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Rodney King is a black man living in Los Angeles. He is driving when police start to chase him in a car, but he does not pull over at first. When he finally does and is removed from the vehicle, a camcorder catches him getting beat extensively. It leads to a trial when files are leaked, but the police officers get the trial moved to an area outside of Seemy Valley, where 70% of LAPD officers live. They are found not guilty. LA descends into chaos and riots, and national guard is deployed (notes)
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Clinton says that big government is over with him. Even though he emphasized economic reform during his campaign, once he took office, it proved to be quite a challenge and he encountered issues immediately. He was immersed in the culture war and the problem of gays in the military. After he promised to overturn this, he instead went for a compromise of "don't ask, don't tell", which inspired betrayal and uneasiness. He chose to serve with middle of the road policies. (Kruse and Zelizer, 205-6)
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David Koresh, the leader of Branch Davidians, a religious compound, led his followers in a gunfight with federal agents who raided the compound over suspected firearms violations. This gunfight killed four agents as well as two members of the cult. They barricaded themselves inside the compound and on April 19, 1993, tear gas was shot in to draw them out. Instead, Koresh forced cult members to set the compound on fire which killed seventy members, including himself. (Kruse and Zelizer 207-208).
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The internet began to become much more popular in the 1990s, especially around 1995 when everyone began to invest in the Internet. Y2K fear was that once you hit January 1, 2000, all websites online would revert to the year 1900. Every company had to announce what they were going to do about this. When the year 2000 hit, the Internet survived, but there was a financial meltdown and many online startups collapsed. People argue that January 1, 2000, was the beginning of a new millennia. (notes)
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Exactly two years after the Waco Siege, Timothy McVey, in solidarity with people who are anti-government and think they should not have invaded Waco, detonates a bomb outside of a federal building in Oklahoma City. It is set off right outside the daycare facility in this building and kills 168 people. They catch him because they pull him over for a broken taillight and see he has a suspended license. This was the largest act of terrorism on US territory before 9/11. (notes from powerpoint)
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Clinton is accused of having an affair with an intern at the Whitehouse- Monica Lewinsky. She is caught on tape admitting to this affair. Clinton initially denies it. Republicans bring up impeachment charges to him because he lied under oath. He is impeached in the house but not within the senate. There is significant disagreement over whether or not to impeach because he is such a popular president and the economy is booming. He is still impeached in December 1998. (notes)
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The 2000 election is George W. Bush versus v. Al Gore, Clinton’s vice president. Bush campaigned by compassionate conservatism while Gore promised continuing peace and prosperity. It was a very close election that came down to the state of Florida. The final vote difference is 537 votes, which played a very large role in the early days of the term- everything was in limbo and nobody knew who actually won. Bush won, further polarizing the country. (Kruse and Zelizer 239-42) and my notes.
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On 9/11/2001, in a terrorist attack, members of al Qaeda hijacked two American Airlines planes and crashed them into the Twin Towers. 2,977 people died. A third plane was flown into the Pentagon, and a fourth was en route to the Whitehouse when it was diverted by passengers. In less than an hour the South tower had collapsed- 9:59 am- and by 10:28 am, the North tower had collapsed. Building 7 of the World Trade Center collapsed as well, at 5:30 pm. (The September 11 Terrorist Attacks).
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Katrina struck the Gulf Coast as a category 5 hurricane in August of 2005. It hit New Orleans especially hard, causing $108 billion dollars in damage and 1,883 deaths. This event, the most expensive natural disaster in American history, put large sections of the US underwater- from Texas to Florida. The disaster made people want more federal government intervention- no more compassionate conservatism. However, Bush did nothing to help in the weeks following Katrina. (Kruse and Zelizer 280-2)
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The financial crisis was centered around the housing bubble, then moves into other parts of the economy, specifically the financial sector. This is a touchy subject politically because it is going on during an election year. A lot of people want significant government intervention of the government pumping money into the economy, while others do not think that will work- congressional republicans. The economy begins to slowly level off and there was a slow recovery from 2008 to 2020. (notes)