ABSTRACT
The United States benefitted in the post-Cold War era through directing resources away from military spending and toward social policies, balancing the budget, and pushing for more social justice. As the 1940s and early 1950s witnessed the sunset of the era of European dominance and the dawn of the Cold War, the late 1980s and early 1990s witnessed the sunset of the Cold War and the dawn of the post-Cold War era—although no concrete term has yet been coined to describe the present era. On April 15, 1986, President Ronald Reagan ordered a series of air strikes against Libya on what the White House called "terrorist centers" and military bases in the country. On December 20, 1989, President George W. Bush ordered the dispatch of American troops into Panama to overthrow the regime of General Manuel Antonio Noriega. This was the first use of troops for a cause unrelated to the Cold War since 1945.
