• Location: the office, taking a break
• Mood: busy
• Music: Sarah McLachlan-"World on Fire"

Happy Birthday Poppy

I can't believe that on Saturday when I was searching the internets for "this day in Presidential History" I completely missed the fact that it was the 86th birthday of President George Herbert Walker Bush, who I believe is the oldest living president. There are so many amazing things about this man, some of which I've journalled about already, and some of which I intend to. For instance he played in the 1947 College World Series as a first baseman for the Yale Bulldogs. He enlisted to fight in world war two at the age of 17 and he later piloted a bomber that was shot down over the Pacific Ocean. (He completed his mission, even though his plane was on fire, before his Pacific splashdown). He had a variety of interesting careers that included being a member of the House of Representatives, Ambassador to the United Nations, envoy to China, Director of the CIA, Chairman of the Republican Party, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the First International Bank, Professor of Administrative Science at Rice University, and Vice President of the United States under Ronald Reagan.



Bush campaigned for the Republican nomination against Reagan in 1980, finishing second. He was chosen as Reagan's running mate despite calling Reagan's economic policies "voodoo economics" during the campaign for the nomination.

The first President Bush won the presidency in his own right in 1988, soundly defeating the Democratic Nominee Michael Dukakis by a margin of 426 electoral votes to 111 for Dukakis. As President he was able to form a coalition of nations for the 1991 invasion of Iraq, but did not follow through on removing Saddam Hussein like his son George W. Bush did. It was also on his watch that the Berlin Wall came down, and in 1988 the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA was signed.



Despite enjoying high approval ratings for most of his term (peaking at 89% in February of 1991), he lost the election of 1992 to Bill Clinton, who was helped by Independent Ross Perot. Perot siphoned off many Republican voters from his fellow Texan allowing Clinton to in with 43% of the popular vote. Clinton campaigned on the theme "it's the economy stupid" and painted Bush as out of touch with the economic reality for middle class Americans. Despite a hard fought campaign, Clinton and both Presidents Bush are reported to be good friends today and have worked on many projects together as former presidents, including relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina and of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.



I think what I really love about the first President Bush is how active he remains in his retirement. In 2004 to celebrate his 80th birthday he participated in a tandem sky-dive, and according to Laura Bush's book "Spoken From The Heart" he did it again in 2009 at the age of 85. At the end of this month when I visit Texas, I am hoping that I will be able to find time for a drive to College Station, Texas, where the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum makes its home. Rest assured that if I do, I will take lots of pictures and be sure to share them with this community.