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Inaugurated
George Herbert Walker Bush, Ronald Reagan's vice president, proceeded President Reagan. -
Bush Offers Poland Assistance
President Bush offers special assistance for Poland, whose Communist government has agreed to negotiate with the opposition Solidarity party which produce a plan for free elections. -
Bank Bail-Out Plan Introduced
The Bank- Bail Out Plan gives the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation oversight over S&Ls. It provided the sale of $50 billion in government bonds to finance the bail-out. -
Panama Invasion
American armed forces invade Panama to capture Manuel Antonio Noriega, the country's military dictator, who had been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges and surrendered on January 3, 1990. -
Clean Air Act Signed
President Bush signed the Clean Air Act, tightening air pollution standards and seeking to reduce urban smog, cut acid rain pollution by one-half, and eliminate industrial emissions by the 20th century. -
CFE Treaty
The United States, and twenty one other European nations sign the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE). The CFE limits NATO and Warsaw Pact weapons holdings and caps the American troop presence in Central Europe at 195,000. -
Civil Rights Act Vetoed
President Bush vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1990, stating that the bill would “introduce the destructive force of quotas into our nation's employment system.” -
Persian Gulf War Begins
The Gulf War was fought between Iraq and a coalition of nations that included Kuwait, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia, and more, over rights to oil-rich lands. It began when Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990 and ended with a cease fire declared on February 28, 1991. -
Bush Meets With Yeltsin
At the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, President Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin meet to discuss U.S.-Russian relations and officially declare the end of the Cold War. -
START-I Signed
President Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Moscow to sign a nuclear arms reduction treaty calling for significant reductions in the number of nuclear warheads in both nations' arsenals.