History 65

The Path to 1994

April 25, 2006

I. A New Order

1. The Cold War Ends (Gorbachev and crumbling of Soviet bloc; Poland, Hungary, and the Baltic States)

            2. The Middle East in the New World Order (run-up to Gulf War; coalition and aftermath)

3. Bush, Realpolitik, and a New World Order (China, Haiti, Yugoslavia)

II. From Bush to Clinton

            1. Politics, Principle, and Economic Choices (Bush, taxes, and 1988 campaign; deficit, interest rate, and economic slowdown; Darman and budget deal; emergence of Gingrich; political fallout)

            2. Politics of Scandal (Thomas/Hill hearings; emergence of sexual harassment as issue; Webster and politics of abortion; “Year of the Woman”; House bank scandal; terms-limits movement; Gingrich and ’92 Group)

            3. The Election (emergence of Clinton; scandals and Tsongas; Clinton and emergence of Perot—balanced budget, congressional reform, trade; Perot withdrawal; Gore selection and Bush decline; Perot re-entry; fall outcome)

III. Clinton’s Struggles

            1. Policy Agenda (economic issues: promised middle-class tax cut vs. Greenspan/Rubin/Bentsen balanced-budget agenda; choice for balancing budget and tax hike; social issues: abortion and gay rights—limits of rights-related liberalism, Ginsburg and Breyer nominations; foreign policy—Somalia disaster, Haitian and Balkan confusion)

            2. Political Agendas (early stumbles—Hillary, Whitewater, Foster; Reno and the cult of independent counsels—Cisneros, GOP pressure, role of Scaife and Wall Street Journal; collapse of health care plan—who’s to blame?; gearing up for elections—defeat of Synar, Senate retirements, Republican attacks)