51 TIME Magazine Covers Featuring a Bush

  • George H.W. Bush, pictured during his run for a Texas Senate seat, on the Oct. 26, 1970, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: MORT DRUCKER
    1 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush, pictured as part of Gerald Ford's team, on the Nov. 17, 1975, cover of TIME
    2 of 51
  • Ronald Reagan & George H.W. Bush on the Jul. 28, 1980, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: NEIL LEIFER
    3 of 51
  • Ronald Reagan & George H.W. Bush on the Aug. 27, 1984, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: DIRCK HALSTEAD
    4 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush, top left, with Geraldine Ferraro, Walter Mondale and Ronald Reagan, on the Oct. 22, 1984, cover of TIME
    TIME
    5 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush, pictured among other presidential contenders, on the Feb. 29, 1988, cover of TIME
    TIME
    6 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush on the Mar. 21, 1988, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: DANIEL SCHWARTZ
    7 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush on the Aug. 22, 1988, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: WILLIAM COUPON
    8 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush & Dan Quayle on the Aug. 29, 1988, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: DENNIS BRACK
    9 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush on the Nov. 21, 1988, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: CYNTHIA JOHNSON
    10 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush, with Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, on the Dec. 19, 1988, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: DIRCK HALSTEAD
    11 of 51
  • Barbara Bush on the Jan. 23, 1989, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: GREGORY HEISLER
    12 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush on the Jan. 30, 1989, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: DIRCK HALSTEAD
    13 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush on the Aug. 21, 1989, cover of TIME
    TIME
    14 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev on the Dec. 11, 1989, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: DIANA WALKER
    15 of 51
  • Saddam Hussein and George H.W. Bush on the Aug. 20, 1990, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: DIRCK HALSTEAD (BUSH); THOMAS HARTWELL (SADDAM)
    16 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush, Men of the Year, on the Jan. 7, 1991, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: GREGORY HEISLER
    17 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush, with possible vice-presidential candidates, on the May 20, 1991, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: COMPUTER-ALTERED STATE OF THE UNION PHOTO BY DIANA WALKER
    18 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush on the Aug. 24, 1992, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: WILLIAM COUPON
    19 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and H. Ross Perot on the Oct. 12, 1992, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: DIANA WALKER, STEVE LISS, & SHELLY KATZ-BLACK STAR
    20 of 51
  • Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush on the Oct. 19, 1992, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: CYNTHIA JOHNSON
    21 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the June 21, 1999, cover of TIME
    TIME
    22 of 51
  • Bush, Gore, McCain & Bradley on the Jan. 31, 2000, cover of TIME
    TIME
    23 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the Feb. 28, 2000, cover of TIME
    TIME
    24 of 51
  • The 'Bush Dynasty' on the Aug. 7, 2000, cover of TIME
    TIME
    25 of 51
  • George W. Bush & Al Gore on the Nov. 6, 2000, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: BROOKS KRAFT (BUSH) / CORBIS SYGMA; DIANA WALKER (GORE)
    26 of 51
  • George W. Bush & Al Gore on the Nov. 20, 2000, cover of TIME
    TIME
    27 of 51
  • George W. Bush & Al Gore on the Nov. 27, 2000, cover of TIME
    TIME
    28 of 51
  • George W. Bush & Al Gore on the Dec. 4, 2000, cover of TIME
    TIME
    29 of 51
  • George W. Bush, Person of the Year, on the Dec. 25, 2000, cover of TIME
    TIME
    30 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the June 4, 2001, cover of TIME
    TIME
    31 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the Sept. 24, 2001, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: DOUG MILLS
    32 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the Nov. 5, 2001, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: BROOKS KRAFT - GAMMA
    33 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the June 17, 2002, cover of TIME
    TIME
    34 of 51
  • George W. Bush & Karl Rove on the Nov. 18, 2002, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: BROOKS KRAFT
    35 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the Mar. 3, 2003, cover of TIME
    TIME
    36 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the Jul. 21, 2003, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: BROOKS KRAFT
    37 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the Oct. 6, 2003, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: BROOKS KRAFT
    38 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the Dec. 1, 2003, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: BROOKS KRAFT
    39 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the Feb. 16, 2004, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: ALEX WONG
    40 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the May 24, 2004, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: ARTHUR HOCHSTEIN
    41 of 51
  • George W. Bush (and Laura Bush, top right) on the Sept. 6, 2004, cover of TIME
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    42 of 51
  • George W. Bush and John Kerry on the Oct. 18, 2004, cover of TIME
    TIME
    43 of 51
  • John Kerry and George W. Bush on the Nov. 1, 2004, cover of TIME
    TIME
    44 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the Nov. 15, 2004, cover of TIME
    TIME
    45 of 51
  • President George W. Bush, Person Of The Year, on the Dec. 27, 2004, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: DANIEL ADEL
    46 of 51
  • Dick Cheney and George W. Bush on the Feb. 27, 2006, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: BROOKS KRAFT / CORBIS FOR TIME
    47 of 51
  • George W. Bush on the Nov. 6, 2006, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH BY RON EDMONDS-AP
    48 of 51
  • Dick Cheney and George W. Bush on the Aug. 3, 2009, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH BY LUKE FRAZZA/AFP/GETTY. INSETS, FROM LEFT: CBS/LANDOV; TOM GRILL/GETTY.
    49 of 51
  • George W. Bush, far left, with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton on the Apr. 23, 2012, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH BY BROOKS KRAFT / CORBIS FOR TIME
    50 of 51
  • George H.W. Bush, Jeb Bush and George W. Bush on the Mar. 16, 2015, cover of TIME
    Cover Credit: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum/Corbis
    51 of 51
By Lily Rothman
March 5, 2015 7:00 AM EST

Correction appended, March 12, 2015

Stick around American politics long enough, and your story becomes the country’s. That’s one lesson from the longevity of the Bush family.

Though not every Bush who ventured into politics made the cover of TIME — sorry, Prescott Bush — the clan, including George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and some Barbara Bush along the way, has garnered dozens of covers over the years. (For the record, a complete gallery of the Clinton clan’s covers would be 54 slides long.) Flip through the images and you’ll notice a lot more than the years passing. The Bush story traces the fall of Nixon, the end of the Cold War, the contested 2000 election, the tragedy of Sept. 11, the war in Iraq. It is, essentially, a record of a few decades of American history.

George H. W. Bush, Jeb and George W. from 1970.
George Bush Presidential Library and Museum/Corbis

Now Jeb Bush, who had so far only made one cover cameo (Aug. 7, 2000), may be on the verge of adding another chapter to political history. No matter what happens in 2016, he’s got a good start: this week, he’s on the cover of TIME.

Correction: The original version of this story misstated the number of times a Clinton had been featured on the cover of TIME. It was 54, as of March 5, 2015.

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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com.

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