George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush (June 12, 1924 – November 30, 2018) was an American politician and businessman who served as the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Before he became president, he was the 43rd vice president from 1981 to 1989 (under the Ronald Reagan administration), an ambassador to the United Nations, a congressman, and Director of Central Intelligence. He was married to Barbara Bush from 1945 until her death in 2018. His children include the 43rd president of the United States George W. Bush, former governor of Florida Jeb Bush, and Dorothy Bush Koch. He was a Republican. 

Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. He attended Phillips Academy before serving in the United States Navy Reserve during World War II. After the war, he graduated from Yale and moved to Texas, starting a successful oil company. 

He entered politics in the 1960s, first running for the US Senate in 1964, but lost the election. In 1966, he ran for the House of Representatives and won. Five years later, in 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed Bush to become the Ambassador of the United Nations, then chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1973. In 1974, President Gerald Ford appointed him as Chief of the Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China, then in 1976 Bush became the Director of Central Intelligence. In 1980, Bush ran for president, but lost the nomination to Ronald Reagan. However, Reagan chose Bush to be his vice presidential running mate. 

Eight years later, in 1988, Bush ran for president again, defeating Democrat Michael Dukakis. During his presidency, Bush led the United States through the end of the Cold War. He presided over the invasion of Panama and the Gulf War. He also signed the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which did not allow discrimination to disabled people. Bush signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (also called NAFTA), which went into effect in 1994. He appointed David Souter and Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. Although he promised not to raise taxes, he did so in order to help make the budget deficit smaller (when the government spends more money than it makes.) He ran for reelection in 1992, but lost to Democrat Bill Clinton.

After his presidency ended in 1993, Bush did activities that helped other people. He did this alongside Bill Clinton, his former rival. In 2000, his son, George W. Bush, was elected president of the United States. Another son, Jeb Bush, was elected governor of Florida in 1998. Jeb tried to run for president in 2016, but did not win the nomination. 

On November 25, 2017, Bush became, at the time, the longest-lived U.S. president. He passed the 93 years and 165 days lifespan of Gerald Ford, who died on December 26, 2006. On November 30, 2018, Bush died at his home in Houston, Texas at the age of 94. Bush is ranked as an above-average president.

Early life

Bush was born on June 12, 1924 in 173 Adam Street, Milton, Massachusetts. His father was politician Prescott Bush. He studied at Yale University. In June 1943, Bush became the youngest pilot in the United States Navy at the time.

Bush served in the United States Navy from 1942 until 1945. During WWII, his plane was shot down. He won the Air Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He married Barbara Pierce in 1945. They had six children.

Early career
Bush worked for Zapata Oil in Texas and was a politician in Texas, running for the Senate in 1964, but losing to Ralph Yarborough and later again in 1970, though losing again to Lloyd Bentsen.

He was later a House Representative. He was also Republican Party Chairman and tried the vice presidency, with the support of such Congressional conservatives as Senator Barry Goldwater after Nixon resigned and Ford took office, but lost to liberal Republican Nelson Rockefeller in 1974. In 1980, Bush also ran against Ronald Reagan for the Republican Party's candidacy for President but lost. He was then named Republican Vice Presidential candidate by Reagan after Reagan defeated him. Reagan and Bush were elected President and Vice President that year.

During World War II, Bush was a crewman on a TBM Avenger. He had survived many crashes and sunk a Japanese ship. He later became a diplomat and head of the CIA.

Presidency, 1989–93 
After being Ronald Reagan's vice president, Bush was elected president in 1988 by defeating Michael Dukakis. While he was president, the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union fell apart. He was known for his failed promise speech "Read my lips: no new taxes".

In 1990, Bush's off-hand comments about broccoli caused a minor political controversy. In 1992, he visited Kiichi Miyazawa when he vomited on his lap and soon fainted during a dinner feast. Hours later, Bush made a comment that he was suffering from the flu.

When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in order to steal their supplies of oil, Bush led the United States and many other countries to protect Kuwait. The conflict was called the Gulf War. He also invaded Panama to remove Manuel Noreiga, who was guilty of drug trafficking.

At his home, Bush also signed in important laws, such as the Americans With Disabilities Act. However, the country suffered from a recession. This was embarrassing, and many people believe this was the reason he lost the presidential election of 1992 to Bill Clinton.

Personal life

Bush resided on a ranch in Houston, Texas with his family. After his presidency, he supported John McCain and his son George W. Bush. He supported Mitt Romney and Rick Perry for president. He attended the opening of the USS George H.W. Bush, a naval ship named after him. He traveled with his son to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

On February 15, 2011, Bush was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, by President Barack Obama.

He was present at his son's presidential library opening ceremony on April 25, 2013. In July 2013, Bush had his head shaved in a show of support for the two-year-old son of a member of his security detail, who had leukemia. He is the most recent president that was a veteran during World War II.

Bush sent a letter to Donald Trump in January 2017 to inform him of his (Bush's) poor health that he would not be able to attend Trump's inauguration on January 20 and gave his best wishes.

He was the father of George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, and Dorothy Bush Koch. He had two other sons; his other daughter Robin died of leukemia in 1953; his father (also a politician) was Prescott Bush. On April 13, 2013, he became a great-grandfather when his granddaughter Jenna Bush Hager gave birth to a daughter.

Bush was an Episcopalian.

Health
Bush suffered from a form of Parkinson's disease which forced him to use a motorized scooter or wheelchair to get around, since at least 2012.

On November 23, 2012, Bush had a bronchitis-like cough that initially brought him to Methodist Hospital in Houston for treatment. He was supposed to be released before Christmas, but was kept in and over the holiday because he got worse with a high fever. On December 23, 2012, he started to be in the intensive-care unit. On December 29, 2012, his health improved and moved out of intensive care. He was discharged in the hospital on January 14, 2013. On December 23, 2014, Bush was once again hospitalized at the Methodist Hospital after suffering a "shortness of breath". He was released from the hospital on December 30, 2014.

On July 15, 2015, Bush fell at his home in Kennebunkport, Maine and broke a vertebra in his neck.

On January 18, 2017, he was admitted to the intensive care unit at Houston Methodist Hospital, where he was sedated for a procedure to treat an acute respiratory problem stemming from pneumonia.

On April 22, 2018, after the burial of Bush's wife Barbara, he was hospitalized for sepsis and was placed under intensive care.

Death

Bush died on November 30, 2018 at his home in Houston from Parkinson's-related complications, aged 94. A state funeral was held at the Washington National Cathedral.

Tributes and condolences were offered by former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and then-current President Donald Trump. He lied in state in the United States Capitol and was buried next to his wife at the George Bush Presidential Library.

Other names
Since Bush had the same first and last names as his son, he was often called George H. W. Bush or George Bush Sr. (George Bush senior). Some people call him "41" or "Bush 41" because he was the 41st President.

Comments on broccoli 

In 1990, President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, made a casual remark about broccoli (a vegetable), and said he would never eat it.

The President made this comment in 1990, shortly after a journalist from the U.S. News and World Report broke the story that Bush banned the vegetable from Air Force One. George S. Dunlop, President of the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, gave First Lady Barbara Bush a bouquet of the vegetable an additional 10 tons in trucks.

A few days afterwards, Bush hosted a state dinner to honor Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the Prime Minister of Poland, and journalists noted there was no broccoli on the menu, as most of the 10 tons of broccoli given to the President's family by the farmers had been donated to the Capital Area Food Bank.

References

Other websites

 Bush Presidential Library and Museum
 White House biography
  Note: Contains only Bush's 1990 State of the Union address
 
 
 Essays on Bush and His Administration 
 The President Who Treated Me Like A Son, brief memoir by his personal aide
 Photographs of President George H. W. Bush shaking hands with Philip G. Hoffman at a University of Houston commencement ceremony.
 George Bush  at C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits
 Bush, George H. W. and Jim McGrath. George H. W. Bush Oral History  (Directory entry ), Houston Oral History Project, July 2009. Houston Public Library Digital Archives.
 The Presidents: George H.W. Bush An American Experience Documentary

1924 births
2018 deaths
 
Bush family
United States Ambassadors to the United Nations
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Time People of the Year
1980 United States presidential candidates
1988 United States presidential candidates
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