George H.W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, passed away late Friday night. He was 94 years old.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation that the American flag be flown at half-staff for 30 days, and that Dec. 5, 2018, be a National Day of Mourning in Bush’s honor.
“I do further appoint December 5, 2018, as a National Day of Mourning throughout the United States,” Trump said in the proclamation. “I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President George H.W. Bush. I invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance.”
Read Trump’s statement on Bush here:
President Bush led a great American life, one that combined and personified two of our Nation’s greatest virtues: an entrepreneurial spirit and a commitment to public service. Our country will greatly miss his inspiring example.
On the day he turned 18, 6 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, George H.W. Bush volunteered for combat duty in the Second World War. The youngest aviator in United States naval history at the time, he flew 58 combat missions, including one in which, after taking enemy fire, he parachuted from his burning plane into the Pacific Ocean. After the war, he returned home and started a business. In his words, “the big thing” he learned from this endeavor was “the satisfaction of creating jobs.”
The same unselfish spirit that motivated his business pursuits later inspired him to resume the public service he began as a young man. First, as a member of Congress, then as Ambassador to the United Nations, Chief of the United States Liaison Office in China, Director of Central Intelligence, Vice President, and finally President of the United States, George H.W. Bush guided our Nation through the Cold War, to its peaceful and victorious end, and into the decades of prosperity that have followed. Through sound judgment, practical wisdom, and steady leadership, President Bush made safer the second half of a tumultuous and dangerous century.
Even with all he accomplished in service to our Nation, President Bush remained humble. He never believed that government — even when under his own leadership — could be the source of our Nation’s strength or its greatness. America, he rightly told us, is illuminated by “a thousand points of light,” “ethnic, religious, social, business, labor union, neighborhood, regional and other organizations, all of them varied, voluntary and unique” in which Americans serve Americans to build and maintain the greatest Nation on the face of the Earth. President Bush recognized that these communities of people are the true source of America’s strength and vitality.
It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of one of America’s greatest points of light, the death of President George H.W. Bush.
George Herbert Walker Bush was born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, and served as the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993.
George H. W. Bush is a political icon who is known for fighting to protect American exceptionalism.
Bush also served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States under President Ronald Reagan. He’s the father of two prominent politicians; former President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
Bush recently lost his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush, who passed away at age 92 in April.
After winning the 1988 Presidential election, George H. W. Bush became the first sitting Vice President to be elected President since 1837.
Many of President George H. W. Bush’s accomplishments during his tenure took place on the world stage.
Soon after taking office, he helped facilitate the demise of the Soviet Union and directed the removal of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.
Then, in August of 1990, he created a national coalition to drive Iraqi President Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait after they invaded the country.
George H. W. Bush’s handling of the situation is considered to be one of the highlights of his Presidency.
In 2012, George H. W. Bush was diagnosed vascular parkinsonism, which later confined him to a wheelchair. Then in 2014, he was hospitalized for two months while he fought bronchitis.
Despite the various health complications that he faced later in life, George H. W. Bush skydived to celebrate several of his birthdays, with his last jump being in June 2014.