Former President George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States, whose foreign policy vision helped navigate the nation through a period of global change and realigned American relations with the Middle East, passed away Friday. He was 94.
The former president’s health had been in decline, and his family announced the news of his passing on Friday night.
“George Herbert Walker Bush, World War II naval aviator, Texas oil pioneer, and 41st President of the United States of America, died on November 30, 2018. He was 94 and is survived by his five children and their spouses, 17 grandchildren, eight great grandchildren, and two siblings,” the former president’s office said in a statement. “He was preceded in death by his wife of 73 years, Barbara; his second child Pauline “Robin” Bush; and his brothers Prescott and William or “Bucky” Bush.”
George W. Bush, the former president’s son and the 43rd President of the United States, released his own statement Friday evening.
“Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro, and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear Dad has died,” the younger Bush wrote. “George H. W. Bush was 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.”
President Donald Trump released a statement on the former president’s death early Saturday morning.
“Melania and I join with a grieving Nation to mourn the loss of former President George H.W. Bush, who passed away last night,” Trump wrote. “Through his essential authenticity, disarming wit, and unwavering commitment to faith, family, and country, President Bush inspired generations of his fellow Americans to public service—to be, in his words, “a thousand points of light” illuminating the greatness, hope, and opportunity of America to the world.”
“Along with his full life of service to country, we will remember President Bush for his devotion to family — especially the love of his life, Barbara,” Trump added. “His example lives on, and will continue to stir future Americans to pursue a greater cause. Our hearts ache with his loss, and we, with the American people, send our prayers to the entire Bush family, as we honor the life and legacy of 41.”
While still in Buenos Aires for the G-20 Summit, Trump sent a tweet, calling the 41st president a “truly wonderful man.”
President George H.W. Bush led a long, successful and beautiful life. Whenever I was with him I saw his absolute joy for life and true pride in his family. His accomplishments were great from beginning to end. He was a truly wonderful man and will be missed by all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2018
According to ABC News, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Trump would designate December 5th as a National Day of Mourning and that he and First Lady Melania Trump would attend Bush’s funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Bush was preceded in death by his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush, who passed away at the age of 92 in April, as well as their daughter, Robin, who passed away at the age of three from leukemia. He is survived by his five children, including George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. and 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush.
The former president was born on June 12, 1924 in Milton, Massachusetts to Prescott Bush, an investment banker who would later serve in the U.S. Senate for 10 years, and Dorothy Walker Bush.
When World War II broke out, Bush decided to join the Navy rather than attend Yale University, and became the youngest combat aviation officer in the Navy, CNN reports. He flew 58 combat missions in the Pacific and was once shot down by the Japanese in 1944. After the war, Bush went on to attend Yale University and married Barbara Pierce, who he had met at a country club dance when he was 17 and she was 16.
After establishing an independent oil exploration company in Texas post college, Bush began a life of politics, serving in various capacities in the government, Politico reports. In 1966, Bush was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and following an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 1970, Presidents richard Nixon and Gerald Ford appointed Bush to several positions: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, liaison to the People’s Republic of China and director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Bush decided to run for the presidency in 1980 presidential election, but Ronald Reagan, who Bush had criticized for his “voodoo economics” plan to increase federal revenue by decreasing taxes, overtook him to gain the Republican nomination, ABC News reports. Reagan ultimately chose Bush to be his running mate, and the Reagan-Bush tickets easily defeated President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale.
According to CNN, in 1988, Bush ran to succeed Reagan, and quickly became known for his two catchphrases — to create a “kinder, gentler nation” and “read my lips, no new taxes.” The second promise would later prove to be a problem and would contribute to his his inability to secure a second term in the White House.
Bush easily won the election, gaining 53 percent of the vote and a wide margin in the electoral college.
The former president’s greatest successes were in foreign policy, where he built on the relationships that he had developed with foreign leaders and governments during his time as vice president and as a former diplomat. When Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Bush assembled a coalition and got the United Nations Security Council to demand that Iraq withdraw from Kuwait. When Iraq refused, Bush launched “Operation Desert Storm,” with six weeks of continuous air strikes and a 100-hour ground campaign, Politico reports. Iraqi forces withdrew from Kuwait, and Bush received the highest approval ratings of any president: 91 percent.
But despite Bush’s successes in on the foreign front, from Kuwait to his handling of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1991, he was never as successful domestically.
Confronted with a recession, Bush had to break his promise of no new taxes, and Democrats and Republicans were unhappy with the president’s budget plan that raised some taxes and eliminated his plan to cut the tax on capital gains, ABC News reports. Bush also lost support from women when he nominated Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court and Anita Hill, a former employee of Thomas’, accused him of sexual harassment.
But through it all, Bush loved his family and friends.
“I don’t know what would happen, I don’t know where I’d be in life if I wasn’t blessed with a lot of kids and grandkids and family, including, of course, Barbara,” Bush told ABC News’ Dianne Sawyer in 2012. “Family means everything to me. And we’re blessed a with lot of ‘em…. We take great pride in what they do and what their plans are for the future. And through — through their eyes, I think of life a lot.”
And even though Bush’s next two successors were Democrats, besides his son, the former president forged strong relationships with both Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
According to Newsweek, Bush will lie in state at the Capitol in Washington D.C. and will ultimately be laid to rest at the Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, beside his wife and their daughter.