Chapter 33 Study Guide: Into the Global Millennium:

America Since 1992

0CHAPTER SUMMARY
Divisions among Americans, obvious in the 1980s and early 1990s, continued into the new
millennium. The Los Angeles riots of 1992 were a shocking reminder that racial tensions and
anti-immigrant sentiment continued to plague the nation. Moreover, the Bush administration’s
passivity in dealing with the plight of the urban poor and the problems associated with their plight
led many to believe that the president was out of touch and unsympathetic. Furthermore, as
President Bush prepared for a reelection bid in 1992, the country was mired in economic
recession. As unemployment mounted and personal income stagnated, the president remained
inactive, leading to still more criticism.
Bill Clinton’s election to the presidency in 1992 signaled that the American people wanted a
change from the passivity of the Bush years. But the pluralistic America of the 1990s was a
fragmented America in which consensus on solutions to long-standing problems was difficult.
President Clinton would soon discover in both the gays-in-the-military issue and in the response
to his economic proposals just how difficult it was to lead an American people who were deeply
divided over their own vision of the nation’s future, a division reflected in the lobby groups that
vied with each other over control of the national agenda. Although the President and Congress
did find consensus in some areas, which produced some legislative successes, the attack of
interest-group lobbyists against the President’s healthcare reform proposals prevented substantive
reform in that area.
Questions about the President’s character, which had been part of the 1992 presidential campaign,
persisted throughout Clinton’s tenure in the Oval Office, and controversy also surrounded the
First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton. These questions coupled with questions about Clinton’s
management ability caused American voters in 1994 to show again their disillusionment with
government, this time by giving Republicans majorities in both houses of Congress for the first
time since 1954. But as the 104th Congress attempted to enact the Republican “Contract with
America,” political stalemate persisted, leading to government shutdowns and increased anger
and disgust among the electorate.
The distrust of government that built up over a thirty-year period led to an American public
deeply alienated from politics and deeply cynical. Within this atmosphere, many predicted that
voters in 1996 would direct their anger against President Clinton and return a Republican to the
White House. But Clinton positioned himself as the protector of certain federal programs that the
Republican-dominated 104th Congress attacked. In doing so, he gained the support of women and
of those who benefited from such programs. Furthermore, the Republican willingness to allow
government shutdowns in their quest for a balanced budget convinced many that Bill Clinton was
reasonable and moderate while Congress was “ideologically inflexible.” Therefore, despite hints
of scandal in the White House and continued Republican attacks against President Clinton on the
character issue, Clinton easily defeated his challengers and became the first Democrat to be
reelected to the presidency since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936.
Clinton was also, undoubtedly, aided in his reelection bid by the economic boom associated with
the technology-driven “new economy,” which accelerated in the 1990s. Elimination of the federal
deficit, which boosted investments by lowering interest rates, further aided the economy.
Globalization also gained momentum during the Clinton years. Realizing that U.S. prosperity
depended, to a great extent, on foreign trade, the Clinton administration focused on lowering
international trade and investment barriers, and, through the creation of the National Economic
Council, on promoting trade missions around the world. However, critics of globalization
emerged on different fronts, with protests often targeting not only the World Trade Organization
but multinational corporations such as McDonald’s.
As the United States tried to gain its footing in the post-Cold War world, international issues
related to ethnic wars, humanitarian concerns, the Arab-Israeli conflict, global environmental
concerns, and the growth of international terrorism caused continuing debate among the
American people over the proper role of the United States in the new world of the 1990s. With
the United States in the unique position of being the world’s only superpower, President Clinton
agreed in principle that this power should be used to contain ethnic hatreds, support human rights,
and promote democracy; however, President Clinton was cautious in the use of that power.
Although he withdrew American troops from Somalia and did not intervene in the brutal civil war
in Rwanda, he did intervene in the Haitian crisis by facilitating an agreement negotiated by
former president Jimmy Carter. At first reluctant to intervene in the ethnic wars in the Balkans,
ultimately U.S.-led NATO forces undertook a massive aerial bombardment of Serbia. Having
halted the ethnic cleansing of the Milosevic regime, American soldiers joined a U.N.
peacekeeping force in the region. Clinton also acted in the Middle East in an attempt to end the
escalating violence between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Although at times
there seemed to be progress, in the end no lasting agreement was reached. Clinton also
demonstrated concern over global environmental concerns by signing the 1997 Kyoto protocol.
However, due to the increasingly bitter partisan battle between Clinton and the Republican-
controlled Congress, the treaty was never submitted to the Senate for ratification. Furthermore,
the Clinton administration increasingly focused on the threat posed by international terrorists
associated with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and, more specifically, with Al Qaeda, a
terrorist organization founded and financed by Osama bin Laden. Although it was known that bin
Laden was behind several terrorist bombings aimed at Americans and American interests, the
United States failed in its attempts to apprehend him.
In this troubled world of the late 1990s, most Americans enjoyed the results of the nation’s
economic boom. But exuberance associated with prosperity was tempered by Timothy
McVeigh’s act of domestic terrorism that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in
Oklahoma City, the Columbine massacre, and the hate crimes against African American James
Byrd, Jr. and Matthew Shepherd, a gay college student.
In dealing with such “Paradoxes of Prosperity,” the text then turns to a discussion of the
Whitewater investigation, the expansion of that investigation, the president’s impeachment by the
House of Representatives for matters relating to the Monica Lewinsky affair, and his ultimate
acquittal by the Senate. The authors also place Clinton’s impeachment in the larger context of the
partisan political wars and the culture wars of the 1990s and note that 24-hour news networks
contributed to the blurring of lines between private conduct and public conduct because of their
reliance on sensationalism to lure viewers.
After dealing with the issues, candidates, and outcome of the disputed 2000 presidential election,
the text turns its attention to the presidency of George W. Bush. While most believed that Bush
would govern from the center, in fact his tax plan and his unilateralist approach to foreign policy
soon indicated that he would govern from the right. Seemingly adrift at first in both domestic and
foreign affairs, the Bush administration was galvanized by the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001. With counterterrorism as his number one priority, President Bush launched a war against
terrorism, striking first against Afghanistan to destroy the Taliban and the Al Qaeda terrorist
network it supported. On the domestic front, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, which,
some argued, placed American rights and freedoms at risk, and created the new Department of
Homeland Security. As domestic economic problems began to mount, the Republican Party,
nevertheless, gained control over both houses of Congress in the 2002 midterm elections.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks of September 11, the world community of nations by
and large rallied behind the United States. However, the Bush administration’s unilateralist
approach to foreign policy, apparent in the policy of preemptive action, soon caused a dramatic
change in the attitude of foreign governments. Despite the objections of close allies such as
France and Germany, the United States and Great Britain decided to act without U.N. approval
against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. Although, the Hussein regime was quickly
overthrown, instability in Iraq soon turned to chaos with the emergence of a multi-sided
insurgency. As some began to wonder if the United States would win the war but lose the peace,
graphic photos revealed American guards torturing and abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib
prison. In addition, concerns about the U.S. economy continued, as did concerns about a
msurooming federalo deficit. However, in the presidential election year of 2004, a deeply split
electorate reelected President Bush, and Republicans increased their majorities in both houses of
Congress.

Over the next two years, two vacancies on the Supreme Court allowed President Bush to reorient
the Court in a more conservative direction. However, the situation in Iraq began to deteriorate
into civil war and , increasingly, that country became a haven for terrorists. As Americans
became more disillusioned with the Iraq war, they also witnessed the federal government’s
mismanagement of the crisis of human suffering caused by Hurricane Katrina. As a result, many
began to question the Bush administration’s competence. The United States also came under
increasing criticism from its European allies, not only over the war in Iraq, but also for its failure
to engage in diplomacy to try to resolve the long-standing dispute between the Israelis and the
Palestinians and for its failure to use a multilateral approach to prevent North Korea from
obtaining nuclear weapons. As calls began to mount within the United States for an end to the
Iraq war, Americans went to the polls in the midterm elections of 2006. In an election which was,
in part, a referendum on the war, Democrats won a majority in both houses of Congress.
The chapter ends with a profile of the American people at the beginning of the twenty-first
century. More diverse and more fragmented than ever, niche markets appeared, demographic
changes continued, American popular culture became more ethnically diverse, and the shape of
the American family continued to change. The nation and its people grappled with legal and
ethical questions related to new reproductive and biogenetic technologies. As globalization
fostered the interconnectivity of the world’s peoples, it also fostered global health threats
resulting from the dissemination of diseases and from environmental degradation. However, this
interconnectedness also sped the international response to viral threats such as that posed by
SARS. As the war against terrorism continued and as the United States continued to struggle to
defeat the insurgency in Iraq and bring stability to that nation, some wondered if a decisive
victory against international terrorism was possible. Furthermore, as budget deficits continued to
mount, some questioned if the United States would be able to continue to deal successfully with
the nation’s far-flung obligations.
0Learning Objectives: After studying the materials in this
chapter, students should be able to:
10. Examine the issues and personalities and explain the outcomes of the following elections:
a. The 1992 presidential and congressional elections
b. The 1994 congressional elections
c. The 1996 presidential and congressional elections
d. The disputed 2000 presidential election
e. The 2004 presidential and congressional elections

2. Discuss both the immediate and underlying causes of the Los Angeles riots of April 1992.
20. Discuss Bill Clinton’s personal and political background; examine the domestic issues and
political problems that faced the Clinton administration; and explain and evaluate the
administration’s actions concerning those issues and problems.
40. Discuss the roots of the economic boom of the 1990s; explain the impact of this boom on
the American people and American society; and examine the response of the Clinton
administration to the globalization of business.
50. Examine the debate between proponents and critics of free-trade agreements and
globalization, and discuss the actions of anti-globalization activists.
60. Discuss the defense and foreign policy goals and record of the Clinton administration in
relation to:
a0. Somalia and Rwanda,
b0. ethnic wars in the Balkans,
c0. the Middle East,
d0. global environmental issues, and
e0. Islamic fundamentalism and the rise of Al Qaeda.
70. Discuss the nature, extent, and consequences of the antigovernment sentiment felt by some
Americans in the 1990s.
80. Discuss the causes and consequences of the Columbine massacre and of the hate crimes
against James Byrd Jr. and Matthew Shepherd.
90. Examine Kenneth Starr’s investigation of alleged scandals involving President Clinton.
100. Examine relations between President Clinton and Congress; explain the reasons for the
president’s impeachment; and explain the president’s acquittal by the Senate.
1100. Discuss George W. Bush’s personal and political background; examine the domestic
issues and political problems that faced the Bush administration; and explain and evaluate
the administration’s actions concerning those issues and problems.
120. Discuss the defense and foreign policy goals and record of the Bush II administration in
relation to:
a0. a national missile defense system,
 b0. global environmental issues,
c0. the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,
d0. Afghanistan,
e0. domestic defense against terrorist attacks, and
f0. Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
130. Discuss the causes and consequences of the economic recession that began in 2001.
14. Discuss the causes and consequences of the increasing diversity and of the demographic
changes in American society in the late twentieth century and the early twenty-first century.
150. Explain the causes and consequences of the changes in the American family during the
1990s and early twenty-first century.
160. Explain the causes and consequences of global health threats in the early twenty-first
century, and discuss the international response to these threats.

Section-By-Section IDs and Focus Questions

I. Introduction

Identify each of the following items. That is, give an explanation or description of the
item. Answer these questions: Who? What? Where? When? Then explain the
historical significance of each item. That is, establish the historical context of the
item: establish the item as the result of other factors existing in the society under
study (that is, answer the question, Why?) and establish the political, social, economic
and/or cultural consequences of the item (that is, answer the question, So What?)

the attacks of September 11, 2001

Globalization
the war on terrorism

Were the attacks of 9/11 the first carried out by Islamic terrorists against the World
Trade Center? Give specifics.

What was Bill Clinton’s focus upon assuming the presidency?

Describe the economic tenor of the 1990s.

Describe the violence and cultural conflict that plagued the 1990s.

Identify evidence of political volatility and divisions during the 1990s.

Why was Bill Clinton impeached?

What problems plagued the Bush II administration?

II. Social Strains and New Political Directions

Identify each of the following items. That is, give an explanation or description of the
item. Answer these questions: Who? What? Where? When? Then explain the
historical significance of each item. That is, establish the historical context of the
item: establish the item as the result of other factors existing in the society under
study (that is, answer the question, Why?) and establish the political, social, economic
and/or cultural consequences of the item (that is, answer the question, So What?)

Rodney King
Bill Clinton
Ross Perot
the presidential and congressional elections of 1992
Hillary Rodham Clinton
the “Contract with America”
Newt Gingrich
the congressional elections of 1994
the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996

Why were Americans “frustrated and looking for a change” as the election of 1992
approached?

What caused violence to erupt in Los Angeles in April of 1992? Be sure to address
the immediate and the deeper causes.

What was the American economy like during the Bush I presidency?

What did Clinton mean by “It’s the economy, stupid”

What do your authors mean when they describe Bill Clinton as a “new Democrat”?

As president, how did Clinton address his campaign pledge to end the ban on gays in
the military? What did Clinton mean by “don’t ask, don’t tell”?

What happened to Clinton’s effort to deliver health care reform? What role did
Hillary Clinton play in the health care reform project?

Despite the American shift to the right reflected in the Republican Revolution of
1994, Clinton was reelected in 1996. Why? What mistakes did the Republicans
make? What steps did Clinton take? How did the state of the economy help Clinton?

III. “The New Economy” and Globalization

Identify each of the following items. That is, give an explanation or description of the
item. Answer these questions: Who? What? Where? When? Then explain the
historical significance of each item. That is, establish the historical context of the
item: establish the item as the result of other factors existing in the society under
study (that is, answer the question, Why?) and establish the political, social, economic
and/or cultural consequences of the item (that is, answer the question, So What?)

Information technology
Bill Gates
Steve Jobs
the microprocessor
the “New Economy”
Globalization
the Kyoto protocol
Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda

What factors, according to your authors, account for America’s economic prosperity
in the 1990s? To what extent was Clinton responsible for the boom?

How do NAFTA, the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade, the World Trade Organization, the National Economic Council, and
multinational corporations reflect the increasing globalization of business?

An anti-globalization movement arose in response to the increasing globalization of

business. List specific objections and protests articulated and pursued by the various
participants in this movement. What responses did those in favor of globalization
make?

What evidence can you point to in arguing that globalization is not leading to a
homogenous, Americanized culture around the world?

How did Clinton handle America’s position atop a single-superpower world? Discuss
Clinton’s foreign policy record during his first term, focusing on Somalia, Rwanda,
the former Yugoslavia, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the growing threat of Islamic
fundamentalism.

How did Clinton’s environmental policies differ from those of Bush I?

IV. Paradoxes of Prosperity

Identify each of the following items. That is, give an explanation or description of the
item. Answer these questions: Who? What? Where? When? Then explain the
historical significance of each item. That is, establish the historical context of the
item: establish the item as the result of other factors existing in the society under
study (that is, answer the question, Why?) and establish the political, social, economic
and/or cultural consequences of the item (that is, answer the question, So What?)

the stock market boom of the 1990s

the Oklahoma City bombing
Timothy McVeigh
the Columbine (Colorado) massacre
James Byrd, Jr.
Matthew Shepherd
Kenneth Starr
the Whitewater scandal
Paula Jones
the Monica Lewinsky affair
the impeachment and acquittal of President Clinton
partisan political wars of the 1990s
the Family and Medical Leave Act
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
Al Gore
George W. Bush, a.k.a. Bush the Younger, or Bush II
Ralph Nader
the contested presidential election of 2000
“chads,” “hanging chads,” and “pregnant chads”

According to your text, what portion of Americans experienced prosperity in the late
1990s?

What evidence do your authors marshal to support their claim that the late 1990s were
a period of prosperity in America?

What was happening to the gap between the richest and poorest Americans?

What evidence is there that the nation’s health and safety were improving? What
evidence is there that we were not as safe as we would have liked to have been?

In the 1990s, what issue(s) united “militia groups,” tax resisters, and white
supremacist groups?

Your text claims that “[t]hroughout the Clinton years, scandals and rumors of scandal
plagued the White House.” List here the various scandals cited by your text as
evidence in support of this claim.

How many American presidents have been impeached? Who are they?
Why, according to your text, was Clinton skewered for his sexual infidelities when
earlier philandering presidents, such as JFK, were not?

Pay attention to Figure 33.2. What shift in the political tendencies of voting women
can you detect between the presidential elections of ‘80/’84/’88 on the one hand, and
‘92/’96/2000 on the other? For all of the elections from 2000 back through 1980,
which gender group gave more support to the Republicans? Which to the Democrats?

Why did Bush II face a difficult challenge in assuming the presidency?

V. September 11 and the War on Terrorism

Identify each of the following items. That is, give an explanation or description of the
item. Answer these questions: Who? What? Where? When? Then explain the
historical significance of each item. That is, establish the historical context of the
item: establish the item as the result of other factors existing in the society under
study (that is, answer the question, Why?) and establish the political, social, economic
and/or cultural consequences of the item (that is, answer the question, So What?)

the Bush tax plan

the National Missile Defense System
9/11/2001
the Afghanistan War
the “war on terrorism”
the “new” patriotism
the USA PATRIOT Act
the anthrax scare
the Department of Homeland Security
the “dot-com” collapse
the Congressional elections of 2002
Bush’s preemptive-action strategy (the Bush Doctrine)

Summarize the evidence your text presents to support its claim that from the
beginning of his presidency Bush II “governed from the right.”

Your text asserts that “[i]n international affairs, the [Bush] administration moved
swiftly to chart a more unilateralist course than its predecessors.” What evidence does
the text cite to support this claim?

What evidence do your authors cite to support the claim that Americans’ way of life
changed after 9/11? What evidence do they cite to support the claim that our way of
life has not changed as much as some thought it might?

What was the international community’s initial reaction to 9/11? How, and why, did
international opinion about America change over time?
VI. War and Occupation in Iraq

Identify each of the following items. That is, give an explanation or description of the
item. Answer these questions: Who? What? Where? When? Then explain the
historical significance of each item. That is, establish the historical context of the
item: establish the item as the result of other factors existing in the society under
study (that is, answer the question, Why?) and establish the political, social, economic
and/or cultural consequences of the item (that is, answer the question, So What?)

Colin Powell*
Condoleezza Rice*
UN Security Council Resolution 687*
UN Security Council Resolution 688*
UN Security Council Resolution 1441
the Iraq war and the fall of Baghdad
the Iraq insurgency
the Coalition Governing Council
Abu Ghraib prison
the presidential election of 2004
John Roberts and Samuel Alito
the government response to Hurricane Katrina
the 2006 midterm election

Why did Bush II and his top advisors (Rumsfeld and Cheney, for example) want to
oust Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq? What reasons did Bush’s critics give for
Bush’s interest in that venture? What arguments did Bush’s critics make against
unilateral US involvement in Iraq?

How did the international community react to Bush II’s interest in attacking Iraq?

Why is there concern that though the U.S. easily won the war against Saddam
Hussein’s regime it is “loosing the peace”?

How did Bush want to reform Social Security?

What has happened to America’s international reputation since the invasion of Iraq?

What have been the costs (financial, human, domestic security) of the war in Iraq?

VII. Americans in the First Decade of The New Millenium

Identify each of the following items. That is, give an explanation or description of the
item. Answer these questions: Who? What? Where? When? Then explain the
historical significance of each item. That is, establish the historical context of the
item: establish the item as the result of other factors existing in the society under
study (that is, answer the question, Why?) and establish the political, social, economic
and/or cultural consequences of the item (that is, answer the question, So What?)

Tiger Woods
the Defense of Marriage Act
the debate over stem cell research
the global AIDS epidemic
the internet

What “homogenizing” trends were prevalent in the first two-thirds of the 20th
century? How were those trends reversed in the last third of the 20th century?

How have notions of race and ethnicity been changing in America in the last years of
the 20th century? How did the U.S. government recognize those changes? What did
the 2000 census show about the ethnic and racial identities of Americans?

What significant demographic changes have revealed themselves in the American

population in the last 20 years?

Draw three (3) conclusions from Map 33.3.

How has the American family been changing in the first decade of the 21st century?

In 1976, what percentage of women age 40 to 44 had given birth to four (4) or more
children? In 2000, what percentage of women in that age group had given birth to
four (4) or more kids? In 1976, what percentage of women age 40 to 44 had given
birth to two (2) children? In 2000, what percentage of women in that age group had
given birth to two (2) kids? In 1976, what percentage of women age 40 to 44 had
given birth to no children? In 2000, what percentage of women in that age group had
given birth to no kids? What conclusion can you draw from these numbers?

In 1950, what percentage of Americans lived on their own? What percentage of

Americans lived in families headed by married couples? In 2000, what percentage of
Americans lived on their own? What percentage lived in families headed by married
couples? What conclusion(s) can you draw from these numbers?

What implications for the future does the “graying” (aging) of the American
population present?

Are more or fewer Americans smoking today than when Ronald Reagan was first
elected to the presidency?

What trend in the weight of Americans has revealed itself over the last 10 to 15
years?
Are Americans more or less likely to believe in evolution than citizens of other
developed countries?

What evidence does your text cite to support its claim that at the beginning of the 21st
century Americans are more interconnected with the rest of the world than ever
before? How has this interconnectivity affected world health? How did 9/11
demonstrate this interconnectivity? How did 9/11 affect this interconnectivity?

Examine Table 33.1 closely. As of 2005, how many countries had U.S. troops
stationed in them? In 2005, which foreign country had the largest contingent of
American troops? Which country do you think has the largest contingent today?

VII. Final Review Questions

What was the “New Economy” of the 1990s, and how did it contribute to the
globalization of business?

Did the attacks of September 11, 2001, change America in fundamental ways?
Explain.

Why did the United States invade Iraq in 2003, and why did its occupying forces
subsequently face a drawn-out and bloody insurgency?