Chapter 30

Post Cold-War World

George HW Bush elected in 1988
- saw the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991
  - US remained world’s only superpower
Desert Storm
- Iraq invaded Kuwait
  - Iraq and Iran had been at war through most of the 1980s
    - the US had supported Saddam Hussein against Iran
      - had simultaneously armed Iran during the Iran Contra
  - CNN provided full televised coverage of the war
Clinton elected – 1992
- robust economy, tech sector ↑
  - NAFTA
- plagued by sex scandals
- Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the military
Indecision 2000
- George W. Bush won in December after the Supreme Court ruled that Florida voted for Bush in the electoral college
9/11
- Bush Doctrine
  - the US has the right to go to war with countries or organizations posing threats to the US
    - most commonly Iraq and Afghanistan
      - like Iraq, the U.S. backed Afghanistan during Soviet invasion
      - the Iraq War was the result of the US believing weapons of mass destruction were present in Iraq
      - the Afghanistan Was was a result of Al Qaida hiding there after 9/11

elected in 2008 and 2012
- began presidency during the Great Recession
- created the ACA - Obamacare
- found and assassinated Osama bin Laden
- won the popular and electoral votes during both elections