Chapter 40

Front 1

Proposition 13

Back 1

A successful California state ballot initiative that capped the state's real estate tax at 1 percent of assessed value. The proposition radically reduced average property tax levels, decreasing revenue for the state government and signaling the political power of the "tax revolt," increasingly aligned with conservative politics.

Front 2

Boll weevils

Back 2

Term for conservative southern Democrats who voted increasingly for Republican issues during the Carter and Reagan administrations.

Front 3

Supply-side economics

Back 3

Economic theory that underlay Ronald Reagan's tax and spending cuts. Contrary to Keynesianism, supply-side theory declared that government policy should aim to increase the supply of goods and services, rather than the demand for them. It held that lower taxes and decreased regulation would increase productivity by providing increased incentives to work, thus increasing productivity and the tax base.

Front 4

Reaganomics

Back 4

Informal term for Ronald Reagan's economic policies, which focused on reducing taxes, social spending, and government regulation, while increasing outlays for defense.

Front 5

Strategic Defense Initiative

Back 5

Reagan administration plan announced in 1983 to create a missile-defense system over American territory to block a nuclear attack. Derided as "Star Wars by critics, the plan typified Reagan's commitment to vigorous defense spending even as he sought to limit the size of government.

Front 6

Sandinistas

Back 6

Left wing anti-American revolutionaries in Nicaragua who launched a civil war in 1979.

Front 7

Americans with Disabilities Act

Back 7

Landmark signed by President George H. W. Bush that prohibited discrimination against people with physical or mental handicaps. It represented a legislative triumph for champions of equal protections to all.

Front 8

Contras

Back 8

Anti-Sandinista fighters in the Nicaraguan civil war. The Contras were secretly supplied with American military aid, paid for with money the United States clandestinely made selling arms to Iran.

Front 9

Glasnost

Back 9

Meaning "openness," a cornerstone along with Perestroika of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev's reform movement in the USSR in the 1980s. These policies resulted in greater market liberalization, access to the West, and ultimately the end of communist rule.

Front 10

Perestroike

Back 10

Meaning "restructuring," a cornerstone along with Glasnost of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev's reform movement in the USSR in the 1980s. These policies resulted in greater market liberalization, access to the west, and ultimately the end of communist rule.

Front 11

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

Back 11

Arms limitation agreement settled by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev after several attempts. The treaty banned all intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe and marked a significant thaw in the Cold War.

Front 12

Iran-Contra Affair

Back 12

Major political scandal of Ronald Reagan's second term. An illicit agreement of "selling arms for hostages" with Iran and using money to support the contras in Nicaragua, the scandal deeply damaged Reagan's credibility.

Front 13

Moral Majority

Back 13

Political action committee founded by evangelical Reverend Jerry Falwell in 1979 to promote traditional Christian values and oppose feminism, abortion, and gay rights. The group was a major linchpin in the resurgent religious right of the 1980s.

Front 14

Black Monday

Back 14

October 19, 1987. Date of the largest single-day decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average until September 2001. The downturn indicated instability in the booming business culture of the 1980s but did not lead to a serious economic recession.

Front 15

Commonwealth of Independent States

Back 15

Organization formed from the former republics of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Front 16

Operation Desert Storm

Back 16

U.S.-led multi-country military engagement in January and February of 1991 that drove Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army out of neighboring Kuwait. In addition to presaging the longer and more protracted Iraq War of the 2000s, the 1991 war helped undo what some called the "Vietnam Syndrome," a feeling of military uncertainty that plagued many Americans.