President Reagan's Watergate Scandal
As President Reagan’s term was coming to an end, the American public saw little need for change. Therefore, George Bush became elected and was determined to follow Reagan’s legacy. However, due to the recession Reagan started and Nixon’s Watergate Scandal, majority of people had little faith in their government and believed Bush’s promise to not create new taxes and make America a “kinder, gentler nation” was just an excuse to separate himself from Regan’s legacy. However, the people’s skepticism would be proven right as Bush would not only increase taxes in 1990, but he would also make some very questionable decisions with America’s foreign policy in the early 1990’s.
After Reagan’s famous “Tear Down this Wall”, speech, the Berlin Wall had officially been torn down by 1989, officially reuniting East and West Germany after 45 years of communist intervention. This was a very …show more content…
symbolic as it marked the end of the Cold War as the “Iron Curtain” had finally fallen and the Soviet economy was falling into state of stagnation. This combined with Gorbachev’s new policies of glasnost and perestroika would ultimately result in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union, bringing a century’s worth of tensions between the United States and Soviet Union to an end. This would bring great changes to Foreign policy.
During George Bush’s presidency, the Soviet Union officially collapsed in 1991 when Russian President Borish Yeltsin announced it and declared independence to their satellite nation. President Bush took advantage of this and sent in American aid to all these new nations in order to help dismantle all nuclear weapons that were placed there during the Cold War. However, during this process, a crisis arose when the country of Iraq invaded Kuwait. America feared that Iraqi leader Sudan Hussein would target Saudi Arabia next, the source of all of America’s oil. This fear commenced Operation Desert Shield, which deployed troops to protect Saudi Arabia.
After the United Nations approved President Bush’s military actions against Sudan Hussein, it became President Bush’s goal to push Hussein out of Kuwait and contain his dictatorship to only the country of Iraq.
On February of 1991, Operation Desert Storm commenced which sent in thousands of American troops to take the offensive against the Iraqi forces. Just after a few days of fighting and 40,000 Iraqi deaths, they retreated back to Iraq. However, this caused a dilemma upon America’s foreign policy. However, Bush refused to go against the United Nations and not invade Iraq.
As the next election came around, Bill Clinton gained the most popularity due to his “New Democratic” campaign which focused on economic growth by supporting private businesses and spending less on social programs. However, many people began to question Clinton as he had not yet developed a focus of America’s post-Cold War foreign policy. This issue especially exploded when a mission to send aid to Somalia resulted in 18 American deaths in 1992. This led to a debate about what role the military has in foreign
affairs.
Very focused on bringing economic changes, Clinton also approved of globalizing the economy, specifically in North America. After meeting with other nations and persuading Congress, the agreement of NAFTA was finally passed. This agreement essentially removed all trade barriers between United States, Mexico, and Canada. On the other hand, Clinton was unable to bring peace between Palestine and Israel, which resulted in a bombing at the World Trade Center in New York in 1993. This made Clinton’s Foreign Policy more skeptic.
As the next election was coming up, Clinton now wanted to improve relations with Congress and the public, allowing him to get re-elected in the year 1996. In was in this year that almost all government employees agreed to a legislation that would reduce the federal budget. Everything would continue as planned and Clinton’s popularity would remain high. It was not until the Whitewater Affair that would lead to Clinton’s political downfall.
In the year 1998, Clinton was investigated and then accused of improperly using money from the company Whitewater Development and using it to fund one of his previous campaigns. However, what made the public hostile towards Clinton would have to be the discovery that he possibly had an affair with White House Intern, Monica Lewinsky. He even lied about it under a presidential oath on national television, despite their being clear evidence. It was after these two events that the demand to impeach President Clinton arose. When it came down to the final vote of the Senate in 1999, both impeachment requests did not receive 2/3 vote from the Senate. Clinton would escape impeachment and be able to finish off his term.
After Reagan’s famous “Tear Down this Wall”, speech, the Berlin Wall had officially been torn down by 1989, officially reuniting East and West Germany after 45 years of communist intervention. This was a very …show more content…
symbolic as it marked the end of the Cold War as the “Iron Curtain” had finally fallen and the Soviet economy was falling into state of stagnation. This combined with Gorbachev’s new policies of glasnost and perestroika would ultimately result in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union, bringing a century’s worth of tensions between the United States and Soviet Union to an end. This would bring great changes to Foreign policy.
During George Bush’s presidency, the Soviet Union officially collapsed in 1991 when Russian President Borish Yeltsin announced it and declared independence to their satellite nation. President Bush took advantage of this and sent in American aid to all these new nations in order to help dismantle all nuclear weapons that were placed there during the Cold War. However, during this process, a crisis arose when the country of Iraq invaded Kuwait. America feared that Iraqi leader Sudan Hussein would target Saudi Arabia next, the source of all of America’s oil. This fear commenced Operation Desert Shield, which deployed troops to protect Saudi Arabia.
After the United Nations approved President Bush’s military actions against Sudan Hussein, it became President Bush’s goal to push Hussein out of Kuwait and contain his dictatorship to only the country of Iraq.
On February of 1991, Operation Desert Storm commenced which sent in thousands of American troops to take the offensive against the Iraqi forces. Just after a few days of fighting and 40,000 Iraqi deaths, they retreated back to Iraq. However, this caused a dilemma upon America’s foreign policy. However, Bush refused to go against the United Nations and not invade Iraq.
As the next election came around, Bill Clinton gained the most popularity due to his “New Democratic” campaign which focused on economic growth by supporting private businesses and spending less on social programs. However, many people began to question Clinton as he had not yet developed a focus of America’s post-Cold War foreign policy. This issue especially exploded when a mission to send aid to Somalia resulted in 18 American deaths in 1992. This led to a debate about what role the military has in foreign
affairs.
Very focused on bringing economic changes, Clinton also approved of globalizing the economy, specifically in North America. After meeting with other nations and persuading Congress, the agreement of NAFTA was finally passed. This agreement essentially removed all trade barriers between United States, Mexico, and Canada. On the other hand, Clinton was unable to bring peace between Palestine and Israel, which resulted in a bombing at the World Trade Center in New York in 1993. This made Clinton’s Foreign Policy more skeptic.
As the next election was coming up, Clinton now wanted to improve relations with Congress and the public, allowing him to get re-elected in the year 1996. In was in this year that almost all government employees agreed to a legislation that would reduce the federal budget. Everything would continue as planned and Clinton’s popularity would remain high. It was not until the Whitewater Affair that would lead to Clinton’s political downfall.
In the year 1998, Clinton was investigated and then accused of improperly using money from the company Whitewater Development and using it to fund one of his previous campaigns. However, what made the public hostile towards Clinton would have to be the discovery that he possibly had an affair with White House Intern, Monica Lewinsky. He even lied about it under a presidential oath on national television, despite their being clear evidence. It was after these two events that the demand to impeach President Clinton arose. When it came down to the final vote of the Senate in 1999, both impeachment requests did not receive 2/3 vote from the Senate. Clinton would escape impeachment and be able to finish off his term.