of small note cards to be able to turn out a continuous flow of bread and butter notes, greetings, and
working communications, some of which could be delivered to diplomats present in the room whereBush was sitting. In this way, Bush succeeded in ingratiating himself with many delegates. This
practice foreshadows his later "speed-dialing mode" of contacts with world leaders during crises
such as the Gulf adventure. [fn 32]
Bush spent just less than two years at the UN. His tenure coincided with some of the mostmonstruous crimes against humanity of the Nixon- Kissinger duo, for whom Bush functioned as an (^)
international spokesman to whom no Kissinger policy was too odious to be enthusiatically
proclaimed before the international community and world public opinion. Through this doggedly
loyal service, Bush forged a link with Nixon that would be ephemeral but vital for his career while
it lasted, and a link with Kissinger that would be decisive in shaping Bush's own administration in1988-89. The way in which Bush set about organizing the anti-Iraq coalition of 1990-91 was
decisively shaped by his United Nations experience. His initial approach to the Security Council,
the types of resolutions that were put forward by the US, and the alternation of military escalation
with consultations among the five permanent members of the Security Council- all this harkened
back to the experience Bush acquired as Kissinger's envoy to the world body.
Towards the close of Bush's posting to the UN, his father, Prescott Bush, died at the Sloan-
Kettering Hospital in New York City. It was October 8, 1972. Prescott Bush had been diagnosed as
suffering from lung cancer.
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NOTES:
- In 1970, Bush's portfolio included 29 companies in which he had an interest of more than $4000.
He had 10,000 sshares of AT&T, 832 shares of CBShares of American general Insurance Co., 5,500 s, and 581 shares of Industries Exchange Fund. He also heldhares of American Standard, 200
stock in the Kroger Compny, Simplex Wire and Cale Co. (25,000 shares), IBM, and Allied
Chemical. In addition, he had created a trust fund for his children. - James Reston, Jr., The Lone Star: The Life of John Connally (New York, 1989), p. 380.
3 Safire, Before the Fall, p. 646. - Walter Pincus and Bob Woodward, "Presidential Posts and Dashed Hopes," Washington Post,
August 9, 1988. - Reston, p. 382.
- Bush and Gold, Looking Forward, p. 110.
- For the Nixon side of the Bush UN appointment, see William Safire, Before the Fall (New York,
1977), especially "The President Falls in Love," pp. 642 ff. - Reston, p. 382. Reston (pp. 586-587) tells the story of how, years later in the 1980 Iowa caucuses
campaign when both Bush and Connadenigration of his manhood in remarks to Texans that Bush was 'all hat and no cattle.' Bush waslly were in the race, Bush was enraged by Connally's (^)
walking by a television set in the Hotel Fort Des Moines when Connally came on the screen. Bush
reached out toward Connally's image on the screen as if to shake hands. Then Bush screamed,
"Thank you, sir, for all the kind things you and your friends have been saying about me!" Then
Bush slammed his fist on the top of the set, yelling "That prick!"