George H.W. Bush was born into a prominent Massachusetts family that would produce two American presidents. He went on to serve as a decorated Navy pilot in World War II, then built a career spanning Texas oil business, Congress, the CIA directorship, and the vice presidency before winning the White House in 1988.
Bush enlisted in the Navy on his eighteenth birthday, becoming one of its youngest aviators. In September 1944, his torpedo bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire over the Pacific island of Chichi Jima; he completed his bombing run before parachuting into the ocean, where a US submarine rescued him, an episode that haunted him for decades as he later learned some of his crewmates who were captured were killed and possibly cannibalized by Japanese soldiers on the island.
After the war he moved to Texas and built an oil business before entering politics, eventually serving as ambassador to the UN, envoy to China, and CIA director under Gerald Ford. As Ronald Reagan's vice president for eight years, he positioned himself as heir to Reagan's coalition and won the presidency in 1988.
His single term included the peaceful, largely bloodless end of the Cold War, German reunification, and the Gulf War's swift rout of Iraqi forces from Kuwait — foreign policy successes overshadowed domestically by recession and his broken 'read my lips, no new taxes' pledge, which cost him reelection in 1992. He later watched his son George W. Bush also become president, making them only the second father-son pair in American presidential history.
Key people: George H. W. Bush