The 1990’s
The last decade of the 1990’s brought to us many memorable moments. Such as the first war with Iraq, first act of terror in America, and who can forget Bill Clintons sex scandal. Also in the 90’s a huge outbreak of AIDS/HIV broke out affecting many.
American politics in the 1990’s involved former presidents George H.W Bush and Bill Clinton. The decade started off with a bang. George H.W Bush put America in a war that seemed unnecessary. Iraq was invading Kuwait which for there oil refineries. Bush who had a good relationship with Kuwait and feared that Iraq would go after Saudi Arabia sent American troops to Saudi Arabia. In order for this to end U.S. and others launched Operation Desert Storm which in the end caused Iraq to pull out and the war was over.
In the first elections of the 90’s George H.W. Bush ran for re-election against Democrat Bill Clinton. Unfortunately for Bush he lost mainly because of the economic problems he had and Clinton promised to fix that problem. Clinton had a good four years as president. He passed acts such as Family and Medical Leave Act and also supported gay rights. Clinton ran for re-election and unlike Bush he came out victorious. Clintons second term wasn’t an easy one as it was filled with major controversy. The one thing that makes his second term unforgettable is his sex scandal with former white house intern Monica Lewinsky. This later came to be known as the Lewinsky scandal. This lead to Clinton being impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice. Clinton also gave his famous “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” speech but, in the end he was able to finish his second term.
Significant moments happened in our society during the 1990’s as well. Some of these moments were serial killer Jeffres Dahmer being caught, the internet becomes public, also the Columbine High School shootings. But there were two major events that Americans can’t forget. These events were the first bombing of the World Trade Center on Feb. 26, 1993 and Oklahoma City Bombing on April 19, 1995. The attack on the World Trade Center only killed six but injured over a thousand. Ramzi Yousef and friend Eyad Ismoil were the two mainly responsible for this attack because they were the ones who drove the bomb into the public parking garage. The bomb weighed approximately 1,310 pounds, but was not able to complete it’s goal which was to make the North tower collapse into the South tower and bring both down.
Our second major event that happened two years after the World Trade Center bombing was the attack at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building or better known as Oklahoma City Bombing. This attack was the second terrorist attack on American soil in two years and during the time the worst terrorist attack in American history. The main suspects were two friends who met in basic training for the U.S. army and both shared anti-government views. They used a 6,200 pound bomb which took 168 lives and 800 over injured. Both Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were caught and arrested. McVeigh was later executed by lethal ejection in 2001 and Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.
In conclusion, the 1990’s left us memorable moments. The terrorist attacks that were brought to this country united the nation and made us aware. As for Bill Clinton even with his controversy he still did good things for this country. The 1990’s are a big part of what this nation is today.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_Bombing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_city_bombing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_Clinton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Gulf_War
Kallen, Stuart. The 1990's. San Diego, California: Lucent Books, Inc.
