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| A word used by Democrats critical of President Nixon's economic policies, in particular the inability to curb inflation at a time of high unemployment and recession. |
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| A secret Defense Department study of the Vietnam Wat. Publication of the papers in 1971 revealed how civilian and military leaders had misled the American people about the nation's role in Vietnam. |
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| In 1978, President Carter mediated a peace agreement between the leaders of Egypt and Israel at Camp David, a presidential retreat near Washington, D.C. The next year, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty based on the Camp David accords. |
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| Environmental Protection Agency |
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| Created by Congress in 1970 as part of a broader effort to protect the environment and curb the pollution of the nation's air and water. |
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| A break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate complex in Washing ton was carried out under the direction of White House employees. Disclosure of the White House involvement in the break-in and subsequent cover-up forced President Nixon to resign in 1974 to avoid impeachment. |
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| Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) |
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| A cartel of oil-exporting nations. In late 1973, OPEC took advantage of the October War and an oil embargo by its Arab members to quadruple the price of oil. This huge increase had a devastating impact of the American economy. |
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| In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that women had a constitutional right to abortion during the early stages of pregnancy. The decision provoked a vigorous right-to-life movement that opposed abortion. |
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| Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT) |
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| In 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union culminated four years on Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) by signing a treaty limiting the deployment of antiballistic missiles (ABM) and an agreement to freeze the number of offensive missiles for five years. |
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| President Nixon and Henry Kissinger pursued a policy of détente, a French word meaning a relaxation of tension, with the Soviet Union as a way to lessen the possibility of nuclear war in the 1970's. |
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| In 1979, Iranian fundamentalists seized the American embassy in Tehran and held fifty-three American diplomats hostage for over a year. The Iranian hostage crisis wakened the Carter presidency; the hostages were finally released on January 20, 1981, the day Ronald Reagan became president. |
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| In the 1970's, homosexuals began an effort to win social and legal acceptance and to encourage gays to affirm their sexual identity. Despite some advances, the movement was slowed by the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and the insistence of the military on banning openly gay individuals from the armed services. |
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| Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) |
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Definition
| In 1972, Congress approved the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution, am measure designed to guarantee women equal treatment under the law. Despite a three-tear extension in the time allowed for ratification, ERA supporters fell three states short of winning adoption. |
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| Two-day battle between police and gay demonstrators that marked the beginning of the gay liberation movement. |
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