History

POLITICS OF HOPE promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pur- sue their full measure of happiness .” He proclaimed an agenda of “remak- ing America” by reviving and trans- forming the economy in ways that would provide better and less-expen- sive health care for all, foster envi-

THE ELECTION OF 2008 AND THE EMERGENCE OF BARACK OBAMA Having served two terms, Presi- dent George W . Bush was constitu- tionally prohibited from being elected again to the presidency . After a spir- ited preconvention campaign, the Republicans chose as their candi- date Senator John McCain of Ari- zona . A Vietnam veteran

THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND GEORGE W. BUSH’S SECOND TERM By mid-2004, with the United States facing a violent insurgency in Iraq, considerable foreign oppo- sition to the war there, and increas- ingly sharp divisions about the conflict at home, the country faced another presidential election . The Democrats nominated Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts,

BRIDGE TO THE 21ST CENTURY OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY 333 The final totals underscored the tightness of the election: Bush won 271 electoral votes to Gore’s 266, but Gore led him in the national popu- lar vote 48 .4 percent to 47 .9 percent . Nader polled 2 .1 percent and Bu- chanan .4 percent

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2000 AND THE WAR ON TERROR The Democratic Party nominated Vice President Al Gore to head its ticket in 2000 . To oppose him, the Republicans chose George W . Bush, the governor of Texas and son of for- mer president George H .W . Bush . Gore ran as a

INTIMATIONS OF TERRORISM Near the close of his administra- tion, George H .W . Bush sent Ameri- can troops to the chaotic East African nation of Somalia . Their mission was to spearhead a U .N . force that would allow the regular movement of food to a starving population . Somalia became yet another

AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS IN THE CLINTON YEARS Bill Clinton did not expect to be a president who emphasized foreign policy . However, like his immediate predecessors, he quickly discovered that all international crises seemed to take a road that led through Washington . He had to deal with the messy af- termath of the 1991

THE ELECTION OF 1996 AND THE POLITICAL AFTERMATH President Clinton undertook his campaign for re-election in 1996 under the most favorable of circum- stances . If not an imposing person- ality in the manner of a Roosevelt, he was a natural campaigner, whom many felt had an infectious charm . He presided over a growing

THE AMERICAN ECONOMY IN THE 1990s By the mid-1990s, the country had not simply recovered from the brief, but sharp, recession of the Bush presidency . It was entering an era of booming prosperity, and do- ing so despite the decline of its tradi- tional industrial base . Probably the major force behind this new