"Trickle-Down Economics
A term in United States politics that refers to the idea that tax breaks or other economic benefits provided by government to businesses and the wealthy will benefit poorer members of society by improving the economy as a whole.
"voodoo economics"
A nickname for the type of economic policies Reagan pursued, or supply-side economics.
Arthur Laffer
(born August 14, 1940): is an American economist who first gained prominence during the Reagan administration as a member of Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board (1981-89). Laffer is best known for the Laffer curve, an illustration of the theory that there exists some tax rate between 0% and 100% that will result in maximum tax revenue for governments.
Election of 1984
The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan carried 49 of the 50 states.
EPA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or sometimes USEPA) is an agency of the United States federal government which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress.
George H. W. Bush
(born June 12, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States (1989-93). He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States (1981-89), a congress
Reaganomics
The economic ideas and policies of the American president Ronald Reagan and his two administrations (1981-1989).
supply-side economics
A branch of economics that focuses on the supply side of the economy and on tax reductions.
Beirut Barracks Bombing
(October 23, 1983 in Beirut, Lebanon) occurred during the Lebanese Civil War, when two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces—members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon—killing 299 American and French servicemen. The organization Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Contra
A label given to the various rebel groups opposing the Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government in Nicaragua that were active from 1979 through to the early 1990s.
Détente
A relaxing of tension between major powers, especially the particular thawing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cold War.
Global Positioning System
a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. It is maintained by the United States government and is freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.
Hezbollah
A radical political and military Shi'ite Muslim organization that arose after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon; often accused of terrorism.
Malta Summit
comprised a meeting between U.S. President George H. W. Bush and USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev, taking place between December 2-3 1989, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was their second meeting following a meeting that included then President Ronald Reagan, in New York in December 1988. News reports of the time referred to the Malta Summit as the most important since 1945.
Mikhail Gorbache
(born March 2, 1931) former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. Gorbachev's attempts at reform, as well as summit conferences with U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his reorientation of Soviet strategic aims, contributed to the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Reagan Doctrine
A strategy orchestrated and implemented by the United States under the Reagan Administration to oppose the global influence of the Soviet Union during the final years of the Cold War.
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
A system proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983, to use ground- and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles.
Sandinista
A socialist political party in Nicaragua which was communist in the 1980s.The Iran-Contra Affair : of 1986 became the largest political scandal in the United States, in which proceeds from covert arms sales to Iran were used to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. Though President Reagan professed ignorance of the plot's existence, his popularity quickly dropped.
HIV/AIDS
a deadly immune deficiency disorder discovered in 1981, and at first largely ignored by politicians because of its prevalence among gay men war on drugs a nationwide political campaign to implement harsh sentences for drug crimes, which produced an explosive growth of the prison population
The National Organization for Women (NOW)
the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for women. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time. In 1972, it passed both houses of Congress and went to the state legislatures for ratification. The ERA failed to receive the requisite number of ratifications before the final deadline mandated by Congress of June 30, 1982 expired and so it was not adopted.
Roe v. Wade
A 1973 landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion, in which it ruled that a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that that right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting women's health. Arguing that these state interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy, the Court resolved this balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the trimester of pregnancy.
war on drugs
a nationwide political campaign to implement harsh sentences for drug crimes, which produced an explosive growth of the prison population
"Blue States"
A state of the United States voting Democratic in a given election, or tending to vote Democratic in general.
Alan Greenspan
(born March 6, 1926) is an American economist who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. First appointed Federal Reserve chairman by President Ronald Reagan in August 1987, he was reappointed at successive four-year intervals until retiring on January 31, 2006 after the second-longest tenure in the position.
Black Monday
In finance, Black Monday refers to Monday October 19, 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed, shedding a huge value in a very short time. The crash began in Hong Kong and spread west to Europe, hitting the United States after other markets had already declined by a significant margin. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped by 508 points to 1738.74 (22.61%).
Clintonomics
The economic policies associated with the administration of William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001.
Digital Age
(also known as the Computer Age or Information Age) is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to information that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously.
Diversity Visas
The Diversity Immigrant Visa program is a US congressionally mandated lottery program for receiving a US Permanent Resident Card. It makes 55,000 permanent resident visas available annually to natives of countries deemed to have low rates of immigration to the United States.
Earned Income Tax Credit
The United States federal earned income tax credit or earned income credit (EITC or EIC) is a refundable tax credit for low- and medium-income individuals and couples, primarily for those who have qualifying children. When the credit exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who qualify and claim the credit.
George H. W. Bush
(born June 12, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States (1989-93). He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States (1981-89), a congressman, an ambassador, a Director of Central Intelligence, and is currently the oldest surviving president.
Gridlock
Figuratively and by extension, any paralysis of a complex system due to severe congestion, conflict, or deadlock.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living.
immigration act of 1990
The Immigration Act of 1990 increased the limits on legal immigration to the United States, revised all grounds for exclusion and deportation, authorized temporary protected status to aliens of designated countries, revised and established new nonimmigrant admission categories, revised and extended the Visa Waiver Pilot Program, and revised naturalization authority and requirements.
Malta Conference
The Malta Summit comprised a meeting between U.S. President George H. W. Bush and U.S.S.R. leader Mikhail Gorbachev, taking place between December 2-3 1989, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Manuel Noriega
(born February 11, 1934) is a former Panamanian politician and soldier. He was military governor of Panama from 1983 to 1989.
Michael Dukakis
(born November 3, 1933) served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975-1979 and from 1983-1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988.
NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. As of 2010, the trade bloc is the largest in the world In terms of combined GDP of its members.
NASDAQ
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations, an electronic stock market.
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance which was signed on April 4, 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
Naturalization Act of 1906
An act of the United States Congress signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt that revised the law from 1870 and required immigrants to learn English in order to become naturalized citizens. The bill was passed on June 29, 1906, and took effect September 27, 1906. It was modified by the Immigration Act of 1990.
nuclear weapon
A weapon that derives its energy from the nuclear reactions of either fission or fusion.
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993
federal law that was enacted by the 103rd United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It has also been referred to, unofficially, as the Deficit Reduction Act of 1993. Part XIII, which dealt with taxes, is also called the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993.
One America Initiative
This initiative, established with Executive Order 13050, was a critical element in President Clinton's effort to prepare his country to embrace diversity. The main thrust of the effort was convening and encouraging community dialogue throughout the country. The committee developed dialogue guidelines designed to help communities discuss how to heal racial and ethnic divisions wherever they exist.
Operation Desert Strike
The 1996 cruise missile strikes on Iraq, known as Operation Desert Strike, occurred in September 1996 during the Kurdish Civil War. On August 31, 1996, the Iraqi military launched its biggest offensive since 1991 against the city of Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. This attack stoked American fears that Saddam intended to launch a genocidal campaign against the Kurds similar to the campaigns of 1988 and 1991. It also placed Saddam in clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 forbidding repression of Iraq's ethnic minorities.
proxy war
A war where two powers use third parties as a supplement to, or a substitute for, fighting each other directly.
Saddam Hussein
(28 April 1937 - 30 December 2006), the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, which espoused a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup, later referred to as the 17 July Revolution, that brought the party to long-term power of Iraq.
Secretary of State Madeline Albright
(born May 15, 1937) was the first woman to become the United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99-0. She was sworn in on January 23, 1997.
Start-ups
Companies or temporary organizations designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets. The term became popular internationally during the dot-com bubble when a great number of dot-com companies were founded.
unemployment
The level of joblessness in an economy, often measured as a percentage of the workforce.
UNSCOM
United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) was an inspection regime created by the United Nations to ensure Iraq's compliance with policies concerning Iraqi production and use of weapons of mass destruction after the Gulf War.