Welcome to Things Worth Remembering, in which writers recall nuggets of wisdom from history that we should commit to heart. This week, after Donald Trump spoke of securing a peace deal in Ukraine, Peter Savodnik remembers a great speech given by George H.W. Bush in that same country in 1991. Back then, it was seen as controversial, but the “Chicken Kiev” speech, as it came to be known, is now a blueprint for how America can support democracy abroad without becoming the world’s policeman.
In honor of Presidents’ Day weekend, I’d like to recall the last full-fledged adult to occupy the Oval Office: George H.W. Bush.
All five presidents who followed him—six, if we count Donald Trump twice—don’t really seem like presidents as much as simulacra of presidents. They all knew—or know—how a president is supposed to sound and act and gesticulate, and tried their best to do that.
But Bush Sr. was not a simulation of anything.
