Unit 8 | spxush201516

Modern American History(4 Weeks)

Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush

J. Danforth Quayle

Ronald Wilson Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush were in office for a combined twelve years. Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and Herbert Walker Bush became the 41st U. S President after serving as President Regan's vice president.

Ronald Reagan was a very popular American actor whom appeared in many feature films and television programs, and the former governor of California in the 1960's. He campaigned for the office of President on restoring the dignity to the presidency after Jimmy Carter attempted to make the presidency more homespun and down to earth after doing away with such traditions as having, "Hail to the Chief" the official presidential song played at presidential gatherings. He also believed that the huge tax code for the federal government needed to be reformed and shortened. He believed in cutting taxes on major corporations relying on the belief that tax cuts would allow business to expand and then hire more workers paying them higher wages. This became known as "Reaganomics" or supply-side economics.

Herbert Walker Bush was a former businessman and served in the United States Congress representing Houston, Texas. His vice-president was J. Danforth Quayle. He later served as an ambassador for the United States government in many foreign countries. He was appointed to head the Central Intelligence Agency by President Richard Nixon. He had a challenging campaign in 1988 to win the nomination for the Republican Party against a strong challenge from Republican Senator Bob Dole from Kansas. He then faced an uphill battle against the Democratic Party nominee, Michael Dukakis, former governor of Massachusetts. Bush served as vice president for eight-years and as president for four-years. He lost his attempt at re-election against Bill Clinton, the Democrat, in 1992. Bush's health has been an on-going issue in recent years.

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton

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Bill and Hilary

Bill Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States, former Arkansas governor, attorney general, and lawyer. He served two terms as president and was the first president to have a balanced budget in many years and even a surplus. The booming economy of the 1990's is credited to him and very brilliant economist working with him. He was a Rhode's Scholar who studied at Oxford University, a skilled politician not only in proposing legislation, running an economy, but in dealing with people, as well. He had many critics and still does, but he also has people who love him. He is a top fundraiser for charity and has brought much money into the Democratic Party coffers, even today.

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President Bill Clinton - Statement on Testifying Before the Grand Jury

The War on Terror

In 2001, The United States was attacked by Middle Eastern terrorists using commercial jets that were hijacked and flown into major landmarks in New York City, Washington, D. C. and a jet diverted by passengers and crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

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The September 11, 2001 Attack of the World Trade Center in

New York City

An Axis of Evil

President George W. Bush spoke Axis of Evil in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002. He accused several governments around the globe of harboring terrorists and terrorism, and seeking weapons of mass destruction. Iran, Iraq, and North Korea were most often mentioned. He said that they were building nuclear weapons. The Axis of Evil was confusing to many who knew of the threat posed by Germany, Italy, and Japan in World War II. He did not mention Afghanistan in this alliance of evil which had already been labeled as the harbinger of the terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, who attacked America on September 11, 2001.

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President Donald John Trump

Donald Trump becomes the 45 United States President

The election of 2016 was one of the most controversial elections in United States History. It saw a wide variety of interesting and sometimes odd candidates bid for the nomination of the two parties. Early on Hillary Clinton had a commanding lead over all challengers on either side. Few expected any opposition to her in the election.

Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Willie Wilson, Rocky De La Fuente, Michael Alan Steinberg and John Wolfe, Jr. all put their names into the mix to challenge Clinton. The only formidable challenger was Bernie Sanders. The staying power of Sanders proved frustrating to Hillary Clinton. Sanders appeal to minorities, young voters and those who felt disenfranchised in the political arena were building a “grassroots” effort to make Sanders the nominee. Many sited Clinton’s career politics and many investigations for possible wrong doing as reasons. Sanders pledged free college for all Americans, free health care, and a reduced and redefined tax structure as reasons for voting for Sanders. He was quickly labeled a socialist and many tried to get him to drop out so Clinton could have an easier time gaining the nomination. Clinton wound up spending a record amount of money to gain the nomination.

On the Republican side, hundreds of challengers sought the nomination. Early on it appeared that Mark Rubio from Florida was the likely candidate, soon Ted Cruz from Texas was gaining ground on the Republican side, and finally through unexpected media coverage and vigorous rallies and debates, Donald Trump became the nominee pledging to, “Make America Great Again.” Violence often broke out at Trump rallies and people who challenged him in the crowd were removed and even beaten. Trumps appeal to rural white older voters was apparent.

Amidst the accusations of email and national security breaches by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the last minute October surprise that Clinton was being investigated again, the FBI for many alleged wrongs and even a last minute announcement by Director of the FBI, James Comey, that Clinton was again being investigated for emails she erased, proved too much for Clinton to withstand.

It was then stated by Donald Trump that the election was rigged against him and his admission to many family members and aids that he would lose the election, brought about controversy as he lost the popular vote by 3 million votes to Clinton, but won the Electoral College taking 306 electoral votes over the 270 needed to win. Throughout the election many had said that Trumps close ties to the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Putin’s admitted hatred of Hillary Clinton caused the Russians to “hack” computer files and even the election result in favor of Trump. Trump however has stated that he had nothing to do with the Russian "hacking" and maintains that Hillary Clinton was the real beneficiary of the "hacking."

Trump was certified by Congress as the 45 President and he took office on January 20, 2017. Few people thought Donald Trump could make major changes in the tax code, but an extensive reform took place early in 2018. More controversial was his ban on Muslim nations traveling to America, and the withdrawal from the Paris global warming treaty.

Mike Pence, seasoned politician and former Indiana Senator, was chosen as Trumps’ vice-president and has often been a calming force within the Trump administrations and transition to the presidency.

LINK Primary and Caucus Voting Washington Post

LINK Why All Presidents Should Be Respected

Items to know well:

•Iran-Contra

•Reaganomics

•Berlin Wall

•Glasnost

•Mikhail Gorbachev

•Mao Tse-tung/ or Zedong

North Korea Testing Nuclear Weapons

North Korea's nuclear program remains a source of deep concern for the international community. Despite multiple efforts to curtail it, Pyongyang says it has conducted five nuclear tests.

George W. Bush and Barack Obama

While junior students have been alive, three presidents, two Republican and one Democrat, have occupied the White House. Bush, Obama and Trump are the only presidents to have served in the new Millennium of the 21st Century.

George W. Bush, affectionately referred to by his followers as George "Dubya" Bush, was the forty-third President of the United States and took office on January 20, 2001. Most notable of his life achievements is being the son of the former CIA director, vice president and President in 1989 to 1993, after Ronald Regan. He was also President during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and a foiled attack that took down a passenger jet in a rural Pennsylvania farm field. He also conducted the war on terror labeling Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. He sent troops into Iraq and later Afghanistan, with troops still stationed there today. He made major tax cuts in tax code and helped corporations as well.

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Barack Obama is the first biracial president ever to occupy the highest political off in the United States. Barack Obama's biological father, Barack Obama, Sr. was from Kenya. Barack Obama’s biological mother, Ann Dunham met his father in a college class. They were divorced and Ann married Lolo Soetoro, from Indonesia. He was born and grew up in Hawai’i. Obama moved to the contiguous United States, where he was educated at Occidental College, Columbia University, and Harvard Law School. In Chicago. He was a fixture of Chicago, IL politics and citizen advocacy, and ran for and won the seat for senator of Illinois in 1996. With a great endorsement by Oprah Winfrey on her very popular talk show, he quickly became the front runner for the Democratic Party nomination in 2008, besting the more experienced former first lady, Hillary Clinton. He was known for a developing feud with the Republican members Congress. Key to his election was the promise of health care reform and the passage of the Affordable Healthcare Act in 2013. Republicans have been promising to repeal the act which mandates health insurance for every adult American, in most cases, or face a tax penalty on the individual's income tax.

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George W. Bush and Barack Obama

More Political Scandals

Ronald Regan and George H. W. Bush were investigated in a gun deal to free American hostages held for over a year in Tehran, Iran. This became known as The Iran-Contra Affair (also known as Iran-gate.) Reagan and Bush were not charged but John Poindexter and Oliver North and two other Reagan officials were charged and served time in prison for illegal dealing with Iran to sell guns to rebel forces and for raising money to fund the Contras in Nicaragua to trade for the weapons which had been made illegal by the U. S. Congress.
Bill Clinton was impeached, but not found guilty, by the House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying under oath about sexual relations with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was acquitted by the Senate and remained in office for the rest of his term. Clinton subsequently was cited for contempt of court and agreed to a five-year suspension of his Arkansas law license (1998). Bill Clinton was later barred from practicing law before the Supreme Court of the United States in 2001.
Hillary and Bill Clinton were both investigated for several years for loans they received from a bank in Arkansas to invest in the Whitewater Retirement development. When the land developer went bankrupt, the loans in Hillary's name were never paid back to the bank. A Special independent prosecutor, Kenneth Star, investigated the Whitewater events and the impeachment charges spending more than 100 million dollars but was unable to bring charges against the Clinton's other than the already named lying under oath and obstructing justice charges; the basis of the impeachment charges which were later dismissed. While this scandal was being investigated, Hillary fired the head of the White House travel office, a power she did not have in the first place. Independent Counsel Robert Ray issued his final report on what the newspapers dubbed "Travelgate". He sought no charges against her.
Over one-hundred scandals or political misdealings have occurred in the last thirty-five years. Many politicians and staff members have resigned and many have served time in prison.