#41. Bush, George Herbert Walker

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas –George Herbert Walker Bush (1924 –2018) was the 41^st President of the United States from 1989-1993. Described as “a gracious and underappreciated man,” George himself said his legacy was “lost between the glory of Reagan…and the trials and tribulations of my sons.” That may be true when you focus only on “presidential politics” – eight years of a vice-presidency beneath the neon glow of a Hollywood star; then eight years as a Dad to the 43^rd President of the United States, who stirred up a headline controversy or two. (And another son who tried.) And then there was the 1992 “Bar Code Incident” which, as even mischaracterized media blurbs tend to do, stuck to George like glue. I admit, that’s a thing I remember about George H W. The insinuation that “My gosh, he is so out of touch he doesn’t know that groceries are scanned nowadays.” Well, that’s a silly measure of a person to start with, but digging deeper, however wealthy his childhood and however exclusive his education, George Herbert Walker Bush was no spoiled brat. This is a guy who signed up for the Navy on his 18^th birthday in 1942; was commissioned as a naval aviator just before his 19^th  (youngest ever); and at the age of 20, on September 2, 1944 while flying a Grumman TBM Avenger, was shot down over the Pacific Island of Chichijima.

A Grumman TBM Avenger, in case you don’t know diddle about fighter planes, was a torpedo bomber that flew off and back onto aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean during WWII. George’s squadron was assigned to the USS San Jacinto, but his plane didn’t make it back that fateful day. George released his payload, hit his target, ejected over water, and floated in enemy waters before being rescued by the submarine USS Finback. His crewmates died, but his own survival after such a close brush with death made its mark on the rest of his life. Humility comes with that question: “Why was I spared?” The Navy awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in that mission. When he was discharged in 1945, he had flown 58 missions, completed 128 carrier landings, and recorded 1,228 hours of flight time. What did George do with the rest of his life? He lived 94 busy years, mostly in service to his country; he had a strong marriage and was father to six children; he founded a successful business; he studied hard and played well. He respected his heritage. And he graciously weathered the sticks and stones of public scrutiny.

Pop and Poppy

George Herbert Walker Bush was born June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, the second of the five children of Prescott and Dorothy Walker Bush – Prescott Jr, George, Nancy, Jonathan, and William. George was named after his maternal grandfather, George Herbert Walker, who was known as “Pop” to the kids; so the nickname “Poppy” was given to little George. Yes, the family was wealthy – thanks to railroads and investment banking; they weathered the depression relatively unscathed. George spent most of his early years in Greenwich, Connecticut, where his parents settled in 1925. But grandpa “Pop” also owned an estate in Kennebunkport, Maine and built a cottage there as a wedding present for Prescott and Dorothy. So little Poppy had pretty places to be and nice things to do growing up. He attended Greenwich Country Day School, then Phillips Academy – a prestigious private school in Massachusetts – from 1937-1942. Phillips Academy, also known as Andover, is the oldest incorporated academy in the United States, established in 1778. Its founders were strongly associated with the Patriot cause, they manufactured gunpowder for the Continental Army. John Hancock signed the academy’s articles of incorporation; Paul Revere designed the academy’s seal. That seal includes the mottos: “The end depends upon the beginning” and “Not for oneself.” Those mottos must have made an impression.

No Time Wasted

George crammed so much into the years between leaving Andover in 1942 at age 18 and graduating from Yale in 1948 at age 24 I’ll bullet it:

• 6/1942 –enlisted in US Navy
• 6/1943 – commissioned as ensign at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, youngest pilot in Navy
• 12/1943 – engaged to Barbara Pierce
• 5/1944 – flew first combat mission bombing Wake Island
• 9/1944 – shot down over the Pacific
• 11/1944 – returned to San Jacinto, operations in the Philippines
• 1/1945 – married Barbara Pierce in Rye, New York; began training in Auburn, Maine for an invasion of Japan
• 9/1945 – Japan surrendered, released from active duty
• 11/1945 – Entered Yale on GI Bill
• 7/1946 – son George Walker Bush born
• 6/1948 –Graduated Yale Phi Beta Kappa, BA in economics

Note about his time at Yale: he was a married student on an accelerated program graduating in two and a half years; he captained the Yale baseball team and played in two College World Series as a left-handed first baseman; he was in all the honor societies, his first child was born. Barbara, by the way, was scorekeeper for all those baseball games.

Let’s Talk About Barbara

Barbara Pierce (1925-2018) was born June 8, 1925 in a hospital in Flushing, Queens, New York City, the third of the four children of Marvin and Pauline Robinson Pierce – Martha, Barbara, Jimmy, Scott. And yes, father Marvin was connected to the “US President #14 Franklin Pierce” family in some way. Marvin was a businessman, Pauline was a housewife, and Barbara grew up in Rye, New York in relative comfort. Her mother’s generally pessimistic outlook on life she saw as an example to avoid; early on Barbara decided she would choose to be happy with what she had. She attended public schools, though not all that fond of schoolwork. But she enjoyed athletics – swimming, tennis, even football; she also was a sought-after dance partner. And that leads to the story about how she met George – across a crowded room.

“You are 16, I am 17.” Like a Richard Rodgers song, George spotted Barbara across the room at a Christmas dance in 1941 and asked a friend to introduce them. They didn’t dance, George didn’t know how to waltz; so they sat and talked. And kept up a correspondence. They became secretly engaged. Then he was gone; she spent some time at Smith College, dropped out and worked in a nuts and bolts factory to support the war effort, grieved when he was shot down, got to know his family (they nicknamed her Bar, which stuck for life), and began to plan their wedding. They married January 6, 1945 in Rye’s First Presbyterian Church with a reception at the Apawamis Club, where they’d had their first date. Pretty romantic, eh? Rye, New York and Greenwich, Connecticut, where each grew up, are small communities on Long Island Sound about 5 miles apart, and part of the New York metropolitan area. For their first years of marriage, they moved wherever George’s squadron training sent him. When he entered Yale, they lived in shared housing in New Haven; after George was born they moved into a converted mansion next to the president’s house where 40 people shared the kitchen and bathrooms. All the joys of young marrieds.

Gone To Texas

The next 15 years were building years. George didn’t need to confer with Barbara about leaving the “daily shadow” of family expectations and old familiar places. He accepted a job offer in TEXAS, as an oil field equipment salesman for Dresser Industries, and Barbara was gung ho to go. On their own.

They moved a lot – Odessa, Texas; Bakersfield, California; Midland, Texas – as George learned the oil business. Next was the launch of the Bush-Overby Oil Development Company in 1951; in 1953 he cofounded the Zapata Petroleum Corporation, drilling in the rich Permian Basin in Texas; in 1954 he was named president of Zapata Offshore Company, a subsidiary specializing in offshore drilling. He stayed there until the mid-60s, when he sold his stock for $1 million. The family was living in Houston by then.

And the family had grown. Robin was born in 1949; Jeb in early 1953. Jeb was just 2 months old and George not quite 7 when their sister was diagnosed with leukemia. Robin’s death that October was a tragedy of enormous magnitude; Barbara’s hair turned white; depression set in. And then one day she overhead son George tell a neighbor he couldn’t come out to play because “my mother needs me.” Barbara got herself back on track. The experience of Robin’s death did two things; it brought Barbara and her son George forever close; and it further solidified the relationship between husband and wife. Three more children were born to George and Barbara: Neil in 1955, Marvin in 1956, Dorothy in 1959.

An Appealing Political Candidate

Well known and well off in Texas by the 60s, in 1964 George tried for a US Senate seat and lost; nevertheless the New York Times reported on “his attractive personal qualities.” And so the ball was rolling. But it would be 25 years before George would stand in front of the US Capitol for a swearing-in as President of the United States. Let’s look at how he connected with the presidents along the way – Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan – a group that wound up scandalized, mistrusted, misunderstood, and unabashedly worshiped. What did he gain?

• Appointed by Richard Nixon:  US Ambassador to United Nations.  Chairman of Republican National Committee.
• Appointed by Gerald Ford: Chief of US Liaison Office in China.  Director of Central Intelligence Agency for CIA.

While Democrat Jimmy Carter was in office he had no political appointments though he met with Carter on a personal basis. He went back to Texas as a bank president and part-time professor at Rice, and began planning his presidential campaign for 1980.

• Ronald Reagan’s pick in 1980:

George really wanted that presidential spot on the Republican ticket in 1980. He fought against Reagan, labeling his supply-side-influenced plans for tax cuts as “voodoo-economics.” Reagan wanted Ford as VP, other Republicans didn’t like that idea. But they liked George Bush. So the campaign moved ahead with a smiling Ronald Reagan and a smiling George Bush offering the promise “Let’s Make America Great Again.”  By 1984 the duo is Bringing America Back. Well then.

And then it was 1988. Don’t you know that felt good?

There was even one special “goosebumps” zing to the day; it was a Bicentennial Year, George Washington to George Bush, 200 years since we inaugurated our first “head of government,” and invested our trust in a specific person. We had chosen 41 white males to assume that role, so far.

George H W Bush probably had the broadest training for the job than any of the previous 40, even more so than our first George. He had a good education and a good family. He’d done terribly dangerous things and survived them. He’d successfully managed his own business. His time as US Ambassador to the United Nations gave him valuable experience in foreign policy and in dealing with the Soviet Union and China. As chair of the Republican National Committee, he was involved in how a hopeful person wangles their way to the starting gate.

As Chief of the US Liaison Office in the People’s Republic of China, George’s real-life experience as he and Barbara lived there convinced him that American engagement abroad was needed to ensure global stability and that the United States “needed to be visible but not pushy.” During his year in charge of the CIA, the US national security apparatus actively supported Operation Condor operations and right-wing military dictatorships in Latin America. Think that didn’t give George some savvy? And eight years in Second Position, just one step from the Oval Office? Never mind that Nancy and Barbara were so different in style and beliefs they barely spoke, and that his own ideas did not line up with those of Ronald Reagan. The point is: he saw how things work. So why did he fail to get a second term? Was he just too nice to fight?

It Didn’t End Here

The 1992 defeat didn’t end the Bush Legacy. George H W and Barbara continued to stay in the news. Yes, the family had another presidency to get through, and enough controversies rattling around to dash any hopes of a quiet retirement. At one point Barbara, the “nation’s beloved grandmother” said “Enough of the Bushes,” but somehow they stayed on our minds. I’ll tell you more when we get to #43.

If I could have them over for tea, I’d promise not to mention a thing about politics.