THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE H. W. BUSH
President Reagan enjoyed unusu- ally high popularity at the end of his second term in office, but under the terms of the U .S . Constitution he could not run again in 1988 . The Republican nomination went to Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush, who was elected the 41st presi- dent of the United States .
Bush campaigned by promising voters a continuation of the pros- perity Reagan had brought . In ad- dition, he argued that he would support a strong defense for the United States more reliably than the Democratic candidate, Michael Dukakis . He also promised to work for “a kinder, gentler America .” Du- kakis, the governor of Massachu- setts, claimed that less fortunate Americans were hurting economi- cally and that the government had to help them while simultaneously bringing the federal debt and de- fense spending under control . The public was much more engaged, however, by Bush’s economic mes- sage: No new taxes . In the balloting, Bush finished with a 54-to-46-per- cent popular vote margin .
During his first year in office, Bush followed a conservative fiscal program, pursuing policies on taxes, spending, and debt that were faithful to the Reagan administration’s eco- nomic program . But the new presi- dent soon found himself squeezed between a large budget deficit and a deficit-reduction law . Spending cuts
CHAPTER 14: THE NEW CONSERVATISM AND A NEW WORLD ORDER
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
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seemed necessary, and Bush pos- sessed little leeway to introduce new budget items .
The Bush administration ad- vanced new policy initiatives in ar- eas not requiring major new federal expenditures . Thus, in November 1990, Bush signed sweeping legisla- tion imposing new federal standards on urban smog, automobile exhaust, toxic air pollution, and acid rain, but with industrial polluters bear- ing most of the costs . He accepted legislation requiring physical access for the disabled, but with no fed- eral assumption of the expense of modifying buildings to accommo- date wheelchairs and the like . The president also launched a campaign to encourage volunteerism, which he called, in a memorable phrase, “a thousand points of light .”