He admitted that he wasn't the best public speaker. (01 of07)
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\"... On that day back in 1989, the most important thing I told the speechwriters was, \"Listen, I\'m no Ronald Reagan.\" i was not the Great Communicator. Many times we had to rein in the rhetoric; often words meant to evoke emotion in the audience evoked even more emotion in me. I told them that if they wrote a speech that was a \"ten,\" they\'d better cut it back to an \"eight\" for me. But I\'d like to think that, given the historic times and the unprecedented events that unfolded on my watch, I did all right. I tried my best under extraordinary circumstances. We all did.\" (from Speaking of Freedom: The Collected Speeches) (credit:AP)
His three favorite presidents were Ronald Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower.(02 of07)
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\"They asked me who my favorite presidents were (Ronald Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower, to name just a few); about people I like to quote (Yogi Berra and Mark Twain, for example) and don\'t like to quote (with a wry smile, I replied: Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, and Dr. Jack Kevorkian).\" (from Speaking of Freedom: The Collected Speeches) (credit:AP)
He considered his eldest son (George W. Bush) "one of his best political advisors."(03 of07)
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(found in All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writing) (credit:Getty)
The same person helped both George H W and Barbara with their memoirs. (04 of07)
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Chief of staff Jean Becker helped not only George H W Bush compile his letters into a memoir, but also Barbara Bush. (from All the Best George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings). (credit:AP)
He dictated his diary entries into a tape recorder. (05 of07)
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(found in All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings). (credit:Getty)
His dad discouraged him from joining the Navy. (06 of07)
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He told him that since it would be a long war, there would be plenty of time to enlist after attending college (preferably Yale). (found in All the Best, George Bush: My Life In Letters and Other Writings) (credit:Wikimedia )
He was nicknamed "Pop"/"Poppy" as a child. (07 of07)
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His mother\'s brothers gave him the nickname because was he was named for their father. George Herbert Walker, whom they called \"Pop.\" (from All the Best, George Bush: My Life In Letters and Other Writings) (credit:Wikimedia )