that a biography might stimulate opposition to Bush and his policies. It will certainly, if
only by virtue of its novelty, pose a new set of problems to those seeking to get Bush re-
elected. For although Bush is now what journalists call a world leader, no accurate
account on his actual career exists in the public domain.
The volume, which we submit herewith to the court of world public opinion, is, to the
best of our knowledge, the first and only book- length, unauthorized biography of George
Bush. It is the first approximation of the truth about his life. This is the first biography
worthy of the name, a fact that says a great deal about the sinister power and obsessive
secrecy of this personage. None of the other self-announced biographies (including
Bush's campaign autobiography) can be taken seriously; each of these books is a pastiche
of lies, distortions and banalities that run the gamut from campaign panegyric to the
Goebbels Big Lie to fake but edifying stories for credulous children. Almost without
exception, the available Bush literature is worthless.
But with Bush, this is only the beginning of the problem. Bush's family pedigree
establishes him as a network asset of Brown Brothers, Harriman, one of the most
powerful political forces in the United States during much of the twentieth century, and
for many years the largest private bank in the world. It suffices in this context to think of
Averell Harriman negotiating during World War II in the name of the United States with
Churchill and Stalin, or of the role of Brown Brothers, Harriman partner Robert Lovett in
guiding John F. Kennedy's choice of his cabinet, to begin to see the implications of
Senator Prescott Bush's post as managing partner of this bank. Brown Brothers, Harriman
networks pervade government and the mass media. Again and again in the course of the
following pages we will see stories embarrassing to George Bush refused publication,
documents embarrassing to Bush suspiciously disappear, and witnesses inculpatory to
Bush be overtaken by mysterious and conveniently timed deaths. This gigantic apparatus
has necessarily filtered the few relevant facts, which have found their way here and there
into the public domain. This problem has been compounded by the corruption and
servility of authors, journalists, news executives and publishers who have functioned
more and more as kept advocates for Bush.
George Bush wants key aspects of his life to remain covert. At the same time, he senses
that his need for cover-up is vulnerability. The need to protect this weak flank accounts
for the steady stream of fake biographical and historical material concerning George, as
well as the spin given to many studies of recent history that may never mention George
directly. Over the past several months, we have seen a new book about Watergate that
pretends to tell the public something new by fingering Al Haig as Deep Throat, but
ignoring the central role of George Bush and his business partners in the Watergate affair.
We have a new book by Lt. Col. Oliver North, which alleges that Reagan knew
everything about the Iran-contra affair, but that George Bush was not part of North's
chain of command. The latter point merely paraphrases Bush's own lame excuse that he
was "out of the loop" during all those illegal transactions. During the hearings on the
nomination of Robert Gates to become Director of Central Intelligence, nobody had
anything new to add about the role of George Bush, the boss of the National Security
Council's Special Situation Group crisis staff that was a command center for the whole