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Chapter 33 |
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The United States in the 1990s was characterized by a growing economy, changing demographics, and new foreign policy concerns. The nineties saw an economic boom that emerged from increased consumption and consumer confidence as well as technological innovations that made higher productivity possible without causing inflation. Even so, 2001 brought about a significant economic downturn and loss of jobs. While the American population continued to shift toward the Sunbelt, the growing ethnic diversity caused by an influx of immigrants from Latin America made many Americans anxious. With the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the threat of international terrorism emerged as the primary national concern.
The Changing American Population
In the 1970s and 1980s, Americans moved internally at a significant rate, especially to the South and to the West and to urban areas. An influx of immigrants, primarily from developing nations, also changed the country’s demographics, making the nation more ethnically diverse.
A People on the Move
The Sunbelt states of the South and West began to flourish during World War II with the buildup of military bases and defense plants. This growth continued with the Cold War and the movement of industries attracted by lower labor costs and favorable climatic conditions. Americans also increasingly moved to urban areas, enjoying better education and higher incomes, but also suffering from rising crime rates, traffic congestion, and higher costs of living. Another striking population trend was the marked increase in the number of elderly, many of whom suffered from health problems and poverty. With almost two-thirds of Americans over the age of 65 voting regularly, the elderly have proven to be very influential in the nation’s politics.
The Revival of Immigration
The numbers of immigrants to the nation rose sharply in the 1970s and 1980s, as millions arrived primarily from Latin America and Asia. The rising numbers of foreigners indicated the emergence of an increasingly diverse American society in the next century and provoked calls for restrictions from some conservative groups. With the attacks of September 11, such concerns increased.
The Surging Hispanic Population
Hispanics, including Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and other immigrants from Latin America, became the nation’s largest ethnic group. Though differences among these groups exist, they are characterized by many similarities including their relative youth, high fertility rates, poverty, lack of education, and employment in low-paying jobs. The large number of undocumented aliens, primarily from Mexico, contributes to the exploitation of Hispanic Americans as concern over economic competition and strained social services encourage increasing hostility among more conservative Americans.
Advance and Retreat for African Americans
The second largest of the nation’s ethnic groups, African Americans made some economic gains during the era (especially among educated, middle class Blacks), but still did not share proportionately in the nation’s wealth. A growing countermovement against policies of affirmative action and “racial quotas” emerged while the acquittal of several White policemen who had beaten Black motorist Rodney King led to an eruption of Black frustration in a bloody race riot in South Central Los Angeles in 1992. Although northern cities still claimed the heaviest concentration of African Americans, many migrated back to the South seeking a re-establishment of family ties or economic opportunity.
Americans from Asia and the Middle East
By the 1980s, Asian Americans were the nation’s fastest-growing minority group, although they still only comprised a little over 3 percent of the total population. Compared to other minority groups, Asian Americans became relatively well educated and affluent, making remarkable progress and striking contributions to American culture. The major exception to this generalization was refugees from Southeast Asia. Immigration from the Middle East followed the same trends as Asian immigration during the period.
Melting Pot or Multiethnic Diversity?
Rather than a melting pot in which individual groups lose their distinctiveness, America in the latter twentieth century had become a “mosaic” in which ethnic groups retained their identities while also contributing to a more encompassing and diverse whole. The new emphasis on diversity manifested in calls for more multicultural courses in the education curriculum and greater cultural pluralism in society. In the 2000 census, “multiracial” became an official category of identification and met with an overwhelming acceptance.
Democratic Revival
Democrats campaigned hard on the issue of the economy and were able to capture the White House in 1992 and keep it in 1996 (despite a Republican sweep in the midterm elections). They gained political strength by moving away from their traditional reliance on big government, choosing moderate candidates, and tailoring programs to appeal to the middle class. The major figure in this Democratic revival was Bill Clinton.
The Election of 1992
The major issue in the presidential election of 1992 was the economic recession that continued to plague the nation. In the Bush administration and the Republican Party as a whole, many Americans found no relief. Democratic candidate Bill Clinton, stressing investment in the nation’s future, benefited when independent candidate H. Ross Perot dropped out of the race. Even Republican assaults on Clinton’s character failed to sway voters who were disenchanted with the economic results of Republican policies.
Economic Recovery
Clinton was an adept politician, though he had some difficulty adjusting to the presidency at first. He was actively assisted by his loyal wife and effective political partner, Hillary Rodham Clinton. True to his campaign promise, Clinton’s cabinet was diverse in ethnicity and gender. Driven by the issue of deficit reduction, Clinton’s economic appointments were his most important. Following the advice of Alan Greenspan, chair of the Federal Reserve Board, Clinton cut federal spending, instituted education and job-training programs, secured passage of an earned income credit for the working poor, and raised income taxes for the wealthy—policies that led to a healthier economy.
President Versus Congress
Despite struggling with Congress over many of his policies, Clinton won approval of the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) in 1993. His health care plan including a universal health care system and Medicare reform, met with effective opposition and fell to defeat.
Contract with America
The failure of Clinton’s health care initiative along with unresolved political and personal scandals for Clinton contributed to an overwhelming victory for Republicans in 1994 as they took control over both houses of Congress. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich persuaded 435 other Republican candidates to support his conservative Contract with America, turning their individual races into one national contest based on ideological issues.
The Clinton Rebound
Clinton rebounded from the 1994 midterm election and his series of scandals mainly because of the remarkable growth of the economy. His political skills allowed him to take the political defeat of the elections and turn it into an advantage. When the Republicans demanded a balanced budget and tried to slash social programs, Clinton agreed in principle but stood firm against cuts. After two shut downs of the federal government for lack of a budget, the Republican majority was forced to give ground as the public blamed them almost exclusively. This, and his fundraising skills, all but assured his victory in the 1996 election.
Clinton and the World
Devoting himself almost exclusively to domestic issues, the Clinton Presidency offered no clear direction for foreign policy. Choosing an experienced foreign policy team, Clinton largely left international matters in their hands.
Global Tensions in the Post-Cold War Era
The greatest challenge for Clinton lay in dealing with Russia and China in the post-Cold War era. Clinton avidly supported Russian president Boris Yeltsin and his program for free-market reforms and nuclear non-proliferation. His successor Vladimir Putin, also received American support despite an ongoing brutal war with Chechnya. China continued to receive most favored nation status despite its abysmal record on human rights. In the Middle East, Clinton continued to work for peace between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs and twice fired on Iraq and a defiant Saddam Hussein. Of gravest concern in American dealings with the Middle East lay the nation’s growing dependence on Persian Gulf oil.
Intervening in Somalia and Haiti
Between 1993 and 1999, Clinton opted for intervention with American troops in four areas of the world—Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo—with mixed results. In Somalia, American troops botched attempts to capture a local warlord and were withdrawn after eighteen American soldiers were killed. In Haiti, American troops helped restore a democratic government, but one that proved unable to handle economic woes.
Halting Civil War in Bosnia
In Bosnia, Clinton’s call for NATO air strikes on Serb forces contributed to a cease-fire and a shaky peace settlement, but it was one supported primarily by American troops.
Saving Kosovo
In 1998 the United States with NATO again intervened in Serbia to try to halt the ethnic cleansing being perpetrated by Serb Leader Slobadan Milosevic against the Kosovars. After initially failing to stop Milosevic’s atrocities, the continued destruction of the Serbian infrastructure by NATO bombing raids eventually resulted in domestic pressure that forced Milosevic to cease his abuses. NATO troops were stationed in the region to maintain the fragile peace.
The End of the Century
By the end of the century, the economy was doing better than ever before, but there were many issues that remained unsettled spawning violence from both the extreme right and the extreme left. Such outbreaks of violence contributed to a feeling of unease as the nation entered the new millennium.
From Deficit to Surplus
The economy was the bright spot in the last decade of the twentieth century as the country experienced its longest period of sustained economic growth in its history and unemployment and inflation were at all-time lows. One benefit of this remarkable growth was the switch from deficit to a surplus. This of course led to a new battle on what to do with the surplus.
Violence in the 1990s
Amid the prosperity were some shocking signs that all was not well in American society. The disasters at Ruby Ridge and Waco and the courthouse bombing in Oklahoma City revealed that there were some on the far right who wanted to solve their complaints with violence. The attacks of the Unabomber and the outbreak of riots at the World Trade Organization talks in Seattle indicated that there was a real concern about increased globalization from many on the left. More senseless still was the increasing eruption of school violence perpetrated by disaffected White, middle class, non-urban boys.
Shadow on the White House
President Clinton’s relationship with a White House intern cast a long shadow on his presidency, leading to his impeachment by the Republican controlled House. Ultimately, the rabid pursuit of Clinton’s sexual misconduct by prosecutor Kenneth Starr resulted in an angry American public, disgusted that a private issue had taken on such public importance. Though Clinton survived the crisis by shrewdly blaming the fiasco on his political opponents’ vendetta (the Senate failed to find him guilty), his presidency was badly damaged. Clinton spent the remainder of his term in office trying to restore his legacy.
The New Millennium
The predicted peril of Y2K contributed to a surge in consumer spending as Americans stockpiled canned goods and generators, but Y2K proved to be little more than an empty threat as the United States moved into the twenty-first century with few resultant difficulties. The new millennium was not without its own challenges, however. The election of 2000 was both hotly contest and controversial, resulting in Republican control of the presidency and Congress while the dawn of 2001 saw the crash of the technology-laden NASDAQ stock market and a subsequent economic recession with extremely high rates of unemployment. The infamous terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 ushered in a new age of fear, but efforts to protect the nation clashed with the traditional civil liberties upon which the U.S. rested while a declaration of a war on terrorism sparked an invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, neither of which eliminated the terrorist threat.
The Disputed Election of 2000
The election of 2000 was dominated by two themes: the economic boom and prosperity of the 1990s and the sense of disappointment spawned by the scandals of the Clinton administration. The conflict between these two themes—the first of which benefited Democrat Al Gore’s candidacy while the second buoyed Republican George W. Bush—led to one of the nation’s closest elections. The entrance of consumer advocate Ralph Nader into the race on the Green Party ticket complicated things further. When charges of voter fraud emerged in Florida, the electoral decision dangled in the balance for five weeks. Ultimately, the court’s decision to halt further recounts in Florida led to Bush’s victory. Though the close nature of the election revealed an evenly split electorate, Bush took over the presidency as if he had won an overwhelming mandate for conservative Republican policies.
Bush’s Domestic Agenda
Bush’s appointments to his administration relied primarily on former associates with experience and expertise. His most controversial appointment was John Ashcroft, a staunch conservative and favorite of the Christian Right, to Attorney General. In an attempt to face the stalling economy head on, Bush pushed through significant tax cuts that turned the budget surplus into a sky rocketing annual deficit. Despite these cuts, the country entered an economic recession in 2001 coupled with extremely high unemployment rates and public disgust over corporate scandals and corrupt business practices that enabled CEOs to get rich while the rank and file lost their jobs, retirement funds, and savings. Though the economy began to recover in 2003, unemployment remained high as did America’s lack of economic confidence.
Terrorism: Attack and Counterattack
On September 11, 2001, hijackers crashed two planes into the World Trade Center, one plane into the Pentagon, and one plane into the Pennsylvania countryside, taking the lives of over 3,500 victims. President Bush’s response to the attacks provided the nation with the comfort and leadership it needed as he memorialized those who died and declared a war on terrorism. When it became known that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda were responsible for the attacks, the war on terrorism found a target in the country of Afghanistan, training ground for al Qaeda terrorists. Though the invasion of Afghanistan was successful in ousting the extremist regime of the Taliban, bin Laden remained at large. The establishment of the new Department of Homeland Security to guard against future attacks saw success in the upgrading of airport security, but the difficulty of securing the nation became apparent with the anthrax scare of 2001 and the contradiction inherent in the relentless detaining and questioning of Muslim Americans by John Ashcroft and the American commitment to civil liberties. George Bush’s handling of the war on terrorism netted him astronomical approval ratings that obscured some Americans’ doubts over his economic program.
A New American Empire?
The events of September 11 caused a shift in American foreign policy that rejected traditional forms of international cooperation, resting instead on a policy of American preeminence. As part of the continuing war on terrorism, President Bush identified Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as part of an “axis of evil.” The new National Security Strategy included the U.S.’s full acceptance of the role of global police and the assertion that the use of preemptive force was justified in order to maintain world peace. The first test for the NSS was Iraq. Arguing that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that were an immediate danger to the U.S. and the world, Bush demanded that UN inspectors search the nation for such weapons. Failing to find any evidence of these weapons, the UN Security Council vetoed Bush’s resolution authorizing force to compel Iraq’s disarmament. Ignoring the veto, the Bush administration proceeded on its own with Britain as its major ally. In a little over a month, the war was over, Saddam was deposed but not captured, and no WMDs were found. With the failure to find WMDs, questions about the validity of the war arose and were quieted by the Bush administration with assertions of Saddam’s brutal history as a dictator. Despite the end of official combat in Iraq, winning the peace was elusive as attacks against U.S. forces continued throughout the country.
Conclusion: The American Century?
The United States has emerged at the beginning of the twenty-first century as the strongest nation in the world. Its military is unparalleled, and despite a slow recovery from the 2001 recession, its economy drives the world’s marketplace. Even so, hostility toward the United States and suspicions regarding its motives are rampant throughout the world, which may prove to be a stumbling block in maintaining such a position of supremacy.
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