Rose Garden, bean dinner connect Bush to Greencastle

Monday, December 3, 2018
George H.W. Bush

The history of Putnam County isn’t exactly rife with mentions of interactions with U.S. presidents. A few brushes with greatness have occurred and a bit of anecdotal information suggests a possibility or two long, long ago.

And while it doesn’t exactly have the cache of those old “George Washington slept here” claims, George Herbert Walker Bush did once attend a bean dinner in Putnam County.

Not while he was president, mind you. Bush, who died Friday night at age 94, was director of the CIA when he came a-calling on Putnam County in 1978. His not-so-covert operation in Greencastle was to help raise funds for the re-election of fellow Republican John T. Myers of Covington by headlining a GOP bean dinner at the Putnam County Fairgrounds.

Thirteen years later, when Bush, the 41st president of the United States, was in the White House, he hosted a Rose Garden reception for the 10 cities who had been named 1991 All-America Cities by the National Civic League. One of those, of course, was Greencastle, having bounced back from the loss of the IBM plant with a number of new companies on the city’s East Side.

Part of the way through his remarks, President Bush illustrated one of the points of the All-America City platform by quoting the mantra of Greencastle Mayor Mike Harmless.

“People make a difference in my hometown,” Bush said, almost exactly replicating the staccato delivery Harmless had perfected during the Greencastle group’s presentation before the All-American City judges in San Antonio that June.

“Susie and I were talking about it yesterday,” Harmless said Monday, referring to his wife. “He was just so generous in his comments about all the communities, but then for me to get quoted with ‘People make a difference in my hometown,’ which was our theme, as you remember. That was such a tremendous honor for the city of Greencastle to get pulled out of all those communities and singled out.

“I remember it was so amazing,” Harmless continued, “as soon as the ceremony was over, the media very quickly wanted to interview me because I had been quoted. They saw the partisan angle and wanted to make it a partisan thing because I was a Democrat.”

Harmless couldn’t remember whether it was NBC, ABC or CNN but he wasn’t biting.

“I was not about to say anything disparaging about the president,” he assured. “This was a tremendous honor.”

And with that, the chance to become the nightly sound bite evaporated and a kinder, gentler mood returned.

“That was just a huge honor for Greencastle,” Harmless continued, “and President Bush couldn’t have been more gracious. He was a great president and just a wonderful person.”

Greencastle and DePauw University have also interacted with President Bush’s wife, Barbara, who died this past April. She came to DePauw for an Ubben Lecture on March 20, 1996, discussing literacy and the importance of family.

“Being a good parent is not easy,” she told a Kresge Auditorium audience. “Just take it one day at a time. Also remember that home is your first school. Strong families give love, support and security. Strong families build character.”

As the nation mourns the passing of George H.W. Bush, Dan Quayle, the 1969 DePauw graduate who served as vice president under Bush, offered a tribute.

“I have often told my children ‘If you want a role model in your life -- look to President George Herbert Walker Bush.’ The world mourns the loss of a great American. But, it also celebrates a life well lived,” Quayle said.

During an April 30, 2015 Ubben Lecture at DePauw, he discussed the Bush presidency.

The media “always need to pick on one of you, either the president or the vice president,” Quayle noted. “And it’s really much better for the president if they’re picking on the vice president,” he chuckled. “And so for three-and-a-half years they sort of picked on me. But the last six months they didn’t. They turned their fire to 41.”

George H.W. Bush isn’t the only U.S. president to have visited Greencastle and Putnam County prior to rising to power. On May 11, 1957, Vice President Richard Nixon came to DePauw to speak on Business and Industry Day and receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

And, following his two terms in the White House, former President Bill Clinton spoke at DePauw on Nov. 18, 2011, delivering the 25th anniversary Ubben Lecture.

According to anecdotal information passed down through the years, President Abraham Lincoln may have made a stop or two along the old National Road (U.S. 40) in Putnam County as he traveled between Washington, D.C., and his home in Illinois.

The most popular stories involve him staying at Rising Hall at the Putnam-Hendricks county line because of a friendship with the man who raised mules there and sold them to the Union Army or visiting another acquaintance at Putnamville.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: