When Hillary Clinton Leaked a Story About George H.W. Bush Which Cost Him His 1992 Presidency

The 1992 elections in the United States were between Democrat Bill Clinton, who was the governor of Arkansas, and the Republican George H.W. Bush. Clinton managed to defeat the incumbent Bush and secured a historic win in his name. However, it was reported that Bush lost the White House seat because apparently, Hillary Clinton leaked his affair story with a blondie in a Vanity Fair interview. 

According to the Daily Mail, a book titled Grace & Steel: Dorothy, Barbara, Laura, and the Women of the Bush Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli had details of Bush's alleged affair with his buxom blonde assistant that cost him his presidency and his mother, Dorothy Walker Bush, who was 91-years-old at the time, blamed Hillary for her son's defeat by "stirring up" the controversy in her interview, "This is all Hillary's fault," complained Dorothy. 

Apparently, the former US Secretary of State dished the affair details saying one time she was having tea with Ann Cox Chambers, chair of Atlanta Newspapers Inc at the time, who told her, "Everybody knows about George Bush...the establishment, regardless of party, sticks together. They're gonna circle the wagons on Jennifer and all these other people." 

The timing of her interview couldn't be more befitting as it hurt Bush's presidential campaign, maligning his image. Although the 41st president denied the rumors, the job had already been done. Among other factors, his alleged romance with his assistant played a vital role in losing the 1992 elections to his Democrat counterpart Clinton, making him only a one-term president. 

Before Hillary helped plant the affair rumors, Bush had been warned by his mother Dorothy that the romantic rendezvous would haunt him "forever." According to the book, the matriarch was upset over the news and told her son to "fix it" or risk his political future for the years to come. But he protested, "It's not what it looks like," to which his mother responded, "Phooey. It's always what it looks like." Meanwhile, his wife and former First Lady Barbara thought of committing suicide after the affair became public.

As Bush lost the presidency, the alleged mistress and assistant Fitzgerald abruptly left him and the two went their separate ways as a source revealed, they "just stopped being in each other's lives," after Bush left a message to her but she didn't call him back and that was the end of their romance. The book's author Taraborrelli favored Barbara, "I think that it really says a lot about their very, very long marriage that they were able to survive it [the affair]. But it also says a lot about Barbara that she put up with it for so long," per Inside Edition. 

Years later, when Bush died of vascular Parkinson's syndrome at his home in Houston, Texas on November 30, 2018, Clinton posted his public condolence on X, formerly Twitter, writing, "Hillary and I mourn the passing of President George H. W. Bush, and give thanks for his great long life of service, love and friendship. I am grateful for every minute I spent with him and will always hold our friendship as one of my life’s greatest gifts." 

Hillary, on the other hand, paid her own respects to the deceased president and her husband's political rival, "George H.W. Bush was a beloved father & grandfather, a war hero, a public servant, & a class act. In my experiences w/ him, I always valued his desire to listen, look at evidence & ask for ideas, even from people w/ different beliefs. My heart goes out to the entire Bush family."