Editing Prescott Bush (section)

==Political life==
Prescott Bush was politically active on social issues. He was involved with the [[American Birth Control League]] as early as 1942, and served as the treasurer of the first nationwide campaign of [[Planned Parenthood]] in 1947. He was also an early supporter of the [[United Negro College Fund]], serving as chairman of the Connecticut branch in 1951.

From 1947 to 1950, he served as Connecticut [[U.S. Republican Party|Republican]] finance chairman, and was the Republican candidate for the [[United States Senate]] in 1950. A columnist in [[Boston]] said that Bush "is coming on to be known as [[Harry S. Truman|President Truman's]] [[Harry Hopkins]]. Nobody knows Mr. Bush and he hasn't a [[Chinaman's chance]]."<ref>"Fair Enough" by Westbrook Pegler, ''Burlington Daily News-Times'' (North Carolina), August 22, 1950</ref> (Harry Hopkins had been one of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s closest advisors.) Bush's ties with Planned Parenthood also hurt him in strongly-Catholic Connecticut, and were the basis of a last-minute campaign in churches by Bush's opponents; the family vigorously denied the connection, but Bush lost to [[William Benton (senator)|Sen. William Burnett Benton]] by only 1,102 votes.<ref name="Gwirtzman 1952">{{cite web |last=Gwirtzman |first=Milton |title=The Campaign VI: Ohio: Fat Man's Chance |website=The Harvard Crimson |date=November 3, 1952 |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1952/11/3/the-campaign-probert-a-taft-isnt/ |access-date=March 16, 2025}}</ref>

Prescott Bush sought a rematch with Sen. Benton in 1952, but withdrew as the party turned to [[William Purtell]]. The death of Senator [[Brien McMahon]] later that year, however, created a vacancy and this time the Republicans {{nowrap|nominated Bush.<ref name=rnbalrd>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oaA0AAAAIBAJ&pg=1643%2C653871 |work=The Day |location=(New London, Connecticut) |agency=Associated Press |title=Republicans nominate Bush after Lodge rejects draft |date=September 5, 1952 |page=1}}</ref>}} He defeated the Democratic nominee, [[Abraham Ribicoff]], and was elected to the Senate. A staunch supporter of President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], he served until January 1963. He was re-elected in 1956 with 55% of the vote over [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Thomas J. Dodd]] (later U.S. Senator from Connecticut and father of [[Christopher J. Dodd]]), and decided not to run for another term in 1962. He was a key ally for the passage of Eisenhower's [[Interstate Highway System]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/rw01d.cfm|title=A Bush at Both Ends: Before and After the Interstate Era|publisher=U.S.[[Federal Highway Administration]]
|date=January 18, 2005|access-date=August 6, 2006}}</ref> and during his tenure supported the [[Ethan Allen class submarine|Polaris submarine]] project (built by [[Electric Boat Corporation]] in [[Groton, Connecticut]]), the establishment of the [[Peace Corps]],<ref name="Mansfield">{{cite book|title=The Faith of George W. Bush|author=Stephen Mansfield|publisher=Tarcher|url=http://www.ereader.com/product/book/excerpt/16982|year=2004|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926234407/http://www.ereader.com/product/book/excerpt/16982|archive-date=September 26, 2007|df=mdy-all}}</ref> and voted in favor of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957|Civil Rights Acts of 1957]] and [[Civil Rights Act of 1960|1960]] and the [[Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 7, 1957|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=103|issue=10|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=13900|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10-9-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 29, 1957|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=103|issue=12|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=16478|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12-6-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – April 8, 1960|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=106|issue=6|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|pages=7810–7811|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6-8-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – March 27, 1962|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=108|issue=4|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=5105|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1962-pt4/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1962-pt4-9-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref>

On December 2, 1954, Prescott Bush was part of the large (67–22) majority to [[censure]] [[Wisconsin]] Republican Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] after McCarthy had taken on the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] and the [[Eisenhower administration]]. During the debate leading to the censure, Bush said that McCarthy has "caused dangerous divisions among the American people because of his attitude and the attitude he has encouraged among his followers: that there can be no honest differences of opinion with him. Either you must follow Senator McCarthy blindly, not daring to express any doubts or disagreements about any of his actions, or, in his eyes, you must be a Communist, a Communist sympathizer, or a fool who has been duped by the Communist line."<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935382,00.html#ixzz1SCQ7EDbh | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108222755/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935382,00.html#ixzz1SCQ7EDbh | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 8, 2007 | magazine=Time | title=National Affairs: Splendid Job | date=December 13, 1954}}</ref> Eisenhower later included Prescott Bush on an undated handwritten list of prospective candidates he favored for the 1960 Republican presidential nomination.

In terms of issues, Bush often agreed with [[Governor of New York|New York Governor]] [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. According to Theodore H. White's book about the 1964 presidential election, Bush and Rockefeller were longtime friends.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} Bush favored a Nixon-Rockefeller ticket for 1960, and was presumed to support Rockefeller's 1964 presidential candidacy until the latter's remarriage in 1963. He then publicly denounced Rockefeller for divorcing his first wife and marrying a woman with whom Rockefeller had been having an affair while married to his first wife.<ref name="Mansfield" /> Bush then very publicly endorsed his former Senate colleague [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]], who was also the older brother of one of Bush's protegés, former Connecticut Governor [[John Davis Lodge]].<ref name="Mansfield" />

Another of Senator Bush's major legislative interests was flood and hurricane protection.  He drafted the Bush Hurricane Survey Act (Public Law 71), enabling U.S. Army engineers to develop a new program of community protection against tidal flooding.<ref>{{cite book |first1=John |last1=McQuaid |first2=Mark |last2=Schleifstein |title=Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans and the Coming Age of Superstorms |year=2006 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company: Hachette Book Group USA|isbn=978-0-316-01642-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=syU0LKDVUfkC |page=54}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=William R. |last1=Freudenburg |first2=Robert |last2=Gramling |first3=Shirley |last3=Laska |first4=Kai |last4=Erikson |title=Catastrophe in the Making: The Engineering of Katrina and the Disasters of Tomorrow|year=2009 |publisher=Island Press |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-1-59726-682-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vjj4FRZSVg0C&pg=PA26 |page=26}}</ref> Bush and Representative [[John W. McCormack]], the Democratic House Majority Leader, co-sponsored the Bush-McCormack Act (Public Law 685), which expedited the construction of local flood protection works.<ref>[https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/278 Item description: Prescott S. Bush Papers.] Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries. Accessed September 03, 2021.</ref>