American Presidential Shifts: Clinton & Bush vs. Reagan Legacy

1. Essential Question: • To what extent did the Clinton & Bush years deviate from the Reagan era? • Warm-Up Question • What is the difference between the “New Left” & “New Right”?

2. The Presidency of Bill Clinton Clinton Video

3. Bill Clinton: “A New Democrat” • Bill Clinton represented a new group of Democrats who hoped to reclaim lost “Reagan Democrats” • His agenda as president included: • To reduce the size of the gov’t • To balance the federal budget • To reform welfare & extend healthcare to all Americans • To promote economic growth

4. Domestic Policy under Clinton A return to Reagan-style tax cuts, increased military spending, & limited role of gov’t • Clinton attempted a bold plan to offer universal health coverage • The bill’s defeat allowed for sweeping victories in the 1994 midterms for Republicans • Repubs, led by Newt Gingrich, offered a“ContractwithAmerica” • Clinton undercut their agenda by reducing the size of the gov’t & planning for a balanced budget “The era of big gov’t is over” —Clinton

5. Foreign Policy under Clinton • Clinton encouraged free trade: • Clinton signed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (initiated under Bush) which reduced trade barriers among USA, Mexico, & Canada • General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade cut tariffs & the World Trade Org helped settle trade disputes among 117 nations

6. Foreign Policy under Clinton • U.S. international peacekeeping: • From 1993-1995, U.S. troops were sent to Somalia to offer food & restore order to civil war • In 1999, the U.S. & UN sent troops to Bosnia (in the former Yugoslavia) to stop Serbian ethnic cleansing

7. Slobodan Milosevic

8. Upheaval in the 1990s • Clinton presided during an economic boom, but anxiety was prevalent throughout the decade: • Los Angeles race riots (1992) • Terrorism at the World Trade Center (1993) & Murrah Federal Center in Oklahoma City (1995) • Clinton scandals: Whitewater & Monica Lewinsky

9. The Presidency of George W. Bush Bush Video

10. Results of the 2000 Election by Voting Precinct George W. Bush • The election of 2000 was the closest since Nixon-Kennedy in 1960 & the only dispute election since Tilden-Hayes in 1876: • “Hanging” or “dimpled” chads in Florida • The Supreme Court ruled in Bush v Gore (2000) to stop the recount & declare Bush the winner of the election

11. Key Events in the Bush Presidency • Key events in the Bush years: • Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by fundamentalist Al Qaeda led to the invasion of Afghanistan & the hunt for Osama bin Laden • Bush’s declaration of an “Axis of Evil” in North Korea, Iran, & Iraq • The invasion of Iraq in 2003 to remove Saddam Hussein

12. War on Terrorism (7.33)

13. Global Terrorist Strikes, 1998-2007

14. The Obama Administration & Current Events Discussion