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The Election of 1988
For the Republican party, George Bush Sr was elected president. Bush had …
The Election of 1988
For the Republican party, George Bush Sr was elected president. Bush had been apart of this party in for the past 8 years. Bush was Vice President to Ronald Reagan. He was stated to had loyally supported the President. When Bush ran for president he had chosen the Senator of Indiana which was J.Danforth "Dan" Quayle. Though it was a easy win Bush had to go up against the Democratic party, which when there were said to have been over a half dozen of people wanting to run against him and his party. Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts and Jesse Jackson had lead the group.
New President
When George Bush was entering to White House he was bring along a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge. Bush was a pilot in World War II, and had also won a medal because of his bravery in battle. When the war was ended Bush had left his home town of Connecticut to move to Texas to start an oil business. It is also stated that Bush had served as a member on the Congress. Bush was an ambassador,and as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Bush was sure to say that he was not going to follow the old era that Ronald Reagan had set up. President Bush had to act with caution.
Drugs,Education,and the Environment
During the campaign of 1988 George Bush had been speaking about out a lot about the strongly on the need to control and stop the spread of illegal drugs in America. Bush first appointed William Bennett as the "drug czar". He was order to oversee the nations war on drugs. After only severing 2 years in office William Bennett had resigned. He said that the drug use had began to drop. But William was way wrong. The drugs actually just got worse. So Bush brings in Florida's governor Bob Martinez to replace Bennett. In 1989 Bush had set up a conference of the nations governors to set the national goals for education. George Bush Sr also appoint William Reily as the head of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The Savings and Loan Crisis
The savings and loan institutions, also known as S&Ls. S&Ls had been around since the Franklin Roosevelt era. The government had insured the deposits in the S&Ls to encourage people to save their money. S&Ls were on the verge of going out of business because interest rates were sky high. Reagan had sent up a campaign to allow them more freedom from government control. During the 1980s in the South West real estate prices went tumbling because of falling energy prices, this sent a lot of S&Ls to go bankrupt because the loans they were making were not being repaid. The Bush administration took control by setting up federal agency's to take over failed banks. To bail out the S&Ls it was estimated to cost $600 billion over a 10 year time period. The Reagan administration was blamed for the collapse. By the 1990s the collapsing of the S&Ls tear and weakened our nations banking.
Reducing the Deficit
President Bush strongly stated not to raise taxes. Even though himself and also the congress could not agree on how to cut spending, Bush did not want taxes raised. Bush and congress only had until October 1 to pass the budget. If the budget was not past by then, than the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act would have to go into effect. Bush said that he wanted a tax cut for investors who sold their stocks, the only bad thing is this would pretty much only be helping the rich investors the Democrats thought. Bush and congress ended up coming up with a budget that would increase that taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, and gasoline. It was stated to nearly cut the budget to $500 billion over 5 years.
The Elections of 1990
The voters went to the poles in very angry moods. A lot of governors lost their spots because people were
tired of putting up with everything. Voters in over 14 states voted for a totally different party from the one
that they had before.
Flags and the Supreme Court
President Bush called for a new amendment that would let the states to outlaw defacing the flag. Supports were mad and said that
the burning of the flag beloved national symbol was not free speech but was an insult to the entire nation. These situations made our nation look down in the dumps. The opponents said that it was way more important to worry about the basic freedoms then to have to worry about symbols. The burning of the flag and also cases involving abortion, race and sex discrimination, and the death penalty, were all very major situations that occured in this time period.
The End of the cold war?
When World War II ended the Soviets dominated governments had controlled the nations of Eastern Europe. The Freedom Fighters tried to revolt but were harshly put down. Communist governments collapsed one after another. The East Germany communist had shocked the whole entire world by saying that the wall will be open. People from the East waited for the wall to come open so now that they could go over the the West. By 1990, East and West Germany had started to reunion. After being divided for 45 years they both became one nation again.
New Directions in Latin America
Bush and the Bush administration took a totally different approach towards the situtions in Nicaragua then the Ronald Reagan administration did. Under its terms, the United States would provide the contras with food, clothing and medical supplies. Panama dicator Manuel Noriega had been considered a friend to the united states until he became involved in drug smuggling. Panama was said to be the banking center and shipping point for major drug dealers. In 1990, Bush sent American military forces into Panama. The United states installed a new government in Panama.
Unrest in China
President Bush argued that the United States could forsure make a better influence in the Chinese behavior, he said this could happen by keeping diplomatic channels open.
A Policy Toward South Africa
South Africa had seem to had adopted democracy in their nation. President Reagan tried to help by opposing apartheid, he stated that the economic actions that had been taken on South Africa would forsure hurt the black marjority by destroying jobs. What American did was they got the "constructive engagement" policy. America had to use quiet diplomacy and kept public criticism of the South African government to a minimum.
War Clouds in the Middle East
After the Iran-Iraq war ended in 1988, Iraq's dictator Hussein had rebuilt his military. In 1990 he sent his troops into Kuwait. Kuwait is one of the richest oil-producing nations in the Middle East. If Hussein and his army could conquered Saudi as well as they did Kuwait, he would be controling more than 80 percent of the oil in the region. With Hussein doing this he was capable of crippling the economies of the western world. As soon as this happen, Bush sent American forces to Saudi Arabia.
Fugitives in a Desert Drama
Hundreds of Americans living far far away from home were now facing an unpredictable and a also very dangerous situation. Saddam Hussein had sent his troops into Kuwait city. His Iraqi tanks rumbled through the streets of Kuwait City. He had his soldiers invade stores,businesses,and even hospitals,removing valuable goods and shipping them all back to Iraqi.
War in the Persian Gulf
During this period in time they say that over millions and hundreds of Americans were waiting to see if whether they would be allowed to leave Kuwait and Irq or would they have to stay? President Bush had conviced the United Nations Security Council to declare January 15,1991, as a deadline for Iraq's removal from Kuwait.
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