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NRA
The National Rifle Association of America is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun rights. -
Religious Fundamentalism
Religious movement whose objectives were to return to the foundations of the faith by interpreting the Bible. -
PLO
Palestinian Liberation Organization that was formed in 1964 with the purpose of creating a homeland for Palestinians in Israel -
PACTO Strike
The PACTO Strike was the largest strike in history. Members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization walked out because they wanted better hours, working conditions, and wages. -
Nuclear Proliferation
This is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as "Nuclear Weapon States" by the NPT. -
William Rehnquist
Rehnquist was an American lawyer, jurist, and political figure who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the 16th Chief Justice of the United States. -
California v. Bakke
This case ruled that a university's use of racial "quotas" in its admissions process was unconstitutional, but a school's use of "affirmative action" to accept more minority applicants was constitutional in some circumstances. -
Sandinistas
Sandinistas were members of a leftist coalition that overthrew the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Anastasia Somoza in 197 and attempted to install a socialist economy. The United States financed armed opposition by the Contras. The Sandinistas lost national elections in 1990 -
Moral Majority
Moral Majority was a prominent American political organization associated with the Christian right and Republican Party. -
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein was the leader of Iraq during the middle of the Cold War. Although initially supported by the U.S. to fight Iran, his invasion of Kuwait made him a prime enemy of America. -
Ronald Reagan
First elected president in 1980 and elected again in 1984. He ran on a campaign based on the common man and "populist" ideas. -
Trickle-Down Economics
Trickle Down theory was applied by Herbert Hoover. It was an economic ideal which held the belief that the government should get involved in the economy by pumping money into it. -
Supply-Side Economics
Macroeconomic theory that argues economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering taxes and decreasing regulation. It is Reagan's economic theory which he hoped would promote growth and investment by deregulating business, reducing corporate tax rates, and lowering federal tax rates for upper and middle income Americans -
Sandra Day O’Connor
She was the first woman to be appointed to the Court. She was elected official and judge in Arizona serving as the first female Majority Leader in the United States as the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate. -
Boland Amendment
Democrats opposed to the administrations policies in Nicaragua passed this to prohibit further aid to the contrast -
SDI
Strategic Defense Initiative (1983), also known as "Star Wars," called for a land- or space-based shield against a nuclear attack. -
Beirut Bombings
In April of 1983, a suicide bomber drove a bomb-laden van into the US Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people. As a result of the attacks, the US pulled out of Beirut. -
Walter Mondale
He was the vice president of Carter and when he won the democratic nomination he was defeated by a landslide by Reagan. He was the first presidential candidate to have a woman vice president, Geraldine Ferraro. -
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 Mondale. -
Iran-Contra Affair
It was a secret U.S. government arms deal that freed some American hostages held in Lebanon but also funded armed conflict in Central America. This conversational idea and political scandal threatened to bring down the presidency of Ronald Reagan. -
Mikhail Gorbachev
He was the Soviet leader that was installed as chairman of the Soviet Communist Party in March 1985. -
Glasnost & Perestroika
Glasnost wanted to end political repression & move toward a greater political freedom for soviet citizens. Perestroika was restructuring of the soviet economy by introducing free-market practices. -
Bob Dole
Dole is a former American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in Congress from 1961 to 1996 and served as the Republican Leader of the United States Senate from 1985 until 1996. -
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. -
John Kerry
American politician who served as the 68th United States Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017. -
Immigration Act of 1986
The 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. -
AIDS
Huge deadly outbreak in the 70s started with gay men and was labeled the "gay plague" but soon began to affect drug users, hemophiliacs, and minorities.C Everett Koop caused government to spend 1.3 billion on AIDS assistance. -
Economic Recovery Tax Act
A law passed by the United States Congress to simplify the income tax code. -
“Tear down this wall”
This is a quote from President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987. He called for the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin since 1961. -
INF Agreement
Gorbachev & Reagan agreed to remove and destroy all intermediate-range missiles. -
John McCain
American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Arizona since 1987. He was the Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 election. -
“Read my lips, no new taxes.”
Quote by then-American presidential candidate George H. W. Bush at the 1988 Republican National Convention as he accepted the nomination on August 18. -
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a 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 in the 1980s. -
Osama bin Laden
Leader of the Al-Qaeda who was responsible for majority of the terrorist attacks. -
George H.W. Bush
41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Also served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. -
Tiananmen Square
The Tiananmen Square incident was a suppression of Chinese democrats by the PLA. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
As the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the 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
Bush sent U.S. troops to Panama to take leader Manuel Noriega from power in order to stop him from using his country as a drug pipeline to the U.S. -
Lech Walesa
Polish politician, a former trade union and human rights activist, and also a former electrician. He co-founded Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995. -
Breakup of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union occurred on December 26, 1991, officially granting self-governing independence to the Republics of the Soviet Union. -
Persian Gulf War
After Iraq invaded Kuwait, the US invaded Iraq to liberate Kuwait. -
Deficit Reduction Budget
Deficit reduction in the United States refers to taxation, spending, and economic policy debates and proposals designed to reduce the Federal budget deficit. -
Internet
The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide. -
Boris Yeltsin
Soviet and Russian politician and the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999. -
Start I and II
This a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms. -
Clarence Thomas
African American jurist and a strict critic of affirmative action. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
This act banned discrimination against the disabled in employment and mandated easy access to all public and commercial buildings. -
Yasser Arafat
In 1993 Clinton presided over a historic meeting at the White House between Israeli premier Yitzshak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir. They agreed in principle on self-rule for the Palestinians within Israel -
Bill Clinton
Entered off in January 1993, as the first democratic president since Jimmy Carter and a self-proclaimed activist. He had a very domestic agenda. -
Failure of Health Reform (1990’s)
Health care reform package under the Clinton Administration that required each US citizen and permanent resident alien to become enrolled in a qualified health plan. -
Brady Bill
Gun-control law named for presidential aide James Brady who had been wounded and disabled by gunfire in the assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981. -
“Ethnic Cleansing”
Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic or racial groups from a given territory by a more powerful ethnic group. -
West Bank and the Gaza Strip
Oslo Accords made agreement (1993) where Israel gave Palestinian self-rule in Gaza Strip and West Bank. -
EU
The 1993 Treaty of Maastricht established both the European Union and the Euro. This created a political and economic union between (originally) the western European countries. -
Al Gore
Al Gore was an American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. -
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton is an American politician, former diplomat, and First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001. -
“Don’t ask, don’t tell”
This quote was the official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, instituted by the Clinton Administration on February 28, 1994, when Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 issued on December 21, 1993, took effect, lasting until September 20, 2011. -
NAFTA
The United States commenced bilateral trade negotiations with Canada more than 30 years ago, resulting in the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement. In 1991, bilateral talks began with Mexico, which Canada joined. -
Contract with America
The Contract with America was a document released by the United States Republican Party during the 1994 Congressional election campaign. -
Taliban
Extreme conservative Muslims, protected Osama bin Laden by allowing him to hide in Afghanistan after 9/11. -
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy Gingrich is an American politician and author, born in Pennsylvania. He later representing Georgia in Congress and served as 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. -
Oklahoma City Bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on April 19, 1995. -
Bosnia and Kosovo
A combination of diplomacy, bombing, and troops from NAT countries, including the United States, stopped the bloodshed first in Bosnia in 1995 and again in Kosovo in 1999. -
WTO
International trade organization that prompted strong protests from anti-global trade forces in Seattle, Washington in 1999 -
Ross Perot
Perot was a significant third party candidate. He ran on one main issue: the U.S. must get the debt under control. -
Welfare Reform
Bill that made reductions in welfare grants and required able welfare recipients to find employment. -
Madeleine Albright
The first woman to serve as secretary of state. She proved to be more assertive in the use of American power. -
G-8
An international organization of the leading capitalist industrial nations: US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, Russia. Largely controlled the world's major international financial organizations: World Bank, IMF, and GATT. -
Kyoto Accord
Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. -
Clinton Impeachment
After Clinton confessed before a jury that he and Lewinsky had an improper relationship, the prospect of impeachment became an issue, especially in the congressional elections. -
Bush v. Gore
Bush v. Gore was a decision of the United States Supreme Court that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election. -
George W. Bush
American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. -
Bush Tax Cuts
This refers to changes to the United States tax code passed originally during the presidency of George W. Bush and extended during the presidency of Barack Obama. -
9/11
Four planes used as missiles took down the symbol of US financial power, the World Trade Center Tower. It was the deadliest attack on US soil and it leads to far reaching changes in American life -
No Child Left Behind
Meant to fix a broken public education system and it linked federal money to state action requiring states to have high standards for all students. -
Homeland Security
US federal agency created in 2002 to coordinate national efforts against terrorism. -
“Axis of Evil”
Quote was first used by George W. Bush in his State of the Union address on January 29, 2002. He used it to describe governments that his administration accused of sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. -
Operation Iraqi Freedom
The 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
Abu Ghraib prison was a prison complex in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km west of Baghdad that operated from its construction in the 1950s until its closure in the 2010s. -
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive and deadly Category 5 hurricane that caused catastrophic damage along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas. -
Housing Bubble
The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates in response to the end of the technology surge, encouraging investors to purchase real estate, causing another "bubble" and increased housing prices. -
WMD’s
A weapon of mass destruction is a nuclear, radio logical, chemical, biological or other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans or cause great damage to human-made structures, natural structures, or the biosphere. -
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
The Great Recession was a period of general economic decline observed in world markets during the late 2000s and early 2010s. -
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 in the 2012 election. -
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy mortgages from lenders and either hold these mortgages in their portfolios or package the loans into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that may be sold. -
D.C. v. Heller
Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia. -
Barack Obama
Obama is an American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States from January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017. -
Dodd-Frank Act
Dodd-Frank is a law that places major regulations on the financial industry. -
Tea Party
Conservative political movement mobilized in opposition to Barack Obama's fiscal, economic, and heath care policies. -
Arab Spring
Revolutionary wave of both violent and non-violent demonstrations, protests, riots, coups, foreign interventions, and civil wars in North Africa and the Middle East that began with the Tunisian Revolution. -
Citizens United
Court rules that corporations have first amendment right to spend as much as they like in elections. -
Affordable Care Act
An expansion of Medicaid, most of employers must provide health insurance, have insurance or face surtax, prevents rejection based on pre-existing condition. -
Debt Ceiling
Limitations set on the amount of money the government is able to borrow. -
Syrian Civil War
Ongoing multi-sided armed conflict in Syria fought primarily between the Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic led by President Bashar al-Assad. -
Sonia Sotomayor
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 2009; first justice of Hispanic descent and the first Latina. -
Boston Marathon Bombing
Two homemade bombs detonated 12 seconds and 210 yards apart near the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring several hundred others, including 16 who lost limbs. -
Shelby County v. Holder
Concerned constitutionality of two parts of the Voting Rights Act, one struck down because it was outdated and potentially limited voters' rights -
Same-Sex Marriage
Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Windsor that federal law could not treat as unequal, marriages that individual states had created as equally valid, when it overturned a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), thus forcing federal recognition of same-sex marriage and marriage-related benefits when related to a same-sex marriage performed by a state that sanctioned such marriages.
