The End of the Cold War

THE END OF THE COLD WAR: THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE BUSH, 1989-1993 UNIT 16A

Background: In the presidential election of November 8, 1988, Republican candidate George Bush, Ronald Reagan’s Vice-President, easily defeated his Democratic opponent in a race that had focused primarily on domestic policy issues. It was Bush’s destiny to take office in what proved to be the most momentous year in world history since 1945. In this lecture, we will focus on (1) Bush’s approach to foreign policy, (2) the collapse of the Soviet Empire; (3) and the Administration’s dealing with two crises in Central America. The First Gulf War will be examined separately.

I. GEORGE BUSH & HIS FOREIGN POLICY TEAM

A. THE MAN & HIS TEMPERMENT

B. THE BUSH FOREIGN POLICY TEAM

1. Secretary of State James Baker III: ______

2. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney: ______

II. THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET EMPIRE

A. THE SOVIET UNION IN 1989

1. Gorbachev’s behavior:

a. glasnost and perestroika b. Gorbachev reduced the Soviet military budget by 14% while cutting spending on weapons 20%. c. Began withdrawing 200,000 troops from Asia. On February 14, 1989, the last Soviet soldiers withdrew from Afghanistan. d. ______

2. Chief of Staff General Colin Powell explained Gorbachev’s behavior in a speech entitled, “The Future Just Ain’t What It Used To Be,” May 16, 1989:

a. The real explanation for his behavior was ______b. Powell then made this astounding prediction: ______c. Finally, he said, “The Soviet military machine is still as big, bad, and ugly as it ever was. That fact hasn’t changed. But I believe it will.”

4. The CIA’s analysis: ______

1 B. THE U.S. ROLE IN THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET EMPIRE:

1. ______2. ______3. ______

C. THE IRON CURTAIN IS DISMANTLED, SPRING-SUMMER 1989

1. In May, the Hungarian government dismantled the 150-mile-long barbed-wire fence along the Austrian border. The immediate consequence was the flight of hundreds, then thousands of East Germans to Hungary, where they crossed into Austria and then into West Germany . It was one of the greatest exoduses in world history.

2. That same month, speaking in West Germany, President Bush called for an end to the political division of Europe and the destruction of the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev took up the challenge and said that the Wall “can disappear when those conditions that created it fall away.” While visiting France in June, Gorbachev told reporters that the political future of Poland and Hungary was “their affair.” Those two words cancelled the Brezhnev Doctrine and in effect told these countries that they were on their own.

3. That Fall, on November 9, the East German government announced, “it is now possible for all citizens to leave this country through the East German crossing points.”

D. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COLLAPSE OF THIS PART OF THE SOVIET EMPIRE

1. ______2. ______3. ______

III. BUSH’S POLICY TOWARDS PANAMA AND NICARAGUA

In both cases, the United States opposed regimes whose leaders and/or policies were viewed as threats to American interests in the region.

A. PANAMA WAS THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S FIRST MAJOR FOREIGN POLICY CRISIS & THE FIRST TEST OF THE “POWELL DOCTRINE”

1. Manuel Noriega was a problem inherited from the Reagan administration.

2. The war planning session on Sunday December 17 that resulted in our invading Panama

3. The significance of this military action to the later action against Saddam Hussein cannot be overemphasized. According to Powell, ______

2 ______B. BUSH’S POLICY TOWARDS NICARAGUA

1. Bush continued the Reagan administration’s policy of unremitting hostility towards Daniel Ortega’s Marxist regime.

2. Reagan’s deal: ______

3. Bush, however, ______

4. Economic impact of American policy on Nicaragua’s economy and the Sandinastas: ______

5. The result of the elections: ______

6. Analysis of the Bush administration’s policy: ______

IV. BUSH’S “NEW WORLD ORDER”

A. GRAND STRATEGY

1. The central aim of American foreign policy ______

2. An important Pentagon planning document stated in 1992, “Our first objective is to prevent the reemergence of a new rival…that poses a threat on the order posed formerly by the Soviet Union….Our strategy must now refocus on precluding the emergence of any future global competitor.”

B. IMPELEMENTING THIS STRATEGY

1. We commit troops to regions vital to U.S. interests only when there is a potential hegemon in those neighborhoods that the local powers cannot contain or balance by themselves.

2. Bush went to war against Iraq for that very reason.

BUSH’S VAST EXPERIENCE IN FOREIGN POLICY AND HIS CRACK TEAM OF ADVISORS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO

IV. CHINA AND ISRAEL

A. BUSH’S CHINA POLICY

4 1. Overall he pursued a course designed to appease the Chinese.

a. Vetoed a bill designed to protect Chinese students in the U.S. who were at risk because they had supported the pro-democracy demonstrations at Tieneman Square and who were going to be punished by the government upon their return.

b. In December 1989, Bush waived a congressional ban on loans for companies doing business in China, and he agreed to allow the export of satellite technology to China.

2. Bush had been former U.S. Ambassador to China [Amb-354]