The Foreign Service Journal, March 2019

couldmean he would only be a one-termpresident. Such was the character of George H.W. Bush. I proudly voted for him in 1988—the last time I voted for a Republican presidential candidate. Ambassador Parker Borg was in the Foreign Service from 1965 to 1996. Among his overseas postings were ambassador to Mali and Iceland; he never went to Burma/Myanmar because the Senate after many months denied his appointment because of human rights issues in the country. He later worked on national security issues at the Center for International Policy and taught international relations at American universities in Rome and Paris. A Moment That Will Always Make Me Smile By Jennifer Davis I was posted in Beijing and just starting out as a professional photographer. I had the honor of being selected as the official photographer when George H.W. Bush and his wife visited the embassy in 2008. I was clicking away as he walked in front of me down the middle of the aisle lined with all the visitors there to see him. Suddenly he stopped, mid-walk, and said: “Dear, I don’t think that flash is working.” I died on the spot—but I cherish what was an insignificant moment to a great man, yet one I will never forget and that will always make me smile. Jennifer Davis is a former FS family member and professional pho- tographer. Presidential: George and Barbara in the House By Jim Nealon I t was 2002, and my family and I were living in Budapest. I was the public affairs officer at the U.S. embassy there. We were privileged to live in a beautiful pink house next door to our ambassador’s residence. And that’s how we first met George and Barbara Bush. The Bushes were good friends of our ambassador, Nancy Brinker, and they’d come to visit her. Hosting a former president and first lady was a big logistical lift for the residence staff. Along with the former first couple, there was the Secret Service security detail and others who had to be housed and fed; there were receptions to be hosted and meetings to be arranged. When the ambassador proposed a tea so that Mrs. Bush could meet the spouses of embassy officers, my wife, Kristin, offered to host. Our house was convenient for Mrs. Bush, and it would take some of the entertaining load off of the ambassador. She readily agreed. Embassy spouses gathered in our house at the appointed hour, and Mrs. Bush and the ambassador walked over from the residence. But surprise: When they entered our house, they had the former president in tow. In his remarks to the group he said that, as a former ambassa- dor who knew and appreciated the work of embassy officers and especially the unpaid but important work of their spouses, he couldn’t resist the temptation to join the party. It was vintage George Bush. In his impromptu remarks to the group he was short on syntax but long on heart and sincerity. “Walking over here, saw the bicycles in the yard, family, pride... Served in China, know what you do, nothing more important...” and so on. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t a great speech. What mattered is that the Bushes exuded sincer- ity, and it seemed to all of us that there was no place they’d rather be, nothing they’d rather be doing. They stayed longer than they had to. They shook every hand; engaged every THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2019 51 George H.W. Bush with his granddaughter in Beijing, 2008. U.S.STATEDEPARTMENT/JENNIFERDAVIS