Texas A&M TODAY
By Luke Henkhaus, Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications
JUNE 13, 2024
In December 1988, Aggie oil magnate Michel T. Halbouty ’30 made a call to the office of George H.W. Bush, asking again if Bush would consider building his presidential library at Texas A&M University. There was just one problem: Bush wasn’t actually president yet.
In his reply, written a month before his inauguration on vice presidential letterhead, Bush politely informed Halbouty that the offer was appreciated, if a bit premature.
“I love A&M, though I have no personal ties to that great school,” Bush wrote. “Your looking into this with such enthusiasm means a lot to me, too. Let’s vow to keep in touch down the road on all this.”
The brief typewritten letter now sits among the millions of personal and official documents housed at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, which continued its commemoration of the late president’s 100th birthday on Thursday by inviting friends and family of the 41st president and members of the public to a daylong community celebration on the library grounds.