Born in Denver, Colorado, into a fifth-generation Mormon family, Bush graduated from Brigham Young University in 1957, where he continued graduate studies in archaeology before joining the Fifth University Archaeological Society excavations at the Maya site of Aguacatal in western Campeche, Mexico, in the winter of 1958.

[7] This image of the president has since eclipsed all others and is the painting most familiar to the public;[8] it now hangs in the White House[9] and is featured on the Jefferson nickel.

[10] Bush proposed and in 1971 created an exhibition at the Grolier Club in New York of ancient Maya hieroglyphic texts, mostly on pottery.

The catalog by Michael D. Coe revolutionized the study of texts on Maya ceramics and accelerated the eventual decipherment of the ancient American writing system.

Highly controversial, this book went through extensive tests over the next half century and only in September 2018 was it declared genuine by the Mexican authorities.

[20] In retirement Bush advised institutions facing issues of repatriation of American Indian remains and artifacts.