George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States has reportedly died at the age of 94. Bush was the patriarch of a political dynasty which includes the 43rd president of the United States, George Walker Bush, and ex-Florida Governor and failed presidential candidate John Ellis Bush, best known as Jeb Bush.
Bush was a career politician, having navigated roles within Texas’ Congress and heading the Central Intelligence Agency as well as serving as two-term vice president to Ronald Regan before later becoming president of the United States. The late former president was also Navy pilot in World War II.
Biographer Timothy Naftali recalled Bush’s calculated reticence: “His loyalty to Ronald Reagan was legendary. He did not always agree with Ronald Reagan. And he was so secretive about those moments where he disagreed, we don’t even have good documentation — at least not available yet — on when he disagreed.”
Bush’s family hailed from a long line of U.S. aristocracy, a dynasty which spans politics, sports, the military and industrial exploits that were tied to the Rockefellers, financiers with links to the Harriman clan and noted Nazi-backer Fritz Thyssen as well as the elitist namesake Walker Cup golf competition.
Bush, the businessman, became a seasoned and successful oilman – particularly in the Gulf of Mexico region – after establishing Zapata Petroleum (now know as the HRG Group and formerly Harbinger Group). On declaring a pursuit of the United States’ highest office, it was reported that Bush offloaded his shares in the organization. In the 1900s, the Bush family established Wall Street investment firm G.H. Walker & Co. which was eventually sold to multibillion-dollar Merrill Lynch.
The elder Bush passed on his love for oil to son, George, who founded an oil and gas exploration company in the late 70s. The junior Bush, on becoming president, also acquired oilfield service company Halliburton’s Dick Cheney who previously served in the elder Bush’s administration. The U.S.-Dubai Halliburton firm notably absorbed former senior Bush employee Dresser Industries in 1998.
Bush, the ex-spymaster, also managed to assemble and convince almost three dozen nations to support Operation Desert Storm, a failed strategic offensive against late Iraqi leader Sadaam Hussein – who was later deposed through an indeterminate exhibition by the younger Bush and his international allies.
The death of the senior Bush, eight months after his wife former First Lady Barbara Bush, was reported by spokesperson Jim McGrath.
In Nov 2017, Bush was noted, at the age of 93 years and 166 days, as the longest-living president in United States history. The one-term U.S. head of state (1989-1993 ) had been ailing mainly from Parkinson’s disease and confined to a wheelchair for several years.
