Born in Milton, Massachusetts on June 12, 1924, George Herbert Walker Bush moved shortly thereafter to Greenwich, Connecticut. After graduating from Phillips Academy in June 1942, a private high school, he joined the U.S. Navy on his 18th birthday. He was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve in Texas and became the youngest naval aviator to that date. He was assigned to a Torpedo Squadron (VT-51) as photographic officer in 1943 where he experienced one of the largest air battles of the war and lost his plane. Bush was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade. Through 1944 he had flown 58 combat missions for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals, and the Presidential Unit Citation. He was reassigned to train torpedo pilots and then a naval aviator in a torpedo squadron. As the war ended, he was honorably discharged and then entered Yale University.

George Bush married Barbara Pierce in December 1944. They had six children throughout their marriage: George Walker Bush, Pauline Robinson Bush ("Robin", 19491953, died of leukemia), John Ellis "Jeb" Bush, Neil Mallon Bush, Marvin Bush, and Dorothy Bush Koch. While at Yale, he was president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, the captain of the Yale baseball team that played in the first College World Series, and was tapped for membership for Skull and Bones, an exclusive secret society that his father has once been apart of. In 1948, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. in economics.

Bush went on to accept a position with Dresser Industries, an oil exploration firm, where his father served on the board of directors for two decades. Bush co-founded another oil exploration company in 1953 called Zapata Corporation.

In 1964, Bush ran for the U.S. Senate as the Republican Party' nominee from Texas. He lost the election to the incumbent Democratic senator who called Bush a "tool of the eastern kingmakers" and a right-wing extremist. However, in 1966 Bush was elected to the United States House of Representatives from the 7th District of Texas. Bush was appointed to the House Ways and Means Committee, an unlikely choice for a first-term senator.

In 1970, President Nixon persuaded Bush run for the Senate against a Democrat who was a strong Nixon critic, but lost the election. Following his loss, Bush was appointed by President Richard Nixon to be United States Ambassador to the United Nations and served from 1971 to 1973. In 1972, newly re-elected President Nixon asked Bush to become Chairman of the Republican National Committee. He accepted and held the position during the Watergate scandal, defending Nixon against accusations. The scandal culminated in Nixon's resignation in 1974 and Vice President Gerald R. Ford took over as President. Bush sought the position of vice president under Ford but lost out to Nelson Rockefeller. Ford appointed Bush to be Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China. At the time, the United States maintained official relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan and not the People's Republic of China. The Liaison Office was not officially an ambassador but effectively acted as one. In 1976, Ford gave Bush the position of Director of Central Intelligence although he claimed to not have any prior involvement with the agency. The appointment sparked controversy over Bush's neutrality and role in the Watergate scandal.

After a Democratic administration took power in 1977, Bush moved back to Texas to become Chairman of the First International Bank in Houston. He also became an adjunct professor of Administrative Science at Rice University and a board member of the Committee on the Present Danger, a conservative, anti-communist, militaristic lobbying group.

In the 1980 presidential election, Bush ran for the presidency. Bush, who was seen as a moderate within the GOP, lost the Republican nomination to the conservative candidate, Ronald Reagan. He called Reagan's supply side economics that emphasized massive tax cuts "voodoo economics." However, Reagan selected Bush as his vice presidential nominee and the ticket won in the 1984 presidential elections. On 13 July 1985, while President Reagan underwent surgery, Bush served as Acting President for approximately eight hours, making him the first Vice President to become Acting President. In the wake of the Iran-Contra Affair, Bush claimed to have been unaware of arms trading while it was happening.

Bush served as vice president for 8 years until 1988, when again for president. Bush has organizational strength and a fund-raising lead that won him the Republican nomination. His choice to select U.S. Senator from Indiana, Dan Quayle, as his running mate would later draw intense criticism. In his acceptance speech, Bush pledged, "Read my lips, no new taxes." The general election produced a victory for Bush over Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen.

President Bush's presidency was marked by the U.S. invasion of Panama, the Gulf War, the end of the Cold War, and the enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Bush has been widely criticized for having pardoned six former government employees implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal. Some evidence from the Defense Secretary's personal diaries suggests Bush had prior knowledge of scandal. He appointed David Souter and Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.

Bush ran for re-election in 1992. The Persian Gulf War lifted people's perception of Bush during his presidency but upon leading up to the election, his popularity trickled as a result of the economic recession, a perceived failure to end the war properly, and the common perception that he was "out of touch" with the American worker. His defeat was ensured because of his authorization for new taxes, despite his famous pledge, in an attempt to control the increasing budget deficit that has been attributed the to the Reagan tax cuts and military spending of the 1980s.

Since his 1992 failed campaign, Bush has made many public appearances. His son, George W. Bush, was elected president in 2000.