What was Nixon’s name for his supporters?

the silent majority

What two powerful nations did Nixon visit to play against each

other in the early 1970s?

China and the USSR

What were the two main planks of Nixon’s platform in 1968?

law & order and an honorable peace in Vietnam

Who gets power returned to them under Nixon’s “New

Federalism”?

the states

What is détente?

the lessening of tensions between the U.S. & Soviet

Union in the 1970s

What product did we sell to the Soviets in an effort to improve

relations?”

grain

What treaties between the U.S. & USSR helped reduce the number of ICBMs and other

strategic weapons?

SALT I & II

Who kept the story hot in the press during 1972 and

increased public pressure on Watergate?

Woodward & Bernstein

What did Deep Throat tell W & B to do to solve the

conspiracy?

follow the money

Which Nixon aide turned state’s evidence and turned

over a lot of condemning information?

John Dean

Who was the initial special prosecutor on the Watergate

Conspiracy?

Archibald Cox

Who was Sam Ervin?

Head of the Senate Committee looking into Watergate

What did Alexander Butterfield reveal to Ervin’s committee in

6/73?

that Nixon taped his conversations

What was the Saturday Night Massacre? How did it make

Nixon look?

Nixon fired two people in the justice department before he found one to fire Cox, guilty

Why did Nixon eventually decide to release transcripts of the tapes? How did they make

him look?

thought they would clear him, foul mouthed & evil

How did Watergate change the way Americans viewed the

Presidency?

lost faith in the office

Who took over for Spiro Agnew as Vice President? Why did

Agnew resign?

Gerald Ford, Agnew took bribes when he was governor of

Maryland

Which of Ford’s early actions shocked the nation?

pardon of Nixon for Watergate

What is OPEC? How did they start an energy crisis in the

U.S. in 1973?

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, embargo

on oil (Arab-Israeli War)

What impact did this have on the U.S. economy?

slow down & inflation

What did the “Steel Belt” become? Why?

Rust Belt, plant closings, layoffs, towns shutting down

(U.S. economy did not respond well to oil shortages)

What is stagflation? When did it hit the U.S.?

a combination of inflation and a stagnant economy, late-1970s

Identify two of the challenges faced by Gerald Ford in the

election of 1976.

economy, pardon, energy crisis, Ronald Reagan

What were two key attributes that helped Jimmy Carter get

elected President in 1976?

Open & honest, Washington outsider, humble background

Identify one way in which Carter tried to demonstrate he

was a man of the people.

walk down PA Ave., no heat in White House, meet with all

kinds of Americans

What was Carter’s biggest foreign policy triumph?

Camp David Accords

Identify an action taken by Carter early in his Presidency that was controversial with

many Americans.

Gave amnesty for draft dodgers, turned canal back

over to Panama

Why did Iranian students take U.S. embassy personnel

hostage?

wanted Shah returned to Iran for trial

What did followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini call the

U.S.? Why?

the Great Satan, believed Western influence was

corrupting their nation (& Islam)

Identify two ways that Carter responded the the 1979 Soviet

Invasion of Afghanistan.

grain embargo, end SALT talks, boycott Olympics

Identify three of the major problems Carter faced in his

effort to get re-elected in 1980.

Afghanistan, Iran Hostage Crisis, Bad Economy, Energy

Crisis

What president tried to restore prestige to the presidency in

light of this?

Ronald Reagan

How did Reagan try to bring about the downfall of the

USSR?

huge military buildup

Who was favored by the policy of Reaganomics?

upper class Americans

Where were the toughest economic times of the 1980’s?

What drug made this worse?

Inner-cities, crack cocaine

What were three of the major social crises of the 1980’s?

inner-cities, crack cocaine, AIDS

What were the key issues dividing liberals and

conservatives in the 1980’s?

gun control, abortion, the death penalty, school prayer,

the ERA

What were some of the key characteristics of the U.S.’

economy through the 1980’s?

growing technology sector, corporate raiders/speculation

in real estate, junk bonds

What was congress’ position on funding the Contras in 1983?

against it

What was our gov’t hoping for help with from the Iranians in

exchange for selling them arms?

freeing our hostages in Lebanon

Who was the scapegoat for the Iran Contra Affair?

Oliver North

What two things combined to help defeat Michael Dukakis in

the 1988 election?

Willie Horton (the criminal out on furlough) and the Snoopy

Picture

Which one of Bush’s supreme court nominees brought the issue

of sexual harassment to the country’s attention?

Clarence Thomas

Who was Manuel Noriega?

the drug dealing dictator of Panama that Bush had to

have captured and arrested

What was the Savings and Loan scandal of the late

1980’s?

several U.S. senators were protecting the interests of S&L

chiefs who were losing big bucks – gov’t had to bail them out

What was Bush’s biggest foreign policy achievement? Why did some people criticize

him for it?

Persian Gulf War, failure to completely remove Saddam

Hussein from power

What kinds of issues did Bill Clinton focus his campaign on in the 1992 election? What third party candidate helped him by

taking votes from Bush?

Economic (“It’s the economy, Stupid!”), Ross Perot

What were some of the big issues Clinton tried to take on

right from the start of his presidency? What was public

reaction?

Healthcare Reform and Gays in the Military, issues were

controversial

What significant change took place in Congress after the 1994 Midterm Elections?

A “Republican Revolution” based on their “Contract With America” (backlash against

Clinton)

Identify two of the scandals Clinton faced during his

Presidency? What action did Congress take against him?

Whitewater, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky; Congress Impeached him (found not

guilty in 1999)

What two issues were hotly debated in CA during the 1990s (there were ballot props passed

on each of them)?

Illegal Immigration (187) and Affirmative Action (209)

What sector drove the booming economy of the late 1990s?

technology (initial growth of the internet)

How did the 2000 Presidential Election finally end?

The Supreme Court ordered an end to the Florida recounts

Prior to 9/11/01, what were some of George W. Bush’s

priorities?

deregulation, education reform, tax cuts for upper classes &

corporations

Identify at least two of the major changes, other than War, that came about following 9/11.

Patriot Act (limits on civil liberties), TSA, Guantanamo

Prison

What was the primary reason for going to war in Afghanistan

after 9/11?

It was seen as the breeding ground for Islamic extremism and anti-American terrorists

Why did we go to war in Iraq in March, 2003?

Bush Administration was convinced they had a stockpile of WMDs they were prepared to use against the U.S., grew impatient with UN inspectors

What were three of the main factors that contributed to the

banking & financial crisis of 2008?

Deregulation of the mortgage industry, banks making risky

investments in “toxic boxes” of bad mortgages, collapse of

housing bubble, companies like AIG taking on too much risk

How did the government respond to the financial crisis

of 2008?

After helping one bank (Bear Sterns) get sold, they let

Lehman Bros fail, then bailed everybody else (including AIG) out (total of $1.5T in bailouts)

What were two key items at the top of President Obama’s

agenda when he came to office in 2009?

Healthcare reform, out of Iraq and Afghanistan, get economy

going again, education