George Bush dies at 94

George W. Bush Sr., the 41st President of the United States was pronounced dead at 7:00Pm on November 30.

Defined by his statement: “We live in a peaceful, prosperous time, but we can make it better,” George W. Bush Senior’s presidency was short, peaceful, boring and everything America needed.

His son George Bush Jr, who went on to serve as the 43rd US president, issued the statement: “Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro, and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear Dad has died. He was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for.”

Born on June 12 1924 in Massachusetts to a middle class family, Bush displayed leadership skills even in his formative years, holding a number of leadership positions, ranging from president of the senior class and president of the community fundraising group, to captain of both the varsity baseball and soccer teams.

His burning passion for justice and prudent belief in doing the right thing that would aid in his groundbreaking success in foreign policy as president, led him to postpone his studies after seeing the horrors of Pearl Harbour. He thus became the youngest aviator of his decade at 18 in 1943.

In 1944, during a mission, Bush’s aircraft got hit and the engine caught fire. Forced to parachute into uncharted water, he waited for four hours on a life raft under enemy fire till he was rescued by a submarine.

He later discovered several of his teammates, who had been shot down during the attack, were executed and had their lives eaten by their captors. Bush later stated this made him ask himself the question: “Why have I been spared and what does God have for me?”

This shocking stroke of luck would go on to repeat itself throughout Bush’s life. Starting off as a humble oil salesman, Bush eventually got his foot in the door of oil giant Dresser Industries, then later went to co-found his own oil company, Zapata Petroleum Corporation and by 1966, at the age of 40, Bush became a millionaire.

George W. Bush’s dual dignified reticence and iron will led him to hold a variety of positions in the years leading to his presidency: an ambassador to the United Nations, an envoy to China and the Director of Central Intelligence. His good fortune struck again, when he was listed as perpetually popular Ronald Reagan’s vice president and won by a landslide.

Opportunity rang when Reagan, one of the oldest serving presidents in history at 77, decided to leave office amid rumours of Alzheimer’s. Bush ran against Bukakis managing in yet another lucky strike: winning 53. 4 percent against Bukakis’s 45.6 percent.

Foreign policy defined Bush Sr. presidency, as the decade became a historical landmark for worldwide change after the never before seen destruction of the Second World War: military operations were conducted in Panama and the Persian Gulf; the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the Soviet Union dissolved two years later.

In this tremulous political vacuum of time, where superpowers collapsed, America arguably could not have had a more compatible president.

Modest and pragmatic, with a blazing fire for justice within, George W. Bush was exactly the president the time needed. Serving as the 41st US president between 1989 and 1993, he brought the end of the Cold War and salvaged the tenuous relationship between the US and Russia and began the first Iraq war against Saddam Hussein.

A die-hard christian, Bush was a rare Republican humanitarian and developed initiatives that would change America’s domestic policy for years to come. He spearheaded the negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

An agreement that would reduce the tariffs on trading among the United States, Canada, and Mexico to encourage trade. The treaty also restricted patents, copyrights, and trademarks, and outlined the removal of investment restrictions.

During his presidency, Bush also signed a number of major bills into law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which political analysts have called one of the most pro-civil rights bills in decades.

He was also the only president to successfully veto a civil rights act, having vetoed the job-discrimination protection Civil Rights Act of 1990.

He worked to increase federal spending for education, childcare, and advanced technology research. He also signed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which provides monetary compensation of people who had contracted cancer and other diseases as a direct result of exposure to atmospheric nuclear testing undertaken by the United States during the Cold War.

Aside his predecessor, J.F Kennedy, he was one of the first presidents to give a direct address against the Ku Klux Klan, stating: “We must let our children know hatred has no place in America. The Ku Klux Klan is an embarrassment to Christ, Whose gospel is love, and an embarrassment to our nation, whose gospel is freedom.”