Keller @ Large: We Need More Role Models Like Him

BOSTON (CBS) - I'd like to tell you about someone you likely know of, but may not really know.

He was born into a wealthy family right here in Milton, and attended the best New England prep schools. But after America was attacked at Pearl Harbor, he put off going to college and risked it all by enlisting in the Navy.

He flew 58 combat missions in the Pacific theater, and was cited for heroism.

At one of the nation's top universities after the war, he graduated in just two-and-a-half-years after establishing himself as a campus leader.

He went into business and made millions, but his heart was in the often-thankless grind of public service. A conservative politically, he nonetheless supported birth control in an era when that was a difficult position for a pol to take, and opposed the military draft.

He left Congress to become a global ambassador, a leader of his party, a pioneer of US-China relations, the head of a key US intelligence agency.

Defeated in a run for president, he set aside profound differences and joined the ticket as vice-president, later winning the presidency in his own right, where he promoted democracy and freedom abroad, and good citizenship and bipartisanship at home.

He lost his re-election bid, but there was no bitterness or partisan rancor after leaving office. He formed a close personal friendship with the man that beat him, and continued to model class, patriotism, and how to be a loving husband and father.

As I wrote this, 92-year-old George Herbert Walker Bush, perhaps the greatest living American, was being treated at a Houston hospital.

Get well soon, Mr. President.

We never needed role models like you more.

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