Unit 9: Period 9: 1980 to the present

20 terms. Say what each one means, then open the card to check.

• New Right

  The conservative coalition of the 1970s and 1980s that joined economic conservatives, religious conservatives and strong anticommunists behind the Republican Party.

  Example. Conservative groups mailed millions of fundraising letters straight to supporters, a new campaign tactic in the late 1970s.

• Supply-side economics

  The theory that cutting taxes, especially on high earners and businesses, spurs investment and growth; the basis of Reagan's economic program.

  Example. The 1981 tax law cut individual income tax rates across the board by about a quarter, phased in over three years.

• Deregulation

  Removing or loosening government rules on an industry so that markets set more prices and services.

  Example. After airline fares were deregulated in 1978, new low-fare airlines entered the market and ticket prices fell on many routes.

• Contract with America

  The 1994 Republican campaign platform promising tax cuts, a balanced budget and welfare changes, which helped the party win the House.

  Example. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, who led the effort, became Speaker of the House in 1995.

• Welfare reform of 1996

  The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which replaced the old cash welfare program with grants to states that required work and set time limits.

  Example. Under the law, most families could receive federal cash aid for no more than five years in all.

• Partisan polarization

  The growing distance between the two major parties, with fewer moderates and more votes that split along party lines.

  Example. By the 2010s major laws such as the Affordable Care Act often passed with votes from only one party.

• Iran-Contra affair

  The scandal over secret arms sales to Iran in the mid-1980s whose profits were sent to Nicaragua's Contra rebels despite a ban by Congress.

  Example. Televised congressional hearings in 1987 questioned officials such as Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North.

• Globalization

  The growing connection of economies around the world through trade, investment, travel and communication.

  Example. By the 2000s an American phone might be designed in California, assembled in China from parts made in several countries, and sold worldwide.

• NAFTA

  The North American Free Trade Agreement, in force from 1994, which removed most tariffs on trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico.

  Example. Trade among the three countries grew several times over in the two decades after 1994.

• Deindustrialization

  The decline of manufacturing jobs, especially in the older industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest, from the 1970s on.

  Example. Steel towns such as Youngstown, Ohio, lost thousands of jobs when mills closed in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

• Digital revolution

  The spread of computers, the internet and mobile devices from the 1980s on, which changed work, communication and business.

  Example. The World Wide Web, opened to the public in the early 1990s, let anyone with a browser read and publish pages.

• Immigration Reform and Control Act

  The 1986 law that granted legal status to many unauthorized immigrants and set penalties for employers who knowingly hired unauthorized workers.

  Example. The law let people who had lived in the country without authorization since before 1982 apply for legal status.

• Great Recession

  The severe downturn of 2007 to 2009, set off by the collapse of a housing bubble and a financial crisis.

  Example. Lehman Brothers, a major investment bank, collapsed in September 2008, deepening the panic.

• Income inequality

  The gap between the earnings of the highest-paid Americans and everyone else, which widened from the 1980s on.

  Example. From 1980 to 2010, incomes grew much faster for the top earners than for families in the middle.

• Strategic Defense Initiative

  Reagan's 1983 proposal for a system to shoot down incoming nuclear missiles, nicknamed Star Wars.

  Example. Critics doubted the technology could work, while Soviet leaders feared it would upset the balance of nuclear deterrence.

• Glasnost and perestroika

  Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms of the late 1980s: glasnost, more open public discussion, and perestroika, a restructuring of the Soviet economy.

  Example. Under glasnost, Soviet newspapers began printing criticism of officials and stories once kept quiet.

• INF Treaty

  The 1987 treaty in which the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to destroy all of their intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

  Example. Inspectors from each country watched the other destroy its missiles, an unusual step in arms control.

• Persian Gulf War

  The 1991 war in which a U.S.-led coalition authorized by the United Nations drove Iraq's army out of Kuwait.

  Example. The coalition's ground attack in February 1991 lasted only about 100 hours.

• War on terror

  The U.S. campaign against al-Qaeda, other terrorist groups and the governments that sheltered them, launched after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

  Example. U.S. forces killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a raid in Pakistan in 2011.

• USA PATRIOT Act

  The 2001 law that expanded the government's power to monitor communications and share intelligence to fight terrorism.

  Example. Supporters said the law closed gaps that terrorists had used, while critics warned that it weakened privacy protections.