George HW Bush, the 41st US President and senior Republican, has died.
A former vice president to Ronald Reagan, Bush served as President for one term, between 1989 and 1993, before losing the next election to the Democrat Bill Clinton. He led the United States through the end of the Cold War, and was known for his close working relationship with the transformative leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev.
A Republican, Bush was the father of the more divisive neoconservative President George W Bush, but in today’s even more turbulent times has often been celebrated for his more moderate politics.
The Clintons paid tribute to Bush Sr in a statement, with Bill Clinton tweeting: “I am grateful for every minute I spent with him.”
George W Bush described him as “a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for”.
The 44th President Barack Obama, who formed a friendship with Bush Sr despite the ideological divide, responded to the news of his death, shortly after that of his wife, Barbara, by describing them as “two points of light that never dimmed”.
Current President Donald Trump said: “President Bush always found a way to raise the bar higher.”
Bush Sr famously called Trump a “blowhard” and voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US election.
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