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Chapter 24-Section 3


 The Election of 1988

 * Republican candidate George H.W. Bush was elected.
 * Democrats found more than 6 candidates to challenge Bush. Two in particular were Michael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jackson won wide support from African Americans and from liberal Democrats. However in the end democrats chose Dukakis.
 * Bush won the presidency to Dukakis buy a large number of votes.

The New President

 * Bush had experience as a member of congress, an ambassador, and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Drugs,Education,and the Environment

 * Bush had spoken our strongly on the need to control the spread of illegal drugs, and appointed Wiliam Bennett to be a special "drug czar" to oversee the war on drugs.
 * Bennett resigned in 1990, saying that drug use decreased.
 * Appointed William Reilly to head of the Environmental protection Agency.
 * Signed a bill to set tougher standards for reducing air pollution.
 * 17 military plants that had manufactured nuclear weapons were closed.

The Savings and Loan Crisis

 * When interest rates soared in the late 1970's savings banks were stuck with low interest, long-term mortgages.
 * Many banks sold off their mortgages and used the money to make high-risk loans.
 * The Bush Administration set up a federal agency. THey would take over the failed banks and sell the bank itself or sell of their assets.
 * Many blamed the Reagan Adm. for the failure of these banks.
 * By the 1990's the collapse of the S&L's weakened the nation's banking system in general.

**Reducing the Deficit**
 *  George Bush firmly pledged not to raise taxes.
 * Insisted on a tax cut for investors who sold their stocks and bonds at a profit.

**The Elections of 1990**
 * In 14 states voters elected governors from a different party from those who had been in office.
 * Fewer than 4 out of every 10 eligible voters actually went to polls.


 *  Flags and the Supreme Court **
 * In 1989 the Supreme Court eliminated a Texas Law that made burning the American Flag an illegal crime.
 * Bush was angered by this decision, he wanted to outlaw the burning of the flag.
 * It ruled out this law by the First Amendment to the Constitution. They said that burning the flag was a form of free speech.
 * The flag was just one of the cases, some involving race, sex discrimination, and the death penalty etc.

=== **<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"> A World in Transition** Chapter 24-Section 4  <span style="font-weight: normal; color: rgb(213, 62, 11);"> ===

<span style="color: rgb(213, 62, 11);"> **<span style="color: rgb(213, 62, 11);">The End of the Cold War? **
 * The collapse of communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe helped to ease world tensions (detente).
 * In 1981 the Polish gov. had outlawed Solidarity an independent labor union.
 * In 1961 the Berlin Wall was built by the Communist East Germany.
 * In November of 1989 the East German government announced that they were opening the wall. Hundreds of East Berliners went to visit the West.
 * On October 4, 1990 Germany became on nation again, after it had been divided for 45 yrs.
 * Gorbachev accepted the movement toward democratic reform in Eastern Europe.
 * Several Soviet republics including Lithuania and Estonia, demanded independence.
 * With the cold war possibly coming to an end, man members of the Congress talked about a "peace dividend."

New Directions in Latin America
 * George Bush took a less militant approach towards affairs in Nicaragua than Ronald Reagan had.
 * The US would provide the contras with food,clothing, and medical supplies.
 * Violeta Chamorro won over Ortega and the Sandista party, however relations between the US and Nicaragua remained uncertain.
 * Manuel Noriega was the Panamanian dictator and a friend to the US however he became very involved in drug smuggling.
 * In 1989 Bush sent US military forces into Panama, Noriega soon surrendered and was taken to trial in the US.

Unrest in China
 * Chinese students began to campaign for democratic reforms.
 * Thousands gathered at Tiananmen Square in Bejing.
 * Army tanks came to the Tiananmen Square and thousands of protestors were killed or arrested.

A Policy Toward South Africa
 * The South African government had continued to pursue the policy of apartheid, or separation of the races.
 * Reagan opposed the apartheid, saying that it would hurt the black majority by destroying jobs.
 * Economic Sanctions- limits on trade and investment, to pressure the South African gov. to end apartheid.
 * Divestiture- American universities sold their stock in companies that operated in South Africa.
 * In 1989 South Africa elected a new president, F.W. de Klerk.He announced reforms to ease racial tensions in his country. He also wanted to free Nelson Mandela, who was an opponent of the apartheid and had been imprisoned for 27 years.

War Clouds in the Middle East → A Complex Threat → The World Responds
 * Iraqi dictator Saddam hussein rebuilt his military, and on August 2, 1990 his troops invaded Kuwait which is one the riches oil-producing nations in the whole Middle East.
 * Industrial nations became more dependent on oil more than ever before.
 * If Saddam conquered Saudi Arabia he would control more than 80 percent of the oil in the region.
 * He might be able to expand his already strong military forces to attack many other nations.
 * Bush dispatched American forces to Saudi Arabia.
 * He urged the Arab nations to join w/ others to avoid Saddam from conquering Kuwait.
 * Saddam held Americans and other foreigners as hostages in Kuwait an Iraq.

Fugitives in a Desert Drama
 * Many Kuwaitis helped Americans and risked their lives, to save them.
 * They were beaten and shot right on spot

War in the Persian Gulf
 * Bush sent 200,000 additional tropps to the Middle East. They would launch an attack against Iraq, if necessary.
 * Saddam rejected a chance to negotiate but released most of the foreign hostages, including the Americans.



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