This One Tweet From George H.W. Bush Sums Up His Legacy As A Leader

For a 92-year-old former president, George H.W. Bush was rather active on Twitter. His posts, however, were usually not political. Instead, he posted family photos, meetings with celebrities like Barbra Streisand, and the occasional letter from a kid imploring the 41st President to eat his broccoli — something that was never going to happen. Bush humorously called the letter "genuine, if also unpersuasive." And while those tweets give you an idea of the caring, kind, and enjoyable man Bush was, there is another tweet that points to his legacy as a leader.

It's not from all that long ago — which in itself points to the quick decline in Bush's health before his death. The message was uploaded to Twitter the day after the 2016 election. Bush, who had supported his son Jeb's candidacy in the primary and refrained from endorsing Donald Trump, went on to be the bigger man. He warmly congratulated Trump on his electoral college win, even though he wasn't necessarily the Republican nominee's biggest fan. After all, Trump had unnecessarily poked fun at Jeb on multiple occasions during the Republican primary race.

The preservation of democracy and a peaceful transfer of power mattered to Bush more than his candidate, or son, winning.

And the tweet was not the end of it. A letter he had written to Trump surfaced, too.

Bush Sr. apologized for missing Trump's inauguration in the letter, which was sent a week before, on Jan. 10. "Barbara and I are so sorry we can't be there for your inauguration on January 20th," Bush wrote. "My doctor says that if I sit outside in January, it likely will put me six feet under. Same for Barbara. So I guess we're stuck in Texas."

Bush also went on to say that he'd be with Trump "and the country in spirit."

It's a very similar gesture to another letter that Bush wrote when he lost the presidency to Bill Clinton in the 1992 election. That next January after Clinton moved into the White House, he found a letter from his predecessor that also wished him luck. "You will be our president when you read this note," Bush wrote. "I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success is now our country's success. I am rooting hard for you."

Be it on Twitter or a notepad, Bush, the 41st President of the United States, showed that he puts the country above partisan squabbles — or even insults to his own children.