructuring” was initiated by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev hoped that by reducing state control he could revive the Soviet economy.

Glasnost

Policy of political “openness” was initiated by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s. Under Glasnost, the Soviet Union extended democratic elections, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.

Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty

1987 treaty between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that required the destruction of existing intermediate-range missiles and mandated on-site inspections to ensure both countries continued to adhere to the treaty terms.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

1990 act extending legal protections and accessibility mandates for Americans with physical and mental handicaps.

Clean Air Act

1990 act that set new standards to reduce car and power plant emissions.

Solidarity

Polish trade union movement led by Lech Walesa. During the 1980s, Solidarity played a central role in ending Communist rule in Poland.

Taliban

Group of Sunni Muslim fundamentalists that ruled Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. The Taliban established a strict theocracy and became the base of al-Qaeda, a Sunni Muslim terrorist organization.

al-Qaeda

Terrorist organization led by Osama Bin Laden was created in 1988. Al-Qaeda is a loosely organized radical religious fundamentalist organization, which opposes Westernization and orchestrated the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Globalization

The extension of economic, political, and cultural relationships among nations, through commerce, migration, and communication.

greenhouse gases

Gases that absorb energy from the sun and other radiant sources, which warm the Earth.

global warming/climate change

Also known as climate change, the long-term rise in the temperature of the atmosphere and oceans that threatens life on Earth.

Kyoto Protocol

1998 agreement amongst many nations to curtail greenhouse gas emissions and thus curb global warming. The U.S. Senate refused to ratify it.

Tiananmen Square

The location of 1989 protests by Chinese university students who wanted political and economic reforms. China’s leader, Deng Xiaoping, dispatched the military to break up the protests, killing thousands.

Operation Just Cause

The U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, after Manuel Noriega, rejected the results of a democratic election and claimed he was the “maximum leader” of Panama.

Operation Desert Storm

The code name of the 1991 Allied air and ground military offensive that pushed Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

Family and Medical Leave Act

1993 act protecting individuals’ right to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave for medical reasons or parenthood without risk of losing their jobs.

National Rifle Association

Pro-gun rights organization founded in 1871.

Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

1993 act establishes a five-day waiting period and background check for gun buyers.

Federal Assault Weapons Ban

1994 ban prohibiting the manufacturing and use of semi-automatic firearms in the United States. The law was allowed to expire in 2004.

European Union (EU)

Founded in 1993, a coalition of European nations that engage in free trade and investment with member nations. The EU introduced a common currency, the euro, in 1999.

North American Free Trade Association NAFTA

Free trade agreement approved in 1993 by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

World Trade Organization

The organization was created in 1995 to promote free trade between its 150 member nations.

Whitewater

A real estate scandal involving investments made by the Clintons while Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas. A special prosecutor was appointed in 1994 to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct.

Contract with America

A document that called for reduced welfare spending, lower taxes, term limits for lawmakers, and a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget. In preparation for the 1994 midterm congressional elections, Republicans, led by Representative Newt Gingrich, drew up this proposal.

ethnic cleansing

Ridding an area of a particular ethnic minority to achieve ethnic uniformity. In the civil war between Serbs and Croatians in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995, the Serbian military attempted to eliminate the Croatian population through murder, rape, and expulsion.

faith-based initiative

White House initiative under George W. Bush that created a special office to provide religious institutions with federal funds for social services.

No Child Left Behind

2001 legislation that aimed to raise national standards in education in underprivileged areas.

Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act

Also known as the Medicare Modernization Act, a 2003 act that dramatically expanded Medicare benefits and reduced costs associated with prescriptions.

Global War on Terror (GWOT)

Military campaign launched by the George W. Bush administration after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The campaign led to long and costly conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Patriot Act

2001 law passed in response to the September 11 terror attacks. The law eased restrictions on domestic and foreign intelligence gathering and expanded governmental power to deport immigrants suspected of terrorism.

Department of Homeland Security

A cabinet-level agency created in 2002 that is responsible for developing a national strategy against terrorist threats.

Bush Doctrine

President George W. Bush’s proposal to engage in a preemptive war against tyrannical governments that were perceived as a threat to U.S. national security, even if the danger was not immediate.

the axis of evil

Term coined by President George W. Bush in 2002. Bush claimed Iraq, Iran, and North Korea were a part of an “axis of evil” due to their support of terrorist organizations and pursuit of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

2003–2011 military conflict that began when the U.S. and its allies launched an invasion of Iraq in an effort to overthrow its dictatorship.

Guantanamo

The site of a U.S. military base in Cuba, where the George W. Bush administration imprisoned suspected al-Qaeda members without due process of law. Despite campaigning on promises to end this policy, the Obama administration failed to close the Guantánamo Bay prison, and it continues to operate today.

Hurricane Katrina

Storm that hit the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in 2005. The hurricane caused massive flooding in New Orleans after levees broke, resulting in approximately 1,800 deaths.

Great Recession

The severe economic decline in the United States and throughout the world that began in 2008, leading to bank failures, high unemployment, home foreclosures, and large federal deficits.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”)

Passed in 2010, this law expanded health insurance to millions of Americans previously uncovered through a variety of measures including extending Medicaid, setting up of health-insurance exchanges, allowing children to remain under their parent’s coverage until the age of twenty-six, and preventing insurance companies from excluding coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act

Legislation proposed in 2001 to provide the children of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. the opportunity to gain legal residency status. The proposed legislation failed to pass Congress.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

This policy, initiated under the administration of Barack Obama in 2012, allows undocumented immigrant children to receive a two-year extension of their residency in the U.S. along with eligibility for work permits.

Tea Party Movement

A loose coalition of conservatives and libertarians that formed around 2008. The Tea Party advocated small government, low taxes, and reduced federal deficits.

Occupy Wall Street Movement

A loose coalition of progressive and radical forces that emerged in 2011 in New York City and around the country to protest what they perceived to be corporate greed and federal policies that benefit the very wealthy.

Obergefell v. Hodges

The 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage throughout the nation.

Black Lives Matter

Social protest movement that formed after a civilian shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American youth, in 2012. Organized by protestors around the social media hashtag #blacklivesmatter, the movement advocated a policy agenda that mainly focused on criminal justice and police reforms.

Arab Spring

Political movement in the Middle East in 2011, which led to the toppling of pro-Western but despotic governments in Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen. Armed rebels overthrew Lybian dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi. The movement was spurred on by the aid of technology such as cell phones and the utility of social media networks to spread their messages.

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)

Jihadist terrorist group originally founded in 1999, which gained strength from the sectarian violence that followed the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. The group captured territory in Iraq and Syria and claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, California, and Lebanon.

Paris Climate Agreement

Worldwide agreement by the U.S. and 194 other nations in 2015 to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced from fossil fuels. In 2017 President Donald Trump retracted the U.S. commitment to the agreement.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

A branch of the Department of Homeland Security created in 2003, which oversees the investigations of criminal actions by illegal immigrants in the United States.

Iran Nuclear Agreement

Compliance agreement in 2015 between Iran and the United Nations Security Council, which reduced nuclear facilities in Iran in exchange for a lift on economic sanctions by partner nations. In 2017 President Trump decertified the agreement.

#MeToo movement

The social movement linking tens of millions of women through social media networks in opposition to sexual harassment and abuse.