Area men remember the late President Bush as a ‘gentleman’

Date: 12/20/2018

Two men with local ties readily agreed on the same point: the late President George H.W. Bush was a gentleman who treated people with civility and kindness.

Bernie Sweeney of Longmeadow and Bruce Stebbins, former Springfield City Councilor and a commissioner of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, both worked for Bush.

Sweeney, who retired from the Small Business Administration and has long been active in the Republican Party, recalled to Reminder Publishing he met Bush in a very casual way in 1977. His roommate was friends with Dorothy, the president’s daughter, and Sweeney was asked him if he would talk to Bush to give him directions from Bradley Airport to MassMutual, where he had a meeting scheduled.

“I was listening to the map rustling and said, ‘I’ll pick you up at the airport’,” Sweeney said.

He recalled he stood waiting for Bush with a misspelled sign that read ‘Mr. Busch.”

Later Sweeney drove Bush to Boston, rather than have him take a bus.  

Whenever Bush was in Massachusetts, Sweeney would drive him and then he also began driving for Barbara Bush if she was in the Bay State.

This led to Sweeney being involved in Bush’s presidential campaign in 1980, a campaign with him losing the nomination to Ronald Reagan, but being selected as vice president.

Sweeney said, “He was a gentleman, first, last and always.” He added that during the campaign he would never hesitate to start a conversation with people and that he had a great memory.

“He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth … but it didn’t show in his character,” Sweeney said.

In the rough and tumble of a presidential campaign, Sweeney recalled, “He expected us to conduct ourselves with the highest of standards.”

Sweeney continued seeing Bush as vice president and later as president.

Stebbins met Bush when he was running for president in 1987. He said he was fresh out of college and joined the campaign in June 1987.

“I got to see him outside of the [Washington D.C.] bubble,” Stebbins said.

Stebbins said his responsibilities were “everything” from supporting Bush aides such as Andy Card – who was Secretary of Transportation under Bush and then served as Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush – to compiling Barbara Bush’s schedule.

After Bush became president in 1988, Stebbins was offered a job in the White House and for two years would in the Office of Political Affairs, which managed the president’s relations with supporters and Republican Party infrastructure.

Bush has a “great sense of humility,” Stebbins said. “He let his guard down a lot.”

The president also has a passion for sending notes to people, many of which he would write by hand. Stebbins remembered a trip to New Hampshire during which the presidential limousine broke down. Bush made sure he obtained the names and the address of the family that lived in the house near the location of the breakdown so they could receive thank you notes and presidential cufflinks.

“Anybody who crossed paths with George Bush, the chances are they have a handwritten note,” Stebbins said.

Stebbins returned to Massachusetts after two years and in speaking with him it’s clear he held the president in the highest regards.  

Bush’s kindness was clearly reciprocated by those near him. Sweeney noted that in the museum in Texas dedicated to his presidency, there is a section devoted to the people who worked for Bush and who were extremely loyal.  

Sweeney said that Bush’s belief in putting the country’s interests before his own political ones did not serve him well. When Bush said he would never support a tax increase with the famous “Read my lips” quote, he was hurt when he realized that taxes had to be raised and worked out a bipartisan deal, Sweeney explained.

“He did that out of unity,” he added. Enough voters never forgave him and Bush lost his reelection bid to Bill Clinton.

Sweeney also noted that Bush understood the diplomatic importance of not crowing when the Soviet Union fell. “It was not the time to dance on the Soviet Union’s grave,” Sweeney said.

In Sweeny’s belief, Bush’s  greatest accomplishment was the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“I hope history will treat him kindly because he was a kind and gentle man,” Sweeney said.  Bush was the last WWII vet to be president and his varied background as a businessman, member of Congress, Director of Central Intelligence and Ambassador to the United Nations, “qualified him to be president,” Sweeney added.

Stebbins also believes history will see Bush favorably because he had the notions of public service and humility that today “people are clamoring for.”