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PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATIONS
George H.W. Bush
41st President (1989-1993)
Inaugural Highlights
Date: Jan. 20, 1989
Weather: 51 degrees and cloudy; winds from the northwest at 18 mph
President: George Herbert Walker Bush
Vice President: J. Danforth "Dan" Quayle
Administered Oath: Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist
Notable Speakers: The Rev. Billy Graham
Presidential Soundbite: A new breeze is blowing -- and a nation refreshed by freedom stands ready to push on. My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They are not the measure of our lives.
Popular-Vote Percentage: 53.4%
Electoral Votes: 426
Address (Jan. 20, 1989)First 100 Days
• Savings-and-loan bailout
• Deficit-reduction deal with Congress
• Federal aid for Exxon Valdez oil spill
The elder Bush set low expectations in 1989 for his first 100 days in the White House. And he largely met those low expectations -- mostly because he had the luxury to do so.
As the first sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1836, Bush rode on the coattails of his former boss, the immensely popular Ronald Reagan. "President Bush campaigned on the theme of continuing the Reagan policies," Marlin Fitzwater, who served as press secretary for both men, said in an interview. "It was the mandate that we won (with)."
During the senior Bush's first three months in office, "there was no comprehensive agenda that was put before Congress," said presidential scholar Stephen Wayne, a professor of government at Georgetown University. "It was a ho-hummer. He announced that he wasn't going to change much from Reagan."
For his part, Bush said he was unconcerned about any high expectations for a president's first 100 days -- a notion that he said had largely been drummed up by the press. "I don't even think in terms of 100 days, because we aren't radically shifting things," Bush said at a news conference on April 20, 1989. "This is the Martin Van Buren analogy. We didn't come in here throwing the rascals out to try to do something -- correct all the ills of the world in 100 days."
Having said that, however, Bush did confront several important issues during his first three months in office. He proposed a plan to overhaul savings and loan institutions, reached a deal with the then-Democratic-controlled Congress on aid for Nicaraguan Contras, and developed a federal response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
Bush also reached a budget deal with congressional Democrats to reduce federal spending-an accomplishment that had eluded Reagan, Fitzwater noted. "The most important thing that was left unfinished was cutting federal spending," Fitzwater said. (More)
Bush's Inauguration
Originally published Jan. 13, 2001
Stepping out of Ronald Reagan's shadow, George Herbert Walker Bush took the oath of office in 1989 with his right hand raised and his left resting on two open Bibles -- one belonging to his family, the second used by George Washington 200 years before.
Bush graciously thanked his predecessor, recited a brief prayer he'd written himself, and spoke about a "new engagement" that he hoped would end the country's emphasis on materialism and the bitter relations between the President and the Congress that had characterized much of Reagan's presidency.
Bush inherited a country at peace abroad, but struggling with drug abuse, homelessness, crime, and AIDS at home. He also assumed the challenging role of succeeding a man whose end-of-term approval rating was the highest received by any American president since World War II.
Aware of the mission awaiting him, Bush prepared Americans for his presidency by saying: "Our problems are large, but our heart is larger. Our challenges are great, but our will is greater." Later, fighting back tears on the Capitol steps as the Reagans departed via helicopter, Bush saluted his former boss. Then, he thrust himself into the festivities of the day, most notably by welcoming more than 200 members of the far-flung Bush clan, who occupied not only all of Blair House, but an entire hotel. -- Gia Fenoglio
First-Persons
Jack Russ, House Sergeant at Arms: "My strongest memory of the day was that Jim Wright forgot his overcoat, and I had to give him mine. I was freezing, but he was absolutely appreciative."
Marlin Fitzwater, Press Secretary: "All of us coming into the office were also saying goodbye to a President we had worked with for eight years. It was really a very strange psychological moment, for a Vice President to take over the presidency when they had been so close."
Michael Dukakis, Former Presidential Candidate: "I was back as governor by then, and I watched the inauguration, obviously, on television."
Dan Quayle, Vice President: "There must have been tens of thousands of cameras clicking at the same moment-and that's when you know you are sworn in as the Vice President of the United States."
