George H. W. Bush already built a strong career in politics before getting to the White House. Starting out in the House of Representatives, he eventually served also as the Ambassador to the United Nations, Republican Party chairman, envoy to China, and even Director of the CIA. In 1980 he was picked by the party to be the running mate of presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, the man Bush would eventually succeed as president of the United States.

On this day, January 4th, 1990, Vice President Bush became President Bush, becoming the first sitting VP to reach that office since Martin Van Buren in 1836. He won with 53% of the popular vote and by a wide margin in the Electoral College over the Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis.

Taking office just as the Berlin Wall was falling and the Soviet Union’s collapse, Bush noted the historic times in his inaugural address, saying: “a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man’s heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree.”