Bush Sr. + Clinton 1989 - 2000

Question 1

In 1988, incumbent Vice President George Bush soundly defeated Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. What famous promise did Bush make?

Answer 1

Bush promised “no new taxes,” a promise he later violated.

Question 2

How did many observers view the large student protest in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989?

Answer 2

Coupled with events in Europe, it seemed as if worldwide Communism was on the decline. In China at least, rumors of Communism’s decline were greatly exaggerated, and Communist forces crushed the protest.

The iconic image of the Tiananmen Square uprising is of a man standing alone, facing a long line of tanks rolling towards him.

Question 3

In Eastern Europe, where did the collapse of Communism first begin?

Answer 3

Communism’s collapse began in Poland, which broke free from the control of the Soviet Union in 1989. When the U.S.S.R. did nothing, the nations of Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Romania followed.

In Berlin, it was not Gorbachev but Berliners themselves who tore down the Berlin Wall.

Question 4

What was the effect of the 1989 Eastern European revolutions on the Soviet Union?

Answer 4

Several of the constituent republics which made up the Soviet Union began advocating for independence. In March 1990, Lithuania declared independence, followed by Estonia and Latvia.

By late 1991, the Soviet Union had dissolved into the Commonwealth of Independent States, comprised of the 15 former Soviet Republics, and Gorbachev had resigned.

Question 5

Between 1989 and 1991, President George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev negotiated START I. What did START stand for?

Answer 5

Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties

The Treaties continued the trend towards arms reduction begun during the Reagan Administration. A second treaty, START II, was signed by Bush and Boris Yeltsin, Gorbachev’s successor.

Question 6

In 1990, Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Army invaded Kuwait. How did the U.S. respond?

Answer 6

The Iraqi Army was the world’s fourth largest army. With the full support of the United Nations, the U.S. assembled 35 allies into a military force based in the Arabian Peninsula. After warning the Iraqis to withdraw, the U.S. led a massive ground war, dubbed Desert Storm, which destroyed the Iraqi military in less than 100 hours.

Although the road to Baghdad was open, the U.N. coalition stopped short of deposing Saddam.

Question 7

Which individual was radicalized to be an Islamic Terrorist as a result of the First Persian Gulf War?

Answer 7

Osama bin Laden believed that the Saudi government had insulted Allah and the prophet Muhammad by allowing American forces on Saudi soil. This is because Saudi Arabia was the land where Islam had started as a religion.

As a result of his radicalization, he would begin plotting attacks against places around the world that housed Americans, such as embassies and ships, starting in the 1990s.

Question 8

Although popular after the Persian Gulf War, President George H.W. Bush lost ground thereafter. Why?

Answer 8

Bush had promised no new taxes, but efforts to curb the deficit, as well as a botched deal with House Democrats, forced him to raise taxes and increase spending. Bush’s popularity never recovered, especially after a mild recession began in the early 1990s.

Question 9

Complete the sentence:

In late 1989, President George H.W. Bush ordered 24,000 troops into _____ to remove Manuel Noriega from power.

Answer 9

Panama

Panamanian President Manuel Noriega was a well-known drug trafficker who had annulled an election that had ousted him. Since he was deposed, he has been in prison in the U.S., France, and Panama.

Question 10

What does the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prevent?

Answer 10

The ADA (1990) is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability, and was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush.

Question 11

In 1990, Congress passed an immigration bill that increased annual legal immigration to 700,000 and established the Diversity Immigration Program. What was the Diversity Program’s purpose?

Answer 11

The Diversity Program was aimed at encouraging immigration from countries from where few immigrants had previously arrived.

Question 12

Unsecured loans led to repeated bailouts of which entities in the 1980s?

Answer 12

Savings and Loans Banks (S&L)

The crisis reached its height in 1989, and the total cost of the bailout was some $87.9 billion.

Question 13

Complete the sentence:

By marrying hypertext to the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee gave birth to the ____ ____ _____ in 1989.

Answer 13

World Wide Web (the www preceding an Internet address)

The first web page was created in 1991. By 1995 the entire World Wide Web barely exceeded 3.5 gigabytes in space, making the task of the earliest search engines, such as Webcrawler, straightforward.

Question 14

During his Presidency, how many emails did Bill Clinton send?

Answer 14

One

Many Americans did not send their first email until well into the 2000s. One Internet provider, Prodigy, even charged per email.

Question 15

Concerned about skyrocketing debt, _____ ____ ran as an independent candidate for President in 1992.

Answer 15

Ross Perot

Perot did fairly well, but the votes he took from George H.W. Bush threw the election to Bill Clinton.

Question 16

What issue of concern to voters did Bill Clinton emphasize in his 1992 campaign?

Answer 16

Bill Clinton played up the economy. During the campaign, he kept a card with him that read “It’s the economy, stupid.”

His appeal to voters’ pocketbooks worked. While Clinton failed to capture a majority of the popular vote, he did manage to win a majority of the Electoral College to secure the election.

Question 17

What did critics term Bill Clinton’s attempts to institute healthcare reform?

Answer 17

Critics termed it Hillarycare, after Clinton’s wife, to whom he’d designated responsibility for crafting the program.

The program was designed to provide universal healthcare, but it proved unable to pass the House. The attempt provoked outcry from many Americans, who feared government takeover of healthcare.

Question 18

Although Clinton had asked Congress to allow homosexuals to serve in the military, Congress passed legislation known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 1993. What did this legislation provide?

Answer 18

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell allowed gays to serve in the military, but they could not openly reveal their sexuality.

Question 19

What 1994 document outlined the actions Republicans promised to take if they became a majority party in the House of Representatives?

Answer 19

In 1994, Republicans published the Contract with America, which outlined plans for cutting taxes, ending government waste, and shrinking the government’s size.

The Contract with America was in direct opposition to President Clinton’s plans to increase the size of government. Voters approved of the Contract, and Republicans took control of the House for the first time in 40 years.

Question 20

What was NAFTA, passed in 1993?

Answer 20

NAFTA was the North American Free Trade Agreement that lowered trade barriers between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The NAFTA agreement had been negotiated by George H.W. Bush and was supported by Clinton.

Question 21

Although Clinton had proved unable to pass universal healthcare coverage, he did provide healthcare coverage for what vulnerable group?

Answer 21

Children

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program would cover some 6.6 million children by 2006.

Question 22

After President Clinton vetoed the 1995-1996 budget passed by the House, how did Speaker Newt Gingrich respond?

Answer 22

Gingrich and House Republicans engineered a standoff, forcing the government to shut down twice. Eventually, Gingrich gave in, and Congress passed continuing budget resolution.

During the shutdown Gingrich appeared less reasonable than the President, and Clinton’s performance during the crisis ensured his re-election.

Question 23

What was Operation Uphold Democracy?

Answer 23

In 1994, a military coup overthrew Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 940, and U.S. troops were dispatched to Haiti as part of Operation Uphold Democracy to restore the democratically elected Aristide to power.

Question 24

The Dayton Accords, signed in 1995, resolved what conflict?

Answer 24

The Dayton Accords put an end to the three-and-a-half year-long war in Bosnia, which arose out of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. President Clinton was instrumental in organizing the Accords and serving as mediator. NATO had previously conducted bombing raids to halt the conflict.

In 1999, war again broke out in the region, and NATO conducted a second set of raids.

Question 25

Who was the first female Secretary of State?

Answer 25

Madeleine Albright was the first female Secretary of State, sworn in in 1997. Throughout his Administration, Clinton appointed women and minorities to cabinet positions, embassy posts, and to the federal courts as part of his promise to make his Administration “look like America.”

Question 26

The Good Friday Agreement, reached in 1998, was an attempt to resolve what conflict?

Answer 26

President Clinton had dispatched George Mitchell, a former Senate Majority Leader, to Ireland to broker a resolution to the fate of Northern Ireland, contested by Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. An agreement was reached on Good Friday, 1998.

Although years of stalemate followed the Good Friday Agreement, it marked the start of a peaceful resolution of the Northern Ireland question.

Question 27

What was happening to the Glass-Steagall Act, a depression-era law that was supposed to prevent another Great Depression?

Answer 27

Reagan, Bush Sr, and Clinton had all had major roles in weakening Glass-Steagall.

Glass Steagall was intended to stop banks from making risky investments with customer’s money.

By slowly repealing it, they created the perfect conditions which set up the Great Recession of 2008, where some of the world’s largest investment banks lost customers’ money on risky investments.

Question 28

In 1998, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Clinton for issues arising out of his relations with Monica Lewinsky. How did the Senate vote?

Answer 28

The Senate declined to remove Clinton from office, with the vote being almost entirely along partisan lines.

Question 29

What has been one of the longstanding criticisms of the Clinton Administration?

Answer 29

During his administration, Clinton, despite witnessing the weakening of Glass - Steagall, refused to regulate large investment banks who were starting the process of making risky investments with people’s money.

This trend only intensified during the 8 years of the Bush Jr. Administration, culminating in the 2008-2009 Great Recession.

Question 30

Where does Bill Clinton rank, in terms of his job approval rating on his last day in office?

Answer 30

Out of the last 11 presidents (including Trump), he is ranked 2nd highest.

Only President Ronald Reagan had a higher job approval rating.