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Sunday 22 September 2013

George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush was born at 173 Adams Street in Milton, Massachusetts on June 12, 1924.

George H. W. Bush, c. 1925

Bob Hope’s golf buddy was Prescott Bush, the father and grandfather of presidents George H.W. Bush (b 1924) and George W. Bush.

Before he went to college, Bush served in the Navy until the end of World War II.

In 1943, Bush was the youngest pilot in the Navy at the time.

After Bush's promotion to Lieutenant (junior grade) on August 1, 1944, his squadron commenced operations against the Japanese in the Bonin Islands.

Bush in his Grumman TBM Avenger on the carrier USS San Jacinto, 1944

Bush was one of nine airmen who escaped from their planes after being shot down during bombing raids on Chichi Jima, a small island 700 miles (1,100 km) south of Tokyo, on September 2, 1944. Eight of the nine were murdered, Five of those eight were cannibalized. Bush was the lone survivor, as a result of being rescued by the lifeguard submarine USS Finback. This experience shaped Bush profoundly, leading him to ask, "Why had I been spared and what did God have for me?"

For the next month Bush remained on Finback, and participated in the rescue of other pilots.

During World War II, Bush flew 58 combat missions for the Navy and was awarded three Air Medals and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service.

After World War II, Bush went to Yale University. He graduated with honors in 1948 with a degree in economics.

He finished his Yale college degree in just two and a half years.

Bush  captained the Yale baseball team, and as a left-handed first baseman, played in the first two College World Series.

George H.W. Bush married Barbara Pierce on January 6, 1945 at the First Presbyterian Church in Rye, New York. They had six children.

Bush began his career in 1948 working in the oil industry in Texas.

George Washington, George Bush Sr and Henry VIII (to Anne of Cleves) all married on January 6th.

He became active in the Republican party. In 1967, Bush won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. From 1981-89, he served as Vice President under Reagan.

Bush gained the nomination in 1988 to run for president. He won with 54% of the popular vote and 426 out of 537 electoral votes.

George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president, was the only one to have four names.

Portrait of President George H.W. Bush cropped and reuploaded by Emiya1980

A springer spaniel, Mildred Kerr Bush, was "first dog" of the White House during George Bush's presidency. Known as Millie, the dog "dictated" the 1990 best-seller Millie's Book' to Barbara Bush, offering readers a dog's-eye view of the presidency.

Millie the White House dog earned more than four times as much as President Bush in 1991.

George H.W. Bush disliked broccoli so much that he banned it from Air Force One. Shortly after a journalist from U.S. News and World Report broke the story that Bush had banned the vegetable, broccoli growers sent the First Lady ten tonnes of broccoli, most of it was donated away.

In 1991 both George Bush Senior and his wife Barbara contracted a thyroid condition called Graves’ disease whilst in the White House. When their dog Millie also developed a thyroid condition, conspiracy theories flourished.

Shortly after George H. W. Bush vomited and fainted at a meeting with the Japanese Prime minister in 1992, a man named James Edward Smith, called CNN posing as the president's physician claiming Bush had died. CNN was within seconds of publishing the story, but stopped the anchor mid sentence.

After President Bush vomited on the Japanese Prime Minister, a new word entered the Japanese language. "Bushusuru" means “to do the Bush thing,” or to publicly vomit.

His eldest son, George W Bush, became president in 2001, and another son, Jeb (John Ellis) Bush (1953– ), governor of Florida in 1999.

He was the second president to be the father of another U.S. president. (John Adams was the first.)

In 2014, George H.W. Bush celebrated his 90th birthday with a tandem parachute jump, just as he had on his 75th, 80th and 85th birthdays.

Bush resided during the summer in his Kennebunkport home — an estate that has been in the Bush family since the late 19th century. When he was home, a Texas flag flew from the compound.

Bush was known for his colorful and eccentric socks. The Republican National Committee sold “Official George H.W. Bush socks” for $19. The brightly colored socks included an embroidered elephant and Bush’s signature.

He suffered from Parkinson's disease in his last years and Bush had been forced to use a motorized scooter or wheelchair from at least 2012.

George H.W. Bush died on November 30, 2018, aged 94, at his Houston home.

U.S. President George H. W. Bush's service dog Sully slept next to Bush's coffin before his state funeral, which occurred over a period of three days from December 3–6, 2018.

Source The Daily Signal, Fox News

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