Tributes quickly poured in for the former US leader, a
decorated war pilot, and onetime CIA chief who also saw his son George follow
in his footsteps to the Oval Office.
Bush’s passing comes just months after the death in April
of his wife and revered first lady Barbara Bush — his “most beloved woman in
the world” — to whom he was married for 73 years.
“Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro and I are saddened to announce
that after 94 remarkable years, our dear Dad has died,” former president George
W. Bush said in a statement released on Twitter by a family spokesman.
“George H.W. Bush was a man of the highest character and
the best dad a son or daughter could ask for,” he said.
“The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41’s life
and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad, and
for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens.”
Bush is survived by his five children and 17
grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course, a
family spokesman said. Bush is expected to lie in state in the US Capitol.
President Donald Trump, who was in Argentina attending a
G20 summit of world leaders, hailed Bush’s “sound judgment, common sense, and
unflappable leadership.”
“Through his essential authenticity, disarming wit, and
unwavering commitment to faith, family, and country, President Bush inspired
generations of his fellow Americans to public service,” Trump said in a
statement.
“As president, he set the stage for the decades of
prosperity that have followed.”
Bush — who was born on June 12, 1924, in Milton,
Massachusetts into a wealthy New England political dynasty — put his inevitable
political career on hold to join the US Navy during World War II.
He flew 58 combat missions and was shot down over the
Pacific by Japanese anti-aircraft fire.
After a brief career in the oil industry, he entered
politics, serving in the US House of Representatives and as chief of the
Central Intelligence Agency before being elected Ronald Reagan’s vice
president.
As he accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for
president in 1988, Bush pleaded for a “kinder, gentler nation.”
He went on to easily defeat Democrat Michael Dukakis that
November.
Bush was a foreign policy stalwart who declared a “new
world order” in 1990 and drove Iraq from Kuwait in a matter of weeks with a
lightning air and ground assault — and the backing of a coalition of 32
nations.
But he suffered the ignominy of being a one-term
president, denied a second term over a weak economy when he lost the 1992
election to upstart Democrat Bill Clinton.
In his post-presidency, Bush turned to philanthropy — he
joined forces with Bill Clinton to raise funds for victims of the 2004 Asian
tsunami and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
He worked with Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and
son George to raise money for hurricane victims in Texas in 2017.
In 2011, Obama awarded Bush the highest US civilian
honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“America has lost a patriot and humble servant in George
Herbert Walker Bush. While our hearts are heavy today, they are also filled
with gratitude,” Obama and his wife Michelle said in a statement.
“After seventy-three years of marriage, George and
Barbara Bush are together again now, two points of light that never dimmed, two
points of light that ignited countless others with their example.”
