The United States continues to mourn the passing of the 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush. President Bush was known for his service to the country, including roles as the U.S. envoy to China, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Vice President of the United States under Ronald Reagan. How do you think President Bush will be remembered?

Violet Fearon ’21

I think the worst time to assess a President’s legacy is right after they die. We all have a natural impulse to be kind and respect their grieving family that works against viewing history in an objective way. With that said, I think President H.W. Bush’s legacy will ultimately be morally gray. He fought bravely in WWII, had an enormous dedication to public service and raised taxes when necessary, even though it was politically unpopular. But he also ran incredibly racist campaign ads and failed to meaningfully address the AIDS crisis. While H.W. Bush was far from perfect, at the very least he was an experienced statesman who respected the gravitas of his office. The contrast with our current administration is a testament to fundamental changes in both the Republican party, and our political norms in general.

Violet Fearon ’21 is a staff writer for the Justice.

Trevor Filseth ’20

President Bush will be remembered as a capable statesman who dedicated his entire life to public service. For four years, he presided over a kinder, gentler nation than the one we have today; indeed, it can be said that he was the last president whose character was never attacked by the opposing party. His single-term presidency was among the most eventful in recent history. During it, the fall of the Berlin Wall led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. The American-led liberation of Kuwait in 1991 is as close to a morally black-and-white situation as we’re ever likely to see in the modern world. And while he lost in 1992, his economic policies, particularly his strong and consistent support for NAFTA, laid the groundwork for a decade of economic growth. Bush’s legacy was far from perfect, but it deserves to be respected and celebrated nonetheless, and I believe it will be carefully examined in the years ahead.

Trevor Filseth ’20 is a staff writer for the Justice.

Alex Friedman ’19

I have come to bury Bush, not to praise him. I know he’ll be remembered for his last words being “I love you” and happening to be President when the Soviet Union collapsed. I wish he would be remembered for his war crimes against the Iraqis, for his White House making jokes about gay people as they died of AIDS on the lawn in the tens of thousands, about how he ran a racist smear campaign to win his Presidential term, about how he abandoned a woman’s right to choose when Reagan asked him to run, how he backed down from fighting Reagan’s disastrous supply-side economics, which he had called “voodoo,” when it was politically expedient, how he pardoned every person involved in Iran-Contra, how he imprisoned 10,000 Haitian refugees in Guantanamo Bay. He may have died at 94, but the true tragedy is all the people who didn’t get to live that long because of him.I have come to bury Bush, not to praise him. I know he’ll be remembered for his last words being “I love you” and happening to be President when the Soviet Union collapsed. I wish he would be remembered for his war crimes against the Iraqis, for his White House making jokes about gay people as they died of AIDS on the lawn in the tens of thousands, about how he ran a racist smear campaign to win his Presidential term, about how he abandoned a woman’s right to choose when Reagan asked him to run, how he backed down from fighting Reagan’s disastrous supply-side economics, which he had called “voodoo,” when it was politically expedient, how he pardoned every person involved in Iran-Contra, how he imprisoned 10,000 Haitian refugees in Guantanamo Bay. He may have died at 94, but the true tragedy is all the people who didn’t get to live that long because of him.

Alex Friedman ’19 is a double major in Politics and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, with a minor in Business.

Shoshana Finkel ’20

For a man so often memorialized as a big-picture strategizer when it came to foreign policy, George H. W. Bush made a substantial impact on the day-to-day lives of many Americans. This is because of a civil rights law that he brought into fruition as President, and one that is so often taken for granted by new generations of Americans: The Americans with Disabilities Act. Before the ADA, businesses were able to turn away customers and employees with disabilities, institutions of higher learning could deny admission to students simply because their bodies or minds were different from the norm. Houses of worship, movie theaters, and museums didn’t need to build ramps or elevators if they didn’t feel like accommodating the 20% of the population with disabilities. President Bush Sr., along with other politicians from both sides of the aisle who cared about the quality of life and civil engagement of disabled citizens helped make accessibility the law of the land.

Shoshana Finkel is president of Brandeis Ba’note and the event director of the Brandeis 

Community Farm.