LECTURE #25: THE NEW WORLD ORDER

& THE BRIDGE TO THE 21st CENTURY

(1991-2000)

Derrick J. Johnson, MPA, JDAdvanced Placement United States

History,School for Advanced Studies

President George Herbert Walker Bush Born: June 12, 1924 Term in Office: (1989-1993) Political Party: Republican

The George H.W. Bush Presidency

The George H.W. Bush Presidency

The Bush CabinetOffice Name Term

President George H. W. Bush 1989–1993Vice President Dan Quayle 1989–1993

Secretary of StateJames Baker 1989–1992Lawrence Eagleburger 1992–1993

Secretary of Treasury Nicholas Brady 1989–1993

Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney 1989–1993

Attorney General Dick Thornburgh 1989–1991William Barr 1991–1993

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan 1989–1993

Secretary of Agriculture Clayton Yeutter 1989–1991Edward Madigan 1991–1993

Secretary of CommerceRobert Mosbacher 1989–1992Barbara Hackman Franklin 1992–1993

Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole 1989–1990Lynn Martin 1991–1993

Secretary of Health andHuman Services Louis Sullivan 1989–1993

Secretary of Education Lauro Cavazos 1989–1990Lamar Alexander 1990–1993

Secretary of Housing andUrban Development Jack Kemp 1989–1993

Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner 1989–1992Andrew Card 1992–1993

Secretary of Energy James Watkins 1989–1993

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Ed Derwinski 1989–1993

Chief of StaffJohn H. Sununu 1989–1991Samuel Skinner 1991–1992James Baker 1992–1993

Administrator of theEnvironmental Protection Agency William Reilly 1989–1993

Director of the Office ofManagement and Budget Richard Darman 1989–1993

Director of the Office ofNational Drug Control Policy Bob Martinez 1993–1993

United States Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills 1989–1993

The George H.W. Bush Presidency

Supreme Court Appointments by President Bush

David H. Souter – 1990Clarence Thomas - 1991

The End of the Cold War

President Bush came into office on the verge of a new world order. In 1989, it seemed that Democracy was reviving in previously communist hot-spots: In China, thousands of democratic-seeking

students protested in Tiananmen Square but were brutally crushed by Chinese tanks and armed forces.

In Eastern Europe, Communist regimes fell in Poland (which saw Solidarity rise again), Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Romania.

In Germany, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down.

The End of the Cold War

In 1990, Boris Yeltsin stopped a military coup that tried to dislodge Gorbachev, then took over Russia when the Soviet Union fell and disintegrated into the Commonwealth of Independent States, of which Russia was the largest member, thus ending the Cold War.

This shocked experts who had predicted that the Cold War could only end violently.

Problems remained, for who would take over the USSR’s nuclear stockpiles or its seat in the UN Security Council (eventually, Russia did).

In 1993, Bush signed the START II accord with Yeltsin, pledging both nations to reduce their long-range nuclear arsenals by two-thirds within ten years.

The End of the Cold War Trouble was still present when the Chechnyen

minority in Russia tried to declare independence and was resisted by Russia; that incident hasn’t been resolved yet.

Europe found itself quite unstable when the economically weak former communist countries re-integrated with it.

America now had no rival to guard against, and it was possible that it would revert back to its isolationist policies; also, military spending had soaked up so much money that upon the end of the Cold War, the Pentagon closed 34 military bases, canceled a $52 billion order for a navy attack plane, and forced scores of Californian defense plants to shut their doors.

However, in 1990, South Africa freed Nelson Mandela, then elected him president four years later; free elections removed the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in 1990, and in 1992, peace came to Ecuador at last.

The Invasion of Panama

In December of 1989, U.S. troops were used to invade Panama to remove autocratic General Manuel Noriega. The alleged purpose was to stop Noriega from using his country as a drug pipeline to the U.S.

After defeating Noriega, Bush ordered U.S. troops to stay in Panama until free elections were held.

The Persian Gulf War

On August 2, 1990, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded oil-rich Kuwait with 100,000 men, hoping to annex it as a 19th province and use its oil fields to replenish debts incurred during the Iraq-Iran War, a war which oddly saw the U.S. supporting Hussein despite his bad reputation.

Saddam attacked swiftly, but the UN responded just as swiftly, placing economic embargoes on the aggressor and preparing for military punishment.

Fighting “Operation Desert Storm”

Some 539,000 U.S. military force members joined 270,000 troops from 28 other countries to attack Iraq in a war, which began on January 12, 1991, when Congress declared it.

On January 16, the U.S. and U.N. unleashed a hellish air war against Iraq for 37 days.

Iraq responded by launching several ultimately ineffective “scud” missiles at Saudi Arabia and Israel, but it had far darker strategies available, such as biological and chemical weapons and strong desert fortifications with oil-filled moats that could be lit afire if the enemy got to close.

American General Norman Schwarzkopf took nothing for granted, strategizing to suffocate Iraqis with an onslaught of air bombing raids and then rush them with troops.

Fighting “Operation Desert Storm”

On February 23, “Operation Desert Storm” began with an overwhelming land attack that lasted four days, saw really little casualties, and ended with Saddam conceding defeat.

American cheered the war’s rapid end and well-fought duration, relieved that this had not turned into another Vietnam.

However, Saddam Hussein remained in power and Bush enjoyed a 90% approval rating.

Bush’s Domestic Policy

Bush had been born into a rich family, but he was committed to public service and vowed to sculpt “a kindler, gentler America.” He also called himself to be the “education president.”

However, the only major domestic policy initiative that Bush signed into law was the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), which prohibited discrimination against citizens with physical and mental disabilities in hiring, transportation and public accommodations. Outside of this accomplishment, Bush did very little domestically.

Thousands of Republicans felt betrayed when, in 1990, Bush violated his campaign pledge of “no new taxes” by agreeing to accept a proposed $133 billion tax bill.

Bush’s Domestic Policy Most damaging of all for Bush’s re-election

prospects was a recession starting in 1990 that ended the Reagan era of prosperity, increased unemployment, and decreased family income.

When it was revealed that many House members had written bad checks from a private House “bank,” public confidence lessened even more.

The 27th Amendment banned congressional pay raises from taking effect until an election had seated a new session of Congress, an idea first proposed by James Madison in 1789.

The Thomas Confirmation Hearings

The president’s nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court to replace Thurgood Marshall proved to be very controversial when, in early October 1991, Anita Hill charged Thomas with sexual harassment.

Thomas’ controversial conservative views and allegations of sexual harassment led to objections by many minority and women organizations.

Ultimately, Thomas was confirmed by the narrowest margin for a Supreme Court nominee. Even though Thomas was still selected to be on the Court, Hill’s case publicized sexual harassment and tightened tolerance of it (Oregon’s Senator Robert Packwood had to step down in 1995 after a case of sexual harassment).  

The Election of 1992

President Bush was re-nominated by the Republicans for a second term. After a long career in public service, Bush seemed tired and out of touch with the public.

Bush had watched his 90% approval rate dwindle to 32% in 1992, largely due o the economy.

Among the Democrats, the youthful governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton, emerged from the primaries as his party’s leader.

Clinton was the first member of the Baby Boomer Generation to be nominated for president and he fashioned himself as a “New Democrat” who focused on economic issues. His strategy was to remind the public that it was “the economy stupid!”

H. Ross Perot, Texas billionaire, entered the race as well as an independent. Perot was able to use his own money to finance his campaign.

The Election of 1992

The Democrats tried a new approach, promoting growth, strong defense, and anticrime policies while campaigning to stimulate the economy, while the Republicans dwelt on “family values.”

Despite a tough campaign, Clinton emerged victorious with 370 electoral votes (44,909,806 popular votes) to Bush’s 168 electoral votes (39,104,550 popular votes) and Perot’s 0 electoral votes (19,743,821 popular votes). Clinton, along with his running mate Sen. Albert Gore, Jr., was able to run well in the South and recapture the majority of the elderly and blue collar workers from the Republicans.

President William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton Born: August 19, 1946 Term in Office: (1993-2001) Political Party: Democrat

The William J. Clinton Presidency

The William J. Clinton PresidencyThe Clinton Cabinet

Office Name Term

President Bill Clinton 1993–2001Vice President Al Gore 1993–2001

Secretary of StateWarren Christopher 1993–1997

Madeleine Albright 1997–2001

Secretary of Treasury

Lloyd Bentsen 1993–1994Robert Rubin 1995–1999Lawrence Summers 1999–2001

Secretary of Defense

Les Aspin 1993–1994William Perry 1994–1997William Cohen 1997–2001

Attorney General Janet Reno 1993–2001

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt 1993–2001

Secretary of AgricultureMike Espy 1993–1994Daniel Glickman 1995–2001

Secretary of Commerce

Ron Brown 1993–1996Mickey Kantor 1996–1997William Daley 1997–2000Norman Mineta 2000–2001

Secretary of LaborRobert Reich 1993–1997Alexis Herman 1997–2001

Secretary of Health andHuman Services Donna Shalala 1993–2001

Secretary of Education Richard Riley 1993–2001

Secretary of Housing andUrban DevelopmentHenry Cisneros 1993–1997

Andrew Cuomo 1997–2001

Secretary of TransportationFederico Peña 1993–1997Rodney Slater 1997–2001

Secretary of EnergyHazel O'Leary 1993–1997Federico Peña 1997–1998Bill Richardson 1998–2001

Secretary of Veterans AffairsJesse Brown 1993–1997Togo West 1998–2000Hershel W. Gober, act. 2000–2001

Chief of Staff

Mack McLarty 1993–1994Leon Panetta 1994–1997Erskine Bowles 1997–1998John Podesta 1998–2001

Administrator of theEnvironmental Protection Agency Carol Browner 1993–2001

Director of the Office ofManagement and Budget

Leon Panetta 1993–1994Alice Rivlin 1994–1996Franklin Raines 1996–1998Jacob Lew 1998–2001

Director of the Office ofNational Drug Control PolicyLee Brown 1993–1995

Barry McCaffrey 1996–2001

United States Trade RepresentativeMickey Kantor 1993–1997Charlene Barshefsky 1997–2001

The William J. Clinton Presidency

Supreme Court Appointments by President Clinton

Ruth Bader Ginsburg – 1993Stephen Breyer – 1994

The Clinton Years Begins

Clinton began his presidency with the Democrats in control of both the House and the Senate as well as the White House.

One of Clinton’s biggest campaign promises was to have a “cabinet that looks like America. Congress and the presidential cabinet were filled with minorities and more women, including the first female attorney general ever, Janet Reno, Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Supreme Court.

Upon entering office, Clinton called for accepting homosexuals in the armed forces but finally had to settle for a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that unofficially accepted gays and lesbians.

The Clinton Years Begins Clinton also appointed his wife, Hillary, to revamp the

nation’s health and medical care system, and when it was revealed in October 1993, critics blasted it as cumbersome, confusing, and stupid, thus suddenly making Hillary Rodham Clinton a liability when before, she had been a full, equal political partner of her husband.

In July, 1994, Clinton persuaded Congress to pass a $30 billion anticrime bill, which bolds well with many conservatives.

Clinton’s Domestic Issues & Events

The first few years of the Clinton presidency were marred with many threats at home. The included the following: A radical Muslim group bombed the World Trade

Center in New York, killing six. A terrorist Timothy McVeigh, had bombed the federal

building in Oklahoma in 1995, taking 169 lives. A fiery standoff at Waco, Texas, between the

government and the Branch Davidians ended in a huge fire that killed men, women, and children.

By this time, few Americans trusted the government, the reverse of the WWII generation.

Clinton’s Domestic Issues & Events

Political reporter Joe Klein wrote Primary Colors, mirroring some of Clinton’s personal life (womanizing).

Clinton also ran into trouble with his failed real estate investment in the Whitewater Land Corporation.

In 1993, White House Counsel Vincent Foster, Jr. apparently committed suicide, perhaps overstressed.

Republican Revolution

In 1994, Newt Gingrich led Republicans on a sweeping attack of Clinton’s liberal failures with a conservative “Contract with America,” and that year, Republicans won all incumbent seats as well as eight more seats in the Senate and 53 more seats in the House, where Gingrich became the new Speaker of the House.

However, the Republicans went too far, imposing federal laws that put new obligations on state and local governments without providing new revenues and forcing Clinton to sign a welfare-reform bill that made deep cuts in welfare grants.

Clinton tried to fight back, but gradually, the American public grew tired of Republican conservatism, such as Gingrich’s suggestion of sending children of welfare families to orphanages, and of its incompetence, such as the 1995 shut down of Congress due to a lack of a sufficient budget package.

Clinton’s Foreign Policy Clinton had a rather full plate with the foreign

policy endeavors of his presidency. Clinton sent troops to Somalia (where some were

killed), withdrew them, and he worked to bring peace to Northern Ireland.

After denouncing China’s abuses of human rights and threatening to punish China before he became president, Clinton as president decided to expand trade relations with China.

Clinton also committed American troops to NATO to keep the peace in the former Yugoslavia and sent 20,000 troops to return Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in Haiti.

Clinton’s Foreign Policy He resolutely supported the North American

Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that made a free-trade zone surrounding Mexico, Canada, and the U.S., then helped form the World Trade Organization, the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and also provided $20 billion to Mexico in 1995 to help its faltering economy.

Finally, Clinton also presided over historic reconciliation meeting in 1993 between Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Yasir Arafat at the White House, but two years later, Rabin was assassinated, thus ending hopes for peace in the Middle East.

Balanced Budget

In 1996, Clinton was successful in reaching a compromise with congressional Republicans. The spending cuts and tax increases made during Clinton’s first term, plus the record growth of the economy, lead to the elimination of the federal deficit in 1998.

Clinton’s Administration produced for the first time since 1969 a federal surplus.

The Election of 1996

Bill Clinton was re-nominated by the Democrats for a second term. His Republican opponent was Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas. Clinton also faced H. Ross Perot for a second time with his new Reform Party.

Dole’s campaign, which proposed a 15% tax cut, never captured voter’s imagination. Turnout dropped below 50% of eligible voters.

The Election of 1996

However, once again, Clinton emerged victorious with 379 electoral votes (47,401,185 popular votes) to Dole’s 159 electoral votes (39,197,469 popular votes) and Perot’s 0 electoral votes (8,085,294 popular votes).

The Culture of the 1990s

The 1990s was a decade where the nation rejected the yuppie & new wave culture of the 1980s in favor of a “free for all” cultural style.

In terms of music, we saw the advent of alternative music like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Sound Garden, while we also embraced pop stars like Mariah Carey, the Spice Girls and Britney Spears. Rap music developed into an east coast verse west coast show down between Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur.

The Culture of the 1990s

In the film industry, we saw the advent of mega hits like Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Independence Day, Pulp Fiction and The Titanic.

In terms of fashion, side burns and curtain style haircuts became fashionable. Also, the Grunge hype at the beginning of the decade popularized the flannel shirts among both sexes during the 1990s.

The Impeachment of Bill Clinton

From the early days of the Clinton presidency, Clinton, his wife, cabinet members and their associates were under investigation by Congress and special prosecutors. After long and expensive investigations, the Clintons were not charged with illegalities in the Whitewater real estate deal, “Travelgate” firings or the political use of FBI files.

However, independent prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr charged that Clinton, during his deposition in a civil suit about sexual harassment while governor of Arkansas, had lied about his relations with a young woman, Monica Lewinsky, who served as a White House intern.

The Impeachment of Bill Clinton

In December of 1998, the House voted to impeach the president on two counts, perjury and obstruction of justice. Clinton became the third president to be the subject of impeachment (Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon were both under impeachment hearings by the House Judiciary Committee) and the second to actually be impeached (Nixon resigned before he could formally be impeached).

Even though many in Congress (Democrats & Republicans) condemned Clinton’s personal behavior, most members of the public did not support removing Clinton from office. After all was said and done, neither article of impeachment managed to get a majority of Senator’s votes for removal, much less the mandated two-thirds.

Clinton would finish his term with a black mark on his presidency, but also with high approval ratings.

The Election of 2000

Vice President Al Gore easily gained the Democratic nomination and he also made history by selecting the first Jewish American running mate, Senator Joe Lieberman, to run on a major party ticket.

The Republicans saw a fierce battle between maverick Senator John McCain and Texas Governor George W. Bush (the son of former President George H.W. Bush). Ultimately, Bush won the Republican nomination and selected Dick Cheney as his running mate.

Other candidates included Ralph Nader (Green Party) and Pat Buchanan (Reform Party).

The campaign was a tightly fought campaign. Gore ran as a champion for “working families” and Bush ran as the “compassionate conservative.”

The Election of 2000

On election night, most of the networks called Florida’s electoral votes for Gore, but eventually retracted the call. Later, they called it for Bush and announced that he had won the race. But hours later, they retracted the call for Bush and announced that the race in Florida was too close to call.

Bush only led by 537 popular votes, and due to ballot irregularities, the Democrats demanded a hand recount in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The Florida Supreme Court ordered a hand recount of all of the votes throughout the state.

However, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled them in a split 5-4 decision that matched the party loyalty of the justices. In Bush v. Gore (2000), the majority ruled that the varying standards in Florida’s recount violated the equal protection clause.

The Election of 2000

After a long protracted dispute. Gore publicly accepted the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. Bush was awarded Florida’s electoral vote which gave him a total of 271 electoral votes to Gore’s 266 electoral votes. Despite the fact that Gore had won the popular vote with 50,999,897 to Bush’s 50,456,002 popular votes, Bush was awarded the presidency.

Bush, along with his father George H.W. Bush, became the second father and son duo to become president (John Adams and John Quincy Adams were the first duo).

The Election of 2000 The presidential election of 2000 was the closest since

1876, and the first to be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result, many passions ran deep in the aftermath.

George W. Bush would have to find a way to unite a deeply divided country in order to face the challenges of the 21st Century.

THE END OF LECTURE #25