President of the U.S., 1989-1993; Former Republican Rep. (TX)
1989: A new breeze is blowing in world refreshed by freedom
Bush occupied the White House during a time of dramatic change--from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Bush recognized the opportunity provided by a period of change in his inaugural address: "I come before you and assume the presidency at a moment rich with promise.
We live in a peaceful, prosperous time, but we can make it better. For a new breeze is blowing and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn.
The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree. There is new ground to be broken and new action to be taken."
Eleven days after two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down over Mogadishu, killing 18 and creating the gruesome spectacle of warlords dragging American soldiers through the streets,
McCain, who had already been agitating for the troops to come home, did just what he'd criticized Democrats for doing two decades earlier--tried to cut off funding to precipitate a withdrawal. The U.S. troop presence, which began under President
George H. W. Bush, was initially sent to alleviate an acute starvation crisis brought on by political chaos. But under Clinton the mission had crept to rooting out warlords and providing security. McCain was having none of it: "Our mission is
Somali was to feed a million starving who needed to be fed. It was not an open-ended commitment. It was not a commission of nation building, not warlord hunting, or any of the other extraneous activities which we seem to have been engaged in."
On Jan.5, I announced that I'd temporarily continue Pres. Bush's policy of intercepting & returning Haitians who were trying to reach the US by boat, a policy I had strongly criticized during the election. After Haiti's elected president, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, was overthrown by Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras in 1991, [many refugees fled].
When the Bush administration, which appeared to be more sympathetic to Cedras than I was, began to return the refugees, there were loud protests from the human rights
community. I wanted to make it easier for Haitians to seek and obtain political asylum in the US, but was concerned that large numbers of them would perish in trying to get here, as about 400 had done just a week earlier. So, I said that, instead of
taking in all the Haitians who could survive the voyage to America, we would beef up our official presence in Haiti and speed up asylum claims there. In the meantime, for safety reasons, we would continue to stop the boats and return the passengers.
Made deals with Gorbachev’s USSR, then Yeltsin’s Russia
A series of summits with Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev resulted in the signing of treaties on arms reductions and agreements on other issues. As communist governments collapsed in Eastern Europe, Bush became to some degree a bystander,
watching as nations redefined their futures. In August 1991, only weeks after Bush and Gorbachev had signed a strategic-arms--reduction treaty in Moscow, the Soviet president was nearly ousted in an attempted coup. Thanks to Boris Yeltsin’s
resistance to the coup, Gorbachev was able to return to power, however briefly. When, in December 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved into a loose confederation of independent republics and several unaffiliated states, Bush quickly recognized the new
states and sought a rapprochement with Yeltsin, now president of Russia. In the spring of 1992 Bush and Yeltsin agreed to substantial cuts in nuclear weapons.
Source: Grolier’s Encyclopedia on-line: “The Presidency”
, Dec 25, 2000
Supported 1990 South Africa sanctions
In 1990, Bush met separately with South Africa’s reform-minded president, F. W. de Klerk, and with the newly freed black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela. By supporting sanctions against the South African government,
Bush appeared to help speed the dismantling of its system of racial separation. His administration lifted the sanctions in 1991 after concluding that the requirements imposed by Congress had been met.
Source: Grolier Encyclopedia on-line, “The Presidency”
, Dec 25, 2000
Clinton promised to overturn "immoral" Haiti policy
Clinton's handling of Haiti involved many policy reversals that culminated with the Carter mission. One GOP critic said the "mess in Haiti was caused by Clinton running off at the mouth during the last election, by criticizing in an irresponsible manner
President Bush's handling of the situation." While that statement has a partisan ring to it, the fact is that prior to Carter's dealing with Cedras, Clinton did not have Democratic support for an invasion of Haiti.
There certainly are those who will
claim that Clinton's approach to Haiti eventually worked, since Cedras was ousted and Aristide returned to power. [Overall], Clinton would have considered Haiti a foreign policy victory.
Clinton the campaigner had promised that he would change the
policy of the Bush administration relative to the immigration of Haiti. Clinton characterized the Bush plan as immoral. The Haitians took Clinton at his word. A boatload of 400 Haitians set off on a journey to freedom in the US. They died in the attempt.
Built consensus with UN to move against Saddam Hussein
You have to build a consensus. Ross mentioned Saddam Hussein. We tried to bring him into the family of nations. When he moved against Kuwait, I said this will not stand. We went to the UN, we made historic resolutions up there,
the whole world was united. If we had let sanctions work and tried to build a consensus on that, Saddam today would be in Saudi Arabia controlling the world's oil supply, and he would be there maybe with a nuclear weapon.
Source: The Third Clinton-Bush-Perot Presidential Debate
, Oct 19, 1992
New World Order: open borders; open trade; open minds
Much has changed over the last 2 years. The Soviet Union has taken many dramatic and important steps to participate fully in the community of nations. We are hopeful that the machinery of the UN will no longer be frozen by the divisions that plagued us
during the cold war, that at last--long last--we can build new bridges and tear down old walls, that at long last we will be able to build a new world based on an event for which we have all hoped: an end to the cold war.
The United Nations can help
Source: Address to the United Nations General Assembly (APP)
, Oct 1, 1990
Tiananmen: deplored crackdown but maintained communication
After China’s rulers brutally crushed massive student demonstrations in the spring of 1989, Bush-who knew the aging leaders personally-deplored the crackdown but maintained communication with the leadership.
His stance angered human rights activists and appeared to have no effects on China’s policy toward internal dissent.
Source: Grolier Encyclopedia on-line, “The Presidency”
, Dec 25, 2000
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