I like George Bush, voted for him, and thought he was dealt an unfortunate hand in 1992. So when my friend of over half-a-century, Dr. George Todd, sent me a copy of this new biography, it went quickly to the front of the queue. Clearly, the author, a Pulitzer winner for a biography of Andrew Jackson, admires the 41st president. He was the last of a generation for whom 'Duty, Honor and Country' was a compelling motivation. He was a gentleman from a different time and place in America.
Born in 1924 to undreamed of privilege and wealth, he was from a family that for ".. more than two centuries, maternal and paternal lines reinforced and supported one and another, producing generation after generation driven by the pursuit of wealth and by a sense of public service." Poppy and his siblings were trained to be "courageous, competitive, caring and tireless." After graduating from Andover at the age of 18, he started training as a naval aviator. By 1944, he was Ensign Bush and was in the Pacific on the USS San Jacinto. On Sept 2, on an approach to Chichi-Jima, he took heavy flak, his Avenger torpedo bomber was severely damaged and he bailed out as his plane crashed into the Pacific. A few hours later, he was picked up by a sub, the USS Finback, and spent a month getting to Midway. He routed himself back to the San Jacinto and by the time the war was over, he had flown 58 missions, making 126 carrier landings and recording 1228 hours of flight time. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He married Barbara Pierson in early 1945 and enrolled in Yale in the fall. He finished in two-and-half years, made the momentous decision to eschew the good life of Wall Street and headed to Texas to be an oilman. The Bushes lived in Odessa, Midland and eventually Houston as George slowly and steadily made his fortune. In 1966, he won a congressional seat from Houston. Bush served two terms and after a defeat in a Senate race, was appointed Ambassador to the UN in 1970. After the '72 elections, he took on the chore of Chairing the Republican National Committee. He was considered for the Vice-Presidency under Ford in 1974 and when passed over took the assignment of envoy to China and then, Director of the CIA. Again in '76, he was considered for the second spot on the ticket. With the Ford loss to Carter, George Bush was out of work and on his way back to Texas. He was fifty-two. He immediately started running for President and in 1980 won a handful of primaries. His good friend Jim Baker convinced him to throw in the towel in May and support Reagan. After almost picking Ford, Reagan chose him for the Vice-Presidency. George Bush made loyalty to the President his number one priority and did a commendable job over the eight years he held the position.
The fact that he was not a 'movement conservative' was the biggest obstacle between him and the 1988 Republican nomination. He defeated Dole and faced-off against Dukakis. His clear victory was the first by a sitting VP since MartinVan Buren a century-and-a-half earlier. None other than Henry Kissinger thought Bush was handed the most tumultuous four years since Truman finished FDR's fourth term. "The world was in fundamental flux on Bush's watch and he led with confidence on the global stage." At home, he tamed the rising Federal deficit and signed the ADA. "His White House years are the story of the rise and decline of a president who reached an unprecedented pinnacle of popularity only to fall, dizzyingly, to defeat at the polls."
One of the momentous events of the century came on Nov. 9, 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, signaling the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the end of over 70 years of Communist rule in Russia. The President believed the appropriate response from the US was restraint. We would not motivate the Soviet hardliners to push-back. Bush believed in compromise and bi-partisanship, and feared the rise of people like Newt Gingrich. He worked with the Democrats to pass the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. He worked the diplomatic channels to help ensure a reunification of Germany. The words "no new taxes" had been placed in his acceptance speech by Peggy Noonan. He considered deleting them, didn't and those words came back to haunt, if not doom him later. "Bush's discomfort with the rhetorical requirements of his office was one of his cardinal weaknesses as a president." He never really explained his decision in the context of fixing the burgeoning deficit and the need for compromise. To me the irony is that in 1980 he called supply side theories "voodoo economics" and he was correct. Reagan tripled the deficit while spending heavily on defense. Bush was crucified for not sticking to the failed policies of Reaganomics.
On August 1, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, and after a few days Bush announced "This will not stand". He marshaled a great alliance to turn back the aggressions of Saddam Hussein. A hundred hour ground campaign crushed the Iraqis. George Bush's approval rating of 89% was the highest ever recorded for an American president. He was at the apogee of success. However, he quickly regretted not removing Saddam and fell into a deep despair. The author quotes the Duke of Wellington: "Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won." At home, the economy went through a slight recession and his poll numbers collapsed. The President entered 1992 fearing failure, of becoming a one-term president. And that is what he became, running a campaign that Tip O'Neill told him was the worst "he had ever seen".
His retirement has been dominated by the fact that his oldest son succeeded him after only eight years. George W.'s invasion of Iraq further complicated and connected their presidencies. Reminiscing about it all, he said "he felt like an asterisk", his presidency sandwiched between two giants and followed by his son's controversies.
The overarching theme of this book is the gentlemanly decency of George Bush. He was raised in a world where he was chauffeured to Greenwich Country Day School. He fortunately had very caring and capable parents. Their message was complicated: work hard, compete, try to achieve excellence, never brag and always, always, be modest and never speak of yourself. He rode that message to become the youngest aviator in the navy and all the way to the White House. He deplored the vulgar excesses of the Republican right. He was called a nigger-lover for supporting fair housing legislation and was completely shocked that anyone could speak that way, and speak that way to him. His aristocratic experiences had shielded him from such excess. Yet, as decent a man that he was, he managed to accommodate the extremists. His middle-of-the road persona meant trying to accommodate all. He was a practical, old-style Republican, almost a moderate, deplored by both the right and the
left
Meacham very capably sums it up as well as it can be done. "His life was spent in the service of his nation, and his spirit of conciliation, common sense and love of country will stand him in strong stead through the ebbs and flows of posterity's judgement....George H. W. Bush was a uniquely good man in a political universe where good men were hard to come by." This is a superb book about an admirable American.
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