A Noble Calling

This book presents essays by cabinet members, world leaders, and scholars examining the formation of President George H. W. Bush's character and the factors that influenced his leadership as a legislator, a diplomat, and an American president. In many ways, the presidency of George H. W. Bush was a transitional presidency. The end of the Cold War ushered in a new world with the United States as the dominant power. While many might credit his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, as the one who brought an end to the conflict with the former Soviet Union, George H. W. Bush was an associate president, serving as Vice President during Reagan's two terms. While supporting the work of the Reagan administration and, therefore, providing some continuity with it, President Bush had a different style of leadership and new priorities to establish. This volume of essays by cabinet members, world leaders, and scholars examine the formation of Bush's character and the factors that influenced his leadership as a legislator, a diplomat, and an American president. His family background, his military service, his life experience before going into public life, and the various positions in government service are all reviewed by friends, colleagues, and objective observers. The end result is the most detailed examination ever attempted of Bush's character and its impact on his career.

WILLIAM LEVANTROSSER is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Hofstra University. He has published extensively on the American presidency. Among his earlier publications are Congress and the Citizen-Soldier and Harry S. Truman: The Man from Independence (Greenwood Press, 1986). ROSANNA PEROTTI is Associate Professor of Political Science at Hofstra University. She has published on U.S. immigration policy in International Migration Review and The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. She also is co-editor, with Meena Bose, of From Cold War to New World Order: The Foreign Policy of George H. W. Bush (Greenwood Press, 2003).

Introduction by Rosanna Perotti Acknowledgments Volume Introduction by William F. Levantrosser Molding Presidential Character: The Bush Apprenticeship George Bush: Influence of the Family on his Values by Thomas Patrick Melady The Bush Legacy: First Evaluations The Moral Leadership of George Bush by Robert B. Charles George Bush and the Finitude of Presidential Power by Michael A. Genovese An Evaluation of the Presidency of George Bush by David Mervin The Limits of Leadership: The Global Context Not Doing Too Badly for Guys Who Have No Vision Whatsoever and Operate Only on Instinct: Foreign Policy Decision Making Under the Bush Administration by Charles-Philippe David George Bush and the United Nations by Seymour Maxwell Finger George Bush and the United Nations: A Prudent Journey from Realism to Moralism, 1971-1993 by Jerry Pubantz Ending the Cold War The "Operational Code" of the Bush Administration: Leadership Perceptions and Foreign Policy-Making by Michael F. Cairo President Bush and the Collapse of Communist Rule in Poland: The Search for Policy in 1989-1990 by Minton F. Goldman The President as Straight Man: Humor of the Times Presidential Humor: The Remakings and Remarkings of President George Bush by Jan J. Younger Being Remembered: The Bush Presidential Library Index About the Contributors