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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsW stands for Walker- George Walker Bush
Anyone know if there is a family connection?
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PinkTiger
(2,590 posts)His great grandfather was George Herbert Walker.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)
Sid
Octafish
(55,745 posts)SidDithers
(44,228 posts)
Sid
Octafish
(55,745 posts)SidDithers
(44,228 posts)I have been exposing the racist and homophobic sources that you continually bring to DU.
Racists and homophobes don't belong on a progressive messageboard, wouldn't you agree?
Sid
Octafish
(55,745 posts)[font size="8"][font color="red"]Any examples of where Octafish is a racist or homophobe: Please post. [/font color][/font size]
And if you don't want to post because of what I wrote is so horrible, PM me and I'll repost anonymously.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)You fucking can't, because I've absolutely never accused you of being a racist or homophobe.
What I have accused you of, and of which there is ample evidence, is linking to and promoting writers who are themselves racists and homophobes.
You do it when you link to Wayne Madsen, as you did here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6057873
and here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=522719
You can do your own fucking research as to why Wayne Madsen is an homophobic piece of shit.
You do it when you link to Paul Craig Roberts, as you did here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2079919
and here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4504297
and here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6101684
etc.
Again, you can do your own fucking research as to why PCR is a racist asshat.
The fact that you have a propensity for linking to racists and homophobes has led to me to question whether you care at all about social issues. I ask myself why, if you know that these authors hold odious opinions, do you continue to use them on a progressive messageboard like DU. Is it that you think those disgusting opinions don't matter? Is it that you think issues like racism and homopohobia aren't important? Is it that you don't believe Madsen is a homophobe or PCR is a racist?
Only you know the answer to those questions, octafish of DU.
And you won't tell us what the answer is.
Sid
Octafish
(55,745 posts)SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Is it because you don't think racism and homophobia are important?
Or is it because you don't think Madsen is a homophobe and PCR is a racist?
Racists and homophobes don't belong at DU. Wouldn't you agree?
Sid
Octafish
(55,745 posts)I've asked you, repeatedly over the years, to show what you term my "propensity for promoting and legitimizing the work of noted bigots, racists, homophobes and conspiracy theorist lunatics. You're a guy who thinks white-nationalist Paul Craig Roberts and insane homophobe Wayne Madsen are credible, and appropriate sources for use on a progressive message board."
Seeing how you fail to actually show any of that, I want these to be in the record for all DU to see:
Where I quoted Roberts when he supported Don Siegelman:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022073759
Where I quoted Madsen recently to document the business links between Bush and bin Laden:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6059251
Where I first quoted Madsen on DU2 in 2003 (earlier examples exist, but none so illustrative):
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x610051
Where you smear Naomi Klein, making me think the practice is your speciality:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5318151
You will note that I did not support racism or homophobia; I only posted what these people wrote. And as far I as I knew or know, none of these people are anything like what you describe, SidDithers of DU.
What's a person called who repeats something that is not true, SidDithers of DU?
OP: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6178887
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Ok then. What is someone who promotes the writings of racists and homophobe, despite being told that they're racists and homophobes?
Sid
Then you're willfully blind.
Sid
zappaman
(20,606 posts)"I had no idea the guy who wrote that article is a disgusting anti-Semite. Thanks for letting me know."
Oh well...
zappaman
(20,606 posts)"Rather unbelievably (or believably, depending on where you sit) Mearsheimer has written an endorsement of Atzmon's new book, "The Wandering Who?" Here is what Mearsheimer says about Atzmon:
Gilad Atzmon has written a fascinating and provocative book on Jewish identity in the modern world. He shows how assimilation and liberalism are making it incredibly difficult for Jews in the Diaspora to maintain a powerful sense of their 'Jewishness.' Panicked Jewish leaders, he argues, have turned to Zionism (blind loyalty to Israel) and scaremongering (the threat of another Holocaust) to keep the tribe united and distinct from the surrounding goyim. As Atzmon's own case demonstrates, this strategy is not working and is causing many Jews great anguish. The Wandering Who? Should be widely read by Jews and non-Jews alike.'
In this new book, Atzmon suggests, among other things, that scholars should reopen the question of medieval blood libels leveled against Jews-- accusations that Jews used the blood of Christian children to make matzo, and which provoked countless massacres of Jews in many different countries.
Gliad Atzmon, by the way, is also on record saying this:
"I believe that from certain ideological perspective, Israel is actually far worse than Nazi Germany."
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/09/john-mearsheimer-endorses-a-hitler-apologist-and-holocaust-revisionist/245518/
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)but I can't say I'm surprised that there are other authors that are anathema to liberal values, that octafish has brought to DU.
Sid
zappaman
(20,606 posts)Another questionable author to promote on DU...
http://election.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5888050
Here's what Al Jazeera had to say...
http://m.aljazeera.com/story/20129410312450511
"I spent a few hours on www.israelshamir.net and learned that: 'the Jews' foisted capitalism, advertising and consumerism on harmonious and modest Christian Europe; were behind Stalin's famine in Ukraine; control the banks, the media and many governments; and that 'Palestine is not the ultimate goal of the Jews; the world is.' There are numerous guest articles by Holocaust deniers, aka 'historical revisionists.'"
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Israel_Shamir
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Here's a recent example:
Who enabled NAZI Germany to round up the Jews? Think IBM.
An older one:
Heir to the Holocaust: How the Bush Family Fortune Is Linked to the NAZIs
And a really old one:
The Odd Hypocrite: The NAZI Bush Celebrates the NAZI Defeat
There are many, many score more, including some beauts going back further. I don't recall you even once adding to the factual discussion, though.
zappaman
(20,606 posts)Good to know...
Another questionable author to promote on DU...
http://election.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5888050
Here's what Al Jazeera had to say...
http://m.aljazeera.com/story/20129410312450511
"I spent a few hours on www.israelshamir.net and learned that: 'the Jews' foisted capitalism, advertising and consumerism on harmonious and modest Christian Europe; were behind Stalin's famine in Ukraine; control the banks, the media and many governments; and that 'Palestine is not the ultimate goal of the Jews; the world is.' There are numerous guest articles by Holocaust deniers, aka 'historical revisionists.'"
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Israel_Shamir
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Why not answer my question: Where do you add to what we know about the Bush Walker families?
zappaman
(20,606 posts) Octafish
(55,745 posts)Why do you have a problem with that? Don't you know it's undemocratic to shout someone down so they can't be heard?
zappaman
(20,606 posts)Kind of hard for you to pretend not to know.
Who, then, qualifies as an anti-Semite in John Mearsheimer’s world? One has to assume the bar is set very high: you would have to explicitly declare your hatred of Jews as individuals, for instance, or advocate that Jews should sit in separate subway cars. But if you use the Holocaust as a stick with which to beat the Jews, or slyly undermine its “narrative,” or assert that conspiracy theories bear some correspondence to reality, or argue that Jewish government officials are more suspect than others because of their dual loyalty to Israel, that’s not anti-Semitism, he would say — just an honest expression of legitimate opinions.
It’s worth remembering that when the term “anti-Semitism” was coined in 19th-century Germany, its authors were not Jews, but Jew-haters. They wore the badge of anti-Semitism with pride, creating political parties with such names as the “League of Anti-Semites.” The word was owned not by the victims, but by the perpetrators.
In that sense, nothing much has changed. The torrid controversies around anti-Semitism today indicate that the Jewish community has claimed neither the ownership nor the definition of the word. That’s why John Mearsheimer thinks his understanding of anti-Semitism is far superior to yours or mine. And that, you might say, is the greatest scandal of all.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/national/john_mearsheimer_and_scandal_wasnt
Would you like more links to ignore?
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Where is he a racist or homophobe, zappaman?
Not in anything I've seen in his writings; nor in your posts, for that matter..
zappaman
(20,606 posts)John Mearsheimer Endorses a Hitler Apologist and Holocaust Revisionist
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/09/john-mearsheimer-endorses-a-hitler-apologist-and-holocaust-revisionist/245518/
Octafish
(55,745 posts)by M.J. Rosenberg
Pulse, July 24, 2010
For two days, the Atlantic’s Jeff Goldberg has been calling Stephen Walt, John Mearsheimer and other critics of Bibi Netanyahu “anti-Semites.” Nothing new about that. For Goldberg, a major AIPAC neocon, all critics of Israeli policies are anti-Semites by definition. (See this good piece on Goldberg).
But why is he obsessing about Walt so much now?
It is because, in August, Goldberg is coming out with his big Atlantic piece calling on the United States to bomb Iran so that Israel does not have to.
But Goldberg has a problem. As an American who chose to serve in the Israeli army (he was a guard at a Palestinian prison camp), he fears that Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer — who accused the Likud lobby of promoting war with Iraq in their groundbreaking bestseller — will point out that Goldberg is just about the least credible advocate for war with Iran.
I mean, think about it. How many Americans are so dedicated to Israel that they join its army and take its citizenship? I’ll tell you. A couple of thousand since 1948. So it is fair to say that Jeff Goldberg is extraordinarily loyal to Israel. Unlike the other neocons, he is no chickenhawk. He served in the military — just not ours.
And Goldberg needs to prevent commentators and pundits from citing that fact when his Iran call-to-arms comes out. If he can label Walt (and others) anti-Semites, he thinks they will not be able to remind readers that Goldberg who helped lie us into Iraq out of dubious motives and loyalties is simply trying to do it again.
CONTINUED w/links and sources...
http://pulsemedia.org/2010/07/24/why-jeff-goldberg-is-losing-it/
That was at the time. Lot of PNAC under the bridge since then.
zappaman
(20,606 posts)It should not really be surprising that Mearsheimer would endorse a book like The Wandering Who. At least two studies (here and here, both based on European samples) have found that a strong animus toward Israel tends to go hand in hand with dislike of Jews.
Mearsheimer kept at it in a London Review of Books article on November 16 last year, published two days after Israel launched Operation Pillar of Defense to stop rocket fire from Gaza. In Mearsheimer’s telling, of course, Israel had far more nefarious aims. Whereas Hamas “appears to have been interested in working out a long-term ceasefire,” it was Israel that had “decided to ratchet up the violence.”
Israel’s real aim was to “beat…the Palestinians into submission,” to “create a Greater Israel that stretches from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,” in which “the Palestinians…will be forced to live in impoverished enclaves.” It was all “part of a long-term strategy to coerce the Palestinians into giving up their pursuit of self-determination and submitting to Israeli rule in an apartheid state.”
And if the U.S. should screw up the courage to object to any of this,
The key to keeping Washington on board is the Israel lobby, which pressures American leaders to side with Israel against the Palestinians and do hardly anything to stop the colonisation of the Occupied Territories.
All of this, of course, hardly jibes with facts—such as Israel’s total withdrawal from Gaza seven years earlier; such as the current intensive, John Kerry-impelled, Israeli-Palestinian talks on a two-state solution. But Mearsheimer’s article jibed well with the paradigm of “I have nothing against Jews, but their state, and their ‘lobby,’ are at all times devious, manipulative, and cruel.”
From another standpoint, too, Mearsheimer’s hang-up with Israel (and Jews) should not come as a surprise, considering that in strongly pro-Israel America one of the main redoubts of Israel-phobia is academia. John Mearsheimer (and to a lesser extent his colleague Stephen Walt) has helped create a climate where Israel is singled out for bigoted boycotts and mendacious propaganda.
http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/12/22/the-ten-worst-u-s-purveyors-of-antisemitism-8-john-mearsheimer/?singlepage=true
Would you like more links about this anti-Semite?
Octafish
(55,745 posts)PJ Media is a media company and operator of an eponymous conservative opinion and commentary website. The organization was formerly known as "Pajamas Media." Their purpose is to broadcast news exclusively via the Internet and YouTube, focusing primarily on politics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PJ_Media
I wonder what they know about blackmail?
zappaman
(20,606 posts)Historically, Mearsheimer was content to sit back and use the same rhetoric and excuses as anti-Israel bigots. Then he ventured into supporting one of them, and then he doubled down on his support. And now not even people who want to see the Jewish State extinguished will travel with Mearsheimer’s chosen fellow traveler.
Late last year, the University of Chicago’s Conservative Quarterly Counterpoint published an article on the Mearsheimer/Atzmon controversy. The piece contained a non-exhaustive list of anti-Semitic passages from Atzmon’s book, but it was particularly notable for its pointed opening sentence: “When, after a long career built on a theory that domestic political relationships had a minimal impact on any state’s foreign policy, John Mearsheimer co-wrote The Israel Lobby, a popular book alleging the maximal impact of a small cabal on American foreign policy, we were perplexed at the incoherence.”
Quite so. Mearsheimer had to give up a lifetime of almost metaphysical theory of international relations work so he could scapegoat American Jews and pro-Israel Christians for the world’s problems. Apparently, he gave up more than a little bit of his dignity as well.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/03/14/mearsheimer-anti-semitism-scandal/
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Here's what I'd like to add:
The Bush Family: A Continuing Criminal Enterprise?
Gary W. Potter, PhD.
Professor, Criminal Justice
Eastern Kentucky University
The S&Ls, the Mob and the Bushs
During the 1980's hundred of Savings and Loan Banks failed. Those bank failures cost U.S. taxpayers over $500 billion to cover federally insured losses, and much more to investigate the bank failures (Pizzo, Fricker, and Muolo, 1989; Brewton, 1992; Johnston, 1990). More than 75% of the Savings and Loan insolvencies where directly linked to serious and often criminal misconduct by senior financial insiders (Pizzo, Fricker and Muolo, 1989: 305). In fact, less than 10 percent of bank failures are related to economic conditions, the rest are caused by mismanagement or criminal conduct (Pizzo, Fricker and Muolo, 1989: 305).
A good example of the Savings and Loan failures can be found in the activities of Mario Renda, a Savings and Loan insider who often worked in close collaboration with organized crime (Pizzo, Fricker and Muolo, 1989: 123-126;302). Renda served as a middle man in arranging about $5 billion a year in deposits into 130 Savings and Loans, all of which failed (Kwitny, 1992: 27). Many of these deposits were made contingent on an agreement that the Savings and Loan involved would lend money to borrowers recommended by Renda, many of whom were organized crime figures or people entirely unknown to the banking institution involved (Kwitny, 1992: 27).
Equally good examples of financial misconduct in the Savings and Loan scandal is found in the activities of the Bush family. In some cases Bush family members helped skim Savings and Loan funds which were delivered to outsiders as a part of deals involving lucrative payoffs to bank directors. In other cases, members of the Bush family intervened to influence decisions involving highly speculative and unsound investments involving loans that would not be repaid if the venture was not profitable. And finally, the Bush family’s political connection served to protect those guilty of misconduct in the Savings and Loan scandal (Kwitny, 1992: 24).
SNIP...
Jeb Bush: Influence Peddling for a “Bust-Out” Scam
But, Neil Bush was not the only Bush brother involved in the Savings and Loan collapses. Jeb Bush’s, the current Governor of Florida, curious relationship with Miguel Recarey is another illustration. Recarey was a long-time business associate of Tampa organized crime figure Santos Trafficante. Recarey also fled the U.S. facing three separate indictments for labor racketeering, illegal wiretapping and Medicare fraud (Freedburg, 1988: A1). Recarey’s business, International Medical Centers, was the largest health maintenance organization for the elderly in the U.S. and had been supported from $1 billion in payments from the Medicare program. International Medical Centers went bankrupt in 1988 (Freedburg, 1988: A1; Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). When International Medical Centers went under it left $222 million in unpaid bills and was under investigation for $100 million in Medicare fraud (Freedbrug, 1988: A1; Frisby, 1992: G1). The U.S. Office of Labor Racketeering in Miami referred to Recarey and his company as “the classic case of embezzlement of government funds ... “a bust-out operation” (Freedburg, 1988: A1)
Jeb Bush’s role in this saga being in 1985 when Recarey’s attempt to create his “bust-out scam” corporation ran into a federal regulation that said no HMO could get more that 50% of its revenue from Medicare (Freedburg, 1988: A1; Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). Jeb Bush intervened on Recarey’s behalf with Helath Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler and one of her top aides. Convincing them to waive the regulation in the case of Recarey’s company (Freedburg, 1988: A1; Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). In addition to Jeb Bush’s intervention, Recarey had paid $1 million to senior Republican lobbyists in Washington, who were also working the staff of Health and Human Services in pursuance of a waiver (Freedburg, 1988: A1; Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). In addition, Jeb Bush had contacted Secretary Heckler earlier about complaints from doctors over the quality of International Medical Centers’ care and allegations that Recarey had embezzled funds form another hospital (Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). Jeb Bush told an aide to Secretary Heckler that “contrary to any rumors that were floating around concerning Mr. Recarey, that he was a solid citizen from Mr. Bush’s perspective down there [in Miami], that he was a good community citizen and a good supporter of the Republican Party” (Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4).
Not surprisingly, in 1988 Recarey’s company gave Jeb Bush’s real estate company $75,000 to help it find a site for a new corporate headquarters (Freedburg, 1988: A1; Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4). It was a bad investment because International Medical Centers had already selected a corporate headquarters location when it hired Jeb Bush (Royce and Shaw, 1988: 4).
Jeb Bush had a role in yet another Savings and Loan fiasco when he defaulted on a loan from Broward Federal Savings and Loan (LaFraniere , 1990: A24). Broward Federal loaned $4,565.000 to J Edward Houston, a real developer in February, 1985. The loan was secured only by Houston’s personal guarantee. On the same day, one of Houston’s company lent the same amount to a partnership made up of Jeb Bush and Armondo Codina for the purpose of purchasing a building in Miami. The Bush-Condina partnership was required to repay the loan only if revenues from the building were sufficient to cover the repayment. Bush and Condina made no payments on the loan at all and in 1987 Houston defaulted on the Broward Federal loan and the Bank sued both Houston and the Bush-Condina real estate partnership. In a sweetheart settlement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Bush and Codina only had to repay $500,000 of the $4.5 million loan and got to retain ownership of the building which had been the collateral on the loan. In 1991, the FDIC sued the officers and directors of Broward Federal charging that the loan ultimately used by Bush and Codina was an example of the bank’s negleient lending practices (Frisby, 1992: G1). The Bush-Codina loan played a key part in the failure of Broward Federal which cost taxpayers $285 million (LaFraniere , 1990: A24).
CONTINUED...
http://critcrim.org/critpapers/potter.htm
I've written about the BFEE on DU for more than 13 years. In all that time, why is that you have never added anything factual to the discussion?
2naSalit
(86,508 posts)on the Google:
http://voicesnewspaper.blogspot.com/2012/07/is-scottie-related-to-walkerbush-clan.html
It might take some time but I bet that if they are related, the info is out there somewhere... and would really connect a buch of seemingly wayward dots.
It's a really good question that I had pondered myself.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)POWERFUL ALLIANCE AIDS BUSHES' RISE
FINANCIER GEORGE HERBERT WALKER PROVIDED MONEY AND SUPPORT FOR THE CLIMB TO POWER
BUSH FAMILY'S LONG PATH TO POWER
FIRST OF TWO PARTS
By Michael Kranish
Boston Globe Staff
Prescott S. Bush hardly seemed destined to lead a political dynasty when he arrived in Massachusetts in the 1920s. Nothing about his circumstances foreshadowed that his descendants would include two Republican presidents. Here was the young Bush, struggling to run a Braintree rubber factory while receiving little financial help from his wealthy father, a Democrat.
But another figure loomed in Bush's life: his father-in-law, George Herbert Walker, a powerful and much-feared financier who also happened to be a die-hard Republican. With Walker's intervention, Bush soon left the unglamorous factory to become one of the most successful bankers on Wall Street and, eventually, a Republican senator from Connecticut.
In time, the sons of these men would tie the Bush-Walker bonds even tighter. George H.W. Bush, Prescott Bush's son and eventually the 41st president, received hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment money at a crucial moment, from Walker's son. Without the Walker money, without the extraordinary Walker devotion, there might well never have been two Presidents Bush.
This is the story of the rise of the Bushes, the indispensable role of the Walkers, and the path to power laid by Prescott Bush. It is in many ways a saga akin to that of the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, a sweeping drama that has love and money and politics - and privilege beyond the dreams of most Americans.
The English-bred Bushes and the Scottish Walkers both arrived in New England before the American Revolution. The Bushes made their fortune in the steel plants and railroads of Ohio, while the Walkers flourished in finance in Missouri.
As certifiable Brahmins, both families returned to New England for long summer vacations, formed their bond in the seaside resort of Kennebunkport, Maine, and later lived side by side for decades in the moneyed New York City suburb of Greenwich, Conn. Like so many dynasties, this one was built with fortunes won, and nearly lost,
that were then applied to the pursuit of political power.
In this tale, there is no Joe Kennedy urging his brood to politics. But the cast of characters is perhaps no less compelling: the Bush patriarch, Samuel Prescott Bush, who lost his wife in a tragic Rhode Island accident; the Walker patriarch George Herbert Walker, who sometimes seemed to care more for his Bush in-laws than his own children; the famed Democrat, W. Averell Harriman, who saved Prescott Bush from bankruptcy; and Dorothy Walker Bush, a debutante dynamo who married Prescott and forever linked the two families.
CONTINUED...
http://www.michaelkranish.com/Michael_Kranish/Bush_Family_History.html
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)location on the Beelzabub Scale of Normed Evil.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)A guy I know is a Walker Cup alum (UK side). When the Cup was held at NGLA in 13 the alums had a tournament at Pine Valley and Shinnicock. I am beyond jealous.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)Back to Thomas Walker 1850 of Quebec back to Thomas Walker 1811 Scotland.
Descended, in what must be a massive irony - from THE Roger Williams.
George Bush is here
http://www.wargs.com/political/bush.html
descended from George Walker 1797
So the answers seem to be
a) not on the Walker line, and
b) if somewhere else, not close enough to make a difference
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)Some speculate that Rubio is related to Bushes somehow too.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)POWERFUL ALLIANCE AIDS BUSHES' RISE
FINANCIER GEORGE HERBERT WALKER PROVIDED MONEY AND SUPPORT FOR THE CLIMB TO POWER
BUSH FAMILY'S LONG PATH TO POWER
By Michael Kranish
Boston Globe Staff
EXCERPT...
The Missouri financier
It was 1903, and George Herbert Walker was well on his way toward building a fortune and an extended family that would spawn a senator, two governors, and two presidents. A tough bear of a man, a Missouri heavyweight boxing champion who frequently fought and sometimes pummeled his own sons, who liked his Scotch and his racehorses, Walker lived a gilded life in the grandest style.
As the genius behind the successful investment firm he founded and ran mostly by himself - G. H. Walker and Co. of St. Louis - Walker not only maintained the "Walker's Point" estate in Kennebunkport, but also a New York mansion on Long Island, a stunning residence at One Sutton Place in Manhattan, and a 10,000-acre hunting preserve called Duncannon in South Carolina. There were servants, perhaps 15 of them, a yacht, and, when needed, a private train. He believed in these things: golf, hunting, drinking, horses, gambling, a boat named Tomboy, and, eventually, a son-in-law named Prescott Bush.
George Herbert Walker was supposed to have led a much different life: His Scottish Catholic family had planned for him to be a priest. But when his parents sent him to England to prepare for the priesthood, Walker rebelled.
"As a result of that stern schooling, he grew to hate Catholicism and married a Protestant," Dorothy Walker, his daughter and the president's grandmother, said in a 1980 family history. Walker's family "was so upset he married a non-Catholic that they did not attend their wedding," she said.
The clash with Catholicism would play a role in the presidential campaigns of former President Bush, an Episcopalian, and President Bush, a Methodist, both of whom struggled to get the Catholic vote.
By all accounts, George Herbert Walker inspired awe and fear even among those closest to him, including his wife. "He was a tough father, a tough old bastard," said one of his grandchildren, Elsie Walker. "There really wasn't a lot of love on the part of the boys for their father."
A private man who disliked being photographed, Walker nonetheless maintained a high profile. When a friend named Dwight Davis established the Davis Cup for tennis, Walker decided to do the same for golf. The Walker Cup competition between amateur US and British teams is still known as one of the preeminent golfing tournaments.
CONTINUED...
http://www.michaelkranish.com/Michael_Kranish/Bush_Family_History.html
It's like "House of Cards" except with personal railroads.
