Bush biography meacham

Who Is Jon Meacham?

With the approach of the funeral for former president George H.W. Bush, who passed away on November 30 at the age of 94, information has been steadily released about the services, including the attendance of Prince Charles, and the announcement that the 41st president will be eulogized on Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral by his son, George W. Bush, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, former Senator Alan Simpson, and author Jon Meacham.

If you're not familiar with the name, don't worry—here's everything you need to know about the writer.

He's a Pulitzer Prize winning biographer.

imusti Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush

In addition to his work as a contributing writer to The New York Times Book Review and a contributing editor at Time, Meacham is best known for his presidential and political biographies. He's written profiles on FDR's friendship with Winston Churchill, the founding fathers's relationship with religion, and the lives of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, the latter of which, American Lion, earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 2009.

His closeness with former president Bush, and his inclusion in the statesman's memorial service, is due to another of his books: 2015's Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush.

He spent years interviewing the Bush family.

In the process of writing his biography of Bush, Meacham became very close with the Bush family. From 2006 to 2015 the author conducted extensive interviews not only with the former president, but also his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush, and their family. He was also granted access to the private diaries of George and Barbara from their time in the White House.

"George Herbert Walker Bush, who died Friday night, at 94, was the last president of the Greatest Generation, a gentleman who came of age in an ever-uglier arena, the embodiment of a postwar era of consens

  • Featuring more than 450
  • Meacham traces Bush's long

    • Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush

    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review | Time | NPR | St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    In this brilliant biography, Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, chronicles the life of George Herbert Walker Bush. Drawing on President Bush's personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the forty-first president and his family, Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times. From the Oval Office to Camp David, from his study in the private quarters of the White House to Air Force One, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the first Gulf War to the end of Communism, Destiny and Power charts the thoughts, decisions, and emotions of a modern president who may have been the last of his kind. This is the human story of a man who was, like the nation he led, at once noble and flawed.

    His was one of the great American lives. Born into a loving, privileged, and competitive family, Bush joined the navy on his eighteenth birthday and at age twenty was shot down on a combat mission over the Pacific. He married young, started a family, and resisted pressure to go to Wall Street, striking out for the adventurous world of Texas oil. Over the course of three decades, Bush would rise from the chairmanship of his county Republican Party to serve as congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, head of the Republican National Committee, envoy to China, director of Central Intelligence, vice president under Ronald Reagan, and, finally, president of the United States. In retirement he became the first president since John Adams to see his son win the ultimate prize in American politics.

    With access not only to the Bush diaries but, through extensive intervie

      Bush biography meacham
  • Destiny and Power: The American

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

    June 25, 2024
    This beautiful book commemorates the life and service of George H. W. Bush, drawing in part on “Destiny and Power,” the biography of President Bush published by Meacham in 2015. In addition to the highlights from his biography, the majority of this book includes a collection of pictures (over 450), documents, and extensive captions of family stories, descriptions, and experiences memorializing his life. With this in mind, if you listen to the audiobook, you will miss the majority of the book. President Bush was driven, athletic, competitive, principled, hard-working, service-oriented, faithful, and a man of integrity. He lived a life of public service: WWII navy pilot, UN ambassador, CIA director, U.S. envoy to China, vice president, and president. I loved his moderate politics, willingness to compromise, and his philosophy of servant leadership, all of which seem long gone in current politics. “He embraced compromise as a necessary element of public life, engaged his political foes in the passage of important legislation, and was willing to break with the base of his own party in order to do what he thought was right, whatever the price.” What a refreshing thought. I loved hearing more about Barbara, seeing him as a dad, and learning about his grace and goodwill. Some random things I loved: the picture of President and Barbara Bush with their grandkids piled in their bed (and surrounded by books) on a Saturday morning in Kennebunkport; President Bush doing parachute jumps every 5 years from his 75-90 birthdays (love it!); President Clinton and Bush coming together for philanthropic work; and this quote: “There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people.” What an honorable man and a gem of a memento honoring him.

    Favorite quotes:

    -“To serve and to serve well is the highest fulfillment we can know.” George Herbert Walker Bush

    -“Mak

    Destiny and Power

    2015 book by Jon Meacham

    Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush is a 2015 book by Jon Meacham about George H. W. Bush.

    Critical reception

    The New York Times wrote that the book "reflects the qualities of both subject and biographer: judicious, balanced, deliberative, with a deep appreciation of history and the personalities who shape it."Kirkus Reviews called it "meticulously researched but perhaps overlong," writing that "Meacham does his best with this 'underwhelming' but noble subject."Publishers Weekly called Destiny and Power "a vivid, well-written account that doesn't quite come to grips with its subject's pivotal place in history."

    References

    External links

    • Presentation by Meacham on Destiny and Power, November 8, 2015, C-SPAN
    • Discussion with Jon Meacham and George W. Bush on the life of George H.W. Bush, November 8, 2015, C-SPAN
    • Presentation by Meacham on Destiny and Power at the Miami Book Fair, November 21, 2015, C-SPAN
    • Presentation by Meacham on Destiny and Power at the National Book Festival, September 24, 2016, C-SPAN