Cultural English 463 - Presidents: George H. W. Bush; Q&A

Complete Transcript

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 463.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s episode 463. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

On this episode, we’re going to talk about another one of our presidents. Today we’ll talk about the 41st president of the United States, George H. W. Bush, the father of George W. Bush. We’ll talk about his career as he worked in government for many years before becoming president, and some of the things he did while he was president. And, as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions. Let’s get started.

Our topic in this Café is the U.S. president George Herbert Walker Bush. Bush was born in the state of Massachusetts in 1924. Massachusetts is on the eastern coast of the United States. He grew up in the city of Greenwich, which is located in the state of Connecticut, just south of the state of Massachusetts. His father, Prescott Bush, was a United States senator from the state of Connecticut, one of the now 100 members of the U.S. Senate. Prescott Bush was a politician, and his son George H. W. Bush also became a politician, as did Prescott’s grandson George W. Bush.

Today we’re focusing just on the son of Prescott Bush, George H. W. Bush. Bush graduated from Phillips Academy, one of the best-known and expensive high schools in Massachusetts. He joined the Navy Reserve during World War II and became a pilot. He flew planes. From 1942 until 1944, during the war, Bush flew planes off of aircraft carriers. An “aircraft carrier” (carrier) is a very large military ship that has a long flat section where airplanes can land and take off.

Bush’s plane was shot down in 1944. When we say it was “shot down,” we mean that the plane was fired upon, hit, and went down to the ground or to the ocean. Fortunately for Bush, he was rescued by other pilots and a U.S. submarine. A “submarine” is basically an underwater boat. Bush won an award called the “Distinguished Flying Cross” for his service as a pilot in World War II. This is an award that is given to people who do something truly incredible while flying a military airplane. So, he was a very good pilot.

In January of 1945, Bush married a woman named Barbara Pierce. Together, George and Barbara would have six children, although one, Robin, died as a child. Two of their children would follow their father into politics. One of his children, Jeb Bush, would become governor of the state of Florida. George W. Bush would become the governor, or the leader, of the state of Texas, and then later, of course, the 43rd President of the United States.

In order to avoid confusion between the father – George Bush, our 41st president – and his son – George Bush, the 43rd president – we usually use their middle initials or names. That’s why we say “George Herbert Walker Bush” or “George H. W. Bush” for the first Bush to become president, and “George W. Bush” for his son. Some people may even refer to “Bush One” and “Bush Two” or “Bush the Elder” versus “Bush the Younger.”

The George Bush that we are talking about today graduated from Yale University in 1948. Yale is one of the two most famous universities in the United States – Harvard, of course, is the other. After Bush graduated from Yale, the Bush family moved to Texas, where Bush started working in the oil industry as a salesman.

In 1959, Bush decided to get involved in politics. First he became involved in the Republican Party in Houston, Texas, where he lived with his family. Then, in 1964, he ran for the office of the U.S. Senate. He lost, however, but in 1966, just two years later, he ran for the office of U.S. Representatives and was then elected to Congress. “Congress” refers to our two legislative bodies: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each state, as you probably know, has two senators. The number of representatives from each state depends on the population of the state.

For example, Texas has one of the largest populations, and so it has one of the largest number of representatives. Currently, right now, there are 32 representatives from Texas. Other states that have smaller populations have many fewer representatives. Montana, located in the western part of the U.S. on the border of the U.S. and Canada, has only one representative. That’s because there aren’t very many people in Montana. There are a total of 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives currently. Anyway, back to Bush. Bush served as U.S. representative for an area of Texas until 1970.

In 1970, he decided once again to try to get elected as senator from Texas, and once again, he lost. However, in 1971, then-president Richard Nixon appointed Bush U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. “To be appointed” (appointed) means to be chosen to do a job by some person in authority. An ambassador is a person who represents his or her country, usually in another country, although countries also have ambassadors to the United Nations, which is located in New York City here in the U.S. – at least, that’s where its headquarters are.

A few years later, in 1974, then-president Gerald Ford appointed Bush to the position of chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing, China. A “liaison” is a person who helps build the relationship between two people or two organizations – someone who usually takes one person’s ideas and tells them to the other person and then tells that person’s ideas to the other. At this time, in 1974, there were no ambassadors yet to China, so this position as chief of the liaison office was basically the same as an ambassador.

Bush left this position in 1976 to take another government position: the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, or “CIA.” Three years later, he left the CIA to run for president himself. It became clear to Bush in 1980 that he was not going to defeat, or beat, another of the presidential candidates – a man named Ronald Reagan, the former governor of another large state: California. So, Bush offered his support to Reagan, who then asked Bush to be his running mate. A “running (running) mate (mate)” is a person who is asked to run for office as part of a team.

In the United States, the president and the vice president always are elected together, and almost always from the same political party. Bush would then run in 1980 for the office of vice president, and would in fact be elected along with Reagan. In 1981, Reagan and Bush began their terms as president and vice president, respectively. They won re-election in 1984, and so served a total of eight years in office.

Now, the law in the United States is now that you can only be elected president twice, and so Ronald Reagan could not run for re-election again in 1988. The tradition in U.S. politics is that the person who is vice president then gets a chance to run for president – to run as a candidate for that political party. It doesn’t always happen, but it’s fairly common. President Bill Clinton’s vice president Al Gore, for example, ran for president in 2000, but as sometimes happens, the vice president loses. And that’s what happened to Mr. Gore.

In 1988, Bush ran again for the office of president. He promised to continue Reagan’s policies, especially for the economy. Reagan had lowered taxes during his term, which meant that people had to pay the government a smaller percentage of their money that they earned, or made, each year. Some people doubted that Bush would actually keep his promise. He was not considered as politically conservative as Ronald Reagan.

So, Bush, when he was running for president, had a phrase, and the phrase was, “Read my lips. No new taxes.” The phrase “read my lips” is used when you want to make things very, very clear for someone so that there is no doubt, no misunderstanding. We use this especially when the other person doesn’t seem to understand or doesn’t want to understand.

Bush and his running mate, Dan Quayle, were in fact elected in 1988 and took office, or began their terms, in 1989. The presidential elections in the U.S. are held every four years, but you don’t actually start becoming president until January of the following year. Perhaps not surprisingly given his background, Bush was very active in foreign affairs during his time as president. Remember, he was an ambassador and also head of the CIA at one point. When we say “foreign affairs,” we are referring to the relationships that countries have with each other.

One of Bush’s first major or important international actions was to invade the country of Panama. “To invade” (invade) means to go into another country using military force – using your army and navy and air force. The reason Bush invaded Panama was to get rid of the leader of Panama, a man by the name of Manuel Antonio Noriega. The leader of Panama was accused of being cruel to the people of Panama and, more importantly, according to Bush, was thought to be involved in the drug trade. The invasion was successful – from the U.S.’s point of view, that is.

Unfortunately, as happens in any war, many people – many hundreds of people, in this case – were killed. For this reason, the United Nations General Assembly, the representatives of all of the nations in the UN, denounced the U.S.’s actions. “To denounce” (denounce) means to publicly say that something is wrong or bad.

Bush’s next foreign actions were even more, in his eyes, successful and popular. In 1990, he signed what was called a “mutual non-aggression agreement” with Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the then Soviet Union. “Mutual” (mutual) means both sides, both groups, or both people. The word “non-aggression” means nonviolent, not warlike. So, a “mutual non-aggression agreement” means that the countries signing the agreement promise not to attack each other using military weapons or military force.

This agreement, some say, basically ended the Cold War that had gone on between the USSR and the United States during the previous 40 years. The term “Cold War” refers to that period of tension and political conflict between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States beginning after World War II.

Bush and Gorbachev also signed an agreement that would reduce the number of weapons, especially nuclear weapons, that each country had stockpiled. “To stockpile” (stockpile) means to collect. We often use that word when we’re talking about weapons, but it could also be used, for example, for food. If you are expecting bad weather next week, and you’re not sure if you can get to the grocery store, you may stockpile milk or meat or something else that you think you will need.As the conflict with the USSR ended, another began. In August of 1990, the country of Iraq, then led by Saddam Hussein, invaded its neighbor, Kuwait. Bush went to work immediately and was able to get several European and Arab countries to agree to form a coalition to stop the Iraqis. A “coalition” (coalition) is a temporary friendship or alliance between two groups that have the same purposes or goals. An embargo was also used by the U.S. government against Iraq. An “embargo” (embargo) is a government ban, or prohibition, on trading with or doing business with another country. Usually this is done for political reasons.

In January of 1991, Bush had the U.S. military attack the Iraqi army. This was the beginning of what became known as the Persian Gulf War or, now, the First Persian Gulf War. Gulf War I lasted until the end of February of that year, when armies from different countries in the coalition went into Kuwait and pushed the Iraqi army out. Because of the success, the American people were very pleased, were very happy, with Bush’s work as president.

However, in 1992, something else happened that the American people were not very happy about, and that was a “recession.” A “recession” (recession) is a temporary period when the economy goes from good to bad. Basically, people lose their jobs and there are economic problems in the country. Bush was very good in the eyes of many Americans with foreign policy – although historians may disagree with that judgment – however, he was not seen as a very good person for domestic issues. “Domestic” (domestic) refers to the policies affecting people within their own country.

In 1990, for example, even though Bush had told people – had promised the American people – that he would not raise taxes, he in fact raised taxes. He increased taxes. This did not help the economy. It did not help the economy improve or get better, and perhaps as a consequence, in 1992 when Bush ran for president again, he was defeated. He was beaten by a man named Bill Clinton.

Bush returned in 1993, after losing the election, to Texas and was not really involved in politics again until the year 2000 when his son George W. Bush ran for president. Bush was also active in politics in 2004 and 2005 along with former president Bill Clinton to help the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami, as well as the hurricane Katrina here in the U.S.

In 2010, President Obama awarded, or gave, George H. W. Bush the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the highest award of honor that a non-military person, what we will call a “civilian,” can receive in the United States. It is given to people who have made an important contribution to American society. Bush was honored for his efforts to get Americans to volunteer and to give back to their local communities. The phrasal verb “to give back” means to return something to someone – in this case, to help people who have helped you. And we’ve all been helped in some way by the people around us.

George H. W. Bush was a one-term president. He will probably be remembered in history both for his military actions in Central America and the Middle East, and for his failure to keep his promise on raising taxes. It’s difficult to say, of course, what historians will say or write about the George Bush presidency in the future, since after all, it has only been a few years since he left that office.

Now let’s answer a few of your questions.

Our first question comes from Rakesh (Rakesh) in India. Rakesh wants to know the meaning of a sentence he read. The sentence was, “Architects let rip with a wave of ambitious and beautifully crafted buildings.” Well, there are several words there that we need to define.

Let’s start with the very first word, which is “architects.” An “architect” (architect) is a person who designs buildings and houses. The architect is the person who makes the plans for how a building will look. The expression “to let rip” (rip) means to act or speak without putting limits on yourself, or to behave without any sort of control – to just do whatever it is that you want to do.

A “wave (wave) of” something is a sudden increase in something, usually an increase in activity or intensity – how strong or forceful something is. The word “ambitious” (ambitious) means requiring a lot of effort, needing a lot of skill and hard work to accomplish. Finally, “crafted” (crafted) means made or built or constructed in a certain way. We might describe a chair as being “well-crafted,” meaning it was built very well. It was built with a lot of attention and skill.

Now let’s go back to the original sentence: “Architects let rip with a wave of ambitious and beautifully crafted buildings.” This means that the designers of buildings were suddenly building or designing a lot of beautiful houses or beautiful buildings. The word “ambitious” here suggests, as we mentioned, that these buildings would require a lot of work and skill.

Our next question comes from Russia, from (Andrey). Andrey wants to know the meaning of the expression “to keep someone out of your hair.” “To keep someone out of your hair” (hair) means to prevent someone from bothering you, to not allow someone to trouble you or to annoy you. The word “annoy” (annoy) refers to the act of irritating or making someone angry or upset. “To get out of my hair” would mean to stop bothering me, to stop interfering with what I am doing, to stop irritating me.

Sometimes this expression is used when there is a situation where you are working with someone. Perhaps you are talking with someone at work, and you don’t want that person to think that you are there to irritate them, so you may say, almost jokingly, “I’ll get out of your hair now,” meaning “I’ll stop bothering you” – even though you weren’t probably actually bothering the person. You’re using that expression to say, “I will no longer interfere with your actions,” or at least, “I will no longer be here and, therefore, leave you alone to do what you want to do.”

Finally, from Colombia we have a question from Miguel (Miguel) Angel (Angel), or who the Italians might call Michelangelo, or “Michelangelo.” Anyway, Miguel Angel’s question has to do with two words that sound similar: “debt” and “dead” (dead). Miguel Angel was most interested in the pronunciation of these two words and how they differ, and I just pronounced them for you: “debt” and “dead.” Notice there is a difference in the ending sounds of the words – “debt” has a “t” sound and “dead” has a “d” sound.

In case you’re wondering, “dead” means that you’re not living, which I think you know. “Debt” means that you owe someone money – that you have borrowed money from someone and now you need to give that money back. Once you die, of course, you don’t have to worry about your debt. So, when your dead, don’t worry about your debt.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come back and listen to us again right here on the English Café.

Glossary

to appoint – to be chosen to do a job by a person in a position of authority; for someone with power or authority to give someone an important job or position

* Sean knew that his hard work had paid off when his boss appointed him project leader.

ambassador – the person who is the highest-level representative of his or her country’s government while living in another country

* The ambassador and his wife attended the dinner hosted by the Queen.

liaison – a person who helps build a relationship between two other people or organizations by presenting each side’s ideas to the other

* Hildegard’s son and husband didn’t get along well so she often acted as the liaison between them.

running mate – a person who is asked to run for office as part of a team

* It’s important for candidates to pick running mates who will support their ideas but also appeal to a different set of voters.

foreign affairs – issues and topics related to one country’s relationship with other countries

* Suraj is a foreign affairs reporter so writes stories about political and social issues from around the world.

to invade – for one country to enter a country using military force to try and take territory or to gain political power

* Although many people expected war for a long time, World War II didn’t formally begin until Germany invaded Poland in 1939.

to denounce – to publically state that something is wrong or bad

* When the president’s brother was found guilty of selling drugs and stealing money, she was forced to denounce him.

to stockpile – to collect something in large amounts and put aside to be used later

* Many people stockpile food when a big storm is coming to be sure that they have things to eat if they are unable to leave their homes for a few days.

coalition – a temporary alliance or friendship between two groups or nations

* The politicians formed a coalition to try to find a solution to the problem of gun violence.

embargo – a government ban on doing trade or business with another country, usually for political reasons

* When the civil war started, the countries nearby all set up embargos to show their disapproval.

recession – a temporary period of financial decline that usually involves many people losing their jobs and less buying and selling

* During a recession, people tend to save their money, which is bad for stores because it means less earnings.

domestic – at home; in a person’s home country; in one’s own country

* Even though education is a domestic issue, many countries look to other countries’ education systems for examples of how to improve their own system.

architect – a person whose job is to design buildings; a professional who creates plans for buildings and other structures

* The Ramirez family asked the architect to design a room in their new house that is soundproof for playing music.

to let rip – to act or speak without putting limits on oneself; to behave without control or restraint

* This singing contest is your big chance. Let it rip and really impress them!

a wave of – a sudden large increase or rise, usually in activity or intensity (how strong or forceful something is)

* When Bala saw his daughter graduate from college, he felt a wave of pride.

ambitious – requiring a lot of effort and ability; needing a lot of skill and hard work to achieve

* The mayor’s plan to reduce crime by 25% is ambitious, but impressed voters.

crafted – made or constructed in a way that shows a lot of careful attention or skill

* Look at how well crafted this lamp is. It must have taken weeks to make.

to keep (someone) out of (one’s) hair – to prevent someone from bothering one; to not allow someone to annoy or trouble one

* Keep the children out of my hair this afternoon by taking them to the park to play.

What Insiders Know

Famous Presidential Quotes – Theodore Roosevelt

There have been many speeches that have “made their mark” (had an important effect on something) throughout “the course of history” (in the past). Some of these speeches provide “inspiration” (giving someone the idea or motivation to do something) even to people today. Here is one of the most famous quotes by a U.S. president.

“Speak softly and carry a big stick” – Theodore Roosevelt

On September 2, 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt “delivered” (gave) a speech at the Minnesota State “Fair” (gathering and entertainment with outdoor games, rides, speakers, and concerts and shows) and included this phrase. Roosevelt said that it was taken from an African “proverb” (wise saying): “Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far.” He gave this speech eight days before the “then-president” (president at that time) William McKinley was “assassinated” (killed, used for an important person, usually in politics).

Roosevelt believed that an important part of “foreign policy” (relations with other countries) should be “to speak softly,” meaning say things in a quiet, gentle, and polite manner, not loudly or aggressively. However, he also believed it was necessary “to carry a big stick,” meaning a country should have “weapons” (tools used for fighting and war). This “big stick” would help keep peace. This “big stick” could be used as a “threat” (something that could be harmful to others) and communicate to other “nations” (countries) that it would not be afraid to fight back and had the tools or weapons necessary to do so “at their disposal” (ready to be used).