Bush, George Herbert Walker (1924– )
American statesman, forty-first president of the United States
(1989–1993), Republican.
The presidency of George H. W. Bush provides a vivid
recent example of how lack of success in dealing with economic problems can dramatically erode political support
for a leader despite his effectiveness in other spheres of
statecraft.
Born June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, Bush earned
a degree in economics from Yale University in 1948, moved to
Texas, and went successfully into the oil business. Between
1948 and 1950 he worked as a salesman for Idec, an oil-field
equipment supply company. He founded Bush-Overly Oil
Development Co. and Zapata Petroleum Corp. From 1964 to
1966 he worked as a chief executive officer of Zapata Petroleum Off Shore. Bush served as a Congressman (1967–1971),
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (1971–1973), chair of
the Republican National Committee (1973–1974), chief of
the U.S. liaison office (a quasi-embassy) in Peking
(1974–1975), and director of the Central Intelligence Service
(1976–1977).
During the Republican presidential primary campaign of
1980, Bush ran as a moderate candidate, criticizing the conservative economic program of Ronald Reagan and advocating governmental activism in the social sphere. Reagan won
the party’s nomination and Bush compromised his
approach with Reagan’s program, accepting the nomination
for vice presidency. Serving as vice president from 1981
through 1989 in the Reagan administration, he contributed
to the success of Reaganomics (or supply-side economics),
particularly in heading a task force to reduce federal regulations. In 1988, Bush won his second bid for the Republican
presidential nomination and defeated Democrat Michael S.
Dukakis in the election. Bush lost the 1992 election to Bill
Clinton.
As president, George H. W. Bush tried to consolidate the
main accomplishments of the Reagan era. The end of the
cold war in 1989 allowed him to cancel the annual inflationadjustment spending increase of the military budget. He also
Bush, George Herbert Walker 35initiated some important social measures including an
increase in the minimum wage (from $3.80 per hour in 1990
to $4.25 per hour in 1991), and he championed two laws that
imposed significant requirements on business: the Americans with Disabilities Act, which broadened the rights of disabled Americans; and a comprehensive Clean Air Act, which
envisaged tighter control on auto emissions, use of fuel, emissions by utility plants, and so on, and would cost business
more than $20 billion annually.
As the lengthy recession began in the summer of 1990, the
economy also experienced some long-range negative consequences of the Reagan era, particularly a huge deficit. Hoping
to spark a solid economic recovery, the Bush administration
tried to negotiate a deficit-cutting budget with Congress,
which was controlled by the Democrats. Bush had to accept
tax increases, particularly for those paying top individual tax
rates, as well as taxes on gasoline, beer, and luxury items, as a
part of the budget compromise—even though during the
campaign of 1988 he had issued a categorical pledge not to
raise taxes.
Although the weakened economy kept tax receipts down
and precluded expected deficit reductions in 1991 and 1992,
the president’s tax concessions to the Democrats alienated his
conservative Republican supporters. These factors highlighted his ineffectiveness in dealing with domestic issues
despite his strong leadership at the end of the cold war (the
Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the Soviet Union ended in
December 1991) and after the U.S. victory in the Gulf War of
1991, and he lost his bid for reelection in 1992 to Bill Clinton.
In the international arena, Bush tried to manage commercial economic conflicts with main U.S. rivals (particularly
Japan), promoted global economic coordination within the
Group of Seven (the world’s seven largest industrialized
nations), and supported the idea of free trade. On December
17, 1992, he signed the North American Free Trade
Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which created a free
trade zone in the northern part of the Western Hemisphere.