Ronald Reagan Era

Entitlement programs

Government programs that guarantee benefits to specific groups (e.g., Social Security, Medicare)

New Right

Conservative movement supporting social traditionalism, lower taxes, smaller government

Reverse discrimination

Claim that affirmative action unfairly disadvantages white individuals

Conservative coalition

Alliance of business leaders, middle-class voters, and fundamentalist Christians

Moral Majority

Religious conservative group promoting traditional values (led by Jerry Falwell)

George Bush

Reagan’s vice president; elected president in 1988

Reaganomics

Reagan’s economic policy combining tax cuts, reduced regulation, and increased defense spending

Supply-side economics

Economic theory that tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy stimulate investment and growth

Environmental Protection Agency

Federal agency responsible for environmental regulation; targeted for cuts by Reagan

Geraldine Ferraro

First woman on a major party presidential ticket (Mondale’s VP in 1984)

William Rehnquist

Conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice appointed by Reagan

SDI

Strategic Defense Initiative; missile defense system nicknamed “Star Wars”

Invaded Kuwait in 1990

Iraq (Kuwait Invasion)

Nations that signed the INF Treaty

United States & Soviet Union (INF Signers)

Gorbachev resigned as president of this nation

Soviet Union (Gorbachev Resignation)

Sandinistas overthrew dictator of this nation

Nicaragua (Sandinistas)

Tiny island invaded by U.S. in 1983

Grenada (US Invasion)

Nation whose government the Contras tried to overthrow

Nicaragua (Contras)

Nation replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991

Soviet Union (CIS Replacement)

Nation whose president was overthrown and convicted of drug trafficking

Panama (Noriega)

Nations involved in Iran-Contra

Iran, Nicaragua, United States (Iran-Contra Trio)

Nation whose actions led to Operation Desert Storm

Iraq (Desert Storm)

Nation most affected by glasnost and perestroika

Soviet Union (Reforms)

Tiananmen Square demonstrations took place in

China (Tiananmen)