Period 9 Flashcards
(30 cards)
Thirty-ninth President. The former governor of Georgia, he ran as an outsider in the 1976 Presidential election. Served one term. Pardoned Vietnam War draft dodgers, established the Departments of Energy and Education, and returned the Panama Canal to Panama. Internationally, he oversaw the Camp David Accords, ended détente in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and was dogged by the Iranian Hostage Crisis.
Jimmy Carter
Fortieth President. Served 1981–1989. Former two-term governor of California, he heralded a shift within the Republican Party toward an ideological conservatism. Domestically, he oversaw massive tax cuts, economic deregulation, and increased defense spending. Internationally, he took a hawkish line with the Soviet Union while also negotiating arms limitations.
Ronald Reagan
A significant pivot point in U.S. political history, where the New Deal ideology of the 1930s was replaced by a socially conservative, free market ideology. Began with the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan.
Reagan Revolution
The first female Justice of the Supreme Court. Appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1981, she was a moderate Republican regarded as a swing vote, favoring narrow rulings. Retired in 2006 and replaced by Samuel Alito.
Sandra Day O’Connor
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.
Iran-Contra Scandal
A proposal by Ronald Reagan to intercept incoming nuclear missiles using lasers fired from orbital platforms.
Star Wars (Strategic Defense Initiative)
Eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union (1985–1991). He sought reform with his glasnost and perestroika policies. Oversaw the democratisation of Eastern Europe. However, the revival of nationalism throughout the Warsaw Pact proved problematic for him. The failed August Coup of 1991 by hardline communists fatally wounded his power base. Resigned on December 25, 1991. Transferred power over Russia to Boris Yeltsin.
Mikhail Gorbachev
(“openness”) A policy instituted by Gorbachev, it allowed Soviet citizens to publicly criticize the government and discuss social problems in the hope of finding solutions.
Glasnost
(“restructuring”) A policy instituted by Gorbachev, it introduced limited free market reforms to the Soviet Union’s socialist planned economy. A key aspect of the Soviet Union’s fall.
Perestroika
Forty-first President. Served 1989–1993. Considered a moderate Republican, his presidency was defined by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. He pushed for international cooperation in a “New World Order,” such as in Operation Desert Storm. Signed but did not ratify the NAFTA treaty.
George H. W. Bush
First President of the Russian Federation (1991–1999). Russian nationalist. Engineered his country’s transition from a socialist to capitalist economy via “shock therapy” reforms, such as rapid large-scale privatization. This effort led to massive social upheaval and a rise in powerful business oligarchs. Appointed Vladimir Putin as his successor.
Boris Yeltsin
Forty-second President. Served 1993–2001. A`dvocated for centrist reform as a “New Democrat,” signing NAFTA and welfare reform into law, but notably failed to reform health care. Intervened in the Kosovo War. Helped broker the Good Friday Agreement. Impeached in 1998
Bill Clinton
A pledge that listed specific conservative policies the GOP would enact if they gained control of the House of Representatives in the 1994 midterm elections.
Contract with America
Former Speaker of the House (1995–1999). He helped draft the Contract with America, which led to the 1994 Republican Revolution. Oversaw welfare reform, the 1995–1996 government shutdown, and the Clinton impeachment. Officially reprimanded for ethics violations, he resigned his seat in 1999.
Newt Gingrich
More commonly referred to as “welfare reform,” Bill Clinton signed it into law. It stopped open-ended benefits, instead favoring a limited work-based concept, and shifted control to the states.
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996
Forty-third President. Served 2001–2009. He won election after the 2000 recount. The 9/11 attacks defined his presidency. Directed the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Domestically, he signed the No Child Left Behind Act, Patriot Act, and an expansion of Medicare into law. The final months of his presidency were marked by the 2008 Financial Crisis. He signed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which bailed out failing banks.
George W. Bush
Established federal standards in education and test-based performance measurement. Passed in 2001 with bipartisan support. Replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, which reverted standards to the states.
No Child Left Behind Act
A right-wing anti-government domestic terrorist, helped orchestrate the Oklahoma City bombing, which targeted the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. 168 people were killed and nearly 700 were injured. McVeigh was executed on June 11, 2001.
Timothy McVeigh
A Salafist jihadist transnational terrorist organization. Formed in 1988 by veteran mujahideen fighting against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, along with other attacks in several other countries over the years.
Al-Qaeda
A Saudi national infamous for orchestrating the September 11th Terrorist Attacks. Born into a family of billionaires, in 1979 he joined the mujahideen opposed to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Later founded al-Qaeda. Killed on May 2, 2011 in a U.S. Navy SEALS raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Osama Bin Laden
Using four hijacked airliners, al-Qaeda destroyed the Twin Towers in New York City and severely damaged the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed into a Pennsylvanian field after its passengers attempted to retake the cockpit. 2,977 victims died. Over 6,000 were injured. Sparked the War on Terror.
9/11
A cabinet-level department formed in 2002 in response to the 9/11 attacks, it consolidated various public security agencies. It has since been criticized on several grounds, ranging from ineffectiveness to violating civil liberties.
Department of Homeland Security
Forty-fourth President. Served 2009–2017. In 2008 he won a landslide general election victory. Oversaw the response to the 2008 Financial Crisis. Signed the Affordable Care Act into law in 2010. His foreign policy was marked by a multilateral approach and the targeted use of military force.
Barack Obama
Served as First Lady to Bill Clinton 1993–2001. Served as Senator from New York 2001–2009. Served as Secretary of State 2009–2013. Ran for the Democratic Party’s nomination for President in 2008 but lost to Barack Obama after a protracted campaign. Won the nomination in 2016, becoming the first female nominee for a major party, but lost the presidential election. Politically, she advocated for health care reform and women’s rights, and was considered a foreign policy hawk.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
