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Presidential Accomplishments

President Political Party Policies

Domestic Affairs

Foreign Affairs

COMMENTS

George Washington

1789-1797

2 terms

None

· neutrality 1st and foremost- nation was militarily weak, economically wobbly, politically disunited

· no permanent alliances- temporary ones ok

· pro-federalist

· Bill of Rights added

· establish cabinet (Secretary of State, Treasury, War, Attorney General)

· Judiciary Act 1789

· 1st BUS born 1792

· Whiskey Rebellion 1794

· Battle of Fallen Timbers 1794

· Jeffersonians support French Revolution

· Neutrality Proclamation 1793

· Genet’s Affair

· Jay’s Treaty 1795

· Pinckney’s Treaty 1795

· precedent of 2 term tradition for presidents

· political parties formed (Democratic - Republicans & Federalists)

John Adams

1797-1801

1 term

Federalist

· favored neutrality

· believed in federal gov’t power- support in New England area

· Navy Dept. created & US Marine Corps established

· Alien & Sedition Acts 1798

· VA & KY Resolutions

· Judiciary Act 1801

· XYZ Affair

· Convention of 1800 terminated F-A treaty

· ineffective presidency b/c of 2 party combo (Thomas Jefferson was vice president)

· despised Hamilton (head of Federalist war faction) & vise versa

Thomas Jefferson

1801-1809

2 terms

Democratic - Republican

· best gov’t governed least

· pro- state sovereignty

· pro- agrarians- agriculture favored branch of gov’t- support in South & Southwest

· gov’t for the people, but not by all the people

· national debt was a bane

· strict Constitution reading

· favored peace

· killed Hamilton’s excise tax, but left rest of program

· repealed Judiciary Act 1801

· Lewis and Clark expeditions

· Marbury vs. Madison (1803)

 

· Barbary Wars

· Louisiana Purchase

· US ships caught in war between Napoleon & Britain

· Embargo Act 1807

· US participation in international slave trade abolished 1808

· Non-Intercourse Act 1809

· “we are all Republicans, we are all Federalists” -Jefferson showed that a change of regime need not be disastrous for the defeated group

 

James Madison

1809-1817

2 terms

Democratic - Republican

 

· Cumberland Road 1811

· Tecumseh & Prophet defeated @ battle of Tippecanoe

· BUS charter lapses, not renewed by Congress

·Hartford Convention

· War Hawks manage to pass declaration of war

· Andrew Jackson- Battle of Horseshoe Bend, invades Florida

· 1st protective tariff 1816

· Macon’s Bill No. 2

· Britain’s Orders in Council repealed 2 days before war

· War of 1812

· Treaty of Ghent 1814

· US attempt to invade Canada fails

· Rush Bagot Treaty 1817

 

James Monroe

1817-1825

2 terms

Democratic - Republican

 

· Panic of 1819

· western expansion emphasized

·Dartmouth v. Woodward 1819

· Land Act 1820

· sectional tensions growing

· Missouri Compromise 1820

· Cohens v. VA 1821

· Denmark Vesey Rebellion 1822

· Gibbons v. Ogdens 1824

· Treaty of 1818

· Adams-Onis Treaty 1819

· Monroe Doctrine 1823

· Russo-American Treaty 1824

 

· Era of Good Feelings- solely one political party, Republicans, then split during 1820’s – National Republicans (Adams) & Democratic - Republicans (Jackson)

· increased nationalism

John Quincy Adams *

1825-1829

1 term

Democratic - Republican

· didn’t believe in spoils system

· confirmed nationalist

· renewed Washington’s proposal for internal improvements

· Adams- Clay corrupt bargain

· tried to deal fairly with the Indians, but GA gov’t resists attempt

· Tariff of Abominations 1828

· “The South Carolina Expostion” by Calhoun

 

 

Andrew Jackson

1829-1837

2 terms

Democrat

· Jacksonian Democracy - “the people shall rule” - increased turnout of votes proving that common people had the vote & would use it to their ends

· reflected individualism, versatility, opportunism

· laissez faire

· supported spoils system

· did not support internal improvements (roads, canals)

· Webster- Hayne Debate 1829

· Indian Removal Act 1830

· Nat Turner’s Rebellion 1831

· Nullification Crisis 1832

· vetoes recharter of BUS 1832

· Tariff of 1832

· Force Bill 1833

· vetoes Maysville Road

· Texas Revolution 1836 & recognition 1837

· Specie Circular 1836

· Bank War 1836

 

· Anti-Masonic party born

Martin Van Buren

1837-1841

1 term

Democrat

· did not support economic & social reforms

· Panic of 1937

· Divorce Bill // Independent Treasury Bill 1840

· rebellion in Canada 1837 ignited incidents along northern frontier & threatened to start war with Britain

· 2 party system emerges: Democrats support states’ rights & federal restraints in social & economic affairs; Whigs favored protective tariff, internal improvements, moral reforms, abolition of slavery, public schools

William Harrison

1841

4 weeks

Whig

· didn’t believe in spoils system

 

 

· nominated only b/c he was “issueless” and “enemy-less” – set a precedent of presidential nominations

John Tyler

1841-1845

< 1 term

Whig (Democratic tendencies)

· party supported nationalistic program

· hostile towards centralized bank, tariffs, federally funded internal improvements

· repeal of Independent Treasury Bill

· vetoed Fiscal Bank Bill & Fiscal Corporation Bill- approved redrafted bill

· annexes Texas

· Caroline affair 1837

· Aroostook War 1842

· Ashburton-Webster Treaty

 

James K. Polk *

1845-1849

1 term

Democrat

· 4 goals

-acquire CA

-acquire OR

-lower tariff

-restore independent treasury

· Manifest Destiny

· Independent Treasury restored 1846

· Walker Tariff 1846

· Wilmot Proviso

· Oregon Compromise 1845

· Mexican War 1846-48 (acquires CA & TX)

· Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1858

· Free Soil Party born 1848

Zachary Taylor

1849-1850

1 year

Whig

 

 

 

· sectional tensions begin

 

Millard Fillmore

1850-1853

3 years

Whig

· supported all compromises

· Compromise of 1850

· Uncle Tom’s Cabin

· Clayton-Bulwer Treaty

 

Franklin Pierce

1853-1857

1 term

Democrat

· favored expansion

· Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854

· John Brown @ Pottawatomie Creek 1854

· Bleeding Kansas / Lecompton Constitution 1856

· Brooks-Sumner conflict 1856

· Japan signs treaty w/ Commodore Perry in 1854

· Ostend Manifesto

· Gadsden Purchase 1853

· Whig party split (creating Republicans), allowing Pierce to win election

· Know-Nothing Party born in election of 1856

James Buchanan *

1857-1861

1 term

Democrat

 

· Dred Scott Case 1857

· Lecompton Constitution rejected 1857

· Panic of 1857

· Tariff of 1857

· Lincoln-Douglas Debate 1858 / Freeport Doctrine

· Harper’s Ferry 1859

· Homestead Act 1860

· SC secedes 1861

· Confederate States form 1861

 

· Democrats divide- Douglas seen as traitor by southern delegates

Abraham Lincoln *

1861-1865

1 term + 1 month

Republican / Union

· didn’t believe the Southern states ever left the Union

· expanded presidential power: opposed Constitution by increasing size of federal army, suspending habeas corpus, & proclaiming blockade 1861

· Crittenden Compromise 1861

· Civil War 1861-1865

· Homestead Act 1862

· Pacific Railway Act 1863

· Morrill Land Grant Act

· Emancipation Proclamation 1863

· Lincoln’s 10% Reconstruction plan 1863 replaced by Wade-Davis Bill 1864, pocket-vetoed

· Freedmen’s Bureau 1864

· unneutral ship building by England causes tension – Trent & Alabama affairs

· unofficial war with Canada (due to hatred @ England) causes Canada to unite as a country

· Napoleon III installs Archduke Maximillian as emperor of Mexico- violates Monroe Doctrine

· Copperheads 1864: peace Democrats

· Election of 1864: Republican party joined with War Democrats to become Union party- thus passed temporarily out of existence

Andrew Johnson

1865-1869

< 1 term

Republican

· champion of poor whites against planter aristocrats due to humble beginnings

· revered Constitution

· agreed with Lincoln’s 10% Reconstr. Plan & that Southern states never left the Union

· 13th Amendment 1865

· Reconstruction Proclamation 1865

· Black Codes 1865

· Civil Rights Bill 1866

· 14th Amendment 1866

· KKK founded 1866

· Tenure of Office Act 1867

· Reconstruction Act 1867

· pardons Confederate leaders 1868

· HOR impeaches b/c broke Tenure of Office Act but not convicted by Senate

· Alaska Purchase 1867

· National Labor Union 1866

Ulysses S. Grant

1869-1877

2 terms

Republican

· naïve about politics- lead on by much corruption

· supported stable currency

· Wyoming grants woman suffrage 1869

· 15th Amendment 1870

· Credit Mobilier scandal

· Tweed Ring

· Jay Gould-Jim Fisk

· Force Acts 1870-71 against KKK

· Freedmen’s Bureau ended 1872

· Election of 1873

· Panic of 1873

· Whiskey Ring scandal 1875

· Resumption Act 1875

· Hayes-Tilden standoff 1876

· Compromise of 1877

· Sioux War & Nez Perce War

· recognize dictator Porfirio Diaz in Mexico

· corruption occurred under Johnson’s presidency but was discovered during Grant’s

· Knights of Labor organized 1869

· Stalwarts & Half-Breeds organize 1870’s

Rutherford Hayes *

1877-1881

1 term

Republican

· sullied by Compromise of 1877- disliked by all

· stops Reconstruction

· Bland-Allison Act 1878

· vetoes 1st Chinese Exclusion Act

 

 

James A. Garfield *

1881

5 months

Republican

· did not believe in spoils system

 

 

· Garfield was shot by a disappointed office seeker, his death created an uproar, leading to reforms

Chester A. Arthur

1881-1885

<1 term

Republican

· hated spoils system b/c of Garfield’s assassination

· Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

· Pendleton Act 1883

· Civil Rights cases 1883

 

 

Grover Cleveland *

1885-1889

1 term

Democrat

· supported laissez- faire

· “although the people support the gov’t, the gov’t should not support the people”

· Wabash case 1886

· Dawes Severalty Act 1887

· Interstate Commerce Act 1887

· vetoed bill for pensions of veterans of Civil War 1887

· Haitian revolution 1888-89

· American Federation of Labor created 1886

Benjamin Harrison *

1889-1893

1 term

Republican

· supported by New England

· in favor of Civil War veterans

· Pension Act 1890

· Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890

· Sherman Silver Purchase Act 1890

· McKinley Tariff 1890

· The Influence of Sea Power upon History- Alfred Thayer Mahan 1890

· Forest Reserve Act 1891

· Homestead Strike 1892

 

· Chilean revolution (U.S.S. Baltimore)

· Populist Party born

Grover Cleveland *

1893-1897

1 term

Democrat

· supported sound currency

- lead to his downfall

· Depression of 1893

· repeals Sherman Silver Purchase Act 1893

· Wilson-Gorman Tariff 1894

· The Carey Act 1894

· Pullman Strike 1894

· Coxey March 1894

· Hawaiian revolt 1893

· Cuba revolts against Spain 1895

· Britain-Venezuela dispute 1895

· Sino-Japanese War 1894-95

 

William McKinley

1897-1901

< 2 terms

Republican

· supported gold & stable currency (deflation)

· Dingley Tariff Bill 1897

· Federal Bankruptcy Act 1898

· Endman Act 1898

· Gold Standard Act 1900

· Maine explodes 1898

· Spanish-American War 1898

· Teller Amendment 1898

· Hawaii annexed 1898

· Open Door Policy 1899 & 1900

· Boxer Rebellion 1900

· Anti-Imperalist league founded 1899

Theodore Roosevelt

1901-1909

<2 terms

Republican / Progressive

· big stick diplomacy

· “Square Deal”- capital, labor, public

· use the land intelligently

· ran for New Nationalism against Wilson

· Insular Cases 1901-03

· Coal Strike 1902

· Newlands Act 1902

· Dept. of Commerce & Labor created 1903

· Elkins Act 1903

· Northern Securities dissolved 1904

· Lochner v. New York 1905

· Hepburn Act 1906

· Pure Food and Drug Act 1906

· Meat Inspection Act 1906

· Panic of 1907

· Muller v. Oregon 1908

· Aldrich- Vreeland Act 1908

 

· Platt Amendment 1901

· Hay-Pauncefote Treaty 1901

· Panama revolution 1903

· Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty

· Roosevelt Corollary

· mediates Russo-Japanese War 1905

· Gentleman’s Agreement 1907

· Great White Fleet 1907

· Root-Takahira Agreement 1908

 

· rise of Progressivism(La Follete)

William H. Taft

1909-1913

1 term

Republican

· mild progressive but more status quo

· dollar diplomacy

· trust buster

· Payne-Aldrich Tariff 1909

· Mann-Elins Act 1910

· Ballinger-Pinchot Dispute 1910

· antitrust suit v. U.S. Steel Corp. 1911

· Establishes Bureau of Mines

· encouraged bankers invest in Far East & Central America

· Nicaraguan Revolt, sent Marines to protect Panama Canal 1912

 

· no progressives in cabinet

· Republicans lose congressional election due to internal divisions

· Socialist representative elected

·1911 National Progressive Republican League- La Follete candidate

Woodrow Wilson

1913-1921

2 terms

Democrat

· idealist

· moral diplomact

· New Freedom: breaking up corporations rather than regulating, unregulated/ unmonopolized markets

· against social- welfare, pro- competition

· believed in Jeffersonian democracy

· assault on “triple wall of privilege”- tariff, bank, trusts

· “peace without victory”

· 16th Amendment: income tax 1913

· 17th Amendment: direction election of senators

· 18th Amendment: prohibition 1919

· Volstead Act 1919

· 19th Amendment:: women suffrage 1920

· Underwood-Simmons Tariff 1913

· Federal Reserve Act 1913 -> Federal Reserve Board

· Clayton Anti Trust Act 1914

· Federal Trade Commission Act 1914

· Federal Farm Loan Act (Populist) 1916

· Warehouse Act (Populist) 1916

· Workingmen’s Compensation Act 1916

· Child Labor Act 1916

· Adamson Act 1916

· Draft passed 1917

· Espionage Act 1917

· Sedition Act 1918

· Steel Strike fails, hurts Union 1919

· Red Scare

· Rejection of treaty w/ Lodge reservations 1919

· Palmer Raids 1919

· Race Riots 1919

· American Legion founded by TR

· Esch- Cummins Transportation Act 1920

· Merchant Marine Act 1920

· withdraws support to American investors in foreign land 1913

· 1914 Repeals Panama Canal Tolls Act of 1912

· orders navy to seize Mexican Vera Cruz port, ABC Powers rescue 1914

· Huerta collapses, Carranza takes over, Pershing sent to capture Pancho Villa, withdrawn 1917

· WWII starts 1914

· Lusitania torpedoed by Uboat 1915

· Arabic sunk 1915

· Sussex Pledge 1916

· Germans declare unlimited sub warfare 1917

· purchased Virgin Islands 1917

· Zimmerman Telegram 1917

· Fourteen Points Address to Congress 1918

· Germans stop fighting 1918

· Versailles Treaty

·Progressives polled more votes than Democrats but were split

· Creel organization spread propaganda.

· AfoL supported war, IWW didn’t

· Paris Conference- Big Four- Wilson, Vittorio Orlando, David Lloyd George, Premier Georges Clemenceau

Warren G. Harding

1921-1923

< 1 term

Republican

· isolationist

· laissez-faire

· Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act 1921

· Congress ends war

· Emergency Quota Act 1921

· Veterans Bureau 1921

· Capper- Volstead Act 1921

· 2 month railroad strike, Attorney General issues sweeping injunction 1922

· Fordney McCumber Tariff law 1922

- degree of flexibility introduced

· Forbes steals $200 mill 1923

· Teapot Dome scandal 1923

· Adkins v. Children’s Hospital 1923

 

· Disarmament Conference 1921- 1922

· 5 Power Naval Treaty 1922

· 9 Power Treaty 1922

· 4 Power Treaty 1922

·Sacco and Vanzetti convicted 1921

· KKK gains power

· prohibition -> crimes (Al Capone)

· surrounded by “Ohio Gang”

· antitrust laws ignored

Calvin Coolidge

1923-1929

< 2 terms

Republican

· laissez-faire

· New England virtues- honesty, morality, industry, frugality

· Attorney General Daugherty resigns 1924

· Adjusted Compensation Act 1924

· Immigration Act of 1924

· Dawes Plan 1924

· “Monkey trial” 1925

· Kellog- Briand Pact 1928

· Coolidge repeatedly vetoes McNary- Haugen Bill

Herbert Hoover

1929-1933

1 term

Republican

· believed in voluntarism

· Good Neighbor Policy

· as a conservative: strongly believed in laissez faire

· as a liberal: however, the Depression got so out of hand that he was forced to act

· voluntarism

· Great Depression begins 1929--

· Agricultural Marketing Act 1929

· Hawley-Smoot Tariff 1930

· Reconstruction Finance Corporation 1932

· Federal Home Loan Bank Act 1932

· Bonus army marches 1932

· Young Plan 1929

· Japanese march into Manchuria 1931

· US recognizes Soviet Russia 1933

 

Franklin Roosevelt

1933-1945

< 4 terms

Democrat

· as a conservative: to critics, he always stated that he kept the nation from turning communist through his liberal plans: “a conservative in sheep’s clothing”

· as a liberal: governmental interference as shown in his New Deal Programs

· “Bank Holiday” 1933

· AAA, TVA. NIRA/NRA 1933

· 20th Amendment- “Lame Duck” 1933

· 21st Amendment: prohibition repealed 1933

· Wheeler-Howard Act 1934

· ERA (WPA, RA, REA, NYA) 1935

· Schechter v. U.S. 1935 (NIRA)

· Wagner Act (Labor Relations Board) 1935

· Social Security Act 1935

· U.S. v. Butler 1936 (AAA)

· “court packing” attempt 1937

· NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin 1937 (Wagner)

· Memorial Day Massacre 1937

· Farm Security Administration 1937

· Fair Labors Standards Act 1938

· Selective Service and Training Act 1940

· March on Washington Movement 1941

· Fair Employment Practices Committee 1941

· National War Labor Board & War Production Board & Office of War Information created 1942

· Manhattan Project started 1942

· Smith-Connally War Labor Dispute Act 1943

· race riots 1943

· Economic Bill of Rights 1944

· War Refugee Board created 1944

· Supreme Court holds legitimacy of Japanese internment camps 1944

· GI Bill of Rights 1944

· Reciprocal Trade Agreement Acts

· Neutrality Act 1935

· Pan-American Conference 1936

· 2nd Neutrality Act 1936

· 3rd Neutrality Act 1937

· China Incident 1937

· Munich Conference 1938

· Nazi Soviet Pact 1939

· repeals embargo to allies 1939

· Lend-Lease Act 1941

· Atlantic Charter 1941

· Greer Incident 1941

· Pearl Harbor 1941 (US enters the war)

· Neutrality Act amended 1941

· Bataan “Death March” 1942

· Teheran Conference 1943

· D-Day 1944

· Dumbarton Oaks Conference 1944

· Yalta Conference 1945

· Iwo Jima & Okinawa 1945

· during times of hardship, communism sounds good to the poor: Dr. Francis Townsend proposes the Old Age Revolving Pension Pan (gov’t gives people of 60+ age $200 and are required to spend it within the month) || Huey Long: “Share Our Wealth Society” (seize all income over $1 million and inheritances over $5 million to provide homesteads and income for the poor) || Father Francis Coughlin: anti-communist, anti-capitalist, anti-Semitic radio preacher

· Committee for Industrial Organization created 1935

· AFL and CIO split 1938

 

· Hitler in Germany 1933

· Batista in Cuba 1934

· Italy invades Ethiopia 1935

· Spanish Civil War 1936

 

Harry S. Truman

1945-1953

<2 terms

Democrat

· 21 point plan: economic message urging extension of unemployment benefits, increase in minimum wage, permanent farm price supports, new public works projects, and much of FDR’s Economic Bill of Rights

· Truman Doctrine: US intention to support any people resisting subjugation

· containment

· Employment Act of 1946

· Truman Doctrine 1947

· Taft-Hartley Act 1947

· National Security Act 1947

- National Security Council

· Alger Hiss case 1950

· Senator McCarthy alleges hundreds of communists in gov’t 1950

· Hydrogen Bomb Project 1950

· McCarran (Internal Security) Act 1950

· United Nations founded 1945

· Potsdam Conference 1945

· Hiroshima & Nagasaki 1945

· Iran Crisis 1946

· Baruch Plan 1946

· Marshall Plan 1947

· Berlin Airlift 1948

· NATO 1949

· Korean War 1950-1953

· Israel founded 1948

· Soviets gets A-bomb 1949

· communist take over China 1949

· Iron Curtain Speech by Churchill 1946

Dwight Eisenhower

1953-1961

2 terms

Republican

· warns against “Military-Industrial Complex” to maintain high levels of defense spending at expense of other goals

· Eisenhower Doctrine: US intervention on behalf of any Middle East state threatened with Communist take-over

· Julius & Ethel Rosenberg executed 1953

· Termination Policy 1953

· US Air Force Academy created 1954

· Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 1954

· Joseph McCarthy condemned by Senate 1954

· Rosa Parks 955

· Montgomery Bus Boycott 1956

· Highway Act 1956

· Civil Rights Bill 1957

· troops sent to Little Rock 1957

· NASA created 1958

· National Defense Education Act 1958

· Bandung Conference 1955

· Eisenhower Doctrine 1957

· Sputnik 1957

· U2 Spy Plane 1960

· Castro in Cuba 1959

· Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam 1955

 

· Student Non-violent coordinating committee formed 1960

John F. Kennedy

1961-1963

< 1 term

Democrat

· doctrine of “flexible response”

· wanted to solve the “moral issue”

· Trade Expansion Act 1962

· Sends 400 fed. troops to enroll James Meredith at U. of MI 1963

· meets Kruschev in Vienna 1961

· Alliance for Progress (Marshall Plan for Latin America)

· orders increase in troops in South Vietnam 1961

· Bay of Pigs 1961

· Cuban Missile Crisis

· construction of Berlin Wall begins 1961

· reputation way over blown, most of his programs did not past until his assassination

· encourage SNCC inaugurate Voter Edu. Project (register blacks to vote)

· MLK Jr. “March on Washington” 1963

Lyndon B. Johnson

1963-1969

< 2 terms

Democrat

· liberal -> semi conservative senator -> liberal president

· “Great Society”- Aid to edu., Medical care, Immigration reform, New voting rights bill

· Gideon v. Wainwright 1963

· Civil Rights Act of 1964

- creates Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

· Creation of Dep. Of Transportation & Dep. Of Housing & Urban Dev.

- names first black secretary Weaver

· 24th Amendment 1964

· Medicare, Medicaid for elderly and poor 1965

· Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

· Voting Rights Act of 1965

· Griswold v. CT 1965

· uses CIA to spy on domestic, FBI against peace movement 1967

 

 

· Tonkin Gulf Resolution 1964

· Sends troops to Dominican Republic to restore order 1965

· Orders attacking troops to land in Vietnam 1965

· Tet Offensive 1968

· Announce gradual shift of responsibility on S. Vietnamese & freeze US troop levels 1968

· Blank Panther party + SNCC = “black power”

· 6 day war- Israel v. Egypt

· MLK Jr. killed 1968

 

Richard M. Nixon

1969-1974

< 2 terms

Republican

· New Federalism

· Vietnamization

· Roe v. Wade 1973

· Watergate Scandal 1972

· Burger court 1969

· 5 year plan to distribute 30 million to states 1972

· Occupational Safety & Health Act 1970

· Clean Air Act 1970

· Pentagon Papers 1971

· Federal Election Campaign Act 1972

 

· Nixon Doctrine 1969

· invades Cambodia w/out consulting Congress 1970 (withdraws troops after 2 months)

· Senate repeals Gulf of Tonkin resolution 1970

· 26th Amendment 1971

· visits China then Moscow 1972

- Great Grain Deal, Anti- Ballistic missile treaty, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks

· War Powers Act 1973

 

Gerald R. Ford

1974-1977

< 1 term

Republican

· chosen for office b/c no hint of scandal

· tax cuts to stimulate business

· against spending for social programs

 

 

 

Jimmy Carter

1977-1981

1 term

Democrat

· sought to conduct presidency on democratic and moral principles

· very green in politics and often conflicted with Congress

· sought to base foreign policy on human rights but criticized for lack of American goals

· gave amnesty to draft dodgers

· established Departments of Energy and Education

· civil service merit based

· protected 100 million acres of Alaska from development

· Panama Canal treaty 1978

· officially recognized People’s Republic of China and ended official recognition of Taiwan 1979

· SALT II 1979

· Camp David Accords

· Iranian Hostage Crisis 1979

 

Ronald Reagan

1981-1989

2 terms

Republican

· more power to states

· advocated “traditional” values

· favored increase of defense spending

· supply-side economics

· Economic Recovery Tax Act 1938

· SDI

· Tax Reform Act 1986

· Black Monday

· Iran Contra 1986

 

George H. Bush

1989-1993

1 term

Republican

 

· Americans with Disabilities Act 1990

· Clarence Thomas becomes supreme court judge: Anita Hill scandal

· 27th Amendment 1992: prohibited congressional pay raises from taking effect until an election had seated a new session of Congress

· Tiananmen square massacre

· Communism falls: Berlin Wall falls, Soviet Union divides: Cold War ends

· START II accord

· Mandela becomes president

· Persian Gulf crisis 1989

· Operation Desert Storm 1991

 

William Clinton

1993-2001

Democrat

· advocated an end to the ban on gays and lesbian in the armed services

· “don’t ask, don’t tell”

· Hillary Clinton appointed to redesign medical-service industry but fails

· deficit-reduction bill in 1993

· Brady Bill 1993

· World Trade Center bombed

· Oklahoma City bombing

· peace keeping mission in Somalia

· improves China relations

· NATO peacekeeping contingent 1995

· North American Free Trade Agreement 1993

· presided over reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians 1993