Unit 13

1
Unit 13Chapters 30 31

• Contemporary America (1974 Present)
• CSS 11.7, 11.8, 11.10, 11.11

2
Ford and Carter1974-1981
1976

• Gerald Ford
• first non-elected president
• appointed VP by Nixon under 25th Amendment to
  replace Agnew
• House minority leader
• pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have
  committed as president
• Our long national nightmare is over.
• Helsinki Accords, 1975
• 34 nations agreed to recognize borders of Poland
  and other eastern bloc nations
• USSR agreed to a more open exchange of people and
  knowledge
• stagflation
• period of inflation and recession
• Fords response (WIN) called for voluntary
  measures which failed
• entire 1970s sees less economic growth than any
  single year of 1950s or 1960s
• lack of modernization
• many unskilled workers

D Jimmy Carter 40,828,657 297
R Gerald R. Ford 39,145,520 240

• Jimmy Carter
• peanut farmer and governor of Georgia
• Christian honesty was refreshing after Watergate
• after presidency, championed Habitat for humanity
• won Nobel Peace Prize in 2002
• Malaise Speech, 1979
• Carter spoke on crisis of confidence in America
• SALT II, 1979
• Carter and Brezhnev agreed to first limit on
  total number of strategic launchers and US
  strategic bombers
• never ratified by senate but honored by the
  presidents

3
The US and the Middle East

• Afghanistan, 1979
• USSR invaded presumably to get closer to Middle
  East (oil)
• Carter threatened to use any force necessary to
  stop it
• became the USSRs Vietnam
• US boycotted 1980 Olympics in Moscow and USSR
  responded in 1984
• Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, 1979
• Islamic fundamentalists overthrew Reza Shah
  Pahlavi
• blamed US for conditions in Iran
• advocated violence against US
• fought war with Iraq in 1980s
• Iranian Hostage Crisis, 1979
• 52 Americans captured from US embassy in Teheran
  by Iranian militants and held for 444 days
• Carter ordered a failed rescue
• returned after Reagans election

• Israel, 1948
• UN ordered partition of Palestine into a Jewish
  state and an Arab state,
• hours after Israel created the forces of Egypt,
  Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon invaded
• Six-Day War, 1967
• Israel takes Golan Heights, West Bank Gaza and
  Sinai
• Yom Kippur War, 1973
• Egypt and Syria attacked Israel
• Oil Embargo, 1973
• OPECs response to US support of Israel
• energy crisis led to Alaskan pipeline and
  concern for alternate energy and fuel sources
• Camp David Accords, 1978
• Sadat (Egypt) became the first Muslim nation to
  recognize Israel
• Begin (Israel) agreed to give back the Sinai
  peninsula

4
Environmental Movement

• Silent Spring, 1962
• Rachel Carson explained that pesticides (DDT)
  caused thinning in birds eggs
• Congress restricted DDT
• began the environmentalist movement
• Earth Day (April 22, 1970)
• created as a grassroots on college campuses over
  concern that human activity affects the
  environment
• Environmental Protection Agency, 1970
• regulates the impact businesses have on the
  environment
• industry argues that regulation raises costs and
  hurts the economy
• Clean Air Act, 1970
• limited automobile and factory emissions by smog
  checks and unleaded gas
• Clean Water Act, 1973
• limited industrial and agricultural waste

• Endangered Species Act, 1973
• gave federal protection to animals and plants
  (bald eagle)
• Love Canal, 1978
• the EPA found the community had high rates of
  cancer and birth defects because of 1000s of tons
  of chemical waste buried under it
• led to creation of Superfund to clean these sites
  up
• Three Mile Island, 1979
• a partial nuclear meltdown in PA sent panic
  across the nation
• the radiation was contained but 25,000 lived
  within 5 miles of it
• still debate what to do with the nuclear energy
  and waste
• Kyoto Protocol, 1997
• international greenhouse emissions treaty not
  signed by US

5
Affirmative Action

• Roe v. Wade, 1973
• most states banned or restricted abortion
• the Supreme Court created one national standard -
  in 1st trimester, abortion is legal
• Phyllis Schlafly
• argued that ERA would hurt families
• military service, sex-segregated bathrooms
• conservative backlash against ERA made it fail by
  three states
• Sandra Day OConnor, 1981
• Reagan appointed the first female Supreme Court
  justice
• Geraldine Ferraro, 1984
• first female VP candidate
• affirmative action
• programs designed to rectify ethnic/gender gap
• college admissions, jobs, promotions

• multiculturalism
• new emphasis of uniqueness of each
  ethnic/cultural group
• Immigration Reform and Control Act, 1986
• amnesty for all immigrants who entered the US
  before 1982
• priority to skilled labor immigrants
• Rodney King Riots, 1992
• 4 white offices acquitted after beating a black
  motorist
• largest LA riot since Watts
• 51 dead, 500 buildings destroyed
• Proposition 187, 1994
• CA amendment to bar illegal immigrants from
  welfare, schools, or medical care
• required doctors and teachers to report illegal
  immigrants
• declared unconstitutional
• racial profiling
• laws requiring officers to keep track of the
  ethnicity of people they pull over

6
Neo-Conservatism

• Proposition 13, 1978
• CA amendment that prohibits raises to property
  taxes
• supported by conservatives who distrusted
  government and opposed social welfare
• snowbelt/rustbelt
• depopulation caused by stagflation, declining
  industry, and outsourcing
• NY, OH, PA, MI
• sunbelt
• major area of population in the South and West
  due to military spending, immigration, and
  retirement housing
• FL, CA, TX, AR, NC
• white flight
• departure of white middle class to suburbs,
  leaving cities even higher rates of poverty and
  crime

• New Right (neo-conservatives)
• religious, fiscally conservative, republicans
  opposed to affirmative action, communism, and the
  feminist movement
• conservative reaction to liberalism of the 1970s
  (ERA)
• televangelism, 1980s
• religious cable channels that mixed prayer and
  politics
• reached 20 million weekly
• Moral Majority, 1979
• Jerry Falwell established it to promote Christian
  candidates and values
• anti-abortion, anti-homosexual rights
• promoted republican candidates in 1980, 1984 and
  1988
• Christian Coalition, 1988
• under Pat Robertson, the group sends out voter
  information guides to churches for elections

7
Reagan Administration1981-1985
1980
Are you better off today than you were 4 years
ago?

• Ronald Reagan
• Government is the problem
• the Great Communicator and the Teflon President
• former actor, union president, California
  governor
• shot by John D. Hinckley in 1981
• Reaganomics / New Federalism
• combined supply-side economics with deficit
  spending
• 25 cut in income tax and increased military
  spending
• cut back on social programs
• deregulated of business
• national debt grew from 1 to 3.5 trillion
• Economic Recovery Tax Act, 1981
• lowered income and corporate taxes as well as
  capital gains taxes
• Maximum tax dropped from 70 to 50

R Ronald Reagan 43,899,248 489
D Jimmy Carter 35,481,435 49
I John B. Andersen 5,719,437 --

• Omnibus Reconciliation Act, 1981
• mandated 136 billion in federal spending mostly
  in social programs
• Air Traffic Controllers Strike, 1981
• Reagan threatened to replace strikers with
  military personnel
• Union membership dropped
• Alan Greenspan, 1987
• chairman of Federal Reserve encouraged freer
  market
• AIDS, 1981
• 160,000 had AIDS by 1990 and 100,000 had died
• at first seen as a gay disease

8
Reagan Administration1985-1989
1984

• Iran-Contra Affair, 1986
• US feared domino effect in Latin America
• US sold weapons to Iran and then laundered the
  money to fund the Contras
• Reagan denied knowledge and Oliver North shredded
  evidence
• Spaceship Challenger Disaster, 1986
• 76 seconds after liftoff the space shuttle
  Challenger exploded
• all seven passengers perished, including Christa
  McAuliffe, a civilian teacher
• precipitated comprehensive review of the goals
  and procedures of NASA
• war on drugs
• spent billions to get drug trafficking under
  control
• critics argued it put too much attention on
  foreign supply rather than cutting down demand

R Ronald Reagan 52,609,797 525
D Walter Mondale 36,450,613 13

• Black Monday, 1987
• 508-point stock plunge was the biggest stock
  market crash of all time
• Federal Reserve Bank stepped in to save banks to
  avoid collapse
• Savings and Loan Scandal, 1988
• deregulation of banks led to fraud, abuse of
  power by CEOs
• cost almost 1 trillion to bail out SLs
• Keating Five
• five senators accused of tampering with federal
  investigations received 1M in campaign donations
  from SL

9
The End of the Cold War

• US-USSR Summits
• Reagan abandoned détente for more aggressive
  language
• series of summits with Gorbachev led to mutual
  weapons inspections
• Reagan Doctrine, 1985
• Reagan promised to back anti-communist guerillas
• Nicaragua, El Salvador, Afghanistan
• Grenada, 1983
• Reagan sent troops to stop Marxist uprising in
  Caribbean
• one-day war restored US confidence
• Strategic Defense Initiative, 1983
• high-tech space-based laser defense system to
  shoot down enemy missiles
• more expensive than gold-plated nuclear missiles
• START, 1991
• limited number of warheads each nation could have

• Mikhail Gorbachev
• his liberal policies helped end communism in USSR
• pulled troops from Afghanistan
• refused to interfere in soviet bloc nations
  affairs
• glasnostallowed free speech
• perestroikaallowed rudimentary capitalism
• won Nobel Peace Prize in 1990
• Berlin Wall falls, 1989
• relaxation of travel restrictions in East Germany
  led to flooding of border
• Germany reunited in 1990
• USSR dissolved, 1990
• reforms undermined communist regime
• rise of nationalist movements in Baltic States
• communists imprisoned Gorbachev
• Boris Yeltsin led uprising in Moscow

10
Bush Administration1989-1993
1988
Read my lips, no new taxes

• George H.W. Bush
• ex-CIA director
• criticized for refusing to eat broccoli
• Panama Coup, 1989
• Bush sent troops to oust Gen. Manuel Noriega for
  drug trafficking
• Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990
• demanded rights for the disabled at places of
  business and in employment
• followed by IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities
  Education Act, 1990
• Persian Gulf War, 1991
• Operation Desert Storm
• Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait
• UN responded with trade embargos and sanctions
• US led coalition pushed Iraq out of Kuwait but
  Hussein stayed in power

R George Bush 48,886,588 426
D Michael Dukakis 41,809,485 111

• 27th Amendment, 1992
• changes in congressional pay dont take effect
  until after the next election
• Somalia, 1992
• US troops were sent to Somalia in 1992 to protect
  food and relief supplies
• the country was ravaged by civil war
• Tiananmen Square, 1989
• Chinese students protested for more freedom
• Bush continued dealing with China rather than cut
  off relations

11
Clinton Administration1993-1997
1992

• William Jefferson Clinton
• governor of Arkansas
• voters punished Bush for raising taxes, budget
  deficits, post-war recession
• avoided Vietnam draft, drug use, played saxophone
• strongest economy in American history
• H. Ross Perot
• wealthy Texas businessmen ran as an independent
• argued he was uncorrupted by election system
• National Health Care
• Hillary Clinton spearheaded the push for this
  program but it failed
• NAFTA, 1993
• lowered tariffs between US, Canada, Mexico
• increased trade between nations
• Americans worried theyd lose their jobs

D William Clinton 44,909,806 370
R George Bush 39,104,550 168
I Ross Perot 19,742,240 --

• Contract with America, 1994
• Newt Gingrich led Republican takeover of both
  houses of Congress at midterm elections
• Republican goals included
• balanced budget amendment
• welfare reform
• flag burning amendment
• Defense of Marriage Act, 1996
• federal government only recognizes traditional
  marriage
• Welfare Reform Act, 1996
• limited time families could receive welfare
• replaced AFDC

12
Clinton Administration1997-2001
1996

• Family and Medical Leave Act, 1993
• guaranteed full-time employees 12 weeks off per
  year for newborns or to care for families (unpaid
  leave)
• Brady Bill, 1994
• 5-day waiting period for gun sales
• banned assault weapons
• federal funding for more police
• Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance Act
• banned blocking/bullying people at abortion
  clinics
• Kosovo, 1993
• communist Yugoslavia collapsed
• hard-line fascists in Bosnia begin to commit
  genocide on Muslims
• 200,000 are murdered in ethnic cleansing
• UN sent troops to stop it

D William Clinton 47,402,357 379
R Bob Dole 39,198,755 159
I Ross Perot 8,085,402 --

• Starr Report, 1998
• Clinton was investigated for using his office to
  influence real estate deals
• the investigation lasted years and led to
  questions about adultery as governor and as
  president
• Ken Starr released his 336 page account of what
  Clinton had done
• the House voted to impeach the president for
  perjury (228-226), the Senate did not convict
• Budget Showdown, 1995
• Gingrich and Clinton faced off over the budget
  and shut down nonessential government services
• hurt both their images

13
Bush Administration2001-2005
2000

• George W. Bush
• compassionate conservatism
• Bush won by 500 votes in Florida where his
  brother was governor
• recounts stopped under Bush v. Gore
• No Child Left Behind, 2001
• Bush required all states to test their students
  and show progress
• failing schools are put on a list and face
  sanctions
• students at failing schools must be bussed to
  better ones
• all students will be proficient by 2014
• Department of Homeland Security
• new agency ensured domestic security
• coordinated federal and state agencies in
  emergency
• FBI, CIA, NSA had separate information that could
  have prevented 9-11

R George W. Bush 50,455,156 271
D Albert Gore, Jr. 50,997,335 267
G Ralph Nader 2,882,897 --

• Y2k (1/1/00)
• companies and governments spent 300 billion in
  fear that computers would malfunction on 1/1/00
• Hurricane Katrina, 2005
• most expensive and devastating hurricane in US
  history
• 80 of New Orleans submerged
• 81 billion in damages
• 3 million left without electricity
• 1,836 died (mostly in Louisiana)
• disproportionately hit the poor and elderly
• many criticized the governments response

14
War on Terrorism

• Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act,
  1996
• limited appeals for and sped up process for the
  execution of convicted terrorists
• September 11, 2001
• Al Qaeda attack on the twin towers shifted
  Americas attention to foreign policy
• more than 3000 were killed when four airplanes
  were hijacked and used as weapons
• 2 in NYC, 1 in PA, and 1 in DC
• Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001
• al Qaeda was hiding out in Afghanistan which was
  ruled by the Taliban
• Bush vowed to punish al Qaeda and any nation that
  sponsored terrorismBush Doctrine
• within 3 months the US, UK, allies, and rebels
  overthrew the Taliban
• democratic elections were held for the first time

• Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003
• Bush believed that Saddam Hussein was stockpiling
  nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons
• fighting lasted from March to May, 2003
• WMDs were never found
• USA Patriot Act, 2001
• laws created to fight terrorism within the US
• House vote 357-66, Senate vote 98-1
• allows the government to search bank records,
  seize property, and monitor phone calls
• criticized for giving too much power to the
  President
• Osama bin Laden
• vocal leader of Al Qaeda killed by US troops in
  Pakistan
• responsible for attacks on US embassies, twin
  towers, and USS Cole