Section 4-America Enters a New Century

Chapter Objectives Section 4: America Enters a New Century Describe the unusual circumstances surrounding the outcome of the 2000 presidential election.  Evaluate the programs President George W. Bush initiated.

A New President for a New Century The election of 2000 was historically close.  Vice President Al Gore was the Democratic candidate.  The Republican candidate was George W. Bush, son of former President George Bush.  Each candidate battled for the undecided independent voters.

Both candidates promised to cut taxes, and made education and health care central issues in their campaigns.  Ralph Nader of the Green Party was the only major challenge to the party candidates. A New President for a New Century (cont.)

On election day, voters split almost evenly.  The election came down to the state of Florida.  The results in Florida were so close that state law required a recount of the ballots using vote-counting machines.  The machines threw out thousands of ballots because they could not determine a vote for president, so Gore asked for a hand recount. A New President for a New Century (cont.)

Vote counters tried to determine what voters intended, and different counties used different standards.  When it became clear that not all of the recounts would be finished on time, Gore went to court to overturn the deadline.  The Florida Supreme Court set a new deadline for completion of the recounts. A New President for a New Century (cont.)

The United States Supreme Court overturned the Florida Supreme Court decision to extend the deadline, and George W. Bush was named president. A New President for a New Century (cont.)

Bush Becomes President During the 2000 election campaign, the U.S. economy began to slow.  The stock market dropped and many Internet-based technology companies went out of business.  President Bush’s first priority in office was to cut taxes to boost the economy.  Congress passed a large tax cut.  Congress passed education bills requiring states to conduct annual reading and math tests for all public school children in grades 3-8.

Bush Becomes President President Bush wanted to reform Medicare. In November 2003 Congress passed a bill that added prescription drug benefits to Medicare.  Congress also reacted to a rash of corporate scandals, tightening accounting regulations and increasing the penalties for dishonest corporate executives.

Bush called for a new military program designed to meet the needs of the post-Cold War world.  He strongly favored strategic defense–the effort to develop missiles and other devices that can shoot down nuclear missiles before they hit the United States.  On September 11, 2001, terrorists struck the United States, and the event changed everything. Bush Becomes President (cont.)