George H.W. Bush, No. 41

25 February 2023

Kennebunkport, ME

 

 

George Herbert Walker Bush

We headed to Kennebunkport, the famous summer home of the Bush clan, during our annual snowboarding trip to Maine. It was a cold, gray February day — 18 degrees and lots of snow on the ground. Here in the Washington area, we’ve almost forgotten what snow looks like. We had a whopping half inch the entire winter. But we digress…..

 

Walker's Point

The Bush compound sits on a small, rocky peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s called Walker’s Point, for George H.W.’s great-grandfather David Davis Walker and grandfather (Mr. Walker’s son) George Herbert Walker (aka Bert), who jointly bought the property. Closed off by security gates and the always-present Secret Service booth, the compound is a collection of Bush family houses. The large, main house on the estate is at the end of the point, but there are several smaller houses leading up to it, as well. From the road, we could also see the tennis court. It also has a pool, boat house, dock and guest house (according to Wikipedia).

 

Prior to our walk along Ocean Drive, we had prepped for our visit by stopping at the University of New England’s Biddeford campus, which hosts the George and Barbara Bush Center. The center has an exhibit dedicated to the Bush family’s time in Maine. Admittedly, it is a very small exhibit — one room attached to the library. The center, which is 11 miles north of Walker’s Point, was built and dedicated in 2008. It also includes administrative offices (a statue of Bush greets you as you climb the stairs) and a cafe. It sits on the water, and the big glass windows offer stunning views.

 

Tom behind replica
of Resolute Desk

The walls of the center are lined with photos of the Bush family in Maine and includes the desk and chair from Bush’s Walker’s Point office. It also has a replica of the Oval Office’s famous Resolute Desk, the original made of the timbers from the HMS Resolute. As the display explains, the Resolute was a British ship—abandoned in the Arctic in the mid 1850’s—that was discovered by the U.S. and was fixed and returned to Queen Victoria. She gave the desk to President Rutherford B. Hayes as a gift of gratitude in 1880. All presidents since Hayes have used it except for Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. 

Display at George and Barbara
Bush Center

Among the small collections are items from wife Barbara Bush, a book by daughter Doro Bush, some of George H.W.’s fishing gear, baseball caps, cuff links and tie clips.

 

Many of the photos were taken at the Bush compound on Walker’s Point.  George Bush wrote:  

“It’s a great joy being there with the sea pounding into the rocks, the boat, the new tennis court, being with Mother, seeing the Walkers and the kids, and our own grandchildren running around the place.  It was a supreme joy, a physical lift” (Sweitzer & Sweitzer, 2004).

 

(The Kennebunkport Historical Society owns a historic mansion that includes an exhibit devoted to the Bush family, but it was closed for the winter.)

 

* * * 

 

George Bush, nicknamed “Poppy,” was brought up in a frugal household with a strong-willed mother.  She admonished her children to think of others over themselves and discouraged the use of the pronouns “I and me.”  (This was the reason for Bush’s strange sentence structures as an adult.)  Bush thrived in prep school, becoming the captains of the Andover soccer and baseball teams.

 

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Bush and his fellow classmates were eager to join the fight.  He was the youngest recruit to join the Navy and went on to become the youngest pilot in the Navy—a few days shy of his 19^th birthday.  Because he desired to fly from aircraft carriers, he became a torpedo bomber pilot.  This was one of the most dangerous jobs in naval aviation.  Torpedo bombing entailed lining the aircraft up with an enemy ship and approaching the ship just over the water surface at top speed while ignoring the intense antiaircraft fire.  The plane would release a torpedo and then pull up in a steep climb.  Twice, Bush’s plane went down in the sea.  The first time, all the crew were saved.  The second time, Bush was the sole survivor and was rescued by a U.S. submarine just as Japanese boats were approaching to intercept his life raft.  The loss of his crew haunted Bush for the rest of his life.

Bush being rescued during WWII
(source: Schweizer & Schweizer, 2004)  

 After the war, Bush attended Yale University where he was captain of the baseball team.  He was also tapped to join the legendary Skull and Bones secret society.  And he was active in promoting the United Negro College Fund.

 

After graduation, the Bushes—he married Barbara Pierce in 1944—left the East Coast and settled in Texas.  Using family money, Bush started an oil company (Bush-Overbey Oil Development Company).  His second company (Zapata Petroleum) hit a deposit and made his family rich.

 

Bush ran for the Senate in 1964 as a so-called Goldwater conservative.  Unlike his father, former Senator Prescott Bush, Bush was against the civil rights bill being pushed by President Lyndon Johnson.  He thought civil rights should be a state issue.  But he still supported the United Negro College Fund.  He wasn’t a great speaker—he had a high-pitched voice and waved his arms around.  And, of course, his strange syntax caused by his mother urging him to avoid the pronouns “I” and “me.”  Also, his sentences tended to run together.  Bush lost the race in what was then heavily Democratic Texas.  

 

In 1960, he ran for Congress and won.  Once Bush was in office, retired senator Prescott Bush pulled some strings and got freshman Bush on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.  Bush’s stance against the civil rights began to change when he traveled to Vietnam and saw Blacks serving in the Army but being denied basic civil rights back home.  So, he voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and received hate mail from his Texas constituents.  He was also pro-choice on abortion rights.  

 

After stints as UN Representative, Head of the Republican National Committee, U.S. Representative to China and head of the CIA, he was tapped to be Ronald Reagan’s running mate in 1980.  He was a loyal vice president and supported all of Reagan’s positions in public.

 

In 1988, Bush ran for president and denied Jimmy Carter a second term.  He became the first vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1837. As president, Bush didn’t take himself too seriously.  He tended to continue Reagan’s policies and had “no clear vision” of what he wanted to accomplish (Sweitzer & Sweitzer, 2004).  

To win the presidency, Bush had promised not to raise taxes.  He said during the campaign, “Read my lips: no new taxes” (Schweizer & Sweitzer, 2004).  But he soon violated his promise and raised some taxes in exchange for revenue cuts—this would come back to haunt him in the next election.  

 

Bush reaped the reward of Regan’s high military spending, when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and freedom swept across the former Soviet satellite nations. 

 

On August 1, 1990, Iraqi troops crossed the Kuwait border threatening world oil supplies. Bush collaborated with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and convinced the United Nations to pass a resolution authorizing the use of force to repel Iraq.  In January 1991 a multinational coalition led by the Americans attacked the Iraq army in Kuwait and quickly expelled them. There was no pursuit of the Iraqis into Iraq.  With the success of “Desert Storm,” George Bush’s ratings skyrocketed to 90%.  

 

But as the reelection campaign began, his popularity lowered.  The U.S. economy had slipped in recession.  In addition, he had violated his “no  new taxes” pledge.  In addition, longtime nemesis, Ross Perot, ran against him and likely siphoned off many Bush voters.   Bill Clinton won easily.

 

* * *

 

So, what do locals say about the Bushes?  After viewing the compound, we drove to a nearby restaurant called Striper’s.  The waitress told us that the Bushes would visit the restaurant as an “entourage” with “layers” of Secret Service agents.  

 

Dinner at Striper's

At our next destination—favorite ski hill, Sunday River, ME—we met the owner of the Good Food Store who was from Kennebunk.  He said that his claim to fame is that George Bush was his high school graduation speaker.  We asked if he had visited the compound.  “They wouldn’t let the likes of me in,” he replied.  But he has biked by it quite often.

 

The insulation of the Bush family from the townsfolk is in sharp contrast to Jimmy Carter mingling with the people of Plains, GA.

 

DIRECTIONS

 

The Bush compound is located close to the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Sandy Cove Road in Kennebunkport, ME.  The George and Barbara Bush Center is located at the University of New England, 11 Hills Beach Road, Biddeford, ME.

 

REFERENCES

 

Schweizer, Peter and Rochelle Schweizer.  2004.  The Bushes:  Portrait of a Dynasty.  Doubleday.  New York, NY. 

 

Videos

 

History Channel.  2005.  The Presidents:  The Lives and Legacies of the 43 Leaders of the United States.