APUSH American Pageant 16th Ed. Chapter 39 Vocab

Proposition 13 (1978)

A successful California state ballot initiative that capped the state's real estate tax at 1 percent of

assessed value. The proposition radically reduced average property tax levels, decreasing revenue for

the state government and signaling the political power of the "tax revolt," increasingly aligned with

conservative politics.

Boll Weevils

Term for conservative southern Democrats who voted increasingly for Republican issues during the

Carter and Reagan administrations.

Supply-Side Economics

Economic theory that underlay Ronald Reagan's tax and spending cuts. Contrary to Keynesianism,

supply-side theory declared that government policy should aim to increase the supply of goods and

services, rather than the demand for them. It held that lower taxes and decreased regulation would

increase productivity by providing increased incentives to work, thus increasing productivity and the tax

base.

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

Reagan administration plan announced in 1983 to create a missile-defense system over American

territory to block a nuclear attack. Derided as "Star Wars" by critics, the plan typified Reagan's

commitment to vigorous defense spending even as he sought to limit the size of government in domestic

matters

Sandinistas

Leftwing anti-American revolutionaries in Nicaragua who launched a civil war in 1979.

Contras

Anti-Sandinista fighters in the Nicaraguan civil war. The Contras were secretly supplied with American

military aid, paid for with money the United States clandestinely made selling arms to Iran.

Glasnost

Meaning "openness," a cornerstone along with Perestroika of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev's

reform movement in the USSR in the 1980s. These policies resulted in greater market liberalization,

access to the West, and ultimately the end of communist rule

Perestroika

Meaning "restructuring," a cornerstone along with Glasnost of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev's

reform movement in the USSR in the 1980s. These policies resulted in greater market liberalization,

access to the West, and ultimately the end of communist rule.

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)

Arms limitation agreement settled by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev after several attempts. The

treaty banned all intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe and marked a significant thaw in the

Cold War.

Iran-Contra Affair

Major political scandal of Ronald Reagan's second term. An illicit arrangement of selling "arms for

hostages" with Iran and using money to support the contras in Nicaragua, the scandal deeply damaged

Reagan's credibility

Moral Majority

Political action committee founded by evangelical Reverend Jerry Falwell in 1979 to promote traditional

Christian values and oppose feminism, abortion, and gay rights. The group was a major linchpin in the

resurgent religious right of the 1980s.

Black Monday

October 19, 1987. Date of the largest single-day decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average until

September 2001. The downturn indicated instability in the booming business culture of the 1980s but did

not lead to a serious economic recession.

Operation Desert Storm

U.S.-led multi-country military engagement in January and February of 1991 that drove Saddam

Hussein's Iraqi army out of neighboring Kuwait. In addition to presaging the longer and more protracted

Iraq War of the 2000s, the 1991 war helped undo what some called the "Vietnam Syndrome," a feeling of

military uncertainty that plagued many Americans.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Landmark law signed by President George H. W. Bush that prohibited discrimination against people with

physical or mental handicaps. It represented a legislative triumph for champions of equal protections to

all.

Margaret Thatcher

Conservative British Prime Minister and first woman to head a major European government.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Soviet statesman whose foreign policy brought an end to the Cold War and whose domestic policy introduced major reforms (born in 1931)

Nelson Mandela

South African statesman who was released from prison to become the nation's first democratically elected president in 1994 (born in 1918)

Manuel Noriega

A former CIA agent, Noriega was the de facto leader of Panama during the '80s until 1992. His government/soldiers continually harassed U.S. soldiers and civilians, drawing American into armed conflict.