George H. W. Bush

=== Historical reputation ===
[[File:US Navy 051008-N-9274T-001 After arriving on board Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base (NAS JRB), New Orleans, former President George H. Bush sits down to eat with military personnel.jpg|thumb|Bush visits [[Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans|NAS JRB]] during [[Hurricane Katrina]] relief efforts, 2005]]

Polls of historians and political scientists have [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|ranked]] Bush in the top half of presidents. A 2018 poll of the [[American Political Science Association]]'s Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Bush as the 17th best president out of 44.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Brandon|last1=Rottinghaus|first2=Justin S.|last2=Vaughn|title=How Does Trump Stack Up Against the Best — and Worst — Presidents?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/19/opinion/how-does-trump-stack-up-against-the-best-and-worst-presidents.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190310203020/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/19/opinion/how-does-trump-stack-up-against-the-best-and-worst-presidents.html/|archive-date=March 10, 2019|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 19, 2018}}</ref> A 2017 [[C-SPAN]] poll of historians also ranked Bush as the 20th best president out of 43.<ref>{{cite web|title=Presidential Historians Survey 2017|url=https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2017/?page=overall|website=[[C-SPAN]]|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref> Richard Rose described Bush as a "guardian" president, and many other historians and political scientists have similarly described Bush as a passive, hands-off president who was "largely content with things as they were".{{sfn|Greene|2015|pp=255–256}} Professor Steven Knott writes that "[g]enerally the Bush presidency is viewed as successful in foreign affairs but a disappointment in domestic affairs."<ref name="knottlegacy">{{cite web|last1=Knott|first1=Stephen|title=George H. W. Bush: Impact and Legacy|url=https://millercenter.org/president/bush/impact-and-legacy|website=Miller Center|publisher=University of Virginia|date=October 4, 2016}}</ref>

Biographer Jon Meacham writes that, after he left office, many Americans viewed Bush as "a gracious and underappreciated man who had many virtues but who had failed to project enough of a distinctive identity and vision to overcome the economic challenges of 1991–92 and to win a second term."{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=567}} Bush himself noted that his legacy was "lost between the glory of Reagan ... and the trials and tribulations of my sons."{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=595}} In the 2010s, Bush was fondly remembered for his willingness to compromise, which contrasted with the intensely partisan era that followed his presidency.<ref name="jshesol1">{{cite magazine|last1=Shesol|first1=Jeff|title=What George H. W. Bush Got Wrong|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-george-h-w-bush-got-wrong|access-date=August 30, 2016|magazine=The New Yorker|date=November 13, 2015}}</ref>

In 2018, ''[[Vox (website)|Vox]]'' highlighted Bush for his "pragmatism" as a moderate Republican president by working across the aisle.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TImO_RquoW8|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201102004813/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TImO_RquoW8|archive-date= November 2, 2020|title= The George H.W. Bush promise that changed the Republican Party|website= Vox |via=YouTube |date=May 4, 2018 |access-date= October 29, 2020|url-status= live }}</ref> They specifically noted Bush's accomplishments within the domestic policy by making [[Bipartisanship|bipartisan]] deals, including raising the tax budget among the wealthy with the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. Bush also helped pass the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 which ''The New York Times'' described as "the most sweeping anti-discrimination law since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/27/opinion/a-law-for-every-american.html |url-access=subscription |title= A Law for Every American|website= The New York Times|date= July 27, 1990|access-date= October 30, 2020}}</ref> In response to the ''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill, Bush built another bipartisan coalition to strengthen the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-can-breathe-easier--literally--thanks-to-george-hw-bush/2018/12/02/e7a2acbe-f66a-11e8-8d64-4e79db33382f_story.html |url-access=subscription |first1=Monica |last1=Medina |date=December 2, 2018 |title= We can breathe easier - literally - thanks to George H.W. Bush|newspaper= The Washington Post|access-date= October 29, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://environmentamerica.org/blogs/environment-america-blog/ame/lessons-bipartisanship-1990-clean-air-act-amendments|title= Lessons in Bipartisanship: The 1990 Clean Air Act amendments|website= Environmental America|date=November 15, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220815231021/https://environmentamerica.org/blogs/environment-america-blog/ame/lessons-bipartisanship-1990-clean-air-act-amendments |archive-date= Aug 15, 2022 }}</ref> Bush also championed and signed into a law the Immigration Act of 1990, a sweeping bipartisan immigration reform act that made it easier for immigrants to legally enter the county, while also granting immigrants fleeing violence the temporary protected status visa, as well as lifted the pre-naturalization English testing process, and finally "eliminated the exclusion of homosexuals under what Congress now deemed the medically unsound classification of "sexual deviant" that was included in the [[Immigration Act of 1965|1965 act]]."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Glass |first=Andrew |date=2018-11-29 |title=Bush signs immigration reform statute into law, Nov. 29, 1990 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/29/bush-immigration-reform-1990-1014141 |access-date=October 29, 2020 |website=Politico|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Bush-41-s-immigration-plan-actually-worked-13443111.php |first1=Bruce |last1=Morrison |title= Bush 41's immigration plan actually worked|website= Houston Chronicle|date= December 4, 2018|access-date= October 30, 2020}}</ref> Bush stated, "Immigration is not just a link to our past but it's also a bridge to America's future".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4737330/user-clip-george-hw-bush-immigration|title= George H.W. Bush on Immigration |date=November 30, 1990 |work=Immmigration Act Signing Ceremony |publisher= C-SPAN|access-date= October 30, 2002}}</ref>

According to ''[[USA Today]]'', the legacy of Bush's presidency was defined by his victory over Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait and by his presiding over the dissolution of the Soviet Union and [[German reunification]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Remembering Former President George H.W. Bush's life and legacy |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/12/01/live-former-president-george-h-w-bushs-life-and-legacy/2173047002/ |newspaper=USA Today|date=December 1, 2018 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> [[Michael Beschloss]] and [[Strobe Talbott]] praise Bush's handling of the Soviet Union, especially how he prodded Gorbachev in terms of releasing control over the [[satellite state]]s and permitting German unification—and especially a united Germany in NATO.<ref>Michael R. Beschloss and Strobe Talbott, ''At the Highest Levels: The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War'' (Boston, 1993), pp. 470-72.</ref> [[Andrew Bacevich]] judges the Bush administration as "morally obtuse" in the light of its "business-as-usual" attitude towards China after the massacre in [[Tiananmen Square]] and its uncritical support of Gorbachev as the Soviet Union disintegrated.<ref>Andrew J. Bacevich, ''American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy'' (2002), 64–68, quoted in Sparrow, p. 143.</ref> David Rothkopf argues:

{{blockquote|In the recent history of U.S. foreign policy, there has been no president, nor any president's team, who, when confronted with profound international change and challenges, responded with such a thoughtful and well-managed foreign policy...[the Bush administration was] a bridge over one of the great fault lines of history [that] ushered in a "new world order" it described with great skill and professionalism.<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Rothkopf|title=Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1N1DleUGufwC&pg=PA261|year=2009|publisher=PublicAffairs|page=261|isbn=9780786736003}}</ref>}}However, [[Time (magazine)|''TIME'']] has criticized Bush's [[domestic policies]] involving "drugs, homelessness, racial hostility, education gaps, [and] issues with the environment", and it argues that these issues in the United States became worse in the 21st century primarily due to Bush setting a poor example and his handling of these concepts during his presidency.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2023 |editor-last=Jacobs |editor-first=Sam |editor-link=Samuel Jacobs (journalist) |editor2-last=Rothman |editor2-first=Lily |editor3-last=Benedict |editor3-first=Julie Blume |editor4-last=Cassidy |editor4-first=Catherine |editor4-link=Catherine Cassidy |title=George H.W. Bush |magazine=TIME Person of the Year: 95 Years of the World's Most Influential People |publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |page=63}}</ref>