Post Cold War United States 1990s-Present

Question 1

By marrying hypertext (HTML) to the internet, Tim Bereners-Lee gave birth to the _________ in 1989. The first 1st web page was created in 1991. By 1995 the entire digital system barely exceeded 3.5 gigabytes.

Answer 1

Internet or World Wide Web for example (www.brainscape.com)

Question 2

What issue of concern to voters did Bill Clinton emphasize in his 1992 campaign for Presidency? While Clinton failed to capture a majority of the popular vote, he did manage to win a majority of the Electoral Collage.

Answer 2

He played up the Economy. He kept a card with him that read “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Question 3

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

Answer 3

They called it Hillarycare, after his wife, Hillary Clinton, to whom he designate responsibility for
crafting the program. The program was designed to provide universal healthcare, but was
unable to pass the House of Representatives lead by an overwhelming majority of Republicans

Question 4

Although President Clinton had asked Congress to allow this in the military, it wasn’t allowed until Congress passed legislation in 1993. What did this legislation provide?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

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

Answer 5

Republicans called it, the Contract with America, which outlined plans for cutting taxes, ending
government waste, and shrinking the size of Government. The Contract with America was in direct conflict
with President Clinton’s plan to increase the size of Government. Voters approved of the Republican idea and for the
first time in over 40 years, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives.

Question 6

What was NAFTA, passed in 1993?

Answer 6

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 former President George H.W. Bush and was supported by Clinton

Question 7

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

Answer 7

Children (C.H.I.P.s)

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

Question 8

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

Answer 8

Gingrich and House Republicans began a standoff with President Clinton, forcing
the US Government to shut down, TWICE. Gingrich gave in and reopened the Government
and passed a counting budget resolution.
During the shutdown, the American people saw Clinton’s performance as steady and Newt Gingrich
as less reasonable. This is believed to have helped Clinton win his reelection.

Question 9

What was Operation Uphold Democracy?

Answer 9

In 1994, a military coup that overthrew Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The UN passed resolution
940, and US troops were dispatched to Haiti as Part of Operation Uphold Democracy to restore the democratically elected Aristide to power.

Question 10

What triggered the financial collapse of 2008?

Answer 10

Large numbers of defaults on subprime mortgages triggered the 2008 finical collapse. Subprime mortgages were issued to borrowers with less than “prime” credit, many of who defaulted.

Subprime mortgages were given to people who had no jobs, could not afford a down payment or outright lied on their application for a federal loan to purchase a house they could not afford.

Question 11

After the Democratic Party’s landslide victory in the 2006 Congressional elections, who became the first female Speaker of the House?

Answer 11

Nancy Pelosi became the first Speaker after the Democrats gained control of the House in 2006.
In part, the Democratic Party’s victory stemmed from dissatisfaction with the War in Iraq and Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina

Question 12

In 2001, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind, a landmark education bill. What did it provide?

Answer 12

No Child Left Behind requires any public schools receiving federal funding to administer a standardized test annually to all students. The goal of No Child Left Behind was to provide for better schools.

Question 13

In 2005, ___________ struck the Gulf Coast, flooding New Orleans and causing massive destruction

Answer 13

Hurricane Katrina – Federal, state, and local government all proved ill-equipped to handle the disaster, and aid was slow and inefficient in arriving

Question 14

During President George W. Bush’s second term, Congress passed a tort reform measure, aimed at curbing abuses in what area of law?

Answer 14

The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA) was designed to modify class actions, a procedural device which allows one plaintiff to represent a large group of injured parties

Question 15

What are WMD’s?

Answer 15

WMD’s stands for Weapons of Mass Destruction. Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq, had publicly stated that he possessed WMD’s which the United States used to justify a 2003 attack on the country without the U.N.’s backing?

Question 16

What three countries did the President George W. Bush Administration call “The Axis of Evil.”

Answer 16

During his 2002 State of the Union Address, Bush called Iraq, Iran, and North Korea “The Axis of Evil, “ asserting that they posed the biggest threat to world peace

Question 17

What was the Bush Doctrine?

Answer 17

Under the Bush Doctrine, the United States announced that it would use preemptive strikes against any nation to be aiding or abetting a terrorist group hostile to the United States. The Doctrine was announced in 2002 during the State of the Union Address

Question 18

In October 2001, President Bush dispatched U.S. forces to invade which country?

Answer 18

Bush authorized the invasion of Afghanistan, which had provided the training ground for the 9/11 terrorists. Many of the NATO nations contributed troops and material support to the campaign.

Question 19

In response to the 9/11 attacks, President Bush created which cabinet-level Department?

Answer 19

To enhance the nations ability to fight terrorism, Bush created the Department of Homeland Security. This Department combined a number of agencies that had been administered by other Departments.

Question 20

On September 11, 2001, the terrorist organization al-Qaeda hijacked four airplanes. What were their targets?

Answer 20

Two planes were to fly directly into the World Trade Center buildings, in downtown Manhattan. Both attacks were extremely successful, and the Twin Towers fell that Tuesday morning.
Two other planes were directed at the Pentagon and the White House. While the Pentagon attack was a success, passengers on the fourth plane, Flight 93, fought back and the plane crashed in Pennsylvania

Question 21

In 2000, the Supreme Court was called upon to decide the presidential election based on irregularities in Florida balloting. What decision did the Court reach in Bush v. Gore

Answer 21

In Florida, each county adopted its own standard to determine whether a vote should count. The Court held that the differing standards were a violation of due process, and awarded the election to George W. Bush

Question 22

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 22

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

Question 23

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

Answer 23

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 peaceful resolution of the Northern Ireland question

Question 24

Who was the first female Secretary of State?

Answer 24

Madeline Albright was the first female Secretary of State, sworn 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 25

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

Answer 25

The Dayton Accords put an end to the three and a half year long was 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 broke out again in the region, and NATO conducted a second set of raids.