Penna Dexter

As America honors President George H.W. Bush, elected a mere thirty years ago, there’s a sense that we are much further removed than that from his time in office. He famously dashed off thousands of thoughtful communications to world leaders and ordinary citizens, not electronically, but via the handwritten note.

It was a different century — really a different era.

Ted Cruz pointed out in his tribute to the former president that he “was the last of the Greatest Generation to sit in the Oval Office.”

At age 18, this future president enlisted in the Navy, becoming one of the youngest pilots in the service. In 1944, his plane was hit by Japanese ground fire. He pressed the attack, but ultimately parachuted into the Pacific Ocean. He wondered,  “Why had I been spared and what did God have for me?”

Evangelicals praised the faith of his son, George W. But in an article titled, “George H.W. Bush helped lead the GOP toward evangelicalism”, the Washington Post describes Bush 41’s outspoken reliance on God for strength and his increasingly strong articulation of the party’s pro-life position.

My pastor brought up something I’d never heard about the former president. In 1992, at a campaign event held at a New Hampshire insurance company, President Bush told employees: “You cannot be President of the United States if you don’t have faith. Remember Lincoln going to his knees in times of trial and the Civil War and all that stuff. You can’t be.”

Later, when faced with questions and critiques from atheist groups, the president doubled down on those remarks. He never backed down or equivocated on the idea that faith is essential to the presidency.

Historian Gary Scott Smith wrote in his book, “Faith and the Presidency: From George Washington to George W. Bush,” that George H.W. Bush mentioned prayer in 220 speeches, remarks and proclamations while president.

And the Lord was with him.