Ch. 41 NotesAmerica Confronts the Post-Cold War

Read My Lips . . .

1. While campaigning in 1988, George Bush famous answered a question by stating, “Read my lips, no new taxes”.

2. But during his time in office the economy sunk into a recession and battles with the Democrats in Congress eventually led to Bush compromising on a federal deficit reduction plan that included tax increases.

3. Conservatives will be outraged, especially now that the Cold War is over and the economy is the main issue of the times (despite the prosperity of the 1980’s, 14% of Americans still lived in poverty and the economy had stopped growing in the early 1990’s).

The Election of 1992

1. In the election, the Republicans ran George W. Bush against the Democratic candidate William (Bill) Clinton.

2. Also entering the race was Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, who ran as an independent who claimed he could fix the economy (he received 18.9% of the popular vote – votes that would have gone to Bush.

3. Clinton ended up winning with 43% of the popular vote to Bush’s 37.4% - Democrats also gained control of Congress.

1992

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

1. To fulfill a campaign promise, Clinton made an effort to allow openly gay men and lesbians into the armed forces – but only Congress has the power to regulate the armed forces.

2. Fierce opposition in Congress eventually led to the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy, which allowed homosexuals into the military as long as they kept their sexuality a secret (it was finally repealed in 2010).

3. This hurt Clinton politically.

Health Care Reform1. Another of Clinton’s goals was to

reform health care in the U.S. – we had the highest health care costs in the world and were the only major democracy with a large percentage of the population still lacking basic medical insurance.

2. To solve this problem, he set up a task force headed up by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

3. The plan they developed was highly unpopular due to its complexity and the fact that people were afraid it would cause in increase in taxes – it was defeated by Congress.

The Welfare Reform Bill1. In a conservative backlash, Republicans

gained control of Congress in 1994.2. Led by Newt Gingrich, they then passed

the Welfare Reform Bill, which made deep cuts in welfare grants and required able-bodied welfare recipients to find employment.

3. It also tightly restricted benefits for both aliens.

4. Clinton incurred the wrath of his own party when he signed the bill into law, but he did so recognizing the conservative mood of the country at that time.

5. However, the Republicans will overreach as well, and the federal government actually had to shut down when Congress and Clinton couldn’t agree on a budget packing in 1995 – this helped Clinton win reelection in 1996.

Domestic Troubles

1. There was a widespread public attitude of disillusionment and distrust of the federal government as the 1990’s began.

2. In 1993, the ATF and FBI thoroughly mishandled an attempt to end a standoff with the Branch Davidians in Waco, TX (a Seventh Day Adventist sect led by David Koresh).

The Oklahoma City Bombing

1. In 1995, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols used a truck bomb to destroy the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.

2. They claimed it was in retaliation for how the government treated the Branch Davidians.

The Unibomber1. In 1996, Ted Kaczynski was arrested.

2. Known as the Unibomber, he was a former mathematician who had been mailing bombs to universities and businessmen because he was opposed to industrialization and modern technology (he was nuts!!!).

3. His brother recognized a drawing of him and turned him in.

The Atlanta Olympic Bombings

1. In 1996 a bomb was set off during the Atlanta Olympics – the first of four bombs set off by Eric Robert Rudolph.

2. He was upset with the legalization of abortion and the “aberrant sexual behavior” of the U.S.

Foreign Issues1. Clinton also had to deal with several foreign policy issues – we’re not real sure how to

react in regard to foreign policy because up until now it’s always been shaped by the Cold War.

2. In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed – done by a group of terrorists of Middle Eastern descent.

3. We sent troops into Somalia on a peace-keeping mission but recalled them after more than a dozen Americans were killed.

4. We didn’t sent troops to Rwanda to try to stop the ethnic violence between the Hutu and Tutsi.

5. He sought to improve trade with China even as the world protested the human rights violations taking place there.

6. He committed troops to a NATO led peace-keeping force in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to help stop the ethnic cleansing taking place there (war was between Bosniacs, Serbs and Croats).

7. In 2000 the U.S.S. Cole was attacked off the coast of Yemen – by al-Qaeda.8. He also attempted to promote peace between Israelis/Palestinians, India and

Pakistan, North/South Korea and Northern Ireland.

The Economy

1. Through it all, the factor that helped Clinton the most was the economy.

2. The economy recovered during the early 1990’s – in the 2000 presidential race one of the big issues was how to spend government surpluses.

3. It improved because of the low-interest rates put into place by the Federal Reserve Board and the development of the new dot.com industries.

NAFTA 1. Clinton received criticism though for signing the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993.

2. It eliminated many of the tariffs on products traded among the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

3. The biggest fear was that U.S. industries would be relocated to Mexico – and that it would make it easier to smuggle drugs into the U.S.

The Impeachment

1. In 1998, the House of Representatives started impeachment proceedings on Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice.

2. It stemmed from him lying under oath about an affair with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.

3. The Senate acquitted Clinton of all charges – was seen as highly political.

The Election of 2000

1. In the election of 2000, Republican George W. Bush defeated Democrat Al Gore.

2. The election was extremely close and eventually hinged on disputed results in Florida (Jeb Bush’s state).

3. In December of 2000, the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore, gave the election to Bush.

Nominee: George W. Bush Albert A. Gore• Party: Republican

Democratic• Home state: Texas

Tennessee • Running mate: Cheney Lieberman• Electoral vote: 271 266• States carried: 30

20+DC• Popular vote: 50,456,002 50,999,897• Percentage: 47.87% 48.38%

Total electoral votes = 538. Total electoral votes needed to win = 270 Voting age population 205,815,000 only 51.3% voted

FYI: Ralph Nader- the 3rd party got 2,882,955 popular votes… could that have made a difference???... They would have voted D

George W. Bush1. In his campaign, Bush promised

to end the partisan division of the Clinton era.

2. Instead, he increased it by sharply cutting taxes, withdrawing support from international programs that sanctioned abortion, refusing government-sponsored stem cell research, allowing oil drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge and withdrawing the U.S. from the Kyoto Treaty, which was aimed at combating global warming.

9/111. On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists under the orders of Osama bin Laden attacked the U.S. (World Trade Center, Pentagon and the plane that was forced down in Pennsylvania).

2. This attack brought a wave of patriotism to the U.S. and support for Bush as he vowed to go after the terrorists.

U.S. Response to 9/11

1. The Patriot Act was passed to strengthen the government’s hand in dealing with terrorists, especially in regard to how we handled immigrants suspected of terrorism.

2. The Department of Homeland Security was formed.3. We invaded Afghanistan and eventually Iraq.4. Over time, though, Bush drew heavy criticism,

especially for the invasion of Iraq and the degree to which civil liberties were limited in order to combat terrorism.

The Patriot Act

The Invasion of Iraq

1. In March of 2003, the U.S. and Great Britain invaded Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power (and get his weapons of mass destruction).

2. The Iraqi military was easily defeated but the problems began after that.

3. In 2004 we handed Iraq over to their new, provisional government, but violence broke out between warring factions with Iraq and with foreign militants drawn into the country.

4. The violence escalated when it was revealed that U.S. soldiers were humiliating Iraqi captives at the Abu Ghraib prison.