Projected image of how the New York City skyline might look with the addition of Freedom Tower, which will be built at the World Trade Center site. (Courtesy of Silverstein Properties)
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - LAST 30 YEARS
The United States has always experienced periods of political polarization,
as Americans debated ways to deal with international events, demographic change,
and the effects of technological innovation. The last decades of the 20th
century were no exception.
The liberal activism of the 1960s-70s was eclipsed by a new conservatism in
the 1980s. Conservatives advocated limited government, a strong national
defense, a firm stance against Communism, tax cuts to spur economic growth,
tough anti-crime measures, more religious expression in public life, and a
stricter code for social behavior. Former actor and Republican Governor of
California Ronald Reagan, who represented stability to many Americans, won two
terms as president. His supporters credit his policies with hastening the
collapse of the Soviet Union.
Americans moved to a more centrist position in 1992 and elected as president
Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, who had organized his campaign around the themes
of youth and change. Some of Clinton's proposals were quite liberal, such as his
plan for a government-managed health care system, which Congress never voted on.
Another proposal — ending government payments to welfare recipients and helping
them get jobs — was co-opted from conservatives and eventually proved quite
successful.
Normal differences in politics turned especially bitter after the
presidential election of 2000. The popular vote and the Electoral College vote
were nearly evenly divided between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W.
Bush. Thousands of ballots cast in the state of Florida were contested. After a
series of court challenges over laws and procedures governing recounts, the U.S.
Supreme Court handed down a narrow decision that effectively gave the election
to Bush.
Bush expected to focus on domestic issues such as education, the economy, and
Social Security. But his presidency changed irrevocably on September 11, 2001.
On that day, foreign terrorists hijacked four passenger airplanes and crashed
them into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, the Defense
Department's Pentagon headquarters near Washington, D.C., and a rural area of
Pennsylvania. Bush declared war on global terrorism. Americans were generally
united in the early phases, but many grew increasingly uncomfortable as the
operation expanded.
The long-term effects of events and trends occurring at the beginning of the
21st century have yet to be fully understood.
