This episode is the culmination of a war of words between the The Simpsons (1989) and former President George Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush. Barbara Bush referred to the show as "the dumbest thing I've ever seen" in a 1990 interview with People magazine, which prompted the writers of the show to write her an angry letter in character as Marge Simpson; Mrs. Bush later apologized. One year later The Simpsons showed Barbara Bush in the White House bathtub in the episode Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington (1991). In 1992 President Bush stated while appearing before the National Religious Broadcasters, "We are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons." The writers of The Simpsons responded by added a new intro to the episode Stark Raving Dad (1991) where Bart responds to President Bush's speech saying, "We're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end to the depression too". President Bush made one more appearance after this episode collecting unemployment benefits in Realty Bites (1997).
Grandpa claims to have been spanked by Grover Cleveland on "two non-consecutive occasions." This is in reference to the fact that Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms as President, from 1885-1889 and then from 1893-1897.
Bush says that he'll ruin Homer "like a Japanese banquet", a reference to an incident that happened on January 8, 1992. During a state dinner, then-president Bush vomited on the lap of the Prime Minister of Japan, Kiichi Miyazawa.
First appearance of Disco Stu.
Gorbachev's line to his security detail roughly translates to, "Well, we know who the boss is here."