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Vice President George H. W. Bush announced his bid for the presidency in 1988, declaring, “We don’t need radical new directions.” As president, Bush proposed few domestic initiatives, but he signed key environmental and disability rights legislation. More dramatic changes swept through the world, shattering the free-world-versus-communism framework of the Cold War years. Most Americans approved of Bush’s handling of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and its hold over Eastern Europe and of his response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. But voters’ concern over a sluggish economy limited him to one term as president.