George H. W. Bush

=== Appearances ===
After leaving office, Bush and his wife built a retirement house in the community of [[West Oaks, Houston]].<ref name=Feldman>{{cite news |last=Feldman |first=Claudia |url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1992_1099189 |title=Moving back to the 'hood .../CITIZEN BUSH |work=[[Houston Chronicle]] |date=December 13, 1992 |page=Lifestyle p. 1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121208154849/http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1992_1099189 |archive-date=December 8, 2012 }}</ref> He established a presidential office within the Park Laureate Building on [[Memorial Drive (Houston)|Memorial Drive]] in Houston.<ref>"[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ST&s_site=dfw&p_multi=ST&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAF8EDE5F8E0428&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D Bushes upbeat for step-down]". ''[[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]]''. January 10, 1993. 1 News. Retrieved October 15, 2012. "Bush's Houston office will be in the Park Laureate Building on Memorial Drive"</ref> He also frequently spent time at his vacation home in Kennebunkport, took annual cruises in Greece, went on fishing trips in Florida, and visited the [[Bohemian Club]] in Northern California. He declined to serve on corporate boards but delivered numerous paid speeches and was an adviser to [[The Carlyle Group]], a private equity firm.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=540–541}} He never published his memoirs, but he and Brent Scowcroft co-wrote ''[[A World Transformed]]'', a 1998 work on foreign policy. Portions of his letters and his diary were later published as ''The China Diary of George H.&nbsp;W. Bush'' and ''[[All the Best (book)|All the Best, George Bush]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lozada |first1=Carlos |title=The memoir I wish George H.W. Bush had written |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2018/12/01/feature/the-memoir-i-wish-george-h-w-bush-had-written/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=December 1, 2018}}</ref>

During a 1993 visit to Kuwait, Bush was targeted in an assassination plot directed by the [[Iraqi Intelligence Service]]. President Clinton retaliated when he ordered the [[1993 cruise missile strikes on Iraq|firing]] of 23 [[cruise missile]]s at Iraqi Intelligence Service headquarters in [[Baghdad]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/longroad/etc/assassination.html |title=frontline: the long road to war: assassination |publisher=PBS |access-date=September 5, 2010}}</ref> Bush did not publicly comment on the assassination attempt or the missile strike, but privately spoke with Clinton shortly before the strike took place.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=541–543}}

In the [[1994 United States gubernatorial elections|1994 gubernatorial elections]], his sons George W. and Jeb concurrently ran for [[Governor of Texas]] and [[Governor of Florida]]. Concerning their political careers, he advised them both that "[a]t some point both of you may want to say 'Well, I don't agree with my Dad on that point' or 'Frankly I think Dad was wrong on that.' Do it. Chart your own course, not just on the issues but on defining yourselves".{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=546–549}} George W. won his race against [[Ann Richards]] while Jeb lost to [[Lawton Chiles]]. After the results came in, the elder Bush told ABC, "I have very mixed emotions. Proud father, is the way I would sum it all up."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/09/us/1994-elections-nation-bushes-texas-elects-george-w-while-florida-rejects-jeb.html |title=The 1994 Elections: The Nation The Bushes; Texas Elects George W. While Florida Rejects Jeb |date=November 9, 1994 |first=Sam Howe |last=Verhovek |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Jeb would again run for governor of Florida in 1998 and win at the same time that his brother George W. won re-election in Texas. It marked the second time in United States history that a pair of brothers served simultaneously as governors.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rosenbaum |first=David E. |date=November 4, 1998 |title=George W. Bush Is Re-elected in Texas; His Brother Jeb Is Victorious in Florida |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/04/us/1998-elections-nation-governors-george-w-bush-re-elected-texas-his-brother-jeb.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 30, 2018}}</ref>

[[File:G & B. Bush F-SD-03-15575.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|left|George and Barbara Bush, 2001]]

Bush supported his son's candidacy in the [[2000 United States presidential election|2000 presidential election]] but did not actively campaign in the election and did not deliver a speech at the [[2000 Republican National Convention]].{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=552–555}} George W. Bush defeated Al Gore in the 2000 election and was re-elected in 2004. Bush and his son thus became the second father–son pair to each serve as President of the United States, following [[John Adams]] and [[John Quincy Adams]].{{sfn|Meacham|2015|p=560}} Through previous administrations, the elder Bush had ubiquitously been known as "George Bush" or "President Bush", but following his son's election, the need to distinguish between them has made [[retronym]]ic forms such as "George H.&nbsp;W. Bush" and "George Bush Sr." and colloquialisms such as "Bush 41" and "Bush the Elder" more common.<ref>{{cite book |title=41: A Portrait of My Father |first=George W. |last=Bush |author-link=George W. Bush |publisher=Crown Publishers |isbn=978-0-553-44778-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/41portraitofmyfa0000bush/page/265 265] |year=2014 |url=https://archive.org/details/41portraitofmyfa0000bush/page/265 }}</ref> Bush advised his son on some personnel choices, approving of the selection of Dick Cheney as running mate and the retention of [[George Tenet]] as CIA Director. However, he was not consulted on all appointments, including that of his old rival, Donald Rumsfeld, as Secretary of Defense.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=554, 563–564}} Though he avoided giving unsolicited advice to his son, Bush and his son also discussed some policy matters, especially regarding national security issues.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=567–568}}

In his retirement, Bush used the public spotlight to support various charities.{{sfn|Meacham|2015|pp=582–583}} Despite earlier political differences with Bill Clinton, the two former presidents eventually became friends.<ref>{{cite news |last=Healy |first=Patrick |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/19/us/politics/19memo.html |title=A Candidacy That May Test a Friendship's Ties |work=The New York Times |date=May 19, 2007 |access-date=May 22, 2011}}</ref> They appeared together in television ads, encouraging aid for victims of the [[2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami]] and [[Hurricane Katrina]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/PersonOfWeek/story?id=1446477 |title=People of the Year: Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush |work=ABC News |date=December 27, 2005 |access-date=September 5, 2010}}</ref> However, when interviewed by Jon Meacham, Bush criticized Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and even his son George W. Bush for their handling of foreign policy after the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/george-hw-bush-dick-cheney-donald-rumsfeld-iraq-jon-meacham/414343/|title=George H.W. Bush's Feuds With Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney Go Back 40 Years|first=David A.|last=Graham|date=November 5, 2015|website=The Atlantic}}</ref>