Political developments in the USA and Canada (1960–2020)

Kennedy's 1961–63 program of ambitious domestic goals (poverty, space, civil rights) — largely blocked in Congress by a conservative coalition.

Johnson's 1964–68 expansion of government, including the Civil Rights Act (1964), Voting Rights Act (1965), Medicare/Medicaid, and War on Poverty programs.

Johnson was a former Senate majority leader who knew how to pass bills, and he used the emotional aftermath of Kennedy's assassination to push civil rights legislation through quickly.

Chicago police violently clashed with anti-war protesters on live television, making the party look divided and out of control right before the election.

Nixon's approach of winning over white southern Democrats angry about civil rights, using coded appeals on crime and states' rights rather than explicit racism.

In June 1972, burglars linked to Nixon's re-election campaign broke into Democratic Party offices; Nixon then covered it up, which was exposed by journalists and secret Oval Office tapes.

The Supreme Court forced release of his tapes proving he knew of the cover-up, making impeachment by Congress certain; he resigned rather than face it.

Gerald Ford, Nixon's unelected successor, granted him a full pardon so the country could 'heal' — but it was hugely unpopular and likely cost Ford the 1976 election.

Reagan's (1981–89) economic program of large tax cuts, deregulation, and higher defence spending, based on the idea that growth would 'trickle down' to everyone.

Expanded mandatory minimum prison sentences, hitting crack cocaine hardest, dramatically raising incarceration — debated for its impact on poor and Black communities.

Kennedy and Johnson expanded federal government to fight poverty and inequality (1961–69); Reagan reversed course, cutting taxes and government size while expanding policing (1981–89).

A centrist 'New Democrat' who cut the deficit, reformed welfare (1996), and presided over a tech-driven economic boom, despite being impeached in 1998 (and acquitted).

On 11 September 2001, al-Qaeda hijackers flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 died — the deadliest attack on US soil.

Bush's response to 9/11: invading Afghanistan (2001) to remove the Taliban, then Iraq (2003) to topple Saddam Hussein over false WMD claims.

Risky mortgage lending and a housing bubble burst, causing bank collapses like Lehman Brothers — the worst US downturn since the Great Depression.

The Troubled Asset Relief Program: a $700 billion bank bailout under Bush in 2008, deeply unpopular with ordinary Americans who lost jobs and homes.

Obama's healthcare law expanding insurance coverage to millions; passed with zero Republican votes, becoming a lasting symbol of partisan division.

Trump refused to concede and falsely claimed fraud; on 6 January 2021 his supporters stormed the Capitol trying to block certification of Biden's win.

As PM (1963-68) he introduced universal Medicare (from 1966) and the Canada Pension Plan, building the modern Canadian welfare state.

Pearson's law making English and French equal official languages across the Canadian federal government, aimed at addressing Quebec nationalism.

The FLQ kidnapped a diplomat and murdered a Quebec minister; Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, sending troops into Quebec and suspending civil liberties.

Trudeau brought Canada's constitution home from Britain and added the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — but Quebec's government never signed it.

Both were Mulroney's attempts to bring Quebec into the constitution. Meech Lake failed when two provinces missed the ratification deadline; Charlottetown was rejected by voters in a national referendum.

Anger over free trade, the new GST, and failed constitutional accords under Mulroney; the party fell from 156 to just 2 seats as Reform and the Bloc Quebecois split its vote.

Quebec's rapid transformation (starting 1960) from a conservative, Church-run society into a secular, modern welfare state, led by Premier Jean Lesage's Liberal government.

Once the Church's grip weakened, many Québécois asked why the province, not just its churches, could not run its own affairs — nationalism grew from cultural pride into a political demand for autonomy or independence.

The Front de libération du Québec, a small radical group formed in 1963 that used bombings and kidnappings to try to force Quebec's independence from Canada.

FLQ cells kidnapped British diplomat James Cross and Quebec minister Pierre Laporte; Laporte was murdered. PM Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, suspending civil liberties and sending troops into Quebec.

It discredited violent separatism. Quebec nationalists shifted almost entirely toward the ballot box, boosting the newly formed Parti Québécois, which won power in 1976.

Both asked Quebecers to approve negotiating sovereignty. 1980 lost decisively (about 60% No); 1995 came within about 1 percentage point (50.6% No to 49.4% Yes) — separatism's closest brush with success.

In 2003 the right-of-centre Progressive Conservatives merged with the western-based Canadian Alliance to form one united Conservative Party, ending decades of vote-splitting on the right.

A body launched in 2008 to document the harm done by Canada's residential school system, which forcibly removed Indigenous children from their families for over a century; it delivered 94 Calls to Action in 2015.

Canada's banks, more tightly regulated, avoided major collapses; under PM Stephen Harper, Canada ran deficit-spending stimulus but recovered faster and with less damage than the US.

Chrétien (Liberal, 1993–2003) cut deficits sharply and kept Canada out of the Iraq War; Harper (Conservative, 2006–15) cut taxes, took a harder foreign-policy line, and centralized power in the PM's office.

A gender-balanced cabinet, legalizing cannabis (2018), continuing reconciliation efforts with Indigenous peoples, and a more socially liberal, internationalist tone than Harper's government.

It turned Quebec from Canada's most traditional province into a modern, assertive one demanding special status or independence — a challenge to Canadian unity that persists into the 21st century.