Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
World leaders praise Bush
Trump sets day of U.S. mourning, lower flags
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — President Donald Trump plans to attend the Washington funeral of former President George H.W. Bush and is designating Wednesday as a national day of mourning in honor of the 41st president, the White House said Saturday.
Trump ordered American flags to be flown at half-staff for 30 days to honor Bush, who he called a man of “sound judgment, common sense and unflappable leadership.” The president and first lady Melania Trump added that Bush had “inspired generations of his fellow Americans to public service.”
Bush, who was president from 1989 to 1993, died late Friday at age 94.
Despite years of deep animosity between Trump and the Bush family, who represent divergent brands of Republicanism, Trump praised Bush’s legacy as a World War II veteran and lifelong public servant.
Trump’s conciliatory gestures came from Argentina, where he is attending the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires. He canceled a planned news conference for Saturday afternoon, tweeting that he would not field questions from journalists “out of respect for the Bush family and former President George H.W. Bush.”
Trump said he spoke by phone with two of the late president’s sons, former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — who was among the GOP primary candidates Trump defeated in 2016
— to express his “deepest sympathies.” Trump said they discussed the close bond between the sons and their father.
“President George H.W. Bush led a long, successful and beautiful life,” Trump wrote Saturday morning on Twitter. “Whenever I was with him I saw his absolute joy for life and true pride in his family. His accomplishments were great from beginning to end. He was a truly wonderful man and will be missed by all!”
Later Saturday, as he sat beside German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a meeting, Trump called the late president “a very fine man.” Trump, who was to return to Washington early today on Air Force One, said he plans to dispatch the presidential plane to Houston, Texas, to collect Bush’s casket and fly the former president’s body to Washington.
The White House announced that the Trumps would attend the state funeral for Bush at Washington’s National Cathedral.
Trump’s announcement that he would attend the funeral marked a reversal from earlier this year, when he was pointedly not invited to the funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush, the family matriarch and the late president’s wife of 73 years. Melania Trump attended that service.
In the statement issued early Saturday by the White House, Trump celebrated Bush’s achievements in public service — from his time as a Navy pilot to his tours as a congressman from Texas, an envoy to China and a director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and his eight years as vice president and four as president.
“Through his essential authenticity, disarming wit, and unwavering commitment to faith, family, and country, President Bush inspired generations of his fellow Americans to public service — to be, in his words, ‘a thousand points of light’ illuminating the greatness, hope, and opportunity of America to the world,” Trump wrote.
Trump mocked the “points of light” phrase during some of his campaign rallies. He contrasted it with his campaign slogan, saying “Putting America first, we understand. Thousand points of light, I never quite got that one.”
In August 2015, Trump tweeted a dig at the presidency of George H.W. Bush, writing: “The last thing we need is another Bush in the White House. Would be the same old thing (remember “read my lips, no more taxes”). GREATNESS!” As a candidate, Bush promised “no new taxes” but reversed himself after he took office.
Those harsh assessments were set aside in the Trumps’ comments Saturday.
“President Bush guided our nation and the world to a peaceful and victorious conclusion of the Cold War,” the Trumps wrote. “As President, he set the stage for the decades of prosperity that have followed.”
“And through all that he accomplished, he remained humble, following the quiet call to service that gave him a clear sense of direction.”
WORLD LEADERS REACT
Also Saturday, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev expressed his “deep condolences” to the Bush family and all Americans.
Gorbachev worked closely with Bush to help end the Cold War in the late 1980s and 1990s, and lauded the former president for his abilities as a politician and for his personal character.
“It was a time of great change,” he told the Interfax news agency, “demanding great responsibility from everyone. The result was the end of the Cold War and nuclear arms race.”
Gorbachev said he and his wife, Raisa, “deeply appreciated the attention, kindness and simplicity typical of George and Barbara Bush, as well as the rest of their large, friendly family.”
Pavel Palazhchenko, who worked as Gorbachev’s translator during those years, said that a tireless search for common ground and mutual understanding paved the way for some of the greatest
achievements in the history of U.S.-Russia relations.
“Bush always took a balanced approach to things,” Palazhchenko said Saturday. “He was not one to rush and took everything into account. He was always very well briefed. Gorbachev was too, and together they just looked for common ground.”
That relationship allowed Bush and Gorbachev to push through some of the most significant U.S.-Russia arms-control agreements in history, including the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
“Gorbachev and Bush showed that cooperation on arms reduction can have a very stabilizing effect on the situation and the relationship,” Palazhchenko said. “The centrality of nuclear arms control specifically is something they understood well.”
Russia’s current leadership expressed condolences later Saturday.
“A distinguished man has passed away,” President Vladimir Putin said in a telegram sent to George W. Bush, posted on the Kremlin website. “One who served his country for his entire life, with a weapon in his hands during wartime and in high office during peacetime.”
Putin praised George H.W. Bush for pursuing constructive U.S.-Russian dialogue.
“George Bush Sr. was well aware of the importance of a constructive dialogue between the two major nuclear powers and took great efforts to strengthen Russian-American relations and cooperation in international security,” Putin said.
He also recalled meeting Bush several times.
“It is with great warmth that I recall how he organized a meeting at his wonderful estate in Kennebunkport,” in Maine, Putin wrote. “The fond memory of George H.W. Bush will forever remain in my heart and in the hearts of my countrymen.”
Konstantin Kosachyov, a Russian lawmaker who heads the foreign relations committee of Russia’s upper house of parliament, described the Bush era as “probably the peak of trust between our two states.”
In Germany, Bush and Gorbachev are hailed for their key roles in taking down the Berlin Wall.
Merkel on Saturday said Bush was “a true friend” of the German people. He “recognized the significance of that historic hour and gave us his trust and his support.”
Arab leaders in the Persian Gulf hailed his decision to lead the international coalition that drove Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991. Kuwait’s ruler, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, said Bush never “forgot the Kuwaiti people and will remain in their memory,” according to the state-run KUNA news agency.
Neighboring Saudi Arabia described Bush as a “true friend.”
“The kingdom will never forget his resolve during the Gulf War of 1991,” said a statement from the Saudi Embassy in Washington.
British Prime Minister Theresa May called Bush “a great statesman”’ who had a pivotal role in “navigating a peaceful end to the Cold War he made the world a safer place for generations to come.”