The Cold War was significant, not because of actual fighting but because of the threat of it. The world was very unstable. People lived in fear. There were people building bomb shelters! Although the Cold War might have been much ado abut nothing, it contributed to a culture of fear in the US and the world.

During this time period, anti-American sentiment seemed to rise internationally. We were seen as being the "bad guy" in a lot of situations. This probably led, directly or indirectly to the increased level of terrorism directed at America, which didn't culminate until a couple years after your time period with 9/11.

The United States' invasion of Iraq in the first Gulf War was certainly one of the nation's most important military decisions during this time period. Since the decision was based only partly on maintaining Kuwait's independence--after all, our main reason was to protect the oil supplies in the area--it has led Americans into believing that we should exert our power internationally whenever necessary. The second Gulf War invasion, ostensibly to protect us from Iraq's supposed cache of weapons of mass destruction, produced no evidence of WMDs, and only served to allow then President George Bush to flex his political muscle against the man (Saddam Hussein) who had previously put a bounty on Bush's father's head (the first President Bush). The second invasion and the continued presence of American troops in Afghanistan has cost America trillions of dollars; additionally, the mostly positive world view of the U. S. has deteriorated into a highly negative view of American as an international bully.

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