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George H.W. Bush: -In 1988 Republican George H.W. Bush succeeded Ronald Reagan to be America's 41st President. -Bush got 53% of the popular votes and took 426 of the electoral votes to beat Michael Dukakis. -He brought experience to the white house which he gained from being the vice president to Ronald Reagan. -During his campaign he spoke out strongly on the need to control the spread of illegal drugs. He appointed William Bennett to oversee the nations war on drugs. -Bush planned to keep many of the same policies that Reagan had only he want to make America a more friendly and gentle nation. -A number of savings bank failures damaged the economy and put pressure on finance. -The S&L's crisis added to the deficit in the federal budget. To reduce the deficit Congress and the President needed to cut spending or raise money. -In 1990 a new budget agreement reduced the deficit more than any legislation during the Reagan years. -There was many controversies facing the Supreme Court during Bush's presidency. Flag burning was at the top of this list as the Supreme Court ruled that burning the flag in protest was an expression of freedom of speech. President Bush was against this and tried to make a new law prohibiting the act of flag burning.

A World in Translation: -The Cold War was coming to an end as the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. -Bush took a less militant approach toward affairs in Nicaragua than Reagan had. He did not press for military contras, instead he worked out a bipartisan with Congress to provide food, clothing, and medical supplies to the contras. -Over in communist Europe and even in China there was people campaigning for democratic reforms in government. -Democratic reformers also spread to South Africa. -Despite these hopeful signs the Middle East remained a threat to world peace. -After the Iran-Iraq war ended Saddam Hussein rebuilt and invaded Kuwait. -Americans in Kuwait were now in danger and stranded there. -Bush convinced the UN to give Iraq a deadline in which they must be out of Kuwait and Bush sent 200,000 additional troops to the Middle East to attack Iraq if necessary. -As the deadline for the removal of Iraqi forces came and went the U.S. attacked Iraq and defeated the Iraqi forces in 6 weeks do to the United States superior fire power and technology. -Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi army absorbed many casualties.