Hudson Institute joins the nation and the world in mourning the passing of a great statesman and wise patriot, the 41st President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush.
"President George H. W. Bush was the first American president I came to know personally as I worked on his 1980 presidential campaign," said Hudson President and CEO Ken Weinstein. "Among the things that drew me to Ambassador Bush’s campaign were the three words that defined him then and throughout the course of his extraordinary and consequential life: Honor, Duty, Country."
Whether it was standing up as a sixteen-year-old to anti-Semitism at Andover, where he took on the bullies taunting a new classmate, or enlisting the day after his 18th birthday—June 13, 1942—to become the youngest fighter pilot in the history of the U.S. Navy, it was George H. W. Bush’s unwavering courage in standing for what was right that defined him.
Whether in turbulent skies over the Pacific during World War II, or in the tumultuousness and uncertainty of a massive change in geopolitics, Bush showed a steady hand and a clear course. Bush marshalled American leadership and forged a 35-nation coalition in righteous anger at Saddam Hussein. He also imagined the unimaginable and saw it to fruition as the Soviet Union fell, helping birth a new Europe, whole and free, with a reunited Germany firmly ensconced in NATO.
President George H. W. Bush was the right man, in the right job, at the right time, and has left a legacy of presidential leadership that has become increasingly admired.
Hudson Institute, particularly those of us who worked closely with President Bush, joins a grateful nation in honoring our 41st President and offering our condolences to the Bush family.