d his first real look at politics from the inside. George W. was very enthusiastic in support of his father, and had his father’s confidence in all that he did. George H.W. was expected to win the Senate race, but he lost instead as his opponent pushed the stereotype of Bush not being a “true” Texan. The younger Bush was heartbroken, but did not make a single mention of the loss upon his return to Yale. The elder Bush would run for office again before his son graduated from Yale, and on his second attempt he was successful.While at Yale Bush majored in history and did not exactly excel in his studies, but he also never really expected to. Instead, he thrived on the people and the environment, social situations and knowing what was going on. He was popular at Yale the same way he was at Andover, seemingly able to attract people with his magnetism. And foreshadowing one of his innate abilities he would often use in the future, he was able to avoid situations that were complicated or ambiguous, any circumstance that could turn into difficult issues. Police picked up Bush twice during his college years, but nothing ever came of either incident.Both George W. and Jeb described their father as “a beacon,” but George W. was the first son and the namesake and it was unspoken knowledge that he would be the one to emulate their father. The elder Bush encouraged his son to follow in his footsteps and his family and close friends saw George W. doing exactly that. He participated in intramural sports, but not varsity sports as his father had. He eventually became president of the DKE house and joined the Skull & Bones Society, both former activities that his father had also been in. By the end of his years at Yale Bush was not relishing the rest of his time there; instead he was aching to be free of the campus, and what he called it’s “intellectual arrogance.” Upon graduation in 1968, Georg...
