History UsefulNotes / GeorgeHWBush

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Bush struggled to pull himself out of UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan's shadow both during the 1988 campaign and his first two years in office. It wasn't until he lead the United States to a decisive victory in the Gulf War that he finally succeeded in separating himself from Reagan. This still affected his legacy though, as his presidency has generally found itself reduced to an odd four years between the iconic presidencies of Reagan and Clinton.

** Though, more (in)famously, Bush was often portrayed as having this relationship to sushi in pop culture, following an incident where he suddenly became sick during a sushi dinner in January 1992 with with the Japanese Prime Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa, which ultimately resulted in him throwing up in Miyazawa's lap.

* GenerationXerox: Bush's eldest son UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush later became president and many events of his presidency (The United States invading Iraq and the United States being hit by a historically destructive hurricane, just to give two examples) mirror that of Bush Sr's. W's handing of said events is generally considered to be less successful than when Bush Sr. handled them, leading to inevitable unflattering comparisons between the two, such as seen in [[http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=13332 this political cartoon]]. Satirists often portrayed W. as a young child desperate to impress his father and Bush Sr. as an exasperated father struggling to control said child. Overlaps with WellDoneSonGuy and SequelDisplacement listed below.

* HistoricalDomainCharacters: One of the few US Presidents to have been playable in a video game, as VideoGame/AcesOfThePacific has you controlling Bush piloting his plane over Chichi Jima in its historical missions.

'''George Herbert Walker Bush''' (June 12, 1924 -- November 30, 2018) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1989 to 1993]], following UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and preceding UsefulNotes/BillClinton, and the seventeenth Republican president. He is the father of the ''other'' President Bush, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush; he was known solely as "George Bush" until his son was elected. Also sometimes known as "H. W.", "Bush the Elder", "Bush Senior", "Bush 1.0", or "Bush 41" (or, more jokingly, "George Homework Bush") to distinguish him from his son. Along with UsefulNotes/JohnAdams, he is one of two Presidents whose son also became President. George Sr.'s own father, Prescott Bush (1895-1972), was also a politician, having served as a Senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1963. Prescott's father Samuel Prescott Bush (1863-1948), was a businessman and not a politician, but headed a department of the War Industries Board during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

In his earlier life, Bush had been a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII naval aviator (and for a time was the youngest one, receiving his commission three days before his 19th birthday), completing multiple combat missions in a [[CoolPlane TBM Avenger]] flying from the carrier USS ''San Jacinto'', including one with his [[ComingInHot aircraft on fire]]. His plane was badly hit again during an air strike against the Japanese radar station on Chichi Jima. Bush held the plane steady while his gunner and radioman bailed out, and confirmed that their parachutes were open before jumping himself. He was rescued in the water by a US submarine, but his crew remained missing, [[MyGreatestFailure something that troubled him deeply for decades]].[[note]] Some years after leaving the White House, Bush joined Film/FlagsOfOurFathers author James Bradley in an investigation of [=MIAs=] around Chichi Jima and discovered that the Japanese garrison on the island had killed [[IAmAHumanitarian and eaten them]]. What is worse, it was found that the garrison's radioman, an American-born ''nisei'' forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Army at the start of the war and frequently abused by his superiors for it, had befriended several of the prisoners, and the murder and cannibalism had been ordered as a KickTheDog aimed specifically at ''him''. Sadly, cannibalism was remarkably common in the Japanese military during WWII, as the Japanese were quite racist and didn't consider it cannibalism as long as the victims were not Japanese. At least one high-ranking Imperial Staff officer was known to order human flesh from China on a regular basis.[[/note]] He is the last World War II veteran to serve as President. All of his successors in office were much younger than him and were born during or after WWII (Bill Clinton, George Walker Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump were born after WWII. Joe Biden was born during WWII).

Bush attended Yale University and was a member of the [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories much talked about]] Skull and Bones society. He was the second (future) President to have served as a member of the society, following UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft. Taft, Bush, and George Walker Bush are the only three Presidents who were graduates of Yale.

Bush passed away in the night of November 30, 2018. At 94 years of age at the time of his death, he was the oldest living former president, beating out UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter by less than four months, and the longest lived of all the presidents.

[[caption-width-right:300:''"Read my lips. No new taxes."'']]

His most famous foreign policy accomplishment was organizing victory in the first UsefulNotes/GulfWar. Iraqi dictator UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein took the weapons UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev and UsefulNotes/FrancoisMitterand [[TheEnemyOfMyEnemyIsMyFriend had given him to fight theocratic Iran]] and instead invaded Kuwait in an attempt to corner the market on the region's oil and be able to essentially hold the West and the rest of the world hostage. Backed by broad international support, Bush sent in the armed forces, led by Generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell, and successfully drove Hussein's forces out of Kuwait (to this day, Bush still has an extremely high favorability rating among grateful Kuwaitis). He then wisely chose not to go all the way to Baghdad and depose Saddam, and pulled the troops out in mid-1991, arguing that an invasion of Iraq would become a quagmire. He was actually criticized at the time for doing this, making the actions and criticism of his son doubly ironic (George Jr. would be criticized ''because'' he deposed Saddam, and the war indeed became a quagmire), and UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden's citing of the Gulf War as a leading motivator for the 9/11 attacks would also cast a shadow over Bush's actions. That said, however, he had a then record-high approval rating of 89% after the war, a record only his son briefly surpassed immediately after the 9/11 attacks. Arguing that the peaceful end of the Cold War and the international support from nearly every country on Earth was a sign of a new era, Bush declared that a "New World Order" of international cooperation was beginning (kooky {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s had a field day with this one). Bush openly admitted in an interview while he was in office that he preferred foreign policy to domestic policy. Former President UsefulNotes/BarackObama, despite being of the opposite party, is on record as admiring Bush's foreign policy, and they do have some similarities in that department.

His most famous foreign policy accomplishment was organizing victory in the first UsefulNotes/GulfWar. Iraqi dictator UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein took the weapons UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev and UsefulNotes/FrancoisMitterand [[TheEnemyOfMyEnemyIsMyFriend had given him to fight theocratic Iran]] and instead invaded Kuwait in an attempt to corner the market on the region's oil and be able to essentially hold the West and the rest of the world hostage. Backed by broad international support, Bush sent in the armed forces, led by Generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell, and successfully drove Hussein's forces out of Kuwait (to this day, Bush still has an extremely high favorability rating among grateful Kuwaitis). He then wisely chose not to go all the way to Baghdad and depose Saddam, and pulled the troops out in mid-1991, arguing that an invasion of Iraq would become a quagmire. He was actually criticized at the time for doing this, making the actions and criticism of his son doubly ironic (George Jr. would be criticized ''because'' he deposed Saddam, and the war indeed became a quagmire). Following success in Kuwait, Bush had a then record-high approval rating of 89%, a record only his son briefly surpassed immediately after the 9/11 attacks. Arguing that the peaceful end of the Cold War and the international support from nearly every country on Earth was a sign of a new era, Bush declared that a "New World Order" of international cooperation was beginning (kooky {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s had a field day with this one). Bush openly admitted in an interview while he was in office that he preferred foreign policy to domestic policy. Former President UsefulNotes/BarackObama, despite being of the opposite party, is on record as admiring Bush's foreign policy, and they do have some similarities in that department.

* He appears in ''Literature/FearLoathingAndGumboOnTheCampaignTrailSeventyTwo'', an AlternateHistory about a different 1972 presidential election. Bush, who was serving as Nixon's representative to the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations, is made Secretary of State by President [[spoiler:Spiro Agnew]]. However, he's appalled by the President's ineptitude and swiftly becomes important in a conspiracy to have him impeached.

George Herbert Walker Bush (June 12, 1924 -- November 30, 2018) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1989 to 1993]], following UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and preceding UsefulNotes/BillClinton, and the seventeenth Republican president. He is the father of the ''other'' President Bush, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush; he was known solely as "George Bush" until his son was elected. Also sometimes known as "H. W.", "Bush the Elder", "Bush Senior", "Bush 1.0", or "Bush 41" (or, more jokingly, "George Homework Bush") to distinguish him from his son. Along with UsefulNotes/JohnAdams, he is one of two Presidents whose son also became President. George Sr.'s own father, Prescott Bush (1895-1972), was also a politician, having served as a Senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1963. Prescott's father Samuel Prescott Bush (1863-1948), was a businessman and not a politician, but headed a department of the War Industries Board during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

* CoolOldGuy: Has cultivated this image in his post-presidency, with his use of social media and his regular parachute jumps. In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Two Bad Neighbors", he gives Homer Simpson a run for his money in hand-to-hand combat and it's also revealed to have a garrote in his watch, ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove''-style. This image took a hit when he was accused in 2017 by multiple prominent women of sexual harassment that supposedly occurred during his post-presidency activities.

* DirtyOldMan: [[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41987895 At least 8 women have accused him of groping them]], dating back to 1992, when he was 68. However, [[AtLeastIAdmitIt he has apologized through his publicist]], albeit with a JustJokingJustification. As pointed out on The Other Wiki, the disproportionate majority of the allegations occurred when Bush was old enough where behavior could be attributed to senility. The rest of them...

** Music/{{Megadeth}} used the same quote much sooner after the fact, in 1992's "Foreclosure of a Dream."

George Herbert Walker Bush (June 12, 1924 -- November 30, 2018) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1989 to 1993]], following UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and preceding UsefulNotes/BillClinton, and the seventeenth Republican president. He is the father of the ''other'' President Bush, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush; he was known solely as "George Bush" until his son was elected. Also sometimes known as "H. W.", "Bush the Elder", "Bush Senior", "Bush 1.0", or "Bush 41" to distinguish him from his son. Along with UsefulNotes/JohnAdams, he is one of two Presidents whose son also became President. George Sr.'s own father, Prescott Bush (1895-1972), was also a politician, having served as a Senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1963. Prescott's father Samuel Prescott Bush (1863-1948), was a businessman and not a politician, but headed a department of the War Industries Board during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

In his earlier life, Bush had been a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII naval aviator (and for a time was the youngest one, receiving his commission three days before his 19th birthday), completing multiple combat missions in a [[CoolPlane TBM Avenger]] flying from the carrier USS ''San Jacinto'', including one with his [[ComingInHot aircraft on fire]]. His plane was badly hit again during an air strike against the Japanese radar station on Chichi Jima. Bush held the plane steady while his gunner and radioman bailed out, and confirmed that their parachutes were open before jumping himself. He was rescued in the water by a US submarine, but his crew remained missing, [[MyGreatestFailure something that troubled him deeply for decades]].[[note]] Some years after leaving the White House, Bush joined Film/FlagsOfOurFathers author James Bradley in an investigation of [=MIAs=] around Chichi Jima and discovered that the Japanese garrison on the island had killed [[IAmAHumanitarian and eaten them]]. What is worse, it was found that the garrison's radioman, an American-born ''nisei'' forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Army at the start of the war and frequently abused by his superiors for it, had befriended several of the prisoners, and the murder and cannibalism had been ordered as a KickTheDog aimed specifically at ''him''. Sadly, cannibalism was remarkably common in the Japanese military during WWII, as the Japanese were quite racist and didn't consider it cannibalism as long as the victims were not Japanese. At least one high-ranking Imperial Staff officer was known to order human flesh from China on a regular basis.[[/note]] He is the last World War II veteran to serve as President. So far, all 4 of his successors in office (Bill Clinton, George Walker Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump), were much younger than him and were born after the War's end.

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'''George Herbert Walker Bush''' (June 12, 1924 -- November 30, 2018) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1989 to 1993]], following UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and preceding UsefulNotes/BillClinton, and the seventeenth Republican president. He is the father of the ''other'' President Bush, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush; he was known solely as "George Bush" until his son was elected. Also sometimes known as "H. W.", "Bush the Elder", "Bush Senior", "Bush 1.0", or "Bush 41" to distinguish him from his son. Along with UsefulNotes/JohnAdams, he is one of two Presidents whose son also became President. George Sr.'s own father, Prescott Bush (1895-1972), was also a politician, having served as a Senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1963. Prescott's father Samuel Prescott Bush (1863-1948), was a businessman and not a politician, but headed a department of the War Industries Board during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

* DirtyOldMan: [[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41987895 At least 8 women have accused him of groping them]], however, [[AtLeastIAdmitIt he has apologized through his publicist]]. As pointed out on The Other Wiki, the disproportionate majority of the allegations occurred when Bush was old enough where behavior could be attributed to senility.

* GenerationXerox: Bush's eldest son UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush later became president and many events of his presidency (The United States invading Iraq and the United States being hit by a historically destructive hurricane, just to give two examples) mirror that of Bush Sr's. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment W's handing of said events is generally considered to be less successful than when Bush Sr. handled them]], leading to inevitable unflattering comparisons between the two, such as seen in [[http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=13332 this political cartoon]]. Satirists often portrayed W. as a young child desperate to impress his father and Bush Sr. as an exasperated father struggling to control said child. Overlaps with WellDoneSonGuy and SequelDisplacement listed below.

* GenerationXerox: Bush's eldest son UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush later became president and many events of his presidency (The United States invading Iraq and the United States being hit by a historically destructive hurricane, just to give two examples) mirror that of Bush Sr's. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment W's handing of said events is generally considered to be less successful than when Bush Sr. handled them]], leading to inevitable unflattering comparisons between the two, such as seen in [[http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=13332 this political cartoon]]. Satirists often portrayed W. as a young child desperate to impress his father and Bush Sr. as an exasperated father struggling to control said child. Overlaps with WellDoneSonGuy listed below.

* GenerationXerox: Bush's eldest son UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush later became president and many events of his presidency (The United States invading Iraq and the United States being hit by a historically destructive hurricane, just to give two examples) mirror that of Bush Sr's. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment W's handing of said events is generally considered to be less successful than when Bush Sr. handled them]], leading to inevitable unflattering comparisons between the two, such as seen in [[http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=13332to this political cartoon]]. Satirists often portrayed W. as a young child desperate to impress his father and Bush Sr. as an exasperated father struggling to control said child. Overlaps with WellDoneSonGuy listed below.

* GenerationXerox: Bush's eldest son UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush later became president and many events of his presidency (The United States invading Iraq and the United States being hit by a historically destructive hurricane, just to give two examples) mirror that of Bush Sr's. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment W's handing of said events is generally considered to be less successful than when Bush Sr. handled them]], leading to inevitable unflattering comparisons between the two, such as seen in [http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=13332to this political cartoon]. Satirists often portrayed W. as a young child desperate to impress his father and Bush Sr. as an exasperated father struggling to control said child. Overlaps with WellDoneSonGuy listed below.

* GenerationXerox: His eldest son UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush became president just 8 years after he left office and many events of W's presidency (The United States invading Iraq and the United States being hit be a historically destructive hurricane, just to give two examples) mirror that of Bush Sr's.

!!Tropes associated with Bush in media and when portrayed in fiction:

That being said, despite Bush's foreign policy accomplishments, it was domestic issues that sunk his reelection bid. Though he did manage a handful of acclaimed domestic acts (notably passing the Americans with Disabilities Act to protect the handicapped from discrimination), it is widely acknowledged that he stumbled when it came to things at home. Despite his campaign promise "Read my lips: No new taxes!", he did in fact raise taxes after a Democratic Party-controlled Congress pressured him to do something about the skyrocketing national debt. Many people who voted for him, especially hardcore Republicans, were disappointed by this show of bipartisanship and felt that Bush surrendered. It was probably a NeverLiveItDown moment for Bush. His nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court became very controversial when a woman working for Thomas accused him of sexual harassment (though he was still confirmed to the Court, albeit narrowly, and it was never proven that he did it), painting Bush as a somewhat clueless figure who was unconcerned with women's rights.[[note]][[HistoryRepeats An uncannily similar series of events]] would occur with the controversy surrounding Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court under fellow conservative president UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's administration, complete with critics viewing Trump as ambivalent at best towards women's rights.[[/note]] Concerned over a growing crime epidemic, Bush called on Americans to help make a "kindler, gentler America," but crime rates continued to rise during his four years. Culminating in the infamous Los Angeles race riots of 1992, crime rates in post-WWII America reached an all-time high in the early 1990s -- they were almost '''twice''' what they are today, just slightly over 20 years later.[[note]]Worth mentioning, the school shooting epidemic that remains a major problem in America arguably began in 1992 with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindhurst_High_School_shooting Lindhurst High School shooting]], the first major shooting to target a high school.[[/note]]

That being said, despite Bush's foreign policy accomplishments, it was domestic issues that sunk his reelection bid. Though he did manage a handful of acclaimed domestic acts (notably passing the Americans with Disabilities Act to protect the handicapped from discrimination), it is widely acknowledged that he stumbled when it came to things at home. Despite his campaign promise "Read my lips: No new taxes!", he did in fact raise taxes after a Democratic Party-controlled Congress pressured him to do something about the skyrocketing national debt. Many people who voted for him, especially hardcore Republicans, were disappointed by this show of bipartisanship and felt that Bush surrendered. It was probably a NeverLiveItDown moment for Bush. His nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court became very controversial when a woman working for Thomas accused him of sexual harassment (though he was still confirmed to the Court, albeit narrowly, and it was never proven that he did it), painting Bush as a somewhat clueless figure who was unconcerned with women's rights.[[note]]An uncannily similar series of events would occur with the controversy surrounding Bret Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court under fellow conservative president UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's administration, complete with critics viewing Trump as ambivalent at best towards women's rights.[[/note]] Concerned over a growing crime epidemic, Bush called on Americans to help make a "kindler, gentler America," but crime rates continued to rise during his four years. Culminating in the infamous Los Angeles race riots of 1992, crime rates in post-WWII America reached an all-time high in the early 1990s -- they were almost '''twice''' what they are today, just slightly over 20 years later.[[note]]Worth mentioning, the school shooting epidemic that remains a major problem in America arguably began in 1992 with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindhurst_High_School_shooting Lindhurst High School shooting]], the first major shooting to target a high school.[[/note]]

That being said, despite Bush's foreign policy accomplishments, it was domestic issues that sunk his reelection bid. Though he did manage a handful of acclaimed domestic acts (notably passing the Americans with Disabilities Act to protect the handicapped from discrimination), it is widely acknowledged that he stumbled when it came to things at home. Despite his campaign promise "Read my lips: No new taxes!", he did in fact raise taxes after a Democratic Party-controlled Congress pressured him to do something about the skyrocketing national debt. Many people who voted for him, especially hardcore Republicans, were disappointed by this show of bipartisanship and felt that Bush surrendered. It was probably a NeverLiveItDown moment for Bush. His nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court became very controversial when a woman working for Thomas accused him of sexual harassment (though he was still confirmed to the Court, albeit narrowly, and it was never proven that he did it), painting Bush as a somewhat clueless figure who was unconcerned with women's rights. Concerned over a growing crime epidemic, Bush called on Americans to help make a "kindler, gentler America," but crime rates continued to rise during his four years. Culminating in the infamous Los Angeles race riots of 1992, crime rates in post-WWII America reached an all-time high in the early 1990s -- they were almost '''twice''' what they are today, just slightly over 20 years later.[[note]]Worth mentioning, the school shooting epidemic that remains a major problem in America arguably began in 1992 with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindhurst_High_School_shooting Lindhurst High School shooting]], the first major shooting to target a high school.[[/note]]

* Music/NeilYoung references Bush's "thousand points of light" comments in "Rockin' in the Free World".

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