20th century (2nd half) Flashcards
1962
Cuban Missile Crisis: on October 22 John F. Kennedy announces that there exist Soviet missiles in Cuba and demands their removal while imposing an air-sea blockade. World on the brink of nuclear war. Soviet missiles are withdrawn on condition that U.S. will not invade Cuba.
1964
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: gives President Lyndon B. Johnson Congressional approval to act in Vietnam; repealed in 1970. Start of direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War (1964-1973).
1965-66
Fearing a communist takeover inspired by Castro’s Cuba, U.S. forces occupy the Dominican Republic. End of the Good Neighbor policy.
1972
SALT I - Strategic Arms Limitations Talks: signed by President Richard Nixon and General Secretary Brezhnev in Moscow after two and a half years of negotiations.
1973
Paris Peace Accords end the American war in Vietnam; POW’s (prisoners of war) returned.
1978
Camp David Accords: Egyptian Anwar Al Sadat, Israeli Menachem Begin, and President Jimmy Carter meet to determine “land for peace” exchange in Middle East.
1979-89
The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan; President Carter agrees détente had failed; America works with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in funding, training, and arming Muslim mujahideen (“strivers”, Afghani rebels) insurgency against Soviet occupation.
1979-90
Central American crisis: in Nicaragua the U.S. the Contras (rebels) fighting against the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The conflict creates a regional crisis through its spill over effects in the neighboring countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
1979-81
Iran becomes an Islamic republic after the overthrow of American-backed shah; militants seize 63 American diplomats for 444 days during the Iran hostage crisis; U.S. seizes $12 billion in Iranian assets; American rescue effort fails; hostages and assets are freed on January 20, 1981, upon President Reagan’s inauguration.
1983
U.S. invades Caribbean island of Grenada, partly prompted by its concerns over the island’s ties with Cuba.
1986
Iran-Contra Affair (Irangate): White House officials sell weapons to Iran and give the profits to Nicaraguan Contras; President Reagan embarrassed.The war on drugs is formalized by President Reagan in a national security decision directive by declaring that international drug smuggling constituted a national security threat for the U.S.
1989
Upon orders from President G.H.W. Bush, U.S. troops invade Panama, oust its government and arrest its leader, one-time Central Intelligence Agency informant General Manuel Noriega, on drug-trafficking charges. Operation Just Cause in Panama is part of the ongoing war on drugs.
1989-1991
End of Eastern Bloc: fall of Berlin Wall; all East European satellites break away from Moscow; in 1991 the Soviet Union is dissolved; Mikhail Gorbachev resigns; Russian Federation born.
1991
Gulf War I: U.S. leads a U.N.-authorized coalition to repel an Iraqi invasion out of neighboring Kuwait.
1991-93
START I-II - Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties between America and Russia to limit nuclear weapons. In December 2009, the treaty expired to be followed by the new START Treaty that was signed by President Obama and Russian President Medvedev in Prague, in April 2010.
1992
Congress passes North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, intended to create free-trade bloc among US, Canada and Mexico.
1992-1993
In December 1992, U.S. forces enter Somalia at the beginning of Operation Restore Hope, a joint U.N.-U.S. effort to provide food relief to starving victims of Somalia’s civil war; in October 1993, 18 U.S. troops are killed in a raid in Mogadishu, Somalia. Soon after, President Clinton withdraws troops from Somalia.
1998
Two massive car bombs are detonated at the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in August, killing 220 and injuring some 4,000 mostly area residents. Both attacks are later linked to al-Qaeda.
1999
The US and NATO bomb former Yugoslavia, which brings an end to the Kosovo war. U.S. returns the right to run the Panama Canal Zone to the Republic of Panama.
