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George Bush Passes Away


Poe Dameron
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It looked like he was going to pass around Christmas about 5-6 years ago, but he kept going, but today was his day. I believe he's the last president who more or less just kept his head down, did a good job, kept the country running, managed world affairs, and then left the stage. Something we've needed for a long time, but aren't likely to get again anytime soon.

 

Anyway, here's a video of him being fished out of the Pacific by a submarine after being shot down by anti-aircraft fire. Despite the engines being on fire, Bush managed to complete his bombing run and get out to sea before bailing out. Also a reminder that Bush was the last of a long line of seven WWII presidents (between Eisenhower and Bush, 1953-1993, all but Carter, who graduated from the naval academy a year too late, served in WWII in some capacity).

 

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Guest El Chalupacabra

George HW Bush was what one would call an elder statesman, which is the type of person modern politics sorely lacks. I have always had a generally positive opinion about him as both a person and president. I don't mean to lionize the guy, or say I always agreed with all his policies, but overall, Bush led a very interesting and full life. In my lifetime, I think he was one of the better presidents, despite only serving 1 term. I figured he wouldn't be around much longer after Barbara Bush died.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

 

Anyway, here's a video of him being fished out of the Pacific by a submarine after being shot down by anti-aircraft fire. Despite the engines being on fire, Bush managed to complete his bombing run and get out to sea before bailing out. Also a reminder that Bush was the last of a long line of seven WWII presidents (between Eisenhower and Bush, 1953-1993, all but Carter, who graduated from the naval academy a year too late, served in WWII in some capacity).

 

Maybe a little too romantic of a view, but I think the WW2 generation really was the greatest generation in the 20th century, and possibly one of the greatest in US history. Bush truly was a war hero. What I find most interesting is that Bush rarely talked about the war, and was very humble about his accomplishments, both during WW2, and after.

 

I would include Carter as a WW2-era vet, even if he was in the academy and didn't see combat. When he joined, he had no way of knowing how long WW2 would last. And it should be remembered Carter worked on the first nuclear subs, and did serve in the Navy during the Korean War era. Carter may not have been the best president, but he was (is) a good, honest, and admirable person in his own right. In some ways, and politics aside, not all that different from GHW Bush, really. They were both of that generation where the job comes first, refraining from bragging about one's accomplishments, and having an attitude of being stoic when bearing one's own hardships, rather than crying about it and looking for sympathy on facebook. Compared to the WW2 generation, we Gen X'ers and Millennials are childish.

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I would include Carter as a WW2-era vet, even if he was in the academy and didn't see combat. When he joined, he had no way of knowing how long WW2 would last.

 

I wasn't bagging on Carter's military service. The mention of how close he was to serving in WWII was supposed to be how near a thing it was.

 

It really shows the gravity of the conflict on the country that so many presidents came out of it. And they remained potent for even a bit afterwards with Dole running as late as 1996. 2000 would be the first presidential election not featuring a WWII vet in over 50 years. And that's not including actual presidents at the time of WWII who were commander-in-chief. If we included them, you could tack on another 20 years.

 

And, yeah, outside the Founding Fathers (which featured so many giants that they're in a class of their own), hard to argue. Survived the Great Depression, won WWII, managed to contain the spread of communism, ushered in the nuclear age without getting everyone killed, rebuilt Europe and Japan, were the generation that ultimately ended segregation, created the modern American society, became an economic behemoth compared to the rest of the world, and so on.

 

I don't quite have a romantic view of them, but they ultimately shaped the country into its peak of power.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

I didn't think you were bagging on Carter, I was just saying he may not have been a combat vet, but he is a WW2 era vet. I just looked it up and he was even awarded a WW2 victory medal and American campaign medal (WW2). But I do think you are spot on in t his thread.

 

More on topic though, sort of a random memory. I remember the Bush/Dukakis race of 1988, and how ironic it was when people (detractors) were saying Bush was sort of a wimp, and talked about how he would never step out of the shadow of Reagan, who was perceived as the ultimate badass. But when you really look at each of their lives, during WW2, Reagan made PSA films for the Army, whereas Bush was actually in combat, and was shot down during a bombing mission. That is not to slam Reagan because he couldn't help it because of his eyesight, but just to point out the irony of Bush's detractors in 1988.

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It's like we could hardly get praise of Bush Sr without someone taking a dig at Trump at the same time. It was also from the same people mostly that ripped the Bush presidency.

 

I'll admit I wasn't into politics much when I was in high school. The most love I ever remember him getting was when he went into the hospital the first time. It was all good wishes because no one wanted Dan Quayle taking over.

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The train that will carry Bush from Houston to his library in College Station will be driven by my cousin! I think this is so cool. My students don't know who Bush is but they are really interested in the train and how they work. I've been sharing snaps of him doing train engineer things!

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