When George Jr. brought Annie up to Kennebunkport to meet his parents, I’m not sure who was more nonplussed, George Sr. or Barbara. It was not just that George Jr., a senior in college, was going to marry someone five years his senior whom hitherto they had never heard of. The fact that she had been married before, as a teenager, did not help.
But what really lifted eyebrows in the Bush household was that Annie had a son by that previous marriage who, because her former husband was from Kenya, was half black. Now I am sure, having served the Bush family for decades, that neither George Sr. nor Barbara had a prejudiced bone in their body. But George Sr. was a Congressman from Texas and had aspirations for higher office. And while Texas was never a hotbed of Jim Crow or Klan activity, it was still considered part of the south. Having a black grandson would be a liability in any circumstance.
Still there was something in George Jr.’s demeanor that was somewhat arresting. He seemed calmer, more in control of himself than I had ever seen him. George Jr. had a well deserved reputation as a hell raiser, at home on a bar stool, and not very serious in his approach to life, which was a constant source of aggravation to his parents. But when he sat on that couch, holding hands with Annie, calmly explaining to his parents that they were going to marry and, despite his father’s plan for him to do his military service in the National Guard, would instead do it in the Navy, he showed a bit of formidable discipline that no one else saw until a couple of decades later. I suspect Annie had put that steel in him, even while at the same time steadying him.
Oh, and he would officially adopt Annie’s son. The Bush family would have a black child.
George Sr. queried them in great detail. It seems that Annie had gotten a scholarship to finish up her bachelor’s degree at Yale where she was studying anthropology. There she met George Jr. and astonishingly they fell in love.
George Sr. didn’t get angry or raise his voice. He calmly explained all of the difficulties that they would have. Yes, sir, George Jr. kept saying; I believe he had already figured that out. But George Sr. also knew that he was not going to argue his son out of the course he had decided on. So in the end, they gave George Jr, and Annie their blessing. They married in June, right after George Jr. and Annie graduated and just before George Jr. went to boot camp and Officer’s Candidate school in preparation for flight training as a naval aviator. George Jr.’s brother Jeb was best man. His new son, now named Barry Obama Bush, was the ring bearer.
But what really lifted eyebrows in the Bush household was that Annie had a son by that previous marriage who, because her former husband was from Kenya, was half black. Now I am sure, having served the Bush family for decades, that neither George Sr. nor Barbara had a prejudiced bone in their body. But George Sr. was a Congressman from Texas and had aspirations for higher office. And while Texas was never a hotbed of Jim Crow or Klan activity, it was still considered part of the south. Having a black grandson would be a liability in any circumstance.
Still there was something in George Jr.’s demeanor that was somewhat arresting. He seemed calmer, more in control of himself than I had ever seen him. George Jr. had a well deserved reputation as a hell raiser, at home on a bar stool, and not very serious in his approach to life, which was a constant source of aggravation to his parents. But when he sat on that couch, holding hands with Annie, calmly explaining to his parents that they were going to marry and, despite his father’s plan for him to do his military service in the National Guard, would instead do it in the Navy, he showed a bit of formidable discipline that no one else saw until a couple of decades later. I suspect Annie had put that steel in him, even while at the same time steadying him.
Oh, and he would officially adopt Annie’s son. The Bush family would have a black child.
George Sr. queried them in great detail. It seems that Annie had gotten a scholarship to finish up her bachelor’s degree at Yale where she was studying anthropology. There she met George Jr. and astonishingly they fell in love.
George Sr. didn’t get angry or raise his voice. He calmly explained all of the difficulties that they would have. Yes, sir, George Jr. kept saying; I believe he had already figured that out. But George Sr. also knew that he was not going to argue his son out of the course he had decided on. So in the end, they gave George Jr, and Annie their blessing. They married in June, right after George Jr. and Annie graduated and just before George Jr. went to boot camp and Officer’s Candidate school in preparation for flight training as a naval aviator. George Jr.’s brother Jeb was best man. His new son, now named Barry Obama Bush, was the ring bearer.
