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=PRESIDENT GEORGE H. W. BUSH =

The 1988 Election
The 1988 election was won by George H. W. Bush. He beat the Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis (who had beat Reverend Jesse Jackson who was the first African American Democratic Candidate the the presidency).

New President in Office
George Bush brought a whole lot of experience to the White House. Bush wanted a more "kinder, gentler nation" and he promised that to the American People. The president still kept a more close look on his work and did more of his work with the Democratic-controlled Congress. He wanted a more moderate course than conservative.

Drugs, Education, and the Environment
Bush wanted to control the spread of illegal drugs. The president appointed William Bennett to be a special "drug czar" to control the usage of illegal drugs. When the some of the population had lowered the usage of illegal drugs he resigned and Bob Martinez took his place. The president also wanted to help out the environment and education. In the year 1989 the president called a conference tell the government to set national goals for education. For the environment George Bush appointed William Reilly to take charge of the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). In 1990, a law was signed to set tougher standards to reduce air pollution. Nuclear waste was a problem too, when Bush took office he took out 17 military plants the manufactured nuclear waste.

The Savings and Loan Crisis
The S&Ls had long financed mortgages for Americans buying homes. When interest rates sky rocketed in the late 1970s, savings banks were stuck with low interest, long- term mortgages. Since no one was attracted to this many S&Ls were on the verge of going out of business. The president wanted to offer more freedom to the S&Ls so they could higher the interest rates. People started taking advantages of the more freedom given and S&Ls went bankrupt. The Bush administration set up a federal agency to take over the failed banks. The cost of bailing them out would come to 600 billion dollars in the next 10 years.

Reducing the Deficit
The savings and loans crisis added to the growing deficit in the federal budget. The Congress and the President needed to reduce it so they had to either cut spending or raise money but no new taxes. Congress and the President fought back and forth over a budget that lowered the deficit. If they didn't pass a budget soon the automatic budget cuts called for in the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act would go into effect. The president thought of "capital gains" tax cut but democrats disagreed. Finally they reached a budget that would cut the deficit by 500 billion dollars over the next 5 years. =The Elections of 1990 = During the election campaign in 1990 Congress members found voters in an angry mood, 14 states elected governors from a different party. With the economy heading into a recession, political leaders faced an angry public.

Flags and the Supreme Court
A court case struck in the supreme court about a Texas law that had made burning the American Flag illegal. The justices ruled that it was a form of free speech. In the end it was made legal to burn it and its still a problem today.  =A WORLD IN TRANSITION =

<span style="color: rgb(0, 255, 0);">The End of the Cold War?
Since the ending of WWII the Soviets dominated governments had controlled the nations of Eastern Europe. In 1989 that all started to change when communist powers collapsed. Ones who were treated as enemies of the states, began to come into power. In Poland the government had outlawed Solidarity. Then in 1989 the communist government allowed solidarity government to rum for the Polish Parliament. All of them won.

<span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">A wall comes down.
Finally in 1989 after months of protests my East Germans the Government stunned the world by opening the wall. On October 4, 1990, Germany a country thats been divided for 45 years was now one big nation.

<span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">Moving toward democracy.
Demonstrations against communism spread rapidly across Eastern Europe. Soviet President Gorbachev accepted the movement toward democratic reform in Eastern Europe. Then in 1990, the Soviet government announced that it would allow private ownership of land and businesses. The end of communism in the Soviet Union seemed to be a possibility.

<span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">The American Response
The Americans were excited about the decreasing of communism. When Lech Walesa and Baclav Havel visited the united states in 1990 they were welcomed as hero's.

<span style="color: rgb(0, 255, 0);">New Directions in Latin America
Bush took a less militant approach towards affairs in Nicaragua. He stopped the continuance of pressing for military aid to the contras. Instead he worked out a bipartisan agreement with congress. Later on they had elections and <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Violeta Chamorro won.

<span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">Invasion of panama.
<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Manuel Noriega a well known friend to the united states who helped us became very much involved in drug smuggling. With all the smuggling president bush sent American military forces into panama. The united states won and set up a new government in panama.

<span style="color: rgb(0, 255, 0);">Unrest in China
The wave of reform that swept communist Europe sent shock waves through China. Hundred and thousands of students in China protested. Many protesters were killed and President bush just kept his distance.

A Policy Toward South Africa
Democracy seemed to be heading to Africa. In south Africa they still had the policy of apartheid but the united states wanted to change that by making a policy called economic sanctions to end apartheid.

War Clouds in the Middle East
Other countries didn't seem to be a problem anymore but the middle east was a different story. Iraqi leader and his military invaded Kuwait, one of the richest oil-producing nations in the middle east.

A Complex threat.
If <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Saddam Hussein captured Saudi Arabia then he would have 80% of oil in the region. With the additional power he would soon go after Egypt or Syria.The industrial nations had become more dependent than ever before on oil from the Persian Gulf. If Saddam

The world responds.
President bush sent his troops in as well as other middle eastern countries and the soviet union to get him out of Saudi Arabia.

War in the Persian Gulf
In November 1990 the president convince the united nations security council to declare January 15, 1991 as a deadline for Iraq's removal from Kuwait. To prepare for an offensive strike, Bush sent 200,000 extra troops. The war was getting stronger. When the dead line past on January 16th Saudi Arabia and Britain launched an air attack on Iraq. Iraq was defeated.