Mr. Bush, then a 20-year-old junior at Yale, was head of a notoriously rambunctious fraternity, and with the Christmas holidays approaching, he and some of his buddies had declared themselves the "decorating committee." They took off for a festive shopping street, where Mr. Bush spotted the wreath in a hotel -- and stole it.
It was not the perfect crime. Mr. Bush later recalled that he and his friends had perhaps had a few beers and were loud and boisterous. In addition, a police car was approaching.
The police arrested Mr. Bush and charged him with disorderly conduct. Eventually the charges were dropped, but the episode underscored Mr. Bush's path through the uproar of the late 1960's: at a time when many university students risked arrest for their vociferous political protests, Mr. Bush broke the law not out of principle but for a prank. Others denounced the police as "pigs," while Mr. Bush instinctively stood with the establishment, even as he casually breached its law.
December, 1966: Bush, after having "a few beers," stole a Christmas wreath from a hotel in New Haven Connecticut. Arrested for disorderly conduct.
1967: Bush is arrested for disorderly conduct when he storms onto the Princeton University football field, climbs onto the field goal crossbar, and tries to break off a piece as a souvenir.
I read that as a youth, stole a Christmas Wreath. I can't believe I voted for this man.