APUSH: Unit 9 - 1980 - Present

Conservatism

created/rose as a result of people being tired of change and wanted more stability from the violence. Those who believed in this were commonly called the "New Right," and opposed big government, New Deal liberalism, gun control, feminism, gay rights, welfare, affirmative action, sexual permissiveness, abortion, and drug use because it believed that these issues undermined family and religious values, the work ethic, and national security. It instead advocated for a stronger military, lower taxes, fewer social programs, and traditional cultural values

Moral Majority

"political agenda" that strived to get more government control over morality in the U.S. It tried getting more religion in schools, outlaw abortion, etc. and focused on religious rights

Ronald Reagan

a well known movie and television actor who gained fame among Republicans as an effective political speaker. He proved a master of the media and was seen by millions as a likable and sensible champion of average Americans. In 1980, he was the Republican candidate for president and because of voters' rejection of the Carter administration and the growing conservative mood allowed him to become the president during the early 1980s

Supply Side Economics

also known as "Reagonomics," it argued that tax cuts and reduced government spending would increase investment by the private sector, which would lead to increased production, jobs, and prosperity. It was similar to the "trickle-down" theory of the 1920s. Underneath this, the Reagan administration cut federal taxes and domestic programs, but these were offset by increased military spending

govenrment spending

Reaganomics contrasted with Keynesian economics in that Keynesian instead relied on _______ during economic downturns to boost consumer income and demand

yuppies

young urban professionals. They were the representation of the widening income gap between the rich and the poor in that while the rich enjoyed higher incomes from deregulated marketplaces, the standard of living of the middle class remained stagnant or declined

Sandra Day O'Conner

the first women appointed on the Supreme Court

Geraldine Ferraro

first women to run for vice president on a major party ticket (Democratic)

Evil Empire

what President Reagan called the Soviet Communists in order to intensify the Cold War competition with the Soviet Union

Strategic Defense Initiative

dubbed "Star Wars," Reagan's foreign policy that was an ambition plan for building a high-tech system of lasers and particle beams to destroy enemy missiles before they could reach U.S. territory in outer space. Underneath this, military defense spending increased a lot

Iran Contra Scandal

a political blunder to President Reagan where secretly, the U.S. sold military weapons to Iran's government in exchange for its help in freeing some Americans that were still held hostage there. Then, using the profits from this, the U.S. wanted to help the contras in Nicaragua fight their communistic counterparts

Mikhail Gorbachev

became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985. He attempted to change Soviet domestic policy by introducing 2 major reforms of glasnot and perestroika. To achieve these, he wanted to end the costly arms race and deal with the deteriorating Soviet economy instead. He also pulled out the military from the Soviet Union's satellite countries, and as a result of this, he literally drove the Soviet Union to extinction, as the country collapsed after one by one, its satellite countries declared their independence.

Glasnot

one of Gorbachev's reforms, means openness, to end political repression and move toward greater political freedom for Soviet citizens

Perestroika

one of Gorbachev's reforms, restructuring of the Soviet economy by introducing some free market practices and trying to converting its economy to capitalism

George H.W. Bush

former ambassador to the United Nations and former director of the C.I.A. and became the first president to define the country's role in a new era

Saddam Hussein

Iraq's dictator who, in August 1990, invaded the oil-rich but weak Kuwait. He also started to refuse U.N. inspectors to see if he was harboring terrorists or nuclear weapons. Later, he was captured and tried and executed (I believe :p)

Persian Gulf War

declared by the first Bush administration and backed by the U.N. after Iraq invaded Kuwait and took over their oil. In a massive operation known as Operation Desert Storm, more than 500,000 Americans were joined by military unites from 28 other nations. 5 weeks of relentless air strikes were followed by a brilliant invasion like by a U.S. general. After 100 hours of fighting on the ground, Iraq conceded defeat, and the U.N. started requiring Iraq to allow inspectors to periodically come to check to see if the country was harboring terrorists or nuclear weapons

Operation Desert Storm

the operation that was during the Persian Gulf War

Clarence Thomas

appointed by George H.W. bush to the Supreme Court, his conservative views on judicial issues and charges of sexual harassment against him particularly angered African Americans and women and hurt Bush's presidency. Despite these controversies, Senate accepted him into the Supreme Court

poor economic agenda

what was the one thing that hurt Bush's presidency (he had promised no new taxes, but he passed them anyway)?

Americans with Disabilities Act

sign into law by President Bush (first one) in 1990, prohibited discrimination against citizens with physical and mental disabilities in hiring, transportation, and public accommadations

Bill Clinton

the first "baby boomer" president, he was a Democrat who was elected president in the 1992 election and focused on economic issues such as jobs, education, and health care

Ross Perot

an independent candidate in the 1992 election, his campaign was anti-Washington, anti deficit and proved that he was a considerable opponent, obtaining 20% of the popular vote

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

under this policy enacted by President Clinton, members of the military could still be expelled for being gay or lesbian, but they would not routinely be asked or expected to volunteer information about their sexual orientation

Family and Medical Leave Act

entitled eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid job protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave

North American Tree Trade Agreement

created a free trade zone with Canada and Mexico

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act

limited welfare benefits to 5 years. President Clinton passed this to help eliminate the deficit in federal spending in 1998 and as a result, it produced the first federal surplus since 1969

technology boom

______ fueled the American economy during the 20th century in that it fueled increased national productivity and made "e-commerce" part of American life

1998, impeach, Andrew Johnson, perjury, obstruction of justice

In December of ______, the House of Representatives voted to ______ President Clinton. The last president to have had this done to him was _______ in 1868. Clinton was impeached for _____ and ______.

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

it attempted to create a fair entry process for immigrants but failed to stop the problem of illegal entry to the U.S. from Mexico. it also was criticized for giving amnesty to some undocumented immigrants. As a result of this, the U.S. became more and more ethnically diverse

2000 Presidential Election

in this election, George W. Bush and Al Gore ran against each other. It was the first election to be settled by the Supreme Court. The election was so close that victory was hinged on who won Florida's electoral votes. After a partial recount, Bush led by 537 popular votes. The Democrats then asked for a manual recount of error prone punch cards, but the Supreme Court of the United States over ruled the Supreme Court of Florida's declaration of a recount. In Bush v. Gore, majority ruled that varying standards used in Floridia's recount violated the Equal Protection clause in the 14th Amendment and Gore just accepted the ruling and Bush ended up winning again

Al Gore

vice president under the Clinton administration and ran for president during the 2000 election

George W. Bush

former governor of Texas who was the eldest son of former president George H.W. Bush and was nominated during the 2000 presidential election. As president, he aggressively pushed his conservative agenda: tax cuts, deregulation, federal aid to faith-cased organizations, pro-life legislation, school choice, privatization of Social Security and Medicare, drilling for oil in Alaska, and voluntary environmental standards for industry

No Child Left Behind

passed underneath the second Bush administration, it aimed to improve the gap between well to do and poor students in the public schools through testing of all students nationwide, granting students the right to transfer to better schools, funding stronger reading programs, and training high quality teachers

War on Terrorism

a war declared by the second Bush administration and was first initiated after the events of 9/11

Osama bin Laden

Islamic extremist and was the leader of Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda

terrorist group, among many, that preached jihad, which they defined as a holy war against the "Jews and Crusaders" to restore an Islamic caliphate. Their leader was Osama bin Laden

September 11, 2001

a coordinated terrorist attacked against the United States by Al-Qaeda that led to four planes crashing: two in the twin towers in the World Trade Center in NY, one in the Pentagon, and one in Pennsylvania that claimed nearly 3,000 lives

Patriot Act

passed after the events of 9/11, gave unparalleled powers to U.S. government to obtain information and expand surveillance and arrest powers. It was controversial and the American public was worried about unlimited wiretaps, collection of records about cell phone calls and emails, use of military tribunals to try suspects accused of terrorism, and imprisonment of suspects indefinitely and Guantanamo

Department of Homeland Security

created by combining more than 20 federal agencies after the events of 9/11. It is the largest organization of government since the creation of the Department of Defense after World War II. It was criticized for failing to work together with the FBI and the CIA to uncover 9/11 plot

axis of evil

what President Bush (the second one) declared Iraq, North Korea, and Iran, mainly because he believed that they were supporting terrorism and were hiding WMDs (weapons)

Operation Iraqi Freedom

a result of Bush's declaration of Iraq not complying with numerous U.N. resolutions. Without the support of the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. launched air attacks on Iraq on March 19. In less than 4 weeks, U.S. armed forces, with the support of the British and other armed forces, overran Iraqi forces, captured the capital city of Baghdad, and ended Hussein's dictatorship. In the end, the U.S. didn't find any WMDs in Iraq

Barack Obama

charismatic African American junior senator from Illinois who was nominated as the Democratic candidate for the presidential election of 2008. He chose Joe Biden to be his running mate/Vice President. His victory in the election made history in that he is the first African American president

Keynesian

President Obama's economic stimulus package was very similar to what other kind of economics?

Affordable Care Act

also known as Obamacare, aimed to extend affordable health care insurance to an additional 25-30 million Americans through combinations of subsidies, mandates, and insurance exchanges while introducing medical and insurance reforms to control health care costs. It required insurance companies to accept patients regardless of pre-existing conditions and to spend at least 80% of every premium dollar on health care, or rebate their customers

Tea Party

a new political party that was opposed Obamacare. Their goals were addressing economic issues and limiting government, gun rights, prayers in schools, outlawing abortions, preventing undocumented immigration, and opposed deficits and growing national debt

Arab Spring

in 2010, a wave of protests that swept across the Middle East and North Africa. Civil unrest and armed rebellion toppled governments in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Yemen, and produced an ongoing civil war in Syria

Roberts Court

a Supreme Court that had a conservative majority and presented resistance to the Democrats and President Obama in that it limited Congress's authority and limited Congress's power to force states to expand Medicaid

Defense Marriage Act

passed in 1966, it allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states