20.4

The 1992 Election

Although the recession had hurt his popularity, Bush won the Republican nomination. Bush promised to address voters' economic concerns. He blamed congressional Democrats for the government's gridlock. The Democrats nominated Arkansas governor William Jefferson Clinton, despite stories that questioned his character and his evasion of military service. Calling himself a "New Democrat," Clinton promised to cut middle-class taxes, reduce government spending, and reform the nation's health care and welfare programs. His campaign repeatedly blamed Bush for the recession.

The End of the Soviet Union

As Eastern Europe abandoned communism, Gorbachev faced mounting criticism at home. In August 1991, a group of Communist Party officials and army officers tried to stage a coup. They arrested Gorbachev and sent troops into Moscow. In Moscow, Russian president Boris Yeltsin defied the coup leaders from his offices in the Russian Parliament. President Bush telephoned Yeltsin to express U.S. support. The coup soon collapsed and Gorbachev returned to Moscow. All 15 Soviet republics declared their independence from the Soviet Union. In late December 1991, Gorbachev announced the end of the Soviet Union. Most of the former Soviet republics joined in a federation called the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Although member states remained independent, they formed a common economic zone in 1993.

Revolution in Eastern Europe

As president, Bush continued Reagan's policy of cooperation with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. By the late 1980s, the Soviet economy was suffering from years of inefficient central planning and huge expenditures on the arms race. To save the economy, Gorbachev instituted perestroika, or "restructuring," which allowed some private enterprise and profit making Gorbachev also established glasnost, or "openness," to allow more freedom of religion and speech. Glasnost spread to Eastern Europe, and in 1989 revolutions replaced Communist rulers with democratic governments in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. At midnight on November 9, 1989, guards at the Berlin Wall opened the gates. Soon, bulldozers began leveling the symbol of Communist repression. East Germany and West Germany soon reunited.

glasnost

a Soviet policy permitting open discussion of political and social issues and freer dissemination of news and information

capital gains tax

a federal tax paid by businesses and investors when they sell stocks or real estate

grassroots movement

a group of people organizing at the local or community level, away from political or cultural centers

perestroika

a policy of economic and government restructuring instituted by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union in the 1980s

downsizing

reducing a company in size by laying off workers and managers to become more efficient

retain

to keep in possession

repress

to stop something by force