George H. W. Bush Award Ceremony

June 12, 2019

On June 12, 2019, the Bush China Foundation conferred the inaugural George H. W. Bush Award for Statesmanship in U.S.-China Relations to former President Jimmy Carter at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Bush China Foundation Founder and Chairman Neil Bush, Vice Chairman Charles Foster and President and CEO David Firestein presented the award to James Earl “Chip” Carter III, who accepted it on behalf of his father.

Over 100 invited guests attended the ceremony, which included remarks by Ambassador Cui Tiankai, Mr. Bush and Mr. Firestein. The event was widely covered by U.S. and Chinese media. In his remarks, Mr. Bush stated the following in recognition of President Carter’s achievements:

“President Carter displayed tremendous vision in normalizing the U.S.-China relationship. Working closely with Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping, President Carter took bold and politically courageous action to establish formal diplomatic relations between our nations—a decision that not only transformed the U.S.-China relationship, but indeed, quite literally changed the world, and for the better … One cannot overstate how important a moment normalization was for the United States, for China, and for the international community as a whole.  And President Carter made it happen.”

(From L-R) Charles Foster, Chip Carter, Neil Bush, David Firestein