Ayden did a President report on George H. W. Bush and did an amazing job!! For the report he had to put together a display box with facts about the President, draw a portrait, a life timeline and present a 2 minute memorized report. He also found some original buttons from his campaigns that made it extra fun for him. We all learned a lot about our 41st President and I personally admire him a lot and was so very proud of Ayden :)
My name is George Herbert Walker Bush and I was born
March 9, 1924 in Milton, Massachusetts, to Dorothy Walker Bush and Prescott.
My father was a banker who went on to
represent Connecticut in the U.S. Senate from 1952 to 1963. I grew up in
Greenwich, Connecticut, and graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover,
Massachusetts, in 1942.
I enlisted in
the Navy on my 18
th Birthday and served the US military in World War
II as a naval aviator. In less than a year, I completed flight training at NAS
Corpus Christi, Texas, and went on to fly TBM Avengers with VT-51. For a time, I
was the youngest pilot in Naval Aviation.
On the morning of September 2, 1944 I was shot down over the Northern
Pacific Ocean and parachuted safely into the water, dangerously close to the
shore. Once in the water, I unleashed my inflatable yellow lifeboat, crawled
in, and paddled quickly out to sea. The Japanese sent out a boat to capture me.
Circling fighter planes transmitted my
situation and position to the U.S. submarine Finback that was patrolling 15 to
20 miles from the island.
A few hours
after transmitting my position, Williams, then a commander, sighted me on the
periscope about seven miles away from shore. He ordered the submarine to the
surface. I saw this thing coming out of the water and I said to myself,”Jeez, I
hope it's one of ours!”
I was taken
inside Finback and the sub quickly submerged.
Later I was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross.
This was one of the most dramatic moments of
his life -- an experience which gave me a "sobering understanding of war
and peace."
There's no question
that it broadened my horizons and helped me prioritize important things
throughout my life.
On January 6, 1945, while on leave from the
Navy, I married Barbara Pierce in 1925 in Rye, New York. We met as teenagers at
a dance.
We later had six children:
George, Robin, John (known as Jeb, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy.
After completing my military service in
September 1945, I enrolled at Yale University, where he studied economics and
was captain of the baseball team and was a member of Skull and Bones, an elite
secret society. I graduated in 1948 then moved my family to Texas, where I
began a prosperous career in the oil industry, and eventually became president
of an independent offshore oil drilling company. I began my political career in
the U.S. House of Representatives in 1967. During the 1970s, I held a variety
of government posts, including CIA director.
I was a two-term U.S. vice president under
Ronald Reagan, from 1981 to 1989. In 1988, I defeated Democratic rival Michael
Dukakis to win the White House. I served as the 41st U.S. president from 1989
to 1993.
In office, I launched
successful military operations against Panama and Iraq.
Sadly in 1992 I lost my bid for re-election
to Bill Clinton. In 2000, My son George W. Bush was elected the 43rd U.S.
president; he served until 2009.
After
leaving the White House, my wife Barbara and I divided our time between homes
in Houston, Texas, and Kennebunkport, Maine. In 1997, the George Bush
Presidential Library and Museum opened to the public on the campus of Texas
A & M University in College Station, Texas, I was honored. I worked with my
successor, Bill Clinton, to raise funds for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami
in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I am an adventure seeker and went
skydiving on my 70th, 80th and 85th birthdays.
We are sadden with the passing of George HW Bush. Ayden worked on the report for over a month and as a family gained such fondness for 41 and his family. He will be missed by many but leaves a legacy of integrity, honesty and love for all.
