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Bill Clinton 1. Test Describe the evolution of the computer from scientific tool to household appliance. 2. Evaluate how the computer has revolutionized science, medicine, and communications. 3. Describe the difficulties and successes of Bill Clinton’s two terms as president. 4. Discuss the nation’s involvement in world affairs during the Clinton presidency. During the 1990s, a technological revolution transformed society. President Clinton pushed for budget cuts, health care and welfare reforms, and global trade. He also worked for peace in the Middle East and the Balkans. Major developments of the era continue to influence modern society. The use of the Internet is widespread in commerce, schools, and government. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) continues to shape economic relations between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The debate between conservatives and liberals continues in the United States. In 1946 the world’s first electronic digital computer, called ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), went into operation. Weighing over 30 tons, the machine was the size of a small house. In 1959 Robert Noyce designed the first integrated circuit, a complete electronic circuit on a single chip of the element silicon, making circuits much smaller and easier to make. Many electronic companies opened in an area south of San Francisco, giving it the nickname Silicon Valley. In 1968 Noyce and colleague Gordon Moore formed Intel, a company that revolutionized computers with the creation of microprocessors. These chips had several integrated circuits on them that further reduced the size of computers and increased their speed. Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs set out to build a small computer using the microprocessor technology. By 1976 the pair founded Apple Computer and completed their machine called the Apple I. The following year the Apple II came out and sold well. Apple’s success created intense competition in the computer industry. In 1981 International Business Machines (IBM) introduced the “Personal Computer” (PC). In 1984 Apple responded with the Macintosh, featuring a much simpler operating system that used on-screen graphic symbols called icons, which users could control with a hand-operated device called a mouse. At the same time Apple was being created, 19-year-old Harvard dropout Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft to design PC software, the instructions used to program computers to perform certain tasks. In 1985 Microsoft introduced “Windows,” which brought the mouse-activated on-screen graphics to PCs. Computer networks could link employees within an office or branch regardless of distance. By the late 1990s, many workers used a home computer and electronic mail to telecommute–do their jobs at home via their computer. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the deregulation of telecommunications created an explosion of creativity and competition in the telephone and television industries. In 1996 Congress passed the Telecommunications Act. The act allowed telephone companies to compete with each other, send television signals, and permitted cable television companies to offer telephone service. Digital electronics made worldwide communications possible with the creation of the Internet, a global information system. The roots of this networking system began with the U.S. Defense Department’s Advanced Research Project Agency in 1969. Known as ARPANET, this system linked government agencies, defense contractors, and scientists at various universities. The use of the Internet expanded by almost 300 percent between 1997 and 2000. The Internet also created a “dot.com” economy selling products and advertising online. Computers aided scientists in biotechnology, the managing of biological systems to improve human life. Researchers have used this to develop new medicines, animal growth hormones, genetically engineered plants, and industrial chemicals. The first break in biotechnology occurred in 1953, when American molecular biologist James Watson and his British colleague, Francis Crick, deciphered the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the genetic material in cells that determines. With the development of supercomputers, it was possible to map out the human genome, recording the DNA sequence in our species. The Human Genome Project began at the National Institutes of Health in 1990. • All their data was placed on the Internet free of charge with the hope that no single nation or private laboratory will control the outcome or limit the use of genome findings. • Break……. • Although President Clinton struggled with Republicans in Congress and faced impeachment, several major economic and social reforms were achieved during his presidency. • President Bill Clinton’s domestic program focused on the economy, the family, education, crime, and health care. • Clinton felt the problem with the economy was due to the federal deficit. The high deficits caused the government to borrow large sums of money, which drove up interest rates. Clinton felt that the key to economic growth was to lower interest rates. Because Clinton had difficulty cutting government spending that went to entitlement programs, he implemented new taxes. Republicans in Congress refused to support the plan, but after Clinton put pressure on Democrats in Congress, a revised version of his tax plan was passed.. Clinton appointed his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, to head a task force to prepare a health care plan. The plan guaranteed health care for all Americans, but it was widely opposed by employers, small business owners, the insurance industry, doctor’s organizations, and Republicans. In the end, the plan died without ever coming to a vote. Clinton pushed through several pieces of legislation to help the American family. The Family Medical Leave Act gave workers up to 12 weeks per year of unpaid family leave for the birth or adoption of a child, or the illness of a family member. Clinton also had Congress create AmeriCorps, a program that put students to work improving low-income housing, teaching children to read, and cleaning up the environment. Democrats in Congress passed a gun-control law known as the Brady Bill that imposed a waiting period before people could buy handguns. Clinton introduced a bill that provided extra funds to states to build new prisons and put 100,000 more police officers on the streets. By late 1994, Clinton had become very unpopular. He had raised taxes, was unable to fix the health care system, and many companies continued to downsize. These problems, combined with a few scandals involving Clinton, caused many Americans to vote Republican in the elections of 1994. In 1994 congressional Republican leaders, led by Newt Gingrich, created the Contract with America, in which Republicans promised 10 major changes. The changes included lower taxes, term limits for members of Congress, and a balanced budget amendment. For the first time in 40 years, Republicans had won a majority in both houses of Congress. In 1995, instead of backing down to the Republicans in Congress, Clinton allowed the federal government to close when a budget agreement could not be reached. The Republicans in Congress and the president eventually worked together to balance the budget. Prior to the 1996 election, Clinton and the Republicans worked to pass the Health Insurance Portability Act to improve health coverage, and the Welfare Reform Act, which limited people to no more than two consecutive years on welfare and required them to work to receive welfare. During the 1996 presidential election, Clinton took credit for the booming economy. The economic boom of the 1990s was the longest sustained period of growth in United States history. Unemployment and inflation were at their lowest levels in 40 years, the stock market soared, wages increased, and crime declined. Clinton won re-election against Republican candidate, Senator Bob Dole of Kansas. Republicans retained control of Congress. During Clinton’s second term in office, the economy continued to expand. In 1997, for the first time in 24 years, the president submitted a balanced budget to Congress. In 1998 the government ran a surplus, meaning it collected more money than it spent. In his second term, Clinton aimed his proposals toward children’s needs. He asked Congress to pass a $500-per-child tax credit and pass a ban on cigarette advertising directed toward children. He signed an Adoption and Safe Families Act, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, providing insurance for children whose parents could not afford it. In 1998 a scandal involving President Clinton threatened his presidency. Beginning in his first term, Clinton was accused of arranging for illegal loans to Whitewater Development. • Attorney General Janet Reno appointed an independent counsel, Kenneth Starr, to investigate the president. • In early 1998, a new scandal involving a personal relationship with a White House intern suggested that the president had committed perjury, or lied under oath. • Starr was appointed to investigate this as well. • In his report, Starr argued that Clinton had obstructed justice, abused his power as president, and committed perjury. In 1998 the House passed two articles of impeachment. On February 12, 1999, the senators cast their votes, with the result short of the two-thirds needed to remove Clinton. Although Clinton was not removed from office, his reputation was permanently damaged. In 1991 the leader of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown and sought refuge in the United States. The new rulers used violence to suppress the opposition. Clinton convinced the United Nations to impose a trade embargo on Haiti, creating a severe economic crisis. Thousands of Haitian refugees fled to the United States. Clinton ordered an invasion of Haiti, but before troops arrived, former president Jimmy Carter convinced Haiti’s rulers to step aside. Yugoslavia split apart in 1991 after the end of communism. In Bosnia, a three-way civil war began between Orthodox Christian Serbs, Catholic Croatians, and Bosnian Muslims. The fighting continued until 1995. The Serbs would not stop their attacks and began calling for ethnic cleansing–the brutal expulsion of an ethnic group from a geographic area. The United States convinced NATO allies that intervention was necessary, resulting in NATO warplanes attacking Serbs. The Clinton administration arranged for peace talks in Dayton, Ohio, and a peace plan was signed called the Dayton Accords. In 1998 another war began in Kosovo between its two major ethnic groups–the Serbs and Albanians. The Serbian treatment of Kosovo Albanians angered people around the world, and leaders tried to unsuccessfully bring the two sides together. In 1999 NATO began bombing Serbia. Serbian troops pulled out of Kosovo. Although Iraq was defeated in the Persian Gulf War, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein remained in power, threatening Iraq’s neighbors. To stop the attacks, the United States fired cruise missiles at Iraqi military targets. Relations between Israel and the Palestinians were very volatile. In 1993 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat reached an agreement. Clinton invited them to the White House to sign the Declaration of Principles. There was opposition to the plan from both sides, and in 1995 Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated. • In October 2000, violence erupted between the Palestinians and Israeli soldiers. • As Clinton left office, his legacy was uncertain. • Although he had presided over the greatest period of economic growth in America, his presidency was marred by the impeachment trial, which divided the nation. Explain Writing Assignment in essay format why it does/does not matter if the President lies under oath. Is the invention of the computer good or bad. Take a side and explain your answer.