Bush’s Wealth at Least $3 Million : Personal Worth Primarily From Blind Trust, Maine Home

President Bush’s blind trust produced income of $156,000 in 1988--$41,000 more than his salary as vice president that year--and was worth just under $1 million at the end of the year, according to documents made public Monday by the White House.

Including the approximate value of his sprawling seaside home in Maine, Bush’s personal wealth is at least $3 million.

That is the upper end of the Bush fortune. There is, according to the documents, an element of micro-economics in the George Bush financial picture: The gifts he received--and kept--over the past year. They were valued at “approximately $21,009,” according to White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater.

Such items as 10 cassette tapes of country and Western music, a porcelain vase, 26 neckties, a dozen miniature toy soldiers and two tins of caviar. And, from Ardeshir Zahedi, now resident in Montreux, Switzerland, but at one time more than a decade ago the U.S. ambassador of the late Shah of Iran, there was a framed picture of a reindeer.

The President went beyond the requirements of federal ethics laws in listing the value of his blind trust, which was formed three days before he became vice president in 1981. Under existing law, a senior officeholder’s assets are listed in specified ranges, and one category covers all assets greater than $250,000.

15.6% Return

On the documents made public Monday, Bush presented an additional page listing the value of the blind trust at $998,000, along with the $156,000 income--a return of 15.6%.

In addition, Bush listed various bank accounts totaling $15,000, individual retirement accounts for himself and his wife, Barbara, worth $30,000 and the $18,000 value of a deferred compensation arrangement with the Zapata Corp., the oil drilling company Bush founded. Fitzwater said the payment would be made when the President turns 65 next month.

The net cash surrender value of a life insurance policy was listed at $13,000, and the value of a share in a liquid petroleum gas barge was given as $31,000. Other share holders include Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher. Fitzwater said the barge shares would be added to the blind trust.

The various cash investments and tanker produced income of $15,466, according to the documents.

Also, according to Don Hemphill, the tax assessor in Kennebunkport, Me., the President’s vacation home there is assessed at $891,600. But that assessment is 40% of the value of the property and improvements on it, including a heated pool. Thus, the house, on which a White House spokesman said there is no mortgage, would appear to be worth $2,229,000.

The report also showed Bush had no liabilities, and said that earlier this year he paid off $49,000 in three loans he took out in 1979 against life insurance policies.

Then there are the gifts for the active sportsman: boots and walking shoes and running shoes; horseshoes, of course, for the First Horseshoe-pitcher of the land; four baseball jackets for the former Yale first baseman; a pool cue; fishing reels, and a tennis racquet. Those were among the gifts the President kept, Fitzwater said.

Foreigners’ gifts valued at more than $180 cannot be kept, and were not listed. Such gifts are turned over to the State Department or are returned, the spokesman said. Gifts of any value from American citizens may be kept, but under federal law, those valued at more than $100 must be listed on the financial disclosure form.

The gifts, said Fitzwater, are stashed away here and there: “Some of them are at Kennebunkport in storage there; some are here in the private quarters--various places.”

Vice President Dan Quayle also made public his financial statement, using only the broad categories required by current law. The value of his shares of Central Newspapers Inc., the family-held publishing company, was listed at greater than $250,000. In addition, he listed honorariums of $52,797.