Chapter 39

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

1987 banning IRBMS under the Reagan Administration. It showed that the Soviet was more willing to negotiate, but both sides agreed together that they would ban these.

Germany reunified

1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, East and West Germany are one for the first time in four decades.

Operation Desert Storm

1991 American-led attack on Iraqi forces after Iraq refused to withdraw its troops from Kuwait

Planned Parenthood v. Casey

A 1992 case in which the Supreme Court loosened its standard for evaluating restrictions on abortion from one of "strict scrutiny" of any restraints on a "fundamental right" to one of "undue burden" that permits considerably more regulation.

welfare state

A government that undertakes responsibility for the welfare of its citizens through programs in public health and public housing and pensions and unemployment compensation etc.

Affirmative Action

A policy designed to redress past discrimination against women and minority groups through measures to improve their economic and educational opportunities

"Read my lips, no new taxes"

A promise that Bush made in his convention speech, but later broke.

Charles Coughlin

A radio priest who was anti-Semetic and anti-New Deal. He catered away some support from FDR.

Election of 1984 (candidates)

Dem. Walter Mondale (VP for Carter) Rep. Reagan and Bush

Anita Hill

Former associate of Clarence Thomas, who accused him of sexual harassment in Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe.

Geraldine Ferraro

In 1984 she was the first woman to appear on a major-party presidential ticket. She was a congresswoman running for Vice President with Walter Modale.

Berlin Wall falls

In 1989, the Communists in East Germany were forced out of power after protesters tore down the Berlin Wall. In October 1990, the two Germanys reunited into one country. (p. 663)

West Bank

In Israel, a strip of land on the west side of the Jordan River, originally controlled by Jordan, which is part of the land set aside for Arab Palestinians

Jerry Falwell

Leader of the Religious Right Fundamentalist Christians, a group that supported Reagan; rallying cry was "family values", anti-abortion, favored prayer in schools

Sandinistas

Members of a leftist coalition that overthrew the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Anastasia Somoza in 1979 and attempted to install a socialist economy. The United States financed armed opposition by the Contras. They lost national elections in 1990.

Black Monday

October 19, 1987. Date of the largest single-day decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average until September 2001. The downturn indicated instability in the booming business culture of the 1980s but did not lead to a serious economic recession.

Commonwealth of Independent States

Organization formed from the former republics of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

Popularly known as "Star Wars," President Reagan's SDI proposed the construction of an elaborate computer-controlled, anti-missile defense system capable of destroying enemy missiles in outer spaced. Critics claimed that SDI could never be perfected.

Election of 1980

Ronald Reagan won over Jimmy Carter because of the Iranian hostage crisis and America's stagflation.

Boll weevil Democrats

Southern conservative Democrats who abandoned their party to follow Reagan.

Tiananmen Square

Square in the capital of Beijing; scene of a student demonstration and massacre

Iranian Hostage Crisis

The 444 days, from November 1979 to January 1981, in which American embassy workers were held captive by Iranian revolutionaries. The Iranian Revolution began in January 1979 when young Muslim fundamentalists overthrew the oppressive regime of the American-backed shah, forcing him into exile. Deeming the United States "the Great Satan," these revolutionaries triggered an energy crisis by cutting off Iranian oil. The hostage crisis began when revolutionaries stormed the American embassy, demanding that the United States return the shah to Iran for trial. The episode was marked by botched diplomacy and failed rescue attempts by the Carter Administration. After permanently damaging relations between the two countries, the crisis ended with the hostages' release the day Ronald Reagan became president, January 20, 1981.

Olympic Boycott

The U.S. withdrew from the competition held in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

"ABC" movement

This came up during the next election and how no one wanted Carter in office any longer, the movement means, "Anybody But Carter" in office.

Iran-Contra Affair

This involved high officials in the Reagan administration secretly selling arms to Iran (in return for the release of Western hostages in the Middle East) and illegally using the proceeds to finance the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Clarence Thomas

This man was an African American jurist, and a strict critic of affirmative action. He was nominated by George H. W. Bush to be on the Supreme Court in 1991, and shortly after was accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill. Hearings were reopened, and he became the second African American to hold a seat in the Supreme Court.

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services

allowed states to ban abortions from public hospitals and permitted doctors to test to see if fetuses were viable

The recession of 1981-1982

boosted unemployment figures

Saddam Hussein (Iraq)

leader who waged war against Iran; his invasion of Kuwait led to the Gulf War (born in 1937)

tax cuts

lower taxes encourage consumers to make beneficial decisions that can benefit the economy.

"Yuppies" tended

to purchase items from upscale retailers

Nelson Mandela

ANC leader imprisoned by Afrikaner regime; released in 1990 and elected as president of South Africa in 1994.

supply-side economics

An economic philosophy that holds the sharply cutting taxes will increase the incentive people have to work, save, and invest. Greater investments will lead to more jobs, a more productive economy, and more tax revenues for the government.

Huey Long

As senator in 1932 of Washington preached his "Share Our Wealth" programs. It was a 100% tax on all annual incomes over $1 million and appropriation of all fortunes in excess of $5 million. With this money Long proposed to give every American family a comfortable income, etc

Charles and Mary Beard

Famous historians from the 20th century - wrote that the founding fathers were driven by economic issues rather than political philosophies

Glasnot

Policy in the Soviet Union of speaking openly about problems.

Sugrue and Edsall

Thomas Sugrue is a Bancroft Prize-winning Ivy League professor. Writers who raised these concerns included not only Lukas, but journalists and political analysts such as Thomas and Mary Edsall, Jim Sleeper, and Stanley Greenberg.

Boris Yeltsin

Was the first President of the Russian Federation from 1991 to 1999. The Yeltsin era was a traumatic period in Russian history—a period marked by widespread corruption, economic collapse, and enormous political and social problems. In June 1991 Yeltsin came to power on a wave of high expectations. On June 12 Yeltsin was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic with 57% of the vote, becoming the first popularly elected president in Russian history. But Yeltsin never recovered his popularity after endorsing radical economic reforms in early 1992 which were widely blamed for devastating the living standards of most of the Russian population. By the time he left office, Yeltsin was a deeply unpopular figure in Russia, with an approval rating as low as two percent by some estimates.

Perestroika

an economic policy adopted in the former Soviet Union

George Will

famous Conservative philosopher. Believed in moral symmetry "if we let them go unpunished, we will loose the worlds"

Moral Majority

group that supported Reagan; returned to conservative, religious values

identity politics

political activity and ideas based on the shared experiences of an ethnic, religious, or social group emphasizing gaining power and benefits for the group rather than pursuing ideological or universal or even statewide goals

water projects bill

reformed distribution of subsidized federal water in west

Seven Dwarfs

a pack of Democrats who hoped to use the ethical and economic anxieties of the time against the Republicans