Key Timeline

• 2001: Terrorist attack on World Trade Center and the Pentagon

  • American and British troops invade Afghanistan

  • Planning for military operations against Iraq begins

• 2002: President George W. Bush terms Iran, Iraq, and North Korea the “Axis of Evil”

  • Creation of Department of Homeland Security

  • Homeland Security Act signed into law

• 2003: President George W. Bush warns of possible war with Iraq in State of the Union address

  • Operation Iraqi Freedom: U.S. and British invasion of Iraq

  • “Outing” of CIA agent Valerie Plame

  • Violence in Iraq between Kurdish, Shiite, and Sunni factions

  • Controversy develops as weapons of mass destruction are not found in Iraq

• 2004: President George W. Bush proposes budget with $521 billion deficit

  • Photographs show American soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison

  • Provisional government with limited authority comes into power in Iraq

  • George W. Bush defeats John Kerry in presidential elections; Republicans increase their control of the House and the Senate

• 2005: Violence between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq increases dramatically

  • John Roberts becomes Supreme Court chief justice

  • Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans

  • Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, indicted on obstruction of justice concerning the Valerie Plame case

  • Samuel Alito becomes Supreme Court justice

• 2006: Controversy develops over secret wiretapping program by the federal government

  • Under investigation regarding his connections with a lobbyist, Tom DeLay, Republican majority leader of the House of Representatives, resigns

• 2007: Nancy Pelosi of California becomes first female Speaker of the House

  • President George W. Bush orders a surge of 20,000 more troops to Iraq

• 2008: Barack Obama becomes first African American elected to the U.S. presidency

  • Severe economic downturn affects U.S. financial institutions

• 2009: Unemployment in the United States remains near 10 percent

  • President Obama announces “troop surge” in Afghanistan

• 2010: BP oil spill clogs Gulf of Mexico

  • Healthcare legislation passes

  • Tea Party candidates win some seats in midterm elections

• 2012: President Obama elected to a second term

  • Gunman murders 20 children and 6 staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut

  • Supreme Court upholds the legality of most provisions of the Affordable Care Act

• 2013: Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaks information about NSA surveillance practices

  • Supreme Court strikes down the Defense of Marriage Act, which limited federal benefits to marriages between a man and a woman

  • Two Islamic terrorist brothers bomb the Boston Marathon

  • Budget dispute between Congressional Republicans and President Obama leads to a partial shutdown of government for 16 days

  • Healthcare.gov website for purchasing Affordable Care Act health plans starts up but suffers many glitches

• 2014: U.S.-Russia relations deteriorate because of Russian takeover of Crimea

  • Supreme Court strikes down limits on biennial donations to politicians by individuals

  • Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) makes great gains in the Middle East

  • Riots take place in Ferguson, Missouri, after a white police officer shoots and kills an African American teen during a confrontation on a street

  • Republicans take control of the Senate in the 2014 elections

• 2015: The Obama administration negotiates a controversial nuclear deal with Iran

  • Supreme Court upholds Affordable Care Act subsidies

  • Islamic terror attacks take place in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and San Bernardino, California

  • The Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of gay marriage

  • The United States resumes diplomatic relations with Cuba

• 2016: Islamic terrorist attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida

  • Hillary Clinton becomes the first female presidential nominee of a major political party

  • Donald Trump wins the presidential election

The Presidency of George W. Bush

The 9/11 Attacks

• President George W. Bush wanted to concentrate on domestic issues.

  • In 2001, he worked on the No Child Left Behind Act, which mandated states to define and review public education standards.

  • Tax cuts were Bush's plan to fight a recession that started when he entered office.

• On September 11, four American airliners were hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists.

  • They smashed one airplane into the Pentagon and two into the World Trade Center.

  • The fourth plane's passengers fought, forcing the hijackers to crash it near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

  • Nearly 3,000 people died in these assaults.

  • The Taliban protected Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who coordinated the assaults.

  • This is where the “War on Terror” started.

• The Bush administration reacted quickly to 9/11.

  • On October 7, the US and its allies launched "Operation Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan.

  • Within weeks, the Taliban administration crumbled.

  • Al Qaeda and Taliban commanders escaped to Pakistani highlands.

  • Kabul's pro-western administration was unstable.

  • The Bush administration was inspired by neoconservatives who thought democracy would solve Middle East issues.

Institutionalizing Homeland Security

• After the 9/11 attacks, investigators found that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had information on the hijackers' activities, but legal barriers and bureaucratic inertia prevented them from sharing the information that could have prevented this terrorist plot.

• The Office of Homeland Security was established by President Bush in October 2001 to coordinate anti-terrorist activities.

  • The Homeland Security Act of 2002 made the Office of Homeland Security a cabinet agency.

• In October 2001, Congress approved the USA Patriot Act, which provided US intelligence agencies new authority to investigate terrorist suspects.

The Iraq War

• Saddam Hussein thwarted UN arms inspectors' efforts to find and destroy Iraq's chemical and biological weapons after the Gulf War.

  • In 1998, the US and UK led the campaign bombing.

  • Iraqi military and American jets enforced no-fly zones after the Gulf War, often clashing.

  • Saddam Hussein praised 9/11.

• President Bush called Iraq, Iran, and North Korea an "Axis of Evil" in his January 2002 State of the Union Address.

  • President Bush was told by the CIA and allies that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

  • After 9/11, the president and many politicians saw this as a threat.

  • While working with the UN Security Council to restart weapons inspections in Iraq, the Bush administration planned a conflict.

  • The "Iraq Resolution" authorized action against Iraq in October 2002.

  • In early 2003, President Bush and his advisers concluded that Saddam Hussein was not working with the UN.

• On March 20, the US, UK, and coalition allies attacked Iraq.

  • Coalition troops quickly defeated the Iraqi army and captured the nation.

  • Most of Saddam Hussein's cronies would be seized.

• The Americans underestimated Iraq's fragility.

  • Basic water and electricity infrastructure repairs were sluggish.

  • Promoting democracy failed too.

• Iraqis remained split religiously between Shia and Sunni Muslims and ethnically between Kurds and Arabs, even after an interim Iraqi government took control in June 2004 and staged national assembly elections in January 2005.

  • Soon, these parties started fighting.

  • This was exacerbated by a Saddam loyalist insurgency soon controlled by Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic extremists.

  • The violent insurgency, which specialized in terrorist attacks, murdered thousands of Iraqis and started inflicting huge fatalities on coalition soldiers.

  • The conflict became unpopular in the US as losses increased.

Politics in the Bush Era

• After taking office, President Bush embraced "compassionate conservatism" to improve Americans' lives.

  • He supported the Medicare Act of 2003, which helped seniors buy prescription medicines, because of this. Bush also got tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.

• Democrats nominated Massachusetts Senator John Kerry for president in 2004.

  • Kerry opposed the Iraq War as a distinguished Vietnam soldier.

  • Republicans called him a "flip-flopper" for supporting the war.

  • Kerry received support from those disillusioned by the Iraq war and those who think President Bush's 2000 victory was illegal.

• Bush attracted people who desired success in Iraq and the "religious right," which concerned about moral norms in the US.

  • Bush narrowly beat Kerry after a bitter election campaign.

  • Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate and House.

• President Bush sought to restructure Social Security, which faced long-term budgetary instability, after his win.

  • Social Security would be largely privatized under his approach.

  • The people and Congress rejected his reform package despite his efforts.

  • Bush also wanted to solve energy challenges in the US.

  • He said "America is hooked to oil" and advocated for renewable energy.

  • In the meanwhile, the president's readiness to drill for oil in Alaska and offshore raised environmentalists' suspicions.

• In 2005, he nominated conservative Supreme Court judges John Roberts, who became Chief Justice, and Samuel Alito.

• President Bush faced more difficulties in his second administration.

  • In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and most of Louisiana and Mississippi.

  • The federal government and the Bush administration were blamed for the storm's damage, notwithstanding New Orleans and Louisiana's incompetence.

  • Some influential Republicans in Congress were tainted by scandals.

  • Democrats won both chambers of Congress for the first time since 2006 in the 2006 election.

• By 2007, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid proclaimed that “this war is lost.”

  • Many Democrats saw the Iraqi war as a disaster.

  • Bush replied with a contentious "surge" of 20,000 extra soldiers to Iraq.

  • The president's bold military attack worked.

  • The insurgency was defeated and American losses decreased by 2009.

• President Bush had economic problems late in his term.

  • Tax cuts and entitlement and military expenditures have swollen the federal debt.

• In December 2007, the US entered a "recession" that lasted for years.

  • The subprime mortgage bubble broke, partly due to the federal government's encouragement of lenders to lend to risky borrowers.

• Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy in September 2008 caused a financial crisis.

  • President Bush created a government rescue scheme for financial institutions that may have prevented a devastating depression.

  • Though the banking system was rescued, the stock market experienced significant losses, creating considerable hardship for many Americans.

The Election of 2008

• A presidential election took place amid economic turmoil.

• In a poor year for President Bush's party, Arizona Senator John McCain secured the Republican nomination.

  • His running partner was Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

• Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama battled for the Democratic nomination.

• In a year when people wanted change, Obama defeated Clinton and earned the nomination.

  • He was the first major party presidential nominee of African descent.

• Delaware Senator Joseph Biden was Obama's vice presidential selection.

• McCain campaigned on his Vietnam War heroism, while Obama preached "hope and change." Obama won easily.

• The incoming president's congressional majority strengthened as Democrats gained seats in the House and Senate.

The Obama Presidency

Domestic Policy

• In January 2009, President Barack Obama faced significant obstacles.

  • Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts persisted, and the economy was struggling.

  • The new government prioritized healthcare reform above bank and auto sector bailouts.

• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 also known as "Obamacare" passed Congress with solely Democratic votes.

  • This law insured more Americans.

  • It disrupted insurance markets, raised prices, and infuriated opponents of government healthcare.

• Healthcare reform consumed President Obama's political resources.

  • British Petroleum's enormous Gulf of Mexico oil spill was contrasted to the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

  • Concerned Americans were disturbed by President Obama's apparent apathy to illegal immigration.

  • Above all, unemployment remained high (10%) and the economic recovery from the crisis was slow.

• Obama's policies boosted the "Tea Party" Movement.

  • Tea Party activists want less government and reduced taxes.

  • Tea Partiers saw "Washington," with its lobbyists and politicians, as a renegade government that had abandoned regular folks.

  • They hated President Obama and Republican "establishment" members. The nation's political climate reflected the Tea Party's enthusiasm.

  • Republicans gained Senate seats and retook the House in 2010.

• President Obama and legislative Republicans fought over budget concerns for two years, preventing major legislation from passing.

  • The Supreme Court's 5-to-4 ruling in April 2012 affirmed much of the Affordable Healthcare Act's legality, surprising President Obama.

Changes in Foreign Policy

• President Obama took office wanting to change previous President George W. Bush's unilateral and aggressive foreign policy.

  • He and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tried to "reset" Russia ties.

  • President Obama called for "a fresh beginning" in American-Islamic ties.

  • The president started reducing troops in Iraq after the "surge military" success.

• Obama ordered all remaining soldiers out of Iraq in 2011, fulfilling a campaign vow to end the conflict. Unrest persisted in Afghanistan.

  • Though he promised to decrease American troops in Afghanistan by 2014, President Obama grudgingly ordered 30,000 extra soldiers to Afghanistan in December 2009.

• In 2011, President Obama and NATO allies used airpower to assist Libyan rebels to remove Muammar Gaddafi.

  • Libya became a terrorist refuge when a new government failed.

  • On September 11, 2012, terrorists stormed a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, killing the ambassador and three other Americans.

  • Long-standing dispute surrounded this assault and the Obama administration's justifications.

• On May 1, 2011, President Obama ordered a daring operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

  • After years of searching, the CIA found the Al Qaeda leader in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

  • Osama bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs in a midnight operation.

The Election of 2012

• Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, received the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

• Romney chose Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate.

• The economy was the top topic for both Obama and Romney.

• Romney advocated expenditure cuts, while Obama advocated greater taxes on the rich.

• President Obama won another presidential election, and Democrats gained seats in Congress on his coattails.

• Romney gained more votes from whites and seniors, but he was seen as a candidate of the wealthy "one percent" in exit polls.

• Obama solidified a youthful and minority electoral alliance.

President Obama’s Second Term

Domestic Policy

• Most of President Obama's domestic legislative plans were blocked by Republicans in Congress.

  • After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, gun control measures failed.

  • President Obama and Congressional Republicans sparred over fiscal and economic policies.

• The poor deployment of the Healthcare.gov website, which was designed to enroll Americans in new Affordable Care Act insurance plans, humiliated the Obama administration.

  • Many flaws created customer issues.

  • The government's online failure contributed to public mistrust.

  • The Affordable Care Act was controversial even after the website issues were fixed.

• In 2014, Republicans won big. Nine Senate seats and a larger House majority gave the Republicans control.

  • Republican gubernatorial and state legislative wins put them in their highest national position since 1928.

• President Obama used executive orders and government rules to achieve his immigration and environmental aims.

  • Republican efforts to abolish the Affordable Care Act and permit the Keystone XL project were vetoed by the President.

• Social problems were Obama's "bully pulpit."

  • Gay marriage became his cause.

  • The Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling legalized homosexual marriage nationwide.

• Michael Brown, a young African American youth, was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.

  • This event demonstrated African American displeasure with police practices, even though the Justice Department subsequently decided that the shot was justified.

  • Protests expanded nationwide from Ferguson.

  • National attention was given to "Black Lives Matter."

  • African American men's police shootings were scrutinized.

  • Police policemen were shot down.

  • Obama recognized police's tough job but sympathized with African American rage.

• Domestic security became a problem in President Obama's second term.

  • Edward Snowden, a former NSA worker, released crucial surveillance program details in 2013.

  • American intelligence activities suffered from his disclosures.

• Foreign cyber assaults against the US, such as the 2014 data breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, raised concerns.

• The Boston Marathon was attacked by two radical Islamist Chechen brothers in 2013.

• In 2015 and 2016, Islamic terrorists attacked Chattanooga, Tennessee, San Bernardino, California, and Orlando, Florida.

• Immigration and domestic terrorist debates grew after these instances.

Foreign Policy

• During President Obama's second term, the Syrian civil war destabilized its neighbors and sent waves of migrants to Europe.

  • Obama called for the resignation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

  • President Obama allowed certain ineffectual efforts to train pro-Western rebel groups, but he opposed military participation.

  • He warned that President Assad's deployment of chemical weapons would trigger American response.

• In August 2013, Syrian government troops used chemical weapons to murder almost 300 civilians.

  • Instead of attacking the Syrian government, President Obama accepted a Russian offer to have President Assad hand up his chemical weapons.

  • Russian influence in the Middle East, notably Syria, revived.

  • In 2015, Vladimir Putin invaded Syria.

  • President Assad won the war with Russian air assistance.

• Islamic militants in Iraq gained power after Syria's civil war.

  • As the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, they established a territory in Syria. ISIL was first ignored by President Obama.

  • After the 2011 American army departure from Iraq, sectarian strife broke out between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the Iraqi government.

  • This political confusion allowed ISIL to conduct a catastrophic military onslaught into Iraq in 2014, capturing a significant swath of land including Mosul.

  • To assist the Iraqi army defeat ISIL, President Obama sent several thousand soldiers back to Iraq.

  • Terrorists were bombed by thousands of US Air Force and Navy pilots.

  • In Syria, American soldiers bombed ISIL.

• President Obama sought a nuclear weapons agreement with Iran as part of his Middle Eastern agenda.

  • In 2015, the Obama administration and diplomats from the other permanent members of the UN Security Council reached an agreement with Iran to end economic sanctions and return funds that had been sequestered since the 1970s in exchange for concessions that would likely delay the development of an Iranian nuclear bomb for a decade or more.

  • President Obama hoped the accord would maintain peace and begin integrating the Iranian government into the international community.

  • Republican opponents of the deal feared that it would empower an adversary of the US while failing to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

  • Due to Senate resistance, President Obama did not submit the pact as a treaty.

• Other than Syria, Russia challenged the US.

  • President Putin grabbed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and supported a deadly revolt in the east.

  • The US and NATO had to strengthen Baltic defenses after Russian soldiers threatened them.

  • The Obama administration expelled many Russian diplomats in late 2016 after accusing the Russian government of hacking and leaking Democratic National Committee information to influence the US presidential race.

The Election of 2016

• In a promising year for the opposition party, 16 Republicans stood for president.

  • Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Senator Marco Rubio, and Senator Ted Cruz were unexpectedly beaten by New York real estate mogul and reality TV show host .

  • Trump secured the Republican nomination by opposing the Republican establishment and supporting populist issues like constructing a wall along the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration, defying most political predictions.

• Hillary Clinton led the Democratic field.

  • Bernie Sanders, a Vermont socialist senator, challenged her for the Democratic candidacy. Clinton swung left.

  • One of the most liberal Democratic party platforms ever was 2016.

• Both presidential contenders had high unfavorability ratings.

  • Donald Trump was a star for decades.

    • He was prone to inappropriate remarks.

    • His obscene statements regarding women were caught on film.

    • He was questioned for his presidential temperament.

  • Hillary Clinton has been in the public glare for years.

    • Many claimed Hillary and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, were unethical and exploited their Clinton Foundation to benefit themselves.

    • Clinton had set up an unsafe private server instead of utilizing secure government computer systems as secretary of state, which heightened the chance that foreign intelligence agencies had accessed sensitive emails.

    • By first lying about the server's contents, Clinton exacerbated her error. FBI director James Comey chastised her conversations but decided that she had not purposefully breached federal security standards.

    • Due to the discovery of new Clinton e-mails on another device, Comey's inquiry was revived late and briefly, weakening her campaign.

• Trump's running partner is Indiana governor Mike Pence.

  • Pence's conservative credentials appealed to traditional Republican supporters.

• Virginia Senator Tim Kaine was Clinton's vice presidential pick.

  • Before joining the Senate, Kaine was Virginia's governor, making him an experienced and trustworthy pick.

• Clinton spent most of the campaign doubting Trump's presidential suitability.

  • She also promoted the historic aspect of her campaign and the likelihood that she might be the first woman president.

  • Trump continued to portray himself as an outsider who would clean up Washington.

  • He ignored political correctness, promised to bring American jobs back from abroad, and urged his followers to "make America great again."

• Trump won the electoral votes of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, breaking the Democratic "Blue Wall" of midwestern industrial states.

  • The electoral vote went to Trump, 306 to 232.

  • Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, most of which came from California.

  • Trump won the election by winning the support of white working-class Americans who had fallen behind economically under President Obama.

  • These people also disliked the politically correct views of "the elites" and Democratic party members.

  • Trump scored better with African American and Hispanic voters than Mitt Romney did in 2012.

  • After his election, Trump chose a conservative cabinet.

Chapter 31: A Tumultuous Presidency: The Trump Years (2017–2021)