George Bush

A successful businessman, George Bush (born 1924) emerged as a national political leader during the 1970s. After holding several important foreign policy and administrative assignments in Republican politics, he served two terms as vice president (1980, 1984) under Ronald Reagan. In 1988, he was elected the 41st president of the United States.

George Herbert Walker Bush was born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts. His father, Prescott Bush, was a managing partner in the Wall Street investment firm of Brown Brothers, Harriman and also served as U.S. senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1962. His mother, Dorothy Walker Bush, was the daughter of another prominent Wall Street investment banker, George Herbert Walker (George Bush's namesake), and the founder of the Walker Cup for international golfing competition. George Bush grew up in the affluent New York City suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, vacationing in the summers in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he later maintained a home.

Bush attended the Greenwich Country Day School and Phillips Academy, exclusive private schools, where he excelled both in the classroom and on the athletic field. After graduating from Phillips in 1942, he enrolled in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was commissioned a navy flight pilot in 1943, serving in the Pacific for the duration of World War II. Secretly engaged to Barbara Pierce, Bush married this daughter of the publisher of Redbook and McCall's in Rye, New York, on January 6, 1945. The Bushes became the parents of six children (one of whom died of leukemia when three years old).

Following severance from the navy, Bush enrolled at Yale University in September 1945. An ambitious, highly competitive student, he earned a B.A. in economics within three years. Although a married military veteran, Bush was nonetheless active in campus social and athletic activities (playing three years of varsity baseball and captaining the team). Following graduation in 1948, Bush became an oilfield supply salesman for Dresser Industries in Odessa, Texas. Rising quickly in an industry then in the midst of a postwar boom, in 1953 Bush started his own oil and gas drilling firm. After merging with another firm in 1955, Bush eventually (in September 1958) moved the corporate headquarters to Houston, Texas.

In addition to having become a millionaire in his own right, Bush was also active in local Republican politics and served as Houston County party chairman. In 1964 he took a leave of absence from his firm, Zapata Petroleum, to challenge incumbent Democratic Senator Ralph Yarborough. Bush campaigned as a Goldwater Republican, opposing civil rights legislation, calling for U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations should the Peoples Republic of China be admitted, and demanding a cutback in foreign aid spending. The strategy of Goldwater Republicans had been to promote a conservative realignment, specifically leading to Republican congressional victories in the South and Southwest. This strategy failed, and Bush also lost decisively in what was a nationwide Democratic landslide.

Bush did not withdraw from politics, however, and in 1966 he won election to the House of Representatives from a Houston suburban district. A two-term congressman, serving from 1966 through 1970, Bush compiled a conservative voting record (earning a 77 percent approval rating from the conservative Americans for Constitutional Action), specifically championing "right to work" anti-labor union legislation and a "freedom of choice" alternative to school desegregation. In an exception to an otherwise conservative record, in 1968, despite opposition from his constituents, Bush voted for the open housing bill recommended by President Lyndon Johnson.

A loyal adherent of the Nixon administration during 1969 and 1970, Bush supported the president's major legislative initiatives, including the family assistance plan. In 1970 he again sought election to the Senate, campaigning as an outspoken Nixon supporter on a "law and order" theme. His election chances, however, were submarined when the more moderate Lloyd Bentsen defeated Yarborough in the Democratic primary. Although Bush's electoral support had increased since 1966 (from 43 to 47 percent), he was once again defeated.

As a reward for his loyalty, in February 1971 President Nixon appointed Bush U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Given the nominee's lack of foreign policy experience, this appointment was initially viewed as a political favor. Bush, however, proved to be an able and popular diplomat, particularly in his handling of the difficult, if ultimately unsuccessful, task of ensuring the continued seating of the Taiwan delegation when the United Nations in a dramatic reversal voted to seat the Peoples Republic of China.

In December 1972 Bush resigned his United Nations appointment to accept, again at Nixon's request, the post of chairman of the Republican National Committee. This largely administrative appointment proved to be a demanding assignment when the Senate, in the spring of 1973, initiated a highly publicized investigation into the so-called Watergate Affair and then, in the winter/spring of 1973, when the House debated whether to impeach President Nixon. Throughout this period Bush publicly championed the president, affirming Nixon's innocence and questioning the motives of the president's detractors. As the scandal unfolded, Bush sought to minimize its adverse consequences for the political fortunes of the Republican party. Following Nixon's forced resignation in August 1974 his successor, Gerald Ford, appointed Bush in September 1974 to head the U.S. liaison office in Peking, China.

Serving until December 1975, Bush proved again to be a popular and accessible "ambassador" (formal diplomatic relations with the People's Republic had not at this time been established). He left this post to accept appointment in January 1976 as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Bush served as a caretaker director, acting to restore morale within the agency and to deflect public and congressional criticisms of the agency's past role and authority. Resigning as CIA director in January 1977 following the election of Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, Bush returned to Houston to accept the chairmanship of the First National Bank of Houston.

Bush was an unannounced candidate for the Republican presidential nomination of 1980 starting in 1977. He sought to exploit the contacts he had made as Republican National Committee chairman and as a businessman in Texas with family and corporate interests in the East as well as his record of public service. Travelling to all 50 states and establishing his own fund-raising organization, the Fund for Limited Government, Bush formally announced his candidacy in May 1979. Modeling his campaign after Jimmy Carter's successful strategy of 1975-1976 of building a well-organized grass roots organization in the early primary/caucus states of lowa and New Hampshire, Bush quickly emerged as the principal opponent of former governor of California Ronald Reagan, the Republican frontrunner.

While as conservative as Reagan in his economic and foreign policy views, Bush nonetheless successfully projected the image of a moderate candidate. He lacked substantive programmatic differences from Reagan except for his support for the Equal Rights Amendment, his qualified stand on abortion, and his questioning of Reagan's proposed intention to increase defense spending sharply while reducing taxes and balancing the budget. His failure to find a major issue and his lackluster campaign style eventually forestalled his candidacy. Although recognizing that he did not have the needed delegate votes, Bush did not drop out of the race before the Republican National Convention. In a surprise decision, made on the eve of the balloting, Reagan announced his selection of Bush as his vice presidential running mate.

Becoming vice president with Reagan's decisive victory over incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1980, Bush proved to be a loyal, hard working supporter of the president. Careful to demonstrate his loyalty and to accept the largely ceremonial public responsibilities of the vice presidency, Bush provided quiet counsel to the president and thereby gained his respect. Renominated in 1984, Bush retained the vice presidency with the resultant Reagan landslide. Bush's record of demonstrated loyalty and competence, and the series of important administrative offices he had held since 1971, nonetheless had not created for him a broad-based nationwide constituency. As such, he was not assured the Republican presidential nomination in 1988. Despite his nationwide campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980, Bush remained an untested vote getter, his only electoral victory coming as a candidate from a safe Republican congressional district. Bush's other governmental positions were all attained through appointment. His career was thus marked by the ability to handle difficult administrative assignments, and yet a seeming failure to demonstrate the promise of leadership with the voters.

In 1988, Bush defeated Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis to become the 41st president of the United States. With this victory, many felt he had overcome his weak image and allegations that he had known more than he admitted about the Iran-Contra (arms-for-hostages trade with Iran) scandal. As chief executive he was widely viewed as a foreign policy president. He was in office when the Communist governments of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe fell. The Persian Gulf War of 1990 also boosted Bush's popularity to a point where many thought he would be unbeatable in the next election.

However, Bush also had his share of problems. Many historians believe that Bush ran a negative campaign in 1988 which affected his ability to govern the country. Congress refused to confirm his nomination of former Texas senator John Tower for secretary of defense. He inherited problems with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Other critics said he lacked vision and leadership. He also had a relatively inexperienced vice president in former Indiana Senator Dan Quayle. In 1992, in the midst of a recession, he lost his re-election bid in a three-way race to Democrat Bill Clinton.

In retirement, Bush kept a relatively low profile, preferring to travel and spend time with his grandchildren. He did make the news when, in March 1997, at the age of 72, he became (many believe) the first American President to jump out of an airplane. He also received a honorary doctorate from Hofstra University in April 1997.

Bush the politician will always be remembered. On November 30, 1994, the ground breaking ceremony for the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum was held. This facility was constructed on the campus of Texas A & M University, in College Station, Texas, and opened in November 1997. It is the tenth presidential library administered by National Archives and documents Bush's long public career, from ambassador to world leader. Located within the complex will be The Bush School of Government & Public Service, which will provide graduate education to those who wish to lead and manage organizations serving the public interest.

Further Reading

Having been married for over 50 years, Barbara Bush's Barbara Bush: A Memoir (1994) will provide insight to the "real" George Bush. Michael Duffy's Marching in Place: The Status Quo Presidency of George Bush (1992) will also offer an interesting perspective. George Bush has also been profiled on the television show A&E Biography. Information on The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum can be accessed through the World Wide Web at <http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/bushlib/> (July 29, 1997). Readers also might profitably consult Eleanora Schoenebaum (editor), Political Profiles: The Nixon/Ford Years, Vol. 5 (1979); Roy Reed, "George Bush on the Move," New York Times Magazine (February 10, 1980); and Elizabeth Drew, "A Reporter at Large: Bush 1980," The New Yorker (March 3, 1980); New York Times (March 26, 1997 and April 20, 1997). □

George Bush
1924-

President of the united states
(1989-1993)

Early Years

George Herbert Walker Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, on 12 June 1924, and was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. His father, Prescott Sheldon Bush, was an investment banker and later a U.S. Senator from Connecticut (1952-1963). The younger Bush was in his last year of high school when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Like many young men of his generation, he joined the military at his first opportunity, enlisting in the U.S. Navy on his eighteenth birthday in 1942. He went to flight school and won his wings to become the youngest pilot in the Navy. He served in the Pacific and flew in fifty-eight combat missions against the Japanese. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions taken after his plane was shot down over the water where he was eventually rescued by a submarine. After he came back to the United States early in 1945, he married Barbara Pierce and entered Yale University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in economics. Instead of entering his father's firm, Bush moved his family to west Texas to go into the oil business. He was quite successful and by 1954 was president of the Zapata Offshore Company.

Lure of Politics

Bush first entered into politics in the early 1960s as chairman of the Harris County Republican Party. He ran for Senate in 1964 but lost. Two years later he was elected to the House of Representatives and served two terms. He ran for the Senate in 1970, but again he was defeated. These defeats in many ways defined his political career. He was moderate in a state were the electorate was considerably more conservative than he was. While he had a largely conservative voting record, his more moderate votes were singled out for criticism by conservatives. This reputation for moderation later doomed his presidential bid in 1980, and seriously undercut his effectiveness with the conservative wing of his own party during his years as president.

A Public Career

After his defeat by Lloyd Millard Bentsen Jr. (D) for a Senate seat in 1970, Bush was appointed to a series of high-level positions by presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. Shortly after his 1970 electoral defeat, President Nixon appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. In 1973 he became chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), and in 1974, President Ford appointed him the head of the U.S. Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China. His service in this latter position took place in the still-poisoned atmosphere of American-Chinese enmity stemming from the Cold War and their military clash during the Korean War. This service further fueled suspicions many conservatives harbored about Bush. At the end of 1975, President Ford appointed Bush to head the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was under political pressure from investigations by the Church Committee in the Senate and the Pike Committee in the House of Representatives into alleged illegal covert actions. As CIA director he was widely credited with reforms that reined in unapproved covert activities. He negotiated a new relationship between the president and Congress for information sharing about, and approval of, covert missions. He left the CIA when Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, was elected president in 1976.

Unsuccessful Run

Carter's presidency was widely viewed by Republicans as a failure. In the months leading up to the 1980 election, many well-known Republicans decided to seek the nomination in November. Bush, for a while, looked like a front-runner. Soon, however, he fell behind the Ronald Reagan juggernaut and Reagan was nominated at the national convention, at which the Republicans adopted the most conservative Party' platform in memory. It was in this celebration of conservative successes that Reagan offered the vice presidency to the moderate Bush. Reagan was initially cool to the idea of adding Bush to the ticket, but was reassured when Bush agreed that he would support the platform wholeheartedly. The Reagan-Bush ticket won the general election and was reelected in 1984. Bush served loyally and quietly in the shadow of Reagan, and remained in the background partly because of his own belief about his role and partly because Reagan's political handlers made sure that the vice president never became an independent political force within the administration.

The Presidential Years

After surviving a primary challenge by Sen. Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole (R-Kansas), Bush won the Republican nomination and defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis, former governor of Massachusetts, in the 1988 election. Within a few months it was clear that the Bush administration was not just an extension of the Reagan years. For instance, he put his own people in the cabinet and on the White House staff. In doing so, he alienated Reagan loyalists in the Republican Party both in and out of Congress. As Bush emerged from Reagan's shadow, many Republicans (especially conservatives who were suspicious of him anyway) found it difficult to support him. As president, Bush quickly established the reputation of specializing in foreign affairs with little real interest in domestic issues. Like any generalization, this one had a basis in fact while it also ignored other realities. Bush initiated a war on drugs, a historic agreement with Democrats in Congress to reduce the deficit, and moved to end the savings and loan crisis. Yet, his real interests remained foreign affairs.

Foreign Policy

The dramatic end of communism, invasion of Panama, and Persian Gulf War all occurred during the Bush presidency. As Bush took office in 1989, events that would lead to the downfall of communism, at least in Europe, were already in place and ready to burst forth in the fall of that year. Bush seemed initially unsure of how to deal with these dramatic events and remained aloof. Perhaps, as some supporters have argued, he did not want to embarrass Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, through whom he believed the United States had to obtain a positive post-Cold War relationship. Detractors contend that he failed to understand the significance of what was happening and was slow to react and design an appropriate response. In the midst of the collapse of the Soviet Union, President Bush made the decision to invade Panama (December 1989) in an attempt to overthrow the regime of Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno, who had interfered in the election there, threatened U.S. citizens, and was reputedly heavily involved in drug trafficking. The invasion was successful, Noriega was captured by U.S. forces and transported to Miami to face drug charges, and the rightful winners of the Panamanian elections were installed in office. The end of the Cold War was readily apparent to all international observers during the invasion, as the Soviet Union limited itself to only tepid criticism while President Bush carefully kept the Soviets informed of U.S. intentions. This kind of relationship between the Cold War superpowers would have been unimaginable just a few months earlier. In August 1990 Iraq invaded oil-rich Kuwait. This action violated international law and threatened Saudi Arabia, stability in the Gulf, and the world's oil supply. In what was perhaps his finest hour, President Bush organized a world-wide, U.N.-sanctioned coalition against Iraq. He mobilized the American people as well, sending more than four hundred thousand U.S. troops to the Gulf, and obtaining congressional approval for military action against Iraq. After several weeks of intensive bombardment, on 24 February 1991 an invasion was launched into Iraq and Kuwait. In fewer than one hundred hours the Iraqi military was either destroyed or in retreat, and the door was opened to Baghdad. Bush and the Gulf Coalition decided not to directly overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein, opting instead for an agreement requiring Iraq to leave Kuwait, international inspections of Iraqi missile and nuclear facilities, and limits on Iraqi sovereignty over certain areas of the country. A great deal of ink was spilt throughout the 1990s arguing whether or not it might have been better to march into Baghdad, end Hussein's rule, and install an alternative government. The debate heated up after Hussein successfully ended inspections and sporadic military actions from the air had to be taken to enforce the no-fly zones in Iraq. An assault on Baghdad in 1991, however, would have meant many more casualties, would likely have threatened the Coalition itself, and would have removed Iraq as a counterweight to Iran in the Gulf region. At the end of the war, President Bush enjoyed a virtually unprecedented public approval rating of 91 percent of those polled.

Domestic Political Issues

President Bush's foreign-policy successes and his high approval rating may have led him to underestimate the centrality domestic, and especially economic, issues have with the American electorate. His willingness to compromise with Democratic congressional leaders to cut spending, and his decision to raise taxes to cut the budget deficit, violated his "no new taxes" pledge and alienated conservative Republicans. In the spring of 1991 there was a mild recession. Some of his advisers counseled him to aggressively attack the recession, but he refused to do so on the grounds that calling public attention to it might further undermine confidence in the basic stability of the economy and actually prolong the recession. As the Gulf War steadily receded into the background of the public consciousness and the recession continued, his popularity dropped. As the 1992 election approached, he was roundly criticized for being too concerned about foreign policy. In a way, his foreign-policy successes contained the seeds of his eventual electoral defeat. Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas painted Bush as too concerned about people overseas and insufficiently worried about those at home, and maintained a rigorous focus on the economy throughout the campaign. Combined with the third-party challenge of H. Ross Perot, Bush's foreign-policy successes seemed irrelevant. Bush received only 37 percent of the popular vote in the election to Clinton's 43 percent and Perot's 19 percent. After Clinton's inauguration in January 1993, Bush retired to private life in Texas.

Sources:

George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed (New York: Knopf, 1998).

David Mervin, George Bush and the Guardianship Presidency (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996).

Charles Tiefer, The Semi-Sovereign Presidency: The Bush Administration's Strategy for Governing Without Congress (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994).

BUSH, GEORGE HERBERT WALKER

George Herbert Walker Bush capped a full and distinguished political career with his election in 1988 as President of the United States. Bush became the forty-first chief executive after serving for eight years as the nation's vice president under ronald reagan. The most memorable events of his one-term presidency were the Desert Shield and Desert Storm Operations in the Persian Gulf in 1991.

Although Bush was enormously popular in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, his standing with the U.S. public plummeted as domestic problems and a sour economy took their toll. In 1992, Bush lost the presidential election to Democratic challenger bill clinton, the governor of Arkansas. Clinton's campaign offered a promise of change and a "new covenant" between citizens and government.

Born June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, Bush was the son of Prescott Sheldon Bush, an international banker and U.S. senator from Connecticut, and Dorothy Walker Bush, the daughter of a wealthy St. Louis businessman. Both parents had a tremendous influence on Bush, who was unpretentious and hardworking despite his privileged background.

As a young boy, Bush attended Greenwich Country Day School, in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Phillips Academy, an elite prep school in Andover, Massachusetts. At Andover, Bush excelled academically and athletically. Nicknamed Poppy after his grandfather Walker, Bush was a popular student, serving as class president and captain of the basketball and soccer teams.

"A free economy demands engagement in the economic mainstream. Isolation and protectionism doom [their] practitioners to degradation and want."
—George H.W. Bush

When world war ii broke out, Bush was determined to see military action. On June 12, 1942, shortly after graduation from Andover, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. At the age of 20, he became the youngest commissioned pilot in Navy history. Bush was stationed in the Pacific theater and flew dozens of dangerous missions. On September 2, 1944, while Bush was assigned to the USS Jacinto, his plane was shot down near a Japanese island. Bush bailed out of the aircraft

and was rescued at sea; his crewmen did not survive.

Bush returned to the United States after his tour of duty and entered Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. Not surprisingly, Bush had an outstanding college career. He played varsity baseball, was inducted into the Skull and Crossbones secret society, and in 1948 graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in economics.

Before entering Yale in 1945, Bush married Barbara Pierce, the daughter of the publisher of McCall's and Redbook. Their first child, future President george walker bush, was born during Bush's senior year of college. The couple eventually had six children, including John (Jeb), Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy. Their second child, Robin, died of leukemia in 1953.

After graduating from Yale, Bush and his young family headed for Texas, determined to make their fortune in the oil business. In 1951, Bush started Bush-Overby Oil Development Company, and in 1954, he created Zapata Offshore Company, which designed and built offshore drilling platforms.

Bush's success in the oil business kindled his political ambitions. In 1964, Bush entered the race for U.S. senator from Texas but lost to Democrat Ralph Yarborough. Two years later, Bush made it to Washington, D.C., as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the Seventh District of Texas. Reelected to the House in 1968, Bush was a member of the influential House Ways and Means Committee. In 1970, he again ran for the Texas Senate seat, this time losing to Democrat Lloyd Bentsen.

Despite his defeat Bush's career in public service was far from over. During the 1970s he held a wide range of appointive posts and built up an impressive résumé. From 1971 to 1973 Bush served as the U.S. ambassador to the united nations. In 1974 he was the chair of the Republican National Committee. In 1974 and 1975 Bush traveled to the People's Republic of China as the U.S. liaison officer. And from 1976 to 1977 he was the head of the central intelligence agency.

Confident in his experience and abilities, Bush announced his intention to run for president. From 1977 to 1980 he actively campaigned for the Republican nomination. Although he lost the 1980 GOP nod to Reagan, the conservative governor of California, Bush was chosen by Reagan as his vice presidential candidate. The Reagan-Bush ticket reached the White House easily in 1980, defeating incumbent president jimmy carter and vice president Walter F. Mondale.

Bush was a late convert to Reagan's conservatism. As a U.S. representative in the 1960s Bush had been a political moderate, voting in favor of open housing, the abolishment of the military draft, and the vote for 18-year-olds. As vice president under Reagan, Bush became more conservative.

Bush was a loyal vice president and basked in the reflected glory of Reagan, a popular president. When Reagan and Bush ran again in 1984, they won in a landslide victory against Democratic candidate Mondale and his running mate, geraldine ferraro.

In 1988 the republican party rewarded Bush for his loyal service as vice president. Despite an early defeat in the Iowa caucuses, Bush won the GOP nomination for president. To the surprise of many, Bush chose Dan Quayle, a relatively unknown and inexperienced senator from Indiana, as his running mate. The choice puzzled many political experts who felt that Quayle's credentials were meager.

Bush and Quayle ran against Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts and Bush's old nemesis from Texas, Senator Bentsen. During the campaign Bush resorted to some tactics that seemed out of keeping with his congenial personality. One Bush TV commercial focused on Willie Horton, an African American felon who committed additional crimes upon his release from prison in Massachusetts. Suggesting that Dukakis was soft on crime, the ad capitalized on racial fears and prejudice. Also, despite the soaring deficit, Bush promised to give U.S. citizens a financial break, in the campaign pledge, "Read My Lips: No New Taxes." After the election Bush's pledge came back to haunt him: once in office, he agreed to tax increases to combat a $140 billion budget deficit.

Bush and Quayle captured the vote in 40 states to win the 1988 election. At his inauguration Bush made an appeal for a "kinder, gentler nation" and shared his vision of volunteers, like "a thousand points of light," helping to solve problems.

The height of Bush's popularity came during Operation Desert Storm, a six-week display of technological warfare against Sadam Hussein in Kuwait and Iraq.

In 1992 Bush and Quayle squared off against Democratic challengers Clinton and al gore, a senator from Tennessee. The GOP incumbents won their party's endorsement after a bruising primary fight with conservative columnist patrick buchanan. Independent candidate H. Ross Perot, a Texas multimillionaire businessman, also threw his hat into the ring, to further muddle the election scene. Despite Clinton's liabilities—rumors of infidelity, avoidance of the draft, and a "slick" image—Clinton was able to defeat Bush.

Commentators often argue over the reasons one politician wins or loses, but many agree that a sluggish economy and Bush's broken promise of no new taxes hurt his chances for reelection. Clinton and Gore, a generation younger than Bush, won the election with a promise of change and new beginnings.

Bush reentered the public consciousness as two of his sons pursued their own political careers. George W. Bush was elected governor of the state of Texas in 1995, a position he held until 2000. Younger son Jeb Bush served as governor of the state of Florida in 1998. George W. Bush ran for president in 2000 against then-Vice-President Al Gore in one of the most hotly contested races in U.S. history. The younger Bush's running mate was Richard B. (Dick) Cheney, who had served as secretary of defense under the elder Bush.

Although George H.W. Bush remained in the background of the 2000 presidential election, several of George W. Bush's advisors had ties to his father. For several weeks following the election, the country focused much of its attention on the election returns in the state of Florida. James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state under the elder Bush, served as an advisor and spokesperson for the younger Bush during the controversy. When George W. Bush assembled his cabinet after the election results had been resolved, several names tied to the elder Bush were nominated for positions. The most notable of these officials, Colin L. Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was eventually nominated and sworn in as the secretary of state.

George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are the first father and son to serve as presidents of the United States since john adams (1797–1801) and john quincy adams (1825–29). The elder Bush has largely remained in the background of his son's presidency. Naturally, the American press focused considerable attention on him during his son's candidacy and eventual

election. Bush's policies while he was in office also came into question once again because many viewed the election in 2000 as a repeat of the election between George H.W. Bush and Clinton in 1992. Several commentators agree that a sluggish economy and Bush's broken promise of no new taxes hurt his chances for reelection, and many have compared the policies of father and son as the economy slowed under the younger Bush.

The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is located in College Station, Texas, on the campus of Texas A&M University. In addition to several speaking engagements, Bush and his wife divide their time between Texas and Kennebunkport, Maine, spending time with their children and 14 grandchildren.

further readings

Campbell, Colin, and Bert A. Rockman. 1991. The Bush Presidency: First Appraisals. Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House.

Levy, Peter B. 1996. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood.

Thompson, Kenneth W. 1997. The Bush Presidency: Ten Intimate Perspectives of George Bush. Lanham, Md.: Univ. Press of America.

cross-references

Bush, George Walker.

George Bush

Born: June 12, 1924
Milton, Massachusetts
American president, vice president, and politician

A successful businessman, George Bush emerged as a national political leader during the 1970s. He served two terms as vice president (1981–89) under Republican President Ronald Reagan (1911–), and in 1988, he was elected the forty-first president of the United States.

Life as a boy

George Herbert Walker Bush was born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts. His parents, both from prominent Wall Street families, were Prescott and Dorothy Walker Bush. Prescott Bush served as a U.S. senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1962. George Bush grew up in the wealthy New York City suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, vacationing in the summers in Kennebunkport, Maine.

From student to soldier

As a boy Bush attended exclusive private schools where he excelled both in the classroom and on the athletic field. After graduating from Phillips Academy in 1942, he enrolled in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Bush was assigned as a navy flight pilot in 1943, serving until the end of World War II (1939–45). Meanwhile, he had become secretly engaged to Barbara Pierce, and the couple married on January 6, 1945, in Rye, New York. The Bushes became the parents of six children, one of whom died of leukemia (a blood disease) when she was three years old.

From baseball to businessman

After the war, Bush enrolled at Yale University in September 1945. An ambitious and highly competitive student, he earned a degree in economics within three years. Although a married military veteran, Bush was active in campus social and athletic activities. He played three years of baseball and eventually captained the team.

Following graduation in 1948, Bush became an oilfield supply salesman in Odessa, Texas. Rising quickly in an industry that was experiencing a postwar boom, Bush started his own oil and gas drilling firm in 1953. After merging with another firm in 1955, Bush moved the corporate headquarters to Houston, Texas, in September 1958.

A taste of politics

After becoming a millionaire businessman, Bush became active in local Republican politics and served as Houston County party chairman. In 1964 he challenged the popular Democratic senator Ralph Yarborough (1904–1996) for a seat in the Senate. In the campaign, Bush took a stand against civil rights laws, supported U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations if the organization admitted the People's Republic of China, and backed cuts in foreign spending. Bush lost the election.

Despite the loss, Bush did not withdraw from politics. In 1966 he won election to the House of Representatives from a Houston suburban district, and became a two-term congressman, serving from 1966 to 1970. While in Congress, Bush supported a "freedom of choice" alternative to school desegregation. (Desegregation was the process of putting people of different races together to end policies of segregation, which had kept races separate.) Bush also supported the major issues of President Richard Nixon (1913–1994), including the Family Assistance Plan (a program to help needy people by giving them a minimum amount of money while requiring them to look for or keep jobs), during 1969 and 1970. In 1970 Bush again ran for senator and was again defeated.

Washington and Watergate

As a reward for his loyalty, President Nixon appointed Bush U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in February 1971. Given Bush's lack of foreign-policy experience, some viewed this appointment as a political favor. Bush, however, proved to be able and popular in the position, particularly in his handling of difficult situations involving countries in the Far East.

In December 1972, at Nixon's request, Bush gave up his position as ambassador of the United Nations to accept the post of chairman of the Republican National Committee. This appointment turned out to be a demanding assignment when the Senate, in the spring of 1973, began a highly publicized investigation into the so-called "Watergate Affair." Named for the Washington, D.C., complex in which it took place, the Watergate scandal involved burglary and illegal recordings of Nixon's opponents during the 1972 presidential election. Nixon's personal involvement was eventually exposed.

In early 1973, Bush was involved in the House debates about whether or not to impeach (to try a U.S. public official in the U.S. Congress for misconduct in office) President Nixon. Bush publicly supported the president and questioned the motives of the president's political enemies. Following Nixon's decision to leave office in August 1974, Bush was assigned to head a U.S. relations office in Peking, China.

Rebuilding the CIA

Bush remained as the head of the U.S. relations office in Peking until December 1975. The following month he accepted appointment as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). At the time, the CIA was viewed unfavorably by the American public. Bush actively tried to restore morale within the agency and to deflect criticisms of the agency's past role and authority. In 1977, Bush resigned as director of the CIA and returned to Houston to become chairman of the First National Bank of Houston.

Looking toward the White House

Soon after his return to Texas, Bush began campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination of 1980. Using the contacts he made while in Washington, Bush traveled the country with his family, establishing his own fund-raising organization. After formally announcing his candidacy in May 1979, he quickly emerged as the principal opponent of Ronald Reagan (1911–), the Republican frontrunner and former governor of California. However, Bush's failure to find a major issue that would set him apart from his opponent ended his presidential hopes. In a surprise decision, Reagan chose Bush as his vice presidential running mate.

With Reagan's decisive victory over Democratic president Jimmy Carter (1924–) in 1980, Vice President Bush proved to be a loyal, hardworking supporter of the president. Renominated in 1984, Bush retained the vice presidency with yet another Reagan landslide victory.

President in a changing world

In 1988, Bush defeated Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis (1933–) to become the forty-first president of the United States. With this victory, many felt he had overcome his weak image as a leader. The world began changing rapidly during Bush's presidency. The Cold War, which had raised tensions between Eastern and Western nations since the 1950s, came to a halt when the Communist governments of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe fell. America's crushing defeat of Iraq in the Persian Gulf War (1990–91), which resulted in the removal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, also boosted Bush's popularity.

As president, Bush also had his share of problems. Many historians believe that Bush ran a negative campaign in 1988 that affected his ability to govern the country and gain the trust of the American people. Other critics said he lacked vision and leadership. He also had a relatively inexperienced vice president in former Indiana senator Dan Quayle (1947–). In 1992, with the country in the midst of a recession (a slowdown in economic activity), he lost his reelection to Democrat Bill Clinton (1946–).

Life after politics

In retirement, has Bush kept a relatively low profile, preferring to travel and spend time with his grandchildren. In March 1997, at the age of seventy-two, he became (many believe) the first American president to jump out of an airplane. He also cowrote A World Transformed, a personal account of his dealings with foreign policy during his time as president.

In November 1997 the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened on the campus of Texas A&M University, in Col lege Station, Texas. It is the tenth presidential library overseen by the National Archives and includes information covering Bush's long public career—from ambassador to world leader. Located within the complex is the George Bush School of Government & Public Service, which will provide graduate educa tion to those who wish to lead and manage organizations serving the public interest.

Electing to stay mainly in the back ground, Bush watched as his son, George W. Bush, became president in the 2000 election, one of the closest presidential races in history.

For More Information

Greene, John Robert. The Presidency of George Bush. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2000.

Hill, Dilys M., and Phil Williams, eds. The Bush Presidency: Triumphs and Adversities. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.

Parmet, Herbert S. George Bush: The Life of a Lone Star Yankee. New York: Scribner, 1997.

BUSH, GEORGE 1924-

Vice president of the united states,
1981-1989

President of the united states, 1989-1993

In Reagan's Shadow

Serving as vice president under one of the most personally popular presidents of the twentieth century, George Bush seemed colorless and ineffectual next to the charismatic former actor Ronald Reagan. Though he won election to the presidency as the heir to the Reagan legacy and had his image enhanced by international events largely not of his making, Bush ultimately took the blame for domestic woes that had their roots in his predecessors economic policies and lost his reelection bid in 1992.

Background

Born in Milton, Massachusetts, and brought up in Greenwich, Connecticut, George Herbert Walker Bush was the second of the five children of Prescott Sheldon Bush and Dorothy Walker Bush. Prescott Bush became managing partner of the investment banking house of Brown Brothers, Harriman and Company before leaving Wall Street to serve as a Republican senator from Connecticut (1952-1968). In 1942 George Bush graduated from the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Although he had been accepted at Yale University, he instead enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve for service in World War II, and by the end of 1943 Ensign Bush was the youngest fighter pilot in the navy. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions on a 2 September 1944 mission in the South Pacific, during which his plane was shot down. Rotated stateside by Christmas, Bush married Barbara Pierce, daughter of the publisher of McCall's and Redbook magazines, on 6 January 1945. They eventually had six children, one of whom died of leukemia in 1953.

A Yale Man

Bush entered Yale that fall and graduated three and a half years later with a B.A. in economics and a Phi Beta Kappa key. He was also a member of the Skull and Bones society and captain of the baseball team during his senior year.

The Oil Business

Though he could have had a job in his father's firm, Bush decided to move to Texas and go into the oil business. By 1954 he was president of the Zapata Offshore Company, and drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico made him wealthy.

Politics

In 1962 Bush was elected chairman of the Harris County Republican Party. Two years later he ran for the Senate and lost, but in 1966 he was elected to the House of Representatives. During his two terms in Congress he compiled a mostly conservative voting record but supported several liberal social measures, including lowering the voting age to eighteen, abolition of the military draft, and an open-housing bill. Encouraged by President Richard M. Nixon, Bush ran for the Senate in 1970 and lost to Democrat Lloyd Bentsen.

Political Appointments

In December 1970 Nixon named Bush U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, where he negotiated a reduction in U.S. financial support to that body and unsuccessfully defended a plan to seat UN representatives from both Taiwan and mainland China. In January 1973 Bush became chairman of the Republican National Committee, presiding over the party at the height of the Watergate scandal over illegal activities surrounding Nixon's election the previous year. On 7 August, after Nixon's personal involvement in the scandal became known, Bush urged the president to resign, and he did so two days later. In October 1974 Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford, made Bush head of the U.S. Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China, and in December 1975 Ford called Bush home to head the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was under fire from Congress for engaging in covert activities that overstepped the bounds of its legal mandate. Bush helped to draft an executive order designed to prevent such abuses in the future and won high marks for improving agency morale. He turned in his resignation after the election of Democrat Jimmy Carter in November 1976.

Vice President Bush

Bush sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1980 and was widely viewed as an attractive moderate alternative to conservative Ronald Reagan. After a strong start, however, Bush fell behind in the primary vote tally and dropped out of the race. He accepted Reagan's offer of the vice-presidential slot despite their differences of opinion on several key issues, and—seeing his party's swing to the right—Bush began a gradual slide in that direction himself. During his two terms as Reagan's vice president, whatever influence Bush may have exerted on policy decisions took place behind the scenes. In public he loyally supported the Reagan agenda, and one anonymous administration official has called the vice president a "neutral political functionary." Bush is believed to have contributed to softening Reagan's view of the Soviet Union as the "evil empire," and Bush's aides have reported that in 1985 and 1986 their boss interceded with the president to prevent Attorney General Edwin Meese's plan to eliminate an executive order applying certain affirmative-action standards to government hiring.

Heading Task Forces

Bush received mixed reviews for his chairmanships of several special task forces. While his staff claimed that his Task Force on Regulatory Reform would save the government $150 billion over ten years, conservative critics said it had done little more than report the costs of regulation. The South Florida Task Force, established in 1982 to deal with an increase in drug trafficking in that region, was successful in getting the various government agencies charged with drug interdiction to work together, but cocaine imports actually increased while marijuana smugglers switched to growing it in Florida. The Vice President's Task Force on Combating Terrorism came up with no better ideas than the conventional assertion that the United States "will make no concessions to terrorists"—a rule the Reagan administration proceeded to break in the arms-for-hostages trade that was part of the Iran-Contra scandal.

President Bush

In 1988 Bush was elected president, overcoming his image as a wimp and allegations that he had known more than he claimed about Iran-Contra. As chief executive he was widely viewed as a foreign-policy president with little interest in domestic issues. During the first year of his term he had the good fortune to be in office while the Communist governments of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe self-destructed. He worked with Congress to continue whittling away at the federal budget deficit. Yet he also suffered a defeat when Congress refused to confirm his nomination of former Texas senator John Tower for secretary of defense, and he inherited a scandal in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It was revealed that Reagan's HUD secretary, Samuel R. Pierce Jr., had engaged in influence peddling and favoritism toward prominent Republicans and wasted millions, perhaps billions, of dollars through mismanagement of agency funds. The "rally-round-the-flag" phenomenon during American involvement in the Persian Gulf War of 1990 boosted Bush's popularity to the point where many believed he would be unbeatable in the next presidential election. Yet by 1992, with the nation in the midst of a recession, he lost a three-way race to Democrat Bill Clinton.

Sources:

Barbara Bush, Barbara Bush: A Memoir (New York: Scribners, 1994);

George Bush, Looking Forward (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1987);

Michael Duffy, Marching in Place: The Status Quo Presidency of George Bush (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992);

Randall Rothenberg, "In Search of George Bush," New York Times Magazine, 6 March 1988, pp. 28-30, 44, 46, 48-49, 61.

Bush, George (1924–), forty‐first president of the United States.George Herbert Walker Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to Dorothy Pierce Bush and Prescott Bush Sr. a businessman and later (1953–1963) a U.S. Senator from Connecticut. After graduating from Philips Andover Academy, Bush served as a naval pilot in the Pacific, flying fifty‐eight missions during World War II. On his return, he married Barbara Pierce of Rye, New York, and then attended Yale College, playing on the baseball team and graduating in 1948.

Rejecting a career on Wall Street (where his father was a partner in the brokerage firm of Brown Brothers Harriman), Bush moved to West Texas, where he formed a successful oil‐exploration company before moving to Houston and entering politics. Running as a Republican, he campaigned unsuccessfuly to unseat incumbent Senator Ralph Yarborough in 1964. Two years later, Bush was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's Seventh District. After losing another Senate race to Democrat Lloyd Bentsen in 1970, Bush served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations during the Richard M. Nixon administration, and then as chair of the Republican National Committee during the Watergate scandals and Nixon's resignation in August 1974.

Under President Gerald Ford, Bush headed the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing, China, before returning to Washington to run the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). As CIA director, Bush helped to revive the agency's morale, which had been damaged by embarrassing exposés of its covert operations. Leaving the CIA in 1977 when Democrat Jimmy Carter became president, Bush launched his campaign for the White House. After unsuccessfully contesting Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980, Bush accepted the vice‐presidential slot. Following the landslide Republican victory that fall, Bush served President Reagan loyally and participated in the secret arms‐for‐hostages trade with the Islamic fundamentalist government of Iran. Attempting to minimize damage to his political career, Bush alleged that he had been “out of the loop” during the most intense dealings of the so‐called Iran‐Contra affair.

Bush won the presidency in 1988 by defeating his Democratic opponent, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts, with a sweep of forty states and 53.4 percent of the popular vote. Facing Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, the Bush administration achieved its most notable successes in foreign affairs, the area of Bush's primary interest and preparation. Bush worked skillfully with President Mikhail Gorbachev during the collapse of the Soviet Union, and he responded forcefully to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 by organizing economic and military resistance through the United Nations and the Arab League. In early 1991, a U.S.‐led coalition ejected Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait, thereby preserving a favorable balance of power in the oil‐rich Persian Gulf. Bush also promoted U.S. interests in Central America by overseeing an end to Sandinista control in Nicaragua following free elections, and by forcibly removing dictator Manuel Noriega from power in Panama and extradicting him to the United States to face drug‐smuggling charges.

The Bush domestic record proved less impressive. The president's few achievements included the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) and a bipartisan five‐year budget agreement (1991) that attempted to tame the spiraling federal deficits of the 1980s. The budget agreement forced Bush to renounce his “Read my lips: No new taxes” pledge. That, combined with a lingering economic downturn, contributed to his reelection defeat in 1992. A favorable public opinion rating of 89 percent reached during of the Persian Gulf crisis could not be sustained, as Bush faced the additional complication of Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot's independent candidacy and the skillful campaigning of his Democratic opponent, Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas. The distribution of the popular vote—Clinton 43 percent, Bush 38 percent, Perot 18 percent—demonstrated the significance of the third‐party candidate in the final outcome.

Highly popular at its peak, George Bush's administration made an effective transition to what Bush called “a new world order,” and, despite the prolonged recession, contributed to long‐term stability at home.

Of the Bushes' five surviving children, two entered politics. John E. (“Jeb”) Bush (1953–) won the Florida governorship in 1998, while George W. Bush (1946–) was elected Texas governor in 1994 and reelected in 1998. In 2000, in a very close and disputed election, he defeated Democrat Al Gore to win the presidency with running mate Dick Cheney, resulting in the first father‐son presidential succession since John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
See also Cold War; Foreign Relations: U.S. Relations with Latin America; Persian Gulf War; Post–Cold War Era.

Bibliography

David Mervin , George Bush and the Guardianship Presidency, 1994.
Herbert S. Parmet , George Bush: The Life of a Lone Star Yankee, 1997.
George W. Bush and and Brent Scowcroft , A World Transformed, 1998.

Herbert S. Parmet

George Herbert Walker Bush 1924–, 41st President of the United States (1989–93), b. Milton, Mass., B.A., Yale Univ., 1948.

Career in Business and Government

His father, Prescott Bush, was a successful investment banker and a Republican Senator (1953–63) from Connecticut. After graduating from Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., he served as a fighter pilot during World War II and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He studied at Yale after the war and subsequently moved to Texas, where he cofounded the Zapata Petroleum Corp. In 1966, he was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives and sold his business interests. After losing a race for the U.S. Senate in 1970, he served in several important posts under Presidents Nixon and Ford, including ambassador to the United Nations (1971–73), chairman of the Republican national committee (1973–74), chief of the U.S. liaison office in China (1974–75), and director of the Central Intelligence Agency (1976–77).

Presidency

Bush was unsuccessful in his bid for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination, but served two terms (1981–89) as President Reagan's Vice President. In 1988, he won the Republican nomination for President. Bush and his running mate, Dan Quayle , easily defeated the Democratic ticket of Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen .

Foreign Policy

Bush benefited from the unraveling of Eastern European Communism, a rapid series of events that began with the collapse of East Germany late in 1989 and culminated in the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. To many in the United States these events were a confirmation and a consequence of the anti-Soviet military buildup under Reagan and Bush. In 1991, 1992, and 1993, Bush signed nuclear disarmament agreements with the Soviet Union and then Russia that called for substantial cuts in nuclear arms. In Central America the United States achieved long-standing policy objectives. In Dec., 1989, U.S. forces invaded Panama and removed Gen. Manuel Noriega to stand trial in the United States for drug trafficking and other alleged crimes. Then, in Feb., 1990, the Sandinistas were defeated in elections in Nicaragua. Canada, Mexico, and the United States created a free-trade zone when the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1992.

In the Middle East, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990, provided the occasion for the most striking foreign policy achievement of the Bush administration (see Persian Gulf War ). Bush saw the expulsion of Iraqi forces from Kuwait by an American-led international coalition as a test of U.S. resolve to uphold and enforce what he termed the "new world order." The success of Bush's military policy led to unprecedented popularity at home, but the U.S. triumph in the Persian Gulf War was not complete; Saddam Hussein retained power in Iraq. In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, under prodding from Bush and Secretary of State James A. Baker , comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace talks began in late 1991.

Domestic Policy

Bush's handling of domestic affairs was less successful. The savings and loan crisis (see savings and loan association ) erupted in the early months of his administration, and the costs to the government only added to concerns about the federal budget deficit. Bush's plan to stimulate the economy by encouraging growth in the private sector included cutting expenditures and taxes, especially the tax on capital gains. After a prolonged battle with the Congress, he agreed (Oct., 1990) to a deficit-reduction bill that included new revenues, thereby breaking his 1988 campaign pledge to not raise taxes. This angered conservatives, but even more damaging to Bush was a prolonged international recession that resulted in stagnant economic growth at home, high levels of unemployment, and increased concern about the ability of the United States to compete with Japan and other nations.

Because of this economic uncertainty, Bush began his 1992 reelection campaign as a far less popular president than he had been after the Gulf War, a short time earlier. Bush and Vice President Quayle were renominated by the Republican party in Aug., 1992. The Democrats nominated Bill Clinton , governor of Arkansas. Businessman H. Ross Perot entered the race as an independent. After a bitter campaign, Clinton won, and Bush retired to Texas. In 2005 Bush joined with his successor to raise funds for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, and subsequently served as UN special envoy for the South Asian earthquake disaster.

Bibliography

See his All the Best (1999), selections from his letters and other writings. See also biography by H. S. Parmet (1997); C. Campbell, ed., The Bush Presidency (1991); P. and R. Schweizer, The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty (2004).

Bush, George Herbert Walker (b. 12 June 1924). 41st US President 1989–93 Born in Milton, Massachusetts, he was the second son of Prescott Bush, a banker and US Senator from 1953 to 1963. He served with distinction in World War II as a pilot and graduated from Yale with a BA in economics. Despite his East Coast patrician heritage, he moved to Texas and became extremely successful in the oil industry. He was elected to the US Congress as a Republican in 1966, after being beaten in the 1964 Senate contest in Texas, was again defeated as a Senate candidate in 1970, and was appointed US ambassador to the UN in 1971. Two years later he became the Chair of the Republican National Committee which called on Nixon to resign after Watergate. He was appointed by President Ford in 1974 to the US Liaison Office in China, and became Director of the CIA, 1976–7. He was defeated by Reagan in the 1980 primary elections and became his running mate, serving as Vice-President 1981–9. In July 1985 Bush became the first Acting President in US history when Reagan invoked the Twenty-Fifth Amendment before undergoing a surgical operation.

Bush won the 1988 elections for President, on a tough anti-crime platform and a pledge of ‘no new taxes’, with 54 per cent of the popular vote. He capitalized on his ample foreign policy experience by successfully launching a series of foreign policy initiatives. He proclaimed a ‘New World Order’ on the basis of the end of the Cold War, launched a military operation against Panama, sent US troops into Somalia under the auspices of the UN, and brought together the worldwide coalition under US leadership which won the Gulf War. The latter initiative in particular sent his popularity to an all-time high of an almost 90 per cent approval rating in 1991. However, in 1990, he had agreed with a Democrat-dominated Congress to a budget deficit reduction plan which involved some tax rises, thereby breaking his electoral pledge. This, combined with the economic recession which overtook his administration in 1992, caused him to face Bill Clinton and the Independent candidate Ross Perot without the full support of the Republican right wing which had enthusiastically supported Reagan. His son Jeb became Governor of Florida in 1998, while his elder son, George W., was the first son since John Quincy Adams (b. 1767, d. 1848) to succeed his father to the Presidency in 2001.

Bush, George (1924– ), forty‐first president of the United States.Born into a wealthy, privileged family, Bush accepted his father's belief that such people have an obligation to give something back to society. On his eighteenth birthday in June 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, becoming its youngest pilot. During wartime service in the Pacific, he flew fifty‐eight combat missions.

Elected as a Texas Republican congressman in 1966, he supported the Vietnam War. Thereafter, he served as ambassador to the United Nations (1971–73), director of the Central Intelligence Agency (1976–77), and vice president under Ronald Reagan (1981–89). He won the presidency in 1988. Ill at ease in the contentious environment of domestic politics, Bush relished foreign policy. In response to the harassment of American military personnel, he committed U.S. forces to the 20 December 1989 invasion of Panama. The four‐day campaign ended successfully with the capture of the Panamanian dictator Gen. Manuel Noriega. Following communism's collapse in Russia, Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed a historic accord in November 1990 that marked the end of the Cold War. Bush claimed that the treaty signaled “the new world order.”

That order received a profound challenge when Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990. After declaring that the invasion “shall not stand,” Bush skillfully cobbled together an international coalition to resist Iraq. He proved less interested and able to explain to the American public why war was necessary. After an economic embargo failed, Bush launched Operation Desert Storm on 17 January 1991. Ten days later, with Iraqi forces in full rout, he suspended hostilities. Pleased, he claimed the quick victory had “licked the Vietnam syndrome.” The national perception that the war had been halted too soon contributed to Bush's electoral defeat in 1992. As war leader, he developed strategy and then left its implementation in military hands. He failed clearly to articulate the objective, namely, what constituted “victory” against Iraq.
[See also Cold War: Changing Interpretations; Persian Gulf War.]

Bibliography

Roger Hilsman , George Bush vs. Saddam Hussein, 1992.
Rick Atkinson , Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War, 1993.

James R. Arnold

Bush, George Herbert Walker (1924– ) 41st US president (1989–93). Bush served as a fighter pilot during World War II. In 1966, he entered Congress as a representative of Texas. Under President Richard Nixon, he held several political offices, including ambassador (1971–73) to the United Nations. Under President Gerald Ford, Bush was head (1976–77) of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In 1980, after failing to secure the presidential nomination, he became vice president (1981–88) to Ronald Reagan. When Reagan retired, Bush gained the Republican nomination. In the 1988 presidential election, he easily defeated the challenge of Michael Dukakis. For many Americans, the collapse of Soviet communism was a vindication of the hawkish policies of the Reagan-Bush years. In 1989, the US military invaded Panama, and seized General Manuel Noriega. Iraq's invasion (1990) of Kuwait provided the first test of Bush's “new world order” and threatened America's oil supplies. The Allied forces, led by General Schwarzkopf, won the Gulf War (1991), but failed to remove Saddam Hussein. At home, Bush faced a stagnant economy, high unemployment, and a massive budget deficit, forcing him (1990) to break his election pledge and raise taxes. This factor, combined with a split in the conservative vote, led to a comfortable victory for his Democratic successor Bill Clinton.

http://tamu.edu; http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents

Bush, George Herbert Walker (1924–) forty-first president of the United States (1989–93), born in Milton, Massachusetts. Bush, a Navy fighter pilot in World War II, was shot down over the Pacific, rescued at sea, and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Bush was a U.S. congressman (1966–70); ambassador to the United Nations (1971–73); chairman, Republican National Committee (1973–74); chief of U.S. Liaison Office in China (1974–75); director of Central Intelligence Agency (1976–77); and was elected vice president under Ronald Reagan (1980, 1984). In 1988, he became the first sitting vice president elected president in 150 years. He ordered the U.S. invasion of Panama (1989). After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait (August 1990), Bush forged an international coalition of forces to liberate Kuwait, called Operation Desert Storm (1991). He signed a nuclear arms reduction agreement with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (1991) and sought serious Mideast peace talks.

Bush, George (Herbert Walker) (1924– ) US Republican statesman, 41st President of the USA 1989–93. He was director of the CIA from 1976 to 1977, and President Reagan's Vice-President from 1981 to 1988. In 1989 Bush became President. While in office he negotiated further arms reductions with the Soviet Union and organized international action to liberate Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion in 1990.