Bush 41's Legacy: Skillful close to the Cold War

HOUSTON, TX - When the former Soviet Union collapsed in what we now know as the end of the Cold War, it is President Ronald Reagan who is commonly awarded the "victory", but it was his successor, master diplomat George H.W. Bush who is credited with the "save".

Political Scientist Jon Taylor says the 41st President exhibited a nuanced combination of restraint and strength to minimize the real potential of violent chaos

"We could have seen a number of Yugoslavia like situations from the that we would see later. We could have seen nuclear weapons go bye-bye and all of a sudden end up in the hands of God knows who. It was Bush's administration working with the Russians that prevented what could have been a catastrophe in terms of weapons getting in the hands of terrorists in the hands of third party states that could have led to Lord knows what," said Taylor.

It is a retrospective analysis shared by Ambassador Edward Djerejian, Director of the Baker institute at Rice University.

The Ambassador believes Bush's cultivation of a strong relationship with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was linchpin to the prevention of untold bloodshed.

"It ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. It could have been an end game with military confrontation, but the skillful manner in which he orchestrated that was part of his great legacy," said Djerejian.

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