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Bill Clinton Impeachment
After lying under oath about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, President Bill Clinton became the first impeached President since Andrew Johnson. The impeachment trials failed to remove him from office. His affair was brought to light due to deep-seated distrust for politicans stemming from the Nixon "Watergate" scandal. The Monica Lewinski trial (Monicagate, Lewinskygate) led to public doubt of liberals and the greater support of Bush, which ended in his victory in 2000. -
Columbine
The Columbine massacre was a rude awakening for the American public, showing us that schools were not as safe as we'd thought. After the events at Columbine, schools pressured with the decision to add new security measures to school such as police officers on campus and metal detectors. This incident also changed how people felt sending their children to school and brought to light the need for attending to the mental issues of students, as well as the availabilty of guns to teens in America. -
Bush V. Gore
The 2000 presidential election was the closest in history and so contreversial that it was taken to the Supreme Court. The election was infamous for the thousands of ballots thrown away in Florida, skewing the election. George W. Bush won 5-4 and served two terms. Bush is usually credited for the Patriot Act and starting two wars. The election stressed the importance of the electoral college, revealed corruption in both parties and inaugurated one of the most crooked presidents in history. -
9/11 & The War on Terror
The attack on the twin towers changed America forever- our sense of security and pride were damaged and we suddenly became aware of foreign issues. The attack brought to government attention a need for greater security, leading to new scanner technology in airports. 9/11 also led to the creation of the Patriot Act, giving government the authority to tap into our computers and phones without consent.The attack also led to the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. We are still at war with Afghanistan. -
Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster
On February 1, 2003, the Columbia Space Shuttle disintegrated upon its descent back onto Earth, all seven crew members dying upon arrival. The disaster led to the suspension of the U.S. space program and questioning of the program's accountability. Soon after the space program began designing safer shuttles to avoid a similar disaster from happening. This has helped us achieve great new gains in space travel, such as landing a rover on Mars. -
Invention of Facebook
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders launched Facebook on February 4th 2004. Since then Facebook has radically changed the way people interact with each other, through likes and comments on a screen. However, people seem more disconnected than they were before. Facebook has also changed business, as millions of people are now promoting through Facebook and gaining new consumers. Facebook has changed the way America and the rest of the world communicates and consumes products/media. -
Hurricane Katrina
Similar to 9/11 Hurricane Katrina left America with a sense of dread and a loss of pride. 80% of the city was flooded and homes and communities were destroyed- people felt helpless and the government felt out of control. New social responsibility was pushed onto the government to fix the crisis, however Bush did not respond adequately. This eventually led to greater cynicism towards government. This combined feeling of cynicism and hopelessness about our political and economic state lasts today. -
Barack Obama Elected
The election of Barack Obama as the first black president was a milestone in the black community and American history. His inauguration represented how far our country has come and symbolizes America slowly moving past deep-seated racism and a dark history of segregation and slavery. Obama has changed the lives of millions of people by legalizing both recreational marijuana and gay marriage in several states, as well as providing free healthcare for millions of people. -
Occupy Wall Street
America's recent recession created Occupy Wall Street, protests organized by mostly college-age students that believe that billionares and Wall Street establishments caused the recession, coining the term "we are the 99%." Opposing "Tea Party" protests led to the reconstruction of Congress, with Republicans taking over the House and adding more conservatives to Senate. This has effected our government structure today and divided the nation even more between the rich and the middle-class/poor. -
Legilazation of Gay Marriage and Marijuana
The legilization of both marijuana and gay marriage seemed unfathonable 20 years ago, however today gay marriage is legal in 37 states and recreational marijauna is legal and available in 4 states. During the Obama administration these two controversial issues have seen a shift in approval. 17% of people supported marijuana legilization in 1991 (52% today) and 30% of people supported gay marriage in the mid 90's. (59% today) Our attitudes will evidently continue to shift, changing our country.
