But on my left we have texas land commissioner george p. Bush who is here speaking on behalf of the bush brand. [applause] susan page is the Washington Bureau chief for usa today and author of the recent and currently, i guess, still bestselling biography of barbara bush called the matriarch. She will be signing copies of it after this. [applause] and michael beschloss, one of the wonderful president ial authors who has written so many things, so many books. I will be asking you about some of the stuff i found in my old wellworn copy of character above all. The first thing id like to ask all of you, we lost barbara bush and george bush just so close together, what kind of reassessment do you think this has brought for the country as to, you know, what the bush name stood for and, you know, what the significance really was of all the work that they did in so many arenas of Public Service . Mr. Bush well, looking back on now. It was world war ii generation. It wasnt about them as individuals. It was the turning of the page of our countrys history in many respects. And, you know, i was privileged to be asked to give the eulogy for my grandfather when we came back to houston and really was a celebration of both of their lives. It wasnt a celebration of one individual. Also a celebration of our heritage. When you think about as texans their time and the patch in midland after world war ii, later rising the political ranks in texas. Really, just a story of a couple seeking to achieve the American Dream as it was defined. Those simple values and that work ethic i think was celebrated that week. I will say this, also, you know, in texas we had a different celebration, but in d. C. , i thought it was refreshing that for three days, lets call it, the white noise of washington, d. C. , just shut down, and the country really came together and it was really special to be part of and to witness. I hope people will continue to recognize the contribution of that generation. I covered the 1992 campaign where george bush lost his bid for a second term and we know how discouraging that was for him. Even in that election there wasnt animosity toward president bush and certainly not toward barbara bush. There was, i think, a feeling it was time for change after three terms of republican president s. I do think there has been a reassessment of both bushes since that election. I think one factor that has i think there is a new appreciation for the skill and deftness that which george bush handled the end of the cold war which was not a lead pipe. I think the administration of President Trump has prompted some americans to appreciate the civility, the bipartisan tone, the willingness to talk across party lines, the willingness to reach a compromise. Some of the qualities that president bush brought to the white house i think are newly appreciated today in a way it wasnt appreciated previously. I do think, also, that Barbara Bushs reputation continues which was never bad. Continues to get better as we understand more how influential she was. And i agree with everything thats been said so far. If you are looking for conflict, i think this is not the place to come for it. I think we are all great admirers of both. If you go back to 1992, the year that george h. W. Bush was defeated for reelection, the argument that bill clinton was making, his skills were out of touch. It was george h. W. Bush who ended the cold war, you could concentrate on the domestic side of american life. But he, to me, shows something thats very profound about history and that is that i like to think and i think other historians mostly feel the same way that as history goes on you begin to change your views of people. As time goes on and as you get access to letters and diaries and also hindsight. Because things dont look the same as they do a sitting president as they would 10, 20, 30, 40 years later. Preferably a later period of time. I think it allows more americans who think about this to understand just as susan was saying, it was not at all the cold war would end as it did. The cold war ended in 1991 on terms that harry truman and all these other cold war president s could only have dreamt of. And one of the central reasons that happened, every cold war president made a contribution, but, you know, i think we were protected by god when george h. W. Bush was president during the last years of gorbachev because if i went back through time and i was looking for qualities in a president that will turn out to be important, i would want someone with the human qualities and the diplomatic skill to build a relationship with gorbachev so that gorbachev could do things like open the berlin wall and allow the Eastern European satellites to go and later on to join nato in a way that he did not feel that george h. W. Bush would make fun of them or, you know, embarrass him in certain ways. And so that we now see i think much more clearly how lucky we were to have him as president. And the other thing ill say, and i want to ask particularly susan and karen about this because both are and have been writing about first ladies, ive been doing this for almost 40 years. I have written primarily about first ladies. Ive been writing about books about president with first ladies by and large and i have met a number of them, including barbara bush, i had the honor of, and also nancy reagan, how far are you along . Getting there. One thing i would generally say about first ladies, and you all tell me if this sounds right to you, george would have to comment on this, and that is you ask the first lady about something that you know they did during a presidency and theyll always essentially say, it wasnt me. It was the president. I may have had some small influence. It was either his idea or he really carried the load on this. Give him the credit. And the more time you spend studying first ladies, particularly after they and the president s are gone, you find how vitally important these first ladies were, both in their own right and also in these president cis. Presidencies. Maybe the best example of that would be bess truman. Beth truman at the time was thought of by the general public as someone who barely knew what her husband was doing professionally. Spent a lot of time in the truman home in missouri. Was not even in washington to see these huge events that harry truman was in the center of. Korean war. Integration of the military and so on. And then after they were both gone and you began to get into letters and diaries and so on, you saw how really essential she was, not only to him but to that presidency. So all im telling you is if you hear a first lady in real time or a first spouse, as man will be first spouse i hope soon i really didnt have much to do with this. Just give the credit to the president. Be a little bit skeptical. Does that sound right to the two of you . Let me pose an incredible difficult question to george p. Bush. Barbara bush, aids was an issue. Behind the scenes she was influential. More generally as a partner to george h. W. Bush through his whole life. She was just indispensable to him. One of the questions i interviewed about 130 people for the book. I would end the interview by saying, if george w. Bush had not married barbara pierce, would he have done everything he did, he did, including becoming president . I asked barbara bush and she said, of course he would have. I asked george h. W. Bush and he thought about it and he said, yes, i think i would have. [laughter] by the way, if youre married, thats the wrong answer to give. In the husbands manual. But almost every other person i interviewed, not quite everyone, but almost everyone said, no, he wouldnt have done all he did without being married to barbara pierce. And the younger person to have responded would have said shes crucial. And the generation of the grandchildren, some of them did not seem to understand the question. Like, how could you ask that question . Of course. So let me ask you, if george h. W. Bush hadnt married barbara pierce, would he have done all he did including becoming president . Absolutely not. Bone, she wasck the enforcer. Actually, the enforcer was sort of later in life. The silver fox, you tell me if my memory was right, Time Magazine . The gray fox which seemed insulting. Then it morphed into the silver fox. As the label came later it clearly and the entourage and family for sure. Heres my question for george. I would assume that was because she wanted to be thought of as the silver fox. As lovely as she was. Big side of her, family person, and but at the same time later on as life went on people realize she had a tough side. Absolutely on point. I am sure you never saw that. No. I was never the recipient. Well, whether it was sitting up straight, which i am not doing. She always loved her clothing. Absolutely. It required the skillset to raise george w. Bush the way he was raised. No. She clearly was the enforcer in the family and instilled the code. Of service in all of us. She at times was the bad guy, if you will, in terms of executing discipline. And that started in the days of midland all the way to the 18 grandkids up in maine. We all respected my grandma. She made sure we sat up straight, spoke with correct grammar. To speak correctly. Were going to miss her so much. Thats the spirit that she had. I would say politically she was an advisor to my grandfather. She wasnt the one that ruled the roost internally within the family. She was the first person that gampy would ask advice on, particularly early on when he had two senate losses and other political challenges that faced him, from watergate on. Sitting as we are in austin, texas, so the bushes come to midland as newlyweds and they are two kinds of exotic species. You didnt see much of in texas. They were connecticut yankees. And they were something that was even rarer at the time, they were republicans. Later, after they moved to houston, your grandfather takes over the Republican Party in part because there was a battle going on between the corporate republicans and the berkshires. I think the bush family is so so crucial to implanting the kind of d. N. A. Of the Republican Party into texas politics. The kind of republicanism that you see today in texas in many ways doesnt really resemble that that much. Or do you still sense that its there . There could be a return to it, perhaps . Sure. Id say there is a silent majority of republicans that build their lives, raise their families, dont have the time to go and be as active as they want to be and look for solutions and oriented leadership whether its in austin or washington, d. C. Regretfully, because of the conflicts that we have seen in texas within our own party, weve actually lost some of our supermajorities, particularly in the state house. Here i am on my soapbox saying i am one of the few republicans trying to bring people together, as we head into redistricting year here in texas which is decided by the composition of the house and senate that the stakes, this cycle, which you always hear from politicses, politicians most important election in your lifetime, truly is the case. The state trends more blue. Susan, one of the really interesting things you came across in your research, you asked mrs. Bush, do you still consider yourself a republican . And what did she say . Well, the first time i interviewed her for the book in 2017, we came up on the oneyear anniversary of President Trumps election and it will stun you to say she was not a huge fan to of President Trump. Its been about a year. Are you still a republican . She said, yes. What turned out to be the last interview that i did with her in february, 2018, although we didnt know at that point it would be the last interview, i said, you know, the first time i talked to you i asked if you are still a republican, do you still feel that way . She said, no. No, i dont think i am. It doesnt mean she was a democrat. She didnt like democrats the an at all. I think she felt she no longer had a home in the Republican Party. Its interesting that in the last president ial election they could vote in, george h. W. Bush voted for Hillary Clinton. Barbara bush didnt like Hillary Clinton much either. And so barbara bush wrote in jeb bushs name for president. It says something about the couple that helped establish the g. O. P. In the state, neither of them voted for the republican president or candidate in the last election of their lives. The other thing is, we talked about probably the accomplishment of George Herbert walker bush that he will get the biggest place in the history books for guiding, not just this country but the whole world through the end of the cold war. I mean, he was so sure footed. He was also he had these relationships. The president talks about america first. George bush had relationships with the key players that went back decades. Envoy to china. Head of the c. I. A. Do you think that this kind of internationalist strain of the Republican Party still exists or has donald trump taken it to a different place . Well, hes the leader of the party so he does define Foreign Policy. Republicans dont have to agree on every single issue there is. If you look back on the time of my grandfather, whether it was being the first liaison to china before we diplomatically recognized them, he viewed that as one of his favorite posts of alltime. But in terms of his international relationships, he used to joke when he was Vice President about the string of russian premieres that would die, the soviet premieres, if you die, i fly, and he really prided himself on his frequent flier miles in developing those relationships and making sure our National Security objectives were being achieved. But he when he whenever you could get him to talk about politics, which is very difficult to do as a grandchild, he would be with excitement when it came to Foreign Policy. Michael, again, the surefootedness, the degree to which he based these relationship of therust, and the plus with other or leaders, and you also saw that with the international coalition, going into the first gulf war for sure. It was very much him. Not only the fact but he had a personality that was just designed for diplomacy. But he had been ambassador to the u. N. Since 1971. You know, relatively early in life. And thats what you do up there. A lot of the people he knew as ambassadors were leaders that just following up on something we talked about before. I have heard someone say and it sounds sort of right to me but the three of you, please tell me if it sounds right to you, and that is that barbara bush and nancy reagan, your two subjects, didnt have, susan, maybe the closest relationship . Yeah. And didnt have a lot in common except the fact they went to smith college. But one thing was that they were married to people that were optimistic, like to make friends, light to see the best in people, and in that case those two women, if they walked into a room and i would say this for both of them, and there was someone, you know, 18 rows back who did not have george h. W. Bushs best interest at heart, you know, barbara bush just had the sense or sensed that person in the room that person was a danger or needed some work and i think nancy reagan did too. Does that sound right to all of you . Any part of that . I think barbara bush was more likely to remember an offense and to exact a price. Whereas george h. W. Bush was much more likely to either to likely forget about it or to forgive. Do you think thats true . Absolutely. My grandmother had a longterm memory. I have the scars to show for it. And that applied to politics. Ande would be a discussion she would say that soandso did back in texas. She was usually the first to jump in on prior political conflicts. Thats what it was meant as the enforcer . Exactly. Quites do you think, george, that was something to his political career, would he have been able to exceed without it, did it go too far sometimes . He obviously had great advisors along the way, but theres nothing like the spouse stepping in. He had no other agenda. No other agenda. I think people forget. When they look at the reaganbush partnership for eight years, they forget how brutal that 1980 republican primary really was. The debate in dallas. They really went at each other. You want to remind us what happened in dallas, just in case everyone voodoo blank . There was voodoo economics. Nancy reagan didnt forget that. And you know, just beginning to end that primary was very, very difficult. But several people ive talked to about all of this suggests that often its easier for the husbands to let go of this than the wives. Let me just say or the candidates. Theres a i dont want to identify this person who i interviewed for the book, an elected official whos on stage now [laughter] 00 22 18 didnt know that karen had so i dont even know if you remember saying this. We were talking about this very aspect of his grandparents relationship and this i named unnamed elected official on stage said, its either important not you but the person we are talking about. Its important or useful, sometimes necessary for the candidate or the official to have amnesia, so its easier to trust. Meone else you if you want to govern, sometimes you have to let bygones be bygones. You have to buildup your coalition. Maybe it is useful to have someone thinking come about person was not with you when you ran last time. Even jackie kennedy, whos considered to be sort of the end of being uninvolved in her he once toldeer, jfk, why are you being so nice to x . I forget who x was. I thought he did this terrible thing. And j. F. K. Said, well, hes done nice things during the weeks since then. And you cant go through politics if you are a candidate or officeholder. And you have that in your mind all the time. But is it important to have someone who does have that in mind . Thats a question. Can we ask the Office Holder . Absolutely. Well, especially in the twitter era, right . If you read your comments, youll usually receive incoming from all directions. But its important to have somebody that can keep an honest appraisal, that can remove yourself, because as somebody in politics, whether my granddad, its difficult to remove yourself. If that makes sense. Thats a vital role my grandma played throughout. Honestly for that matter, so did the kids. My dad and my uncle, you know, worked extraordinarily hard. All of us did to make sure they were successful. But also give that honest appraisal whenever tough decisions were being made. One story ill share, i remember in 1988 when the time came wrapping up the nomination to select who the vicepresident ial nominee was going to be and my grandfather in maine i think talked to his Political Team but my grandmother, of course, solicited conversation by saying who at the table wants to vote for this individual or this individual . And we had our vote and we had our say. So she made she created a venue by which the family would weigh in, including grandkids, and thats a role that i think most politicians, successful ones, seem to have. Who won the family vote . I remember that any other names that you remember that were raised . I think dick lugar. Indiana. So you were looking at a senator from indiana but maybe not the one who finally got it. Anyone else, do you remember . I dont recall. Just for history. You have sort of forged your own path, your own identity, you know, beyond your name and often kind of taking on the establishment. I mean, when the entire texas establishment was behind david duherst, you backed ted cruz. Very famously you helped donald trump in the state. I think this earlier this year the president was here for an event and he introduced you as truly this is the only bush who got it right. How was that . Well, when i entered Public Service in 2012, im not sure anybody in this room could have predicted what would happen in 2016. I worked really hard for my dad when he ran. You know, as we were talking about in 1980, that being considered an ugly campaign, well, 2016 was pretty bad. If theres one of the lessons i learned in my family, its politics can be a dirty sport. You know, things are said that we all, you know, sometimes regret. But we all also have to move on. If you want to move forward in politics. So i paid my own way. I supported the president. I intend to do so this cycle. But ive also stepped away from the party on a variety of issues, including white nationalism, after the mass shooting in el paso, which was written about in the atlantic. I stepped down on a variety of other issues and i work on a pragmatic basis. A lot of Lessons Learned from my grandfathers time and grandmothers that i try to use in my service. After Tropical Storm imelds, me and my team went to homes flooded after Hurricane Harvey and i think community service, it was great to see church organizations, nonprofit groups out there leading the fight before the government did. So when we were mucking and gutting, i was thinking about my grandparents and what they would have done. I think in many ways, so the appreciation of the bush name, you cant divorce that from sort of the contrast of the current occupant of the white house. I wrote our obituary of George Herbert walker bush for the washington post. It was probably 180inch story and i didnt mention Donald Trumps name until a third to the last paragraph but i got all these emails from Trump Supporters saying, you know, why did you slam the president in your story . Just to write about George Herbert walker bushs life. He comes to office with probably more experience in Public Service than any other president. At least the breath of his experience, the fact that he ran, as you pointed out, character above all. Not on issues, not on ideologies, but on character. If i could interrupt. The most popular bush commercial in 1988 ended with the narrator saying, i think this is close to getting it verbatim, the more you know about george bush is the more you know this is the best prepared not quite verbatim no candidate has been better prepared to be president of the United States. And guess whos one of the stars of that commercial. Do you remember that one . With an 88 on your back. One take johnny. You actually remember the day that was done . Not the actual day. It was up in maine, i think. It was. And thats why the defeat for reelection was so crushing because he did believe in character above all and although he came close to bill clinton later on in life when they were both expresident s, at the time, both bushes felt that bill clinton did not have the character that george h. W. Did and they were surprised that americans didnt agree with them on that, that they elected and barbara bush invited Hillary Clinton. This is a big point between her and nancy reagan. After the election, barbara bush invites Hillary Clinton to look at the family quarters. And when i interviewed Hillary Clinton for this book, she said when she walked in, barbara had not thoroughly processed the fact they lost. And she said i cant believe you won, were surprised, are you . And Hillary Clinton said no. It took my grandfather about 18 months and the reason i say that, i was going to school and one of the reasons i applied is to be close to my grandparents and gave me a chance to grab texmex. And it took a while. Im here to tell you as well, he built a great relationship with him after. It speaks to his character that he was able to let it go and serve and continue that service, whether raising 100 million for the tsunami in indonesia and working on katrina. My uncle tapping both of them to come together. And the friendship reached such appoint where i think my dad and uncle called bill clinton a son. I was on a trip with your father early in the 2016 campaign where it appears if you had the smart money that was going to come down to arrays a race between jeb bush and Hillary Clinton and sitting in a beer garden and someone asked about close relationship between the surrogate son. And he said i havent gotten it soft. Ofgone soft like the rest my family. If bill clinton comes over again he will go on and on about himself. She wasnt much of a fan. But my grandfather was all about bill clinton and they developed they need together it is probably a message for current politics when you are working in divided government, you can accomplish things. We should remember bill clintons biologicals father died before he was born. He never knew his father. Psychology pop after their presidencies that george bush became the father he never had and he has done oral histories at the university of virginia and i dont know whats in them. But one of the people involved in that said he talks in a compelling way about that aspect of his relationship with george h. W. Bush. Isnt that extraordinary . Two president s, one defeated the other from reelection and ended up with a relationship so close that it could have been the father that one of them never had. Get out of his state 18 what do you think helped your grandfather to get out of his state 18 months after the election . I would say it was houston. He would at the time go to a steakhouse or texmex joint and people would stand up and give a standing ovation. He would come out and and go to astros games. They attended as many baseball games as they could. That was important for him in terms of the recovery. As it is for anybody. Politics isme ultimately personal. Seeing his son defeat bill clintons Vice President was healing. So what was it like for your grandfather trying to figure out how to manage the relationship with his son in the white house, because here he is is somebody who understands the pressures he is under and the kinds of decisions he is making better than anybody two other people in the world, but how does he manage both being there to help him and advise him with sort of backing off and being his own president . I think he led by saying im a father first and president second. And that meant that i love you unconditionally, son. And if you have any questions or advice. And im certain he did during the tough times particularly as related to we met up in d. C. During holidays and got together. A lot has been written of him opining and he had some of his subordinates and others within his administration that critiqued Foreign Policy which i will leave the historians to when it can came to that decision after he was sworn in and comes into the oval office, my grandfather is right there and that photo of just tremendous provided, its the provided of a father, not the pride of a former president. It is interesting because your generation has sort of gone off and found their way in so many different directions. Could you talk about that. It seems like everybody has found their own niche of how they are going to serve. You look attely jena with her work abroad in addition to barbara creating health core which is addressing Global Health care needs in poor countries. Lauren and pierce who runs the big brothers, big sisters effort. When you talk to my grand parents of Public Service and points of light, its not about actually running for office, but serving other people and that can take so many different forms and impact the libes of so many people. And i think particularly in this time, people say to me the problems today arent going to be solved by d. C. But in Community Levels in churches and synagogues and Community Groups and the healing will take place at a local level. And im not sure it will happen in d. C. Thats the legacy that they leave for us. The title of my book which will be available for sale is barbara bush and the american making of an american dynasty. And she didnt like the word dynasty because she thought it dripped with entitlement. It reminded her of another family which was sounded like the contendies. Kennedys. She didnt like the title of the book. She said i would like it called the fat lady sings again. I went to different direction. When i talk to what i meant by dynasty i meant a broader view , of what a dynasty comprises and the thing that barbara bush was most proud of were her grandchildren and the course they had taken. Anybody who has watched cable tv knows how much the rich and famous can have trouble getting through life and that has not characterized that generation of the bush family which has done Amazing Things and pierce is running for you must have some news. Pierce may be running for his grandfathers congressional seat. There are some of those grandchildren running for office. As georgep bush was saying, they do something to give back. And that reflects in such an incredible way of the legacy of both their grandparents. Great breaking off point to go to questions. We have a microphone here. If anything has anything they would like to ask. Comments or reactions. One more thing. What is next for you . Im going to go get something to eat. Public service. I love politics. It can be ugly. The doors willd, open up. Land office has been a wild ride. Nashve responded to six troll disasters. We are restoring the alamo. We are addressing the needs of military veterans. The high rate of suicide, unemployment, we are addressing. Doing iswe are meaningful and we want to continue it. Can i ask you a political question . Prettyas become reliable. Democrats continue to hope that will not always be the case. They see a state that could become more of a swing state, reasons. Ics and other if you look ahead at decade, where will texas be when it comes to the landscape of the grounds of politics here . We are a majorityminority state. We will be majority hispanic in five years. Heading into redistricting gain four congressional seats and we are second behind california and that is changing texas politics. In austin, there are about people moving here a day. 140 regardless of your politics. If you are demographer, you know that its changing the politics. Our state house, which i think is the most reflective of any form of government in our state, we have 150 states. Our margin is only nine seats. My good friend who is running the state house effort for the democrats says we will raise 20 million most of it nationally. And the vulnerable districts are in suburban texas and there is a gender gap among hispanics and millenals. I am working to try to communicate that are within those three groups. What do you think the party needs to do . We need to get out of the ivory tower and talk to people. We have taken so granted to have a republican state that we havent engaged the general election or studied the demographics or the changes in the suburbs. Texas that saved republicans. I was the second highest vote getter behind the governor and he did a better job among hispanics, millenials, and among suburban women. If you look at williamson county, we have a better grouped nd game reaching out. Thats the battle ground. And we havent spent time really engaged. Clearly go. Here we go. We have several questions back that way. I understandings one of you is a partisan politician, i get that. How do you maintain your objectivity when you are writing stories, writing biographies . Im sure you have a political leaning but how do you make sure you are objective as possible when you are writing about history . About a year and a half ago i became a columnist for the opinion section of the washington post. After decades of being paid for being objective, im being paid for my opinions, which is a bit of an adjustment for me. In both cases, i try to base on in what imiting seeing. Talking to as many people as possible. Susan is in a different situation. Im a reporter and im not a commentator. I dont think my opinion of things matters but what i find out by doing reporting and offer context and analysis. But i think if you have really strong opinions or a clear partisan tilt, you shouldnt go into the field because you , should go and do something else. You should be an activist or commentator or work for an outlet with a different point of view because i think it is so important in our democracy to have outlets that everyone believes is telling them the truth and that is something that faith in the Mainstream Media has eroded and terrible for the Mainstream Media and bad for us as a country. So reporters, what i try to do and other reporters try to do it s is like you are working a muscle. It is easier for me to be as carefully objective and fair than it was with the first story i ever wrote. This is the discipline of being a mainstream journalist who is trying to offer people not what i think, but what i see and what sense i can make of what i see. In my case, history is more i think objective is not the word i would use, but so much easier when you are writing about dead people because they are not in politics. You have got some distance. Year graduate at the lbj school. I am curious about h w and s relationship j and ladybird. My favorite story was when my grandfather wasnt in his third term. Aireard lbj was boarding force one and ran over there and joined the goodbye party. There is this photo believe you posted on twitter. You have to if you are into local history, he has some awesome photos. There is this great photo of him reaching over and shaking the hand. Ents as a texan, it spoke to how we govern. Im not here to talk about bc but that is how we work together. When you thick about the lbj school, the students joining the wouldffice, i think they be smiling down from above. His grandfather talks about his later meeting with lbj. The more colorful, the better. George h w bush was thinking whether to run for the senate. Rememberd how many the name of ralphie arber . Texas crowded. Who was liberal. The state was going conservative. George h w bush went in to run to his right. Wanted to run to his right. Know his opponent would be lloyd benson. He was what used to be called a tory democrat. Theeorge h w bush went to advice. H for whom he had known back to the senate days of his father prescott who was close to l. B. J. Who was a republican and he said, mr. President , do you think i should run for the senate or stay in the house and l. B. J. Said i cant quite tell the story where we are sitting. George, the difference between running for that senate or the house is the difference between Chicken Salad and chicken say your lbjst accent was terrible. Speaking of lady bird. I agree with you. Barbara bush really liked lady bird. They had a Good Relationship and she credited lady bird with giving her advice of being first lady and finding a cause because you will have a big platform. Lady bird influenced her in another way. I forget what year lady bird died. 2006. Barbara bush goes to lady birds funeral. Up to this point she had refused to engage in her funeral plans. She goes to the funeral and says, i love lady bird and nice funeral. It was way too long. Mine has to be shorted. We have to plan this now. She did not want to have one that went on and on and on. And she focused on designing her own funeral which she designed. She put this i interviewed jeb bush as he was working on a eulogy before she was passed away. When it was clear she was in her final days. And one of the things she was worried about was the strict time limits that his mother had put on him for the eulogy and she was determined to stick to. For fear of what she might do if he went on too long. Thatf the other things tells you a lot about barbara bush. When they were planning the funeral for st. Martins church, very large church in houston, she asked her aides if they should plan it for the main sanctuary. Would that many people want to come and do it for the chapel. By the way, every seat was taken in the sanctuary. If i could see the image from morning, the of few days she was lying in state. George Herbert Walker bush, who was very frail at that point, shows up to sit there in his wheelchair and greet the mourners who were coming through. The courtesies, the politeness that seemed to have been wired into bush family dna. He was not going to have all these people show up and he not be there to a knowledge of them. Activeht it was such an love for your grandmother. Again, similar to my grandmother, they didnt think people would camp out. So the casket was there and it was closed but the church was open for visitors and greeters to come from houston atlarge and 7 00 p. M. And doro and gampy were in the house. And said dad, lets go. And he immediately signed up and rolled them out. And i think he was there for a good hour just shaking hands. Of course, im trying to think , this is going to be a long weekend, because we had other celebrations and other events we scheduled in houston, but what a great moment. You know and i had a , interview scheduled with barbara bush and she fell and broke her back and went to the hospital and never fully recovered and i never saw her again sadly. When she came home to the hospital to hospice care, one of the final nights they had together, they got together in the den of their house, which was small tv den right off the living room and one of the things that i dont think barbara bush was worried about dying. In all the interviews i did with her she knew she was at the end of her life, but worried about dying before he did. She worried about how he would get along after all those years without her there. And they had this amazing conversation in that final night where he said she said, im not going to worry about you , george. And he said, im not going to worry about you barb. She gave him permission to live and he gave her permission to die and then they had a drink. It gives you a sense of the book, because i dont know many biographies that have been written this quickly after the subject has passed with this kind of detail and just the surprise on every stage. Really great job. I think we have time for maybe a couple of more questions. Excluding yourself going back in the history of the bush family, is it possible to say who enjoyed campaigning the most . Who enjoyed campaigning the most . I would say it was my uncle. He loved it retail politics. Even to this day, democrats who were big clinton supporters, they said i was a big clinton fan. I met your uncle and i love him. He just absolutely amazing, he loves reaching out to people. He doesnt know a stranger and she has always enjoyed it is in his blood. He ran for congress in his early 30s and made a run at politics at an early age and always engaged in and. Any time i visited with him, he knows the latest box score in every race. County commissioner race. And he is a political animal. He loved the political side. It goes all the way back to prescott bush. Your grandfather was the Second Generation of bushes in politics. Not a people know that prescott was dragged into politics. They had to pull him into that race several times. And ultimately when he did serve developed relationships, not only with now was the time when things are more collegial in the senate, perhaps before the filibuster rule where you could get things done. Sure. Erent era for prescott had to get dragged into it. In connecticut had a lucrative business career. Serve the opportunity to and had a relationship with general eisenhower. He saw it as an opportunity to get in there. And Barbara Bushs funeral there was that great photo of the bushes and that obamas and the clintons, and melania trump. I am curious about your opinions about the significance of that photo given our Political Climate now. I love seeing photographs like that. Particularly now in a time when we are divided. Special t it was a it was actually at the church, and it was taken right before the actual ceremony. What i enjoyed about it, i believe it was president clinton that hold everybody in and we grabbed a photo. I believe president carter was unable to make it because of his health. It speaks to the greatness of the country when we have these school haslbj featured that on occasion. The bush school hopes to do that. All former president s came together. Thestory i will share on current president , when my grandfather did pass, the ceremony began a night before and first lady trump invited the family to the white house to see the christmas tree, which i thought was an incredible gesture. My uncle invited the president over. I did not have a chance to witness that. Audiencebers of our were, and i am looking at a former aide of my father, and they exchanged jokes. Madeo say there is much about the politics, but that is what ies it,d about the part of tuning out the white noise. It is good for the country to have that. Do we have anymore . We are out of time. Thank you for being with us today. [applause] and we mention we will be signing the book. [chatter] cspans washington journal, live every day with news and holocene issues that impact you. Saturday morning, the american discussssociation will in ecigarettes. And the relationship between United States and ukraine. On our magazine segment, Bloomberg Businessweek will discuss the issues with fda oversight of generic pharmaceuticals. Watch cspans washington journal saturday morning, join the discussion. Saturday, cspan has live coverage at the Texas Tribune festival. Starting at 10 30 eastern, jim jordan, mark meadows followed by panels on how to fix american politics. Border and immigration policy. The state of agriculture. Or listen at cspan live on the free cspan radio app. Now Pulitzer Prize winning conservative columnist george will discusses his new book. He