Welcome to Unit 9 of APUSH! This unit covers the time period from 1980 to the present! During this unit, we will be covering everything from the presidency of Ronald Reagan to a brief overview of the presidency of Barack Obama. We will go over Reagan’s presidency, tax cuts, and conservatism, before moving on to how the Cold War ended and why. We will also go over the Persian Gulf War. Then we will talk about the rapidly changing American economy, the Rust Belt, the Sun Belt, digitalization, immigration, and migration in the 21st Century. Afterwards, we will end with George W. Bush’s presidency (9/11, War on Terror, Great Recession) and a brief bit on Obama and energy.
Key People, Terms, and Events
People
Terms
Events
Reaganomics: Advocated for supply-side economies, meaning that the government should increase the supply of goods as much as possible to revive the economy
Keynesian Economics: The main economic system of the Democrats, which relied on government spending to increase demand as much as possible, instead of supply as compared to supply-side economics
War on Drugs: A government-led initiative to stop the use of and the trade of drugs in the United States
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI): An antimissile system that was planned to use lasers to destroy missiles in outer space. This idea was dubbed “Star Wars” by the media
Iran-Contra Affair: A scandal in which the Reagan administration was revealed to have been secretly selling arms to Iran in exchange for Americans held hostage there. Then the U.S. was using the profits from the sale to support the Contras in Nicaragua. This led to calls for Reagan’s impeachment but nothing came of it and later in 1992, President H. W. Bush pardoned those who were involved in the affair.
Persian Gulf War: In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait to take control of its oil reserves. In response, 41st President George H. W. Bush persuaded Saudi Arabia to accept a buildup of American troops. This was called Desert Shield and Bush hoped that this would prevent Iraq from any further aggression in the region. But after sanctions failed to remove Iraq from Kuwait, Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm and Bush persuaded Congress to approve the use of military force to liberate Kuwait. Then, in 1991, an assault on Kuwait City was launched, liberating the country and greatly improving Bush’s approval ratings. As a result of the war, the price of oil fell.
Post-Industrial Economy: An economy that has moved on from manufacturing things and instead, now, many people are working minimum-wage jobs in the service sector without union protection
Silicon Valley: An area in California around the Bay Area that became highly populated and became the birthplace of the new computer and technology industries starting in the 1980s
9/11: Attacks on September 11, 2001, in which al Qaeda drove planes into the Twin Towers and killed thousands of people. This led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, and the War on Terror
War on Terror: After 9/11, Bush declared a “War on Terror” and launched the Bush Doctrine. This led to a war in Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. While the U.S. was able to overthrow the Taliban government in Afghanistan, the U.S. failed to capture bin Laden until 2011 and Afghanistan became very unstable as a country; while the War on Terror worked, it led to a lot of criticisms against the government and in 2014, the U.S. began withdrawing from Afghanistan and changed their focus to training the Afghan military there instead of occupying them. Also as part of the War on Terror, Bush also accused Iraq of having weapons of mass destruction. But even after the UN Security Council failed to find evidence of these weapons in 2003, the U.S. launched an invasion of Iraq from Kuwait anyways in Operation Iraqi Freedom and this led to another war in Iraq
Bush Doctrine: Declared that the U.S. had the right to do “pre-emptive strikes” against enemies before they attacked the U.S.
Great Recession of 2008: A recession in which the housing market collapsed and many banks failed. This led to a credit crisis because banks couldn’t make loans and so the economy slowed down. The stock market lost half its value, gas prices rose, and unemployment spread. As a result, the federal government started taking over a few critical financial institutions and also sent out a stimulus package for the people. Led to the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
Sandra Day O’Connor: Nominated to the Supreme Court by Reagan, the first woman in the Supreme Court
Antonin Scalia: Nominated to the Supreme Court by Reagan, the first woman in the Supreme Court
Anthony Kennedy: Nominated to the Supreme Court by Reagan, the first woman in the Supreme Court
William Rehnquist: 16th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court became highly conservative under him. Also, he weakened affirmative action and Roe v. Wade by allowing states to impose regulations on abortion.
Mikhail Gorbachev: Became the Soviet premier (or leader) in 1982 and implemented the policies of glasnost and perestroika to open up Russia, and his actions led to the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty in 1987 to reduce tension between the United States and Russia, a failed coup against Gorbachev in 1991 led to the fall of the USSR
Boris Yeltsin: After the USSR was dissolved in 1991, he became the first president of the new Russian Republic
Elon Musk: Billionaire, CEO of Tesla
Mark Zuckerberg: Billionaire, CEO of Facebook
Jeff Bezos: Billionaire, CEO of Amazon
Osama bin Laden: The leader of al Qaeda, used Afghanistan as a base for attacks, killed in 2011
1980s: The AIDS epidemic begins and many American manufacturing jobs begin to be transferred overseas or become automated
1980: Carter issues the Carter Doctrine which halts grain exports and technology to the USSR and boycotts the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games after the USSR invaded Afghanistan
1985: Perestroika and glasnost are introduced to Russia
1987: The Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty is signed between the United States and the USSR, an agreement in which the two powers would remove and destroy all intermediate-range missiles in Europe
1989: Pro-democracy protests erupt in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and the Chinese military stops the protests in the Tiananmen Square Massacre
1990: The Persian Gulf War occurs
1991: The USSR is dissolved, Bush liberates Kuwait City from Iraq, and the World Wide Web becomes public
2001: On September 11, al Qaeda drives planes into the Twin Towers, killing thousands of people, leading to the Patriot Act, the War on Terror, and the overthrowing of the Taliban government in Afghanistan by the Untied States
2003: The United States launches an invasion of Iraq from Kuwait in Operation Iraqi Freedom, capturing Baghdad, the capital of Iraq
2008: The Great Recession occurs and the housing market collapses
2012: The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is created
2015: In the Paris Climate Accords, the United States and many other nations agree to keep the rise in mean global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels
Fast Summary
After 1980, American history was marked by several key events and developments. Some of the most significant include:
The Reagan Revolution: President Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 and ushered in a new era of conservative politics. He reduced taxes, cut social spending, and built up the military. He also made efforts to defeat communism, including his famous speech calling on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" in reference to the Berlin Wall.
The end of the Cold War: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Soviet Union crumbled and the Cold War came to an end. The US emerged as the sole superpower in the world, but also faced new challenges, such as global terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons.
The rise of technology: The 1980s and 1990s saw a rapid acceleration of technological innovation, including the development of the personal computer and the internet. This had a profound impact on the economy and everyday life, leading to the rise of Silicon Valley and the dot-com boom.
Tiananmen Square: In 1989, pro-democracy protesters gathered in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China to protest against the Chinese government. The protest lasted for several weeks and attracted global attention, but was eventually ended when the Chinese military used force to clear the square. The exact number of casualties remains unknown, but it is estimated that hundreds or possibly thousands of people were killed. The events at Tiananmen Square continue to be a sensitive topic in China, and discussions or references to the protest are largely suppressed.
Persian Gulf War: In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, leading to a conflict that became known as the Persian Gulf War. The US, along with a coalition of international forces, launched Operation Desert Storm, a military campaign to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. The war was brief and successful, with Kuwait being liberated within a matter of weeks. However, the conflict set the stage for ongoing tensions and conflicts in the Middle East, including the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US and its allies.
The War on Terror: In 2001, terrorists associated with Al Qaeda carried out the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. This led to the US invading Afghanistan and later Iraq, in what became known as the War on Terror.
The 2008 financial crisis: The housing market bubble burst in 2008, leading to a widespread financial crisis that impacted the global economy. The US government responded with a series of measures, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), to stabilize the financial system.
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