When President George H.W. Bush died on Nov. 30, 2018, among all the accolades and tributes, a special memory of his connection to Tulane stood out. Bush and President Bill Clinton were the commencement speakers at University Commencement in May 2006 — and they graced the cover of the summer 2006 Tulanian (above). 

It was the first commencement after Katrina rolled across New Orleans the previous August.

As Tulanian reported, “In his remarks, Bush praised the courage and tenacity of Tulane’s students, faculty and staff in the face of unimaginable adversity. ‘The floodwaters may have breached the levees that surround this city and may have destroyed home after home, block after block,’ he said. ‘But today we also know they couldn’t break the spirit of the people who call this remarkable, improbable city home.’”