Blunt: President Bush stood up straight, took responsibility, shared the credit and took the blame

(From Sen. Roy Blunt)

This week, I went down to the Senate floor to pay my respects to a great statesman, president, husband, and father.

President George H.W. Bush had the best qualities of his generation, the Greatest Generation. He stood up straight, took responsibility, shared the credit, and took the blame.

When the Soviet Union collapsed during his presidency, he exemplified the best of American diplomacy and helped steer Eastern Europe toward democracy. From World War II naval pilot to president of the United States, George H.W. Bush's example and service made a world changing difference.

You can watch the full remarks here and read the excerpts below:

“Certainly in Missouri, we claim part of the Bush family. His mother grew up in Missouri. The Walkers were from Missouri, and he treated Missouri like it was one of the states that he was connected to by relationship. His Uncle Herbert, along with his grandfather and later his Uncle Herbert and the rest of the family, would go in the summer to Walker's Point, named after that Missouri part of his family, just like the Walker's Cup is named after that part of his family. The impact of his mother is pretty great. I heard the president talking the other day on an interview with Jenna Bush about who he would look for when he got to heaven and that was a couple years ago, I think and he said, well, if Barbara has gone there first, I think the right answer would be, I'm going to look for her first. But then he said, and I think my mom and my dad. He said their daughter that they had lost when she was three, Robin, but his mother was an important part of his life. And you could tell that in talking to him or his children that remembered their grandmother and you could see a lot of what she taught him in him. …

“Another part of his upbringing was sort of the upbringing of in many ways the best values of that World War II generation. Stand up straight, take responsibility, share credit, take blame. Those were all part of who George Herbert Walker Bush had become. That idea that you should do what you're supposed to do; that idea of the importance of service to others. …

“And then, Mr. President, the collapse of the Soviet Union. We have just enough time now to look back and I've heard many others in the last few days talk about how that could have gone so badly wrong for all of the other countries that were trying to emerge from the domination of Russia and the Soviet Union. But George Herbert Walker Bush on the phone, reaching out, talking to leaders, seeing the things that had just been predicted by the West Germans themselves to be impossible, that somehow East Germany could become part of West Germany is exactly what happened. The President encouraged, stood beside, went out of the way to be sure that Helmut Kohl, the leader of West Germany, had the kind of support that he and his government needed to reach out and bring this country that had been isolated for 40 years, this part of the country back into the country, that all of these East European countries that were emerging from Soviet domination had a chance to move from domination to democracy. That would not have happened the way it happened if somebody less prepared and less capable had been there.”