George Bush was born into a New England political dynasty and moved to Texas in 1959. There he went to a private school, Kinkaid, and became friends with fellow students from wealthy families.
He also joined the prestigious Skull and Bones society, and later founded an oil company. But he was unable to achieve the success of his father and brother, Jeb.
How did it start?
As the author explains, Bush’s father was a wealthy oil man who cultivated political connections that allowed him to mobilize funding for his son’s campaigns. Then, the global financial crisis of 2008, the sub-prime mortgage and banking crisis, and allegations that the president’s administration had abused prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba diminished his standing domestically and internationally.
Adding to that, the family has long associated with national and international intrigue with far-reach consequences. Phillips contends that the four generations of the family’s involvement with intelligence, national security, armaments, and energy places them above any other family in the 20th century, including the Kennedys.
In 1999, Bush announced he would run for the presidency as a Republican with Dick Cheney as his running mate. He defeated Democrat Al Gore in one of the closest elections in history. Bush’s presidenc was dominat the global war on terror that he declar after the attacks on September 11, 2001, and by the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Why did it end?
In a book that is not quite a history of the Bushes, Phillips argues that they were uniquely situat at the critical nexus of national power, with links to armaments, intelligence, energy and other sources. of financial gain. Prescott Bush was involve in intelligence work after World War I, and his son George H W Bush had a long career at the oil company Zapata Offshore Company that end only when he became president of the United States.
His eldest son George W. Bush was a prodigal son who had been a wild man before becoming governor of Texas and then, 36 days after September 11, he swore in as the nation’s 43rd president. The Bush presidency, which started with conservative reform goals, became known for prosecuting America’s war against terrorism. Phillips sees dynastic ambition at work. He also sees the exploitation of office or nearness to it for financial gain that so many families practice.
