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PLO
Palestine Liberation Organization- created in 1964
~purpose of the "liberation of Palestine" through armed struggle, with much of its violence aimed at Israeli civilians -
California v. Bakke
Court ruled unconstitutional a university's use of racial "quotas" in its admissions process, but held that affirmative action programs could be constitutional in some circumstances -
Sandinistas
Nicaraguan Revolution-ended in 1990
~member of a left-wing Nicaraguan political organization -
Moral Majority
political action group formed to further a conservative and religious agenda, including the allowance of prayer in schools and strict laws against abortion -
Supply-Side Economics
Macroeconomic theory that argues economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering taxes and decreasing regulation -
Trickle-Down Economics
economic theory that advocates reducing taxes on businesses and the wealthy in society as a means to stimulate business investment in the short term and benefit society in the long term -
Walter Mondale
~serves as vice president under President Jimmy Carter till 1981
~losses as democratic candidate to reagan and bush -
Religious Fundamentalism
Christian fundamentalism, movement in American Protestantism arose in reaction to theological modernism (anti-evolution) -
AIDS
a disease in which there is a severe loss of the body's cellular immunity, greatly lowering the resistance to infection and malignancy -
Ronald Reagan
End of term 1989
~Increase in military spending
~Reagan Doctrine-provided aid to anti-communist movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America
~Strategic Defense Initiative- space based weapons -
Economic Recovery Tax Act
law that lowered income tax rates and allowed for expending of deppreciable assets -
PATCO Strike
Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization- strike the that was declared illegal but broken by Reagan Administration -
Sandra Day O'Connor
First woman to serve on supreme court -
Saddam Hussein
Following his capture on 13 December 2003, the trial of Saddam took place under the Iraqi Interim Government, then was convicted by an Iraqi court of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging because of the killings in 1982 -
SDI
Strategic Defense Initiative- develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union -
Geraldine Ferraro
Lawyer activist, women's rights activist, democratic, -
Boland Amendment
term describing three U.S. legislative amendments between 1982 and 1984, all aimed at limiting U.S. government assistance to the Contras in Nicaragua -
Iran-Contra Affair
The U.S. illegally sells weapons to anti-communists in Iran so the will fight communism for us -
Glasnost & Perestroika
Perestroika (listen) is a political movement for reformation in Communist Party of Soviet Union, widely associated with Gorbachev and his glasnost (openness) policy reform -
Bob Dole
American former politician and attorney who represented Kansas in Congress from 1961 and served as the Republican Leader of the United States Senate until 1996 -
William Rehnquist
appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Richard Nixon in 1971. He was elevated to the post of chief justice by President Ronald Reagan -
Immigration Act of 1986
law criminalized the act of engaging in a "pattern or practice" of knowingly hiring an "unauthorized alien" and established financial and other penalties for those employing illegal immigrants under the theory that low prospects for employment would reduce undocumented immigration -
"Tear Down This Wall"
Line from a speech made by Reagan in West Berlin calling for Gorbachev to open up the barrier (Berlin Wall) which had divided West and East Berlin -
INF Agreement
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty: required the U.S. and Soviet Union to eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear weapons and missiles -
John McCain
American politician serving as the senior US Senator- Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 election, which he lost to Barack Obama -
"Read my lips, no new taxes."
phrase spoken by then-American presidential candidate George H. W. Bush at the 1988 Republican National Convention as he accepted the nomination-promising no new taxes -
George H.W. Bush
Key focus is foreign policy, promised no new taxes, helped end Operation Desert Storm, Operation Just Cause, Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty -
Tiananmen Square
located in the center of Beijing, the capital of China, Chinese troops entered fired on civilians -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party announced a change in his city's relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders -
Panama Invasion
The U.S invades Panama in an attempt to overthrow military dictator Manuel Noriega, who had been indicted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges and was accused of suppressing democracy in Panama and endangering U.S. nationals -
Bosnia and Kosovo
Serb attacks, initially sponsored by the Yugoslav National Army, began as a war between nation states. Kosovo, on the other hand, is a province of Serbia, which together with Montenegro makes up the new Yugoslavia -
Mikhail Gorbachev
first executive president of the Soviet Union -
Lech Walesa
Polish politician and labor activist, co-founded Solidarity (Soviet bloc's first independent trade union), won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland -
Persian Gulf War
an international conflict that was triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; Egypt and other Arab nations joined the anti-Iraq coalition and contributed forces to the military buildup (AKA: Operation Desert Shieldnded) endingin 1991 -
Americans with Disabilities Act
Civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, -
NRA
National Rifle Association- to promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis -
"Ethnic Cleansing"
systematic forced removal of ethnic or racial groups from a given territory by a more powerful ethnic group, often with the intent of making it ethnically homogeneous -
Nuclear Proliferation
spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as "Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty -
West Bank and the Gaza Strip
Palestinian Territories-the southern limit of the Gaza Strip is the border with Egypt. Egypt renounced all claims to land north of the international border, including the Gaza Strip, in the Israel-Egypt peace treaty -
Taliban
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan currently waging war within that country -
Boris Yeltsin
Soviet and Russian politician and the first President of the Russian Federation -
Clarence Thomas
President Bush tapped Thomas to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the court -
Breakup of the Soviet Union
hailed by the west as a victory for freedom, a triumph of democracy over totalitarianism, and evidence of the superiority of capitalism over socialism. -
EU
European Union- Maastricht Treaty (formally known as the Treaty on European Union) -
Ross Perot
In 1992, Perot ran as an independent candidate for the U.S. presidency, winning nearly 19 percent of the popular vote -
Beirut Bombings
241 US service personnel are killed by a truck bomb at a Marine compound in Beirut, Lebanon -
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton is known for being president during one of the longest periods of peace and economic expansion in American history -
Failure of Health Reform
President Clinton proposed a health care security plan but failed -
NAFTA
North American Free Trade Agreement-negotiated among the US, Canada and Mexico for the purpose of removing barriers to the exchange of goods and services among the three countries -
Brady Bill
a provision of US federal law that requires a waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks on those who wish to purchase handguns -
Al Gore
American politician and environmentalist who served as the Vice President of the US -
Hillary Clinton
American politician, former diplomat, and First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001 -
Yasser Arafat
chairman of the PLO and was at the forefront of years of violence, border disputes and the Palestinian liberation movement, all centering on neighboring Israel -
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
policy restricting US military personnel from efforts to discriminate closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring those who are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual from military service -
Contract with America
document released by the United States Republican Party during the Congressional election campaign -
Newt Gingrich
American politician and author and ultimately serving as 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives -
Oklahoma City Bombing
domestic terrorist truck bombing on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City -
WTO
intergovernmental organization that regulates international trade -
Welfare Reform
Signed by Clinton, a comprehensive bipartisan welfare reform plan that will dramatically change the nation's welfare system into one that requires work in exchange for time-limited assistance -
Madeleline Albright
American politician and diplomat- the first woman to have become the United States Secretary of State, served under President Bill Clinton -
G-8
Group of Eight- inter-governmental political forum from with the participation of the major industrialized countries in the world, that viewed themselves as democracies. -
Kyoto Accords
international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions -
Deficit Reduction Budget
US refers to taxation, spending, and economic policy debates and proposals designed to reduce the Federal budget deficit -
Clinton Impeachment
initiated by the House of Representatives and led to a trial in the Senate for the impeachment of Bill Clinton -
Bush v. Gore
decision of the United States Supreme Court that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election -
George W. Bush
President who led the US response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and initiated the Iraq War. Before his presidency, Bush was a businessman and served as governor of Texas. -
Bush Tax Cuts
changes to the United States tax code passed originally during the presidency of Bush and extended during the presidency of Barack Obama -
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas -
9/11
series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States -
Al-Qaeda
militant Sunni Islamist multi-national organization founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and several other Arab volunteers who fought against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan -
Osama bin Laden
founder of al-Qaeda, the organization responsible for the September 11 attacks -
No Child Left Behind
federal law that provides money for extra educational assistance for poor children in return for improvements in their academic progress -
"Axis of Evil"
phrase used to describe governments that his administration accused of sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction -
Homeland Security
cabinet department of the United States federal government with responsibilities in public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries -
WMD's
Weapon of mass destruction- weapon of mass destruction is a nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological or other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large pop. or cause great damage to structures -
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein -
Abu Ghraib Prison
personnel of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency committed a series of human rights violations against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq -
Hurricane Katrina
extremely destructive and deadly Category 5 hurricane that caused catastrophic damage along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the storm surge and levee failure -
Sarah Palin
American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality, who served as the ninth Governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009 -
Great Recession
period of general economic decline observed in world markets -the scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country -
Housing Bubble
real estate bubble affecting over half of the U.S. states. Housing prices peaked, and started to decline in 2006 -
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
government-sponsored enterprises- they are privately owned, but receive support from the Federal Government, and assume some public responsibilities -
Barack Obama
American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States -
D. C. v. Heller
District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, is a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm -
Tea Party
American conservative movement within the Republican Party. Members of the movement have called for a reduction of the national debt of the US and federal budget deficit by reducing government spending, and for lower taxes -
Sonia Sotomayor
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 2009. She has the distinction of being its first justice of Hispanic descent and the first Latina -
Dodd-Frank Act
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act- law that places major regulations on the financial industry -
Affordable Care Act
“Obamacare,” - It did so primarily by expanding Medicaid, the government's (mostly) free health insurance plan for the poor, and by providing subsidies to the almost-poor so they could buy health insurance on the ACA's “insurance exchanges -
Arab Spring
revolutionary wave of both violent and non-violent demonstrations, protests, riots, coups, foreign interventions -
Citizens United
landmark U.S. constitutional law, campaign finance, and corporate law case dealing with regulation of political campaign spending by organizations -
Syrian Civil War
an ongoing multi-sided armed conflict in Syria fought primarily between the Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic led by President Bashar al-Assad, along with its allies, and various forces opposing both the government and each other in varying combinations -
Mitt Romney
American businessman and politician who served as the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and was the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States -
John Kerry
American politician who served as the US Secretary of State -Democrat, previously represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate -
Debt Ceiling
an upper limit set on the amount of money that a government may borrow -
Boston Marathon Bombing
two homemade bombs detonated 12 seconds and 210 yards apart at 2:49 p.m., near the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon, killing three people -
Shelby County v. Holder
landmark United States Supreme Court case regarding the constitutionality of two provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965: -
Same-sex marriage
same-sex marriage was established in all 50 states as a result of the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States in the landmark civil rights case
