First Black Supreme Court Page Dies At 72
From the archive: published Nov 30, 2012, 13 years ago. Details may have changed since.
Lolo, MT — Charles Vernon Bush, the first African-American to serve as page in the US Supreme Court, has died at 72.
Bush was also one of the first three black Cadets to attend the Air Force Academy, and the first to graduate.
Bush’s wife, Bettina, said he died from colon cancer at his home in Lolo, Montana, on November 5.
Bush grew up in a segregated Washington, D.C., and was named a Supreme Court page when he was just 14 years old in 1954. He worked primarily in the anteroom of Chief Justice Earl Warren, who sought the appointment of an African-American to the position.
He attended the Sanz Language School in D.C. under the auspices of the Defense Language Institute an acquired fluency in the Vietnamese language. He served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968, where he oversaw intelligence teams during the Battle of Khe Sanh and the Tet Offensive, the Washington Post reported.
He was awarded a bronze star by 7th Air Force and the Joint Services Commendation Medal by Military Assistance Command for his service.
He left the Air Force as a captain in 1970. His son, Chip Bush, said his father left partly because he felt he had been overlooked for a promotion because of his race.
Bush was also a diversity consultant to the Air Force and the Air Force Academy, according to the Post. His corporate career included working in executive-level positions for companies such as Hughes Electronics and Max Factor.
Charles V. Bush is survived by his wife, three children, his mother, a sister, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.