How sweet, the Congressional Bio of Prescott Bush....

[The Straight Story]

BUSH, Prescott Sheldon, (1895 - 1972)
Senate Years of Service: 1952-1963
Party: Republican

BUSH, Prescott Sheldon, (father of George Herbert Walker Bush, grandfather of President George W. Bush), a Senator from Connecticut; born in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, May 15, 1895; attended the Douglas School of Columbus, Ohio, and St. George’s School, Newport, R.I., 1908-1913; graduated from Yale University in 1917; enlisted in Connecticut National Guard in 1916 and served as captain of Field Artillery in American Expeditionary Forces 1917-1919; engaged in hardware business as a warehouse clerk in St. Louis, Mo.; moved to Greenwich, Conn., in 1924; engaged in banking business in New York City 1926; moderator, Greenwich Representative Town Meeting 1935-1952; trustee, Yale University; unsuccessful Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 1950; elected on November 4, 1952, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James O’Brien McMahon; reelected in 1956 and served from November 4, 1952, to January 2, 1963; was not a candidate for reelection in 1962; resumed his career in the banking and investment field; died in New York City, October 8, 1972; interment in Putnam Cemetery, Greenwich, Conn.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Herskowitz, Mickey. Duty, Honor, Country: The Story and Legacy of Prescott Bush. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 2003.

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=b001167

Maybe someday they will have a more in-depth history on our government website...

[Octafish]

1. Like his son and dim grandson, Pres' was worried about someone ELSE stealing Iraq's oil.

Except he wrote about it in Reader's Digest of July 1959:

To Preserve Peace Let’s Show Russians How Strong We Are

By Prescott Bush
U.S. Senator from Connecticut;
member of the Senate Armed Services Committee
The Reader’s Digest July 1959

MAN’S GREATEST danger, it is said, is ignorance. In a very real sense, the Soviet Union’s ignorance of our military strength may be the source of her gravest peril—and ours. Kaiser Wilhelm started World War I because he miscalculated Allied power. Hitler, mistakenly thinking he could blitz the world, launched World War II. Kruschev today lacks firsthand knowledge of our country; he may be given what others think he would like to hear—rather than an objective report on our actual military strength. Although it seems impossible that any sane person could start a war, we would be wise to take no chances.

Why not invite the Soviet high command to the United States for a conducted tour of our military might? We are bringing Russians to see our farms and factories, our scientific laboratories and research centers; we exchange dancers and musicians. Why not have their military leaders over for the most beneficial look of all? Our expressed policy, the aim and purpose of our entire defense system, is to deter the Kremlin from starting a war. What better way to deter than to show?

What we could show is nothing more nor less than the greatest military might ever assembled in the history of the world. If the Soviet high command could see what we have, they should be of our mind—that for them to start war today would be an act of insanity.

We could start in a Pentagon briefing room. There, with maps, globes, films and sound-projection equipment to help illustrate our points, we could give them a good hard look at the distribution of American power. Then we could fly the group to Mountain Home Air Force Base in Montana, where bombers of the Strategic Air Command are on 24-hour alert, many ready to take off within 15 minutes. We could see an awe-inspiring line of B-47’s, any one of which can, in a single mission, deliver explosive power equivalent to that of all the bombs dropped by all sides in World War II. We could invite the commander of the Soviet air force to ride in one of these planes, and see it refueled in the air, thus quietly demonstrating that, while most Soviet bombers would have to fly one-way missions, ours can strike any target in the world and return nonstop.

SNIP...

The demonstration at SAC should effectively dismiss from Soviet minds any speculation about the possibility of their gaining an advantage from all-out war any time soon. But we must face the fact that in a few years the Russians may be able to zero in our SAC bases with ballistic missiles. To drive this temptation out of their minds, we could show them other deterrents.

SNIP...

It’s fortunate for them that we want only peace with justice. Our entire record attests to that. We have no history of aggression, profess no desire for world domination, as do the Communists. Only by their continued menace have we been forced to take these measures for defense.

I ASK, “Why don’t we show the Russians many of these defense measures?” What I would not show them is any self-satisfaction on our part about the future, any slowing-up of plans to produce the new weapons which must inevitably take the place of the old ones. I believe we are in a continuing struggle to keep on top in this business of declaring war. I think that the Russians are never to be underrated. I also believe that the Communists are master bluffers that they seek to put us off by arrogant threats to Berlin and to the peace of the far Pacific, and, while our people are preoccupied with these threats, they may try to take over Iraq as the Chinese Reds have conquered Tibet.

CONTINUED…

The Reader’s Digest
July 1959 pp. 25-30

Here Prescott looks on as Ike signed into law the Interstate Highway bill. The guy must've been looking at all the places where all the new railroads, er, I mean "highways" were going to be going through.



So. At least three generations of the Bush Family Evil Empire have had their eyes on Iraq’s oil. Interesting how Prescott mentioned Tibet's destruction by China. How was he to know his namesake would one day become head of the U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce? The article also shows how Prescott boosted the Cold War, way back in ’59. It’s not so odd to think that three generations of crazy petrodollar-loving warmongers would rise to the top echelons of American leadership.

Thanks for keeping the part of the story that tells how we got here on the front burner, The Straight Story. Lord knows, America needs it.

[DebJ]

2. No mention of selling guns to Nazis? That's the best part!

[LiberalFighter]

3. Did he have James O'Brien McMahon killed so he would be awarded his Senate seat?