Snapshot of The 90's
By: Megan Cline
Iran-Contra Affair
During Ronald Reagan's presidential term a massive illegal trading took place between a sworn and hated enemy. As we all know we are not big fans of the middle east due to the origin of terrorism. Well we felt as though we were betrayed by our president and government when we found out that we had been giving the "Contra"(guerrillas in Nicaragua). We spent millions in doing so, only for the hope that they would send hostages back home. Later after word got out about this affair, the president was sworn in and questioned about this. He had denied knowing anything about this affair, so he put in a new review board trying to prevent this from happening again. While it was illegal, turns out our hostages hosted in Lebanon were released.
The USS Vincennes
This was an incident involving one the most high tech American war ships at the time, equipped the highest standard of radar technology. However when a civilian Iranian jetliner was flying to its destination it had gotten to close for the war ship for comfort. Therefor they took action first shooting to warning shots and the jetliner and not heaved these warnings, and continued with pursuit. In response the warship aimed for the kill, with the thought the plane was a F14 jet-fighter. Once it was shot and destroyed the mistake was discovered, Iran was very upset by this. Saying they would get revenge, we made highly public apologies, admitting our mistake from both the navy and and the president.
Space Shuttle Challenger
On January 28, 1986, the American space orbiter the Challenger was launching for its 10th mission. Devastatingly 73 seconds after launch the shuttle had blown up claiming the lives of all 6 astronauts, and 1 school teacher that was selected for this mission. With an intent of leading school lessons to millions of kids around the world. This was all brought to immediate stop 73 seconds after lift off. The destruction of the Challenger was due to the dysfunction of two O-rings from the cold temperatures that morning. NASA had put a temporary hault on all missions after this disaster.
Desert Storm
Popularly known as the first Gulf War, operation Desert Storm was the successful U.S. -Allied response to Iraq's attempt to overwhelm neighboring Kuwait. Desert Storm was the first major foreign crisis for the United States after the end of the Cold War. Kuwait's liberation in 1991 brought a new era of military technology to the battlefield. The United States had provided massive military aid to Iraq during their eight-year war with Iran which gave them the fourth largest army in the world. Kuwait was a major supplier of oil to the United States. The Iraqi gave an immediate threat to Saudi Arabia which was also another major exporter of oil.
Fall Of The Berlin Wall
This wall that is now gone use to be a seperating line between communism and democracy. It was put in place 1961 during the coldwar and we are pleased to celebrate three decades later it is gone and unification will now be our next step. We have been waiting forthis for a long time, so when we found out it was actually happening we all came out to celebrate with eachother. Drinking, dancing, and singing all night with no where to go just celebrating with eachother.
Bill Clinton's impeachment
Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on two charges, perjury and obstruction of justice. arose from a series events after the filing of a lawsuit on May 6,1994, by Paula Corbin Jones. According to the allegations, Clinton invited Ms. Jones to his hotel room where he made a crude sexual advance which she rejected. He was accused of doing the same with a lot of other women as well. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of power, failed in the White House. He was acquitted of both charges by the Senate on Feb. 12, 1999.
Dotcoms
Dotcom is defined as a company that relies largely or exclusively on internet commerce. In less than 2 decades the internet has changed our lives completely. Entrepreneurs' created the infamous "dot-com bubble" of the latter half of the 1990s. The internet created a good attitude toward business and inspired hope for the future. Many internet companies (dotcoms) were launched and investors assumed that a company that operated online was going to be worth millions.