While up in Aggieland this weekend, I decided to get out of the heat and tour the George Herbert Walker Bush Presidential Library. The library is celebrating its 20th year in 2017, and it’s well worth the short drive to College Station to see a presidential library. No matter one’s political affiliation, or whether or not you support the Bush family’s politics, this library is first class.
Each exhibit lends itself to the next one, the displays are interactive and there’s something to see from the floor to the ceiling in every part of the building.
The price of admission is reasonable — $9 for adults and $3 for children and students – for what you’ll see.
A long winding road leads visitors up to the sprawling library, and friendly docents greet you once you get past the metal detectors. The library is high tech, and the admission ticket includes a speaker you can wear around your neck if you want more information as you move about the exhibits.
Often times, we think of museums as dusty, boring places, but the Bush library is vibrant and informative in an engaging way, from a recreation of the Oval Office and Bush’s office at Camp David to the hundreds of gifts from foreign dignitaries given to Bush when he was president.
The long wall near the entrance details the Bush family’s background, and one can understand how the Bush and Walker families came to become such powerhouses in America.
There’s an actual presidential limousine on display, and it’s fascinating to get close enough to the car to look in the windows and see the leather seats in the back.
The family traditions section traces the Bushes and the Walkers lineage, and it was interesting to find out that Bush was an outstanding baseball player from the time he was young all the way up to playing first base for Yale University.
That love of baseball stayed with him all his life, and he kept his glove from his college days in a drawer in the White House – always oiled – while he was the president.
I knew Bush had served in the U.S. Navy as a young man as a pilot. Hanging from the ceiling in that section of the library is a life-sized restored Avenger airplane, similar to the one Bush flew in the war and was piloting when he was shot down over the Pacific Ocean.
Photos in this section of the library show a young 21-year-old Bush being rescued after floating in the ocean for three hours. That might not seem like a long time, but in an interview that plays, Bush said he knew the possibility of being captured was a real possibility. He also knew he might never be rescued and could die out there in the ocean.
At the age of 20, Bush was awarded the Navy’s Iron Cross for valor. I thought about that young man, who was the age of most of the Aggies walking around College Station, floating in that vast ocean, not knowing if he’d be rescued or die in a POW camp.
Barbara and George Bush were married young and their printed wedding invitations had a blank where the date should’ve been printed. Instead, the wedding date was written in by hand. That’s because they weren’t sure when George was coming back from the service.
But he did return, and George and Barbara started their family right away. From the pictures and their recollections, the couple saved their money and worked hard as their young family grew and George started his oil business.
The displays of his making a living in the Texas oilfields is well documented, and personal letters bring visitors into the lives of this young couple.
It might seem like Bush had a charmed life – born into money, attending Yale University and making a fortune in the oil business – but the Bush’s second child, Robin, became listless when she was 3 years old and was diagnosed with leukemia.
She died before she was 4 years old from a disease that is now 90 percent curable. For decades, Bush carried a charm in his wallet that honored Robin, and a letter he wrote to his mother in 1958 about Robin will bring tears to your eyes.
Robin is now buried at the presidential library where her mother and father will one day lie.
Throughout the museum, artifacts, letters and photos take visitors into the personal life of a man who experienced the biggest triumph a politician can achieve and the worst nightmare a parent can envision.
POLITICS:
A visit to the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station is refreshingly informative, beautiful and a step through history. That this building is less than three hours from our doorsteps makes a visit a must.
George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st president of the United States, and his political life is a walk through some of the most incredible times in our nation’s history.
Bush began his political career in Texas, and the many campaign buttons and signs reflect a time when politicians had to personally campaign for every vote. There’s a copy of a hand-written letter Barbara Bush sent to many of the female voters in George’s district, asking them to vote for her husband.
Bush’s biggest claim is as president, so it’s easy to overlook his lifetime in public service, both on the local scene and at the national level, including time as a diplomat.
His political career is well documented in a way that is informative and entertaining. There’s political bumper stickers and buttons on display, videos from his actual speeches and newspaper clippings detailing Bush’s victories in Texas and then on to the White House.
One of the most stirring videos was when President Ronald Reagan gave a speech to Congress following an attempted assassination attempt on his life. Few people knew at the time how close Reagan came to dying, but seeing the video stirred lots of memories of that scary time.
Bush’s time as director of the CIA was also detailed in video, pictures and letters. On display is an actual section of the Berlin Wall. That slab of concrete is a sobering reminder of how part of the world was cut off from the rest for so long.
One side of the wall is brightly painted with words of encouragement and peace and the other is steel gray, and that’s what the East Berliners saw for many years. I looked at that wall section a long time, thinking of how so many people in the world are still behind walls and the efforts we still need to take to tear down those walls.
At many of the exhibits, there are drawers visitors can pull out and inside are laminated copies of letters and extra details so you can read and see for yourself what was happening at that point in Bush’s life.
The White House is an elegant place, and there are two vignettes that are wonderful to see life size. One depicts a state dinner, complete with the White House china and silverware and the gown Barbara wore.
The other is a duplicate of the Oval Office, complete with Bush’s desk, and you actually feel as if you’re standing in the most famous room in the world.
I especially enjoyed seeing all the gifts other countries gave to Bush during his tenure as president. There was an intricately carved ivory tusk from Africa, and numerous gold-plated bowls and dishes.
One of the best spots is a reading room filled with children’s books, a miniature wooden replica of the White House and couches where you can sit and watch the Bushes when they were on television shows, like “David Letterman” and “Saturday Night Live.” Their sense of humor comes through loud and clear.
There’s quite a few tributes to Barbara Bush and copies of the many books she’s written in a cozy reading room near the rear of the library.
No matter if you agree or disagree with his politics, George Herbert Walker Bush did his duty, both to family and country, and left a legacy to be proud of. This former president deserves the respect he’s earned through a lifetime of service, and the presidential library in College Station is a fitting tribute to this man.
So take a ride up Highway 6 to Aggieland and tour the museum. You won’t be disappointed.
This column was originally a two-part series and was published in The Fort Bend Herald.