ABSTRACT
George Bush's pragmatism and responsiveness moved the hemisphere forward and built close personal and governmental relations with Latin American democracies on the full gamut of issues. The United States aimed to contain leftist revolution in Central America, topple Noriega in Panama, and prevent drugs from entering the United States. The Latin Americans were mainly concerned about reducing their debts and consolidating their new democracies. The two main foreign policy actors in the Bush administration were the State Department and the White House, but Baker's relationship with the president and Scowcroft's "passion for anonymity" meant that the competition between State and the National Security Council (NSC) that had bedevilled the Nixon and Carter administrations was muted. The old agenda of Nicaragua and Panama that had plagued the Reagan administration was removed with an election and an invasion. The Nicaraguan situation was resolved largely because the Bush administration discarded the belligerence of its predecessor and allowed others to mediate a free election.
