George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, has died at the age of 94. During his presidency from 1989 to 1993, Bush, a Republican, oversaw a handful of foreign policy decisions that would come to define his legacy. He helped navigate the aftermath of the end of the Cold War, and his even-handed approach to diplomacy is credited for facilitating a peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union. He also routed a group of Iraqi invaders from Kuwait in 1991, which, as The New York Times put it, "brought years of American preoccupation with Iraq."
Bush spent more than 40 years serving the public. He was a World War II Navy pilot, a Texas congressman, a U.N. ambassador, chairman of the Republican National Committee, CIA director, vice president under former President Ronald Reagan, and then president. His eldest son, George W. Bush, became the 43rd U.S. president, and his second son, Jeb Bush, served as governor of Florida.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Jared and Ivanka's Albanian islandUnder The Radar The deal to develop Sazan has been met with widespread opposition
-
Storm warningFeature The U.S. is headed for an intense hurricane season. Will a shrunken FEMA and NOAA be able to respond?
-
U.S. v. Skrmetti: Did the trans rights movement overreach?Feature The Supreme Court upholds a Tennessee law that bans transgender care for minors, dealing a blow to trans rights
-
Trump sues LA over immigration policiesSpeed Read He is suing over the city's sanctuary law, claiming it prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities
-
Obama, Bush and Bono eulogize USAID on final daySpeed Read The US Agency for International Development, a humanitarian organization, has been gutted by the Trump administration
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidentsThe Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts moreSpeed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custodySpeed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulingsSpeed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood fundsSpeed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat goneSpeed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
