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Playlist U.S. History: 1980 – Present 10 videos

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AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 9: 1980-Present
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AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 9: 1980-Present. The success of the Republican Party's fiscal policies in the 1980s and 1990s was accompanied by...what?

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AP U.S. History 1.2 Period 9: 1980-Present
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AP U.S. History 1.2 Period 9: 1980-Present. Which of the following historical events would undermine the promises made by the Republican Party in i...

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AP U.S. History 1.3 Period 9: 1980-Present
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AP U.S. History 1.3 Period 9: 1980-Present. Reagan's statement reflects what shift in American relations with regards to the Soviet Union?

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AP U.S. History 1.3 Period 9: 1980-Present 232 Views


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AP U.S. History 1.3 Period 9: 1980-Present. Reagan's statement reflects what shift in American relations with regards to the Soviet Union?

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Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by disarmament,

00:06

Doctor Frankenstein's favorite pasttime.

00:09

Yeah, he disarmed... Get it? Or not.

00:11

All right, check out this excerpt.

00:13

[ in a whisper ] Well, since the days of my administration...

00:16

[ mumbles ]

00:22

All right, yeah, that's my Ronald Reagan. It's not very good, I know.

00:24

All right. Reagan's statement reflects what shift in American relations

00:28

with regards to the Soviet Union?

00:30

It was called the Soviet Union back then. They were evil.

00:32

And here are your potential answers.

00:34

[ mumbles ]

00:39

All right. What can we take from Reagan's statement?

00:42

We see that he's been "working on an approach to the crucial issue

00:45

of strategic arms and the control of negotiations for control

00:49

of those arms with the Soviet Union."

00:51

Ugh. It's a mouthful.

00:53

So basically, there were a whole bunch of nuclear bombs

00:55

in the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. that were pointed at each other.

00:58

And Reagan was gonna try and, well, defuse the situation. Yeah, that's a good thing.

01:03

All right, well let's see which answer best explains Reagan's master plan.

01:06

Does Reagan's statement reflect A -

01:09

the continuation of hostile diplomatic relations?

01:12

Well, actually, Reagan went out of his way to help

01:14

thaw relations between the two countries.

01:16

They didn't make it all the way to a full alliance, but the Cold War

01:19

certainly became a little less... cold.

01:21

That freezes out A and C.

01:23

Could Reagan's statement have reflected B -

01:25

the detente of relations but stockpiling of weapons?

01:29

Well, ever hear of the S.T.A.R.T. Treaty? S-T-A-R-T, that thing?

01:33

It was the successful proposal by Reagan to

01:36

de-escalate the arms race,

01:38

which led to a decline in the number of weapons on each side.

01:41

That really helped everyone cool their jets.

01:43

And nuclear warheads.

01:45

Which means that Reagan's statement reflected D -

01:47

the softening of relations and gradual disarmament.

01:51

Ding ding ding. This speech marked the gradual relaxation of relations

01:55

between the U.S. and the Soviet Union,

01:57

as well as putting into motion agreements that would eliminate 80 percent

02:01

of all strategic nuclear weapons.

02:03

So D is the right answer. Michael Gorbachev's resignation would

02:07

finally bring the Cold War to a close.

02:10

If you can't stand the heat,

02:11

get out of the potentially civilization-ending nuclear fire.

02:15

Yeah. That's our motto, too.

02:18

[ wow ]

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