We're back today with our one and only June presidential birthday. It's also the first living president we've done, which is fun. The boys have talked about what George H.W. Bush might be doing today, so that's kind of cool. It was a very busy day around here. Trying to get set for next week, holding down the fort while Asa is in the office, and doing a presidential birthday is a lot. But, I did it, because I'm just that awesome.
We don't have a presidential pez dispenser for George H.W. Bush. (Our collection currently ends at Lyndon Johnson- there aren't any more out right now, but I hear in November the collection will be complete!) We had to improvise with our George. Since we always use Mr. & Mrs. Incredible for the parents of presidents, I figured we should use them for George and Barbara. After all, they are presidential parents AND that way I could use Dash for George W. Bush. (His birthday is in July, so Dash will make another appearance soon!)
Calib wanted to take over on pictures, since Asa wasn't here. And, well, I got some interesting ones. But, what can you do? He tried. I'm also going to go warp speed through this, because Asa is finally home from work, and I want to hang out. Plus, most of us were alive during the Reagan/Bush era, so we know what went down.
George Herbert Walker Bush was born to Prescott and Dorothy Bush on June 12, 1924 in Massachusetts, though he spent most of his privileged childhood in Connecticut. His mother taught him to follow through, always be loyal, and always share credit, making sure to be humble. And George took all those lessons to heart. He made friends everywhere he met, and based on his son's book about him, he is an all around good guy.
So, George met Barbara his senior year in high school, and they would get engaged two years later. (Fun fact: they are the presidential couple who has been married the longest!)
After high school everyone expected the Student Body President to head off to Yale, but something happened Pearl Harbor.
And George decided he would go off to the Navy instead of Yale. He was the youngest pilot the Navy had ever seen at the time.
Most of you probably know he had to parachute out of his plane, his two fellow pilots didn't survive the attack from the Japanese.
But George floated on an inflatable lifeboat until a Navy submarine picked him up and rescued him. And George made himself part of the Sub crew, helping rescue other pilots for awhile, until he could get back to his unit.
After the war (he flew a total of 58 missions), he went back to the states, where he and Barbara were married. Then they had their first son, George W. Bush. But H.W. still had college to attend- so he finally went to Yale.
He graduated in two and a half years, AND managed to make time to be captain of the baseball team. They won the college baseball world series, and H.W. even got to meet Babe Ruth.
Then he went off to Texas to see about the oil drilling business, and they had two more kids: Robin and Jeb.
But, Robin died to leukemia when she was three. The Bush's did have three more kids: Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy.
Prescott Bush had become a Senator, and George was intrigued. When Prescott was out, George decided to see if he could make it to D.C.
George decided to make a Senate run, which he lost. (Apparently it was not an easy road to win a state-wide election as a Republican in Texas at that time. I know, that's SUPER hard to believe now!)
But, a few years later, George did win a seat in the House of Representatives for the 7th district, and he got put on the coveted Ways and Means Committee. That's THE committee of all committees, so that's impressive.
But George couldn't shake the dream of being in the Senate. He decided to run again, risking his spot in the House. It didn't pay off, he lost AGAIN. But, President Nixon took notice.
And he gave George Bush a new job.
And then another job after that!
But, then you know, Watergate. And George stuck up for Nixon, because Nixon swore up and down he didn't have anything to do with Watergate. But, we all know how that turned out.
So, Ford becomes president, and George and Barbara are there to witness it all.
And Ford has a new job for George: sort of ambassador to China (there wasn't an ACTUAL ambassador because of something with Taiwan or something, but he was pretty much the equivalent). George and Barbara had a good time in China, hosting American cook-outs, riding their bikes through the streets, and making friends.
But a year and a half later, Ford had another job for George. So, it was back to DC for him and Barbara.
But when Jimmy Carter became president, George was out. And back in Texas, not sure exactly what to do anymore. He figured his political career was over.
But, in 1980 when it was time for Jimmy Carter's re-election, Bush through his hat in the ring for the Republican nominee. It didn't work out so well, but a guy by the name of Ronald Reagan seemed to notice, and asked him if he'd be his VP.
George of course accepted, and the two were elected!
And George was a good VP. He met with Reagan once a week for lunch at the White House, and he got sent to any state funerals on Reagan's behalf. (George even joked "you die, I fly")
Eight years go by, and George decided to run for president. Working against him: The Van Buren effect. Not since Martin Van Buren (JQA's VP) had a Vice President immediately been elected to the presidency. Not only that but the positions George held- director of the CIA, "Ambassador" to China, Chariman to the RNC- nobody had ever been elected president who held ANY of these posts, let along all three of them.
But George defied the odds, even with Dan Quayle by his side.
Then we talked about the end of the cold war, with the dissolution of the USSR...
And the middle east..
...with Sudan Hussein invading Kuwait. You know, the whole Operation Desert Storm stuff.
We talked about Manuel Noriega...
The Exxon Valdez oil spill, the San Francisco earthquake, and the Rodney King riots in LA.
And the famous "Read my lips" quote.
He did have some accomplishments as President for sure.
But, it wasn't enough to win re-election in 1992.
So, George H.W. was out and back in Texas, but just like he went into politics when Prescott was out, George W. decided to run for governor now that his dad was out of office.
And Jeb became governor of Florida.
And, as we all know, W. became president.
It's hard to talk about where George ranks, in the grand scheme of history, his presidency wasn't all that long ago at all. We talked about how he went sky diving for his 80th, 85th, and 90th birthdays. Also, now that he his confined mostly to a wheelchair, he noticed his socks are extremely visible, and he's made it a point to wear colorful, fun socks.
Some fun facts about George:
Some famous quotes:
And his accomplishments..
All on his parachute, along with our newspaper headline props from today.
We watched the president in 60 seconds video..
And made birthday cards.
However, this time, instead of putting them away in the folders we are sending them off to the former president himself, along with a letter from me that explained our project and wished him a happy birthday!
I had a hard time coming up with an activity for this one, so we used his colorful socks to make a fun craft.
A colorful sock, some felt, a little hot glue, and we had these guys..
Of course there was owl mail today (that's Hayden there with Mr. & Mrs. Lava)
And Calib came up with the hashtag:
No new taxes #readmyhashtag
It was actually really hard to find his favorite foods (snacks, sure, and the fact he HATED broccoli was everywhere). But, I did find a recipe for Barbara Bush's Apple Crisp. I am no baker, but I figure I'd give it a shot.
Our 41st president is also a fan of porkrinds, and none of us had ever tried them before, so we gave it a go (I don't think any of us will try them again either though). He actually likes them soaked in tobacco sauce, but we left that part out.
I did read somewhere he liked hotdogs, and he loved to cookout, so we did that.
And the apple crisp actually turned out super awesome.
Some of us even had ice cream on top.
That's it for the birthday. There were no Fenderson's today (it's just too much!) but we did try our Lingonberry juice boxes for lunch today. They were.... interesting. Oh my gosh, and the accusations flying about who was the agent who helped Casey escape is just CRAZY.
Oh, and when Asa went out to check the garden when he got home we finally got to pick one of our green bell peppers. Yay.
I'll likely be back Sunday with a few odds and ends, before Asa and I head out. Mom's leaving tomorrow for her drive down, so we'll be seeing her here late Sunday night.
Next Up: A build n grow, wrapping up the Fenderson's, and ANNIVERSARY EXTRAVAGANZA!
No comments:
Post a Comment