Ms. Pena's Class



Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford became the first person to reach the White House without being elected president or vice president. In 1973, President Richard Nixon appointed Ford to replace Spiro Agnew, who resigned his position as vice president before pleading no contest to charges of bribery and tax evasion. The following year, the former House minority leader became the 38th U.S. president, succeeding Nixon who faced impeachment proceedings for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Ford's candor and outgoing personality won him both Republican and Democratic supporters, and his humility reassured Americans that he would not participate in political "dirty tricks." After taking the oath of office, Ford stated that "the long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works."

During his first month in office, the new president faced perhaps the toughest decision of his political career—whether to grant the embattled Nixon a pardon. Believing that prolonged legal proceedings would harm the morale of the country and keep Congress from dealing with other issues, Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes he might have committed as president before formal criminal charges were filed. Public response to the decision was not favorable for the president who was still trying to adjust to the power of his new position. Many Americans cried foul and the decision damaged his bid for re-election in 1976.

Ford concentrated on the problems his new administration inherited—namely rising inflation, the oil crisis and fears of energy shortages, and the war in Southeast Asia. Since the last year of Nixon's term was overshadowed by the Watergate investigation, these issues had received little executive-level attention. Ford prioritized the issues at hand, and recognized inflation as the primary concern of Americans and the chief cause of the nation's economic problems. Rising unemployment figures coupled with the worst recession since the Great Depression created a gloomy economic outlook for the United States. Ford refused to approve legislation to control wages and pricing, opting instead to support voluntary restraints by promoting a campaign to "Whip Inflation Now." WIN buttons circulated throughout the country and became a national joke, prompting critics to declare Ford's response to inflation ineffective.

In 1975, President Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger flew to Helsinki, Finland, to meet with Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and representatives from more than 30 other European nations. Conference attendees signed the Helsinki Accords, which called for human rights guarantees and increased commerce between the Eastern and Western blocs. The group also legitimized the expanded post-World War II Soviet boundaries in Eastern Europe. During that same year, the Ford administration faced the continuing crisis in South Vietnam. As North Vietnamese forces scaled a full force attack on South Vietnam, Ford asked Congress for more money and weapons to stop the invasion. The legislators refused, and on May 1st, the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army overtook Saigon, which they renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

The collapse of South Vietnam happened so quickly that remaining Americans had to be evacuated by helicopter. Approximately 140,000 South Vietnamese, many of whom feared death because of their allegiance to America, were also rescued and given asylum in the United States. Eventually, a total of 500,000 Vietnamese refugees sought safety on American soil. The longest war in U.S. history had finally ended at a cost of $118 billion and 56,000 dead and 300,000 wounded Americans. Ford's poor handling of the economy and foreign affairs damaged the public's confidence in his performance. Despite his weak record, the incumbent defeated challenger Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976. The victory, however, was narrow. Democrats realized that Ford was a vulnerable candidate, and planned a strategy based on his weaknesses.

Jimmy Carter

In 1976, Jimmy Carter rose from near obscurity to capture the Democratic nomination for president. He focused his campaign on the fact that he was a Washington outsider and repeatedly told voters, "I'll never lie to you." The promise was popular with many Americans still leery about the government and fallout from the Watergate scandal. The race for the presidency was close with neither Ford nor Carter generating overwhelming support. Eventually, Carter's positive record with minorities proved to be the decisive factor as he received 97 percent of the black vote. The Democratic candidate defeated the Republican incumbent 297 electoral votes to 241, and set his sights on creating a friendlier, people-oriented administration. Carter walked to the White House from the Capitol after giving his inaugural address. Carter hoped to show the American public that he was just like them; however, his straightforward ideals and inexperience handling complicated national and international issues would eventually cause him trouble.

During his first two years in office, Carter announced his human rights concerns on the global stage. He criticized the Soviets for not following the Helsinki Accords by inhibiting free speech and preventing its citizens the right to emigrate. Later, the president withheld financial aid from South Africa, Guatemala, Chile, and Nicaragua, which were known to have long records of human rights abuses. Some critics, however, called Carter's actions hypocritical because he failed to condemn South Korea, the Philippines, and other nations for their human rights violations.

Perhaps the highlights of the Carter administration's tenure in Washington were the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel. In 1978, Carter successfully brought Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin together for a peace discussion at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. With America already in the midst of a serious energy crisis, avoiding war in the Middle East became imperative because any conflict would most likely eliminate oil supplies from the Arab nations. After meeting for two weeks, Carter helped mediate successful negotiations between the two leaders. The treaty called for Israel to withdraw from territory captured from Egypt during the Israeli-Egyptian war, and Egypt would recognize Israel as a nation. Also in 1978, President Carter negotiated two treaties with Panama. The first returned jurisdiction over the canal to Panama, but allowed the U.S. to continue operating and defending it until the end of 1999. The second treaty gave America the permanent right to defend the neutrality of the canal. Although many Republicans worried that the United States gave away too much, Congress narrowly approved the plan.

Carter's success also included significant environmental initiatives, including a "superfund" of $1.6 billion to clean up chemical waste sites, and a proposal to protect from development more than 100 million acres of Alaskan wilderness. To battle the rising fuel prices, the Carter administration looked for alternatives to fossil fuels. Carter's management of the faltering national economy produced more critics than supporters. His decision to attack unemployment first by implementing tax cuts and spending increases caused inflation to more than triple. By midterm, he reversed his strategy by delaying the tax cuts and vetoing spending programs he promised during his first year. By the time Carter left office, the recession deepened with unemployment figures reaching 7.5 percent, mortgage rates at 15 percent, and interest rates peaking at an all-time high of 20 percent.

The administration's national defense agenda included signing the new Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT II) with the Soviet Union. The agreement did not try to end the nuclear arms race, but rather it established parameters for reducing weapon stockpiles. It allowed both sides to maintain 2,250 bombers and missiles and limited the number of warheads and new weapons systems. However, when Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to defend the crumbling Communist government there, Carter refused to sign the treaty and suspended grain shipments to the USSR. The president also announced a boycott of the 1980 Olympics, which were to be held in Moscow.

In 1979, the Iranian revolution again tested the Carter administration's ability to handle world affairs. The crisis began when Iranian militants forced the Shah of Iran from power. The revolutionaries backed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Muslim religious leader who followed the Islamic values the Shah allowed to be replaced with Western ways. Khomeini's hatred of the United States resulted from the CIA-sponsored coup of Iranian Premier Mossadegh in 1953.

During a visit to the United States to undergo cancer treatment, the Shah was helpless as radicals toppled his regime. An angry mob then stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. In exchange for their freedom, Khomeini demanded the return of the Shah. While many Americans called for military action against the Iranians, Carter decided to freeze Iranian assets and appeal to the United Nations for help. Khomeini balked at the U.N. request to release the hostages. Carter also asked European allies to engage in a trade embargo of Iran. Several nations, though, wavered on the request because they did not want to lose their access to the Iranian oil supply. In 1980, months after the capture of the hostages, Carter disregarded protests from the secretary of state to approve a secret rescue plan. But the commando raid was aborted when helicopters malfunctioned and crashed into a transport plane in the desert, killing eight servicemen. With his options limited, Carter finally agreed to release several billion dollars of Iranian assets as ransom for the American hostages. The Iranians, now in a full scale war with Iraq, desperately needed the money and spare parts for its American-made planes and tanks. After 444 days, the hostages arrived home on the same day as Ronald Reagan's inauguration, and the Iranian hostage crisis was finally over. As Carter's presidential term came to a close, opinion polls revealed that his approval rating had plummeted to only 26 percent, lower than Nixon's during the Watergate investigation. Americans felt that drastic changes were needed at the top to right the troubled nation.

Stagflation

- Rising prices, more unemployment and low economic growth = stagflation

- 1975 - Unemployment reached nearly 9 percent - highest since Depression

- US fell behind W. Europe and Japan, Americans felt that these trends would continue

The Oil Crisis

- Oct 1973 - Gas prices nearly doubled

- US used about 70% of all the oil in the world, by 1973 1/3 of total oil was imported

- Arab nations became increasingly hostile towards the US after the Six-Day war

- Oct 17 - OPEC launches an embargo on oil shipments to Israel’s allies - US, Japan, etc

- Many Americans blamed Arabs and accused the government of lying to raise prices

The Bill Comes Due

- Nixon responded to the embargo by appointing an “energy czar”

- 1977 - Dept of Energy created

- Many conservation measures imposed to reduce the use of energy

- Conservation measures resulted in a 23% reduction of highway deaths

- As a result of the embargo, prices in general rose dramatically

Blue-Collar Blues

- 1970s - National Labor Relations Board began ruling in favor of managements

- Congress routinely denied labor-backed movements in Congress

- Public employees such as teachers made some gains during this period

- Although many women joined the workforce, many were in low paying clerical jobs

- Many organizations pushed for antidiscrimination and more opportunities for women

Sunbelt/Snowbelt

- 1970s - Snowbelt slumped, Sunbelt prospered and grew

- Due to a huge influx of immigrants, the Sunbelt grew in population

- Many blacks began migrating back to southern cities that used to be segregated

- Certain areas became extremely focused on producing single products

- Certain valleys produced strawberries, lima beans, or artichokes

- Silicon Valley became known for computer producing

- The Sunbelt’s ecomonic assets were very unevenly distributed

“Lean Years” Presidents

- Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter oversaw the time when the economy was in distress

- Voters became disillusioned with the government - thought they didn’t care about them

“I’m a Ford, not a Lincoln”

- Although Ford promised that the “national nightmare” (Nixon) was over, he soon after pardoned Nixon for all the crimes he may have committed - many suspected a deal

- Ford wanted to cut govt spending, maintain interest rates, and slowly build up economy

- Ford vetoed more major bills than any modern president, but Congress overrode most

The 1976 Election

- Ford’s only competition for the Republican ticket was Ronald Reagan

- Ford was nominated because Reagan was seen as too conservative

- Chose Bob Dole (Kansas) as his running mate

- Jimmy Carter depicted himself as an unfamiliar outsider - acted like a country bumpkin

- Told Americans “I will never lie to you”

- Americans remembered Watergate all too well, and chose to go with a Democrat

- Senator Walter Mondale became Vice President

- 46.7 percent of eligible voters did not vote

The Carter Presidency

- Carter was very hesitant and undecisive, and shifted more and more towards the right

- Took very little initiative to boost the economy and make radical changes

- Media exposés helped reveal rampant govt spending and to portray Carter as uncaring

The New Poverty

- Although many of the income separations between blacks and whites declined in the 60s, these positive trends reversed during the 70s

A Two-tired Society

- In the 70s, Americans as a whole were healthier than ever before

- The rich were becoming richer, and the poor were becoming poorer

- More than 10% of the population lived in poverty

- Far more minority groups were impoverished than whites

- Although the govt introduced affirmative action, there was a growing split in incomes

- School Busing - Govt forced kids to bus to school to achieve racial equality

- Racism dwindled because of a white push to the suburbs

- Inner cities were left to minorities - 1980 - 50% of black teenagers drop out

- 1978 - US Court ruling stated that affirmative action could only be used when it could be proved that a “legacy of unequal treatment” had occurred

The Feminization of Poverty

- Although more and more women entered the work force, their wages declined

- Divorce settlements highly favoured men - womens’ living standard declined by 73%

- National Welfare Rights Organization aided many single, poor women

“The Underclass”

- “The Underclass” became a metaphor for the deteriorating conditions in urban America

- “Blacks were no closer to catching up with whites than they were before”

- Black families tended to be matriarchial

- Indian people remained the poorest of anyone

- Federal govt did little to help the Indians integrate

Communities and Grass-Roots Policies

- As people had children, they became more involved in their communities

- Mass demonstrations in the 60s led to localized protests in the 70s

The New Urban Politics

- Many college towns became politically active

- African American candidates began to reach political positions

- Black-led communities focused more on education and social services

- Other minorities did not advance as quickly

- Angry whites cried out against affirmative action, or “reverse discrimination”

The City and the Neighbourhood

- City dwellers supported public institutions such as art galleries, hospitals, etc

- Community Development Act (1974) - mayors could control of cities’ spending

- Many other organizations formed to work for other beneficial programs in cities

- CDC’s - Community Development Corporations

- 1979 - Carter’s National Commission on Neighbourhoods

- Made 200 recommendations on how to better develop communities

- Even when old neighbourhoods were restored, they were quickly bought up by middle-class people trying to look rustic

The Endangered Environment

- After birth defects and miscarriages started happening, people began to see how terrible the environment was becoming

- Love Canal, NY - Town was built on toxic waste ground

- Much of the environmental awareness came from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (‘62)

- 1970 - April 22nd chosen as Earth Day

- Recycling became popular, and cities began to reduce their excesses

- Groups such as Greenpeace sponsored direct action to preserve the environment

- 1970 - Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formed as a regulatory agency

- Although Congress passed various clean air acts, cities found loopholes to avoid them

Small-town America

- Various problems with city life led to a mass exodus to the suburbs

- Americans wanted to live in a small town that was still within easy reach of cities

- Called “exurbia” - isolated but still within range of civilization

- Many small-town areas did not prosper during the 70s

- “Snowball effect” led to rundown schools and inadequate medical care

The New Conservatism

- Many taxpayers resented having to pay for programs that did not aid them

- Angry whites grouped together, especially in poor urban areas, to protest minorities

The New Right

- Lower-class white voters felt alienated by the defeat in Vietnam and the increasing regulations by the federal government

- The “New Right” identified themselves by defending “family values”

- Wanted to influence legislation and thereby gain power

- Most shocking element was the paramilitary wing:

- Radicals armed themselves and trained for combat

- Many Americans became evangelical Christians

- 40% of all Americans reported that they were “born again”

- Protested against abortion, the ERA, gay rights, and the busing of schoolchildren

- Televangelism became hugely popular, and reached large audiences

- Jesse Helms - First politician to appeal directly to the New Right as voters

- Previously had defended the Klan

Anti-ERA, Antiabortion

- The New Right was intent on defeating the Equal Rights Amendment

- Wanted to restore traditional family values “destroyed” by the women’s lib movt

- Phyllis Schlafly led the STOP ERA campaign

- The New Right had many wealthy supporters, and their campaigns were overwhelming

- Although 35 states ratified the amendment, it remained 3 votes short of passage

- Finally died in 1982

- 1973 - Roe v. Wade - Essentially legalized abortion on demand

- Many groups organized protests and pushed for the “right to life”

“The Me Decade”

- 1976 - “The Me Decade” phrase coined by novelist Tom Wolfe

- After the political turmoil of the 60s, Americans returned to personal focuses

- Erhard Seminars Training (EST) - blended psychology and mysticism

- Taught Americans to imagine themselves successful and satisfied

- For many Americans, therapy gave the security that religion used to provide

- “Transcendal Meditation” found many advocates among successful professionals

- Many religious cults gained ground during this time as well

- In music, heavy metal and punk became popular among young white men

A Thaw in the Cold War

- Defeat in Vietnam forced a retooling of foreign policy

- Maintaining a war was becoming more and more costly each year

- American productivity levels dropped and more kids left high school early

- After a meeting in Helsinki in 1975, Western leaders saw that the Soviets were no threat

- SALT I - Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty - negotiated by Nixon

- SALT II - negotiated in Vladivostok in 1974 by Ford and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev

- 1979 - Final Agreement secured by Carter in 1979

- Treaty never confirmed by Senate due to the Soviets’ invasion of Afghanistan

The Camp David Accords

- American interests in the Middle East had traditionally balanced their support of Israel with their desire to obtain Arab oil

- Early in his presidency, Carter met privately with Israel PM Menachem Begin

- Wanted to negotiate peace with Egypt

- 1978 - Carter brought Begin and Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat to Camp David for a three-day retreat to plan negotiations between the two countries

- Ended up lasting 13 days, brought about unprecedented agreements

- Sept 1978 - Egypt acknowledged Israel’s right to exist and regained Sinai Peninsula

- In 1979 both Begin and Sadat won the Nobel Prize for Peace

- Begin refused to negotiate a settlement with Palestine

- Carter’s immense support for the Palestinians lost him support among Jews

Carter’s “Crisis of Confidence”

- 1979 - Carter gathered his staff at Camp David to reassess the problems facing the US

- After the retreat, Carter urged Americans to show more faith in their leaders

- Became known as Carter’s “malaise speech”

- Ended up backfiring, with his popularity dropping to 26%

- If Carter moved towards peace in the Middle East or made a lasting arms bargain with the Soviets, he might have been able to win a second term in office

(Mis)Handling the Unexpected

- As Carter’s term came to a close, several crises erupted in foreign affairs

- Carter’s aides gave him conflicting advice on how to handle the situations

- After Congress denied $75 million for the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, they allied with Cuba and the Soviets

- Carter continued to support an oppressive regime in El Salvador

- Andrew Young - First Black diplomat to Africa - helped resume relations with Nigeria

- Young was fired for meeting with the PLO in secret - Carter had even less success

- Soviet attack of Afghanistan called the “Soviet Vietnam” by the American press

- The Carter Doctrine: (add-on to the Monroe Doctrine)

- Stated that the US would protect its interests in the Persian Gulf

- Carter asked athletes to boycott the Olympics in Moscow, and prepared for another war

- Any prospect of a detenté or peace which would end the war was over

The Iran Hostage Crisis

- Nov 4, 1979 - Iranian fuldamentalists seize a US embassy in Tehran

- Hold 52 employees hostage for the next 444 days

- US foreign policy in the Middle East had depended on a friendly govt in Iran for years

- US attempted a rescue mission, but this failed when the helicopter crashed

- US had no other options but to negotiate

- Sec. of State Cyrus Vance resigned, and Carter violated his own human rights policy

- Supported the Shah, who’s human rights record was terrible

Crash Course US History Episode #42: “Ford, Carter and the Economic Malaise”

Ronald Reagan

In1980, Republicans made Ronald Reagan the oldest person nominated for president by a major party. At 69, Reagan looked and acted much younger because he was physically fit and displayed a sharp wit. The former Hollywood actor, Screen Actors Guild president, and California Governor presented an amiable, aggressive style that quickly became popular with Americans. During three televised presidential debates, Reagan constantly attacked Carter's performance record. Citing rising inflation and unemployment rates and poor foreign relations, Reagan bluntly asked the American people, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" The question proved to have more effect on the election than specific discussions about policies he would pursue. When the votes were counted, Reagan won the 1980 presidential race in a landslide, collecting 489 electoral votes to Carter's 49.

Reagan focused much of his attention on reducing the size of the federal government. While decentralizing and deregulating federal agencies, Reagan declared, "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." In an effort to turn around the economy, the president demanded deep reductions in several areas, including welfare, food stamps, and student loans. The functions normally provided by the federal government to maintain these programs were turned over to state authorities. Reagan also asked Congress to cut income taxes. Critics argued that such a move would increase the deficit, but the president believed lower taxes would give people more money to spend. The increase in spending would in turn generate more goods and jobs and grow the economy. This theory became known as Reaganomics.

While many advisors recommended dramatic cuts in the defense budget, Reagan refused, and instead revived Truman's containment policy. The president renewed the Cold War by warning against the threat to spread communism posed by the USSR, which he named the "evil empire." He reasoned that military expansion was necessary to protect the interests of the free world. Reagan wanted to create an impressive nuclear force so powerful that the Soviets would be forced to back down from any confrontation. In 1983, he announced his intention to build a high-tech missile defense system called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), more commonly referred to as "Star Wars." One version of the plan included stations in space that would use lasers to destroy intercontinental missiles as they were launched. While many politicians against the SDI strategy claimed it would be too costly to maintain, skeptics from the science and technology industry questioned whether it would work at all.

Reagan continued his attack on communism by accusing Nicaraguan authorities of aiding communist countries. When anti-American revolutionaries, called Sandinistas, took control of Nicaragua in 1979, Jimmy Carter tried to establish diplomatic relations with them. President Reagan, however, charged that the Sandinistas secured an agreement with Cuba and the Soviet Union to allow Nicaragua to become a portal for communist penetration into Central America. To fight communists in Nicaragua and El Salvador, Reagan provided aid to the "contra" rebels who opposed the anti-American militants. When Congress refused to continue supplying the Contras with money and weapons, Reagan looked for other sources.

Meanwhile, the war between Iran and Iraq intensified. Many in the United States held Iran responsible for several Americans being held hostage in Lebanon. In 1986, Reagan secretly approved a deal to sell weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the hostages. Authorities instructed Marine Colonel Oliver North to take the money from the Iran transaction and purchase weapons for the Contras. The decision directly violated the ban Congress enacted on such aid. When news of the deal became public, national security advisor Admiral John Poindexter resigned, Colonel North was fired from his position with the Security Council, and President Reagan denied knowing anything about the plan.

Gorbachev was more personable than prior Soviet leaders and supported radical reforms in the Soviet Union. He presented two revolutionary policies: Glasnost (openness) which aimed to end the secretive, suppressive Soviet society by allowing free speech and political liberty; and Perestroika (restructuring), which was designed to accept free-market practices to revitalize the sluggish Soviet economy. He also announced that the Soviet Union would not force communist governments in Eastern Europe to remain in power. Repressive regimes in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and East Germany collapsed, and in 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down. The notorious Iron Curtain that had divided Eastern Europe for decades was no more.

For Gorbachev's plan to work he had to reduce the size and funding for the nation's military and massive weapons stash, and concentrate on stabilizing the economy. The dismantling of the Soviet military effectively brought an end to the Cold War. In 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev signed a treaty to ban all intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe. The agreement was a victory for Reagan who maintained his rigid stand against communism, and for Gorbachev who proved to the world that he was serious about reform.

Reagan oversaw a great deal of change during his presidential tenure. When he entered the White House in 1981, he rigidly condemned the "evil empire" and all that it stood for. But by the completion of his second term, the anxiety surrounding the Cold War had been eliminated and the president routinely praised Soviet leadership for reform. In his farewell address, Reagan said, "We are the change." The vague statement referred to the experience and accomplishment he and the American people shared during the previous eight years.

The 1980 Election

- Even at the start of the campaign, Carter was seen in the worst possible light

- Democrats unenthusiastically supported Carter and his running mate, Walter Mondale

- Republicans nominated Ronald Reagan and George Bush

- Republicans asked voters “are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

- Eventually cruised to victory

Crash Course US History Episode #43: “The Reagan Revolution”

George Bush

As President Reagan's second term in office came to a close, seven candidates vied for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination. The group included former Colorado senator and early front-runner Gary Hart, who had to drop out of the race due to charges of sexual misconduct. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson also ran in the primary, but Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis eventually won the nomination. On the Republican side, George Herbert Walker Bush, Ronald Reagan's vice president, easily became the nominee and selected Dan Quayle, former senator from Indiana, as his running mate. Bush, the son of a former Connecticut senator, attended an elite private school and later graduated from Yale. He served in World War II and then worked in the oil business in Texas. He began his public service as a Texas congressman and eventually served as envoy to China, ambassador to the U.N., and head of the CIA under several Republican presidencies.

Bush's campaign focused on the Reagan administration policies of tax cuts, support for national defense, and a tough stance on crime. Bush also promised not to raise taxes, declaring "Read my lips: no new taxes." Bush defeated Dukakis, winning the Electoral College vote 426 to 111 and roughly 54 percent of the popular vote. In his inaugural address, President Bush said he wanted to "make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world." Soon after the election, the nation's focus was directed outward as pro-democracy movements began to take hold in communist countries around the world. In the spring of 1989, many thousands of demonstrators gathered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to protest China's communist government. The demonstration, which lasted for weeks, ended in tragedy when China's leader Deng Xiaoping sent troops and tanks to crush the protest. Untold numbers of protestors were killed and many others were later executed.

In the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev introduced policies of "perestroika" and "glasnost" (meaning "restructuring" and "openness"). He removed troops from Afghanistan and rejected earlier doctrine that asserted the Soviet Union's right to interfere in the domestic affairs of other communist countries. As the pro-democracy movement in eastern European countries grew, their communist governments began to fall. Communist rule ended in Poland in August of 1989, followed in quick succession by Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and East Germany. In Germany, East and West Germans gathered atop the Berlin Wall, an icon of the Cold War, and eventually tore it down, leading to the reunification of Germany in October of 1990.

The most stunning change came in August 1991, when a failed military coup brought an end to the Soviet Union. Hard-line communists arrested Soviet Union President Gorbachev and tried to order tanks into Moscow, but Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Republic, and Moscow citizens helped to foil the rebels. Following the attempted coup, each of the Soviet states declared independence and established democratic reforms and created free market economies. Gorbachev, who had become a president without a country, resigned in December of 1991. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the more than four-decade-long Cold War came to an abrupt end. While many celebrated the end of communism in Europe and the Soviet Union, ethnic clashes broke out within the former union. In 1991, Chechnya attempted to declare independence from Russia, resulting in sporadic conflict that continues to today. As the communist government of Yugoslavia began to break down, civil war erupted. The ensuing fight led to brutal acts of "ethnic cleansing" by Serbian forces against Kosovar Albanians.

One military operation during the Bush presidency resulted from Iraq's August 1990 invasion of the tiny, oil-rich sheikdom of Kuwait. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who drove his country deep into debt following an eight year war with Iran, invaded Kuwait to take control of its oil reserves. Ironically, the U.S. had supported Iraq and Hussein during this war. Within days after Iraqi troops moved into Kuwait, the United Nations Security Council denounced the attack and demanded that Iraq withdraw. Then, the Security Council established a trade embargo with Iraq. Over the next few months, President Bush began moving American forces to Saudi Arabia. By November 1990, more than 500,000 troops were in the Persian Gulf region. In late November, the U.N. issued an ultimatum for Iraqi forces to withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1991, and authorized force to remove Saddam's troops from Kuwait. As the deadline approached, more than 200,000 troops from 28 countries joined Americans in the gulf. This build-up of allied military forces became known as Operation Desert Shield. On January 12, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution approving the use of force against Saddam Hussein.

At approximately 6:30 P.M. on January 16, Operation Desert Storm, led by American General Norman Schwarzkopf, began with a devastating air assault on Saddam's forces in occupied Kuwait and in Iraq. In response, Iraq launched SCUD missiles at targets in Saudi Arabia and Israel. As the assault continued, Saddam made many desperate moves to stop the allied forces, including setting fire to Kuwaiti oil wells and releasing a giant oil spill into the Persian Gulf. On February 23, after Saddam ignored President Bush's final ultimatum to withdraw, the ground assault began. In only four days the U.N. forces reclaimed Kuwait and occupied some portions of southern Iraq. On February 27, President Bush ordered a ceasefire that was accepted by the Iraqis. At the end of the war, American forces had lost 137 soldiers, while as many as 100,000 military and civilian Iraqis were killed. Many observers hoped that Saddam Hussein might fall from power after the defeat, but when Kurds in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south attempted an overthrow, Saddam used his remaining army to crush the rebellion. In the U.S., President Bush's approval ratings jumped to nearly 90 percent.

The domestic front also posed serious challenges during Bush's presidency. When he took office in January of 1989, the savings and loan crisis had not been resolved. During the mid to late 80s, when the construction and oil booms of the start of the decade died down, many savings and loans lost profits and some declared bankruptcy.

President Bush was able to fulfill part of his promise for a "kinder" nation when he signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law in 1990. The Act provided protection against discrimination for Americans with physical or mental disabilities.

By 1992, the federal budget deficit had soared to $290 billion, while the national unemployment rate reached levels over seven percent. These factors, combined with President Bush's 1990 budget plan that included tax hikes, created large obstacles for Bush as he approached re-election.

Crash Course US History Episode #44: “George HW Bush and End of the Cold War”

Bill Clinton

One prominent figure in this effort was William Jefferson Clinton, four-term governor of Arkansas. Clinton, who graduated from Georgetown University, studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and earned his law degree at Yale, entered the primary race for the Democratic nomination for president. Although he encountered accusations of extramarital affairs and avoiding service in the Vietnam War, Clinton won the nomination. To complete the ticket, he chose Tennessee Senator and Vietnam Veteran Al Gore as his running mate.

For the Republican nomination, incumbent President Bush was challenged briefly by Patrick Buchanan but ultimately received the nomination uncontested. Bush seemed to rely on the victory in the Persian Gulf in his re-election campaign, while Clinton promised economic improvements, reformed healthcare, and middle-class tax cuts. Adding interest to the presidential race was Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, who entered as an independent candidate. At the polls, the most important issue proved to be the state of the economy, and Americans elected Clinton and Gore, who received 43 percent of the popular vote and 370 electoral votes. Bush managed 39 percent and 168 electoral votes. Ross Perot garnered no electoral votes but won 18 percent of the popular vote, the best showing for a third-party candidate since 1912.

After taking office, Clinton struggled to maintain some of his campaign promises. As the new president faced opposition, he tended to back down from his position and offer a compromise. One of the first issues he took on was lifting the ban on gays in the military. However, many members of Congress as well as military commanders strongly opposed the move, and Clinton eventually accepted a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Making headway on the economy also proved challenging. In February 1992, Clinton created a program to reduce the deficit by cutting spending and increasing taxes for corporations and the wealthy. He also introduced an economic stimulus package.

Clinton's attempt at reforming healthcare was highly controversial and even politically damaging. Healthcare reform was an important issue since nearly 35 million Americans were uninsured mostly because they could not afford it. President Clinton appointed First Lady Hillary Clinton, also a Yale Law school graduate, as the head of a taskforce charged with proposing a new healthcare plan. When the plan was revealed in October of 1993, critics argued it was too complicated and might be more costly than the nation could afford. Some of the strongest opposition came from drug companies, insurance companies, and small businesses concerned about lower revenues and increased expenses.

Controversy stirred over Clinton's support for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Bush administration had negotiated the agreement, which removed trade restrictions with Canada and Mexico. Clinton supported NAFTA, believing it would provide opportunities for American goods in foreign markets. Critics charged Americans would lose jobs when companies began moving their facilities to Mexico. Strong Republican support moved the agreement through the House, and the Senate approved NAFTA in November of 1993. Clinton also oversaw the Family Medical Leave Act, which provided 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year that workers could use to manage significant family events, including birth, adoption, or illness.

Violence, also found its way inside the U.S. borders. In 1993, a bomb exploded in the parking garage of New York City's World Trade Center, killing six and wounding over 1,000. An investigation soon showed that members of an extremist Muslim group had committed the assault in response to U.S. aid to Israel. Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and three others were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the attack. Yousef, who was suspected of being the mastermind behind the attack, expressed disappointment that the explosion had not destroyed either of the towers and that more people had not been killed.

The nation was stunned on April 19, 1995, when an explosion ripped through a federal office building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children, and injuring more than 600 others. Investigators arrested Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols and soon learned that the bombing had been carried out in retaliation for two events that had occurred years earlier. The first event took place in 1992 in Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Randy Weaver, a white supremacist, had failed to report to court for weapons charges. Federal agents surrounded his home and in the ensuing crossfire, Weaver's wife and son and a U.S. Marshall were killed. The second event occurred in Waco, Texas, exactly two years prior to the Oklahoma City bombing. A standoff between federal agents and the Branch Davidians, a fundamentalist sect led by David Koresh, ended in tragedy. Federal agents served a warrant on the sect, gunfire broke out, and four agents and two Branch Davidians were killed. This fight led to a 51-day standoff that ended when agents attacked the compound with tear gas, and the building caught fire killing approximately 70 sect members. McVeigh and Nichols were tried and convicted in federal court. McVeigh was executed in 2001, and Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.

After a first term filled with domestic and international challenges, President Clinton faced re-election in 1996. Although the Republicans had regained the House and the Senate, Clinton had earned back some esteem as a leader. In 1995, government offices had to shutdown when President Clinton and the Republican-dominated Congress became deadlocked over the budget. The lack of an approved budget left many federally funded offices with no operating money, and employees had to be sent home as a result. The shut down created a backlash against the Republicans. Additionally, the economy had entered an upswing, boosting people's satisfaction with the Clinton administration.

In the race, President Clinton faced Senate majority leader and World War II veteran Bob Dole of Kansas. Clinton was re-elected, receiving 379 electoral votes to Dole's 159.

Much of President Clinton's second term in office was mired by scandal. Even before Clinton ran for the presidency, he was beset with accusations of wrongdoing in a failed real estate development named Whitewater. In 1998 a much larger scandal ensued when a judge required Clinton to testify in a lawsuit filed by Paula Jones, who alleged that Clinton had sexually harassed her while she was a state employee in Arkansas. Jones' lawyers called Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, to testify, hoping to use her testimony to show a pattern of sexual misconduct by Clinton. Both Lewinsky and Clinton denied having an affair when questioned as part of the lawsuit.

When allegations of the Lewinsky and Clinton affair broke in January of 1998, a media frenzy ensued. For eight months, Clinton strongly denied the accusations, saying in one news conference, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." However, Lewinsky had confided details of her relationship with the president to former White House employee Linda Tripp, who taped many of their conversations. When Tripp turned the tapes over to Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr, originally appointed to investigate the Whitewater mess, Lewinsky confessed her relationship with the president. In September, Starr charged President Clinton with lying under oath and asking Lewinsky to lie as well. These charges fell within the impeachable acts listed in the Constitution.

The Republican-led House of Representatives quickly began the impeachment process, and in December 1998 they impeached President Clinton for committing perjury and obstruction of justice. Clinton became just the second president in U.S. history to be impeached; the first was Andrew Johnson, who was impeached in 1868 for violating the Tenure of Office Act when he dismissed Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The Senate trial began in January of 1999 with Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding. In February, Clinton was found not guilty of both charges. The senators voted 50-50 on the obstruction of justice charge and 45-55 on the perjury charge, both falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to force the president from office. The scandal and the impeachment trial created a backlash against the Republicans in Congress. While many Americans did not approve of Clinton's behavior, they did approve of his performance as president. Clinton's job approval ratings remained high throughout the scandal and impeachment trial. In the 1998 congressional elections, the Republican's lost control of the House.

While the Clinton administration was weathering the scandals at home, old problems re-emerged abroad. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein, who remained in power after the Gulf War, stopped cooperating with U.N. weapons inspectors, and in 1998 the chief inspector reported that Hussein was not complying with U.N. rules. To encourage compliance, Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered air strikes at military targets in Iraq. In 1999, problems in the former Yugoslavia reignited as Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic waged war on ethnic Albanians in Serbia. NATO forces, including Americans, bombed Serbia to stop the "ethnic cleansing" campaigns. However, the attempt failed and NATO peacekeeping forces eventually took up positions within Kosovo. Amidst the scandal at home and problems abroad, Clinton's second presidential term was coming to an end, and Vice President Al Gore became the clear frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Crash Course US History Episode #45: “The Clinton Years, or the 1990s”

George W. Bush

As the 2000 presidential election approached, two-term vice president Al Gore won the Democratic nomination and chose Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman as his running mate. During the race, Gore struggled with the awkward situation of campaigning on the economic prosperity of the Clinton administration, while distancing himself from the Clinton scandals.

For the Republicans, the primary race was a heated fight that included Senator John McCain of Arizona and George W. Bush, governor of Texas and son of former President Bush. McCain ran on both a promise to reform campaign finance rules and his strong record of military service—he had been held as a prisoner of war for over five years in North Vietnam. Bush won the nomination and chose as his running mate Dick Cheney, former Secretary of Defense under the elder Bush's administration.

A third-party candidate, Ralph Nader, also entered the presidential race. Running for the Green Party, Nader argued for better environmental policies and hoped to provide voters with an alternative to the Democrats and Republicans. Many Democrats worried that Nader's campaign would take votes away from Gore. A key issue that arose during the race was how to spend the federal budget surplus that was expected to occur as a result of the economic boom at the end of the 1990s. Bush argued that two-thirds of the expected surplus should be used for tax cuts for all income brackets. He also supported decreasing the size of the federal government and privatizing certain social services. Gore argued that the surplus should be used to pay down the national debt and fund Social Security and Medicare programs. He also advocated smaller tax cuts aimed at the lower and middle classes.

When voters went to the polls in November, the outcome was anything but expected. On the night of the election, major television networks made and retracted predictions for the winner as the race in Florida became too close to call. When the votes were finally tallied, Bush's margin of victory was small enough that state law required a recount. The second machine count confirmed a Bush victory by a few hundred votes. Democrats argued that hand counting was needed in several counties because the punch-card voting system was confusing and the machines used in counting did not accurately read many of the ballots. For over a month, the nation awaited election results from Florida, the state where Bush's brother Jeb served as governor.

In some counties, election officials began examining punch-card paper ballots by hand, trying to assess voter intention on cards where the paper chads, or dots, had not been completely punched out. Meanwhile, Republicans argued that the counting should cease because it amounted to changing election guidelines after the fact, and they took their case to the courts. The first court ruling came from the Florida Supreme Court and required officials to hand count as many as 60,000 ballots. The Bush team appealed this decision to the United States Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the Florida legislature took action to name electors that would give the state's 25 electoral votes to Bush so that he would win the state regardless of the results of the popular vote recount. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the recount was unconstitutional because it violated "equal protection" as defined by the Constitution. As a result, Bush won the electoral vote and the presidency. The combination of the controversy in Florida and Gore's win in the popular election by over a half-million votes caused some voters to view Bush's victory as illegitimate.

The controversy over the 2000 election was silenced on the morning of September 11, 2001. At 8:46 A.M. a hijacked jetliner crashed into the 96th floor of the north tower of New York City's World Trade Center, causing a fireball to engulf the surrounding floors of the building. At 9:03 another jetliner slammed into the 80th floor of the south tower. New York City police, firefighters, and other rescue workers raced to the scene. About an hour after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, a third jetliner slammed into the side of the Pentagon in Washington D.C. At 10:05 the south tower of the World Trade Center began to collapse, sending debris into the streets below. A few minutes later, as part of the Pentagon collapsed, a fourth jetliner crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Before the crash, passengers aboard the plane communicated via cell phone that they intended to regain control of the plane from the terrorists. In the end, the terrorist attacks killed nearly 3,000 people. A stunned and sorrowful nation united in newfound patriotism and in a struggle against the new reality of terrorism.

In the days following what is now known as "9-11," government officials indicated that the attacks had been carried out by members of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, headed by Osama bin Laden—an extremist who had been ousted from his native Saudi Arabia. Al Qaeda was believed to be responsible for earlier bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and for the bombing in Yemen of the USS Cole, a U.S. destroyer. Bin Laden and his terrorist organization were based in Afghanistan, a country under the oppressive rule of an Islamic fundamentalist group called the Taliban.

The U.S. government supported and aided the Taliban and bin Laden years earlier when they were fighting the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. However, bin Laden and his supporters had now come to hate the United States for a number of reasons, including U.S. support for Israel in the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians, economic sanctions against Iraq, the strength of the U.S. military and its presence in the Middle East, and a desire to keep Western ideas from influencing the Muslim world. Thus, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon served as symbolic attacks on the economic and military strength of the United States.

On September 20, President Bush addressed the nation and a joint session of congress declaring that the U.S. would engage in a "lengthy campaign" against terrorism. He emphasized respect for the Muslim faith, created the Office of Homeland Security, and appointed Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge as its first leader. He officially began the "war on terror" by ordering the Taliban to turn over Osama bin Laden and members of Al Qaeda or face attack by the U.S. military. The Taliban refused the ultimatum, and Bush began a military campaign against them. Joined by anti-Taliban Afghan forces, American troops overthrew the Taliban rule in Afghanistan and began hunting down members of Al Qaeda hiding in underground hideouts in the rough Afghan terrain. Despite the quick overthrow of the Taliban, U.S. forces remained in Afghanistan to search for bin Laden and Al Qaeda members, while Afghans worked to create a new government.

Afghanistan was not to be the only site of U.S. military action under the Bush administration. In the January 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush declared that North Korea, Iran, and Iraq constituted an "axis of evil" that threatened peace around the world by sponsoring terror and pursuing weapons of mass destruction. Additionally, he pointed out that Iraq had agreed to weapons inspections after the Gulf War but had failed to let the inspectors complete their work. In September, President Bush addressed the United Nations General Assembly and asked them to confront this problem. A month later, Congress approved a resolution allowing President Bush to decide if the U.S. should use force against Iraq.

In November 2002, the U.N. Security Council approved a new set of inspections known as Resolution 1441 to be carried out in Iraq. Days later, Iraq accepted the terms of the resolution. In January 2003, Iraq turned over documentation of its chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs. After examining the documentation, Chief U.N. Weapons Inspector Hans Blix reported that the information was not complete and did not meet the U.N.'s request. During the next few months, Secretary of State Colin Powell urged the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution that would force Iraq to comply with Resolution 1441 or face consequences. Although Britain supported such a resolution, other countries, such as France and Russia, vowed to veto resolutions that would in effect authorize war.

In early 2003, President Bush outlined the chemical, biological, and nuclear threat posed by Iraq in his State of the Union address, and he began to deploy U.S. troops to the Middle East. There were conflicting feelings about the decision to go to war in Iraq, which became apparent when pro- and anti-war protests took place in the U.S. and around the world. In mid-March 2003, while the U.N. continued to try to get Iraq to comply with Resolution 1441, President Bush ordered Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq in 48 hours or face attack by the American military. Days later, without U.N. approval, the U.S. began air strikes in Iraq. A ground invasion by U.S. and British troops followed. In early April the troops overtook the Iraqi capitol of Baghdad.

President Bush announced the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1, 2003. Although major conflict had ended, American and British forces remained in Iraq and were joined by peacekeepers from other countries. Hundreds of soldiers continued to be killed in attacks while the U.S. and the U.N. worked to help Iraq establish democracy. While in Iraq, U.S. troops continued to search for members of Saddam Hussein's regime. In April, U.S. Central Command had released a "most wanted" list of terrorists to all the troops in the form of a deck of playing cards. Over the next year, most of the regime members were captured or killed. Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, died in a gunfight with U.S. troops on July 22, 2003, and Saddam was captured on December 13, 2003.

Crash Course US History Episode #46: Terrorism, War, and Bush

The Changing American Society

In the decades leading to the twenty-first century, American society underwent many changes that affected the way people lived and changed the face of America. Congress passed the Immigration Act in 1965 that removed restrictions based on natural origin, resulting in an increase in the number of immigrants coming to America. During the last two decades of the century nearly one million new immigrants entered the country every year. While the immigrants who had come to America in the 1800s and early 1900s were primarily European, these new immigrants were mostly from Asia and Latin America.

During the 1980s, the number of Asian-Americans in the U.S. was increasing at a rate seven times that of the population in general. During that time, approximately 46,000 immigrants arrived from the Philippines and another 45,000 came from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China. Still others arrived in the U.S. from Vietnam, Korea, Cambodia, Iran, India, and Laos. In 1990, the U.S. census counted 22 million Hispanics living in America. Of these, 60 percent were Mexican-Americans, 12 percent were of Puerto Rican origin, 5 percent had come from Cuba, and another 23 percent were from other countries. A decade later, the total number surged to 32.8 million or 12 percent of the total population, making Hispanics the largest minority group in the country.

As Latinos entered the country, they settled throughout the continental United States. However, many Mexican immigrants settled in Illinois and in the border states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. By the year 2000, Latinos constituted one-third of the populations in Texas, California, and Arizona. In New Mexico, Latinos made up half of the population. Other Latino groups settled elsewhere in the country. Puerto Rican immigrants, for example, often moved to New York and New Jersey, while Cuban immigrants frequently settled in Florida. Although their origins were different, the new immigrants came to the U.S. for many of the same reasons earlier groups had come. They left behind countries with increasing populations and few opportunities to make a living. Since immigrants often settled in large enclaves within the U.S., they were able to maintain many of their cultural traditions. Soon the new immigrants, Latinos in particular, began to influence many aspects of American society.

As it had in earlier times, the influx of new immigration was accompanied by a resurgence in anti-foreignism. Conflicts also occurred between old and new minority groups. Many established Americans worried about the rising tide of new immigrants and whether America could absorb so many new people. Although no new laws were passed to stem legal immigration, Congress did pass the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which attempted to limit the number of illegal immigrants entering the country by penalizing employers who hired undocumented workers. The law also gave amnesty to many illegal immigrants who were already in the county.

Anti-immigration sentiment became especially strong in California during the early 1990s as the nation experienced a recession. Voters there approved a measure to reduce state expenditures on the approximately four million illegal immigrants living in the state. Proposition 187, passed in 1994, denied illegal immigrants access to social services such as public schools and non-emergency healthcare. Supporters of the reform hoped it would save the state of California a great deal of money; however, many critics felt racism was the actual motive for the measure. In many ways, the new immigrants were similar to those that had come a century before seeking opportunity. Many immigrants made important contributions to their new nation. Asian Americans, for example, maintained higher median incomes per household than any other group in the country, and they attended some of the most prestigious colleges. Ironically, these achievements often led to more resentment.

In addition to conflicts over immigration, the end of twentieth century also became the setting for other racial and ethnic tensions. In 1992, riots broke out in Los Angeles after a mostly white jury found several white L.A. police officers not guilty of any crime, although they had been videotaped beating an African American suspect. Angered by the verdict, many residents of L.A.'s minority neighborhoods began looting and set fire to entire city blocks. Some also attacked Asian shopkeepers. The riots clearly demonstrated the complexity of ethnic and racial relations throughout America. Related to these complexities was the resurgence of cultural conservatism that began in the late 1970s with Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority. The movement was re-energized in 1989 when Pat Robertson, a television evangelist, founded the Christian Coalition. Supporters of such movements, also known as the religious right, began to wield their political power by urging politicians to legalize school prayer and ban abortion. They also hoped to downsize government, prevent gay rights, and promote "traditional" family values.

This new conservative movement was reflected in the appointment of three conservative judges to the Supreme Court during the Reagan administration. In the 1980s several important cases concerning abortion and affirmative action came before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in 1973 Roe v. Wade that states could not make laws limiting access to abortion at the beginning of pregnancies. These abortion rights were diminished by several Supreme Court rulings in the late 1980s and early 1990s that opened the door for states to establish certain limitations on abortion. In several affirmative action cases, the court made it easier for white males to argue reverse racism against affirmative action policies and made discrimination in hiring more difficult to prove. Some of the effects of these decisions, however, were reversed by the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Struggles over affirmative action continued, and in 1996 voters approved Proposition 209, which eliminated affirmative action in education and for government hiring.

As the century closed, the secondary school test scores and average household incomes of African Americans continued to be lower than their white counterparts. As America's workplace became more dependent on technology, education became more important, creating problems for students without access to a good education. Thus, although African Americans achieved the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the struggle for equality continued beyond the end of the century. In addition to the challenges of a multicultural society, America faced other challenges such as a widening economic divide that continued to separate the rich from the poor. During the 1990s, the richest 20 percent of Americans garnered half of the nation's total income. Meanwhile, the poorest 20 percent fell short of earning four percent of the total income. According to 1998 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, just over 10 percent of white and Asian Americans lived in poverty, while over 25 percent of African Americans and Latinos lived in poverty.

Adding to the problems faced by America as it moved into the twenty-first century was the coming retirement of the BABY BOOMERS, the generation of Americans born just after World War II. The aging of the American population guaranteed to put never before seen pressures on Social Security and Medicare. The concern that this generation's retirement needs would break the system became an increasingly important election issue as the new century dawned.

In addition to the many challenges facing American society at the beginning of the new century, TECHNOLOGY had an increasing influence on the way Americans lived their lives. Technology, and in particular the Internet, were responsible for the booming economy of the late 1990s. Investors put up billions of dollars to fund new dot-com companies. The INTERNET also revolutionized the way "bricks and mortar" companies, or companies that existed outside of the Internet, operated. Employees could now communicate and conduct transactions around the world as quickly as they could in person. The Internet also brought change to people's everyday lives by giving them access to seemingly endless sources of information. Americans were soon banking, shopping, paying bills, learning, and voting on-line.

Crash Course US History Episode #47: Obamanation

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