History UsefulNotes / GeorgeHWBush

* SequelDisplacement: Given that George W. Bush held office for two terms and is considered to have been a much more consequential president, to this day Bush is largely overshadowed by his eldest son and is increasingly becoming known and remembered simply for being George W. Bush's father rather than his own achievements in office (the Gulf War being the sole exception).

* PoliticianGuestStar: One of Bush's most notable examples is his live-action introduction at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue'', which WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic seizes on to foreshadow the coming disappointment for most kids who watched it first run.
--->'''Nostalgia Critic:''' Who do they get to start off this groundbreaking event? None other than THE GOD DAMN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HIMSELF. 'OH MY GOD! GEORGE BUSH IS STARTING THIS THING OFF!! ...Oh my god...George Bush is starting this thing off...That can't be good."

* PoliticianGuestStar: One of Bush's most notable examples is his live-action introduction at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue'', which WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic seizes on to forshadow the coming disappointment for most kids who watched it first run.

* PoliticianGuestStar: One of Bush's most notable examples is his live-action introduction at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue'', which Series/TheNostalgiaCritic seizes on to forshadow the coming disappointment for most kids who watched it first run.

George Herbert Walker Bush (June 12, 1924 – November 30, 2018) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1989 to 1993]], following UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and preceding UsefulNotes/BillClinton, and the seventeenth Republican president. He is the father of the ''other'' President Bush, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush; he was known as just George Bush until [[Retronym his son ran for president]]. Also sometimes known as "H. W.", "Bush the Elder", "Bush Senior", "Bush 1.0", or "Bush 41" (or, more jokingly, "George Homework Bush") to distinguish him from his son. Along with UsefulNotes/JohnAdams, he is one of two presidents whose son also became president. George Sr.'s own father, Prescott Bush (1895-1972), was also a politician, having served as a U.S. senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1963. Prescott's father Samuel Prescott Bush (1863-1948), was a businessman rather than a politician, but headed a department of the War Industries Board during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Bush was America's bicentennial president, being inaugurated 200 years after UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.

George Herbert Walker Bush (June 12, 1924 – November 30, 2018) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1989 to 1993]], following UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and preceding UsefulNotes/BillClinton, and the seventeenth Republican president. He is the father of the ''other'' President Bush, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush; he was known solely as "George Bush" until his son was elected. Also sometimes known as "H. W.", "Bush the Elder", "Bush Senior", "Bush 1.0", or "Bush 41" (or, more jokingly, "George Homework Bush") to distinguish him from his son. Along with UsefulNotes/JohnAdams, he is one of two Presidents whose son also became President. George Sr.'s own father, Prescott Bush (1895-1972), was also a politician, having served as a Senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1963. Prescott's father Samuel Prescott Bush (1863-1948), was a businessman and not a politician, but headed a department of the War Industries Board during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Bush was America's bicentennial president, being inaugurated 200 years after UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.

In his earlier life, Bush had been a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII [[UsefulNotes/NavalAviation naval aviator]] (and for a time was the youngest one, receiving his commission three days before his 19th birthday), completing multiple combat missions in a [[CoolPlane TBM Avenger]] flying from the carrier USS ''San Jacinto'', including one with his [[ComingInHot aircraft on fire]]. His plane was badly hit again during an air strike against the Japanese radar station on Chichi Jima. Bush held the plane steady while his gunner and radioman bailed out, and confirmed that their parachutes were open before jumping himself. He was rescued in the water by a US submarine, but his crew remained missing, [[MyGreatestFailure something that troubled him deeply for decades]].[[note]] Some years after leaving the White House, Bush joined ''Film/FlagsOfOurFathers'' author James Bradley in an investigation of [=MIAs=] around Chichi Jima and discovered that the Japanese garrison on the island had killed [[IAmAHumanitarian and eaten them]]. What is worse, it was found that the garrison's radioman, an American-born ''nisei'' forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Army at the start of the war and frequently abused by his superiors for it, had befriended several of the prisoners, and the murder and cannibalism had been ordered as a KickTheDog aimed specifically at ''him''. Sadly, cannibalism was generally not unheard of in the Japanese military during WWII, as the Japanese were quite racist and didn't consider it cannibalism as long as the victims were not Japanese. At least one high-ranking Imperial Staff officer was known to order human flesh from China on a regular basis.[[/note]] He is the last World War II veteran, and the last person born before World War II, to serve as President.

Bush attended Yale University and was a member of the much talked about Skull and Bones society. He was the second (future) President to have served as a member of the society, following UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft. Bush also played first base for Yale's baseball team, and participated in the first two editions of the College World Series, today the final round of the NCAA Division I championship (the Bulldogs lost both). Taft, Bush, and George Walker Bush are the only three Presidents who were graduates of Yale.

Bush then became a millionaire in the Texas oil business and turned to politics, serving two terms in the House of Representatives (from 1967 to 1971). His political résumé includes a number of high-ranking positions in the federal government, such as the Ambassador to the United Nations, an envoy to China, and a year as Director of the CIA (the current CIA headquarters is named the George Bush Center for Intelligence in his honor). UsefulNotes/RichardNixon appointed him as Chairman of the Republican National Convention in 1973, and Bush was one of the party leaders who, one year later, requested that Nixon resign rather than face impeachment trials. Bush ran for the Republican ticket for the White House in 1980 but lost to UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan (the most memorable Bush quotation and general media contribution, at least in the minds of liberals, is the phrase "Voodoo economics" to describe the economics of Reagan in one debate in 1980). Bush, expecting his political career to come to an end, was surprised when the Reagan campaign asked him to be Reagan's running mate, and he served two terms as Vice President during UsefulNotes/TheEighties. At the end of Reagan's second term, he was encouraged to run for the presidency again, and won largely with the expectation that he would be a third term for the popular Reagan. This campaign featured three memorable moments: the [[ScaryBlackMan Willie Horton]] ads, running mate UsefulNotes/DanQuayle being told he is not [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy someone else]], and Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis attempting to look tough by riding a tank but instead looking horribly out-of-place. Bush's victory in the elections of 1988 was somewhat surprising, as he was the first sitting vice president to be elected as President since UsefulNotes/MartinVanBuren. In the previous 152 years, all Vice Presidents seeking to succeed their President through elections (instead of the President's death or resignation) had failed to do so.

Like his son, Bush was known for generally having a poor media image. He didn't have a very magnetic personality, usually coming across as a bit of a nerdy old man. This was especially bad [[ToughActToFollow since he came right after]] [[TheAce Reagan's movie-star persona]]. It also didn't help that he wasn't the best speaker, often stumbling during the presidential debates when he had to go off-script. (His son escalated this up to eleven.) This, along with domestic problems that will be described below, led to the Republican Party losing the moderate Democratic votes it gained under Reagan. Despite his bad speaking skills, though, Bush actually was pretty intelligent. Many people remember him for using the term "a thousand points of light," in his speeches. However, most forgot that it was a metaphor for a number of Americans [[{{Metaphorgotten}} stepping up to volunteer in charity organizations]] after government funding was cut for many federal programs. Since the phrase is almost always quoted out of context, making it seem completely meaningless at best and downright goofy at worst, that only exacerbates the problem. His satirical portrayal in media was largely guided by Dana Carvey's impression of him as a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, though the impression became more of a character in itself as time went on. Also mocked were Bush's professed [[StockYuck dislike of broccoli]] and an incident in January 1992 where, overcome by illness at a state dinner, the president vomited into the lap of Kiichi Miyazawa, the Japanese prime minister, and then fainted. (This is why [[PersonAsVerb ''bush-suru'' means "to vomit" in Japanese]]). However, it would be the perceived deficiencies of Vice President UsefulNotes/DanQuayle that would become the main focus of satire during the presidency. No one who lived through the time will ever forget how he could not spell potato, and jokes about how the Secret Service had orders to kill Quayle if Bush died were shared by nearly everyone. (To be fair, Quayle has a law degree from the Indiana University Robert H. [=McKinney=] School of Law.)

That being said, despite Bush's foreign policy accomplishments, it was domestic issues that sunk his reelection bid. Though he did manage a handful of acclaimed domestic acts (notably passing the Americans with Disabilities Act to protect the handicapped from discrimination), it is widely acknowledged that he stumbled when it came to things at home. Despite his campaign promise "Read my lips: No new taxes!", he did in fact raise taxes after a Democratic Party-controlled Congress pressured him to do something about the skyrocketing national debt. Many people who voted for him, especially hardcore Republicans, were disappointed by this show of bipartisanship and felt that Bush surrendered. His nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court became very controversial when a woman working for Thomas accused him of sexual harassment (though he was still confirmed to the Court, albeit narrowly), painting Bush as a somewhat clueless figure who was unconcerned with women's rights.[[note]][[HistoryRepeats An uncannily similar series of events]] would occur with the controversy surrounding Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court under fellow conservative president UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's administration, complete with critics viewing Trump as ambivalent at best towards women's rights.[[/note]] Concerned over a growing crime epidemic, Bush called on Americans to help make a "kinder, gentler America," but crime rates continued to rise during his four years. Culminating in the infamous Los Angeles race riots of 1992, crime rates in post-WWII America reached an all-time high in the early 1990s -- they were almost '''twice''' what they are today, just slightly over 20 years later.[[note]]Worth mentioning, the school shooting epidemic that remains a major problem in America arguably began in 1992 with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindhurst_High_School_shooting Lindhurst High School shooting]], the first major shooting to target a high school.[[/note]]

Worst of all, though, was the economy. A recession, caused by economic complications from the end of the Cold War, the savings and loans crisis, and the long-term effects on 1987's stock market crash, started in late 1990. It continued for the next two years, and unemployment, only a bit above a very acceptable 5% when he entered office, rose to 7.8% just months before election day. In less than eighteen months, his record approval rating plummeted to around 30%. His own party wasn't very fond of him by this point, and he had to deal with a GOP nomination challenge from columnist Pat Buchanan; Bush managed to win the party ticket, but it was clear that Republicans across the country were far less enthusiastic for him then they had been for Reagan. Additionally, most people usually agree that the Bush reelection campaign wasn't very good, and on the campaign trail he seemed tired and unmotivated. Given his poor camera image and the weak economy, it wasn't a surprise when Bush lost the 1992 election to the charismatic and media-friendly Arkansas governor UsefulNotes/BillClinton. Clinton was part of a group of moderate baby-boomer Democrats who helped move the party to the center after the conservative renaissance under Reagan. It also helped that a third party candidate, Ross Perot, took nearly 19% of the popular vote, including many GOP votes. Bush signed the very divisive NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in 1992, but Congress passed it after he left office.

He was the first sitting Vice President to win election to the presidency since UsefulNotes/MartinVanBuren, 152 years earlier. Coincidentally, he also followed [[UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson a popular two-term president]] and lost reelection due to a weak economy.

** In "Two Bad Neighbors", his biggest "appearance" on the show, he and Barbara move to Springfield, becoming next-door neighbors with the Simpson family. Bart, of course, causes trouble for George (inadvertently shredding his just-completed memoirs), which makes the ex-President angry enough to spank him. Upon learning this, Homer gets even angrier at him than he was before. Their mutual antagonism culminates in Homer and George having a fistfight in the middle of the street. After George (reluctantly) apologizes for spanking Bart, Homer then demands, "Now apologize for the tax hike." There's a CallBack to this in "Regarding Margie": Homer tries to remind Marge who he is, showing her photographs of him fighting with both Presidents Bush, former and current (this episode originally aired during W.'s second term).

* Music/{{Ministry}}'s "New World Order" looped quotes from his speech mentioned above, arguably making it the first StupidStatementDanceMix.

In his earlier life, Bush had been a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII naval aviator (and for a time was the youngest one, receiving his commission three days before his 19th birthday), completing multiple combat missions in a [[CoolPlane TBM Avenger]] flying from the carrier USS ''San Jacinto'', including one with his [[ComingInHot aircraft on fire]]. His plane was badly hit again during an air strike against the Japanese radar station on Chichi Jima. Bush held the plane steady while his gunner and radioman bailed out, and confirmed that their parachutes were open before jumping himself. He was rescued in the water by a US submarine, but his crew remained missing, [[MyGreatestFailure something that troubled him deeply for decades]].[[note]] Some years after leaving the White House, Bush joined ''Film/FlagsOfOurFathers'' author James Bradley in an investigation of [=MIAs=] around Chichi Jima and discovered that the Japanese garrison on the island had killed [[IAmAHumanitarian and eaten them]]. What is worse, it was found that the garrison's radioman, an American-born ''nisei'' forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Army at the start of the war and frequently abused by his superiors for it, had befriended several of the prisoners, and the murder and cannibalism had been ordered as a KickTheDog aimed specifically at ''him''. Sadly, cannibalism was generally not unheard of in the Japanese military during WWII, as the Japanese were quite racist and didn't consider it cannibalism as long as the victims were not Japanese. At least one high-ranking Imperial Staff officer was known to order human flesh from China on a regular basis.[[/note]] He is the last World War II veteran, and the last person born before World War II, to serve as President.

** A 1992 ''New York Times'' article famously portrayed Bush as being amazed by a common supermarket scanner, which helped to paint him as an elitist who was out of touch with everyday American life. In reality, the scanner that Bush was so impressed with was an advanced prototype that could weigh groceries and decipher mangled and torn bar codes. It was later discovered that the writer of the infamous article wasn't even present at the convention where Bush was shown the scanner in question.

Bush attended Yale University and was a member of the [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories much talked about]] Skull and Bones society. He was the second (future) President to have served as a member of the society, following UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft. Bush also played first base for Yale's baseball team, and participated in the first two editions of the College World Series, today the final round of the NCAA Division I championship (the Bulldogs lost both). Taft, Bush, and George Walker Bush are the only three Presidents who were graduates of Yale.

George Herbert Walker Bush (June 12, 1924 – November 30, 2018) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1989 to 1993]], following UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and preceding UsefulNotes/BillClinton, and the seventeenth Republican president. He is the father of the ''other'' President Bush, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush; he was known solely as "George Bush" until his son was elected. Also sometimes known as "H. W.", "Bush the Elder", "Bush Senior", "Bush 1.0", or "Bush 41" (or, more jokingly, "George Homework Bush") to distinguish him from his son. Along with UsefulNotes/JohnAdams, he is one of two Presidents whose son also became President. George Sr.'s own father, Prescott Bush (1895-1972), was also a politician, having served as a Senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1963. Prescott's father Samuel Prescott Bush (1863-1948), was a businessman and not a politician, but headed a department of the War Industries Board during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Bush was America's bicentennial president, being inaugurated 100 years after UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.

* The Music/{{2LiveCrew}} sampled a soundbite where he proclaims the United States government to be a government "Of the people, for the people, by the people" in their 1990 song "Banned in the USA". Video of Bush giving the soundbite is included in the song's music video.

George Herbert Walker Bush (June 12, 1924 – November 30, 2018) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1989 to 1993]], following UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and preceding UsefulNotes/BillClinton, and the seventeenth Republican president. He is the father of the ''other'' President Bush, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush; he was known solely as "George Bush" until his son was elected. Also sometimes known as "H. W.", "Bush the Elder", "Bush Senior", "Bush 1.0", or "Bush 41" (or, more jokingly, "George Homework Bush") to distinguish him from his son. Along with UsefulNotes/JohnAdams, he is one of two Presidents whose son also became President. George Sr.'s own father, Prescott Bush (1895-1972), was also a politician, having served as a Senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1963. Prescott's father Samuel Prescott Bush (1863-1948), was a businessman and not a politician, but headed a department of the War Industries Board during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

[[caption-width-right:300:''"Read my lips: No new taxes."'']]

In his earlier life, Bush had been a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII naval aviator (and for a time was the youngest one, receiving his commission three days before his 19th birthday), completing multiple combat missions in a [[CoolPlane TBM Avenger]] flying from the carrier USS ''San Jacinto'', including one with his [[ComingInHot aircraft on fire]]. His plane was badly hit again during an air strike against the Japanese radar station on Chichi Jima. Bush held the plane steady while his gunner and radioman bailed out, and confirmed that their parachutes were open before jumping himself. He was rescued in the water by a US submarine, but his crew remained missing, [[MyGreatestFailure something that troubled him deeply for decades]].[[note]] Some years after leaving the White House, Bush joined ''Film/FlagsOfOurFathers'' author James Bradley in an investigation of [=MIAs=] around Chichi Jima and discovered that the Japanese garrison on the island had killed [[IAmAHumanitarian and eaten them]]. What is worse, it was found that the garrison's radioman, an American-born ''nisei'' forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Army at the start of the war and frequently abused by his superiors for it, had befriended several of the prisoners, and the murder and cannibalism had been ordered as a KickTheDog aimed specifically at ''him''. Sadly, cannibalism was generally not unheard of in the Japanese military during WWII, as the Japanese were quite racist and didn't consider it cannibalism as long as the victims were not Japanese. At least one high-ranking Imperial Staff officer was known to order human flesh from China on a regular basis.[[/note]] He is the last World War II veteran to serve as President. All of his successors in office were much younger than him and were born during or after WWII (Bill Clinton, George Walker Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump were born after WWII; Joe Biden was born during WWII).

Like his son, Bush was known for generally having a poor media image. He didn't have a very magnetic personality, usually coming across as a bit of a nerdy old man. This was especially bad [[ToughActToFollow since he came right after]] [[TheAce Reagan's movie-star persona]]. It also didn't help that he wasn't the best speaker, often stumbling during the presidential debates when he had to go off-script. (His son escalated this UpToEleven.) This, along with domestic problems that will be described below, led to the Republican Party losing the moderate Democratic votes it gained under Reagan. Despite his bad speaking skills, though, Bush actually was pretty intelligent. Many people remember him for using the term "a thousand points of light," in his speeches. However, most forgot that it was a metaphor for a number of Americans [[{{Metaphorgotten}} stepping up to volunteer in charity organizations]] after government funding was cut for many federal programs. Since the phrase is almost always quoted out of context, making it seem completely meaningless at best and downright goofy at worst, that only exacerbates the problem. His satirical portrayal in media was largely guided by Dana Carvey's impression of him as a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, though the impression became more of a character in itself as time went on. Also mocked were Bush's professed [[StockYuck dislike of broccoli]] and an incident in January 1992 where, overcome by illness at a state dinner, the president vomited into the lap of Kiichi Miyazawa, the Japanese prime minister, and then fainted. (This is why [[PersonAsVerb ''bush-suru'' means "to vomit" in Japanese]]). However, it would be the perceived deficiencies of Vice President UsefulNotes/DanQuayle that would become the main focus of satire during the presidency. No one who lived through the time will ever forget how he could not spell potato, and jokes about how the Secret Service had orders to kill Quayle if Bush died were shared by nearly everyone. (To be fair, Quayle has a law degree from the Indiana University Robert H. [=McKinney=] School of Law.)

Like his son, Bush was known for generally having a poor media image. He didn't have a very magnetic personality, usually coming across as a bit of a nerdy old man. This was especially bad [[ToughActToFollow since he came right after]] [[TheAce Reagan's movie-star persona]]. It also didn't help that he wasn't the best speaker, often stumbling during the presidential debates when he had to go off-script. (His son escalated this UpToEleven.) This, along with domestic problems that will be described below, led to the Republican Party losing the moderate Democratic votes it gained under Reagan. Despite his bad speaking skills, though, Bush actually was pretty intelligent. Many people remember him for using the term "a thousand points of light," in his speeches. However, most forgot that it was a metaphor for a number of Americans [[{{Metaphorgotten}} stepping up to volunteer in charity organizations]] after government funding was cut for many federal programs. Since the phrase is almost always quoted out of context, making it seem completely meaningless at best and downright goofy at worst, that only exacerbates the problem. His satirical portrayal in media was largely guided by Dana Carvey's impression of him as a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, though the impression became more of a character in itself as time went on. Also mocked were Bush's professed [[StockYuck dislike of broccoli]] and an incident in January 1992 where, overcome by illness at a state dinner, the president vomited into the lap of Kiichi Miyazawa, the Japanese prime minister, and then fainted. (This is why [[PersonAsVerb ''bush-suru'' means "to vomit" in Japanese]]). However, it would be the perceived deficiencies of Vice President UsefulNotes/DanQuayle that would become the main focus of satire during the presidency. No one who lived through the time will ever forget how he [[NeverLiveItDown could not spell potato]], and jokes about how the Secret Service had orders to kill Quayle if Bush died were shared by nearly everyone. (To be fair, Quayle has a law degree from the Indiana University Robert H. [=McKinney=] School of Law.)

That being said, despite Bush's foreign policy accomplishments, it was domestic issues that sunk his reelection bid. Though he did manage a handful of acclaimed domestic acts (notably passing the Americans with Disabilities Act to protect the handicapped from discrimination), it is widely acknowledged that he stumbled when it came to things at home. Despite his campaign promise "Read my lips: No new taxes!", he did in fact raise taxes after a Democratic Party-controlled Congress pressured him to do something about the skyrocketing national debt. Many people who voted for him, especially hardcore Republicans, were disappointed by this show of bipartisanship and felt that Bush surrendered. It was probably a NeverLiveItDown moment for Bush. His nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court became very controversial when a woman working for Thomas accused him of sexual harassment (though he was still confirmed to the Court, albeit narrowly), painting Bush as a somewhat clueless figure who was unconcerned with women's rights.[[note]][[HistoryRepeats An uncannily similar series of events]] would occur with the controversy surrounding Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court under fellow conservative president UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's administration, complete with critics viewing Trump as ambivalent at best towards women's rights.[[/note]] Concerned over a growing crime epidemic, Bush called on Americans to help make a "kinder, gentler America," but crime rates continued to rise during his four years. Culminating in the infamous Los Angeles race riots of 1992, crime rates in post-WWII America reached an all-time high in the early 1990s -- they were almost '''twice''' what they are today, just slightly over 20 years later.[[note]]Worth mentioning, the school shooting epidemic that remains a major problem in America arguably began in 1992 with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindhurst_High_School_shooting Lindhurst High School shooting]], the first major shooting to target a high school.[[/note]]

* CoolOldGuy: Has cultivated this image in his post-presidency, with his use of social media and his regular parachute jumps. In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Two Bad Neighbors", he gives Homer Simpson a run for his money in hand-to-hand combat and it's also revealed to have a garrote in his watch, ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove''-style. This image took a hit when he was accused in 2017 by multiple women of sexual harassment that supposedly occurred during his post-presidency activities, though a combination of Bush's advanced age by the time the accusations were made public and the fact that he died shortly afterwards, triggering a NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead reaction, seemed to avoid making the accusations a NeverLiveItDown moment for him.

* NeverLiveItDown: Bush took aim at ''The Simpsons'' while campaigning in 1992, as exemplified on the quote on the top of the page. In response, he got ruthlessly mocked and parodied on ''The Simpsons'', continuing for years after he left office.

That being said, despite Bush's foreign policy accomplishments, it was domestic issues that sunk his reelection bid. Though he did manage a handful of acclaimed domestic acts (notably passing the Americans with Disabilities Act to protect the handicapped from discrimination), it is widely acknowledged that he stumbled when it came to things at home. Despite his campaign promise "Read my lips: No new taxes!", he did in fact raise taxes after a Democratic Party-controlled Congress pressured him to do something about the skyrocketing national debt. Many people who voted for him, especially hardcore Republicans, were disappointed by this show of bipartisanship and felt that Bush surrendered. It was probably a NeverLiveItDown moment for Bush. His nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court became very controversial when a woman working for Thomas accused him of sexual harassment (though he was still confirmed to the Court, albeit narrowly, and it was never proven that he did it), painting Bush as a somewhat clueless figure who was unconcerned with women's rights.[[note]][[HistoryRepeats An uncannily similar series of events]] would occur with the controversy surrounding Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court under fellow conservative president UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's administration, complete with critics viewing Trump as ambivalent at best towards women's rights.[[/note]] Concerned over a growing crime epidemic, Bush called on Americans to help make a "kinder, gentler America," but crime rates continued to rise during his four years. Culminating in the infamous Los Angeles race riots of 1992, crime rates in post-WWII America reached an all-time high in the early 1990s -- they were almost '''twice''' what they are today, just slightly over 20 years later.[[note]]Worth mentioning, the school shooting epidemic that remains a major problem in America arguably began in 1992 with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindhurst_High_School_shooting Lindhurst High School shooting]], the first major shooting to target a high school.[[/note]]

In his earlier life, Bush had been a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII naval aviator (and for a time was the youngest one, receiving his commission three days before his 19th birthday), completing multiple combat missions in a [[CoolPlane TBM Avenger]] flying from the carrier USS ''San Jacinto'', including one with his [[ComingInHot aircraft on fire]]. His plane was badly hit again during an air strike against the Japanese radar station on Chichi Jima. Bush held the plane steady while his gunner and radioman bailed out, and confirmed that their parachutes were open before jumping himself. He was rescued in the water by a US submarine, but his crew remained missing, [[MyGreatestFailure something that troubled him deeply for decades]].[[note]] Some years after leaving the White House, Bush joined ''Film/FlagsOfOurFathers'' author James Bradley in an investigation of [=MIAs=] around Chichi Jima and discovered that the Japanese garrison on the island had killed [[IAmAHumanitarian and eaten them]]. What is worse, it was found that the garrison's radioman, an American-born ''nisei'' forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Army at the start of the war and frequently abused by his superiors for it, had befriended several of the prisoners, and the murder and cannibalism had been ordered as a KickTheDog aimed specifically at ''him''. Sadly, cannibalism was not unheard of in the Japanese military during WWII, as the Japanese were quite racist and didn't consider it cannibalism as long as the victims were not Japanese. At least one high-ranking Imperial Staff officer was known to order human flesh from China on a regular basis.[[/note]] He is the last World War II veteran to serve as President. All of his successors in office were much younger than him and were born during or after WWII (Bill Clinton, George Walker Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump were born after WWII; Joe Biden was born during WWII).

In his earlier life, Bush had been a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII naval aviator (and for a time was the youngest one, receiving his commission three days before his 19th birthday), completing multiple combat missions in a [[CoolPlane TBM Avenger]] flying from the carrier USS ''San Jacinto'', including one with his [[ComingInHot aircraft on fire]]. His plane was badly hit again during an air strike against the Japanese radar station on Chichi Jima. Bush held the plane steady while his gunner and radioman bailed out, and confirmed that their parachutes were open before jumping himself. He was rescued in the water by a US submarine, but his crew remained missing, [[MyGreatestFailure something that troubled him deeply for decades]].[[note]] Some years after leaving the White House, Bush joined ''Film/FlagsOfOurFathers'' author James Bradley in an investigation of [=MIAs=] around Chichi Jima and discovered that the Japanese garrison on the island had killed [[IAmAHumanitarian and eaten them]]. What is worse, it was found that the garrison's radioman, an American-born ''nisei'' forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Army at the start of the war and frequently abused by his superiors for it, had befriended several of the prisoners, and the murder and cannibalism had been ordered as a KickTheDog aimed specifically at ''him''. Sadly, cannibalism was remarkably common in the Japanese military during WWII, as the Japanese were quite racist and didn't consider it cannibalism as long as the victims were not Japanese. At least one high-ranking Imperial Staff officer was known to order human flesh from China on a regular basis.[[/note]] He is the last World War II veteran to serve as President. All of his successors in office were much younger than him and were born during or after WWII (Bill Clinton, George Walker Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump were born after WWII; Joe Biden was born during WWII).

* The Music/2LiveCrew sampled a soundbite where he proclaims the United States government to be a government "Of the people, for the people, by the people" in their 1990 song "Banned in the USA". Video of Bush giving the soundbite is included in the song's music video.

Worst of all, though, was the economy. A recession, caused by [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp economic complications from the end of the Cold War]], the savings and loans crisis, and the long-term effects on 1987's stock market crash, started in late 1990. It continued for the next two years, and unemployment, only a bit above a very acceptable 5% when he entered office, rose to 7.8% just months before election day. In less than eighteen months, his record approval rating plummeted to around 30%. His own party wasn't very fond of him by this point, and he had to deal with a GOP nomination challenge from columnist Pat Buchanan; Bush managed to win the party ticket, but it was clear that Republicans across the country were far less enthusiastic for him then they had been for Reagan. Additionally, most people usually agree that the Bush reelection campaign wasn't very good, and on the campaign trail he seemed tired and unmotivated. Given his poor camera image and the weak economy, it wasn't a surprise when Bush lost the 1992 election to the charismatic and media-friendly Arkansas governor UsefulNotes/BillClinton. Clinton was part of a group of moderate baby-boomer Democrats who helped move the party to the center after the conservative renaissance under Reagan. It also helped that a third party candidate, Ross Perot, took nearly 19% of the popular vote, including many GOP votes. Bush signed the very divisive NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in 1992, but Congress passed it after he left office.

Nevertheless, he was quite accomplished in the field of foreign policy. As Reagan's VP, he had been a part of many internal policy debates, and was much more decisive than his then-image would imply. He came into office at a time when the world was going through some major changes: South Africa finally freed Nelson Mandela and started to end the apartheid era, free elections removed the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and student protesters challenged RedChina's authoritarian control. But most important was [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp the end of the Cold War]]. The Soviet Union and the communist bloc collapsed, and many credit him with helping to preside over an orderly end to the Cold War, though he and UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher apparently had some very heated discussions during this period over what to do, primarily about Germany (while Thatcher opposed German reunification, Bush supported it). He signed treaties with Russia guaranteeing that they would honor the treaties the USSR signed with America during the Reagan years and smoothly established relations with the new governments of eastern Europe. Bush oversaw a 1989 American invasion of {{UsefulNotes/Panama}} to remove dictator Manuel Noriega, the United States' first military operation since the start of the Cold War that wasn't related to it. He also sent troops to Somalia as part of a UN peacekeeping operation, but this backfired just months after he left office when the troops were attacked by the Somalians they were sent to protect.

Nevertheless, he was quite accomplished in the field of foreign policy. As Reagan's VP, he had been a part of many internal policy debates, and was much more decisive than his then-image would imply. He came into office at a time when the world was going through some major changes: South Africa finally freed Nelson Mandela and started to end the apartheid era, free elections removed the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and student protesters challenged RedChina's authoritarian control. But most important was [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp the end of the Cold War]]. The Soviet Union and the communist bloc collapsed, and many credit him with helping to preside over an orderly end to the Cold War, though he and UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher apparently had some very heated discussions during this period over what to do, primarily about Germany (while Thatcher opposed German reunification, Bush supported it). He signed treaties with Russia guaranteeing that they would honor the treaties the USSR signed with America during the Reagan years and smoothly established relations with the new governments of eastern Europe. Bush oversaw a 1989 American invasion of {{UsefulNotes/Panama}} to remove dictator Manuel Noriega, the United States' first military operation that wasn't related to the Cold War. He also sent troops to Somalia as part of a UN peacekeeping operation, but this backfired just months after he left office when the troops were attacked by the Somalians they were sent to protect.

His most famous foreign policy accomplishment was organizing victory in the first UsefulNotes/GulfWar. Iraqi dictator UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein took the weapons UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev and Francois Mitterand [[TheEnemyOfMyEnemyIsMyFriend had given him to fight theocratic Iran]] and instead invaded Kuwait in an attempt to corner the market on the region's oil and be able to essentially hold the West and the rest of the world hostage. Backed by broad international support, Bush sent in the armed forces, led by Generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell, and successfully drove Hussein's forces out of Kuwait (to this day, Bush still has an extremely high favorability rating among grateful Kuwaitis). He then wisely chose not to go all the way to Baghdad and depose Saddam, and pulled the troops out in mid-1991, arguing that an invasion of Iraq would become a quagmire. He was actually criticized at the time for doing this, making the actions and criticism of his son doubly ironic (George Jr. would be criticized ''because'' he deposed Saddam, and the war indeed became a quagmire), and UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden's citing of the Gulf War as a leading motivator for the 9/11 attacks would also cast a shadow over Bush's actions. That said, however, he had a then record-high approval rating of 89% after the war, a record only his son briefly surpassed immediately after the 9/11 attacks. Arguing that the peaceful end of the Cold War and the international support from nearly every country on Earth was a sign of a new era, Bush declared that a "New World Order" of international cooperation was beginning (kooky {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s had a field day with this one). Bush openly admitted in an interview while he was in office that he preferred foreign policy to domestic policy. Former President UsefulNotes/BarackObama, despite being of the opposite party, is on record as admiring Bush's foreign policy, and they do have some similarities in that department.

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