The Hungarian government pays tribute to the memory of Bush, the 41st President of the United States, because he was the first American head of state to visit Budapest during his tenure and participated in ending the Cold War and in establishing democracies in Central and Eastern Europe. 

The statue was inaugurated on 23 October 2020, thirty years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the German unity and the reunification and Europe. The work of István Máté, a bronze statue of the president who died at the age of 94, was ceremoniously inaugurated by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and resigning American Ambassador David Cornstein. The Bush statue now stands next to the Budapest statue of US President Ronald Reagan and symbolizes their struggle to eradicate the “evil empires”.

Freedom, happiness, longevity: these were the words to a six-year-old girl by senior Bush president.

"Our countries are working closer together than ever before"– emphasized David Cornstein, the American Ambassador who left Budapest recently, quoting President Bush and adding “while waves of uncertainty continue, including the coronavirus pandemic, freedom serves as a reference for us”.