George HW Bush

I tried going to the post office on Wednesday, December 5, 2018, A.D., and found it closed in memory of George HERBERT WALKER Bush, who died the week before.  The next day, because no other former presidents had died, and regrettably the current President was still living and breathing, the post office was open, so I could mail out what I needed mailed out.  So this makes my blog quest a little easier. 

As you all may well know, President #41, George Herbert Walker Bush, the father of George W. Bush and Jeb Bush, died last week.  He was old.  Barbara Bush, his long-faithful spouse, had died last April.  Here are my thoughts.

WWII Pilot.  Navy pilot.  No bone spurs.  One of our last Presidents who actually served in combat.  He served with distinction in the Pacific, was shot down, rescued, and continued flying missions until the end of the war.

Brief review of recent presidents’ military records:

Trump.  Exempt from draft during Vietnam War for medical issues.

Obama.  Too young to serve in Vietnam (born in 1961).

Bush II.  Served in Air Force National Guard during Vietnam, widely seen as a military role unlikely to have him sent overseas.

Clinton.   Somehow avoided inhaling weed in London during Vietnam War.

Bush I.  See above.

Reagan.  Exempted from overseas service in WWII due to poor eyesight, but served in Army doing training films with chimps who were non-communist.

Carter.  Was at the Naval Academy during WWII and in the nuke sub service during Korea. 

Oil Man.  After the war he finished up at Yale, joining both Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity and Skull & Bones.  He went back to Texas and became an oil millionaire by the early 60s.  Although he apparently had help from his father, Prescott Bush, his natural talent was also considerable and substantial.

Congress.  He served as US Representative for the Seventh District of Texas, which includes Houston, from 1966 to 1970 (two terms).  In that year he ran for Senate but lost to Lloyd Bentsen, the future VP candidate for Dukakis (see below).

CIA Director.  In the 1970s he was director of the CIA.  There’s an SNL sketch in which Garrett Morris’ character, a private citizen, is invoking his prerogative under a FOIA claim to view his file, and the CIA officer, played by Dan Aykroyd, solicits all sorts of incriminating information from him in order to “narrow down” the search in a room hopelessly disorganized.  On the wall are portraits of Gerald Ford (President) and George HW Bush (CIA director at the time).   Though aside from that, I’m not aware that Bush Sr. had any major impact, for the better or worse, on the Agency nor any notorious deeds. 

Vice President.  Ronald Reagan easily beat Jimmy Carter (and Jon Anderson) in 1980, making GHWB the Vice President.   At some point Reagan was incapacitated, possibly due to the John Hinckley shooting, and Bush became acting President.  This prompted all sorts of chuckles, including from Doonesbury (Garry Trudeau, current PM of Canada).  Of course, the laughs would be on them when he easily defeated Dukakis in 1988.

Voted.  I actually voted for him both in 1988 and 1992.  In ’88 he easily defeated Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis, the former governor of Massachusetts.  That was not only my first vote in a Presidential election – I was 19 – but also the only election in which the candidate I voted for actually won, though given that many of my votes were for Libertarian candidates that’s hardly much of a distinction.  My most recent non-LPA vote was for Mitt Romney in 2012.  

Personal Meeting.  He was the only President I actually met in person.   At some point when he was vice president, I shook his hand at the US Embassy in Paris.   This was at one of these “meet the VP” affairs in a modest room with about 100 people present.  Then later on, when he was President, he came by the same room under the same circumstances and I got to briefly shake his hand as yet another anonymous crowd member.  In neither case did I have any opportunity to speak to him directly or assassinate him. 

Administration.  He took office as President on January 20, 1989 and left office, replaced by Bill Clinton, on January 20, 1993.  The major events of his term were the Gulf War in January 1991 and a massive recession in 1992.  The latter erased any political capital from the former.  Invoking SNL yet again, there was a sketch well before the recession, when the President’s Gulf War popularity made him appear politically invincible in the upcoming election, so the presumed Democratic candidates, including Bill Bradley and Mario Cuomo, all zealously attempt to convince the party faithful NOT to nominate them to be defeated by Bush in the election.  Of course we know what really happened.  I don’t recall Bill Clinton being one of the potential candidates in that sketch. 

Dana Carvey.  As with every president, #41 was subject to his fair share of ridicule and satire, but his somewhat subdued nature made this a bit of a challenge.  I’d say his most famous portrayal was on SNL by Dana Carvey, with such catchphrases as “not gonna do it….wouldn’t be …prudent…at this ….juncture”.  Unlike our current Orange Fuhrer who can’t accept Baldwin’s humor, GHWB was a fairly good sport about Carvey.  This article does an excellent job of discussing this

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/12/dana-carveys-george-h-w-bush-impression-saturday-night-live/577186/

Overall I don’t have any many negative impressions of #41.  He was a standard issue Republican without any major scandals.  The US kicked Saddam out of Kuwait and went no further on his watch.  Others may disagree, and with both his son (#43) and the current occupant, inevitably I think recollections of #41 are going to be more favorable now than they were when he was in office.  And I know someone on Long Island who may have far more to bitch about than I do.