•Trace the string of events between 1989 and 1991 that marked the end of the Cold War, and discuss the factors that contributed to its end.

• Describe the foreign policy challenges that the United States faced in the wake of the Cold War, and explain how George Bush and Bill Clinton dealt with those challenges.

• Summarize the causes and consequences of the Gulf War.

• Discuss the domestic policies of the Bush and Clinton administrations, and compare the achievements and failures of the two presidents.

• Highlight the central issues in the elections of 1992, 1994, and 1996, and account for the outcome of those elections.

• Characterize the economic boom of the 1990s.

• Understand the sources and manifestations of conservative resentment in the 1990s.

• Summarize the circumstances that led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment, and assess the impact of that episode on his legacy.

1989–92 George Herbert Walker Bush’s presidency.

1989–90 Collapse of Communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe.

1989 Oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground in Alaska.

Chinese massacre dissidents in Tiananmen Square.

U.S. troops invade Panama and oust Manual Noriega..Triumphant and Troubled Nation: 1989–2000 | 199

1990 Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Iraq invades Kuwait.

David Souter named to the Supreme Court.

1991 Persian Gulf War.

Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill controversy.

Soviet Union dissolves.

1992 White South Africans vote to end apartheid.

U.S. recession begins.

Siege of white separatist at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

Rodney King case leads to Los Angeles riot.

1993–2000 William Jefferson Clinton’s presidency.

1993 Muslim terrorists explode car bomb in World Trade Center garage.

Federal agents battle Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.

Military institutes "Don’t ask, don’t tell" policy on gays.

Israel and PLO sign the Oslo Accords.

U.S. Army Rangers ambushed in Somalia.

Congress approves NAFTA Treaty.

Toni Morrison wins Nobel Prize in Literature.

1994 Kenneth Starr appointed special prosecutor to look into Whitewater.

Republicans win landslide in midterm elections.

World Trade Organization (WTO) created.

Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian leaders sign Dayton peace accords.

Netscape launched.

1995 United States normalizes relations with Vietnam.

Timothy McVeigh bombs the Oklahoma City federal building.

Louis Farrakhan leads the "Million Man March" in Washington, D.C.

1996 Welfare reform act passed.

Californians pass initiative ending racial preferences in college admissions.

1998 Lewinsky sex scandal breaks; Clinton denies allegations.

Suicide truck bombers blow up U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

Clinton brokers Wye Memorandum between Israel and Palestinians.

States reach $206 billion settlement with tobacco industry.

House impeaches Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice.

1999 Senate acquits Clinton on all charges.

School schooting at Columbine High School leaves thirteen dead.

United States achieves balanced federal budget.

2000 Terrorists linked to bin Laden attack the USS Cole in Yemen.

Mapping of the human genome completed.