George HW Bush, who passed away at 94, served only one term as US President and yet left a lasting impression. What won him a special standing was the successful US war in Kuwait that was preceded by an invasion of Panama. What worked to his disadvantage while seeking a second and final term was his failure on the economic front. Yet, his term saw the Americans establishing a firm foothold in the Gulf region, and this meant both military success and a diplomatic push as well as opening of a new line for the US to fill its coffers by taking a cut from the wealth of ‘shaky’ oil kingdoms.
When it comes to experience, he was second to none in claiming the top job. He started in the US Congress, functioned as vice president for two terms to Republican head of state Ronald Reagan, and in between also made his marks as US ambassador to China, CIA director, UN ambassador and Republican Party chairman. He had a world view and a clear vision about how to position the US in the new global power-play. It was Bush Senior’s turn to handle global diplomacy after the fall of the USSR and he ably tied up with Mikhail Gorbachev to shape up world diplomacy in the post-Cold War era. Bush Senior had his humanitarian side too, pushing the causes for a drug-free world, and laying great emphasis on education for all American children.
The Bush family also gave a dynastic twist to American politics. Senior Bush left White House in 1993, and eight years later his son George W Bush — then governor of Texas– entered it as President in 2001, the second such instance in US history. The previous one of Quail Adams had happened 24 years after his father John Adams quit office in 1801. The Bush example also inspired the Hillary Clinton push for power after the Bill Clinton presidency; she taking over as secretary of state under President Obama, but stopped short of a presidency. Donald Trump came from behind to occupy the exalted post.
While senior Bush endeared the Gulf world with a timely military intervention to keep Iraq’s Saddam Hussein under control, his son made a mess of Iraq later, sending wrong signals to the Gulf and the wider Muslim/Arab world. Another Bush family legacy is Bush junior’s attempt to spread democracy in the Middle East, which is part success and part failure.