The Call to Serve : The Life of an American President, George Herbert Walker Bush: A Visual Biography

In honor of the one hundredth anniversary of George H. W. Bush? birth, this visually stunning chronicle features never-before-published photos and memories celebrating the forty-first president? vision of leadership as service to country?urated by Pulitzer Prize?inning biographer Jon Meacham. Lavishly illustrated, The Call to Serve is an intimate, illuminating portrait of the forty-first president, a man who was so much more than just his politics. In words and images?any found in a lifetime of scrapbooks kept by Barbara Pierce Bush?on Meacham brings George H. W. Bush vividly to life. From the values of integrity, empathy, and grace that Bush learned in childhood to his leadership at the highest levels in tumultuous times, the forty-first president embodied an ideal of service that warrants attention in our own divided time. Bush pursued a life of service to America through his heroic combat experience in the Pacific during World War II, his political rise in Texas, his serving as U.S. ambassador to the UN, his time as envoy to China and as director of the CIA, his tenure as Ronald Reagan? vice president, and his election as the forty-first president of the United States. Set against the background of America during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, this book commemorates the legacy of a man who was far from perfect?e could be cutthroat on the campaign trail?ut whose ambition was not an end unto itself. Bush? drive to succeed was, rather, a means to put the values of balance, patriotism, and respect for others into action in the political arena. Toward the end of Bush? life, the forty-fourth president, Barack Obama, said that Bush put the country first ?oth before he was president, while he was president, and ever since.?Featuring more than 450 photographs, Meacham? introduction and commentary throughout, and narration drawn from his biography of George H. W. Bush, Destiny and Power, this is an essential tribute to a uniquely American life.

Author: Jon Meacham

Publisher: Random House

Publication Date: May 28, 2024

Number of Pages: 385 pages

Language: English

Binding: Hardcover

ISBN-10: 0593729455

ISBN-13: 9780593729458