American history from 1988 to 2004

And this is Steve Ember with THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.. Today, we continue telling about the administration of Presi[r]

George H.W Bush's Presidency Saw End of Cold War

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VOA Special English program about the history of the United States Today, we continue telling about the administration of President George Herbert Walker Bush He was elected the forty-first president of the United States in 1988

The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union ended under the administration

of President George Bush This very tense period had lasted more than forty years The invention of weapons that could kill millions of people at one time increased worldwide fears during this period

The world was changing greatly however, during the late 1980s The Soviet Union was dying

On November ninth, 1989, East Germany opened the Berlin Wall for the first time since it had been built This wall had divided Communist East Germany from the West since 1961 Citizens and soldiers soon began tearing it down The fall of the Berlin Wall ended much of the fear and tension between democratic nations and the Soviet Union

Tensions continued to ease as Communist rule in most of the former Soviet countries ended

by the early 1990s

Fifteen republics had belonged to the Soviet Union By the end of 1991, most had declared their independence President Bush recognized all the former Soviet republics They became avery loosely formed coalition called the Commonwealth of Independent States Countries thathad considered the United States the enemy, now looked to it to lead the way to peace

As the Soviet Union was dying, President Bush repeatedly negotiated with Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev In the spring of 1990, for example, their meeting in the United States resulted in an important agreement It called for each side to destroy most of its chemical weapons The two men also agreed to improve trade and economic relations

The American and Soviet presidents met in July, 1991, in Moscow There, the two leaders signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, called START ONE This treaty called for both the Soviet Union and the United States to reduce their supply of long-range nuclear bombs and missiles Each promised to decrease its supply by about one-third over seven years START ONE became the first agreement between the two powers that ordered cuts in

supplies of existing nuclear weapons

In September 1991, President Bush said the United States would remove most of its range nuclear weapons from service He also said the United States would destroy many of these weapons The next month, the Soviet nations announced the same actions

short-On December twenty-fifth, Mikhail Gorbachev officially resigned as Soviet president The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ended

As president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin became the most important leader of the former Soviet Republics President Bush and President Yeltsin signed another arms treaty in January, 1993 This START TWO agreement provided for reducing long-range nuclear weapons to half the number planned for START ONE Cuts were to be made over seven years.

George Bush ordered American forces into battle two times during his administration These conflicts were not linked to disputes with Communist governments

In December 1989, he sent troops to Panama The goal was to oust the dictator, General Manuel Antonio Noriega Noriega had refused to honor election results that showed another candidate had been elected president of Panama The United States also wanted Noriega on illegal drug charges In addition, President Bush said he sent troops in to protect thirty five-thousand Americans living in the Central American nation

American soldiers easily defeated Noriega’s forces He was taken to the United States for trial The United States then supported the presidency of Guillermo Endara, who had

officially won the presidential election in Panama

In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait The United States and other nations were receiving much of their oil from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia The United Nations declared a resolution clearly threatening war on Iraq unless it withdrew from Kuwait by January fifteenth, 1991 But Iraq failed to obey

President Bush succeeded in forming a coalition with thirty-eight other countries against Iraq The coalition wanted to free Kuwait and protect Saudi Arabia from invasion by Iraq

President Bush sent hundreds of thousands of American troops into the effort

The Persian Gulf War began in Iraq on January seventeenth, 1991 At first, the coalition bombed Iraqi targets in Iraq and Kuwait The bombing destroyed or damaged many importantcenters On February twenty-sixth, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered his troops to leave Kuwait

The order came too late The Iraqis were surrounded Major ground attacks on Iraq and Kuwait defeated Saddam Hussein’s forces in a little more than four days

Only about three hundred-seventy coalition troops died in the Persian Gulf War Some

military experts say as many as one hundred-thousand Iraqi fighters may have been killed in the fighting Others say far fewer Iraqi soldiers died However, thousands of civilians were thought to have died in Iraq and Kuwait Kuwait suffered severe damage But it was free

After the war Saddam Hussein still controlled his country Years later, some Americans continued to criticize the Bush Administration for not trying to oust the Iraqi leader They believed President Bush should have urged that coalition forces try to capture the Iraqi capital,Baghdad

After the war ended, Kurdish people in northern Iraq fought to oust the Iraqi leader So did Shi-ite Muslims in southern Iraq These groups suffered crushing defeat

The defeated Kurds fled to Iran, Turkey, and the northern Iraqi mountains Thousands of Kurds died or suffered from war injuries, disease, and starvation In April, President Bush ordered American troops to work with other coalition nations to give humanitarian aid to the refugees The troops established refugee camps for the Kurds

As time passed, Iraqi soldiers and aircraft continued to attack Kurds in the north and Shi-ite Muslims in the south Coalition forces led by the United States established safety areas in northern and southern Iraq Years later, these “no fly” areas still restricted Iraqi military air activity.

President Bush also ordered American military troops to join other troops in Somalia By late

1992, lack of rain and continuing civil war had caused widespread suffering there Opposing armed ethnic groups were keeping Somalis from receiving food and other aid supplies American soldiers helped in the effort to get aid to the starving people

The North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, was signed in late 1992 It called for the United States and Mexico to remove taxes and other trade barriers Mexico and Canada agreed to take similar action NAFTA became effective in 1994, after George Bush had left office

Some people feared that NAFTA would hurt millions of workers Others praised President Bush for supporting the agreement

By the third year of his four-year term, President Bush’s international activities had made him

an extremely popular president It seemed he would be easily re-elected in 1992

Historians often say, however, that political situations can change quickly That is what happened to America’s forty-first president Economic problems and other issues inside the United States began to seriously damage the great popularity of George Herbert Walker Bush

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jerilyn Watson and

produced by George Grow This is Mary Tillotson And this is Steve Ember Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States

A 'Man From Hope' Is Elected to the White House in 1992

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VOA Special English program about the history of the United States Today, we begin telling about Bill Clinton, America's forty-second president He led the United States for eight years

He acted on many important issues that affected the United States and other countries

President Clinton also had to defend himself against accusations of dishonesty and sexual wrongdoing

In 1991, many Americans felt happier and more secure than they had in years Worries about nuclear war had eased The United States had led a coalition of allies to victory in the Persian Gulf War In a little more than four days, the coalition freed Kuwait from invaders from Iraq and deeply damaged the Iraqi military

Republican President George Bush had won huge popularity after successfully leading the war effort Most political experts believed President Bush would easily be re-elected in 1992.President Bush’s popularity fell, however, as many people lost their jobs Unemployment climbed to its highest rate since 1984 Economic growth slowed to recession levels The federal government was deeply in debt after years of borrowing to pay for its programs.The opposition Democratic Party correctly believed it had a good chance to elect a president

in 1992 It placed its hopes for winning the White House on Arkansas Governor William Jefferson Clinton

The future president was born William Jefferson Blythe on August 19, 1946, in Hope,

Arkansas His parents were William Jefferson Blythe and Virginia Blythe Bill’s father was a traveling salesman His father had died in a car accident three months before Bill was born Atage two, Bill was sent to live with his grandparents while his mother studied to become a nurse

Bill’s mother married Roger Clinton when Bill was four years old The family moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1953 Bill officially changed his name to William Jefferson Clinton at age 15

Bill Clinton’s new father, Roger Clinton, drank too much alcohol Bill’s life at home was unpleasant at times However, he did well in school and liked it very much He also developed

a strong early interest in politics He competed for many offices while in high school

In 1963, Bill Clinton met President John F Kennedy Bill was visiting Washington, D.C as a delegate for a citizenship training program President Kennedy provided the young Bill Clinton with a strong example of leadership

Bill continued his education at Georgetown University in Washington He graduated in 1968 Excellence in his studies won him a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University in Oxford, England He spent two years there before entering Yale University Law School in New Haven, Connecticut

At Yale, Bill fell in love with another Yale law student Hillary Rodham of Park Ridge, Illinois shared his deep interest in politics and public service They were married in October

of 1975 Their daughter Chelsea was born in 1980

Bill Clinton returned to Arkansas after completing law school He soon entered politics as a Democrat, narrowly losing an election for Congress Later, Arkansas citizens elected him attorney general the top law official for the state In 1978, he became the Democratic Party candidate for governor He easily defeated his Republican opponent He was the youngest man ever elected governor of Arkansas

While Bill Clinton was governor, the federal government operated a holding center for Cuban refugees in Arkansas Rioting among these Cubans hurt his chances for re-election Governor Clinton’s opponent said he should have done more to get the government to hold the Cubans someplace else Mr Clinton also supported unpopular new taxes

Bill Clinton was defeated in his effort to be re-elected governor of Arkansas in 1980 He deeply regretted this loss He promised himself he would again be governor Bill Clinton

gained his goal in the election two years later He continued to serve as governor of Arkansas until 1992.

Education in Arkansas improved under the leadership of Governor Clinton Many more students graduated from Arkansas high schools The number of students entering college also rose The state began requiring examinations for teachers It also increased their pay Mr Clinton started health centers in public schools And he expanded Head Start programs to helpprepare poor children to begin school

While governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton also served in national organizations for governors and Democratic Party leaders He became well known as a moderate Democrat

In 1991, William Jefferson Clinton announced he would compete for the Democratic

nomination for president Former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas and former California Governor Edmund Brown, Junior were his main opponents for the nomination

However, Paul Tsongas later suspended his campaign for lack of money Mr Clinton won a big lead over Mr Brown in state nominating elections

Democrats met for their national nominating convention in New York City in July, 1992 They named Bill Clinton as their candidate for president He chose Senator Al Gore of

Tennessee to be his vice president in the election

The Republican Party nominated President Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle for a second term Texas businessman Ross Perot competed as an independent His vice presidential candidate was a former top Navy officer, James Stockdale

President Bush talked about his foreign policy successes during the campaign He said he would cut taxes He said Bill Clinton would raise taxes Many Americans, however,

remembered that President Bush had raised taxes after promising not to do this

Bill Clinton criticized President Bush mostly about important domestic issues in the United States He said the president had failed to deal with the slow economy and high

unemployment President Bush answered that the Democrats controlled Congress He said theDemocrats defeated most of his domestic proposals Ross Perot criticized both Republican President Bush and Democratic candidate Clinton Mr Perot said neither man considered the importance of the huge federal debt

Bill Clinton and Al Gore won the 1992 presidential election They received about forty million votes President Bush and Mr Quayle had about thirty-nine million votes About 18 million people voted for Mr Perot and Mr Stockdale

five-Bill Clinton became America’s forty-second president on January twentieth, 1993 At age forty-six, he was the third youngest person ever elected president

At his swearing-in ceremony, the new president said there was no longer division between foreign and domestic issues Listen to these words from President Bill Clinton’s swearing-in-speech:

BILL CLINTON: "The world economy, the world environment, the world AIDS crisis, the world’s arms race they affect us all Today, as an old order passes, the new world is more

free but less stable Communism’s collapse has called forth old animosities and new dangers Clearly America must continue to lead the world we did so much to make.”

Even as President Clinton took office, critics were accusing him of wrongdoing There were questions about sexual relationships outside his marriage Other accusations involved an investment he and Mrs Clinton had made years before In 1978 they had bought land in Arkansas to sell for holiday homes

President Clinton denied any dishonorable actions But the criticism and suspicion of

America’s forty-second president continued

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jerilyn Watson and

produced by George Grow This is Steve Ember And this is Mary Tillotson Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States

Bill Clinton Begins His First Term in 1993

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This is Mary Tillotson And this is Steve Ember with THE MAKING OF A NATION a

VOA Special English program about the history of the United States Today, we continue telling about Bill Clinton, America's forty-second president

Bill Clinton began his first term as president of the United States in January of 1993 During his terms in office, he appointed more women and minority members to serve in government than any earlier president

Mr Clinton became the first Democratic president in twenty-five years to name associate justices to the United States Supreme Court He chose Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer to serve on America’s highest court Ms Ginsburg was only the second woman named

to the court

Members of President Clinton’s own Democratic Party controlled Congress for the first two years of his presidency Still, Congress failed to consider a major administration proposal The plan was meant to reform the health care system to provide health care for all Americans.Bill Clinton had promised during his presidential campaign to help more Americans receive health care A committee led by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, proposed the new

administration plan But Congress did not act on the proposal Lawmakers decided it was too costly and too difficult to administer

Congress did pass some Clinton legislation during his first term For example, legislators enacted his proposal to fight crime This measure included a crime prevention program and increased law enforcement It also provided money for building more prisons Lawmakers also passed Mr Clinton’s budgets for 1993 and 1994 The budgets reduced federal spending

President Clinton’s relations with Congress became more difficult after the 1994 midterm elections Voters throughout the country elected the first majority Republican Congress in forty years Republicans controlled both the Senate and the House of Representatives

The Republican-led Congress passed measures to reform social welfare in America Mr Clinton also wanted to reform America’s aid system But he stopped Congress from cutting what he believed was too much money for some programs These included help for education,poor people and old people needing medical care.

The economy had slowed to recession level during the administration of President George Bush Under Mr Clinton the economy grew slowly at first Then it recovered more quickly Business earnings grew New jobs were created The economic crisis was ended

Mr Clinton had to deal with terrorism against the United States very early in his presidency

On February twenty-sixth, 1993, Islamic terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York City They placed explosives in a car parked under the building The huge explosion killed six people More than one thousand others were injured Repair of the damaged

building cost millions of dollars The government later captured and tried the bombers

Terrorism again struck the United States in 1995 On April nineteenth, a dissident American former soldier placed explosives that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma One hundred sixty-eight people died in the bombing

It was the most serious incident of terrorism on home territory in United States history The bomber, Timothy McVeigh, was captured soon after the explosion Another former soldier also was seized later in connection with the bombing Many Americans praised Mr Clinton for the way he led the nation after this tragedy

President Bill Clinton also had to deal with a number of foreign relations crises For example, President Bush had sent American troops to Somalia in 1992 The troops were taking food to thousands of starving Somalis The people were suffering because of lack of rain and a civil war Fighting among ethnic groups was preventing the people from receiving food and other aid supplies

Then the United Nations took control of the aid efforts

President Clinton made American soldiers part of the UN force In 1993, 18 American

soldiers were killed in Mogadishu They died in a battle with supporters of a local group leader Mr Clinton ordered American troops to leave Somalia after Congress demanded their withdrawal

American foreign policy was more successful in other areas For example, President Clinton helped return the first democratically elected leader of Haiti to office

In 1991, military officers in Haiti had ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide The new rulersestablished a military dictatorship Thousands of Haitian refugees tried to flee to the United States by boat

In 1994, President Clinton threatened to use military force against the dictators if they did not let President Aristide return to power The dictators surrendered power Mr Aristide again became president of Haiti

Some of Mr Clinton’s most important foreign policy decisions involved the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, formerly a republic of Yugoslavia A civil war began in Bosnia-

Herzegovina in 1992 Bosnian Serb rebels were trying to oust the mainly Muslim

government

The United Nations sent peacekeepers to Bosnia Mr Clinton ordered the United States Air Force to aid Bosnian Muslims under attack and try to stop Serb aggression.

In late 1995, Mr Clinton helped organize a meeting of the warring sides in the Bosnian civil war They signed a peace plan that included a cease-fire The plan called for NATO troops to help guard the cease-fire The president sent American troops to aid in this effort

Mr Clinton gained one of the major foreign policy goals of his first administration in

November of 1993 Congress approved NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement The agreement called for ending most import taxes among the United States, Canada and Mexico This was to be done over the next 15 years The agreement also called for ending restrictions on the flow of goods, services and investment among the three countries

President Clinton had another trade policy success the following year Congress expanded GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade The expansion permitted cuts in import taxes on thousands of products They included electronics, wood products and metals

While Mr Clinton led the nation, he also had to defend his past In the late 1970s, Mr and Mrs Clinton had invested in the Whitewater Development Corporation in Arkansas By the time Bill Clinton became president, others involved with this company were in legal trouble Critics said President Clinton also had acted illegally

One accuser was a former judge in Little Rock, Arkansas He owned a savings and loan company that received federal money This man said Bill Clinton had secretly pressured him

to make illegal loans to help the Whitewater company President Clinton denied the

accusation

Some people suspected that Hillary Rodham Clinton was responsible for wrongdoing years earlier when she working as a lawyer in Little Rock, Arkansas In January, 1994, Mr Clinton asked Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint a lawyer to lead an independent investigation

of the Clintons’ activities She named Robert Fiske, a Republican

But critics charged that Mr Fiske was too friendly to the Clinton Administration In August, three federal judges replaced him with lawyer Kenneth Starr, also a Republican

Some Americans expressed anger at the president about the Whitewater case Others

dismissed the accusations as political attacks Opinion studies in spring and summer of 1996 showed that many Americans would vote to re-elect their president in November They said they wanted Bill Clinton to serve as president for four more years

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jerilyn Watson and

produced by George Grow This is Steve Ember And this is Mary Tillotson Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States

Bill Clinton Wins Re-election in 1996

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This is Mary Tillotson And this is Shirley Griffith with THE MAKING OF A NATION a

VOA Special English program about the history of the United States Today, we tell about thesecond administration of Bill Clinton, America's forty-second president He was elected in

1992 and re-elected four years later

The first term in office for President Bill Clinton was coming to an end in the summer of

1996 His record was like that of many other American presidents in the past He had gained some successes with Congress and in foreign policy He also had suffered some failures

This president, however, had a personal concern that other presidents had not had

Investigations were continuing into possible wrongdoing by Mr and Mrs Clinton The main accusations were connected to their financial activities in Arkansas during the 1980s

Americans, however, seemed far more interested in the nation’s economy It had improved during Mr Clinton’s first term in office Americans were getting jobs They were spending money Investing in the stock market traditionally had been an activity mainly for rich people.Now many other people were buying stocks, too Opinion studies showed that Bill Clinton was a popular president

The Democratic Party met in Chicago, Illinois for its nominating convention in August of

1996 Mr Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were nominated as the party’s candidates without opposition

The Republican Party held its nominating convention in San Diego, California that summer Itchose former Senator Robert Dole of Kansas to compete for president Senator Dole had resigned from the Senate to compete for the nomination Former Congressman and Cabinet official Jack Kemp of New York received the nomination for vice president

Senator Dole was a hero during World War Two Later he served four terms in the House of Representatives from Kansas He was elected to the Senate in 1968 and re-elected four more times

Businessman Ross Perot had competed in the presidential election four years earlier as an independent He again declared himself a candidate of the Reform Party

During the campaign, President Clinton pointed to his successes during his first term They included an improved economy, increased wages for low-paid workers and gun control measures Mr Dole criticized President Clinton for spending too much federal money

President Clinton answered that he had stopped Congress from cutting too much money from programs like Medicare That is the government program that helps pay the medical expenses

of older people

President Clinton and Vice President Gore won the election They received almost seven-and-one-half-million votes Senator Dole and Mr Kemp received about thirty-nine million votes Ross Perot received about eight million votes President Clinton was the first Democratic president to be re-elected to a second term since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936

forty-Bill Clinton began his second term as president of the United States on January twentieth,

1997 On that day, President Clinton gave the last inaugural speech of an American president

in the twentieth century He said, “We must keep our old democracy forever young.”

Mr Clinton also spoke of racial separation in the nation He said it had been a continued terrible problem in American history He urged that America become one unified nation.CLINTON: “The divide of race has been America’s constant curse And each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the

pretense of religious or political conviction are no different.”

Mr Clinton continued to appoint women and minority members to important jobs In 1996 henominated the first woman ever to serve as secretary of state Madeleine Albright had served

as the United States permanent representative to the United Nations during Mr Clinton’s first administration

Later, Mr Clinton named Bill Richardson as the permanent representative to the United Nations Mr Richardson is Hispanic Norman Mineta became the first Asian-American appointed to the Cabinet The president named Mr Mineta secretary of commerce

The Republican Party had kept control of both houses of Congress as a result of the ninety ninety-six elections This Republican Congress and the Democratic president had different ideas about the budget In 1997 they reached a compromise They agreed to a plan to end the deficit by 2002

But the nation did not have to wait until then The economy in 1998 was so strong that the government had seventy thousand-million dollars more than its budget This was the first federal budget surplus since 1969

Foreign relations took much of President’s Clinton time during his second term He visited China in 1998 He urged Chinese leaders to permit more democracy in their country

In August of that year, bombs placed by terrorists destroyed the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania Hundreds of people were killed American intelligence experts blamed the attacks on Osama bin Laden, a Saudi businessman and suspected terrorist President Clinton ordered missile strikes against camps in Afghanistan suspected of being under Mr binLaden’s command

American missiles also destroyed a factory in Sudan The factory had been suspected of producing nerve gas for terrorists However, the factory owner said his company produced medicines The United States later freed property and money of the factory owner that it had seized

Later in 1998, President Clinton ordered American forces to launch missile strikes against military and industrial centers in Iraq United Nations officials feared the centers contained or could produce nuclear, chemical or biological weapons The U-N had ordered Iraq to

cooperate with inspectors searching for weapons But Iraq refused to cooperate

The next year, Mr Clinton deployed American aircraft and missiles as part of a NATO military campaign against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic NATO was trying to stop attacks against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, a province of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia Yugoslav military leaders agreed to withdraw their troops NATO stopped the bombing and sent an international peacekeeping force to Kosovo The United States sent seven thousand troops to the force

In October of 1998, Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed a document of understanding at the White House The Wye Memorandum developed from nine days of negotiations at the Wye River Plantation in eastern Maryland It called for Israeli forces to withdraw from some West Bank areas.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and special diplomat Dennis Ross traveled often to the Middle East They tried to help Israel and the Palestinians continue their peace efforts

In 2001, Mr Clinton tried to get Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to sign a peace agreement Mr Clinton met with the two men for many hours in the Washington area Reports said they came close to a settlement But the negotiations endedwithout an agreement Violence increased soon afterward Palestinians declared a new

uprising against Israel

One of President Clinton’s major actions during his second term was helping establish

permanent normal trade relations with China Congress passed a bill enacting this in 2000 The president said the measure would help democracy grow in China He also said it would help create jobs in the United States

Mr Clinton supported expansion of NATO as well as more free trade He also worked for a worldwide campaign against the trade of illegal drugs Historians say President Bill Clinton will be remembered for reaching out to the international community But he will also be remembered for being charged and tried for wrongdoing by Congress We will tell about that next week

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jerilyn Watson and

produced by George Grow This is Mary Tillotson And this is Shirley Griffith Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States

How Bill Clinton Became the Second

President Ever to Be Impeached

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This is Mary Tillotson And this is Steve Ember with THE MAKING OF A NATION a

VOA Special English program about the history of the United States Today, we continue telling about America's forty-second president, Bill Clinton He became only the second American president to be charged and tried for wrongdoing by Congress

For years, critics of Bill Clinton had accused him of financial wrongdoing before he became president Some critics also accused his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton The Clintons denied any dishonest actions However, unconfirmed reports repeatedly said that they were involved

in illegal business activities in Arkansas during the 1980s

In January of 1994, the president asked Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint an

independent lawyer to lead an investigation Ms Reno named a Republican lawyer However,some people said this man was too friendly to the Clinton administration He was replaced by Kenneth Starr, also a Republican

Congress also investigated the president during his two terms in office For example, the Senate Judiciary Committee began an investigation in 1995 The majority of Judiciary

Committee members reported that the evidence did not show Mr Clinton responsible for a crime But the majority belonged to his political party, the Democrats Suspicion of the president continued

The main cause of the suspicion developed from a financial investment made years earlier Bill and Hillary Clinton had bought land in Arkansas in 1978 The Clintons formed the Whitewater Development Corporation with Susan and James McDougal The goal was to sell holiday homes on a river However, the company did poorly

James McDougal also owned a loan company Hillary Clinton, a lawyer, did legal work for this company The company failed during the 1980s James McDougal and Susan McDougal were found guilty of wrongdoing in connection with the loan company

Bill and Hillary Clinton’s business connection to the McDougals in the Whitewater Company helped make the Clintons targets of suspicion

A former judge also became linked to legal questions about the Whitewater Corporation David Hale owned a savings and loan company that received public money In 1996, Mr Hale said Bill Clinton had pressured him to loan money to Susan McDougal about eleven years earlier The Whitewater Development Corporation received some of that money Mr Clinton was governor of Arkansas at the time So such an action would have been illegal Bill Clinton denied the accusation

Investigators asked Mrs Clinton several times for records of her legal work for James

McDougal during the 1980s Officials wanted to know how much time she had spent on legal advice for his loan company She said she could not find the records Then, in January of

1996, the records appeared in the White House Mrs Clinton could not explain their presence

Bill and Hillary Clinton continued to deny wrongdoing Some Americans did not believe them Others, however, said Kenneth Starr was wasting millions of dollars on his

investigation They said Mr Starr was acting against the president for political reasons

Media reports said Mr Starr had offered shorter prison sentences to David Hale and others involved with Whitewater if they cooperated with his investigation Defenders of the

president said this meant these people had good reason to lie

Investigators said such offers are common Other media reports said David Hale had received large amounts of money from a conservative organization that had strongly criticized Mr Clinton

The president was threatened with removal from office after a sexual relationship with a young woman became public

It started when a former Arkansas state employee named Paula Corbin Jones took legal actionagainst President Clinton in 1994 She charged that he had asked her for sex while he was governor of Arkansas A federal judge dismissed her case for lack of evidence But Mrs Jones appealed the case

Her lawyers wanted to prove that Mr Clinton had had sex with several female workers They suspected these included a young woman, Monica Lewinsky, who had worked as a White

House assistant They believed Ms Lewinsky had sexual relations with President Clinton between 1995 and 1997.

Kenneth Starr was still investigating the Whitewater case early in 1998 He received

permission to include Ms Lewinsky in his investigation

A former friend of Ms Lewinsky had given Mr Starr tape recordings of her telephone calls with the young woman On the recordings, Monica Lewinsky talked about her relationship with the president

Earlier, Ms Lewinsky and Mr Clinton had separately answered questions from lawyers representing Paula Jones Both Mr Clinton and Mizz Lewinsky denied having a sexual relationship In January of 1998, Mr Clinton also denied publicly that he had a sexual

relationship with Mizz Lewinsky

Six months later, Mr Clinton agreed to answer questions before a federal investigating jury

He told the grand jury about his relationship with Ms Lewinsky This meant he had lied during earlier official questioning That night, the president admitted on national television that he had had a relationship with Monica Lewinsky that was wrong He told the nation his actions were a personal failure But he denied trying to get her to lie about the relationship

Kenneth Starr sent his final report to the House of Representatives The report suggested that

Mr Clinton may have committed impeachable crimes in trying to hide his relationship with the young woman

In December, the House of Representatives impeached President William Jefferson Clinton This meant the Senate would hold a trial and decide if he was guilty If found guilty, Mr Clinton would be removed from office, as required by the Constitution

Only one other president had ever been impeached In 1868, the House of Representatives hadbrought charges against President Andrew Johnson The Senate had failed by one vote to remove him from office

The House of Representatives approved two charges against President Clinton to send to the Senate One charge accused him of lying during the official investigation of his relationship with Mizz Lewinsky The other accused him of trying to hide evidence

Mr Clinton still had two years left to serve as president Opinion studies showed the

American public wanted him to finish his term Two-thirds of the people asked said they opposed removing him from office

The Senate decided Mr Clinton’s future in February of 1999 The one hundred senators held

a trial to consider the charges and decide if Mr Clinton should be removed from office The trial required sixty-seven votes for a judgment of guilt on each charge

The Senators voted Mr Clinton not guilty on one charge They evenly divided their votes on the other charge

Bill Clinton remained president of the United States But the forty-second president had hoped to be remembered for his leadership and the progress made during his administration Instead, many people said he will be remembered for the charges against him

In October, 1999, Kenneth Starr resigned as the independent investigator An assistant, RobertRay, completed a final report on the Whitewater investigation He issued his report in

September, 2000 No charges were brought against the Clintons The report said there was notenough evidence to prove any wrongdoing by President or Mrs Clinton

Political experts disagree about what place in history William Jefferson Clinton will occupy But the experts agree that Mr Clinton’s influence on the United States will be debated for many years to come

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jerilyn Watson and

produced by George Grow This is Steve Ember And this is Mary Tillotson Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States

How Science and Technology Helped Shape '90s

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This is Sarah Long And this is Doug Johnson with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA

Special English program about the history of the United States Today, we tell about life in the United States during the 1990s

Many experts describe the 1990s as one of the best periods in United States history During almost all that time, America was at peace The frightening and costly military competition with the Soviet Union had ended The threat of a nuclear attack seemed greatly reduced, if notgone Military officials said America’s defenses were strong

The economy improved from poor to very good Inflation was low So was unemployment Production was high Scientists and engineers made major progress in medicine and

technology The Internet computer system created a new world of communications

America grew by almost thirty-three million people during the 1990s This is the most the United States has ever grown during a ten-year period Some minority groups are growing faster than the white population For the first time in seventy years, one in ten Americans was born in another country

During the past ten years, there was a huge increase in immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia More than two hundred eighty million people lived in the United States

by the end of the twentieth century

This population was getting older, however, and needing more costly health care And, America had other problems in the 1990s Some people feared crime in the streets People were shot and killed in offices and schools Divisions grew between rich people and poor people

Racial tensions remained high In 1999, Congress impeached the president of the United States President Clinton was accused of lying to courts about a sexual relationship with a young woman who worked in the White House Bill Clinton was found not guilty Still, the trial and the events leading to it caused deep concern among some Americans

American families changed in the 1990s More people ended their marriages The rate of these divorces increased So did the percentage of children living with only one parent Children in such families were more likely to be poor or get into trouble Many American children did not live with their parents at all The number of children living with grandparents increased greatly.

Test scores and national studies during the 1990s showed that many public school students were not learning as they should The nation needed more and better teachers

Racial divisions in America were a continuing and serious problem In 1991, an American man named Rodney King was fleeing from police in Los Angeles, California The police had chased his speeding car for miles before stopping him They say he reacted

African-violently when they tried to seize him

Police officers beat and kicked Mr King as he lay on the ground A man who lived nearby filmed the beating with a video camera He took the video to a local television station Soon people all over the country were watching the police repeatedly striking Rodney King

The four white police officers were arrested for their actions They were tried outside Los Angeles at their request A jury in a nearby wealthy, conservative community found them not guilty

Within a short time, angry African-Americans began rioting on the streets of Los Angeles The unrest lasted three days Fifty-five people died in the violence More than 2,000 others were injured One thousand buildings lay in ruins

Another major court trial divided black people and white people O.J Simpson had been a football hero and an actor In 1994, Simpson was accused of killing his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and a male friend of hers Simpson is African-American Nicole Brown Simpson was white Many legal experts believed the case against him was strong Still, the mainly African-American jury judged him not guilty Later, a mainly white jury found him guilty in a civil damage case

Studies showed that white people believed Mr Simpson had killed his former wife and her friend Black people thought he was not guilty

During the 1990s, scientists worked to map the position of all the genes in the human body Research on this human genome map progressed slowly at first Then it speeded up The goal was to help scientists study human health and disease The discovery was expected to change the way some diseases are treated

Since 1980, doctors had made important progress in treating diseases like cancer, AIDS and Parkinson’s disease But they still could not cure them They hoped treatments developed from knowledge of human genes would help

Computer technology also had progressed greatly in the 1980s During the next ten years computers became even more important in American life People depended on computers both at work and at home They used the Internet to send electronic messages, get informationand buy all kinds of products They completed and sent their income tax forms They read newspapers and books They even listened to music

Americans continued to attend classical music concerts and operas However, many more people enjoyed popular music One popular music form was called rap Rap music is spoken quickly rather than sung to the music of recorded rhythms Some rap songs suggest violent actions Others contain sexual suggestions that many people found offensive But rap music was very popular with many young people So was a form of rock music called grunge.

During the 1990s, Americans watched traditional television programs as well as new kinds of shows Millions of people liked weekly dramas like "ER" that takes place in a busy hospital emergency room A program called “Law and Order” tells about the work of police officers, lawyers and judges "NYPD Blue" shows the work of police officers in New York City A show called “Seinfeld” also told about life in New York City But this program was very funny “Seinfeld” was the most popular television show of the decade

Another funny and popular show was the animated series called "The Simpsons." Cable television programs also grew in popularity One of the most popular was MTV It showed music videos and other programs for young people

At the movies, Americans saw popular films like “Titanic.” It told about the sinking of the famous passenger ship on its first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 1912 Two young people are shown falling in love during this tragic event Another popular film was “Jurassic Park.” Itbrought ancient, frightening dinosaurs to life

As usual, Americans enjoyed sports Public interest in baseball decreased sharply, however, after a players’ strike in 1994 The strike cancelled the championship World Series games thatyear In 1998, interest in baseball increased when two great players competed to hit the most home runs Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire helped restore the popularity of baseball

In basketball, experts say Michael Jordan became the best player in history He led the

Chicago Bulls team to win many championships

As the 1990s ended, some experts worried about computers making the change to the year

2000 They feared that computer failures might cause serious problems for everyday life But midnight of December thirty-first passed with only a few incidents of computer trouble Millions of people celebrated the beginning of a new century and another one thousand years Life in the 1990s had been good for many Americans They hoped for even better days to come

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jerilyn Watson and

produced by George Grow This is Sarah Long And this is Doug Johnson Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States

Supreme Court Ruling Decides the 2000

Presidential Election

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This is Sarah Long And this is Bob Doughty with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA

Special English program about the history of the United States Today, we tell about the presidential election of 2000 It was an event that few Americans would soon forget

In the year 2000, the United States was preparing to elect a new president Bill Clinton would finish his second term as president in January, 2001 The Constitution prevented him from competing for a third term This meant Mr Clinton’s Democratic Party needed to choose a new candidate for president.

The Democratic Party nominated Vice President Al Gore Mr Gore had served almost eight years as vice president under President Clinton Mr Gore chose Senator Joseph Lieberman of the state of Connecticut to compete for vice president Mr Lieberman was first elected to the United States Senate in 1988 He was the first Jewish person ever nominated for one of America’s top positions

Al Gore was born in Washington, D.C in 1948 His father was a United States senator from the state of Tennessee Young Al Gore grew up in Washington and in Carthage, Tennessee, where his family had a farm

Al Gore studied government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts He

graduated in 1969 His father opposed American involvement in the war in Vietnam But Al joined the Army during the war He spent about six months of his service as a reporter in Vietnam

Back in civilian life, Mr Gore again worked as a reporter Later he studied religion and then law He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1976 He became knownfor supporting nuclear arms control and protecting the environment

Mr Gore was elected to the United States Senate in 1984 He was re-elected six years later

He tried and failed to become the Democratic candidate for president in 1988

Four years later, Bill Clinton won the Democratic presidential nomination Mr Clinton chose

Mr Gore as his vice presidential candidate As vice president, Al Gore was praised for his work on the environment, technology and foreign relations

The Republican Party nominated a son of former President George Bush They chose

Governor George W Bush of Texas as their candidate for president Richard Cheney, a former secretary of defense, was chosen to compete for vice president George W Bush was born in the state of Texas in 1946 He is the oldest child of former President Bush The younger Mr Bush is often called “W” because his name is so similar to that of his father

George W Bush grew up in the Texas cities of Midland and Houston He graduated from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut He studied business as a graduate student at Harvard University George W Bush was a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War Later he worked in the oil and gas industry

In 1988, Mr Bush worked on his father’s successful campaign for president Later, George

W Bush was one of the owners of the Texas Rangers, a professional baseball team He was elected governor of Texas in 1994 He was re-elected four years later by a large majority

At Governor Bush’s urging, Texas legislators enacted measures to improve public schools However, critics charged that public education in Texas was still very poor And they said the state’s criminal justice policies supported by Mr Bush were too severe For example, Texas executes more criminals than any other state

Presidential candidates Gore and Bush disagreed on most major issues For example, Al Gore said women should have the right to end unwanted pregnancies He supported gun control andrestrictions on tobacco sales He supported higher wages for the lowest paid workers

Governor Bush opposed him on these issues

Governor Bush supported a plan to provide public money for students to attend private schools And he supported investing taxes on government retirement money in private

retirement plans Mr Gore opposed these measures

Several other candidates also ran for president in the November seventh election They represented small political parties For example, activist Ralph Nader was the candidate of theGreen Party He criticized large corporations for having too much influence in America Conservative Patrick Buchanan ran as the Reform Party candidate

Opinion studies showed that the race between the Republican and Democratic candidates was extremely close

On November 7, 2000, more than one hundred million people voted for either Mr Gore or

Mr Bush In this popular vote, Al Gore received more votes than George W Bush The final vote would show that Mr Gore received about five hundred forty thousand more votes than

Mr Bush But that alone did not make Mr Gore president of the United States

Americans do not vote directly for their presidents They vote for electors to represent them inthe Electoral College The Electoral College then elects the president Each state has at least three electors The states with the most population have the most electors and the most

Florida had enough electoral votes to make either candidate the winner The big southern statecounted almost six million votes on November seventh Mr Bush had slightly more votes than Mr Gore But the election was still not over

Florida State law calls for a recount when the difference in votes between two candidates is less than one-half of one percent of the votes This meant Florida had to count the votes again.State recounts normally involve the governor But the Florida governor said he would not be involved That is because Governor Jeb Bush is a brother of George W Bush

The election in Florida involved several problems Some voting machines counted the votes incorrectly Some African Americans said election workers prevented them from voting And,many supporters of Mr Gore in one area believed they had voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan by mistake The names of Mr Buchanan and Al Gore were next to one another

on the ballot Democrats charged that the ballot design was illegal But Republicans say Democratic officials never objected

Almost three weeks after the election, Florida declared Mr Bush the winner of the state’s twenty-five electoral votes Florida election officials said Mr Bush won the popular vote in Florida by five hundred-thirty-seven votes That total was out of six million ballots But the

election was still not over Mr Gore and supporters in Florida protested the results They asked the courts to reconsider because of what they called the many voting problems.

The Florida Supreme Court ordered the disputed ballots counted again This could have given Florida’s electoral votes to Mr Gore The votes could have made him president

Bush campaign officials quickly appealed to the United States Supreme Court A majority of the high court justices declared the Florida court ruling unconstitutional They said Florida law did not explain how officials should judge the ballots They ruled that the disputed ballotsshould not be re-counted The Supreme Court justices said not enough time remained to settle the problem before the Electoral College held its required meeting

On December 18, 2000, Electoral College members met in each state capital They made the election official George W Bush became the 43rd president of the United States

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jerilyn Watson It was

produced by George Grow This is Sarah Long And this is Bob Doughty Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States

After Attacks of 9/11, Bush Launches 'War

on Terror'

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Correction attached

This is Barbara Klein

And this is Steve Ember with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English

program about the history of the United States Today, we tell about the first term in office ofPresident George W Bush Mr Bush dealt with the most deadly terrorist attack against the United States in history

George W Bush became the nation's forty-third president on January twentieth, 2001 He andhis vice president, Dick Cheney, were sworn in on the steps of the Capitol building George Bush's father, George Herbert Walker Bush, had served as the forty-first president

The inauguration marked only the second time in American history that the son of a former president also became president More than two hundred years ago, John Adams was elected the second president of the United States His son, John Quincy Adams, later served as the sixth president

George W Bush had been in office for fewer than eight months when the most important event of his first term took place on September eleventh, 2001 Americans call the event Nine-Eleven On that morning, 19 Islamic extremists hijacked four American passenger airplanes

The planes were flying from the East Coast to California The hijackers were from Middle Eastern countries Each group included a trained pilot

American Airlines Flight Eleven had left Boston, Massachusetts, when three terrorists seized control of the plane Shortly before nine o’clock in the morning, they crashed the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.

Another group seized United Airlines Flight One Seventy-Five and crashed it into the World Trade Center's South Tower a few minutes later The two giant skyscrapers stood in the heart

of America's financial center

The planes exploded in fireballs that sent clouds of smoke pouring from the skyscrapers Wreckage and ashes flew into the air On that morning, each tower held between five

thousand and seven thousand people Thousands of people were able to escape from the buildings

The South Tower of the World Trade Center fell shortly before ten o'clock The North Towercollapsed about thirty minutes later Within an hour the ruins of the two buildings were beingcalled Ground Zero

Other hijackers on United Airlines Flight Seventy-Seven crashed the plane into the Pentagon, the Department of Defense headquarters near Washington, D.C The plane exploded against awall of the huge five-sided building where more than twenty thousand people worked

The hijackers also seized United Airlines Flight Ninety-Three Some passengers found out about the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington through cell phone calls to their families Several passengers and crew members tried to retake control of the plane It

crashed near the small town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania Investigators later said the

hijackers probably planned to attack the Capitol building or the White House in Washington

The terrorist attacks on Nine-Eleven were the most deadly in American history Almost three thousand people died Most of the victims worked in the World Trade Center They included many citizens of other countries The victims also included three hundred forty-three New York City firefighters and twenty-three city police officers They died trying to save others

Search and rescue operations began immediately Hundreds of rescue workers recovered people and bodies from the wreckage Aid was organized for victims and their families President Bush stood in the wreckage of the World Trade Center and promised that the attackswould be answered

It took workers eight months to complete the cleanup of Ground Zero Every day, thousands

of people visited the area to see where the attack took place and to honor those who died there

Near Washington, D.C., people left flowers and messages near the heavily damaged wall of the Defense Department headquarters One hundred eighty-four military service members andcivilians died there

New York City changed forever on that day The attack destroyed a major part of the financialcenter of the city It had a huge economic effect on the United States and world markets TheNew York Stock Exchange was closed until September seventeenth When it reopened, American stocks lost more than one trillion dollars in value for the week

For days after the attacks, most planes stopped flying When normal flights began again, many people were too afraid to travel by air The airline and travel industries suffered Thousands of hotel workers and others lost their jobs Many other businesses suffered as well When people started flying again, they found it much more difficult because of

increased security at airports

People across America experienced great shock, fear, sadness and loss They could not understand why anyone would attack innocent Americans They also felt a renewed love for their country They put American flags on their houses, cars and businesses

President Bush said Osama bin Laden and terrorists linked to his al-Qaida group plotted and carried out the attacks on Nine-Eleven On September twentieth, the president declared a War

on Terror The goals were to find and punish Osama bin Laden and to use economic and military actions to prevent the spread of terrorism

PRESIDENT BUSH: "Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end there It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."

American officials said the Taleban administration in Afghanistan was sheltering Osama bin Laden They said al-Qaida terrorists operated a training camp in Afghanistan under Taleban protection President Bush demanded that the Taleban close the training camp and surrender Osama bin Laden The Taleban refused American and British airplanes launched attacks against the Taleban in Afghanistan on October seventh The goals were to oust the Taleban, capture Osama bin Laden and destroy al-Qaida

The bombers struck in and around the Afghan capital, Kabul Ethnic tribal groups of the Afghan Northern Alliance then led a ground attack By November the Taleban began to collapse in several provinces Taleban forces fled Kabul and the city of Kandahar The military offensive defeated the Taleban and ousted them from power It also captured a number of Taleban fighters and al-Qaida terrorists But the war in Afghanistan was not over And the leader of al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, had not been captured

Some enemy fighters seized in Afghanistan were sent to a United States Navy detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba The United States government did not identify them as prisoners of war Instead, the detainees were called "unlawful enemy combatants." As such, they lacked some of the rights provided by an international treaty on conditions for war prisoners

The United States government also detained hundreds of foreign citizens Most of these people had violated immigration laws No terrorism charges were brought against them Human rights activists and some legal experts protested the treatment of the prisoners The activists said holding people in secret without trial violated the United States Constitution

In October, Congress passed the U.S.A Patriot Act It provided the government with more power to get information about suspected terrorists in this country Critics said the legislationinvaded citizens' rights to privacy Civil liberties groups charged that it gave law enforcementand other agencies too much power

After Nine-Eleven, government agencies were criticized for not cooperating to gather

intelligence that might have prevented the terrorist attacks In 2002, a new Department of Homeland Security was created to strengthen defenses against terrorism

Twenty-two agencies were combined into a new department of about two hundred thousand employees The Department of Homeland Security was one of the major changes brought about by the attacks of Nine Eleven Many Americans believed the attacks had changed their lives, their country, and the world, forever.

This program, THE MAKING OF A NATION, was written by Jerilyn Watson and

produced by Jill Moss This is Barbara Klein

And this is Steve Ember Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States

-Correction: The plane that hit the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, was American Airlines

Flight 77, not United Flight 77, as stated in this program

How Bush's War on Terror Led to Iraq

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This is Faith Lapidus And this is Steve Ember with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a

VOA Special English Program about the history of the United States George W Bush became president in January 2001 Today we tell about the invasion of Iraq that began in March, 2003

Islamic terrorists of the al-Qaida group attacked the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001 After the attacks, the Bush administration supported the policy of preventive war to end threats to its national security Many of President Bush's top advisers had long supported an invasion of Iraq

As early as that October, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested that military action against Iraq was possible Government officials charged that Iraq was linked to terrorist groups like al-Qaida They noted that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had used chemical

weapons and said he was trying to develop biological and nuclear weapons

President Bush gave his yearly State of the Union report to Congress in January 2002 He said some nations support terrorist organizations He said the United States would not wait to

be attacked by such groups Instead, it would strike first at the countries that sheltered them The president especially noted three nations as supporters of terror He said North Korea, Iranand Iraq threatened the United States

PRESIDENT BUSH: “States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger They could provide these arms to terrorists, givingthem the means to match their hatred."

Iraq had been defeated in the Persian Gulf War of 1991 The United Nations ordered Iraq to destroy all development and supply centers for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons TheU.N had sent teams of weapons inspectors to make sure Iraq was following orders But since

1998, Iraq had refused to permit U.N weapons inspection teams into the country

President Bush and his administration believed Iraq was making or hiding weapons of mass destruction, known as WMDs He said if the United Nations failed to force Iraq to disarm, the United States might launch a military attack against the country Mr Bush began making his case to the international community for an invasion of Iraq in a speech to the U.N

Security Council in September, 2002

Then the president asked Congress to pass a resolution giving him power to use military forceagainst Iraq Congress approved the resolution in October

In November, Iraq agreed to permit the U.N weapons inspectors to return After more investigation, the leader of the inspection team reported to the U.N in February, 2003 He said the team had found no evidence of WMDs He also said Iraq was not cooperating with efforts to find out if suspected weapons had been destroyed and if weapons programs had been ended

In January, 2003, President Bush used his State of the Union speech to strengthen his case against Iraq He said British intelligence reported that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium from Africa Uranium can be used to make nuclear weapons But several months later, the White House said the intelligence was false

The president wanted the U.N to approve military force against Iraq Britain and Spain also supported military force They asked the Security Council to pass a resolution approving military action against Iraq But some important members of the 15-member Security

Council opposed such action They included Germany, France and Russia They said

inspections should be increased They said use of force should be used only as a last choice The United States withdrew the resolution

The United States and Britain decided to invade Iraq without U.N support Most Americans supported the decision But there was widespread international opposition In February, millions of people around the world took part in anti-war protests in hundreds of cities Somepeople argued that the United States would be violating international law by invading a nationthat was not an immediate threat

Mr Bush said the war was being launched to prevent Saddam from supplying weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups that might attack the United States or other countries He also argued that Saddam was an evil dictator who had ordered the killing of thousands of people and should be removed from power

On March seventeenth, Mr Bush told Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq or face military action Saddam rejected the demand U.N inspection teams left Iraq four days beforethe American-led invasion, even though they had requested more time to complete their job Many international leaders, including U.N Secretary-General Kofi Annan, criticized the war They said the weapons inspectors should have been given more time

On March twentieth, Iraqi time, air strikes by the United States and Britain began the effort called "Operation Iraqi Freedom.” The United States said the war was meant to disarm Iraq

of weapons of mass destruction, end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism and free the Iraqipeople A number of other countries joined the war effort

The coalition quickly defeated the Iraqi military On April ninth, United States forces took control of Baghdad In a dramatic event on that day, Iraqis and American forces destroyed a

large statue of Saddam Hussein in the capital The allies controlled all major Iraqi cities Saddam Hussein had disappeared into hiding.

Another dramatic event took place on May first President Bush landed in a plane onto the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln Then he declared victory

PRESIDENT BUSH: "Thank you all very much Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans… Major combat operations in Iraq have ended In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.”

The government in Baghdad had fallen But a deepening conflict in Iraq lay ahead

American troops and an American inspection team searched Iraq for WMDs But none were found That led to accusations against President Bush Critics of the war said the United States and Britain provided false evidence about Iraqi weapons programs and links to

terrorists They said Mr Bush accepted false or misleading intelligence because he wanted to invade Iraq More severe critics said he knowingly used false intelligence

The United States turned its attention to rebuilding Iraq and establishing a new Iraqi

government The Coalition Provisional Authority was created as a temporary government in Iraq President Bush replaced a general with State Department official Paul Bremer as head ofthe Authority The United States remained in control of Iraq until a temporary Iraqi

government could be formed But establishing normal life in Iraq proved difficult

People rioted and stole things from government buildings, museums, banks and military storage centers In many places there was little or no electric power, running water or waste removal The Coalition Provisional Authority dismissed the Iraqi army and the government Those people now had no jobs

The presence of foreigners in their country angered many Iraqis Some denounced what they called the occupation force Militants attacked coalition troops They also attacked Iraqis and international organizations seen as cooperating with American forces In some areas,

longtime religious differences between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims became armed disputes

The invasion of Iraq was the most widely and closely reported war in military history At the start of the war, as many as seven hundred reporters and photographers were living and traveling with the troops Also, for the first time in history, troops on the front lines were able

to provide direct reporting through Web logs, or blogs, they posted on the Internet

In December, 2003, United States forces captured Saddam Hussein hiding on a farm near Tikrit Iraqi officials said he would be tried for crimes against the Iraqi people But the declaration of an end to "major combat operations" and the capture of Saddam did not mean that peace would soon return to Iraq

This program, THE MAKING OF A NATION, was written by Jerilyn Watson and

produced by Jill Moss This is Faith Lapidus And this is Steve Ember Join us again next week when we will tell about other major policies during President Bush's first term in office You can find our series about the history of the United States on our Web site,

voaspecialenglish.com

The 43rd President's First Four Years,

Revisited

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Correction attached

This is Faith Lapidus And this is Steve Ember with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a

VOA Special English program about the history of the United States Today we tell about some important policy decisions during the first term of President George W Bush

Republican George W Bush defeated his Democratic Party opponent, Al Gore, in the

presidential election of 2000 The election results were extremely close Mr Gore disputed them Five suspense-filled weeks passed as several courts considered the voting issues Finally, a decision by the United States Supreme Court effectively settled the election George W Bush was to be president

Mr Bush gave his inaugural speech in January 2001 to a politically divided nation He called

on Americans to care for and respect others

PRESIDENT BUSH: "Today we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and character America, at its best, matches a

commitment to principle with a concern for civility A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness."

During his election campaign, Mr Bush had promised he would help social aid organizations linked to religious groups He established the White House Office of Faith-Based and

Community Initiatives soon after his inauguration Its goal was to help social agencies fight problems like homelessness and illegal drug use

Critics argued that this would violate the separation of church and state required by the UnitedStates Constitution But Mr Bush said the agencies would provide shelter and food and not religious holy books

President Bush took several actions on the environment during his first term In March 2001,

he withdrew the United States from the Kyoto Protocol Many nations had signed the treaty

in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan This treaty developed from earlier international efforts to control climate change

The Kyoto Protocol restricted the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that nations could release into the atmosphere The limitation was placed to reduce global

warming, the increase in the average temperature of Earth's surface More than one hundred nations have approved the treaty

But Mr Bush said the agreement was unfair He noted that China and India were not required

to limit release of greenhouse gases The president believed the Kyoto Protocol requirements would harm American industry and the economy Critics said Mr Bush's decision meant more damage to the environment They also said it set a bad example for the world

Another environmental issue concerned exploring for oil and gas The president supported a measure for drilling in a protected wildlife area in the state of Alaska He said getting the resources from the state would reduce American dependence on foreign oil Opponents disagreed They said the measure would destroy wildlife in some of America's most beautifulnatural surroundings Congress did not approve the measure.

One of Mr Bush's major goals was improving America's public schools In January 2002, he signed a law called the No Child Left Behind Act

PRESIDENT BUSH: “And we owe the children of America a good education And today begins a new era, a new time in public education in our country As of this hour, America’s schools will be on a new path of reform, and a new path of results.”

The law increased the role of the federal government in guaranteeing quality public education for all children in the United States It had several goals: To help poor and minority students improve their performance To provide choices for parents with students in low-performing schools And to increase money for schools in low-income areas The law required all

students in grades three through eight to be tested every year in reading and mathematics It held schools responsible for the progress of their students

Some educators praised No Child Left Behind But many educators criticized the law They said teachers had to spend too much time preparing students for the tests They also said the law permitted students to leave failing schools instead of finding ways to improve those schools Critics also said not enough federal money was provided for the program

Another major piece of legislation dealt with health care for senior citizens President Bush wanted to extend Medicare, the nation's health care plan for people sixty-five and older In

2003 he signed a law to help forty million older Americans buy medicines ordered by their doctors The program was expected to cost four hundred billion dollars It provided billions

of dollars to private health insurance companies

Supporters of the law said it would lead to better private insurance coverage for senior

citizens Opponents said it would help health insurance and drug companies the most and might lead to the end of the Medicare system

American law lets presidents decide some issues without Congressional action Mr Bush announced such an executive decision about scientific research He decided to permit federal financing for research that uses existing groups of cells created from human embryos It was the first time federal money would be used for such stem cell research

Stem cells can grow into many different kinds of cells For example, they can become cells of the heart, nerves or brain Scientists say such cells might in the future be used to treat

diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and juvenile diabetes

Mr Bush limited use of the cells, however He said taxpayers' money could finance the research only if the embryos had already been destroyed The president said more than sixty groups of these cells were available for research However, some scientists said these stem cells were in poor condition and could not be used for research

One of Mr Bush's major goals was reducing taxes for Americans In 2001, he signed a bill calling for more than one trillion dollars in tax reductions These cuts were to become

effective over time The president said the economy would improve if people had more

money to spend Democrats said big reductions would harm the economy instead of helping it.

In 2003, Congress passed compromise tax measures They called for three hundred fifty billion dollars in tax reductions That was less than half of what the president had proposed Most reductions went to investors in the stock market, individual taxpayers, couples and businesses The rest was to help the states

In 2002, President Bush signed a law that increased punishments for dishonesty in business The new law also established an independent group to oversee the accounting industry That

is the industry that investigates the financial records of companies The action came after several major businesses failed

For example, the Enron Corporation, once the leading American energy company, failed in

2001 It was one of the largest corporate bankruptcy claims in American history Some Enron investors lost all their money in the failure Retired employees lost monthly payments they needed to live on Some top officials in the company had used dishonest accounting methods

to hide financial problems from investors A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas, brought charges against former Enron chairman and chief executive officer Kenneth Lay and other officers

The collapse of Enron was followed by a series of other corporate failures involving dishonestaccounting methods For example, the international communications company WorldCom Incorporated also went bankrupt The government charged several company officials with wrongdoing

November 2, 2004 was Election Day The public would vote on whether to support President Bush for another term in office Four years earlier, George W Bush had been elected in one

of the closest elections in history Now he would have another chance to test his popularity with the American people

This program, THE MAKING OF A NATION, was written by Jerilyn Watson and

produced by Jill Moss This is Steve Ember And this is Faith Lapidus Join us again next week when we tell about the presidential election of 2004 You can find our series about the history of the United States on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com

-Correction: President Bush did not withdraw the United States from the Kyoto Protocol, as

stated in this program; he rejected it The U.S signed the treaty in 1998, but it was never sent to the Senate for approval (The Senate had gone on record by a 95-0 vote in 1997 to warn that it opposed terms like those in the treaty.)

How Foreign Policy Shaped the 2004

Presidential Race

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This is Faith Lapidus And this is Steve Ember with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a

VOA Special English program about the history of the United States Today, we tell about thepresidential election of 2004

Every four years, American political parties nominate their candidates for president and vice president In the summer of 2004, Republican Party delegates chose George W Bush and Dick Cheney for a second four years in office

During President Bush's first term, Islamic terrorists attacked the United States Almost three thousand people died in strikes against New York City and Washington, D.C., on September eleventh, 2001 President Bush declared a war on terror and led the nation into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

After the terrorist attacks, Mr Bush enjoyed record popularity Public opinion studies

showed that almost ninety percent of the American public approved of the way the president was doing his job

But this rating decreased over time One public opinion study organization said the

president’s average approval rating for 2004 was fifty percent

Before a presidential election, candidates compete in state nominating meetings and elections.The person winning the most votes in these caucuses and primaries traditionally wins the party’s nomination for president

In 2003, ten people were campaigning for the Democratic Party presidential nomination Among the candidates was John Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts Another was Howard Dean, a doctor and former governor of the state of Vermont Another was John Edwards, a lawyer and first-term senator from North Carolina Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut also was running Senator Lieberman had been the vice presidential candidate in the election

of 2000

Another senator and a former senator were also seeking the nomination So were two

representatives in Congress, a former general and an African American civil rights activist

Former Vice President Al Gore was not among the candidates He had lost the extremely close, disputed election of 2000 to George W Bush Mr Gore said he would not be a

candidate in 2004

Many people thought Howard Dean would win the Democratic nomination Doctor Dean actively opposed the war in Iraq He won praise for the way he raised money for his

campaign Supporters gave him millions of dollars in small gifts through the Internet

Then came the Iowa caucuses, the first step in the presidential nominating process, in January

of 2004 John Kerry won with a strong thirty-eight percent of the state's delegates Senator Edwards finished second with thirty-two percent Doctor Dean finished third with only 18%.Senator Kerry continued to gain support in the state primary elections Several candidates withdrew from the campaign, including Howard Dean Senator Edwards withdrew in early March He did so after Senator Kerry won victories in nine state caucuses and primary elections that were held on the same day, called Super Tuesday John Kerry named John Edwards as his choice for vice president Senator Kerry officially received the Democratic Party nomination for president at the party's convention in Boston, Massachusetts

The combination balanced the Democratic ticket in several ways Senator Kerry was

considered a liberal He came from the Northeast Senator Edwards was considered more moderate He came from the South Senator Kerry was Roman Catholic Senator Edwards was Protestant

John Kerry was born in Colorado in 1943 Like Mr Bush, he graduated from Yale

University He joined the United States Navy Mr Kerry was wounded and won honors for his service in the Vietnam War He criticized the war after leaving the military John Kerry graduated from the Boston College law school in 1976 He became a lawyer for the

Massachusetts state government

Then he served two years as lieutenant governor of the state He was first elected to the Senate in 1984 His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, is head of a family foundation that gives money to important causes

The presidential candidates debated three times on national television They campaigned hardacross the country Foreign policy was the major issue during the campaign Mr Bush centered his campaign on national security He said he was the best candidate to keep

America safe from terrorists He said Americans could trust him to be strong against

terrorism He presented himself as a decisive leader He charged that Senator Kerry had changed positions on issues and would be unsure in the face of danger

In 2002, Mr Kerry had voted to give President Bush the power to use force against Iraq But the senator now criticized the way the Iraqi conflict was being fought By the fall of 2004, more than 1,000 Americans had died in Iraq since the war started in March, 2003 Thousands

of Iraqi civilians had also been killed Mr Kerry talked about the war in Iraq:

JOHN KERRY: “You’ve got to be able to look in the eyes of families and say to those

parents, ‘I tried to do everything in my power to prevent the loss of your son and daughter.’ I don’t believe the United States did that."

Senator Kerry said his goal for the United States was "stronger at home, respected in the world." He believed that the United States had lost respect from many of its allies because of

Mr Bush's foreign policy in Iraq

President Bush defended American actions in Iraq He said the war was needed to fight terrorism The President also expressed great satisfaction that Iraqis were free of a cruel dictator

Mr Kerry said the United States should be recovering faster from a weak economy The economy had slowed before George W Bush became president It got worse after the

terrorist attacks in 2001 Mr Kerry denounced the growth of the national debt under Mr Bush’s leadership President Bush praised his administration’s actions in difficult economic times:

PRESIDENT BUSH: “Six months prior to my arrival, the stock market started to go down And it was one of the largest declines in our history And then we had a recession and we got attacked, which cost us one million jobs But we acted I led the Congress We passed tax relief And now this economy is growing We added one point nine million new jobs over the last thirteen months.”

President Bush proposed a plan for young workers to place some of the taxes on their pay in private retirement accounts John Kerry opposed this idea Mr Bush opposed most

operations to end unwanted pregnancies Mr Kerry supported a woman’s right to have an abortion His position disagreed with the Roman Catholic religion's position on this issue

Early in the election campaign, an organization known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was established to oppose John Kerry's candidacy The group was led by a veteran who, like Mr Kerry, fought in the Vietnam War The group argued that Mr Kerry was unfit to serve as president because of some statements he made about his military service and his past activism

in the anti-Vietnam war movement The group even questioned the combat medals awarded to

Mr Kerry

Other Vietnam veterans, including several who had served with Mr Kerry, denounced the charges against him as completely false Many people believed the accusations and the Kerry campaign's delay in answering them had an important effect on the results of the election

Americans voted on November 2, 2004 As in the election of 2000, there were questions about voting problems during and after the election

The vote was especially close in the state of Ohio Kerry supporters said there were problems with voting machines They also said many people were illegally prevented from voting Thestate had enough electoral votes to decide the winner of the presidential election

But the day after the election, Senator Kerry decided not to dispute Mr Bush's win in Ohio The final results showed that President Bush won about fifty-one percent of the national popular vote to about forty-eight percent for John Kerry

George W Bush would serve four more years as president of the United States

This program, THE MAKING OF A NATION, was written by Jerilyn Watson and

produced by Jill Moss This is Steve Ember And this is Faith Lapidus Listen again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States You can find our series about American history on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com

Opening the American West: Lewis and

Clark and the Corps of Discovery

Download MP3 (Right-click or option-click the link.)

This is Steve Ember And this is Shirley Griffith, with the VOA Special English program, Explorations Today we continue our story of Lewis and Clark Their exploration in the early 1800s led to the opening of the American West

Last week we told how President Thomas Jefferson suggested the trip to his private secretary Meriwether Lewis The president said Lewis and a group of men should travel northwest up the Missouri River as far as possible and then continue west to the Pacific Ocean The

explorers were to report about the land, people, animals and plants they found