George H.W. Bush presided over the end of the Cold War and dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His administration led a multinational coalition in the 1991 Gulf War that successfully liberated Kuwait after an Iraqi invasion. Bill Clinton was elected in 1992 and pursued a "Third Way" centrist domestic agenda while also dealing with a Republican Congress. His first term was dominated by unsuccessful health care reform and a 1994 GOP midterm wave. Conflicts in the Balkans and Rwanda challenged U.S. foreign policy during this period.

1. The Culture Wars
and the War on Terror,
1989-2000

2. George H.W. Bush
41st POTUS
1989-1993,
Republican
“Read my lips:
NO NEW TAXES.”

3. November 9, 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall
October 1990: Germany reunited

4. Breakup of Soviet Union:
April 1991: Georgia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
declared independence
August 1991: failed coup attempt to remove
Gorbachev by Communist Party hardliners
December 8, 1991: Soviet Union dissolved

5. Persian Gulf War
August 1990:
Saddam Hussein
ordered Iraqi forces to
invade Kuwait; would
control 25% of global oil

6. Persian Gulf War
January 16, 1991: Operation
Desert Storm began with five week
air war

7. Persian Gulf War
February 23-28, 1991: 543,000 troops from 38
nations led by Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf launched
ground attack from Saudi Arabia to liberate Kuwait

9. Bush Domestic Policies
Clarence Thomas: replacement for
Thurgood Marshall but conservatism
angered minorities; began national
conversation of sexual harassment
Americans with Disabilities Act
(1990): “a kinder gentler America”

10. Domestic Problems
• Iran Contra pardon
• Savings and Loan (S&L) Crisis:
Reagan banking deregulation  bank failures  $88 billion
bailout
• “No new taxes.”  Large tax increase
• 1990-92 recession  “It’s the economy, stupid.”

11. Election of 1992

12. Bill Clinton
42nd POTUS
1993-2001,
Democratic
“I feel your pain.…”

13. “New Democrat” - shift away
from traditional Democratic Party
values
• Move people off welfare
• Grow private business
• Strong national defense
• Pro death penalty
• Push for a balanced budget

14. Clinton Domestic Policy
First priority: Health Care reform
In charge: Hillary Clinton
Goal: universal coverage
Problems:
• Doctors & insurance industry disagree
• Take too much time, fails to pass

15. Early Accomplishments:
• Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)
• Brady Handgun Bill (1994)  5-day waiting period
before purchasing a handgun
• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
• Minimum Wage increase

16. Welfare Reform
• Worked with Republicans in Congress.
• Required work for welfare recipients with school age kids.
• Max of 5 years for benefits.
• Cut welfare rolls by 50% + internet boom tax revenues =
balanced budget

17. 1994 Republican Revolution
• First Republican control of Congress for since 1954
• Contract with America: “Era of big government is over.”
• Newt Gingrich, Speaker of House

18. 1995-1996 Government Shutdowns
Budget battle between Congress and Executive  government
shutdowns
 Clinton 1996 re-election vs. Bob Dole

20. Growth of Terrorism
1993 World Trade Center Bombing
February 26, 1993: Al-Qaeda car bomb killed seven, injured 1042
Foreshadowed 9/11

21. April 19, 1995:
Oklahoma City Bombing
Anti-government militia
members Timothy McVeigh
and Terry Nichols kill 168 die,
wound 800+
"Think about the people as if they were storm
troopers in Star Wars. They may be individually
innocent, but they are guilty because they work
for the Evil Empire.”
- Timothy McVeigh on the deaths of bombing

22. Columbine High School massacre
April 20, 1999: Two students kill 12 students and a teacher,
injured 21, then committed suicide
More attention paid to bullying, teen isolation.

23. CNN
Foreign
Policy
Unsure of new
role as sole
superpower:
• Bosnia/
Kosovo
• Somalia
• Rwanda

24. Bosnia 1990 pop. = 4 m.
• 44% Bosniak (Muslim)
• 31% Serb (Eastern Orthodox Christians)
• 17% Croatian (Roman Catholic Christians)

26. Ethnic Cleansing: By 1995, 200,000 had died including 80% of
Bosniaks.

27. By 1995, 200,000 had died including 80% of Bosniaks.

29. Somalia –establish cease fire
and deliver food and aid

30. Rwanda - Hutus (85% of pop.) vs. Tutsi (14% of
pop.)

31. The Rwandan Genocide, 1994:
• 100 days
• 1,000,000 people slaughtered
• 6 murder victims every 60 seconds of every hour of every day for
more than 3 months.
• 535,000 women raped by HIV+ men
• 4 women were violently sexually assaulted every minute of every
hour of every day for 100 days
The Aftermath, 2011:
• 67% of rape victims in 1994 are dying of AIDS in 2011
• 60,000 widows caring for more than 200,000 orphans
• 18: median age of Rwanda today

43. July 11, 1995: Serb forces overwhelmed Dutch peacekeepers at the
"safe haven” of Srebrenica.
Srebrenica falls to Bosnian Serbs

44. Bosniak men and boys were driven or marched to fields and shot or
decapitated. 1,500 were locked in a warehouse and murdered with
machine gun fire and grenades.

45. Mass graves covered by earth-moving equipment.

46. In Sarajevo, Bosnia's capital, a radio message from an amateur
operator in Srebrenica was heard: 'Please do something. Whatever
you can. In the name of God, do something.'

47. August 1995: after the Serbs refused to comply with a UN ultimatum,
NATO conducted a bombing campaign against Bosnian Serb forces.
October 1995: With Serbia's economy crippled by UN trade
sanctions and three years of war, Milosevic agreed to peace
negotiations.

48. November 1995: the Dayton Accords
signed in Ohio between Milosevic,
Tudjman, and Izetbegovic divided
Bosnia.
• 51% Croat-Bosniak Federation
• 49% to Republika Srpska
Other signers included:
• U.S. President Bill Clinton
• French President Jacques Chirac
• UK PM John Major
• German Chancellor Helmut Kohl
• Russian PM Vikto Chernonmyrdin

49. A 60,000 NATO peace-keeping force, including 20,000 Americans,
was deployed until 2004. Today, a 2500 member EU force remains.

50. Monica Lewinsky Affair
Perjury? Impeachment!
• Clinton accused of
lying under oath 
Congress impeaches
for perjury
• Not guilty, lied in
press statements but
never in federal
courts.