Bush has described his days before his religious conversion in his 40s as his “nomadic” period and “irresponsible youth” and admitted to drinking “too much” in those years. In Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President by James Hatfield, Bush is quoted as saying that “alcohol began to compete with my energies … I’d lose focus”. Although Bush states that he was not an alcoholic, he has acknowledged that he was “drinking too much” (as reported by Nicholas Kristof in How Bush Came to Tame His Inner Scamp, The New York Times, July 29, 2000), and that he couldn’t remember a day when he hadn’t had a drink, including his stay at Philips Academy, where not only was he underage but alcohol was prohibited on campus, as well as at Yale where, conversely, “hard drinking” was considered a badge of honor (as reported in Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President by James Hatfield).
Bush’s drinking may not have caused problems were it not for his tendency to become excessively uninhibited, according to reports of friends. In the article referenced above, Kristof quotes Bush’s cousin Elsie Walker as saying, “He was a riot. But afterward, when you’re older, that can wear thin”, and gives the example of Bush asking a “proper” female friend of his parents at a family cocktail party, “So, what’s sex like after 50, anyway?”
* In December, 1966, he was arrested for disorderly conduct after he and some friends had "a few beers" and stole a Christmas wreath from a hotel. [4] The charges were later dropped.
* On September 4, 1976, Bush was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He admitted his guilt, was fined $150, and had his driving license in the state suspended for two years, implying two prior convictions. [The White House had claimed 30 days, the document shows two years.] [5] This incident did not become public knowledge until it was reported in the press in the week before the 2000 election.
The most notorious episode, reported in numerous diverse sources including U.S. News & World Report, November 1, 1999, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq by Robert Parry, First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty by Bill Minutaglio, and W: Revenge of the Bush Dynasty by Elizabeth Mitchell, has 26 year old George W. Bush, visiting his parents in Washington, D. C. over the Christmas vacation in 1972 shortly after the death of his grandfather, taking his 16 year old brother Marvin out drinking. On the way home, George lost control of the car and ran over a garbage can, but continued home with the can wedged noisily under the car. When his father, George H. W. Bush, called him on the carpet for not only his own behavior but for exposing his younger brother to risk, George W., still under the influence, retorted angrily, “I hear you’re looking for me. You wanna go mano a mano right here?” Before the elder Bush could reply, the situation was defused by brother Jeb, who took the opportunity to surprise his father with the happy news that George W. had been accepted to Harvard Business School.
