The 1990s Government, Politics, and Law: Overview

War, scandal, political reform, terrorism, and civil rights marked the 1990s. The cold war (the period of heightened tension after World War II between the former Soviet Union and the United States) ended with the collapse of communism early in the decade. In response, President George H. W. Bush called for a "new world order" in which global security would be based on diplomacy and international commerce. After the cold war, however, the world was dangerous and unpredictable. U.S. military and political institutions had to scramble to deal with new and unexpected threats to American and global security.

In August 1990, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein challenged U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf region when his troops invaded Iraq's oil-rich neighbor, Kuwait. Believing that allowing such behavior to go unchecked only invited further aggression, Bush mobilized U.S. forces and demanded that Iraq withdraw from Kuwait. Bush also won approval for military actions from the United Nations Security Council and built a worldwide coalition of support, garnering cooperation and assistance from allies and former adversaries. In January 1991, when the U.S.-led alliance invaded the region in Operation Desert Storm, Iraqi resistance collapsed before the overwhelming military might. Kuwait was freed, but Hussein remained in power throughout the rest of the decade.

The end of the Persian Gulf War did not end hostilities around the world. Long-simmering ethnic and religious tensions in the Balkans, the African continent, and other areas around the world exploded into violence and genocide (systematic killing of an entire national or ethnic group). The Balkan peninsula, especially the former Yugoslavia, became an ethnic powder keg as national and religious identity provided the basis for violent confrontations. U.S. soldiers joined multinational peacekeeping forces to restore and maintain peace around the world.

America was not immune to the spreading violence. Several major terrorist attacks on American soil occurred during the decade, including the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. There were also attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City (1993), the Olympics in Atlanta (1996), and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) headquarters in Langley, Virginia (1993). These assaults shocked the public and caused law enforcement and government agencies nationwide to increase and update security measures. Federal and state governments began to search for new ways to track and prosecute the activities of hate groups. In one such case, a fringe religious group in Waco, Texas, engaged federal law enforcement officers in a fifty-one-day standoff that resulted in almost eighty deaths. The incident sparked public debate and a federal investigation into the handling of the case by government officials.

The public's concern over ethics in government focused on President Bill Clinton even before his 1992 presidential election. Clinton's alleged involvement in the Whitewater land development scheme, his public denials and subsequent admission of an affair with a young White House intern, and the highly political nature of his 1998 impeachment by the House of Representatives and 1999 trial before the Senate led Americans to question the personal and political ethics of both the executive branch and Congress.

Other trials during the decade further divided Americans, especially along racial lines. The trial of four white Los Angeles police officers in the beating of African American motorist Rodney King ended in a not-guilty verdict that sparked a vicious riot in south central Los Angeles. In what many labeled the "trial of the century," former football star O. J. Simpson was found not guilty in the murders of his former wife and her male friend. While many African Americans celebrated the verdict, many white Americans sat stunned, believing Simpson committed the murders.