CHAPTER 33- INTO THE GLOBAL MILLENNIUM

Aaron Weeks, Dan Tagliaferro, Justin Arace, Jack Thistle, and Garrett Dempsey

VIOLENCE IN LOS ANGELES A jury made up of solely Caucasian members, acquitted

four other white police officers of beating Rodney King, a black man, fleeing from a police car traveling 110 miles per hour.

The video of the beating was shown on CNN. CNN’s vice president called the footage “wallpaper”.

Roots of the violence went deeper as many companies began to shut down and close. In LA, poverty grew 75% as a whole.

Tensions increased as gangs such as the 40 Crips and the 18th Street Gang fought over territory. As the crack epidemic also began, homicide rate rose rapidly.

The Sa-I-Gu (or 4/29 for the day it began) left 53 people dead and far more wounded. Some killed by law enforcement or random violence and racial tensions clashed. Almost a $billion worth of property was destroyed

ELECTION OF 1992 Bush’s approval rating fell in

result of economic troubles. He was out of touch with every day people.

Bill Clinton was previously the Governor of Arkansas.

Ross Perot, from a third party, won 20% of the popular vote. Though he didn’t win any states, it was the highest number of votes for a third party in 80 years.

Clinton and vice president Al Gore won the election with 43% of the popular vote. He won all of New England, the west coast, and most of the Midwest.

BILL CLINTON The public really liked

Clinton and he enjoyed his popularity.

The “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy was brought into play by Clinton, which allowed homosexuals to serve in the army.

His wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, was heavily criticized. The “New York Post” called her a “buffoon, and insult to most women.”

POLITICAL COMPROMISE

Clinton signed the 1996 personal responsibility and work opportunity act: welfare reform measure that eliminated the provision in the 1935 social security act guaranteeing cash assistance for poor children.

Telecommunications act of 1996 signed by Clinton reduced diversity in Americas media by permitting company’s to own more television and radio stations.

Clinton and Gore were reelected in 1996

DIGITAL REVOLUTION Cell phones, internet,

computers, fax machines were built in Silicon Valley, near San Francisco.

Forbes list (400 richest Americans) included digital leaders, including Bill Gates, who created Microsoft.

Intel introduced a micro processor in 1970 and it made the central processing unit of the computer much smaller so machines could be smaller.

Intel introduced a micro processor in 1970 and it made the central processing unit of the computer much smaller so machines could be smaller.

Stocks rose 3.5 to 4% annually, due to changing technologies.

Technology caused globalization. Several organizations, such as the North American Free Trade agreement, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and the World Trade Organization, made trading easier by lowering tariffs and such.

By 2000, there was 63,000 parent companies, and 690,000 foreign affiliates and it caused a quote: “New international division of labor”

CRITICS OF GLOBALIZATION

Labor unions argued that free trade agreements exacerbated the trade deficit and often exported American jobs.

Real wages for American workers declined after 1973 from 320 per week to 260 per week by the mid 1990’s.

Anti globalization fervor reached a peak in the fall of 1999 when thousands of protestors disrupted a meeting of WTO in Seattle and hundreds were arrested.

Environmentalists said the globalization exported pollution and toxic waste to countries unprepared to deal with them.

CLINTON’S DIPLOMACY

Clinton was deeply suspicious of foreign military involvements

The Vietnam War taught him that the American republic had limited patience for wars lacking clear cut national interest.

His mistrust of foreign interventions was passed down from President George Bush and his troubles with Somalia.

In the summer of ‘93 when the Americans came under deadly attack from forces loyal to a local warlord, Clinton

BIN LADEN AND AL QAEDA Al Qaeda is Arabic for “the

base” An international terrorist

network led by Osama Bin Laden (on right)

With the fortune he received from his father’s passing, Bin Laden began to organize terrorist projects

U.S. officials began to get more and more concerned when it became more clear that Bin Laden intended to attack American targets

AL QAEDA AND BIN LADEN CONT.

1995: A car bomb in Riyadh killed 7 people, amongst them 5 American citizens

1998: Bombings at American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people (12 Americans)

2000: A small boat carrying explosives crashed into the destroyer U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 American sailors

It was assumed that Osama Bin Laden had masterminded all of these plans

VIOLENCE AND HATE CRIMES April 19th, 1995: A powerful bomb destroyed the 9 story

Alfred P. Murrah Federal building, killing 168 men, women, and children

Timothy McVeigh, a native white citizen, who served in the Persian Gulf War, was found to be the bomber.

April 20th, 1999: 17 and 18 year old Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold brought firearms and shot teachers and students at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO. They killed 13, before turning their guns on themselves. No clear motive for the attack was ever found.

1998: James Byrd Jr., a 48 year old African-American was murdered by 3 white supremacists who strapped Byrd to the back of their truck by chains and dragged him for miles through Jasper, TX

That same year, a gay college student, Matthew Sheppard, died after being beaten unconscious and left to die in the freezing weather in Laramie, WY

SCANDAL IN THE CLINTON WHITE HOUSE Independent counsels office spent 72 million investigating

allegations of wrong doings by Hillary and Bill. Early in Clinton’s presidency Paula Jones brought charges

of sexual harassment against him but he denied them and they were eventually dropped.

He denied having any sexual relations with 22 year old white house intern Monica Lewinsky.

Kenneth Starr a conservative republican and former judge produced proof of the sexual relationship including DNA evidence which was Clinton’s semen on a navy blue dress of Lewinsky

Starr outlined 11 possible reasons for Clinton’s impeachment in his 445 page report to Congress. Clinton became the second President to face a trial in Senate. He came out victorious though, and was thus cleared of being impeached.

THE BUSH-GORE RACE AND THE ELECTION OF 2000

Democratic representative and Vice President Al Gore was the favorite in the upcoming election. He was a 1969 graduate of Harvard University and a Vietnam War vet.

His opponent, George W. Bush, son of former president Bush, was a 1968 Yale graduate. He had a direct and confident style that appealed to many U.S. citizens.

Ralph Nader ran on the Green Party ticket. He attacked Bush and Gore by nicknaming them “Tweedeledee and Tweedledum”.

Gore narrowly won the popular vote on election day, but with Bush’s victory of 25 electoral college point Florida, where Bush’s brother was the Governor, George Bush edged Al Gore and became the 44th president.

Controversy followed Election Day because of Bush’s connections in Florida and his narrow victory there. Some Jewish Palm Beach County residents were confused by a poorly organized election in where their votes went to Anti-Semitic candidate Pat Buchanan when they intended to vote for Gore.

2000 E

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This election marked the fourth time in American history a candidate had won the popular vote and lost the election in 176 years.

SEPTEMBER 11TH

9/11 President Bush, along with making the largest tax cut in American

history ($1.3 trillion) had recently exited the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to develop a National Missile Defense system to prevent terrorist attacks by previously hostile nations (Iraq, Iran, North Korea etc.)

On Tuesday Sept. 11th, 2001, 19 hijackers seized control of four commercial jets taking off from East Coast Airports.

Planes crashed into both of the twin towers at 8:46 and 9:03 A.M.. Both buildings collapsed in less than two hours.

The third plane crashed and created an enormous hole in the pentagon’s west side at 9:43

The fourth plane was also headed towards Washington D.C., but several aware passengers stormed the cockpit and caused the plane to crash earlier in Somerset County, PA. All passengers aboard were killed.

More than 3,000 people died, making 9/11 the deadliest act of terrorism in U.S. history.

All the hijackers had ties to Al Qaeda and Bin Laden

THE CHANGING AMERICAN FAMILY Median Age for marriage

continued to rise, 27.1 for men and 25.8 for women.

Less than 50% of households had married couples, 1% had same sex couples, 33% of female partners and 20% of male partners had children

1/3 of children were born to unmarried women

65% of American adults were obese

Smoking in households decreased from 1/3 to 1/5 people.

CENTURY OF CHANGE

Increasing and advancing technologies continued to bring the world closer.

Airplanes brought 1.5 million people across countries’ borders per day.

Use of stem cell research to cure diseases such as diabetes or Parkinson’s disease created immediate controversy. Bush eventually vetoed a bill to federally support stem cell research.

Other than Turkey, the U.S. as a nation had the lowest acception of evolution in the world.