The over-arching theme of chapter 40 is that Ronald Reagan returned America to more traditional policies and values.

1. Conservatism emerged through Reagan who supported tax cuts, “supply-side” economics that helped businesses, and a strengthening of the military. The national debt increased dramatically, largely due to increased military spending.
2. Reagan took a strong stance against communism, calling the U.S.S.R. the “evil empire.”
3. When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union, tensions began to soften. Gorbachev’s actions within the U.S.S.R. would eventually lead to communism’s fall in 1989.
4. In 1991, Iraq invaded Kuwait. This started an international effort to oust Iraq, led by George H. W. Bush and the U.S.