George H. W. Bush

== Early life and education (1924–1948) ==
{{See also|Bush family}}

George Herbert Walker Bush was born on June 12, 1924, in [[Milton, Massachusetts]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidentialavenue.com/gb.cfm |title=Presidential Avenue: George Bush |access-date=March 29, 2008 |publisher=Presidential Avenue|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008144507/http://www.presidentialavenue.com/gb.cfm|archive-date=October 8, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was the second son of [[Prescott Bush]] and Dorothy (Walker) Bush,{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=19–20}} and a younger brother of [[1982 United States Senate election in Connecticut#Republican nomination|Prescott Bush Jr.]] His paternal grandfather, [[Samuel P. Bush]], worked as an executive for a railroad parts company in [[Columbus, Ohio]],{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=8–9}} while his maternal grandfather and namesake, [[George Herbert Walker]], led [[Wall Street]] investment bank [[W. A. Harriman & Co.]]{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=16–17}} Walker was known as "Pop", and young Bush was called "Poppy" as a tribute to him.<ref>{{cite web |author=Eun Kyung Kim |url=http://www.today.com/parents/jenna-bush-hager-welcomes-second-daughter-named-after-george-h-t31121 |title=Jenna Bush Hager welcomes second daughter&nbsp;— named after George H.W. Bush |website=[[Today (U.S. TV program)|Today]] |date=August 14, 2015 |quote=The new bundle of joy is named after Jenna's grandfather and former President George H.W. Bush, whose nickname growing up was "Poppy."}}</ref>

The Bush family moved to [[Greenwich, Connecticut]], in 1925, and Prescott took a position with W. A. Harriman & Co. (which later merged into [[Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.]]) the following year.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=20–21}} Bush spent most of his childhood in Greenwich, at the family vacation home in [[Kennebunkport, Maine]],{{efn|Bush later purchased the estate, which is now known as the [[Bush compound]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/08/us/white-house-letter-at-parents-home-bush-resumes-role-of-son.html|work=The New York Times |access-date=April 2, 2008 |date=July 8, 2002 |last=Bumiller |first=Elisabeth |title=White House Letter; At Parents' Home, Bush Resumes Role of Son}}</ref>}} or at his maternal grandparents' plantation in South Carolina.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=25}}

Because of the family's wealth, Bush was largely unaffected by the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]].{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=27}} He attended [[Greenwich Country Day School]] from 1929 to 1937 and [[Phillips Academy]], an elite private academy in Massachusetts, from 1937 to 1942.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=27–36}} While at Phillips Academy, he served as president of the senior class, secretary of the student council, president of the community fund-raising group, a member of the editorial board of the school newspaper, and captain of the varsity baseball and soccer teams.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.andover.edu/news/bush.htm |title=Former President George Bush honored at his 60th reunion at Phillips Academy, Andover |date=June 8, 2002 |access-date=March 29, 2008 |publisher=Phillips Academy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080401131455/http://www.andover.edu/news/bush.htm |archive-date=April 1, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

<gallery widths="170px" heights="200px">
File:George H W Bush at Age One and One-Half, ca 1925.gif|Bush at his grandfather's house in [[Kennebunkport]], {{c.|1925}}
File:George H. W. Bush in 1942 Pot Pourri.jpg|Bush in Phillips Academy's 1942 yearbook
</gallery>

=== World War II ===
[[File:George H.W. Bush seated in a Grumman TBM Avenger, circa 1944 (H069-13).jpg|left|thumb|upright|Bush in his Grumman TBF Avenger aboard USS ''San Jacinto'' in 1944]]

On his 18th birthday, immediately after graduating from Phillips Academy, he enlisted in the [[United States Navy]] as a [[naval aviator (United States)|naval aviator]].<ref name=GHWBlifebefore/> After a period of training, he was commissioned as an ensign in the Naval Reserve at [[Naval Air Station Corpus Christi]] on June 9, 1943, becoming one of the youngest pilots in the Navy.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=54}}{{efn|For decades, Bush was considered the youngest aviator in the U.S. Navy during his period of service,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Boyd |first1=Gerald M. |title=A Victor Free to Set His Own Course |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/09/us/1988-elections-man-george-herbert-walker-bush-victor-free-set-his-own-course.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 9, 1988}}</ref> but such claims are now regarded as speculation.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Siegel |first1=Rachel |title=For George H.W. Bush, Pearl Harbor changed everything, and World War II made him a hero |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2018/12/01/george-hw-bush-pearl-harbor-changed-everything-world-war-ii-made-him-hero/?noredirect=on |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> His official Navy biography called him "the youngest" in 2001,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq10-1.htm |title=Lieutenant Junior Grade George Bush, USNR |date=April 6, 2001 |publisher=Naval Historical Center |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20100410115448/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq10-1.htm |archive-date=April 10, 2010 }}</ref> but by 2018 the Navy biography described him as "one of the youngest".<ref name="navy">{{cite web |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/biographies-list/bios-b/bush-george-h-w.html |title=George Herbert Walker Bush |date=December 1, 2018 |access-date=December 2, 2018 |publisher=Navy History and Heritage Command}}</ref>}} Beginning in 1944, Bush served in the Pacific theater, where he flew a [[Grumman TBF Avenger]], a [[torpedo bomber]] capable of taking off from aircraft carriers.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=56–57}} His squadron was assigned to the {{USS|San Jacinto|CVL-30|6}} as a member of Air Group 51, where his lanky physique earned him the nickname "Skin".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.pilotonline.com/military/article_ce04e725-0849-5d16-943a-dcf32f729af0.html |title=San Jacinto veterans reunite, recall serving with Bush |last=Adams |first=Kathy |date=January 10, 2009 |work=The Virginian-Pilot |publisher=Landmark Communications |access-date=December 9, 2019}}</ref>

Bush flew his first combat mission in May 1944, bombing Japanese-held [[Wake Island]],{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=57–59}} and was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) on August 1, 1944. During an attack on a Japanese installation in [[Chichijima]], Bush's aircraft successfully attacked several targets but was downed by enemy fire.<ref name="navy" /> Though both of Bush's fellow crew members died, Bush successfully bailed out from the aircraft and was rescued by the submarine {{USS|Finback|SS-230|6}}.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=60–63}}{{efn|Bush's fellow crew members for the mission were William G. White and John Delaney. According to the accounts of an American pilot and a Japanese individual, another parachute from Bush's aircraft opened, but the bodies of White and Delaney were never recovered.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=60–63}}}} Several of the aviators shot down during the attack were captured and executed, and their livers were [[Chichijima incident|cannibalized by their captors]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bradley |first1=James | author-link = James Bradley (American author)|title=Flyboys: A True Story of Courage |date=2003 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |isbn=978-0-316-10584-2|title-link=Flyboys: A True Story of Courage }}</ref> Bush's survival after such a close brush with death shaped him profoundly, leading him to ask, "Why had I been spared and what did God have for me?"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/the-faith-of-george-h-w-bush.html|title=The Faith of George HW Bush|website=The Christian Post|date=June 26, 2017}}</ref> He was later awarded the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] for his role in the mission.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=66}}

Bush returned to ''San Jacinto'' in November 1944, participating in operations in the Philippines. In early 1945, he was assigned to a new combat squadron, VT-153, where he trained to participate in an [[Operation Downfall|invasion of mainland Japan]]. Between March and May 1945, he trained in [[Auburn, Maine]], where he and Barbara lived in a small apartment.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Washuk |first=Bonnie |date=December 1, 2018 |title=George H.W. Bush called Lewiston-Auburn home during WWII |work=[[Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine)|Sun Journal]] |url=https://www.sunjournal.com/2018/12/01/george-h-w-bushs-ties-to-lewiston-auburn/ |access-date=May 31, 2023}}</ref> On September 2, 1945, before any invasion took place, Japan formally surrendered following the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]].{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=69}} Bush was released from active duty that same month but was not formally discharged from the Navy until October 1955, when he had reached the rank of lieutenant.<ref name="navy" /> By the end of his period of active service, Bush had flown 58 missions, completed 128 carrier landings, and recorded 1228 hours of flight time.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=70}}

=== Marriage ===
Bush met [[Barbara Bush|Barbara Pierce]] at a Christmas dance in Greenwich in December 1941,{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=41}} and, after a period of courtship, they became engaged in December 1943.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=56}} While Bush was on leave from the Navy, they married in [[Rye, New York]], on January 6, 1945.<ref>{{cite web |last=Markovich |first=Jeremy |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/george-hw-bush-and-barbara-pierce-are-wed-jan-6-1945-233101 |title=George H.W. Bush and Barbara Pierce are wed: Jan. 6, 1945 |work=Politico |date=January 6, 2017 |access-date=November 17, 2017}}</ref> The Bushes enjoyed a strong marriage, and Barbara would later be a popular First Lady, seen by many as "a kind of national grandmother".{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=406–407}}{{efn|At the time of his wife's death on April 17, 2018, George H.&nbsp;W. had been married to Barbara for 73 years, the longest presidential marriage in American history at that point.<ref>{{cite news |last=Siegel |first=Rachel |date=April 22, 2018 |title='You were the reason': Barbara and George Bush's love story remembered at her funeral |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/04/22/you-were-the-reason-barbara-and-george-bushs-historic-love-story-hailed-at-her-funeral/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=November 30, 2018}}</ref> The length of their marriage was surpassed in 2019 by the marriage of [[Jimmy Carter|Jimmy]] and [[Rosalynn Carter]].<ref>{{cite news|date=October 17, 2019 |title=Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter just became the longest-married presidential couple|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/18/politics/jimmy-rosalynn-carter-longest-married-presidential-couple-trnd/index.html |work=CNN Politics| access-date=October 18, 2019}}</ref>}} They had six children: [[George W. Bush|George W.]] (b. 1946), [[Pauline Robinson Bush|Robin]] (1949–1953), [[Jeb Bush|Jeb]] (b. 1953), [[Neil Bush|Neil]] (b. 1955), [[Marvin Bush|Marvin]] (b. 1956), and [[Dorothy Bush Koch|Doro]] (b. 1959).<ref name=GHWBlifebefore>{{cite web |title=George H. W. Bush: Life Before the Presidency |last=Knott |first=Stephen |url=https://millercenter.org/president/bush/life-before-the-presidency |publisher=Miller Center, the University of Virginia |location=Charlottesville, Virginia |access-date=April 24, 2018|date=October 4, 2016}}</ref> Their oldest daughter, Robin, died of leukemia in 1953.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=97–100}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Withers |first=Rachel |date=December 2, 2018 |title=George H.W. Bush was a champion for people with disabilities |url=https://www.vox.com/2018/12/2/18122640/george-h-w-bush-americans-with-disabilities |access-date=April 13, 2022 |website=Vox}}</ref>

=== College years ===
Bush enrolled at [[Yale College]], where he took part in an accelerated program that enabled him to graduate in two and a half years rather than the usual four.<ref name=GHWBlifebefore /> He was a member of the [[Delta Kappa Epsilon]] fraternity and was elected its president.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/books/41-george-w-bushs-portrait-of-george-h-w-bush.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/books/41-george-w-bushs-portrait-of-george-h-w-bush.html |archive-date=January 2, 2022 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |title=Love Flows, President to President |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 11, 2014 |first=Michiko |last=Kakutani |access-date=November 14, 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He also captained the Yale baseball team and played in the first two [[College World Series]] as a left-handed first baseman.<ref>{{cite web |title=School House to White House: The Education of the Presidents |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/spring/schoolhouse.html |date=Spring 2007 |publisher=National Archives |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=March 29, 2008}}</ref> Like his father, he was a member of the Yale cheerleading squad<ref>{{cite news |url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2008/01/28/cheerleading-of-the-20s-epitome-of-masculinity/ |title=Cheerleading of the '20s: Epitome of masculinity |work=Yale Daily News |first=Simone |last=Berkower |access-date=July 30, 2016}}</ref> and was initiated into the [[Skull and Bones]] secret society. He graduated [[Phi Beta Kappa]] in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=72}}