#43. Bush, George Walker

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – George Walker Bush (b 1946) was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001-2009. #43 George and #6 John Quincy Adams share a unique place in the history books – both had a father who served as president. And having “Dad” precede you in such a position of glory must have been a heck of a thing to live up to. But there’s another way of looking at it – from Dad’s point of view – how did their offspring carry on the banner entrusted to them? #41 George H W Bush lived through the eight years of his son’s presidency and beyond, as expectations and analysis continue; remember his comment about the “trials and tribulations of my sons”? And one of those tribulations began before #43 George was even declared president; and in a strange way involved two Bush sons.

A new phrase entered the lingo of the American public and it had to do with a voter’s vote getting properly counted. Or not. Hanging Chads became a physics lesson. Technology had evolved into the “hole punch ballot” so votes could be machine counted. Punch a hole in a ballot and let the machine count the holes. But, alas, if the “chad” – that is the excess tissue that had to be removed in order to have a hole to count — wasn’t fully removed, well, you had a “hanging chad” and the machine didn’t know what to do. And those “hanging chad ballots” happened in the state of Florida, and the Governor of Florida was Jeb Bush, the son of #41 George and the brother of candidate George.

The US Supreme Court was involved before George finally got into the White House. Opponent Al Gore, who had served as Vice President for eight years, racked up 48.4% of the popular vote; George Bush received 47.9%. But the “electoral college” system we use gave Bush 271 electoral votes and Gore 266 (you must have 270 to win). And Florida’s 25 electoral votes were the “hanging chad recount” issue. Do the math. The tally in Florida was so close – a difference of 537 individual votes out of six million cast in Florida – that a recount was called for; then a second one as “chads” continued under scrutiny. The US Supreme Court ruled on December 9 to reverse a Florida Supreme Court decision for a third count. On December 13, 2000, Al Gore conceded the election. He strongly disagreed with the Court’s decision, but in his concession speech stated that, “for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession.” On the morning of January 6, 2001, carrying out the duty of the outgoing vice president, Al Gore presided over the joint session of the US Congress where the electoral votes from every state are officially counted, and declared George W Bush duly elected with 271 electoral votes to his own 266. On January 20 George Walker Bush was sworn in as our 43rd president.

Back to 1946

George Walker Bush was born July 6, 1946 at Grace Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, the first of the six children of George Herbert Walker and Barbara Pierce Bush – George, Robin, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Dorothy. Starting life as a “Connecticut Yankee” since Dad was a student at Yale at the time, George was two years old when the family moved to Odessa, Texas and Dad became a “Texas oil man.” So George grew up a Texan – Texas heat and Texas oil wells; the family moved about; the siblings arrived. George lived with change; his sister Robin’s bout with leukemia and death; his mother’s depression; his father’s expanding business. He went to Sam Houston Elementary and San Jacinto Junior High in Midland; by 1959 the family was in Houston and George was sent to Kinkaid, a college prep school there. For grades 10-12 he was sent cross country to Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts, and then Yale, as Dad had done; sports and fraternities too, but with an east coast difference from his familiars. He graduated Yale with a BA in history in 1968, a C student he said, but “good at rugby.”

The Context of Vietnam

US military troops were sent to Vietnam beginning in 1965; by 1969 more than 500,000 were stationed there. The last units left Vietnam March 29, 1973. The priority of call for the draft was based on the birthdates of registrants born between 1944-1950; those exempt were in university education or medically unfit. Thousands of young men evaded the draft by moving to Canada; thousands joined the ROTC or National Guard in order to avoid being sent to the controversial ground war in the jungles of Vietnam.

The Military and Harvard

Unmarried, out of college, and physically fit, George faced the same choices as his predecessor Bill Clinton faced in 1968 when he graduated from Georgetown – choices framed by the war in Vietnam. George joined the Texas Air National Guard with a commitment to serve until 1974. After two years of training, he was assigned to Houston, flying Convair F-102s with the 147th Reconnaissance Wing out of the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base. His application to the U of Texas law school in 1970 was rejected; in December 1972 the last draft call was issued. George moved to Montgomery, Alabama to work on the US Senate campaign of Republican Winton Blount and was suspended from flying for failure to take a scheduled physical exam, but drilled with the Alabama Air National Guard. In 1973 he was accepted in a graduate program at Harvard. Honorably discharged from the Air Force Reserve in 1974, the next year he received his Harvard MBA.

Enter Laura

George was 31 in 1977 when he established a small oil exploration company; and that was the year he met, and married, a girl named Laura. Laura Welch was the only child of Harold and Jenna Welch, born November 4, 1946, in Midland, Texas. By the time she and George met she was already a school teacher there; with a BS in education from SMU (1968) and a master’s degree in library science from the U of Texas (1973). A pretty good match, it seems; the story goes that when George proposed to Laura, she accepted based on one thing: “that I’ll never have to give a campaign speech.” We know how that worked out; but as of this writing their marriage is in its 47th year and George continues to give Laura credit for “smoothing his rough edges.” And he gives her credit for helping him overcome his problem with alcohol. “I woke up with a hangover the morning after my 40th birthday celebration,” he said, “and decided it was time to quit.” He avers he hasn’t had a drink since 1986. Stories abound of his 20 years of alcohol abuse, of his bar-hopping and mediocre performance in the military and in school. And theories of how such abuse affects future decision making are out there; in particular the decisions he made during his eight years as president. But that’s getting ahead of the story; let’s follow what he did, and what was happening around him, in those 24 years between 1977-2001.

The Businesses, The Kids, And Stuff

  • 1977 – George established Arbusto Energy, a small oil exploration company, name later changed to Bush Exploration. George and Laura were married November 5 in Midland, Texas.
  • 1978 – George ran for US House of Representatives from Texas 19th district, lost.
  • 1981 – George and Laura became parents with the birth of twins Barbara Pierce Bush and Jenna Welch Bush; George’s father became US Vice President.
  • 1984 – George became chairman when his company merged with Spectrum 7. Decreased oil prices caused the company to fold into Harken Energy Corporation; George became a member of the Board of Directors. There was an insider trading investigation by SEC.
  • 1985 – George’s father re-elected vice president.
  • 1986 – George vowed to give up drinking.
  • 1988 – George and family moved to Washington to work on his father’s presidential campaign.
  • 1989 – George’s father elected US president. George arranged for a group of investors to purchase a controlling interest in MLB’s Texas Rangers for $89 million; invested $500,000 himself and became managing general partner; George actively led team projects and attended games for the next 5 years becoming publicly more visible.
  • 1991 – George was one of seven people selected to run his father’s 1992 presidential campaign.
  • 1993 – George’s father lost his second presidential bid; Bill Clinton was inaugurated. George considered a candidacy to become commissioner of baseball.
  • 1994 – George declared his candidacy for the Texas gubernatorial election; brother Jeb was running for governor in Florida.
  • 1995 – George elected governor of Texas, became focus of attention as a potential future presidential candidate. Brother Jeb defeated in his bid for Florida governor.
  • 1997 – Bill Clinton re-elected president.
  • 1998 – George re-elected governor of Texas with 69% of the vote, first Texas governor to be elected to two consecutive terms. George promoted faith-based organizations; decided to seek 2000 Republican presidential nomination; and sold his shares in Texas Rangers for over $15 million. Brother Jeb elected governor of Florida.
  • 1999 – Bill Clinton impeached, but remained in office with a high approval rating.

A New Century Begins

As Texas Governor, George signed a bill into law proclaiming June 10, 2000 to be “Jesus Day” in Texas, urging people to “follow the example of Jesus” and answer the call to service helping those in need. On August 3, in acceptance of his nomination as presidential candidate at the Republican Convention in Philadelphia, George attacked the Clinton administration on defense and military topics, high taxes, and a lack of dignity and respect for the presidency. Headed towards November, George campaigned as a compassionate conservative, criticizing opponent Al Gore over gun control and taxation.

You know what happened next. That was the year chads became a household word. By the end of the next eight years the Federal Budget had gone from a surplus of $236 billion to a deficit of$459 billion. Did the lid fly off Pandora’s box?

The first catastrophe happened just 234 days into George’s presidency. On the morning of September 11, 2001, four Islamic terrorist suicide attacks struck the United States, killing 2,977 people. Two hijacked planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City; a third plane struck the Pentagon in Washington; the fourth plane, believed to be headed for the US capitol, crashed in a Pennsylvania field due to passenger heroism – they simply revolted against the hijackers, opting for their deaths there rather than the horrific consequences of having our capitol destroyed. The US went to war. On March 20, 2003 US forces invaded Iraq; on May 1 George Bush announced “mission accomplished.”

In the 2004 presidential election George’s conduct during the war on terrorism was rewarded; he won 50.7 percent of the popular vote and defeated John Kerry with 286 electoral votes. But by 2005, George’s approval rating had dropped below 50 percent; people were angry that US troops were now entangled in an Iraqi civil war; and at home, Hurricane Katrina struck, and destroyed, the city of New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast. George’s handling of Federal assistance to the thousands of homeless still brands him today as a “failed president.” And then, in 2007, as families had been madly borrowing against their home equity to “maintain lifestyle,” the housing bubble burst; the economy tanked. By 2008 election time, American voters were ready for the Democrats again.

The Afterlife

After welcoming Barack and Michelle Obama to the White House, and participating in their inauguration day, George and Laura returned to Texas; they’ve got a ranch in Crawford, and a home in Dallas.  George and Laura remain friends with the Obamas; they’ve attended the Trump and the Biden inaugurations; they’ve stayed in touch. George has taken up painting as a hobby –self-portraits, world leaders, veterans; still life and dogs too; several books of his paintings have been published. In 2019 on the 10th anniversary of South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun’s death, George presented a portrait of the man to his family. That was a nice gesture, don’t you think?

George’s parents died in 2018; but comparisons of father/son continue still, and that’s the touching thing. When you think of it, George was “expected to follow” in Dad’s footsteps; sent to the same schools and expected to desire the same success as a war hero and superior student. In truth he was more like his mother. Barbara never cared a flip about school; when she met George H W at the age of 16 she started planning her wedding, and her family, with no interest in college or career. She loved sports; she loved hanging out with a crowd; she wasn’t much for sticking by the rules. And the world admired that in our “National Grandmother.” So I say enough with the comparisons!

I didn’t think George should have been elected, it was an icky-sticky win. And I didn’t like much of what he did as our president; though many things occurred that were way beyond his control, he made some costly mistakes. But there’s just something about the guy I like. So yes, I’d feel pretty bad if I didn’t invite him, and Laura, to my party. And the grandkids too – just look at the cuties in that selfie.