Reagan & Bush.

Scandal has been a part of the lives of so many Presidents. Reagan is no exception. By the 1980’s, America clashed with Libya. Muammar al-Qaddafi was the leader of Libya back then. Reagan accused Qaddafi of backing terrorists worldwide. In 1986, there was a Berlin terrorist attack in a nightclub. Reagan blamed the attack on Qaddafi, so later U.S. warplanes bombed Libya. The air raid killed one of Qaddafi’s daughters. Qaddafi survived and his criticism of America decreased until the future (with the Libyan vs. NATO war by the 2010’s). Reagan was criticized in 1985 when he was accused of honoring Nazi war criminals at a cemetery in West Germany. Reagan by February of 1985 visited a Germany military cemetery in Bitburg and to place a wreath alongside West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Deaver was given assurances by a German head of protocol that no war criminals were buried there. It was later determined that the cemetery held the graves of 49 members of the Waffen-SS. What neither Deaver nor other administration officials initially realized was that many Germans drew a distinction between the regular SS, who typically were composed of Nazi true believers, and the Waffen-SS which were attached to military units and composed of conscripted soldiers. That is silly since both types of troops are still Nazis. As the controversy brewed in April 1985, Reagan issued a statement that called the Nazi soldiers buried in that cemetery as themselves "victims," a designation which ignited a stir over whether Reagan had equated the SS men to victims of the Holocaust. These Nazi soldiers were never victims. They were criminals period. The victims of the Holocaust are the actual victims. Strident conservative, Roman Catholic, and Knight of Malta Pat Buchanan (who is known to have made racist and anti-Semitic comments for decades), who was Reagan's Director of Communications, argued that the president did not equate the SS members with the actual Holocaust, but as victims of the ideology of Nazism. That is a bunch of nonsense since there were many Germans who resisted Nazi ideology. Now strongly urged to cancel the visit, the president responded that it would be wrong to back down on a promise he had made to Chancellor Kohl. On May 5, 1985, President Reagan and Chancellor Kohl first visited the site of the former Nazi Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and then the Bitburg cemetery where, along with two military generals, they did place a wreath. One of the worst parts of the Reagan administration was their expansion of the War on Drugs. There was a crack epidemic in America. Reagan advanced law enforcement power to jail and imprison even nonviolent drug offenders. While Reagan wanted drug free zones, authoritarian policies followed. In 1986, Reagan signed a drug enforcement bill that budgeted $1.7 billion (equivalent to $3.9 billion in 2018) to fund the War on Drugs and specified a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses. Nancy said Just Say No in dealing with drugs. The mass incarceration state grew and militarized police occupied communities (both black and non-black neighborhoods alike).

The bill was criticized for promoting significant racial disparities in the prison population, and critics also charged that the policies did little to reduce the availability of drugs on the street, while resulting in a great financial burden for America. As the years came about, more people were imprisoned and adolescent drug use declined. Poor communities suffered. The Iran Contra scandal was one of the biggest scandals of the 1980’s and it almost ended the Reagan Presidency. The Iran Contra affair was about when the United States sold weapons to Iran in 1985. This was done in exchange for Iran’s promise to pressure a terrorist group in Lebanon to release some American hostages. The plan didn’t work. It was against the administration’s policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists. Also, the Reagan administration used the money from the sale to fund the Contras in Nicaragua despite the fact that in 1983, Congress banned sending funds to the Contras. The Contras were known as far right authoritarians who brutalized people in Central America. In 1986, the deals came out to the public. President Ronald Reagan admitted responsibility for the actions of the administration, but he never admitted to directly ordering his aides to support the Contras. He opened his own investigation and appointed two Republicans and one Democrat, John Tower, Brent Scowcroft and Edmund Muskie, respectively, to investigate the scandal. The commission could not find direct evidence that Reagan had prior knowledge of the program, but criticized him heavily for his disengagement from managing his staff, making the diversion of funds possible. Iran Contra almost ended Reagan’s Presidency. Many leading administration officials and a top aide, Oliver North, were convicted on charges from the scandal. Many of the convictions were overturned on technical grounds. Still, Reagan left office with high approval ratings. Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. It criminalized employers who knowingly hire or recruit undocumented immigrants while giving amnesty to about 3 million undocumented immigrants who came into the United States before January 1, 1982 and had lived in America continuously.

Upon signing the act at a ceremony held beside the newly refurbished Statue of Liberty, Reagan said, "The legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows, without access to many of the benefits of a free and open society. Very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans." Reagan also said, "The employer sanctions program is the keystone and major element. It will remove the incentive for illegal immigration by eliminating the job opportunities which draw illegal aliens here." The economic situation by the end of Reagan’s second term was great for the wealthy and upper middle class. Yet, the debt increased, the deficit grew, and income inequality flourished. The second term of Ronald Reagan started on January 20, 1985 when he was sworn into office for the second time. Staff members on his team were Chief of Staff James Baker, and Peggy Noonan.  In his second term, Reagan elevated William Rehnquist to succeed Warren E. Burger as Chief Justice, and named Antonin Scalia to fill the vacant seat. Reagan nominated conservative jurist Robert Bork to the high court in 1987. Senator Ted Kennedy, a Democrat of Massachusetts, strongly condemned Bork, and great controversy ensued.  Bork's nomination was rejected 58–42.  Reagan then nominated Douglas Ginsburg, but Ginsburg withdrew his name from consideration after coming under fire for his cannabis use. Anthony Kennedy was eventually confirmed in his place. Along with his three Supreme Court appointments, Reagan appointed 83 judges to the United States courts of appeals, and 290 judges to the United States district courts.

Early in his tenure, Reagan appointed Clarence M. Pendleton Jr., of San Diego as the first African American to chair the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Pendleton tried to steer the commission into a conservative direction in line with Reagan's views on social and civil rights policy during his tenure from 1981 until his sudden death in 1988. Pendleton soon aroused the ire of many civil rights advocates and feminists when he ridiculed the comparable worth proposal as being "Looney Tunes.” Ronald Reagan’s legacy has been debated to this day. He gave a voice to many conservatives, and he was a formidable adversary towards progressive thinking. One part of Ronald Reagan's legacy would deal with economics. The real value of the minimum wage in inflation adjusted dollars declined in 44 percent between 1981 and 1989.  32 million Americans lived beneath the poverty line by the end of the Reagan Presidency. 31.6 percent of African Americans, 26.8 percent of Latinos, and 10.1 percent of white people lived in poverty by the end of his second term. Federal resources of minorities involving health care declined. The reactionary, cruel legacy of the Presidency of Reagan taught us that life shouldn't revolve around the rich alone. It revolves around the concerns of all of the people, and the government should have an active role in helping humanity.




As early as 1985, then Vice President George H. W. Bush planned to run for President in 1988. He came into the Republican primaries for President by October 1987. He had his challengers of U.S. Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, U.S. Representative Jack Kemp of New York, former Governor Pete du Pont of Delaware, and conservative Christian televangelist Pat Robertson. John Ashcroft was allied with George H. W. Bush too. Bush was considered the early front-runner for the nomination, but he came in third in the Iowa caucus, behind winner Dole and runner-up Robertson. Reagan reorganized his staff to try to win the New Hampshire primary later. Dole was ahead in New Hampshire. Then, Bush ran television commercials to portray Dole as a tax raiser. Bush then on the state’s primary.  Following the primary, Bush and Dole had a joint media appearance; when the interviewer asked Dole if he had anything to say to Bush, Dole said, in response to the ads, "yeah, stop lying about my record!" in an angry tone. This is thought to have hurt Dole's campaign to Bush's benefit. Bush continued seeing victory, winning many Southern primaries as well. Once the multiple-state primaries such as Super Tuesday began, Bush's organizational strength and fundraising lead were impossible for the other candidates to match, and the nomination was his. George H. W. Bush decided to select U.S. Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate. The Democratic Primary of 1988 had Jesse Jackson with a stronger campaign than in 1984. He won many working class voters including many states. Other Democratic candidates in the 1988 primary were Al Gore, Paul Simon, Joe Biden, Pat Schroeder, Gary Hart, Dick Gephardt, and other people. Jesse Jackson in his 1988 campaign won many state primaries. He appealed to black people, socialists, feminists, community activists, and other working class people. Yet, the Democratic Party established mistreated him. Back in those days, it was taboo for a progressive (especially a progressive black man) to run for office without apology. Dukakis refused to select him as his running mate, but he picked the conservative Democrat Senator and Freemason Lloyd Bentsen. Back then, Bush was trailing Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis (then Governor of Massachusetts) in most polls. Bush wasn’t as eloquent as Ronald Reagan, but he gave his famous thousand points of light speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention. Back in 1988, George H. W. Bush appeared to apple pie stereotypical themes. He wanted to promote the Pledge of Allegiance, capital punishment, gun rights, and prayer in schools plus he opposed abortion. He is famous for saying the famous pledge: “Read my lips: no new taxes. The campaign among Bush and Dukakis are harsh and dirty. Dukakis didn't campaign much in the African American community until late in his campaign. Jackson's constituents were ignored by Dukakis. Then and now, some people would rather vote against their economic interests for a conservative than a progressive. Bush accused Dukakis of polluting the Boston Harbor as governor of Massachusetts. Dukakis didn’t agree with a law requiring all students to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Dukakis opposed the death penalty even if his wife was raped. Back then, that was very controversial. Bush said that Dukakis was soft on crime. Bentsen's retort to Vice President Dan Quayle during the 1988 vice presidential debate, "You're no Jack Kennedy," has entered the lexicon as a widely used phrase to deflate politicians who are perceived as thinking too highly of themselves. The Bush campaign showed the infamous, racist Willie Horton aid. Dukakis’s running mate Lloyd Bentsen would late become on architect of President Bill Clinton's economic policies. Bush won the 1988 election with 426 to 111 in the Electoral College. 


In the nationwide popular vote, Bush took 53.4% of the ballots cast while Dukakis received 45.6%. Bush became the first serving vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1836, as well as the first person to succeed someone from his own party to the presidency via election to the office in his own right since Herbert Hoover in 1929. George H. W. Bush was inaugurated on January 20, 1989. He saw many changes including the end of the Cold War. He had to deal with high deficits. Bush wanted to cut down the deficit with a balanced budget proposal.  He began an effort to persuade the Democratic controlled Congress to act on the budget. Republicans believed that the best way was to cut government spending, and Democrats convinced that the only way would be to raise taxes. So, Bush faced problems when it came to consensus building. Later, Bush was forced by a Democratic majority to raise tax revenues. Many Republicans felt betrayed as he gave his “no new taxes” speech in 1988. Perceiving a means of revenge, Republican congressmen defeated Bush's proposal, which would enact spending cuts and tax increases that would reduce the deficit by $500 billion over five years. Scrambling, Bush accepted the Democrats' demands for higher taxes and more spending, which alienated him from Republicans and gave way to a sharp decrease in popularity. Bush later said that he wished that he had never signed the bill. Near the end of the 101st Congress, the president and congressional members reached a compromise on a budget package that increased the marginal tax rate and phased out exemptions for high-income taxpayers. Although he originally demanded a reduction in the capital gains tax, Bush relented on this issue as well. This agreement with the Democratic leadership in Congress proved to be a turning point in the Bush presidency; his popularity among Republicans never fully recovered. About the time of the budget deal, America experienced a recession lasting six months. Unemployment grew and more people had to get on welfare. Unemployment was very high by 1991.

Bush gave unemployed workers more benefits. By his second year in office, Bush was told by his economic advisors to stop dealing with the economy, as they believed that he had done everything necessary to ensure his reelection. By 1992, interest and inflation rates were the lowest in years, but by midyear the unemployment rate reached 7.8%, the highest since 1984. In September 1992, the Census Bureau reported that 14.2% of all Americans lived in poverty.  There was the Savings and Loan crisis of 1989 as well. This was about 1,000 Savings and Loan banks failing. Some of this was because some banks used bad behavior like promoting risky loans. Some believed that Reagan’s deregulation policies for encouraging banks to invest in riskier actions. The federal government spent up to $200 billion to bail out depositors at the failed banks. At a press conference in 1990, Bush told reporters that he found foreign policy more enjoyable. The truth is that you have to deal with both domestic and foreign policy matters. He proposed the Educational Excellence Act of 1989 to advance educational reform. He wanted public and private involvement in improving education. On July 23, 1992, Bush signed the Higher Education Amendments of 1992, a resumption of "many programs in the Higher Education Act of 1965." George H. W. Bush wanted to promote a more moderate image than Reagan despite his controversies. That is why he praised Nelson Mandela, invested in HBCUs, appointed African Americans in his cabinet, and increased the budget of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (which fights workplace discrimination). Bush praised Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while ignoring his condemnation of the Vietnam War, domestic poverty, and capitalism. Bush made the mistake of trying to get William Lucas to be head of the justice Department's civil rights division when he had lax experience (and he was very malleable to police brutality incidents against black people when he was Wayne Couty sheriff in Michigan). George H. W. Bush loved to support black neoconservatives not black progressives.

President George H. W. Bush promoted the reunification of Germany. He signed major bills like the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; this was one of the most pro-civil rights bills in decades. He was also the only president to successfully veto a civil rights act, the job-discrimination protection Civil Rights Act of 1990. He baited that bill as promoting “racial quotas” and signed a watered down Civil Rights Act of 1991. He worked to increase federal spending for education, childcare, and advanced technology research. He also signed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which provides monetary compensation of people who had contracted cancer and a number of other specified diseases as a direct result of their exposure to atmospheric nuclear weapons testing undertaken by the United States during the Cold War. He reauthorized the Clean Air Act to require cleaner burning fuels. He signed a bill to aid police work. He signed a law in growing the nation’s high way system. He signed the Immigration Act of 1990 that increased legal immigration into America by 40 percent. On November 21, 1989, Bush signed a measure that guaranteed reparations to Japanese-Americans who were relocated into internment camps during World War II. Congress authorized US$20,000 (equivalent to $40,424 in 2018) for each survivor. Bush was a member of the NRA and signed a temporary ban on the import of some semiautomatic rifles. Bush resigned after some NRA people called agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms as “jack-booted thugs.” He called the NRA letter a "vicious slander on good people." He promoted volunteerism in his Points of Light movement. One of his most controversial acts was appointing Clarence Thomas (who was accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill and other women) to the Supreme Court in 1991. He appointed David Souter in 1990. Bush removed Noriega from power after he was accused of spying for Fidel Castro and for Noriega drug trafficking to America. 24,000 U.S. troops were sent to Panama to end Noriega’s rule. This act was controversial. Endara assumed the President and Noriega was imprisoned.


The Persian Gulf War lasted for a short period of time, but its impact existed for years and decades. It existed in phases. On August 2, 1990 invaded the oil rich nation of Kuwait. Saddam thought that Kuwait belonged to Iraq. Saddam was once an ally of America as America plus other Western nations funded Iraq during the 1980’s. Bush was concerned that Saddam could possibly invade Saudi Arabia. This could harm the economy, so Bush wanted to act. Bush condemned Saddam’s invasion and rallied an opposition to Saddam’s action among European, Asian, and Middle Eastern allies.  Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Fahd, who requested United States military aid in the matter, fearing a possible invasion of his country as well. The request was met initially with Air Force fighter jets. Iraq made attempts to negotiate a deal that would have allowed the country to take control of half of Kuwait. Bush rejected this proposal and insisted on a complete withdrawal of Iraqi forces. President George H. W. Bush allowed General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. to led ground operation forces in the U.S.-led coalition to invade Iraqi forces. Bush went into Congress to try to get Congressional authorization of air and land attacks. His objections were the following:  "Iraq must withdraw from Kuwait completely, immediately, and without condition. Kuwait's legitimate government must be restored. The security and stability of the Persian Gulf must be assured. And American citizens abroad must be protected." He then outlined a fifth, long-term objective: "Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective — a new world order — can emerge: a new era — freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace. An era in which the nations of the world, East and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony ... A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A world in which nations recognize the shared responsibility for freedom and justice. A world where the strong respect the rights of the weak." With the United Nations Security Council opposed to Iraq's violence, Congress authorized the use of military force with a set goal of returning control of Kuwait to the Kuwaiti government, and protecting America's interests abroad.

On the morning of January 17, 1991, the Allied forces launched the attack. It involved more than 4,000 bombing runs by coalition aircraft. This pace would last for the next four weeks. The ground invasion occurred on February 24, 1991.  Allied forces penetrated Iraqi lines and pushed toward Kuwait City, while on the west side of the country, forces were intercepting the retreating Iraqi army. Bush made the decision to stop the offensive after a mere 100 hours. Critics labeled this decision premature, as hundreds of Iraqi forces were able to escape; Bush responded by saying that he wanted to minimize U.S. casualties. Opponents further charged that Bush should have continued the attack, pushing Hussein's army back to Baghdad, then removing him from power. Bush explained that he did not give the order to overthrow the Iraqi government because it would have "incurred incalculable human and political costs... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq."  That prediction would be fulfilled during the future 2003 Iraqi invasion. The Persian Gulf War was an American victory. Bush’s approval ratings went into huge levels upwards. Additionally, President Bush and Secretary of State Baker felt the coalition victory had increased U.S. prestige abroad and believed there was a window of opportunity to use the political capital generated by the coalition victory to revitalize the Arab-Israeli peace process. The administration immediately returned to Arab-Israeli peacemaking following the end of the Gulf War; this resulted in the Madrid Conference, later in 1991. Several Iraqi families living in Belgium who lost loved ones in the Gulf War launched a lawsuit against George H. W. Bush for committing what they claim are war crimes in the 1991 Amiriyah shelter bombing in Baghdad, which killed more than 400 civilians. The suit was brought under Belgium's universal jurisdiction guarantees in March 2003. According to the Human Rights Watch, the Amiriyah shelter bombing was "a serious violation of the laws of war." President George H. W. Bush promoted his new world order. The political establishment of Republicans and Democrats during the late 1980's and early 1990's saw a rightward trend. After the Cold War ended, George H. W. Bush's new world order vision would be met with controversies and tests.

By Timothy