His eldest son , George W. Bush , was inaugurated as the 43rd president of the United States on January 20 , 2001 , and re-elected in 2004 . Through previous administrations , the elder Bush had ubiquitously been known as " George Bush " or " President Bush " , but following his son 's election the need to distinguish between them has made retronymic forms such as " George H. W. Bush " and " George Bush Sr. " and colloquialisms such as " Bush 41 " and " Bush the Elder " became much more common . H.W. Bush was traveling to Minnesota for a speaking engagement on the day of the September 11 attacks . George W. made multiple calls to get in contact with his father before the two men reconnected after the elder Bush had gone to a Brookfield , Wisconsin motel . Bush told biographer Jon Meacham that his son 's vice president , Dick Cheney , underwent a change following the September 11 attacks : " His seeming knuckling under to the real hard-charging guys who want to fight about everything , use force to get our way in the Middle East . " In December 2002 , George W. sought counsel from the elder Bush regarding Iraq and informed him of " my efforts to rally the Saudis , Jordanians , Turks , and others in the Middle East "
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
George H. W. Bush