President George Herbert Walker Bush died Friday at the age of 94. Disney has always honored presidential history and like so many presidents before and after him, he made appearances at Disney Parks.
In September 1988, President George H.W. Bush joined Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and California Gov. George Deukmejian during a special Olympic Salute event at Disneyland.
Still serving as Vice President, he was there bidding good luck to the Seoul-bound U.S. Olympic team where he and his wife Barbra Bush marched in the theme park’s parade with Mickey and Minnie.
President George H.W. Bush also visited Epcot, where he presided over the first gathering of his Daily Points of Light award recipients—outstanding community volunteers from across the nation—at the America Gardens Theatre at Epcot on September 30, 1991 (pictured below).
The event was part of the huge 20th-anniversary celebration of Walt Disney World Resort. (Later, Bush’s son, President George W. Bush, would honor The Walt Disney Company itself as a Daily Point of Light in 2004.)
Born into a tradition of service, Bush was a son of a senator, celebrated World War II combat pilot, student athlete, Texas oilman, Republican congressman, national party chairman, pioneering diplomat and the director of the CIA. After his own 1980 presidential campaign came up short, he served two terms as Ronald Reagan’s vice president before reaching the highest office by winning the 1988 presidential election, soundly defeating Democrat Michael Dukakis.
George H.W. Bush is forever immortalized in The Hall of Presidents at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. He was added after he entered office in 1989.