by World Economic Forum Joe Biden.

American history has dictated to us that foreign and domestic crisis have been par for the course for incoming US Presidents or more importantly, administrations. A look at some of the early crisis' foreign and domestic, that challenged our Presidents since the end of the Korean War. Dwight D. Eisenhower Eisenhower supported the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka U.S. Supreme Court decision, in which segregated schools were ruled to be unconstitutional. He then told District of Columbia officials to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public school children the day after the decision. He proposed to Congress the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 which were Americas the first significant civil rights acts since the 1870's and eventually signed those acts into law. During the "Little Rock Nine" incident of 1957, Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control and sent Army troops to escort nine Black students into an all-White public school. The integration did not occur without violence, and Eisenhower received flak for his stand, but overall he was viewed as heroic in his actions. During the Eisenhower administration, the birth of the covert action policies of today occurred. He was supportive of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his brother, CIA director Allen Dulles in developing the tactic of covert action to interfere with suspected Communist governments abroad. An early use of covert action was the overthrowing of the elected Prime Minister of Iran Mohammed Mossadeq in 1953 in favor of The Shah of Iran and pro-monarchy forces. CIA also orchestrated a coup that overthrew the democratically-elected President of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán. On March 17, 1960, the US President Eisenhower agreed to a recommendation from the Central Intelligence Agency to arm and train Cuban exiles in America for action against the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro, stating it was the policy of the US government to aid anti-Castro guerrilla forces. The CIA was initially confident it was capable of overthrowing the Cuban government due to its success' in Iran and Guatemala. John F. Kennedy President Kennedy's aborted presidency was perhaps the most volatile period of the Cold War. It started with the Eisenhower approved Bay of Pigs invasion, largely considered a blunder because it failed to overthrow Castro and served to prop him up in Latin America as hero who defeated the mighty Americans. The Cuban Missile Crisis however, was considered a success because a nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union was averted. The Berlin Wall was built early in Kennedy's administration. Kennedy, during a speech on July 25, 1961, acknowledged that the United States could hope to defend only West Berliners and West Germans and to attempt to stand up for East Germans would result only in an embarrassing downfall. Even though it was a violation of the postwar Potsdam Agreements, the administration informed the Soviet government that it accepted the Wall as "a fact of international life" and would not challenge it by force. The U.S. and its allies saw the wall as an end to concerns about the Soviet Union retaking or capturing the whole of Berlin and in turn decreased the possibility of a military conflict over Berlin. Richard M. Nixon Nixon and his aides faced the problem of how to end the Vietnam War. In July 1969, Nixon implemented the Nixon Doctrine, a strategy of replacing American troops with the Vietnamese troops, also called "Vietnamization." Under President Nixon, American involvement in the war declined in troop strength of 543,000 to zero 1973. Nixon was widely praised in the United States for having delivered 'peace with honor', and ending American involvement in the war in Vietnam. In actuality, Nixon escalated the conflict by approving a secret bombing campaign of Cambodia in March 1969 and later by bombing Laos. In approving the bombings, Nixon realized he would be extending an unpopular war as well as invading Cambodia and its stated neutrality. In a televised speech on April 30, 1970, Nixon announced the incursion of U.S. troops into Cambodia to disrupt so-called North Vietnamese sanctuaries. Nixon was also stung by the killing of four students by Ohio National Guardsmen during a protest at Kent State University in Ohio on May 4, 1970. Nixon's unattached reaction to the violence, sparked student strikes all over the country that closed down 536 universities, colleges and high schools. Gerald Ford Soon after replacing Nixon as President Gerald Ford faced a domestic crisis for pardoning his former boss. Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country. Ford voluntarily appeared before Congress on October 17, 1974 to give sworn testimony about the pardon. It remains the only time a sitting president has done so. At the same time as he announced the Nixon pardon, Ford introduced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War draft dodgers who had fled to countries such as Canada. Ford also faced a foreign policy crisis in what is known as the Mayaguez Incident in May 1975. Shortly after the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, Cambodians seized the American merchant ship Mayaguez in international waters. Ford dispatched Marines to rescue the crew, however, the Marines landed on the wrong island and met unexpectedly stiff resistance just at the same time the Mayaguez sailors were being released. The operation resulted in 41 U.S. servicemen deaths and 50 wounded while approximately 60 Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed. There are those who feel the actions of President Ford were an over reaction due to the U.S. wanting to regain some military footing after having withdrawn from Vietnam. Jimmy Carter On Carter's first day in office, January 20, 1977, he fulfilled a campaign promise by issuing an Executive Order declaring unconditional amnesty for Vietnam War-era draft evaders that Gerald Ford had introduced. In mid-1978, President Carter became heavily involved in the Middle East as the expiration of the Egyptian- Israeli Disengagement Treaty, signed in 1974 approached. President Carter sent a special envoy to the Middle East, which eventually led to the 1978 Camp David Accords, arguably Carter's signature foreign policy accomplishment as President. The accords were a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, that would establish normal relations between the two states. On March 26, 1979, a peace treaty was signed between Israel and Egypt in Washington, D.C. One of the most controversial moves of President Carter's presidency was the final negotiation and signature of the Panama Canal Treaties in September 1977. Those treaties, which would transfer control of the American-built Panama Canal to the nation of Panama, were bitterly opposed by a majority of the American public and by the Republican Party. Those that supported the Treaties argued that the Canal was built within Panamanian territory therefore, by controlling it, the United States was in fact occupying part of another country and this agreement was intended to turn back to Panama the sovereignty of its complete territory. After the signature of the Canal treaties, in June 1978 Ronald Reagan On March 30, 1981, Reagan, along with his Press Secretary James Brady and two others, was shot by a would-be assassin, John Hinckley, Jr., with the bullet missing Reagan’s heart by less than one inch. The President was released from the hospital on April 11, and recovered relatively quickly. Reagan deployed American peacekeeping forces in Beirut, as part of a multinational force during the Lebanese Civil War. October 23, 1983, The Beirut barracks were attacked by suicide truck bombers resulting in the deaths of 241 American servicemen. Reagan, who called the attack "despicable," pledged to keep a military force in the region. On October 25, 1983, only two days later, Reagan ordered U.S. forces to invade Grenada, where a 1979 coup had established a Communist friendly government aligned with the Soviet Union and Cuba. Reagan cited the regional threat posed by a Soviet-Cuban military build-up in the Caribbean and concern for the safety of several hundred American medical students at St. George's University as adequate reasons to invade. After three days of fighting, the U.S. claimed victory, with 19 American fatalities and 116 wounded American soldiers. In mid-December, after a new government was appointed by the Governor-General, U.S. forces withdrew. Many critics blamed Reagan of overstating the situation in Grenada and of using the invasion to get attention of his disastrous policy in Lebanon. On February 7, 1984, President Reagan ordered the Marines to begin withdrawal from Lebanon. George H.W. Bush During the 1980's, Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, a US propped up leader, was accused of using Panama to traffic drugs into the U.S., as well as of spying for Fidel Castro. The Reagan administration, wanting to remove him from power, imposed economic sanctions on the country, prohibited U.S. companies and the government from making payments to Panama and froze $56 million in Panamanian funds in US banks. Reagan sent more than 2,000 US troops to Panama as well, but Noriega remained in power. Unlike Reagan, Bush was able to remove Noriega from power. In May 1989, Panama held democratic elections, in which Guillermo Endara was elected president, however the results were then annulled by Noriega's government. In response, Bush sent 2,000 more troops to the country, where they began conducting regular military exercises in Panamanian territory in violation of prior treaties signed by Jimmy Carter. Bush then recalled the US ambassador from the country, and deployed additional troops to Panama to prepare for an upcoming invasion. After a US serviceman was shot by Panamanian forces in December 1989, Bush ordered 24,000 troops into the country with an objective of removing Noriega from power. In an exercise dubbed "Operation Just Cause" the US performed its first large-scale military operation in more than 40 years that was not Cold War related. The decision was controversial, but American forces easily achieved control of the country and Endara assumed the Presidency. Noriega surrendered to the US and was imprisoned and later convicted of racketeering and drug trafficking charges in April 1992. On August 1, 1990, Iraq invaded its oil-rich neighbor to the south, Kuwait. President Bush condemned the invasion and began rallying opposition to Iraq in the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney traveled to Saudi Arabia whose King Fahd had requested US military aid in the matter, fearing a possible invasion of his country as well. The request was met initially with Air Force fighter jets to help defend its border with Iraq with aerial reconnaissance and electronic intelligence. President Bush insisted on a complete withdrawal of Iraqi forces. from Kuwait and the US began planning an operation by US-led coalition forces in September 1990, headed by General Norman Schwarzkopf, called Operation Desert Shield. Congress authorized the use of military force, with goal of returning control of Kuwait to the Kuwaiti government, and protecting America's interests abroad. On January 17, 1991, allied forces launched the first attack, which included more than 4,000 bombing runs by coalition aircraft. This pace would continue for the next four weeks, until a ground invasion, called Operation Desert Storm, was launched on February 24. Fighting was so one-sided, that Bush made the decision to stop the offensive after merely 100 hours. Critics labeled this decision premature, as hundreds of Iraqi forces were able to escape from Kuwait. Bush responded by saying that he wanted to minimize US casualties. Opponents of President Bush further charged that if Bush continued the attack, he could have pushed Sadaam Hussein's army back to Baghdad, then remove him from power. Bush explained that Congress did not give him the authority to overthrow the Iraqi government only to remove them from Kuwait. Bush was prophetic in saying that attacking into Baghdad would have "incurred incalculable human and political costs.... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq." Bush's approval ratings skyrocketed after the successful offensive. Bill Clinton A little after a month into Bill Clinton's presidency, the first World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a car bomb was detonated below Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City. The FBI was praised for quickly making arrests in the bombing essentially providing good public relations for the new President on the homefront. That proved to be short lived as the tragic assault of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, TX, took place less than a month after the WTC bombing on April 19, 1993. President Clinton and his Attorney's General Janet Reno took tremendous flak for the botched operation that left 74 men, women and children of the compound dead. The Battle of Mogadishu, immortalized in the feature film Black Hawk Down, occurred in Somalia in 1993 late into President Clinton's first year as President. In August 1992, President George H. W. Bush announced that U.S. military transports would support the multinational UN relief effort in Somalia Operation Provide Relief. The Clinton Administration shifted the mission from delivering food supplies to nation-building, and changed the the mission to Operation Restore Hope. On July 12, 1993, a United States-led operation was launched on what was believed to be a safe house in Mogadishu where members of Mohamed Farrah Aidid's Habar Gidir clan were supposedly meeting. As it turned out, village elders of the clan were meeting in the house, not gunmen. During the combat operation 73 of the clan elders reportedly were killed. On October 3, 1993, U.S. Special Operations Forces attempted to capture Mohamed Farrah Aidid's foreign minister, Omar Salad Elmi, and his top political advisor, Mohamed Hassan Awale. This resulted in a street battle that killed 18 American soldiers, wounded 73 others, and led to an aviator being taken prisoner. There were numerous Somali casualties. Some of the American bodies were dragged through the streets and were broadcast on television news programs. In response, U.S. forces were withdrawn from Somalia and later conflicts were approached with fewer soldiers on the ground. The incident was a foreign policy blunder for Bill Clinton, who took plenty of heat from critics. George W. Bush Early in the Bush administration, the President was tested during the so-called Hainan Island incident on April 1, 2001. It involved a collision between a United States Navy EP-3 signals reconnaissance aircraft and a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8II fighter jet that resulted in an international incident between the United States and China. The EP-3, assigned to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One had a collision with a Chinese J-8, which caused the death of the Chinese pilot. The American plane was forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan Island in China. Initially the Chinese refused to US demands that its crew be immediately sent home, and tensions were heightened as the Chinese were seen in surveillance photo's boarding the downed US intelligence plane. The crew of the EP-3 returned to the United States after being held for 10 days. China however, refused to permit repair of the EP-3 in order to allow it to leave under its own power and the plane had to be dismantled. The last piece arrived in the United States on July 3, 2001. It was eventually reassembled, and returned to duty, and although the Chinese military did indeed board the plane, it is not known if they retrieved any sensitive information. Bush received some heat for the servicemen being held for over a week, essentially being held hostage until an apology was issued. Bush was president on September 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked passenger aircraft and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing roughly three thousand people. In response, Bush launched the War on Terror, in which the United States military and an international coalition invaded Afghanistan with the goal of toppling of the Taliban regime. Bush later committed US troops to an invasion and occupation of Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power which has lead to the deaths of many Iraqis. The decision to wage war in Afghanistan was considered just, due to the fact that Osama bin-Laden and his al-Qaeda group that launched the 9/11 attack, had a base of operation in the country. However, the basis for the invasion changed almost monthly and been proved to be very costly monetarily and diplomatically to the US. The fact is that history shows that whomever becomes the next US President, whether it be Barack Obama or John McCain, will very likely face a serious challenge soon after taking power. The test will be how the person handles the unforeseen situation. In all of these cases you should believe that each President, whether they held any military experience or not, had some learned advisors in their inner circle with whom to gather advice from. What Colin Powell and Joe Biden said is that Barack Obama is ready to deal with anything that arises.