George Bush on Population: An Early Statement

Abstract

The policies of the US government concerning population have shifted markedly during the two-term administration of President Ronald Reagan. In the international field, the policy shift is demonstrated by the position taken by the United States at the International Conference on Population in Mexico City in 1984 (see PDR, vol. 10, no. 3, 1984, pp. 574-579) and by the subsequent denial of US funds to the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The victory of George Bush, the Republican Party candidate in the November 1988 presidential election, would suggest that these policies are likely to continue in the incoming administration. But such a conjecture is scarcely supported by tangible evidence. Although President-elect Bush served as Vice President under Mr. Reagan, the constitutional circumscription of the functions of that post provides little influence on policymaking. Any support provided for policies of the executive branch by the Vice President, or his disagreements, if any, with specific aspects of those policies, are not a matter of public record. Nor did the election campaign shed much light on, or publicly commit the victor to, policies that would be pursued on international population matters in the next administration. Thus, a 1973 statement on population issues by George Bush, an extensive public pronouncement on that subject, is of special interest. The statement appeared as the Foreword to the book World Population Crisis: The United States Response by Phyllis Tilson Piotrow, New York: Praeger Publishers. (Even 15 years after its publication, that study by Dr. Piotrow, who is currently director of the Center for Communication Programs at The Johns Hopkins University, remains the most extensive and carefully documented exploration and analysis of the emergence of population issues as a direct concern of official US government policy.) With the permission of Dr. Piotrow, the Foreword is reproduced below in full, except three paragraphs in which Mr. Bush pays homage to Dr. Piotrow's study and praises the author's contribution to public understanding and support of population activities through her work with the Population Crisis Committee. At the time this statement was written, Mr. Bush was serving as US Ambassador to the United Nations.