• Fidelity

    One of President Bush's favorite things was getting out on the water in his speedboat. Here we have his actual boat, Fidelity, which he loved racing on the Atlantic waters off Kennebunkport, Maine, until the boat's retirement in May 1998. 

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  • President Bush and General Scowcroft boating in the Fidelity in the waters off Walker's Point, Kennebunkport, ME. 28 Aug 89

  • President George Bush fishing with his son, George W. Bush, off Kennebunkport, ME.  13 Aug 1991

  • George Bush purchased this 28-foot, 8-inch Cigarette boat in 1973, with the proceeds from the sale of his stock in the Fidelity Printing Company of Houston. This type of boat was designed for offshore powerboat racing on the open sea. Fidelity was equipped with twin 185-horsepower inboard engines and could reach speeds up to 50 mph. President Bush used Fidelity often, not just for fishing and family recreation, but also as a tool of diplomacy in entertaining foreign heads-of-state.

  • In his book, "Call the Briefing," Marlin Fitzwater, former Press Secretary to Presidents Reagan and Bush, recalled several outings on "Fidelity:" "He loved that boat and fishing more than anything.....He kept it at full-throttle all the way, water spraying over the bow, taking every wave with a thud and a burst of speed. He said it was the closest he could come to duplicating the race of the wind from an open-cockpit airplane, the TBM Avenger he flew during World War II."

  • fidelityBG
  • President Bush and General Scowcroft boating in the Fidelity in the waters off Walker's Point, Kennebunkport, ME. 28 Aug 89
    President George Bush fishing with his son, George W. Bush, off Kennebunkport, ME.  13 Aug 1991
    George Bush purchased this 28-foot, 8-inch Cigarette boat in 1973, with the proceeds from the sale of his stock in the Fidelity Printing Company of Houston. This type of boat was designed for offshore powerboat racing on the open sea. Fidelity was equipped with twin 185-horsepower inboard engines and could reach speeds up to 50 mph. President Bush used Fidelity often, not just for fishing and family recreation, but also as a tool of diplomacy in entertaining foreign heads-of-state.
    In his book, "Call the Briefing," Marlin Fitzwater, former Press Secretary to Presidents Reagan and Bush, recalled several outings on "Fidelity:" "He loved that boat and fishing more than anything.....He kept it at full-throttle all the way, water spraying over the bow, taking every wave with a thud and a burst of speed. He said it was the closest he could come to duplicating the race of the wind from an open-cockpit airplane, the TBM Avenger he flew during World War II."
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