Bush and Clinton

Iran-Iraq War: 1980-88• Iraq invades Iran in 1980 following the Iranian Revolution in 1979

– Iraq hoped to take advantage of situation in Iran but had very little success

– Hoped to establish Iraq as most powerful Persian Gulf State• Comparisons to WWI

– Trench warfare, chemical weapons, destruction• Iraqis and Americans had extensive political and military

cooperation• US focused on isolating Iran and maintaining freedom of

navigation

Invasion of Kuwait

• Iraq has 4th largest army in the world

• 1990: Saddam Hussein orders his army across the border of Kuwait

• If Iraq occupies Kuwait, Saudi Arabia is threatened– If S.A. falls, Iraq would

own 1/2 of worlds oil supply

Operation Desert Shield

• Defense of Saudi Arabia• 500K American troops placed in Saudi Arabia• UN Security Council forms coalition to fight

Saddam militarily– USSR did not veto b/c looking for support from

Western Europe due to internal changes

• Ultimatum to Saddam: leave Kuwait by January 15, 1991 or face full attack

Operation Desert Storm• Bombed Iraq’s military targets for

several weeks– 2500 missions– Iraq launches Scud missiles at

American military• February 24 the ground war began

– Liberate Kuwait within 100 hours

– Enter Iraq?• Would allies support it• If Saddam falls, would

entire nation dissolve into civil war

• Iraq agrees to ceasefire

Aftermath

• Iraq detonates explosives at many Kuwait oil wells causing mass destruction

• Iraq dumped oil into Persian Gulf• 100K+ Iraqis dead; 148 Americans killed• Television event that allowed people to see

war in a whole new way• American confidence in military and

technological edge skyrocketed

Election of 1992• Bush 89% approval rating after Persian Gulf

War• Recession and rising deficits caused popularity

to plummet– Raised taxes

• Bush 38 v Clinton 43 v Perot 19

“New” Democrat

• Move away from traditional Democratic policies

• Move people off welfare and call for growth in private business to help economic progress

• Embrace liberal and conservative ideals to modernize liberalism

REFORM

Health Care• Hillary Rodham Clinton

head of health care reform plan to guarantee affordable health care for all Americans

• Never voted on by Congress

Balanced Budget• 1997 - Agreed with R to

balance budget– Cut spending, lowered taxes,

programs to help children and improve health care

• 1998 – first surplus in 30 years

• Economy boomed– Unemployment fell, stock

market soared, tax revenues rose, fewer people received public aid

REFORM

Welfare• 1996 – Law passed to limit

how long people could receive benefits

• Block grants established for states: set amount of federal money they could spend on welfare

Crime• Call for tougher gun control

and decrease in exposure to violent imagery

• 1993 – bombing at World Trade Center

• 1995 – Oklahoma City bombing

• 1999 – Columbine• 2001 – 9/11

Foreign Policy• Relations with Former Cold War Foes– Russia intervened in Chechnya and US in Yugoslavia– Clinton granted China permanent trade rights

• Troops Abroad– 1991 – Yugoslavia breaks into 5 nations and Serbs in

Bosnia begin ethnic cleansing; US sends troops in 95– 1994 – force military ruler in Haiti to step down– 1998 – US launches air attack of Serb after attacking

Albanians in Kosovo• Trade and Global Economy– NAFTA: pros and cons?

Partisan Politics and ImpeachmentRepublicans Control Congress• Newt Gingrich turns voters

to Republican support with ‘Contract with America’– Congressional term limits,

balanced budget amendment, tax cuts, tougher crime laws, welfare reform

• 1994 – R win both houses of Congress for first time since 1954

Impeachment• Improperly using $$ from

land deal to fund 1984 gubernatorial reelection campaign

• Improper relationship with Monica Lewinsky

• Charged with perjury and obstruction of justice; faced trial but never received 2/3 majority in Senate

2000 Election: Gore v Bush

Confusion on Election Night• TV claimed Gore won

Florida, Penn., and Michigan

• Then said Florida was up in the air

• Bush won by 500 votes in Florida and won electoral votes even though 500,000 fewer popular votes

• Gore calls for recount

On to Court• Manual Recounting begins

on November 12• Republicans sue to have

recount stopped• On Dec 12, Supreme Court

votes 5-4 to stop recounts making Bush president

Bush Administration

Antiterrorist Measures• Antiterrorism Bill in Oct. 01• Created Department of

Homeland Security• Bombs Afghanistan in 2001

b/c gov’t was harboring Osama Bin Laden

• 2002 – broke up al-Qaeda• Afghanistan holds free

election and Hamid Karzai is president

War Against Iraq• Iraq agreed to stop production

of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons but Hussein only cooperated partly

• Bush claims Hussein supporting al-Qaeda

• No WMD but Hussein didn’t cooperate and US invades in March 2003

• Defeated quickly but no WMD found

• Hussein captured and executed

Bush Administration

Domestic Agenda• No Child Left Behind: more

accountability by states for students’ success

• Enron and WorldCom lead to Sarbanes-Oxley Act: creates regulatory board to oversee accounting industry and its involvement with corporations

• Investors lose faith and economy suffers

Re-elected in 2004• Still criticized for invasion of

Iraq• Administration allowed

torture of terrorists• Criticized for response to

Hurricane Katrina• 2006 – Democrats regain

control of House and Senate

2008 Presidential Election

• Obama v McCain• Collapse of financial

markets in 08• Obama Wins– Stimulus package to

combat recession– Plans to end combat

operations in Iraq and Afghanistan

– Health Care reform bill

Communications Revolution

• Information Superhighway: network of communication devices linking people and institutions across nation and world

• 1994 – Gore oversees government participation in development

• Internet

• 2009 – 228 million Americans use Internet regularly and in 97% of classrooms

• Telecommute – work from a location of their choice

• Telecommunications Act of 1996 – removed barriers that had prevented one type of communications company from starting up

Scientific Advances

Simulation and Robotics• Virtual Reality and Artificial

Intelligence– Flight Simulators– Tour of patients lungs– Long-distance surgery– Architects and engineers– Meteorologists

Space Exploration• 1997 – NASA’s Pathfinder

and Sojourner provide pictures of surface of Mars

• International Space Station (ISS) – zero-gravity lab for research

Scientific Advances

Biotechnology• Human Genome Project• 1997 – Dolly the Sheep is

cloned and then two Rhesus monkeys

• Genetic Engineering: artificial changing of the molecular biology of organisms cells to alter an organism

Medical Progress• Cancer survival rates

improve• Track spread of HIV• Magnetic Resonance

Imaging• Nanosensors and Nanobots

Shifting Economy

More Service, Less Security• Growth in service sector (part of

economy that provides services to consumers)

• Low paying jobs grow fastest• Temps hired to help downsize

(trim payrolls to streamline operations to increase profits)

• Young people left without jobs

Farms and Factories• Manufacturing sector

plummeted– Robots!

• Unions start to disappear– High-tech and professional

workers don’t need them– Low wage workers worried

about a strike

“The New Economy”

• Price of doing business would fall b/c of Internet and worldwide productivity would jump

• Bill Gates• NASDAQ – stock index on Wall Street that is

technology dominated– Enron and WorldCom– Threat of terrorism– Increase in dotcoms most went out of business

Change and the Global Economy

• Global Trade Accounts for 25-30% of economy• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT):

lowered trade barriers, such as tariffs, and established WTO to resolve trade disputes

• International Competition– Outside countries produce same at lower costs– 100,000 jobs lost in US due to NAFTA– Competition helped maintain low wages and

decrease benefits

Changing Face of America• Urban Flight: Americans leaving cities to move to the suburbs

– Overcrowding leads to crime and decaying houses– Space, privacy and security– Newer, less crowded schools– Industries relocated to suburbs– Downtown districts fell into disrepair

• Gentrification: purchased and rehabilitated deteriorating urban property, displacing lower income people– Old industrial sites– Young, single professional

• Suburban Living– Competition between suburbs creates incentives to companies to locate

within borders

Changing Face of America

Aging of America• 2008 Median Age: 36.8• Increase in demands for

programs that care for elders– 1/3 of National Budget– Medicare and Social Security– How do we handle increasing

number of retirees?

Shifting Population• Since 1960s, 30%

immigrants from Asia and 50% from Western Hemisphere

• 1994 – 95 1 million Mexicans lose jobs due to devalue of peso

• Majority-Minority• Proposition 187 in 1994• Immigration Laws in Arizona

Questions

• Which area of technological change do you think is most important for the country?

• Why is genetic engineering a source of controversy?

• How was the immigrations that occurred in the 1990s and early 2000s similar to and different from earlier waves of immigrations?

• How can workers best prepare themselves for the future?