Note: For more on how I chose “American History’s Ten Biggest Assholes” and the almost-as-deplorable Runner-Up list, check out that article as well. Numbers 20 through 11 are populated with rogues you may not have heard of…
Prescott Bush…Who Is He?…He’s the father of George H. W. Bush and grandfather of George W. Bush—and, uhhh, yeah Jeb and Billy Bush too, I guess—not to mention a former senator himself…Why Him? Forget his overly sanitized Wikipedia entry, this man is fully deserving of being on the list. Despite his support for Planned Parenthood (which he vehemently denied when it became politically inconvenient) and the creation of the interstate system, the patriarch of the Bush political dynasty belongs on this list for his many covered-up scandals. Like H.W. Bush, Prescott never appears to be at the center of any one controversy, instead pretending to be moderate while being the hidden driver behind some of American history’s biggest shady dealings.
Things like…
3. Being “Hitler’s banker.” Before entering the senate, Prescott Bush was a founding member of Union Banking Corporation, which was eventually seized under the Trading with the Enemy Act because it was suspected of being a clearing house for Nazi assets during WWII. Bush himself was suspected of holding Nazi gold (never proven) and confirmed to be in business with German steel magnate Fritz Thyssen. Maybe this fomented his hatred of FDR, leading to…
2. The Business Plot a.k.a. “The Greatest (True) American Conspiracy You’ve Never Heard Of” in which various businessmen schemed to overthrow FDR (including John Dupont and supposedly organized by Prescott Bush) and met with former gun-for-hire General Smedley Butler, who had organized successful coups on behalf of big business in Central America and the Caribbean. If it weren’t for Butler’s fondness of FDR (who he backed in 1932 after Herbert Hoover ordered the Veteran’s protest camps destroyed) and growing awareness that he was being used as a “high-class muscle man for Wall Street,” who knows what would have happened? There’s no question Big Business and certain Republicans absolutely despised FDR, and would have gladly had a fascist coup if they thought they could get away with it.
1. Again, being the political patriarch of the last century’s most odious political dynasty. Pre-Trump, most American political misery was somehow tied to the Bushes, either through W’s horrendous presidency or H.W.’s running mate Reagan or the Savings & Loan Scandal that nearly wrecked the economy before W. could do it proper. It may seem like a reach to blame one man for his sons, grandsons, or grand-nephews mistakes, but keep in mind that even Jeb Bush was still screwing us as recently as last year when he refused to exit the race until it was too late and unify the party behind an anti-Trump alternative.
In a way, I’m blaming Prescott Bush for the collected miseries of the Bush family, and in another way, he fully belongs on the list due to his own “achievements.”
Adjacent Assholes: Neil Bush, George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Jeb Bush, Billy Bush, etc.
See also:
Smedley Butler “War is a Racket”