Happy Birthday Poppy
On June 12, 1924 (87 years ago today), President George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States, was born in Milton, Massachusetts. His fater was Prescott Bush, who would later become a Senator representing the state of Connecticut. Bush had a varied and distinguished career as a war hero, the captain of a baseball team that played in the College World Series, a Congressman, the Director of the CIA, a Vice-President and the father of a President.
Following the attacks on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Bush postponed going to college and at the age of 18 became the youngest aviator in the US Navy at the time. Bush piloted a Grumman TBM Avenger aircraft that attacked the Japanese installations on Chichijima. During the attack, he encountered intense anti-aircraft fire and his aircraft was hit by flak and his engine caught on fire. Despite his plane being on fire, Bush completed his attack and released bombs over his target, scoring several damaging hits.With his engine afire, Bush flew several miles from the island, where he and one other crew member on the Avenger bailed out of the aircraft; the other man's parachute did not open. Bush waited for four hours in an inflated raft, while several fighters circled protectively overhead until he was rescued by the lifeguard submarine USS Finback. For the next month he remained on the Finback, and participated in the rescue of other pilots.
Bush served until the end of the war, then attended Yale University. He played first base for the Yale baseball team and was captain of the teams that lost the first two college World Series. Graduating in 1948, he moved his family to West Texas and entered the oil business, becoming a millionaire by the age of 40. He became involved in politics soon after founding his own oil company, serving as a member of the House of Representatives. He left Congress in 1970 to run for a seat in the Senate at the urging of President Richard Nixon, but was defeated. In 1971 he was appointed as Ambassador to the United Nations, a post he held for two years. He later became Director of the CIA in the Ford administration for one year from January of 1976 to January of 1977.
Bush ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States in 1980, but was chosen by Ronald Reagan to be his vice presidential nominee. In 1988, Bush launched a successful campaign to succeed Reagan as president, defeating Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis. Foreign policy was the centerpiece of Bush's presidency. He conducted military operations in Panama and let a coalition of nations in the first Persian Gulf War in 1991. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union dissolved two years later.
Domestically, Bush reneged on a 1988 campaign promise not to increase taxes and after a struggle with Congress, signed an increase in taxes that Congress had passed. In the wake of economic concerns, he lost the 1992 presidential election to Democrat Bill Clinton.
Bush is the father of George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, and Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida. He is the last president to have been a World War II veteran. He has had an active retirement which included a tandem sky-dive on his 80th birthday. Despite his political differences with Bill Clinton, the two former presidents have become good friends. Bush and Clinton appeared together in television ads in 2005, encouraging aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. On January 10, 2009, Bush and his son were both present at the commissioning of the USS George H. W. Bush, the tenth and last Nimitz class supercarrier of the United States Navy.
Following the attacks on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Bush postponed going to college and at the age of 18 became the youngest aviator in the US Navy at the time. Bush piloted a Grumman TBM Avenger aircraft that attacked the Japanese installations on Chichijima. During the attack, he encountered intense anti-aircraft fire and his aircraft was hit by flak and his engine caught on fire. Despite his plane being on fire, Bush completed his attack and released bombs over his target, scoring several damaging hits.With his engine afire, Bush flew several miles from the island, where he and one other crew member on the Avenger bailed out of the aircraft; the other man's parachute did not open. Bush waited for four hours in an inflated raft, while several fighters circled protectively overhead until he was rescued by the lifeguard submarine USS Finback. For the next month he remained on the Finback, and participated in the rescue of other pilots.
Bush served until the end of the war, then attended Yale University. He played first base for the Yale baseball team and was captain of the teams that lost the first two college World Series. Graduating in 1948, he moved his family to West Texas and entered the oil business, becoming a millionaire by the age of 40. He became involved in politics soon after founding his own oil company, serving as a member of the House of Representatives. He left Congress in 1970 to run for a seat in the Senate at the urging of President Richard Nixon, but was defeated. In 1971 he was appointed as Ambassador to the United Nations, a post he held for two years. He later became Director of the CIA in the Ford administration for one year from January of 1976 to January of 1977.
Bush ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States in 1980, but was chosen by Ronald Reagan to be his vice presidential nominee. In 1988, Bush launched a successful campaign to succeed Reagan as president, defeating Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis. Foreign policy was the centerpiece of Bush's presidency. He conducted military operations in Panama and let a coalition of nations in the first Persian Gulf War in 1991. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union dissolved two years later.
Domestically, Bush reneged on a 1988 campaign promise not to increase taxes and after a struggle with Congress, signed an increase in taxes that Congress had passed. In the wake of economic concerns, he lost the 1992 presidential election to Democrat Bill Clinton.
Bush is the father of George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, and Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida. He is the last president to have been a World War II veteran. He has had an active retirement which included a tandem sky-dive on his 80th birthday. Despite his political differences with Bill Clinton, the two former presidents have become good friends. Bush and Clinton appeared together in television ads in 2005, encouraging aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. On January 10, 2009, Bush and his son were both present at the commissioning of the USS George H. W. Bush, the tenth and last Nimitz class supercarrier of the United States Navy.