off the deck of the USS San Jacinto in WW2. In the late 80's - early 90's there was an attempt to Swiftboat an incident where his plane was shot down

and his crew members were killed. Basically, he was accused of letting his crew die while he saved himself. Several other pilots who witnessed the

incident came to his defense, saying that, if anything, he stayed with the plane far too long trying to give his crew members a chance to escape the

burning plane. Seconds after he jumped, the plane exploded in a fireball. The incident is recounted in the book 'Flyboys' by James Bradley, the same

guy who wrote 'Flags of our Fathers'.

He's been scorned for being born with a silver spoon in his mouth but he never ducked his duty or responsibilities. In the Gulf War he held together

an unlikely coalition of nations consisting of Israel, Saudi Arabia, etc. He convinced Israel against retaliating against Scud missle attacks from Iraq,

knowing that retaliation against an Arab nation would cause the coalition to fall apart. After Iraq was defeated he resisted pressure from the

chickenhawks to keep going into Baghdad, foreseeing what an abortion that would turn out to be.

His Secret Service details from his White House years have nothing but good things to say about him and his wife. Polititians today would do well

to take a page from his book.

P.S. Please don't take any of the above as any kind of endorsement for W. 🥷