The Call to Serve

In honor of the one hundredth anniversary of George H. W. Bushs birth, this visually stunning chronicle features never-before-published photos and memories celebrating the forty-first presidents vision of leadership as service to countrycurated by Pulitzer Prizewinning 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 imagesmany found in a lifetime of scrapbooks kept by Barbara Pierce BushJon 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 Reagans 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 perfecthe could be cutthroat on the campaign trailbut whose ambition was not an end unto itself. Bushs 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 Bushs life, the forty-fourth president, Barack Obama, said that Bush put the country first both before he was president, while he was president, and ever since. Featuring more than 450 photographs, Meachams 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.