President George H W Bush 1981-1988?

Last week I read an article about the release from prison of John Hinkley Jr, the man responsible for an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan on March 30th 1981. I still have quite vivid memories of watching the television news at that time and witnessing the shocking shooting. This had come barley four months after the assassination of John Lennon by a similarly crazed lone gunman - Mark Chapman.

As a young child - the early 1980s were a scary time - assassinations, increasing weapons build-ups on both sides of the iron curtain, the threat of nuclear armageddon, the hostage crisis in Iran and the shooting down of Korean Airlines flight 007 (killing all 269 people on board) were just some of the many incidents I remember.

I got to thinking about what might have happened to the world under a George H W Bush Presidency if Reagan had died that day.

George H W Bush went on to succeed Reagan in 1988 as President and the Cold War came to an end under his watch. However one could argue that the heavy lifting was done by his predecessor under much more tense circumstances. The early to mid 80's proved to be one of the most anxious periods in the cold war.

Critics are divided as to the Reagan legacy as regards the Cold War - whether his aggressive policy of building up US weaponry and out-spending the Soviets really did bring on Communisms' collapse or if it was an inevitability.

Bush was a more mild conservative leader and it is interesting to speculate on how he would have handled the various crises that arose in the early to mid 80's, if he would have been as aggressive as Reagan on foreign policy and if he would have indulged in projects such as the 'Star Wars' missile defence shield. Of-course we will never know the answer but it is always intriguing to play 'what-if' with history.

Hinkley was released in early August after spending 35 years in prison.