APUSH CH. 39 – Flashcards

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Describe the economic problems faced by the US in the 1970's.
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After the flurry of economic growth in the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. economy grew stagnant in the 1970s. No year during that decade had a growth rate that matched any year of the preceding two decades.
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productivity
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(economics) the ratio of the quantity and quality of units produced to the labor per unit of time
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inflation
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a general and progressive increase in prices
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What was Pres. Nixon's plan for getting the US out of Vietnam?
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Upon taking office, President Richard Nixon urged American's to stop tearing each other apart and to cooperate. He was very skilled in foreign affairs, and to cope with the Vietnam dilemma, he used a policy called "Vietnamization" in which 540,000 American troops would be pulled out of the Southeast Asian nation and the war would be turned back over to the Vietnamese. The South Vietnamese would slowly fight their own war, and the U.S. would only supply arms and money but not American troops; this was called the "Nixon Doctrine."
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Liberal Establishment
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Nixon believed this cast him into politial darkness for most of the 1960's
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Vietnamization
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President Richard Nixons strategy for ending U.S involvement in the vietnam war, involving a gradual withdrawl of American troops and replacement of them with South Vietnamese forces
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Silent majority
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that group of quiet honest hard-working middle class Americans who do their job, respect their country and support gov.; Nixon wants their votes in 1968 and 1972
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Nattering Nabobs of Negativism
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Spiro Agnew's derogatory name for antiwar protesters
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My Lai
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location of the killing of over 400 Vietnamese civilians by American soldiers
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What developments caused many people to become even more critical of the war in 1970-1971?
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North Vietnamese had been using Cambodia as a springboard for funneling troops and arms along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and on April 29, 1970, Nixon suddenly ordered U.S. troops to invade Cambodia to stop this.
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Cambodia
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a nation in southeastern Asia
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Kent State
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Ohio college where an anti-war protest got way out of hand, the Nat'l Guard was called in and killed 3 students (innocent & unarmed,wounded 9) in idiscriminate fire of M-1 rifles
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Twenty Sixth Amendment
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an amendment to the US constituion, adoped in 1971 and lowering the voting age from 21 to 18
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Pentagon papers
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A 7,000-page top-secret United States government report on the history of the internal planning and policy-making process within the government itself concerning the Vietnam War.
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Daniel Ellsberg
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a former American military analyst employed by the RAND Corporation who precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of government decision-making about the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other newspapers.
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What was the "China Card", and how did Nixon use it?
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Meanwhile, China and the Soviet Union were clashing over their own interpretations of Marxism, and Nixon seized this as a chance for the U.S. to relax tensions and establish "détente."
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Henry Kissinger
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United States diplomat who served under President Nixon and President Ford (born in 1923)
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Detente
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the easing of tensions or strained relations (especially between nations)
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ABM Treaty
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1972-2001; political; treaty between the U.S and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against missile-delivered nuclear weapons
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SALT Treaty
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a five-year agreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, sighned in 1972, that limited the nations' numbers of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched missiles.
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MIRVs
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multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles designed to overcome any defense by "saturating" it with large number of warheads
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Why was Nixon unhappy with the Supreme Court?
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When Earl Warren was appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he headed many controversial but important decisions.
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Judicial Activism
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an interpretation of the U.S. constitution holding that the spirit of the times and the needs of the nation can legitimately influence judicial decisions (particularly decisions of the Supreme Court)
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Miranda
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Prospero's daughter
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Engel v Vitale
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banned formal prayer in schools, goverment whould not make any religion the 'official' religion.
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Warren Berger
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replaced Earl Warren in 1969; the Burger Court was supposed to reverse the liberal rulings of the Warren court
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Roe v Wade
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(1973) legalized abortion on the basis of a woman's right to privacy
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How conservative was Pres. Nixon? Explain
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was also created to protect nature, as well as OSHA, or the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
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Aid the families with dependent children
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Nixon also expanded Great Society programs by increasing appropriations for Medicare and Medicaid, as well as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and created the Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which gave benefits to the indigent, aged, blind, and disabled, and he raised Social Security.
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Reverse Discrimination
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Using race or sex to give preferential treatment to some people.
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EPA
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an independent federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment
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OSHA
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a government agency in the Department of Labor to maintain a safe and healthy work environment
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Silent Spring
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A book written to voice the concerns of environmentalists. Launched the environmentalist movement by pointing out the effects of civilization development.
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Clean Air Act
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Set emission standards for cars, and limits for release of air pollutants
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Endangered Species Act
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identifies threatened and endangered species in the US, and puts their protection ahead of economic considerations
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Southern Strategy
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Nixon's plan to persuade conservative southern white voters away from the Democratic party
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How did the situation in Vietnam help Nixon win a landslide in the 1972 election?
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In 1972, the North Vietnamese attacked again, surprisingly, and Nixon ordered massive retaliatory air attacks, which ground the Vietnamese offense to a stop when neither China nor Russia stepped in to help, thanks to Nixon's shrew diplomacy.
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George McGovern
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George Stanley McGovern, Ph.D (born July 19, 1922) is a former United States Representative, Senator, and Democratic presidential nominee. McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election in a landslide to incumbent Richard Nixon. McGovern was most noted for his opposition to the Vietnam War. He is currently serving as the United Nations global ambassador on hunger.
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What did Cambodia have to do with the War Powers Act?
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It was then discovered that there had been secret bombing raids of North Vietnamese forces in Cambodia that had occurred since March of 1969, despite federal assurances to the U.S. public that Cambodia's neutrality was being respected.
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Pol Pot
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Leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, who terrorized the people of Cambodia throughout the 1970's
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War Powers Act
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Act that grants emergency executive powers to president to run war effort
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"The shaky peace was in reality little more than a thinly disguised American retreat" Explain
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The War Powers Act of November 1973 (1) required the president to report all commitments of U.S. troops to Congress within 48 hours and and (2) setting a 60 day limit on those activities. There was also a "New Isolationism" that discouraged the use of U.S. troops in other countries, but Nixon fended off all efforts at this.
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Explain the cause and effects of the Arab Oil embargo.
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After the U.S. backed Israel in its war against Syria and Egypt which had been trying to regain territory lost in the Six-Day War, the Arab nations imposed an oil embargo, which strictly limited oil in the U.S. and caused a fuel crisis.
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OPEC
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an organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the production and sale of petroleum
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Of what wrongdoing was the Nixon administration guilty?
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On June 17, 1972, five men working for the Republican Committee for the Re-election of the President (CREEP) were caught breaking into the Watergate Hotel and planting some bugs in the room.
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Watergate
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a political scandal involving abuse of power and bribery and obstruction of justice
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CREEP
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a slow creeping mode of locomotion (on hands and knees or dragging the body)
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Enemies List
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people Nixon had something against or had done something to him
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Plumbers
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Name given to the special investigations committee established along with CREEP in 1971. Its job was to stop the leaking of confidential information to the public and press.
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John Dean
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He testified against Nixon as well as other cabinet members in the Watergate hearings. His testimony helped led to the removal of several White House officials and the resignation of Nixon. Before his testimony he had been a White House lawyer.
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Executive Privilege
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The power to keep executive communications confidential, especially if they relate to national security.
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Spiro Agnew
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Nixon's vice-president resigned and pleaded "no contest" to charges of tax evasion on payments made to him when he was governor of Maryland. He was replaced by Gerald R. Ford.
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Gerald Ford
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38th President of the United States
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Saturday Night Massacre
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dismissal of independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus during the Watergate scandal 1973
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Did the President do the right thing when he pardoned Nixon?
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He was also seen as a dumb jock of a president (he was a former Univ. of Michigan football player), and his popularity and respect further sank when he issued a full pardon of Nixon, thus setting off accusations of a "buddy deal."
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What was the cost (not in just money) of the Vietnam war?
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Disastrously for Ford, South Vietnam fell to the communist North in 1975, and American troops had to be evacuated, the last on April 29, 1975, thus ending the U.S. role in Vietnam War. America seemed to have lost the war, and it had also lost a lot of respect.
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Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail?
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Phyllis Schlafly led other women against ERA. Schlafly said ERA advocates were, "bitter women seeking a constitutional cure for their personal problems." She used the following arguments against the ERA amendment: It would deprive a woman's right to be a wife. It would require women to serve in combat.
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Title IX
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No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance
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ERA
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a major division of geological time
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Roe v Wade
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(1973) legalized abortion on the basis of a woman's right to privacy
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What difficulties did Vietnamese immigrants experience when they came to America?
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South Vietnamese refugees initially faced resentment by Americans following the turmoil and upheaval of the Vietnam War. A poll taken in 1975 showed only 36 percent of Americans were in favor of Vietnamese immigration.
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Explain the significance of the Bakke case
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In the Bakke case of 1978, the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that Allan Bakke (a white applicant claiming reverse discrimination) should be admitted to U.C.—Davis med school. The decision was ambiguous saying (1) admission preference based on any race was not allowed, but conversely that (2) race could be factored into the admission policy.
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Why did Jimmy Carter win the presidency in 1976?
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In 1976, Jimmy Carter barely squeezed by Gerald Ford (297 to 240) for president, promising to never lie to the American public. He also had Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.
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Jimmy Carter
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39th President of the United States (1924-)
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Compare and Contrast the first and second femnist waves.
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1st Wave was feminism, it was lesbians fighting for rights since they didn't have husbands and did not fit into the system. 2nd Wave was Communism seeking to destroy the institutions and the foundation of Western society. They claimed The Suffragette Movement as their own to give validity to their corrupt motives.
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Describe Carter's foreign policy achievements.
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Carter was a champion for human rights, and in Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) and South Africa, he championed for black rights and privileges. Carter also pledged to return the Panama Canal to Panama by the year 2000, and resumed full diplomatic relations with China in 1979.
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Anwar Sadat
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Egyptian statesman who (as president of Egypt) negotiated a peace treaty with Menachem Begin (then prime minister of Israel) (1918-1981)
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Menachem Begin
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Leader of Israel who signed a peace treaty with Egypt at the Camp David Accords, which had Israel withdrawing from Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip and returning the land to Egypt
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Camp David Accords
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The first signed agreement between Israel and an Arab country, in which Egyptian president Anwar Sadat recognized Israel as a legitimate state and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.
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How did Carter react to the renewed Energy Crisis?
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He called for legislation to improve energy conservation, but the gas-guzzling American people, who had already forgotten about the long gas lines of 1973, didn't like these ideas.
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Shah of Iran
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title for the former hereditary monarch of Iran
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What foreign policy problems plagued the second half of Carter's presidency?
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Carter signed the SALT II agreements with Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, but the U.S. Senate wouldn't ratify it.
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Leonid Breshnev
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The third leader of Communist Russia who reinstituted policies from Stalin's reign.
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SALT II
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the second treaty between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics resulting from the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
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Ayatollah Khomeini
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Iranian religious leader of the Shiites
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Afghanistan
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a mountainous landlocked country in central Asia
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Hostage crisis
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diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 U.S. diplomats were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students took over the American embassy in support of the Iranian revolution
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