Overview
George H.W. Bush was inaugurated as President of the United States on January 20, 1989, succeeding Ronald Reagan. He assumed office during a period of great change in the world: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Soviet Union came early in his presidency. He ordered military operations in Panama and the Persian Gulf and, at one point, was recorded as having a record-high approval rating of 89% However, economic recession and breaking his "no new taxes" pledge caused a sharp decline in his approval rating, and Bush was defeated in the 1992 election.
Domestic Policies
Taxes and the Federal Deficit
Although he promised to carry on Reagan’s economic legacy, the problems Bush inherited made it difficult to do so. Reagan’s policies of cutting taxes and increasing defense spending had exploded the federal budget deficit, making it three times larger in 1989 than when Reagan took office in 1980. Bush was further constrained by the emphatic pledge he had made at the 1988 Republican Convention—“read my lips: no new taxes”—and found himself in the difficult position of trying to balance the budget and reduce the deficit without breaking his promise. However, he also faced a Congress controlled by the Democrats, who wanted to raise taxes on the rich, while Republicans thought the government should drastically cut domestic spending.
In October, after a brief government shutdown when Bush vetoed the budget Congress delivered, he and Congress reached a compromise with the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. The budget included measures to reduce the deficit by both cutting government expenditures and raising taxes, effectively reneging on the “no new taxes” pledge. These economic constraints are one reason why Bush supported a limited domestic agenda of education reform and antidrug efforts, relying on private volunteers and community organizations, which he referred to as “a thousand points of light,” to address most social problems.
NASA
During a speech to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Bush announced a vision to complete Space Station Freedom, resume exploration of the Moon, and begin exploration of Mars. Although a space station was eventually constructed–work on the International Space Station began in 1998–other work has been confounded by budgetary issues within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In 1998, Bush received the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement's National Space Trophy for his pioneering leadership of the U.S. space program.
New Laws
Bush signed a number of major laws in his presidency, including the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which was one of the most pro-civil rights bills in decades. In dealing with the environment, Bush reauthorized the Clean Air Act, legislation requiring the use of cleaner burning fuels. He quarreled with Congress over an eventually signed bill to aid police in capturing criminals, and he signed into law a measure to improve the nation's highway system. Bush also signed the Immigration Act of 1990, which increased legal immigration to the United States by 40%.
NRA
Bush was a Life Member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and had campaigned as a "pro-gun" candidate with the NRA's endorsement in 1988. However, in March of 1989 he placed a temporary ban on the import of certain semiautomatic rifles. This action cost him endorsement from the NRA in 1992. Bush publicly resigned his life membership in the organization after losing the election and receiving a form letter from NRA depicting agents of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms as jack-booted thugs. He called the NRA letter a "vicious slander on good people."
International Policies
The Soviet Union and the End of the Cold War
In 1989, just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, President Bush met with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in a conference on the Mediterranean island of Malta. The administration had been under intense pressure to meet with the Soviets, but not all of Bush's advisers initially thought the Malta summit to be a step in the right direction. Though no agreements were signed, the meeting was acknowledged as a very important step to the end of the Cold War.
Another summit was held in July of 1991, when the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) was signed by Bush and Gorbachev in Moscow. The treaty was nine years in the making and was the first major arms agreement since the signing of the Intermediate Ranged Nuclear Forces Treaty by Reagan and Gorbachev in 1987. The intention of START was to reduce the United States' and Soviet Union's strategic nuclear weapons by about 35% over seven years, as well as reduce the Soviet Union's land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles by 50%. Bush described START as "a significant step forward in dispelling half a century of mistrust." After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, President Bush and Gorbachev declared a U.S.-Russia strategic partnership, marking the official end of the Cold War.
NAFTA
Bush's administration, along with the Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, spearheaded the negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—which would eliminate the majority of tariffs on products traded among the United States, Canada, and Mexico—to encourage trade among the countries. The treaty also restricted patents, copyrights, and trademarks, and it outlined the removal of investment restrictions among the three countries.
The treaty has since been defended as well as criticized. The American economy has grown 54% since the adoption of NAFTA in 1993, with 25 million new jobs created; this has been seen by some as evidence of NAFTA being beneficial to the U.S. With talk in early 2008 regarding a possible American withdrawal from the treaty, Carlos M. Gutierrez, current United States Secretary of Commerce, wrote, "Quitting NAFTA would send economic shock waves throughout the world, and the damage would start here at home." However, John Sweeney of The Boston Globe argued that "the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and Mexico ballooned to 12 times its pre-NAFTA size, reaching $111 billion in 2004."
The Inauguration of George H.W. Bush
Chief Justice William Rehnquist administered the oath of office to Bush during inaugural ceremonies at the United States Capitol on January 20, 1989.