President George W. Bush (right) appears on stage with father President George H.W. and mother First Lady Barbara Bush during Texas A&M commencement in 2008. Photo courtesy of Cushing Memorial Library & Archives.
George W. Bush
George W. Bush made frequent visits to Texas A&M’s campus before, during and after his time as president, the first major one being the opening of the elder Bush’s presidential library in 1997.
“When President Bush chose Texas A&M University for his library, he made the perfect choice,” then-Gov. Bush said of his father. “This university is a place of tradition, and George Bush is a man of tradition. This university embodies the spirit by which he lived his life: duty, honor and country.”
He would deliver a commencement speech as governor in 1998, and he returned to campus once more in December 2008 for commencement, this time as president near the end of his second term.
“When I leave office next month, I will depart confident in the future of our country, because I have faith in each of you,” Bush said. “I will depart uplifted by the many acts of courage and service that I have witnessed these past eight years.”
He came to the George H.W. Bush Library again in 2014 to discuss his book 41: A Portrait of My Father with the elder Bush in the audience.