Following Ronald Reagan as president in 1989 was George Bush, Reagan's vice-president. In an attempt to cut the budget deficit, Bush backed off from his campaign promise of “no new taxes.” During Bush's presidency, United States forces mounted an invasion of Panama that resulted in the capture of Manuel Noriega and his extradition to Florida to face drug-trafficking charges. Bush worked with the Soviet Union to initiate further reductions of nuclear weapons, and he saw the Cold War to its conclusion as the fall of the Berlin Wall signaled the end of Communist rule in Eastern Europe and eventually the breakup of the Soviet Union. Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the United States mounted diplomatic, economic, and military efforts to prevent Iraq from invading other areas of the Persian Gulf. This escalated into the Persian Gulf War as the United Nations mounted an effort to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. The 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, took office in 1993. Clinton brought Israeli and Palestinian leaders together in an effort to bring peace in the Middle East. The talks resulted in the Oslo and Wye River peace accords. Also in the Middle East, Clinton ordered attacks on Iraq for violations of the Gulf War armistice agreement. As part of a NATO effort, the United States embarked on a military campaign of bombing attacks to end Serbian aggression against ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo province of Yugoslavia. The investigation of the Whitewater scandal that had followed Clinton to the White House was expanded to include an affair Clinton had with a White House intern and subsequently tried to conceal. This led to Clinton's becoming only the second United States president to be impeached. The Senate ultimately acquitted him of the impeachment charges. |