APUSH Chapters 27 and 28
UN inspections
U.N. inspections failed to find WMD's in Iraq. However, the Bush administration continued to present claims of their existence based on intelligence information that proved to be false.
ethnic cleansing
Process in which more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogeneous region
Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003)
Removal of Saddam Hussein Bush authorized the mission to rid Iraq of tyrannical dictator Saddam Hussein and eliminate Hussein's ability to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Operation Iraqi Freedom illustrated the Bush administration's pledge to use unilateral, pre-emptive strikes if necessary against nations believed dangerous to American national security.
Election of 1988
Running an aggressive campaign, Bush concentrated on the economy and continuing Reagan's policies. He attacked Dukakis as an elitist "Massachusetts liberal", and Dukakis appeared to fail to respond effectively to Bush's criticism. Dukakis was attacked for such positions as opposing mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools, and being a "card-carrying member of the ACLU" (a statement Dukakis made himself early in the primary campaign). Dukakis was badly damaged by the Republicans' campaign commercials, which portrayed him as soft on crime. Dukakis was thought of as inhumane when responding to a question regarding rape and murder, which hurt him. Despite Dukakis's initial lead, Bush pulled ahead in opinion polling conducted in September and won by a substantial margin in both the popular and electoral vote.
Clinton Impeachment and trial
Seen by the democrats as a right wing way to overturn the elections of 1992 and 1996, it was an attempt to remove him from office. Although neither impeachment charge was upheld by a Senate majority, Not even a 2/3 majority was established. The Republicans managed to damage Clinton's reputation by making him the first president to be impeached since 1868.
Yugoslavia breakup
Serbian dictator, Slobodan Milosevic carried out a series of armed conflicts to suppress independence movements in the former Yugoslav provinces of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo.
Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan
two justices that are recent additions to the Supreme Court, appointed by President Obama
USS Cole Bombing
-A suicide attack against the United States Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole on 12 October 2000, while it was harbored and being refueled in the Yemen port of Aden. It was the deadliest attack from a U.S. Naval vessel since 1987. The terrorist organization al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack.
Citizens United v. FEC (2010)
A 2010 decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that independent expenditures are free speech protected by the 1st Amendment and so cannot be limited by federal law. Leads to creation of Super PACs & massive rise in amount of third party electioneering (Citizens for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow)
Abu Ghraib prison
A detention facility near Baghdad, Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein, the prison was the site of infamous torturing and execution of political dissidents. In 2004, during the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the prison became the focal point of a prisoner-abuse and torture scandal after photographs surfaced of American soldiers mistreating, torturing, and degrading Iraqi war prisoners and suspected terrorists. The scandal was one of several dark spots on the public image of the Iraq War and led to increased criticism of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Persian Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm
A far more serious crisis arose in 1990 when Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait, an oil-rich sheikdom on the Persian Gulf. Iraq invaded because of iraqi claims to Kuwait as Iraqi territory, Kuwait's refusal to forgive Iraqi debts, Kuwait's access to the Persian Gulf ,and Kuwait exceeding the oil production level for OPEC. Fearing that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein might next attack Saudi Arabia, a longtime ally that supplied more oil to the United States than any other country, Bush rushed troops to defend the kingdom and warned Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait or face war. The Iraqi invasion so flagrantly violated international law that Bush succeeded in building a forty-nation coalition committed to restoring Kuwait's independence, secured the support of the United Nations, and sent half a million American troops along with a naval armada to the region. In February 1991, the United States launched Operation Desert Storm, which quickly drove the Iraqi army from Kuwait. Tens of thousands of Iraqis and 184 Americans died in the conflict. The United Nations ordered Iraq to disarm and imposed economic sanctions that produced widespread civilian suffering for the rest of the decade. But Hussein remained in place. So did a large American military establishment in Saudi Arabia, to the outrage of Islamic fundamentalists who deemed its presence an affront to their faith. Relying on high-tech weaponry like cruise missiles that reached Iraq from bases and aircraft carriers hundreds of miles away, the United States was able to prevail quickly and avoid the prolonged involvement and high casualties of Vietnam in the war's immediate aftermath, Bush's public approval rating rose to an unprecedented 89 percent.
Taliban
A group of fundamentalist Muslims who took control of Afghanistan's government in 1996
"axis of evil"
A group of nations accused by the Bush administration of sponsoring terrorism and threatening to develop weapons of mass destruction. Iran, Iraq, and N. Korea
Tea Party
A national social movement, primarily attracting fiscal and social conservatives, that seeks to limit government spending and cut taxes
Arab Spring
A series of popular revolts in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa that sought an end to authoritarian, often Western-supported regimes.
World Bank
A specialized agency of the United Nations that makes loans to countries for economic development, trade promotion, and debt consolidation. Its formal name is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Ross Perot
A third candidate, the eccentric Texas billionaire Ross Perot, also entered the fray. He attacked Bush and Clinton as lacking the economic know-how to deal with the recession and the ever-increasing national debt. That millions of Americans considered Perot a credible candidate—at one point, polls showed him leading both Clinton and Bush—testified to widespread dissatisfaction with the major parties. Perot's support faded as election day approached, but he still received 19 percent of the popular vote, the best result for a third-party candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.
World Trade Organization
Administers the rules governing trade between its 144 members. Helps producers, importers, and exporters conduct their business and ensure that trade flows smoothly.
European Union
An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.
Yugoslavia civil war
As in the rest of eastern Europe, the communist government that had ruled Yugoslavia since the 1940s collapsed in 1989. Within a few years, the country's six provinces dissolved into five new states. Ethnic conflict plagued several of these new nations. In 1992, Serbs in Bosnia, which straddled the historic boundary between Christianity and Islam in southeastern Europe, launched a war aimed at driving out Muslims and Croats. They conducted the war with unprecedented ferocity, using mass murder and rape as military strategies. "Ethnic cleansing"—a terrible new term meaning the forcible expulsion from an area of a particular ethnic group— now entered the international vocabulary. After considerable indecision, NATO launched air strikes against Bosnian Serb forces, with American planes contributing. In 1998, ethnic cleansing again surfaced, this time by Yugoslavian troops and local Serbs against the Albanian population of Kosovo, a province of Serbia. More than 800,000 Albanians fled the region. To halt the bloodshed, NATO launched a two-month war in 1999 against Yugoslavia that led to the deployment of American and UN forces in Kosovo.
Bush Jr. and Iraq
Beginning with the Iraq Liberation Act signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1998, the U.S. government officially called for regime change in Iraq. By early 2002 Bush began publicly pressing for regime change, indicating that his government had reason to believe that the Iraqi government had ties to terrorist groups, was developing weapons of mass destruction and did not cooperate sufficiently with United Nations weapons inspectors. Although no agreement on authorizing force could be found within the United Nations Security Council, the war was ultimately launched in March 2003, after Bush, in a speech on March 17 effectively had declared war on Iraq. Throughout the course of the Iraq war, Bush was often the target of harsh criticism. Even before the invasion it was clear to many observers that insufficient planning had been made for the stability of post-war Iraq. Criticism also came from the governments of many countries, notably from many on the United Nations Security Council, who argued that the war broke international law. The inability of the U.S. to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has led to greater domestic criticism of the administration's Iraq policy.
Election of 2000
Both major party candidates focused primarily on domestic issues, such as the budget, tax relief, and reforms for federal social insurance programs, although foreign policy was not ignored. Due to Clinton's sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky and subsequent impeachment, Gore avoided campaigning with Clinton. Republicans denounced Clinton's indiscretions, while Gore criticized Bush's lack of experience. Bush criticized Clinton administration policies in Somalia, where 18 Americans died in 1993 trying to sort out warring factions, and in the Balkans, where United States peacekeeping troops perform a variety of functions. Bush also pledged to bridge partisan gaps in the nation's capital, claiming the atmosphere in Washington stood in the way of progress on necessary reforms. The Florida recount and subsequent litigation resulted in a major post-election controversy, and various individuals and organizations have speculated about who would have won the election in various scenarios.
WMDs (weapons of mass destruction)
Bush claimed that Iraq had possession of these weapons and ties to terrorists, which would allow for a more deadly terrorist attack than 9-11, but the failure to find these during the invasion led people to think the war was a mistake.
Bush and Social Security
Bush is an advocate of the partial privatization of Social Security wherein an individual would be free to invest a portion of his Social Security taxes in personal retirement accounts. However, critics argued that privatizing Social Security does nothing to address the long-term funding challenge facing the program. Diverting funds to private accounts would reduce available funds to pay current retirees, requiring significant borrowing. Ultimately, his proposals did not pass.
Panama Invasion (1989)
Bush's first major foreign policy action was a throwback to the days of American interventionism in the Western Hemisphere. At the end of 1989, he dispatched troops to Panama to overthrow the government of General Manuel Antonio Noriega, a former ally of the United States who had become involved in the international drug trade. The other reasons why relations deteriorated includes his implication in the Iran-Contra Affair. As relations continued to deteriorate, Noriega appeared to shift his Cold War allegiance towards the Soviet bloc, soliciting and receiving military aid from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Libya. We justified our invasion by claiming that it was for human rights, protection of US lives in Panama, combating drug trafficking, and protecting the integrity of the Panama Canal Deal. Although the invasion cost the lives of over 3,000 Panamanians, sparked international outrage, and was condemned by the United Nations General Assembly as a violation of international law, the administration deemed it a great success. The United States installed a new government and flew Noriega to Florida, where he was tried and convicted on drug charges. Unlike Reagan, Bush was able to remove Noriega from power, but his administration's unsuccessful post-invasion planning hindered the needs of Panama during the establishment of the young democratic government.
Election of 1996
Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were re-nominated without incident by the Democratic Party. Numerous candidates entered the 1996 Republican primaries, with Dole considered the early front-runner. Dole clinched the nomination after defeating challenges by publisher Steve Forbes and paleoconservative leader Pat Buchanan. Clinton's chances of winning were initially considered slim in the middle of his term as his party had lost both the House of Representatives and the Senate in 1994 for the first time in decades. He was able to regain ground as the economy began to recover from the early 1990s recession with a relatively stable world stage. Clinton maintained a consistent polling edge over Dole, and he won re-election with a substantial margin in the popular vote and the Electoral College. Despite Dole's defeat, the Republican Party was able to maintain a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Don't Ask Don't Tell
Clinton modified the military's strict ban on gay soldiers, instituting a "don't ask, don't tell" policy by which officers would not seek out gays for dismissal from the armed forces. Homosexual people could continue to serve in the army as long as they did not declare their sexual orientation.
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)
Clinton shared his predecessor's passion for free trade. Despite strong opposition from unions and environmentalists, he obtained congressional approval in 1993 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a treaty negotiated by Bush that created a free-trade zone consisting of Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Most economic analyses indicate that NAFTA has been beneficial to the North American economies and the average citizen. Some benefits of the agreement include that it tripled trade between Canada, Mexico and United States, it reduced and eliminated tariffs, increased Foreign Direct Investment, and lowered prices. Some harms include the loss of 500,000 to 750,000 US Jobs due to outsourcing, it put Mexican Farmers out of business, it lead to manufacturing losses in many states, and wages were suppressed.
Colin Powell
Colin Powell was an American military general and leader during the Persian Gulf War. He played a crucial role in planning and attaining America's victory in the Persian Gulf and Panama. He was also the first black four star general and chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff.
gerrymandered "safe seats"
Democrats and Republicans manipulated congressional districts to create "safe seats", which rewarded partisanship and discouraged compromise in Congress.
West Bank and Gaza Strip
Disputed regions of Israel, commonly referred to as Palestine
Bush Economy Overview
During his first term (2001-2004), President Bush sought and obtained Congressional approval for the Bush tax cuts. Income inequality continued to worsen pre-tax (a trend since 1980) and was accelerated after-tax by the Bush tax cuts, which dis-proportionally benefited higher-income taxpayers who pay the majority of income taxes. The U.S. responded the September 11, 2001 attacks with the invasion of Afghanistan shortly thereafter. The invasion of Iraq followed in 2003. Military expenditures approximately doubled in nominal dollars to pay for these wars, rising from around $300 billion in 2001 to $600 billion in 2008. While President Bush generally continued the deregulatory approach of his predecessor President Clinton, an important exception was the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which followed high-profile corporate scandals at Enron, World Com, and Tyco International, among others. Overall, the U.S. national debt grew significantly from 2001 to 2009, both in dollar terms and relative to the size of the economy (GDP), due to a combination of tax cuts, wars and recessions. Real GDP growth averaged a mediocre 1.8% from Q1 2001 to Q4 2008.[3] Job creation averaged 95,000 private sector jobs per month,[4] measured from February 2001 to January 2009, the least of any President since 1970. Income inequality continued to worsen pre-tax (a trend since 1980) and was accelerated after-tax by the Bush tax cuts, which dis-proportionally benefited higher-income taxpayers who pay the majority of income taxes.
Soviet Satellites
Eastern European nations which were influenced by the USSR to establish communist governments
fall of dictatorships
In Libya the leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed, Egypt's leader Hosni Mubarak was imprisoned
G-8
Group of 8 industrialized countries: Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Canada, USA, Japan, Italy; Great Powers
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
In 1990, newly organized disabled Americans won passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This far-reaching measure prohibited discrimination in hiring and promotion against persons with disabilities and required that entrances to public buildings be redesigned so as to ensure access for the disabled.
Election of 1992
In 1992, Clinton won the Democratic nomination by combining social liberalism (he supported abortion rights, gay rights, and affirmative action for racial minorities) with elements of conservatism (he pledged to reduce government bureaucracy and, borrowing a page from Republicans, promised to "end welfare as we know it"). A charismatic campaigner, Clinton conveyed sincere concern for voters' economic anxieties. To counter Republican rhetoric urging voters to blame their woes on "welfare queens" and others who cheated honest taxpayers, Clinton argued that deindustrialization caused rising inequality and the loss of good jobs. Bush, by contrast, seemed out of touch with the day-to-day lives of ordinary Americans. Bush was further weakened when conservative leader Pat Buchanan delivered a fiery televised speech at the Republican national convention that declared cultural war against gays, feminists, and supporters of abortion rights. This seemed to confirm the Democratic portrait of Republicans as intolerant and divisive. The election also featured H. Ross Perot, as discussed in the next term.
bombing of U.S. embassies
In 1998, terrorists bombed two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The U.S. responded by bombing Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and the Sudan.
Northern Ireland accords
In 1998, the U.S. played a key diplomatic role in negotiating an end to British rule and the armed conflict in Northern Ireland.
Bush Jr. and Afghanistan
In reaction to 9/11, the US led a NATO invasion of Afghanistan, instigating the "Global War on Terror". NATO forces scoured the region for 9/11 alleged mastermind Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist network Al-Qaeda and drove the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban regime, which was sheltering and providing sanctuary for Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, from power. Major criticisms started to emerge from international human rights organizations about the United States policy of detaining alleged Taliban and Al-Qaeda combatants and refusing to grant these detainees their rights as prisoners of war as detailed in the Geneva Conventions. President Bush and his administration labelled the detainees as "unlawful combatants" deemed to pose a threat to the U.S. or to have information about terrorist structures, plans and tactics. The administration has said that such detainees can be held for "as long as necessary". The domestic political equation changed in the U.S. after the September 11, 2001 attacks, bolstering the influence of the neoconservative faction of the administration and throughout Washington.
Political Polarization
In the 2000s the political parties became regionally divided. Traditional, religious, and anti-government voters were often in rural and suburban areas and voted Republican. Liberals were commonly found in urban areas and voted Democrat.
Election of 2008
In this presidential election Democrats Barack Obama and Joseph Biden ran against Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin. The Republican Bush administration was unpopular and the country faced was facing an economic crisis. Obama's message for change and his well-funded grassroots campaign led him to victory.
ban on torture
Obama placed a formal ban on torture by requiring that Army field manuals be used as the guide for interrogating terrorist suspects
Bush Foreign Policy Overview
On December 13, 2001, President Bush announced the withdrawal of the United States from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, a bedrock of U.S.-Soviet nuclear stability during the Cold War era. The Bush presidency was also marked by diplomatic tensions with the People's Republic of China and North Korea, the latter of which admitted in 2003 to having been in the process of building nuclear weapons and threatened to use them if provoked by the U.S. Bush came under criticism from European leaders for the rejection of the Kyoto Protocol, which was aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming. He asserted that the Kyoto Protocol is "unfair and ineffective" because it would exempt 80 percent of the world and "cause serious harm to the U.S. economy." Bush supported free trade policies and legislation but resorted to protectionist policies on occasion. Tariffs on imported steel imposed by the White House in March 2002 were lifted after the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled them illegal. Bush also condemned the International Criminal Court, passing ASPA which stated that United States personnel should not be involved in courts outside of US jurisdiction.
Bush and Healthcare
President Bush also signed into law Medicare Part D, which provides additional prescription drug benefits to seniors. The program was not funded by any changes to the tax code. According to the GAO, this program alone created $8.4 trillion in unfunded obligations in present value terms, a larger fiscal challenge than Social Security.[40]
George H.W. Bush and Economics
President George H. W. Bush had promised "no new taxes" during the presidential campaign, but he agreed to accept the Democratic Congress' proposed $133 billion in new taxes. Although he did oppose the creation of new taxes as president, the Democratic-controlled Congress proposed increases of existing taxes as a way to reduce the national budget deficit. Bush negotiated with Congress for a budget that met his pledge, but was unable to make a deal with a Senate and House that was controlled by the opposing Democrats. Bush agreed to a compromise, which increased several existing taxes as part of a 1990 budget agreement. Furthermore, the Bush campaign's figures had been based on the assumption that the high growth of the late 1980s would continue throughout his time in office. Instead, a recession began. By 1990, rising budget deficits, fueled by a growth in mandatory spending and a declining economy, began to greatly increase the federal deficit. These events delivered a severe blow to Bush's popularity. From the historic high of 79% early in his term, Bush's approval rating had fallen to 56% by mid-October 1990.
Homeland Security Department
President George W. Bush created this new department by combining more than 20 federal agencies with 170,000 employees. The agencies including the Secret Service, Coast Guard, and customs and immigration agencies. Many questioned why the FBI and CIA were left out of the new department.
Hamid Karzai
President of Afghanistan, helped overthrow Taliban, sought international aid for Afghanistan.
Boris Yeltsin
President of the Russian Republic in 1991. Helped end the USSR and force Gorbachev to resign.
Brady Bill and the NRA
The Brady Bill requires that background checks be conducted on individuals before a firearm may be purchased from a federally licensed dealer, manufacturer or importer—unless an exception applies. If there are no additional state restrictions, a firearm may be transferred to an individual upon approval by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) maintained by the FBI. However, after the Brady Act was originally proposed in 1987, the National Rifle Association (NRA) mobilized to defeat the legislation, spending millions of dollars in the process. While the bill eventually did pass in both chambers of the United States Congress, the NRA was able to win an important concession: the final version of the legislation provided that, in 1998, the five-day waiting period for handgun sales would be replaced by an instant computerized background check that involved no waiting periods. The NRA then funded lawsuits in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming that sought to strike down the Brady Act as unconstitutional. These cases wound their way through the courts, eventually leading the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Brady Act in the case of Printz v. United States.
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)[3] is a regional intergovernmental organization of 10 post-Soviet republics in Eurasia formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The CIS encourages cooperation in economical, political and military affairs and has certain powers to coordinate trade, finance, lawmaking and security. It has also promoted cooperation on cross-border crime prevention. Since its inception, one of the primary goals of the CIS has been to provide a forum for discussing issues related to the social and economic development of the newly independent states. To achieve this goal member states have agreed to promote and protect human rights. Initially, efforts to achieve this goal consisted merely of statements of good will, but on 26 May 1995, the CIS adopted a Commonwealth of Independent States Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The CIS Charter establishes the Council of Ministers of Defense, which is vested with the task of coordinating military cooperation of the CIS member states.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. These include pregnancy, adoption, foster care placement of a child, personal or family illness, or family military leave. The FMLA is administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor.
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB)[1][2] was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students.[3] It supported standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education. The Act required states to develop assessments in basic skills. To receive federal school funding, states had to give these assessments to all students at select grade levels. The act did not assert a national achievement standard—each state developed its own standards.[4] NCLB expanded the federal role in public education through further emphasis on annual testing, annual academic progress, report cards, and teacher qualifications, as well as significant changes in funding.[3]
Oklahoma City Bombing (1995)
The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building[1] in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States on April 19, 1995. Until the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United States, and remains the deadliest incident of domestic terrorism in the country's history. As a result of the bombing, the U.S. Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which tightened the standards for habeas corpus in the United States,[17] as well as legislation designed to increase the protection around federal buildings to deter future terrorist attacks.
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords seemed to outline a road to Mideast peace. The Oslo Accords created a Palestinian Authority tasked with limited self-governance of parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip; and acknowledged the PLO as Israel's partner in permanent-status negotiations about remaining questions. Israeli governments continued to build Jewish settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank—a part of Jordan that Israel had occupied during the 1967 Six-Day War. The new Palestinian Authority, which shared in governing parts of the West Bank as a stepping stone to full statehood, proved to be corrupt, powerless, and unable to curb the growth of groups bent on violence against Israel. At the end of his presidency, Clinton brought Israeli and Palestinian leaders to Camp David to try to work out a final peace treaty. But the meeting failed, and violence soon resumed.
Clinton Welfare Reforms
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) of 1996 established the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which was funded by block grants to the states. TANF was a reversal of the previous AFDC policy because of its emphasis on work, time limits, and sanctions against states that did not place a large fraction of its caseload in work programs and against individuals who refused to meet state work requirements. As a result, the number of families receiving cash welfare is now the lowest it has been since 1969, and the percentage of children on welfare is lower than it has been since 1966." PRWORA granted states greater latitude in administering social welfare programs, and implemented new requirements on welfare recipients, including a five-year lifetime limit on benefits. The reduction in welfare spending helped to fix the federal budget deficit. After the passage of the law, the number of individuals receiving federal welfare dramatically declined. The effects were particularly significant on single mothers; the portion of employed single mothers grew from 58% in 1993 to 75% by 2000. Employment among never-married mothers increased from 44% to 66%. However, critics have argued that the law unnecessarily damaged the social safety net, increased the poverty rate, and pushed former recipients into low-paying jobs.
civil war in Syria
The Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad used poisonous gas on the people in the country who were rising up against him. Military action was avoided when the Syrians agreed to give up all their chemical weapons. Obama criticized for not intervening.
Soviet Union breakup
The dissolution of the Soviet Union occurred on 26 December 1991, officially granting self-governing independence to the Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The declaration acknowledged the independence of the former Soviet republics and created the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), although five of the signatories ratified it much later or did not do so at all. On the previous day, 25 December, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the USSR, resigned, declared his office extinct and handed over its powers—including control of the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes—to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. The week before formal dissolution, eleven republics signed the Alma-Ata Protocol formally establishing the CIS and declaring that the USSR had ceased to exist. This marked the end of the Cold War.
Berlin Wall falls (1989)
The fall of the communist government in neighboring Poland's 1989 Polish legislative election in June played a role in the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Failure of Health Care Reform
The major policy initiative of Clinton's first term was a plan devised by a panel headed by his wife, Hillary, a lawyer who had pursued an independent career after their marriage, to address the rising cost of health care and the increasing number of Americans who lacked health insurance. In Canada and western Europe, governments provided universal medical coverage. The United States had the world's most advanced medical technology and a woefully incomplete system of health insurance. The Great Society had provided coverage for the elderly and poor through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Many employers offered health insurance to their workers. But tens of millions of Americans lacked any coverage at all. Beginning in the 1980s, moreover, businesses shifted their employees from individual doctors to health maintenance organizations (HMOs), which reduced costs by limiting physicians' fees and, critics charged, denying patients needed medical procedures. Announced with great fanfare by Hillary Rodham Clinton at congressional hearings in 1993, Clinton's plan would have provided universal coverage through large groupings of organizations like the HMOs. Doctors and health insurance and drug companies attacked it vehemently, fearing government regulations that would limit reimbursement for medical procedures, insurance rates, and the price of drugs. Too complex to be easily understood by most voters, and vulnerable to criticism for further expanding the unpopular federal bureaucracy, the plan died in 1994. Nothing took its place. By 2008, some 50 million Americans, most of them persons who held full-time jobs, still lacked health insurance, meaning that illness could quickly become a financial disaster.
Tiananmen Square (!989)
The reforms of the 1980s had led to a nascent market economy which benefited some people but seriously disaffected others, and the one-party political system also faced a challenge of legitimacy. Common grievances at the time included inflation, corruption, limited preparedness of graduates for the new economy. and restrictions on political participation. The students called for democracy, greater accountability, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech, although they were highly disorganized and their goals varied. At the height of the protests, about 1 million people assembled in the Square. As the protests developed, the authorities veered back and forth between conciliatory and hardline tactics, exposing deep divisions within the party leadership. Ultimately, China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and other Communist Party elders believed the protests to be a political threat and resolved to use force. The troops suppressed the protests by firing at demonstrators with automatic weapons, killing multiple protesters and leading to mass civil unrest in the days following. The Chinese government made widespread arrests of protesters and their supporters, suppressed other protests around China, expelled foreign journalists, strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic press, strengthened the police and internal security forces, and demoted or purged officials it deemed sympathetic to the protests. More broadly, the suppression temporarily halted the policies of liberalization in the 1980s. Considered a watershed event, the protests also set the limits on political expression in China well into the 21st century.
Sunni and Shiite
The two types of Islam which divided over disagreement over who should be the next spiritual leader after Muhammad.
Immigration Act of 1986
This act attempted to create a fair entry process for immigrants, but failed to stop the problem of illegal entry into the U.S. from Mexico. It was criticized for granting amnesty to undocumented immigrants from Mexico and the Americas.
Clarence Thomas
This man was an African American jurist, and a strict critic of affirmative action. He was nominated by George H. W. Bush to be on the Supreme Court in 1991, and shortly after was accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill. Hearings were reopened, and he became the second African American to hold a seat in the Supreme Court.
Clintonomics: Deficit Reduction and the "New Economy"
Throughout his presidency, his main economic goals were to establish fiscal discipline and eliminate the budget deficit, maintain low interest rates and encourage private-sector investment, eliminate protectionist tariffs, and to invest in human capital through education and research. His first budget raised taxes on the wealthy and significantly expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)—a cash payment for low-income workers begun during the Ford administration. The most effective antipoverty policy since the Great Society, the EITC raised more than 4 million Americans, half of them children, above the poverty line during Clinton's presidency. In tax reform, Clinton submitted a budget and corresponding tax legislation that would cut the deficit by $500 billion over five years by reducing $255 billion of spending and raising taxes on the wealthiest 1.2% of Americans. It also imposed a new energy tax on all Americans and subjected about a quarter of those receiving Social Security payments to higher taxes on their benefits.[6] After Republicans won control of Congress in 1994, Clinton vehemently fought their proposed tax cuts, believing that they favored the wealthy and would weaken economic growth. (Come back to this one and reorganize)
Saddam Hussein
Was a dictator in Iraq who tried to take over Iran and Kuwait violently in order to gain the land and the resources. He also refused to let the UN into Iraq in order to check if the country was secretly holding weapons of mass destruction.
Election of 1994, Newt Gingrich, and Contract with America
With the economy recovering slowly from the recession and Clinton's first two years in office seemingly lacking in significant accomplishments, voters in 1994 turned against the administration. For the first time since the 1950s, Republicans won control of both houses of Congress. They proclaimed their triumph the "Freedom Revolution." Newt Gingrich, a conservative congressman from Georgia who became the new Speaker of the House, masterminded their campaign. Gingrich had devised a platform called the "Contract with America," which promised to curtail the scope of government, cut back on taxes and economic and environmental regulations, overhaul the welfare system, and end affirmative action. Viewing their electoral triumph as an endorsement of the Contract, Republicans moved swiftly to implement its provisions. The House approved deep cuts in social, educational, and environmental programs, including the popular Medicare system. With the president and Congress unable to reach agreement on a budget, the government in December 1995 shut down all nonessential operations, including Washington, D.C., museums and national parks. Gingrich had assumed that the public shared his intense ideological convictions. He discovered that in 1994 they had voted against Clinton, not for the full implementation of the Contract with America. Most Americans blamed Congress for the impasse, and Gingrich's popularity plummeted.
Dodd-Frank Act
a law enacted in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008-2009 that strengthened government oversight of financial markets and placed limitations on risky financial strategies such as heavy reliance on leverage
Madeleine Albright
first woman to become United States Secretary of State. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996 and was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate 99-0. She was sworn in on January 23, 1997.
effects of Great Recession
prices collapsed, foreclosures, investments lost value, investors panicked, banks failed, credit crisis, soaring gas prices, rising unemployment
2009 stimulus bill
provided $787 billion economic stimulus package designed to create or save 3.5 billion jobs. Construction projects, health care, education, renewable energy
Bowles-Simpson plan
·would have eliminated the deficit by 2035 through $2 of spending cuts for every $1 increase in revenues, compromise widely praised but rejected by Democrats for its cuts to social services and by Republicans for its tax increases