George H.W. Bush's Courage, Richardson's Insights

Review by Bill Doughty

Navy's youngest aviator in World War II, Lt. j. George H. W. Bush.

He was forged from the sea after being fished from the sea. The youngest U.S. Navy aviator in World War II was shot down in the Pacific and rescued September 22, 1944. George Herbert Walker Bush passed away late yesterday at 94. He is remembered for his honesty, which arguably cost him reelection to the presidency in 1994.

He is also revered for his courage and bold decision-making after Iraq invaded Kuwait and threatened to attack Saudi Arabia, giving Saddam Hussein control nearly half of the entire world's known oil reserves at the time. Western Europe, Japan and the United States could not tolerate such revanchism.

In "Reflections of a Radical Moderate" (1996, Pantheon Books) Elliot Richardson recounts Bush's character in the first Gulf War, committing ground troops in numbers in the Gulf in numbers that would not allow rotation home with stateside combat units. "This decision precluded keeping the troops in place and awaiting further developments. A ground attack would have to be launched no later than the early spring of 1991 and completed no later than the middle of May because from then until October the desert heat would preclude sustained combat," Richardson writes.

"The die was thus cast on November 8, 1990, when the president announced the augmented deployment. Nine weeks later he sought and obtained by narrow margins congressional support for the use of military force and on February 24, 1991, he ordered the ground attack to go forward. The American people again united behind what they believed to be a just cause. In the end, however, other countries were the principal beneficiaries of our initiative. Although we had at most a 25 percent stake in the outcome, 75 percent of the ground troops in the Gulf, 74 percent of the planes, and nearly all of the naval firepower were American. And although we succeeded in persuading other countries to assume the current costs of Operation Desert Storm, passing the hat could not diminish our share of the blood risk. Nor was it ever suggested that we should ask anyone else to help us amortize the far larger investment we had already made in training, arming and equipping our Persian Gulf forces."When it was all over I wrote the president a letter. In it I saluted the courage, vision and steadfastness with which he had guided the nation's response to Iraq's aggression. I also observed that I had been unable to think of any previous example of a presidential course of action whose foreseeable outcomes were triumph or disaster, with nothing in between."

Richardson offered sage advice, though: "...The Gulf War posted a clear warning that it should not be taken as a precedent for military intervention in conflicts that do not involve equivalent economic and strategic interests."

Keep in mind that Richardson's book was written about 22 years after Watergate and 22 years ago today – well before 9/11 – when "Bush 41," was the only George Bush on the nation's radar.

Yet, Richardson's "Reflections" is fresh as today and as timely as tomorrow. He weighs in on topics like health care, climate change, criminal justice system, education, rich-poor gap, over-fishing, celebrity, cynicism and integrity in government.

Nixon looks on as Richardson is sworn in as Secretary of Defense.

He warns, "I do not think I exaggerate the current dangers to democracy in America. They arise from our failure to achieve the balance of realism honesty and moral responsibility that our situation demands ... Let down by lack of leadership and stampeded by populism, we are increasingly torn by divisiveness."

"Serious problems crying out for government action continue to multiply even as the government's capacity to deal with them progressively deteriorates," he writes. "Americans want a safer, more stable, more orderly, and more humane world not simply because such a world is better for us but because it is better for others too."

This ethical man who served in the administrations of four presidents and who had a number of cabinet positions, including Secretary of Defense and Attorney General, speaks highly of civil and public service, including in the military, as a public trust. He introduces us to Gen. John W. Vessey, Jr.

"Having in several capacities had the good fortune to become acquainted with many of the men who have risen to the top in the uniformed services, I'm deeply impressed by their consistently high quality. For that we owe a tremendous though unacknowledged debt to the continuing perspicacity of the armed services' selection and promotion systems. These views were reinforced when, during the events in June of 1994 commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, I had the chance to talk with quite a few of our most senior officers. On the flight back from Normandy I sat across from General John W. Vessey, Jr. Now retired, he enlisted in the army at the age of seventeen, received a battlefield commission at Anzio in 1944, commanded the Fourth Division in Vietnam and U.S. armed forces in South Korea, became vice-chief of staff of the army, and ended up as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Since then he has given large chunks of six additional years to bringing about a final accounting for those mission in action in Vietnam. In all those capacities Jack Vessey was too astute to bamboozle, too strong to push, too courageous to intimidate, too patient to outlast, and too unassuming to flatter."

Although he laments President George H.W. Bush's lack of follow-through on "the vision thing," Richardson nevertheless praises him for his courage and foresight to work cooperatively within the framework of the United Nations and global community:

"With the relaxation of tensions brought about by the end of the Cold War this had at last become possible. With the united support of the permanent members of the Security Council and under the leadership of the United States, twenty-eight nations played active parts in a counteroffensive against Iraq that destroyed the world's fourth-largest army. In hailing this mutual effort, President Bush pointed to 'the long-held promise of a new world order – where brutality will go unrewarded and aggression will meet collective resistance.'"

Richardson notes the obvious, that "We the People" of the United States are our nation's government, its public. As part of a democratic republic we are in control of our destiny."But to adapt and endure, we need as individuals both to have hope and to believe in ourselves. And we must retain a measure of loving concern for one another."

Richardson died three years after his Reflections was published, at the end of the last millennium, Dec. 31, 1999.

Former Commanders-in-Chief Presidents Bush41, Obama, Bush43, Clinton and Carter.

At the George H.W. Bush Library website, we are reminded that President Bush, who joined the Navy on his 18th birthday, logged 126 carrier landings and was awarded the Navy Cross. "Mr. Bush credited his Navy service with 'making a man out of a scared little kid,' introducing him to shipmates from all walks of life and informing his decision-making as commander-in-chief.'"