The presidency of George H. W. Bush began on January 20, 1989, at noon Eastern Standard Time, when George H. W. Bush was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 1993. Bush, a Republican, and incumbent Vice President of the United States, took office after a landslide victory over Democrat Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election. He was the first sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1836. Later, Bush, the 41st United States president, and his oldest son, George W. Bush, the country's 43rd (2001–2009), would become only the second father and son pair to become president. (John Adams and John Quincy Adams were the first.) Bush was denied a second term in the 1992 presidential election, which was won by Democrat Bill Clinton.
International affairs drove the Bush presidency. With a strong team of foreign policy advisers, Bush helped the country navigate the end of the Cold War and a new era of U.S.–Soviet relations. He also led an international coalition of countries which successfully forced Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait in the Gulf War, and undertook a U.S. military invasion of Panama.