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Walter Mondale
American politician, diplomat and lawyer who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. -
California vs. Bakke
the 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
a member of a left-wing Nicaraguan political organization, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which came to power in 1979 after overthrowing the dictator Anastasio Somoza. -
Moral Majority
political action group formed in the 1970s to further a conservative and religious agenda, including the allowance of prayer in schools and strict laws against abortion. -
Saddam Hussein
A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organization the Iraqi Ba'ath Party -
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 at large in the long term. -
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th President of the United States. -
Economic Recovery Tax Act
Historic package of tax and budget reductions that set the tone for his administration’s overall economic policy -
PACTO strike
United States trade union that operated from 1968 until its decertification in 1981 following a strike that was declared illegal and broken by the Reagan Administration. -
Sandra Day O'Connor
Retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from her appointment in 1981 by Ronald Reagan to 2006 -
Aids
The AIDS epidemic officially began on June 5, 1981, when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report newsletter -
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. -
PLO
organization founded in 1964 with the purpose of the "liberation of Palestine" through armed struggle, with much of its violence aimed at Israeli civilians. -
SDI
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons -
Beirut Bombings
The 1983 Beirut barracks bombings were acts of terrorism that occurred on October 23, 1983, in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War. -
Geraldine Ferraro
American attorney and Democratic Party politician who served in the United States House of Representatives. In 1984, she was the first female vice presidential candidate representing a major American political party -
Iran-Contra Affair
Irangate, Contragate or the Iran–Contra scandal, was a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration. -
Mikhail Gorbachev
Russian and former Soviet politician. He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, having been General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991 -
Bob Dole
American former 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. -
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 or NPT. -
Enron
American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1985 as a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. -
William Rehnquist
American lawyer and jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States for 33 years, first as an Associate Justice from 1972 to 1986, and then as the 16th Chief Justice of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2005 -
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. -
"Tear Down This Wall"
line from a speech made by US President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, calling 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
United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, a 1987 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union -
"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 on August 18 -
Al-qaeda
l-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. -
George H.W. Bush
American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993. -
Tiananmen Square
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, commonly known in mainland China as the June Fourth Incident (六四事件), were student-led demonstrations in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, in 1989 -
Fall of Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall: The Fall of the Wall. On November 9, 1989, 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. -
Panama Invasion
It occurred during the administration of President George H. W. Bush and ten years after the Torrijos–Carter Treaties were ratified to transfer control of the Panama Canal -
Lech Walesa
Retired Polish politician and labour activist. He co-founded and headed Solidarity (Solidarność), 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 -
Persian Gulf War
Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait set off a brief but consequential conflict involving an international coalition of forces led by the United State -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public -
Breakup of Soviet Union
Soviet hammer and sickle flag lowered for the last time over the Kremlin, thereafter replaced by the Russian tricolor. -
Boris Yeltsin
Soviet and Russian politician and the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999. -
Start I and II
was 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
American judge, lawyer, and government official who currently serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. -
Ross Perot
American business magnate and former politician. As the founder of Electronic Data Systems, he became a billionaire. He ran an independent presidential campaign in 1992 and a third party campaign in 1996, establishing the Reform Party in the latter election -
"ethnic cleansing"
Serbia set out to “ethnically cleanse” Bosnian territory by systematically removing all Bosnian Muslims, known as Bosniaks. Serbia, together with ethnic Bosnian Serbs, attacked Bosniaks with former Yugoslavian military equipment and surrounded Sarajevo, the capital city. -
Kyoto accord
The 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 -
Al gore
American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 -
Bill Clinton
American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. -
Failure of Health Reform (1990's)
Healthcare reform package proposed by the administration of President Bill Clinton and closely associated with the chair of the task force devising the plan, First Lady of the United States Hillary Clinton. -
Brady Bill
provision of US federal law that requires a waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks on those who wish to purchase handguns. -
EU
Political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe -
Hilary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is an American politician, former diplomat, and First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001 -
"Don't ask,don't tell"
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 North American Free Trade Agreement is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. -
Contract with America
When the Republicans gained this majority of seats in the 104th Congress, the Contract was seen as a triumph by party leaders such as Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, and the American conservative movement in general. -
Taliban
Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan currently waging war (an insurgency, or jihad) within that country. -
NRA
The National Rifle Association of America is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun rights -
Newt Genrich
American politician and author, born in Pennsylvania, later representing Georgia in Congress, and ultimately serving as 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. -
Oklahoma City bombing
domestic terrorist truck bombing on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States on April 19, 1995. -
WTO
deals with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. -
Welfare reform
a movement to change the federal government's social welfare policy by shifting some of the responsibility to the states and cutting benefits. -
Madeline Albright
American politician and diplomat. She is the first woman to have become the United States Secretary of State. She served from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. -
G-8
The G8, reformatted as G7 from 2014 due to Russia's suspension, was an inter-governmental political forum from 1997 until 2014, with the participation of the major industrialized countries in the world, that viewed themselves as democracies. -
Clinton Impeachment
Initiated in December 1998 by the House of Representatives and led to a trial in the Senate for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice. -
Bosnia and Kosovo
Rugova's policy of passive resistance succeeded in keeping Kosovo quiet during the war with Slovenia, and the wars in Croatia and Bosnia during the early 1990s. -
Bush vs Gore
Bush v. Gore, case in which, on December 12, 2000, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed a Florida Supreme Court request for a selective manual recount of that state's U.S. presidential election ballots. -
George W. Bush
American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. -
Bush Tax Cuts
The phrase Bush tax cuts 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, through: Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 -
9/11
The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. -
No child left behind
which passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2001 and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Jan. 8, 2002, is the name for the most recent update to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 -
Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government with responsibilities in public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. -
"axis of evil"
rst used by U.S. President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, and often repeated throughout his presidency, 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
During the war in Iraq that began in March 2003, 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. -
Yassar Arafat
was a Palestinian political leader. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004 -
Deficit Reduction Budget
grants states flexibility to modify their Medicaid programs in ways that could negatively affect children and families' access to care. -
West bank and the Gaza strip
Palestinian territories and occupied Palestinian territories (OPT or oPt) are terms often used to describe the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, which are occupied or otherwise under the control of Israel. -
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. -
Housing Bubble
real estate bubble affecting over half of the U.S. states. Housing prices peaked in early 2006, started to decline in 2006 and 2007, and reached new lows in 2012. -
WMD's
In the early 2000s, the administrations of George W. Bush and Tony Blair asserted that Saddam Hussein's weapons programs were still actively building weapons, and that large stockpiles of WMDs were hidden in Iraq. -
Great Recession
period of general economic decline observed in world markets during the late 2000s and early 2010s -
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. -
John McCain
n 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, which he lost to Barack Obama. -
D.C, v. Heller
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 unconnected with service in a militia for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. -
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States from January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017. -
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality, who served as the ninth Governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009 -
Tea Party
The Tea Party movement is an American conservative movement within the Republican Party. Members of the movement have called for a reduction of the national debt of the United States and federal budget deficit by reducing government spending, and for lower taxes. -
Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an 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
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a massive piece of financial reform legislation passed by the Obama administration in 2010 as a response to the financial crisis of 2008. -
Affordable Care Act
United States federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. -
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring, also referred to as Arab revolutions, was a revolutionary wave of both violent and non-violent demonstrations, protests, riots, coups, foreign interventions, and civil wars -
Citizens united
landmark U.S. constitutional law, campaign finance, and corporate law case dealing with regulation of political campaign spending by organizations. -
Osama Bin Laden
a founder of al-Qaeda, the organization responsible for the September 11 attacks in the United States and many other mass-casualty attacks worldwide. -
Debt Ceiling
an upper limit set on the amount of money that a government may borrow. -
Syrian Civil war
The Syrian Civil War is 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. -
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an 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 -
John kerry
American politician who served as the 68th United States Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017. -
Boston Marathon Bombing
On April 15, 2013, 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 and injuring several hundred others, including 16 who lost limbs. -
Shelby County v Holder
A case in which the Court found that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional. -
Same-Sex marriage
Same-sex marriage in the United States was established on a state-by-state basis, expanding from 1 state in 2004 to 36 states in 2015, when, on June 26, 2015, same-sex marriage was established in all 50 states as a result of the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States
