1988 United States Presidential Election (Nixon Retires)

The **1988 United States presidential election** was the 51st quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. The Republican ticket of Incumbent President George H. W. Bush and Illinois Senator Donald Rumsfeld defeated the Democratic ticket of Incumbent Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.

The first term of Bush had been a surprising success, Reaganomics had wonders under him and popularized it, the Democrats felt 1988 was not going to be their year and thus tried to get top candidates not to run.

Bush easily won on the Republican side, defeating far-right commentator Pat Buchannan, and named Donald Rumsfeld on as Vice President, after Incumbent Anne Armstrong decided to retire.

Meanwhile on the Democratic side, Michael Dukakis ran as the only big member on the left, and won the nomination for the Democrats, naming Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate.

Bush's popularity was high, but Dukakis put up a good fight and Bentsen famously told Rumsfeld "You're no Jack Kennedy." Despite the aggressive campaign, the Bush ticket easily won, despite Dukakis gaining three more states than Jimmy Carter won in 1984.

The main issues were the situation with USSR, urban crime, and the equal rights amendment.

## Primaries:

### Republican Primaries:

Bush faced minimal challenges in the primaries, although Commentator Pat Buchannan would win the Virginia primaries, it wasn't even close to Bush's total, as he won the nomination for a second straight election, and named Donald Rumsfeld as running mate to replace the retiring Anne Armstrong.

 George H. W. Bush

### Democratic Primaries:

With many of the bigger names deciding not to run in 1988, Michael Dukakis came through as the lone man, after defeating a minimal challenge from California Representative Nancy Pelosi. After winning the nomination, Dukakis named Texas Senator as his running mate.

 Michael Dukakis

## Campaign/Issues Unique to the Election:

### Republican Campaign:

Bush would promote Reaganomics, which he renamed to Bushanomics with the support of Reagan, he would promote the peace efforts with the Soviet Union, and declare Dukakis as an elitist "Massachusetts liberal."

### Democratic Campaign:

Dukakis would continue the trend of saying Bushanomics fed the rich on a silver spoon, and that Bush's efforts to neutralize their relations with the USSR were not as good as they seemed.

### The USSR:

Bush had decided to make peace efforts with Russia, and they seemed to be going well, as he was trying to promote the USSR leader to tear down the Berlin wall. While Dukakis said the efforts were a start, he said Bush wasn't doing enough to forward the progress,

### Urban Crime:

Crime had increased by a large margin in cities in the last few years. Bush felt the police must be given more support by the military and their weapons needed to be upgraded. Dukakis declared Bush was trying to turn America into a police state and taking away the rights of anyone the police sees.

### The Equal Rights Amendment:

The Equal Rights Amendment was made in the 70's to try and give equal pay regardless of sex. Bush felt feminists were asking for too much while Dukakis felt that Bush was nervous of women becoming better and thus, limiting their control.

## Results and Aftermath:

Despite Dukakis's great campaign, Bush would win in a landslide, but Dukakis would flip Wisconsin, Iowa, and Texas, a huge upset in Bush's home state. After losing Dukakis would serve as Massachusetts Governor until 1991, where he retired.