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Defense of Marriage Act Instituted
The Defense of Marriage Act was instituted as a religiously leaning and republican leaning act to make gay marriage as an illegal act. This came about years after Don't Ask Don't Tell which was a much more moderate stance, and yet still seemed to be a right leaning act. The Defense of Marriage Act later became a state decision, with some allowing gay marriage and some not, until in 2013 and later 2015 where gay marriage became officially legal. This was incredibly important to LGBTQIA+ rights -
The Controversial Election of 2000
Both George Bush and Al Gore were running for president in 2000 in the closest presidential election of all time. It all came down to Florida, and with about 500 votes being the decider, George Bush won. This didn't become official until December though, as the supreme court had to step in and recount votes under the guise of hanging clippings ruling certain votes ineligable. This was important as it started George Bush's presidency, and eventual dealing with the War on Terror and 9/11 -
Y2K and the Y2K Bug
At the turn of the century, many people and companies were leaning more and more into the idea of computers being the new standard. Within only 5 years in the 90's, personal computer sales went from 1,000,000 to 83,000,000 computers. The main problem was that people thought that the computers couldn't handle the change from 1999 to 2000, and everything would break. This is important because people started to really freak out, and it gave way to panic throughout the world. -
The Terrorist Attacks of 9/11
In 2001, Osama Bin Laden's terrorist group Al Queda successfully crashed 3 planes into the twin towers and the pentagon, with a fourth being taken back over by the brave passengers and eventually crashed into rural Pennsylvania. The attacks of 9/11 cemented generous nationalism for the people of the United States, and allowed Bush to most likely run for a second term on the basis of the War Against Terror. This created a shockwave through the whole world, in which we still feel today -
The War in Iraq
The war in Iraq was in response to 9/11 and the War on Terror. The war started based off of the rumor that there were weapons of mass destruction within Iraq including chemical weapons and missiles. Bush called off the war in 2003 but little did he know that was far from the truth, and far from the end. The war became one of guerrilla warfare and became much more deadly and complicated. This was important as it was a major global conflict, shifting the tides of those that fought in it -
Campaign and Re-election of George W. Bush
On the basis of "Increasingly playing to the political struggles over abortion and LGBTQ rights" (Kruse and Zelizer, 271), Gearge W. Bush would run for re-election after his close call in 2000 against Al Gore. He would eventually win, and end his presidency having to deal with, and hand off, the 2007-2008 financial crisis to our first black president. Along with other troubles, Bush's second term was met with wide critisism. This gave Bush his last term, and paved the way for Barak Obama -
The Rise of Social Media
With the rise of social media, we come to an era of constant information where people dont know what to do initially. The first major social media as we know it was facebook, which you needed a .edu account to join. Twitter came after with people also not knowing what to do with it. Eventually the government started using it to gain information including geolocation to help with investigations and just to gain general information. The rise of the internet marked the turning point of information -
Hurricane Katrina
In 2005, hurricane Katrina devestated the New Orleans area and covered it in multiple feet of Water. The bush administration was not privy to the fact that they were supposed to react, and it was said that, "the greatest signs of FEMA's reduced importance in the Bush administration were the men the president chose to lead it" (Kruse and Zelizer, 282). This came with massive controversy against the administration as they werent able to respnond in time, and many people died because of that. -
Barak Obama Elected President
Amid a financial crisis, Barak Obama was elected our first black president, breaking the line of white presidents only ever being elected. As said before, Obama came about to the presidency under a finiancial crisis, which with community based action, reflecting the presidential response to the great depression, avoided an immediate recession. Obama would go for another term in 2012, and would refuse to try for a third term under the guise that is was unconstitutional. -
Curiosity Rover Lands on Mars
The Curiosity Rover landing on Mars was an incredibly important even when it came to space travel and how we understand our universe. The curiosity rover allowed us to not only expand our reach on the solar system, but also allowed us to learn more about how space works, and changed how we understood science and space travel. This also was the first time that the US had landed on mars for collection based reasons, opening the door to more and wider expansion of science