George H.W. Bush & The End of the Cold War
George H.W. Bush Cold War had threatened the very existence of human kind At the same time, clearly directed U.S. foreign policy for decades George H.W. Bush was former ambassador to the U.N. and director of the CIA First president to define the country’s role after the Cold War
Election of 1988 Democrats hoped the Iran- Contra Scandal and huge deficits under Reagan would hurt the Republicans Bush attacked the Democratic candidate Mike Dukakis as being soft on crime and weak on national defense
Election of 1988 Bush appealed to voters by promising to not raise taxes- “Read my lips- no new taxes” https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night- live/video/george-bush-taxes-cold- opening/n9930?snl=1 Bush won a decisive victory by over 7 million votes, but Democratic majorities returned to Congress
Collapse of Communism Spring 1989: prodemocracy students demonstrate in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square Broadcast on international television The next night, the Chinese Communist government secretly crushed the demonstration with tanks and assassinations, killing hundreds
Collapse of Communism Gorbachev announced he would no longer support Eastern European satellites with Soviet armed forces Beginning with elections in Poland in 1989, the Communist party fell from power in one country after another
Collapse of Communism November 1989: Communist party in East Germany was driven out after protestors tore down the Berlin Wall October 1990: two Germanys, divided since 1945, were reunited With the blessing of NATO and the Soviet Union
Collapse of the Soviet Union Desire for self-determination among Eastern European satellites overwhelmed the Soviet Union 1990: Soviet Baltic republics declare their independence After a failed coup against Gorbachev by Communist hardliners, the remaining republics left the Soviet Union in December 1991 Gorbachev was now a leader with no country
Collapse of the Soviet Union Boris Yeltsin joins with nine former Soviet Republics to form the Commonwealth of Independent State (CIS) Yeltsin disbanded the Communist party in Russia and attempted to establish a democracy and free-market economy
End of the Cold War Agreements to dismantle nuclear weapons were evidence the Cold War was coming to an end Bush and Gorbachev sign START I in 1991 Reduced number of nuclear warheads to under 10,000 for each side 1992: Bush and Yeltsin agree to START II Reduced the number of nuclear warheads to just over 3,000 for each side START II also offered some U.S. assistance to the troubled Russian economy