Charles Vernon Bush (December 17, 1939 – November 5, 2012) was an American civil rights activist, retired senior corporate executive and former U.S. Air Force officer. In 1954, at the urging of Chief Justice Earl Warren, who had asked for the appointment of an African-American page of the Supreme Court of the United States, Bush was selected as the first one by Court Martial T. Perry Lippitt . He was also one of the first three African-American Cadets to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy and the first African American to graduate from there.
Family, early years and education
The son of Charles H. Bush, an administrator at Howard University, and his wife Marie, Bush grew up around Howard University's campus. He attended Banneker Jr. High School and Capitol Page School, a special high school for Congressional and Supreme Court pages. Prior to graduation from Capitol Page School, he competed on an examination, with 34 other candidates, for Washington, D.C.'s one nomination to the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). He placed No. 2 on the exam and was designated the alternate nominee. He attended Howard University for two years, majoring in Electrical Engineering and was inducted into Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
As he was completing his sophomore year, he was contacted by James C. Evans about reapplying to USAFA with the assurance of receiving a nomination from Congressman William L. Dawson (D-IL). Evans served five Secretaries of War, ten Secretaries of Defense and six Presidents in his role of overseeing the integration of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Accepted for the USAFA Class of 1963 with his two African-American classmates, Bush reported as a Cadet in June 1959. He was a Squadron Commander, member of the USAFA Debate Team and a member of the Wing Champion Rugby Team. Having received academic course credits from Howard University, Bush was accepted into a special joint USAFA/Georgetown University Masters program, commencing with graduate courses in his senior year at USAFA, which included his oral comprehensives in the Russian language.
He graduated from USAFA with a Bachelor of Science. Bush received his Masters of Arts degree in International Relations from Georgetown University, in June 1964, and was inducted into the Georgetown chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society. Upon leaving the Air Force in 1970, he attended Harvard Business School, was co-chair of the African-American Student Union and was inducted into the Century Club in his second year. Bush received his Masters in Business Administration in Finance, in June 1972.
He married Bettina Wills in 1964. They have a son, Charles and two daughters, Kyra and Bettina Bush. They also have a granddaughter and seven grandsons.
Military career
Following his commissioning in June 1963, Bush attended Georgetown University as a student, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in International Relations. He then attended Air Intelligence Officers School in Denver, Colorado, from March 1964 to November 1964. On completion of his air intelligence training, Bush was assigned to 8th Air Force Headquarters, Strategic Air Command, Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, as an Intelligence Officer, in November 1964. He was responsible for the briefing of the 8th Air Force Commander on strategic intelligence activities, specializing in Soviet political intelligence. While on this assignment, he taught undergraduate political science courses for American International College, as an Adjunct Assistant Professor. In 1966, he volunteered for an assignment to a special intelligence unit in Vietnam. For his service with 8th Air Force, Bush was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal. In preparation for his Vietnamese assignment, he attended the Sanz Language School in Washington, D.C. under the auspices of the Defense Language Institute, in which he acquired fluency in the Vietnamese language. He also studied the Korean martial art Tae Kwon Do at Jhoon Rhee Studio in D.C., in 1966 - 1967.