User blog:UnderAPineapple/In Memory of George H.W. Bush

Last night, I found out about the passing of the 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush. The 94-year old passed away in Houston, Texas, and is survived by five of his children, eleven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. He served as President from January 20, 1989 to January 20, 1993, and before that, served as Vice President of the United States during the presidency of the late Ronald Reagan. This following is a statement I made on social media regarding the passing of a man I have great decency and respect for. This blog post is dedicated to George H.W. Bush, who will always be remembered as a patriot.

George H.W. Bush was a man who exemplified patriotism, and commitment to helping this country. He wasn’t just the 41st President of the United States; he was a war hero, an athlete, a congressman, a foreign policy expert, a father, a son, and a loving husband to the late Barbara Pierce. At 17, he enlisted into the Army in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, wanting to help his country win against the Axis Powers. In World War II, on September 2, 1944, George H.W. Bush piloted a plane in Chichijima, Japan, when it was shot down by enemy troops, leaving him to nearly die in the Pacific Ocean. He later went on to say, “Why had I been spared, and why did God have for me?”, referencing the many American men who were executed by the Japanese as a result of the plane being shot down.

He married Barbara, and together, they had 6 children – one who died at the age of three – and resided in Texas, where at 42, he was elected into the U.S. House of Representatives, as a Republican, in a district that had never elected a Republican in that office since the Reconstruction Era (post-Civil War). George H.W. Bush served for two terms (four-years) before serving in both the Nixon and Ford administrations, as a U.S. Ambassador, and later the Director of Central Intelligence.

When California Governor Ronald Reagan won the Republican presidential nomination in 1980, George H.W. Bush was selected as his running mate. They won the electoral vote in a landslide victory, and did the same thing again in 1984, before Bush himself won his own presidential election in 1988, against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. These two men, along with many others, were critical in ending the Cold War, and helping take down the Soviet Union. Despite this, Bush was defeated in the 1992 election, becoming the most recent President to lose a re-election bid.

George Bush is remembered for a lot of accomplishments, from his time as the Director of Central Intelligence, his time Vice President under the Reagan administration, presiding over the Persian Gulf War and leading our side to victory, and his famous “Thousand Points of Light” speech. Although he only served one term, this country has changed a lot as a result of the great work that he has done a large part in contributing to. My heart breaks for the Bush family, and I am sending my thoughts to them. I hope they take comfort in knowing that both he and Barbara are now reunited together in Heaven and looking down with great optimism on this country that both of them once served. I also hope they take pride in knowing that their father, grandfather, and friend was a man of decency and respect, who put country over personal gain, and showed us the true meaning of decency, and the American dream. 70 years ago, he was almost about to die and become another statistic in the deadliest war in world history, not expecting that decades later, he would be among an exclusive group of people who had the privilege to say that they were the commander-in-chief, of this great nation.

I think in a time of such great division in our country, more than we’ve seen in the past several years, we can look back on people like Bush, and remember when it means to focus on what’s going to protect more people, and what’s going to save lives, as opposed to what’s going to benefit just one. E pluribus unum.