My Account Wish List
Advanced Search
Print - Close Window
www.greenwood.com/catalog/GM2132.aspx
All Greenwood Products
Principle Over Politics? The Domestic Policy of the George H. W. Bush Presidency
Richard Himelfarb, Rosanna Perotti
ISBN: 0-313-32132-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-32132-0
472 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 3/30/2004
List Price: $119.95 (UK Sterling Price: £82.95)
Discount Price: $59.98 Sale Price for U.S. Customers Only. Save 50%. Ends 12/31/2009.
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: Cabinet members, journalists who covered Washington in the 1980s, and scholars who have been reassessing the George H. W. Bush presidency detail his domestic policy. The key areas covered include the economy, the budget, the disabled, civil rights, health, science and technology. In addition, the volume examines his emphasis on volunteerism.

As the essays make clear, Bush's domestic policy stands in vivid contrast to his foreign policy. While his stewardship in the latter area won him praise and popularity, many of his decisions in the domestic sphere brought criticism from both the left and right and proved politically disastrous, playing a key role in his 1992 election defeat.Although some accuse Bush of disengagement and disinterest in domestic affairs, the prevailing opinion voiced at the Bush Presidency Conference, which provided the basis for this and other companion volumes, was that the president's domestic policies were characterized by a deep commitment to principle and pursuit of the public interest, even at the expense of political considerations. Indeed, many argue that the Bush administration pursued policies that were both well intentioned and ultimately successful, but failed to communicate them successfully to the public. While some of the blame for this lies with a hostile news media and simple bad luck-especially the economic downturn beginning in 1991-much of the responsibility appears to rest with President Bush himself, a man reluctant to tout his successes and sully himself in partisan political combat. Thus, the picture that emerges of George H. W. Bush in this volume is that of a decent, principled man whose accomplishments in the domestic arena were unfairly devalued and widely misunderstood.
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
    Budget and Deficits
    Governance vs. Politics: The Budgetary Policy Legacy of the Bush Administration by Dennis S. Ippolito
    The 1990 Deficit Reduction Deal by Duane Windsor
    The Economy
    The Bush Stagnation, Its Etiology, and the Keynesian Prescription by Timothy A. Canova and E. Lynn Turgeon
    The Antitrust Record of the Bush Administration By Theodore P. Kovaleff
    The Burden of the Reagan Legacy on the Bush Presidency by John W. Sloan
    Americans with Disabilities Act by Edward D. Berkowitz
    Civil Rights, Drugs, Housing, and Education
    Symbolic Politics Revisited: The Bush Administration and the Civil Rights Act of 1991 by W. Gary Fowler, Donald W. Jackson, and James W. Riddlesperger, Jr.
    Beyond Saying No: Domestic Drug Policy and Its Effects during the Bush Administration, 1989-1992 by Charles F. Levinthal
    America 2000, Goals 2000: Educational Reform for the Next Century? by Martin W. Sharp
    Health Issues and Problems
    Major Initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services during the Bush Years by Louis W. Sullivan
    Presidential Transition and Public Policy: The Repeal of Medicare Catastrophic Coverage by Carolyn Rinkus Thompson
    Opportunity of a Generation Lost: Abortion Policy in the Bush Administration by Steven R. Valentine
    Family Values and Public Policy during the Bush Years: The Case of the Family and Medical Leave Act by Steven K Wisensale
    Volunteerism: A Kinder Gentler Society
    George Bush and the New Deal Order by Donald K. Pickens
    George Bush and the Last Whig Presidency by Michael P. Riccards
    Science and Technology
    Energy and Environment
    Crisis and Opportunity: American Energy Policy during the Bush Years and Beyond by Larry Michlin
    Index
    About the Editors and Contributors
About the Author: RICHARD HIMELFARB is Associate Professor of Political Science at Hofstra University. He has written extensively on issues revolving around the modern American presidency.

ROSANNA PEROTTI is Assocaite Professor of Political Science at Hofstra University and general editor of the Bush proceedings project.
LCC Class: 320
All rights reserved. Copyright © 1999-2009 ABC-CLIO
130 Cremona Dr., Santa Barbara, CA 93117 805-968-1911