President George Walker Bush

Compiled by D. A. Sharpe

 

 

In the same year that George Walker Bush was born, Sir Winston Churchill, then Prime Minister of England, delivered his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri on March 5, 1946. Sir Winston is the eleventh cousin, once removed to United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, my half eighth cousin.

 

Source:http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/churchill-iron.html

 

President George W. Bush is a tenth cousin, eight times removed to the first President of the United States, George Washington, who is my 26th cousin, seven times removed.  So, President Bush is a distant cousin of a distant cousin of mine!

 

It was the great honor and pleasure that my wife, Suzanne Margaret Boggess Sharpe, and I attended both of President Bush's Inaugural Ceremonies at being sworn in as President for a four-year term in Washington, D. C.  Both occasions were on January 20, 2001 and 2005.  We attended various Presidential Balls on those occasions which were social occasions at which the President and his First Lady, Laura Bush, were present for token appearances.

 

Back in 1993 when President William Clinton appointed Texas Senator Lloyd Bentson to be Secretary of the Treasury, that made vacant one of the two seats of the United States Senate for Texas.  One of our favorite Texas politicians, Kay Bailey Hutchison, ran for that vacancy and won!  My wife, Suzanne, was a member of Ms. Hutchison's campaign committee in Dallas County, Texas, which led to us attending the victory celebration on election night on that first Tuesday in March1993.  The evening was starting slowly in a large room with no chairs. As the Hutchisons were delayed arriving, many of the attending crowd began to sit on the floor in circles, chatting, celebrating and enjoying the evening in a less formal mode.  A man sat down next to me and was quite celebrative, hugging me and rejoicing over tasting victory following the bitter defeat in 1992 of President George Herbert Walker Bush.  At the time, that man was the President of the Texas Ranger profession baseball team there in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but he later would become the Governor of Texas, then President of the United States.  Little did I know that seven years from that time, the man hugging me on the floor, George Walker Bush, would become the President of the United States!

 

"George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. He was sworn into office on January 20, 2001, re-elected on November 2, 2004, and sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2005. Prior to his Presidency, President Bush served for 6 years as the 46th Governor of the State of Texas, where he earned a reputation for bipartisanship and as a compassionate conservative who shaped public policy based on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, strong families, and local control.

 

"President Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, and grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He received a bachelor's degree in history from Yale University in 1968, and then served as an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. President Bush received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975. Following graduation, he moved back to Midland and began a career in the energy business. After working on his father's successful 1988 Presidential campaign, President Bush assembled the group of partners who purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989. On November 8, 1994, President Bush was elected Governor of Texas. 

 

"Since becoming President of the United States in 2001, President Bush has worked with the Congress to create an ownership society and build a future of security, prosperity, and opportunity for all Americans. He signed into law tax relief that helps workers keep more of their hard-earned money, as well as the most comprehensive education reforms in a generation, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This legislation is ushering in a new era of accountability, flexibility, local control, and more choices for parents, affirming our Nation's fundamental belief in the promise of every child. President Bush has also worked to improve healthcare and modernize Medicare, providing the first-ever prescription drug benefit for seniors; increase homeownership, especially among minorities; conserve our environment; and increase military strength, pay, and benefits. Because President Bush believes the strength of America lies in the hearts and souls of our citizens, he has supported programs that encourage individuals to help their neighbors in need.

 

"On the morning of September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked our Nation. Since then, President Bush has taken unprecedented steps to protect our homeland and create a world free from terror. He is grateful for the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform and their families. The President is confident that by helping build free and prosperous societies, our Nation and our friends and allies will succeed in making America more secure and the world more peaceful.

 

"President Bush is married to Laura Welch Bush, a former teacher and librarian, and they have twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. The Bush family also includes two dogs, Barney and Miss Beazley, and a cat,Willie."

 

Source:http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html

 

His Presidential Library was built and established on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.  George and Laura have residences in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas and on a ranch in central Texas.  There is one last story about George Bush that is meaningful to our family. 

 

My father-in-law, Thomas Shelton Boggess, Jr., was the first Boy Scout to earn the rank of Eagle Scout in his home of Noxubee County, Mississippi back in 1926.  Since then there have been descendants named after him, down to his great grandson, Thomas Shelton Boggess V.  What is unique is that all four of them have earned the Eagle Scout award.  

 

As Thomas Shelton Boggess V was getting his award, his father, learning that President Bush had an admiration for Boy Scouts, wrote a letter to the Whitehouse to see if anything special could be noted.  It was discovered that there have been sever four generation Eagle Scouts, but none of the complete sets of four were alive at the same time.  Our Boggess Eagles were the only four generation set that could be located.  This was in 2008.  All four of the Boggess Scouts were residing in Arizona then, the President made arrangements for them to meet him at the Phoenix Airport as he was flying in for a speech.  He met them out on the tarmac, and posed in a photograph with them.  Later, he sent an autographed photo later.  What an honor!

 

 

 

 

Compiled by:

 

Dwight Albert (D. A.) Sharpe

805 Derting Road East

Aurora, TX 76078-3712

 

da@dasharpe.com

www.dasharpe.com