Office

George Bush’s Zapata oil company had its offices on the top floor of the Bank of the Southwest Building (I think that was the building’s name).  My dad started his company in the attic of that building.  They would ride the elevator together sometimes.  This was during the late 1950s or early 1960s.

House of Representatives Election

When a new Congressional district was formed in Houston, George Bush was the first person to be elected to that seat.  My parents co-hosted a fundraising dinner for Bush during that election period.

Bush vs. Reagan 1980

A politically active high school friend of mine somehow managed to meet Ronald Reagan at the airport and carried his bags on the way to the Reagan-Bush debate in Houston.  He was proud to say to Reagan that it is nice to meet the next President of the United States.  Most of us knew little of Reagan; Bush was much more familiar to folks in Houston.  A group of us went to the debate.

Houses

The family that bought our house in Houston later sold it and bought the Bush’s house as they moved to Washington, DC.

Private Jet

A friend of mine flew George and Barbara Bush to a speaking engagement.  When the gear lever was put down, both the left and the right main gear locked down, but not the nose gear.  My buddy went around to trouble-shoot the problem.  Bush expressed his desire to get to his speech.  (Remember that Bush was himself a pilot in WWII.)

My friend was surprised by the control tower’s reaction when he requested a fly-by to check on the status of the gear.  Normally, the tower is very accommodating to a pilot with a problem.  It was doubly surprising that they weren’t more helpful considering that an ex-president was on-board.

Two Secret Service officers were travelling with the Bushes.  They called their colleagues who were in the tower.  The tower controller changed his tune and became very interested in helping.

The nose gear never showed green, indicating down and locked.  My friend explained to the passengers that the it probably was just an indication problem, but, if the gear was not locked, the Westwind jet would tip only a few inches and the nose would slide on the runway.  While it would be noisy, they would be safe.

The gear was in-fact, down and locked, so the landing was normal.

Reelection Campaign Stop at FedEx Headquarters in Memphis

During his reelection campaign, Bush made a stop at the FedEx Super Hub.  Hundreds of employees and guests watched as Air Force One pulled up and he got out and made a speech in one of the maintenance hangars.  He was on the ground less than one hour.  This was one of five similar stops that day.

That was the day that I decided to vote against George Bush.  His entourage reminded me what it must have been in ancient Rome when the emperor traveled with his praetorian guard.  The Secret Service preparation team was stationed in my building overlooking the airport ramp the week before.  They spent hundreds of man-hours in preparation for this layover.  A military C-141 transport arrived early and brought a Presidential limousine as well as a UH-60 (or similar) helicopter that circled the airport.

I decided that my kind of leader would end that ceremonial pomp and circumstance funded by the taxpayers, especially a Republican calling for less government spending.