He was president from 1989-1993, just when the world was in transition.
Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe, best signified by the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. And then, America's rival, the Soviet Union, was no longer, split into 15 separate countries.
Meanwhile, America's foreign policy transitioned. It was no longer about beating the Soviet Union on the world stage. So there was now less incentive to support anti-communist dictators just to get back at the communists. With this, the US could no longer use the communist scare as an excuse to support the apartheid regime in South Africa. Nelson Mandela was released from prison.
But the military-industrial complex still needed a reason to exist.
So now Bush turned against other dictators once supported by his former boss Ronald Reagan.
First was Manuel Noriega, Panama's dictator once supported by Reagan. But now that the Cold War was over, and that Noriega supported drug cartels, Bush sent the military in December 1989 to take him out. Noriega was arrested and spent the rest of his life in US prisons.
(note: there are some unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that Noriega wasn't allowed to talk to media while imprisoned because he would've spilled out embarrassing information about America's policy on foreign affairs, drug trafficking and more)
But Noriega was just the appetizer.
In August 1990, Saddam Hussein, another dictator supported by Ronald Reagan, sent Iraqi troops to invade Kuwait. He thought the US (and the rest of the Western world) would let it slide, the same way they've been letting it slide when he used chemical warfare against Iran as well as his domestic opponents. But Hussein didn't realize that in the post-Cold War world, the US military-industrial complex needed a "new bad guy" and that now, he was it.
So now, Bush gave Hussein a warning: get the Iraqi troops out of Kuwait by January 15, 1991. Hussein didn't listen and the 1st Gulf War has begun! Bush sent US troops to save Kuwait and then put serious sanctions against Iraq.
People wondered why Bush didn't "finish the job" and sent US troops onward to overthrow Hussein. After all, Hussein was still alive enough to retaliate, with an assassination attempt against Bush when he visited Kuwait in 1993. Afterwards, the US (under next president Bill Clinton) launched missile attacks on Iraq, but no ground troops.
Bush's son, George W. Bush became president in 2001, and was determined to finish the job, first with missile strikes in February of that year. The 9/11 attacks (committed by Al Quaida with zero assistance from Iraq) gave new fears that Saddam Hussein might also launch future attacks. That lead to the 2003 Iraq war in which Saddam Hussein was finally overthrown, but also led to massive chaos as different factions fought each other to to fulfill the power vacuum after the invasion. This chaos led many to believe that Bush Senior did the right thing in not invading Iraq after kicking out their troops out of Kuwait.
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Bush Senior's success in expelling Iraqi troops out of Kuwait showed the world that USA was the last remaining superpower. It was a time for patriotism.
That feeling was short-lived!
On the domestic front, the US economy was in a recession. The 80's boom was over, factories were downsizing, oil prices went up.
Bush being born wealthy, was seen as "out of touch" by average Americans struggling in the slowing economy.
To add insult to injury, Bush broke his famous promise :"Read my lips, no new taxes". But he did approve new taxes.
Meanwhile, a charismatic politician, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton was running for president on the Democratic side in 1992.
Bill Clinton's energetic personality was seen as a contrast from the less charismatic "old" George Bush.
Bill Clinton was less advantaged in that he grew up with a single mother in Arkansas small towns, but that humble beginnings became an advantage in 1992 as Bill Clinton was seen as someone who better able to relate to the average American as compared to born-wealthy Bush.
Bill Clinton's election was seen as a dawn of a new era, in which the new generation was taking over.
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However, with Bush Senior now done with politics, it was his sons turn to continue the family business. In 1994, his two sons ran for governors, George W won in Texas. Jeb lost in Florida that year, but eventually won in 1998.
George W was a popular governor in Texas, and was next in line to become the Republican nominee for president in 2000. He won a close election against Clinton's VP Al Gore.
Unlike his father, George W was re-elected to a second term! However, his popularity declined with the mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina's recovery in 2005, as well as concerns of the continuing war casualties in Iraq. For the final insult, George W faced his own recession in 2008, just in time to hurt John McCain's chances to continue the Republican control of the White House.
In 2016, Jeb Bush was to run for president. However, he was too gentle a soul to effectively campaign against a loud belligerent Donald Trump!
As negative as Donald Trump is, his one redeeming quality is that he made the Bushes look sane in comparison.
I remember when everyone on the Radical Left thought the Bushes were the source of the world's evil. They thought things can't get worse than them. Donald Trump proved them wrong!
The Bushes were for a more lenient immigration policy. George W planned to give amnesty to illegal immigrants early in 2001. He even met with Mexico's president Vicente Fox early September 2001. However, 9/11 ended that plan! George W kept trying to remind people that not all Muslims were bad people. He wanted to emphasize that his war against Al Quaida and Saddam Hussein wasn't a war against all Muslims.
However, not everyone wanted to hear that message. Donald Trump exploited such fears to take over the Republican Party and this country.
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Some said that George Senior exploited racial fears when his 1988 campaign ad featured Willie Horton (a convicted murderer who allowed to go on furlough when he committed a home invasion & rape) as an example of how Micheal Dukakis was too lenient on crime when he was governor of Massachusetts. The furlough program was started by a previous governor, but Dukakis continued the program until the public angrily reacted to the Willie Horton incident.
Al Gore actually brought the issue up in the 1988 primaries by pointing out Dukakis was too soft on violent crime. He didn't mention Horton by name. But Bush's supporters noticed what Al Gore said, did more research, and showcased Willie Horton's face on TV ads.
Dukakis leniency on violent crime was a legit issue. Willie Horton was a dangerous person who should be locked up forever. Willie Horton was a legit issue for the campaign.
I don't think Bush was racist against African-Americans, but also could've diversified the example to use in his anti-crime campaigns. He probably underestimated the use of the race card by those who oppose him!
However, in this decade, Donald Trump used the Willie Horton strategy to promote fear of immigrants. Whereas Bush never made any public statement blaming any ethnic groups for crimes (he only had an ad that showed a picture of Willie Horton), Trump routinely blames specific ethnic categories for crimes. He started his campaign with a speech saying that that Mexican immigrants are bringing crimes, drugs and are rapists (nevermind that Trump himself is an accused rapist who is lucky his victims didn't follow through in pressing criminal charges) and he promised a ban of all Muslim immigration (which he followed up with an attempt at banning of immigrants from 7 Muslim-majority countries).
Trump did post an ad on social media highlighting a Mexican-immigrant who killed police officers, as well as image of Central American riots to promote fear of Latin American immigrants. He also exploited/pimped the death of Mollie Tibbetts, an Anglo jogger in Iowa who was killed by a Mexican immigrants. However, Tibbetts family told Trump to back off, that they had Mexicans in their extended family and to leave them alone. A Trump supporter running for the US House in Tibbetts' district lost a Democrat who supported a more lenient immigration policy.
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George HW Bush also had other highlights in his presidency
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which required all new facilities to be accessible to people with disabilities
- Immigration Act of 1990, which allowed for increased immigration to the US
- Clean Air Act of 1990, to reduce air pollution
- Civil Rights Act of 1991, which allowed for lawsuits against employers who discriminate
- His visit to Pearl Harbor in the 50th anniversary of the attack. Bush joined the military a few months after the attack.
- the end of the military use of the Hawaiian island of Kaho'olawe as a bombing target
After politics, his highlights included
- developing a friendship with former political opponent Bill Clinton as they both did fundraising to help the victims of th 2004 tsunami that hit various Asian countries
- going skydiving in his 75th,80th, 85th and 90th birthdays
