This is less of a contribution, and more of a love letter to one of my favorite people, John Green. I want to explore how people might explore the TTL history, which I think is an interesting concept in of itself.
JOHN GREEN: Hi, I'm John Green, and this is Crash Course US History, today we can talk about the decade when Me-From-the-Past-Grew-Up-In: the 1990s.
JOHN GREEN FROM THE PAST: Oh, oh, Mr. Green, Mr. Green. This is the best time ever. I get to watch Tiny Toon Adventures.
JOHN GREEN: Well, me from the past, of course you would say that. You had a peaceful childhood. But the thing is, a good year for you might a be a terrible year for someone else. I mean, if you were a dot com billionaire, I bet the 1990s would be sweet. But if you lived in Bosnia, or Nagoya, or Atlanta, or Chechnya, or San Francisco, you'd have a...very different opinion.
(Crash Course Intro)
JOHN GREEN: When we last left off, George Bush was enjoying some of the highest approval ratings ever, with his victory in the Gulf War. And the evil Soviet Empire had just collapse, which you think would've helped George Bush's reputation. I mean, he didn't cause it, but politicians tend to get blamed for what goes on, whether or not they actually do it.
I mean, Reagan said "tear down this wall," and we think he did, but he didn't actually-
JOHN GREEN (Camera 2): Anyways, Bush seemed primed for re-election, but then around 1990,the economy began dipping into recession. During this time, Bush also broke his promise not to raise taxes, which angered many prominent Republicans. And the Soviet collapse that happened soon after, rather than helping Bush, led to a brief moment when Americans ignored global issues, and started to become increasingly concerned about domestic issues, like the economy, the budget deficit, the decline of manufacturing, and crime.
The Democrats, at first, seemed ready to take back the White House. But there seemed to be a backlash against the political establishment as a whole. This was seen in movies like Thelma and Louise, but even politically, the coming shift was apparent in state politics. In the 1990 elections, Wally Hickel and Lowell Weicker, two former Republicans, ran successful independent tickets and became governors of Alaska and Connecticut respectively.
Nowadays, we mourn the first President Bush, but at time, his rather dry delivery and seeming inability to be in touch with the everyman, was seen as the embodiment of everything wrong with Washington.
But the one who would most benefit from all this discontent was not the Democratic Party, but a big eared Texan named H. Ross Perot.
Perot is perhaps the quintessential American success story, and also unlike Bush a genuine Texan. Born in rural Texarkana, he rose to become a successful salesman for IBM, before quitting and found Electronic Data Systems, a successful data processing firm. He soon made millions from government contracts processing Medicare. Perot later became famous sponsoring the rescue of two of his employees from Iran during the Iranian Revolution.
In 1992, Perot suddenly appeared on Larry King, and announced he was beginning a campaign for President. Immediately, millions of people rallied around his cause. His talk of bringing change, as well as his opposition to free trade and support of a balanced budget, brought in millions of middle-class supporters. Perot gained even greater support when he brought in former Democratic Governor Jerry Brown as his running mate.
Bush meanwhile, fended off a serious primary challenge from conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, who was livid over Bush breaking his promise not to raise taxes.
The Democrats, after a lively primary session, nominated Arkansas Governor and alleged non-smoker of marijuana Bill Clinton and paired him Tennessee Senator Al Gore.
Perot, thanks to a strange combination of populist proclamations, boring infomercials, and accusing the GOP of spying on him, was able to win the electoral college and become the first independent President since George Washington.
Perot ran on the idea that a businessman would do the job of running the country better than all those stuffy politicians. But as it turns out, the skillset in business was not the same thing as skill in politics.
Aside from his tough on crime stance, Perot initially couldn't get things done. And he was known for his serious temper tantrums and controlling behavior.
But Perot was able to harness the anti-establishment mood, and in 1993, he founded the Freedom Party.
It is strange to call a party a "Freedom Party". Since each American has different ideas on what freedom is. Some would see you should be free not to die from a existing condition, while others say you should be free from having to kill your pigs.
The Freedom Party itself can be described as a brought tent, with people who have different ideas on freedom.
Many of the Freedom Party members include moderate Republicans who left the increasingly conservative party, like Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, and moderate Democrats like former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas. But even other non-establishment people like Jesse Ventura, Ralph Nader, and Ron Paul. As did many celebrities like Jon Stewart, Nolan Ryan, and Donald Trump.
In the 1994 elections, the Republicans regained control of the house for the first time in decades. The new Republican Speaker, Newt "I am not a toad", Gingrich, worked with the newly established Freedom Party caucus to bring about change.
And change happened for better or worse:
Ross Perot established the national internet system, although he did not, as people allege, invent the Internet. We also got the Balanced Budget Amendment, and laws protecting American industries, anti-lobbying bills, and more controversially, gun control bills. He also intervened in Rwanda, stopping a genocide that had killed ten of thousands of people. He also toppled Saddam Hussein and helped the Kurds form their own nation. And Puerto Rico became the 51st state.
By 1996, Ross Perot achieved so much, he seemed prime for re-election, especially as the economy began booming. Unfortunately, his temper began to flare up, especially as one thing began to haunt Americans: terrorism.
Let's go to the thought bubble:
Terrorism became a severe problem during the decade. In 1993, the World Trade Center building was bombed by agents of Osama Bin Laden, and agents of Saddam Hussein assassinated ex-President Bush, the only assassination of an ex-President in history. Then in 1994, terrorists from Algeria hijacked a plane and crashed into the Eiffel Tower. In Japan, the city of Nagoya was destroyed in a nuclear explosion set off by the Aum Shirinkyo cult, an organization determined to bring about the end times.
In Waco, TX, the Branch Dravidians under David Koresh drew federal agents into a standoff that lasted over a month.
In America, the Murrah Building was bombed in 1995.
And Stormfront, a far-right organization morphed into a united terrorist front determined to bring down the government and start a race war under David Duke. They Mile High Stadium in Denver, and later the Million Man March in Washington DC. Then the Olympic Games were bombed in Atlanta. Then Paul Wellstone, the presumptive Democratic nominee, was assasinated for his Jewish background.
Perot himself nearly fell victim to a terrorist attack. This combined with the Chinagate Scandal, led Perot to storm out of a presidential debate, allowing the Democrat, Texas Governor Ann Richards to defeat the Republican, South Carolina Governor and Grampa Simpson impersonator.
Perot's legacy is still under debate today. But his Presidency was undoubtedly about change. So much changed happened. But we should be careful about blindly accepting change. History isn't about supposed trends, but about the decisions we make. For those decisions will impact how people will think about us.
Thanks for watching, I'll see you next week.
