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Modern America

Modern America. Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama. Clinton Years. Clinton’s Agenda. Focus on Five Areas: Economy Health Care Family Education Crime. Economy. Fix the federal deficit Under Reagan and Bush the deficit nearly quadrupled Lower interest rates, cut spending, raise taxes

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Modern America

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  1. Modern America Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama

  2. Clinton Years

  3. Clinton’s Agenda • Focus on Five Areas: • Economy • Health Care • Family • Education • Crime

  4. Economy • Fix the federal deficit • Under Reagan and Bush the deficit nearly quadrupled • Lower interest rates, cut spending, raise taxes • Tax hike very unpopular after he campaigned to cut taxes • Raised taxes on middle and upper income Americans • New taxes on gasoline, heating oil, and natural gases

  5. Health Care Reform • 15% of Americans lacked health insurance • Task force headed by Hillary Rodham Clinton • Plan to guarantee health benefits for all Americans • Burden of paying for it on employers (small-businesses feared this) • Doctors and insurance industry campaigned against plan • Republicans against it, Democrats divided, no plan passed

  6. Families • Family Medical Leave Act • Up to 12 weeks/year of unpaid family leave for birth or adoption of a child or for illness of a family member • AmeriCorps • Students to work improving low-income housing, teaching children to read, and cleaning up the environment • Volunteers earn a salary and get a scholarship to improve education

  7. Crime and Gun Control • Gun-control laws (Brady Bill) • Waiting period before purchases • Background checks • Funding for new prisons and for 100,000 more officers on the streets • Also banned 19 assault weapons and provided money for crime prevention programs

  8. Republicans gain control of Congress • Clinton unpopular but successful • Raised taxes, failed to fix health care, economy improving • Newt Gingrich: Contract with America • Lower taxes, welfare reform, anticrime laws, term limits for Congress, and balanced budget amendment • Most passed in now GOP-led House, but were shot down in Senate or vetoed by Clinton

  9. Budget Battles: Gov’t Shutdown • Clinton vetoes Republican budget • Gingrich refuses to negotiate or bend • Assumes Clinton will back off • Clinton holds ground, government closes • Republicans realize they need to work with President Clinton • Clinton regains support from Americans for holding his ground

  10. 1996 Campaign • Clinton works with Republicans for Health Coverage laws and Welfare Reform • Clinton takes credit for economic boom: longest sustained growth in US history • Unemployment and inflation fell to lowest levels in 40 years • Markets soaring, crime falling

  11. And the results are…

  12. Clinton’s Second Term • Economy continues to grow • Balanced budget…even a surplus! • Putting Children First • Cigarette advertising bans • Health Insurance programs • Increase in Student Grants

  13. Impeachment • Independent Counsel led by Kenneth Starr to look into Clinton potentially arranging illegal loans while Arkansas Governor • Scandal about personal relationship with WH intern and whether he committed perjury (lying under oath) • Starr concludes study and says Clinton obstructed justice, abused powers as president, and committed perjury

  14. Impeachment Hearings • House of Reps passed two articles of impeachment and case moved to Senate for trial • Perjury: 55-45 not guilty • Obstruction of Justice: 50-50 • Both fell far short of 2/3 vote needed

  15. Foreign Policy • Haiti government overthrow • Influx of refugees to US • UN trade embargo to try to restore democracy • Role of Jimmy Carter • Bosnia: Christian Serbs begin ethnic cleansing Bosnian Muslims (brutal expulsion of an ethnic group for a geographic area) • Some cases of slaughter instead of moving Muslims • Dayton Accords for peace

  16. Middle East • Saddam Hussein and the Kurds • US fires missiles at Iraqi military targets • Israel and Palestine • Declaration of Principles • Disputed territories • Still no peace • Jordan and Israel peace treaty

  17. Bush Administration 2001-2009

  18. The New Millennium Timeline • 2000: Presidential Election Controversy • 2001: Bush Inauguration • 2001: September 11th Attacks • 2001: US begins bombing Afghanistan • 2001: Patriot Act • 2002: Educational Reforms

  19. Timeline (continued) • 2003: US invades Iraq • 2004: Bush Reelected • 2005: Hurricane Katrina • 2007: Pelosi—first female Speaker of the House • 2008: Obama wins presidency • 2010: Republican takeover of the House

  20. The 2000 Presidential Election QUESTION: HOW CAN THE PERSON WITH THE MOST VOTES NOT WIN THE PRESIDENCY? • Electoral College • Bush: 271 • Gore: 266* *One elector from Washington D.C. abstained from casting a vote • Popular Vote • Gore: 50,999,897 • Bush: 50,456,002 • Nader: 2,882,955

  21. The Issue in Florida • Last state to report results • Both Gore and Bush needed the 25 votes to win the presidency • Too close to call • State law requires recount • Gore requests hand recount • Bush v. Gore Supreme Court Case (Read on Pg. 1034 on your own)

  22. Early Bush Policies • Tax cuts to boost economy • Education Reforms • Standardized Tests (No Child Left Behind) • Federal Funding for Private Schools (Voted Down) • Medicare Reforms • Strategic Defense Programs

  23. September 11thRise of Terrorism Unit 10

  24. September 11, 2001

  25. The Headlines

  26. What is Terrorism? Terrorism is violence … • …that is deliberate and premeditated, never random. • ... that is politically motivated.. • ... that targets innocent civilians (or noncombatants).

  27. … that’s carried out by subnationalgroups. • ... that’s aimed at a wide audience. • ... that’s meant to create a state of fear. • ... that’s usually directed against some hated government. • one’s own government. • a foreign government. • a foreign supporter of one’s own government.

  28. Definitions of Terrorism : • “Premeditated and politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncom- batant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience. -U.S. State Department • “The deliberate use of violence against civilians for political or religious ends.” -Council of Foreign Relations • “Illegal attacks and threats against people or property by a group for the purpose of weakening a hated political authority. - IR text

  29. There is no universally accepted definition of terrorism. Why not? • UN tried to draft definition of terrorism in 2002, but failed because of disagreements over which groups should be treated as terrorists. Some would exempt “national liberation movements” or those “resisting occupation.” • “One Man’s Terrorist is Another Man’s Freedom Fighter””

  30. Islamic Terrorism • Many of the terrorists we face today are Islamic extremists. • View themselves as fighting jihad (“holy war”)against the enemies of Islam. • Difficult to deter. Why?

  31. Islamic Fundamentalism“Islamic Extremism” or “Radical Islam” • Radical and extreme form of Islam that has contributed to the rise of religiously motivated terrorism • Islamic fundamentalism IS NOTACTIVELY SUPPORTED BY MOST OF THE WORLD’S MUSLIMS TODAY!

  32. Beliefs / Goals of Islamic Fundamentalism • Wants to return to a strict, conservative, “pure” Islam as practiced in the 7th century by the Prophet Mohammad. • Rejects Western ideas and practices. Wants to rid Muslim world of all Western influences. Views Western culture as corrupting, immoral, and materialistic. • Wants to establish Islamic governments (theocracies) based on Islamic law (Shari’a) throughout the Muslim world.

  33. Al Qaeda: A Global Terrorist Network

  34. Al Qaeda Today • Many leaders have been killed or captured since 9-11. Al Qaeda is significantly weakened, but is still a threat. • Core leadership operating from Pakistantoday. Goal is still the targeting of the U.S. • Local groupslinked to al Qaeda in Yemen, Somalia, and North Africa are emerging as the next threat.

  35. Why Did bin Laden Target the U.S. ? • Believes U.S. wants to control Muslim lands. • U.S. support of Israel, which murders Palestinians and robs them of their lands. • U.S. support for corrupt and repressive governments in in Muslim countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. • America’s military presence in Saudi Arabia defiles Muslim’s holy land.

  36. The War on Terrorism

  37. The Significance of 9-11 • Changed the focus of U.S. foreign policy overnight. • The “war on terrorism” became the central concern of the Bush administration. • There was no “war on terrorism” before 9-11.

  38. Bush’s Response • Characterized attacks as “more than acts of terror, they were acts of war”. • “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.” • Viewed war on terrorism with “moral clarity” - as a war between good and evil. QUESTION TO CONSIDER: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIGHTING TERRORISM AND FIGHTING A WAR?

  39. Bush’s Response • “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make: Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” • Recruited worldwide coalition to fight a “war on terrorism.”

  40. Worldwide Support for U.S. • Strong support from U.S. allies. • NATO invoked Article 5 of its charter for the first and only time! • “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all...”

  41. Alliances • Formal agreement (treaty) between two or more countries to protect each other in case of attack. • Based on the idea of collective security--the principle that aggression against one state is aggression against all and should be defeated by the collective action of all. • Alliances are not necessarily based on ideology or shared values. • Alliances of convenience do occur (example: US-Pakistan relationship today)

  42. War in Afghanistan

  43. Afghanistan: The “Other War” • 2001 Taliban was defeated and • removed from power. • 2003 Elite military units moved • to Iraq as Afghanistan was • overshadowed by the war • in Iraq. • 2004 While U.S. attention was • diverted to Iraq, Taliban • regrouped and began • insurgency to regain power.

  44. Afghanistan: Losing the War? 2006- 2009 • Insurgent violence inten- sified and Taliban attacks have increased each year. • Large parts of the country have fallen under Taliban’s control. • Taliban using Pakistan as a safe haven from which to launch attacks.

  45. War’s First Phase: Afghanistan (October, 2001) • Military retaliation against al Qaeda and Taliban regime providing safe havento bin Laden • Unconventionalwar fought by: • CIA operatives & U.S. Special Forces. • Northern Alliance allies • Supported by intense U.S. bombing campaign

  46. Afghanistan, 2001 Results: • Al Qaeda bases destroyed. • Taliban defeated and removed from power. • New pro-Western Afghan government put in place. • Most Taliban and al Qaeda leaders escaped into neighboring Pakistan. Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai

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