George H. W. Bush, when running against Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination in the 1980 race, ran as a pro-choice candidate. That’s the last major significant Republican presidential candidate I can think of that was pro-choice. (By the time of his 1988 campaign he had “changed his mind”) But Republicans in smaller races (up to Senator and Governor in some of the blue states) were still pro-choice after that. It gradually became more and more of a litmus test.
The Republican Party became the Patriarchal Party over a period of time. In the 1970s the Republican Party officially supported the Equal Rights Amendment, believe it or not.
Just because other Republicans were further to his right doesn’t make him not a conservative relative to the entire political landscape at the time. In general, he most certainly was not perceived as a liberal, even if he was relative to other Republicans.
Bill Clinton may have been perceived as a conservative by the liberal wing of his party. That doesn’t make him conservative.
Yeah, and he didn’t beat Reagan, did he? No Republican presidental nominee has won on a pro-choice platform since Roe v Wade (before that it was a moot point). They all HAD to flip flop on that. Including Romney. Republicans have always vastly majority opposed abortion. I think it has become less of an feverish issue over time for many Republicans, but only because it is a “lost cause” - but the actual opinions about it haven’t changed much.
George Bush on abortion in the 1980 campaign: " I am personally opposed to abortion. I am also opposed to a constitutional amendment which would override the Supreme Court decision by totally prohibiting abortion because there is a need to recognize and provide for exceptional cases – rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. I oppose federal funding for abortion, with the exceptions noted above."
That is not a pro-choice candidate.
GHW Bush was certainly a conservative on some things. One might argue that agreeing to a tax hike to trim the deficit was a conservative position to take, although the “true conservative” view on the deficit has meandered all over the map. He also stood firm in favor of a reunited Germany and guided the Soviet Union through a peaceful breakup. Freedom for the Baltic countries in particular had long been a conservative cause.
Domestically, he signed the ADA, an expansion of the Clean Air act, and the Immigration Act of 1990. Not necessarily liberal acts in either the classical or current sense, but certainly anathema to present-day conservatives. But remember Reagan also signed an “amnesty” bill for illegal immigrants.
Bush also waged a massively successful war to preserve US oil supplies from the Middle East but refused to engage in “regime change” or a lengthy occupation. One can debate whether anything related to the was was liberal or conservative, but I think the willingness to trade “blood for oil” as the phrase then had it (very little blood in this case) was more of a conservative view.
One of the most consequential of Bush’s acts was to appoint David Souter to the Supreme Court. For some reason he was under the impression that Souter was a reliable conservative. That turned out not to be correct.
I don’t think it’s so easy to pigeonhole GHWB, even recognizing that he had to work with a Democratic congress–albeit those Democrats included many conservatives who today would simply run and be elected as Republicans.
I’m well on the left, but I maintain a respect for Bush 1 that I don’t have for most post-Grant Republicans, and he was a better president than Clinton.