41. G. H. W. BUSH

  1. NAME –    George Herbert Walker Bush                                                     Library of Congress
  2. NICKNAME(S) –  Poppy  /  Chief Spook
  3. BIRTH / DEATH –  June 12, 1924  Milton, Mass. 
  4. FATHER –  Wall Street executive, investment banker, U.S. Senator
  5. MOTHER –  housewife
  6. COLLEGE –  Yale
  7. WIFE –  Barbara Pierce
  8. KIDS –  6  (4 boys)
  9. PETS –  Springer spaniels (Millie & puppy Ranger)
  10. RELIGION –  Episcopalian
  11. ANCESTRY –
  12. AGE –  64

FIRSTS: 

–  first to serve as Acting President while Vice President (for 8 hours during Reagan’s colon surgery)

–  first to visit Hungary, Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Singapore

–  first CIA director

–  first Ambassador to the UN

–  first naval aviator

–  first awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross

MA AND PA:  His father Prescott (Pres) was born in a wealthy family.  His father made a fortune in the steel business.  Pres graduated from Yale.  He was a captain in the artillery in WWI and after that a very successful salesman.  He would eventually serve on the boards of several large corporations, including the Columbia Broadcasting System and Prudential Insurance.  He decided to go into politics and was elected to the U.S. Senate.  He died of lung cancer at age 77 in 1972.  His wife Dorothy (Dottie) was the daughter of a wealthy investor.  He loved golf and became the President of the U.S. Golf Association.  His love of sports was mirrored by his daughter.  She participated in a variety of sports and was an outstanding athlete.  She placed second in the Women’s National Tennis Tournament in 1918.  She passed this love of sports and her competitive spirit on to her children.  She attended private school and then finishing school.  She hated bragging.  She went into labor for her first child after hitting a home run in a friendly softball game.  She died of a stroke at age 91 in 1992.  Parents

BACKGROUND: 

–  in high school he was President of his Senior class and captain of the baseball tea

–  left Yale to enlist in the Navy – became the youngest pilot in the Navy

–  after WWII, returned to Yale

–  moved to Texas to get into the oil business

–  1966 – elected to the House of Representatives

–  1970 –  lost election to the Senate

–  Ambassador to the United Nations for Nixon

–  Chairman of the Republican Party

–  special envoy to China

–  Director of the C.I.A.

–  Vice President

FIRST LADY:  Barbara was born in a wealthy family.  Her father was the president of the McCall Corporation.  Born in New York, she was sent off to preparatory school in South Carolina.  She met another preppie named George at a Christmas dance when she was 16.  They were engaged for eighteen months, part of which he spent fighting in WWII.  They married upon his return.  She dropped out of college to be a wife and mother.  She overcame the tragic death of her four year-old daughter Robin due to leukemia.  As First Lady, she created the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.  She pushed volunteerism and supported the Girl Scouts, Leukemia Society, and Reading is Fundamental.  She ghost-wrote a book by the family dog Millie.  Millie’s royalties from the book were $889,176.  The money was donated to charity.  Millie came in handy in dealing with rats in the White House.  Barbara was once swimming in the White House pool and saw a large rat paddling nearby.  She yelled to her husband who dispatched the rat with a net.  Kelly 347-349

Library of Congress

TRIVIA: 

–  at Yale, he was a first baseman and played in two College World Series;  he met Babe Ruth

–  celebrated his 85th birthday by sky diving

–  in 1993, he became the third President to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

–  one of this children died at age 4

–  became the longest lived President when he turned 94 in 2018

–  as President, he enjoyed tennis, horseshoes, ping pong, jogging, hunting, and fishing

–  famously proclaimed that he hated broccoli

–  the Bush’s were married for a Presidential record of 73 years

ANECDOTES:

BUSHUSURU –  In 1992, Bush made a state visit to Japan.  On the trip he contracted intestinal flu.  At a dinner at the Prime Minister’s house, Bush threw up all over himself and passed out onto the Prime Minister’s lap.  The Prime Minister held the President until he was recovered enough to walk to his limousine, with a green overcoat provided by the Secret Service to cover the vomit stains.  After this, the Japanese coined the word “bushusuru” which means to throw up in public.  Engrossing 457