Early life of George W. Bush

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George Walker Bush, the oldest child in a family of seven, grew up in the Texan cities of Midland and Houston and studied at Yale University and the Harvard Business School before serving in the Texas Air National Guard and engaged in behaviors that would embroil him in a substance abuse controversy. Bush would later own the Texas Rangers baseball franchise, govern Texas, and ultimately preside over the United States.

See also: Professional life of George W. Bush

[edit] Upbringing and Education

George W. Bush with parents and siblings in the early 1960s. In the front row, from left to right, stand his younger brothers Neil Bush, Marvin Bush, and Jeb Bush. In the back row are his younger sister Doro Bush, himself, his mother Barbara Bush, and father George H. W. Bush)

George Walker Bush, the son of George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1946. He lived briefly in California, but grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas, with siblings Jeb, Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy. (A younger sister, Robin, died of leukemia in 1953 at the age of three.) The family enjoyed the summers and most holidays at the Bush Compound in Maine.

"Many of the roots of Mr. Bush's political philosophy as a presidential candidate—including his belief in tough love for juvenile offenders—seem to go back to his childhood," according to columnist Nicholas D. Kristof writing for the New York Times.^[1] He reports that Bush's boyhood friend Terry Throckmorton recalls about their growing up in Midland, that after the rains would bring the frogs out, "Everybody would get BB guns and shoot them. Or we'd put firecrackers in the frogs and throw them and blow them up."

Bush attended San Jacinto Junior High School in Midland, Texas, for seventh grade. He later moved to the Kinkaid School in Piney Point Village, Texas for two years. Afterward, like his father, Bush attended Phillips Academy (September 1961–June 1964) and later Yale University (September 1964–May 1968). At Yale, he joined Delta Kappa Epsilon, of which he was president from October 1965 until graduation, and the Skull and Bones secret society; Bush's father George H. W. Bush (1948) and grandfather Prescott S. Bush (1917) were also members of Skull and Bones. Bush was also in the Yale First XV rugby union team in 1968.^[2] He was a C student, scoring 77% (with no As and one D, in astronomy) with a grade point average of 2.35 out of a possible 4.00. Bush has joked that he was known more for his social life than for his grades.^[3] He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1968.

After serving in the Texas Air National Guard, Bush entered Harvard Business School in 1973. He received a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree in 1975, and is the first U.S. president to hold an MBA.

[edit] Service in the Air National Guard

See also: George W. Bush military service controversy

George W. Bush in his Air National Guard uniform.

After graduating from Yale University, Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard on May 27, 1968, during the Vietnam War, with a commitment to serve until May 26, 1974. He was promoted to first lieutenant on the November 1970 recommendation of Texas Air National Guard commander Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian. He served as an F-102 pilot until 1972.

In September 1973, he received permission to end his six-year commitment six months early in order to attend Harvard Business School. He transferred to inactive reserve status shortly before being honorably discharged on October 1, 1973.^[4]

It has been frequently alleged that Bush skipped over a waiting list to receive a National Guard slot, that he did not report for required duty from 1972 to 1973, and that he was suspended from flying after he failed to take a required physical examination and drug test. These issues were publicized during the 2004 Presidential campaign by the group Texans for Truth and other Bush critics.

[edit] Substance Abuse Controversy

See also: George W. Bush substance abuse controversy

On September 4, 1976, Bush was pulled over by police near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He was arrested for driving under the influence, admitted his guilt in the incident, was fined $150, and had his driving license suspended for 30 days within the state.^[5][6]

News of the arrest was uncovered by the press five days before the 2000 presidential election. Hence upon taking office, Bush became the first and only US President with a criminal conviction record. Bush has described his days before his religious conversion in his 40s as his "nomadic" period and "irresponsible youth" and admitted to drinking "too much" in those years. He says that he gave up drinking for good shortly after waking up with a hangover after his 40th birthday celebration: "I quit drinking in 1986 and haven't had a drop since then." He ascribed the change in part to a 1985 meeting with Reverend Billy Graham.^[7][8][4] However he has been photographed drinking at various events before and after that statement.

Bush has said that he did not use illegal drugs at any time since 1974.^[9] He has denied the allegation (Hatfield 1999) that family influence was used to expunge the record of an arrest for cocaine possession in 1972, but has declined to discuss whether he used drugs before 1974. ^[10] In taped recordings of a conversation with an old friend, author Doug Wead, Bush said: “I wouldn’t answer the marijuana question. You know why? Because I don’t want some little kid doing what I tried.” When Wead reminded Bush that the latter had publicly denied using cocaine, Bush replied, "I haven't denied anything." ^[11][12]

[edit] Family life

George and Laura Bush with their daughters Jenna and Barbara, 1990.

Bush married Laura Welch in 1977. They have twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna Bush, born in 1981.

Bush is 5 feet, 11 inches (180 cm) tall and says so in the 2000 documentary Journeys with George, though White House public relations have claimed that Bush is a full 6 feet tall.^[13]

[edit] Notes

• Gould, Lewis L. (editor), American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy, Garland Publishing, New York and London, 1996. See pages 612-613 regarding the Bush family's "nomadic" existence in the cities of Huntington Park, Bakersfield, Whittier, Ventura and Compton, California.