George Herbert Walker Bush is a former President of the United States, from 1989 to 1991. He has also been the U.S. vice president, Director of the CIA, and an Ambassador.
After leaving the White House, Bush has been involved in different humanitarian activities. The Bush presidential library was launched in 1997. President Obama conferred him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
On 22nd April, 2018, a day after the funeral of his wife Barbara Bush, George was diagnosed with blood infection and hospitalized. Infection resulted in sepsis. His condition was soon declared stable.
Table of Contents
Early Life and Education
George HW Bush was born on 12th June, 1924, to Prescott Bush and Dorothy Bush, in Milton, Massachusetts. His family was politically active and wealthy. They moved to Greenwich, Connecticut just after the birth of George.
Bush initially attended the Greenwich Country Day School. In 1938, he enrolled at the elite boarding school ‘Phillips Academy’ located in Andover, MA. At school, Bush had several leadership roles like president of the senior class, community fund-raising group president, student council secretary, captain of the soccer as well as varsity baseball teams, and editorial board member of the school newspaper.
Bush met his future wife Barbara Pierce in 1941 at a Christmas Party. Barbara was 16 at that time and Bush a year older. They began dating and eventually got married in 1945.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bush put his studies on hold and enlisted at age 18 years in the US Navy. At that time, he became the youngest pilot in the history of US Navy. In the Second World War, he served as a combat aviator and flew a carrier-type torpedo bomber plane. His combat missions totaled to 58. His aircraft was hit during an attack in the Pacific and Bush nearly died in the burning aircraft. He however escaped and got rescued by an American submarine. George was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1945. He subsequently enrolled at Yale University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1948.
George HW Bush – Young Photos
Career
After Yale, Bush moved his family to Midland, Texas. He entered the oil and petroleum business, founded his own company, and by age 40 became a millionaire. Bush then entered into politics. In 1963, he became the Harris County Republican Party’s chairman. In 1964, he unsuccessfully ran for the Texas US Senate. In 1966, he however got elected to the US Congress and served for 2 terms.
Bush was appointed as the Ambassador to the UN in 1971 by President Nixon. Bush became the Republican National Committee chairman in 1973. A year later, he was appointed as envoy to China by Gerald Ford and later as CIA director.
In 1980, Bush contested the Republican Party’s primaries for the US Presidency. He was defeated in the primaries by Ronald Reagan who would later defeat the Democratic Party nominee and become the President. Reagan chose Bush as his vice president. As VP for eight years, George overlooked the job of the ‘war on drugs’ and deregulation.
Bush ran for the WH once again in 1988. He defeated Michael Dukakis, the Democratic Party candidate and became the 41st President of the United States. The presidency of Bush was driven by foreign policy. He oversaw the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR), and the overthrowing of dictator of Panama Manuel Noriega by the U.S. military. Bush also responded to the invasion of oil-rich country Kuwait by Saddam Hussein by forming a national and international coalition and militarily driving out the Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The handling of the Gulf War by Bush is regarded as one of Bush’s greatest successes as president. George also signed the NAFTA or the North American Free Trade Agreement, which launched a trading bloc made of the US, Mexico, and Canada. NAFTA was however ratified after Bush left office.
On the domestic front, Bush broke his election promise of no new taxes after struggling for it with the Congress and subsequently signed the Congress bill for increasing taxes. The recovery from an ongoing economic recession was weak; the shrinking of foreign policy as a key matter in a post Cold-War scenario; and the continuous budget deficits all contributed towards disenchantment with Bush by the US public. Consequently, he lost the 1992 US Presidential elections to Democratic opponent Bill Clinton.
George HW Bush with wife Barbara (Pictures)
Health problems
Bush has been suffering from health issues since 2000. He was treated for bronchitis in November 2012. The same year he was diagnosed with a form of Parkinson’s disease called lower-body parkinsonism. It forced him to use a wheelchair.
In 2015, George fell at his Maine summer home and suffered a neck injury. In January 2017, he was hospitalized for pneumonia and acute respiratory problems. In April 2018 just after the death of his wife, he was hospitalized for an infection that resulted in sepsis. He was kept in ICU and his condition was reported to be stable.
Allegations of se*ual misconduct
During the #MeToo movement in Oct 2017, actress Heather Lind stated that Bush told her an inappropriate joke and groped her. Similar allegations were made by Roslyn Corrigan (who was only 16 years old when allegedly molested by Bush), Christina Baker Kline, and 6 other women. Bush’s spokesman Jim McGrath issued an apology statement for the incidents. The alleged incidents have been found to date back up to 1992, but most of them occurred in the recent past. Jim attributed the indiscretions to Bush being wheelchair-confined and thus unable to be above the level of the waist when posing for pictures with women.
Personal Life and Trivia
- George and Barbara were parents to 6 children, one of whom (daughter Pauline) died due to leukemia in 1953. The couple has 14 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.
- The 1.88 meter tall Bush’s nickname when growing up was ‘Poppy.’
- Bush became the oldest-lived American President on 25th Nov, 2017. Till then Ford held the record at 93 years and 165 days. He is currently the longest-living US President and longest living US Vice President. The record of longest-lived VP is held by John Nance Garner, who passed away 15 days before his 99th
- Till the time Barbara lived, the Bush’s had remained married for a mind boggling 73 years. It is the longest US presidential marriage. The second longest one is that of John Adams and Abigail Adams.
- For his service during WWII, Bush was awarded three Air Medals, Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Presidential Unit Citation.
- Bush was referred to as George Bush. However after the election of his son George Bush as US President, George HW Bush is ‘George Bush Senior’, ‘George H. W. Bush’ or ‘Bush 41’ so as to differentiate him from his son.
- Bush has skydived on his 80th, 85th, and 90th
George HW Bush – Net Worth
The net worth of Bush Sr. as of 2018 is estimated to be around $25million.