“George H. W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for,” former President George W. Bush said in a statement announcing his father’s death. “The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41’s life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad, and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens.”
George Herbert Walker Bush, who advocated a “kinder, gentler” conservatism, pursued policies that helped topple the Soviet empire and initiated military campaigns that ousted one foreign dictator and crippled another, has died. He was 94 and lived longer than any other U.S. president.
Bush, who was elected the 41st president of the United States and fathered the nation’s 43rd, died late Friday.
President Donald Trump designated Wednesday as a national day of mourning, and a representative for the New York Stock Exchange said markets would close on that day, in keeping with the Big Board’s longstanding tradition.
A state funeral was being arranged at the Washington National Cathedral, and the White House said the president and first lady Melania Trump will attend. After years of animosity with the Bush family, Trump was not invited to the funeral of matriarch Barbara Bush in April.
Among Bush’s many accomplishments, he presided over the demise of the Cold War, punctuated by the fall of the Berlin Wall.
“I pay tribute to George Bush’s contribution toward this historic achievement. He was a genuine partner,” former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Saturday, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency. “It was a dramatic time demanding huge responsibility from everyone. The result was the end of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race.”
Bush had worked for decades in government before ascending to the nation’s highest office, having served as United Nations ambassador, CIA chief and vice president under Ronald Reagan, a towering political figure still venerated by the GOP.
Bush’s death came seven months after that of his wife, Barbara, who died April 17 at age 92. Their 73-year marriage was longer than that of any presidential couple in U.S. history.
‘Kinder, gentler,’ but ‘no new taxes’
Months before the victory, Bush delivered what became known as his “thousand points of light” acceptance speech at the GOP National Convention at New Orleans’ Superdome.
While promising to fight for prayer in public schools and gun rights and against abortion, Bush tried to put a softer face on conservatism, striving to make America a “kinder, gentler” nation.
“Prosperity as a purpose means taking your idealism and making it concrete by certain acts of goodness,” he said. “It means helping a child from an unhappy home learn to read. … It means teaching troubled children through your presence that there is such a thing as reliable love.”
The speech wasn’t all “Kumbaya.” He promised a hard line against Democrats.
“The Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push again. And I’ll say to them: ‘Read my lips, no new taxes.'”
It was a vow that came back to haunt him.
During the budget battle with majority Democrats in 1990, he accepted a compromise that resulted in the hike of several existing taxes. Although no new taxes were created, the decision proved costly. Clinton seized upon the perceived flip-flop, helping him oust Bush after a single term despite the Republican’s major successes in foreign policy.
