included here, so important to president bush, but something that president trump jabbed at when he was on the campaign trail. that put him under scrutiny from former bush aides and allies who weren t quite sure why president trump was going after george h.w. bush there. former first lady barbara bush, at her funeral melania trump attended on behalf of the trump family. president trump said he would not attend, according to the white house, out of respect for the family, steve. hallie, thank you for that. bring in now jon meacham, biographer of george h.w. bush. jon, the moment in his presidency that will probably define it more than any other was the decision to go to war with saddam hussein and iraq in 1991 when saddam hussein had invated kuwait.
it was a controversial decision and he chose to go. he chose to go because he believed this will not stand, this aggression against kuwait. he decided from the 2nd of august 1990 through about the 5th of august that it was important in a post cold war era to attempt to establish a rule of law among nations. he saw kuwait as a victim. he saw saddam hussein as an aggressor. he and james baker successfully marshalled the world to project force around the world in order to try to attempt and, as president bush put it in a speech to congress on september 11th, 1990, that the law of nations should trump the law of the jungle. jon meacham, thank you for joining us. again, the word coming in now. it s about 90 minutes ago that we learned that the former president of the united states george h.w. bush passed away
still keep your humanity, keep your grace, keep your integrity. we have talked about one of the most significant moments, not just in george h.w. bush s presidency but really in modern american history. that is the 1991 gulf war. it was august of 1990 when saddam hussein s forces in iraq invaded kuwait. george h.w. bush formed an international coalition, amassed troops, set a deadline for hussein to withdraw his forces or to face war. got approval from congress. then when that deadline passed and saddam hussein hadn t budged and george h.w. bush declared war. this was that moment. now the 28 countries with forces in the gulf area have exhausted all reasonable efforts to reach a peaceful resolution v no choice but to drive saddam from kuwait by force.
started this cruel war against kuwait. tonight the battle has been joined. reporter: it started as an air war. followed less than six weeks later by a ground war. operation desert storm was short, brutally efficient and successful. kuwait is liberated. iraq s army is defeated. our military objectives are met. kuwait is once more in the hands of kuwaitis in control of their own destiny. tonight the kuwaiti flag, once again, flies above the capital of a free and sovereign nation and the american flag flies above our embassy. seven months ago, america and the world drew a line in the sand. we declared that the addressing against kuwait would not stand. and tonight, america and the world have kept their word.
this will not stand, this aggression against kuwait. i got to go. i have to go to work. reporter: this will not stand, bush said, committing himself to reversing saddam hussein s invasion and rallying an international coalition to help him do it. u.s. and allied forces gathered in the desert and when diplomacy failed, the commander-in-chief launched operation desert storm. just two hours ago, allied air forces began an attack on military forces in iraq and kuwait. these attacks continue as i speak. ground forces are not engaged. this conflict started august 2nd when the dictator of iraq invaded a small and helpless neighbor. kuwait a member of the arab league and a member of the united nations was crushed. its people brutalized. five months ago, saddam hussein