[155] Bush retained several Reagan officials, including Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas F. Brady, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, and Secretary of Education Lauro Cavazos.[156] New Hampshire Governor John Sununu, a strong supporter of Bush during the 1988 campaign, became chief of staff.[153] Brent Scowcroft was appointed as the National Security Advisor, a role he had also held under Ford.[157]

Foreign affairs
Main article: Foreign policy of the George H. W. Bush administration
End of the Cold War
Further information: Revolutions of 1989 and Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Map showing the division of East and West Germany until 1990, with Berlin in yellow
During the first year of his tenure, Bush put a pause on Reagan's détente policy toward the USSR.[158] Bush and his advisers were initially divided on Gorbachev; some administration officials saw him as a democratic reformer, but others suspected him of trying to make the minimum changes necessary to restore the Soviet Union to a competitive position with the United States.[159] In 1989, all the Communist governments collapsed in Eastern Europe. Gorbachev declined to send in the Soviet military, effectively abandoning the Brezhnev Doctrine. 