The inspiring life of former President George Herbert Walker Bush, who died Friday at the age of 94, helped ignite the thousand points of light he saw as illuminating American greatness, hope and opportunity, said President Trump.
“Through his essential authenticity, disarming wit, and unwavering commitment to faith, family, and country, President Bush inspired generations of his fellow Americans to public service,” said Trump in a statement released early Saturday by the White House.
Trump said Bush, from his days as captain of the Yale University baseball team to his days in the U.S. Navy, as a congressman, through federal appointments, as vice president and later as president, “always found a way to set the bar higher.”
“With sound judgment, common sense, and unflappable leadership, President Bush guided our Nation, and the world, to a peaceful and victorious conclusion of the Cold War. As President, he set the stage for the decades of prosperity that have followed. And through all that he accomplished, he remained humble, following the quiet call to service that gave him a clear sense of direction,” Trump said.
Former President Barack Obama, who saw Bush just days ago at Bush’s residence in Houston in what Bush’s spokesman called a rekindling of a warm friendship, praised his life as “a testament to the notion that public service is a noble, joyous calling” and “a legacy of service that may never be matched.”
“And he did tremendous good along the journey. Expanding America’s promise to new immigrants and people with disabilities. Reducing the scourge of nuclear weapons and building a broad international coalition to expel a dictator from Kuwait. And when democratic revolutions bloomed across Eastern Europe, it was his steady, diplomatic hand that made possible an achievement once thought anything but — ending the Cold War without firing a shot,” read a statement from the former president and Michelle Obama.
Both Trump and Obama highlighted the Bushes’ 73-year marriage to his wife Barbara, who died earlier in April at the age of 92.
“After seventy-three years of marriage, George and Barbara Bush are together again now, two points of light that never dimmed, two points of light that ignited countless others with their example,” said Obama.
