George Bush and Barbara Pierce at their Rye Wedding 1945
By Dan Murphy
The passing of President George H.W. Bush at the age of 94 last week provides us with the opportunity to remember this great American, remind you of his Westchester connections, and use his example of service to county as an example for all of us to live by.
In April of this year, Barbara Pierce from Rye passed away. She is better known by her married name of Barbara Bush, first lady of the United States from 1988-92.
Barbara Pierce from Rye, Milton Elementary School and then Rye Country Day School. Both schools are still active today and both tout her attendance. In her book, “Barbara Bush: A Memoir,” she writes: “Rye was a wonderful place to grow up. It was tiny in those days, and we knew most of the 8,000 people who lived there… Everyone in Rye knew everyone’s business.”
During one Christmas break in 1941, “Bar,” as she was known, attended a dance at the Round Hill Country Club in nearby Greenwich, Conn., where she met her future husband and the future 41st president of the United States, George “Poppy” Bush, who was 17. She was 16.
After serving heroically in World War II, George Bush returned home and married Barbara Pierce at First Presbyterian Church in Rye on Jan. 6, 1945, with the reception at the Apawamis Club in Rye. Married 73 years, the two had the longest marriage of any presidential couple in American history.
You may never have heard of George H.W. Bush without his loving wife from Rye. Before serving as the 41st president of the United States, Bush served as a member of Congress, ambassador to China, director of the CIA, and vice president for eight years under President Ronald Reagan.
Bush’s four years as President included presiding over international crisis’ including the falling of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the removal of Iraq after it invaded Kuwait. Bush gathered a coalition to remove Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, and as USA Today writes, “his decision to patiently assemble a broad coalition to get Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, and to limit the 1991 Persian Gulf War to that objective, was clearly the right call. The decision by his son, George W. Bush, to launch a full-scale invasion of Iraq in 2003 – one that has cost America dearly in blood, treasure and standing among allies – demonstrated the wisdom of the elder Bush’s restraint.”
Perhaps President Bush 41’s most famous quote in office was, “Read my lips – no new taxes.” But as he saw the federal deficit rising, he decided to go back on his pledge and work with democrats in Congress to pass a budget that was fiscally prudent and put real spending caps in place, and was the groundwork for future budgets under President Bill Clinton that had balanced budgets, some with surpluses.
While Bush was laughed at for going back on his pledge, his decision was an example of how public servants of good faith could make tough decisions on behalf of the American people. To Bush, loyalty to country came before loyalty to party or to self.
Bush also signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, then a groundbreaking law to give equal rights and opportunities to disabled Americans, many of whom were veterans like George H.W. Bush. Ask any veteran in Westchester about President Bush 41, and they have nothing but respect for the former President.
I never voted for President Bush. In 1988 I was a college junior supporting democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. Bush sailed to election that year. In 1992, I voted for Clinton, who defeated Bush, with Ross Perot coming in third.
But despite not my casting a vote for Bush 41, I still have great respect for the way he led his life and the way he served our country. I also admire and long for the days of political civility that was the legacy of his life.
President George H.W. Bush is one of only two presidents to have his son, George W. Bush, also elected president. (John Adams and John Quincy Adams the other). The Bush name has appeared on a presidential ballot seven times over the last 36 years, which is a remarkable feat: Bush 41, four times, twice as vice president and twice as president; his son, George W., on the ballot twice; and Bush 41’s other son, Jeb, ran for president in 2016.
Congressman Eliot Engel offered his condolences to the Bush family.
“President Bush’s life was one of service to the country he loved, marked by unfailing patriotism, integrity, and decency,” he said. “From his service in World War II to the halls of Congress, from the thick of the intelligence community to the diplomatic ranks, and finally rising to become our 41st president, George lived a remarkable, uniquely American life.
“As commander-in-chief, he presided over one of the most consequential periods in modern history, as the Cold War ended, and the Soviet empire crumbled,” continued Engel. “In less capable, or more reckless hands, this era could have descended into chaos. But thanks in large part to George Bush’s deft and patient diplomacy, the world saw a decade in which peace and stability spread across the globe. This is a remarkable legacy. He was a kind man, a respected man, and a great leader.”
County Executive George Latimer added: “President Bush was a true patriot, a man who spent part of his formative years in Greenwich, Conn. He married a woman from Rye, First Lady Barbara, and so their connection to Westchester County was always evident.
“He was our nation’s 41st president, but his public service began long before that. He served his county in many ways, as vice president under President Ronald Regan, as CIA director under President Gerald Ford, liaison to China, a United Nations ambassador, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas and as a young man, as a Navy pilot who almost made the ultimate sacrifice during World War II.
“We can all learn something from the life he lived, from his dedication to his country and his family,” continued Latimer. “Let us all remember him for the rich life he lived, but above all his decency and humbleness. In his honor I have directed all U.S. flags on county property be flown at half-staff.”
When Barbara Bush passed earlier this year, one of our readers, Jim Vespe, wrote the following “letter to the Bushes,” which is appropriate today.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bush:
On Saturday afternoon my wife and I went to the annual opening of a place that you and the president probably know very well, Rye Playland. I played my customary one game of Skee Ball…the alleys and balls are wood and worn and sticky, probably unchanged from the 1940s when you and the president may have visited.
I pictured a gangly George Bush plying coins into these same machines, trying to accumulate enough coupons to win an oversized stuffed cat for his “Bar.” If so, perhaps the underhanded motion required of Skee Ball players served him well when you relocated to a part of the country where horseshoe pitching is popular.
Anyway, I wasn’t in midseason form, so I only earned one coupon. Which was fine. I often saved my last Playland coupon of the summer in my wallet all winter, as a reminder that, no matter how cold it gets, or how much it snows, spring and summer will come again, breezes off Long Island Sound will cool the summer nights, children will laugh and the Ferris Wheel will glow.
That’s why I would like you and the president to have this little coupon. Perhaps it will remind you of your own visits to Rye Playland. Of 10-cent trinkets that George spent $10 to win for you. And to confirm that summer will always return. (End of Vespe letter.)
Perhaps we can learn lessons from President George H.W. Bush about civility and working together again.
