THE BUSH FAMILY

BEHIND THE SCENES

By William P. Litynski

2012 Presidential Election: A New World Order?

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host a lunch for members of the Bush family in the Red Room of the White House, May 31, 2012. Seated clockwise from the President are: former First Lady Barbara Bush, Bucky Bush, Doro Bush Koch, Jenna Bush Hager, Marvin Bush, Jody Bush, former President George W. Bush, Mrs. Obama, former President George H.W. Bush, Patty Bush, Bobby Koch, Barbara Bush, Margaret Bush, Jonathan Bush, and former First Lady Laura Bush. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Former President George H.W. Bush (left) and Republican Party presidential candidate Mitt Romney are seen laughing together.

President Barack Obama meets with former President George H.W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. on January 27, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

In this handout image provided by the Department of Defense (DOD), former President George H. W. Bush (L), Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (C), and Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett sit with President Barack Obama (R) before the Points of Light Foundation forum held at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas on October 16, 2009. Valerie Jarrett served as Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Stock Exchange from April 2004 through April 2007; Valerie Jarrett was a Class B Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago from January 2006 through April 2007. (Photo by U.S. Department of Defense/Handout/Getty Images North America)

Republican Party presidential candidate Mitt Romney (left), former U.S. President George H.W. Bush (center), and former first lady Barbara Bush appear in Houston, Texas, U.S.A. on March 29, 2012. (Donna Carson/Courtesy Reuters via Council on Foreign Relations)

Republican Party presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (center) visits former President George H.W. Bush, his wife Barbara Bush, and their dogs at their home in Houston, Texas, U.S.A. on December 1, 2011. (AP Photo)

President George Bush (L) talks with radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh in the WABC studio in New York City on September 21, 1992. (Gary Cameron/Reuters/CORBIS)

Glenn Beck met with former President George H.W. Bush at his home in Kennebunkport, Maine on Wednesday, September 4, 2002 in an exclusive one-on-one meeting discussing the events of September 11, 2001. George H.W. Bush is a member of Skull & Bones, a secret society at Yale University. (Photo: http://archive.glennbeck.com/pictures/index.shtml)

“There’s three things to remember: claim everything, explain nothing, deny everything.”– Prescott S. Bush, 1966

BUSH FAMILY PHOTOS

Bush Family Portrait, from left to right: Barbara Bush, George W. Bush, George Bush, Dorothy Walker Bush, and Prescott Bush.

Vice President George H.W. Bush stands beside his brother and fellow Bonesman Jonathan Bush (left) on June 24, 1988. This photo appears in George Bush’s own book All The Best: My Life in Letters and Other Writings. (Bush Library photo)

The Bush Family

President George W. Bush (left) and his brother Marvin Bush watch the women's preliminary basketball game between the United States and Czech Republic at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium during day 1 of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, Red China on August 9, 2008. Marvin Bush was in charge of security of the World Trade Center in New York City prior to September 11, 2001. (Photo by Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)

This photo appears in George Bush’s own book All The Best: My Life in Letters and Other Writings.

Prescott Bush, George Bush, and George W. Bush are members of Skull & Bones at Yale University.

This photo appears in George Bush’s own book All The Best: My Life in Letters and Other Writings.

Prescott S. Bush is seated at center, George H.W. Bush is standing at left, Jonathan J. Bush is standing next to his brother George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush (as a child) appears somewhere on the left.

2000 Bush Family Christmas Photo (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

The Prescott Bush family at the wedding of George and Barbara Bush in Rye, New York on January 5, 1945. Left to right: Jonathan, Nancy, George, Barbara, Prescott S, Bush Sr., Dorothy Walker Bush, Prescott Bush Jr. with his wife Beth, and William Henry Trotter Bush (Bucky). (George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, President George W. Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush attending the christening ceremony the USS George H.W. Bush at the Northrop Grumman shipyard, where the $6 billion nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is being built, on October 7, 2006. The Nimitz-class CVN 77 carrier is expected to be delivered to the Navy in late 2008. (© Matthew Cavanaugh/EPA/Corbis)

Walker’s Point at Kennebunkport, Maine (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Left: The Bush Dynasty (August 7, 2000 edition of Time magazine); Right: George W. Bush, Person of the Year (December 25, 2000)

George W. Bush (left, September 6, 2004) and George Herbert Walker Bush (right, August 24, 1992)

PRESCOTT SHELDON BUSH: THE PATRIARCH

U.S. Senator Prescott S. Bush (Republican Party-Connecticut) sits beside U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Oval Office.

Francis Case (left) listens as U.S. Senator Prescott S. Bush (second from right) talks to U.S. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson (second from left) at a hearing in November 1957. (Photo by Hank Walker//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Prescott S. Bush (far right) was the chairman of the executive committee of the National War Fund in the spring of 1945 during World War II. From left to right: unknown, unknown, unknown, Bernard Baruch, unknown, unknown, National City Bank Chairman Gordon Rentschler, unknown, unknown, National City Bank banker William G. Brady Jr., Roland Harriman, Chase National Bank Chairman Winthrop Aldrich, John D. Rockefeller Jr., and Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. partner Prescott S. Bush.

Vice President Richard Nixon (2nd from left) greets U.S. Senator Prescott S. Bush (right) on May 6, 1953. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Prescott S. Bush (second from left), a partner of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. banking firm in New York City, appears with John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (left) in 1943.

United States Senator Prescott S. Bush (left) meets with U.S. Secretary of State Christian A. Herter (second from left), Prime Minister of Italy Antonio Segni (second from right), and Secretary of the Army Wilber Brucker in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. on October 1, 1959. (United Press International)

Under Secretary of Commerce Louis Rothschild (left) and U.S. Senator Prescott S. Bush confer shortly before testifying at a Senate Public Roads Subcommittee hearing on March 11, 1958. They were slated to present the administration's two billion, 200 million dollar proposal to step up the federal highway program as an anti-recession move. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Seven members of the eight man GOP "truth squad" are shown at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on September 1, 1960 after discussing their activities at the end of the bob-tailed session of Congress today. They announced the group was reconstituted as a campaign "fact squad" to range the country and "set the record straight." The group, created by Republican presidential nominee Nixon, kept watch in the Senate over the Democrats and intends to carry its efforts into the field. Left to right: (standing) Senators Francis Case (S.D.); Prescott Bush (Conn.); Kenneth Keating (N.Y.); (seated) Roman L. Hruska (Nebr.); Everett Dirksen (Ill.); John Williams (Del.) and Hiram Fong (Hawaii). (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Big Groups of Senators Who Caucused on Filibuster in January 1957. Left to right standing: Senators Jason F. Murray (D); JOHN SHERMAN COOPER (R), Ky.; Clifford P. Case (R), N.J.; Fred Payne (R), Maine; PRESCOTT BUSH, (R) Conn.; Hubert Humphrey (D), Minn.; Joseph Clark, Jr. (D); Richard L. Neuberger (D); Thomas H. Kuchel (R) Calif. Left to right seated: Chase Potter (R), Mich.; Clinton P. Anderson; Irving Ives (R), N.Y.; Paul H. Douglas (D), Ill.; H. Alexander Smith (R), N.J. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Following an organizational meeting of his commission on foreign economic policy yesterday, President Dwight Eisenhower said that it is essential that the U.S. develop new world markets and at the same time "assist other nations to earn their own living." The president (right) is chatting with commission chairman Clarence Randall as he posed with the group in the White House Rose Garden on September 23, 1953. Second row (from left): Jesse W. Tapp; Rep. Jon Vorys, Ohio; Sen. Prescott Bush, Connecticut. Third row: John R. Williams; David J. McDonald and John Hay Whitney. Fourth row: Rep. Jere Cooper, Tennessee; Sen. Walter George, Georgia; Sen. Eugene Milliken, Colorado. Fifth row: Rep. Laurie Battle, Alabama; Cola G. Parker; Rep. Daniel Reed, New York; Lamar Flemming and Sen. Harry Byrd, Virginia. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

U.S. Senator Prescott S. Bush appears with President John F. Kennedy and President of Yale University A. Whitney Griswold at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1962. (Source: Family of Secrets by Russ Baker)

“After the Bay of Pigs disaster, JFK had been blunt about his feelings toward the intelligence elite that had concocted the Cuban scheme. “I’ve got to do something about those CIA bastards,” he had raged. Heads had rolled, and Allen Dulles, the Bushes’ close friend, was still smarting over his firing. So was Charles Cabell, the brother of Dallas mayor Earle Cabell and the CIA’s deputy director of operations during the Bay of Pigs invasion; Kennedy deep-sixed his career. Also holding a grudge against the Kennedys was Prescott Bush, who was furious at both JFK and RFK for sacking his close friend Dulles. And there were many others.” – Family of Secrets by Russ Baker, Chapter 6, p. 86

A letter from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America letter dated January 8, 1947 shows Prescott S. Bush serving as the Treasurer of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Prescott S. Bush was a member of the Republican Party.(Source: Random House)

The front page of the New York Herald Tribune, July 31, 1941

(Source: http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/thefamily/media/thefamily_document002m.pdf)

New York Herald Tribune, July 31, 1941:

Thyssen Has $3,000,000 Cash in New York VaultsUnion Banking Corp. May Hide Nest Egg for High Nazis He Once Backed

By M. J. Racusin

In the tides of economic warfare now surging over the world, the New York Herald Tribune, has discovered that Fritz Thyssen, the German industrialist who was Adolf Hitler’s original patron on a prodigal scale a decade has $3,000,000 in American cash, salted away in the bank vaults of downtown New York.

In the American colony of Thyssen enterprises perhaps the most interesting is, the Union Banking Corporation, 39 Broadway, nominal guardian of the $3,000,000 cache, all in United States currency a sort of nest egg for Herr Thyssen or perhaps for some of his high-placed Nazi friends when the present troublous days are over.

Among other Thyssen interests in New York are half a dozen corporations engaged in the shipping, export and import trades, centering chiefly about coal and steel industries and operating under the wing of the Union Banking Corporation. These organizations did a thriving business in rolling up dollars for Herr Thyssen in years past, but have been brought virtually to a standstill during the last year by the war.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this story is the mystery surrounding the Thyssen fortune. At the moment, of course, no can get at this Thyssen nest egg, because it is part of the $4,500,000,000 foreign assets frozen by the United States government since Adolf Hitler’s armies began overrunning Europe.

Government circles assert that the assets of the Union Banking Corporation and its subsidiaries were frozen because capital and control came from Netherlands institution called the, Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart (Bank for Trade, and Shipping) in Rotterdam one of the Thyssen string of banking houses on the Continent. It was subject to the freezing order, however, as a Dutch corporation and not as a German-owned property.

As the Custodian of all Dutch property outside the Netherlands, the Netherlands government in exile represents that it, too, would seem to have some rights in the, matter. Nevertheless all of Fritz Thyssen’s properties were confiscated by the Nazi regime back in 1939, and thus it might appear that the assets here are legally a part of the German government’s assets in the United States.

Rotterdam Bank Bombed

The Thyssen bank in Rotterdam which nominally owned the New York corporation was bombed out of existence by the invading Nazis in May, 1940. No one in New York professes to know what has happened to the officers of the Rotterdam institution. Not a word of instruction or advice has come from abroad.

Perhaps it wasn’t Herr Thyssen’s money at all, some persons suggest. Maybe he sent it here for safekeeping for some of the Nazi bigwigs perhaps for Goering, for Goebbels, for Himmler, or even Hitler himself.

No matter how the story comes out, the United States government has the situation in hand. Every penny of known Thyssen assets is frozen, under the strictest control.

There are many Americans in responsible positions who do not think that the rift between Herr Thyssen and the Nazis was genuine at all, preferring to believe that Thyssen was in reality a sort of economic advance agent of the Hitler forces, a financial surveyor and softener-up posing as a refugee.

Reliable private information is that Thyssen has been wandering about Switzerland, France and other European countries before and after the Nazi armies arriving without much hindrance, from the Hitler government. Thyssen is now in Germany not under confinement, free to move about but closely watched perhaps a willing prisoner, perhaps a hostage for his wealth throughout the world.

Herr Thyssen’s adventure in the American business world dates back to August, 1924, when without flourishes or ruffles the Union Banking Corporation was incorporated with a capital stock of $400,000, the money coming from the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, of Rotterdam. It was licensed under the New York State banking laws as an investment corporation.

In addition to known lieutenants of the Thyssen interests in Europe, there appeared and continue to appear on the board of directors of this corporation the names of several partners of the private banking house of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., 59 Wall Street.

Enlisted Harriman In 1925

This circumstance dates back to a chance meeting in Europe in 1925 between Fritz Thyssen and W. Averell Harriman, a partner of the Brown Brothers, Harriman firm and now minister plenipotentiary to England as expediter of lease-lend aid to the British. Herr Thyssen said to Mr. Harriman that he was opening a bank in the United States to take care of his financial and industrial interests here and asked Mr. Harriman to serve on the board. Mr. Harriman agreed to have several other members of his firm go on the directorate.

This took place, of course, at a time when the present world tangle could hardly have been foreseen and when such courtesies were part of the normal routine of international banking relations.

When a new world war began the Brown Brothers Harriman partners sensed possible embarrassment through association with a corporation stemming from German interests and considered withdrawal from the Union Banking Corporation’s board. In a consultation with William R. White, State Superintendent of Banks, on the subject Mr. White requested them to remain on the board to assure efficient administration of the corporation’s affairs by trustworthy and responsible persons during the emergency. They agreed to comply with Mr. White’s request.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. have never had any financial interest in the Union Banking Corporation or any of its subsidiaries, and have never profited in any way from its activities. The association of some of its partners with the Thyssen corporation, it points, out, was entirely a matter of courtesy.

Relationship Explained

The circumstances of relationship were frankly set forth in a letter addressed by Knight Woolley, a partner of the Brown Brothers Harriman firm, to Mr. White on Jan. 14 of this year. This letter follows:

“January 14, 1941.“William R. White, Esq.,“Superintendent of Banks, State Of New York,80 Centre Street,“New York, N, Y.

“Dear Mr. White:

“As you are aware, my partners, E. R. Harriman, Ray Morris, Prescott S. Bush and our manager, H. D. Pennington, are directors of the Union Banking Corporation, a state institution under your supervision. This corporation is located, at 39 Broadway, and it is in effect a New York office, or agency, of the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, in Rotterdam. Because of possible uncertainty as to whether the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart might be held to be a Dutch institution, or whether it is, in fact, a German institution under a Dutch name, my partners have been giving serious consideration to withdrawing from the board. Should the United States enter the war, they feel they might be under some embarrassment because of their connection with the bank, even though we have no financial interest in the Union Banking Corporation, nor do we participate in its earnings. They act as directors merely as a matter of business courtesy.

“In order that you may understand clearly the reasons for our doubts, I should like to give you the background of our connection with the Union Banking Corporation. Our partner W.A. Harriman was in Europe in 1925, and at that time he became acquainted with Mr. Fritz Thyssen, the German industrialist. To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Thyssen formed the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart and presumably controlled that institution. - At one of his meetings with Mr. Harriman, he told him he was forming a bank in New York to look after his interests in the United States and he asked Mr. Harriman to serve on the board. Mr. Harriman agreed that certain of his associates would serve in this capacity, and as a result various members of the Harriman organizations and now of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., have been on the board ever since.

“The Union Banking Corporation does no commercial business, and its only depositor is the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart. Its activities are limited to occasional payments and a few purchases and sales of securities. All shares of the Union Banking Corporation are registered in the name of E. R. Harriman, who is chairman of the board, except the qualifying shares held by directors. As the company is Dutch-owned, its banking accounts were frozen under the Presidential Proclamation of May 10, 1940.

“The Union Banking Corporation maintains accounts with the Chase National Bank, the National City Bank, the Guaranty Trust Company, and ourselves. At present its account with us is the only one which is active, and the drawings are limited to the Payment of salaries and usual office expenses. To further control its operations, we have arranged that either Ray Morris or H. D. Pennington must sign checks jointly with the president of the company, Mr. C. Lievense, or with the, assistant treasurer, Mr. W Kauffmann, and that one of our gentleman from our organization must be present when access is desired to the company’s safe deposit box at the Chase Bank.

“You have perhaps read in the newspapers recently that, Fritz Thyssen is no longer in Germany, and it has been reported that he has had differences with the Nazi regime. We have no knowledge as to whether he still retains an interest in the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, nor are we able to obtain any information with respect to the stock ownership in the bank.

“In view, of these uncertainties, together with the censorship affecting communications to and from Rotterdam, I realize that the Union Banking Corporation might be placed in an embarrassing position if all the directors were to resign at this time. I feel sure however that you will understand the position of my Associates, and I would greatly appreciate, a frank expression from you as to the action which you feel that they should take should you believe that the interests of the Banking Department would be best served by their continuing as directors until the situation abroad has been somewhat clarified, I know that they will be glad to be guided by, your judgment and I shall greatly appreciate your reaction to this situation and your opinion as to what action, if any, should be taken by my associates.

Very truly yours,

“KNIGHT WOOLLEY.”

Whites Reply

To this Mr. White replied:

“May 13, 1941.“Mr. Knight Woolley,“Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.,“59 Wall Street,“New York City.

Dear Mr. Woolley:

“Reference is made to your letter of January 14 and to conversations which you and certain of your partners have since had with me relative to the status of the Union Banking Corporation.

“During recent months this department has been obliged to give unusual attention to certain of the banking organizations in this country which have been affected by the freezing orders. This, however has not been true in the case of the Union Banking Corporation because of the confidence which the department has in the directors of this institution

“While the department would, not feel free to object if your partners, Mr. Harriman, Mr. Bush, and your firm’s manager, Mr. Pennington, should desire to resign as directors of the corporation, nevertheless the department would be gratified if these gentlemen could find it possible to remain on the board during this period of uncertainty.

“I appreciate your thoughtfulness in bringing this matter to my attention and the willingness of yourself and your associates to consideration to the department’s point of view in the matter.

“Sincerely yours,“WILLIAM R. WHITE.”

Personnel and Assets

The personnel and financial setup of the Union Banking Corporation is provided in the following report of the institution, issued on Jan 1, 1941:

UNION BANKING CORPORATION. NEW YORK, 39 BROADWAY, ORGANIZED 1924

Cornelis Lievense, PresidentWalter Kauffmann, TreasurerDirectors - Cornelis Lievense, E. Roland Harriman, R. D. Pennington, P. S. Bush, J. Kouwenhoven, Ray Morris, J. G. Groeninger

RESOURCES

Cash on hand and due from banks (domestic) $2,817,763.95

Bond and Stock investments 232,880.25Other loans, notes and bills (including other acceptances) 53,000.00Accrued Income 947.66Total resources $3,104,591.86

LIABILITIES

Deposits: Demand $115,880,14Due to banks (domestic and foreign) 2,262,040,20Other Liabilities 822.64Capital stock 400,000Surplus and undivided profits 302,339.70Reserves 23,503,18Total liabilities 3,104,591.86

Lievense a United States Citizen

The dominating personality in the administration of the Thyssen domain in the United States is the shy and little known Cornelis Lievense, a colorful little Hollander who arrived in this country by way of Montreal in May, 1926, two years after the Union Banking Corporation was set up Mr. Lievense is a naturalized American citizen having received his final citizen papers on Jan. 29, 1932, at Mineola, L.I.

Besides the Union Bank Corporation, Mr. Lievense is president of the Holland American Corporation, the Domestic Fuel Corporation, and the Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation.

All of these occupy offices with the Union Bank Corporation at 39 Broadway. Others in the group at that address are the Kemari Trading Corporation, the Riberena Fuel and Chartering Corporation, Kauffmann & Co. and Religious Publications Inc.

Mr. Lievense admitted that the assets of the Domestic Fuel Corporation, the Holland American Trading Corporation and the Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation had all been frozen along with those of the Union Banking Corporation by the Treasury Department. He said the business of the whole group, aside, from the bank, hardly approached $1,000,000 annually.

Blacklisted by Canada

He admitted also that the Domestic Fuel Corporation, which had been bringing cargoes of, coal from the Thyssen mining interests in Europe to Canada and other Western Hemisphere points, had been blacklisted by the Canadian Trade Commission in the fall of 1940.

Mr. Lievense would reveal little of the operations of the corporations beyond saying that they are now under the strict supervision of the Treasury Department and that there was “very little activity.”

He insisted, however, that Religious Publications, Inc., although occupying offices with the Union Banking Corporation and the others, was not a Thyssen venture but was purely his personal affair.

“This is a philanthropic venture of mine,” he explained with disarming sincerity, “undertaken to bring out the religious works of Dr. K Schilder, a Dutchman who has recently been released from a German concentration camp. This is in no sense a profit-making venture and must not be associated with these other business organizations.”

Three of Dr. Schilder’s books have been, brought out by the William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, of Grand Rapids, Mich., and were translated from the Dutch by Henry Zylstra. They bear the titles, “Christ In His Suffering, “Christ on Trial” and “Christ Crucified.”

On Other, Thyssen, Boards

Mr. Lievense speaks in soft, low tones and merely smiled broadly when questioned about his association with Herr Thyssen. His name appears as a director of the Thyssen Holland American Investment Corporation, at Rotterdam. He is a member of the board of the August Thyssen Bank, Aktiengesellschaft, at Berlin, and, he is also a director of the Handelscompagnie Ruilvkeer, a Thyssen bartering company at Amsterdam.

Two of Mr. Lievense’s associates, on the board of the Union Banking Corporation, J. G. Groeninger and N. J. Kouwenhoven, are among Herr Thyssen’s chief managerial assistants in the conduct of many of his European Projects. Kouwenhoven is an old school

friend of Mr. Lievense and is managing director of the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart. He is also managing director of the Holland American Investment Corporation and is on the board of the Thyssen-owned Vlaardingen Harborworks.

Groeninger is managing director of the Thyssen-owned Halcyon Line, with headquarters at Rotterdam. It was this corporation which refused to transfer its headquarters and assets outside Holland when the Netherlands government warned all industrialists to take their properties to Dutch colonies at the time of the Nazi Invasion. Just before the arrival of the German forces at Rotterdam, the British and Dutch navies seized eleven of the thirteen ships of the line and incorporated them in the British shipping pool. It is understood that three of these ships have since been destroyed. Only two ships of the line fell into the Nazis, hands.

Only One Has Visited U. S.

Both Groeninger and Kouwenhoven are directors of the local Holland American Trading Corporation. Groeninger is also on the board of the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart and is a director of the Vulcan Rhine Shipping Co., another unit in Thyssen’s industrial kingdom. Kouwenhoven visited the United States about four or five years ago, Mr. Lievense said, but Groeninger appears never to have been here.

“I have told the government, Authorities everything I know and that is all I can say,” Mr. Lievense said in a tolerant manner. “As, a matter of fact, I cannot say now who owns this money and this bank and these corporations. I cannot tell you if Mr. Thyssen owns it or not. You know, of course, that the building the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart has been bombed out of existence. Where is it now? Who owns it? Who knows?”

Pacing the floor of his office on the twenty-fifth floor of 39 Broadway, he said, “All I know is that I am here and that the United States government is exercising strict supervision of all activities of the bank and these corporation. I cannot tell you whom I am working. You may be sure there is really little to do. All these corporations in their best years have done less than $1,000,000 annually.”

Mr. Lievense added that his business had slowed down to such a degree that he had to let out two or three of his office force and had reduced his three-room office to two rooms.

Has Time to Play the Organ

“In fact” he said, “I have been, spending too much time indulging in my favorite pastime playing the organ at my home. I also play the organ for the Whiteman Memorial Baptist Church at Oyster Bay, What else is there to do?”

Mr. Lievense and his wife, Maria Jacobs, have lived in a rambling two-story semi-Colonial home in Cedar Swamp Road, in the High Hills Farm section of Glen Head L. I., for the last eight or ten years.

He passes much time visiting the tulip beds in the vicinity of his home. He is a member of the Netherlands Club, and was born in Maasslius, Holland, July 28, 1890.

Below is a sidebar article from New York Herald Tribune, July 31, 1941, page 22:

Thyssen’s Role In World Affairs Still a MysteryOriginal Hitler Backer May Be Refugee or Nazi Agent if He’s Alive and at Large

Fritz Thyssen, once ruler of the German steel trust and most important backer of Adolf Hitler In the early days of the Brown Shirt revolution in Germany, is the international mystery man of today. It is anybody’s guess whether he is a genuine refugee from the Nazi terror or a Hitler agent wrapped in a fugitive’s cloak. The world at large does not know where he is or even whether he is alive. And it has, apparently, no way of finding out.

On March 17 it was reported in Vichy. France, that he had been arrested on the Riviera in December, returned to Germany and lodged behind the barbed wire of Dachau concentration camp. Four days later German authorities announced that he was not in France or in Dachau but in South America. Earlier this month informed sources in Germany said he had been released from custody and was in a German sanatorium enjoying “limited freedom of movement.”

Contradictory reports of Herr Thyssen’s status are not new in the history of the man who, more than any other, financed Hitler’s rise to power. Since 1934 vague rumors of breaks between Thyssen and Hitler have circulated from time to time. They came to a head on Nov. 11, 1939, when it was announced that he had left Germany for Switzerland “for an indefinite stay.” The next day he arrived in

Lucerne and for several months kept correspondents regarding his hints that he quit his country after protesting against the Nazi-Soviet pact and urging Hitler through Hermann Wilhelm Goering, not to go to war.

Property Confiscated

A week after his arrival in Switzerland it was announced in Berlin with fanfare that the Reich had confiscated his fortune and property estimated to be worth at least $88,000,000. It was done on the basis of a law aimed at persons inimical to the people and the state. On Feb. 12, 1940, a decree was published in the official German gazette stripping him and his wife of their citizenship. They were then living In luxury in a Locarno hotel.

From then until his disappearance from the Riviera his movements were of a nature to arouse suspicion, or at least puzzlement. He was in Belgium in March, 1940, and within a few weeks Hitler’s armies forced the surrender of that country. From Belgium he moved to France, where he remained unmolested long after the French bowed before Hitler’s legions.

Thyssen’s residence at the Hotel Crillon in Paris while the German armies gathered in front of the, Maginot Line puzzled the Parisians. It seemed strange to them that a man who was a declared enemy of France and the prime mover of Hitler’s coup should be ensconced in the French capital at that particular time, able to get the ear not only of French industrialists but also of French politicians.

The same puzzlement arose after the French surrender when Thyssen supposedly an enemy of the Reich was allowed to sun himself for months on the sands of Cannes, although the German authorities could have had him for the asking.

Mentioned as Roehm Associate

All this maneuvering was an echo of in earlier incident in his career. In 1934 after Hitler had assumed the Chancellorship with the staunch help of Thyssen, Berlin began to buzz with rumors of a split among the Nazis. It was also said that Thyssen was seen frequently in the company of Captain Ernst Roehm, one of the leaders of the supposed plot against the Fuehrer.

In the blood bath of July 30, 1934, when Hitler purged his party by killing Roehm and others, there was no mention of Thyssen’s having a part in the conspiracy. Yet, when he sailed in August for South America, it was reported that he was fleeing. Despite his intimacy with Roehm however, Thyssen apparently suffered none of Hitler’s suspicion. After studying the steel business of South America, he returned in the spring to Germany and took up where he had left off.

In the various accounts of the string-pulling responsible for Hitler’s rise in Germany, there in no suggestion that Thyssen shelled out his marks to the Nazi party for any reasons but selfish ones. He was firm believer In capitalism so far as capitalism was represented by the palatial Thyssen chateau, the roaring Thyssen steel furnaces in the Ruhr and Rhine valleys and the 120,000 workers who owed their daily bread to the Thyssen pay rolls. Hitler’s main appeal to him was as a defender of Capitalism against tile Bolshevik bogey.

The Thyssen holdings were hard hit in the German inflation and the subsequent struggle of German industry against the restrictions imposed under the Versailles Treaty. Thyssen hated the French, distrusted the German Republic and dreaded socialism. He began to look around for an antidote to the three-headed monster of his imagination. In 1927 he found it in the person an Austrian former house painter.

Started Pushing In ‘30

Thyssen kept an eye on Hitler and, when the depression in 1930 rocked the Thyssen industrial empire, decided that it was time to push the Nazi leader. He introduced him to prominent industrialists, promised them that Hitler’s National Socialism was only window dressing and helped to pry money for the cause from their pockets. In 1930 he and a business associate distributed 1,000,000 marks to the party and two years later, before the fateful presidential election leading to Hitler’s Chancellorship, Thyssen donated 3,000,000 more.

His reward was to be made economic dictator of western Germany and a member of the Reich’s Grand Economic Council and Prussian State Council. He also had a seat in the Reichstag.

If the version that would picture him tossed over by Hitler is correct, he mistook his man when he patronizingly gathered the Fuehrer under his wing, His idea was to guide Hitler in the paths of safety for the Thyssen fortune. Like other German industrialists with same thought, however, it would appear that his supported puppet turned out to be a Frankenstein monster.

(Photo: http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/thefamily/media/thefamily_document002k.pdf)

(Photo: http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/thefamily/media/thefamily_document002k.pdf)

BUSH FAMILY & INTERNATIONAL BANKERS

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. partners (from left to right) E. Roland Harriman, Prescott S. Bush, Knight Woolley, and Robert Lovett discuss financial matters at the Brown Brothers Harriman office on July 28, 1964. The Gulf of Tonkin incident took place during the first week of August 1964. All four men were members of Skull & Bones, a secret society at Yale University. E. Roland Harriman and Prescott S. Bush were directors of Union Banking Corporation, a bank in New York City that stored Nazi German financier Fritz Thyssen’s asset of $3,000,000 in 1941.

President George W. Bush meets with James Wolfensohn, the outgoing President of the World Bank, in the Oval Office on April 14, 2005 (a day before “Income Tax Day”). (White House photo by Paul Morse)

Left photo: Former Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank David Rockefeller (left) receives a gift from George H.W. Bush.Right photo: Henry R. Kravis (left) greets Vice President George H.W. Bush at the White House in December 1987.

President George Bush (left) sits next to Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady at a Cabinet meeting on January 28, 1992. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell sits behind Bush while National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft is sitting behind Brady. Nicholas F. Brady served as the Chairman and CEO of Dillon, Read & Co. before serving as Secretary of the Treasury. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

Retired Citicorp chairman Walter B. Wriston meets with President George H.W. Bush and in the Vice President's Office in the White House. Both men were members of the Council on Foreign Relations. (Photo: http://dca.lib.tufts.edu/features/wriston/about/photographs.html)

President George W. Bush (left) and Vice President Dick Cheney listen to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Dick Cheney and Alan Greenspan are members of the Council on Foreign Relations. (Washington Post/White House/AP Photo)

Vice President George H.W. Bush (C) gives the thumbs up sign while meeting with Treasury Secretary Donald Regan, (L) and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker at the White House on January 31, 1984 to ratify their agreement on a sweeping proposal to reorganize commercial bank regulating agencies. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (left) shakes hands with President George H.W. Bush. George H.W. Bush’s grandfather (and former U.S. Senator Prescott Bush’s father) Samuel P. Bush was a Class B Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland from 1927 to 1930. (Photo: Greenspan: The Man Behind Money by Justin Martin/George Bush Presidential Library)

President George W. Bush and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin (left), former Treasury Secretary, former Partner of Goldman Sachs and the chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup, look on before Bush makes a keynote address at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shanghai, Communist China on October 20, 2001. (Bobby Yip/Reuters/CORBIS)

President George W. Bush (2nd R) laughs with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (R), Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson (C), Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox (2nd L) and others during a meeting with the President's Working Group on Financial Markets at the White House on March 17, 2008. Henry Paulson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. (AFP/Getty Images)

BUSH FAMILY AND SKULL & BONES

George H.W. Bush is sworn in as United States Ambassador to the United Nations in Washington, D.C. on February 26, 1971. From left to right: Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Potter Stewart, Barbara Bush, George H.W. Bush, President Richard M. Nixon. George H.W. Bush and Potter Stewart were members of Skull & Bones at Yale University. (Ron Sachs/CORBIS)

President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry laugh together during the 2004 presidential election. George W. Bush and John Kerry are members of Skull & Bones.

Vice President George H.W. Bush (right) swears in U.S. Senator John F. Kerry (Democratic Party, Massachusetts) at the opening of the 99th Congress on January 3, 1985. John Kerry's daughters Alexandra and Vanessa join in the ceremony. George H.W. Bush and John Kerry are members of Skull & Bones. (Photo: http://www.vietnamwar.com/johnkerryphotohistory6.htm)

Lincoln Chafee appears with former President George H.W. Bush and his father and U.S. Senator John Chafee. George H.W. Bush and John Chafee were members of Skull & Bones.

Council on Foreign Relations president Winston Lord (left) and Council on Foreign Relations chairman David Rockefeller watch George Bush, the Vice President of the United States, deliver a speech to Council on Foreign Relations members. George Bush was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1971 to 1979. Winston Lord and George Bush are members of Skull & Bones. (Photo: Council on Foreign Relations Annual Report)

Editor of National Review magazine William F. Buckley, Jr. (left) appears with Vice President and President-elect George H. W. Bush at former Rep. Jack F. Kemp's testimonial dinner in December 1988. William F. Buckley Jr. and George H. W. Bush are members of Skull & Bones. (Photo by Dirck Halstead/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

BUSH FAMILY & FRIENDS

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates is introduced by former President George H.W. Bush during the Points of Light Foundation forum held at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, on October 16, 2009.(U.S. Department of Defense photo by Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison, U.S. Air Force)

President George W. Bush (L) shakes hands with Co-Chairman and former Secretary of State James Baker (R) after receiving the official report of the Iraq Study Group in the Cabinet Room of the White House on December 6, 2006. (Reuters)

President George W. Bush (C) stands with President-elect Barack Obama (2nd L), former President George H.W. Bush (L), former President Bill Clinton (2nd R) and former President Jimmy Carter (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. on January 7, 2009. (Reuters)

US President George W. Bush (C) stands with President-elect Barack Obama (2nd L), former President George H.W. Bush (L), former President Bill Clinton (2nd R) and former President Jimmy Carter (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 7, 2009. Bush, acting on a suggestion by Obama, invited the former Presidents and President-elect for lunch, the first time since 1981 that all living presidents have been together at the White House. (AFP/Getty Images)

The Texas Troika greets the Big “O”. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates (left), former Secretary of State James A. Baker III (second from left), and former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara greet President Barack Obama as he arrives in College Station, Texas on October 16, 2009, prior to attending the Points of Light Foundation forum held at Texas A&M University.(U.S. Department of Defense photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison)

U.S. President Barack Obama is introduced to speak by former President George H.W. Bush at the Points of Light forum at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas on October 16, 2009. (Reuters)

In this handout image provided by the Department of Defense (DOD), former President George H. W. Bush (L), Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (C) and Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett sit with President Barack Obama (R) before the Points of Light Foundation forum held at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas on October 16, 2009. President Obama joined former president Bush and more than 2,000 service leaders to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Points of Light movement and issue a new call to Americans to serve in their communities. (Photo by U.S. Department of Defense/Handout/Getty Images North America)

Former President George H.W. Bush (L) and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (C) laugh at a comment made by President Barak Obama (R) in College Station, Texas on October 16, 2009. President Obama joined former President Bush and more than 2,000 service leaders to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Points of Light movement. (Photo by Dave Einsel/Getty Images North America)

President Barak Obama (R) greets former President George H. W. Bush (L) at Texas A&M University on October 16, 2009 in College Station, Texas. President Obama joined former president Bush and more than 2,000 service leaders to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Points of Light movement and issue a new call to Americans to serve in their communities. (Photo by Dave Einsel/Getty Images North America)

U.S. President Barack Obama waves beside former President George H.W. Bush after speaking at the Points of Light forum at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas on October 16, 2009. (Reuters)

Former President George Bush watches his son President George W. Bush shake hands with former President Bill Clinton.

President George W. Bush (center) appears with former President George H.W. Bush (left) and former President Bill Clinton (right) at the White House. George W. Bush and his father George H.W. Bush are members of Skull & Bones at Yale University.

Bill Clinton (left) rides in a golf cart with George H.W. Bush at Kennebunkport, Maine.

Bill Clinton (left) and George H.W. Bush (right) stand beside President George W. Bush at the White House.

President George W. Bush (center) chats with former President Bill Clinton (left) and former President George H.W. Bush (right).

President George W. Bush (left) appears with former presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.

Outgoing President George W. Bush (left) and his wife Laura Bush welcome President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama to the White House on November 10, 2008. (AFP/Getty Images)

President-elect Barack Obama (left) stands besides outgoing President George W. Bush as they walk through the colonnade to the Oval Office at the White House on November 10, 2008. (AFP/Getty Images)

Republican Party presidential candidate U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (L) arrives for a news conference with former U.S. President George Bush on a golf cart at former President Bush's residence on Walker's Point in Kennebunkport, Maine on July 21, 2008. (Reuters)

Republican Party presidential candidate U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) shakes hands with former U.S. President George H.W. Bush (L) at a campaign event in Houston, Texas on February 18, 2008. (Reuters)

President George W. Bush watches Vice President Dick Cheney administer the oath of office to incoming Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates at the Pentagon on December 18, 2006. Cheney and Gates are members of the Council on Foreign Relations.(Department of Defense photo by Cherie A. Thurlby)

Former President George H.W. Bush (left) meets with his son President George W. Bush (right) and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

President George H.W. Bush and Soviet Commissar Mikhail Gorbachev shake hands at the end of a press conference about the peace summit in Moscow on July 31, 1991. (Peter Turnley/CORBIS)

Brent Scowcroft (left), George Bush (center), and Robert Gates stand together.

(Note: Photographs of George H.W. Bush meeting with the Council on Foreign Relations members can be found in the section “George H.W. Bush Administration & the Council on Foreign Relations”)

America’s President George W. Bush (L) appears with Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands at a U.S. cemetery at Margraten near Maastricht, Netherlands on May, 8, 2005, after laying a wreath at the cemetery, where around 8,000 Americans soldiers from World War II are buried.(© JERRY LAMPEN/Reuters/Corbis)

Left photo: President George H.W. Bush walks beside Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands. Queen Beatrix’s father is Prince Bernhard, founder of the Bilderberg Meetings and a former Nazi SS Storm Trooper.

Right photo: George H.W. Bush (second from left) and his Barbara Bush (left) appear with Reverend Sun Myung Moon (second from right).

A royal banquet at the White House, from left to right: Prince Philip, of Wales First Lady Barbara Bush, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, and President George H.W. Bush.

President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, and former President George H.W. Bush welcome King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain to the Bush Ranch in Crawford, Texas on November 24, 2004.

President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush arrive in Buckingham Palace in London on June 1, 1989 where they are met by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. (George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Left photo: President George W. Bush toasts Prince Charles of Great Britain.Right photo: President George W. Bush stands besides Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.

President George W. Bush (left) waves as the former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger smiles for the camera during a meeting at the Economic Club of New York in New York City on March 14, 2008. George W. Bush appointed Henry Kissinger as the Chairman of the 9/11 Commission; Henry Kissinger resigned to avoid releasing his client lists. (Reuters)

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (L) and former Ambassador Richard Holbrooke greet former U.S. President George Bush after Bush received the 2008 Henry A. Kissinger Prize at the American Academy in Berlin, Germany on July 3, 2008. (Getty Images)

(From L to R) Former Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. President George Bush and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger attend the 2008 Henry A. Kissinger Prize at the American Academy in Berlin, Germany on July 3, 2008. (Getty Images)

President-elect George Bush meets with evangelist Pat Robertson at the White House on December 2, 1988. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Television evangelist Pat Robertson and Vice President Bush's son, George W. Bush, get together with the Michigan delegation at the Republican convention in New Orleans on August 16, 1988. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

“For two centuries we've done the hard work of freedom. And tonight we lead the world in facing down a threat to decency and humanity. What is at stake is more than one small country; it is a big idea - a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind: peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law. Such is a world worthy of our struggle, and worthy of our children’s future.”– President George H.W. Bush, State of the Union Address on January 29, 1991

“Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective -- a new world order -- can emerge: a new era -- freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace.”– President George H.W. Bush, in a speech to Congress on September 11, 1990

U.S. President George W. Bush (C) meets with former President George H.W. Bush (L), President-elect Barack Obama (2nd L), former President Bill Clinton (2nd R) and former President Jimmy Carter (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington January 7, 2009.(Reuters)

Original caption: “George H. Bush (left of clock) with the Skull and Bones group at Yale University, New Haven, CT, circa 1947” (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

George H.W. Bush makes his presence at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters.

George Herbert Walker Bush’s ResumeChairman and President of Zapata Oil Co.Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1967-1971)U.S. Representative to the United Nations (1971-1973)Chairman of the Republican National Committee (1973-1974)U.S. Liaison Officer to Red China (1974-1975)Director of Central Intelligence Agency (1976-1977)Chairman of First International Bank in Houston, Texas (1977-1980)Director of the Council on Foreign Relations (1977-1979)Member of the Trilateral Commission (c. 1979)Vice President of the United States (1981-1989)President of the United States (1989-1993)Member of Skull & Bones (initiated in 1948 at Yale University)Member of the Bretton Woods CommitteeMember of the Bohemian Grove and the Bohemian Club (in San Francisco)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH & CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

George H.W. Bush (second from right) appears with CIA Director Porter Goss and seven other former CIA directors on August 16, 2005. John Deutch, Robert Gates, William Webster, Stansfield Turner, R. James Woolsey, James Schlesinger, and George Tenet are members of the Council on Foreign Relations. Porter Goss and George H.W. Bush are former members of the Council on Foreign Relations. (Official CIA Photo)

George H. W. Bush (2nd right) is sworn in as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (2nd left) on January 10, 1976 as Barbara Bush (center), President Gerald Fold (right) and outgoing CIA Director William Colby (left) look on. (George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

U.S. President Richard Nixon (left) and U.S. Congressman George H.W. Bush smile for the camera on January 12, 1970.(Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Richard Helms (left) visits Vice President George H.W. Bush, also a former CIA Director.(Source: A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency by Richard Helms with William Hood)

CIA Director George H. W. Bush stands at a podium, 1976-1977. (George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Three former directors of the Central Intelligence Agency attend the swearing-in of Adm. Stansfield Turner as the new CIA chief in Washington, D.C. on March 9, 1977. From left to right: Richard Helms, George H.W. Bush, and James R. Schlesinger. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Vice President George H.W. Bush meets with Panama’s dictator Gen. Manuel Noriega in 1983. (AP/Wide World Photos)

George H.W. Bush meets with CIA agent Felix Rodriguez at the White House.

Vice President George H.W. Bush (left) meets with CIA agent Oliver North in 1986. (Photo: The White House)(Source: Under Fire: An American Story by Oliver L. North with William Novak)

(Source: Under Fire: An American Story by Oliver L. North with William Novak)

George Bush stands beside CIA Director George Tenet.

Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, presents a bust of President Kennedy to former President George H.W. Bush on May 21, 2000. George H.W. Bush was allegedly in Dallas, Texas the day President John F. Kennedy was mortally wounded on November 22, 1963.

President George H.W. Bush rewards CIA Director Robert M. Gates in January 1993. (CIA Photo; Source: For the President’s Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush by Christopher Andrew)

Clockwise from left to right: unidentified man, CIA Director George Bush, National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, White House Chief of Staff Dick Cheney, unidentified man, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and President Gerald Ford analyze a map at a cabinet meeting in the White House Cabinet Room on June 17, 1976. (Photo: Gerald R. Ford Library)

Director of Central Intelligence Agency George Bush analyzes a map with White House Chief of Staff Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and President Gerald Ford during a National Security Council meeting in the Cabinet Room on June 17, 1976.

CIA Director George Bush talks to President Gerald Ford.

Robert Gates, William Webster, and George Bush were Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency.

THE HOUSE OF BUSH & THE HOUSE OF SAUD

President George H.W. Bush and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia are seen laughing inside the Royal Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on November 21, 1990, less than two months before the beginning of the Persian Gulf War.(Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

President George H.W. Bush stands beside King Fahd at a party.

Former President George H.W. Bush, left, shake hands with newly crowned King Abdullah, right, during a retreat at King Abdullah’s Farm in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Friday, August 5, 2005, following the death of his half-brother King Fahd, who passed away on August 1, 2005. (White House photo by David Bohrer)

Vice President Dick Cheney and former President George H.W. Bush walks with newly crowned King Abdullah at King Abdullah's Farm in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Friday, August 5, 2005, following the death of his half-brother King Fahd, who passed away on August 1, 2005. (White House photo by David Bohrer)

President George Bush meets with Saudi Prince Saud, Saudi Prince Bandar, Secretary of State James Baker, John Sununu, Robert Gates, and Richard N. Haass on the patio at Walker's Point in Kennebunkport, Maine on August 16, 1990. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

President George Bush meets with Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States Prince Bandar in the Oval Office on February 28, 1991. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

President George Bush walks along the driveway at Walker's Point in Kennebunkport, Maine with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal during their meeting to discuss the situation in the Persian Gulf on August 16, 1990.(Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

George Bush greets Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia.

Vice President George H.W. Bush watches Secretary of State George P. Shultz shake hands with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in Washington D.C. in February 1986. (Associated Press/Wide World Photos)

President George W. Bush meets with Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar in Crawford, Texas.

President George W. Bush (left) laughs during a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud (R) at Al-Janadryiah Ranch in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 16, 2008. (AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. President George W. Bush (L) and Saudi Arabia's Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, brother of King Abdullah, watch a traditional celebration dance outside the Al Murabba Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 15, 2008. (Reuters)

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

American President George H.W. Bush (left) and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev shake hands during a summit held before the start of the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference in Madrid, Spain on October 29, 1991. The two leaders sponsored the 1991 conference for the Middle East, which was the first time Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the Palestinians all came together for negotiations. (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Sygma/Corbis)

“This is an historic moment. We have in this past year made great progress in ending the long era of conflict and cold war. We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a new world order – a world where the rule of law, not the law of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations. When we are successful -- and we will be – we have a real chance at this new world order, an order in which a credible United Nations can use its peacekeeping role to fulfill the promise and vision of the U.N.’s founders.”– President George H.W. Bush, in a speech delivered in the Oval Office on January 16, 1991

President George H.W. Bush shakes hands with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev at Malta on December 2, 1989.This photo appears in George H.W. Bush’s own book All The Best: My Life in Letters and Other Writings. (Bush Library photo)

President George H.W. Bush meets with Soviet Commissar Mikhail Gorbachev in Malta in 1989.

George H.W. Bush, the Vice President of the United States, meets with Soviet Commissar Mikhail Gorbachev (center) and Andrei Gromyko (left) on March 4, 1985. (Dave Valdez/White House photo)

U.S. Vice President George Bush (left) meets with Soviet dictator Yuri Andropov in November 1982. Yuri Andropov was a former Chairman of the KGB. George Bush was a former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. (UPI/Bettman)(Source: For the President’s Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush by Christopher Andrew)

George H.W. Bush (left) and James A. Baker III (right) visits Russia’s President and former KGB agent Vladimir Putin.

Vice President George Bush, President Ronald Reagan, and Soviet Commissar Mikhail Gorbachev stand together on Governor’s Island in New York City on December 7, 1988. (Photo: Ronald Reagan Library)

President George Bush shakes hands with Boris Yeltsin on January 3, 1993. (Photo: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library)

Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush (left) talks to former Dictator of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev (right) before the presentation of the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 18, 2008. (Reuters)

Right photo: Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush embraces former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (left) before the presentation of the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on September 18, 2008. Gorbachev is the 2008 recipient of the award that recognizes individuals and organizations that have demonstrated leadership and vision in the pursuit of liberty of conscience or freedom from oppression, ignorance, or deprivation. (Reuters)

President George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign the START Treaty in Moscow, Soviet Russia on July 31, 1991 as Secretary of State James A. Baker III (left) and a Soviet official look on, July 31, 1991. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

President George W. Bush and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin smile for the camera at the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia in July 2006. (AP Photo)

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (left) meets with George H.W. Bush (center) and James A. Baker III at Rice University in Houston, Texas on November14, 2001. (Presidential Press and Information Office/Kremlin Archives) http://archive.kremlin.ru/events/photos/2001/11/39974.shtml

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, is flanked by former President George H.W. Bush (left) and President George W. Bush (right) at Walker's Point in Kennebunkport, Maine on Sunday, July 1, 2007.(White House photo by Eric Draper)

Former President George H.W. Bush (left) and President George W. Bush (right) watches Russia’s President Vladimir Putin hold up his catch with the help of fishing guide Billy Bush during a morning outing at Walker's Point in Kennebunkport, Maine on Monday, July 2, 2007. (White House photo by Eric Draper)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH & RED CHINA

George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush ride a bicycle on Tiananmen Square in Beijing in c. 1974. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush stand in front of a portrait of Chairman Mao, mass murderer of Red China.(Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

George Bush (2nd right), the U.S. Liaison Officer to Communist China, appears with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger during Kissinger's visit to Communist-occupied mainland China in 1975. The U.S. government maintained diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on the island of Taiwan in 1975. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

George Bush, the U.S. Liaison Officer to Communist China, speaks with Yu Zhan, Vice-Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Wang Yeqiu, Director of the Bureau of Historical Relic Administration, in 1975.  In the background is their translator, Tang Wensheng.(George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

George H.W. Bush (left), White House Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld (2nd left), and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (2nd right) meet with Deng Xiaoping in Red China in November 1974. (George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Vice President George H.W. Bush visits Red China’s Commissar Deng Xiaoping in Beijing on January 1, 1986.(Jean Louis Atlan/Sygma/CORBIS)

President George H.W. Bush celebrates on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Red China on February 25, 1989, just months prior to the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

President George H.W. Bush meets with Li Peng, Premier of the State Council, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on February 25, 1989 and received a “Flying Pigeon” bicycle.

President George H. W. Bush meets with Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping in Beijing, Communist China on February 26, 1989. President Bush paid a state visit to China from February 24-27, 1989. The Tiananmen Square Massacre occurred in Beijing on June 4, 1989; an estimated 10,000 Chinese people died that day.(Photo: https://apps.cndls.georgetown.edu/projects/uschina/items/show/297)

Left photo: Former President George H.W. Bush greets Red Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing on November 15, 2005.Right photo: George H.W. Bush entertains Deng Xiaoping at a party. George Bush served as the U.S. Liaison Officer to Red China.

Winston Lord, Brent Scowcroft, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, President Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, and Joe Sisco meet with Red China’s despot Deng Xiaoping and the Chinese Communist Party brass.

Former President George H.W. Bush, former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo (center), and Hong Kong viceroy Tung Chee-hwa attend the opening ceremony of a conference on April 24, 2004.

Former President George H.W. Bush chats with Red China’s despot Jiang Zemin in Houston, Texas on Wednesday, October 23, 2002. This picture was published in the London Times, Print Edition, p. 18, 25 October 2002.

Former President George H.W. Bush introduces his granddaughter, Ms. Barbara Bush, to Red China's President Hu Jintao on Sunday, August 10, 2008, following their visit to Zhongnanhai, the Red Chinese leaders’ compound in Beijing.(White House photo by Eric Draper)

President George W. Bush (2nd right) is joined by his father, former President George H.W. Bush (3rd right), during their visit with Communist China's President Hu Jintao (4th right) at Zhongnanhai, the Chinese leaders compound in Beijing, Communist China on Sunday, August 10, 2008. (White House photo by Eric Draper)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH & THE UNITED NATIONS

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan stands beside former President George Bush at Bush’s home in Texas. Barbara Bush is standing in the background. (UN Photo)

“My vision of a new world order foresees a United Nations with a revitalized peacekeeping function.”

– President George H.W. Bush, in a speech delivered at the Economic Club of New York in New York City on February 6, 1991

George H.W. Bush listens to a Saudi Arabian delegate at the United Nations. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan (left) visits former President George H.W. Bush in Texas in April 1998. (UN Photo)

George H.W. Bush, the U.S. Representative to the United Nations, speaks at the United Nations General Assembly.(Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

George H.W. Bush, the U.S. Representative to the United Nations, appears with Daniel P. Moynihan at the United Nations. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

President George Bush meets with United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar on January 5, 1991 to discuss the U.N. Resolutions regarding Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the Middle East situation. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

Excerpts from George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography by Webster G. Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin

“I have decided to give my vigorous support for population control in both the United States and the world…For those of us who feel so strongly on this issue, the recent encyclical [The Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae] was most discouraging.”– Rep. George H. W. Bush (R-Texas), 1968

“I appreciate that. For the record, I would like to say I am 1,000 percent in accord with the goals of your organization [Planned Parenthood]. I think perhaps more than any other type of organization you can do more in the field of poverty and mental health and everything else than any other group that I can think of. I commend you.”– Rep. George H. W. Bush (R-Texas), 1968

“The concept of a women’s movement is unreal--you can’t get two women to agree on anything…I realize this is a politically sensitive area. But I believe in a woman’s right to choose. It should be an individual matter. I think ultimately it will be a constitutional question. I don't favor a federal abortion law as such.”– George H. W. Bush, in an interview

“I get the feeling that it is a little less unfashionable to be in favor of birth control and planned parenthood today than it used to be. If you will excuse one personal reference here: My father, when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1950, was defeated by 600 or 700 votes. On the steps of several Catholic Churches in Connecticut, the Sunday before the election, people stood there passing out pamphlets saying, ‘Listen to what this commentator has to say tonight. Listen to what this commentator has to say.’ That night on the radio, the commentator came on and said, “Of interest to voters in Connecticut, Prescott Bush is head of the Planned Parenthood Birth Control League,’ or something like this. Well, he lost by about 600 votes and there are some us who feel that this had something to do with it. I do not think that anybody can get away with that type of thing anymore.”– Rep. George H. W. Bush (R-Texas), November 2, 1967 “I propose that we totally revamp our foreign aid program to give primary emphasis to population control.”– Rep. George H. W. Bush (R-Texas), 1968

U.S. Army General Colin Powell, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talks to Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf while President George H.W. Bush talks to British Prime Minister John Major on the phone on February 27, 1991. From left to right: Gen. Colin Powell, John Sununu, CIA Director Robert M. Gates, George Bush, and Brent Scowcroft. Everyone in the room except for Sununu is or was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH & FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Former President George H.W. Bush visits Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist Yasser Arafat (center) and his assistant Hanan Ashrawi (left) at a hotel in Washington, D.C. on September 13, 1993. (Maher Attar/CORBIS SYGMA)

President George H.W. Bush visits Syria’s dictator Hafez Assad on November 23, 1990, less than two months before the beginning of the Persian Gulf War. (Photo by Wally McNamee/CORBIS)

Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Tariq Aziz (R) speaks with President Ronald Reagan (C) and Vice-President George H.W. Bush (L) at the White House in Washington, D.C., USA on November 26, 1984, eight months after receiving Donald Rumsfeld in Baghdad, Iraq. The meetings concerned the war between Iraq and the Islamic republic of Iran. (© Jean Louis Atlan/Sygma/Corbis)

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak meets with U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt on August 3, 1986. (Reuters)

President George H.W. Bush meets with King Hussein of Jordan (left) in the Oval Office on March 12, 1992.(Photo: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library)

Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak (L), his wife Susan (2nd L), U.S. President George H.W. Bush (R), and First Lady Barbara Bush, posing for a picture before a formal dinner at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. on April 4, 1989.(Jerome Delay/AFP/ Getty Images)

President George Bush advises the Emir of Kuwait, Jabir Al-Ahmad Al Jabir Al-Sabah, during a meeting in the Oval Office on September 28, 1990. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

President George Bush and the Emir of Kuwait, Jabir Al-Ahmad Al-Jabir Al-Sabah, wave to a crowd on Pennsylvania Avenue on September 28, 1990. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

U.S. President George H.W. Bush (L) listens to Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin answer questions at a joint press conference at Bush’s home in Kennebunkport, Maine on August 11, 1992. (Getty Images)

George H.W. Bush listens to Abba Eban, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.

President George H.W. Bush speaks to Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir at the White House on November 15, 1989. Yitzhak Shamir was a commander of the Stern Gang, a pro-Nazi Zionist terrorist organization, and a member of the Likud Party.

President George H.W. Bush meets with Israeli human rights activist Natan Sharansky at the White House on January 26, 1990. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush arrive in Buckingham Palace in London on June 1, 1989 where they met with Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

President George H.W. Bush stands beside Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain on May 14, 1991.(Photo: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Left photo: President George H.W. Bush walks with Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands.

Right photo: President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, and former President George H.W. Bush welcome King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Sofia of Spain to the Bush Ranch in Crawford, Texas on November 24, 2004. (White House photo)

President George H.W. Bush looks on as Queen Margrethe II of Denmark delivers remarks after an arrival ceremony in Washington, D.C. on February 20, 1991. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

President George Bush greets British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in London on June 1, 1989, three days prior to the Tiananmen Square Massacre. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

President George Bush and British Prime Minister John Major participate in a press conference at Camp David on June 7, 1992. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

President George H.W. Bush walks with Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney on the White House grounds on May 4, 1989. George H.W. Bush and Brian Mulroney were members of the Trilateral Commission. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney (left) talks to President George H.W. Bush at Walker's Point in Kennebunkport, Maine on August 25, 1991. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

American, Mexican, and Canadian government officials participate in the initialing ceremony of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in San Antonio, Texas on October 7, 1992. Standing from left to right: Mexico’s President Carlos Salinas, American President George Bush, and Canada’s Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Seated from left to right: Jaime Serra Puche, U.S. Trade Representative Carla A. Hills, and Michael Wilson. Everyone in this photo except Salinas and Wilson is or was a member of the Trilateral Commission. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Foreign leaders attend the Economic Summit in Munich, Germany on July 6, 1992. From left to right: Jacques Dolors, President of the Commission of European Communities, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, French President Francois Mitterand, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, U.S. President George Bush, British Prime Minister John Major, and Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato. Miyazawa and Mulroney are members of the Trilateral Commission while Bush is a former member. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Industrialized Nation Summit in Paris, France on July 14, 1989. Participants from left to right on red carpet: Jacques Delors, President of the Commission of European Communities Ciriaco DeMita, Prime Minister of Italy Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany George H. Bush, President of the United States Francois Mitterrand, President of France Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of England Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister of Canada Sousuke Uno, Prime Minister of Japan. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Economic Summit participants in London, England on July 15, 1991, from left to right: Francois Mitterrand, President of France; George H.W. Bush, President of the United States; Giulio Andreotti, Prime Minister of Italy; Jacques Dolors, President of the Commission of European Communities; Toshiki Kaifu, Prime Minister of Japan; John Major, Prime Minister of Great Britain; Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister of Canada; Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

President Bush meets with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in the Oval Office of the White House on September 16, 1991.(Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

President Bush visits French President Francois Mitterrand at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France on January 3, 1993.(Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) sits next to former U.S. President George H.W. Bush at the opening ceremony of the American Embassy at the Pariser Platz in Berlin, Germany. (Picture: DPA)

Left photo: Pope John Paul II meets with President George H.W. Bush at the Vatican in Rome.(© “L'Osservatore Romano” photo from the book John Paul II: A Light for the World) (http://www.usccb.org/pope/gallery/pope14.htm)

Right photo: President George H.W. Bush walks with French President Francois Mitterand at Walker’s Point on May 20, 1989.

President George H.W. Bush stands beside Emperor Akihito of Japan.

Japan’s Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa (left) walks with President George H.W. Bush, an unidentified aide, and National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft (right) at the White House in July 1992. (Photo: Dirck Halstead, Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

South Korea’s President Roh Tae Woo and American President George H.W. Bush reach across the table to shake hands at a meeting in Seoul, South Korea in January 1992. Roh Tae Woo was the President of South Korea from 1988 to 1993; South Korea established diplomatic relations with Communist China and severed ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan) on August 24, 1992. Former South Korean presidents Gen. Roh Tae Woo and Gen. Chun Doo Hwan were convicted of treason and bribery in August 1996 but were pardoned by South Korea’s President Kim Young Sam in December 1997. (Wally McNamee/CORBIS)

Philippines President Corazon Aquino (left) meets with U. S. President George H.W. Bush on February 24, 1989 during a reception at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan after both attended the funeral of Emperor Hirohito. (Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS)

George H.W. Bush (right) chats with South Africa’s President Frederik W. de Klerk.

President George H.W. Bush chats with Indonesia’s President Suharto at the White House.

Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush (L) talks with South Korea’s President Roh Moo-Hyun at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea on April 15, 2003. Former President of South Korea Roh Moo-Hyun committed “suicide” at his home near Busan [Pusan], South Korea on May 23, 2009 after his family was accused of accepting bribes. (Pool/Getty Images)

South Korea’s President Lee Myung-Bak (center right) walks with former U.S. President George H.W. Bush (center left) at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea on March 12, 2008. (Reuters)

The North American Free Trade Agreement was initialed in San Antonio, Texas on October 7, 1992, with President Bush (C) Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (L) and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (R) in attendance. Chief trade representatives Julie Puche (L) of Mexico; Carla Hills (C) of USA; and Michael Wilson (R) of Canada hold treaties that are still to be ratified by each countries legislature. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Delegates attend the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference in Madrid, Spain on October 30, 1991. The 1991 conference for the Middle East was the first time Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the Palestinian Arabs all came together for negotiations. Pictured in the group are Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet Foreign Minister Boris Pankin, Spain’s Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, U.S. President George Bush, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Amr Mussa, Palestinian Arab delegate Abdel Haidar Shafi, and Jordan’s Foreign Minister Kamel Abu Jaber. (Pascal Le Segretain/CORBIS SYGMA)

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez (left) and former U.S. President George H.W. Bush hold a private meeting at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela on February 16, 2001. (JUAN BARRETO / AFP)http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/02/3164886/hugo-chavez.html

Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush shakes hands with Venezuela’s President Gen. Hugo Chavez (left) during a private meeting at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela on February 16, 2001. George H.W. Bush said he held cordial talks with Hugo Chavez but insisted his main mission to the oil exporting South American country was to practice one of his favorite hobbies: fishing.(Photo: http://georgebush.chez.com/en/news/2001/2001-02-16/index.html)

President George H.W. Bush meets with Nelson Mandela, the future President of South Africa, in the Oval Office on June 25, 1990. (Photo: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library)

President George H.W. Bush (center) shakes hands with Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of Zaire (now called Congo), at the White House on June 29, 1989. (Photo by Dirck Halstead//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

U.S. President George H.W. Bush (left) watches Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh deliver a speech in Washington, D.C.(Photo: http://www.yemenembassy.org/issues/ymusrelshp/index.htm)

Ali Abdullah Saleh (left), President of the Republic of Yemen, met with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House in Washington, D.C. on November 25-27, 2001. (Photo: http://www.yemenembassy.org/issues/ymusrelshp/index.htm)

H.R.H. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (center), the Prime Minister of Kuwait, present a Kuwaiti donation for Hurricane Katrina to former American Presidents George H.W. Bush (right) and William J. Clinton (left). (Photo: http://www.kuwaitmission.com/newthumbs.html)

President George W. Bush and his father, former President George H. W. Bush, look on as Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and former President Bill Clinton shake hands on April 7, 2005, prior to dinner at the Prime Minister's residence in Rome. The visit came on the eve of the funeral for Pope John Paul II. (White House photo by Eric Draper)

Arab terrorist Yasser Arafat (left) meets with former U.S. President George H.W. Bush (right) at a hotel in Washington, D.C. on September 13, 1993. The 1993 World Trade Center Bombing incident occurred in New York City on February 26, 1993. (© Stephen Jaffe / Reuters)

President George H.W. Bush stands beside Robert Mugabe (left), the Dictator of Zimbabwe, at the White House on July 24, 1991. (Photo by Terry Ashe/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH & THE BOHEMIAN GROVE

The Bohemian Boys: Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, President George Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Jimmy Carter stand together on November 4, 1991. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

George Bush makes his presence at the “Lakeside Talks” at the Bohemian Grove. (Source: prisonplanet.com)

Original caption: “George Bush is joined by double-agents for a luncheon in April 1976 where he discussed the role of the C.I.A.” (Source: prisonplanet.com)

Former President George Bush is seen going to the Bohemian Grove on July 22, 1993. George Bush belongs to the Grove's "Hill Billies" camp. Bush flew in on an Union Pacific Corporation jet. (Photo on the right: George Bush Presidential Library)

Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush celebrate during a campaign.

Vice President of the U.S. George H.W. Bush appears with President Ronald Reagan and his cabinet. Front row: Secretary of State Alexander Haig, President Ronald Reagan, Vice President George Bush, and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.

President Ronald Reagan, Vice President George Bush, Secretary of State Al Haig, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, CIA Director William J. Casey, Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis, Attorney General William French Smith, and Edwin Meese III are (or were) members of the Bohemian Grove.

Second row from left to right: Raymond Donovan, Secretary of Labor; Donald Regan, Secretary of the Treasury;Terrel Bell, Secretary of Education; David Stockman, Director, Office of Management & Budget;Andrew “Drew” Lewis, Secretary of Transportation;Samuel Pierce, Secretary of Housing & Urban Development;William French Smith, Attorney General;James Watt, Secretary of the Interior; Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S. Representative to the United Nations;Edwin Meese III, Counselor to the President; James Edwards, Secretary of Energy; Malcolm Baldrige, Secretary of Commerce; William E. Brock, United States Trade Representative; Richard Schweiker, Secretary of Health & Human Services; John Block, Secretary of Agriculture; William J. Casey, Director of Central Intelligence Agency.(Photo: Ronald Reagan Library)

President Ronald Reagan celebrates with his staff in the Oval Office on July 29, 1981. From left to right: Richard Williamson, Elizabeth Dole, Dennis Thomas, Don Regan, Ann McLaughlin, Ed Meese, Vice President George Bush, Karna Small, David Gergen, and Ronald Reagan. (Photo: Ronald Reagan Library)

President Ronald Reagan receives a brief during a National Security Briefing in the Oval Office on June 18, 1985. From left to right: Chief of Staff Don Regan, President Reagan, Vice President George Bush, National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, and Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs Admiral John Poindexter. (Photo: Ronald Reagan Library)

President Ronald Reagan, Secretary of State George Shultz, and Vice President George H.W. Bush walk together at the White House on January 10, 1985. This photo appears in George P. Shultz’s autobiography Turmoil and Triumph: My Years As Secretary of State. (Photo by James M. Thresher/The Washington Post)

Ronald Reagan greets George Bush.

Vice President George Bush advises President Ronald Reagan on July 20, 1984. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

George Bush stands beside Republican Party presidential candidate Ronald Reagan on July 17, 1980.

Left to right: Vice President-elect and former CIA Director George H.W. Bush, designated Secretary of State Alexander Haig, President-elect Ronald Reagan, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger share a laugh at Ronald Reagan's rented estate in Middleburg, Virginia on November 18, 1980. (Ron Edmonds/Bettmann/CORBIS)

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger talks to George Bush, the U.S. Liaison Officer to Red China, in Red China in 1975.(Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

Vice President George Bush presides over a Cabinet meeting in the absence of President Reagan on March 31, 1981, who is recovering from a gunshot wound. From left to right: Counselor to the President Edwin Meese, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Samuel Pierce, Treasury Secretary Donald Regan, Vice President Bush, Attorney General William French Smith, Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan and Energy Secretary James Edwards. Bush and Meese are members of the Bohemian Grove. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Former President George Bush stands beside California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Bush Museum.(Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vice President George Bush celebrate at a campaign rally in Chicago Heights, Illinois on November 3, 1988.

EXTRA GEORGE H.W. BUSH “LEGACY” PHOTOS

A “Thriller” at the White House: President George H.W. Bush meets singer Michael Jackson in the Oval Office on April 5, 1990. (Photo by David Valdez) http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidvaldez-usa/5615245064/

A “Thriller” at the White House: President George H.W. Bush meets singer Michael Jackson on April 5, 1990.

A “Thriller” at the White House: President George H.W. Bush meets singer Michael Jackson on April 5, 1990.This photo was published in p. 93 of The Bush Family: Four Generations of History in Photographs by James Spada.

President George H.W. Bush dresses up in a Mexican outfit he received from Mexico’s President Carlos Salinas on November 28, 1990. This photo appears in George H.W. Bush’s own book All The Best: My Life in Letters and Other Writings.

Congressman George H.W. Bush meets with former President Dwight Eisenhower. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Vice President George H.W. Bush talks to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger at the Pentagon in 1984.

Congressman George H.W. Bush of Texas and Congressman Roger C. B. Morton of Maryland appear at a Ways and Means Committee hearing on February 18, 1969. Bush and Morton were Yale graduates. (George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Left: Former President George H.W. Bush appears with U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.Right: President George W. Bush appears with U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton.

Congressman George Bush visits American military personnel on his trip to Southeast Asia [Vietnam], from December 26, 1967 through January 11, 1968, prior to the Tet Offensive. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

President Ronald Reagan (center) delivers a speech concerning aid to Nicaragua’s Contras fighters on April 1, 1985 as (from left to right) former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick, former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, and Vice President George Bush stand behind Ronald Reagan.(Photo by Diana Walker//Time and Life Pictures/Getty Images)

President Ronald Reagan talks to Don Regan, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, Vice President George Bush, Secretary of State George Shultz, and John Poindexter in the Oval Office on February 25, 1986. Everyone except for Poindexter and Reagan is or was a Council on Foreign Relations member.(Photo: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library/ Turmoil and Triumph: My Years As Secretary of State by George P. Shultz)

President Ronald Reagan addresses Congress and the Nation on the Program for Economic Recovery from the U.S. Capitol (first speech after the assassination attempt on Reagan) on April 28, 1981 as Vice President George H.W. Bush and House Speaker Tip O’Neill applaud in the background. (Photo: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library)

President George Bush gives a press conference on February 6, 1989 in Washington, D.C. announcing a plan to rescue the Nation's savings and loan industry and bolster the banking industry with money collected from banks, savings and loan institutions and taxpayers. Behind him are (L-R) Budget Director Richard G. Darman, Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady, Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan. Everyone in this photo is or was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.(Rick Maiman/Sygma/Corbis)

Vice President George H.W. Bush shakes hands with Democratic Party vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro during the 1984 elections.

Vice President and President-elect George Bush stands beside Massachusetts Governor and former Democratic Party presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. This photo appears in George Bush’s own book All The Best: My Life in Letters and Other Writings. (Bush Library photo)

President-elect George H.W. Bush (L) meets with the Rev. Jesse Jackson in Bush's office in Washington, D.C. on November 30, 1988. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Left photo: President-elect George Bush shakes hands with The Reverend Jesse Jackson on November 30, 1988. (Wally McNamee/CORBIS)Right photo: Former presidents George Bush (left), Gerald Ford (right), and former Secretary of State James A. Baker participate in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, Texas in October 1994. (Greg Smith/CORBIS)

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, center, shakes the hand of former President George Bush while receiving the 2004 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service at the campus of Texas A&M University, site of the George Bush Presidential Library, in College Station, Texas on November 30, 2004. (Bob Daemmrich/Corbis)

U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania (left), President George W. Bush (center), and U.S. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania (right) raise their hands during a rally at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. on April 19, 2004. Bush was campaigning for himself and Specter. (Photo by John Beale-Pool/Getty Images)

Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton held each a briefing and an appeal for further support at the Private Sector Summit for Post- Tsunami Reconstruction & rehabilitation at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. on May 12, 2005. Richard Holbrooke, chairman in the Asia Society, was moderator. (Orjan F. Ellingvag/Corbis)

Vice President George Bush (left) listens to Paul Nitze at the White House in September 1986. Paul Nitze was the Secretary of the Navy during the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the USS Liberty massacre. Paul Nitze was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.(Photo: From Hiroshima to Glasnost by Paul H. Nitze)

Barry Diller (bald-headed man), Kate Capshaw (Spielberg’s wife), Steven Spielberg, Teri Hatcher, Brett Ratner, Barbara Walters and George Bush socialize at a party during the opening of the Wynn Hotel Casino in Las Vegas in an undated photo.

President George H.W. Bush gives the "Gig 'Em" symbol to the faculty and students of Texas A&M University during his address at G. Rollie White Coliseum in College Station, Texas on December 15, 1992. (George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Elaine Chao, the U.S. Secretary of Labor, appears with former U.S. President George H.W. Bush (left) and former First Lady Barbara Bush in an undated photo. (Photo: http://www.georgebushfoundation.org/view.image?Id=1280)

George H.W. Bush listens as White House Press Secretary Tony Snow (left) speaks at the Twanna M. Powell Lecture Series on March 2, 2007. (© George Bush Presidential Library Foundation)

Left to right: Senator John H. Chafee, Senator Alan K. Simpson, Senator Rudy Boschwitz, President-elect George Bush, Senator Bob Dole, and Vice-President-elect Dan Quayle prepare for a meeting on November 29, 1988. George Bush and John Chafee are (or were) members of Skull & Bones. (Photo by Cynthia Johnson/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of Soviet Russia, receives the 2001 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service on April 13, 2001 from George H.W. Bush as Brent Scowcroft and Gorbachev’s translator stand behind Gorbachev.(© George Bush Presidential Library Foundation)

Helmut Kohl, Former Chancellor of Germany, receives the 2000 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service (presented in 2003) from former President George H.W. Bush (center) and former CIA Director Robert Gates (left) on October 1, 2003.(© George Bush Presidential Library)

George H.W. Bush smiles as U.S. Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy of Massachusetts receives the 2003 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service on November 7, 2003. (© George Bush Presidential Library Foundation)

Evangelist preacher Billy Graham is applauded by former first lady Barbara Bush and former president George H.W. Bush after receiving the George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service on April 10, 2006.

Evangelist preacher Jim Bakker listens to Vice President George H.W. Bush during a private meeting.

Left: George H.W. Bush meets Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth L. Lay at a Houston Astros game in Houston, Texas in 2000.

Right photo: Former President George H.W. Bush, right, shakes hands with Samuel J. Palmisano, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of IBM Corporation at the 2007 National Conference on Volunteering and Service in Philadelphia on July 18, 2007. Palmisano was the recipient of the 2007 George Bush Corporate Leadership Award. (AP Photo by Matt Rourke)

(Source: Family of Secrets by Russ Baker)

Pakistani President Benazir Bhutto and U. S. President George H.W. Bush meet in Tokyo, Japan on February 24, 1989 after both leaders attended the funeral of Emperor Hirohito. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Philip Crane, John Connally, Congressman John Anderson, Senator Howard H. Baker Jr., Senator Bob Dole, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush wave to the audience during the Republican presidential primary debate in Manchester, New Hampshire on February 20, 1980.

Left to right: Former U.S. Secretary of State Al Haig, U.S. Vice President George Bush, former Delaware Governor Pierre “Pete” du Pont, Congressman Jack Kemp, U.S. Senator Bob Dole, and evangelist preacher Pat Robertson appear at a Republican Party presidential primary debate in Iowa in January 1988.

Sir Anthony Acland and Lady Acland watches George W. Bush greet his father President George Bush and British Prime Minister John Major on December 22, 1990.

George Bush goes hunting in Beeville, Texas with Will Farish on December 30, 1986. This photo appears in George Bush’s own book All The Best: My Life in Letters and Other Writings.

President George H. W. Bush presents U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina with the Medal of Freedom in a ceremony in the Oval Office.

(L-R) U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), former President George H.W. Bush, former Vice President Dan Quayle and U.S. Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) put their hands on their

hearts as they sing the National Anthem on September 10, 2003 during an unveiling ceremony of a marble bust of Quayle on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Republican Party presidential nominee Mitt Romney shakes hands with former President George H.W. Bush. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters)

U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (Republican-Pennsylvania) applauds former U.S. President George H.W. Bush as he speaks at a fundraising event in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. on October 5, 2006. The event raised over $75,000 in support of Santorum's re-election bid against Democrat Robert P. Casey Jr. (Jeff Fusco/Getty Images)

Left photo: President Richard Nixon watches George Bush is sworn-in as U.S. Representative to the United Nations in the State Dining Room February 26, 1971.

Right photo: Right photo: “Conservative” Evangelist preacher Jerry Falwell shakes hands with President George H.W. Bush at the White House in 1991. (Photo: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/codex_magica/codex_magica08.htm)

President George H.W. Bush waves to the audience as Reverend Jerry Falwell (right) watches during commencement at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia on May 5, 1990. (Photo by Diana Walker//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Barbara Bush watches her son U.S. President George W. Bush shake hands with his father George H.W. Bush, former President of the United States and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., U.S.A. on Friday, September 14, 2001. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is seated on the far right. George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush are members of Skull & Bones, a secret society at Yale University.(Source: The Bush Family: Four Generations of History in Photographs by James Spada)

George H.W. Bush rides on his boat at Kennebunkport, Maine, U.S.A. on August 24, 1973. (AP Photo)

Zapata off-shore drilling rig (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

George H.W. Bush makes his presence on one of his Zapata oil platforms.

Original Caption: “Yale Yearbook containing entry for George H. Bush, New Haven, CT, circa 1948”(Photo: George Bush Presidential Library)

George H.W. Bush appears with U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater (left).

‘Toward a New World Order’A transcript of former President George Herbert Walker Bush'saddress to a joint session of Congress and the nation

From the National Archives September 11, 1990

Mr. President and Mr. Speaker and Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, fellow Americans, thank you very much for that warm welcome. We gather tonight, witness to events in the Persian Gulf as significant as they are tragic. In the early morning hours of August 2d, following negotiations and promises by Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein not to use force, a powerful Iraqi army invaded its trusting and much weaker neighbor, Kuwait. Within 3 days, 120,000 Iraqi troops with 850 tanks had poured into Kuwait and moved south to threaten Saudi Arabia. It was then that I decided to act to check that aggression.

At this moment, our brave servicemen and women stand watch in that distant desert and on distant seas, side by side with the forces of more than 20 other nations. They are some of the finest men and women of the United States of America. And they're doing one terrific job. These valiant Americans were ready at a moment's notice to leave their spouses and their children, to serve on the front line halfway around the world. They remind us who keeps America strong: they do. In the trying circumstances of the Gulf, the morale of our service men and women is excellent. In the face of danger, they're brave, they're well-trained, and dedicated.

A soldier, Private First Class Wade Merritt of Knoxville, Tennessee, now stationed in Saudi Arabia, wrote his parents of his worries, his love of family, and his hope for peace. But Wade also wrote, ``I am proud of my country and its firm stance against inhumane aggression. I am proud of my army and its men. I am proud to serve my country.'' Well, let me just say, Wade, America is proud of you and is grateful to every soldier, sailor, marine, and airman serving the cause of peace in the Persian Gulf. I also want to thank the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Powell; the Chiefs here tonight; our commander in the Persian Gulf, General Schwartzkopf; and the men and women of the Department of Defense. What a magnificent job you all are doing. And thank you very, very much from a grateful people. I wish I could say that their work is done. But we all know it's not.

So, if there ever was a time to put country before self and patriotism before party, the time is now. And let me thank all Americans, especially those here in this Chamber tonight, for your support for our armed forces and for their mission. That support will be even more important in the days to come. So, tonight I want to talk to you about what's at stake -- what we must do together to defend civilized values around the world and maintain our economic strength at home.

Our objectives in the Persian Gulf are clear, our goals defined and familiar: Iraq must withdraw from Kuwait completely, immediately, and without condition. Kuwait's legitimate government must be restored. The security and stability of the Persian Gulf must be assured. And American citizens abroad must be protected. These goals are not ours alone. They've been endorsed by the United Nations Security Council five times in as many weeks. Most countries share our concern for principle. And many have a stake in the stability of the Persian Gulf. This is not, as Saddam Hussein would have it, the United States against Iraq. It is Iraq against the world.

As you know, I've just returned from a very productive meeting with Soviet President Gorbachev. And I am pleased that we are working together to build a new relationship. In Helsinki, our joint statement affirmed to the world our shared resolve to counter Iraq's threat to peace. Let me quote: ``We are united in the belief that Iraq's aggression must not be tolerated. No peaceful international order is possible if larger states can devour their smaller neighbors.'' Clearly, no longer can a dictator count on East-West confrontation to stymie concerted United Nations action against aggression. A new partnership of nations has begun.

We stand today at a unique and extraordinary moment. The crisis in the Persian Gulf, as grave as it is, also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective -- a new world order -- can emerge: a new era -- freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace. An era in which the nations of the world, East and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony. A hundred generations have searched for this elusive path to peace, while a thousand wars raged across the span of human endeavor. Today that new world is struggling to be born, a world quite different from the one we've known. A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A world in which nations recognize the shared responsibility for freedom and justice. A world where the strong respect the rights of the weak. This is the vision that I shared with President Gorbachev in Helsinki. He and other leaders from Europe, the Gulf, and around the world understand that how we manage this crisis today could shape the future for generations to come.

The test we face is great, and so are the stakes. This is the first assault on the new world that we seek, the first test of our mettle. Had we not responded to this first provocation with clarity of purpose, if we do not continue to demonstrate our determination, it would be a signal to actual and potential despots around the world. America and the world must defend common vital interests -- and we will. America and the world must support the rule of law -- and we will. America and the world must stand up to aggression -- and we will. And one thing more: In the pursuit of these goals America will not be intimidated.

Vital issues of principle are at stake. Saddam Hussein is literally trying to wipe a country off the face of the Earth. We do not exaggerate. Nor do we exaggerate when we say Saddam Hussein will fail. Vital economic interests are at risk as well. Iraq itself controls some 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. Iraq plus Kuwait controls twice that. An Iraq permitted to swallow Kuwait would have the economic and military power, as well as the arrogance, to intimidate and coerce its neighbors -- neighbors who control the lion's share of the world's remaining oil reserves. We cannot permit a resource so vital to be dominated by one so ruthless. And we won't.

Recent events have surely proven that there is no substitute for American leadership. In the face of tyranny, let no one doubt American credibility and reliability. Let no one doubt our staying power. We will stand by our friends. One way or another, the leader of Iraq must learn this fundamental truth. From the outset, acting hand in hand with others, we've sought to fashion the broadest possible international response to Iraq's aggression. The level of world cooperation and condemnation of Iraq is unprecedented. Armed forces from countries spanning four continents are there at the request of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to deter and, if need be, to defend against attack. Moslems and non-Moslems, Arabs and non-Arabs, soldiers from many nations stand shoulder to shoulder, resolute against Saddam Hussein's ambitions.

We can now point to five United Nations Security Council resolutions that condemn Iraq's aggression. They call for Iraq's immediate and unconditional withdrawal, the restoration of Kuwait's legitimate government, and categorically reject Iraq's cynical and self-serving attempt to annex Kuwait. Finally, the United Nations has demanded the release of all foreign nationals held hostage against their will and in contravention of international law. It is a mockery of human decency to call these people ``guests.'' They are hostages, and the whole world knows it.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a dependable ally, said it all: ``We do not bargain over hostages. We will not stoop to the level of using human beings as bargaining chips ever.'' Of course, of course, our hearts go out to the hostages and to their families. But our policy cannot change, and it will not change. America and the world will not be blackmailed by this ruthless policy.

We're now in sight of a United Nations that performs as envisioned by its founders. We owe much to the outstanding leadership of Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar. The United Nations is backing up its words with action. The Security Council has imposed mandatory economic sanctions on Iraq, designed to force Iraq to relinquish the spoils of its illegal conquest. The Security Council has also taken the decisive step of authorizing the use of all means necessary to ensure compliance with these sanctions. Together with our friends and allies, ships of the United States Navy are today patrolling Mideast waters. They've already intercepted more than 700 ships to enforce the sanctions. Three regional leaders I spoke with just yesterday told me that these sanctions are working. Iraq is feeling the heat. We continue to hope that Iraq's leaders will recalculate just what their aggression has cost them. They are cut off from world trade, unable to sell their oil. And only a tiny fraction of goods gets through.

The communique with President Gorbachev made mention of what happens when the embargo is so effective that children of Iraq literally need milk or the sick truly need medicine. Then, under strict international supervision that guarantees the proper destination, then food will be permitted.

At home, the material cost of our leadership can be steep. That's why Secretary of State Baker and Treasury Secretary Brady have met with many world leaders to underscore that the burden of this collective effort must be shared. We are prepared to do our share and more to help carry that load; we insist that others do their share as well.

The response of most of our friends and allies has been good. To help defray costs, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE -- the United Arab Emirates -- have pledged to provide our deployed troops with all the food and fuel they need. Generous assistance will also be provided to stalwart front-line nations, such as Turkey and Egypt. I am also heartened to report that this international response extends to the neediest victims of this conflict -- those refugees. For our part, we've contributed $28 million for relief efforts. This is but a portion of what is needed. I commend, in particular, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and several European nations who have joined us in this purely humanitarian effort.

There's an energy-related cost to be borne as well. Oil-producing nations are already replacing lost Iraqi and Kuwaiti output. More than half of what was lost has been made up. And we're getting superb cooperation. If producers, including the United States, continue steps to expand oil and gas production, we can stabilize prices and guarantee against hardship. Additionally, we and several of our allies always have the option to extract oil from our strategic petroleum reserves if conditions warrant. As I've pointed out before, conservation efforts are essential to keep our energy needs as low as possible. And we must then take advantage of our energy sources across the board: coal, natural gas, hydro, and nuclear. Our failure to do these things has

made us more dependent on foreign oil than ever before. Finally, let no one even contemplate profiteering from this crisis. We will not have it.

I cannot predict just how long it will take to convince Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. Sanctions will take time to have their full intended effect. We will continue to review all options with our allies, but let it be clear: we will not let this aggression stand.

Our interest, our involvement in the Gulf is not transitory. It predated Saddam Hussein's aggression and will survive it. Long after all our troops come home -- and we all hope it's soon, very soon -- there will be a lasting role for the United States in assisting the nations of the Persian Gulf. Our role then: to deter future aggression. Our role is to help our friends in their own self-defense. And something else: to curb the proliferation of chemical, biological, ballistic missile and, above all, nuclear technologies.

Let me also make clear that the United States has no quarrel with the Iraqi people. Our quarrel is with Iraq's dictator and with his aggression. Iraq will not be permitted to annex Kuwait. That's not a threat, that's not a boast, that's just the way it's going to be.

Our ability to function effectively as a great power abroad depends on how we conduct ourselves at home. Our economy, our Armed Forces, our energy dependence, and our cohesion all determine whether we can help our friends and stand up to our foes. For America to lead, America must remain strong and vital. Our world leadership and domestic strength are mutual and reinforcing; a woven piece, strongly bound as Old Glory. To revitalize our leadership, our leadership capacity, we must address our budget deficit -- not after election day, or next year, but now.

Higher oil prices slow our growth, and higher defense costs would only make our fiscal deficit problem worse. That deficit was already greater than it should have been -- a projected $232 billion for the coming year. It must -- it will -- be reduced.

To my friends in Congress, together we must act this very month -- before the next fiscal year begins on October 1st -- to get America's economic house in order. The Gulf situation helps us realize we are more economically vulnerable than we ever should be. Americans must never again enter any crisis, economic or military, with an excessive dependence on foreign oil and an excessive burden of Federal debt.

Most Americans are sick and tired of endless battles in the Congress and between the branches over budget matters. It is high time we pulled together and get the job done right. It's up to us to straighten this out. This job has four basic parts. First, the Congress should, this month, within a budget agreement, enact growth-oriented tax measures -- to help avoid recession in the short term and to increase savings, investment, productivity, and competitiveness for the longer term. These measures include extending incentives for research and experimentation; expanding the use of IRA's for new homeowners; establishing tax-deferred family savings accounts; creating incentives for the creation of enterprise zones and initiatives to encourage more domestic drilling; and, yes, reducing the tax rate on capital gains.

And second, the Congress should, this month, enact a prudent multiyear defense program, one that reflects not only the improvement in East-West relations but our broader responsibilities to deal with the continuing risks of outlaw action and regional conflict. Even with our obligations in the Gulf, a sound defense budget can have some reduction in real terms; and we're prepared to accept that. But to go beyond such levels, where cutting defense would threaten our vital margin of safety, is something I will never accept. The world is still dangerous. And surely, that is now clear. Stability's not secure. American interests are far reaching. Interdependence has increased. The consequences of regional instability can be global. This is no time to risk America's capacity to protect her vital interests.

And third, the Congress should, this month, enact measures to increase domestic energy production and energy conservation in order to reduce dependence on foreign oil. These measures should include my proposals to increase incentives for domestic oil and gas exploration, fuel-switching, and to accelerate the development of the Alaskan energy resources without damage to wildlife. As you know, when the oil embargo was imposed in the early 1970's, the United States imported almost 6 million barrels of oil a day. This year, before the Iraqi invasion, U.S. imports had risen to nearly 8 million barrels per day. And we'd moved in the wrong direction. And now we must act to correct that trend.

And fourth, the Congress should, this month, enact a 5-year program to reduce the projected debt and deficits by $500 billion -- that's by half a trillion dollars. And if, with the Congress, we can develop a satisfactory program by the end of the month, we can avoid the ax of sequester -- deep across-the-board cuts that would threaten our military capacity and risk substantial domestic disruption. I want to be able to tell the American people that we have truly solved the deficit problem. And for me to do that, a budget agreement must meet these tests: It must include the measures I've recommended to increase economic growth and reduce dependence on foreign oil. It must be fair. All should contribute, but the burden should not be excessive for any one group of programs or people. It must address the growth of government's hidden liabilities. It must reform the budget process and, further, it must be real.

I urge Congress to provide a comprehensive 5-year deficit reduction program to me as a complete legislative package, with measures to assure that it can be fully enforced. America is tired of phony deficit reduction or promise-now, save-later plans. It is

time for a program that is credible and real. And finally, to the extent that the deficit reduction program includes new revenue measures, it must avoid any measure that would threaten economic growth or turn us back toward the days of punishing income tax rates. That is one path we should not head down again.

I have been pleased with recent progress, although it has not always seemed so smooth. But now it's time to produce. I hope we can work out a responsible plan. But with or without agreement from the budget summit, I ask both Houses of the Congress to allow a straight up-or-down vote on a complete $500-billion deficit reduction package not later than September 28. If the Congress cannot get me a budget, then Americans will have to face a tough, mandated sequester. I'm hopeful, in fact, I'm confident that the Congress will do what it should. And I can assure you that we in the executive branch will do our part.

In the final analysis, our ability to meet our responsibilities abroad depends upon political will and consensus at home. This is never easy in democracies, for we govern only with the consent of the governed. And although free people in a free society are bound to have their differences, Americans traditionally come together in times of adversity and challenge.

Once again, Americans have stepped forward to share a tearful goodbye with their families before leaving for a strange and distant shore. At this very moment, they serve together with Arabs, Europeans, Asians, and Africans in defense of principle and the dream of a new world order. That's why they sweat and toil in the sand and the heat and the sun. If they can come together under such adversity, if old adversaries like the Soviet Union and the United States can work in common cause, then surely we who are so fortunate to be in this great Chamber -- Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives -- can come together to fulfill our responsibilities here. Thank you. Good night. And God bless the United States of America.

National Archives Note: The President spoke at 9:09 p.m. in the House Chamber at the Capitol. He was introduced by Thomas S. Foley, Speaker of the House of Representatives. The address was broadcast live on nationwide television and radio.

Source: http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/war/bushsr.htm

President George H.W. Bush’s Speech Announcing War Against IraqJanuary 16, 1991

On August 2, 1990, tanks and soldiers from Iraq crossed the border into neighboring Kuwait and seized the tiny, oil-rich nation. Iraqi troops then began massing along the border of Saudi Arabia. Within days, American troops were sent to Saudi Arabia in Operation Desert Shield, protecting Saudi Arabia from possible attack. On August 6th, the United Nations Security Council imposed a trade embargo and financial sanctions against Iraq and authorized the use of force by naval forces in the Persian Gulf to prevent any violations. President George Bush addressed a joint session of Congress a few weeks later and stated the U.S. could not allow Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to seize control of vital oil resources in the Middle East. President Bush then doubled the size of Allied forces in the region to 430,000 soldiers. On November 29th, the U.N. Security Council authorized its member nations to use "all necessary means" to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait if they did not withdraw by a deadline of January 15, 1991. President Bush then ordered more troops to the Gulf to pressure Saddam Hussein into evacuating Kuwait. On January 9, 1991, Secretary of State James Baker met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz in Geneva for several hours in a last ditch effort to avoid war. The meeting ended in an impasse with Baker finally announcing the talks had failed. Three days later, the House of Representatives voted 250-183 and the U.S. Senate voted 52-47 to authorized President Bush to use military force. The January 15th deadline passed quietly, as the 545,000 Iraqi troops in and around Kuwait did not budge. By now 539,000 American troops were in the Gulf along with 270,000 Allied troops from more than two dozen nations, the largest assembly of land troops and air power since World War II. On January 17th, at 2:45 a.m., Baghdad time (6:45 p.m., January 16 - Eastern time), Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm as U.S. and Allied jets conducted a major bombing raid against Iraqi air defenses, communications systems, chemical weapons facilities, tanks and artillery. The air raid on Baghdad was broadcast live to a global audience by CNN correspondents perched on a city rooftop. This is the television speech President Bush gave shortly after the air attack had commenced.

Just 2 hours ago, allied air forces began an attack on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait. These attacks continue as I speak. Ground forces are not engaged.

This conflict started August 2nd when the dictator of Iraq invaded a small and helpless neighbor. Kuwait -- a member of the Arab League and a member of the United Nations -- was crushed; its people, brutalized. Five months ago, Saddam Hussein started this cruel war against Kuwait. Tonight, the battle has been joined.

This military action, taken in accord with United Nations resolutions and with the consent of the United States Congress, follows months of constant and virtually endless diplomatic activity on the part of the United Nations, the United States, and many, many other countries. Arab leaders sought what became known as an Arab solution, only to conclude that Saddam Hussein was unwilling to leave Kuwait. Others traveled to Baghdad in a variety of efforts to restore peace and justice. Our Secretary of State, James Baker, held an historic meeting in Geneva, only to be totally rebuffed. This past weekend, in a last-ditch effort, the Secretary-General of the United Nations went to the Middle East with peace in his heart -- his second such mission. And he came back from Baghdad with no progress at all in getting Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait.

Now the 28 countries with forces in the Gulf area have exhausted all reasonable efforts to reach a peaceful resolution -- have no choice but to drive Saddam from Kuwait by force. We will not fail.

As I report to you, air attacks are underway against military targets in Iraq. We are determined to knock out Saddam Hussein’s nuclear bomb potential. We will also destroy his chemical weapons facilities. Much of Saddam’s artillery and tanks will be destroyed. Our operations are designed to best protect the lives of all the coalition forces by targeting Saddam’s vast military arsenal. Initial reports from General Schwarzkopf are that our operations are proceeding according to plan.

Our objectives are clear: Saddam Hussein’s forces will leave Kuwait. The legitimate government of Kuwait will be restored to its rightful place, and Kuwait will once again be free. Iraq will eventually comply with all relevant United Nations resolutions, and then, when peace is restored, it is our hope that Iraq will live as a peaceful and cooperative member of the family of nations, thus enhancing the security and stability of the Gulf.

Some may ask: Why act now? Why not wait? The answer is clear: The world could wait no longer. Sanctions, though having some effect, showed no signs of accomplishing their objective. Sanctions were tried for well over 5 months, and we and our allies concluded that sanctions alone would not force Saddam from Kuwait.

While the world waited, Saddam Hussein systematically raped, pillaged, and plundered a tiny nation, no threat to his own. He subjected the people of Kuwait to unspeakable atrocities -- and among those maimed and murdered, innocent children.

While the world waited, Saddam sought to add to the chemical weapons arsenal he now possesses, an infinitely more dangerous weapon of mass destruction -- a nuclear weapon. And while the world waited, while the world talked peace and withdrawal, Saddam Hussein dug in and moved massive forces into Kuwait.

While the world waited, while Saddam stalled, more damage was being done to the fragile economies of the Third World, emerging democracies of Eastern Europe, to the entire world, including to our own economy.

The United States, together with the United Nations, exhausted every means at our disposal to bring this crisis to a peaceful end. However, Saddam clearly felt that by stalling and threatening and defying the United Nations, he could weaken the forces arrayed against him.

While the world waited, Saddam Hussein met every overture of peace with open contempt. While the world prayed for peace, Saddam prepared for war.

I had hoped that when the United States Congress, in historic debate, took its resolute action, Saddam would realize he could not prevail and would move out of Kuwait in accord with the United Nation resolutions. He did not do that. Instead, he remained intransigent, certain that time was on his side.

Saddam was warned over and over again to comply with the will of the United Nations: Leave Kuwait, or be driven out. Saddam has arrogantly rejected all warnings. Instead, he tried to make this a dispute between Iraq and the United States of America.

Well, he failed. Tonight, 28 nations -- countries from 5 continents, Europe and Asia, Africa, and the Arab League -- have forces in the Gulf area standing shoulder to shoulder against Saddam Hussein. These countries had hoped the use of force could be avoided. Regrettably, we now believe that only force will make him leave.

Prior to ordering our forces into battle, I instructed our military commanders to take every necessary step to prevail as quickly as possible, and with the greatest degree of protection possible for American and allied service men and women. I’ve told the American people before that this will not be another Vietnam, and I repeat this here tonight. Our troops will have the best possible support in the entire world, and they will not be asked to fight with one hand tied behind their back. I’m hopeful that this fighting will not go on for long and that casualties will be held to an absolute minimum.

This is an historic moment. We have in this past year made great progress in ending the long era of conflict and cold war. We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a new world order -- a world where the rule of law, not the law of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations. When we are successful -- and we will be -- we have a real chance at this new world order, an order in which a credible United Nations can use its peacekeeping role to fulfill the promise and vision of the U.N.’s founders.

We have no argument with the people of Iraq. Indeed, for the innocents caught in this conflict, I pray for their safety. Our goal is not the conquest of Iraq. It is the liberation of Kuwait. It is my hope that somehow the Iraqi people can, even now, convince their dictator that he must lay down his arms, leave Kuwait, and let Iraq itself rejoin the family of peace-loving nations.

Thomas Paine wrote many years ago: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Those well-known words are so very true today. But even as planes of the multinational forces attack Iraq, I prefer to think of peace, not war. I am convinced not only that we will prevail but that out of the horror of combat will come the recognition that no nation can stand against a world united, no nation will be permitted to brutally assault its neighbor.

No President can easily commit our sons and daughters to war. They are the Nation's finest. Ours is an all-volunteer force, magnificently trained, highly motivated. The troops know why they're there. And listen to what they say, for they've said it better than any President or Prime Minister ever could.

Listen to Hollywood Huddleston, Marine lance corporal. He says, “Let’s free these people, so we can go home and be free again.” And he’s right. The terrible crimes and tortures committed by Saddam's henchmen against the innocent people of Kuwait are an affront to mankind and a challenge to the freedom of all.

Listen to one of our great officers out there, Marine Lieutenant General Walter Boomer. He said: “There are things worth fighting for. A world in which brutality and lawlessness are allowed to go unchecked isn't the kind of world we're going to want to live in.”

Listen to Master Sergeant J.P. Kendall of the 82nd Airborne: "We're here for more than just the price of a gallon of gas. What we're doing is going to chart the future of the world for the next 100 years. It's better to deal with this guy now than 5 years from now.”

And finally, we should all sit up and listen to Jackie Jones, an Army lieutenant, when she says, “If we let him get away with this, who knows what's going to be next?”

I have called upon Hollywood and Walter and J.P. and Jackie and all their courageous comrades-in-arms to do what must be done. Tonight, America and the world are deeply grateful to them and to their families. And let me say to everyone listening or watching tonight: When the troops we've sent in finish their work, I am determined to bring them home as soon as possible.

Tonight, as our forces fight, they and their families are in our prayers. May God bless each and every one of them, and the coalition forces at our side in the Gulf, and may He continue to bless our nation, the United States of America.

President George Bush - January 16, 1991

Source: http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/bush-war.htm

President George H. W. Bush’s State of the Union AddressDelivered on Tuesday, January 29, 1991

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, members of the United States Congress. I come to this house of the people to speak to you and all Americans, certain we stand at a defining hour.

Halfway around the world, we are engaged in a great struggle in the skies and on the seas and sands. We know why we're there. We are Americans—part of something larger than ourselves.

For two centuries we've done the hard work of freedom. And tonight we lead the world in facing down a threat to decency and humanity.

What is at stake is more than one small country, it is a big idea—a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind: peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law. Such is a world worthy of our struggle, and worthy of our children's future.

The community of nations has resolutely gathered to condemn and repel lawless aggression. Saddam Hussein's unprovoked invasion—his ruthless, systematic rape of a peaceful neighbor—violated everything the community of nations holds dear. The world has said this aggression would not stand, and it will not stand.

Together, we have resisted the trap of appeasement, cynicism and isolation that gives temptation to tyrants. The world has answered Saddam's invasion with 12 United Nations resolutions, starting with a demand for Iraq's immediate and unconditional withdrawal, and backed up by forces from 28 countries of six continents. With few exceptions, the world now stands as one.

The end of the cold war has been a victory for all humanity. A year and a half ago, in Germany, I said our goal was a Europe whole and free. Tonight, Germany is united. Europe has become whole and free, and America's leadership was instrumental in making it possible.

The principle that has guided us is simple: our objective is to help the Baltic peoples achieve their aspirations, not to punish the Soviet Union. In our recent discussions with the Soviet leadership we have been given representations, which, if fulfilled, would result in the withdrawal of some Soviet forces, a reopening of dialogue with the republics, and a move away from violence.

We will watch carefully as the situation develops. And we will maintain our contact with the Soviet leadership to encourage continued commitment to democratization and reform.

If it is possible, I want to continue to build a lasting basis for U.S.-Soviet cooperation, for a more peaceful future for all mankind.

The triumph of democratic ideas in Eastern Europe and Latin America, and the continuing struggle for freedom elsewhere around the world all confirm the wisdom of our nation's founders.

Tonight, we work to achieve another victory, a victory over tyranny and savage aggression.

We in this Union enter the last decade of the 20th Century thankful for all our blessings, steadfast in our purpose, aware of our difficulties and responsive to our duties at home and around the world.

For two centuries, America has served the world as an inspiring example of freedom and democracy. For generations, America has led the struggle to preserve and extend the blessings of liberty. And today, in a rapidly changing world, American leadership is indispensable. Americans know that leadership brings burdens, and requires sacrifice.

But we also know why the hopes of humanity turn to us. We are Americans; we have a unique responsibility to do the hard work of freedom. And when we do, freedom works.

The conviction and courage we see in the Persian Gulf today is simply the American character in action. The indomitable spirit that is contributing to this victory for world peace and justice is the same spirit that gives us the power and the potential to meet our challenges at home.

We are resolute and resourceful. If we can selflessly confront evil for the sake of good in a land so far away, then surely we can make this land all it should be.

If anyone tells you America's best days are behind her, they're looking the wrong way.

Tonight, I come before this house, and the American people, with an appeal for renewal. This is not merely a call for new government initiatives, it is a call for new initiative in government, in our communities, and from every American—to prepare for the next American century.

America has always led by example. So who among us will set this example? Which of our citizens will lead us in this next American century? Everyone who steps forward today, to get one addict off drugs; to convince one troubled teen-ager not to give up on life; to comfort one AIDS patient; to help one hungry child.

We have within our reach the promise of renewed America. We can find meaning and reward by serving some purpose higher than ourselves—a shining purpose, the illumination of a thousand points of light. It is expressed by all who know the irresistible force of a child's hand, of a friend who stands by you and stays there—a volunteer's generous gesture, an idea that is simply right.

The problems before us may be different, but the key to solving them remains the same: it is the individual—the individual who steps forward. And the state of our Union is the union of each of us, one to the other: the sum of our friendships, marriages, families and communities.

We all have something to give. So if you know how to read, find someone who can't. If you've got a hammer, find a nail. If you're not hungry, not lonely, not in trouble—seek out someone who is.

Join the community of conscience. Do the hard work of freedom. That will define the state of our Union.

Since the birth of our nation, “we the people” has been the source of our strength. What government can do alone is limited, but the potential of the American people knows no limits.

We are a nation of rock-solid realism and clear-eyed idealism. We are Americans. We are the nation that believes in the future. We are the nation that can shape the future.

And we've begun to do just that, by strengthening the power and choice of individuals and families. Together, these last two years, we've put dollars for child care directly in the hands of parents instead of bureaucracies, unshackled the potential of Americans with diabilities, applied the creativity of the marketplace in the service of the environment, for clean air, and made homeownership possible for more Americans.

The strength of a democracy is not in bureaucracy, it is in the people and their communities. In everything we do, let us unleash the potential of our most precious resource—our citizens. We must return to families, communities, counties, cities, states and institutions of every kind, the power to chart their own destiny, and the freedom and opportunity provided by strong economic growth. That's what America is all about.

I know, tonight, in some regions of our country, people are in genuine economic distress. I hear them.

Earlier this month Kathy Blackwell of Massachusetts wrote me about what can happen when the economy slows down, saying, “My heart is aching, and I think that you should know—your people out here are hurting badly.”

I understand. And I'm not unrealistic about the future. But there are reasons to be optimistic about our economy.

First, we don't have to fight double-digit inflation. Second, most industries won't have to make big cuts in production because they don't have big inventories piled up. And third, our exports are running solid and strong. In fact, American businesses are exporting at a record rate.

So let's put these times in perspective. Together, since 1981, we've created almost 20 million jobs, cut inflation in half and cut interest rates in half.

Yes, the largest peacetime economic expansion in history has been temporarily interrupted. But our economy is still over twice as large as our closest competitor.

We will get this recession behind us and return to growth soon. We will get on our way to a new record of expansion, and achieve the competitive strength that will carry us into the next American century.

We should focus our efforts today on encouraging economic growth, investing in the future and giving power and opportunity to the individual.

We must begin with control of federal spending. That's why I'm submitting a budget that holds the growth in spending to less than the rate of inflation. And that's why, amid all the sound and fury of last year's budget debate, we put into law new, enforceable spending caps so that future spending debates will mean a battle of ideas, not a bidding war.

Though controversial, the budget agreement finally put the federal government on a pay-as-you-go basis, and cut the growth of debt by nearly $500 billion. And that frees funds for saving and job-creating investment.

Now, let's do more. My budget again includes tax-free family savings accounts; penalty-free withdrawals from I. R. A.'s for first-time homebuyers; and, to increase jobs and growth, a reduced tax for long-term capital gains.

I know their are differences among us about the impact and the effects of a capital gains incentive. So tonight I am asking the congressional leaders and the Federal Reserve to cooperate with us in a study, led by Chairman Alan Greenspan, to sort out our technical differences so that we can avoid a return to unproductive partisan bickering.

But just as our efforts will bring economic growth now and in the future, they must also be matched by long-term investments for the next American century.

That requires a forward-looking plan of action, and that's exactly what we will be sending to the Congress. We have prepared a detailed series of proposals, that include:

A budget that promotes investment in America's future—in children, education, infrastructure, space and high technology.

Legislation to achieve excellence in education, building on the partnership forged with the 50 governors at the education summit, enabling parents to choose their children's schools and helping to make America No. 1 in math and science.

A blueprint for a new national highway system, a critical investment in our transportation infrastructure. A research and development agenda that includes record levels of federal investment and a permanent tax credit to

strengthen private R and D and create jobs. A comprehensive national energy strategy that calls for energy conservation and efficiency, increased development and

greater use of alternative fuels. A banking reform plan to bring America's financial system into the 21st century, so that our banks remain safe and

secure and can continue to make job-creating loans for our factories, businesses, and homebuyers. I do think there has been too much pessimism. Sound banks should be making more sound loans, now. And interest rates should be lower, now.

In addition to these proposals, we must recognize that our economic strength depends upon being competitive in world markets. We must continue to expand America's exports. A successful Uruguay round of world trade negotiations will create more real jobs, and more real growth, for all nations. You and I know that if the playing field is level, America's workers and farmers can outwork and outproduce anyone, anytime, anywhere.

And with the Mexican free trade agreement and our Enterprise for the Americas Initiative we can help our partners strengthen their economies and move toward a free trade zone throughout this entire hemisphere.

The budget also includes a plan of action right here at home to put more power and opportunity in the hands of the individual. That means new incentives to create jobs in our inner cities by encouraging investment through enterprise zones. It also means tenant control and ownership of public housing. Freedom and the power to choose should not be the privilege of wealth. They are the birthright of every American.

Civil rights are also crucial to protecting equal opportunity. Every one of us has a responsibility to speak out against racism, bigotry, and hate. We will continue our vigorous enforcement of existing statutes, and I will once again press the Congress to strengthen the laws against employment discrimination without resorting to the use of unfair preferences.

We're determined to protect another fundamental civil right: freedom from crime and the fear that stalks our cities. The Attorney General will soon convene a crime summit of the nation's law-enforcement officials. And to help us support them we need a tough crime control legislation, and we need it now. As we fight crime, we will fully implement our national strategy for combatting drug abuse. Recent data show we are making progress, but much remains to be done. We will not rest until the day of the dealer is over, forever.

Good health care is every American's right and every American's responsibility. So we are proposing an aggression program of new prevention initiatives—for infants, for children, for adults, and for the elderly—to promote a healthier America and to help keep costs from spiraling.

It's time to give people more choice in government by reviving the ideal of the citizen politician who comes not to stay, but to serve. One of the reasons there is so much support for term limitations is that the American people are increasingly concerned about big-money influence in politics. We must look beyond the next election, to the next generation. The time has come to put the national interest ahead of the special interest—and totally eliminate political action committees.

That would truly put more competition in elections and more power in the hands of individuals. And where power cannot be put directly into the hands of the individual, it should be moved closer to the people—away from Washington.

The federal government too often treats government programs as if they are of Washington, by Washington, and for Washington. Once established, federal programs seem to become immortal.

It's time for a more dynamic program life cycle. Some programs should increase. Some should decrease. Some should be terminated. And some should be consolidated and turned over to the states.

My budget includes a list of programs for potential turnover totaling more than $20 billion. Working with Congress and the governors, I propose we select at least $15 billion in such programs and turn them over to the states in a single consolidated grant, fully funded, for flexible management by the states.

The value of this turnover approach is straightforward. It allows the federal government to reduce overhead. It allows states to manage more flexibly and more efficiently. It moves power and decision-making closer to the people. And it reinforces a theme of this administration: appreciation and encouragement of the innovative power of “states as laboratories.”

This nation was founded by leaders who understood that power belongs in the hands of the people. They planned for the future. And so must we—here and around the world.

As Americans, we know there are times when we must step forward and accept our responsibility to lead the world away from the dark chaos of dictators, toward the bright promise of a better day.

Almost 50 years ago, we began a long struggle against aggressive totalitarianism. Now we face another defining hour for America and the world.

There is no one more devoted, more committed to the hard work of freedom, than every soldier and sailor, every marine, airman and coastguardsman—every man and every woman now serving in the Persian Gulf.

Each of them has volunteered to provide for this nation's defense. And now they bravely struggle to earn for America and for the world and for future generations, a just and lasting peace.

Our commitment to them must be equal of their commitment to our country. They are truly America's finest.

The war in the Gulf is not a war we wanted. We worked hard to avoid war. For more than five months we, along with the Arab League, the European Community and the United Nations, tried every diplomatic avenue. UN secretary general Perez de Cuellar; presidents Gorbachev, Mitterand, Ozal, Mubarak, and Bendjedid; kings Fahd and Hassan; prime minsters Major and Andreotti—just to name a few—all worked for a solution. But time and again Saddam Hussein flatly rejected the path of diplomacy and peace.

The world well knows how this conflict began, and when: it began on August 2nd, when Saddam invaded and sacked a small, defenseless neighbor. And I am certain of how it will end. So that peace can prevail, we will prevail.

Tonight I'm pleased to report that we are on course. Iraq's capacity to sustain war is being destroyed. Our investment, our training, our planning—all are paying off. Time will not be Saddam's salvation.

Our purpose in the Persian Gulf remains constant: to drive Iraq out from Kuwait, to restore Kuwait's legitimate government, and to insure the stability and security of this critical region.

Let me make clear what I mean by the region's stability and security. We do not seek the destruction of Iraq, its culture or its people. Rather, we seek an Iraq that uses its great resources not to destroy, not to serve the ambitions of a tyrant, but to build a better life for itself and its neighbors. We seek a Persian Gulf where conflict is no longer the rule, where the strong are neither tempted nor able to intimidate the weak.

Most Americans know instinctively why we are in the Gulf. They know we had to stop Saddam now, not later. They know this brutal dictator will do anything, will use any weapon, will commit any outrage, no matter how many innocents must suffer.

They know we must make sure that control of the world's oil resources does not fall into his hands only to finance further aggression. They know that we need to build a new, enduring peace—based not on arms races and confrontation, but on shared principles and the rule of law.

And we all realize that our responsibility to be the catalyst for peace in the region does not end with the successful conclusion of this war.

Democracy brings the undeniable value of thoughtful dissent, and we have heard some dissenting voices here at home, some reckless, most responsible. But the fact that all the voices have the right to speak out is one of the reasons we've been united in principle and purpose for 200 years.

Our progress in this great struggle is the result of years of vigilance and a steadfast commitment to a strong defense. Now, with remarkable technological advances like the Patriot missile, we can defend the ballistic missile attacks aimed at innocent civilians.

Looking forward, I have directed that the S.D.I. program be refocused on providing protection from limited ballistic missile strikes, whatever their source. Let us pursue an S.D.I. program that can deal with any future threat to the United States, to our forces overseas and to our friends and allies.

The quality of American technology, thanks to the American worker, has enabled us to successfully deal with difficult military conditions, and help minimize the loss of life. We have given our men and women the very best. And they deserve it.

We all have a special place in our hearts for the families of men and women serving in the Gulf. They are represented here tonight, by Mrs. Norman Schwarzkopf. We are all very grateful to General Schwarzkopf and to all those serving with him. And I might also recognize one who came with Mrs. Schwarzkopf: Alma Powell, the wife of the distinguished Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. And to the families, let me say, our forces in the Gulf will not stay there one day longer than is necessary to complete their mission.

The courage and success of the R.A.F. pilots—of the Kuwaiti, Saudi, French, Canadians, Italians, the pilots of Qatar and Bahrain—all are proof that for the first time since World War II, the international community is united. The leadership of the United Nations, once only a hoped-for ideal, is now confirming its founders' vision.

I am heartened that we are not being asked to bear alone the financial burden of this struggle. Last year, our friends and allies provided the bulk of the economic costs of Desert Shield, and having now received commitments of over $40 billion for the first three months of 1991, I am confident they will do no less as we move through Desert Storm.

But the world has to wonder what the dictator of Iraq is thinking. If he thinks that by targeting innocent civilians in Israel and Saudi Arabia, that he will gain an advantage—he is dead wrong. If he thinks that he will advance his cause through tragic and despicable environmental terrorism—he is dead wrong. And if he thinks that by abusing coalition P.O.W.s, he will benefit—he is dead wrong.

We will succeed in the Gulf. And when we do, the world community will have sent an enduring warning to any dictator or despot, present or future, who contemplates outlaw aggression.

The world can therefore seize this opportunity to fulfill the long-held promise of a new world order—where brutality will go unrewarded, and aggression will meet collective resistance.

Yes, the United States bears a major share of leadership in this effort. Among the nations of the world, only the United States of America has had both the moral standing, and the means to back it up. We are the only nation on this earth that could assemble the forces of peace.

This is the burden of leadership—and the strength that has made America the beacon of freedom in a searching world.

This nation has never found glory in war. Our people have never wanted to abandon the blessings of home and work, for distant lands and deadly conflict. If we fight in anger, it is only because we have to fight at all. And all of us yearn for a world where we will never have to fight again.

Each of us will measure, within ourselves, the value of this great struggle. Any cost in lives is beyond our power to measure. But the cost of closing our eyes to aggression is beyond mankind's power to imagine.

This we do know: Our cause is just. Our cause is moral. Our cause is right.

Let future generations understand the burden and the blessings of freedom. Let them say, we stood where duty required us to stand.

Let them know that together, we affirmed America, and the world, as a community of conscience.

The winds of change are with us now. The forces of freedom are united. We move toward the next century, more confident than ever, that we have the will at home and abroad, to do what must be done—the hard work of freedom.

May God bless the United States of America.(Source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0900156.html)

Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the Cessation of the Persian Gulf ConflictPresident George H.W. BushMarch 6, 1991

President George H.W. Bush addresses a joint session of Congress regarding the “end” of the first Persian Gulf War with Iraq at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. on March 6, 1991. (Photo: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Speaker Foley: Mr. President, it is customary at joint sessions for the Chair to present the President to the Members of Congress directly and without further comment. But I wish to depart from tradition tonight and express to you on behalf of the Congress and the country, and through you to the members of our Armed Forces, our warmest congratulations on the brilliant victory of the Desert Storm Operation.

Members of the Congress, I now have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States.

The President: Mr. President. And Mr. Speaker, thank you, sir, for those very generous words spoken from the heart about the wonderful performance of our military.

Members of Congress, 5 short weeks ago I came to this House to speak to you about the state of the Union. We met then in time of war. Tonight, we meet in a world blessed by the promise of peace.

From the moment Operation Desert Storm commenced on January 16th until the time the guns fell silent at midnight 1 week ago, this nation has watched its sons and daughters with pride, watched over them with prayer. As Commander in Chief, I can report to you our armed forces fought with honor and valor. And as President, I can report to the Nation aggression is defeated. The war is over.

This is a victory for every country in the coalition, for the United Nations. A victory for unprecedented international cooperation and diplomacy, so well led by our Secretary of State, James Baker. It is a victory for the rule of law and for what is right.

Desert Storm's success belongs to the team that so ably leads our Armed Forces: our Secretary of Defense and our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dick Cheney and Colin Powell. And while you're standing -- [laughter] -- this military victory also belongs to the one the British call the “Man of the Match” -- the tower of calm at the eye of Desert Storm -- General Norman Schwarzkopf.

And recognizing this was a coalition effort, let us not forget Saudi General Khalid, Britain's General de la Billiere, or General Roquejeoffre of France, and all the others whose leadership played such a vital role. And most importantly, most importantly of all, all those who served in the field.

I thank the Members of this Congress -- support here for our troops in battle was overwhelming. And above all, I thank those whose unfailing love and support sustained our courageous men and women: I thank the American people.

Tonight, I come to this House to speak about the world -- the world after war. The recent challenge could not have been clearer. Saddam Hussein was the villain; Kuwait, the victim. To the aid of this small country came nations from North America and Europe, from Asia and South America, from Africa and the Arab world, all united against aggression. Our uncommon coalition must now work in common purpose: to forge a future that should never again be held hostage to the darker side of human nature.

Tonight in Iraq, Saddam walks amidst ruin. His war machine is crushed. His ability to threaten mass destruction is itself destroyed. His people have been lied to, denied the truth. And when his defeated legions come home, all Iraqis will see and feel the havoc he has wrought. And this I promise you: For all that Saddam has done to his own people, to the Kuwaitis, and to the entire world, Saddam and those around him are accountable.

All of us grieve for the victims of war, for the people of Kuwait and the suffering that scars the soul of that proud nation. We grieve for all our fallen soldiers and their families, for all the innocents caught up in this conflict. And, yes, we grieve for the people of Iraq, a people who have never been our enemy. My hope is that one day we will once again welcome them as friends into the community of nations. Our commitment to peace in the Middle East does not end with the liberation of Kuwait. So, tonight let me outline four key challenges to be met.

First, we must work together to create shared security arrangements in the region. Our friends and allies in the Middle East recognize that they will bear the bulk of the responsibility for regional security. But we want them to know that just as we stood with them to repel aggression, so now America stands ready to work with them to secure the peace. This does not mean stationing U.S. ground forces in the Arabian Peninsula, but it does mean American participation in joint exercises involving both air and ground forces. It means maintaining a capable U.S. naval presence in the region, just as we have for over 40 years. Let it be clear: Our vital national interests depend on a stable and secure Gulf.

Second, we must act to control the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the missiles used to deliver them. It would be tragic if the nations of the Middle East and Persian Gulf were now, in the wake of war, to embark on a new arms race. Iraq requires special vigilance. Until Iraq convinces the world of its peaceful intentions -- that its leaders will not use new revenues to rearm and rebuild its menacing war machine -- Iraq must not have access to the instruments of war.

And third, we must work to create new opportunities for peace and stability in the Middle East. On the night I announced Operation Desert Storm, I expressed my hope that out of the horrors of war might come new momentum for peace. We've learned in the modern age geography cannot guarantee security, and security does not come from military power alone.

All of us know the depth of bitterness that has made the dispute between Israel and its neighbors so painful and intractable. Yet, in the conflict just concluded, Israel and many of the Arab States have for the first time found themselves confronting the same aggressor. By now, it should be plain to all parties that peacemaking in the Middle East requires compromise. At the same time, peace brings real benefits to everyone. We must do all that we can to close the gap between Israel and the Arab States -- and between Israelis and Palestinians. The tactics of terror lead absolutely nowhere. There can be no substitute for diplomacy.

A comprehensive peace must be grounded in United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and the principle of territory for peace. This principle must be elaborated to provide for Israel's security and recognition and at the same time for legitimate Palestinian political rights. Anything else would fail the twin test of fairness and security. The time has come to put an end to Arab-Israeli conflict.

The war with Iraq is over. The quest for solutions to the problems in Lebanon, in the Arab-Israeli dispute, and in the Gulf must go forward with new vigor and determination. And I guarantee you: No one will work harder for a stable peace in the region than we will.

Fourth, we must foster economic development for the sake of peace and progress. The Persian Gulf and Middle East form a region rich in natural resources with a wealth of untapped human potential. Resources once squandered on military might must be redirected to more peaceful ends. We are already addressing the immediate economic consequences of Iraq's aggression. Now, the challenge is to reach higher, to foster economic freedom and prosperity for all the people of the region.

By meeting these four challenges we can build a framework for peace. I've asked Secretary of State Baker to go to the Middle East to begin the process. He will go to listen, to probe, to offer suggestions -- to advance the search for peace and stability. I've also asked him to raise the plight of the hostages held in Lebanon. We have not forgotten them, and we will not forget them.

To all the challenges that confront this region of the world there is no single solution, no solely American answer. But we can make a difference. America will work tirelessly as a catalyst for positive change.

But we cannot lead a new world abroad if, at home, it's politics as usual on American defense and diplomacy. It's time to turn away from the temptation to protect unneeded weapons systems and obsolete bases. It's time to put an end to micromanagement of foreign and security assistance programs -- micromanagement that humiliates our friends and allies and hamstrings our diplomacy. It's time to rise above the parochial and the pork barrel, to do what is necessary, what's right, and what will enable this nation to play the leadership role required of us.

The consequences of the conflict in the Gulf reach far beyond the confines of the Middle East. Twice before in this century, an entire world was convulsed by war. Twice this century, out of the horrors of war hope emerged for enduring peace. Twice before, those hopes proved to be a distant dream, beyond the grasp of man. Until now, the world we've known has been a world divided -- a world of barbed wire and concrete block, conflict, and cold war.

Now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order. In the words of Winston Churchill, a world order in which ``the principles of justice and fair play protect the weak against the strong. . . .'' A world where the United Nations, freed from cold war stalemate, is poised to fulfill the historic vision of its founders. A world in which freedom and respect for human rights find a home among all nations. The Gulf war put this new world to its first test. And my fellow Americans, we passed that test.

For the sake of our principles, for the sake of the Kuwaiti people, we stood our ground. Because the world would not look the other way, Ambassador al-Sabah, tonight Kuwait is free. And we're very happy about that.

Tonight, as our troops begin to come home, let us recognize that the hard work of freedom still calls us forward. We've learned the hard lessons of history. The victory over Iraq was not waged as ``a war to end all wars.'' Even the new world order cannot guarantee an era of perpetual peace. But enduring peace must be our mission. Our success in the Gulf will shape not only the new world order we seek but our mission here at home.

In the war just ended, there were clear-cut objectives -- timetables -- and, above all, an overriding imperative to achieve results. We must bring that same sense of self-discipline, that same sense of urgency, to the way we meet challenges here at home. In my State of the Union Address and in my budget, I defined a comprehensive agenda to prepare for the next American century.

Our first priority is to get this economy rolling again. The fear and uncertainty caused by the Gulf crisis were understandable. But now that the war is over, oil prices are down, interest rates are down, and confidence is rightly coming back. Americans can move forward to lend, spend, and invest in this, the strongest economy on Earth.

We must also enact the legislation that is key to building a better America. For example, in 1990, we enacted an historic Clean Air Act. And now we've proposed a national energy strategy. We passed a child-care bill that put power in the hands of parents. And today, we're ready to do the same thing with our schools and expand choice in education. We passed a crime bill that made a useful start in fighting crime and drugs. This year, we're sending to Congress our comprehensive crime package to finish the job. We passed the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act. And now we've sent forward our civil rights bill. We also passed the aviation bill. This year, we've sent up our new highway bill. And these are just a few of our pending proposals for reform and renewal.

So, tonight I call on the Congress to move forward aggressively on our domestic front. Let's begin with two initiatives we should be able to agree on quickly: transportation and crime. And then, let's build on success with those and enact the rest of our agenda. If our forces could win the ground war in 100 hours, then surely the Congress can pass this legislation in 100 days. Let that be a promise we make tonight to the American people.

When I spoke in this House about the state of our Union, I asked all of you: If we can selflessly confront evil for the sake of good in a land so far away, then surely we can make this land all that it should be. In the time since then, the brave men and women of Desert Storm accomplished more than even they may realize. They set out to confront an enemy abroad, and in the process, they transformed a nation at home. Think of the way they went about their mission -- with confidence and quiet pride. Think about their sense of duty, about all they taught us about our values, about ourselves.

We hear so often about our young people in turmoil -- how our children fall short, how our schools fail us, how American products and American workers are second-class. Well, don't you believe it. The America we saw in Desert Storm was first-class talent. And they did it using America's state-of-the-art technology. We saw the excellence embodied in the Patriot missile and the patriots who made it work. And we saw soldiers who know about honor and bravery and duty and country and the world-shaking power of these simple words. There is something noble and majestic about the pride, about the patriotism that we feel tonight.

So, to everyone here and everyone watching at home, think about the men and women of Desert Storm. Let us honor them with our gratitude. Let us comfort the families of the fallen and remember each precious life lost.

Let us learn from them as well. Let us honor those who have served us by serving others. Let us honor them as individuals -- men and women of every race, all creeds and colors -- by setting the face of this nation against discrimination, bigotry, and hate. Eliminate them.

I'm sure that many of you saw on the television the unforgettable scene of four terrified Iraqi soldiers surrendering. They emerged from their bunker broken, tears streaming from their eyes, fearing the worst. And then there was an American soldier. Remember what he said? He said: ``It's okay. You're all right now. You're all right now.'' That scene says a lot about America, a lot about who we are. Americans are a caring people. We are a good people, a generous people. Let us always be caring and good and generous in all we do.

Soon, very soon, our troops will begin the march we've all been waiting for -- their march home. And I have directed Secretary Cheney to begin the immediate return of American combat units from the Gulf. Less than 2 hours from now, the first planeload of American soldiers will lift off from Saudi Arabia, headed for the U.S.A. That plane will carry the men and women of the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division bound for Fort Stewart, Georgia. This is just the beginning of a steady flow of American troops coming home. Let their return remind us that all those who have gone before are linked with us in the long line of freedom's march.

Americans have always tried to serve, to sacrifice nobly for what we believe to be right. Tonight, I ask every community in this country to make this coming Fourth of July a day of special celebration for our returning troops. They may have missed Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I can tell you this: For them and for their families, we can make this a holiday they'll never forget.

In a very real sense, this victory belongs to them -- to the privates and the pilots, to the sergeants and the supply officers, to the men and women in the machines and the men and women who made them work. It belongs to the regulars, to the reserves, to the National Guard. This victory belongs to the finest fighting force this nation has ever known in its history.

We went halfway around the world to do what is moral and just and right. We fought hard and, with others, we won the war. We lifted the yoke of aggression and tyranny from a small country that many Americans had never even heard of, and we ask nothing in return.

We're coming home now -- proud, confident, heads high. There is much that we must do, at home and abroad. And we will do it. We are Americans.

May God bless this great nation, the United States of America. Thank you all very, very much.

Note: The President spoke at 9:12 p.m. in the House Chamber at the Capitol. He was introduced by Thomas S. Foley, Speaker of the House of Representatives. In his remarks, he referred to Dan Quayle, President of the Senate; Secretary of State James A. Baker III; Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney; Colin L. Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf; Saudi commander Gen. Abdul Aziz bin Sultan; British commander Gen. Peter de la Billiere; French commander Gen. Michel Roquejeoffre; President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; and Ambassador Saud Nasir al-Sabah of Kuwait. The address was broadcast live on nationwide television and radio.

Source: George H.W. Bush Presidential Libraryhttp://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=2767&year=1991&month=3

1988 Republican National Convention Acceptance AddressDelivered on 18 August 1988 at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very, very much.

I have many friends to thank tonight. I thank the voters who supported me. I thank the gallant men who entered the contest for the presidency this year, and who have honored me with their support. And, for their kind and stirring words, I thank Governor Tom Kean of New Jersey - Senator Phil Gramm of Texas -- President Gerald Ford -- and my friend, President Ronald Reagan.

I accept your nomination for President. I mean, I mean to run hard, to fight hard, to stand on the issues -- and I mean to win.

There are a lot, There are a lot of great stories in politics about the underdog winning -- and this is going to be one of them.

And we're going to win with the help of Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana - a young leader who has become a forceful voice in preparing America's workers for the labor force of the future. What a superb job he did here tonight. Born in the middle of the century, in the middle of America, and holding the promise of the future - I'm proud to have Dan Quayle at my side.

Many of you have asked, many of you have asked, "When will this campaign really begin?" We’ll I’ve come to this hall to tell you, and to tell America: Tonight is the night.

For seven and a half years I have helped the President conduct the most difficult job on earth. Ronald Reagan asked for, and received, my candor. He never asked for, but he did receive, my loyalty. Those of you who saw the President's speech this week, and listened to the simple truth of his words, will understand my loyalty all these years.

But now, now, you must see me for what I am: The Republican candidate for President of the United States. And now I turn to the American people to share my hopes and intentions, and why -- and where -- I wish to lead.

And so tonight is for big things. But I'll try to be fair to the other side. I'll try to hold my charisma in check. And uh, no I reject the temptation to engage in personal references. My approach this evening is, as Sergeant Joe Friday used to say, "Just the facts, ma'am."

And after all, after all, the facts are on our side.

I seek the presidency for a single purpose, a purpose that has motivated millions of Americans across the years and the ocean voyages. I seek the presidency to build a better America. It is that simple -- and that big.

I’m a man who sees life in terms of missions - missions defined and missions completed. And when I was a torpedo bomber pilot they defined the mission for us. And before we took off we all understood that no matter what, you try to reach the target. There have been other missions for me -- Congress, China, the CIA. But I am here tonight -- and I am your candidate -- because the most important work of my life is to complete the mission that we started in 1980. How do we complete it? We build on it.

The stakes are high this year and the choice is crucial, for the differences between the two candidates are as deep and wide as they have ever been in our long history.

Not only two very different men, but two very different ideas of the future will be voted on this Election Day.

And what it all comes down to is this:

My opponent's view of the world sees a long slow decline for our country, an inevitable fall mandated by impersonal historical forces.

But America is not in decline. America is a rising nation.

He sees, he sees America as another pleasant country on the UN roll call, somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe. And I see America as the leader - a unique nation with a special role in the world.

And this has been called the American Century, because in it we were the dominant force for good in the world. We saved Europe, cured polio, we went to the moon, and lit the world with our culture. And now we are on the verge of a new century, and what country's name will it bear? I say it will be another American century.

Our work is not done - our force is not spent.

There are those who say there isn't much of a difference this year.

But America, don't let 'em fool ya.

Two parties this year ask for your support. Both will speak of growth and peace. But only one has proved it can deliver. Two parties this year ask for your trust, but only one has earned it.

Eight years ago, eight years ago, I stood here with Ronald Reagan and we promised, together, to break with the past and return America to her greatness. Eight years later look at what the American people have produced: the highest level of economic growth in our entire history -- and the lowest level of world tensions in more than fifty years.

Some say, you know some say, this isn't an election about ideology, it's an election about competence. Well, it's nice of them to want to play on our field. But this election isn't only about competence, for competence is a narrow ideal. Competence makes the trains run on time but doesn't know where they're going. Competence is the creed of the technocrat who makes sure the gears mesh but doesn't for a second understand the magic of the machine.

The truth is, the truth is, this election is about the beliefs we share, the values that we honor, and the principles we hold dear.

But, but, since someone brought up competence.

Consider the size of our triumph: A record number of Americans at work. A record high percentage of our people with jobs, a record high of new businesses, high rate of new businesses -- a record high rate of real personal income.

These are the facts. And one way, and one way, you know our opponents know the facts is that to attack the record they have to misrepresent it. They call it a Swiss cheese economy. Well, that's the way it may look to the three blind mice. But, but, when they, when they, were in charge it was all holes and no cheese.

You know the let me, Inflation was 13 percent when we came in. We got it down to four. Interest rates, interest rates, were more than 21. We cut em’ in half. Unemployment, unemployment, was up and climbing, and now it's the lowest in 14 years.

My friends, eight years ago this economy was flat on its back - intensive care. And we came in and gave it emergency treatment: And got the temperature down by lowering regulation, and got the blood pressure down when we lowered taxes. And pretty soon the patient was up, back on his feet, and stronger than ever.

And now, who do we hear knocking on the door but the same doctors who made him sick. And they're telling us to put them in charge of the case again. My friends, they're lucky we don't hit em’ with a malpractice suit!

We've created, we’ve created, seventeen million new jobs the past five years -- more than twice as many as Europe and Japan combined. And they're good jobs. The majority of them created in the past six years paid an average, average, of more than $22,000 a year. And someone better take 'a message to Michael': Tell him, tell him, that we have been creating good jobs at good wages. The fact is, they talk -- and we deliver. They promise, they promise -- and we perform.

And there are millions of young Americans in their 20's who barely remember, who barely remember, the days of gas lines and unemployment lines. And now they're marrying and starting careers. And to those young people I say: "You have the opportunity you deserve -- and I'm not going to let them take it away from you."

The leaders, the leaders, the leaders of this expansion, the leaders of this expansion, have been the women of America who helped create the new jobs and filled two out of every three of them. And to the women of America I say you know better than anyone that equality begins with economic empowerment. You’re gaining economic power and I’m not going to let them take it away from you. 

There are millions, there are, there are millions, of Americans who were brutalized by inflation. We arrested it -- and we're not going to let it out on furlough. We’re, We're gonna, and we’re going to keep the social security trust fund sound, and out of reach of the big spenders. To America's elderly I say, "Once again, you have the security that is your right -- and I'm, net, not going to let them take it away from you."

I know the liberal democrats are worried about the economy. They're worried it's gonna remain strong. And they're right, it is. With the right leadership it will remain strong.

But, but let's be frank. Things aren't perfect in this country. There are people who haven't tasted the fruits of the expansion. I've talked to farmers about the bills they can't pay. I've been to the factories that feel the strain of change. And I've seen the urban children who play amidst the shattered glass and the shattered lives. And there are the homeless. And you know, it doesn't do any good to debate endlessly which policy mistake of the '70's is responsive. They're there. And we have to help them.

But what we must remember if we are to be responsible -- and compassionate -- is that economic growth is the key to our endeavors.

I want growth that stays, that broadens, that touches, finally, all Americans, from the hollows of Kentucky to the sunlit streets of Denver, from the suburbs of Chicago to the broad avenues of New York, and from the oil fields of Oklahoma to the farms of the great plains.

And can we do it? Of course we can. We know how. We've done it. And if we, if we, continue to grow at our current rate, we will be able to produce 30 million jobs in the next eight years. And we will do it -- by maintaining our commitment to free and fair trade, by keeping government spending down, and by keeping taxes down.

Our, our, economic life is not the only test of our success, one issue overwhelms all the others, and that’s the issue of peace.

And look at the world on this bright August night. The spirit of Democracy is sweeping the Pacific rim. China feels the winds of change. New democracies assert themselves in South America. And one by one the unfree places fall, not to the force of arms but to the force of an idea: freedom works.

And we, we have, we have, a new relationship with the Soviet Union. The INF treaty -- the beginning of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan -- the beginning of the end of the Soviet proxy war in Angola, and with it the independence of Namibia. Iran and Iraq move toward peace.

It’s a watershed.

It is no accident.

It happened when we acted on the ancient knowledge that strength and clarity lead to peace - weakness and ambivalence lead to war. Weakness and ambivalence lead to war.

You see, you see, weakness tempts aggressors. Strength stops them. I will not allow this country to be made weak again, never.

The tremors, the tremors, in the Soviet world continue. The hard earth there has not yet settled. Perhaps what is happening will change our world forever; and perhaps not. A prudent skepticism is in order. And so is hope. But either way, we're in an unprecedented position to change the nature of our relationship. Not by preemptive concession -- but by keeping our strength. Not by yielding up defense systems with nothing won in return - but by hard cool engagement in the tug and pull of diplomacy.

My life, my life, has been lived in the shadow of war -- I almost lost my life in one.

And I hate war; love peace. And we have peace.

And I am not going to let anyone take it away from us.

Our, our economy is strong but not invulnerable, and the peace is broad but can be broken. And now we must decide. We will surely have change this year, but will it be change that moves us forward? Or change that risks retreat?

In 1940, when I was barely more than a boy, Franklin Roosevelt said we shouldn't change horses in midstream.

My friends, these days the world moves even more quickly, and now, after two great terms, a switch will be made. But when you have to change horses in midstream, doesn't it make sense to switch to one who's going the same way?

An election, an election, that’s about ideas and values is also about philosophy. And I have one.

At the bright center is the individual. And radiating out from him or her is the family, the essential unit of closeness and of love. For it’s the family that communicates to our children -- to the 21st century -- our culture, our religious faith, our traditions and history.

From the individual to the family to the community, and then on out to the town, the church and the school, and, still echoing out, to the county, the state, and the nation -- each doing only what it does well, and no more. And I believe that power must always be kept close to the individual -- close to the hands that raise the family and run the home.

I am guided by certain traditions. One, is that there is a God and He is good, and his love, while free, has a self imposed cost: We must be good to one another.

I believe in another tradition that is, by now, embedded in the national soul. It’s that learning is good in and of itself. You know, the mothers of the Jewish ghettos of the east would pour honey on a book so the children would know that learning is sweet. And the parents who settled Hungry Kansas would take their children in from the fields when a teacher came. That is our history.

And there is another tradition. And that’s the idea of community -- a beautiful word with a big meaning; though liberal democrats have an odd view of it. They see "community" as a limited cluster of interest groups, locked in odd conformity. And in this view, the country waits passive while Washington sets the rules.

But that's not what community means -- not to me.

For we’re a nation of community; of thousands and tens of thousands of ethnic, religious, social, business, labor union, neighborhood, regional and other organizations, all of them varied, voluntary and unique.

This is America: the Knights of Columbus, the Grange, Hadassah, the Disabled American Veterans, the Order of Ahepa, the Business and Professional Women of America, the union hall, the Bible study group, LULAC, "Holy Name" -- a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.

Does government have a place? Yes. Government is part of the nation of communities -- not the whole, just a part.

And I do not hate government. A government that remembers that the people are its master is a good and needed thing.

And I respect old fashioned common sense, and have no great love, and I have no great love for the imaginings of social planners. I like what's been tested and found to be true.

For instance:

Should public school teachers be required to lead our children in the pledge of allegiance? My opponent says no -- and I say yes.

Should society be allowed to impose the death penalty on those who commit crimes of extraordinary cruelty and violence? My opponent says no - but I say yes.

And should our children have the right to say a voluntary prayer, or even observe a moment of silence in the schools? My opponent says no - but I say yes.

And should, should free men and women have the right to own a gun to protect their home? My opponent says no -- but I say yes.

And Is it right to believe in the sanctity of life and protect the lives of innocent children? My opponent says no -- but I say yes.

You see, we must, we must change, we’ve got to change from abortion -- to adoption. And let me tell you this: Barbra and I have an adopted granddaughter. And the day of her christening we wept with joy. I thank God that her parents chose life.

I’m, I'm the one who believes it is a scandal to give a weekend furlough to a hardened first degree killer who hasn't even served enough time to be eligible for parole.

I'm the one, I’m the one, who says a drug dealer who is responsible for the death of a policeman should be subject to capital punishment.

And I'm the one who will not raise taxes. My opponent, my opponent now says, my opponent now says, he'll raise them as a last resort, or a third resort. But when a politician talks like that, you know that's one resort he'll be checking into. My opponent won't rule out raising taxes. But I will. And the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say no, and they'll push, and I'll say no, and they'll push again, and I'll say, to them, "Read my lips: no new taxes."

Let me, let me tell you more, let me tell you more, let me just tell you more about the mission on jobs.

My mission is: 30 in 8.

Thirty million jobs in the next eight years.

Every one of our children deserves a first rate school. The liberal democrats want power in the hands of the federal government. And I want power in the hands of  the parents. And I will, and I will, I will encourage merit schools. I will give more kids a Head Start. And I'll make it easier to save for college.

I want a drug free America - and this will not be easy to achieve. But I want to enlist the help of some people who are rarely included. Tonight, I challenge the young people of our country to shut down the drug dealers around the world. Unite with us, work with us. "Zero tolerance" "Zero tolerance" isn't just a policy, it's an attitude.

Tell them what you think of people who underwrite the dealers who put poison in our society. And while you're doing that, my administration will be telling the dealers: whatever we have to do we'll do, but your day is over, you are history.

I am going to do whatever it takes to make sure the disabled are included in the mainstream. For too long they've been left out. But they're not gonna be left out anymore.

And I am going to stop ocean dumping. Our beaches should not be garbage dumps and our harbors should not be cesspools. And I’m going to have the FBI trace the medical wastes and we’re going to punish the people who dump those infected needles into our oceans, lakes and rivers. And we must clean the air. We must reduce the harm done by acid rain.

And I’ll put incentives back into the domestic energy industry, for I know from personal experience, there is no security for the United States in further dependence on foreign oil.

In foreign affairs, I’ll continue our policy of peace through strength. I will move toward further cuts in the strategic and conventional arsenals of both the United States and the Soviet Union and the Easter Bloc and NATO. I’ll modernize and preserve our technological edge; and that includes strategic defense.

And a priority, a priority; ban chemical and biological weapons from the face of the earth, that will be a priority with me. And I intend to speak for freedom, stand for freedom, be a patient friend to anyone, east or west, who will fight for freedom.

It seems to me the Presidency provides an incomparable opportunity for "gentle persuasion."

And I hope to stand for a new harmony, a greater tolerance. We've come far, but I think we need a new harmony among the races in our country. And we're on a journey into a new century, and we've got to leave that tired old baggage of bigotry behind.

Some people who are enjoying our prosperity, are forgetting, have forgotten what it's for. But they diminish our triumph when they act as if wealth is an end in itself.

And there are those who have dropped their standards along the way, as if ethics were too heavy and slowed their rise to the top. There's graft in city hall, the greed on Wall Street; there's influence peddling in Washington, and the small corruptions of everyday ambition.

But you see, I believe public service is honorable. And every time I hear that someone has breached the public trust it breaks my heart.

I wonder sometimes if we have forgotten who we are. But we're the people who sundered a nation rather than allow a sin called slavery -- and we're the people who rose from the ghettos and the deserts.

And we weren't saints -- but we lived by standards. We celebrated the individual -- but we weren't self-centered. We were practical -- but we didn't live only for material things. We believed in getting ahead -- but blind ambition wasn't our way.

The fact is prosperity has a purpose. It’s to allow us to pursue "the better angels," to give us time to think and grow. Prosperity with a purpose means taking your idealism and making it concrete by certain acts of goodness. It means helping a child from an unhappy home learn how to read -- and I thank my wife Barbara for all her work in helping people to read; in all her work for literacy in this country.

It means, it means, teaching troubled children through your present that there’s no such, that there's such a thing as reliable love. Some would say it's soft and insufficiently tough to care about these things. But where is it written that we must act as if we do not care, as if we are not moved?

Well I am moved. I want a kinder, and gentler nation.

Two men this year ask for your support. And you must know us.

As for me, I have held high office and done the work of democracy day by day. Yes, my parents were prosperous; and their children sure were lucky. But there were lessons we had to learn about life. John Kennedy discovered poverty when he campaigned in West Virginia; there were children who had no milk. And young Teddy Roosevelt met the new America when he roamed the immigrant streets of New York. And I learned a few things about life in a place called Texas.

And when I, and when I was, when I was working on this part of the speech, Barbra came in and asked what I was doing, and I looked up and I said I’m working hard and she said, “Oh dear, don’t worry, relax, sit back, take off your shoes, and put up your silver foot.”

Now we moved to west Texas 40 years ago, 40 years ago this year. And the war was over, and we wanted to get out and make it on our own. And those were exciting days. We lived in a little shotgun house, one room for the three of us. Worked in the oil business, then started my own.

In time we had six children. Moved from the shotgun, to a duplex apartment, to a house. And lived the dream - high school football on Friday night, Little League, neighborhood barbecue.

People don't see their experience as symbolic of an era -- but of course we were. And so was everyone else who was taking a chance and pushing into unknown territory with kids and a dog and a car. But the big thing I learned is the satisfaction of creating jobs, which meant creating opportunity, which meant happy families, who in turn could do more to help others and enhance their own lives. I learned that a good done by a single good job can be felt in ways you can't imagine.

It’s been said that I am not the most compelling speaker. And there are actually those who claim that I don’t always communicate in the clearest, most concise way; but I dare them to keep it up. Go ahead, make my 24 hour time period.

Now I, I may, be, may not be the most eloquent, but I learned, that oil, early on that eloquence won't draw oil from the ground. And I may sometimes be a little awkward, but there's nothing self-conscious in my love of country. And I am a quiet man, but I am a quiet man, but, I hear the quiet people others don't. The ones who raise the family, pay the taxes, meet the mortgage. And I hear them and I am moved, and their concerns are mine.

A President must be many things.

He must be a shrewd protector of America's interests; and he must be an idealist who leads those who move for a freer and more democratic planet.

And he must see to it that government intrudes as little as possible in the lives of the people; and yet remember, that it is right and proper that a nation’s leader take’s an interest in the nation's character.

And he must be able to define -- and lead -- a mission.

For seven and a half years, I’ve worked with a great President -- I have seen what crosses that big desk. I’ve seen the unexpected crisis that arrives in a cable in a young aide's hand. And I have seen problems that simmer on for decades and suddenly demand resolution. And I’ve seen modest decisions made with anguish, and crucial decisions made with dispatch.

And so I know that what it all comes down to, this election -- what it all comes down to, after all the shouting and the cheers -- is the man at the desk.

And who should sit at the desk?

My friends, I am that man.

I say it, I say it, I say it without boast or bravado, I've fought for my country, I've served, I've built -- and I’ll go from the hills to the hollows, from the cities to the suburbs to the loneliest town on the quietest street to take our message of hope and growth for every American to every American.

I will keep America moving forward, always forward -- for a better America, for an endless enduring dream and a thousand points of light.

This is my mission. And I will complete it.

Thank you. You know, one, you know it is customary to end an address with a pledge or a saying that holds a special meaning.

And I’ve chosen one that we all know by heart, one that we all learned in school. And I ask everyone in this great hall to stand and join me in this, we all know it.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Thank you, and God bless you.

Source: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/georgehbush1988rnc.htm