USS George H.W. Bush : The Private Bush and Public Bush

The Commissioning of George HW Bush , an aircraft Carrier by George W Bush is the latest News of Now.

Photo Courtsey : AP/Houston Chronicle

Capt. Kevin O'Flaherty, the commanding officer of the USS George H.W. Bush, left, walks with former U.S. President George H.W. Bush as he arrives for a tour of his namesake aircraft carrier, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009, in Norfolk, Va. The Navy's newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was commissioned today during a ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk

President George W. Bush landed Saturday on the USS George H.W. Bush, a new aircraft carrier named after his father -- the ultimate honor for a decorated Navy pilot from World War II.

According to Huffington Post :

As I reveal in my new book, Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put it in the White House and What Their Influence Means for America, there are two George H.W. Bushes: the public one and the private one.

The public Bush 41 was acclaimed a war hero as a Navy pilot in World War II. The private Bush 41, against all Navy tradition, bailed out of the plane he was piloting while one or more of his crew remained on board to perish.

The public Bush 41 was an oilman and congressman who entered politics and then served in a wide variety of posts, from UN ambassador to Republican Party Chairman to director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The private Bush 41 was a deeply secretive man living a double life as an intelligence asset two decades before he was appointed CIA director as a purported "intelligence virgin." Though he served as director for just a single year, the Agency named its headquarters after him.

The public Bush 41 was a genial patrician who got along with everybody. The private Bush 41 was deeply connected to operations that damaged, removed or destroyed several American presidents. Bush 41, who has famously claimed not to recall where he was on November 22, 1963, the day JFK was shot, was a longtime friend of the man who mentored Lee Harvey Oswald. That Bush 41 placed a suspicious call to the FBI at the time of JFK's death to establish himself as being outside Dallas. He was connected to many figures surrounding Kennedy's motorcade and the events of that tragic day.

Naming this military vessel after George HW Bush is problematic, given the disrespect the Bush family has shown for the American constitution. And given the hatred unleashed the world over by the Bush name, asking US military personnel to serve on a carrier so named is surely exposing them to extra unnecessary risk. All around, this is one ship with a history before it ever sets sail.

According to Al.com

President George W. Bush landed Saturday on the USS George H.W. Bush, a new aircraft carrier named after his father -- the ultimate honor for a decorated Navy pilot from World War II.

"So what do you give a guy who has been blessed and has just about everything he has ever needed?" the president asked the estimated 20,000 gathered for the commissioning at Naval Station Norfolk. "Well, an aircraft carrier."

The steel-gray vessel is more than three football fields long, one in the Nimitz class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers that are the largest warships on the world. Its price tag is just as hefty: $6.2 billion.

"Laura and I are thrilled to be here to help commission an awesome ship and to honor an awesome man," Bush said.

The elder Bush, 84, told the ship's crew, his voice quavering at times with emotion, that they will form "an unbroken line of patriots protecting this special piece of American territory."

"As someone who has stood that watch and remembers the quiet solitude of that experience, I know you will find comfort and inspiration," he said, "particularly in the night sky, where it is basking in the splendor of the night stars that you will truly understand the majesty of creation and bear witness to the certain hand of God."

Doro Bush Koch, the president's sister and ship's sponsor, had the honor of bringing the carrier to life. With the words, "Man our ship. Bring her to life," hundreds of sailors charged up gangplanks as a band played "Anchors Aweigh," the song of the Navy.


Four F-18s flew overhead, followed by a solo World War II torpedo bomber similar to the one the elder Bush flew during the war.

The mood was celebratory aboard the ship, spit and polished for its unveiling. The Marine One presidential helicopter ferried the president, his father and their wives to its deck. It was sunny, but a chilly breeze greeted the president, his father and their wives got off the helicopter with their wives.

George H.W. Bush, sporting a purple scarf inside his overcoat, walked with a cane to a golf cart. He got in the back seat with former first lady Barbara Bush; the president grinned and waved as he took the driver's seat with his wife by his side.
Unexpectedly to onlookers, the entire section of the deck -- actually an elevator -- dropped slowly to the floor below. They drove to the ceremony site that overlooked thousands of guests attending the ceremony on the carrier, decorated in red-white-and-blue bunting.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, one of the first speakers, said there is no one more worthy than the former president to have the last ship of the Nimitz class to bear his name -- "the last of the World War II generation to serve as commander in chief."

The president's daughters, Jenna Hager and Barbara Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, were among the estimated 20,000 people who attended the event. Also on hand were Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.

The Nimitz class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers was first launched in 1972. The USS George H.W. Bush is the 10th and final vessel of its type.

A bronze statue on the hangar bay deck of the 1,092-foot warship depicts the former president as a youthful, smiling pilot in his flight suit. On an upper deck, a "tribute room" presents Bush's life from his days in the Navy to his four years in the White House.

Bush joined the Navy on June 12, 1942, his 18th birthday and six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. During the war he flew torpedo bombers off the converted aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals for his service.

On a mission over the Pacific in September 1944, Bush's plane crashed into the ocean after being hit by Japanese anti-aircraft fire. The future president parachuted into the sea and was rescued by a Navy submarine. He returned to combat and served until the end of the war.

No other former president has visited a carrier named after him. Ronald Reagan was the first living ex-president to have a carrier named in his honor, but Reagan was unable to visit the vessel before he died.

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