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Bill Clinton
President who visited the Communist nation of Vietnam at the close of his second term; first President to visit since the Vietnam War.
Al Gore
Democratic Vice President (under Clinton) who was defeated in the 2000 election by George W. Bush.
September 11, 2001
Terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with hijacked planes; first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor.
World Trade Center
Prominent skyscraper complex in NYC destroyed on Sept 11, 2001. by two hijacked airline jets piloted by Muslim terrorists.
Rudi Giuliani
Mayor of New York during September 11, 2001, terrorist attack in the United States (9/11)
Osama bin laden
Head of the radical terrorist group Al Qaeda, which was responsible for 9/11.
Al Qaeda
Radical Islamic terrorist group headed by Osama bin Laden; responsible for 9/11 attacks
Department of Homeland Security
Created by President Bush in 2002 to promote the safety of the American people and the security of the American homeland.
Taliban
The strict Islamic government of Afghanistan which was known to be sheltering AlQaeda terrorists at the time of the Sept 11 attack.
Iraq
Country in the Middle East once ruled by dictator Saddam Hussein; invaded by U.S. forces in2003; Hussein was captured, and Iraq was enabled, with the help of U.S. troops to hold free elections in 2005
Saddam Hussein
Iraqi dictator who was forced from power in 2004 by a U.S. military invasion.
Space Shuttle Columbia
NASA space shuttle that burned up while returning to Earth in 2003.
North Korea
Communist nation in the Far East which achieved nuclear missile capability in 2003
Florida
State hit with four hurricanes in 2004.
Samuel Alito
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2006 to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
New Orleans
City in Louisiana destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, partly by the storm and partly due to flooding when levees along Lake Pontchartrain failed.
John G. Roberts
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2005 after the death of former Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
2003
U.S. invasion of Iraq
George W Bush
43rd President of the United States (Republican); known for tax cuts, invasion of Iraq, and a conservative stand on moral issues.
John Kerry
Democratic Senator from Massachusetts who was defeated by George W Bush in the 2004 election.
weapons of mass destruction
Chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons designed to cause widespread destruction and to kill large numbers of people.
Nancy Pelosi
first woman speaker of the house.
Barack Obama
44th President, first black American US President.
Sonia Sotomayer and Elena Kagan
Supreme Court justices appointed by President Obama.
Ground Zero
the site of the collapsed World Trade Center.
Guantanamo Bay
military base where prisoners of war were being held by United States.
Bush Doctrine
President George W. Bush's military campaign against terrorists and the nations that gave them shelter and aid.
preemption
a strike before waiting for the enemy to strike.
Axis of Evil
nations that aid terrorist acts and seek weapons of mass destruction; Iraq, Iran, North Korea.
Secure Fence Act
authorized the building of a fence along the US-Mexico border to reduce the number of illegal aliens entering the Untied States.
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Americans were required to buy health insurance; nationalized health care.
melting pot
many different cultures have come together in America with the understanding that all must work together regardless of ethnic heritage or skin color.
Operation Enduring Freedom
first preemptive strike on Afghanistan.
Operation Iraqi Freedom
an invasion of Iraq to remove Hussein from power.
Hurricane Katrina
2005, costliest storm in US History.
Ronald Reagan
the oldest man to be elected President of the United States; the Great Communicator; the first President since Dwight Eisenhower to serve two 4-year terms
Margaret Thatcher
new conservative Prime Minister of Great Britain
Thomas Sowell
argued that careless welfare programs hurt ethnic minorities
Reaganomics
concepts that stressed that budgets should be balanced, the money supply should be stable--many wanted it to be backed by gold--and trade and business should be free from government regulation
budget deficit
spending more money than received in taxes
New Federalism
the policy initiated by President Reagan that stated that the individual states should assume more responsibility for government programs
feminists
claimed that the new law [Equal Rights Amendment] would ban discrimination on the basis of sex and called for unrestricted abortion and a role for women in military combat units
William Bennett
conservative educator and philosopher, the Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan, who made strong arguments for the return of morality and discipline to the classroom
IBM
dominated the computer industry
1981
NASA launched the first space shuttle
Columbia
the first space shuttle
Reagan Doctrine
belief of stopping Communism before it could attack and enslave a country
Solidarity
Polish nationalists who decided to stand up to the Soviets
martial law
military rule
Grenada
Fidel Castro planned to take over this island nation in the West Indies and use it as a military base to invade the mainland of South America
Colonel Muamar Al Qaddafi
dictator of Libya who sponsored international terrorism
Central Intelligence Agency
CIA
Mikhail Gorbachev
new Soviet leader who met with President Reagan in Geneva, Switzerland in 1985
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces
a mutual limitation of nuclear arms signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and President Reagan; under this treaty, they agreed to remove their medium-range missiles from Europe
Evil Empire
President Reagan's nickname for the Soviet Union
1987
President Reagan visited the city of West Berlin
Strategic Defense Initiative
a program with a system of space-age weaponry designed to destroy enemy missile warheads in flight
Sandra Day O'Connor
the first woman justice to serve on the high court
George H. W. Bush
Reagan's Vice President
Tiananmen Square
site of a great demonstration for freedom in Beijing
Manuel Noriega
dictator of Panama who terrorized the people of Panama and smuggled illegal drugs into the United States
Nelson Mandela
Communist leader of South Africa
apartheid
South Africa's policy of racial segregation
Boris Yeltsin
President of the Russian republic
Saddam Hussein
dictator of Iraq
Kuwait
tiny, oil-rich kingdom that Saddam Hussein invaded
Operation Desert Storm
plan to liberate Kuwait from Saddam Hussein; the shortest war our nation has ever fought
General Colin Powell
military leader in command of Operation Desert Storm
General Norman Schwarzkopf
military leader appointed to lead the troops into combat in Operation Desert Storm
February 24, 1991
American, British, and French forces invaded Iraq
2 1/2 months
how long did Operation Desert Storm last
Clarence Thomas
federal judge appointed to the Supreme Court to replace Thurgood Marshall
warlords
military dictators
Savings and Loan scandals
series of incidents that cost the taxpayers $500 billion when careless speculation and illegal accounting procedures led to a number of bank failures
Hillary Clinton
intended to share the responsibilities of the Presidency with her husband
Whitewater Affair
political scandal during Bill Clinton's Presidency
1994 Congressional elections
the first time in 40 years the Republican party had control of Congress
national health care
socialized medicine
Tax Freedom Day
the day in the year when one's earnings stop going for taxes
Internet
one of the most important developments in the 1990s
Tim Berners-Lee
English computer scientist who developed the first Web page in 1990
GPS
a series of satellites launched by the Department of Defense in 1978
Human Genome Project
a massive effort to identify all of the approximately 30,000 genes in human DNA
NAFTA
called for the elimination of tariffs and other trade restrictions between the countries of America, Canada, and Mexico
North Korea
Communist country building atomic weapons in 1994
Kim Jong-II
son of the Communist dictator of North Korea who agreed to "freeze" North Korea's nuclear program in exchange for technology and diplomatic and economic relations with the United States
World Trade Center
buildings structure bombed by terrorists in New York City
Osama bin Laden
leader of al Qaeda
Hispanics
the fastest growing and largest minority ethnic group in the United States
Daniel Ken Inouye
the first Japanese American to serve in the U.S. Congress
Patsy Takemoto Mink
the first Japanese American woman to serve in Congress
melting pot
the idea that many different cultures have come together in America with the understanding that all must work together regardless of ethnic heritage or skin color.
multiculturalism
the desire to return minority peoples to their tribal roots and religions.
1962
When did the Supreme Court remove prayer from public schools?
ACLU
a group of lawyers who actively defended the extreme views of atheist, socialist, and Communist minorities.
Lyndon Johnson
won the Presidential election of 1964; ran against Barry M. Goldwater.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
1964; banned discrimination in public acomodations, prohibited discrimination in any federally assisted program, outlawed discrimination in most employment; enlarged federal powers to protect voting rights and to speed school desegregation; this and the voting rights act helped to give African-Americans equality on paper, and more federally-protected power so that social equality was a more realistic goal
24th Amendment
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1964) eliminated the poll tax as a prerequisite to vote in national elections.
poll tax
A requirement that citizens pay a tax in order to register to vote
Voting Rights Act
required federal supervision of local elections. 1965; invalidated the use of any test or device to deny the vote and authorized federal examiners to register voters in states that had disenfranchised blacks; as more blacks became politically active and elected black representatives, it brought jobs, contracts, and facilities and services for the black community, encouraging greater social equality and decreasing the wealth and education gap
