George H.W. Bush Born: Future President and Cold War Leader

George H.W. Bush flew 58 combat missions in the Pacific and was shot down once, over the island of Chichi-Jima on September 2, 1944. Born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, he enlisted in the Navy on his 18th birthday, becoming one of the youngest naval aviators in American history. He was piloting a TBM Avenger torpedo bomber when Japanese anti-aircraft fire hit his aircraft. He completed his bombing run before bailing out over the Pacific. He was rescued by the submarine USS Finback. Eight other American airmen shot down over Chichi-Jima that same period were not so fortunate. They were captured by the Japanese garrison, and several were executed and cannibalized by Japanese soldiers. Bush did not learn the full details of what happened to the other pilots until decades later. He came home, married Barbara Pierce, and enrolled at Yale, graduating in 1948 with a degree in economics. He moved to Texas and built a career in the oil industry before entering politics. His ascent was steady: congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, envoy to China, director of the CIA, and finally vice president under Ronald Reagan for eight years. As president from 1989 to 1993, he managed the end of the Cold War with a deliberate restraint that critics called timid and historians later praised as wise. He chose not to gloat over the Soviet Union's collapse. He held an international coalition together for the Gulf War in 1991, expelling Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 100 hours of ground combat. He lost re-election to Bill Clinton in 1992, partly because he broke his famous campaign pledge: "Read my lips: no new taxes." He died on November 30, 2018, at age 94.