Dead Presidents

GEORGE H.W. BUSH
41st President of the United States (1989-1993)

Full Name: George Herbert Walker Bush
Born: June 12, 1924, 173 Adams Street, Milton, Massachusetts
Term: January 20, 1989-January 20, 1993
Political Party: Republican
Vice President: Dan Quayle
Died:
Buried:

I don’t know if it would be any consolation to him, but 20 years after losing his bid for a second term in the White House there is only one other one-term President that I have ranked higher than George H.W. Bush.  What drove Bush out of office in 1992 was a perfect storm — fatigue after 12 years of Republicans in the White House, the charismatic opposition of perhaps the best pure politician of the second half of the 20th Century (Bill Clinton), a third-party challenge from the wealthy and interesting Ross Perot which damaged Bush far more than Clinton, and an economic recession which wasn’t entirely Bush’s fault.  Bush 41’s Presidency seems to be remembered more fondly as the years pass, especially once there was a Bush 43 to compare him to.  Bush was a moderate and a realist, someone who never threw bombs to earn political capital and was an able manager.  When it came to foreign relations, we’ve had few Presidents who understood the intricacies of diplomacy and could build a real, solid coalition.  When the Cold War ended with Bush at the helm, he was smart enough to realize that the United States would gain nothing but enmity if we took a victory lap and rubbed the nose of the Soviets in their downfall.  In Panama and then Iraq, Bush restored American confidence in the U.S. military which remained shaken in the wake of Vietnam.  The Persian Gulf War was a clear display of American power, but also American diplomacy at its best — building a massive coalition of diverse Allies, setting a goal, and not allowing an inch of mission creep.  Bush has lived long enough to see him receive the appreciation for his leadership that he certainly deserves.

PRESIDENTIAL RANKINGS:
1948: Schlesinger Sr./Life Magazine:  Not Ranked
1962: Schlesinger Sr./New York Times Magazine:  Not Ranked
1982: Neal/Chicago Tribune Magazine:  Not Ranked
1990: Siena Institute:  18 of 40
1996: Schlesinger Jr./New York Times Magazine:  24 of 39
2000: C-SPAN Survey of Historians:  20 of 41
2000: C-SPAN Public Opinion Poll:  16 of 41
2005: Wall Street Journal/Presidential Leadership:  21 of 40
2009: C-SPAN Survey of Historians:  18 of 42
2010: Siena Institute:  22 of 43
2011: University of London’s U.S. Presidency Centre:  22 of 40

Selected quotes from George H.W. Bush’s “What I’ve Learned” appearance in the January 2011 issue of Esquire (Originally interviewed by A.J. Jacobs on September 20, 2010)

(On his wife, Barbara)
“What struck me about her?  Her beauty.  Her sheer beauty.  And her dress!  She had on a green-and-red dress.  Spectacularly beautiful woman.  And I asked somebody, ‘Who is that beautiful girl?’  ‘That is Barbara Pierce, why?’  I said, ‘Well, I’d like to meet her.’  And he brought her over.  We said hi.  Then they started playing a waltz.  I said, ‘Barbara, I don’t know how to waltz’.  And she said, ‘Well, let’s sit down.’  So we sat down, and the rest is history.  Been sitting down for sixty-five years.”

(On finding his career path)
“I was offered a job on Wall Street by my uncle.  But I wanted to get out.  Make-it-on-my-own kinda thing.”

(On his parachute jumps)
“I’m going to do one more parachute jump.  My ninetieth birthday, June 12, 2014.  I liked it better when they let me do it solo.  Now I go strapped onto some guy.  My third-to-last jump, they said, ‘I don’t think you should jump today.’  I said, ‘What are ya, worried about an old guy?’  They said, ‘Well, how about a tandem jump?’  So I did a tandem jump.  I’ve been doing it ever since.  But the solo is much more fun.

(On honors and tributes)
“The USS George H.W. Bush [aircraft carrier] is a great thing in my life.  It’s amazing.  A great honor.  The difference between this and the old carriers when I was a pilot is unbelievable.  Five thousand people on it — it’s like a city.”

(On other leaders)
“Gorbachev was always very pleasant.  I was the first one to have any contact with him, because I went over as Vice President when he took office.  And so I told Reagan that we’ve got a different guy here, a different leader.  He’s easy to work with, good sense of humor.  Could be tough, he could get angry, but I liked working with him.  I give him great credit for how the world is today.”

(On giving up a seat in the House to run for the Senate)
“I went to see Lyndon Johnson, and I was telling him I wanted to run for Senate.  And he said, ‘The difference between the Senate and the House is the difference between chicken salad and chicken shit.’  Johnson was amazing.”

(On Jimmy Carter during the Persian Gulf War)
“When I was President, trying to rally the country behind what became Desert Storm, Jimmy Carter wrote all the members of the United Nations Security Council and urged them not to support me in the resolution that would have given all countries, really, the right to use quote whatever means necessary unquote, and aggression.  That means use force.  And he lobbied against it.  He went to foreign leaders, I mean it’s just unconscionable.”

(On fame)
“Most restaurants we go, they remember — you’re the one that doesn’t like broccoli.  You gotta be famous for something.”

(On pain)
“Well, the worst thing about the time that I was President I think was losing the election.  Yeah, I really wanted to win, and I read smart reporters saying all these harsh things, like ‘He’s not really trying’ and ‘He feels he’s got it.’  And that’s not really true at all in my view.  So that was a hurtful thing.”

(On rest and relaxation as President)
“I loved going to Camp David.  That was a marvelous getaway.  You get on a helicopter, you’re up there in twenty-eight minutes from the White House lawn.  You get off the chopper and there’s no press, no nothing, you just go in and see the top-run movies.  You could talk to foreign leaders without intrusion.”

(On being the father of a President)
“I didn’t give him any advice at all.  But I was a very proud dad…I never said, ‘Now that you’re President, here’s what you’ve gotta do’ — no advice like that.  He had his own people around him, good people.  I had my chance.”

(On material possessions)
“I think the boat is my favorite possession.  But we’re not things people.”

(On his future, as he prepared for 2011)
“If I could accomplish one thing in 2011?  Probably I’d say be alive and not be drooling.”

(On Jimmy Carter)
“Jimmy was terrible to George, so I didn’t ever appreciate that.  You don’t criticize a successor and other Presidents.  I wouldn’t, and he did.  He got very personal about George, and I never appreciated that.”

(On criticism of George W. Bush)
“It’s much worse to read criticism about your son than yourself.”

(On how he and Barbara feel about their children)
George:  “What did I think my kids would do?”
Barbara:  “We thought they would be dictators.”
George:  “No, we didn’t know.”
Barbara:  “We just prayed they’d grow up.”
George:  “They were all wonderful and we were very blessed.”

(On life)
“I love the phrase ‘insurmountable opportunities’.”