Section 4-America Enters a New Century

Chapter ObjectivesSection 4: America Enters a New Century

• Describe the unusual circumstances surrounding the outcome of the 2000 presidential election.

• Evaluate the programs President George W. Bush initiated.

A New President for a New Century

• The election of 2000 was historically close.

• Vice President Al Gore was the Democratic candidate.

• The Republican candidate was George W. Bush, son of former President George Bush.

• Each candidate battled for the undecided independent voters.

• Both candidates promised to cut taxes, and made education and health care central issues in their campaigns.

• Ralph Nader of the Green Party was the only major challenge to the party candidates.

A New President for a New Century (cont.)

• On election day, voters split almost evenly.

• The election came down to the state of Florida. • The results in Florida were so close that state law

required a recount of the ballots using vote-counting machines.

• The machines threw out thousands of ballots because they could not determine a vote for president, so Gore asked for a hand recount.

A New President for a New Century (cont.)

• Vote counters tried to determine what voters intended, and different counties used different standards.

• When it became clear that not all of the recounts would be finished on time, Gore went to court to overturn the deadline.

• The Florida Supreme Court set a new deadline for completion of the recounts.

A New President for a New Century (cont.)

• The United States Supreme Court overturned the Florida Supreme Court decision to extend the deadline, and George W. Bush was named president.

A New President for a New Century (cont.)

Bush Becomes President• During the 2000 election campaign, the U.S.

economy began to slow. • The stock market dropped and many Internet-based

technology companies went out of business. • President Bush’s first priority in office was to cut

taxes to boost the economy. • Congress passed a large tax cut. • Congress passed education bills requiring states to

conduct annual reading and math tests for all public school children in grades 3-8.

Bush Becomes President• President Bush wanted to reform Medicare. In

November 2003 Congress passed a bill that added prescription drug benefits to Medicare.

• Congress also reacted to a rash of corporate scandals, tightening accounting regulations and increasing the penalties for dishonest corporate executives.

• Bush called for a new military program designed to meet the needs of the post-Cold War world.

• He strongly favored strategic defense–the effort to develop missiles and other devices that can shoot down nuclear missiles before they hit the United States.

• On September 11, 2001, terrorists struck the United States, and the event changed everything.

Bush Becomes President (cont.)