W

2000 Election After surviving Y2K and 8 years of popularity, Clintons campaign was winding down. The Democrats picked Vice President Al Gore for election, being opposed by George W. Bush A third party entered the race, Ralph Nader came in under the Green party banner

Florida Originally Gore lead in Florida, but then the race became too close to call In the early morning the news reports projected Bush the winner of Florida (who was deciding the election) After conceding victory to Bush, Gore took it back when the it was found that he want the popular vote nationwide by 500,000 votes. Florida, who was won by Bush was immediately recounted (Bush was found to have won the state by 537 votes) Gore’s camp wanted a manual recount and was opposed by Bush’s campaign. The Supreme Court decided (5x4) that there was no equal projection in the system so no manual recount.

9/11 The economy was in a mild recession during this first year of the Bush presidency when hijacked airliners struck the Twin Towers in NYC followed by one hitting the Pentagon and a plane being downed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 2995 people died in the attacks Began the War on Terror Invasion of Afghanistan, chasing Osama bin Ladin Give birth to the Patriot Act - allowed law enforcement to have more room to wiretap, read emails and other private records, detaining/deporting foreign nationals, and going into financial records – if you were suspected of being a terrorist Creation of the Department of Homeland Security

Iraq In the post – 9/11 world, the U.S. took a greater stance on potential threats which included Iraq led by Saddam Hussein Reasons were Saddam’s defiance to disarm W.M.D.s and not support any terrorism. U.S. and other intelligence agencies said that there were W.M.D.s prior to the war while the U.N. inspectors (Hans Blix) failed to find anything while on their guided tour there. Operation Iraqi Freedom began on 20 March 2003

“It’s easy to conquer it’s hard to hold”- Destro The “Coalition of the Willing” invaded Iraq (US, UK, Aus., Poland, Kurdish rebels) in a three week conquest of the country After a short period of good feelings due to the destruction of Ba’athist Party dictatorship, militants arose to fight over Iraq Coalition vs. militant factions faction vs. faction Creation of I.E.D.s Rise of al queda in country US began to “nation build”

Domestic Policies President Bush created domestic policies as well Signed “No Child Left Behind” Created tax cuts that also saw every eligible income tax payer in the country receive a check from Treasury to spur growth. Withdrew the U.S. from the Kyoto Accords Withdrew the U.S. from the anti – nuclear proliferation treaty

The Second Term Mr. Bush attempted to privatize Social Security in order to keep it solvent. The President’s energy policies weakened the EPA regulations and aided energy production but added ethanol to gasoline. Attempted a version of “amnesty” Terri Schiavo case Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans