Reagan and the Republicans dominated the national political scene during most of the 1980s; however, he could not run for another term in 1988. The natural Republican nominee in 1988 was Reagan’s Vice President, George H. W. Bush. Bush was a career politician, who held many important national positions before he became Reagan’s Vice President. He was a formidable candidate and easily defeated his primary opponent, Kansas Senator, Bob Dole. Bush chose James Danforth “Dan” Quayle, senator from Indiana, as his running mate. The general consensus was that Bush held a distinct advantage over any Democratic candidate.
The race for the Democratic nomination was hard fought among a number of national and local party leaders. The Democratic frontrunner for most of 1987 was former Colorado Senator Gary Hart. He had made a strong showing in the 1984 presidential primaries and, after Mondale’s defeat, had positioned himself as the moderate centrist many Democrats felt their party would need to win.
However, rumors about an extramarital affair between Hart and Donna Rice and past debts dogged Hart’s campaign. Hart’s ratings in the polls plummeted. On May 8, 1987, a week after the Rice story broke, Hart dropped out of the race. In December 1987, Hart surprised many pundits by resuming his campaign, but the allegations of adultery had delivered a fatal blow to his candidacy, and he did poorly in the primaries before dropping out again.
Other democratic primary candidates included Michael Dukakis, Governor of Massachusetts, Dick Gephadrt, Representative from Missouri, Al Gore, Senator from Tennessee, Joe Biden, Senator from Delaware and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a well-known black civil-rights leader/preacher.
Jackson ran a surprisingly successful primary campaign. He captured 6.9 million votes and won 11 contests: seven primaries (Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and Virginia) and four caucuses (Delaware, Michigan, South Carolina and Vermont). He also scored victories in Alaska‘s caucuses and Texas’s local conventions, despite losing the Texas primary. Briefly, after he won 55% of the vote in the Michigan Democratic caucus, he had more pledged delegates than all the other candidates combined. But, Jackson’s campaign suffered a significant setback less than two weeks later when he was defeated in the Wisconsin primary by Dukakis. Dukakis went on to win in New York and then in Pennsylvania, effectively ending Jackson’s hopes for the nomination. Dukakis defeated Jackson in the Democratic national convention and chose Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas as his Vice=Presidential running mate.
In the general election, Bush pledged to continue Reagan’s policies, but also vowed a “kinder and gentler nation” in an attempt to win over more moderate voters. The Bush campaign sought to portray Dukakis as an unreasonable “Massachusetts liberal.”
Republicans ran negative campaign commercials, including “Boston Harbor”, which attacked Dukakis’ purported failure to clean up environmental pollution in the harbor, and especially two commercials that were accused of being racially charged, “Revolving Door” and “Weekend Passes” (also known as “Willie Horton”), that portrayed him as “soft on crime”. Dukakis was a strong supporter of Massachusetts’s prison furlough program, which had begun before he was governor. As governor, Dukakis vetoed a 1976 plan to bar inmates convicted of first-degree murder from the furlough program. In 1986, the program had resulted in the release of convicted murderer Willie Horton, an African American man, who committed a rape and assault in Maryland while out on furlough. The Republicans “played the race card” and were particularly successful in exploiting the racial stereotypes of the Willie Horton situation, i.e. fear of racial violence.
Going to Tampa, Ry Cooder, Song about the 1988 election and Willie Horton. In particular. https://youtu.be/3ERzU7_wyjw?si=JxYwSxnrKwtE4amL
Goodbye my honey, farewell my baby
Don’t look for me around convention time
I’m bound for Tampa, in the great state of Florida
To see some distinguished friends of mineMitt and Rick and the pitbulls, the jolly ride and step forth
To the highest bidder each will guarantee
I’d give all my money sir if Palin calls me honey
And shakes the pizzas on my tree‘Cause I’m goin’ to Tampa in the morning
Got my credentials in my overalls
But I can’t take you with me little darling
I’m going down to get my ashes hauledWell here’s a proposition to entertain a motion
Bring back Willie Horton to us now
We’ll spook the congregation and petrify the nation
And blame the folks from Mexico somehowAnd let me introduce a man who all know well
He can play a very important role
State rights is his game, Jim Crow is his name
And Jim’s our little ace in the hole‘Cause I’m goin’ to Tampa in the morning
Saints of latter days will heed the call
We’ll shout hallelujah in the evening
I’m going down to get my ashes hauledWell the int’ woman told the tea party man
Gonna make love to you with a gun in my hand
That tea party man said, ‘that’s all right
Got a smoking bomb under my pillow at nightWell we’re all going to Tampa in the morning
Honey will you miss me when I’m gone
Now hope you pack my old bed sheet
I’m going down to get my ashes hauledYes, I’m goin’ to Tampa in the morning
Honey will you miss me when I’m gone
Now hope you pack my old bed sheet
‘Cause I’m going down to get my ashes hauled
Dukakis and Bentsen were able to score points based on the Reagan era Iran-Contra Affair. People questioned Bush’s veracity. According to Richard Ben Cramer, What it Takes, pp 117-18, despite his strong denials, it was clear that Bush came “in contact with nearly every salient fact that later emerged in the [Washington] Post’s sections that bore the headline: THE SCANDAL.”
The Republicans also had a Noriega problem. Manuel Noriega was a military dictator of Panama. He was an avowed anti-communist, which made him a favorite of the CIA, which was engaged in a campaign to undermine native communist movements in Central America. Noriega ran Panama with an iron hand, and had a terrible record of human rights violations. Noriega’s regime was also involved in drug trafficking. The CIA ignored these problems, choosing instead to use him to gather information about leftists in Central America.
Of course, the Democrats made Noriega a big campaign issue, and the Republicans sought a way to get rid of him. Bush’s Justice Department indicted Noriega in federal court in Florida, but he would not leave peacefully. So, Bush had US forces invade Panama, depose Noriega and arrest him. Noriega later served a significant prison sentence.
Dukakis’ team also attacked Quayle’s credentials, saying he was “dangerously inexperienced to be first-in-line to the presidency.” Quayle countered that former President Jack Kennedy had served 14 years in Congress to Quayle’s 12. Quayle said, “I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency.” Dukakis’s running mate, Lloyd Bentsen, made a lot of points with the following response: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
There were two presidential debates (Sunday, September 25 and Thursday, October 13) and one vice-presidential debate (Wednesday, October 5). Voters were split as to who won the first presidential debate. Bush improved in the second debate. Before the second debate, Dukakis had been suffering from the flu and spent much of the day in bed. His performance was generally seen as poor and played to his reputation of being intellectually cold. In all of the Friday morning quarterbacking, there was common agreement that Dukakis failed to seize the debate and make it his night.
In the November 8 election, Bush won a majority of the popular vote with 53.4%, and the Electoral College with 426 electoral votes. Bush and Quayle won 40 in states. Bush became the first sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1836.
In his convention acceptance speech, Bush made the pledge “Read my lips: no new taxes.” However, his hand was forced in part by the Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Balanced Budget Act, a 1985 law that purportedly required a balanced budget by 1993. After a long battle with the Democratic Congress over deficit budgets, Bush agreed to sign the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, which contained a mix of tax increases and spending cuts. Democrats characterized this as a broken promise, and this so-called reneged promise contributed to Bush’ loss to Bill Clinton in the 1992 election.
Bush’s presidency focused largely on foreign affairs. He faced a series of major foreign policy issues as the Eastern Bloc collapsed. (There is a discussion of the downfall of the former Soviet Union in the original section of The Songbook). While the Berlin Wall fell and other Soviet-aligned countries experienced turmoil, Bush pursued friendly relations with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Bush led a multinational coalition against Saddam Hussein and Iraq in the 1991 Persian Gulf War that was triggered by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. After the quick U.S. victory in the Gulf War, Bush’s approval ratings soared.
“Wind of Change”, The Scorpions (1990) https://youtu.be/tYEiDOKr6cs
The Scorpions were a German rock-metal band, formed in Hanover in the 1960s. They became widely popular and commercially successful in the 1980s, particularly in Europe and the United States. In 1990, the Scorpions released Wind of Change, a power ballad celebrating glasnost, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the wave of political liberalism that swept through Europe in the late 1980s. Wind of Change became an unofficial anthem for the end of the Cold War. It topped singles charts around Europe and ended as one of the best-selling songs of all time. Its music video, containing footage from the Cold War, is one of the most-watched songs on YouTube, accumulating more than 355 million views.
This song should have been included in the Songbook section on Reagan foreign policy, but, given its relevance, it is better to include it here than to leave it out entirely.
I follow the Moskva, down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night, soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of changeThe world is closing in. Did you ever think
That we could be so close, like brothers
The future’s in the air, I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of changeTake me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of changeWalking down the street, distant memories
Are buried in the past forever
I follow the Moskva, down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of changeTake me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of changeThe wind of change blows straight into the face of time
Like a storm wind that will ring the freedom bell
For peace of mind, let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to sayTake me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change