Terms : Hide Images
| 68760804 | STAR WARS (SDI) | Reagan's defensive program; laser beams and satellites would shoot down USSR missiles | |
| 68760805 | "ping-pong" diplomacy | through an exchange of athletes, Americans visited China for the first time since 1949 | |
| 68760806 | EPA | Environmental Protection Agency; set up to protect nature and human health issues | |
| 68760807 | impeach | legal process to formally charge an elected official with misconduct in office | |
| 68760808 | summit meeting | conference between the highest-ranking officials of different nations | |
| 68760809 | domino theory | Eisenhower's theory that if one nation comes under Communist control then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control | |
| 68760810 | brinksmanship | The principle of not backing down in a crisis, even if it meant taking the country to the brink of war. | |
| 68760811 | INF treaty | Reagan and Gorbachev signed this treaty, which provided for the dismantling of all short and medium range nuclear weapons in Russia and all of Europe | |
| 68760812 | guerrillas | small bands of fighters who weaken the enemy with surprise raids and hit-and-run attacks | |
| 68760813 | Solidarity | Polish trade union created to protest working conditions. It began the opposition to communist rule that led in 1989 to the fall of communism in eastern Europe. | |
| 68760814 | glasnost | a policy of the Soviet government allowing freer discussion of social problems | |
| 68760815 | silent majority | middle class Americans who do their job, respect their country and want law and order at home; Nixon appealed to them | |
| 68760816 | SALT | Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty; between the United States and the USSR; designed to limit both countries' stock of nuclear weapons | |
| 68760817 | superpower | a state powerful enough to influence events throughout the world | |
| 68760818 | moral majority | group that supported Reagan; returned to conservative, religious values | |
| 68760819 | detente | Nixon's policy; relaxation of tensions between the United States and its two major Communist rivals, the Soviet Union and China | |
| 68760820 | satellite nations | Communist nations in Eastern Europe under the USSR's control | |
| 68760821 | perestroika | Mikhail Gorbache's policy that restructured the economy in communist Russia towards a market economy | |
| 68760822 | Reaganomics | Reagan's theory that included tax breaks for the rich; "trickle down" theory, wasn't very successful | |
| 68760823 | Truman Doctrine | President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology | |
| 68760824 | Gulf of Tonkin Resolution | 1964 Congressional resolution authorizing President Johnson to take military action in Vietnam | |
| 68760825 | Sputnik | first satellite launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology. It led to the creation of NASA and competition in missile production | |
| 68760826 | Pentagon Papers | President Nixon tried to prevent these papers from being published; highlighted errors made in Vietnam. | |
| 68760827 | Berlin Airlift | airlift in 1948 that supplied food and fuel to citizens of west Berlin when the Russians closed off land access to Berlin | |
| 68760828 | Iran-Contra Affair | Reagan administration sold weapons to Iran and used the money to support the Contras in Nicaragua; CIA operation | |
| 68760829 | George Marshall | US Secretary of State organized program that helped Europe recover after WWII | |
| 68760830 | Douglas MacArthur | General in charge of UN forces in Korean War, forced to give up command by President Truman. | |
| 68760831 | Mao Zedong | Chinese communist leader who won revolution in 1949 | |
| 68760832 | Henry Kissinger | United States statesman who negotiated the end to Vietnam and opening China to the US under Nixon | |
| 68760833 | Oliver North | Iran-contra affair, officer who took $ to Nicaragua | |
| 68760834 | Nikita Khrushchev | Leader of the USSR during the Cuban Missile Crisis | |
| 68760835 | Mikhail Gorbachev | Soviet statesman whose foreign policy brought an end to the Cold War and whose domestic policy introduced major reforms | |
| 68760836 | Leonid Brezhnev | replaced Khrushchev after the Cuban Missile Crisis; signed SALT agreement with Nixon in Moscow | |
| 68760837 | Boris Yeltsin | President of the Russian Republic in 1991. Helped end the USSR and force Gorbachev to resign. | |
| 68760838 | Ho Chi Minh | communist leader of North Vietnam | |
| 68760839 | Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein | Washington Post reporters who uncovered Watergate | |
| 68760840 | Betty Friedan | American Feminist, writer of The Feminine Mystique, cofounded NOW | |
| 68760841 | Sandra Day O'Connor | first woman supreme court justice. appointed by Reagan | |
| 68760842 | Ayatollah Khomeini | Religious leader of Iran, led the 1979 revolution and ordered the invasion of the US Embassy | |
| 68760843 | Joseph McCarthy | United States senator who accused many citizens of being Communists with no evidence of the charge | |
| 68760844 | Anwar Sadat | president of Egypt who signed the first peace treaty with Israel | |
| 68760845 | Menachem Begin | Leader of Israel who signed a peace treaty with Egypt withdrawing from Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip and returning them to Egypt | |
| 68760846 | Lech Walesa | Polish leader who organized Solidarity; elected president of Poland in the first free election in 50 years. | |
| 68760847 | Fidel Castro | Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a communist state in Cuba | |
| 68760848 | William Levitt | Created Levittown--the first "cookie cutter" suburb | |
| 68760849 | Great Society | LBJ's dream policy of fighting poverty and racial injustice in the US | |
| 68760850 | Reza Pahlavi | Shah of Iran until Islamic revolution; US support of his regime led to the Iran Hostage Crisis | |
| 68760851 | Reykjavik Summit | Reagan and Gorbachev discussed banning nuclear weapons; gains were made | |
| 68760852 | Chernobyl | nuclear power plant in Russia that had an explosion in 1986 & released radioactive materials into the air | |
| 68760853 | Neal Armstrong | first man in the moon, "one small step for man one giant leap for mankind" | |
| 68760854 | Helsinki agreement | 35 nations pledged to respect basic rights such as religious freedom and freedom of thought; Ford's accomplishment | |
| 68760855 | CREEP | Committee to RE-Elect President; Nixon's team that organized Watergate break-in | |
| 68760856 | Woodstock | 1969 music festival that signified the counterculture of the late 1960s | |
| 68762801 | babyboomers | people born from 1946 - 1964; youth culture was created | |
| 68762802 | Bay of Pigs | 1961invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles with CIA support; complete failure under John F. Kennedy | |
| 68762803 | Peace Corps | Kennedy's program established to send volunteers to help developing nations | |
| 68762804 | Tet Offensive | 1968 attack by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces throughout South Vietnam; moral defeat for US forces | |
| 68775502 | Three Mile Island | Nuclear Power Plant in Penn. which failed, causing radiation to be admitted in the air | |
| 68775503 | Interstate Highway Act | 1950s plan to build 41,000 mi of highway; met the need of suburban growth and was a means to transport missiles | |
| 68775504 | containment | Truman's policy designed to keep the Soviet Union from expanding its power | |
| 68775505 | counterculture | Young americans in 60s who rejected conventional customs & mainstream culture | |
| 68775506 | Khmer Rouge | communist party in Cambodia that imposed a reign of terror | |
| 68775507 | Vladmir Putin | replaced Yeltsin, elected president of USSR in 2000 |
