--- title: Watch: George W. Bush Soaked in ALS Bucket Challenge description: "I do not think it's presidential for me to be splashed with ice water" canonical: https://time.com/3148301/george-w-bush-als-bucket-challenge/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-20T13:32:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:12:35.295Z og:title: Watch Who George W. Bush Nominates in ALS Ice Bucket Challenge og:description: Hint: It's another former president og:url: https://time.com/3148301/george-w-bush-als-bucket-challenge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b9dc9d0ad2c733c/6986a029cd68487708096205/george-w-bush.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: george W bush og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Who George W. Bush Nominates in ALS Ice Bucket Challenge twitter:description: Hint: It's another former president twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b9dc9d0ad2c733c/6986a029cd68487708096205/george-w-bush.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # George W. Bush Doesn't Think ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is Presidential, Gets Wet Anyway by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Aug 20, 2014 1:32 PM UTC  by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Aug 20, 2014 1:32 PM UTC It would seem few are immune from the icy reach of the ALS ice bucket challenge, and even former President George W. Bush has fallen victim. “To you all that challenged me, I do not think it’s presidential for me to be splashed with ice water,” he said. “I’m simply going to write you a check,” he added, moments before Laura Bush emptied a bucket of water over his head. The former First Lady added she would send a check to ALS groups as she didn’t want to ruin her hair. Having done his bit to raise awareness for ALS, 43 named another former president, Bill Clinton, to do the same. “Now it’s my privilege to challenge my friend Bill Clinton to the ALS challenge,” he said. “Yesterday was Bill’s birthday and my gift to Bill is a bucket of cold water.” The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has raised [$22.9 million this year](http://www.alsa.org/news/media/press-releases/ice-bucket-challenge-081914.html), according to the ALS Association. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3148301/george-w-bush-als-bucket-challenge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3148301/george-w-bush-als-bucket-challenge/"},"headline":"George W. Bush Doesn't Think ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is Presidential, Gets Wet Anyway","datePublished":"2014-08-20T13:32:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:35.295Z","description":"Nominates Bill Clinton to step up next","url":"https://time.com/3148301/george-w-bush-als-bucket-challenge/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b9dc9d0ad2c733c/6986a029cd68487708096205/george-w-bush.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b9dc9d0ad2c733c/6986a029cd68487708096205/george-w-bush.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"george W bush","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3148301/george-w-bush-als-bucket-challenge/","name":"George W. Bush Doesn't Think ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is Presidential, Gets Wet Anyway"}}]}] ```