Chapter –VII

Skull and Bones: The Racist Nightmare at Yale

``Wise statesmen ... established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some

man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but

white men, were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity should look up

again at the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers

began....''@s1

-- Abraham Lincoln --

Honeymoon

The U.S. Navy delivered George Bush back home for good on Christmas Eve, 1944; the
war in the Pacific raged on over the next half year, with Allied forces taking Southeast
Asia, the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia), and islands such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Barbara Pierce quit Smith College in her sophomore year to marry George. Prescott and
Mother Bush gave a splendid prenuptial dinner at the Greenwich Field Club. The
wedding took place January 6, 1945, in the Rye, New York Presbyterian Church, as the
U.S. Third Fleet bombarded the main Philippine island of Luzon in preparation for
invasion. Afterwards there was a glamorous reception for 300 at Appawamis Country
Club. The newlyweds honeymooned at The Cloisters, a five-star hotel on Sea Island,
Georgia, with swimming, tennis and golf.

George's next assignment was to train pilots at Norfolk, Virginia Naval Air Station.
``George's duty ... was light. As for other young marrieds, whose husbands were between
warzone tours, this was kind of an extended (and paid) honeymoon.''@s2

Japan surrendered in August. That fall, George and Barbara Bush moved to New Haven
where Bush entered Yale University. He and Barbara moved into an apartment at 37
Hillhouse Avenue, across the street from Yale President Charles Seymour.

College life was good to George, what he saw of it. A college career usually occupies
four years. But we know that George Bush is a rapidly moving man. Thus he was pleased
with the special arrangement made for veterans, by which Yale allowed him to get his
degree after attending classes for only two and a half years.