George W. Bush's childhood home
Travel photo to ponder: The last Republican president?
The George W. Bush Childhood Home
George W. Bush is now 78 years old. It’s been 16 years since he left office. The country and the Republican Party have undergone considerable changes since his presidency.
The above photo is of Bush’s childhood home in Midland, Texas. Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut, but spent much of his childhood in Midland, where his father, George H.W. Bush, worked in the oil industry. This house is fairly unique in American history, as it was the home of two future presidents and a First Lady (not to mention a future Florida governor, as well). The only other home you can visit that was similarly home to two future presidents is the John and John Quincy Adams residence in Massachusetts.
When I toured the Bush home several years ago, one of my sons was with me. He loves trains and I remember he was excited to see a train set on the floor in Bush’s childhood bedroom and to find out the future president also played with trains as a child:
The home was otherwise unremarkable in the sense that it looked like what you’d imagine a suburban 1950s residence to look like. The elder Bush, George H.W., came from a prominent and moneyed Connecticut family (his father was a U.S. Senator), but at the time Bush was just a guy trying to make it in the oil business and his young family lived modestly. This was the living room, for instance:
From Reagan-Bush Republicans to Trump Republicans
But the thing that mostly got me thinking about this visit to the Bush home is the upcoming presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. When Trump was first elected in 2016 it was easy to imagine him as an aberration, someone who sort of accidentally stumbled his way into the office given that he didn’t win a majority of GOP voters in the primaries, nor a majority of the national electorate in the fall.
After his 2024 win, however, it’s no longer possible to dismiss him as an aberration. Moreover, it’s obvious that Trump has irrevocably changed the Republican party.
The Reagan-Bush era GOP doesn’t really exist any longer, at least not the one devoted to international alliances, defense of democracy abroad, free trade, and small government. There is still some overlap in terms of a desire to continue cutting taxes and to promote socially conservative causes, but little else. It’s otherwise been eclipsed by Trump’s MAGA movement, devoted to a more isolationist America First economic and immigration agenda. The party’s base has shifted from Main Street/Chamber of Commerce to one more defined by populist, working class voters.
Trump signaled this change back in 2016 when he suggested he wasn’t beholden to traditional conservative principles and noted that the GOP "is called the Republican Party. It's not called the Conservative Party."
Interestingly, a book was written at that time about the relationship between the two Bushes — George H.W. and George W. — called The Last Republicans. The title came from a comment made by the younger Bush: “I’m worried that I will be the last Republican president,” said George W.
Obviously, the Republican party will likely endure and there will be other GOP presidents. Nevertheless, Bush had a point, as the Republican party that he’d known for his whole life was fading into irrelevance.
Mitt Romney likewise said just last month that, while he still doesn’t agree with Trump, he had to acknowledge the old Republican party was dead. “MAGA is the Republican Party and Donald Trump is the Republican Party today,” Romney said.
In this sense, then, Bush indeed was the last Republican president. Or the last traditional Republican in the way it’s been defined at least since Reagan, and probably since Calvin Coolidge a century ago.
Party changes like this have happened before in American political history. There was a time when Republicans were more progressive and Democrats were more conservative. But while a change such as this isn’t unheard of over the sweep of time, it’s still not very common. However, it’s hard to deny that such a shift has, in fact, occurred and that we’re living through a unique moment in American politics.
So if you’re ever in west Texas and want to stop by the Bush home, well, I suppose you can pay homage to the last traditionally conservative Republican president that we’re likely to see for some time.
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Slowly trying to visit all the presidential libraries…but you make a case to consider “boyhood homes” as well. Thanks for another insightful piece Bob.