HOUSTON – While many likely learned of former President George H.W. Bush's love for crazy socks in more recent years, he's had a knack for wearing them for quite some time.
"He loves the crazy socks," said Warren Finch, director of the George H.W. Bush Library and Museum. "Everybody thinks the crazy socks are something new, but he's been doing the crazy sock thing for a long time."
And it came to be something he was known for.
"I love his socks," former Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said. "I am sure (Barbara) was absolutely floored when he started wearing these socks."
The wild socks quickly became a fashion statement once Bush started using a wheelchair to get around.
"To think, now people, when they meet him, immediately look down to see what he's wearing for socks," Hutchison said.
In a visit to the White House in 2013, Bush even gifted former President Barack Obama with a pair of socks.
One must wonder, though -- what did his wife, Barbara, think of the fashion statement when it began? "My guess is she would have said, 'George, really? I don't know about that,'" Hutchison said. "She probably did that about twice, and said, 'OK, looks good to me.'"
Maybe she took it in stride -- eventually.
"I do not want to name names, but if you have ever been married to the same person for 68 years, they, too, will accuse you of having totally lost it," Bush once wrote.