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Important American politicians - 2nd page

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Harry S. Truman (1945-1953), the new Vice President, quickly became President. He had to solve a lot of problems. He had to decide on using the first nuclear bombs in Japan and he had to negotiate with Russia towards the end of WW II. This was the start of the Cold War. His Fair Deal programme helped poor and homeless people in the USA. He also donated a lot of money to Europe to rebuild cities etc. This is known as the Marshall Plan.

John F. Kennedy (1961-1963), became the youngest president of the USA ever - and the youngest to die as well ... He had only governed the country for about 1000 days when he was shot in Dallas by
(supposedly) Lee Harvey Oswald. JFK launched the statement "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." He also paid a lot of attention to human rights. However, he made a terrible mistake when he asked Cuban people living in the USA to invade Cuba, so the USA could get rid of Fidel Castro, that annoying communist. But the invasion failed. The angry Soviets put missiles on Cuba, which could harm the USA. It was the biggest crisis of the Cold War. After his assassination JFK became a saint and a legend. It took the public quite a long time to find out that he cheated his wife frequently (e.g. with Marilyn Monroe).

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945), who had lost the use of his legs at age 39, became President during the Great Depression (= an economic crisis). He brought the people hope. He started the New Deal programme, which had to help the USA get out of the crisis. When Pearl Harbour was attacked, the USA joined WW II. He put a lot of time in the planning of a United Nations. He died before WW II ended.

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) used to be an actor. When he became President he started the Reagan Revolution. He wanted the Americans to become more confident, prouder of their country and he also wanted them to rely less on the government. He certainly achieved the first and second goal. He was already shot after 69 days as a President by somebody who wanted to impress famous actress Jodie Foster. (Watch the excellent film "Taxi Driver" and find out why !), but Reagan quicly recovered. He reduced a lot of taxes, which helped him to win another election. He also spent a lot of money on weapons, but at the same time he tried to improve the relationship with the Soviets. This was called "peace through strength". Did you know that Reagan was actually the one who started the war on terrorism ? For instance, he sent bombers to Colonel Ghadafi's Libya, a country that hosted a lot of terrorrists. There was a big scandal called Iran-Contragate at the end of Reagan's second term. Lt. Col. Oliver North, an American officer, had secretly traded arms with Iran, so it would release US hostages. North also helped a lot of South American drug cartels and guerilla forces like the Contras (who fought the government troops of Nicaragua) to export cocaine in return for favours to the American government. The President probably knew about this.

Richard Nixon (1969-1974), unlike for instance JFK, was rather unsure and certainly VERY suspicious. Nowadays people mostly remember him because of Watergate. During his reelection campaign in 1972 Nixon felt unsure about his victory, so he asked FBI people to steal documents from a building belonging to the Democratic party (= his opponents). Two journalists found out about this and it became a big scandal. Nixon even had to resign. But he had actually had done quite a few good things as well such as stopping the war in Vietnam and improving the USA's relationship with China and the USSR.

George H. W. Bush (1989-1993), the former boss of the CIA and Vice President for 8 years, considered the traditional American values to be very important. This President was confronted with the end of the Cold War and the many changes it brought along. The Berlin Wall fell and new nations were born in Europe. He tried not to interfere too much. He DID however invade Panama to capture its dictator, Manuel Noriega, who had actually helped the American government a lot to keep a grip on countries like Nicaragua. But Noriega had too much power over the Panama Canal, which was economically important to the USA.
So the Americans put him in jail for drug trafficking. But actually, the CIA had helped him export drugs to the USA for years ! (This was Noreaga's reward for helping the Americans.) Of course the most important event in this President's career was the Gulf War, which was started when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait to obtain its oil. The USA and a lot of other countries defeated Saddam in Operation Desert Storm, but didn't overthrow his regime - which was very strange, because they could have done this easily.

William "Bill" Clinton (1993-2001) made sure the Americans went through a very peaceful and prosperous period during his time in the Oval Office. He lowered unemployment and inflation dramatically. Crime rates dropped as well. He put a lot of effort into whiping out racism in the USA. However, his huge health care programme failed. He easily won a second term. In 1998 he was tried in the senate for having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. (You could ask yourself what this had to do with politics.) and found not guilty -although he clearly was.
Bill Clinton was remarkably popular, even outside the USA. This probably had to do with his foreign policy. He sent peace-keeping forces to for instance Bosnia and started a world-wide campaign against drug trafficking. He dropped bombs on Iraq when Saddam sent the nuclear weapons inspection teams out of the country.

SOURCE : www.whitehouse.gov