APUSH 38: The American Pageant 17th Edition Chapter 38: The Resurgence of Conservatism

1980 Election

Reagan defeats Carter 489-49, GOP wins Senate majority, liberal John Anderson wins 8% of votes

John Anderson

Liberal ex-republican who ran as an independent in the 1980 election, humiliated by Reagan

Reaganomics

Reagan’s economic policy which shrank the government, dismantled bureaucracy, and freed markets

Proposition 13

1978 ballot measure in California which capped state property tax at 1% of the house’s value, shows success of libertarian conservative movement

Boll Weevils

Southern Democrats who voted for conservative causes during the Carter and Reagan administrations

John Hinckley Jr.

Man who attempted to kill Ronald Reagan in March 1981 to gain the favor of Jodie Foster

Tax Reform Act

1986 law decreasing income tax rates for top earners & streamlining federal tax codes

Supply-Side Economics

Economic theory declaring that deregulation and tax decreases would increase incentives to work which would increase production, drove Reagan’s policies

Yuppies

Young workers sporting flashy attire who worked white collar jobs in urban offices

Strategic Defense Initiative

Reagan’s 1983 plan to create a missile defense system using space lasers, demonstrated Reagan’s commitment to stopping Soviets

Sandinistas

Socialist anti-American revolutionaries who staged a successful coup against the previous Nicaraguan administration

Contras

Pro-American fighters in the Nicaraguan Civil War that secretly received US military aid

1984 Election

Reagan defeats Mondale/Ferraro ticket 525-13, losing only Minnesota and DC

Glasnost

Policy of openness in the Soviet government under Gorbachev, stops repression and institutes free speech

Perestroika

Restructuring of the Soviet Government to end central economic planning & free the market by ending price subsidies

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

December 1987 agreement between US and USSR banning all intermediate-ranged nuclear missiles from Europe, signed after three rounds of negotiations

Ferdinand Marcos

Filipino dictator who was ousted in a US-backed coup in February 1986

Corazon Aquino

US-backed Filipino leader who opposed the Marcos government after they killed her husband, became a beloved president who emphasized the free market

Iran-Contra Affair

Scandal revealed in 1986 in which the US sold arms to Iran for hostages and gave the profits to anti-Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua while also aiding Saddam Hussein, enemy of Iran

Identity Politics

The practice of unifying groups around political causes, became common in 1960s and 1980s

Ward’s Cove Packing v. Atonio

1989 Supreme Court case increasing burden of proof for minority workers alleging racial discrimination in employment practices

Martin v. Wilks

1989 Supreme Court case allowing white workers to appeal decrees calling for the hiring of minorities if they didn’t sign the original decree, making anti-affirmative action cases easier

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services

1989 Supreme Court case ruling that Missouri’s law restricting abortion was constitutional

Planned Parenthood v. Casey

1992 Supreme Court case ruling that state laws restricting abortion were legal if they didn’t create an undue burden on pregnant women

Sandra Day O’Connor

Conservative judge who became the first female Supreme Court justice in 1981

Black Monday

508 point crash of the Dow Jones Index on 10/19/1987, indicating the instability of business growth in the 1980s, didn’t lead to the predicted recession

1988 Election

George H.W. Bush defeats Michael Dukakis (D-MA) 426-111 and 47.9 million votes compared to 41 million votes, shows failure of Dukakis’ bland personality to capture voters

Commonwealth of Independent States

Group of 15 ex-Soviet nations led by Yeltsin which focused on improving the free market and democracy

Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II

1993 agreement between Bush and Yeltsin in which both countries agreed to decrease number of nuclear missiles by 2/3 by 2003

Nelson Mandela

South African black resistance leader who was jailed for 27 years, freed in 1990, elected president in 1994

Manuel Noriega

Panamanian dictator and drug lord who was arrested by US special forces in December 1989

Operation Desert Storm

February 1991 land invasion of Iraq and Kuwait by UN Coalition forces to liberate occupied Kuwait, largely successful

Operation Desert Shield

January-February 1991 equipment/personnel mobilization and air attacks of Iraq and Kuwait to prepare for February 1991 land invasion

Vietnam Syndrome

George H.W. Bush’s term for public belief that the US military was incapable of major success

Americans with Disabilities Act

1990 law banning discrimination based on mental & physical disability, requires accommodation for disability in publicly accessible places

Margaret Thatcher

UK Prime Minister who strengthened relations with Reagan, decreased power of labor unions, won Falkland Islands war in 1982

Jerry Falwell

Evangelical reverend who opposed feminism and gay rights, formed Moral Majority advocacy group

Saddam Hussein

Iraqi dictator who was supported by US during Iran-Iraq war but opposed after he invaded Kuwait in 1990, executed in 2003

Clarence Thomas

Conservative Supreme Court justice nominate by George H.W. Bush in 1991, confirmed 52-48 due to sexual assault allegations against him

Boris Yeltsin

Russian president who led CIS and helped free Russian government policy after USSR collapsed

Mikhail Gorbachev

Final Soviet premier who implemented glasnost and perestroika policies, negotiated arms treaties with Reagan, survived coup, dissolved USSR in 1991

Moral Majority

Jerry Falwell’s Evangelical advocacy group which opposed abortion, feminism, & gay rights