Counting Backwards....

 Friday, October 11, 2024

Well, we've been to 43, 42 and today we visited 41...that's the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas.  It opened in 1997, about 4 years after Bush, the 41st president, left office in 1993.

This museum is located on the edge of the campus of Texas A&M.  Although Bush did not attend A&M (he was a Yale grad), the school approached him about the idea of putting his museum on their campus, and made it happen.  This museum is a beautiful building with a grand entrance.

There was a lot of information about Bush and his life.  He was a two term vice-president under Reagan and a one term President, with Quayle as his vice.  He also was a congressman, ambassador to the UN, headed up the CIA, and was an ambassador to China.  He was born on the east coast but ended up in Texas by virtue of the oil industry.  

In June 2024, they commemorated Bush's 100th birthday with a 41@100 celebration, including guitars from country singers that performed.  Bush was a big country music fan.

There was the replica of the oval office.  (I find myself checking out the rug, and noticed the drapes are a different color than the others we've seen.)

 

There were several very large artifacts on display, including a presidential limousine.  I learned each president has two of these limos.  One stays in Washington DC and the other is loaded onto a transport plane that is flown ahead to wherever the president is traveling, arriving before Air Force One.

(the prez doesn't have to call an Uber)

There was a plane identical to the one he flew during the war.  He crashed and was rescued.

There was a piece of the Berlin Wall that came down in 1989

His cigarette boat, The Fidelity

Air Force Two...the Presidential helicopter

To honor Bush, Union Pacific Railroad dedicated 4141-a locomotive that was painted in the colors used on Air Force One.  The engine was actually put in service hauling freight.  Its last service run was a funeral train, transporting Bush to his final resting place, and is now on permanent display at the museum. 

The grounds were beautiful, with a presidential pond, a rose garden, and the gravesite for President and Mrs. Bush, and their daughter Rosemary who died at a young age from leukemia.

We have a lot of Aggie relatives, but have never been to Texas A&M, so we drove through the campus.  You couldn't miss the huge football stadium that seems big enough for an NFL team!  

We are finding the visits to Presidential Libraries very interesting, educational and humbling.  We continue with one more tomorrow!