chapter 39 // BOLDED Flashcards
Proposition 13 (1978)
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.
boll weevils
Term for conservative southern Democrats who voted increasingly for Republican issues during the Carter and Reagan administrations.
supply-side economics
Economic theory that underlay Ronald Reagan’s tax and spending cuts. Contrary to Keynesianism, supply-side theory declared that the 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.
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
Reagan administration plan announced in 1983 to create a missile-defense system over American territory to block a nuclear attack. Derided as “Star War’s by critics, the plan typified Reagan’s commitment to vigorous defense spending even as he sought to limit the size of government in domestic matters.
Sandinistas
Leftwing anti-American revolutionaries in Nicaragua who launched a civil war in 1979.
glasnost
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 the communist rule.
perestroika
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.
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty (1987)
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.
Iran-Contra affair
Major political scandal of Ronald Reagan’s second term that was revealed in 1986. An illicit arrangement of selling “arms for hostages” with Iran and using money to support the contras in Nicaragua, the scandal deeply damaged Reagan’s credibility.
Moral Majority
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.
Operation Desert Storm (1991)
U.S.-led multicountry 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, 1991 war helped undo what some called the “Vietnam Syndrome,” a feeling of military uncertainty that plagued many Americans.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990)
Landmark law 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.
