Former President George H.W. Bush Remembered at U of A

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Indonesian graduate students meet with former President George H.W. Bush.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – When former President George H.W. Bush visted the U of A on April 6, 2009, the first students he met with were a group of graduate students from Indonesia. These students were at the University of Arkansas because of Bush – and they wanted to meet him, speak with him and personally thank him.

“They were just thrilled to meet him and to hear him speak,” said Gloria Flores Passmore, director of the graduate sponsored student programs, who helped arrange the meeting.

Bush was on campus that day to speak as part of the student Distinguished Lecture Series. But his ties to these students went back to Dec. 26, 2004, when a tsunami struck the Indonesian state of Banda Aceh, destroying virtually everything in its path and killing more than 170,000 people.

Days after the disaster then-President George W. Bush asked his father and former President Bill Clinton to lead U.S. relief efforts for Indonesia, particularly fund-raising to help with the rebuilding. The two former political rivals accepted the task and working together they exceeded all expectations. In part because they brought a unique vision to the task.

“They realized it would not be enough to repair roads and bridges – that long-term rebuilding would need to address social structure, and that meant education,” said Chancellor emeritus Dan Ferritor, who worked with the program that Bush and Clinton developed. “They got to the heart of what we should be doing.”

The two former presidents worked with the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to use part of the relief funds to provide 75 special Fulbright scholarships. The scholarships were used to send students from the Banda Aceh region to earn masters degrees in the U.S., in most cases at either the University of Arkansas or Texas A&M University. The prime condition was that after they graduated the students would return to Indonesia to use what they had learned to help rebuild their country.

The program, and its impact on the students and their country is detailed in a documentary film, After the Tsunami, by U of A journalism professor Larry Foley.

Former President Bush met with the Indonesian students at the E.J. Ball Courtroom in the School of Law in the afternoon before his lecture, answering questions and modestly accepting their thanks.

“He was very kind and considerate to everyone he met,” remembered G. David Gearhart, who was chancellor at the time. “He especially talked at length with the students and wanted to know about their respective backgrounds.”

Bush also attended a reception on campus, where Carter Ford, the ASG president and Baxter Drennon student chair of the Distinguished Lecture Committee welcomed Mr. Bush with a Hog hat, which he accepted with good humor.

Gearhart also presented Bush a memento of his first visit to campus – to see the 1969 “Great Shootout” at Razorback Stadium. Then Congressman Bush attended the game with his good friend Arkansas Congressman John Paul Hammerscmdit, President Richard Nixon and several others.

 “We presented him with a framed copy of the photograph at the stadium and he remembered it fondly,” Gearhart recalled. “He pointed out everyone in the photo, including our governor, two senators and even Dr. Mullins, university president. He had an amazing memory of that day.”

Bush spoke that evening to a full house at Barnhill Arena. In the front row for his lecture were the graduate students from Indonesia.