George H.W. Bush, a patrician New Englander whose presidency soared with the coalition victory over Iraq in Kuwait, but then plummeted in the throes of a weak economy that led voters to turn him out of office after a single term, has died. He was 94.
The World War II hero, who also presided during the collapse of the Soviet Union and the final months of the Cold War, died late Friday night at his Houston home, said family spokesman Jim McGrath. His wife of more than 70 years, Barbara Bush, died in April 2018. – AP
As president he faced a rapidly and dramatically changing world as the Soviet Union collapsed and the Berlin Wall fell. It was largely the consequence of events that took place under the Reagan presidency but Mr Bush had to deal with the fall-out which included the resignation of the reformist Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
These were testing times but his greatest challenge came when Iraq’s president Saddam Hussein invaded neighbouring Kuwait in August 1990.
It provoked an international crisis and Mr Bush rallied allies, the United Nations and the American Congress and sent 500,000 troops to the region. After six weeks of airstrikes, the land battle – with 100,000 troops from allied nations – was swift and effective, routing Iraqi forces who fled or surrendered.
Mr Bush called a ceasefire, and did not take the fight into Iraq in an attempt to topple the Saddam regime, insisting it would be too costly in American and Iraqi lives. Many people criticised him for not pursuing the war all the way to Baghdad. Sky News
The elder of the two Bush presidents served during a time of starkly shifting geopolitics – the USSR unravelled and the Berlin Wall came down during his term – but he failed to win reelection after the economy worsened.
A now notorious comment – “Read my lips: no new taxes” – that he made at the 1988 Republian Party conveyor but had to backtrack on two years later, came to hang around his neck. In 1992, he lost the White House to a fresh-faced Bill Clinton. The Independent
When Bush left office in 1993, he joined the dubious club of presidents rejected by voters after only one term in office. A career filled with top jobs preparing him for the presidency was cut short in its prime. He lost to Clinton after failing to shake off his image as a starchy Yankee oblivious to the struggles of heartland Americans during an economic downturn.
But as time passed, his foreign policy acumen has come to define his presidency, leaving a legacy of wise and sure-handed management of world affairs.
One of his final public appearances was at the April funeral service for his wife, at the St Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas. He was pushed into the service by his son, George W Bush, and posed for a photograph with Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Barack and Michelle Obama. The Trump family was represented first lady Melania, after Donald Trump announced he would not attend out of respect for the family.
Bush had a form of Parkinson’s disease that forced him to use a wheelchair or motorized scooter in recent years. During that period, he had been repeatedly in an out of various hospitals and his health had weakened.
George W Bush issued a statement late on Friday to announce his father’s death saying he was a “was a man of the highest character”.
In addition to the 43rd president, Bush is survived by his son Jeb, the former Florida governor and 2016 presidential candidate; sons Neil and Marvin; daughter Dorothy; and 17 grandchildren. His daughter Robin died of leukemia as a child, a tragedy that still moved Bush deeply late in his life. He will be buried alongside her and the former first lady at his presidential library in College Station, Texas.
Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later time, according to the statement released by Bush’s spokesman Jim McGrath.
Obituaries Published so far:
