he enrolled in yale, his father s alma mater. in 1946, with the birth of george w., he became a father, himself. bush was a standout at yale, captain of the baseball team, graduating in 1948. but he left his new england roots and with family help got into the oil business in texas. hello, everybody. i m prescott bush, republican candidate for the united states senate. in 1950, prescott bush got into what would become the family business. politics, running for the senate from connecticut. in this early campaign ad, the emphasis was on family. i hope all of you have as much fun and happiness in your family life as we do. my father was totally honest, totally committed to service per se and that inspired me, not just there, but in his whole life. prescott bush lost in 1950
he stayed active, golfing, fishing, boating. even junk out of airplanes to celebrate his 80th, yiefth and 90th birthdays and george bush overcame his political differences with bill clinton, joining forces to help victims of the disastrous 2004 tsunami in asia. the nice thing about it, it sends a signal around the world you can be political opponents and still work together for something more important than your own political future. reporter: clinton was practically a member of the family. everyone is talking about the odd couple. george and bill. or as i now call him, son. reporter: the presidency is among other things a small club and in 2009, a new member was welcomed, president-elect barack
united nations. thank you, mr. president, for this great honor. reporter: bush was a controversial choice for the job of u.n. ambassador, he was inexperienced but enthusiastic. but you got to dream a little. we got to figure out how we can get more support for this organization. reporter: he immersed himself in the big issues of day. the middle east, china versus taiwan. india versus pakistan. he served the president faithfully, though, nixon seemed to think bush should be tougher as he indicated into this phone call to bush in 1971. i want you to hit him frontally, calmly, that clear? take the gloves off. you know exactly what we ve done. okay. bye. all right. ambassador george bush. reporter: george bush at the 1972 gop national convention with 26-year-old george w. and then nixon aide donald rumsfeld. happy moment followed just weeks later by the death of the man
but one a senate seat two years later as reported on election night by nbc news richard hartness. prescott bush, mr. bush is a new york investment banker. he s a partner of able ahrleman, bush will be in the senate as a republican. in texas, george bush prospered. george w. later recalled it as a happy childhood. i grew up in mid-lands, texas. i have a lot of fond memories in midland. through the 50, he was a friend and sometime golfer partner of president eisenhower. in 1966, presidential candidate richard nixon campaigned in connecticut and pressed bush was on hand. how are you? how are you? nixon lost to john f kennedy in 1960. two years later, citing core health, senator prescott bush decided not to run for re-election. with his father out of politic,