Unit 1 (Period 1 & Period 2) Ch. 1-4
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Unit 2 (Period 3) Ch. 5-7
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Unit 3 (Period 4) Ch. 8-11
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Unit 4 (Period 5A) Ch. 12-14
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Unit 5 (Period 5B) Ch. 14-16
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Unit 6 (Period 6) Ch. 17-20
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Unit 7 (Period 7) Ch. 21-25
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Unit 8 (Period 8) Ch. 26-30
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- Enduring Vision does not have a PDF version of Chapter 30, so I have included a summary of the chapter below.
Chapter 30 - Summary
The social activism of the 1960s had changed to a new mood. Some social trends and movements rooted in the 1960s survived and grew but millions of young people turned from public to private concerns that easily became self-centered materialism. Environmental consciousness was still present, and by the late 1970s it particularly targeted the nuclear power industry. One permanent legacy of the 1960s was the revitalized women's movement. The Supreme Court had recognized women's constitutional right to abortion in 1973 and many states had outlawed sex discrimination in hiring. Despite the gains, working women's earnings still lagged behind those of men, and the workplace remained largely gender segregated. The loosening of sexual mores that had begun in the 1960s continued, until the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the 1970s made many Americans more cautious in their sexual behavior. Gay and lesbian rights groups demanded the repeal of anti-gay legislation. A conservative backlash that had also begun in the 1960s continued to gains strength. Conservative activists prevented the passage of an Equal Rights Amendment, and there was a revival of religion and spiritual questioning.
Other groups grappled with economic worries and struggles to move up the ladder. The family farm gave way to factory farms and agribusiness. Thanks to the civil-rights movement, millions of African-Americans were able to experience significant upward mobility, yet about a third of the African-American population was trapped in inner-city slums. National policy in regard to Native Americans rejected both the disastrous "termination" approach and traditional paternalism in favor of greater autonomy. A heightened sense of Native American pride promoted economic development of the reservations. Nevertheless, high rates of unemployment, alcoholism, and disease persisted. Immigration after the 1960s brought increasing numbers from Latin America and Asia. As in the past, desperate economic conditions at home propelled these newcomers to America.
In 1974 Gerald Ford assumed the presidency. To counter rising inflation, he cut federal spending and the Federal Reserve Board raised the discount rate. The result was a severe recession. In foreign affairs progress was made toward new arms-control agreements with the Soviet Union. The government of South Vietnam, which had been supported by the United States, fell in 1975.
In 1976 Democrat Jimmy Carter was elected president by a narrow margin. His political vision was unclear, and his domestic record proved thin His technocratic approach did not win widespread public support. In foreign affairs Carter made human rights a high priority, cultivated better relations with the black nations of Africa, and concluded negotiations between the United States and Panama to transfer the canal and the Canal Zone to Panama by 1999. Carter and Leonid Brezhnev of the U.S.S.R. signed the SALT II agreement, but Carter withdrew it from the Senate when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. In the Middle East, Carter's efforts led to the signing of a formal peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, but his sheltering of Iran's shah led to a lengthy hostage crisis that nearly crippled the Carter administration. At the end of Carter's term in office, i
Inflation grew sharply worse as a second major oil crisis drove up prices. The Federal Reserve Board pushed the discount rate ever higher. With the cost of both credit and oil so high, economic activity deteriorated to "stagflation."
Meanwhile, revolution in Iran brought to power a fundamentalist Islamic ruler and the seizure in that country of more than fifty American hostages.
In 1980 Republican candidate Ronald Reagan benefited from Carter's deficiencies, growing public conservatism, and general concern about a perceived loss of American prestige in the world. The new president's economic program rested on the belief that American capitalism, if freed from heavy taxes and government regulation, would increase productivity. Congress voted dramatic cuts in the income tax. To compensate for lost revenue, Reagan proposed that spending for the nation's social programs be sharply curtailed. The immediate problem of inflation was met by a still higher discount rate. That, and a precipitous drop in world oil prices, did the job. But high interest rates brought severe recession and a more expensive dollar that reduced exports and increased the trade deficit. The federal deficit also increased as spending exceeded revenues. By 1983, however, the tax cuts, lowered interest rates, and a decline in the rate of inflation brought a rise in GNP and a decline in unemployment, although the federal deficit and the trade deficit continued to grow. The reviving prosperity, however, did not extend to many farmers, displaced industrial workers, and the inner-city poor.
Convinced that the United States had grown dangerously weak militarily, Reagan launched a massive military expansion with a strong emphasis on nuclear weapons. Opposition to the new leftist regime in Nicaragua led to organizing and financing a ten-thousand-man anti-Sandinista guerrilla army called the contras. Congress voted to halt U.S. assistance, but secret contra aid funded from private right-wing sources and foreign governments was organized from within the White House itself. In 1983 the United States conquered the West Indian island of Grenada and installed a friendly regime.
Focusing on the Soviet Union and Central America, the Reagan administration at first paid less attention to the Middle East. It was nevertheless drawn into the turmoil involving Israel, Lebanon, and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Efforts to broker an accord got nowhere, and violence ultimately claimed the lives of 239 U.S. marines in Lebanon in a terrorist attack.
The military buildup of the early 1980s and the collapse of the arms-control process stimulated fears of a growing threat of nuclear war and gave rise to antinuclear demonstrations and nuclear-freeze resolutions. In 1983 Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, an elaborate high-tech defense against nuclear missiles. SDI, despite criticism of its cost and doubts about its effectiveness, appealed to American faith in technology.
In the 1984 election Americans enjoyed a booming economy and remembered the failures of the Carter presidency. The Republican campaign stressed patriotism, prosperity, and the personality of Ronald Reagan. Riding the tide of prosperity, Reagan was swept into office for a second term. The Iran Contra scandal and allegations of bribery and conspiracy did little to affect Reagan's popularity.
The social activism of the 1960s had changed to a new mood. Environmental consciousness was still present, but millions of young people turned from public to private concerns that easily became self-centered materialism. One permanent legacy of the 1960s was a revitalized women's movement. The Supreme Court had recognized women's constitutional right to abortion in 1973. Many states had outlawed sex discrimination in hiring, and an Equal Rights Amendment was nearly added to the Constitution. The Reagan administration, deeply suspicious of governmental activism on social issues, imposed budget cuts that fell especially harshly on social-welfare programs serving women and children. Immigration after the 1960s brought increasing numbers from Latin America and Asia. As in the past, desperate economic conditions at home propelled these newcomers to America. Thanks to the civil-rights movement, millions of African-Americans were able to experience significant upward mobility. On the other hand, about a third of the African-American population was trapped in inner-city slums. National policy in regard to Native Americans rejected both the disastrous "termination" approach and traditional paternalism in favor of greater autonomy. A heightened sense of Native American pride promoted economic development of the reservations. Nevertheless, high rates of unemployment, alcoholism, and disease persisted.
A dramatic easing of Soviet-American relations began early in Reagan's second term. After an arms reduction agreement concluded with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan made a historic visit to Moscow in 1988 in an atmosphere of unprecedented warmth. Even as relations with Moscow improved, the situation in the Middle East worsened and in a global context, Reagan's term ended on a note of uncertainty. Domestically Reagan compiled a mixed record. Inflation was tamed and the economy turned upward after 1983. But the federal deficit soared and the administration largely ignored social issues and environmental concerns. . In the election that year, Vice President George Bush was chosen to succeed Reagan, and it was Bush who watched the Soviet empire collapse. Noncommunist governments came to power in eastern Europe, the Berlin Wall came down, and the Baltic republics declared independence. The Cold War was over.
President Bush abandoned the policy of financing the anti-Sandinista war in Nicaragua, and the Sandinistas left office after an electoral defeat in 1990. Bush turned his attention to the flow of drugs from Latin America and ordered an invasion of Panama to capture its drug-trafficking president. The United States accepted the decision of the Philippine government to end the U.S. presence at two naval bases there. After South Africa opened negotiations with Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, Bush ended economic sanctions against that nation. The harsh repression of dissenters in Tiananmen Square chilled relations with China but did not cause Bush to break relations. In the Middle East, however, Bush acted when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. After carefully building consensus for support, Bush launched a massive air attack followed by a ground assault. Operation Desert Storm, the Gulf War, was brief, and while it drove Iraq out of Kuwait, it left in power Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Within a few years Saddam was resisting his promise to permit U.N. inspection of his weapons-production facilities.
On the domestic front, the economic glow of the 1980s gave way before a collapse in the savings-and-loan industry, a growing recession, and increasing hard times in the inner cities. Riots engulfed sections of Los Angeles in 1992 after a police beating of a black motorist was caught on videotape. The Bush administration compiled a mixed record on education and the environment as it failed to act decisively. George Bush's popularity in the aftermath of the Gulf War had waned by the time of the 1994 election. Billionaire businessman H. Ross Perot attracted many votes in his own right, and Bush was defeated in a three-way race by Democrat Bill Clinton.
Other groups grappled with economic worries and struggles to move up the ladder. The family farm gave way to factory farms and agribusiness. Thanks to the civil-rights movement, millions of African-Americans were able to experience significant upward mobility, yet about a third of the African-American population was trapped in inner-city slums. National policy in regard to Native Americans rejected both the disastrous "termination" approach and traditional paternalism in favor of greater autonomy. A heightened sense of Native American pride promoted economic development of the reservations. Nevertheless, high rates of unemployment, alcoholism, and disease persisted. Immigration after the 1960s brought increasing numbers from Latin America and Asia. As in the past, desperate economic conditions at home propelled these newcomers to America.
In 1974 Gerald Ford assumed the presidency. To counter rising inflation, he cut federal spending and the Federal Reserve Board raised the discount rate. The result was a severe recession. In foreign affairs progress was made toward new arms-control agreements with the Soviet Union. The government of South Vietnam, which had been supported by the United States, fell in 1975.
In 1976 Democrat Jimmy Carter was elected president by a narrow margin. His political vision was unclear, and his domestic record proved thin His technocratic approach did not win widespread public support. In foreign affairs Carter made human rights a high priority, cultivated better relations with the black nations of Africa, and concluded negotiations between the United States and Panama to transfer the canal and the Canal Zone to Panama by 1999. Carter and Leonid Brezhnev of the U.S.S.R. signed the SALT II agreement, but Carter withdrew it from the Senate when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. In the Middle East, Carter's efforts led to the signing of a formal peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, but his sheltering of Iran's shah led to a lengthy hostage crisis that nearly crippled the Carter administration. At the end of Carter's term in office, i
Inflation grew sharply worse as a second major oil crisis drove up prices. The Federal Reserve Board pushed the discount rate ever higher. With the cost of both credit and oil so high, economic activity deteriorated to "stagflation."
Meanwhile, revolution in Iran brought to power a fundamentalist Islamic ruler and the seizure in that country of more than fifty American hostages.
In 1980 Republican candidate Ronald Reagan benefited from Carter's deficiencies, growing public conservatism, and general concern about a perceived loss of American prestige in the world. The new president's economic program rested on the belief that American capitalism, if freed from heavy taxes and government regulation, would increase productivity. Congress voted dramatic cuts in the income tax. To compensate for lost revenue, Reagan proposed that spending for the nation's social programs be sharply curtailed. The immediate problem of inflation was met by a still higher discount rate. That, and a precipitous drop in world oil prices, did the job. But high interest rates brought severe recession and a more expensive dollar that reduced exports and increased the trade deficit. The federal deficit also increased as spending exceeded revenues. By 1983, however, the tax cuts, lowered interest rates, and a decline in the rate of inflation brought a rise in GNP and a decline in unemployment, although the federal deficit and the trade deficit continued to grow. The reviving prosperity, however, did not extend to many farmers, displaced industrial workers, and the inner-city poor.
Convinced that the United States had grown dangerously weak militarily, Reagan launched a massive military expansion with a strong emphasis on nuclear weapons. Opposition to the new leftist regime in Nicaragua led to organizing and financing a ten-thousand-man anti-Sandinista guerrilla army called the contras. Congress voted to halt U.S. assistance, but secret contra aid funded from private right-wing sources and foreign governments was organized from within the White House itself. In 1983 the United States conquered the West Indian island of Grenada and installed a friendly regime.
Focusing on the Soviet Union and Central America, the Reagan administration at first paid less attention to the Middle East. It was nevertheless drawn into the turmoil involving Israel, Lebanon, and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Efforts to broker an accord got nowhere, and violence ultimately claimed the lives of 239 U.S. marines in Lebanon in a terrorist attack.
The military buildup of the early 1980s and the collapse of the arms-control process stimulated fears of a growing threat of nuclear war and gave rise to antinuclear demonstrations and nuclear-freeze resolutions. In 1983 Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, an elaborate high-tech defense against nuclear missiles. SDI, despite criticism of its cost and doubts about its effectiveness, appealed to American faith in technology.
In the 1984 election Americans enjoyed a booming economy and remembered the failures of the Carter presidency. The Republican campaign stressed patriotism, prosperity, and the personality of Ronald Reagan. Riding the tide of prosperity, Reagan was swept into office for a second term. The Iran Contra scandal and allegations of bribery and conspiracy did little to affect Reagan's popularity.
The social activism of the 1960s had changed to a new mood. Environmental consciousness was still present, but millions of young people turned from public to private concerns that easily became self-centered materialism. One permanent legacy of the 1960s was a revitalized women's movement. The Supreme Court had recognized women's constitutional right to abortion in 1973. Many states had outlawed sex discrimination in hiring, and an Equal Rights Amendment was nearly added to the Constitution. The Reagan administration, deeply suspicious of governmental activism on social issues, imposed budget cuts that fell especially harshly on social-welfare programs serving women and children. Immigration after the 1960s brought increasing numbers from Latin America and Asia. As in the past, desperate economic conditions at home propelled these newcomers to America. Thanks to the civil-rights movement, millions of African-Americans were able to experience significant upward mobility. On the other hand, about a third of the African-American population was trapped in inner-city slums. National policy in regard to Native Americans rejected both the disastrous "termination" approach and traditional paternalism in favor of greater autonomy. A heightened sense of Native American pride promoted economic development of the reservations. Nevertheless, high rates of unemployment, alcoholism, and disease persisted.
A dramatic easing of Soviet-American relations began early in Reagan's second term. After an arms reduction agreement concluded with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan made a historic visit to Moscow in 1988 in an atmosphere of unprecedented warmth. Even as relations with Moscow improved, the situation in the Middle East worsened and in a global context, Reagan's term ended on a note of uncertainty. Domestically Reagan compiled a mixed record. Inflation was tamed and the economy turned upward after 1983. But the federal deficit soared and the administration largely ignored social issues and environmental concerns. . In the election that year, Vice President George Bush was chosen to succeed Reagan, and it was Bush who watched the Soviet empire collapse. Noncommunist governments came to power in eastern Europe, the Berlin Wall came down, and the Baltic republics declared independence. The Cold War was over.
President Bush abandoned the policy of financing the anti-Sandinista war in Nicaragua, and the Sandinistas left office after an electoral defeat in 1990. Bush turned his attention to the flow of drugs from Latin America and ordered an invasion of Panama to capture its drug-trafficking president. The United States accepted the decision of the Philippine government to end the U.S. presence at two naval bases there. After South Africa opened negotiations with Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, Bush ended economic sanctions against that nation. The harsh repression of dissenters in Tiananmen Square chilled relations with China but did not cause Bush to break relations. In the Middle East, however, Bush acted when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. After carefully building consensus for support, Bush launched a massive air attack followed by a ground assault. Operation Desert Storm, the Gulf War, was brief, and while it drove Iraq out of Kuwait, it left in power Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Within a few years Saddam was resisting his promise to permit U.N. inspection of his weapons-production facilities.
On the domestic front, the economic glow of the 1980s gave way before a collapse in the savings-and-loan industry, a growing recession, and increasing hard times in the inner cities. Riots engulfed sections of Los Angeles in 1992 after a police beating of a black motorist was caught on videotape. The Bush administration compiled a mixed record on education and the environment as it failed to act decisively. George Bush's popularity in the aftermath of the Gulf War had waned by the time of the 1994 election. Billionaire businessman H. Ross Perot attracted many votes in his own right, and Bush was defeated in a three-way race by Democrat Bill Clinton.
Unit 9 (Period 9) Ch. 31-32
Enduring Vision does not have a PDF of the chapters from this unit, so I have included the chapter overview's below. This will not be enough information to pass the unit exam, so make sure you are also reading the Red book or AMSCO.
Chapter 31 - Summary
Vice President George Bush easily won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1988, and defeated Democratic Party nominee Michael Dukakis in the election. In Europe, the Soviet empire collapsed, the Berlin Wall came down, and noncommunist governments came to power in Eastern Europe. With the Cold War over, Bush signed a nuclear reduction treaty with Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991, and reassessed U.S. policy towards the Third World. President Bush abandoned the policy of financing the anti-Sandinista war in Nicaragua, and the Sandinistas left office after an electoral defeat in 1990. Bush turned his attention to the flow of drugs from Latin America and ordered an invasion of Panama to capture its drug-trafficking president. The United States accepted the decision of the Philippine government to end the U.S. presence at two naval bases there. After South Africa opened negotiations with Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, Bush ended economic sanctions against that nation. The harsh repression of dissenters in Tiananmen Square chilled relations with China but did not cause Bush to break relations. In the Middle East, however, Bush acted when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. After carefully building consensus for support, Bush launched a massive air attack followed by a ground assault. Operation Desert Storm, the Gulf War, was brief, and while it drove Iraq out of Kuwait, it left in power Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Within a few years Saddam was resisting his promise to permit U.N. inspection of his weapons-production facilities.
On the domestic front, the economic glow of the 1980s gave way before a collapse in the savings-and-loan industry, a growing recession, and increasing hard times in the inner cities. Riots engulfed sections of Los Angeles in 1992 after a police beating of a black motorist was caught on videotape. The Bush administration compiled a mixed record on education and the environment as it failed to act decisively. George Bush's popularity in the aftermath of the Gulf War had waned by the time of the 1994 election. Billionaire businessman H. Ross Perot attracted many votes in his own right, and Bush was defeated in a three-way race by Democrat Bill Clinton.
President Bill Clinton and Vice President Gore were leaders of the New Democratic Coalition, a group of moderates who ssought to dispel the image of the Democrats as ultraliberals. In his first term, Clintonhe succeeded in gaining congressional approval for spending cuts that brought some reduction in the rate of increase in the federal deficit, but he was unable to gain support for an economic stimulus package. He completed creation of the North Atlantic Free Trade Association, but he was unable to gain support for his vision of universal health-care coverage for all Americans. Clinton pushed his anticrime bill and his welfare reform bill even as his personal popularity declined; his critics attacked his character and what they called his over-readiness to compromise.
The midterm elections of 1994 showed the results of growing anger by the electorate about social and cultural problems such as abortion, pornography, crime, family breakdown, welfare programs, and immigration. Conservatives heaped blame on what was said to be intrusive government involvement. Despite an improving economic picture, Republicans were swept into office, led by such figures as Newt Gingrich of Georgia, and gained control of both houses of Congress. The new Congress immediately set to work, with partial success, on Gingrich's "Contract with America," a set of proposals to cut taxes, limit congressional terms, adopt a balanced budget amendment, and other popular reforms. Welfare reform soon rose to the top of the agenda. In addition to the cost, conservatives believed that the system undermined the work ethic. Clinton had earlier pledged to reform the welfare system, and in 1996 a new law reversed a sixty-year-old federal policy, giving block grants to the states to develop their own policies within rules that limited total benefits. In signing the law, Clinton, to the consternation of some Democrats, was moving to the right. He achieved victory in the 1996 elections, aided by an earlier budget clash with the Republicans. The partial government shutdown that resulted was laid at the door of the GOP. Clinton preferred domestic issues to foreign policy, and the Republicans similarly turned inwards.
The major domestic issues of Clinton's second term were campaign finance reform, the federal budget deficit, and control of tobacco. Modest progress was made on the second of these, even as an argument developed over application of any budget surplus to head off an anticipated shortfall in Social Security funds in the future. Overshadowing these matters, however, was sexual scandal. Clinton stood accused of sexual misconduct and, possibly, perjury, which he vigorously denied. Some Americans were infuriated by the president's behavior and sought his removal; most others deplored that behavior but preferred to condemn it and move on to the problems facing the nation.
The nation's demographics continued to change in the 1990s. The population of the South and West grew, and the median age of Americans increased as the baby boom generation aged. The 2000 census showed the U.S. to be growing more racially and ethnically diverse, raising questions about what it means to be an American. On average, African Americans earned more, but chronic problems still persisted in the inner cities. Many Native Americans pushed to have old treaties enforced, and the success of Indian-run gambling casinos raised controversy. A burgeoning Hispanic population was changing American and spawning a vibrant borderlands culture.
The new service economy of the late twentieth century brought prosperity to professionals, but less-educated Americans faced doubtful job security in fast-food outlets and discount superstores. Wall Street and Silicon Valley spawned thousands of young millionaires who led a lifestyle of conspicuous consumption. The media provided escapist diversions. Cultural conservatives, however, grew increasingly vocal on issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and the nation's alleged moral decay. The culture wars seemed to ease as the 1990s ended, and many Americans adopted an optimistic and pragmatic view of the future.
In foreign affairs the United States played a role in the civil war that followed the 1991 breakup of Yugoslavia when, in 1995, it undertook a significant peacekeeping initiative, bringing warring Bosnian leaders to agree to a cease-fire. It played a peripheral role in dealing with the great strains that afflicted Russia as it sought to adjust to a market economy and in the bloody civil war that engulfed Rwanda. U.S. efforts in war-torn Somalia were not successful, and efforts to restore the duly elected government of Haiti were, at least at first, very tentative. On the other hand, South Africa, moved in part by U.S. economic sanctions, became a multiracial democracy; negotiations actively encouraged by the United States between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization led to a limited agreement in 1994; and the United States convinced North Korea to agree to the inspection required under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The "peace process" in Israel soon bogged down in a familiar cycle of violence as new problems arose in Iraq, where Saddam Hussein rejected further U.N. military inspection. With a threat of U.S. military action, Iraq backed down, but the possibility of future action, with unknown consequences, remained troublesome.
Foreign policy in the 1990s typically involved complex issues, where economics, diplomacy, and domestic policy intersected. The Clinton administration emphasized trade with China and other nations, with the European Union, and within NAFTA. When the economies of several Asian nations collapsed in 1997-1998 as a result of corruption, excessive debt, and mismanagement, the Clinton administration sought to bail out the worst offender, fearful that loss of export trade and default on Western loans would injure the United States. As the century drew near to its end it was clear that although the bipolar world of the Cold War was no more, political turmoil and economic strain throughout the world would continue to engage the nation and its leaders.
On the domestic front, the economic glow of the 1980s gave way before a collapse in the savings-and-loan industry, a growing recession, and increasing hard times in the inner cities. Riots engulfed sections of Los Angeles in 1992 after a police beating of a black motorist was caught on videotape. The Bush administration compiled a mixed record on education and the environment as it failed to act decisively. George Bush's popularity in the aftermath of the Gulf War had waned by the time of the 1994 election. Billionaire businessman H. Ross Perot attracted many votes in his own right, and Bush was defeated in a three-way race by Democrat Bill Clinton.
President Bill Clinton and Vice President Gore were leaders of the New Democratic Coalition, a group of moderates who ssought to dispel the image of the Democrats as ultraliberals. In his first term, Clintonhe succeeded in gaining congressional approval for spending cuts that brought some reduction in the rate of increase in the federal deficit, but he was unable to gain support for an economic stimulus package. He completed creation of the North Atlantic Free Trade Association, but he was unable to gain support for his vision of universal health-care coverage for all Americans. Clinton pushed his anticrime bill and his welfare reform bill even as his personal popularity declined; his critics attacked his character and what they called his over-readiness to compromise.
The midterm elections of 1994 showed the results of growing anger by the electorate about social and cultural problems such as abortion, pornography, crime, family breakdown, welfare programs, and immigration. Conservatives heaped blame on what was said to be intrusive government involvement. Despite an improving economic picture, Republicans were swept into office, led by such figures as Newt Gingrich of Georgia, and gained control of both houses of Congress. The new Congress immediately set to work, with partial success, on Gingrich's "Contract with America," a set of proposals to cut taxes, limit congressional terms, adopt a balanced budget amendment, and other popular reforms. Welfare reform soon rose to the top of the agenda. In addition to the cost, conservatives believed that the system undermined the work ethic. Clinton had earlier pledged to reform the welfare system, and in 1996 a new law reversed a sixty-year-old federal policy, giving block grants to the states to develop their own policies within rules that limited total benefits. In signing the law, Clinton, to the consternation of some Democrats, was moving to the right. He achieved victory in the 1996 elections, aided by an earlier budget clash with the Republicans. The partial government shutdown that resulted was laid at the door of the GOP. Clinton preferred domestic issues to foreign policy, and the Republicans similarly turned inwards.
The major domestic issues of Clinton's second term were campaign finance reform, the federal budget deficit, and control of tobacco. Modest progress was made on the second of these, even as an argument developed over application of any budget surplus to head off an anticipated shortfall in Social Security funds in the future. Overshadowing these matters, however, was sexual scandal. Clinton stood accused of sexual misconduct and, possibly, perjury, which he vigorously denied. Some Americans were infuriated by the president's behavior and sought his removal; most others deplored that behavior but preferred to condemn it and move on to the problems facing the nation.
The nation's demographics continued to change in the 1990s. The population of the South and West grew, and the median age of Americans increased as the baby boom generation aged. The 2000 census showed the U.S. to be growing more racially and ethnically diverse, raising questions about what it means to be an American. On average, African Americans earned more, but chronic problems still persisted in the inner cities. Many Native Americans pushed to have old treaties enforced, and the success of Indian-run gambling casinos raised controversy. A burgeoning Hispanic population was changing American and spawning a vibrant borderlands culture.
The new service economy of the late twentieth century brought prosperity to professionals, but less-educated Americans faced doubtful job security in fast-food outlets and discount superstores. Wall Street and Silicon Valley spawned thousands of young millionaires who led a lifestyle of conspicuous consumption. The media provided escapist diversions. Cultural conservatives, however, grew increasingly vocal on issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and the nation's alleged moral decay. The culture wars seemed to ease as the 1990s ended, and many Americans adopted an optimistic and pragmatic view of the future.
In foreign affairs the United States played a role in the civil war that followed the 1991 breakup of Yugoslavia when, in 1995, it undertook a significant peacekeeping initiative, bringing warring Bosnian leaders to agree to a cease-fire. It played a peripheral role in dealing with the great strains that afflicted Russia as it sought to adjust to a market economy and in the bloody civil war that engulfed Rwanda. U.S. efforts in war-torn Somalia were not successful, and efforts to restore the duly elected government of Haiti were, at least at first, very tentative. On the other hand, South Africa, moved in part by U.S. economic sanctions, became a multiracial democracy; negotiations actively encouraged by the United States between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization led to a limited agreement in 1994; and the United States convinced North Korea to agree to the inspection required under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The "peace process" in Israel soon bogged down in a familiar cycle of violence as new problems arose in Iraq, where Saddam Hussein rejected further U.N. military inspection. With a threat of U.S. military action, Iraq backed down, but the possibility of future action, with unknown consequences, remained troublesome.
Foreign policy in the 1990s typically involved complex issues, where economics, diplomacy, and domestic policy intersected. The Clinton administration emphasized trade with China and other nations, with the European Union, and within NAFTA. When the economies of several Asian nations collapsed in 1997-1998 as a result of corruption, excessive debt, and mismanagement, the Clinton administration sought to bail out the worst offender, fearful that loss of export trade and default on Western loans would injure the United States. As the century drew near to its end it was clear that although the bipolar world of the Cold War was no more, political turmoil and economic strain throughout the world would continue to engage the nation and its leaders.
Chapter 32 - Summary
George W. Bush's presidency had scarcely begun when the attacks of September 11, 2001, shocked the nation. Americans supported Bush as he mobilized an attack on al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and Congress overwhelmingly passed the antiterrorist USA-Patriot Act. Initially, the invasion of Iraq, promoted as an antiterrorism measure, won broad support.
As the stock market collapsed and scandal rocked corporate America, Bush called for tax cuts that favored the wealthy and measures to increase domestic fossil-fuel production. Bush' education program involved universal testing in reading and math, plus public funding of private charter schools.
Sectarian violence in Iraq and skepticism about the administration's anti-terrorism policies eroded domestic support for the war. Other troubling world developments included worsening Israeli-Palestinian relations; nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran; and China’s growing economic and military power. As global warming and other environmental hazards roused concern, the Bush administration downplayed the threat, advocated voluntarist responses, and rejected international efforts to address the crisis.
During these years migration to the South and West continued, as did chronic inner-city problems, and increasing ethnic diversity through immigration. Further, the economy continued its shift from manufacturing to information processing and services, and foreign trade imbalances stirred uneasiness, especially in the domestic auto industry.
Several developments heightened public frustration after 2004. These included a growing federal deficit and pressures on Medicare and Social Security as the baby boomers retired. Influence-peddling scandals, legislators' spending on pet projects, and Washington's flawed response to Hurricane Katrina deepened many citizens' skepticism about the integrity and competence of government. As job worries focused attention on illegal immigrants, various strategies emerged for dealing with the problem.
As we conclude this history of America and its people, what is the "enduring vision" of our title? There is, of course, no single vision, but many. Nor is there a vision of effortless, foreordained national destiny, but rather of successive generations' difficult, often frustrating struggles to define what their common life as a people should be. For all the failures, setbacks, and wrong turns, the shared visions, at their best, are rooted not in fear, but hope. In 1980, Jesse de la Cruz, a Mexican-American advocate for California's migrant workers, summed up the philosophy that kept her going: "Is America progressing toward the better? . . . We’re the ones that are gonna do it. We have to keep on struggling. . . . With us, there a saying: La esperanza muere al ultimo. Hope dies last. You can't lose hope. If you lose hope, that's losing everything.
As the stock market collapsed and scandal rocked corporate America, Bush called for tax cuts that favored the wealthy and measures to increase domestic fossil-fuel production. Bush' education program involved universal testing in reading and math, plus public funding of private charter schools.
Sectarian violence in Iraq and skepticism about the administration's anti-terrorism policies eroded domestic support for the war. Other troubling world developments included worsening Israeli-Palestinian relations; nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran; and China’s growing economic and military power. As global warming and other environmental hazards roused concern, the Bush administration downplayed the threat, advocated voluntarist responses, and rejected international efforts to address the crisis.
During these years migration to the South and West continued, as did chronic inner-city problems, and increasing ethnic diversity through immigration. Further, the economy continued its shift from manufacturing to information processing and services, and foreign trade imbalances stirred uneasiness, especially in the domestic auto industry.
Several developments heightened public frustration after 2004. These included a growing federal deficit and pressures on Medicare and Social Security as the baby boomers retired. Influence-peddling scandals, legislators' spending on pet projects, and Washington's flawed response to Hurricane Katrina deepened many citizens' skepticism about the integrity and competence of government. As job worries focused attention on illegal immigrants, various strategies emerged for dealing with the problem.
As we conclude this history of America and its people, what is the "enduring vision" of our title? There is, of course, no single vision, but many. Nor is there a vision of effortless, foreordained national destiny, but rather of successive generations' difficult, often frustrating struggles to define what their common life as a people should be. For all the failures, setbacks, and wrong turns, the shared visions, at their best, are rooted not in fear, but hope. In 1980, Jesse de la Cruz, a Mexican-American advocate for California's migrant workers, summed up the philosophy that kept her going: "Is America progressing toward the better? . . . We’re the ones that are gonna do it. We have to keep on struggling. . . . With us, there a saying: La esperanza muere al ultimo. Hope dies last. You can't lose hope. If you lose hope, that's losing everything.