George H.W. Bush named to chair Constitution Center board

National Constitution Center President Joe Torsella knows that making his museum more than just a regional attraction is easier when he recruits someone of national stature for its board.

Yesterday, Torsella announced he's landed a pretty big fish: former President George H.W. Bush, who's agreed to chair the center's board.

"Like the Constitution itself, we started here in Philadelphia," Torsella said yesterday, "but we now belong to all of America."

Bush didn't attend yesterday's announcement because he's recovering from hip-replacement surgery.

Torsella said he expects Bush to attend the board's semiannual meetings, and he hopes to hold one of them at Bush's presidential library at Texas A&M University.

Torsella said the board typically holds one of the two meetings out of Philadelphia in recognition of the center's role as a national institution.

Bush has had an association with the Constitution Center project since its planning stages, when he was vice president. He narrated a video promoting it in 1997, when fundraising for the center was under way.

The former president spent some time at the center when it opened on July 4, 2003, and loved the exhibits.

"I remember how he was utterly fascinated by them," Torsella said.

"We've given a lot of distinguished VIP tours, but that was different. He was sort of captivated by what we were trying to do."

It's not clear how active Bush, 82, will be in the center's affairs, but Torsella said he expects to benefit from Bush's "wisdom and guidance in the years ahead."

Torsella declined to say whether Bush or his family have contributed to the center, and he said in response to questions that Bush won't be asking his friends to donate.

"We're not going to ask him to raise money," Torsella said.

"We wouldn't put him in the position directly of doing that.

"Do I think I expect that this will help us raise money? I surely do."

Bush replaces the outgoing chairman, Vanguard founder John Bogle.

Three other members have been added to the board:

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates; former ambassador to Luxembourg Peter Terpeluk, and investment banker Richard Worley. *