BUSH I THE END OF THE COLD WAR

President George H. W. Bush 1989-1993 President George Bush took office & was confronted with many international crises – fall USSR, China, Panama, & the Middle East After the Cold War, Bush made the phrase a “new world order” popular. During President George Bush’s term, the U.S. fought the Persian Gulf War, and the Cold War came to a dramatic end with the fall of the Soviet Union. Bush won the 1988 election against Democrat Michael Dukakis. George Bush had served as the ambassador to the UN and as the nation’s first diplomatic envoy to the People’s Republic of China. He was also the head of the CIA from 1976 to 1977. President George H. W. Bush 1989-1993

SOVIET UNION COLLAPSES By the late 1980s, the Soviet economy suffered from inefficient central planning & huge expenditures on the arms race. Peaceful revolutions replaced Communist rulers with democratically elected governments in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, & Bulgaria. 1989 Berlin Wall was finally opened & East + West Germany reunited. SOVIET UNION COLLAPSES

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev instituted perestroika, or “restructuring,” to help save the economy by allowing some private enterprise & profit-making, and glasnost, or “openness,” allowed for more freedom of religion & speech. Group of Communist officials/army officers staged a coup in the Soviet Union & arrested Gorbachev was arrested Troops were sent into Moscow, but Russian president Boris Yeltsin defied the coup  coup collapsed, Gorbachev released  December 1991, Gorbachev announced the end of the Soviet Union. Most former Soviet republics joined a federation called the Commonwealth of Independent States. Glasnost spread to Eastern Europe in 1989. Peaceful revolutions replaced Communist rulers with democratically elected governments in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria. The revolution spread to East Germany where on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was finally opened. Within a year, East and West Germany had reunited. ** GORBACHEV’S POLICIES: To save the economy, Gorbachev instituted perestroika, or “restructuring,” and allowed some private enterprise and profit-making. He also instituted glasnost, or “openness,” which allowed more freedom of religion and speech. THE END OF THE COLD WAR

Despite the end of communism in Eastern Europe, China’s Communist leaders were determined to remain in power & continued to repress political speech & dissent. 1989 Chinese students/workers held demonstrations for democracy  government tanks/soldiers ended the protests in Tiananmen Square, in China’s capital of Beijing. The attack left many people dead, and pro-democracy activists were arrested & later sentenced to death. U.S. & several European countries stopped arms sales & reduced diplomatic contacts with China, & World Bank suspended loans ISSUES WITH CHINA

1978 U.S. agreed to give Panama control over the Panama Canal in 2000. 1989 Panama’s dictator, General Manuel Noriega, had stopped cooperating with the U.S., was aiding drug traffickers, & had directed his supporters to harass military personal stationed to defend the canal American troops were ordered to invade Panama and arrest Noriega  then helped Panamanians hold elections & set up a new government. Because of the canal’s importance, American officials investigated to make sure Panama’s government was stable and pro-American. ISSUES WITH PANAMA

August 1990, Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, sent his army to invade oil-rich Kuwait. Bush convinced other nations to join a coalition to stop Iraq  economic sanctions were imposed & deadline set for the Iraqis to withdraw. Iraq refused  January 16, 1991, the coalition began Operation Desert Storm = air attack followed by a massive ground attack left thousands of Iraqi soldiers dead + Bush declared that Kuwait had been liberated ISSUES IN MIDDLE EAST