History Buff's Guide to the Presidents by Thomas R. Flagel
Authors: Thomas R. Flagel
Tags: United States, Historical, History, Reference, Politics & Social Sciences, Biographies & Memoirs, History & Theory, Political Science, Leaders & Notable People, federal government, Presidents & Heads of State, Executive Branch, Historical Study & Educational Resources, Politics & Government, Americas, Historical Study, U.S. Presidents, Encyclopedias & Subject Guides
Ads: Link
of former Secretary of State James Baker III, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and former White House C HIEF OF S TAFF Leon Panetta. In the face of rising sectarian violence (which killed more than 30,000 Iraqi civilians in 2006 alone), the commission recommended U.S. troop reductions and greater responsibility from the Iraqis for their own security. 113
Weighing several options, Bush concluded that his original idea was best. Gathering support from his new secretary of defense, Robert Gates, and the new U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, he announced the plan in January 2007. Later that year, the surge was in place, capping an American military presence of 169,000 men and women. 114
It took the U.S. and its allies three years and ten months to defeat Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan in World War II. The attempt to secure Afghanistan took three times longer.
Department of Defense
The strategy appeared to work. In September 2007, an average of 117 civilians were dying every day from suicide bombs and insurgent attacks. Four months later, the rate fell to fewer than twenty deaths per day. By 2009, daily incidents of violence had declined over 90 percent. The success signaled an eventual end to U.S. presence, a goal finally achieved in December 2011. 115
Among many who criticized the surge was Senator Barack Obama, who insisted that Afghanistan needed to be the focus of antiterrorism, especially since it was the birthplace of the al-Qaeda-led 9/11 attacks. Two months after his inauguration, Obama implanted a surge of his own.
Under Bush, U.S. presence in Afghanistan rarely reached 35,000 servicemen and women. Under the recommendation of Gen. David McKiernan, the ranking U.S. officer in the theater, Obama ordered 21,000 (60 percent) more troops in 2009. By May of that year, Defense Secretary Gates dismissed Gen. McKiernan as being too cautious, replacing him with Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a veteran of the Iraq invasion. By December 2009, Gen. McChrystal requested, and Obama approved, another 30,000 (an increase of 45 percent). Six months later, Obama fired McChrystal for publicly criticizing his administration, replacing him with Gen. Petraeus, the commander who had recently achieved considerable success in redirecting the Iraq War. 116
At its apex, the U.S. military reached 100,000 personnel in the Islamic Republic. But even that could not fix a country plagued by endemic illiteracy, corruption, tribalism, and a feeble infrastructure (see L EAST S UCCESSFUL C OMMANDERS I N C HIEF ). Despite the surges, the American presence was relatively small. The U.S. was trying to secure a country about the size of Texas, with a force that was smaller than the seating capacity of the Texas University football stadium. 117
Among the U.S. Senators who voted in 2002 to authorize military force against Iraq were Hillary Clinton of New York and Joe Biden of Delaware, later secretary of state and vice president, respectively, in the Barack Obama administration.
4 . BOTH CHOSE BEN BERNANKE AS FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN
For the young and growing nation, periods of boom and bust came with unsettling frequency, demonstrated painfully by widespread bank collapses in 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893, and 1907. Thus in 1913, Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Federal Reserve Act, forming a central government monetary regulator, in other words, a bank for banks. The Federal Reserve soon began to create reserve notes (a.k.a., the national paper currency), manage the amount of notes in circulation in order to stabilize prices, as well as lower and raise interest rates to banks to stabilize credit. 118
Over time, Congress heaped greater responsibilities upon “the Fed.” The New Deal assigned the task of auditing and insuring national banks through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). By 1980, the board dictated minimum asset requirements for participating lenders. Soon after, the Fed essentially
Weighing several options, Bush concluded that his original idea was best. Gathering support from his new secretary of defense, Robert Gates, and the new U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, he announced the plan in January 2007. Later that year, the surge was in place, capping an American military presence of 169,000 men and women. 114
It took the U.S. and its allies three years and ten months to defeat Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan in World War II. The attempt to secure Afghanistan took three times longer.
Department of Defense
The strategy appeared to work. In September 2007, an average of 117 civilians were dying every day from suicide bombs and insurgent attacks. Four months later, the rate fell to fewer than twenty deaths per day. By 2009, daily incidents of violence had declined over 90 percent. The success signaled an eventual end to U.S. presence, a goal finally achieved in December 2011. 115
Among many who criticized the surge was Senator Barack Obama, who insisted that Afghanistan needed to be the focus of antiterrorism, especially since it was the birthplace of the al-Qaeda-led 9/11 attacks. Two months after his inauguration, Obama implanted a surge of his own.
Under Bush, U.S. presence in Afghanistan rarely reached 35,000 servicemen and women. Under the recommendation of Gen. David McKiernan, the ranking U.S. officer in the theater, Obama ordered 21,000 (60 percent) more troops in 2009. By May of that year, Defense Secretary Gates dismissed Gen. McKiernan as being too cautious, replacing him with Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a veteran of the Iraq invasion. By December 2009, Gen. McChrystal requested, and Obama approved, another 30,000 (an increase of 45 percent). Six months later, Obama fired McChrystal for publicly criticizing his administration, replacing him with Gen. Petraeus, the commander who had recently achieved considerable success in redirecting the Iraq War. 116
At its apex, the U.S. military reached 100,000 personnel in the Islamic Republic. But even that could not fix a country plagued by endemic illiteracy, corruption, tribalism, and a feeble infrastructure (see L EAST S UCCESSFUL C OMMANDERS I N C HIEF ). Despite the surges, the American presence was relatively small. The U.S. was trying to secure a country about the size of Texas, with a force that was smaller than the seating capacity of the Texas University football stadium. 117
Among the U.S. Senators who voted in 2002 to authorize military force against Iraq were Hillary Clinton of New York and Joe Biden of Delaware, later secretary of state and vice president, respectively, in the Barack Obama administration.
4 . BOTH CHOSE BEN BERNANKE AS FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN
For the young and growing nation, periods of boom and bust came with unsettling frequency, demonstrated painfully by widespread bank collapses in 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893, and 1907. Thus in 1913, Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Federal Reserve Act, forming a central government monetary regulator, in other words, a bank for banks. The Federal Reserve soon began to create reserve notes (a.k.a., the national paper currency), manage the amount of notes in circulation in order to stabilize prices, as well as lower and raise interest rates to banks to stabilize credit. 118
Over time, Congress heaped greater responsibilities upon “the Fed.” The New Deal assigned the task of auditing and insuring national banks through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). By 1980, the board dictated minimum asset requirements for participating lenders. Soon after, the Fed essentially
Similar Books
