Celebrates its 75th anniversary this year has played a vital role in American History of the past century inviting president s and International Leaders alike to converge, converse and most importantly relax. Located deep in the woods of marylands mountains its the ultimate behind the scenes any of our imagination. We are thrilled this evening to be joined by rear admiral Michael Giorgione who served 29 years on active duty in the us may be retiring in 2010. Key served as the commander cant david for president s bill clinton and george w. Bush working under the White House Military Office the organization responsible for air force one, marine one and military aid. His new book inside cant david is the first insider account of camp david and available for purchase and signing following his presentation. Please join me in welcoming rear admiral Michael Giorgione. [applause]. Thank you. Wonderful treat to be here at the smithsonian. First bank marion rosenberg. Please think laura rosenberg. [applause]. I have family and guests here tonight i went to introduce so you understand whos coming here to be with me. First, my parents mom and dad, mary lou and tony. My wonderful sister, luanne. My cousins cousin, john and his friend. Eventually, my nephew matt and amanda are coming. Heather smith. Bridger if you read the book you know about heather because she is in there twice. She was a junior officer at camp david with me and women friends and colleagues ever since, so thank you for being here with her daughter claire. One of my old classmates and david frank is here in the crowd tonight. One of my business colleagues, robert, president of absorbed national gas products in the back. Michael, thank you for being here. An organization of varying involved with we have our president steve hamer, captain retired. We have barb whitton and lisa. We have captain retired treece mustard and her husband lloyd. Thank you for being here, folks. Before we get into it but me give you insights about writing a book that i realized the hard way. When you are a consultant living on your own everyone is suspicious of what you do for a living. One day when you tell them you are writing a book, you get a very discerning seconds to look. My, what you up to. On writing a book, a what, my ebook oh, has michelle your coup is michelle . Michelle is my wife. She would normally be with me on this trip, but shes in california where we live dealing with chronic back pain. Im sorry she couldnt be here. As you get comfortable telling people you are writing a book they look you differently. They expect to to wear a tweed jacket. They send you pipes for christmas gifts, i mean, people once you get confident in writing a book, you kind of look everything as a book. In taking that hammer a nail approach, funny story. My wife says do you want to go see the movie lady bird. I did not even question it and said lets go. We go to that theater and we are watching lady bird and about 30 seconds in im fumbling in my pocket she said what he doing i said nothing, what he doing. Are we in the right theater. Wise this story opening in sacramento. The johnsons were never in sacramento and she said idiot this is not about Lady Bird Johnson and i said thats why i came. I thought it was president s and politics, not the case. So i started treating everything like a nail and i was a hammer. You get used to it. Its out there in the Public Domain and its been a great honor not only to serve our navy and our nation but to come before you tonight and talk about this story. It began in 19 years ago. In the navy, camp david is a navy command and i will explain that history in a few minutes. In the navy command on becoming the Commanding Officer we have a chain of command ceremony. That morning my wife michelle and her two daughters briand and ryan ages seven and forgive me this turtle with this handwritten note. Your daddy, we want you to write stories about camp david and the present in this journal works someday our children will be able to read them. Love you. 19 years ago i thought thats cute, maybe i will write something down and i did work actually, every visit when president clinton and president bush i would write down what happened that we can. Never thought i would do anything with it. This is the day they handed me that journal inside the historic holly cabin turk first rule about speaking in public is to know your audience. Other than heather and my family who has been to camp david . Fascinating. Is some of you i know from the navy and you were there for your job. Almost invariably there is someone in the audience that has been there or known someone that served their. You can fact check me as we go. They give me this book and journal and they keep notes and when i seriously got interested in writing a book about two years ago the thing that really iced it was this event. This is all living Commanding Officers that could make the trip in november, 2016. This is a Reunion Group hosted by the current camp david commander under the obama administration. Camp was a bit more open. We could use it for gas and got permission to have a reunion of master chiefs. Here we are altogether. The gentleman to my left in the picture, your rights, gray hair, blue shirt is 91 years old and lives in coronado, california. I found him in 1998, when i was called to go for my interview he tell me about camp david. He kind of became my mentor about what its all about. I will talk about chuck and his experiences with the kennedys and the johnsons later. When i heard all of the ladies and gentlemen talking about camp and the fact that they had written stories over their time there i thought this is kind of meant to be. I had already gone down the road with the publisher, but what iced it for me was knowing i would interview every single one of them and include their stories. Its not just my stories, but the stories and revelations and insights of these fine naval officers that have served there as well. Im going to take three approaches, talk about the history of camp david, what it is, whites navy. Talk about chapter six entitled the lonely century. A bit about the loneliness or command and being in charge of something and make a parallel from being a Commanding Officer of the facility and what it must be like to be a president s. Share some photos and stories about my time during the years 1999 and 2001 with both president clinton president bush. Of the history and this is an aerial photo of camp david off a public website. These are public photos. Nothing secret here. You are looking down on aspen, the president s lodged. President roosevelt, 1942, love going out on the floating white house which was the president ial you got me and find navy sailors the photo on the right is the president ial yacht today, a Public Museum in the port of oakland, california. He loves going out and getting away from the white house and during the war years when it was a good idea to go out on the water due to a real threat spicy he asked staff to find a place where i can go to get away especially in the summer from the heat and humidity to deal with miasma and a place where i can go near by the white house that i can use as my retreats. Recall in the late 30s after the Hoover Administration roosevelts new deal bringing the country back to work he created part of the new deal with wpa, Works Progress administration. Part of that was civilian conservation corps. Much of their work was putting 18 to make 35year old men back to work building parks, public roads, demonstration areas around the country plus putting money in reserves into the federal banking system. One of the conservation corps camps they built with the catoctin road creation zero area north of frederick of 270 fus 15. The staff found three locations in a nearby area and this was one of them. Roosevelt visited july, 1942, was enamored with it saw it could support him during the summer turk wasnt too winterized at this point and with some of the original cabins in place today remodeled over the years he coined the term my shangrila. Where does that term come from . It was quoting the novel lost her eyes and there is a utopian society of intrigue and get away and most people didnt know didnt get around easily in the 40s. Didnt have the internet and all the access tools today. He first visited in july, 1942. He continued to go throughout the summer months basically by himself, guess and principally with Winston Churchill on two occasions. The retreat today, though, is known as camp david and its a Navy Facility why . Its a Navy Facility because when roosevelt took the sailors off the president ial yacht and they went with him to be the stewards and caretakers and he got marines from washington dc to guard it, thats where the u. S. Navy, department of navy kind of inherited it. About command reports to the White House Military Office in the east wing of the white house. They support the president moving him around the world including air force one, marine one, helicopter squadron, camp david, white house communication agency, white house transportation agency, white house medical unit , special programs etc. Etc. These are the uniformed personnel civilian men and women, over 2000 that support the president s behindthescenes moving him around the world wherever he goes and whoever he engages with. The navy has camp david, appropriate a budget line in the u. S. Navy appropriation to find and maintain camp david. We know it as camp because why . Succeeding president roosevelt was president truman, not greatly enamored with camp david. Preferred to go to key west, florida. His successor, president eisenhower came in and thought it was a bit pretentious and thought of closing it like some other president s after him, but became enamored with it again which is an early trend with many president s with the facility and decided maybe there is utility here even though i have my farm in gettysburg, pennsylvania. He said i dont like the name and i dont like these funny name for the cam man calvin so he renamed it camp david after his grandson who is 12 years old in this vote up your David Eisenhower today is about 70 years old and recently retired as the history profession. I was introduced in rotary, san diego, a few weeks ago was a lawyer and had David Eisenhower as a ta when he was in graduate school. You never know who is sitting in the audience. The other thing eisenhower did was rename that happens and he took mimi eisenhowers home state of colorado and named the president ial lodge aspen as it is today. Virtually every building structured on the camp had a name. This is cedar where the Commanding Officer lives this is where i lived. This is where chuck lived back in the kennedy days. Its the same structure. Its been remodeled, added onto, but this is where the ceo lives. You are the only family inside the camp except on the weekends. You are the only family with two daughters seven and four inside the camp and maybe you have guests on the weekend. Play dates are interesting, but they can be difficult with security protocol date gate and access road and Everything Else you can cannot do. One of those early challenges. The lonely century, chapter six, one of my favorite in the book talking about the loneliness of command. Any time any of you i am sure have been charged in something, a committee, a club, a team, your business and sometimes the hard decisions you have to make an eyelid to what the president still within what they had to do. Upper left is commander bob bruni at the time a co going to inspection, about 1800 feet up elevation. Im going to walk you through president s using it what they got out of camp david. I see two purposes, when to get away and rest and relax on weekends and also a place to take administration or International Leaders to work diplomacy. Pretty much most president s figure out a nice balance. President obama in the living room of aspen with the picture window behind him. President carter on the iconic along the. He had a great fear of fire. President nixon looking out the same window that president obama was in front of. Said nixon never wore anything but a coat and tie at camp david. You are supposed to relax their. Not his style. Its interesting to read about his relationship with his staff. Its in the book about how he fired him with one handshake. The only time he ever shook their hand and sent them off their way, interesting use of the camp and a very lonely century, if you will. President bush talking on the phone and the president s office. On the right, pulitzer prizewinning photo from april, 1961. Who remembers what was going on and may be what photo is about . A bay of pigs, very good. Folks, today like laurens introduction i find this incredibly humble, may be a desperate move, but certainly had in hand moved that the young upstart democratic president , president kennedy called the older established military retired general dwight David Eisenhower to camp david, a place he knew better than kennedy did at this point and pretty much says what did i do wrong. And eisenhower said i told you so. I told you we planned this and i told you had executed and you messed it up and this is what happens. Sink about this. One politician today anywhere would call in someone, one of predecessor and two opposite party and say how do you help me. Very humbling time, i think. A very classy move on both of their parts. Eisenhower goes there for the day and pulitzer prizewinning photo is taken. President roosevelt in aspen, that stone hearth is still there took its a lot cleaner today. Thats the stone fireplace inside aspen. President truman driving himself out of aspen, one of the few him 10 times he went there. President churchill earlier excuse me, president roosevelt with Winston Churchill. They were fishing in a nearby creek outside of camp david smoking cigars, probably having whiskey and eight shroud of cigar dust keeping the mosquitoes away talking about the war and what us in the Great Britain need to do important work getting done here. President eisenhower with his Vice President , richard nixon. More lonely times, president johnson with the investor of South Vietnam undoubtedly talking about the vietnam war and how to either continue or end it. Another president excuse a comment to the right president nixon, same log, same fish pond in the book theres a story about the blue lincoln continental, the car that nixon gives to him and he takes and gets in the drivers seat and motions next and to in the passenger seat and off they go down the hills almost to racket in the fence line. No security around them and great peril took two superpowers at the time almost wiped out inside a chainlink fence. Little human moments is what camp david is all about, a lot of highs and lows even though you have a saying we are in the world of the president s, not of their world. We see them like people when you say hello and talk about things whatever, but you are certainly not of their world. You have to remember that. Human things happen all the time. President carter, another president thought about closing camp david thought it was not necessary that it was a waste. Famous for the peace accords with onboard sadat from israel. President reagan, one of the few times he brought a world leader here. Principally, he and the first lady coming nancy, went to their almost exclusively by themselves on the weekend. He is visited over 500 times, the most of any president s and it truly was for the reagans a place to get away from the white house, the scrutiny, the prey press. Is a place to go to recharge themselves and do the nation business. President clinton. President bush talking from the cabin hawley. The memoirs in the background of president bush on the wall are handwritten notes that president carter sent inviting them to holly to negotiate the camp david peace accord. President reagan since he went so often he started his saturday radio dresses from camp david. President obama in his office. Then, we see a continued for the use of diplomacy g8 summit in 2012 was supposed be held in chicago. As you recall we had a lot of riots and demonstrations, top 1 had a reserve Bank Demonstration etc. They said lets move it to camp david. There are some Great Stories about welcoming these World Leaders to camp for a weekend and it dealing with accommodating the personalities and idiosyncrasies and learning quickly what they want their cabin, what are they dont want and all those behindthescenes stories that are wonderful to share. Bottom left is president bush with whats called now that council of war after the 911 attacks, assembling his staff that camp david to talk about americas response to the attacks. Far right is president trumps last visit to camp david. Although, he has only been there five times, hes taken his staff and cabinet there three or four of the five times. I dont know that it will be his preferred place to rest and relax, but i see may be a more convenient use with staff and has not brought an International Leader they are, but i think there is great value for that. The lighter moments, the fords walking with susan their dog liberty. The reagans, almost always went horseback riding weather permitted when they went to camp david. Dot am left president George Hw Bush. This incident is about horseshoes. The bushes loved or shoes. The bushes love any recreational sport or gain and they were walking the grounds near aspen and theres a regulation horseshoe pits and bush tells gorbachev what it is. Org chart doesnt know what it is and throws a horse shoe and gets a ringer, first time. So seizing the moment, staff take the horseshoe, make a plaque and give it to the president that night to get to Mikael Gorbachev had dinner. Its these little personal moments that cant date camp david is about. Its about a place in the woods which isnt fancy, very austere, good amenities, but basic cabins, no brass, no polish, no more. Its where you bring people like you do to your family room and talk about working together. Thats what i saw during my time there and i think that is what most have seen there during their time there as well. Bottom right, president clinton seen in the church choir during my time. He loved it seen in the adult church choir. Every saturday night he gets music in aspen and every sunday morning he would show up and take his place in the church choir, sit in the front row. We called it you one youre committing is one, golf cart one, everything. Our music director i talked to him a few weeks ago and he left after 17 years, wonderful gentleman. He ran our program for 17 years, both services at the camp. President eisenhower back on that green that he put in behind aspen by the famed golf course designer. President george h shall be a chrissie evert. A little weekend tennis game, no big deal. [laughter] the clintons went to camp the david every thanksgiving they loved camp for thanksgiving so i got to see them twice. They would bring their large extended family. If you dont know, part of the Clinton Family is senator Barbara Boxer married to a brother of Hillary Rodham roger clinton, he is somewhat a musician. Dick kelly, president clintons stepfather at the time when he was living, large extended family and you sit back and watch these folks have fun pork for days and you think its kind of like our family to some degree. Again, we are in their world. We are not of their world. You learn the balance. President obama behind the ovalshaped or hourglass shaped pool behind aspen this was put in by nixon. This very poignant somber story about kennedy. President kennedy, jackie, the two kids would go occasionally and i mentioned check how old the 1year old gentleman who is the Commanding Officer with his four kids and his wife in cedar for the kennedys. The surreal moment is when jackie comes knocking on your door at cedar at this excuse me, joanne, can your kids come out and play. Johnjohn and carolyn. Sure, mrs. Kennedy, they would love to. interviewing chuck in his living room, his kitchen at coronado, last year and his son hank who is now 66 who was 12 years old then and kind of a big brother to johnjohn, they tell the story about the day of the assassination and they tell the story about how the Public Schools sent all the Children Home and young hank goes back up to cedar up the hill crying, shaking his head extremely upset and today he is still very emotional about this story in the kitchen and chucks home and he asked his dad why dad, how does this happen and his dad said well, son, god gave man free will. Sometimes these things happen. Chuck assembles the crew to the flagpole, they lowered to half mass, they say a prayer going away. Think about this. Now, you dont have great turmoil, eggs, great disparity in the country and they wait for the next loss to come which is president johnson, of course. We were asked to pack our things up and we never saw anyone from the Kennedy Family again. We packed their things up and send them back to their home of record. There was a gentleman with a Construction Company working the camp at the time. He had clearance to work inside the camp. He said its a shame we dont have a chapel, a place for our families to go for that moment of silence, that moment of solace and he said when i retire, i want to raise private money and build a chapel and give it to the United States and true to his word can plumber when he retired raise private money and he builds Evergreen Chapel. 1991, president George Hw Bush opens it for the first time. Okay . But its providing the religious programs for those that want to use it. And when i was there, the president s always went to chapel. For many, i think they found it as that country church. No photographers, no press, limited scrutiny, limited people looking at you, no photography, a place where you can go to be yourself, take in the service, mingle with us afterwards and go about your day. Its a wonderful, wonderful gift that ken plummer gave to us. My time. Cedar. In the book i dedicate the book to michelle. It says, to michelle, thank you for making cedar our home. I imagine theres a number of veterans in the room and maybe others in your professional career that have moved around a lot, and every time you moved into a new house, its a real challenge in making it a home. And for me, that always fell on my wife, michelle, to make it a home. And and especially every house that we lived in with our churn, she made it with our children, she made it especially a unique and special home. All these things are her touches, the way we entertain and engage guests and the crew and family and relatives was very special. And theres great memories i know i have as well as our predecessors and successors have as well. Cedar where summer the Office Inside poplar, thats the command office building, poplar. And then my favorite building, holly. I mentioned holly previously. Its where churchill, roosevelt sat on the porch. Its where cart orer forced carter forced sadat and begin to meet in a small, cramped Conference Room as opposed to the bigger facilities available. He wanted them to be in a close and personal space. Its currently the camp library. And i put this phrase on the bottom of the slide, perfect but natural. This is the true test one leadership story about camp david. How do you possibly run a facility on top of a mountain in nature with great men and women from the navy and marine corps and be perfect, quoteunquote, but make it look natural. How do you clean nature up but not make it look scrubbed . How do you make sure you clean nature up but not affect the functioning of the hvac in the building or the lights . This is a beautiful shot. But its not ready for humans to visit, is it . You have to get the fireplace going, you have to clean the snow. What do you do with all the snow . How do you get the dirty snow out of there . What do you do when a water line breaks . Ask heather, in the middle of a visit, visitors coming soon. How do you be perfect but natural . Which, of course, is not possible. Theres no perfectionism, but you can be really good. And so much of the book i talk about the stories that i and other command Commanding Officers experienced in balancing the needs of your family, the needs of the crew, how do you handle discipline, how do you handle rewards, how do you handle those awkward moments with Prime Ministers . How do you use with president s . How do you use humor in the right way maybe sometimes . How do you apologize when you or the crew make mistakes, but do it in a nongratuitous, genuine way. How am i going to be perfect but natural . But so much of how to influence the rest of my life and career i took from there. Id like to talk about one significant event during president clintons time, and thats the middle east peace summit in the summer of 2000. About the sixth formal time president clinton was going to sit down with yasar arafat, ehud barak, the last summer before the elections, try to pound out the peace treaty. Gets them together, we were given about five days notice they were coming. Which was fine, because if you have too much time, you overplan things, you overdo things, you start undoing things you did right the first time. So great angst, but here it is the opening shot on the opening day. I am standing where you are with the Marine Security and all the press photographers the one time the press is allowed in, whatever the president says. Theyre filming this. If you remember the scene, theyre jostling at the door. Who goes in first . Its this very lighthearted opening to a very long 12 or 14day event with great angst and back and forth. Does not result in a peace treaty. Part of the protocol of camp david, you always greet the president in your dress uniform. It just so happens that secretary albrights helping me that day as he comes in the day before the peace summit starts in july. You greet any World Leaders who come in as guests, you try to. Again, trying to be perfect but natural. We dont want to be awkward about it. And then some guests dont want to see you at all. Like arafat, who refused to fly on u. S. Helicopters, in a u. S. Sedan and came in on his own entourage through the security checkpoints. And only by happenstance do i run into him inside the laurel cabin. And only by happenstance theres a white house photographer standing there and snaps this photo. And im now in a polo shirt and khakis, which is how we dress down to camp david casual, a uniform we still wear today to kind of tone it down after the official arrival. And only by chance do i get probably the most surreal photograph i have, shaking his hand. So the president thinks hes making progress, its gone on about a week, but he has to go to the g8 summit in okinawa, japan. The night hes supposed to leave its misty, its rainy, its cloudy, not good visibility. Hes going to take the motorcade to Andrews Air Force base and fly away. So the mass chief and i are standing outside of aspen to see him off, because typically you try to see your guests off. And we stand there for five hours, okay . So you think this is the weakness and a strength. Because president clinton was not a very scripted guy. He kind of ran with the moment, okay . So this maybe wasnt so unusual standing around, but in this case it was a great strength that i observed, because what he was doing was he was working barak and arafat to the end. He was working their egos, working their personalities, heavily impassioned by making the deal, working with them on what they wanted from each other and how the u. S. Could help. And for five hours, it did not seem like that long ill be honest, we stand there waiting to say good bye. And at one point his daughter, chelsea, walks out and says, im sorry, commander, but my dads running a little late. [laughter] okay. Well just hang here for a while. So that goes on, he takes off, he tells secretary albright keep em here, ill be back, and he comes back, and they go on for about another week after the g8 summit and to no avail, nothing is signed. It was probably one of his greatest disappointments, he talked about it in his book, no peace treaty between israel and the plo. How do you say goodbye, chapter 1 is. Changing of the guard 11. How do you say goodbye to a president . I looked back into vhs tapes, i found something when they said goodbye to reagan and george h. W. Bush, the crew did something. So i asked the white house, can we say goodbye to the president . Sure, do whatever you want. Hes going up for one more weekend, four days of all kinds of guests, 200 people coming through, two pop singers singing in the chapel, phoebe snow, don henley, just a lot of mayhem in a good, fun way. And then the final day theyre at camp david is the sunday before the tuesday inauguration. And so that morning at chapel my wife michelle on the left and ginger williams, the chaplains wife, give the clintons some gifts that had hung on the chapel walls for eight years. And that evening we have a little farewell ceremony in the hangar, and this is senatorelect clinton. This is hen she won the this is when she won the new york senatorial rouse. We give some milk bones to buddy, say goodbye to chelsea, last moments, last night at camp david at least as the president and first lady, senatorelect. Every c. O. Talks about saying goodbye to a president. Again, as a person. You see this family, you kind of get to know them, youre kind of in their world though not of their world, and you say goodbye. And then thats it. At the landing zone that night, 10 00, cold, dark, the clintons were saying goodbye, and chelsea turns to me, and she hands me two stuffed animals. A panda and a cat. She says, commander, id like you to give these to your daughters. Ive had them for eight years in my room here at aspen, and id like them to have them as a memory. Very gracious, nice thing from a charming young lady going off to college and just one of those great moments of human nature that you treasure, and then suddenly they get in the helicopter, the door shuts, and theyre gone, and its over. Okay . Changing of the guard. We had that 36day fiasco with the hanging chads, we dont know who our president s going to be, but we know were going to have a new president and then, of course, its president bush. Hes inaugurated, we got to go to the inauguration. I thank senator leahy of vermont for giving me tickets to it. Met him during that final clinton weekend. He was in my tour group. I had to give tours that day. Fascinating to be with people like you and i, kind of, on a tour of the facility that you host. So we go to the inauguration, president bush comes up two weeks later by himself, and he asks me in his golf cart one to drive him around, show him around camp. Thats a little embarrassing because i know hes been there a lot with his dad and probably knows it just as much, so i keep it very simple, okay . Kind of camp david tour for dummies, and then i drop him off at aspen. [laughter] say welcome, mr. President , nice to have you here. But this is what impressed me. Just a few weeks later in february, he reaches out to tony blair. Bushs had never met blairs. Different political parties, great friends of the clintons, but he reaches out in february 2001 to tony and cherie blair and inviteds them, couple only invites them, couple only, to camp david to be with george and laura. And watching from the sidelines, you see a president , a world leader, reach across to our number one ally, invites them to camp not the white house, where its stuffy and formal but to camp david where its your family room. Two couples, no staff. Light moment in the world currently, very pleasant weekend. They did a press conference off the hill, very lighthearted, humorous. But just a great start, and i think tony blair visited maybe two or three times since this. Flash forward, unfortunately, seven months later and the 9 11 attacks, and what i think is you see this relation started back in good times and the point of developing relationships before you need them, and i think that had a lot to do with why Prime Minister blair was in in the Congressional Chamber when bush talks to the world about what were going to do to respond to the attacks. Similarly, president bush reaches across to one of our most important pacific allies in japan to the Prime Minister and invites him for a very open visit, camp david in july. Very lighthearted, again, reaching out, building a relationship before you need it. At least for me as a commander, it impressed me from the sidelines to see how you do business in an appropriate setting. The bushes loved camp david. They went there a lot. And the crew really worked hard supporting them as they do for every president. But when you work every weekend as opposed to once in a while, its a different tempo, right . They loved camp david. You see them with their parents, sitting in pew one listening to a childrens service. And on their watch, Evergreen Chapel which was dedicated in his fathers administration hits the tenyear mark in june of 2001. And so we have a nice service just like they did ten years prior, all the same clergy or denominations were invited, similar remarks made, songs were sung and all the president s, the two Prime Ministers stand with all the families as they exit the chapel taking photos that day, and then we all go to brunch together. So the bushes were very punctual. In fact, he was so punctual, he caught me early one day when he was early and i wasnt punctual. [laughter] so the bushes, and i know from my successors for eight years, theres the 30 minute rule. You always were 30 minutes early before bush was due for anything. Because he just tended to run on time, work early. He was supposed to come up one more weekend in august 2001, and he has to cancel his trip. His secretary calls me in the office. Fortunately, i was sitting in the office on the phone, and the phone rings, and its the president s secretary. She says good morning, commander. Can you take a call from the president . President of ffa . President of boys club, what . [laughter] is this about that what . Yes, of course i can take the call. And he says, hey, mike, cant make it this weekend, im sorry, but id like to invite you and your family down to say goodbye. Come down a weekend or a day, not a weekend, and say goodbye. Now, everyone gets to go down and do a departure photo with the president , every Service Member that serves there, but he said bring your family down, and well spend some time together. So this is that day we get to go down. He spends some quality time talking to the girls, writing them notes, and were in the rose garden. One of the many things you learn about being around the president , you never want to put them in an awkward situation. You think how could i put someone in an awkward situation . Well, hes being george bush, focus city, telling a folksy telling us a story, and he tells us how every first family plants a tree on the south lawn. Its kind of a tradition. So he tells us this innocent story. And michelle asks an innocent question, well, mr. President , what kind of tree was it . And thats him doing this, he says i knew you were going to ask me that. He says he doesnt know. It was a tree about this big. [laughter] so thats the lightheartedded moment over here. [laughter] so, again, folksy, human moments you see with any president , i believe at least i saw with the two i served just kind of bring it back to earth, back to normal. But again, youre in their world, youre not of their world. Never forget that. And nice or farewell photo with president bush in the oval office before we go on our way and depart in august 2001. If you were visiting me or maybe some of you had this photo taken next to the iconic camp david sign, one of the last family photos of my family and i at the camp before we departed and went on our way. And its been a true joy, pleasure, honor to come back a few times to visit camp and the c. O. S that live there and the families and go to the anniversary balls and reunite with crew members and go down the journey two years ago about writing this book and sharing it with the world and having the opportunity to just talk to people about it and take their questions. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, ill conclude with it all started with this, this simple note from our two daughters 19 years ago, and here we are today. So thank you very much for your attention, and im open to your questions. [applause] balcony . Balcony, yes, sir, hi, balcony. Thank you so much for a very interesting lecture. My question is this if you can tell us, what has happened during a normal week when the president is not there . What actually happens, takes place . Okay. So were all military members. We recruit heavily. You hand pick your sailors and marines, so you had a highpowered crew which is its own leadership challenge because youre making beds, cutting grass, planting flowers, taking care of the place. We have some contractors doing some of the heavier work. Youre training, youre practicing, youre cleaning, youre going to your military classes if you have the time to do that because we all eventually move on after two to three to five years, okay . Officers, typically two to three years, our enlisted troops, sailors and marines, three to five depending on their specialty. So maintain it, keep it, always be ready. Thats what we do. Yes, sir. How many residential cabins are there, and how many people can you accommodate comfortably up there . Comfortably about ten cabins, comfortably maybe 2040. During system of the summits over the years weve crammed people into the barracks. Our single sailors and marines live in the barracks, so i think theres a story about carters Hamilton Jordan and his bunk mate for two weeks with piles of laundry growing. So thats uncomfortably, but when we hosted the israelis and palestinians, its all about showing equity. So if you get five cabins, they get five cabins. If if you get six golf carts, they get six golf carts, that type of thing. Who owned the horses [inaudible] the horses came from the National Park service down here in washington d. C. He were not their horses. And. [inaudible] just for those weekends. In fact, i i saw one horse ops once. Clintons wanted to go horseback riding, the president and chelsea. So i actually got to see it once in action where the park Service Brings the horses up and runs them through the metal detector. No ones free of that, okay . [laughter] and off they go. Yes, sir, in the back. What did your girls do all that time . So thats the hard part. Those of you that are parents, its cool when you live there and you have family and friends visit, but when its february and youre snowed in and they cant get down to the housing area to play with every other friend, youre by yourself with mom and dad. And dad says you cant go sled riding on the president piece hill. You cant build a snowman, and your wife says, why . Thats ridiculous. I said, i dont know, were always supposed to be ready, dont make it so hard on me, you know . Its all this balance again. [laughter] they have wonderful memories. Our oldest was in second and third grade, the youngest was in preschool. But there were tears. There was more remorse on their part, there was angst. They wrote about it in their college essay. Yeah. [laughter] scored some huge points, im sure. They certainly have great memories, but there are all those poignant moments daytoday in a familys life that just arent always fun. And every family has dealt with it in different ways. Yes, maam. Could you tell us about your naval career and how it prepared you for this very you anemic command . Yes. I think up to that point id done well, and the navy says youre one of the three or four officers were going to send to the white house. The question was about preparation in my naval career, and i was selected. And you serve with this exceptional crew, and you realize constantly if you keep your email, you realize it could have been anyone else. I was fortunate to serve there. I had great people. Youre hand picking your people, you let your people do their job. You dont micromanage them. If i can do that at camp david with the president s and survive, i think the rest of my career is going to be okay. [laughter] and so it was a great testimony, a great proving ground for just how to treat people and let them do their thing and let them excel, which is what theyre going to do most of the time. And when they need your backing and you need to pick up the pieces, thats what you do. [inaudible] balcony. What did you learn from interviewing the other command [inaudible] how many stories of similarity we had. In fact, im surprised some of my predecessors werent fired. [laughter] john [inaudible] carlsbad, california, he was there for three or four years of nixon. His dog attacked the nixon french poodle and tore it up. [laughter] john went to sick bay called eucalyptus, and the president s physician and corpsman are stitching the president s dog together. And john is pale, he says, im done, this is it. [laughter] and he goes over to aspen to apologize, and the steward says, its okay, sir, come back tomorrow. He lived through it. So i never had a story like that, but what i learned, maam, was we all had so many similar stories, and thats why it was even easier to write the book and bring in their anecdotes as well. Yes, sir. 9 11, the days after. What can you say . So were in hawaii. That was my consolation prize for leaving camp david, and is we all have our story, and we were awoken at three a. M. One of the early reports we heard was a plane was going to camp david. And so our daughters hear this, and were all thinking about friends and family we just left there. And then kind of knowing whats going on behind the scenes maybe, you kind of imagine what a whirlwind of uncertainty and chaos it must have been. The gentleman asked me, mike oconnor, has some game stories Great Stories about what he went through, what the crew went through. The chaplain, bob williams, stayed longer in the white house, he had such a relationship with the bushes, and president bush used some of his words in his words to the nation. So you see these very human relationships grow from a tragedy. And, again though, i wasnt there, so i never had to deal with it face on. [inaudible] yes. That is now undisclosed, and that is where Vice President cheney was sent, the undisclosed location was, in fact, catch david. Yes, maam. Where does the chaplain and the priest come from that conduct the services there . So there are five, six officers assigned to camp david; the Commanding Officer, the executive officer and then three other lieutenants, lieutenant junior grades, were all engineering officers. Civil engineer corps. One supply officer, one chaplain from the navys chaplain corps. During my time it was always of the protestant faith. Okay . The catholic priest, mount st. Marys the seminary right up the street we had contract priests. [laughter] and it was like watching the old reruns of bewitched because you didnt know which darren was going to show up, right . [laughter] one father sam ran most of our religious programs. We ran ccd programs, we had our first communion for a number of our children. So it depends on the demographics of your command and what they need, but typically theres still a Catholic Service and a protestant service, okay . Yes, sir. How was physical security provided . Wonderfully. [laughter] its elaborate. The marine corps still guards, theyre the responsible sceneries, and sentries, and lots of other fancy stuff that goes on in protecting that space like the white house, although the white house is certainly a much more Public Domain. But impeccable security. There is one story, though, back in the 80s, a woman did drive her car up the access lane and crash into the gate. Okay, we need to adjust on this and figure out how to prevent that from happening again, so theres been some of those less than humorous incidents. But, of course, i cant talk about it much more than that. Yes, maam. Yes, hi. On page 158 its fabulous [laughter] i love the idea that you had to take off leaves and put them down for mrs. Reagan. Just she thought [inaudible] and whats that phrase i taught you . Perfect but natural, see . You overdid it. Perfect. Im very, very interested in president ial food, and i was delighted that you sometimes gave menus and picked up little bits and pieces from mrs. Carter and the first lady from spain. Are there camp david archives that keeps track of menus . Wheres a good place to go for [inaudible] the library of congress, so ive got quite a few books [inaudible] [laughter] after every visit weekend, wed write trip report and send it to the white house. Im sure thats in the Public Domain. I dont recall if the menus were in there. Maybe for big events with international guests, but i dont recall if we went to that detail. But our crew, our sailors who are cooks we send to cooking school, sometimes the president s bring their own staff initially, but you see these men and women working together and the white house chefs as well teaching each other how to serve their president , what they like and what they dislike. Thats a pretty important business, right . [inaudible] that they paid for, that the president paid for his own food. Yes. At camp david. Thank you for saying that. Even though were an appropriated budget line to run and operate camp david because it has a mission in the United States security world, when a president brings guest on the weekend, all the food and drink is kept separately, and thats paid for by the president. But the camp david accords would have been paid for by the government i imagine the state department, like during the middle east peace summit where we had kosher meals brought up from d. C. Three, four times a day was all covered through the diplomatic its a fabulous book. Thank you, maam, appreciate it. Any other questions, ladies and gentlemen . What about your and michelles personal life there . Could you carry on your social life and did she go to the Grocery Store and do the cooking . Did you have a staff also . Yeah, im the staff. Im the dishwasher. [laughter] i dont care who you are in that building poplar, but when you come home, youre still dad, youre still doing the can dishes. You know, everyone works for you, so were friendly with everyone, but its a Different Air when youre the boss. So were from pittsburgh, so a lot of the family would visit us. It was close enough we could entertain on weekends that the president wasnt there. We would have friends come visit. You try to be a normal family, but its not a normal environment. You have a modest house with a great yard, but how you get to use the yard is temperedded sometimes. I think it was wonderful memories and going back over the years a few times has been especially wonderful to see where our kids played and what they did in their rooms and how the facilitys been used. Yes, sir. What kind of lead time would you normally get when people were coming up . So the best story is the opening story of my first visit with the clintons, and that was zero lead time. [laughter] so we were having a change of command on the friday, at 10 a. M. Usually, and my predecessor said no visit on the books, clintons arent coming. That morning dress whites, that morning before the event the change of command, theyre coming that night. So i talk about it in the book it was a wonderful way, and you asked me about my career, it was a wonderful way i just was handed the drivers keys. I have no idea how the power train works. Id be an idiot to do anything but sit there and watch the crew do their job. I go to the kickoff meeting, i sit there, try to act smart, ask an intelligent question. What kind of breath mints do we have . [laughter] i dont know. There was no notice. And for the last year, president clinton, quite honestly visits on, its off. Its off, its on. Hes coming to pack up some stuff, its off. Oh, hes coming right away. Oh, we didnt know he was coming off the helicopters. First the ladies the first ladys social secretaries usually are key on whos coming. President bush, very scripted. We always knew who was coming, what cabins they wanted, what meals. So you just learn to adjust as you do in service, you learn to adjust. Yes, sir. Could you list the, a variety of activities and amenities that were there for people whos played wolley ball . Its volleyball on a squash court. George h. W. Bush loved it, loved that game, he always loved playing that with the sailors, marines and his family. Skeet, archery, putting green behind aspen, two pools, darts, pool in the lounge,s horseback riding, crosscountry skiing. If you wanted to golf or go real skiing, you had to leave the camp. President obama had his own president ial birthday ten events with his friends, so thats talked about in the book. Mrs. Obama liked to do the spa workout weekends with her friends, so, again, thats what its for. The retreat is a getaway, relaxation for the president and family, and every one of 14 has used it differently. Yes, maam. Could the personnel and their families use the pools when nobody else was yes, the staff pool, which is where heathers story comes in because president bush wasnt supposed to go swimming in the staff pool, showed up one morning, and she can tell you all about that story. But, you know, they can go anywhere they want. Its just unusual, because usually theyd go to the aspen pool, the hourglassshaped pool, but its their place. They go wherever they want and you adjust as needed. We also had a Fitness Center and Basketball Court with all the cardio and weights and all that as well. Okay. Yes, sir. You were living in the quarters as the Commanding Officer, did you and your wife have any say so as far as how you might want to kind of redecoration [inaudible] furniture in the space compared to what was in there [inaudible] you were issued cedar was, the house belonged to the facility, but the furnishings were yours. Just like a navy move, it was empty when you moved in, you put your own things in it. All the guest cabins would be decorated typically by the first lady or her staff over time. So when the clintons left, all the furnishings were there, and slowly mrs. Bush changed things doubt, okay . But our personal belongings were what decorated cedar, and when we left, everything was empty once again. Yes, maam. Did your children go to where did your children go to school while you were there . Where did they live . Okay. So the school bus, theres a photo in the book of brianna sitting in the golf cart because we would drive her out the gate, and on the public road, park stall road which is in the park system, the school bus would come up and pick her up. And at that time she was going to Elementary School for second grade. We moved her to Frederick Middle School or frederick Magnet School for third grade, but the same process. Out the gate, catch the bus, down the hill. So if youre late in your own family kitchen and you cant find your homework or somethings going on at the gate or its especially icy or rainy and you cant get out and youre going to miss the bus because the bus doesnt wait, someones driving her to school. [laughter] dad. [laughter] i dont care who you are, youre dad, youre driving her to school. So i talk about in the book one of those moments she says, dad, why do we have to live here . Amongst her tears [inaudible] yes. And we have the Navy Housing Area down the hill i talked about earlier where they couldnt always get to to play, but they were in school with wonderful friends. They were in the Public School system as well. The youngest was in preschool only. [inaudible] [applause] thank you. [applause] thank you, everyone. Have a wonderful evening. Nice to have you here tonight. Thank you. Thank you, lauren. [inaudible conversations] cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of, of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court and Public Policy events in washington, d. C. And around the country. Cspan is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]