George H.W. Bush Fast Facts

Here’s a look at the life of George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States.

Personal:
Birth date: June 12, 1924

Death date: November 30, 2018

Birth place: Milton, Massachusetts

Birth name: George Herbert Walker Bush

Father: Prescott Bush, investment banker and senator

Mother: Dorothy (Walker) Bush

Marriage: Barbara (Pierce) Bush (January 6, 1945-April 17, 2018, her death)

Children: Dorothy, Marvin, Neil, John (Jeb), Pauline (Robin), died of leukemia and George

Education: Yale University, B.A., 1948

Military service: US Navy, 1942-1945, Lieutenant Junior Grade

Religion: Episcopalian

Other Facts:
Bush was the first sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin van Buren in 1836.

He was the second president, after John Adams, to be the father of a president.

Flew 58 combat missions for the Navy during World War II and was awarded three Air Medals and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Had a form of Parkinson’s disease.

His nickname since childhood was Poppy, and that’s how he was known at Yale, especially as a baseball player.

Timeline:
June 1943 – After earning his commission and wings, becomes the youngest pilot in the Navy at the time.

Late 1940s – Captain of the Yale University baseball team and plays in the first two College World Series in 1947 and 1948.

1951 – Establishes the Bush-Overbey Oil Development Company with John Overbey.

1953 – Forms Zapata Petroleum with William and Hugh Liedtke.

1964 – Runs unsuccessfully for the US Senate.

1967-1971 – US Representative from Texas’ 7th District.

1971-1972 – Ambassador to the United Nations.

1973-1974 – Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

1974-1975 – Serves as chief of the United States Liaison Office in China.

January 1976-January 1977 – Director of the CIA.

1980 – Runs for president, but loses his party’s nomination to Ronald Reagan.

January 20, 1981 – Is sworn in as vice president of the United States.

July 13, 1985 – Acting president for nearly eight hours while Reagan undergoes surgery.

November 8, 1988 – Is elected 41st president of the United States, with 53.1% of the popular vote and 426 electoral votes.

January 20, 1989 – Bush is sworn in as the 41st president of the United States.

December 1989 – Sends American troops to Panama (Operation Just Cause).

August 2, 1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait.

August 7, 1990 – Operation Desert Shield begins.

January 16, 1991 – Operation Desert Storm begins.

February 27, 1991 – Declares victory in Iraq.

November 3, 1992 – Loses the presidential election to Bill Clinton.

December 24, 1992 – Pardons six government officials who had been implicated in the Iran-Contra affair.

January 3, 1993 – Signs the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-II) with Russia.

June 9, 1999 – Celebrates his 75th birthday by skydiving .

February 19-21, 2005 – Tours areas in southeast Asia damaged by a tsunami, with Clinton.

September 1, 2005 – After Hurricane Katrina, Bush and Clinton form the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund.

January 10, 2009 – The USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier is commissioned.

February 15, 2011 – Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

January 14, 2013 – Is released from the hospital after almost two months of treatment for bronchitis.

July 2013 – Shaves his head in solidarity with a leukemia patient, the son of a member of his Secret Service detail.

2013 – Attends the same-sex wedding of Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen in Kennebunkport, Maine, and signs their marriage license as a witness.

November 2013 – The National College Baseball Foundation announces its Hall of Fame museum will be named after the 41st president.

May 2014 – Receives the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Profiles in Courage Award.

June 12, 2014 – Celebrates his 90th birthday with a parachute jump as he did for his 75th, 80th and 85th birthdays.

November 11, 2014 – The biography “41: A Portrait of My Father,” written by George W. Bush, is released during a special ceremony and discussion session at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University in College Station.

July 15, 2015 – Falls at his home in Kennebunkport, Maine, breaking his C2 vertebrae in his neck. His spokesman, Jim McGrath, tells CNN the injury is not life threatening.

January 14, 2017 – Is hospitalized due to “an acute respiratory problem stemming from pneumonia.” Barbara Bush is admitted to the hospital four days later after “experiencing fatigue and coughing.”

January 30, 2017 – Is released from the hospital.

February 5, 2017 – Performs the coin toss at Super Bowl 51 in Houston.

April 19, 2017 – In a statement, McGrath says that Bush was recently readmitted to the hospital for pneumonia. According to McGrath, Bush is going to remain at the hospital for at least one more night, but he is in good spirits and is on the mend.

October 24, 2017 – In a now-deleted Instagram post published on her verified account, actress Heather Lind alleges that Bush touched her inappropriately while he was sitting in his wheelchair during a photo op that took place a few years ago. Bush’s spokesman McGrath later issues a statement: “At age 93, President Bush has been confined to a wheelchair for roughly five years, so his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures,” McGrath says. “To try to put people at ease, the president routinely tells the same joke — and on occasion, he has patted women’s rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner. Some have seen it as innocent; others clearly view it as inappropriate. To anyone he has offended, President Bush apologizes most sincerely.”

October-November 2017 – At least six other women allege they were also touched inappropriately during photo ops with the former president.

April 22, 2018 – Is admitted to the Houston Methodist Hospital after contracting an infection that spread to his blood, family spokesman McGrath says, a day after a funeral was held for his wife, Barbara. The former president is released from the hospital on May 4.

May 27, 2018 – Is taken to a hospital in Maine after experiencing low blood pressure and fatigue. According to spokesman McGrath, Bush will likely remain at a Southern Maine Health Care facility “for a few days for observation.”

November 30, 2018 – Dies at the age of 94.