BOSTON — President George H.W. Bush has received his John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award from one of Kennedy’s grandsons.
Jack Schlossberg presented the award to Bush on Tuesday at the former president’s home in Kennebunkport, Maine.
The award was given in recognition of the political courage Bush demonstrated when he agreed to a 1990 budget compromise that reversed his 1988 campaign pledge not to raise taxes. The move, unpopular with Republicans, may have cost him re-election.
Bush was unable to attend the formal ceremony for the award in May, and his granddaughter, Lauren Bush, accepted on his behalf.
The award is named for Kennedy’s 1957 book, “Profiles in Courage,” which tells the stories of eight U.S. senators who took unpopular stands.
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Excerpt from award citation:
In 1990, with the federal deficit at $200 billion and the Congressional Budget Office suggesting it could double, President Bush negotiated with congressional Democrats to enact a budget deal which included spending cuts and tax increases aimed at reducing the deficit by approximately $500 billion over the following five years. The 1990 bipartisan budget agreement set annual limits on discretionary spending by Congress on defense, domestic programs and international affairs. It also, for the first time, created “pay as you go” rules for entitlements and taxes. In order to reach the deal, Bush agreed to a tax increase as part of the compromise, and he was pilloried by conservatives for doing so. Although he recognized the 1990 budget deal might doom his prospects for reelection, he did what he thought was best for the country and has since been credited with helping to lay the foundation of the economic growth of the 1990s that followed.
For more, including remarks by Jack Schlossberg and Bush’s granddaughter, Lauren Bush, click here.
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