Chapter 35

America in World War II

The Shock of War
National unity was strong after the Pearl Harbor attack.
Mostly living on the west coast, Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent to internment camps.
Though jailed without due process of law, the Supreme Court upheld the internment camps in the Korematsu v. U.S. case.
Notably, in 1988, the government apologized and offered reparations of $20,000 to each camp survivor.
Many New Deal programs were ended as the war began. Now, all jobs would be war jobs.
Unlike WWI, WWII was not made out to be an idealistic crusade. It was just the dirty work of defeating the bad guys.
Building the War Machine
The Great Depression ended when huge orders for the war effort came in. More than $100 billion was ordered in 1942.
The War Production Board took control of industry. It halted production of non-essential items like passenger cars.
Rubber was a much-needed item because Japan had overtaken the rubber tree fields of British Malaya. Gasoline was rationed to help save tires.
Prices rose, however. The Office of Price Administration regulated prices.
Critical items were rationed to keep consumption down, like meat and butter.
All-in-all, strikes were minimal during the war.
Manpower and Womanpower
Since most able-bodied men were off at war, industry needed workers.
The bracero program brought workers from Mexico to harvest crops. was successful and stayed on about 20 years after the war.
The symbol for women-workers was "Rosie the Riveter" with her sleeves rolled up and rivet gun in hand.
Without question, the war opened things up for women in the workplace. Women "proved themselves" and gained respect.
Wartime Migrations
As during the Depression, the war forced people to move around the country.
FDR had long been determined to help the economically-hurting South. He funneled money southward in defense contracts. This would plant the seeds of the "Sunbelt's" boom after the war.
African-Americans moved out of the South in large numbers, usually heading Northern cities, but also to the West.
Black leader A. Philip Randolph prepared a "Negro March on Washington" to clamor for more blacks in defense jobs and military. FDR responded by banning discrimination in defense industries.
Blacks served in segregated units in the military.
Aside from the segregation, there was discrimination such as separate blood banks for each race, and often the roles of blacks were more menial such as cooks, truck drivers, etc.
Generally, however, the war and the efforts of Blacks encouraged African-Americans to strive for equality. The slogan was the "Double V"—victory overseas vs. dictators and victory at home vs. racism.
The mechanical cotton picker was invented. This freed blacks from the age-old cotton picking job—another reason many moved.
Native Americans also fought in the war in large numbers.
Holding the Home
The United States entered WWII still in the Depression. The U.S. came out of WWII very prosperous (the only nation to do so).
GNP (Gross National Product) had doubled. Corporate profits doubled too.
Disposable income (money left to spend) also doubled. Inflation would suit and rise as well.
Despite all of the New Deal programs, it was the production for WWII that ended the Great Depression.
The war's cost was assessed at $330 billion (ten times WWI).
To help pay for the war, four times more people were required to pay income taxes. Most of the payments, however, were on credit. This meant the national debt shot up from $49 to $259 billion.
The Rising Sun in the Pacific
The Philippines had been embarrassing for the U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur had to sneak away. The general made a pledge, however, to return.
The U.S. finally gave up and surrendered Corregidor, an island/fort in Manila Harbor.
Japan’s High Tide at Midway
The first big U.S.-Japan naval battle was the Battle of Coral Sea. It was the world’s first naval battle where the ships never saw one another (they fought with aircraft via carriers). Both sides had heavy losses.
Intercepted messages hinted at an attack on Midway Island. American Adm. Chester Nimitz correctly sent the U.S. fleet and the Battle of Midway (June 1942) followed. Instead of being surprised, the U.S. gave the surprise.
Adm. Raymond Spruance was the the admiral on the water. Midway was a rout for the U.S. as four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk.
Midway proved to be the turning point in the Pacific war, the place where Japanese expansion was halted.
The "Alcan" Highway was built from Alaska, through Canada, to the continental states to help protect Alaska.
American Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo
There would be two main thrusts: in the south led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur and in the central Pacific led by Adm. Chester Nimitz.
Northward, Tarawa and Makin in the Gilbert Islands were captured. Next, the Marshall Island chain was won.
This would later be the take-off point for the atomic bomb planes.
Though island-hopping made steady progress, it was slow, hard-fought, and bloody.
American sailors shelled the beachheads with artillery, U.S. Marines stormed ashore (while the navy shelled over their heads), and American bombers attacked the Japanese. Heroism and self-sacrifice were common.
One example was when Lt. Robert J. Albert piloted a B-24 “Liberator” on 36 missions. His final run was a record 18 hour and 25 minute strike. His tour of duty was complete, but his crew's was not. He volunteered to pilot the flight so that his men would not fly behind a rookie pilot.
The Allied Halting of Hitler
As with the Pacific, progress in Europe has slow at first. History has shown the American war machine slow to get going, but awesome when it is going.
The Battle of the Atlantic, the war for control of the ocean, went on until 1943 when the Allies gained control.
The win over the seas was a close one. It was learned after the war that the amazing German engineers were nearing completion of a sub that could stay submerged indefinitely and cruise at 17 knots.
The British bombed the Germans in Cologne, France. American B-17's bombed Germany itself.
The Russians also stopped the Germans at Stalingrad (Sep. 1942). A month later, Russia began pushing back and recaptured 2/3 of their lost land in one year.
A Second Front from North Africa to Rome
Some 20 million Russians would die by the end of the war so the Soviet Union wanted the allies to start a second front against Germany and ease Russia's burden.
Britain and the U.S. wanted this, but had different views. America wanted to ram straight at the Nazis through France.
Britain wanted to lure the war away from England. Winston Churchill suggested they hit Germany's "soft underbelly", meaning up from North Africa and through Italy.
The soft underbelly approach was decided upon.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower led an attack on North Africa (Nov. 1942). The Allies pushed the Germans out of Africa by May 1943.
The Roosevelt and Churchill met at the Casablanca Conference to flesh out plans (Jan. 1943). They agreed to seek the "unconditional surrender" of Germany.
The soft underbelly attack continued.
The German were dug in at Monte Cassino. After taking a beachhead at Anzio, the Allies finally took Rome on June 4, 1944.
The Allied thrust essentially bogged down and stalled at this point, roughly half way up the Italian peninsula. The D-Day invasion would make the Italian assault a mere diversion.
The soft underbelly attack had mixed results. The good: it drew some of Hitler's men and supplies and it did defeat Italy. The bad: it delayed the D-Day invasion and gave Russia extra time to draw farther into Eastern Europe.
D-Day: June 6, 1944
The groundwork was laid for a massive assault across the English channel (eventual D-Day invasion).
Gen. Eisenhower was placed in charge of the assault.
The attack would take place on the beaches of Normandy on the French coast. The Germans had guessed the sure-to-come attack would be at Calais because that's the narrowest point of the channel. The Allies offered fakes and bluffs there to confuse the enemy.
The D-Day Invasion began on June 6, 1944. It was the largest amphibious assault in history.
The Allies had to cross the channel, wade ashore, cross the wide beach, scale 100 foot bluffs, and overtake German bunkers—while being shot at by machine guns and artillery. The Allies did it.
Paris was liberated in August of 1944—a major morale boost for the Allies.
FDR: The Fourth-Termite of 1944
Despite the ongoing war in 1944, an election year came again. The Republican party nominated Thomas E. Dewey. He was known as a liberal and attacker of corruption.
The Democrats nominated FDR for a fourth term. There was no other viable choice for the party.
The real question was who'd be the vice-presidential candidate. The nomination was made for Harry S Truman who was largely without enemies.
Roosevelt Defeats Dewey
Dewey campaigned hard against Roosevelt. He attacked "twelve long years" and emphasized it was "time for a change."
FDR didn't campaign much until election day neared.
FDR won the election in a big way, again. The electoral vote was 432 to 99. The main reason that he won was that the war was moving along well at this point.
The Last Days of Hitler
The Nazi army was on the retreat at this point. Hitler made one last big push at the Ardenne Forest. The Americans were surprised and pushed back; the result was a bulge in the battle line.
The Americans held on at Bastogne. Germany asked for a surrender but Gen. A.C. McCauliffe answered, "Nuts."
Reinforcements came and the U.S. won the Battle of the Bulge. From there, steady progress was made toward Berlin. Russia was simultaneously converging on Berlin.
Along the way, the Allies discovered the horrors of the Holocaust.
There had been rumors of such goings-on, but it was believed they were either untrue or exaggerated. They were not—the Holocaust was worse than imagined.
The death camps, still stinking, made the horrors clear. Eisenhower forced German civilians to march through the camps after the war to see what they're government had done.
The Russians reached Germany first. Hitler killed himself in a bunker (Apr. 1945), along with his mistress-turned-wife Eva Braun.
Only two weeks prior, while vacationing at Warm Springs, GA, Franklin Roosevelt suddenly died. Truman became president.
The German officials surrendered on May 7; May 8, 1945 was named V-E Day (Victory in Europe). The celebration began.
Japan Dies Hard
The Atomic Bombs
Rookie Pres. Harry Truman met with Stalin and British officials at the Potsdam Conference (July 1945). The final statement to Japan was: surrender or be destroyed.
Meanwhile, the U.S. had been working on a super-secret project all along: to build the atomic bomb.

Chapter 34

Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War

The London Conference
America's non-participation in the conference solidified U.S. isolationist policies. In war and in the economy.
American sugar growers also wanted to cut free from Filipino sugar.
FDR formally recognized the Soviet Union in 1933.
Becoming a Good Neighbor
In his inaugural address, FDR affirmed America's ambition to be a "Good Neighbor" with Latin America.
The next year, 1934, the last of the U.S. Marines left Haiti. America lessened her influence in Cuba and Panama as well.
Oil companies wanted armed intervention. FDR held back and came to a settlement in 1941
All told, the Good Neighbor policy was very successful in improving America's image to Latin America.
Secretary Hull’s Reciprocal Trade Agreement
Sec. of State Cordell Hull believed in low tariffs. He felt low tariffs mean higher trade. He and FDR felt trade was a two-way street. Congress passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act which set up low tariff policies.
Storm-Cellar Isolationism
In a totalitarian nation, the individual and his or her rights are nothing; the only thing that matters is the state.
Germany and Italy linked up when Hitler and Mussolini agreed on the Rome-Berlin Axis (1936).
In 1940, Japan joined Germany and Italy with the Tripartite Pact.
The League of Nations did nothing, not even cutting oil to Italy, and the League died as a nice idea that was powerless.
Trying to avoid getting sucked further into foreign problems, Congress passed the Johnson Debt Default Act which forbade countries that owed money to the U.S. from getting any more loans.
Congress Legislates Neutrality
These were clearly to avoid the same mistakes that had occurred at the outset of WWI. WWII, however, would have different circumstances. The U.S. declared absolute neutrality, no matter how hideous one side would be.
America Dooms Loyalist Spain
Though neutral, America didn't build up her military for defense. America actually let the navy get weaker.
Congress passed a law to build up the navy in 1938, very late in the game and only one year before WWII broke open.
Japan invaded China in 1937. FDR did not name the action a war, however, so the Neutrality Acts were not invoked and both China and Japan could still buy American war-stuffs.
This was a step away from isolationism. When isolationists complained, FDR backed off a bit in his words.
Japan went at it again when they bombed and sank the American gunboat the Panay. Two were killed, 30 wounded—possible grounds for war.
Japan apologized, paid an indemnity, and the situation cooled.
Americans in China, however, were jailed and beaten as the Japanese took out anti-American frustrations.
The "Panay Incident" further supported American isolationism.
Back in Europe, Hitler was taking increasingly bold steps.
All told, about 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, about 11 million people total.
Hitler kept up his march by taking his birth nation of Austria in 1938.
Next he declared he wanted the Sudetenland, a section of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by Germans.
At each step, Hitler said this would be his last. Naively, Britain and France were eager to appease (give in) to Hitler.
Chamberlain returned and gave his infamous claim that he’d achieved “peace in our time.” True, but it proved to be a very short time.
Hitler broke his promise and took over all of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939.
Hitler’s Belligerency and U.S. Neutrality
Without having to fear a two-front war like in WWI, the nonaggression pact opened the door for Germany attack Poland.
Still, little was done to halt Hitler. Britain and France did finally draw one last line-in-the-sand, saying that if Poland was taken, war would start.
America rooted for Britain and France, but was committed to neutrality.
Cash-and-carry meant no credit and no U.S. ships hauled the stuff.
Though technically open to Germany too, the British and French navies could keep the Germans away.
The U.S. improved her moral standing with the law, but also made some bucks.
The Fall of France
The only action was when the USSR attacked Finland. The U.S. gave Finland $30 million for nonmilitary supplies; Finland lost to Russia.
The attack on France came very quickly and surrender came quickly, by late June of 1940.
Mussolini attacked France while she was down to get some of the booty.
The only good news was a miraculous evacuation at Dunkirk. Pinned against the English Channel, a waters suddenly settled to an unusual calm and small boats were able to cross the channel and evacuate the troops.
Americans how realized Britain was now the only major European country left standing between the U.S. and Nazi Germany.
FDR called for America to build up the military. Congress appropriated $37 billion, a huge number.
Bolstering Britain with the Destroyer Deal (1940)
Britain was next on Hitler's list. To attack Britain, Hitler first needed air superiority. He began bombing, but the British Royal Air Force fought back and halted Germany in the world's first all-air war, the Battle of Britain.
In America, two voices spoke to FDR on whether the U.S. should get involved:
Isolationists set up the America First Committee. Charles Lindbergh was a member.
Interventionists set up the Committee to Defend the Allies.
FDR Shatters the Two-Term Tradition (1940)
1940 was also an election year. Wendell L. Willkie came out of nowhere to capture the Republican nomination. Franklin Roosevelt set aside the two-term tradition, and was nominated for a third term.
FDR won big again, 449 to 82.
Congress Passes the Landmark Lend-Lease Law
Hitler’s Assault on the Soviet Union Spawns the Atlantic Charter
In June of 1941, Hitler broke his pact with Russia and invaded the USSR. Neither trusted the other, so Hitler moved to double-cross Stalin first. This was great news for the democracies. Now those two could beat up on one another.
The thinking was that the Germans would quickly defeat the Russians.
FDR sent $1 billion to Russia to help defend Moscow. Germany made quick and early gains, but the red army slowed the Nazis until the winter set in. The Germans literally froze at the gates of Moscow.
The Atlantic Conference (Aug 1941) saw Winston Churchill of England meet with FDR in Newfoundland.
Disarmament would be sought.
A new peace-keeping organization, like the League of Nations, would be set up.
Isolationists criticized the Atlantic Conference and Charter. They simply failed to see that the U.S. was no neutral anymore.
U.S. Destroyers and Hitler’s U-Boats Clash
Incidents happened, including German attacks on the American destroyer Greer. FDR declared a shoot-on-sight policy.
The American Kearny saw 11 men killed and was damaged.
The destroyer Reuben James was torpedoed and sunk off of Iceland, killing over 100 Americans.
Surprise Assault at Pearl Harbor
Meanwhile, Japan was marching toward their vision of an empire of the rising sun. They were still beating the Chinese.

Chapter 33

The great depression and the new deal
FDR: A Politician in a Wheelchair
1932 was worst year of the Great Depression
an election year.
Hoover ran for reelection saying what he was doing was helping the situation.
The Democrats nominated Franklin Delano Roosevelt, better known as FDR.
He was articulate with his words and conveyed a sense of caring.
His wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, was also active in politics.
She would by far become the most involved First Lady up to that time, maybe of all time.
Presidential Hopefuls of 1932
Hoover used slogans like "The Worst is Past" and "It Might Have Been Worse." Folks just looked around and saw through those words.
FDR won the election in a landslide, 472 to 59 in the electoral vote.
Cynical opponents of FDR said he purposely allowed things to get worse just so he could emerge that much more as the savior.
In essence, FDR was saying, "If we don't panic, we'll be okay. Confidence!"
Congress was controlled by far by the Democrats. Anything FDR wanted passed, was passed.
Roosevelt Manages the Money
In only eight hours, Congress passed the Emergency Banking Relief Act which set up the bank holiday.
To create inflation, FDR ordered the Treasury to buy up gold at increasingly higher prices. $35 per once became the norm for 40 years. This meant more paper money in circulation, which is less valuable than gold, and did cause inflation.
Creating Jobs for the Jobless
FDR was willing to use government money to help those in need. One of his main weapons was to "prime the pump", or use federal money on programs in hopes that it would jump start the economy to run on its own.
In the CCC, young men were hired to work in the national forests. They lived in camps like boy scouts and did things like clearing land, blazing trails, planting trees, draining swamps, etc.
He proudly said they'd spend, tax, and get themselves reelected. Others saw this scheme as simply taking one person's money in taxes and giving it to another person to buy his vote.
Notably, the Great Migration was wrapping up at about this time. It's the massive movement by blacks from the rural South to the cities up North. It roughly went on between 1910 and 1930.
A Day for Every Demagogue
He was first pro-FDR, then very much anti-New Deal. He eventually went overboard and was silenced by higher-up clergy.
One of the more flamboyant critics was Sen. Huey Long of Louisiana. He ranted about a "Share the Wealth" plan and promised "every man a king."
He spoke of giving $5,000 per family to the poor, likely taking it from those who had it. The mathematics of the scheme were silly.
King got passionate responses. Many down-and-out folks loved him. Many despised him and feared he might become some type of dictator. One person assassinated him, in 1935.
Many students were set up with part-time jobs. Work was also drummed up for artists and writers, although it was often boondoggling: John Steinbeck, future Nobel literature prize winner, counted dogs in Salinas county California.
There was some other waste, like controlling crickets and building a monkey pen.
New Visibility for Women
After having the right to vote for over 10 years now, women began taking a more active role in things. Leading the way was Eleanor Roosevelt but there were other ladies too.
Frances Perkins was the first female cabinet member as Sec. of Labor.
Mary McLeod Bethune was in charge of the Office of Minority Affairs. She was the highest ranking black in FDR's administration. She later held found a college in Daytona, FL.
Ruth Benedict, an anthropologist, studied cultures as personalities in Patterns of Cultures.
One of her understudies was Margaret Mead. She wrote the landmark anthropology book Coming of Age in Samoa about adolescence in that culture.
Novelist Pearl S. Buck wrote the timeless The Good Earth about a peasant farm family in China. She won the Nobel prize for literature in 1938.
Helping Industry and Labor
Labor unions were given the right to organize and collectively bargain. Antiunion yellow-dog contracts were forbidden; child-labor was curbed.
Businesses could agree to go along with the NRA's principles. If they did, they displayed the blue NRA eagle and slogan, "We do our part."
There was enthusiasm for the NRA. Philadelphia named their new pro football team the "Eagles." Still, FDR knew the NRA was a gimmick in essence, and temporary, saying, "We can't ballyhoo our way to prosperity."
In the same law as the NRA, Congress had set up the Public Works Administration (PWA). Like the PWA, it sought to build public works and infrastructure.
Early on, FDR and the Democrats passed legislation legalizing beer and wine with alcohol not over 3.2%.
The Twenty-first Amendment (1933) repealed the Eighteenth, thus ending the prohibition of alcohol.
Paying Farmers Not to Farm
The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) tried to help farmers by creating "artificial scarcity." It paid farmers to not farm, thus reducing the supply.
The AAA's start was shaky. Cotton farmers plowed under already planted crops. Pigs were slaughtered and some of the meat turned to fertilizer. The law seemed cruel and wasteful.
Farm incomes did rise, but farmer unemployment rose too.
The Supreme Court ended the AAA when it declared the AAA unconstitutional in 1936.
Congress passed the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act. It paid farmers to plant crops that preserved and reinvigorated the soil, like soybeans. The Supreme Court went along with this plan.
A Second Agricultural Adjustment Act was passed in 1938. Farmers were encouraged to plant less acreage in exchange for payments. Again, it was simply payment to not farm.
Dust Bowls and Black Blizzards
A long drought hit the lower Plains in 1933. The winds kicked up and started the Dust Bowl. The fertile topsoil of many farms simply blew away, mostly in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas.
With the farms not unable to grow crops, many people headed west to California in search of farm-jobs. This inspired John Steinbeck's classic novel The Grapes of Wrath about the "Okies" long,tough trip looking for work.
The Resettlement Administration (1935) tried to resettle farmers onto better soil.
The CCC boys planted 200 million trees trying to grow windbreaks.
The government's relationship with the Indians was changing again.
Battling Bankers and Big Business
The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) was set up as the stock watchdog.
The TVA Harnesses the Tennessee River
The electricity industry attracted New Dealers. They felt electricity companies of gouging consumers with high rates. They also wanted to expand electricity to rural areas.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was set up in 1933 to build a series of dams along the Tennessee River.
This would be a "double-barreled" plan: provide jobs, help with housing via the jobs, provide electricity.
The TVA's area would help improve the lives of some 2.5 million people.
Housing Reform and Social Security
It was a popular program and outlasted FDR and the New Deal.
These laws helped stop the growth of slums.
The Social Security Act (1935) was perhaps the most far-ranging law.
It set up a payment plan for old age, the handicapped, delinquent children, and other dependents.
The payments were funded by taxes placed on workers and employers, then given to the groups above.

A New Deal for Labor
Unskilled workers began to organize. They were usually left out because, being unskilled, they were easily replaced in a strike.
John L. Lewis, head of the United Mine Workers, organized the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) which admitted the unskilled.
Some Democrats joined Republicans to form the American Liberty League. It didn't like the "socialist" direction the New Deal was taking America.
But, with FDR's wide popularity, the election was almost a moot point. FDR won 523 to 8 in the electoral vote.
FDR won because he never forgot the "forgotten man."
Nine Old Men on the Bench
Congress was shocked at this little disguised attempt at power-grabbing. Congress didn't want the power see-saw to tip too far toward FDR, and for once, FDR did not get his way. Congress voted no. This was perhaps FDR's first mistake and his first loss.
The Court Changes Course
FDR was widely accused of trying to turn dictator.
Although the "court-packing scheme" was voted down, the Court did begin to sway FDR's way. Formerly conservative Justice Owen j. Roberts started to vote liberal.
For examples, by a 5-to-4 vote, the court upheld minimum wages for women. The court upheld the Wagner Act and the Social Security Act.

Despite the New Deals plethora of spending and programs, the depression did not go away during Roosevelt's first term.
The economy took a second downturn in 1937. The "Roosevelt Recession" was caused the government's policies.
Social Security was cutting into people's take-home pay, and thus, their spending power.

Chapter38

The Stormy Sixties

Kennedy’s “New Frontier” Spirit
Kennedy was the youngest president ever elected
 JFK personified optimism
Longtime FBI head J. Edgar Hoover did not like the reforms.
Robert McNamara left a business background to become head of the Defense Department.
Kennedy started the Peace Corps where mostly young, idealistic Americans would go to third world nations to help out and teach. Usually the fields were health, agriculture, languages and math.
Kennedy was wealthy, Harvard-educated, witty. He and his cabinet went to the White House very confident.
The New Frontier at Home
Kennedy initiated the quest to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The goal was almost unthinkable when he said it, but in July, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon.
Rumblings in Europe
Western Europe had made a great turn-around, thanks in large part to the Marshall Plan's help.
To further help Western Europe, Kennedy got the Trade Expansion Act passed. It was to lower tariffs by up to 50% and thus help the new Common Market in trade. Lowering the tariffs did increase trade substantially.
Foreign Flare-Ups and “Flexible Response”
When the French left Southeast Asia in 1954, Laos was left without a government and a civil war started.
Stepping into the Vietnam Quagmire
By the time of his death, JFK had sent about 15,000 "advisers." It was now becoming difficult to just leave without looking bad.
Cuban Confrontations
Added to secret American attempts to get Castro assassinated, the Bay of Pigs pushed Castro even more toward communism.
JFK took full responsibility for the attack, and in doing so, his popularity actually went up.
Cuba was again on the world stage with the Cuban Missile Crisis that took place in October of 1961.
Khrushchev promised to run the blockade and continue assembling the missile sites.
Kennedy slowly stepped into the civil rights movement.
John Kennedy did help SNCC get started with funds. They started the Voter Education Project to register southern black voters.
Despite Brown v. Board 6+ years prior, integration was slow.
Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a peaceful protest of segregation in Birmingham, AL in early 1963.
The protesters were attacked by police dogs, electric cattle prods, and high pressure water hoses.
America watched these vicious scenes on TV. These types of instances helped to slowly start changing public opinion in favor of the protesters.
The Killing of Kennedy
Oswald was shot and killed on TV a couple of days later by Jack Ruby.
Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president on Air Force One heading back to Washington.
America was stunned. Her young, charismatic and idealistic president was gone.
Sadly, his reputation would later be hurt when his womanizing and connections to organized crime came to light.
The LBJ Brand on the Presidency
Lyndon Baines Johnson was a former senator and held FDR as his hero. LBJ was a master at getting Congress to go his way by giving the "Johnson treatment"—getting up-in-the-face and jabbing a finger-in-the-chest.
LBJ was a true cuss from Texas. He was vain, super egotistical, and crude.
LBJ went liberal as president. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act that JFK had called for and LBJ signed it.
The law banned discrimination in public facilities and sought to end segregation.
Johnson Battles Goldwater in 1964
Goldwater criticized income taxes, Social Security, the TVA, civil rights laws, nuclear test bans, and the Great Society.
LBJ countered as being a more poised statesman.
LBJ won the election 486 to 52.
The Great Society Congress
Democrats also won large victories in the Congress. This opened the door for the Great Society programs.
The War on Poverty was stepped up. The Office of Economic Opportunity had its budget doubled to $2 billion. Another billion was to be spent on Appalachia, a region of America that had been little touched by modern prosperity.
Johnson's Great Society sought to improve the Big Four areas:
Education - Money was given to students and not schools to thus get around the separation of church and state issue. Project Head Start was preschool for kids who otherwise couldn't afford it.
Battling for Black Rights
The Voting Rights Act (1965) sought to end the racial discrimination that accompanied voting. It banned literacy tests and it sent registrars to the polls to watch out for dirty dealings.
The Twenty-fourth Amendment forbade poll taxes where you had to pay to vote.
The Civil Rights Movement marched on.
In the "Freedom Summer" (1964), blacks and whites joined hands and sang "We Shall Overcome" to protest racism.
In June of that year, three civil rights workers were found beaten to death in Mississippi (one black, two white). 21 whites were arrested, including the sheriff. The white jury did not convict anyone.
State police used tear gas, whips. Two people died in the chaos.
Lyndon Johnson joined the Civil Rights Movement by calling for an end to "bigotry and injustice." This is when the Voting Rights Act gained steam and passed.
Black Power
Martin Luther King's approach was nonviolent. By 1965, he was making progress, though it was slow. To many young blacks, it was too slow—they wanted to take matters into their own hands.
A riot broke out in the Watts area of Los Angeles. The ghetto burned for a week, 34 people died.
Malcolm X later turned away from Elijah Muhammad, toward mainstream Islam. He was shot and killed in 1965 by Nation of Islam gunmen.
The Black Panthers roamed the streets of Oakland armed with powerful weapons "for protection."
Carmichael spoke of Black Power, a phrase calling for blacks to carry out their political and economic power.
Unfortunately, the voice of nonviolence ended when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April of 1968.
Combating Communism in Two Hemispheres
When a revolt broke out in the Dominican Republic, Johnson saw it as communism trying to crop up. He sent 25,000 troops to quell the revolt. He was criticized for making a knee-jerk reaction.
In Vietnam, things were stepping up in a big way.
America's was "all in" in Vietnam at this point, win or lose. It was costing up to $30 billion per year too.
Vietnam Vexations
In the Six-Day War (June 1967), Israel shocked and beat U.S.S.R.-supported Egypt. Israel gained land in the Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, and the West Bank of the Jordan River (including Jerusalem).
These lands brought 100,000 Palestinians under Israeli control. This situation still breeds problems.
America was being split into "doves" against the war and "hawks" who supported the war.
By 1968, the war had become the longest and most unpopular in U.S. history. LBJ said the war's end was near, but it was not.
Vietnam Topples Johnson
The war was taking a toll on Johnson too, emotionally and physically.
American brass asked for more troops, but Johnson would not send them.
Days later, Robert Kennedy entered the race, also as a dove. He brought the Kennedy name and charisma.
The Presidential Sweepstakes of 1968
LBJ out of the race, V.P. Hubert H. Humphrey seemed the next logical choice. It was now McCarthy, Kennedy, and Humphrey for the Democrats.
Richard Nixon would run as the Republican. He was a "hawk" and spoke of getting law-and-order in the cities at home.
Another candidate, George C. Wallace, ran for the American Independent party. He ran almost exclusively on a pro-segregation ticket saying "Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!"
Nixon would win the election, 301 to Humphrey's 191. Wallace got 46 southern electoral votes.
The Obituary of Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon Johnson and his Great Society was drug down by Vietnam.
He was in a position where no matter what he did in Vietnam, either the hawks or doves would not be happy.
He went home to his Texas ranch and died in 1973.
The Cultural Upheaval of the 1960s
The 1960's were a boom of cultural changes and challenges. Young people propelled the cultural changes—the slogan was, "Trust no one over 30."
Movies hinted at a frustrated youth too, like The Wild One with Marlon Brando and Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean.
One of the first big protests took place at Univ. of California at Berkeley in 1964 called the "Free Speech Movement." This protest was rather clean-cut, later ones would be "far out" with psychedelic drugs, "acid rock", and the call to "tune in and drop out" of school.
A "sexual revolution" took place in the 1960's.
A drug culture emerged. Smoking "grass" turned into dropping LSD. The dirty underworld of drug dealers and drug addicts emerged.

Chapter 39

The Stalemated Seventies

Sources of Stagnation
America had enjoyed a long economic boom in the 1950s and 60s.
The 1970s ended that boom.
Machinery was getting old and run down by this time.
What's more, the boom-years had put more money in people's hands. Anytime this is the case, prices go up.
America's economic lead had dwindled as Germany and Japan had by then rebuilt and caught back up.
Nixon “Vietnamizes” the War
The policy was enough to get him elected. Still, with America so divided, their were still opponents hawks wanted more action, doves wanted to leave immediately. The doves protested loudly.
Nixon appealed to the “silent majority”, those who supported the war, but without the sound and fury of the protesters.
In the earlier part of the war especially, the fighting was done disproportionately by the poorer classes.
African-Americans suffered casualties at higher rates than whites.
At that village, U.S. troops snapped and killed the entire village, including women and children.
Cambodianizing the Vietnam War
The North Vietnamese had been using their neighbor as a staging-ground for attacks. The land was out-of-bounds for U.S. troops, but the North channeled supplies through Cambodia
In 1970, Nixon ordered the U.S. to invade Cambodia to put a stop to the uneven playing field.
A similar situation occurred at Jackson State College killing two.
Nixon pulled out of Cambodia after only two months. U.S. troops resented Nixon's reversal and having to fight with "one hand tied behind their back."
China and the Soviet Union were fighting over what it means to be a communist. Nixon saw this as a chance to step in and play them against each other.
Nixon did visit China, in 1972.
several nuclear weapons were mounted on a single missile.
Nixon was still against communism.
A New Team on the Supreme Bench
Under Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Supreme Court had made a noticeable shift to the left and was activist. Nixon fussed about this move. Several cases showed the trend
A series of cases gave rights to defendants in criminal cases.
New York Times v. Sullivan
Reynolds v. Sims Forbade creative district lines that made some people's votes weigh more than others. This type of gerrymandering had been used by southern whites to keep power.
Nixon sought to change the Court's liberal trend by appointing justices. Warren E. Burger was quickly nominated, accepted, and became chief justice. Nixon appointed a total of four supposedly conservative justices.
However, justices are free to rule as they wish, not how the president wants. The Burger Court was reluctant to undo what the Warren Court had done.
Evidence of how the court was not conservative came with the Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion.
Nixon on the Home Front
Contrary to what one might guess from a conservative, Nixon made the Great Society programs grow. For example:
The court prohibited things like intelligence tests, saying they limited women and minorities in some fields. The court suggested hiring proportions should be the same ratio as the population.
Environmental laws were passed.
Back to the economy, Nixon tried to halt inflation by imposing a 90-day wage and price freeze in 1971.
As a minority president, Nixon gathered southern support by appointing conservative justices, paying little attention to civil rights, and opposing school busing.
The Nixon Landslide of 1972
North Vietnam attacked across the dividing line in 1972. Nixon responded by ramping up bombings and mining the harbors of the North.
The presidential election of 1972 saw Nixon seek reelection. The Democrats nominated George McGovern who promised to end the war in 90 days.
McGovern was supported by young adults and women. His campaign was hurt when it became known that his V.P. candidate, Thomas Eagleton, had received psychiatric treatment.
The agreement Kissinger had spoken of didn't come just yet. Nixon ramped up the bombings in attempt to drive the North back to the bargaining table, it work, and on January 23, 1973 a cease-fire was reached.
The Secret Bombing of Cambodia and the War Powers Act
In mid-1973, people were surprised to learn that the U.S. had made some 3,500 secret bombings of Cambodia. This despite assurances from the government that Cambodia's neutrality was intact. The "credibility gap" widened.
Nixon's goal had been to hurt the communists there and help the non-communists.
The end result was that, in the chaos, a tyrant named Pol Pot killed some 2 million of his own people.
Congress set out to ensure that no "blank check" like the Tonkin Gulf Resolution would be passed again.
This law helped start what was called the "New Isolationism."
The Arab Oil Embargo and the Energy Crisis
America aided Israel, while Kissinger helped keep the Soviets out of the fray. After tense times, an uneasy peace was reached.
But, Arab nations were not pleased at America's support of Israel.
In October of 1973, Arab nations placed an embargo on oil.
Long lines formed at gas stations and prices of gas skyrocketed in the U.S.
The "energy crisis" changed things in America.
The Alaska pipeline was approved to flow oil southward.
There were calls for more use of coal and nuclear power.
Using OPEC to exert their will, the Arab nations nearly quadrupled the price of oil by the end of the 70s.
Watergate and the Unmaking of a President
Also, in the "Saturday Night Massacre", Nixon fired Watergate investigators and the attorney general, which also looked bad.
A month later, impeachment for "obstruction of justice" was going forward so Nixon handed over all of the tapes. Those revealed Nixon had indeed ordered a cover-up this was an impeachable offense.
Rather than get booted out of office, Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974. Gerald Ford was sworn in as the new president.
The First Unelected President
Gerald Ford became president without anyone ever voting for him, either for president or vice president.
He was seen as a nice guy, more of an everyman, but a bit of an average-minded and clumsy fellow. None of the negatives were really fair, but that was much of the public view.
Surprisingly, Ford pardoned Nixon for any illegal actions he might have done.
To many Americans, détente was benefiting Russia, but America was getting little in return.
Defeat in Vietnam
America's goal in Vietnam was to contain communism. America left in 1973, generally having done that. In 1975, however, North Vietnam overran and took over South Vietnam.
It was embarrassing that the last Americans were evacuated from the rooftop of the American embassy by helicopter.
Technically, America didn't lose the war. America left when it was a tie, then the U.S.-supported South Vietnam lost. But, in reality and in perception, America lost.
Feminist Victories and Defeats
The feminist movement of the 60s gained some steam entering the 70s.
Congress passed "Title IX" which prohibited sex discrimination in any federally-funded educational program. This was best seen in the rise of girls' sports to equal boys'.
The Supreme Court heard cases regarding women.
The Roe v. Wade case legalized abortion.
At this point, opposition stalled ERA. Essentially, the opposition felt ERA would undercut and deteriorate the family.
National child care was proposed. The thinking was that this would weaken family life.
The feminist movement was seen as the cause of divorce. The divorce rate had tripled between 1960 and '76.
Many despised abortion. Catholics and other Christians viewed pregnancy as a blessing and charged the feminists viewed it as an inconvenience.
ERA was failed in 1982, 3 states short of the needed 38.
The Seventies in Black and White
The practicality of this was that integration took a hit. If students went to their nearest school, the schools would stay largely segregated.
The election was very close, but the Republican "brand" had been too tarnished by Watergate nonsense. Carter won 297 to 240.
Congress also went heavily Democrat. During his "honeymoon period", Carter got a new Dept. of Energy established. He also got a tax cut through.
Carter's honeymoon was short though. Being a political outsider was good during the election, but not good inside Washington D.C. where "back-slapping" and "back-scratching" is how things get done.
Carter’s Humanitarian Diplomacy
Jimmy Carter was a devout Christian and had a high concern for human rights. That would be his guiding principle when it came to foreign policy.
Carter's crowning foreign policy achievement was a Middle East peace settlement.
They shook hands and agreed that Israel would withdraw from lands gained in the Six-Day War and Israel's borders would be respected.
Full diplomatic relations with China were reestablished.
Another agreement planned to turn over the Panama Canal to Panama by the year 2000 (and did).
To many, Carter's policies seemed nice, but soft and too willing to give.
Plus, the Cold War kept on going. Thousands of Soviet backed Cuban troops showed up in various African countries to support communist forces there. Carter made no response.
Economic and Energy Woes
Carter had worse problems than foreign affairs the economy was tanking.
Carter proposed energy conservation laws, but they weren't well received.
Along with oil, the Middle East gave Carter more headaches in 1979 when the shah of Iran was ousted by Islamic fundamentalists. The shah had been put into power with help from the CIA and was seen as a symbol of the West and the U.S.
Carter went to Camp David, talked with energy experts, then scolded America for its dependence on oil and materialism. This was probably true, but it was a scolding, not an energy solution.
Within a few days he fired four cabinet members and reverted to his close-knit Georgia crew. Some wondered if Carter was losing touch with the people.
Foreign Affairs and the Iranian Imbroglio
Another high-note for Carter came with the SALT II agreements. He met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and agreed to limit nuclear weapons.

Chapter 40

The Resurgence of Conservatism

The Election of Ronald Reagan, 1980
Reagan would be the oldest elected president. His traditional values were from the pre-60s generation.
In Carter's farewell address, he encouraged, human rights, and environmental protect.
One of his last actions was to sign a bill preserving 100 million acres in Alaska.
The Reagan Revolution
Ironically, the hostages in Iran were released the exact day Reagan was sworn into office, January 20, 1981.
Reagan proposed $35 billion in budget cuts.
Most of the cuts were in social programs like food stamps and federally paid-for job training programs.
The Republican Senate went along, the Democratic House needed politics. Southern conservative Democrats in the House called "boll weevils" went along with Reagan. The lowered budget passed.
Reagan was shot on March 6, 1981. Hit in the arm and lung, he recuperated and walked out of the hospital 12 days later.
The Battle of the Budget
Reagan's next step was to make substantial tax cuts, about 25% across the board.
Reagan's appeal on TV and help from the boll weevils passed this bill as well.
Supply-side economics would boost investment, production, hiring, and eventually through growth, would reduce the federal deficit.
The plan took a hit when the economy slid into a recession in 1982. Unemployment rose to nearly 11% and several banks went bankrupt.
The blame-game was on.
Democrats charged that Reagan's cuts were to blame. They said the cuts were aimed at the poor and helped the rich.
In fact, the "tight-money" anti-inflationary policies of President Carter were to blame for the economic downturn.
The economy did turn around in 1983 and began to thrive. Supply-siders grinned.
On the bad side, the rich-poor gap did widen during the 80s.
Reagan's massive military spending was also at play.
Though he had a spend-less mentality, that did not apply to the military. Reagan wanted to beef up the military to stand strong against the U.S.S.R.
The deficit in trade was also skyrocketing. America became the world's biggest borrower of money.
Reagan Renews the Cold War
President Reagan called the Soviet Union the "Evil Empire" and took a firm stance against them. His way of dealing with the Soviets was through strength—meaning the military was to be built up.
He gambled that by ramping up the arms race, the capitalistic U.S. economy could better afford this than the communist Soviet economy.
These question were too much and SDI was never built.
In Poland, workers organized into a huge union in the Solidarity movement.
The Soviets imposed martial law on Poland; the U.S. backed Poland by slapping economic sanctions on Russia.
Things move quickly between 1982 and '85 when three old Soviet leaders died in succession.
In 1982, a Korean passenger airliner went into Soviet airspace and was shot down. Several of the dead were Americans.
Clearly, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were in old-fashioned Cold War standoff mode.
Troubles Abroad
The Middle East kept up its turmoil when Israel invaded Lebanon to its north. Reagan sent U.S. troops to Lebanon in a peace-keeping attempt.
Whereas Carter had tried to extend a handshake to the Sandinistas, Reagan flatly opposed them. He said Nicaragua would be a base for Russia and accused the Sandinistas of stirring up communism in El Salvador.
The CIA also secretly meddled in Nicaragua trying to overthrow the government.
Reagan's military got involved in other places, notably the island of Grenada. There, communists had taken over so the U.S. military took over the island to supposedly protect the Americans who were on it.
Round Two for Reagan
The economy was strong, Reagan was popular, and he won easily, 525 to only 13.
Reagan's first term had featured budget and economic measures, his second term was marked by foreign issues.
In the Soviet Union, a new leader took over in Mikhail Gorbachev.
Reagan supported Corazon Aquino in the Philippines when he booted out dictator Ferinand Marcos.
Reagan also ordered an air strike on Libya in return for its support of terrorism.
The Iran-Contra Imbroglio
Some Americans had been captured by Muslim militant radicals in Lebanon.
The communistic Sandinista government in Nicaragua was holding onto power. Reagan wanted to send military aid, but Congress wouldn't go along.
More bad news came in a U.S.-Iran-Nicaragua scheme called the Iran-Contra Affair.
Lt. Col. Oliver North had secretly arranged a deal where U.S. weapons would be sold to Iran, then the money would go to the Contra "freedom fighters" in Nicaragua.
Hearings were held and Oliver North went to prison. Reagan was in lose-lose situation…
If he did know of this scheme, it would appear he was circumventing Congress to aid the Contras.
True to the "Teflon president" nickname, Reagan came through the ordeal still very popular.
Reagan’s Economic Legacy
The traditional viewpoint of increasing government revenue was to increase taxes. Supply-side economists felt that thinking was backwards. They said cutting taxes would actually increase revenue
The reality of the Reagan years was a "revenue hole" of $200 billion per year, caused by the tax cuts and increased military spending.
Also, much of the debt was to foreign nations, especially Japan. Paying it off in the future seemed, and still seems, bleak.
Reagan was successful in halting the "welfare-state" programs that had dominated the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and the Great Society. His goal of smaller government was achieved.
The Reaganomics idea of “trickle-down economics”, helping the rich (who own business and grow the economy) would cause money trickle down to the working classes, seemed proven false by the statistics.
The Religious Right
In the early 1980s, the political power of religious conservatives became apparent. They rose up in the "cultural wars" to attack the excesses of the 1960s and 70s.
Rev. Jerry Falwell started the Moral Majority and registered between 2 and 3 million voters.
Falwell spoke against sexual permissiveness, abortion, feminism, and homosexuality.
"Televangelists" used the media to convey their messages.
They also used some of the old 60s techniques, such as "identify politics" and civil disobedience by blocking entrances to abortion clinics.
Some of the leaders were plagued with scandal, but still, the "New Right" remained a powerful force in American politics.
Conservatism in the Courts
As previous presidents had used to Supreme Court to swing to the liberal side, Reagan used it to swing back to the right, the conservative side.
He named a near-majority of the Court during his eight years.
Three justices were conservative-leaning. Notable was Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court.
The court dealt with affirmative action.
In 1984, it ruled that a union's rules on job seniority outweighed affirmative action quotas.
In Ward's Cove Packing v. Arizona and in Martin v. Wilks, the Court made it harder to prove a company practiced racial discrimination in hiring and easier for whites to prove reverse discrimination in hiring.
The court ruled on abortion.
In Webster v. Reproductive Health Services the Court supported a Missouri law a place some restrictions on abortion.
In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Court ruled that states could restrict access to an abortion if it did not place "undue burden" on the mother. In this case, a wife could not be forced to tell her husband of an abortion, a minor could be forced to tell her parents.
These decisions threw gas on the fire for feminists and pro-abortion advocates. Bitter culture war battles would follow.
Referendum on Reaganism in 1988
In 1986, the Democrats won back the Senate and pushed back against Reagan.
The Iran-Contra affair didn't help Reagan's image and the Democrats tried to seize on this.
Robert Bork was rejected for nomination to the Supreme Court as being too conservative.
The two deficits hurt: the annual budget deficit and the trade deficit.
Dropping oil prices hurt the Southwest's economy, lowered real estate values, and badly hurt savings and loans (S&Ls).
The S&L situation was so bad that the federal government had to enact a $500 billion bail out.
The stock market got wild with many mergers and buyouts.
The jitters kicked in on October 19, 1987 and the market dropped 508 points—the largest one day drop in history up 'til then.
The Democrats hoped to rally these events right into the White House in 1988.
Gary Hart was the early front-runner but had to drop out after being caught with a mistress on his yacht named "Monkey Business."
Black candidate Jesse Jackson put together what he called a "rainbow coalition."
The Democratic nomination went to Michael Dukakis, the calm governor of Massachusetts.
The Republicans nominated V.P. George H. W. Bush, essentially to keep the Reagan years going.
Despite the not-so-good news of late, America was still doing well. Plus, Dukakis installed little if any excitement. Bush won handily, 426 to 112.
George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War
Bush came from a well-to-do family, the son of a senator. He grew up in Connecticut, attended Yale, served in WWII, and entered the oil business in Texas. He then entered public service: congressman, emissary to China, ambassador to the U.N., director of the C.I.A., and vice president. As president, he sought "a kinder, gentler America."
Communism seemed at the breaking point early in Bush's administration.
The Chinese leaders were not pleased and ordered the military into the Square to break up the protest. Hundreds were killed and the protest ended.
In Europe, communism did fall.
The Solidarity movement in led by ousting the communist government.
Other communist nations quickly followed by booting the government out, including: Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Romania.
The symbol of the Cold War was the Berlin Wall. In December of 1989, the wall came down after 45 years.
Even larger, the U.S.S.R. broke apart.
Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika were opening things up within the Soviet Union.
Soviet hardliners tried a military ouster of Gorbachev. Russian president Boris Yeltsin helped stop the coup attempt.
Gorbachev later resigned in 1991 and the U.S.S.R. busted up into 15 independent republics. These were loosely united in what was called the "Commonwealth of Independent States." Gorbachev's legacy would be that he tore down the old communistic Soviet structure.
The message seemed clear: the Cold War was over, the democracies had won and communism had lost. Bush spoke of a "new world order" where democratic republics would negotiate rather than fight.
With 15 new nations, the new worry was what would happen to all of the old Soviet nuclear weapons.
Bush met with Yeltsin and worked out the START II treaty. It promised to reduce long-range nuclear weapons by 2/3 within 10 years.
With all the huge changes happening so fast, Europe would go through quite a bit of unrest—mostly ethnic and economic.
With the Cold War over, military cuts were made. 34 military bases were closed, a $52 billion order for navy attack planes was canceled, defense plants closed.
Democracy spread to other parts of the world too.
In Nicaragua, elections removed the communist Sandinistas. Peace also came to El Salvador after much fighting.
The Persian Gulf Crisis
The Middle East and oil were still troublesome. In August of 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded and took over Kuwait. He wanted Kuwait's oil fields and port to the Persian Gulf.
Saddam was widely known as a ruthless thug and dictator who killed his own people if they opposed him.
President Bush responded by going to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, Bush amassed a huge military force. There were over 500,000 Americans joined by 270,000 from 28 other nations.
The Persian Gulf War was short and effective.
The attack started January 16 and moved fast. First, warplanes pounded the Iraqis. Saddam shot "Scud" missiles at the U.S. troops and at Israel. Many were shot down in flight by American "Patriot" missiles.
Saddam had stockpiled chemical and biological weapons, poison gas, and might spread anthrax.

Chapter 41

America Confronts the Post-Cold War Era

Bill Clinton: the First Baby-Boomer President
The Democrats moved away from their extreme-liberal positions
They advocated economic growth, a strong defense, and anti-crime measures.
The Republicans championed ending the Cold War,
Bill Clinton won the election, 374 to 168, because of two reasons
The poor economy was the  issue—bad news for Bush, good for Clinton. Clinton had a slogan to remind his staff, "It's the economy, stupid.
Ross Perot took votes away from George H.W. Bush.
Perot received 19% of the popular vote. Most Perot supporters would've voted Republican if he'd not been in the election.
Both houses of Congress also went to the Democrats.
Minorities also did well in 1992. Carol Moseley-Braun was the first woman ever elected to the Senate.
Clinton would also appoint Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court a second female justice.
A False Start for Reform
One of Clinton's main ambitions was to reform America's health-care system.
He appointed his wife, Hillary Clinton, to head the committee of health-care reform.
Meeting after meeting after meeting was held. To match a complicated problem, the plan that was developed was incredibly confusing and complicated itself. It was not going to make it through Congress
Clinton got a deficit-reduction bill passed in 1993. By 1996, the economy was doing very well. The annual budget deficit would actually become a budget surplus and the national debt would actually go down.
Guns came under fire.
The "Brady Bill" was passed to place restrictions on buying a gun. It was named after James Brady who'd been shot during the Reagan assassination attempt.
 $30 billion anti-crime bill was also passed to ban certain assault weapons.
There were terrorist activities.
A "homegrown" anti-government terrorist blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. 168 people died.
Those against restricting guns used two arguments: the Second Amendment simply states the "right to bear arms" and, that simply banning guns doesn't mean they disappear criminals would still get them if they wanted. The slogan was, If guns were outlawed, only outlaws would get guns.
Foreign terrorists struck too. These were the work of the radical Islamic terrorist sect Al-Qaeda.
In 1998, Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden sent truck bombs to the U.S. embassies in in Tanzania and Kenya. Hundreds were killed.
Al-Qaeda struck again in 2000 when a suicide boat exploded against the U.S.S. Cole killed 17 American sailors.
Unfortunately, little action was taken to halt this trend of terrorism.
The Politics of Distrust
In the 1994 mid-term elections, the Republicans pushed back, led by Newt Gingrinch.
The programs was very successful. The Republicans took over both houses of Congress. Gingrinch became the Speaker of the House.
The Republicans scored victories.
They passed a law restricting "unfunded mandates" where the federal government mandates the states to do something, but provides no money to do it.
They also passed the Welfare Reform Bill which rolled back welfare handouts and forced able-bodied people to get off taxpayer money and go to work.
The Democrats and Clinton scored victories.
Dole was from the WWII generation and his campaign was uninspiring. To the younger baby boom generation, electing Dole would seem to be moving backward. More importantly, the economy was doing great.
Clinton was reelected easily, 379 to 159. He was the first Democrat reelected since FDR.
Again, Clinton governed
He embraced the Welfare Reform Bill, which he'd initially signed with reluctance.
He addressed affirmative action with a "mend it, don't end it" approach.
By this time, the courts and America's mood was beginning to turn away from affirmative action. Clinton spoke out against this movement, but didn't pursue action
Clinton was largely a popular president always the result of a strong economy. There were some money disputes…
Problems Abroad
With the Cold War over, there was a question of where and how to apply U.S. foreign policy. Clinton dotted around the globe.
President Clinton deployed troops to Somalia to help restore order from chaos. Dozens of U.S. troops died. Clinton pulled the troops out without having set or accomplished a clear goal.
In Haiti president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a military coup in 1994. Clinton sent 20,000 U.S. troops to put Aristide back into power.
Things there were ugly, with Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic started "ethnic cleansing." It was a miniature Holocaust.
This treaty would prove brief—two years later Rabin would be assassinated.
Nearing the end of his second term, Clinton seemed eager to leave a lasting legacy to his presidency.
He and his Sec. of State Madeleine Albright, worked unsuccessfully to broker another Middle East peace agreement.
Clinton also tried to work peace in Ireland, the Koreas, India, and Pakistan. He wasn't successful.
Scandal and Impeachment
Rumors and scandal seemed to follow Clinton, earning him the nickname
All scandals became secondary to the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal in the White House.
Clinton was asked if he'd had "sexual relations", and whatever went on between he and "that woman" did not meet his definition of sex. Clinton felt he didn't lie.
For "obstruction of justice" and perjury, the House voted to impeach Clinton—the second president to be impeached after Andrew Johnson in the 1960s.
However, the Senate did not get the 2/3 vote necessary to kick Clinton from office.
Clinton’s Legacy
Clinton wanted a lasting legacy to his presidency, one that did not involve the words "scandal" or "impeach."
Clinton preserved lands, set up a "patients' bill of rights", and hired more teachers and police officers.
Clinton did make some good marks.
He truly did "govern to the middle" this angered the far Left and Right, but appealed to most Americans.
The economy was strong and the budget was at surplus levels. Unemployment was a bare minimum, poverty rates went down, median income reached new highs.
History may in fact make the budget surplus Clinton's non-scandal legacy.
Clinton left on something on a sour note.
With a few days left, he negotiated a deal on the Lewinsky scandal. He was given immunity from any future legal action in the case in return for paying a fine and suspension of his law license for 5 years.
Also, at the last moment, he gave pardons to political donors and backers which got them out of jail.
The Bush-Gore Presidential Battle
The 2000 presidential election was predicted to be a close one.
Bush believed the money belonged to the taxpayers. Thus, he wanted to make a large tax cut to return the money "to the people."
Gore wanted to make a smaller tax cut then use the rest to pay down the debt, invest in Social Security, and perhaps expand Medicare.
Nader, was little more than a side-show.
The Controversial Election of 2000
Jeb Bush was governor of Florida, and the president's brother—perfect fuel for conspiracy theories.
A recount was made. Bush was still ahead, by a margin of around 500 votes out of 6 million.
In Palm Beach county, the infamous "butterfly ballot" supposedly tricked seniors wishing to vote for Gore into voting for another candidate. Another excruciating recount was undertaken there.
The process dragged on for about a month and America still didn't know who the next president would be.
The recounted votes were finally made official and Bush won the election 271 to 266 in the electoral vote.
There were ironies in the election…
In the 2000 election, Ralph Nader's Green Party got only 2.7% of the popular vote, however if he had not been in the election, his ultra-liberal supporters would've almost certainly voted Democratic and Gore would've won.
Election maps from the 2000 election showed how Americans broke down in terms of voters.
Republicans drew from rural areas, mostly the South and the West.
Bush Begins
Bush removed support from international groups that were pro-abortion.
He supported federally funded faith-based welfare programs.
He opposed stem-cell research, which had great medical possibilities, on the grounds that the embryo in reality was a small person and doing tests on it was nothing other than abortion.
He frustrated environmentalists by questioning the legitimacy of global warming, shunning the Kyoto agreement that was to limit greenhouse emissions, and speaking of new oil exploration in Alaska. Businesses were happy by these positions.
Terrorism Comes to America
Two planes slammed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. The towers caught fire, then came down.
A third plane slammed into the Pentagon.
A fourth plane was thought to be aiming for the White House or Capitol building, but heroic passengers took back the plane before it crashed in a Pennsylvania field.
President Bush's legacy would essentially be made for him—how he responded to the 9/11 attacks. Bush proved a strong leader in the period after the attacks.
The whole plan was the work of Al-Qaeda, headed by Osama bin Laden.
In true Texas-style, Bush called for Bin Laden’s head. Afghanistan refused to hand him over so Bush ordered the military to go on the offensive and hunt him down. The hunt proved to be difficult in rugged Afghanistan and Bin Laden proved elusive.
With the jitters high, the American economy took a turn for the worse, and a few Americans died after receiving anthrax-laden letters. Coupled with fear of another attack, anxiety loomed.
Terrorism launched a “new kind of war” or a “war on terror” that required tactics beyond the conventional battlefield. Congress responded in turn.
The Patriot Act gave the government extended surveillance rights. Critics charged this was a Big Brother-like infringement of rights, a reversal of the freedoms that Americans were fighting for.
The Department of Homeland Security was established as the newest cabinet department with the goal of securing America.
Bush Takes the Offensive Against Iraq
Saddam Hussein had been a long time menace to long list of people. With Bush, Saddam's time had run out. Bush stated he’d not tolerate Hussein’s defiance of the U.N.’s weapons inspectors.
Also, Bush lumped Iraq and Saddam into an "axis of evil" that he believed helped and harbored terrorists. To Bush, attacking Saddam was just one part of the "war on terror."
The center of the problem was information and lack of action.
When the U.N. tried to validate or disprove the WMD threat, Hussein continually thumbed his nose at the weapon’s inspectors.
WMD intelligence in hand, Bush decided it was time for action.
Bush sought the U.N.'s approval for taking military action, but some nations, notably France, Russia, and Germany with their Security Council veto, had cold feet.
So, Bush decided to go it alone. Heavy majorities of Congress in October of 2002 approved armed force against Iraq.
For Bush, time was up and it was time for action. In March of 2003, the U.S. launched an attack and Baghdad fell within a month. Saddam went on the run, then was found nine months later, literally hiding in a hole in the ground.