Mr. McCormackUS History IIChapter 27 Essentials
The 1992 Presidential Election was an historic race; not since 1912 did a candidate from a third party have such a significant chance of winning. Democrats nominated Bill Clinton, the governor of Arkansas, to run against incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush. Bush was extremely popular after the Gulf War, but by 1992 the economy’s weak performance and some of his controversial decisions (such as supporting a tax increase) diminished his popularity. Clinton focused on those economic issues while Bush seemed to focus more on Clinton’s moral lapses (ie former drug use, extramarital affairs, etc.). Ross Perot, a Texas billionaire fed up with both parties, ran on a populist platform promising to balance the budget and fight corruption. After an erratic campaign, Perot captured 19% of the vote but no electoral votes. Clinton won the Electoral College and a plurality of the popular vote.
Liberal democrats, having been shut out of the White House by moderates and conservatives for more than two decades, were eager for change now that democrats controlled both the Congress and the Presidency. Clinton encountered stiff resistance from both Republicans and conservative Democrats, however. His budget that raised taxes passed without a vote to spare, and his health care reform proposal (championed by First Lady Hillary Clinton) was defeated. These and other liberal proposals created a backlash, however, and voters punished Clinton by electing Republican majorities in both houses of Congress for the first time in forty years in 1994. This Republican Revolution was led by Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich, whose “Contract with America” contained simple and popular conservative proposals. Gingrich became Speaker of the House while Kansas Senator Bob Dole became Majority Leader in the Senate, and for about a year it looked like Clinton was going to be a one-term president.
Clinton’s comeback was made possible by a change in strategy. He moderated his political stance and began to portray Republicans as extremists. He compromised with Republicans on issues including welfare reform and a balanced budget. When the failure to compromise over the federal budget resulted in a partial government shut-down, more Americans blamed Republicans. Clinton’s popularity was also boosted as the economy continued to grow and he led the country through a terrorist attack on Oklahoma City. He also secured an increase in the minimum wage in 1996.
Clinton faced Republican Bob Dole and Ross Perot (now of the Reform Party) in the 1996 presidential campaign. Dole performed weakly on the campaign trail, and Perot’s biggest issues (federal spending, irresponsibility of both parties) were largely muted by events. Perot’s share of the popular vote declined to 8%, but he and Dole won enough votes to make Clinton the only two-term president who never won a majority of the electorate.
Clinton’s second term continued to be plagued by scandals from his past. Congress had appointed a special prosecutor, Ken Starr, to look into criminal allegations relating to some former business deals and sexual harassment. Clinton had engaged in an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern, and lied about it under oath and in public denials to the American people. Congress voted to impeach Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice, making him only the second president in US history to be impeached. The Senate failed to get the 2/3 majority needed to remove him from office, however. The impeachment trial left the country bitterly divided and with no reasonable prospects for bipartisan compromise.
There were many foreign policy challenges in the 1990s, but they seemed remote to most Americans now that the USA was the sole superpower and the Cold War was over. Russia struggled to reform its economic and political systems with some success, but after Boris Yeltsin left office and Vladimir Putin took control, the country seemed to slide back toward authoritarianism. China successfully reformed its economy but did not grant political or religious freedom to its people. China also opposed the US over both Taiwan and North Korea. Eastern Europe was generally successful in turning from communism to capitalist democracy, with some countries even joining NATO and the European Union. Unfortunately, the break-up of Yugoslavia included genocide in both Bosnia and Kosovo that ended only with the intervention of NATO and US peacekeepers. Former US Senator George Mitchell helped negotiate the Good Friday Peace Accords in Northern Ireland, largely settling the political, religious, and ethnic strife that had plagued that land for centuries. There also seemed to be a breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian relations, as Clinton hosted Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat to sign the Oslo Peace Agreement exchanging occupied land for peace. Sadly, the agreement failed to satisfy most Palestinians who became increasingly aligned with the terrorist group Hamas in seeking to destroy Israel. Africa suffered the most of any region during this period, from the growing threat of terrorism in the north, to the failed state of Somalia and genocide in Rwanda in the east, to civil wars in Liberia, Zaire, Sudan, and elsewhere, and the epidemic of AIDS in the south.
The 2000 Presidential Election pitted Democratic Vice President Al Gore against Texas Governor George W. Bush, son of the former president (Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan and Green Party candidate Ralph Nader failed to capture much support). Gore was hindered by the fact that many people were fed up with Clinton’s scandals and the fact that he lacked Clinton’s charisma. Bush was hindered by questions about his competence. On election night, Gore won more votes from the people but the Electoral College would be determined by Florida, which was too close to call. Election night returns and an automatic state-wide recount showed Bush won by just a few hundred votes out of millions cast. The Gore campaign filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn those results by selectively recounting in a few heavily populated, heavily Democratic counties in southern Florida. The two campaigns fought in court for more than a month before the US Supreme Court intervened to stop the recounts. Bush had won, but many Democrats considered him an illegitimate president.
Bush preferred to delegate more authority to his staff than Clinton did, and Vice President Dick Cheney wielded enormous authority in the president’s cabinet. With the country now generating surpluses, Bush successfully championed a major tax cut. Promoting what he called “compassionate conservatism,” Bush also pushed through a major education reform initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act.
Most Americans weren’t too worried about terrorism in the 1990s, though in hindsight Islamic extremists were already waging war against us. Terrorists detonated a car bomb in the WorldTradeCenter garage in 1993, then attacked two US embassies in eastern Africa, a barracks in Saudi Arabia, and the USS Cole in 2000. That perception changed on September 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked four planes and used them as missiles to attack symbols of America’s financial, military, and political power. Two planes crashed into the WorldTradeCenter in New York, collapsing those buildings and killing more than 2700. One plane crashed into the Pentagon in WashingtonDC, killing nearly 200. The fourth plane, apparently headed toward the US Capital, crashed when passengers attacked the hijackers. Americans everywhere felt vulnerable, a feeling that was reinforced shortly thereafter when unknown parties started sending letters containing anthrax spores through the mail and several people died as a result.
Stunned Americans demanded justice, and authorities quickly identified the Al-Qaeda terrorist network as the responsible parties. This group was led by Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, who had fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan and campaigned against the US military presence in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War. Al Qaeda’s leaders took refuge in Afghanistan, which was controlled by the fundamentalist Islamic group known as the Taliban. Since assuming control over Afghanistanthey had banished western influences (including music, television, and the education of women) and tried to restore what they considered a pure form of Islam. When they refused to turn over bin Laden and his supporters, the US and a coalition of allies invaded and overthrew the government in “Operation Enduring Freedom.” The US and NATO continue to struggle to help the Afghanis create a stable government. Bin Laden would elude capture for many years, however, before being killed at his hideout in Pakistan.
Bush also led efforts to improve safety domestically. He created an Office of Homeland Security led by Pennsylvania GovernorTomRidge. Congress later transformed this office into the new Department of Homeland Security by combining it with 22 different agencies related to security and disaster prevention or response (ie Coast Guard, Secret Service, Immigration Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, etc.). Congress also passed the USA Patriot Act to expand the powers of law enforcement officers.
Bush labeled Iraq, Iran, and North Korea the “Axis of Evil” because they were willing to produce weapons of mass destruction and might provide them to terrorists willing to attack the United States. Deterrence did not seem like an effective policy against terrorists who were willing to commit suicide, and Bush decided that the US had to be more proactive in eliminating the threats they posed. Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq, seemed like the most dangerous. He had lost the Gulf War against the US but was refusing to comply with the terms of the cease-fire that ended that war. He expelled UN weapons inspectors from his country. He demonstrated a willingness to use chemical weapons against his own citizens. He paid bonuses to the families of suicide bombers in Palestine. Intelligence officials believed Hussein was trying to acquire materials to develop a nuclear weapon. Once he acquired such a powerful weapon, the US would be unable to stop him.
Congress approved a joint resolution authorizing the president to use force against Iraq in October 2002. Many allies joined US forces in “Operation Iraqi Freedom” that began on March 19, 2003. The Iraqis were defeated and occupied in about a month, and Bush declared major combat operations over. Sadly, predictions that the occupation would be brief and painless proved false. Although the Iraqis initially welcomed the fall of Saddam Hussein, they began fighting against each other and the US occupation. Hussein was captured within a year and later executed by the Iraqis, but the failure to turn up proof of weapons of mass destruction and the escalating cost of the war turned many Americans against Bush. Unhappiness with the Iraq war significantly contributed to the election of President Obama in 2008.
There are many unresolved issues in American politics today. Immigration continues to pose interesting challenges to the United States, which prides itself on being a nation of immigrants but worries about the millions of immigrants who have come to this country illegally. Some see them as a drain on the economy and others worry that they are changing the demographic character of the country.
The economy entered a recession in 2008 and the recovery has been very weak. President Obama’s support of a massive federal spending bill (Keynesian stimulus) was divisive as more Americans became worried about the ballooning federal debt. Health care, which Clinton unsuccessfully tried to reform in 1991, underwent a massive overhaul under President Obama. Conservative anger over these and other issues, manifested in “Tea Party” groups, helped to return Republicans to control of the House of Representatives in 2010. Unlike Clinton, Obama has not moderated his policies to find compromise with the Republicans in Congress.
The world economy has become more integrated than ever before as a result of several free trade agreements in the 1990s. NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) largely eliminated all tariffs between the US, Canada, and Mexico. GATT (Global Agreements on Tariffs and Trade) reduced trade barriers around the world, and the World Trade Organization helps to monitor trade policies for compliance with that agreement. Perhaps no group of countries has become more integrated than the European Union, most members of which now use a common currency. The global recession that began in 2008 has severely strained the Union, however, and some predict it will break apart. Closer to home, many people have grown wary of further globalization because the low cost of labor in other countries has attracted many American companies to relocate overseas, especially for manufacturing.
Social issues, which seemed to favor the conservatives during the 1980s and 1990s, now seem to favor the liberals. Gay marriage is advancing in many states, marijuana is being legalized for at least some uses in others, and people who espouse traditional conservative values are increasing being labeled as bigots or worse.
Technology continues to impact American life in many ways. Social media and miniaturized computers in particular allow Americans to be more connected to one another through the internet.