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America in the Post-1991 World
Ch 41
Election of 1992 Democrats - Bill Clinton (Gov of AR) • VP – Al Gore (environmentalist) • Democratic Leadership Council – pro-growth, strong
defense, anti-crime policies • Platform – stimulate economy, reform welfare
system, overhaul healthcare • A New Democrat – less liberal • Nominated amid accusations of womanizing, draft
evasion Republicans - George H. W. Bush • VP – Dan Quayle • Platform - Family values, ended Cold War, successful
Persian Gulf War • Weakened by economic recession Independent – Ross Perot (TX billionaire) • Platform – federal deficit is a problem, not associated
with Washington • Split Republican party
Votes: Clinton 370, Bush 168, Perot 0 -record turn out! 55% of eligible voters 1st Baby Boomer President
President Bill Clinton 1993-2001 Democrat
Presidential Rankings: C-Span Survey, 2009
1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Franklin Roosevelt
3. George Washington
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Harry Truman
6. John Kennedy
7. Thomas Jefferson
8. Dwight Eisenhower
9. Woodrow Wilson
10. Ronald Reagan
11. Lyndon Johnson
12. James Polk
13. Andrew Jackson
14. James Monroe
15. Bill Clinton
16. William McKinley
17. John Adams
18. George H.W. Bush
19. John Quincy Adams
20. James Madison
21. Grover Cleveland
22. Gerald Ford
23. Ulysses Grant
24. William Taft
25. Jimmy Carter
26. Calvin Coolidge
27. Richard Nixon
28. James Garfield
29. Zachary Taylor
30. Benjamin Harrison
31. Martin Van Buren
32. Chester Arthur
33. Rutherford Hayes
34. Herbert Hoover
35. John Tyler
36. George W. Bush
37. Millard Fillmore
38. Warren Harding
39. William Harrison
40. Franklin Pierce
41. Andrew Johnson
42. James Buchanan
Foreign Policy
*no clear policy*
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) - 1993
• Reduced or eliminated trade barriers between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada
– Clinton was originally protectionist
• US feared losing jobs to low-wage Mexican workers
• Promoted creation of WTO
WTO - global free trade system
– Predecessor was GATT (Gen. Agreement on Tariffs & Trade)
– Met in Seattle (1999) – trade talks fizzled
– Protestors don’t want globalization
NAFTA is an example of increased globalization in the post-1991 era.
Somalia • US troops sent to prevent famine due to
clashing rival clans
• Rebels killed 12+troops – Blackhawk Down
• 1994 – withdrew w/o achieving any defined goal
Rwanda- chose to stay out of genocide
Haiti • President Jean-Bertrand Aristide deposed in
military coup
• 20,000 troops sent to restore Aristide, 1000s of refugees sought asylum in US
• Aristide forced out again in 2004, politically asylum in Africa
China • Clinton denounced Bush for no economic
sanctions after Tiananmen incident
• Soon learned that China is too economically important to US, sought improved trade
• 2000 – full fledge trading partner
Middle East • Meeting b/w Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin &
PLO leader Yasir Arafat (1993)
• Oslo Accords - Agreed to self-rule for Palestinians in Israel
• 2 yrs later, Rabin assassinated
• US struggles for permanent settlement
• Arafat dies in 2004
Yugoslavia
Bosnia
• 1992 - war broke out in Bosnia b/w Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims who sought independence from Yugoslavia
• Ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims occurred and most of Bosnia was overrun by Bosnian Serbs and Serbians in 1995
• Dayton Agreements (1995) split Bosnia into Serbian and Muslim areas and UN peacekeepers were sent in to preserve the peace
• NATO force failed to pacify Balkan region
Kosovo
• Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic (1999) – new round of ethnic cleansing against Albanians in Kosovo
• NATO launches air war against Serbia – didn’t stop terror, refugees flood to neighboring area
• Milosevic arrested in 2001 – tried by World Court in The Hague
• US has enduring role in region
Vietnam – recognized in 1995
Last years
• Sought peace in No. Ireland and Korean peninsula
• Went to India and Pakistan to reduce rivalry
Domestic Policy
Initial Changes
• Dems sweep Congress, more diversity – Make a govt that “looked like America”
• Carol Moseley-Braun (IL ) – 1st Af. American woman in Senate
• Janet Reno – 1st female Attn. General • Donna Shalala – Sec. of Health and Human
Services • Ruth Bader-Ginsburg – Sup. Ct Justice • Clinton’s cabinet is ethnically & racially diverse
– Henry Cisneros – Dept of HUD – Latino – Ron Brown – Sec of Commerce – Afr. American
Domestic Policy – 1st term
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” – US policy on homosexuals in the military -first major initiative
• lifted ban on gays in the military = political firestorm
• Compromise: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (repealed in 2010)
Health care redesign – Hillary Clinton appointed to do complicated plan – hated!
• later became NY Senator – 1st First Lady in elected office, later Sec of State
Dignity and Respect, the U.S. Army’s
training guide on its
homosexual policies.
Defense of Marriage Act, 1993: gave states the right not to recognize same-sex marriage
Family and Medical Leave Act, 1993
-- Allowed family members up to 12 weeks away from work (without pay) for giving birth, adoption, or caring for an ill family member
• 1993 Deficit-reduction Bill – shrunk debt to lowest level in a decade
– 1998 – federal budget surpluses!
– Economy was the most positive thing about Clinton
• Brady Bill – gun-control law
• $30 bil anti-crime bill – ban on several assault weapons
Violence and Terrorism L.A. Riots, 1992
• Rodney King, an African American, was brutally beaten by LAPD officers
-- The incident was taped
• When a predominantly white jury acquitted the two officers, violence erupted in South Central Los Angeles and spread to other areas
• Over 50 people died, hundreds of buildings were burned and widespread looting occurred
• In response, two officers tried on civil rights violations and they were subsequently convicted and sent to prison
Violence in America • WTC Bombing (1993) - Radical Islamic
extremists were involved in the plot to punish the U.S. for its support for Israel
• Oklahoma City Bombing – Timothy McVeigh – truck into federal office building, killed 168
– Revenge for 1993 standoff in Waco, TX b/w federal agents and Branch Davidians
– Showed underground of alienated citizens
• Many citizens anti-govt
– States passed term limits for local politicians
• 1999 Columbine HS in Colorado – killed 12 students and a teacher – Cause? TV, video games, movies, parents
– Access to guns!
World Trade Center bombing, 1993
• 6 dead, 1,000 injured in the North Tower
• Truck bomb – Ramzi Yousef
Underground damage in the North
Tower
Waco, TX
• Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh
• Federal and state enforcement took over compound
Oklahoma City bombing, 1995
• Ex-Desert Storm veteran, Timothy McVeigh was convicted of the bombing that killed hundreds of men, women, and children – lethal injection
• McVeigh’s action was a response to the Waco incident
Site of the destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building
Atlanta Olympic Park bombing, 1996
• Two dead, several wounded
• Eric Rudolph, a Christian terrorist, was responsible for several anti-gay and anti-abortion bombings
Violence in America • Gun debate with NRA (Nat’l Rifle Assoc)
– Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine – for gun control
– “Million Mom March” in 2000 – for gun control
The Contract with America
• 1994 Congressional elections – a backlash against Clinton
• Newt Gingrich (GA Rep) offered voters “A Contract with America” – an all-out assault on budget deficits and decrease in welfare programs
• Republicans swept both houses – 1st time in 40yrs
• Restricted “unfunded mandates” – obligations on state/local govt without revenue
• Gingrich becomes Speaker of the House
• Clinton worked with Gingrich to find common ground
• Welfare Reform Bill of 1996 - (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act)
– Deep cuts in welfare grants, required able-bodied people to find jobs
– 5 yr cap on benefits, 2-year max at one time
– Ended welfare for legal immigrants
Impact • Many Dems resign, upset with Clinton for signing this
• Welfare rolls dropped to lowest level
• Gingrich went too far when he wanted to send welfare kids to orphanages
• 1995 Govt shut down - until budget package agreed on
President Clinton signs the PRWORA
Election of 1996
Democrats - Bill Clinton
Republicans – Bob Dole (KS Sen) Ind –Ross Perot
Votes: 379 to 159
-South becoming more Republican by 2000
Domestic Policy – 2nd term
• Modest goals with a Rep. Congress
• 1st balanced budget
• Economy is good – new internet (dot.com) businesses
– Employment down to 4%
• Affirmative Action – “Mend it, don’t end it” (a political hot potato) – Voters in CA – Proposition 209 – no affirmative
action preferences in govt or higher education
– # of minorities in state schools goes down
– Clinton criticized this but doesn’t reverse it– not much support for aff. action anymore
Government surpluses
1. 1997, Clinton and Congress agreed to a balanced budget
2. Gov’t surpluses began to appear in 1998 for the first time in 30 years
Regulation of tobacco
• 1996- Clinton authorized the crack down on the tobacco industry
• New regulations reduced public access to cigarettes and significantly reduced advertising
• In 1997, the tobacco industry agreed to the historic federal regulations
Campaign finance reform
– Clinton campaign received funds from improper sources
• Foreigners, contributors paid $ to stay overnight in White House
– Both parties don’t want reform – need $ for TV ads
• Few do want this (Sen. John McCain)
• Scandal seemed to follow Clinton
• Whitewater Land Corp scandal – no indictment, but Clinton pressured judges/bankers to invest in a failed business, fraud
Monica Lewinsky Affair, 1998
• Jan 1998 – accused of sexual assault by Paula Jones – Asked about Monica Lewinski – WH intern – Clinton lied
under oath
– Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr
– Finally admitted it
– 11 possible grounds for impeachment
– 2 charges: perjury before grand jury, obstruction of justice
– Dems said personal misconduct is not “high crimes and misdemeanor”
– Most Americans felt it wasn’t a big deal
Impeachment Trial
• Chief Justice – William Rehnquist
• Overwhelmingly acquitted
• Later negotiated a deal for immunity from further legal action regarding scandal
– Fine, 5 yr suspension of his law license
Legacy
• Positives: social justice, racial harmony, economic growth through globalization
• Negatives: more conservative than most Dems, brought back cynicism