By Jeremy Weldon
Editor

President George H.W. Bush died over the weekend, the last American president to have served in WWII. A national day of mourning has been declared for Wednesday and we should all take time to remember one of the finest men to serve in the high offices of Washington.

His passing reminded me of the campaign stop he made in Greenville in the summer of 1992, and a couple of things still stand out in my mind about that day. President Bush was the favored incumbent, but Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton was making serious waves, and the Bush people knew it would be a tough campaign.

The national media had latched onto the fresh, young Clinton (we didn’t know just how fresh at the time) and his clean cut running mate with pedigree Al Gore (who thinks he invented the internet). Bush was old and tired, they said, and then started a rumor that the economy was terrible (it wasn’t) and started the catch-phrase “It’s the economy, stupid” to chant at the Democratic rallies.

It was just ignored that Bush had navigated the nation through the tumultuous waters of the end of the Cold War, and while his domestic policies tended to be moderate to liberal, his firm conservatism had kept America safe and the trade barriers low. People remember Ronald Reagan’s great speech imploring Russian leader Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” but forget that the Berlin Wall was finally torn down in 1989 when Bush was president.

Anyway, Bush stopped at the Greenville airport for a short rally. It was the first time I’d seen Air Force One up close and I remember how remarkably low and slow the plane flew. Being the Delta, we could see it when it went over Benoit and watched it slowly get closer, flying much lower than a normal plane.

At the rally the podium and chairs for local officials were set up on the back of a flatbed trailer with a few red and blue decorations hung up. Bush spoke for about 15 minutes and then headed to the rope lines to shake hands. I’ll never forget seeing the president jump off the trailer with no assistance from aides, and never missed a step when he hit the ground. He was wearing Wingtips and I wondered how he didn’t fall or at least sprain an ankle. I knew he was a pretty good athlete and had been a great baseball player at Yale, but was still impressed with his almost five-foot jump onto the tarmac.

I also remember how tall and strong he was at the time and how firmly he shook hands with each of the media gathered for the short press conference. Even then, I think, he was seeing bad internal numbers and he seemed to be going through the motions. It was grand day for the Republican Party in the Delta, though, and there must have been 40 seersucker suits and white hats in the crowd.

One other thing I remember from that rally is sort of an interesting free speech question. At the time Clinton was yammering about a debate and the incumbent, of course, was putting him off. Clinton is a natural for television and his campaign managers thought he would run circles around Bush on live television.

At the rally, this fellow dressed in a full chicken suit – the thing must have been eight feet tall – came through the gates with a sign that said “Poultry Farmers For Bush” in big letters. When the Secret Service patted us down they really looked him over, but let him on through finally.

Once the rally started the chicken man tore off the top layer of his sign and the writing underneath said “Chicken George Won’t Debate.” He started flapping around and clucking and showing his sign and all the media took his picture and the T.V. people got some shots.

The Secret Service hustled him on out of there pretty quickly but he got his point across. We talked about it then, and I wonder even now, why the chicken man had to leave. He wasn’t causing any problems other than holding up the sign that said “Chicken George.” It was a pro-Bush rally for sure, but I’ve always thought the fellow had a case of free speech infringement when he was tossed out with his sign.

Funny how that was a big deal to us back then. Now at political rallies people are punching one another, saying really crazy things, and generally acting foolish. Jackassery abounds.

Sometimes they even wear hats that look like lady parts on purpose. The ones driven insane by the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh pounded on the doors of the Supreme Court and clawed at the great wooden doors with the fingernails when they were shut out of the court.

I miss the kinder, gentler President Bush and the more peaceful days of politics when making a ruckus was dressing up like a chicken and holding a sign at a rally where the candidate spoke from a trailer, and jumped off to shake hands with the people.