Weve got another 15 months to get more than our fill of 2020 president ial campaigning. Here we are going to take a few moments to remember a man who won it in 1988. Thatemed the longer he led lived, the more loved and appreciated became. I was struck like many others i think by this national outpouring of respect in the days leading up to and through the funeral of George Herbert walker bush. At the funeral of his wife barbara, seven months earlier, al gore said he served our nation with extraordinary integrity and grace. [applause] the country seemed anxious to separate those qualities last november and december. A world war ii hero before he began his long political career. By and large, history looks back pretty favorably on his residency. Brookings institution surveyed nearly 200 political scientists earlier this year asking them to rate all 44 president s, the elder bush came in 17. He drew praise for foreign policy. His popularity sank as the economy sank. He did not win reelection in 1992. He won the nation back. Jean becker was at his side, in some cases hanging on for dear life. It is great to have her here. For personal reasons. Jean and i go back a ways. We grew up in a small Farming Community about three hours east of here. Her family farm, my family owned and operated the International Harvester dealership. I went from our tiny high school sitting in the middle of the country to Journalism School at the university of missouri. Jean went on to the Journalism School at the university of missouri. I took my first job and was essentially our hometown paper, the new mexico ledger. A few years later, jean took her first job at mexico ledger. I moved there from the newspaper in springfield, missouri. Jean moved to the newspaper in danville, illinois. Owned by the same company. In 1982 i went to a new national newspaper, usa today. A few years later, jean went to usa today. Jean i was not stalking you. [laughter] steve we both have dirt on each other. I worked in the papers toy department, i was a sportswriter. Some people in martinsburg we would go back and visit, they used to think what i did was cool. I got to go to big games around the country. The olympics, i got to talk to players and coaches. Then jean parted ways and goes to the white house. [laughter] then when paula and i would go visit martinsburg, it was wow jean becker, what do you hear from her . [laughter] jean covered the 1988 election for usa today. George bush defeated michael dukakis. Laura bush took a liking to her. Which is not surprising. She invited jean to serve as her deputy press secretary. She spent four years in the white house from 1989 until 1993. George obviously took a liking to her. He made her chief of staff. It is safe to say that nobody knew george and barbara bush better than jean. I think i would include the bush family. The birthday parachute jumps. The humanitarian collaborations with bill clinton. She was a part of all of it. If not orchestrating all of it. She was one of the handful of people at his bedside when he died. The beautiful Memorial Services you all saw in december were planned and executed by jean. You probably dont know it, jean has written or edited five books. None with her name on it. One was barbaras memoirs published in 1995. Another was towards bushs letters. Pearls of wisdom is scheduled to come out next spring in time for graduation. It revolved around barbara bush. Who his famou who is famous for giving advice. By the way, all the proceeds from the book, jean is donating to the Barbara Bush Foundation for family literacy. The second book, i think it is set for release in 2021 will be about what she discusses tonight. The remarkable postpresidency of george h w bush. She insists her name will be on that one. [laughter] in the crowd tonight are a number of people from back home. Who have driven here to hear jean speak. Family, friends, coworkers. In martinsburg, new mexico, we are pretty darn proud of her. Between us, i am too. [laughter] please welcome my friend, jean becker. [applause] jean it is sort of odd after that wonderful introduction. I feel bad but the first thing i will say is when steve picked me up at the airport yesterday we werent even out of the parking garage when he said dont you dare tell them that time we [laughter] i do know stuff about him. His coworkers who are here, i can be bought. [laughter] mi my already in trouble . This is one of my favorite pictures of president bush and me. Oddly, we are at a duke basketball game. Probably seven or eight years ago when president bush had been diagnosed with parkinsons and was in a wheelchair, his health was declining. Coach k wrote him a letter and said it is on my bucket list for you to attend a home game of duke. Would you come . I showed the letter to president bush and i said coach k thinks you will fly to north carolina. There we are. I love starting with that photo. It is a good photo of me and i dont take very many. Working for president bush was one of the great privileges of my life. It taught me so many things. He taught me to think big, you will have to move if you are going to cry. [laughter] my sister is sitting right in front of me in she is ready to burst into tears. To live life with joy, think big, be humble, and make a difference. He was not perfect. There were certain things that honestly scared me to death. The five scariest words he could say to me was jean, i have an idea. These words usually took place he came in about 7 00 in the morning. He would read three newspapers and drink coffee. One of the ideas would be lets get pizza for lunch. I would say thank god. I remember specifically, this was january 2. We were recovering from the holidays. He said i was thinking over the holidays and he said i would like to go back to where i was shot down near world war ii. We can talk about that later if we have time. What i really want to talk about is the fact that most of his biggest ideas it is never ever is they taught me how to use this. Here is the big shock. President clinton, who beat him soundly in 1992. They become known as the odd couple. They became friends. Eventually they became father and son. What they bonded over was their mutual desire, they did this Disaster Relief work starting with a tsunami that hit asia in christmas day, 2004. We traveled to asia. I am not sure where we are here. For katrina we raised 150 million. Then we did hurricane ike. We raised a lot of money together. They became very close. President clinton still misses him terribly. Im eating lunch with president clinton in new york in two weeks. He called and said could you come have lunch with you . I think i have this is a tsunami trip. I think this is indonesia. This is the trip where they became friends. President clinton taught me to play a game a card game. I then taught it to my family. We played it all afternoon in the lobby. I lost to my brotherinlaw. This is president bush reading to a group of kids. Im fairly certain this is sri lanka. The school was gone so they were having classes outside. This is the story you want to hear. George clooney, he is gorgeous. [laughter] this is part of Disaster Relief. This is after katrina. What most of you probably dont know is a week or two after katrina, a huge hurricane came through texas and parts of louisiana called hurricane rita. Some of you are nodding your head. Katrina wasnt sucking the air out of the room. The media was focused on new orleans and what was happening. President bush got a call from cameron, louisiana. It had been completely wiped out. The only thing left standing was the courthouse. President bush had a relationship with cameron. His point on land where he would go to visit. They called him and said can you help . He said of course, what do you need . Our hospital is gone, if we could just filled an emergency wing asap i think people would start coming home. The guy who caldwell was talking to said the offshore Oil Rig Workers need the emergency room. We go into overdrive and raise an additional 2 million. A week before christmas i think in 2005 president bush will fly to cameron, louisiana with a check for 2 million. They will break ground for the new emergency room. The governor is coming, the High School Marching band is going to march. There will be speeches, ribbons, im showing him the schedule. It is like five days before christmas. He says these poor people have lost everything. We cant go do this. It is possible i had attitude. We just raised 2 million for them. I said we are going to give them the check. He said we need to gas it up. What are we building . I said and emergency room. He says i have a great idea. [laughter] heres the problem with this idea. He says laura and i love this tv show. He says there is this wonderful actor named gorge clooney who is the star. He said lets call George Clooney and ask him to come. Here is what he didnt get. They are watching it on a rerun. George clooney had not been on it for years. He is doing oceans 10, 11, 12. I tried to explain reruns. I dont know George Clooney. I dont have a number. To make a long story short, the man who produced all the oceans movies president bush, i was telling him about the movies. He said i think weintraub did those movies. He called him and George Clooney came. I was sick as a dog. Did i go . Yes, i did. [laughter] we had to send the plane. Georges one requirement was we send a plane. They stopped in houston. Off we go to cameron, louisiana. Here is the one huge mistake. There is no picture with the end George Clooney. [laughter] coming home before my ears stuffed up, i asked him why he did this. You dont know him, us, this obviously isnt political. His answer was i was so impressed that he wanted to do this. Cameron, louisiana is not in the news. The media is not there. Everybody was in new orleans. George clooney said if you asked me to go to new orleans i probably wouldve said no. I was touched by what he was doing and i wanted to be a part of it. The end of the story, my ears completely stuffed up. George kept talking to me. I have no idea what he said. To this da it is day it is possible he asked me to marry him. [laughter] i just kept going uh huh. President bush was the master of acts of kindness. It is probably the number one thing i learned from him. It was interesting to watch the way he lived his life. In big ways and small ways. This picture doesnt have a lot to do with it sort of has to do with the next story. Three days after 9 11. This is the national cathedral. The Prayer Service that all the president s came to. The 43rd president had just sat down. His dad reached over. They were on their way to the airport it is protocol that the president sit in the order that they serve. Technically the clintons should be sitting next to 43 and then 41s and then carters. President bush called me on the way to the airport and said i would like to sit next to my son. I said ok, we will see what we can do. President clinton was very gracious. I will tell you my 9 11 story. I was in washington, d. C. , on 9 11. We were in a meeting the day before. They were wheels up about 8 00 a. M. To go to minneapolis. I was staying in washington, d. C. Continuing to attend meetings. 9 11 happened. Chaos, of course. I have no idea where they were. I got the secret service on the phone and the agent said president bush wants to know where you are. I said i am at the Renaissance Hotel in dc on total lockdown. Did i do that . Am i doing something . I said where is he. The agent said i cannot tell you that. Like every plane in america, they have been grounded. They are in a safe, secure location. I cannot tell you on an unsecured phone. I assumed they were taken to west virginia. The secret place is not classified, is it . Good. [laughter] i think we found out about this. I assumed they were in west virginia. About 6 30 that evening im sitting with my Board Members from this group. We are waiting for the president to address the nation. My cell phone rings. Cell service was really terrible that day. My cell phone rings and its president bush. I said im so happy to hear from you. I said i know you cant tell me where you are because i know you are in some classified place. He said we are at a hampton inn in milwaukee, wisconsin. [laughter] that couldve been the first time i knew i had to write a book. The secret service said you were at some classified place. He said who would think to find me at a hampton inn in milwaukee . Ive been watching tv all day. He said we figured out we were hungry. We walked across the street to the outback steakhouse. They were a little surprised. Literally, the night of 9 11, the president s parents happen to be a former president walked in to milwaukee, wisconsin. President bush, this was part of the small acts of kindness. He was very disturbed with the antimuslim rhetoric in the country. We were in kennebunkport, maine. We go back to houston and the antimuslim rhetoric had gotten really ugly. He said to me, is there a muslim group in houston . There is the houston muslim association. I cold called them. They had a dinner two nights later with 500 people that president bush wanted to go make a statement and he invited the media. To say they are americans like we are. A couple of years ago, he and misses bush were both very worried about antisemitism in the country. A jewish group just wanted to get president bush at some dinner. He said call them back and tell them i will come. Again, it was his gesture. It was his way of saying we are better than this. He was masterful at this. The things he did, people will never forget. This is the son of a secret service agent. He was diagnosed with leukemia. Im going to cry. His father was one of president bushs secret service agent. The entire detail except one guy shaved their head. Mainly because patricks dad shaved his head to support his son. President bush decided he would shave his head. To support patrick and his secret service detail. This picture was absolutely viral. It was in times square. It was all over the news, internet, patrick is now 10 years old and cancer free. He has been cancer free for a few years. The only problem with this whole episode was he didnt tell his wife he was going to shave his head. For some reason, this became my job. I had to tell misses bush that her husband was bald as a cue ball. She was not happy. She was afraid everybody would think he had cancer. The thing that is amazing is he grew a full head of hair back. I dont know how old he was when he did this. Who shaves their head at 85 . Im not sure. President bush was never done. Now i could play with the clicker. This is jimmy carter. President bush 41. This is president bushs son, neil. Hurricane harvey devastated houston. President bush said we have to go to work. He is in a wheelchair. Pretty much out of commission. On labor day i had a Conference Call with the chiefs of staff. They were all in, immediately. What is amazing about this photo, we already had an event planned. It was the 25th anniversary of his library opening. We were doing a very small event at president bushs library. We were going to have a barbecue, very casual. President bush said lets turn it into a fundraiser or for harvey. I told the other president s chief of staff i asked the 43rd president to come. He was the former governor of texas. The other three, i just said to see if you are in the neighborhood. They all came. I remember the chiefs of staff kept calling me. Obama was first. The chief of staff said president obama would like to come. I said wow, that would be great. I knew president clinton would come. Theres no way he would let president obama come to texas with the bush boys without him. He flew overnight from europe. Poor president carter had said im not coming but if everybody else comes i will come. There they are. We moved the event to the arena where texas a m plays basketball. The concert was headlined by lady gaga. She called president obamas office to say i have gotten wind of this event, can i help . President obamas office called me [laughter] i told president bush i need to get the picture in the slideshow with her and the resident. I said president bush you will not believe this. At this time alabama was coming. No one on lady gagas level. I said oh my gosh, lady gaga is coming. He said that is great, who is she . [laughter] these five guys ended up raising 45 million. They had a little bit among themselves. Ever since we started to use 41 and 43 to tell the difference, they love their numbers. President clinton loves 42, president obamas 44. President carter never got into early nine. They all wanted to raise the money of their number. They werent happy when we went to 45. I think they probably were. It was an amazing night. The respect that they showed for president bush touched my heart. I remember when mrs. Bush found out, she said i suppose we will have to feed them . They had dinner in the apartment. This is the most stressed i have ever been. It was going to be live on television. The production people said jean becker, those five men have to be ready by 7 00 p. M. Sharp. Have you ever tried to tell five president s to quit talking . Particularly president clinton. They were talking, talking, talking. Finally, i went into the dinner and said you have to talking. We are going live in 11 minutes. Get in the car. The interesting thing is the bushs apartment is probably half a mile from where we were going. The motorcade got there before we left. The motorcade went the entire we were there at 6 59. This story im going to tell has absolutely nothing to do with the scene of the speech which is how much i learned from president bush. This truly is one of my favorite stories. This is prince bandar of saudi arabia. The saudi ambassador to the united date for almost 20 years. President bushs presidency, clinton, a lot of george ws. The bush brothers they used to call president clinton their brother by another mother. They gave the print the exact same the name. About seven or eight years ago i got a call late one night from somebody who used to be in president bushs administration asking me if i heard any about bandar. He had what was essentially the cia in saudi arabia. She said we are hearing he has been assassinated. Have you heard this . I said no, people dont call me. She says could you text your sources . I knew that meant to call the cia. Because president bush headed the cia, they would do anything he asked. We always had a caisson for certain assigned to us. The next morning i called the case officer. She said we have heard the rumors. He think it is true. He has not been seen for months. We have boots on the ground but we think it is probably true. The person called me the night before called. You are probably thinking why is this her favorite story . She called and said the french press have just reported that he has been assassinated. If you havent told president bush, you need to tell him. President bush, this is right before he went to the wheelchair. He would come to the office in a golf court. He would want me to sit on the golf cart with him and do our business there. It was hard for him to walk around. We had a phone on a long cord that came out from the office. I dont know why we didnt use a cell phone. I break the news to him. He said have you tried calling him . I said no. That really had not occurred to me. He said lets try to get him on the phone. We are sitting outside. I holler upstairs and one of his assistants, i said jimmy, could you see if you could get prince bandar on the phone . He said have you told him . I said yes i have. Two seconds later he leans back out, this will be a chapter title. Prince bandar on line two. President bush picked up the phone. President bush says hey man, dead or alive . [laughter] it gets worse. He said everybody here thinks your dead. He goes hes alive. [laughter] i said i figured that out. The president says what is going on . The prince tells him yes, i am being targeted and i know that. I am in a safe lace, dont worry about me. President bush gets on the phone. He said secretary baker, get them on the phone. We call everybody to tell them bandar is alive. He said this is a good life lesson. If there is confusion about if someone is dead or alive, call them. You know, hes got a point. I would not have felt comfortable calling bandar and saying dead or alive . I have yet to use that tactic. It is a good life lesson. The story ended about two hours later. The phone rings and i pick it up. I answer and it is the cia. The woman says jean, i know you are dying for answers. Have you told the president anything yet . We cant get confirmation. I think you better give him a heads up that he is oddly dead. So i tell her. I said he is alive. I said president bush called him on his cell phone. There was this long pause and she said we need to put him back on payroll. [laughter] i think that is the day i decided i have to write a book. How could you not tell the whole world needs to know. If you dont know if someone is dead or alive, call them on the phone. One of the things about working for president bush, he was just fun. We worked like dogs. We worked all the time. Life was really fun. One of my favorite stories involves the someone in this room, paula, where are you . Paula came to visit me in kennebunkport. We were going to take her to vermont for a day. We were going to do this lovely drive around New Hampshire and month. We were very excited. I had to run into the office for two minutes to get something. I am not sure what. President bush was there looking like a homeless person. He said do you want to go fishing . I need someone to go fishing with. I said i am so sorry, i have a houseguest. Im taking her to vermont. He said you dont think she would like to go fishing . In retrospect, how mean it wouldve been of me to deny you going fishing with the 41st president. He had this outrageous boat. It was fast. He loved that boat. We are going down the kenny bunk river. He looks at paula and i thought this was very polite of him. Someone here asked me if he was a great gentleman. I said yes he was. I said of course he was. You may change your mind. He said to paula, what kind of sea legs do you have . Paula said sir, i dont know. I have never been on a boat on the ocean in my life. I have no idea. He looks at her and says lets see what you are made of. He floors it. [laughter] the boat shot straight in the air. We hit a big wave. The whale watching boat was going out. They were going crazy taking pictures. Paula was holding on for dear life. What she remembers most about that trip was he caught a fish. He asked her to drive the boat while he reeled it in. I do want to take questions. This is by the service dog sully. He was an amazing companion. The sweetest dog in the world. He is now at the hospital. This is another photo that went viral. I do have one funny story about sully. We just flew from houston to washington, d. C. Sully, i was not his usual handler but he was helping take pictures. Evan asked me if i would walk sully off the plane. I walked sully across the tarmac and one of our press people came running over and said jean, the press want to know if you could move because you are between them and sully. It was a humbling moment. This was president bush lying in state at the capital. We went straight to the capital. The pomp and circumstance is really amazing. This is one of my favorite pictures from that week. President bush and bob dole were huge political rivals. President bush and president clinton, they became close. Senator dole also calls me. His friends call me a lot. They miss him. They call me, which is sweet. Senator dole, for him to get out of that wheelchair, oh my god. I asked him why he did it. This is the cathedral. All of the president s lined up. You could barely see president carter. He is right there on the end. There he is. George w is on the others with his brothers and sisters. This is one of my favorite photos. It was president bushs idea to take a train from houston to college station. He loved taking trains. He thought this would be something to do. He planned the whole thing. I remember one day, they made this special car and president bush said i think we will have lunch on the train. I said sir, you wont be on the train. He said yes i am. That two hour train ride was unbelievable. All of Central Texas showed up. We lost it when we saw the picture. They were all lined up. It was a great moment. This was walking to the gravesite. A really public ceremony, the gravesite was close to the press closed to the press. Just the family photographer. They wanted the end to be theirs. There is a lot of them walking down to the gravesite. This was president bushs library at texas a m university. It is where he and misses bush are buried. Before i turn over four questions, if you dont i will tell more random stories. One of my favorite quotes comes from a historian. I love this quote. I think it says a lot about who president bush was. His time may have run amok at times but his heart was fast. His life code as he said was tell the truth, dont blame people, be strong, do your best, try hard, forgive, stay the course. It was and is the most american of crete. George h w bush are companion versus in Americas National hymn. He has called on us to choose the right over the convenient, the hope rather than to fear. Heed did not our not our worst impulses but our best instincts. Thank you very much. [applause] come up to the microphone and while you line up, we didnt cry. This is one of my favorite pictures of president bush. He wore this one whole day. It is hard talking to him with an aardvark hat. How Many University of missouri graduates do we have . Mizzou made it into march madness. I have an adorable pair of tiger ears. I wore them to work. Im in the middle of talking to president bush. He said you have to take those off. I cannot talk to you wearing those. While you ask your questions we will leave that picture up. One of the things i have always been fascinated by, he was a new england aristocrat. He went to texas and fit into the culture very well. I will ask you to talk a little bit about it. It seems like the coasts and the midwest and texas are on opposite sides of. He came out of connecticut to texas and fit in quite well. It wasnt campy or anything like that. Could you talk about how he transplanted new england culture to texas . Jean it is a great question. Some of the press used to question his texas roots. President bush was 18 when he joined the navy. He comes home from the navy at age 20. He went through yale in 2. 5 years. He was 22 years old when he moved to texas. One of those things along with his wife barbara and his new baby, george w. Bush. They shared a duplex with a prostitute and her daughter. It was a motherdaughter team. It was fine but they shared a bathroom. The deal was it was a jack and jill bathroom. When you are in, you lock both sides. When you leave, you unlock. The mother and daughter, and they think their customers always forgot to unlock the bush side. In many ways he grew up in texas. Even though they lived in washington, new york, china, texas is where they always went home to. People were surprised by how deeply felt deeply he felt about texas. President bush loved the coast of maine. It was his summer home. It was a big part of his life. He talked very eloquently about the ocean and it gave him peace. The Atlantic Ocean is where he went to find his center, he would say. Texas was home. They were in maine in early october. We know the end is near. We are nervous about moving him home to texas. Number one, we didnt know if he could survive the trip, number two, i wasnt so sure he didnt want to die. That he wouldnt want to die looking out on the ocean. Myself and his medical aid, we asked him. We put it out there to him. We are prepared to stay here as long as you want. He said take me home. Dont ever tell people in maine. They think you wanted to die there. The other thing i will add to that is his first job in texas was an oil salesman. He took oil bids to oil rigs and drove all over west texas. There is still nothing out there. It is the most godforsaken land you have ever seen. That is where he became a hardcore Country Music fan. Will you talk about president bushs relationship with james baker . Jean yes. They met when the bushs moved from midland, texas to houston, texas. He and secretary baker became tennis partners. They belonged to the same country club and that on the tennis court. The couples became very close friend. Reverend bakers wife died of cancer. He would tell you that he would not have survived his first wifes death without george and barbara bush. President bush was getting ready to run for the u. S. Senate. He talked secretary baker into running his campaign. He used to call him bake. He said, you need to move on and need to have something new in your life, come run my senate campaign. They lost. That was what their friendship was like. In the end he became president bushs secretary of state. Secretary baker is probably one of the smartest people i have ever met. He and his wife susan were there the night he died. I will tell you a story about the night president bush died. That adorable dog, sully. President bushs son neil was there and his family. I was there, evan was there, the bakers were there. His minister was there. We are around the bed holding haands. The minister is praying. Sully the dog comes in with a ball and throws it on the floor. None of us budge. Sully picked up the ball and threw it again. Then he started nudging everyones legs. He looked at us like come on, lets go. It was great comic relief at a time we really needed it. Any other questions . There is a picture of her and the puppies in the private quarters on the porch. Does barbara take care of the dogs . She did take care of the dogs. They were that close to the dogs . Jean she walked the dogs, those were her dogs. Once in a while she would allow someone else at the white house to walk them, not very often. They gave one of the dogs to their son, marvin. He lives in d. C. Marvin would bring ranger to the white house and president bush got soaked was to ranger that marvin finally gave him back. Everyone at the white house would feed ranger. The president of the United States put a sign around his neck, please do not feed me. If you feed me i will have to report you to the president. He was getting just a little fat. Any other questions . If you were to have asked the president what books, movies, and use a key would recommend, what would he say . Jean music is easy, country. He loved Country Music, reba sang at his funeral. He was a big rogers and hammerstein fan. He loved musical theater. He went to see everything, including hamilton. He went to see hamilton the may before he died. He wasnt a big opera fan but he loved country. He loved all of those greats. He read just about every. That is a hard question to ask. He loved biographies and read a lot of biographer. He also loved fiction. I really dont even she was a big friend of the bushs. He was a big fan of danny silva. The main character in his books is an israeli spy. Movies, that is hard. World war ii movies. He liked war movies. He watched just about everything. The only movie i ever went with him to see that he didnt like, it was a movie that came out not that long ago and it was a silent movie. He watched a lot of war movies. He watched just about everything. The only movie i ever went with him to see that he did not like, it was a movie that came out not that long ago and it was a silent movie. It was a throwback. He really hated that. He thought it was a little crazy. He had a very wide he liked everything. The only thing hes not in the theater that he got he did not like was avenue q. But he loved hamilton. Stayed for the whole thing. Mr. Bush had such a long career in public service. Did he ever tell you what his favorite job was . Jean i actually know the answer to that. He would say president. But a close second was head of the cia. He loved being head of the cia. He loved knowing all of the secrets. [laughter] i used to ask him, what do you know . Tell me anything. [laughter] the cia was his thing. I think he thought, for lack of a better way to put it, he thought it was pretty cool. A great question. Yes. A followup to the favorite books question, you mentioned he loved reading biographies. Did he have a favorite president . Jean that is a great question. Unfortunately, my answer might be a tad boring. Maybe lincoln. He oddly was very close to president johnson. They were very good friends. He used to go ask president johnson for political advice. Just because he lived in texas. He was in congress and he was thinking about giving up a very safe congressional seat to run for the senate in 1970. He went to see president johnson on his ranch to ask him what he thought. President johnson said, george, the difference between being in the house and senate is the difference between a jackass and a thoroughbred. Run for the senate. [laughter] exactly. He read all of David Mcculloughs books and they were very good friends. President bush just absorbed john adams, truman, everything mccullough wrote. He loved it. But he probably would say lincoln. His courage. He saved the union. It is an easy answer, but an honest answer. He is probably shaking his finger at me right now, asking, why are you not saying george w. All of the matches between the temperatures of the United States and Great Britain are called the walker cut matches, name for president bushs grandmother. Do you have any thoughts or reflections on his relationship with the game of golf. Jean he could play 18 holes in an hour and a half. [laughter] i think that is why he was fairly bad at it. [laughter] he loved golf. He played in an hour and a half. He was great friends with Phil Mickelson and Arnold Palmer and jack niklaus. He loved the game, but he sucked. [laughter] one of the golf writers told me he saw him and said, how did you do today on the links . And he said 157. He said what . An hour and 57 minutes. [laughter] i was wondering if you could expand on what it was like traveling back to where he had been shot during world war ii. Tell you tomeone ask that question . I cleared that question with my relatives. It was amazing. An amazing trip. It is not easy to get to this area in the south pacific. The navy could have taken us in a heartbeat. But his son was president and president bush did not want the American Government to pay for him to go there, particularly since his son was president. So ironically, the Japanese Navy took us. Just think about that. [laughter] we stayed on iwo jima at an American Marine base and the Japanese Navy helicoptered us. It was amazing. He sat in the front with them. ,hey knew exactly his diving his bombing route. They came in exactly as he came in. They knew exactly where it was. He remembered it really well. They asked him, is this right . And he said yes, it is. We were on the ground driving around. His job that day was to bomb a radio tower. The island itself was not important. But he was to bomb the radio tower and he was very stressed he was very distressed. It is still there. [laughter] it is still here, he said. The japanese said, mr. President , look at the holes. It is ramshackle. You did this. [laughter] the amazing thing is we met a japanese man who grew up in hawaii or spent most of his life until 1941 in hawaii. When pearl harbor happens, his family fled back to japan. They did not think the japaneseamericans would be treated very kindly, and they were right. So he went back to japan and was put on a work crew. He was working and saw president bush being shot down. He told president bush the story that he and the work crew were watching. President bush was in the water for about three waters his three hours. Squadron, the japanese kept sending out to pick him up, but president bushs squadron would chase them back to shore. Eventually, they had to leave him because they were going to run out of gas. They had to get back to the aircraft carrier. One of his best friends, a wonderful guy i got to know, was the squadron leader. The japanese set out to pick him up and president bush knows this is it. And out of the water comes United States ship. What a miracle. President bush saw the periscope first and your first thought, he said, is it one of the heirs or one is is it one of ours or one of theirs . But the man told us, i told my japanese workers we are going to lose the war. Because we do not respect life the way the americans do. They were shocked at all of the time that had been spent to save one mans life. That the squadron had stayed to protect him as long as they could. The ship, they had radioed. It was not there by mistake. The submarines job was to pick up downed pilots. But talk about destiny. What is interesting, he stayed in japan and spoke perfect english and got a job at the American Embassy in japan because of his english skills. In 1980, when president bush was nominated to be the Vice President ial candidate, he was pulling Associated Press stories off of the ticker and reading them and reading the biography of the new republican nominee for Vice President and he gets to the world war ii part and he knew this is the man he saw get shot down. And he said, i watched this man be rescued. All these years later, he got to meet him. It was very emotional. We were very sad when he died. The other thing about the trip is there was another trip president bush was telling me about. The people there were so excited to see him. The whole island turned out, cheering. He was a hero. It was odd. Because he said, i bombed the hell out of this place. I wonder if it has occurred to them that i perhaps killed some of their relatives. He was telling me on that trip, when he was Vice President he went to visit an island in japan that he knew he had bombed heavily. There was this huge dinner in his honor and everyone was excited the Vice President was there. And he became obsessed during the dinner, how many of your relatives did i kill . He said it was an odd feeling. He said, i know i bombed, my squadron and me. Anyway. It was an amazing trip. I think we are probably out of where is my handler . [applause] jean thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. If steve has me back, i will tell you the story of when he tried to make my brother run a campaign for pope. We will save that until next time. Thank you. [laughter] American History tv products are now available at the new cspan online store. Check out all of the cspan products. Tonight, university of arkansas professor elliott west lectures about the Environmental Impact of the California Gold rush. Here is a preview. The first time in Human History that people have become a geological force. Not just changing the environment. We are always doing that. Changing the environment in that way. Changing literally the fundamental shape of the earth itself. It is going down these river systems, right . At an astonishing rate. Out,e Falling Water levels settles down to the bottom. Rise. Verbeds began to 100 feet or more. A town like marysville, for example, when it was founded, Market Center for the hills, a town like marysville was on the river and it was probably 20 or 30 feet down to the river. Pretty soon, the river is coming leveld pretty soon, it is and then it is above. It starts flooding the town. They build levees along the river to protect the town from the river and it is rising because of all the stuff flushed down from above it. The water is nasty and polluted and poisonous. Causes a problem. The problem is greater for the farmers. As these towns expanded, agriculture begins to develop around them. Farmers began to clear the area. They are all along the rivers. Now the stuff is coming down and periodically, almost annually, and as they flood, they send the stuff over into the farmers fields until after a while, in some cases, and this is well documented, there is a series of lawsuits over this. Sometimes an entire farm is covered with this. There is no way you can use it for anything. You are out of business. More about the Environmental Impact of the California Gold rush tonight at 8 00 and midnight eastern on lectures in history. Join the classroom here on American History tv. Texas High School Teacher gives an illustrated talk about world war ii food rationing, that leadinnovations to modernday processed food. Policies friends of the world war ii memorial hosted the talk as part of their annual teachers conference. She w
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.