The Watergate scandal occurred on June 17, 1972; it was first believed that this was just a regular break-in and that there was no deeper reason for it. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodruff were journalists for the Washington Post in 1972, and both were sent to cover the break-in at the Watergate complex. Through their investigations, they realized that this was more than just a regular break-in that there were other things that were going on. They eventually connected the break-in to the Republican Party and President Nixon. Hollywood would go on to make a movie about their involvement in breaking the scandal. Five men were involved in the break-in at the Watergate complex where the DNC had its headquarters. Initially, it was viewed as just a break-in until the identity of the suspects came to light. All of the suspects were found to be tied to a group known as CREEP, which was an acronym for Committee to Re-Elect the President. They had ties to the CIA, and one key suspect James McCord was ex- CIA and had ties to the Republican Party as a former security officer for the party, and he was the current security coordinator for CREEP. These men were not just your average burglars they had connections. Nixon stated many times during his re-election campaign that neither he nor his administration were involved in the break-in and that the White House had no knowledge of what had happened.
He successfully won re-election, but the scandal did not go away that easily. As the reporters worked to find out who had hired these men to do the break-in all of the connections led back to Nixon’s re-election campaign. One was even paid by Nixon’s campaign fundraiser. The break-in was only part of the story and as more dirty laundry was found there was illegal fundraising, illegal wiretaps and even using the IRS for a personal reason to help the campaign make their opponents look bad. Nixon, however, would prove to be the one that would bring about his downfall with phone tapes of him discussing the break-in and that he knew all along. After the tapes had revealed Nixon and his administration’s involvement in the break-in, he resigned to avoid impeachment. Nixon has been the only President in history ever to resign from the office.
In 1981, a new disease began to emerge in the West Coast area of the United States. Doctors on the West Coast began to alert the CDC to what they were seeing in some of their patients. A disease that killed the persons immune system and led to fatal illnesses like skin cancer and pneumonia. It became widely known later as the AIDS epidemic. President Reagan was not big on supporting spending on dealing with the AIDS crisis, in fact, Reagan did not want to believe that a crisis even existed Regan had a blindness when it came to their being problems that needed attention in the United States. There was little money spent on education, and it was due to the thought that only homosexual males were the ones who were mainly becoming infected at the early onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Even though Regan was against spending money on education, research and help in finding what was causing and spreading this deadly disease so rapidly Congress made the decision in 1988 to tackle the problem of HIVAIDS by approving 1.3 billion dollars to be spent on the fight of the disease. Congress was at least aware that this was a problem and that if something was not done soon, it was only going to get worse. Congress was right, and it did get much worse. Transmission of the disease was found to be mainly through sexual contact but also included sharing needles with an infected person and through frequent blood transfusions which many hemophiliac patients undergo due to their illness. In the original outbreak of the illness, it was showing up mainly in homosexual males.
Reagan was a President that seemed to be oblivious to the suffering he wanted to whitewash problems and make them seem minor when the facts said things were more serious. At the onset of the disease, they were unsure of just how many people were infected.The CDC in 1982 had confirmed that 853 people had died of the illness. Reporting did not start officially until 1983 which was two years after the start of the illness and in 1983 there were only 3,000 reported AIDS cases in 1985 three years later that number was 16,000 reported AIDS cases and by the end of 1991 ten years after the crisis had started there were 200,000 AIDS cases reported. At the start of the illness, it is unsure how many cases there were many cases may not have been reported due to the stigma of the illness at the time. Could more have been done earlier to at least slow down the spread of the illness while it will never be known for sure it is possible that had the education started sooner it would have helped to decrease the numbers.
The Gulf War began on August 2, 1990. The reason for it was due to Iraq resisting the United Nations telling them to leave Kuwait which led thot the United States and others to get involved to make them leave and to protect Saudi Arabia. The senior President Bush sent 200,000 troops to the area while the United Nations began to enforce sanctions on Iraq. The United Nations gave Iraq until January 15, 1991, to withdrawal from Kuwait or face the consequences. Bombing officially began on January 16, 1991, with Operation Desert Storm starting on February 25, 1991, and by February 29, 1991, Kuwait was free from Iraq. Countries who worked with the United States against Iraq included Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Canada, Egypt, France and Kuwait. Russia was also a partner in Operation Desert Storm, and it was the first time that they had been on the same side as the United States. Results of the Gulf War included the world realizing that the United States would step in and act as a police force on the global stage if needed. It also helped the United States finally recover from the disaster of the Vietnam War. However, it also increased anti-American feelings involving Islamic revolutionaries. Oil prices also fell back twenty dollars after being up to $40 a barrel. This was not the end of our problems with the Middle East, and Hussein would return to be a thorn in the side of the United States. This was the one mistake Bush made when he did not continue his fight against Hussein.
