American History - Reagan and His Successors

American History: Reagan and His Successors

Northern America

Carter was badly beaten by Republican RW Reagan (1981-89), a former governor of California and an exponent of the new American right. A staunch supporter of economic liberalism, Reagan achieved great success in terms of inflation and unemployment, even as the increase in military spending and the increase in imports caused a worrying expansion of the federal deficit and the deficit in the external accounts. Not all went smoothly with the NATO allies, starting with the difficulties encountered in installing Cruise and Pershing missiles in Europe. United States is a country located in North America according to ZIPCODESEXPLORER.COM.

In Central America, after the open confrontation with Nicaragua Sandinista, Reagan ordered the invasion of Grenada (1983), the small pro-Castro Caribbean island. On the strength of the successes obtained, the president was plebiscitantly re-elected in 1984 over the weak democratic rival W. Mondale. This second term was mainly characterized by the successes achieved in foreign policy, and in particular by those obtained in the process of detente with the USSR: while US activism in the Third World highlighted some hindrances (the sudden abandonment of the Filipino dictator F. Marcos, the armed clashes between the Sixth Fleet and the air force of Libya, accused of supporting international terrorism, as well as the explosion of the Iran- contras case), the talks started in 1985-86 with M. Gorbačëv and the reciprocal visits that took place in the following two years succeeded in producing significant results such as the ratification of a treaty on the abolition of Euromissiles (December 1987) and, more generally, an easing of international tensions in various areas of the globe. A further acceleration in this sense came from the new president G. Bush (1989-93) who, also favored by the internal evolution of the USSR, completed this process, in particular by signing a global agreement for the reduction of nuclear weapons (June 1990) and a second START (July 1991), before the dissolution of the socialist power system in that country (August 1991) marked the definitive disappearance of bilateralism and left the US as the only global superpower. In parallel to these events there was also a relaxation of the pressure on the Nicaraguan Sandinista government, without this however leading to a renunciation of the support of its interests in the Central American area, as demonstrated by the invasion of Panama and the arrest of the dictator Manuel Noriega., unwelcome to the government and accused of drug trafficking (December 1989). The US military intervention abroad, propagandistically aimed at the realization of a “new international order” after the end of the Cold War, continued at the beginning of the new decade with the assumption of leadership of the multinational peacekeeping force deployed against the ‘Iraq following the occupation of Kuwait (August 1990). The popularity derived to President Bush from the easy victory in this conflict (January-February 1991) was not, however, sufficient to cancel the discontent caused by internal difficulties, especially economic (a significant sign of serious social unrest, the revolt, sparked by anger for an episode of racial discrimination, which exploded in Los Angeles in May 1992), and the election campaign of 1992 proved to be of great difficulty for him. His opponent, B. Clinton, with a program focused on the themes of civil rights and the development of social spending, he managed to defeat him and (at the beginning of 1993) assumed the presidency of the USA, bringing the Democrats back to the leadership of the country. Convinced that he could pay more attention to internal problems (including the emergence of the terrorist phenomenon with the Islamic attack on the World Trade Center in New York in February 1993) once bipolarism was definitively overcome, Clinton still had to face a series of international problems that turned out to be more complicated than expected (events in Iraq, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia etc.). All this, together with the publicity given by the press to some episodes of Clinton’s private life, when he held the position of governor of Arkansas, determined a tarnishing of the image of the new administration.

Even the reform commitments (the most important of which was health care reform, in which the president’s wife, Hillary had also been involved) were difficult to keep due to the difficult economic situation. The US electorate also, despite a strong international commitment by the president, which materialized in the first agreement signed in Washington between Israelis and Palestinians (September 1993) and in the restoration of democracy in Haiti (October 1994), on the occasion of the partial renewal of Congress (November 1994), he turned his back on Clinton, favoring the victory of the Republicans who, for the first time, won the parliamentary majority. In the first months of 1995, the internal political debate thus concentrated on the clear contrast between the programs of the Clinton administration and the so-called “Contract with America”, or the project of strong cuts in social spending and the fight against crime proposed by the speaker House Republican Newt Gingrich. In the autumn of the same year, in fact, Clinton vetoed the budget law approved by Congress and faithful to the republican economic program, in particular opposing the cuts for social and health assistance projects; the conflict between the president and the republican majority delayed the approval of the federal budget and caused the temporary freeze on salaries for civil servants. The intransigence of the parties was also favored by the approaching presidential elections (scheduled for autumn 1996), with the increasingly probable opposition to Clinton of Senator R. Dole, as representative of the Republican party. Meanwhile, on the international level, the Clinton administration gave the “green light” to NATO military intervention in Bosnia (August 1995) and entrusted Deputy Secretary of State R. Holbrooke with the coordination of diplomatic negotiations, which ended with the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords. In November 1996, Clinton was reappointed to the presidency and the United States continued its phase of economic expansion. However, the democratic administration reported the greatest successes in the international field: in 1998, in fact, the US diplomatic intervention favored both the reopening of dialogue between Israel and Clinton was reappointed to the presidency and the United States continued its phase of economic expansion.

However, the democratic administration reported the greatest successes in the international field: in 1998, in fact, the US diplomatic intervention favored both the reopening of dialogue between Israel and Clinton was reappointed to the presidency and the United States continued its phase of economic expansion. However, the democratic administration reported the greatest successes in the international field: in 1998, in fact, the US diplomatic intervention favored both the reopening of dialogue between Israel and PLO, with the signing of B. Netanyahu and Y. ʻArafât of the “Memorandum of Wye”, and the negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland with the Stormont agreement. On the other hand, the tensions created in February of the same year with Saddam Ḥusayn were only temporarily resolved, due to the access denied to UNSCOM inspectors (Arms Control Commission) to all Iraqi sites, at the end of the year the United States forced Iraq to find an agreement, bombing the country and above all the targets Baghdad military. If 1998, on the international level, had therefore been an intense and successful year for the Democratic administration, for President Clinton it was difficult: he was once again involved in a scandal, the Sexgate, and in a impeachment proceeding for perjury and obstruction of justice, the acquittal of which came only in February 1999. Having overcome this moment of instability on the domestic level, the United States found in 1999 once again to have a predominant role in the international field, both in the question of Kosovo and the Palestinian one. As for the first, having failed every attempt to resolve the conflict between Serbs and Kosovars through diplomatic channels, the USA with the support of 12 other NATO countries, between March and June 1999 subjected Yugoslavia to heavy bombing, forcing her to accept a peace plan; On the other hand, they obtained little results in the work of mediation between the Israelis and the Palestinians. However, despite the successes in the international field.

American History - Reagan and His Successors