CHAPTER 10

ONE-ON-ONE

Anytime the rains came to Midland, rejoicing could be heard in the Bush home. Little George would anxiously pace around the living room in a soiled T-shirt and jeans waiting for it to let up. When it did, he would burst out the front door and join his friends at a nearby pond.

Thousands of frogs would be there, croaking and hopping about. "Everybody would get BB guns and shoot them," recalls Terry Throckmorton, a childhood friend. "Or we'd put firecrackers in the frogs and throw them and blow them up."

For the Bush children, Midland was an idyllic place of adventuresome days and placid, star-filled nights. Little George, Jebbie, Marvin, and Neil had the run of the house. Each had their own place in the family, and each tried to define himself within it.

Little George, the eldest by more than six years and also his father's namesake, spent his free time riding around on his bicycle looking for adventure. It could be something very simple like throwing dirt clods, or catching the matinee at the theater in town. "On Saturdays we'd meet at the ball field and put together a ball game," recalled Robert McCleskey. "In the afternoons we would ride our bikes down to the Ritz and watch the serials, mostly Buck Rogers and cowboy movies."

Little George was, like his father, a great collector of friends. They came from school, the neighborhood, or the baseball diamond. To those he was particularly close to, he would assign nicknames. It was his mark of friendship.

Most of his time was spent dreaming about baseball. He had heard from family and friends about the great triumphs of his grandfather, father, and uncles on the baseball diamond. Little George played catcher on the Midland little league team and was a member of the Midland All-Stars. While not the most gifted athlete, he more than made up for it with an innate aggressiveness. He swung the bat so fiercely, coaches would have to urge him to loosen his grip. "He tries so very hard," his father wrote to his friends.

George often arrived early at Sam Houston Elementary School to play baseball with his friends. The school principal, John Bizilo, would come out on the field, take off his jacket, loosen his tie, and hit a few balls for the boys. Some neighborhood girls would come and watch. One who didn't was a small, pretty girl named Laura Welch, who lived only a few blocks away. Laura and her friends were interested in more refined matters, at least as defined by a young girl. They spent their Saturdays at the Rexall Drug Store sipping Cokes and passed their free time reading or listening to 45s-mostly Buddy Holly, the Drifters, and Roy Orbison-and dancing in their socks.

Little George didn't have much interest in that sort of thing. If his father was a gentle and obedient child, this son was different. George Walker Bush was, many in the family said, more Walker than Bush. He did little reading except for the occasional Hardy Boys story or a series of mystery books about baseball. He did make one early run at electoral politics, however. In the seventh grade he ran for class president against Jack Hanks, a popular kid. Few expected him to win, but with heavy campaigning and a smile he managed to do so narrowly. (Hanks went on to a political triumph of his own. Four years later he went to Boys Nation and was elected vice president, defeating a young candidate from Arkansas named Bill Clinton.)

Perhaps baseball more than anything gave George something to share with his father. Big George coached his son's team, which usually played its games on Saturday mornings. Then in the afternoon the fathers would play a pickup game. Word got out-not from...

 

Although the family dislikes the comparison, the Bush political dynasty rivals that of the famous Kennedys. George H.W. Bush, like his father, Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut, committed himself to creating a firm financial foundation before entering politics. Son Jeb Bush built a fortune in Miami real estate before running for Florida governor, and son George W.--well, this family maverick unsuccessfully attempted to strike gold in Texas oil before joining the Bush political bandwagon and winning the race for Texas governor. All generations built political careers on the unyielding bedrock of family loyalty and business relationships. Narrator Robertson Dean is well suited to the subject, with a voice carrying neither Connecticut nor Texas undertones. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

 

"Fascinating. . . . Provides illuminating insights into the internal dynamics of the Bush family dynasty."

 

"If you want to know as fully as can be told the story of how the Bushes rose from Midwestern obscurity to equal the records of families like the Roosevelts, the Kennedys and the Adamses--this is the book."

 

"Revealing about the internal dynamics of this interesting familyÉ. The Bushes opened up to the Schweizers and discussed intimate details of their history."

 

"No one has gotten as close to penetrating the Bush family dynamics, and the complex relationship between father and son."

 

"This is a dynasty indeed, no matter how the family demurs. . . . The Schweizers have succeeded in humanizing what can be a curiously detached family by ferreting out fascinating detail."

 

"Offer[s] rare--and controversial--insight into the family some call the Republican Kennedys."

 

"What the Schweizers do best is explore that dynamic over three generations of Bush males. . . . This book is the place to start if you want to understand how family has molded the Bush men."

 

"Offers insights on the Bush relationships and rivalries, their ambitions and their impressions of each other's successes and problems."

 

"Entertaining . . . full of charming anecdotes. . . . A delightful book."

 

"[A] detailed history of the Bush dynasty--sprinkled with anecdotal family gossip that provides fresh humanizing insights . . . along with an intriguing snapshot of the conflicted relationship, fuelled in equal parts by love and competition, between 'Big George,' and 'Little George.'"

 

The Bushes by Peter Schweizer
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