Everything Else
•Johnson’s
Great Society
•Watergate
•Middle East
•Reaganomics
•Iran – Contra
•Desert Storm
•NAFTA
•Terrorism
•Patriot Act
•Amendments
Johnson’s Great Society
• Rest on abundance and liberty for all.
Included major Social legislation.
– Education for all
– No Hunger / Poverty
– Racial Equality
• Problems
– Vietnam War – sucked all funds that were
needed to provide programs to end poverty
and promote education.
Watergate
• Watergate: presidential
scandal where President Nixon
was caught in a web of lies and
illegal activities.
– Secret Wire taps
– Breaking and Entering
– Theft
• Ultimately led to his
resignation:
– First and only president to
resign.
– Gerald Ford replaces him – First
president to never be elected
(was appointed to vice – not
elected).
– Changes American’s perspective
on the presidency.
• Ford pardoned
(officially forgiven)
Nixon of any crime –
means no
punishment.
• American public
angry.
• Ford pardoned
(officially forgiven)
Nixon of any crime –
means no
punishment.
• American public
angry.
The Middle East
• Beginning of problems between America and Middle
East.
• 1973 -OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries) placed an oil embargo on Israel’s allies.
– Oil prices skyrocketed
• Egypt had opposed Israel’s existence since its founding in
1948 and the two nations continually fought in a bitter
war
• Carter invited the two leaders to Camp David in hopes to
negotiate peace
• Camp David Accords: agreements for a peace treaty to
end the war and bring friendship to Egypt and Israel
• Iran Hostage Crisis: 68 American diplomats working in
Iran were taken hostage for the last year of Carters
administration
Reagan at Home
• New Conservative
• Reganomics: “Supply-Side Economics” reduce
taxes, people will have more money to
spend, economy will grow.
– Economy improved
– National debt grew
Iran - Contra
• Iran-Contra affair: United States sold
weapons to Iran in 1985 in exchange for
Iran’s promise to pressure terrorist
groups in Lebanon.
–Why is this an “affair”?
• Contradicted administration’s policy of
refusing to negotiate with terrorists.
• Used the money to fund the Contras
(rebel groups in Nicaragua).
Persian Gulf War
• Persian Gulf War: 1990 - Saddam
Hussein, Iraq’s ruthless dictator.
Hussein invades Kuwait putting the
worlds oil supply in danger.
–Bush tried to get Iraqi troops removed
diplomatically
–1991 - Operation Desert Storm was
the invasion that successfully got Iraqi
troops out of Kuwait
NAFTA
• 1990s Trade Blocs became popular
(untaxed trade)
–European Union
–NAFTA (North Atlantic Free Trade
Association)
• America Joins with Canada and
Mexico
• Good / Bad - Manufacturing Jobs Where did they go?
Terrorism
• 1993 al Qaeda exploded a
bomb in the World Trade
Center- al Qaeda was also
responsible for a growing
number of terrorist
attacks around the world.
• September 11, 2001
World Trade Centers in
New York attacked by al
Qaeda lead by Osama bin
Laden
Patriot Act
• Signed October 26, 2001 (less than six
weeks after 9/11).
– Gives government and law enforcement
agencies a lot more room to investigate
potential terrorist threats.
• Roving wire taps
• Allows regulation of financial transactions
• Broader discretion regarding detaining and
deporting foreigners.
– Americans gave up civil liberties out of fear.
Amendments
• 13th – No Slavery
• 14th – Who is a
Citizen
• 15th – Right to Vote
• 16th – Income Tax
• 17th – Senate
Elections
• 18th – No Alcohol
• 19th – Women Vote
• 21st – Repeal
Prohibition
• 24th – No Poll Tax
• 25th – Presidential
Succession
• 26th – 18 years to
Vote