In this 1978 case, the Supreme Court ruled that a university's use of racial "quotas" in its admissions process was unconstitutional, but a school's use of "affirmative action" to accept more minority applicants was constitutional in some circumstances.

Passed as a result of the Watergate Scandal, this act creates a special prosecutor position, which can be used by Congress or the Attorney General to investigate individuals holding or formerly holding certain high positions in the federal government and in national Presidential election campaign organizations.

The US policy of withdrawing its troops and transferring the responsibility and direction of the war effort to the government of South Vietnam.

a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. They are widely considered to constitute the most important event leading to the gay liberation movement.

This Republican candidate and former actor won voters over in 1980 with his appeal to "white backlash" and his coalition with the religious right.

These activists founded the United Farm Workers Movement (UFW) in 1962, a labor union for migrant farm workers.

Persistent high inflation combined with high unemployment and stagnant demand in a country's economy. Used to describe the economic situation of the 1970's.

A Congressionally chartered Hispanic veterans and civil rights organization founded in 1948 to address the concerns of Mexican-American veterans, who were segregated from other veterans groups.

A federal law intended to check the president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress.

A popular term used to refer to the economic policies of Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. president (1981–1989), which called for widespread tax cuts, decreased social spending, increased military spending and the deregulation of domestic markets. Also known as "supply side" economics.

For the first time during the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union had agreed to limit the number of nuclear missiles in their arsenals with this treaty.

In October 1973 when the members of this multi-national organization proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations perceived as supporting Israel, including the United States. As a result, oil prices quadrupled.

A new political movement in the early 1980's personified by Ronald Reagan. Believed in less government and supply side economics.

Establishes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers" suspected of espionage or terrorism.

A 1987 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. Signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Eliminated all nuclear and conventional missiles, as well as their launchers.

This treaty, signed in 1973, ended America's direct involvement in the Vietnam War.

Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981, after a group of Iranian students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

The U.S. aided this insurgent group during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. Many members of this group would later form the Taliban.

Marked an ideological shift in opposition movements in the middle east from socialism and Arab nationalism to religious fundamentalism.

A proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons in space. Cost an estimated 200 billion and was never launched.

a major political scandal that occurred in the United States during the early 1970s, following a break-in by five men at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972, and President Richard Nixon's administration's subsequent attempt to cover up its involvement.

This democratic president appealed to voters as an outsider from corrupt politicians. As president, he brought human rights into the U.S. foreign policy.

As the civil rights movement and dismantling of Jim Crow laws in the 1950s and 1960s visibly deepened existing racial tensions in much of the Southern United States, Republican politicians developed strategies that successfully contributed to the political realignment of many white, conservative voters in the South that had traditionally supported the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. It also helped push the Republican Party much more to the right.

A political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration. Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. They hoped, thereby, to fund the Contras in Nicaragua while at the same time negotiating the release of several U.S. hostages. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited by Congress.

Reagan's VP who won the 1988 election.