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Oklahoma City Bombing
Timothy McVeigh was openly against the government in many ways. He became angry with them and decided to bomb a building in Oklahoma. He purposely did the bombing exactly two years after the Waco fires, which is symbolic. This killed 168 people, including those in a daycare. McVeigh wanted to make an anti-government statement by doing this. This was the deadliest attack on continental US in terms of terrorism prior to 9/11.
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Y2K Bug
In 1999, the internet had become popular, and many people owned personal computers in their homes. There was a looming fear that once the new century came, the computers weren't programmed to go into the 2000s, so it would go back to 1900. People thought it would be "the end of the world" if things on the internet stopped working. This shows how quickly the internet had an impact on society and how it affected people's daily lives.
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The War on Terror
Bush and his administration decided to enact the War on Terror to get revenge on Al Qaeda for the acts of terrorism they had enacted on the US. He targeted Afghanistan and Iraq, bringing his military operations to those countries. Even though he had been warned against doing this because of the danger, Bush decided to do it anyways. These operations would prove to be consequential, but Bush did not retract.
(Kruse and Zelizer, 254) -
9/11 Terrorist Attack
The terrorist attacks that occurred on 9/11 threatened the security of the entire nation. Following the attacks, the country was focused on reunifying, but this event showed the deep-rooted insecurity that was still present in the US. The attack showed that there were unsolved issues and threats from events that had previously occurred and needed to be fixed, or else the nation would be at risk for more future acts of terrorism.
(Kruse and Zelizer, 243) -
Lawrence vs. Texas
This court case was a giant step forward toward the legalization of same-sex marriage. During this case, the Supreme Court made it so that states couldn't ban sodomy, and people had more privacy in their personal lives. It began to normalize sex being more than just for reproduction, and as long as consent was given, people couldn't be criminalized for their sexual acts with others, regardless of gender.
(Kruse and Zelizer, 273) -
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a category 5 hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast. Much of the coast from Florida to Texas was destroyed. This hurricane cost about $108 billion and was the most expensive natural disaster in American history. It was also very deadly, killing 1,388 people. A lot of land ended up underwater. Katrina was detrimental in the sense of "compassionate conservatism" because a lot of the damage required the federal government to interefere.
(Kruse and Zelizer, 200) -
Taylor Swift Releases Album
Taylor Swift released the first of many albums in 2006. Since then, she has broken many records and won a significant number of awards. Her first album was titled "Taylor Swift." This event is important to me because she has been my favorite artist for as long as I can remember. She has shaped the music industry throughout the past few decades, and wouldn't be where she is today without this album launch. -
PRISM Program
The PRISM Program was secretly launched and unknown to the public because of its high stakes. Using this program, the National Security Agency was able to attempt to catch terrorist threats by looking into conversations occurring through the internet. They were working with the big internet companies to look into the private lives of their users. This was problematic because it violated the privacy that people thought they had.
(Kruse and Zelizer, 287) -
Sandy Hook Shooting
This was an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The shooting killed 20 first graders, as well as six staff members. This was an incredibly devastating event and raised many concerns regarding school and gun safety. Following the event, many schools and states decided to increase their school security to avoid incidents like this in the future. Unfortunately, many school shootings have occurred since this one, and there is still much to be done with gun control and protection. -
Boston Marathon Bombings
Two bombs were detonated near the finish line of the Boston Marathon by two brothers. Three people were killed, and many others were injured. The brothers did this attack as a statement because they were angry with the wars that were occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan. The city was shut down until they were found, and it was later discovered that they were headed to New York next. This was an eye-opening event that displayed how dangerous large crowd events can be.