athletes ... was leader of the glee club ... and in his senior year was elected to the famous
Skull and Bones Society.
The day after this astonishing story appeared, there was a large cartoon on the editorial
page. It depicted Prescott Bush as a small boy, reading a storybook about military
heroism, and saying: "Gee! I wonder if anything like that could ever truly happen to a
boy." The caption below was a rehash of the batting- away- the-deadly-shell exploit,
written in storybook style.
Local excitement about the military "Babe Ruth" lasted just four weeks. Then this somber
little box appeared on the front page:
Editor State Journal:
A cable received from my son, Prescott S. Bush, brings word that he has not been
decorated, as published in the papers a month ago. He feels dreadfully troubled that a
letter, written in a spirit of fun, should have been misinterpreted. He says he is no hero
and asks me to make explanations. I will appreciate your kindness in publishing this
letter....
Flora Sheldon Bush.
Columbus, Sept. 5
Prescott Bush later claimed that he spent "about 10 or 11 weeks" in the area of combat in
France. "We were under fire there.... It was quite exciting, and of course a wonderful
experience."
Prescott Bush was discharged in mid-1919, and returned for a short time to Columbus,
Ohio. But his humiliation in his hometown was so intense that he could no longer live
there. The "war hero" story was henceforth not spoken of in his presence. Decades later,
when he was an important, rich U.S. Senator, the story was whispered and puzzled over
among the Congressmen.
Looking to be rescued from this ugly situation, Captain Bush went to the 1919 reunion of
his Yale class in New Haven, Connecticut. Skull and Bones Patriarch Wallace Simmons,
closely tied to the arms manufacturers, offered Prescott Bush a job in his St. Louis
railroad equipment company. Bush took the offer and moved to St. Louis--and his
destiny.
A Thoroughbred Marriage
Prescott Bush went to St. Louis to repair his troubled life. Sometime that same year,
Averell Harriman made a trip there on a project, which would have great consequences
for Prescott. The 28- year-old Harriman, until then something of a playboy, wanted to
bring his inherited money and contacts into action in the arena of world affairs.