 Into a New Century The 1990s and the New Millennium

Election of 1988

Domestic Issues  Bush not strong domestically  Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)  Taxes a major problem  Threat of government shutdown due to a law that required a balanced budget  Significantly increased taxes to make up for lack of funds

The Persian Gulf War August 1990:  Saddam Hussein (Iraq) invades Kuwait  US fears for safety of Saudi Arabia  UN forms coalition to stop Iraq  Set a deadline for the Iraq’s withdrawal, or they would use force to remove them  Americans split on how to respond to Iraq (military action passed by only 5 votes)

Economic Troubles: Recession of 1991  US enters recession  Personal spending fell dramatically and unemployment rose  Bush was forced break his campaign pledge not to raise taxes  Made him vulnerable in the upcoming election

Communism Crumbles

In the News

Election of 1992

Clinton’s Domestic Policies Brady Bill Family Medical Leave Act Deficit Reduction leads to Budget Surplus AmeriCorps

Clinton’s Foreign Policies

Whitewater Scandal  Clinton accused of arranging illegal loans for Whitewater Development- a failed Arkansas real estate company- while he was governor of the state  AG Janet Reno calls for independent investigation  Kenneth Starr  Implicated, but never convicted

Contract with America

The Waco Seige

The Oklahoma City Bombing  On 19 April 1995, the 2nd anniversary of the Waco raid, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols bombed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.  McVeigh and Nichols were members of rightist fringe and white supremacy movements.  168 were killed.  The bomb targeted ATF offices inside the building, but exploded near the facility ’ s day care, killing 19 children.

Columbine

The Lewinsky Scandal

Computers: The wave of the future

Post-Cold War America  Without a credible rival, the United States emerged in the 1990s as the lone military “superpower” in the world  Capitalism expands; multinational corporations moved production to low-wage countries and international trade increased.

Globalization

INTO A NEW CENTURY The 1990s and the New Millennium

A Contested Election

A Close Vote The 2000 Election turned into one of the closest in American history. Al Gore narrowly won the popular vote 48.4 percent to 47.9 percent for Bush. But neither had the 270 electoral votes needed to win It came down to the Florida vote- – (25 electoral votes) The results in Florida was so close that state law required a recount of the ballots using vote-counting machines. Thousands of ballots were thrown out because the counting machines were not able to read them accurately. November 26th, Florida officials certified Bush the winner by 537 votes. Bush v. Gore: December 12 th, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the hand recounts in Florida violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court also ruled 5-4 that there was not enough time to conduct a manual recount.

“W” Takes office

September 11, 2001

George W. Bush Term of office: “No Child Left Behind” An annual reading and math tests in public schools for grades 3 through 8. September 11 th 2001: Terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon Terrorism is the use of violence by nongovernmental groups against civilians to achieve a political goal. Killed all 266 passengers on the four hijacked planes, 125 people died in the Pentagon, and nearly 3,000 people died with the bombing of the Twin Towers. More Americans were killed in the attacks than died at Pearl Harbor or D-Day in World War II

War on Terrorism War in Afghanistan October 7,2001 The U.S. began bombing targets in Afghanistan to attack al Qaeda's camps and the Taliban’s military forces. By December the Taliban regime had collapsed. The US helped Afghan leaders create a new government. Thousands of American and allied troops began arriving in Afghanistan to act as peacekeeper and to hunt for bin Laden and other al-Qaeda terrorists. War in Iraq Weapons of Mass Destruction: nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Saddam Hussein had hidden weapons of mass destruction that were ready or nearly ready for use. Bush believed the Hussein had ties to al-Qaeda. March 20, 2003 The U.S. –led coalition forces attacked Iraq. They sized control of the country on May 1 st. American troops captured Saddam Hussein by the end of the year. No evidence was found that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, nor any serious link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda ever uncovered.