Political Change

Question 1

Kennedy and new frontier

Answer 1

Kennedy elected in 1969 and assassinated in1963.

At first it was a slogan to unite and inspire Americans but became a programme of reform and change through which Kennedy hoped to create a fairer society by giving equal rights to black people.

Question 2

Opposition to new frontier

Answer 2

• Kennedy’s position was week having only one by a narrow margin
• older members of Congress felt he was too young and inexperienced
• some were suspicious of the radical nature of the new frontier and the pace of change and saw it as a socialist program
• southern congressmen disliked civil rights and thought it worl cost them white votes in South.

Question 3

Successes of new frontier for civil rights

Answer 3

1. Kennedy appointed 5 federal judges including Thurgood Marshall
2. Threatened legal action against state of Louisiana for refusing to fun school which were not segregated
3. In October 1962 sent 32,000 Gov troops to ensure Meredith could study at University of Mississippi

Question 4

Success of Kennedy for economy

Answer 4

1. Introduced general tax cut
2. Public works costing US$ 900 million e.g roads and public buildings
3. Increased spending on defence and space technology which created jobs

Question 5

Success of Kennedy for Social reform

Answer 5

1. Planned to increase minimum wage from US$1 to 1.25
2. Planned to start Medicare
3. The housing act 1961 provided cheap loans for redevelopment of inner cities
4. The social security act 1962 gave greater financial help to elderly and unemployed

Question 6

Why did Johnson make better progress than Kennedy’s

Answer 6

An experienced politician + he was a southerner and knew how to deal with southern democrats and overcome opposition

Question 7

Johnson’s great society and civil rights

Answer 7

1. Civil rights act of 1964 banned discrimination in public places, federally assisted programs and in employment
2. The civil rights act set up equal opportunity commission to implement the law
3. The voting act 1965 appointed agents to ensure voting procedures were carried out properly

Question 8

Johnson’s great society and the economy

Answer 8

1. Cut taxes
2. Improved railway and highways
3. Manufacturers and shops had to labour good clearly and fairly, consumers had the right to make returns

Question 9

Johnson’s great society and social reform

Answer 9

1. The Medical Care Act 1965 provided Medicare and Medicaid for people in poverty
2. The elementary and secondary education act also of 1965 provided first major federal support for state education to ensure standards of education were equal
3. The Model Cities act 1966 continued Kennedy’s policy of urban renewal. It provided federal funds for slum clearance and provisions of better services

Question 10

Opposition to the great society

Answer 10

• republicans accused him of wasting money on welfare programs and of undermining’rugged individualism’
• accused of doing too little to tackle problems of inner cities p. In 1967 there were serious riots.
• greatest problem was escalation of US involvement in the war in Vietnam which was costly and lead to criticism of Johnson himself

Question 11

When was Nixon president

Answer 11

1968-1974

Forced to resign due to watergate

Question 12

Describe watergate scandal

Answer 12

He set up CREEP to help him get re-elected using whatever methods necessary
In June 1972 5 members of CREEP were arrested for breaking into the Watergate offices that were the Democrats HQ. The Washington Post found out that they were members of CREEP and that their funding was controlled by the White House. Nixon denied any involvement. In 1973 the burglars were convicted one named James Mcord said that the white house had covered it up. Nixon still denied involvement but admitted that two of his advisers were involved. They both resigned. The investigation by the Senate was televised. Nixon had installed a tape recording system in the White House. Initially Nixon refused to hand over tapes but in Novembers 1973 he handed in 7/9 tales that had been edited (18minutes was missing from one). In April 1974 he handed in all tapes unedited. To avoid impeachment he resigned in August and ford pardoned him of any criminal acts. The scandal damaged his and the USA’s reputation & people’s attitudes toward politics.

Question 13

When did Reagan became president

Answer 13

1980

Question 14

Economic problems inherited by Reagan

Answer 14

By 1980the world recession was bringing factory closures, rising unemployment to 7.5% and oil shortages. Inflation had risen to nearly 15% and budget deficits were high

Question 15

Raeganomics

Answer 15

Based of work off Arthur Laffer who argued cutting taxes for businesses and the wealthier quarter of American citizens would encourage spending and put more money into economy as a whole. So the money would trickle down to middle and lower classes and the government could stop many social welfare programmes.

Question 16

By how much did Reagan cut welfare programme spending in his first three years

Answer 16

US$20 billionincluding food stamp programmes, and various programs to assist struggling mothers and children.

Question 17

By how much did Reagan reduce taxes

Answer 17

By US 33 billion. The government was barely making any revenue.

Question 18

Effects of Reaganomics

Answer 18

Even though he reduced taxes, he increased total spending, particularly in areas of defence which nearly doubled between 1981 and 1987. The Government was forced to borrow money and national debt rose to its highest ever at almost US$1 trillion. People in all sectors lost jobs and inflation soared.

Question 19

Reagan space programme

Answer 19

1986 was a disaster for American space programmes

• in January the space shuttle challenger exploded seconds after lift off killing all 7 crew members
• in April a titan rocket carrying secret military equipment exploded immediately after takeoff
• Star Wars was very expensive and a further drain on the economy.

Question 20

Reagan attitude to Environment

Answer 20

Suggested some dames to the environment was the price to pay to create jobs and strengthen the economy. In a 1985 public opinion poll 2/3 respondents disagreed and said they were willing to pay higher prices for tighter limits on pollution

Question 21

Reagan attitude to AIDs

Answer 21

By 1985 nearly 4,000 people had died because of the virus. Initially Reagan was dismissive but gradually changed views. By 1989 the federal government was spending US $2.3 billion a year on research On aids and prevention. Some criticised him for doing this; others for being too slow to combat the virus.

Question 22

Reagan and war on drugs

Answer 22

In October 1982 he declared illicit drugs to be a threat to the US National security. In 1988 he created the office of national drug control policy to coordinate drug related policy through the government. .

Question 23

George Bush Snr

Answer 23

Faced problems of what to do with deficits run up in the Reagan years, At US$220 billion in 1990. Despite initial claims to decrease taxes, he was forced to raise indirect taxes and reduce number of wealthy people exempt from tax. Plus he was forced to agree to a cut in military spending and increased taxes on luxury items. But budget deficit continued to grow to US $300 billion.

The recession developed which reduced government income from tax further. By the end of Bush’s term interest and inflation rates were lowest in year and unemployment rate reached 7.8%.

Question 24

Significant legislation signed by Bush Snr

Answer 24

The Americans with disabilities act 1990 - forbade discrimination against disability in employment, public accommodations and transportation

The clean air act- focused on reducing urban smog, acid rain and eliminating industrial emissions of toxic chemicals.

Question 25

Failures of Bush

Answer 25

Promised in election campaign to tackle drug use but despite giving several billion dollars to drug enforcement agency which worked on employee drug testing and increased border controls, did nothing to help those suffering from cocaine and heroin addictions and had little impact.

There were race riots in LA, Atlanta, Birmingham and Chicago following arrest and beating of Rodney King.

Question 26

Change under Clinton (economic)

Answer 26

1. Move away from Reaganomics- determined to reduce budget deficit while also increasing federal government spending and investment in education and welfare. He was able to reduce budget deficit to $107billion by 1966 and by 1998 the budget was balanced for first time since 1969. The value of stock market also tripled, unemployment was at lowest rate in 30yrs and there was highest levels of home ownership in history of the USA because of low interest rates.
   The North American free trade agreement was signed with Canada and Mexico setting up free trade between three countries and stimulating US export markets.

Question 27

Change under Clinton (social reform)

Answer 27

Signed the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993. Over 20million American people have taken unpaid leave to care for a newborn or sick family member.

In 1996 he introduced a minimum wage of US$4.75 an hour which further increased to 5.15 . But in 1993 he failed in ambitious attempt to introduce a universal health insurance system.

But did expand efforts to provide mothers and newborn children with healthcare. By 2000 a record 82% of all mothers received ante-natal care.

Question 28

Scandal under Clinton

Answer 28

Linked to whitewater scandal where 2 of his former business associates were convicted of multiple fraud over a housing development in whitewater area in Arkansas although no conclusive evidence was ever found of illegal dealings by Clinton or his wife.

However, proof did find that Clinton had been having an affair with Monica Lewinsky. Many people felt that the support from his wife enabled him to continue as president and he was impeached by the House of Representatives in December 1988 on grounds of perjury and obstruction of justice although he was later acquitted of impeachment charges by the senate.