-
Southeast Asian Refugee Crisis of 1975
Surrounding countries quickly fell to communism and the outlook of the war for South Vietnam was looking bad. President Ford and the International Rescue Committee coordinated an emergency military effort to evacuate refugees. These refugees were taken to the United States and set up in support centers so that a sponsor family would help take care of them until they could get on their feet. Over the next 25 years, 3 million refugees would attempt to escape and many would die in the process. -
Helsinki Accords of 1975
President Ford joined with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and other European countries to sign the Helsinki Accords. This document recognized the existing boundaries of European countries after WWII. These Accords also included support for human rights. The soviets were stubborn to sign but finally did. This was a way to redeem Americans from the failed attempt at Vladivostok Accords in 1974. -
Camp David Accords
After the Yom Kippur War of 1973, many countries became enemies with the Israeli's and it started trouble. President Jimmy Carter invited both the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and The President of Egypt Anwar Sadat to go on a retreat to Camp David. Carter helped hammer out the effects of the war and helped keep the peace in this dispute. In the end, they decided that Israel would withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt would recognize Israel's government. -
Oil Crisis of 1979
Oil prices began to rise rapidly in mid-1979, more than doubling between April 1979 and April 1980. According to one estimate, surging oil demand, coming both from a global economy and a sharp increase in precautionary demand, was responsible for much of the increase in the cost of oil during the crisis. Members of the FOMC about the declining value of the dollar and rising pace of inflation to raise interest rates too aggressively, fearful of stifling fragile economic growth. -
Iranian Hostage Crisis
U.S. stepped in and gave power to the Shah. The people started wanting a religious government and so the Ayatollah came back from exile and took over. The Shah left and fled, then came to America. Outraged, they overthrew the American Embassy and took 66 hostages and refused to release until the Shah was brought back for a trial. U.S. froze all funds and try to rescue hostages, but failed. Finally, America promised to not interfere with Iran internal affairs & they let the hostages go. -
Reverse Ratification of SALT II
In the midst of the Cold War, President Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed SALT II (The Strategic Arms Limiting Treaty). Although it was ratified in June of 1979, 6 months later it was reversed. In early December of 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in hopes to put an end to the Muslim Rebellion. This infuriated the US because their constant push to keep communism contained. The treaty soon became void but both US and USSR kept to a verbal agreement reguarding it. -
United States Involvement in Lebanon
In the summer of 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon in hopes to deprive the PLO. With Israel being a close ally we watched intently as things progressed. Once the Israeli Prime Minister dropped bombs in Lebanon, Reagan stepped in and called Begin and told him to stop the bombings. Considering it was less than 10 years prior that we were in Vietnam, Reagan decided to only send 800 marines overseas. Soon after there was a ceasefire signed and the PLO departed, withdrawing Israel from Lebanon. -
Geneva Summit of 1985
In the fall of 1985, for the first time in a long while, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary and soon to be Leader Mikhail Gorbachev met together to discuss diplomatic relations and the arms race. Reagan believed that a personal relationship is what it took to mend the relations between the two countries. This was the first of the many meetings that the President and Gorbachev would have along with George Bush. This was the beginning to the end of the Cold War. -
End of the Cold War (Malta)
President George H. W. Bush gave his inaugural speech and said how "a new breeze is blowing," and adding that "great nations of the world are moving toward democracy through the door to freedom." Although the Soviets were concerned that Bush's silence indicated a new direction in the relations between the two countries, it actually helped improved the U.S.-Soviet relations. In the end of 1990, both leaders met in Malta to go over arms reducations relation strengthening. -
Involvement with Panama
The United States had been involved in trying to stop the spread of Communism in Latin America. In December 1989, the Bush administration was notified that Noriega's military forces had killed a U.S. serviceman. The U.S. military launched "Operation Just Cause" with about 10,000 forces landing in Panama and joining the 13,000 already there to quickly overtake the Panamanian military and it was a success. It was the largest military deployment since the Vietnam War. -
Tearing Down of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a wall that split "free state" of W. Germany and communist state of E. Germany physically and ideologically. In 1989, 13,000 E. German Tourists fled to Austria through Hungary. The surrounding countries didn't want to be apart of this, so they returned the people to E. Germany. Finally, the E. Germans fled to W. German Embassy and refused to go back to E. Germany. Dec. 23, there was no visa needed to pass through the wall. After 6 months, the wall officially came down. -
Persian Gulf War
Saddam Hussein, the leader of Iraq, invaded the small country of Kuwait in hope of taking over its oil regime. At the time of hearing about this, the U.S. was at a conference with not only Great Britain's Prime Minister but also The Soviet Union leaders. These countries, including the surrounding Arab countries worked together to take Iraq down. In the end, the war only lasted 2 months and 108 sodiers were killed. Kuwait became free and the U.S. militry morale shot through the roof. -
"New World Order"
"Freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace. An era in which nations of the world, East, and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony." These are the exact words of President Bush. During the Persian Gulf War, he made a speech on why he believes the United States should take action in the Middle East. The United States really started upping its role in the world. -
Somalia, Rwanda and Haiti
President George H. W. Bush had sent American troops into Somalia, a country located in eastern Africa. What started out as a humanitarian mission to combat famine grew into a bloody military struggle, with the bodies of dead American soldiers dragged through the streets of the Somalian capital of Mogadishu in October 1993. A killing spree broke out in Rwanda, an estimated 800,000 Tutsi were murdered in a government-sponsored genocide. U.S. worked with NATO to put a stop to these wars. -
Bombing of Serbia
After two years of keeping U.S. involvement in the conflict to a minimum, Clinton was eventually moved by Serbian atrocities against Bosnian civilians. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) began bombing Bosnian Serb positions. These bombings brought the three warring parties, Croats, Serbs and Bosnian Muslims, to negotiate. Clinton's bombing quickly showed his dominance in the world's power and he stopped the "ethnic cleansing" in this region.
