1970s through 2000 Flashcards
New Federalism
Nixon’s domestic policy
Increased the amount of power that smaller government offices had
Top down
Focus on women’s rights and environment
Nixon’s Enemies List
List of major political opponents
Used to target them for taxes, wiretap, and trail them
Exposed during Watergate
Nixon Monetary Policy (1971)
Ended dollar to gold convertibility
Implement price controls
Why did Nixon end dollar to gold convertability?
Thought it would cure inflation
International nations had lots of gold
Balance debt
26th Amendment
Nixon
Lowered voting age to 18
Since old enough to fight in Vietnam, they should be old enough to vote
Roe vs. Wade
Supreme court case legalizes abortion as a nation
Opposed to allowing states to choose
OPEC
Cartel of primarily middle eastern countries that want to keep prices high
Mad at US for high prices, use oil as weapon
Reasons for 1973 Oil Embargo
Power: shower West that OPEC was in control
Profit
Punishment for Western support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War
Stagflation
Increasing inflation and increasing unemployment
Started in 1973 Oil Crisis
Impoundment
To push forward New Federalism, Nixon withholds money from social programs
Judges force him to release funds
He adds their names to the enemies list
Spiro Agnew
Nixon’s VP
Resigns due to scandal regarding accepting bribes while governor of Maryland
Who replaces Spiro Agnew
Gerald Ford
What was Watergate?
Nixon was accused of misusing government agencies (FBI, CIA, IRS) to punish those on the enemies list
When did Watergate begin?
5 men break into the DNC headquarters in Watergate during the 1972 campaign
Nixon and the Tapes
Senate investigators demand that Nixon turns over the tapes
18 1/2 minute section missing “smoking gun”
Nixon’s Resignation
First president in US history to resign
Ford becomes President
Ford pardons Nixon months later and makes people mad
Realpolitik
Nixon
Move away from containing communism
Focus more on domestic problems
Detente defintion
Exists when two countries with a tension-filled relationship find talking points to begin working through their differences
Nixon visits China outcomes
Work with China in the Pacific
Regonize the Communist government
Allow communists to take permanent seat in UN security council
Nixon vists USSR
Meets with Brezhnev to help lower tensions
Detente
SALT I Treaty
SALT I Treaty
Strategic Arm Limititation Treaty
Suspends the arms race
Can’t build certain nuclear missiles
War Powers Act
Limited the power of the president to take war actions
Johnson in Vietnam
Nixon in Cambodia
Yom Kippur War
Arab-Israeli War
Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on one of their holy days to regain land lost during 6 day war
Nixon supports Israelis (OPEC mad)
Facts about Ford
Only president not elected by the people (replace Spiro Agnew, replace Nixon)
Didn’t get along with Democratic congress
Pardoned Nixon for Watergate and people hated that
What political party was Ford
Republican
WIN Program
Ford
Whip Inflation Now
Voluntary program to cut back prices, accept wage freezes, and conserve energy use
Ford’s tight money policy
Tried to cut federal spending and refused to lower taxes
Leads to the worst economic recession in 40 years
Ford’s foreign policy
Continues Nixon’s realpolitik
Helsinki Accords
Ford
35 nations promised greater cooperation in Eastern/Western Europe
His big accomplisment
Carter’s domestic policy
Won the 1976 election because people wanted someone outside of Watergate scandal
Created the Department of Energy and the Department of Education
Three Mile Island
Three Mile Island was the worst nuclear powerplant disaster in US history. Limited nuclear plats from being mad
Carter’s economic policy
Stagflation continued to exist
Factory jobs decreasing because of foreign competition and new machines
Service jobs required more education
Trade Deficit
Trade Deficit
Under Carter
Importing more than exporting
Furthered stagflation because companies laid off workers
Carter’s foreign policy
Rejected realpolitik
Focused on human rights
Ex: cut support to South American dictators
Camp David Accords
1978
President Carter
President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt
Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel
Peace treaty following the 6 day and Yom Kippur Wars
Significant Outcomes of the Camp David Accords
Overall not much happened
Fighting did not stop between Israel and Palestine
However, Israel and Egypt do work together okay today and the USA supports both of them
Panama Canal Decision 1977
Part of Carter’s human rights policy
Gives the canal back to Panama
Allows the United States to defend the canal at anytime
Carter and Detente
Detente deterioates
Carter criticizes the lack of human rights in USSR
Signed extenstion to SALT I treaty with Breshnev but congress never ratified it
Soviet Union Invades Afghanistan
Want to shore up a newly formed communist party
Proxy War: the united states supplied support to the rebel groups
Effects of USSR Invasion of Afghanistan
Osama Bin Laden learns skills to fight
Carter is unwilling to work on SALT II treaty
Iranian revolution
The US Supported Shah is widely unpopular and has to leave Iran for medical treatments
Ayatollah Khomeni became the new religious leader of Iran and created a theocracy
He became a terrible dictator and killed many people
Iran hostage crisis
Protesting students take 52 US hostages
Carter ineffictively is able to help them
Many plans to rescue them fail miserably
End and Results of Iran hostage crisis
US returns Shah’s wealth to Iran
Promise not to interfere in Iranian politics and buisness
Saddam Hussein comes to power in Iraq (1979)
Radical political ideas
Wants to control the Persian Gulf’s oil
Has secret police force to kill
Attacked Iran and started Iran-Iraq War
Iran-Iraq War
Hussein invades Iran
Wants to take their oil and other countries oil too
Many Arab countries side with Hussein because they are skepitcal of shiites
Hussein uses chemical weapons
UN resolution ends the war
Why did Carter loose to Reagan?
Carter had failure with the hostage crisis, reducing inflation
Carter more interested in playing secretary of state during Helsinki accords
Reagan seemed to have a plan for everything and was super charismatic
Reagan and Congress
Reagan had the mandate and a republican congress so he was able to pass many things through
Reaganomics
Supply side economics
Cut social programs
Cut taxes (people spend extra money)
Effects of Reaganomics
Decreased inflation
Tripled national debt
more homelessness
less government investment in US companies
Reagan’s Increased Defense Spending
Modernized our military to prepare for Soviet attack
Incredibly costly (debt)
STAR WARS: strategic defense system that was never finished because cold war ended
Sandra Day O’ Connor
First woman to be supreme court justice
Reagan must have appointed
Challenger explodes
Reagan delivers heartfelt speech about slipping the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of god
Rollback
Reagan doctrine
Reagan’s foreign policy focused on openly trying to rollback communism
Supported guerilla rebel groups in Communist countries
More aggressive containment policy
Reagan’s change in foreign policy
Switch from rollback to detente
Gorbachev opens up the Soviet Union
1980s Nicaragua
The anti-communist dictatorship that USA is supporting is overthrown by Sandinistas (communist rebels)
Sandinistas set up government, and contras are rebel group working against them
Reagan asks Congress to support the contras
Congress doesn’t, but the CIA works alone
Background on Iran-Contra Scandal
The CIA was supplying Iran weapons in exchange for hostages clearly breaking the weapons embargo
The CIA was also supplying the Contra with weapons breaking the BOLAND AMENDEMENT
How did people find out about Iran-Contra?
Lebanese newspaper writes about trading arms for hostages and Congress investigates
Same time a plane crashes in Nicaragua with a CIA agent and tons of military weapons
Oliver North
Diverted funds from the arms deals to the contras
Thought the National Security Advisor and President Reagan were on his side
Outcome of Iran-Contra
Reagan is investigated for ties to the scandal, but none are found
14 people were charged
Beirut Lebanon
UN Peacekeeping Task
Two trucks full of explosives went off and killed tons of marines (most since WW2)
Lead to withdrawal from Lebananon
Reagan
Grenada
New leader took over and made ties with Castro
Reagan sent troops in to “protect medical students” when in reality he was trying to stop the spread of communism in the West
Pro-american government took over
US Bombing of Libya
After a terrorist attack in West Berlin on US soliders
Reagan hits Libyan (Qaddafi) key targets with bombs
Reagan and Berlin
Made speech to tear down the Berlin wall
Gorbachev rise to power
1985
Youngest leader of the Soviet Union
Pursued detente with George Bush after bush extended an invitation for a summit meeting
Gorbachev rise to power
1985
Youngest leader of the Soviet Union
Pursued detente with George Bush after bush extended an invitation for a summit meeting
Perestroika
Gorbachev economic reform
Focused on decentralizing the government and starting to implement capitalism into the economy
Glasnost
Openness
Thought that people needed to be able to speak about problems
Thought this would save the communist party
New thinking
Gorbachev reform
Time for the Soviet Bloc to decide on its own government and reforms
Won’t interfere with the Warsaw Pact
Lech Walesa
A polish electrician who became a trade union organizer and human rights activitist
Lead the solidarity movement
Eventually elected President of Poland
Solidarity
Poland
Originally a trade union to demand more workers rights
Grew to demand political freedoms for all of Poland
Couldn’t be suppressed by the government
Chernobyl Disaster
Ukraine
An explosion and fire at the Chernobyl Power Plant
Releases large qualities of radioactive material into the environment
What political party is George HW Bush
Republican
Go Texas
Election of 1988
Bush defeats Michael Dukakis
Promises to continue the legacy of Reagan
Bush’s connection to the Reagan era
Under Reagan taxes got higher to pay for Rollback
Bush says he won’t do that, but this gets in trouble because during the recession there were taxes and job losses
Operation Just Cause
The Invasion of Pananma
During the Cold War, Noriega had helped the United States gain Latin American intelligence
Then, Noriega seized control of Panama and set up a dictatorship
The United States goes into another country!!! to arrest their leader
Persian Gulf War
UN Police Action
Operation Desert Storm
Led by the United States against Iraq’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait
Build-up to Persian Gulf War
Iraq was indebt to Kuwait following fighting Iran
Iraq invades Kuwait to gain “living space” and to remove debt
Iraqi troops tortured the citizens
Phase 1 and 2 of Persian Gulf War
Phase 1: Air assualt
Phase 2: Commit ground forces. War was quick only 100 hours
Outcomes of the Persian Gulf War
First 24 hour televised war
Huge environmental damage when Iraq burned Kuwait’s oil wells
Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe
Poland created first cracks in Iron Curtain
Demonstrations created domino effect
Now people could protest without fear due to New Thinking
How is Tiannanmen Square different that protests in Eastern Europe?
Chinese government sent tanks in on students
Collapse of Berlin Wall (1989)
Symbolized that communism was dying in Eastern Europe
What political party is Bill Clinton?
Democrat
you better know that
First attack on WTC
Under Bill Clinton
Truck bomb in base of North Towaer
Wanted to end aid to Israel
Oslo Accords
Clinton
Settlement between Palestinean and Israel leaders
Somalia Background
Wardlord was engineering a famine
UN Peacekeeping Force
Blackhawk Down and Clinton
Operation in Magadishu goes wrong
Clinton administration recieved backlash for reducing humanitarian aid here
Rwanda Overview and Clinton
Between the Hutus and Tutsi
100 days of terror
Clinton administration did nothing because of failure of Somalia
NAFTA
USA, Canada, and Mexico work to break down trade barriers between them
Oklahoma City Bombing
Veteran of Persian Gulf War sets off homemade bomb at federal building in Oklahoma
Differences between Czechsolvakia and Yugoslavia
Czechs break up peacefully
Yugo has full out genocide
Slobodan Milsosevic
Serbian
Ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia
Maastricht Treaty
Created the European Union
One monetary system
Goal: to be competitive with USA and Japan
Economic Union
Area without internal barriers to trade
Free flow
