THE U.S. BEFORE 9/11


THE RISE OF THE INTERNET Today, we pull smartphones out of our pockets to look up information, stream music, and watch videos. But back in 2000, the most common way to access the Internet was through a desktop (or one of the new laptops) computer with a wired connection. WiFi hotspots, tablets, smartphones, social media, and most streaming video were all several years away.


While what we think of as the Internet—a network that allows computer networks around the world to communicate with one another—began in the 1960s, it didn’t become a part of American public life until the 1990s.


The Internet became available to the American public in 1992. Households could get Internet access for the low price of $10 for four hours, or $20 for 20 hours of use. Most Americans had dial-up access, which used existing phone lines and infrastructure to connect to the internet. Users couldn’t talk on the phone and surf the web simultaneously, and connections were slow. It could take up to 20 minutes for a single, image-heavy page to load.


Web browsers with graphic interfaces, which made accessing the Internet user-friendly, were introduced in 1993, the same year the White House launched a website. Amazon.com, Yahoo, eBay, Javascript, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Windows all launched in 1995. AOL Instant Messaging, or AIM, debuted in 1997, giving millions of teens and tweens a new way to communicate (and miscommunicate) with their crushes. These programs caused a boom in Internet popularity: in 1995, just 14% of American adults used the Internet, but by 2000, 46% did.


CELL PHONES CIRCA 2000


Though the first cell phone went on the market in 1983 (and cost $4,000!), cell phones didn’t take off until around 1996. Up until that time, teens used pagers, which receive numeric messages on a small screen, to communicate. That began to change when competition


drove down the price of cell phone plans, and the phones themselves became sleeker and smaller. The 1997 Nokia


IF I FORGET UPSTAGE GUIDE 11


6110 was one of the first phones without an antennae, and it came in four colors and offered paging capabilities.


In 1999, one-third of American adults owned a cell phone. The first phone with internet capabilities was introduced that year, though the tiny, greyscale screen made meaningful browsing difficult. Most phones didn’t have full keyboards: users simply pressed numeric keys repeatedly until the desired letter was reached. The average plan cost $40/ month, and text messages weren’t included.


BUSH-GORE ELECTION


In the 2000 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush, governor of Texas and son of President George H.W. Bush, ran against Democratic Vice President Al Gore. Activist and attorney Ralph Nader ran as the Green Party candidate. The campaigns centered on domestic issues, including President Bill Clinton’s extramarital affair and impeachment trial, as well as the economy.


The election was the closest in United States history. Victory came down to whichever candidate captured Florida’s electoral votes, and early reports said Gore won the state; later reports declared Bush the winner. Gore actually called Bush to concede, but later called back to retract his concession. Official tallies showed that only 600 votes separated the candidates, few enough to trigger a mandatory statewide machine recount. After the recount only 327 votes separated the candidates. The Gore campaign sued for a hand recount of votes in several counties, which raised questions about the design of the ballot and voter intent in unclear ballots. After several legal challenges, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a manual recount of ballots that voting machines registered as not indicating any presidential candidate. The Bush campaign appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed the ruling. Bush was declared the winner of Florida’s electoral votes and became the 43rd president of the United States.•


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