An exhibit at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum shows the 41st President’s beginnings in politics, starting in Harris County, Texas, where he eventually served as [ + ]
Portrait of Pres. George H.W. Bush at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. (Nexstar Photo/Wes Rapaport)
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Many Texas Republicans credit George H.W. Bush for putting their party on the map with his strong political beginnings in Harris County. The 41st President died Nov. 30, 2018 at age 94. He chaired the Harris County GOP in the 1960s.
“He was just a great person because really, in many counties, they didn’t even have a Republican Party,” Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, said.
Back then, Texas was a deeply Democratic state.
“As he said, you could have chapter meetings for the Republican Party in a phone booth,” Mark Updegrove, president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation, said. “There were not many people that were gravitating towards the Republican Party and he really helped to turn the tide in this state. He helped to make Republicanism a more acceptable party for Texans, so in so many ways, he was a pioneer.”
When former President Bill Clinton defeated Bush in the 1992 election, Jeff Eller remembers the…
