Former President George W. Bush will eulogize his father, former President George H.W. Bush, during Wednesday’s state funeral.
Outside of the late president’s son eulogizing him, three other men will speak on the life of the 41st president Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral.
Here’s a little background on each of the three men, Brian Mulroney, Alan Simpson and Jon Meacham, speaking at Bush’s funeral Wednesday.
Brian Mulroney
Mulroney was the 18th prime minister of Canada, from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993. Bush was the 41st U.S. president, from January 20, 1989, to January 20, 1993, so the two men worked together on the world stage.
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“What stands out about George Bush is what a true gentleman he was,” Mulroney said on CBC News. “And as a Canadian prime minister, of course, I was privileged to work with him so closely, because he loved Canada and admired Canadians.”
Alan Simpson
Simpson served between 1979–1997 representing Wyoming in the U.S. Senate.
“I think he should be remembered with a little bit of lightness of spirit,” Simpson said of Bush on CNN. “And he had loyalty, and he had manners — an unheard of thing, I know — manners. And he loved people, and he had a view of life of ‘what would we do without family and friends?’ ”
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Jon Meacham
Meacham is a presidential biographer. He wrote “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush” in 2015.
“He embodied the Greek idea that character is destiny,” Meacham told MSNBC. “His presidency was a complete reflection, even more so than many presidents, of his personal vices and virtues.”
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Wednesday's state funeral begins at 11 a.m. EST and will be broadcast on all network and cable news channels.
There will be another service on Thursday at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston. It, too, will broadcast on all news channels at 11 a.m. EST. After this service, the 41st president will be interred by his wife, Barbara Bush, and daughter Robin at the George Bush Presidential Library & Museum, College Station.
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