USHC Standard 8 Vocabulary

Bill Gates

A businessman and philanthropist, he took a little computer program in the 1970s and 1980s and turned it into the cornerstone of the Microsoft Corporation.

Strategic Defense Initiative

A system proposed by U.S. President Reagan to use ground- and space-based systems to protect the U.S. from strategic nuclear ballistic missiles.

Saddam Hussein

He was President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. He was in power during the Persian Gulf War and repressed independence movements of groups within Iraq.

Gorbachev

He was the last leader of the Soviet Union whose programs of perestroika (economic “restructuringâ€) and glasnost (political openness) loosened the restrictions on Soviet and Eastern European peoples. The result was the eventual collapse of the communist governments in the region.

Ronald Reagan

He won Presidential elections in 1980 and 1984, and is credited by many with bringing hope and optimism back to the United States.

Bill Clinton

He won the first of two Presidential elections in 1992, defeating George H.W. Bush.

Steve Jobs

In the late 1970s his company, Apple, developed and released the first "personal" computer.

Persian Gulf War

This was a conflict in 1990-1991 between Iraq and the US-led coalition forces to liberate Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion.

George H.W. Bush

This Texan was the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (1976-1977), Vice-President of the United States (1981-1989), and President of the United States (1989-1993).

Apartheid

This was a name given to the racial discrimination policies in South Africa through most of the 20th century.

Taliban

This group was driven from power in Afghanistan by US-led forces shortly after the terrorist attacks in the United States in September of 2001.

Internet

This information-sharing network began to evolve in the mid-Twentieth Century as a United States Government project to help the military communicate better, though now it can be used by everyone to read news, play games, and stay in touch with each other.

Search Engine

This is a computer-based tool, usually accessed on the internet, which is used to find webpages containing specified words or phrases.

Al Qaeda

This is a militant extremist group of Sunni jihadists who have resorted to terrorist activities to reach their aims, including 9/11. They were founded by Osama bin Laden.

Equal Rights Amendment

This is a proposed amendment that would guarantee equal rights under the law for Americans regardless of sex, brought about by women in the 1960s and 1970s.

NAFTA

This is an agreement signed in 1993 to reduce tariffs between the United States, Canada, and Mexico

Global Warming

This is an environmental issue which could result in world climate changes and is currently a very hot political and scientific topic.

OPEC

This is an international cartel developed in 1965 to stabilize international oil prices, oversee petroleum imports and investments.

PATRIOT Act

This is legislation passed in the aftermath of 9/11 that expanded law enforcement agencies authority for the purpose of fighting terrorism.

Perestroika

This is the Russian term used for the economic reforms set in place by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985. It literally means restructuring.

Silicon Valley

This is the name for the area in southern California that is known for its high-tech corporations and computer programming businesses.

Information Revolution

This is the term used to describe the impact of television, satellites, and computers on modern culture and the world economy.

Glasnost

This was the policy of public openness in the Soviet Union government in the 1980s introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev.

September 11

This was the series of organized terrorist attacks on the United States by Al Qaeda by suicide commercial plane crashes in New York City, Arlington, Va and Pennsylvania.

Reaganomics

This was the term used to refer to the Presidential economic policies of 1981-1989; its two main principles are lower taxes and smaller government.