The Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and William J. Clinton Administrations, 1981-2000, Continued

April 26, 1986—Science & Technology

On this date, the Soviet Union experienced a massive nuclear power plant accident that led to the evacuation of the location. Located in Chernobyl, Ukraine, the accident followed a series of mishaps during a systems' test that led to an explosion of one of the nuclear reactors on site and was given the highest rating in terms of nuclear devastation at the time. Besides creating an immediate humanitarian crisis in terms of health and population resettlement, it undermined trust in the Soviet government and led to other nations reviewing their nuclear policies. The city of Chernobyl and its surroundings continue to exist in a "zone of alienation" to this day. About the image below: Photograph was taken in front of what remains of the reactor. The radioactivity levels measure at 4.26. Normal radiation levels are 0.87. The photo was taken in 2010, 24 years after the explosion.

Photo at Chernobyl

December 16, 1987—South Korea

In the first democratic elections since the early 1960s that weren't deemed corrupt or unclean, South Korea elected Roh Tae-woo on this date as president. He served one term, bringing in political reforms to return the nation to a true democracy. (Although he was later convicted of corrupt practices while in office. "Good" and "Bad" in history can be very blended.)

December 8, 1987—Palestine and Israel

Israel's Lebanon War was an attempt to crush the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) that had been launching attacks on Israel from its bases in southern Lebanon. Israel was not successful and eventually pulled out of Lebanon. In the meantime, however, the PLO encouraged Palestinians living within Israel to "rise-up" against the Israeli government. These uprisings, known as intifadas , occurred sporadically over the years in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The first major intifada started in December 1987 and lasted for years. The First Intifada—as this one was called—was fairly spontaneous and really did not have a strategic leader. But the unrest it caused through tactics ranging from economic boycotts and graffiti to throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails had an impact on life within Israel. This, more than anything else, caused the Israeli government to seriously consider the role of Palestinian nationalism within Israel.

April 14, 1988—Afghanistan

The Geneva Accords, signed by Pakistan and Afghanistan in April 1988, included a timeline for Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. By 1989, Soviet troops were no longer in Afghanistan. However, fighting did not end then. Instead, a civil war commenced in an attempt to fill the political vacuum left by the Soviet absence between Afghanistan's communist government and the mujahideen that lasted the next three years.

December 2, 1988—Pakistan

Benazir Bhutto was the daughter of the deposed and executed former prime minister of Pakistan. When the man who led the coup against her father died in a plane crash, Benazir Bhutto replaced him as prime minister in December 1988. She served in that capacity for two years. Then returned to that position following elections in 1993. During this second term, she served for three years. She was the first female to serve as a prime minister of a Muslim nation. [Side Note: Bhutto was assassinated in 2007 while leaving a campaign rally. Members of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.]

But I see history as a book with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness and meaning. The new breeze blows, a page turns, the story unfolds. -George H.W. Bush, 1989

April 15, 1989—China

Chinese communism under Deng Xiaoping allowed for industrial and economic reforms as he employed the Open-Door Policy that encouraged foreign trade and investment. But hopes for political reforms stagnated as China implemented its "One Child" policy and continued to restrict speech, the press and democracy. In the Spring of 1989, students started to lead demonstrations against the government in Beijing. These demonstrations resulted in the government declaring martial law that culminated in the Tiananmen Square Massacre when the Chinese government dispatched tanks to squash the protest of over 100,000 people. To halt the arrival of the Chinese army, people stood in the paths of the tanks. But this did not stop their progression, the tanks simply ran over the protestors in their paths killing hundreds of demonstrators in the process. This picture of a man blocking the arrival of the tanks became an iconic image around the world exemplifying the need for the Chinese government to change.

Photo of Tank Man

September 1989—Cambodia and Vietnam

In September 1989, Vietnamese forces completed their withdrawal from Cambodia. Their withdrawal allowed for Vietnam to join international organizations, receive diplomatic recognitions, and end trade embargoes. For Cambodia, it meant that it was time to form another government—with some growing pains, they did just that, creating a constitutional monarchy.

November 1989—Cold War

The political reforms that started in the Soviet Union under Gorbachev spread to the Eastern Bloc nations in 1989 collapsing the alliance between the Soviet Union and its European satellite nations. Throughout the year, without Soviet support, the communist governments in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Germany started to fall as local groups pushed for competitive elections. The most electrifying event was the dismantling of the Berlin Wall—the most recognized symbol of the Cold War—in November 1989. By 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush announced that the Cold War was over as former Soviet territories declared independence including Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Baltic States.

Photo of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

December 20, 1989—Panama

On this date, the United States launched an invasion of Panama to depose and arrest the Panamanian dictator, Manuel Noriega. Although the dictator first came to power with United States support, his drug trafficking practices led to a demise in the relationship. The invasion of Panama lasted a month and led to the displacement of tens of thousands. The United Nations General Assembly voted to label the invasion as a "flagrant violation of international law," but the United States used its permanent position on the Security Council to veto the resolution. The Panamanian government has been a presidential democracy ever since.

February 11, 1990—South Africa

In 1989, South Africa elected a new president to replace the staunch apartheid supporter, P.W. Botha. When F. W. de Klerk took over, he announced the end of Apartheid and lifted the ban on protest political parties—such as the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan-African Congress (PAC.) He also issued an order to release political prisoners. For the first time in 27 years and at the age of 72, Nelson Mandela was a free man as he stepped out of prison in February 1990. His first act was to give a speech asking for peace and reconciliation between the white and black communities of South Africa. He then proceeded on a speaking tour around South Africa—calling for union, despite the past, between black and white South Africans. In reward for their handling of the demise of apartheid and their work together to bring together black and white South Africans, President de Klerk and Nelson Mandela were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

August 2, 1990—Iraq

Kuwait is a tiny, oil-rich nation that blocks most of Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf—but not all. And in August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait taking over 20% of the world's oil reserves. The Kuwaiti government and monarchy fled for Saudi Arabia in the process. The United Nations condemned the invasion and imposed economic sanctions that banned trade with Iraq—it also implemented a deadline for Iraq to pull out of Kuwait or face war.

October 3, 1990—Germany

Celebrated as German Unity Day, October 3, 1990, is the date when German Reunification completed. Prior to that, East and West Germany signed a treaty that extended the West German currency along with economic and social legislation to East Germany while the East German Parliament voted to reunite the partitioned nations. For the first time in decades, all of Germany shared one government led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

February 28, 1991—Iraq/International

The UN deadline for Iraq to pull out of Kuwait passed on January 15, 1991; therefore, a United States-led coalition of UN nations drove Iraq out of Kuwait over four days in 1991 during "Operation Desert Storm." At the end of the month, the warring factions agreed to a ceasefire that allowed Saddam Hussein to retain power of Iraq but granted the UN permission to periodically inspect Iraq's weapons (due to their history of practicing illegal chemical warfare.)

May 21, 1991—India

A suicide bomber detonated himself in an act to gain independence for the Tamil-populated regions in southern India and Sri Lanka in May 1991. He "happened" to be standing near India's prime minister at the time. The assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi came almost seven years after his mother was assassinated while holding the same government position.

May 21, 1991—Ethiopia

After ruling Ethiopia for more than a decade, Mengistu Haile Mariam was driven out of office when the Ethiopian legislature dissolved his government—an act that neither civil war nor military coups had succeeded in. When Mengistu left Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Civil War abruptly ended. Two years later, Ethiopia held its first multi-party election for a democratic government and Eritrea was released to declare itself an independent nation. (Although, for the rest of the years leading up through the beginning of the 21^st Century, Eritrea would face off over its border with Ethiopia several times.)

June 25, 1991—Balkans

Following World War I, a large chunk of the Balkans united into Yugoslavia as Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro joined with Serbia under a Serbian king. (If you will remember, the Balkans was that region in southeastern Europe known as the "Powder Keg of Europe" as nationalist communities fought for independence prior to World War I.) With that sort of history, it is no wonder that the years between World War I and World War II were rocky for Yugoslavia. Invaded by Germany during World War II, the Soviet army liberated the nation at the end—at which point, Yugoslavia placed its government in the hands of a half-Croatian, half-Slovenian former war resistance leader nicknamed Tito. He installed a communist government with a nationalized industry that formally abolished the previous monarchy. Tito proved to be a strong dictator in all senses of the words—he was known for eliminating political opposition within Yugoslavia and ignoring Stalin's dictates from the Soviet Union while simultaneously keeping a land historically divided together. Tito ruled the nation until his death in 1980—and the following decade proved that the union of different Balkan ethnicities was not going to work as Serbia grasped for more power. Therefore, in June 1991, Croatia and Slovenia seceded from Yugoslavia. The Serbian minority living within Croatia, then, attempted to secede from Croatia—so much fighting resulted in the arrival of UN troops. Macedonia claimed independence in September. The next year, Bosnia and Herzegovina moved to push for independence from Yugoslavia as Bosnia's Muslim and Croat populations requested—but they were blocked by Bosnia's Serbian population and military. And this is how the Yugoslav Wars kicked off. [Side Note: On top of the ethnic differences between Croats, Bosnians and Serbs—the majorities of their populations also tend to practice different religions. Roughly half of the Bosnians were Muslims, the Croats were for the most part Catholic, and the Serbs were mainly Orthodox. It seems that the Balkans were just as much of a "powder keg" at the end of the 20^th Century as they were at the beginning of the 20^th Century.]

December 25, 1991—Russia

On this date, the flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was lowered for the last time over the Soviet Kremlin. But the flag wasn't the only thing to go that year. The Soviet Union's one-party system ended, Gorbachev banned the Communist Party, the name of the Soviet Union changed to the Russian Federation, and Boris Yeltsin replaced Gorbachev in the first direct election for president in the history of Russia.

April 1992—Afghanistan

In April 1992, Afghanistan's mujahideen overthrew the Communist president left over from the earlier Soviet invasion. In taking Kabul (the capital,) the mujahideen announced the new Islamic State of Afghanistan. The various Afghani political parties agreed to work together in the new government—except one that was backed by Pakistan. And that one party immediately started a civil war with the other parties. When it could not deliver, however, Pakistan backed a different faction—the Taliban.

June 3, 1992—International

The United Nations hosted 1992's Earth Summit in Brazil—over 100 heads of government and tens of thousands of representatives for non-governmental organizations attended. There, the attendees discussed global water supplies, vehicle emissions, alternative fuel sources and the production of toxins. The Summit resulted in an agreement on the Climate Change Convention to stabilize greenhouse emissions. This, in turn, led to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that put the impetus for reduction on greenhouse emissions on developed nations (as they were viewed to be the worst offenders.) Growing out of that, in 2015, came the Paris Agreement which established that signatory nations would determine individual emissions goals and regularly report on successes at meeting those goals. This map illustrates the rising output of human carbon dioxide outputs over the last three hundred years—if you think about it, it also shows the global rise in populations and industrial development by location as well.

November 3, 1992—Ghana

In a surprise move, Jerry Rawlings announced that to mark the 35^th Anniversary of Ghana's independence, he would encourage a return to a multi-party democracy. He was then elected president of the new government during elections in November 1992. At this point, President Rawlings put into place economic and political reforms that encouraged the use of the ballot box he'd once scoffed at. With the new democracy set in place in 1992, Ghana experienced decades of political stability and even returned to its role as a leader for the continent. Ghana has a presidential democracy with multiple political parties, a high level of media freedom and a better educated population than much of the continent. In fact, at one point the leader of the United Nations came from Ghana. Native Ghanaian Kofi Annan served as the UN Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006—during this time he received the Nobel Peace Prize and appeared in an episode of Sesame Street.

When I took office, only high energy physicists had ever heard of what is called the Worldwide Web... Now even my cat has its own Web page. -Bill Clinton, 1996

February 26, 1993—United States

Intending to exact revenge against the United States for its support of Israel, several terrorists of different nationalities drove a van loaded with explosives into the parking garage located under one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City in February 1993. Their plan was to explode a bomb under one tower to compromise its foundation and cause it to fall on the other tower. The bomb exploded, killing six Americans and injuring about a thousand more; but it did not set off the chain of events envisioned by the terrorists. All but one of the perpetrators were caught and tried by the United States.

Photo of Twin Towers

May 23, 1993—Cambodia

When the Vietnamese pulled out of Cambodia in 1989, the United Nations stepped in to ensure the cease-fire. In peace talks, the former leader of Cambodia—the one that refused to become king back in the 1960s—known as Sihanouk, was reinstated as the head of state. But in May 1993, Cambodia held its first democratic elections. In the new constitutional monarchy, Sihanouk became king and elected people ran the government (including his son.) The next ten years included some growing pains including a coup, an exile, and—finally—the formation of a coalition government that led the nation into the 21^st Century.

July 8, 1994—North Korea

From its founding in 1948, North Korea was ruled by one man—Kim Il-sung—until his death in July 1994. Kim Il-sung held the title of president over North Korea; but in reality, his was an authoritarian regime and he was a communist dictator. During the 1960s and 1970s, North Korea economically outperformed its neighbor to the south and had a much higher standard of living than did South Korea (who was in the throes of political confusion following Syngman Rhee's resignation in 1960,) But in the 1980s, fortunes changed for North Korea as its isolationism caught up with them economically and South Korea blossomed into one of the Four Asian Tigers. When he died of natural causes at the age of 82 in 1994, he was declared "Eternal President" as his son—Kim Jong-il—succeeded him and started a nuclear weapons development program.

RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.