Former US President George HW Bush Dead At Age 94

George Herbert Walker Bush, the World War II veteran who was
elected the 41st President of the United States and fathered the
nation’s 43rd, died late Friday at the age of 94, his family
announced in a statement.

The Republican spent decades serving in government before
ascending to the nation’s highest office, having served as United
Nations ambassador, CIA chief and vice president under Ronald
Reagan, a towering political figure still venerated by the GOP.

Bush advocated a “kinder, gentler” form of conservatism, pursued
policies that helped topple the Soviet empire and initiated
military campaigns that ousted one foreign dictator while crippling
another. He lived longer than any other U.S. president, and
presided over the demise of the Cold War, punctuated by the fall of
the Berlin Wall.

President Donald Trump, who rose to power by railing against the
Republican establishment embodied by the Bush family, hailed the
41st president as a man of “sound judgement,common sense and
unflappable leadership,” a statement from the White House read.

Bush “guided our nation, and the world, to a peaceful and
victorious conclusion of the Cold War. As president, he set the
stage for the decades of prosperity that have followed,” Trump
said.

The former president also was lauded by the 44th U.S. president,
Barack Obama, who in a statement called Bush “a patriot and humble
servant…While our hearts are heavy today, they are also filled with
gratitude.” Bush’s life was “a testament to the notion that public
service is a noble, joyous calling,” the statement read.

Wife Barbara died April 17 at age 92. Their 73-year marriage was
longer than that of any presidential couple in U.S. history. Their
children included former President George W. Bush and former
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

“George H.W. Bush lived a life that was purposeful, and
extraordinarily rewarding — for our nation, and for our world,”
said Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower, the daughters of
former president Richard Nixon, in a statement.

“While people everywhere salute and thank George H.W. Bush
today, we take special solace in knowing the President and Mrs.
Bush are together again,” the Nixon siblings added.

Bush’s cause of death was not immediately announced. However, at
various times during the last several yeas, the former president
fell ill and was hospitalized. A day after Mrs. Bush’s funeral on
April 21, the senior Bush was admitted to Houston Methodist
Hospital for a blood infection.

He had been taken there in April 2017 and in January 2017 for
treatment related to pneumonia, family spokesman Jim McGrath said.
During the January hospitalization, Barbara Bush was also treated
there after experiencing fatigue and coughing. Their
hospitalization came days after they had celebrated their 72nd
wedding anniversary on Jan. 6, 2017.

The couple lived in Houston. During Hurricane Havey, which
devastated the city in August 2017, Bush and his wife were in their
second home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He praised the efforts of
first responders and used Twitter to encourage people to donate to
One America Appeal, a private relief fund coordinated by the five
former U.S. presidents.

The son of a U.S. senator, the elder Bush had big shoes to fill
when he succeeded Ronald Reagan, a larger-than-life figure who was
once his rival. He was denied a 2nd term by Arkansas Democrat Bill
Clinton, only to forge an unlikely relationship with the same man
who ended his political career.

Capping a long political career, Bush was elected to the White
House in 1988 on a ticket with Sen. Dan Quayle, defeating Democrat
Michael Dukakis and running mate Sen. Lloyd Bentsen in a
landslide.

‘Kinder, gentler,’ but ‘no new taxes’
Months before the victory, Bush delivered what became known as his
“thousand points of light” acceptance speech at the GOP National
Convention at New Orleans’ Superdome.

While promising to fight for prayer in public schools and gun
rights and against abortion, Bush tried to put a softer face on
conservatism, striving to make America a “kinder, gentler”
nation.

“Prosperity as a purpose means taking your idealism and making
it concrete by certain acts of goodness,” he said. “It means
helping a child from an unhappy home learn to read. … It means
teaching troubled children through your presence that there is such
a thing as reliable love.”

The speech wasn’t all “Kumbaya.” He promised a hard line against
Democrats.

“The Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I’ll say no, and
they’ll push, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push again. And I’ll say
to them: ‘Read my lips, no new taxes.’”

It was a vow that came back to haunt him.

During the budget battle with majority Democrats in 1990, he
accepted a compromise that resulted in the hike of several existing
taxes. Although no new taxes were created, the decision proved
costly. Bill Clinton seized upon the perceived flip-flop, helping
him oust Bush after a single term despite the Republican’s major
successes in foreign policy.

From to Manuel Noriega to Saddam Hussein
Five months after Bush’s inauguration, he was confronted with
China’s suppression of the pro-democracy movement — its bloody
crackdown on demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Although
hundreds of demonstrators were killed, Bush responded with only
limited sanctions.

In another five months, the Berlin Wall collapsed, on Nov. 9,
1989 — 28 years after it was erected. Bush greeted the historic
event with a reactive response rather than with great
enthusiasm.

“Of course, I welcome the decision by the East German leadership
to open the borders,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “It
clearly is a good development in terms of human rights. … I’m very
pleased with this development.” Pressed about his low-key reaction,
he replied: “I’m elated, I’m just not an emotional kind of
guy.”

“In retrospect, many people recognized that by refusing to gloat
or declare victory over the Soviet Union, Bush probably helped
avoid a backlash by hardliners in Eastern Europe,” Stephen Knott,
professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War
College, wrote in an essay. “He also did not want to endanger
future negotiations with the Soviet Union.”

Indeed, two years later, the U.S.S.R. formally dissolved with
the Dec. 25, 1991, resignation of Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev, Bush’s negotiating partner.

In a Christmas speech to the American people, Bush praised
Gorbachev’s “revolutionary” policies that “permitted the peoples of
Russia and the other republics to cast aside decades of oppression
and establish the foundations of freedom.”

“I’d like to express, on behalf of the American people, my
gratitude to Mikhail Gorbachev for years of sustained commitment to
world peace, and for his intellect, vision and courage,” Bush
said.

Closer to home, only a month after the fall of the Berlin Wall —
matters reached a boiling point in Panama. After months of economic
sanctions with Gen. Manuel Noriega over allegations that the
Panamanian leader had engaged in drug trafficking and had rigged
elections in the Central American country — Bush dispatched troops
on Dec. 20, 1989, starting what was called “Operation Just Cause.”
The operation involved more than 24,000 troops in what was at that
time the largest deployment of U.S. forces since the Vietnam
War.

On the fifth day of the invasion, Noriega fled to the papal
embassy on Christmas Eve. The building was surrounded by U.S.
troops, who resorted to psychological warfare by blasting rock
music. Noriega finally surrendered on Jan. 3. He was subsequently
brought back to the United States and convicted of drug and
racketeering charges. He served 17 years behind bars and died at
age 83 in Panama City in May 2017.

Less than a year after the Panama invasion, another foreign
crisis absorbed Bush. On Aug. 2, 1990, Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein invaded oil-rich neighbor Kuwait. Bush responded by
assembling an international coalition of nearly three dozen
nations.

Under the leadership of Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, a five-month
air bombardment dubbed Operation Desert Shield and the subsequent
100-hour Operation Desert Storm land battle pushed Iraqi troops out
of Kuwait. But it stopped short of ousting the Iraqi strongman,
setting up the second Gulf War that was initiated in 2003 by Bush
43 and resulted in Saddam’s hanging.

The Clinton challenge
In the 1992 election, the elder Bush attempted to capitalize on his
overseas successes. In the final days of the campaign, he unleashed
this salvo against Clinton and running mate Al Gore: “My dog Millie
knows more about foreign affairs than these two bozos. ”

My dog Millie knows more about foreign affairs than
these two bozos.
President George H.W. Bush
REFERRING TO BILL CLINTON AND AL GORE

The electorate didn’t buy it. By a margin of 43 percent to 37
percent, the Democratic former governor of Arkansas — with little
experience in foreign affairs — ended the presidency of the man who
prevailed over Noriega, Saddam and the Soviet empire. Third-party
candidate Ross Perot swung the election with 19 percent of the
vote.

Despite his disappointment, Bush was ever gracious in defeat. In
a handwritten note to Clinton dated Jan. 20, 1993, Bush wrote: “I’m
not a very good one to give advice; but just don’t let the critics
discourage you or push you off course. … Your success is now our
country’s success. I am rooting for you.”

The note received wide attention during and after the final
presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, who
refused to say he would accept the results of the 2016 election if
Clinton won.

Read this. Think about this. George H.W.
Bush’s gracious handoff to Bill Clinton. It’s beautiful. pic.twitter.com/XHjPvbzGu8^[1]

— Tom Ashbrook (@TomAshbrook) October
19, 2016^[2]

The son of a senator
George Herbert Walker Bush was born June 12, 1924, in Milton,
Massachusetts. His father, Prescott Bush, was elected to the Senate
from Connecticut in 1952.

Six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, George
enlisted in the armed forces on his 18th birthday and became the
youngest pilot in the Navy. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying
Cross for bravery in action after being shot down over the Pacific
and rescued by a U.S. submarine.

Weeks after his return from the Pacific, he married Barbara
Pierce in January 1945. After being discharged from the military,
he enrolled in Yale and later moved to Texas to go into the oil
business.

He became involved in politics, and in 1966 was elected to
Congress. He later became ambassador to the U.N., chairman of the
Republican Party during the Watergate scandal, chief of the U.S.
liaison office in Beijing before full diplomatic relations were
restored, director of the CIA, and then vice president under
Reagan.

To celebrate his 75th, 80th, 85th and 90th birthdays, Bush
parachuted from a plane. Before his last jump, for his 90th
birthday, he tweeted: “It’s a wonderful day in Maine — in fact,
nice enough for a parachute jump.”

He maintained that sense of humor in other tweets. He posted
this on July 30, 2015, while recovering from a broken neck.

Who knew jumping out of planes was safer
than getting out of bed? Thanks to all for your kind get-well
messages. pic.twitter.com/T9FmhCqyme^[3]

— George Bush (@GeorgeHWBush) July 30,
2015^[4]

On Jeb’s 63rd birthday on Feb. 11, 2015, he tweeted this:

Happy bday @JebBush! (His table
manners have improved dramatically since this early outing.)
https://t.co/7WNfy5SiXf
pic.twitter.com/EROuf1Pd1M^[5][6][7]

— George Bush (@GeorgeHWBush) February
11, 2015^[8]

A day after Jeb announced his bid for the 2016 GOP presidential
nomination, George H.W. beamed with pride on the twittersphere,
even though matriarch Barbara Bush had initially said: “We’ve had
enough Bushes.”

Yesterday the country saw a great leader and
good man point the way to a better future. I am 1 of the 2 proudest
parents in America today.

— George Bush (@GeorgeHWBush) June 16,
2015^[9]

There were no other tweets about Jeb during his unsuccessful
campaign.

On Jan. 20, 2014, a quarter century after his inauguration, Bush
41 tweeted this:

25 years ago this hour, the people placed
their hopes and trust in our team. Still hard to believe I had the
honor to serve as President.

— George Bush (@GeorgeHWBush) January 20, 2014^[10]

H.W. maintained a public silence about son George W.’s
presidency until the publication of the biography “Destiny and
Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush ” in
November 2015. In the book by Jon Meachum, the elder Bush used the
term “iron a–” to refer to two leading hawks in his son’s
administration, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld.

Still, the elder Bush said, “The buck stops there,” referring to
Bush 43.

Sorry, Donald
Days before his January 2017 hospitalization, the senior Bush had
sent a letter to President-elect Trump expressing regrets that he
could not attend the Jan. 20, 2017, inauguration. With his flair
for humor, Bush wrote: “My doctor says if I sit outside in January,
it likely will put me six feet under.”

“I want you to know that I wish you the very best as you begin
this incredible journey of leading our great country,” he added.
“If I can ever be of help, please let me know.”

Trump, however, didn’t get any help from the elder Bush to reach
the White House. The former president confirmed to author Mark K.
Updegrove that he voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democrat’s
failed run against Trump. The former president said in Updegrove’s
2017 book “The Last Republicans” that he considered Trump a
“blowhard.”

Bush, who watched Trump’s inauguration from the hospital with
his wife, son Neil and daughter-in-law Maria, was released from the
hospital on Jan. 30, a week after his wife. Days later, he was well
enough to toss the coin from his wheelchair at Super Bowl LI in
Houston.

In addition to sons George W., Jeb and Neil, survivors include
son Marvin and daughter Dorothy Bush Koch.

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