The Aftermath of 9 11 and Regan

Ronald Regan is considered by many as one of the most influential American presidents in the last four decades. However, Carter was instrumental in how Regan ran his administration. In politics they both sought to exploit the aftermath of the civil right movement that led to "white backlash" and many white Southerners and Northerners to defect from the popular Democrats in order to support George Wallace, a former populist candidate. When his began his general election, he went to Neshoba County in 1980 and declared he believed in states' rights after white supremacists bombed a black church. Jimmy Carter spoke in a similar fashion, trying to fish votes from the "white ethnics" who did not want black people to move into their neighborhoods. In April 1976, Carter made a statement saying he saw nothing wrong with maintaining ethnic purity. From this kind of language, both presidents gained many supporters from the white ethnics and the white southerners.

They were also similar when it came to foreign policy. This is because Carter from the right, attacked the Nixon-Ford administration similar to Regan, rejecting Nixon and insisting the basis for foreign policy had to stem from democracy and human rights. Carter also introduced what is called "the religious right" into the nation's politics. Furthermore, it was Carter, not Regan who had pioneered the part of fiscally conservative governor, promising to balance the budget and shrink the bureaucracy. Regan took a page from Carter as he was the one that began what would be seen in the Bush administration of the early 2000's.

Carter's administration was important in that it tried to resolve an economic crisis that would later be alleviated even further by Regan. By the end of Carter's administration, he was able to decrease substantially unemployment. He also managed a partial decrease in the country's deficit and set the stage for the recession to end in 1983. By Carter creating the United States Department of Energy and the United States Department of Education, he established a country-wide energy policy that ensured development of technology and American citizens in the United States.

Aside from the departments he created, Carter also managed to pursue social security and civil service reform. He believed strongly in inclusion of human rights in foreign policy and initiated the Panama Canal Treaties. Although seen as a weak move at the time, it highlighted the administration's desire to lead versus follow. Lastly, his contributions to healthcare reform helped shape the way healthcare and employer paid insurance continued in the decades following the Carter administration.

Ronald Regan may be considered by many in the United States as an important president because his administration helped end the recession and he was recognized as the first cold war president to have an administration of eight years of continual peace and eventual prosperity. Not only was he the first to reach a deal with the Soviets in terms of arms reduction agreement, he also made it possible for the Soviets to structure Soviet society. He fulfilled several of his aims if albeit at the expense of some domestic goals. Some of the unmet goals were the failed attempt in the war against drugs and reduction of the nation's deficit.

Still, Former President Regan's greatest impact and what he will be remembered for most, was his reversal of the power-flow to Washington. He dismantled certain federal programs, minimized others, and forced the cities and states to assume a higher level of autonomy and responsibility for their actions. Most notably, he also forced the Democratic to lean more towards the right. This is seen two decades later as many in the Democratic party call themselves a conservative instead of a liberal.

These social conservatives grew in power thanks to Regan. The Bush administration of the early 2000's heralded the ultra-conservative and finished the journey Regan initiated during his administration. Even before that, during the 1990's Republicans gained strength in the government through state and congressional elections, removing the long-time Democratic incumbents. The "War on Terror" and the "No Child Left Behind Act" of the Bush administration came from a republican mentality of conservatism.

9/11 affected many people, especially those in NYC where two planes struck the World Trade Center Towers starting at 8:45 AM September 11, 2001. People in, near or around the area witnessed firsthand the tragedy of two planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers and the rubble and destruction it caused. Nineteen militants connected to the Islamic extremist organization, al-Qaeda, boarded and hijacked four airliners. These planes were from American Airlines. Four Boeing 767 planes hijacked that day were driven into three buildings, with one crashing on a field in Pennsylvania. Two hit the World Trade Center and one hit the Pentagon. The number of civilian deaths were staggering with over 3,000 killed. Over 400 firefighter and police officers died attempting to rescue people among other duties.

The worst of the tragedy was the long lasting recessions that hit the United States and the growing nation of fear that formed, causing the stricter management of flights and travel and the heightened prejudice against Muslims and Islamic people. The fear of another terrorist strike caused the United States government and the Bush administration to begin a war on terror with Iraq being its main target in 2003 after suspicions of Saddam Hussein's alleged involvement. Bush wanted first and foremost, to show the strength of the United States and did so by setting the main goal of bringing al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden to justice and thwarting the rise of other terrorist networks. Although now things have changed since those first few years after the tragedy, people still remember with pain and despair over the events of 9/11 and will forever serve as a warning of what could happen to a country, to a nation as both Iraq and Afghanistan suffered loss of stability and infrastructure as a result of the war on terror.

It began with the bombings in Afghanistan in 2001 and then progressed into the Bush Administration accusing Iraq for concealing WMDs or weapons of mass destruction. United States government officials accused Saddam Hussein not only of the WMDs, but also the supporting and harboring of al-Qaeda. This unfounded suspicion came at the heels of the growing weariness of Afghanistan and Iraq in relation to potential terrorist threats. While nothing was found and the United States eventually left Iraq 2011, the continual attacks led to great instability and mismanagement of power of Hussein's death in the Iraq as well as Afghanistan.