George H.W. Bush and the 90's
By: Megan Livengood
George Herbert Walker Bush
Background Information
Personal
Birth date: June 12, 1924
Birth place: Milton, Massachusetts
Birth name: George Herbert Walker Bush
Father: Prescott Bush
Mother: Dorothy (Walker) Bush
Marriage: Barbra (Pierce) Bush (January 6, 1945-present)
Children: Dorothy, August 18, 1959; Marvin, October 22, 1956; Neil, January 22, 1955; John (Jeb) February 11, 1953; Pauline (Robin), December 20, 1949 - October 1953 (died of leukemia); George, July 6, 1946
Education: Yale University, B.A., 1948
Military service: U.S. Navy, 1942-1945, Lieutenant Junior Grade
Religion: Episcopalian
Fun Facts
*Bush was the first sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin van Buren in 1836.
*He is the second U. S. president, after John Adams, to be the father of a U.S. president.
*Flew 58 combat missions for the Navy during World War II and was awarded three Air Medals and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
*Has a form of Parkinson's disease.
*His nickname since childhood had been Poppy, and that's how he was known at Yale -- especially as a baseball player.
His father
George H. W. Bush’s father, Prescott Bush, was George's model for public service. Prescott made his fortune on Wall Street as a partner with Brown Brothers Harriman. He associated with the "Wise Men" -- advisors including Dean Acheson, Averell Harriman, and John McCloy, who influenced American foreign policy -- and served as the moderator of the Greenwich town meetings for more than 15 years before running for the U.S. Senate in 1950. In 1952 Prescott won the Senate seat in a special election and served for ten years before retiring due to ill health. Known for reaching across the aisle to solve political problems, Prescott built a reputation in Washington that helped his son when the younger Bush arrived there as congressman in 1966. Prescott died of cancer in 1972.
Qualifications
Career and education
He had a long career in both domestic politics and foreign affairs and knew the government bureaucracy, and had eight years of hands-on training as vice president. He studied at Yale after he got out of the military. At Yale University he excelled both in sports and in his studies; he was captain of the baseball team and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation Bush embarked on a career in the oil industry of West Texas.
Military
On his 18th birthday he enlisted in the armed forces. The youngest pilot in the Navy when he received his wings, he flew 58 combat missions during World War II. On one mission over the Pacific as a torpedo bomber pilot he was shot down by Japanese antiaircraft fire and was rescued from the water by a U. S. submarine. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery in action.
Vice-President
In 1980 Bush campaigned for the Republican nomination for President. He lost, but was chosen as a running mate by Ronald Reagan. As Vice President, Bush had responsibility in several domestic areas, including Federal deregulation and anti-drug programs, and visited scores of foreign countries. In 1988 Bush won the Republican nomination for President and, with Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate, he defeated Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis in the general election.
During Presidency
November 8, 1988
January 20, 1989
November 9, 1989
June 26, 1990
November 15, 1990
January 16, 1991
Operation Desert Storm begins. The first phase of the war is an air assault. The ground offensive begins five weeks later and will last only 100 hours before the decision is made to end the war.
Would I Vote For Him?
Moving on to the 90's
Why the 90s?
If you are a 90s kid, you will remember watching good cartoons. Waking up early on saturday mornings. You'll remember tang. You'll remember toys like tamagachi and easy bake ovens and barbies and polly pockets, and yugioh and pokemon and digimon, trading cards...
You listened to britney spears, the spice girls, nysnc, the backstreet boys,
you had a cd player that you had to carry around.
You'll remember butterfly clips and snap bracelets, and you'll remember rugrats!
Gameboys and johnny bravo, team rocket, teenage mutant ninja turtles, power rangers, full house, and the fresh prince of bel aire.
It was all very simple.
During the 90s
Trends and fashion
*One pant leg rolled up
*Graphic tees
*Overalls with one strap down
*Mood rings
*The Rachael haircut
*Snapbacks
*Ripped jeans
*Long hair
*Chain Wallets
*Bandannas
*Combat boots
*Unbuttoned shirts over graphic tees
*Solid tees with blazers
*Lugz
*Discman headphones around your neck
*Body piercings
*Oakleys
*Necklaces with name on a grain of rice
*Parting hair down the middle
*Spiked hair
*Timberland boots
*Flannel
*Backwards cap
*Air Jordans
These are just some of the things that has been in the 90's and has either never went away or starting to make a big come back.
Music
Ah . . . 90s music. This is the decade that saw music go digital. Gone are the days of cassette tapes. 90s music was in new formats and available to share online like never before.
The 1990s were one of the most diverse, fractured and explosive musical decades since the 60s. While things stated off strong for hair metal, bands like Bon Jovi and Metallica soon found themselves losing their audience to a different brand of loud, aggressive, but introspectively emotional music that would be labeled 'alternative.' Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the Smashing Pumpkins were the new rock royalty, shattering radio formats and giving teens a fresh outlet for their angst. The Grunge Movement and the Seattle scene dominated both music and fashion at the dawn of the 90s. The decade wouldn't just be filled with the sound of screaming guitars. Rave and electronic beats would nudge their way into the mainstream. 90s pop music would see a radical transformation of its own, moving from the scandal of lip-syncers Milli Vanilli to an explosion of teen idols named Britney, Christina and Justin. The Spice Girls would join forces with the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync to force feed sugary-sweet sounds to the masses. By the end of the decade, however, rap music and hip hop culture would achieve an almost total dominance over the record industry, lead by artists like Notorious B.I.G., Jay Z and Puff Daddy. This fusion of 1990s pop sensibilities and street cred transformed the face of music forever.
Technology
1995- DVD invented
1993- Sony Discman
1990- Powerwheels
1996- Casio Digital Diary
1994- Sony Playstation
1996- Bop-it
1990- Gameboy
1993- First text message
Motorola and Nokia phones were big in the 90s
Historical Events
Bill Clinton accused of dodging a draft
Microsoft saved Apple from the brink
Slap bracelets became a smash—then were banned at schools.
The Rodney King verdict and L.A. riots tears the nation apart
After decades of race issues being pushed aside, the videotaped beating of an African-American man named Rodney King by police officers in Los Angeles — and the subsequent trial where those officers were found innocent — ignited not just riots in L.A. and across America, but new passionate conversations and considerations about race in the United States.
The conversations that grew from these trials helped shape, for better and worse, a generation's view of race in America
The O.J. Simpson chase, trial and acquittal
Whatever conversations about race started with the Rodney King beating and trial, they continued a few years later as former athlete and actor O.J. Simpson was implicated in the killing of his ex-wife, a white woman, as well as her possible lover.
As the trial dragged on, issues of bloody gloves and DNA shaped televised court room proceedings for years, but the emotional issues surrounding the couple's abusive interracial relationship caused different races and sexes to take different sides. Nonetheless, the event marked another time in the '90s when our generation was challenged to think deeply about race and priviledge.
Rap music and the new hip-pop spark debates over race, class and censorship
The rap music scene had built up to a crescendo by the end of '80s, and in the '90s it blew up, causing not only inner city youths to have rap playing on their Walkmans, but suburban youths too.
From Dr. Dre and The Chronic, to Snoop Dogg and Doggystyle, to Tupac with All Eyez on Me, to The Notorious B.I.G. and Ready to Die, to The Wu-Tang Clan and Enter the Wu-Tang, to The Fugees and The Score — the decade of the '90s generated a ridiculous number of rap hits and was primed for the music genre to create classic sounds that not only defined music, but an entire generation and the issues around them.