The 1990s in the United States of America is also called a golden decade for its relative calmness, welfare, and the rising development of technologies. Various subcultures, art directions, and fashion styles appeared during that time. The end of the Cold War, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, and the rise of hip-hop culture can be claimed as the most significant events in the 1990s.
The most significant historical fact is probably, the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the consequent end of the Cold War. Started in 1947 and finished in 1991, it was a long-term way of two superpowers fighting for ideological and geopolitical influence. After the Second World War ended, these two countries ripened into an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity (History.com Editors, 2019). The Cold War events have left memorizable events in histories such as spying policy, nuclear military actions, fighting for space precedence, and many others.
President Bill Clinton was also a bight figure in the 1990s whose behavior was frequently breaking political, moral, social, and ethical norms. That is why, along with Travelgate, Whitewater, and the Lincoln Bedroom cases, the Clinton-Lewinsky case raised a scandal and became a major site in political contestation (Wardrop, 2020). Most of these actions were initiated by corruption which was taking media attention and enhancing the scandal moods.
However, along with political chaos, people of the 1990s felt free and artistic to start new cultures, experiment in music, art, and fashion. Hip-hop was a significant culture created in New York and Los Angeles in the black community in the early 1970s. Still, in the 1990s, this direction of music went to a golden time. Hip-hop has a unique music style, language, and authentic fashion (Johnson et al., 2019). The influence of hip-hop spread all over the world and is popular over time.
To conclude, the 1990s was a decade of liberty, political changes, and new directions in culture. Humans felt free and independent, and with a new look to the American Dream, the private policy tended to break down the barriers to wealth (Goodman et al., 2018). The end of the Cold War, the political chaos created by Bill Clinton, and the new cultural directions such as hip-hop can briefly draw a picture of the decade.
Works Cited
Goodman L. S., &Mayer, C. (2018). Homeownership and the American Dream. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 32(1), 31-58.
History.com Editors. (2019). Cold War history. Web.
Johnson, C., Reddy, B. K. L., &Sanders, E. A. (2019). “Swagger like us: Black millennials and 1990s urban brands”. International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings, 76(1). Web.
Wardrop, R. E. T. (2020). “This will be over in six months”: Bill Clinton, “Cronyism” and the management of scandal. [Unpublished mater’s thesis]. The University of Auckland.