By all accounts, George was a thoughtful young boy. His mother still talks about the time George and his classmates split into two teams for an obstacle race. A guy on the other team was so overweight that he got stuck crawling through a barrel. The other kids, and even the parents, laughed. But George didn’t think it was funny. With tears streaming down his face, he ran out on the field and helped the boy out of the barrel.
Bush grew up during the Great Depression. But his family had plenty of money. Prescott Bush, the president’s father, was a Wall Street banker and, later, a U.S. senator. There was a maid and a chauffeur. Every summer, the family trooped up to an estate in Kennebunk port, Maine, owned by George’s grandfather. The president acquired a lifelong love of boating and fishing there, and still vacations in Kennebunkport with his own children and grandchildren.
Though full of fun and games, the Bush home was very competitive: the children played to win. At the same time, the family set great store by team spirit. If any of the kids ran into the house to say he had hit a home run, George’s mother would discourage bragging with the reply: “How did the team do?”
When Bush was 12, he went away to the Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. Right after graduation, he signed up with the navy so he could fight in World War II. He became the youngest pilot in navy history and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for a mission during which he was almost killed.
George Bush has spent most of his adult life in politics. In 1980, Ronald Reagan chose him as his running mate. After eight years as Reagan’s vice president, Bush moved into the White House himself. His critics say some of the qualities that made him such a nice kid have made him a less effective president: they say he’s a nice guy but hasn’t always been clear about what he stands for. But George Bush has always been well liked, and if enough Americans like him in November he’ll be the president for four more years.
