The five living former presidents appeared together for the first time since 2013 on Saturday at a concert to raise money for victims of devastating hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Democrats Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and Republicans George HW and George W Bush gathered on stage in College Station, Texas, home of Texas A&M University, putting aside politics to try to unite the country after the storms.
Texas A&M is home to the presidential library of the elder Bush.
At 93, he has a form of Parkinson’s disease and appeared in a wheelchair at the event.
His wife Barbara and George W Bush’s wife Laura Bush were in the audience.
The five living former presidents appeared together for the first time since 2013 on Saturday at a concert to raise money for victims of devastating hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands
Pictured above on stage from left to right are former presidents Jimmy Carter, George HW Bush, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama
The presidents gathered on stage in College Station, Texas, home of Texas A&M University, putting aside politics to try to unite the country after the storms. Texas A&M is home to the presidential library of the elder Bush
George W. Bush (far left), Clinton, and Obama join the Texas A&M choir during the singing of the national anthem
At 93, George HW Bush (seen second from left next to Carter) has a form of Parkinson’s disease and appeared in a wheelchair at the event
Clinton and Carter look on as the concert featured the country music band Alabama, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer ‘Soul Man’ Sam Moore, gospel legend Yolanda Adams and Texas musicians Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen
George HW Bush’s wife Barbara (right) and George W Bush’s (center) wife Laura Bush (left) were in the audience
The presidents set aside politics for one night in the name of a good cause. Democrats Obama (far left), Clinton, and Carter look on from the audience
The 44th president seemed to be enjoying himself as concertgoers behind him rose to their feet
Obama and Clinton were roused to their feet in applause while Carter was more laid back
There is precedent for former presidents joining forces for post-disaster fundraising. George HW Bush and Bill Clinton raised money together after the 2004 South Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina the next year
President Donald Trump recorded a message for the concert in which he praised his predecessors as ‘some of America’s finest public servants’
The concert features the country music band Alabama, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer ‘Soul Man’ Sam Moore, gospel legend Yolanda Adams and Texas musicians Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen.
Earlier on Saturday, President Donald Trump recorded a video greeting that avoids his past criticism of the former presidents and called them ‘some of America’s finest public servants.’
‘This wonderful effort reminds us that we truly are one nation under God, all unified by our values and devotion to one another,’ Trump said in the message.
The last time the five were together was in 2013, when Obama was still in office, at the dedication of George W Bush’s presidential library in Dallas.
In a promotional video for the appeal, Obama, 56, said he and the other former presidents wanted to help Americans rebuild
‘People are hurting down here,’ was the message of George W Bush, 71
Clinton, 71, said: ‘Hurricane Harvey brought terrible devastation. But it also brought out the best in humanity’
George HW Bush, 93, said: ‘We love you Texas’. It is his charity which has organized the concert
Carter, 93, the 39th President of the United States, also took part in the message
The presidents were last together in 2013 when they opened the Bush Library in Dallas
There is precedent for former presidents joining forces for post-disaster fundraising.
George HW Bush and Bill Clinton raised money together after the 2004 South Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina the next year.
Clinton and George W Bush combined to seek donations after Haiti’s 2011 earthquake.
‘It’s certainly a triple, if not a home run, every time,’ said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.
‘Presidents have the most powerful and prolific fundraising base of any politician in the world. When they send out a call for help, especially on something that’s not political, they can rake in big money.’
Amid criticism that his administration was initially slow to aid storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, Trump accused island leaders of ‘poor leadership,’ and later tweeted that, ‘Electric and all infrastructure was disaster before hurricanes’ while saying that Federal Emergency Management Agency, first-responders and military personnel wouldn’t be able to stay there forever.
Former presidents (R-L) George HW Bush, Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter (pictured above together in 2009)
But Rottinghaus said those attending Saturday’s concert were always going to be viewed more favorably since polling consistently shows that ‘any ex-president is seen as less polarizing than the current president.’
‘They can’t get away from the politics of the moment,’ he said of current White House occupants.
‘Ex-presidents are able to step back and be seen as the nation’s grandfather.’
Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas’ Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane on August 25, eventually unleashing historic flooding in Houston and killing more than 80 people.
Shortly thereafter, all five ex-presidents appeared in a commercial for a fundraising effort known as ‘One America Appeal.’
In it, George W Bush says, ‘People are hurting down here.’
His father, George HW Bush, then replies, ‘We love you, Texas.’
A website accepting donations, OneAmericaAppeal.org, was created with 100 percent of proceeds pledged to hurricane relief.
Hurricane Irma subsequently hit Florida and Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico, while both affected the US Virgin Islands.