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National Rifle Associate (NRA) Lobbying Begins
In 1975, it began to focus more on politics and established its lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), with Carter as director. The next year, its political action committee (PAC), the Political Victory Fund, was created in time for the 1976 elections. -
Conservative Resurgence
The Reagan Era included ideas and personalities beyond Reagan himself; he is usually characterized as the leader of a broadly-based conservative movement whose ideas dominated national policy-making in areas such as taxes, welfare, defense, the federal judiciary, and the Cold War. -
“Trickle Down Economics”
Trickle-down economics is a theory that claims benefits for the wealthy trickle down to everyone else. These benefits are tax cuts on businesses, high-income earners, capital gains, and dividends. ... All of this expansion will trickle down to workers. They will spend their wages to drive demand and economic growth. -
War on Drugs (1981)
The War on Drugs is a phrase used to refer to a government-led initiative that aims to stop illegal drug use, distribution and trade by dramatically increasing prison sentences for both drug dealers and users. The movement started in the 1970s and is still evolving today. -
AIDS Epidemic
AIDS is detected in California and New York. The first cases are among gay men, then injection drug users. UCLA's Michael Gottlieb, MD, authored the first report to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention on June 5 identifying the virus that would be known as AIDS. -
Sandra Day O’Connor Appointed to U.S. Supreme Court
Born in El Paso, Texas, on March 26, 1930, Sandra Day O'Connor was elected to two terms in the Arizona state senate. In 1981 Ronald Reagan nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court. She received unanimous Senate approval, and made history as the first woman justice to serve on the nation's highest court -
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Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and became a highly influential voice of modern conservatism. Prior to his presidency, he was a Hollywood actor and union leader before serving as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975. -
Marines in Lebanon
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan sent the Marines on a peacekeeping mission to Lebanon, a country racked by civil war. The following year a truck filled with 2,000 pounds of explosives drove into the U.S. military compound near Beirut airport and detonated. The attack killed 241 service members, including 220 Marines -
Iran-Contra Affair
Iran-Contra Scandal: A scandal where the Reagan administration secretly sold arms to Iran in exchange for the release of Americans held hostage, and then used the profits from that sale to illegally support right-wing insurgents in Nicaragua. Led to calls for Reagan's impeachment. -
“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!”
Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961. The name is derived from a key line in the middle of the speech: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" -
End of Cold War
During 1989 and 1990, the Berlin Wall came down, borders opened, and free elections ousted Communist regimes everywhere in eastern Europe. In late 1991 the Soviet Union itself dissolved into its component republics. With stunning speed, the Iron Curtain was lifted and the Cold War came to an end.
