Clinton and Bush “You know, everybody makes mistakes when they are president.” “America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people.”

Clinton in Office Defeated Bush Sr. by being a New Democrat (moderate) Al Gore was his Vice President Passed the Family Medical Leave Act giving full time employees 12 unpaid weeks to recover from illness, childbirth or help a family member heal Created a budget surplus Reformed welfare Failed to get a bill passed for universal healthcare Oklahoma City bombed by domestic terrorists Columbine High School shootings

The Fall of Clinton Beat out conservatives to win re-election Clinton’s opposition came from Republican Newt Gingrich Balanced the budget and reduced the deficit… economy was back on track Impeachment: Clinton was accused of perjury and obstruction of justice when the affair with White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, was discovered, but he was not removed from office

Clinton and Foreign Policy America joined the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to remove trade restrictions between Canada, US and Mexico Helped provide food for famine and support to war torn Somalia Helped bring about an end to ethnic cleansing in Kosovo Clinton tried to get Israel and Palestine under Yasir Arafat to sign peace agreement…unsuccessful

George W. Bush in Office Election of 2000: Bush beats Al Gore and Joe Lieberman (first Jew) in a highly contested election in which Florida recounted their ballots because the race was so close… in the end the Supreme Court ordered an end to the recount and that the initial returns stand in Bush vs. Gore Cut taxes Passed No Child Left Behind that held schools accountable and penalized those that did not reach standards and improved teacher quality ◦ Teachers don’t like it because it ties funding to test scores Extended Medicare to cover prescription drugs for senior citizens

Al-Qaeda Militant group responsible for many terrorist attacks directed toward Americans Al-Qaeda’s goal was to end American involvement in Muslim countries led by Osama bin Laden the group exploded a bomb under the World Trade Center in 1993 America learns that the fight against terrorism will not be easy

America Under Attack First time since Pearl Harbor September 11, 2001: terrorists hijacked planes, flew them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon America rallied together just has it had done after Pearl Harbor…patriotism

The War on Terror Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were behind attacks and were hiding in Afghanistan under the Taliban (terrorists group) which allowed for them to train new terrorists…US invades Afghanistan and overthrew Taliban in 3 months…bin Laden escaped

Improving Security Efforts were made to prevent further terrorists attacks Patriot Act allows law enforcement to monitor suspected terrorists through investigating phone, library and internet records (without a warrant) Department of Homeland Security: addition to president’s cabinet that would coordinate domestic security matters Heightened airport security led to restrictions on liquids and electronic devices Bush Doctrine: Bush’s foreign policy that promoted aggression to secure America from terrorists attacks, deals with preemptive strikes (attacking perceived and inevitable threats to America)

The War in Iraq Bush suspected that Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction in Iraq of Bush believed that Iraq, along with Iran and North Korea were “axis of evil” that threatened America and the world Congress allowed Bush to use military force in Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom…Baghdad fell and Hussein was later captured and executed

Minority Rights The most far reaching was affirmative action which ensured that minority applicants were being considered for jobs and college admission Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke: ◦ Bakke raised the question of reverse discrimination ◦ claimed that only reason he was rejected by the university was because he was white ◦ claimed that black applicants with lower test scores had been admitted… ◦ Supreme Court declared a quota system could not be used to uphold racial diversity