The last president of the Greatest Generation, George H. W. Bush, passed away at 94 late Friday at his home in Houston.
On his 18th birthday, H.W. joined the U.S. Navy and became its youngest aircraft pilot. H.W. was a true WW2 hero. Bush flew 58 combat missions over the Pacific. On September 2, 1944 his torpedo bomber was shot down by the Japanese. Bush managed to parachute out and was rescued by a U.S. submarine before he could be captured by the enemy.
H.W. served two terms in Congress. President Nixon made him his Ambassador to the United Nations. President Ford appointed him ambassador to China. Later Ford appointed H.W. as Director of the CIA. He served as Vice President under President Reagan.
George H.W. Bush was arguably the most highly qualified ever candidate for President of the United States. In contrast, take the records of community organizer Barack Obama and real estate mogul Donald Trump, and we have the two least qualified presidential candidates ever.
As president, H. W. will be remembered for presiding over the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany. He signed the START 1 nuclear weapons treaty. And under his leadership our military dealt a smashing defeat to Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces in the Gulf War following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
H.W. was married to his wife Barbara for 73 years. Together they had 6 children, 17 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. Their daughter Robin died of leukemia in 1953 at age 3. Barbara Bush was one classy lady. She preceded H.W. in death on April 17th of this year.
President Bush will be buried alongside Barbara on the grounds of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum at Texas A&M University.
H.W. was long criticized by conservatives as a RINO (Republican in name only) because of his moderate views and for reaching ‘across the isle’ to make deals with Democrats. When many in the GOP turned against him, President Bush lost his bid for a second term.
Some people will choose to remember Bush only for his broken promise of “Read my lips, no new taxes!” But Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen got it exactly right when they paid tribute to Bush by saying he served his country with “modesty, integrity, and patriotism” and made the world “more peaceful, prosperous and secure.”
I have no doubt that George H. W. Bush will be judged by history as one of the great presidents of the United States. And well he should be!
I dont think he’s the last of the Greatest Generation. Isnt Jimmy Carter still alive?
Carter preceded Ronald Reagan in office. Carter was also of the Greatest Generation, but George H.W. Bush was indeed the last president of that generation.
Yes, Carter is still alive. Technically he is a World War II vet because he was a midshipman at the Naval Academy from 1943-46. He is the last living WWII veteran president but he is not the last WWII veteran elected president. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush both were elected after him. That makes Bush the last WWII vet elected president.
President Bush was a class act.
I’m still not following why GHW Bush was the last president of the “Greatest Generation.” Your logic doesn’t add up to me. Are you saying that to be a member of “that club”, one has to see active duty in WWII?
Tom Brokaw dubbed the generation of WW2 as the Greatest Generation. That was because so many men served in the military during WW2 and many of them did not wait to get drafted … they up and volunteered. George H. W. Bush was the last serving president of that generation.
You bring up a pint though. I strongly believe that we should amend the Constitution to change the qualifications for president to include at least three years of service in our army, marines, navy or air force.
Since the president is Commander in Chief, he or she should have had some military experience before taking office.
So, George H.W. Bush was the last president to be elected from the greatest generation. That is what they mean? Carter is the last living president from the greatest generation, but was elected before Bush.
I recall that he thought it improper to remove his suit jacket in the Oval Office. His successor…
My mother told me not to say anything if I had nothing good to say, that said, I rarely adhere to that. IMHO the man was a war criminal, perhaps God will see things differently. Whatever the case he was a liberal as was his son that almost destroyed the conservative movement. Thank God he didnt get to see his globalist new world order come to fruition, he got an A for effort.
No wonder you wish to remain anonymous. You and other like minded conservatives are the ones that are destroying the conservative movement and the Republican Party along with it.
I better shut up now because anything I would add would not be fit to print.
Howie, he’s NOT a conservative. Conservatives actually think. “I wish. . . . ” is the alt. right equivalent of an antics member. He throws hate bombs, vile epithets simply to get a reaction. He doesn’t understand what he’s actually saying, he’s just a puppet.
I am not going to ramble on about “war criminal” and such because that’s just irrational and disrespectful. The man served his country with honor, as far as I am concerned. But the fact remains that GHWB raised taxes, quit the NRA, enacted gun control via executive order, and appointed the pro-abortion David Souter to SCOTUS. If he had been more conservative, we may well have never had a President Bill Clinton.
So, President Bush was punished for putting country above party.
Howie, I don’t think he was “punished” at all. There are those who will claim that he failed of re-election because he broke his “no new taxes!” promise, but I suspect that the reasons were much broader than that.
If we want to gauge the “conservativeness” of a politician on a scale, then I suppose that G.H.W. Bush was not as conservative as say Newt Gingrich, or Ted Cruz. More from the Rockefeller part of the party than the William Buckley part. I believe, however that he consistently put the needs of the country, as he saw them, above his personal preferences or desires. Agree with him or not, he was the living embodiment of what we used to call a statesman.
I am destroying the conservative movement? It certainly has nothing to do with Bush and the scourge of liberal republicans that sold us out for decades. Boy oh boy, and for the record I believe his son was as well as Obama and Clinton blowing up aspirin factories,etc. We act like we love the world however our leaders blowing up nations in our name at will doesnt square with that. We are saddled with their garbage. Hopefully its not too late to turn back the clock. GW rolled out the red carpet for Obamas presidency..
Son, the only thing that’s gonna destroy the conservative movement is vacuous morons like you. You should spend more time listening to your mother, and a LOT less time listening to whatever those voices in your head are telling you.
President Bush and ‘Jimmy’ Baker are good friends of my father in law. When Bush told my FIL he was stepping down as CEO of Zapata to make a run in politics Pop sold off all his Zapata stock and then watched it climb 15%. Bush had introduced my FIL to his future partners in their oil company. When I met his daughter I was introduced to Mrs Bush by her nickname Bunny. She had white hair even though she was still in her 40s. She played tennis to win was my recollection of her back then. I once hopped the fence at their house as a meter reader and immediately recognized whose yard I was in by a picture of them hanging on a wall.
My FIL is extremely loyal to the Bush family and even wrote in Jeb when he voted in 2016. I like them because my FIL likes them. Even though they are Yalies. When I visited the Nimitz Museum that past summer I was introduced to the WWII era GHW Bush and got a new perspective on the guy. Like my father he joined the military when he was 17 but was about 3 years ahead. Very accomplished bomber pilot that survived being shot down.
We were married in St. Martins and I always enjoyed seeing the Bushes at Christmas and Easter services. They caused no disruptions and simply mingled with their many friends there. I am pretty disgusted with the treatment he got his entire political career from the same media that is praising him in their awkward attempt to attack Trump but that is just who they are. He was a very good man and deserves all the respect that is being shown to him.
yep Manny, Clinton 43%, Bush 37.4%, Perot 18.9%
I vividly recall “That giant suckin’ sound is jobs leaving for Mexico!”
Here’s the full actual quote. The guy nailed it 26 years ago didn’t he?
We have got to stop sending jobs overseas. It’s pretty simple: If you’re paying $12, $13, $14 an hour for factory workers and you can move your factory South of the border, pay a dollar an hour for labor, … have no health care—that’s the most expensive single element in making a car— have no environmental controls, no pollution controls and no retirement, and you don’t care about anything but making money, there will be a giant sucking sound going south.
… when [Mexico’s] jobs come up from a dollar an hour to six dollars an hour, and ours go down to six dollars an hour, and then it’s leveled again. But in the meantime, you’ve wrecked the country with these kinds of deals.
Bush lost because a Texan named Perot, ran also. He was against NAFTA as were many others including me.