Bush, George

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(born June 12, 1924, Milton, Mass., U.S.) 41st president of the U.S. (198993). Bush was the son of Prescott Bush, an investment banker and U.S. senator from Connecticut. He served in World War II as a torpedo bomber pilot on aircraft carriers in the Pacific, flying some 58 combat missions; he was shot down by the Japanese in 1944. After graduating from Yale University in 1948, he started an oil business in Texas. He was elected to a Republican seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (196670) and later served as ambassador to the UN (197172), chief of liaison to China (197476), and head of the CIA (197677). In 1980 he lost the Republican Party nomination for president to Ronald Reagan. Bush served as vice president under Reagan (198189), whom he succeeded as president, defeating Michael Dukakis. He made no dramatic departures from Reagan's policies. In 1989 he ordered a brief military invasion of Panama, which toppled that country's leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega. He helped impose a UN-approved embargo against Iraq in 1990 to force its withdrawal from Kuwait. When Iraq refused, he authorized a U.S.-led air offensive that began the Persian Gulf War. Despite general approval of his foreign policy, an economic recession led to his defeat by Bill Clinton in 1992. His son George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas in 1994 and president of the U.S. in 2000. Another son, Jeb Bush, was elected governor of Florida in 1998.

For more information on George Herbert Walker Bush, visit Britannica.com.

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(b. Milton, Massachusetts, 12 June 1924) US; CIA director 1976 – 7, Vice-President 1981 – 9, President 1989 – 93 Born into an established East Coast family — his father was to serve as Senator for Connecticut (1952 – 63) — Bush was educated at Philipps Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and then saw war service as a naval carrier pilot. He was the navy's youngest pilot, was shot down three times in combat, and received a DFC and three air medals. In 1944, at the age of 20, he married Barbara Pierce, also from a well-to-do family. After the war, he studied at Yale, graduating in 1948 with a degree in economics. Though from a wealthy family, he sought to make his own way in business and spent thirteen years working in the oil industry in Texas. Imbued with a patrician sense of duty, he sought public office, contesting the Texas Senate race in 1964 and then being elected to the House of Representatives in 1966. He was appointed to the Ways and Means Committee, an unusual achievement for a new member, made possible by the influence of his father. He served two terms before again, at the behest of President Richard Nixon and other Republican leaders, contesting — and losing — the Texas Senate race to Lloyd Bentsen.

In 1971 he received his first major public appointment when Nixon appointed him US ambassador to the United Nations. He served two years in the post before becoming — somewhat reluctantly — chairman of the Republican National Committee, heading it at a difficult time for the party, embroiled as its leading figures were in the Watergate scandal. Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford, then appointed him to head the US liaison office in Beijing, a post preferred by Bush over ambassadorships to France and the United Kingdom. He served in China from 1975 to 1976, returning to the USA to become director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He proved a competent leader and showed some managerial skills. By the end of the 1970s, he had built up a record of public service and in 1980 contested the Republican nomination for President. After a sluggish start, he began to prove impressive as a candidate, coining some memorable phrases — most notably "voodoo economics" to describe the economic policies of his leading opponent, Ronald Reagan. When Reagan built up a commanding lead in delegates, Bush withdrew. Reagan chose Bush as his running mate. In the general election, they achieved a clear victory over the lacklustre Democratic incumbent, Jimmy Carter.

As Vice-President, Bush had — in common with most of his predecessors — a fairly low profile, chairing various bodies, including a task force on regulatory reform and the Crisis Management Team (later renamed the Special Situations Group) to monitor emergencies. When President Reagan was shot, Bush returned to Washington and presided over the Cabinet, though sitting in his own chair rather than the President's. Though implicated in the Iran-Contra affair, involving the use of money from the sale of arms to Iran to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua, he survived the negative publicity. Serving two terms, he proved a loyal lieutenant to Reagan, in effect earning his right to succeed the President as Republican nominee in 1988. He won the nomination — after fighting off accusations of being a "wimp" — and presided over a campaign notable for its negative attacks on his Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis. Bush chose as his running mate a little known Senator, Dan Quayle. Given an economy in reasonable shape, and a poor performance by his opponent, Bush won comfortably, winning 48.8 million votes to 41.8 million for Dukakis. He was the first incumbent Vice-President since Martin van Buren to be elected to the presidency. He was inaugurated as President on 20 January 1989.

The Bush presidency epitomized what Aaron Wildavsky characterized as "the two presidencies", one president but two presidencies — one for domestic affairs and one for foreign and defence policy, the latter achieving greater success than the former. Bush was essentially a foreign affairs president. It was a field in which he was well grounded and in which he showed a particular interest. He dispatched troops to Panama in 1989 to overthrow the regime of Manuel Noriega. He presided over the US response to the fall of the Soviet Union and German unification. Bolstered by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ("Don't go wobbly on me, George"), he committed US forces to repel Iraqi forces invading Kuwait. The success of Operation Desert Storm — Iraqi forces being driven out quickly by Allied forces — raised Bush to unprecedented levels of public support. Thereafter, his support plummeted as domestic affairs came to the fore. The economy declined and Bush found himself agreeing to a tax increase in 1990, despite having made the declaration "Read my lips — no new taxes" the centrepiece of his 1988 campaign. He appeared to have no clear agenda for addressing domestic problems. His health also started giving some cause for concern. He was diagnosed as having mild heart trouble and in 1992 in Tokyo he collapsed vomiting in the lap of the Japanese Prime Minister.

Bush's failure to address domestic problems rendered him vulnerable in the 1992 election. He faced a contest for the Republican nomination, the challenge of conservative Pat Buchanan making him appear vulnerable in the early stages, and in the general election faced both a Democratic opponent, Bill Clinton, and an independent in the form of Ross Perot. The accusation of being a wimp reappeared and his failure to keep his 1988 promise on taxes counted heavily against him. He won less than 38 per cent of the popular vote, Clinton getting 43 per cent and the rest going to Perot. Bush retired from public life, spending time with his family and vacationing. He appeared visibly much more relaxed once he had given up the reins of office.

Bush was a highly likeable individual who inspired great loyalty on the part of his staff. He was dedicated to public service — Nelson Polsby characterized him as an "American Tory" — but lacked any clear policy goals, especially in the domestic arena. He had little knowledge of American urban life. He was renowned for his verbal gaffes and his occasional strangulation of the English language, though this hardly made him unique among US presidents. In the course of a toast, he once admitted "fluency in English is something that I'm not often accused of". He achieved no new directions in the presidency. He constituted what has been described as a "guardian President", watching over and protecting what was already in existence. He was limited in achieving any new directions by an essentially hostile Congress and by his own failure to generate future goals. He was wedded to the here and now of politics at a time when the mood of America changed. Americans wanted someone who could offer change. Bush was unable to respond to the new mood.

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

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.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

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 (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).

• Born: June 12, 1924, Milton, Mass.
• Education: Yale College, B.A., 1948
• Political party: Republican
• Military service: U.S. Navy, 1942–45; Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals
• Previous government service: U.S. House of Representatives, 1967–71; U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, 1971–73; chief, U.S. Liaison Office, People's Republic of China, 1974–75; Director of Central Intelligence, 1976–77; Vice President, 1981–89
• Elected President, 1988; served, 1989–93

George Bush was the first Vice President to move directly to the White House by election since Martin Van Buren did so in 1836. His term was marked by few domestic initiatives, but he took bold action in foreign affairs, using the military to depose Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega in 1989 and to repel Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1991.

Bush came from a politically and socially connected family: his father was Prescott Bush, an investment banker and U.S. senator from Connecticut (1953–63). His mother was Dorothy Walker Bush, a member of the family that donated the Walker Cup, one of amateur golf's most prestigious tournaments. Bush grew up in the affluent town of Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, one of the finest prep schools in the nation.

During World War II, Bush enlisted in the navy and became its youngest pilot at age 19, flying Grumman Torpedo bombers in the Pacific from the aircraft carrier San Jacinto.

After his war service Bush married Barbara Pierce and attended Yale University, where he was captain of the championship baseball team and a member of the secret society Skull and Bones. He founded his own oil company in Houston, which soon merged with another to form the Zapata Petroleum Corporation.

After making a small fortune in oil exploration, George Bush turned to Republican politics in Texas. In 1962 he became Harris County Republican party chairman. Two years later he won the Republican Senate nomination but was defeated by the Democratic incumbent. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Houston in 1966 and was reelected in 1968. Bush served on the Ways and Means Committee, which deals with tax matters. In 1970 he was defeated for the Senate again.

After serving as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Bush was appointed by President Richard Nixon to be chair of the Republican National Committee in 1973. President Gerald Ford appointed Bush to serve as chief of the U.S. Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China and then to be Director of Central Intelligence.

Bush ran for President in 1980, but he was defeated by Ronald Reagan in the Republican primaries. Bush ended his campaign before the convention and was rewarded for his efforts to achieve party unity by receiving the Vice Presidential nomination.

As Vice President, Bush chaired the Task Force on Regulatory Relief, which took a pro-industry position on most issues: it watered down proposals from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on toxic substances in the workplace, delayed Transportation Department requirements that air bags be installed in cars, and delayed Environmental Protection Agency proposals to reduce lead in gasoline and remove asbestos from the workplace. Bush presided over the crisis management team at the White House and the drug interdiction task force. When President Reagan underwent cancer surgery in 1985, the powers of the Presidency were transferred to Bush for several hours under the provisions of the 25th Amendment.

Bush defeated Senator Robert Dole and the Reverend Pat Robertson for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1988. He chose Dan Quayle, junior Republican senator from Indiana, as his running mate. In the general election, running against Massachusetts Democratic governor Michael Dukakis, Bush repeatedly promised voters, “Read my lips, no new taxes.” He told them he opposed abortion and gun control, embracing a conservative social agenda. Bush won the election with 54 percent of the popular vote and 426 electoral votes to Dukakis's 111. Bush entered office facing large Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

In his inaugural address, President Bush promised to “make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world” and called for more cooperation between Democrats in Congress and Republicans in the White House. In his first year in office he followed a conciliatory line. He moved quickly past a dispute over the nomination of former senator John Tower to be secretary of defense (Tower was rejected by the Senate) and settled on the appointment of the less controversial Richard Cheney. He made a relatively noncontroversial Supreme Court appointment of the low-keyed David Souter. Bush concluded bipartisan negotiations over the budget by agreeing to the possibility of an increase in taxes, even though that meant repudiating his campaign promises and alienating the conservatives in his own party.

In foreign affairs President Bush initially tried to avoid any major new international crisis, preferring not to confront either Libya or Syria over support for terrorists. Similarly, he took a soft line on China after its leaders ordered a massacre of leaders of the democracy movement at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989. He invaded Panama in 1989 to seize its dictator, Manuel Noriega, and then put him on trial for drug trafficking, securing a conviction in 1992. In Central America, Bush all but abandoned military pressure on the Sandinista government of Nicaragua, a revolutionary government with strong ties to the Soviet Union and Cuba. He opted instead to support an agreement for free elections that produced a non-Sandinista government. The results of his conciliatory approach to Congress and international adversaries were high standings in the polls and a reputation for skill in managing foreign affairs.

In the second year of Bush's term the collapse of Soviet control over the nations of Eastern Europe made it seem as if no international crisis would occur for the remainder of his term. The President signed an agreement with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev that greatly reduced the number of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Warsaw Pact (the Soviet-bloc nations of Eastern Europe) troops and tanks in Europe. In August, however, Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait. Bush sent more than 500,000 troops into the Persian Gulf, escalated his rhetoric against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and obtained a U.N. resolution approving the use of force against Iraq. Public approval for his handling of the crisis diminished, however, and many other nations urged more time for sanctions and diplomacy to work. Eventually, he received authorization from Congress to use force against Iraq, and the combined forces of the United States and several European and Arab nations waged a quick and successful military campaign. The effort forced Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, but Saddam Hussein remained in power.

Bush began his third year with the highest ratings since public opinion pollsters began gauging Presidential popularity. Bush's popularity went into the 90 percent range, yet he offered almost no new domestic programs to Congress, refusing to capitalize on his standing with the public. He pressured the Soviet Union to accelerate its pace of economic and political reform, a strategy that culminated in a strategic arms reduction agreement signed in Moscow in August 1991. He pressured Israel and its Arab neighbors to come to an international peace conference, which began meeting early in 1992. He dropped sanctions (trade restrictions) on South Africa and refused to call for sanctions on China to protest human rights violations. Both moves were unpopular with Democrats in Congress.

Bush supported Mikhail Gorbachev's program of Perestroika, or economic and political restructuring, in the Soviet Union and led a coalition of Western nations that opposed a coup attempt against Gorbachev in August 1991. But Bush opposed the efforts of some republics within the Soviet Union to secede. Gorbachev was succeeded in power by Boris Yeltsin, and the Soviet Union was transformed into the Commonwealth of Independent States at the beginning of 1992. Bush then began to work with Yeltsin and his team of free-market reformers on programs of aid, trade, and nuclear disarmament.

In domestic affairs Bush continued his conservative stance. He scuttled a compromise civil rights measure sponsored by Republican moderates in the Senate, setting up a major dispute with Democrats and civil rights organizations, but eventually he signed a version of the bill into law. He pushed hard for a defense budget that contained funding of major new strategic weapons programs, but his budget had little money for domestic initiatives—even for his much-trumpeted educational initiatives. The White House lobbied hard in the Senate for approval of Bush's Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas, a black conservative. Although Bush won most of his highly publicized confrontations with Congress, his legislative success record remained one of the lowest of any modern President, even as his popularity with the public continued to hover in the 70 percent range.

In his fourth year Bush continued his emphasis on foreign affairs. He put more pressure on Israel to end its construction of new settlements in the West Bank by linking continued American foreign aid to Israeli policies regarding that disputed territory. He insisted that Iraq dismantle its strategic weapons and won United Nations sanctions against Libya until that nation agreed to turn over terrorists for trial in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am passenger jet. He vetoed a Democratic bill to end “most favored nation” treatment of China (a policy giving it the lowest tariffs on goods exported to the United States), and his veto was sustained. At the end of 1992 he sent marines and other military personnel into Somalia to provide protection for relief workers alleviating the famine in that country. In early 1993 the United States and Russia signed a nuclear arms reduction agreement.

In domestic affairs Bush was more confrontational with Congress, using or threatening to use his veto power on a wide range of legislation. He fired the director of the National Endowment for the Arts as a result of a dispute over federal funding of so-called “pornographic” art. He reiterated his position calling for an end to abortion. He refused to pledge American adherence to proposed new pollution controls that had gained worldwide backing. He insisted that the budget limitations on domestic spending (agreed to in 1990) remain in place, in spite of pressure to spend the “peace dividend” (money not spent on defense) on social programs. He blocked a range of Democratic economic measures with vetoes, all of which were sustained. Meanwhile, the President's popularity slid from better than 70 percent into the low 40s. By early spring President Bush had the lowest rating in the polls of any first-term President in his fourth year in office since Herbert Hoover.

In the November election, Bush was defeated by Arkansas governor Bill Clinton, who won 43 percent of the popular vote to Bush's 38 percent. Independent candidate Ross Perot received 19 percent. After leaving the White House, Bush made his home in Houston, Texas.

See also Director of Central Intelligence; Ford, Gerald R.; Nixon, Richard M.; Quayle, J. Danforth; Reagan, Ronald

Sources

• Colin Campbell and Bert Rockman, eds., The Bush Presidency: First Appraisals (Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House, 1991).
• Michael Duffy and Dan Goodgame, Marching in Place: The Status Quo Presidency of George Bush (New York: Simon & Schuster,1992).
• Herbert S. Parmet, George Bush: The Life of a Lone Star Yankee (New York: Scribner, 1997).
• Kenneth W. Thompson, ed., The Bush Presidency: Ten Intimate Perspectives of George Bush (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1997)

(1924- ), forty-first president of the United States. Bush is the latest if not the last Bull Moose, one of those elite easterners who renew their spirit and make a career in the West. He was born in Milton, Massachusetts, the son of Prescott Bush, an investment banker and U.S. senator. Bush easily imbibed the values of his parents and teachers at Phillips Andover Academy: propriety, service, and an Episcopalian version of muscular Christianity. A navy pilot in the Pacific in World War II, he was shot down and narrowly escaped death. Afterward, he graduated from Yale University, married, and moved to Texas to learn the oil business.

Bush took quickly to such Texas ways as pitching horseshoes and eating chicken-fried steak, but he remained a devout Episcopalian, socialized with other transplanted Ivy Leaguers, and used family connections to finance his petroleum exploration and equipment companies. Ultimately settling in Houston, he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1964, but won a House seat in 1966. In Congress he opposed most Great Society legislation but voted for some civil rights measures.

After losing another Senate race in 1970, Bush served in succession as ambassador to the United Nations, where he enjoyed verbal duels with the Soviet delegate; chairman of the Republican National Committee, where he defended Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal; U.S. representative to the People's Republic of China, where he established enduring ties with Communist leaders; and director of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he tried to improve morale and public relations. In 1980, running as a moderate, Bush lost the Republican presidential nomination to Ronald Reagan but was then nominated and elected as vice president.

Bush had slight influence on policy while serving as vice president. He apparently had no advance knowledge of the illegal diversion of funds in the Iran-Contra scandal. His loyalty, propriety, and boyish enthusiasm led critics to label him a "wimp," but they underestimated his ambition, shrewdness, and occasional unscrupulousness. He wooed the Republican Right, established himself as Reagan's heir apparent, and won the presidency in 1988. In the campaign he echoed Richard Nixon's earlier appeals to the "silent majority," questioned Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis's patriotism and commitment to fighting crime, and exploited racial fears.

Bush abandoned these demagogic tactics after the election, perhaps because he privately found them embarrassing, but certainly because he preferred to govern by consensus. Indeed, the first years of his administration called to mind not Nixon or Reagan but Ford (whom Bush had served in two posts) and Eisenhower (who was a friend of his father's). Key appointments went to Washington and Wall Street insiders. Bush enjoyed high approval ratings, though the long-range consequences of Reagan era fiscal policies and precipitous deregulation posed potential threats to the economy. Like his fellow moderate Republicans, Eisenhower and Ford, Bush pursued both détente with the Soviet Union and a policy of old-fashioned intervention in the third world, as the invasion of Panama and declaration of an international "drug war" illustrated. In 1990-1991, while proclaiming the advent of a "new world order," Bush organized an international coalition and sent 540,000 American troops to liberate Kuwait after an Iraqi invasion. Appropriately, he displayed in the cabinet room a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt, the first Bull Moose to wield a big stick.

Bibliography:

George Bush, with Victor Gold, Looking Forward (1987); Fitzhugh Green, George Bush: An Intimate Portrait (1989).

Author:

Leo P. Ribuffo

See also Elections: 1980 , 1984 , 1988.

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).

1924 -

U.S. president (1989 - 1993).

George H. W. Bush was born in the state of Connecticut. He was a decorated naval combat pilot in the Pacific during the Second World War despite the fact that he was the youngest pilot in the U.S. Navy. After the war he graduated from Yale University, and moved to Texas to work as an oil executive. Bush later entered public life and served in the U.S. House of Representatives, and was director of the Central Intelligence Agency, American ambassador to the United Nations, and vice president of the United States, among other positions.

During Bush's presidency, the United States undertook several major initiatives in the Middle East. He continued the first official U.S. dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which had begun in December 1988, the month before Bush took office, and which lasted until June 1990. The U.S.-led military engagement that defeated Iraq's occupation forces in Kuwait during the Gulf Crisis of 1990 - 1991 marked the first major American military involvement in the Middle East. Following Iraq's defeat, Bush decided to take advantage of the new regional climate to convene the Madrid Conference in October 1991, the first face-to-face Arab - Israeli peace negotiations since the 1979 Israel - Egypt peace treaty. The United States and the Soviet Union presided over both bilateral and multilateral talks among Israeli and Arab delegations, including Palestinians for the first time as part of a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation.

Bibliography

Bose, Meena, and Perotti, Rosanna, eds. From Cold War toNew World Order: The Foreign Policy of George H. W. Bush. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002.

Lesch, David W., ed. The Middle East and the United States: AHistorical and Political Reassessment, 3d edition. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2003.

— MICHAEL R. FISCHBACH

An American political leader of the late twentieth century; elected president as a Republican in 1988 after he pledged: “Read my lips; no new taxes.” Once in office, however, he reached an agreement with Congress to raise taxes. Despite this, Bush's popularity rose in the wake of American success in the Persian Gulf War, but then declined as the United States slipped into economic recession in 1991. He was defeated for reelection in 1992 by Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas.

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.

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 twenty, 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 was born during Bush's senior year of college. The couple eventually had six children, including a daughter who 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 1974-75 Bush traveled to the People's Republic of China as the U.S. liaison officer. And from 1976 to 1977 Bush 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 eighteen-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 forty 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. When it became clear that the multinational operation had failed to change anything permanently in the Middle East, Bush's popularity decreased.

In 1992 Bush and Quayle squared off against Democratic challengers Clinton and Albert Gore, Jr., 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—Bush was unable to defeat him.

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.

After his defeat at the polls Bush and his wife returned to Texas, vowing to spend more time with their children and grandchildren. They divide their time between Texas and Kennebunkport, Maine.

Quotes:

"I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. I am President of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli."

"I take as my guide the hope of a saint: in crucial things, unity... in important things, diversity... in all things, generosity."

"People say I'm indecisive, but I don't know about that."

"We are enjoying sluggish times and not enjoying them very much."

"What's wrong with being a boring kind of guy?"

"Read my lips: no new taxes."

See more famous quotes by George Bush