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Dec 1, 2018 · Former US President George HW Bush has died at the age of 94 at home in Houston, Texas. Bush Sr served as the 41st US president between 1989 and 1993, his term defined by the end of the Cold...
Nov 30, 2018 · Bush, who died late Friday at his Houston home at age 94, would see his popularity as president soar after he assembled a U.S.-led military coalition that liberated the oil-rich nation of...
- Overview
- Born into privilege, then a life of service
- After the White House
George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States, whose long life in the public sphere was defined by service to his country, has died. He was 94.
His wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush, died in April and Mr. Bush was hospitalized the day after the funeral to be treated for an infection in his bloodstream. He suffered a number of health issues in his later years, including vascular parkinsonism, a condition similar to Parkinson's disease, and used a wheelchair to get around.
His son, former President George W. Bush, issued a statement calling his father "a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for. The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41's life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad, and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens."
On June 12, 2018, Mr. Bush celebrated his 94th birthday with family members in Kennebunkport, Maine, becoming the first U.S. president in history to reach that age. "I see history as a book with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness and meaning," he said in his 1989 inauguration speech.
Mr. Bush was born in Milton, Mass., on June 12, 1924. On his 18th birthday, he enlisted in the Navy, becoming the youngest fighter pilot in World War II. He flew 58 combat missions, including one that nearly ended his life.
"He was on a bombing mission about 600 miles south of Japan," said historian Douglas Brinkley, "when he was shot down and it went into the sea. And it's a great moment for his life of heroism, [September 2, 1944]."
He returned from war with a Distinguished Flying Cross. A year later, he was at Yale University and courting the young woman he met at a Christmas dance.
In January 1945, he married Barbara Pierce. They said it was love at first sight. "I think he's the wisest, smartest, most decent, caring person I know, and I think he's the handsomest thing I ever laid my eyes on," Barbara Bush once said.
Together they left the East Coast and headed south to Texas. George and Barbara had six children. Robin, their first daughter, died in 1953 of leukemia. She was not yet 4 years old.
"It had a profound effect on me," Mr. Bush recalled. "And I think that horrible incident drew us even closer together."
After leaving the White House after one term, Mr. Bush forged a friendship with the man who defeated him in 1992, former President Bill Clinton. The two raised millions for victims of Hurricane Katrina and a devastating tsunami in southeast Asia.
"People say now that they can't tell the difference between me and President Bush anymore and, oh yes you can. I'm the one who has more gray hair," Clinton joked.
Mr. Bush's son George would serve as the governor of Texas and two terms as president, while another son, Jeb, became the first Republican governor of Florida to serve two full terms.
George Herbert Walker Bush was the patriarch of a political dynasty. But his legacy is not of power, but of service.
- 4 min
- December 1, 2018
Dec 1, 2018 · The 41st President of the United States and patriarch of a political dynasty, George H.W. Bush died on Friday in Houston. He was 94 years old.
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Dec 1, 2018 · President George H.W. Bush has died at the age of 94. We look back on his life and legacy. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: President George Herbert Walker Bush has died at his home in Houston. He was 94....