Presidents and Their Impact

Presidents and Their Impact

Lecture 10: Presidents and Their Impact
Introduction – Student Outcomes 1. Analyze the political and economic transformations which occurred as a result of industrialization from the late 19th century to the present with some evidence of understanding the principles of democracy and capitalism. 2. Trace the social movements for labor rights, racial equality, gender equality, and civil rights from the 19th century to the present. 3. Describe the philosophical and political trends which have influenced American society since Critique the historiography.

Introduction – Student Outcomes 4. Evaluate the effects of the frontier and westward movement upon those who played a major role in it, from the Native Americans and Chicanos who were displaced, to the settlers themselves, and to the effects on the environment. 5. Appraise the role that immigration has played in the history the United States since 1876, explaining how government regulations and popular support have changed up until the present.

Introduction – Student Outcomes 6. Evaluate U.S. foreign policy and its role in the world since the 1800's, explaining why the U.S. became involved in the wars and conflicts of the 20th and in the beginning of the 21st centuries. 7. Compare and contrast the causes and impact of American economic growth and recessions, especially focusing on the 1929 Great Depression and the 2007 recession. 8. Explain the dynamics that caused major sociocultural and political shifts in the s era.

Introduction – Student Outcomes 9. Trace the changing dynamics of the American population and its impact on class, family life, urbanization, and basic values. 10. Examine the importance of popular culture and technology in the lives of all Americans, tracing this growth since the 1870s. 11. Analyze the role of the United States in globalization and post-Cold War multipolarism. 12. Discuss the problems and promises of the United States in the 21st century.

Lecture 10: Presidents and Their Impact Introduction
Kennedy and Johnson Nixon and Watergate Carter and the Iranian Revolution Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Bill Clinton George W. Bush and the Two Wars Barack Obama

Lecture 10: Presidents and Their Impact A. Kennedy and Johnson
The Election of 1960 was one of the closest presidential elections in history with John Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon by a popular margin of 100,000 votes out of more than 68 million During the campaign, Kennedy charged that under Eisenhower and the Republicans the nation had fallen behind the Soviet Union in the Cold War, both militarily and economically, and that as president he would "get America moving again."

A. Kennedy and Johnson

Nixon responded that, if elected, he would continue the "peace and prosperity" that President Eisenhower had brought the nation in the 1950s Nixon also argued that with the nation engaged in the Cold War with the Soviets, that Kennedy was too young and inexperienced to be trusted with the presidency In the first televised presidential debates in history, Kennedy gained a slight edge on Nixon Kennedy went on to win the election

Kennedy came to the presidency determined to focus on the Cold War In his inaugural address Kennedy announced: “The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans who would pay any price, bear any burden to assure the survival and success of liberty” Kennedy asked Americans to move beyond their complacent focus on consumerism: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what can you do for your country”

Video

Kennedy would only serve three years and his domestic accomplishments were modest Kennedy would also experience limited success in the Cold War struggle: He established the Peace Corps which sent American volunteers into developing nations Kennedy also implemented his Alliance for Progress, a form of a Marshall Plan for Latin America but it met with limited success

In 1961 Kennedy also announced that America would land a man on the moon – a mission that many thought was impossible was actually accomplished in 1969 Perhaps Kennedy’s great accomplishment was avoiding a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis The details of this crisis have previously been discussed

Kennedy was reluctant to add civil rights to his agenda Kennedy even approved J Edgar Hoover’s request to wiretap Martin Luther King, Jr.’s telephone However, the televised struggle of Blacks in Birmingham forced Kennedy to act In June, 1963, Kennedy asked Congress to enact civil rights legislation

On November 22, 1963 Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald – Video Oswald’s own death two days later would leave a cloud conspiracy theories that still reappear from time to time – Video The assassination and funeral would be fixed in the memories of millions of American – Video Upon Kennedy’s death Lyndon B Johnson became President

Ironically, Johnson was far more interested in domestic reform than foreign policy An adept politician, after the assassination of Kennedy, Johnson easily won approval of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited racial discrimination in employment and also banned discrimination on the basis of sex Johnson was aware of the implications of the legislation and remarked: “I think we delivered the South to the Republican Party”

However, obstacles to Blacks voting in the South still were not yet addressed In the summer of 1964 a coalition of civil rights groups launched a voter registration drive in Mississippi – Freedom Summer Civil rights workers were met with violence with twenty-five workers murdered by 1965 Black activists hoped to win support for their efforts to win the right to vote at the Democratic Convention but were deeply disappointed

In the Election of 1964 the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, a conservative Senator from Arizona Living up to the Democratic image of an extremist who threatened not to only end the world through nuclear war but also to the programs of the New Deal such as Social Security, Goldwater was easily defeated by Johnson, 43 million to 27 million In 1965 King renewed the push for voter registration in the South

The Poll Tax prohibited with the adoption of the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964 but Martin Luther King, Jr. continued to push for voter registration in the South Johnson responded to King’s campaign for voting rights by supporting Congress’ Voting Rights Act of Having addressed the Civil Rights Movement and having won an election mandate, Johnson turned his focus to a program known as the Great Society – introducing Medicaid and Medicare; and funds for education and urban development

An important part of the Great Society was the War on Poverty which focused not on direct aid but delegated control of the programs to local control which often resulted in conflicts with local governments Unfortunately, the War in Vietnam would come to dominate Johnson’s attention and his effort to end poverty in America By 1968 more than half-million troops were in Vietnam and later that year the Tet Offensive would demonstrate that claims the war was being won were false – see Lecture #8

After reporting on the Tet Offensive, CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite announced to America his belief that the war in Vietnam could not be won – Video Faced by protests within the Democratic Party and growing disapproval of the war, Johnson announced in 1968 he would not seek reelection – Video

Lecture 10: Presidents and Their Impact B. Nixon and Watergate
In the Election of 1968 the Democrats nominated Vice-president Hubert Humphrey and the Republicans turned to Richard Nixon, who had been defeated by John Kennedy in 1960 Nixon was able to ride a backlash to the antiwar movement and the civil rights movements to win the presidency Nixon’s primary interest was foreign affairs and he had no wish to struggle with Congress so he accepted and even expanded elements of the Great Society

B. Nixon and Watergate

Nixon called his domestic program the New Federalism which provided block grant to the states rather than federally administered social welfare programs Nixon also created a number of federal regulatory agencies: EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Agency) NTSV (National Transportation Safety Board) Nixon also supported other environmental legislation: The Endangered Species Act (1973) The Clean Air Act was expanded (1970)

In the Election of 1968 the Democrats nominated Vice-president Hubert Humphrey and the Republicans turned to Richard Nixon, who had been defeated by John Kennedy in 1960 Nixon was able to ride a backlash to the antiwar movement and the civil rights movements to win the presidency Nixon’s primary interest was foreign affairs and he had no wish to struggle with Congress so he accepted and even expanded elements of the Great Society

The one issue that plagued Nixon was Vietnam When he attempted to cut the North Vietnam’s supply lines to the South by invading Cambodia in it destabilized the government which led to the seizure of power by the Khmer Rouge The protests against the war increased and climaxed with the shooting of students at Kent State in 1970 By 1973 he was able to negotiate the Paris Peace Accords which called for the withdrawal of American troops but left the current government in South Vietnam until it collapsed in 1975

The final tragedy for Nixon would be the Watergate Scandal in 1972 when former members of Nixon’s election committee were caught in a burglary of the Democratic Party national headquarters As it began to emerge that the White House was involved in the burglary it was also discovered that Nixon had secretly recorded White House meetings After holding extensive hearings, the House Judiciary Committee in August 1974 voted to recommend the impeachment of Nixon – Video

Faced with impeachment, Nixon became the only president to resign Gerald Ford, appointed Vice-President after Spiro Agnew resigned after facing charges of corruption, became President and immediately pardoned Nixon Ford would have no success addressing the nation’s economic problems – by 1975 the unemployment rate reached 10 percent The one success of Ford’s administration was the Helsinki Accords (1975) with the Soviets that finalized Europe’s post-war boundaries

C. Carter and the Iranian Revolution In the Election of 1976 the Democratic candidate was Jimmy Carter and the Republicans nominated Gerald Ford Carter was a former governor of Georgia who portrayed himself as an “outsider” Carter was also a devout Christian who promised the electorate: “I’ll never lie to you” In a close election, Carter defeated Ford Carter’s most pressing issue was the nation’s stagflation – inflation and high unemployment

C. Carter and the Iranian Revolution

C. Carter and the Iranian Revolution Carter believed the major challenge was inflation and cut spending on domestic programs He also supported the Federal Reserve’s decision to continue to raise interest rates until inflation was brought under control To many Americans Carter seemed to be leading America into decline Carter’s approach to foreign affairs was idealistic and made human rights the center of American foreign policy

C. Carter and the Iranian Revolution In 1978 Carter cutoff aid to the Argentine military dictatorship In 1979 he brokered the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel Carter also supported the Torrijos–Carter Treaties which transferred the Panama Canal back to Panama in 2000 Carter’s greatest challenges was the 1979 Iranian Revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini who established an Islamic Republic

C. Carter and the Iranian Revolution The revolution in Iran marked the beginning of Islamic Fundamentalism When Carter allowed the deposed shah to seek medical treatment in the U.S., the Islamic radicals seized the American embassy and fifty-three American hostages – Video When a complicated attempt to free the hostages failed many Americans were convinced that America was declining under Carter’s leadership – Video

C. Carter and the Iranian Revolution America’s relations with the Soviet Union were strained when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in Carter embargoed grain exports to the Soviet Union and organized a boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games Returning to a Cold War strategy, Carter provided arms to the Muslim Fundamentalists who were later emerge as the Taliban

C. Carter and the Iranian Revolution The disappointments of the Carter Administration created an opportunity for political conservatives One of the more influential groups to emerge were the Neoconservatives who argued that the sixties had led to a decline in moral standards and respect for authority The Neoconservatives believed that no matter how well intentioned the government’s social programs, undermined the work ethic and encouraged single motherhood

C. Carter and the Iranian Revolution The Neoconservatives warned against détente with the Soviet Union The politically conservative base would expand with the growth of religious fundamentalism, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Great Awakening The Evangelical Christians were alienated from America’s growing immorality and trivializing of religion They opposed the ban on school prayer, legalized abortion, and gay rights

C. Carter and the Iranian Revolution The growing influence of the religious fundamentalists can clearly be seen in the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that called for equality for both sexes The ERA passed Congress with little debate but the religious right protested that it undermined the family by discrediting the role of wife and homemaker The religious right demonstrated its power by defeating an amendment that most polls showed was favored by a majority of Americans

C. Carter and the Iranian Revolution The most bitter controversy was the debate over abortion which was legalized by the Roe v Wade decision in 1973 The anti-abortion movement did succeed in getting Congress in 1976 to prohibit funding for abortions under Medicaid By the early 1990’s abortion foes turned to violence and bombed medical clinics and killed doctors performing abortions In many areas it became more difficult for women to have an abortion

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War As the nation continued to face stagnation the conservative argument that government regulation of business raised costs and eliminated jobs Increasingly conservatives focused on cutting taxes to increase business profits and to eliminate government welfare programs In the Election of 1980 Ronald Reagan would win the Republican nomination and appeal to the growing conservative discontent

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Reagan easily won the election with 489 electoral votes to Carter’s 49 votes Reagan’s election represented a new conservative coalition of Sunbelt suburbanites and urban working-class whites: Anti-government crusaders Cold Warriors Libertarians Religious Fundamentalists

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Reagan promised to free the country from the special interests: unions and racial minorities Reagan was adept at adopting the language of patriotism to support his economic program He defined freedom as the ability to keep what you make rather than paying taxes By 1986 the top tax rate had been reduced from 70 percent to 28 percent Reagan’s economic program was known as Reaganomics relied upon low taxes and reduced regulation to stimulate the economy

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Reagan believed lower taxes would encourage Americans to work harder because they would keep more of their income As the economy expanded, tax receipts would increase despite lower tax rates In reality, the national debt tripled to $2.7 trillion under Reagan Reagan encouraged hostility to organized labor, in he replaced 13,000 striking air traffic controllers

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War During the Reagan administration the rate on inequality increased dramatically with the richest 1 percent owning 40 percent of the wealth While Reagan reduced support for food stamps, school lunches, and low-income housing but he left intact much of the New Deal reforms such as Social Security Reagan did nothing to end abortion and he actually appointed the first female Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War The social conservatives experienced some success: In Bowers v Hardwick (1986) the Supreme Court upheld the right of states to criminalize homosexual acts Nancy Reagan championed the “Just Say No” campaign to combat growing drug use

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Reagan renewed the Cold War, calling the Soviet Union an “evil empire” He launched the largest peacetime military expansion in American history in including his Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) to intercept enemy missiles Widely viewed movies such as, The Day After (1983), depicting life after a nuclear war, heightened American concerns over a nuclear war – Video

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Although Reagan was willing to use the military to defend American interest he would increasing rely upon foreign aid and special operations In 1982 the U.S. intervened in the Lebanese civil war but withdrew after 241 Marines were killed by a suicide bomber – Video In 1983 Reagan authorized the invasion of tiny island of Grenada to overthrow a pro-Cuban government – Video

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Viewing international relations from the perspective of the Cold War, Reagan would send aid to military dictatorships in Chile and South Africa Believing that communism was a threat to Central America, Reagan also sent aid to El Salvador and Guatemala The effort to combat communism in Central America would result in the Iran-Contra Affair and charges that Reagan was abusing presidential power

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War In 1984 Congress prohibited military aid to the rebels fighting the leftist government of Nicaragua In 1985 Reagan secretly authorized the sales of arms to Iran to try to win the release of American hostages held by Islamic groups William Casey, head of the CIA, took the funds from the sale of arms to Iran to fund arms for the Contras – an act prohibited by Congress After a middle eastern newspaper leaked the story of the arms sales Congress began an official investigation in 1987

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Eleven members of Reagan’s administration pleaded guilty or were convicted of perjury or obstruction of justice: Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Defense, was indicted on two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice on June 16, 1992 but Weinberger received a pardon from George H. W. Bush on December 24, 1992, before he was tried William Casey, Head of the CIA, was thought to have conceived the plan but was stricken ill and died hours before he was to testify before Congress

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Robert C. McFarlane, National Security Adviser ( ), convicted of withholding evidence, but after a plea bargain was given only two years of probation and pardoned by President George H. W. Bush Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State, convicted of withholding evidence, but after a plea bargain was given only two years probation and pardoned by President George H. W. Bush Alan D. Fiers, Chief of the CIA's Central American Task Force, convicted of withholding evidence and sentenced to one year probation and pardoned by President George H. W. Bush

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Clair George, Chief of Covert Ops-CIA, convicted on two charges of perjury, but pardoned by President George H. W. Bush before sentencing Oliver North, member of the National Security Council convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity, obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and destruction of documents, but the ruling was overturned since he had been granted immunity Fawn Hall, Oliver North's secretary, was given immunity from prosecution on charges of conspiracy and destroying documents in exchange for her testimony

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Jonathan Scott Royster, Liaison to Oliver North, was given immunity from prosecution on charges of conspiracy and destroying documents in exchange for his testimony National Security Advisor ( ) John Poindexter was convicted of five counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury, defrauding the government, and the alteration and destruction of evidence but Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that overturned these convictions

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Duane Clarridge, an ex-CIA senior official, he was indicted in November 1991 on seven counts of perjury and false statements relating to a November 1985 shipment to Iran but pardoned before trial by President George H. W. Bush Richard V. Secord, ex-major general in the Air Force who organized the Iran arms sales and Contra aid, pleaded guilty in November 1989 to making false statements to Congress and was sentenced to two years of probation

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Reagan denied any knowledge of the illegal activities which led some to charge that he had lost control of his own administration Given Reagan’s avowed anticommunism, he shocked the world by taking steps to end the Cold War The premiere of the Soviet Union was Mikhail Gorbachev who realized communism must be reformed if the Soviet Union was to survive Most importantly, Gorbachev realized the Soviets could not win the arms race against the Americans

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Iceland in and shortly after that meeting an arms limitation treaty was successfully negotiated which eliminated all intermediate range nuclear weapons In 1988 the Soviets began to withdraw from Afghanistan

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War It is a challenge to evaluate Reagan’s legacy: He supported big business and attacked organized labor which placed greater financial burdens on middle and lower income families Reagan encouraged and promoted family values Reagan’s anti-communism led his administration into a constitutional crisis Reagan established closed a close relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev and took steps to end the Cold War

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War For the Election of 1988 the Republicans nominated George H. Bush and the Democrats nominated Michael Dukakis The Election of 1988 revealed the growing strength of conservatism with George H. Bush winning with 54 percent of the vote Bush’s victory made it clear that the Democrats needed an alternative to their traditional liberalism

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War The first international challenge for Bush was the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989 When a student led democracy movement emerged and occupied historical Tiananmen Square the government responded with martial law To enforce martial the Chinese military brutally attacked the students Estimates of deaths range from 400 to protestors and approximately 50 soldiers

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War Bush’s presidency would see the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 When pro-democracy protests spread across Eastern Europe, Gorbachev refused to intervene, with the Berlin Wall falling in November, 1989 In 1990 the Baltic Republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania declared their independence from the Soviet Union When some of the Soviet military leaders tried to seize power from Gorbachev in 1991, Boris Yeltsin led the popular movement that defeated the military

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War When some of the Soviet military leaders tried to seize power from Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin led the popular movement that defeated the military Gorbachev then resigned, ending communist rule and the Soviet Union ceased to exist Yeltsin would become head of the Russian Republic

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War The sudden collapse of the Soviet Union meant the end of a bi-polar world and the beginning of American unilateralism One of the first examples of American unilateralism Bush’s 1989 invasion of Panama to overthrow the Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega The Defense Department reported 23 Americans killed, with an estimated 500 Panamanian deaths The invasion was condemned by the U.N. as a violation of international law

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War A more serious challenge for Bush was Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 Saddam Hussein had actually been supported by the U.S. during its war against Iran In the case of Kuwait, Bush resisted demands for the U.S. to unilaterally intervene and negotiated a forty nation U.N. coalition In February 1991 Operation Desert Storm was launched and quickly overwhelmed the Iraqi military and liberated Kuwait

D. Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War The campaign left Hussein in power and the U.S. continued its military presence in Saudi Arabia Many Islamic Fundamentalist such as Osama Bin Laden were outraged by the continued presence of Americans in Saudi Arabia Two different visions of America’s role in the world emerged after the Gulf War Unilateralism – America will act on its own to protect its national interests Multilateralism – America will act with other nations to protect the national interests

Lecture 10: Presidents and Their Impact E. Bill Clinton
Despite Bush’s success in foreign affairs, the Election of 1992 would turn on the nation’s economic problems The Democrats nominated Bill Clinton who combined social liberalism with some elements of the conservative agenda such as reducing government bureaucracy and ending the abuses of welfare A charismatic campaigner, Clinton blamed the nation’s economic problems on deindustrialization and the rising income inequality

Bush’s refusal to renounce the attacks of social conservatives on feminism, abortion rights, and gays led many social moderates to believe that Bush was intolerant Clinton would win the election by a wide margin Clinton began is administration by turning away from the social conservatism of the previous Republican administrations He appointed women and Blacks to the cabinet and Supreme Court – including Janet Reno and Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy and expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit – a cash payment for low-income workers Clinton also advocated for free trade and won congressional approval in 1993 for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that created a free-trade zone for Canada, Mexico and the U.S. The first two years of Clinton administration were not viewed favorably by many and the Republicans won control of Congress in 1994

Led by Newt Gingrich, the Republicans proposed a “Contract with America” which called for a reduction in government, cut taxes, overhaul welfare, and reduce economic and environmental regulations Deadlocked with Clinton, Congress voted to shutdown government in 1995 Clinton rejected the most extreme Republican proposals but adopted moderate versions of these Most notable of Clinton’s new policy was the abolition of Aid to Families with Children

Clinton political strategy was known as “triangulation” which embraced the most popular Republican positions, leaving the Republicans with extreme positions that alienated many Americans, while also supporting free-trade that alienated traditional working-class Democrats In the Election of 1996 Clinton would easily defeat the Republican nominee, Bob Dole

While wishing to focus on domestic issues, Clinton faced many foreign policy challenges The most troubling foreign policy issue was the Balkans where Yugoslavia disintegrated into competing ethnic states The Bosnian War began in 1992 when Serbs in Bosnia began ethnic cleansing against the Muslims and Croats Eventually NATO would respond with air strikes against the Serbians and later with peacekeepers Peace would come in 1995 with the Dayton Peace Agreement

E. Bill Clinton

Events in Somalia would reinforce Clinton’s reluctance to become involved in foreign interventions In the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu American Army Rangers attempted to arrest two warlords but several helicopters were shot down – Video During the battle to rescue the survivors eighteen Americans were killed and as many as a 1,000 Somali’s killed The high cost of this humanitarian mission increased Clinton’s reluctance for military intervention

E. Bill Clinton

As a result, Clinton and the world did not intervene to stop the ethnic cleansing in Rwanda in 1994 which resulted in at least 500,000 deaths

E. Bill Clinton

Perhaps Clinton’s greatest success was the economy which expanded dramatically during the his administration with unemployment falling below 4 percent At the same time inflation remained in check because of stable oil prices, weak unions, and globalization Clinton even reversed the budget deficits of the Reagan and Bush

Contributing to the robust American economy was the revolution in computer technology with the emergence of companies like Apple and Microsoft Symbolic of the growing importance of computer technology in American life is the popular movie Independence Day which depicts the earth being saved from alien invaders by a computer virus – Video However, on April 14, 2000 the stock market crashed with prices declining for three straight years

E. Bill Clinton

One of the troubling aspects of the New Economy was rising inequality One method of measuring income inequality is an economic model known as the Gini Index which shows a dramatic increase in income inequality in the United States starting in the 1970’s

E. Bill Clinton

The Clinton administration would end in crisis with his impeachment trial in December 1998 for obstruction of justice regarding his testimony about his sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky After hearing the charges and evidence, the Senate acquitted Clinton with less than half of the Senators voting for conviction

E. Bill Clinton

Lecture 10: Presidents and Their Impact F. George W. Bush
In the Election of 2000 the Democrats nominated Vice-President Al Gore and the Republicans nominated George H. Bush’s son, George W. Bush The results of the election were extremely close with Al Gore winning the popular vote by 540,000 votes but the Electoral College results depended the results of the disputed Florida election with Bush winning by a few hundred votes The Florida Supreme Court called for a recount

F. George W. Bush

Republicans challenged the recount in the U.S. Supreme Court which in Bush v Gore ruled that the recount was to stop and allowed Bush to be declared the winner in Florida Traditionally, the U.S. Supreme Court had refused to interpret state election laws The Election of 2000 revealed not only deep divisions within the country, particularly between urban centers and racial minorities, and the white dominated rural areas but also questioned the democratic nature of the nation’s government

The Electoral College system did not award the presidency to the candidate with the most popular votes – democracy? The nation leading the world in technology could not provide a reliable system for counting votes With more than $1.5 billion being spent on the election the question of the influence of money in determining the results of an election was raised Major issues were not discussed in the campaign Barely 50 percent of the population voted

F. George W. Bush

Bush pursued a conservative agenda, although he favored a solution to the immigration issue To implement “supply-side” economics, Bush enacted the largest tax cut in American history with most of the cuts directed towards the wealthiest Americans Bush also opened up Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling In foreign affairs Bush advocated unilateralism Bush even announced plans to implement Reagan’s Star Wars missile defense system

Bush also repudiated the International Criminal Court fearing it would be used to prosecute Americans Bush also repudiated the Kyoto Protocol to combat global warming The economy fell into recession soon after Bush’s inauguration Much of the economic loss was caused by the acceleration of deindustrialization – General Motors once employed 600,000 but by 2005 its workforce was 86,000

Bush’s answer to the nation’s economic problems was another round of tax cuts geared to reducing the tax burden on the wealthy Federal budget deficits quickly began to grow While the GNP grew at 4.2 percent in 2004, the real income of the average American family continued to decline

F. George W. Bush

In the Election of 2004 the Democrats nominated John Kerry, an antiwar war veteran In another close election, Bush won the popular vote by 2 percent and thirty-four electoral votes After reelection Bush called for the reform of Social Security that would allow workers to establish individual retirement plans but his reform was rejected by Congress Bush’s greatest domestic challenge proved to be hurricane Katrina which flooded New Orleans

F. George W. Bush

The response to the disaster of Katrina revealed the Federal Government’s inability to deal with a national emergency One of the consequences of Katrina was the revelation that New Orleans had become a segregated city with more than 30 percent of its citizens living in poverty Katrina also disrupted oil production in the Gulf of Mexico which further strained the economy

F. George W. Bush

Immigrants reform continued to be an issue with the House in 2006 passing a bill making it a felony to be in the country illegally and a crime to aid illegal immigrants The House measure triggered massive protest demonstrations which led to its rejection by the Senate By 2007 it was clear that the issue of illegal immigration was stalemated and continues to be stalemated today

The most significant event in the Bush administration, and one of the most important in American history, was the 9/11 attack which killed more than 3,000 – Video Al Qaeda succeeded in hijacking four passenger airliners; crashing two into the twin towers of New York Trade Center; one into Pentagon; with the fourth airliner crashing into an open field as the passengers struggled with the hijackers

F. George W. Bush

Bush benefited from the release of patriotism and support for the government Returning to traditional appeals to defend freedom, Bush announced that terrorists “Hate our freedoms, our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to assemble and disagree with each other” Bush made no mention of the other freedoms identified by FDR – freedom from want and freedom from fear

Bush went on to explain that Al Qaeda attacked because they “hate freedom” but overlooked Bin Laden’s argument that the American presence in Saudi Arabia was corrupting traditional Islamic values Bush then announced what has become known as the Bush Doctrine that justified any necessary measure in the “war on terrorism” When the government of Afghanistan refused to surrender Bin Laden, Bush launched operation Enduring Freedom which over turned the Taliban government but did not find Bin Laden

Bush went on to identify other nations as supporters of terrorism and called for the ending of their governments – the Axis of Evil: North Korea, Iran, and Iraq Bush overlooked the fact that Iran and Iraq were and continue to be bitter enemies In 2002 the Bush Administration released it National Security Strategy which called for a war not only against terrorists but tyrants throughout the world

Most importantly, for the first time in American history, Bush declared the right to wage preemptive war – the right to attack a nation even before it launched hostilities toward the U.S. Some worried that the War on Terrorism was repeating many of the mistakes of the Cold War with its support for undemocratic governments like Pakistan and the former Soviet Central Asian Republics

The first target on Bush’s list of tyrants was Saddam Hussein of Iraq because it possessed weapons of mass destruction that were a threat to the United States Bush’s advisers proposed removing Hussein from power by the us of massive air power and a small ground force that would be welcomed by most Iraqis

Despite a strong anti-war opposition in America and the belief of many world leaders that an American attack was a violation in international law (the UN refused to sanction the attack), Bush attacked Iraq in March 2003 – the 2003 Iraq War American forces quickly overwhelmed the Iraqi military and eventually Hussein would be captured, tried, and executed Iraqis responded to the Americans not with gratitude but when on to chaotically loot stores and museums and caches of weapons – Video

F. George W. Bush

Despite Bush’s misspoken claim of “Mission Accomplished,” Americans now faced an armed Iraqi uprising with too few troops By 2006 more than 3,000 Americans had died in Iraq and most polls indicated that Americans believed the war in Iraq was a mistake Further fueling opposition to the war was the announcement that the U.S. was not bound by the Geneva Conventions regarding war and the treatment of prisoners

F. George W. Bush

The most shocking case of abuse was the torture of prisoners in the Abu Ghraib Prison The decision to use torture was approved at the highest levels of the government including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez However, only the low-level soldiers serving in Abu Ghraib were punished for these abuses

F. George W. Bush

One of the most controversial measures of the Bush term was the Patriot Act of 2001, a large and complex act intended to strengthen national security through a variety programs, including the surveillance of private communications even when there is no suspicion of criminal activity

The Bush administration also witnessed the greatest economic decline since the 1929 Great Depression – the Great Recession of 2007 The economic crisis was the result of public policies that encouraged economic speculation and excessive consumer spending The Federal Reserve had kept interest rates low to combat the recession of 2000 and these low interest rates enabled Americans to borrow money to purchase homes When housing prices rose dramatically and families used lines of credit to purchase consumer goods

Wall Street bankers were repackaging and selling home mortgages as investment securities Insurance companies such as AIG insured these securities against default and credit rating agencies gave these risky securities their highest-ratings The Federal Reserve and other agencies were leaving regulation to the free market When home prices began to fall in 2007 and interest rates began to readjust, many homeowners were forced to default on the their mortgages

Banks found themselves with billions of dollars of worthless investments By 2008 and the nation was in a financial crisis as banks stopped making loans and the Dow Jones fell from 14,000 to 8,000 With the value of stocks and homes falling, Americans stopped spending In addition, many manufacturing jobs had moved overseas which resulted in a large loss of jobs

By the end of 2009 the GNP had declined 6 percent and 2.5 million Americans lost their jobs American were quickly losing confidence in their government and institutions At first the Bush Administration was willing to leave it to the free market to resolve the crisis When Lehman Brothers failed in 2008 it was feared that other financial institutions would soon fail Reluctantly, Congress passed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to fund a $700 billion bailout of the nation’s financial firms

The Great Recession also revealed the limits of America’s social welfare programs The Clinton Administration had all but abolished welfare and few states had the resources to help the poor, particularly children By 2012 only one in five poor children received and cash aid

F. George W. Bush

In the Election of 2008 there was a spirited campaign between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination Obama effectively used internet technology to mobilize supporters and win the nomination The Republicans nominated John McCain who attempted to broaden his support by nominating Sarah Palin for Vice-President Palin proved to be a poor choice because her speeches revealed a lack of familiarity with domestic and foreign policy issues

F. George W. Bush

McCain was also challenged by Bush’s unpopularity and the financial crisis of 2008 Even though Obama won only 43 percent of the white vote, he won the election with a 53 percent majority and dominated the electoral vote The most significant reform of Obama’s administration was the Affordable Care Act (2010) that almost all Americans to purchase health insurance The measure was deeply opposed by Republicans with every Republican in Congress voting against it

Another measure strongly opposed by the Republicans was the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) The recession and weak recovery were not helped by economic structural problems in the economy Manufacturing employment continued to decline and when the recovery picked up steam, the fastest growing jobs were in the low-skilled areas Income inequality continued to grow

In foreign policy Obama made few changes from the Bush administration with the last American troops were withdrawn from Iraq in 2011 The most dramatic event was the killing of Osama bin Laden by Navy Seals in 2011 America today still lives in a dangerous and unstable world America’s leadership of the world with its vision of free trade and market economies would be challenged by many nations and non-governmental organizations and religions

F. George W. Bush

Presidents and Their Impact

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Presidents and Their Impact

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Presentation on theme: "Presidents and Their Impact"— Presentation transcript:

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About project

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