50 Fun Facts About George H.W. Bush

Which of George H. W. Bush's sons became governor of Florida?

Jeb Bush was Florida's governor during the 2000 recount there that made his brother George W. president; the two Bush presidents are often told apart by their numbers, 41 and 43.

What was George H. W. Bush's childhood nickname, borrowed from the family's name for his grandfather?

Poppy came from 'Pop', the family's name for his grandfather George Herbert Walker, whose full name he was given; Navy squadron mates later called the lanky pilot 'Skin'.

Bush built his career in Texas, but which state did his father Prescott represent in the US Senate?

Connecticut elected Prescott Bush, a Wall Street banker, in 1952; his son grew up in Greenwich and was called a carpetbagger when he first ran for office in Texas.

On what occasion did Bush enlist in the Navy?

His 18th birthday was also his prep-school graduation day; War Secretary Henry Stimson told the class to go to college first, but Bush signed up and became one of the Navy's youngest pilots.

What aircraft did Bush fly in the Pacific?

Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers flew from the carrier USS San Jacinto; Bush nicknamed his 'Barbara' after the girl he was engaged to back home.

Shot down off Chichijima in 1944, Bush was rescued by what?

A US submarine, the USS Finback, picked Bush off his life raft after hours adrift; his two crewmen died, and American airmen captured on the island were later killed by their captors.

Which medal did Bush's 1944 Chichijima mission earn?

The Distinguished Flying Cross rewarded Bush for dropping his bombs on the target before bailing out; he rejoined his squadron and finished the war with 58 combat missions.

In which town, Barbara's home, did George Bush marry her in 1945?

Rye, New York, was where Barbara Pierce grew up; she had met George at a Christmas dance when she was 16, and he married her on leave from the Navy at 20.

What position did Bush play on the Yale baseball team?

First baseman and eventually captain, Bush played in the first two College World Series; a national title, not campus politics, was his chief concern at Yale.

Which secret society was Bush initiated into at Yale?

Skull and Bones tapped Bush during a hurried college career: like many returning veterans he took an accelerated course and finished his economics degree in two and a half years.

What company did Bush co-found in 1953 to drill in the Permian Basin?

Zapata Petroleum took its name from the Mexican revolutionary of the Marlon Brando film Viva Zapata!; Bush later moved to Houston to run its offshore drilling arm.

Between Senate defeats in 1964 and 1970, Bush twice won which office?

A US House seat, for a new Houston district from 1966: two years earlier Ralph Yarborough had beaten him for the Senate with 56% as Lyndon Johnson swept Texas.

Who beat Bush in the 1970 Senate race in Texas?

Lloyd Bentsen had knocked out the liberal incumbent in the Democratic primary, leaving Bush to face a fellow conservative; it took Bush eighteen years to even the score.

Which post did Nixon give Bush in 1971?

UN Ambassador was the post Bush asked for after losing a Senate race that Nixon had urged him to enter with the promise of a job; critics said he had no foreign-policy experience.

What role did Bush hold as the Watergate scandal unfolded?

Chair of the RNC from 1973, Bush defended Nixon until the 'smoking gun' tape came out; then he told a stunned cabinet meeting that the president should resign, and said so again by letter the next day.

To which country did Ford send Bush as chief of the US Liaison Office?

China was his own choice: Ford had offered him the embassies in London or Paris, but Bush asked for Beijing, where the United States still had only a liaison office and no ambassador.

Which agency did Bush lead in 1976?

The CIA was under congressional investigation when Ford called Bush home to run it; to win Senate confirmation he had to be ruled out as Ford's 1976 running mate.

What phrase did Bush use in 1980 to mock Reagan's tax-cut plans?

Voodoo economics was Bush's taunt at Reagan's promise to cut taxes, raise military spending and still balance the budget; it still stung Reagan when he took Bush onto his ticket.

Which 1980 contest did Bush win to claim 'the Big Mo'?

The Iowa caucuses went to Bush by 31.5% to 29.4%, enough for him to claim 'the Big Mo'; five weeks later Reagan beat him soundly in New Hampshire and the momentum was gone.

Reagan picked Bush as running mate after talks collapsed for a ticket with whom?

Gerald Ford, the former president, sought powers that amounted to a co-presidency; hours after he discussed the ticket on television with Walter Cronkite, the talks collapsed and Reagan turned to Bush.

Bush became the first vice president to serve as acting president during what?

Reagan's colon surgery in July 1985 made Bush acting president for about eight hours; after the 1981 shooting he had declined even to land his helicopter at the White House, saying only the president lands on the South Lawn.

Who was Bush's opponent in the 1984 vice presidential debate?

Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman on a major-party ticket, told Bush on live television that she resented his 'patronizing attitude' when he offered to explain foreign policy to her.

How did Bush describe his knowledge of the Iran–Contra arms diversion?

'Out of the loop' was Bush's own phrase for it; no evidence tied him to the diversion of funds, though he did know about the arms sales to Iran.

Who was campaign manager of Bush's 1988 presidential run?

Lee Atwater ran a campaign of attack ads that brought Bush from well behind in the polls; dying of a brain tumour, he apologised to his beaten opponent for the 'naked cruelty' of a remark about him.

What followed 'Read my lips' in Bush's 1988 convention pledge?

No new taxes helped elect him, but in June 1990 he conceded in writing that tax increases might be needed to cut the deficit, and many conservatives never forgave him.

Which phrase did Bush use in 1988 for America's volunteer groups?

A thousand points of light was his image for America's clubs and community groups, shining like stars in a peaceful sky; he repeated it at his inauguration, and the Points of Light Foundation followed in 1990.

Which Indiana senator did Bush choose as his running mate?

Dan Quayle was little known and struck many as too young and inexperienced; when he compared his experience to John F. Kennedy's in debate, his opponent replied, 'Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.'

Who did Bush defeat in the 1988 presidential election?

Michael Dukakis, the Massachusetts governor, led in the early polls but answered Bush's attack ads too weakly; Bush won 53% of the vote and 426 electoral votes.

Bush was the first sitting vice president elected president since whom?

Martin Van Buren did it in 1836; in the 152 years between, sitting vice presidents who tried, Richard Nixon in 1960 among them, all lost.

Whom did Bush name Secretary of State in 1989?

James Baker, an old Houston friend who had managed Bush's campaigns, went to State; the Pentagon went to Dick Cheney only after the Senate rejected Bush's first choice, John Tower.

Where did Bush and Gorbachev hold their December 1989 summit?

Malta hosted them barely three weeks after the Berlin Wall fell, and the meeting is often cited as the point at which the two superpowers put the Cold War behind them.

Which German chancellor did Bush back in pushing for reunification?

Helmut Kohl unveiled his reunification plan within weeks of the Berlin Wall's fall; with Bush's backing a united Germany joined NATO in October 1990, far sooner than almost anyone had expected.

What did critics call Bush's 1991 address warning against 'suicidal nationalism'?

The Chicken Kiev speech, as columnist William Safire dubbed it, urged Ukrainians not to rush out of the Soviet Union; four months later 92% of them voted for independence.

What was the codename of the 1989 US invasion of Panama?

Operation Just Cause toppled Manuel Noriega within days; he hid in the Vatican's embassy, surrendered in early January 1990 and was later convicted in Miami on drug charges.

Which country did Iraq invade in August 1990, triggering the Gulf War?

Kuwait was freed seven months later: a US-led coalition began bombing Iraq in January 1991, and the ground assault launched on February 24 reached Kuwait City within three days.

What dragged Bush from about 90% approval in 1991 to defeat?

A recession eroded an approval rating that Gallup had measured at 89% after the Gulf War; his opponent's campaign boiled the 1992 race down to 'the economy, stupid'.

Which Canadian prime minister helped Bush negotiate NAFTA?

Brian Mulroney had already signed a free-trade deal with Reagan in 1988 before widening it with Bush and Mexico; a close friend, he gave a eulogy at Bush's funeral thirty years later.

Which anti-discrimination law did Bush sign in July 1990?

The Americans with Disabilities Act, modelled on the 1964 Civil Rights Act, covered jobs, transport and public places; Bush had promised at the 1988 convention to bring disabled people into the mainstream.

Which House Republican led opposition to Bush's 1990 budget deal with its tax rise?

Newt Gingrich, the House Republican whip, led fellow conservatives in voting the deal down, which brought a brief government shutdown before a second compromise went through.

Which two justices did Bush appoint to the Supreme Court?

David Souter and Clarence Thomas went opposite ways: Souter, a Republican president's choice, ended up voting with the Court's liberals, while Thomas scraped through the Senate 52 to 48 after Anita Hill's testimony.

Which Bush family dog was credited as the author of a 1990 bestseller?

Millie's Book, written in the spaniel's voice by Barbara Bush, topped the New York Times nonfiction list; it followed her earlier book about the family's previous dog, C. Fred.

Which Texas billionaire's independent bid complicated Bush's 1992 re-election?

Ross Perot dropped out of the race, came back in and still won 19% of the vote, yet he carried no state.

Bush's 37% in 1992 was a sitting president's worst since whom?

William Howard Taft sank to 23% in 1912, when Theodore Roosevelt's breakaway run split the Republican vote; in 1992 it was an independent's 19% that scrambled the race.

Where is the Bushes' famous summer home?

Kennebunkport, Maine, is home to Walker's Point, the seaside estate of the grandfather he was named for; Bush spent boyhood summers there and bought it in 1980, when his political career looked finished.

Which former rival became Bush's friend and partner in disaster-relief appeals?

Bill Clinton, who had turned him out of the White House in 1992, joined Bush to raise money after the 2004 tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, and the unlikely pair became friends.

Which president awarded George H. W. Bush the Presidential Medal of Freedom?

Barack Obama, a Democrat, gave the Republican the nation's highest civilian honour in February 2011, saying the award celebrated 'an extraordinary life of service and of sacrifice'.

Where is the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library located?

College Station, Texas, home of Texas A&M University, got the library in 1997; the Bushes had their daughter Robin, lost to leukemia in 1953, reburied on its grounds, and both now lie beside her.

What condition did Bush reveal in 1991 that his wife Barbara also had?

Graves' disease, a thyroid condition that cannot be caught from someone else, was diagnosed in Barbara Bush in 1989 and in the president two years later, an unlikely double for one household.

The USS George H.W. Bush is what kind of vessel?

A Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the tenth and last of its class: Bush, once among the Navy's youngest carrier pilots, lived to see it commissioned in January 2009.

Which vegetable did President Bush vow in 1990 never to eat again?

Broccoli: 'I'm President of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli,' he said; growers answered by trucking ten tons of it to Washington, where it went to a food bank.