The 43 Presidents
of the
United States of America

George Herbert Walker Bush

41st President
1989 - 1993

George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st President of the United States.

Important events during President Bush's administration were:

• Exxon Valdez, oil tanker, ran aground in Prince William Sound, resulting in largest oil spill in U.S. history on March 24, 1989.

• Oliver L. North convicted of shredding documents, and  two other crimes but acquitted of nine other charges dating from the Iran-contra affair on May 4, 1989.

• Chinese troops regained control of Beijing from pro-democracy protesters, killing hundreds of students and workers in Tiananmen Square and restoring the primacy of the Den Xiaoping regime, on June 3, 1989.

• On September 21, 1989, Hurricane Hugo struck South Carolina coast, causing extensive damage and rendering many homeless. It was the most expensive  disaster to date in the United States, with losses estimated at 3.7 billion in South Carolina alone.

• San Francisco and its environs rocked by a powerful earthquake, on October 17, 1989.

• Destruction of Berlin wall began on November 12, 1989.

• President met with Soviet President Gorbachev for their first summit, on shipboard off Malta, on December 3, 1989.

• General Manuel Noriega surrendered; brought by United States authorities to Florida to face trial, on January 3, 1990.

• Nelson Mandela, leader of the African National Congress, freed after more than 27 years in South African prisons, on February 11, 1990.

• Congressional ban on smoking on domestic fights of less than six hours went into effect, on February 26, 1990.

• On April 7, 1990, John M. Poindexter convicted on 5 charges of lying to and deceiving Congress in order to conceal the Reagan Administration's part in the Iran-contra affair; conviction was overturned in November 1991.

• Boris N. Yeltsin elected President of the Russian Republic, on May 29, 1990.

• Proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw "flag burning" supported by President, defeated in Senate, on June 26, 1990.

• Nelson Mandela arrived for a 10-day U.S. tour, pleading for sanctions against South Africa to remain in place before black majority could gain political rights, on June 20, 1990.

• Iraqi troops invaded and occupied Kuwait. The action, condemned by the United Nations Security Council, set of chain of events leading to the Persian Gulf War on August 2, 1990.

• Germany reunited on October 3, 1990.

• Margaret Thatcher resigned as British Prime Minister, and John Major assumed the job on November 22, 1990.

• Code-named Operation Desert Storm, a U.S.-led multinational force launched the Persian Gulf War with air attacks on Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait, followed by an invasion on February 23 to sweep the Iraqis out of Kuwait; Iraq capitulated to U.N. demands on February and U.S. military operations ceased from January 16-February 28, 1991.

• Iraq accepted U.N. terms for cease-fire, formally concluding Persian Gulf War; endangered Kurds attempted to flee; no-fly zones established to protect Kurds in north and Shiites in South on April 6, 1991. 

George Herbert Walker Bush was:

• the first incumbent Vice President to be elected President since Martin Van Buren in 1835

• the first President to have been chairman of his political party

• the first President to have been Ambassador to the United Nations

• the first President to have severed as director of the Central Intelligence Agency