Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Presidency Camp David 20240713

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the chief executive officer of the george w. Bush president ial center, ken hersch. [ applause ] thank you and welcome to the engage series presented by highland capital. Im the introducer in chief. Our goal is to provide content you cant get anywhere else. Were honored today with this session to launch a wonderful insiders look at president ial retreats and a glimpse of what life looks like for a president outside of the white house. Its a fascination that so many people. Were delighted to take a deep dive into camp david, crawford, kennebunkport and the lbj ranch. Tonight, we have a series of guests who can also give us that special insight. To kick us off, i would like to introduce the 43rd president of the United States. [ applause ] thank you all. [ applause ] thank you very much. [ applause ] so this is a special moment for laura and me because we have such fond memories of the president ial retreats. One of the things about the presidency that is kind of hard to explain is what if feels like to be in a bubble. You are kind of in a bubble, particularly in washington, d. C to be in a bubble. You are kind of in a bubble, particularly in washington, d. Ce to be in a bubble. You are kind of in a bubble, particularly in washington, d. C. President ial retreats are very important in the life of the presidency. I want to thank ken and holly and the team for opening up the president ial retreats and a lot of the stories of president ial retreats for the people here in dallas. We had three president ial retreats, which is kind of unusual. One of which was kennebunkport, maine. It was my dads president ial retreat. Laura and i would go up there on occasion. When we went, it was all family, which was incredibly important part of our presidency. I think i dont remember i think we entertain eed putin there. I will never forget, dad said to putin, do you want to go on a boat ride . He had this boat with three 300 horsepower engines. Putin kind of a macho dude at this point. Yeah, i would like to go. He said it in russian, of course. He had this interpreter who was kind of a strange little guy who was nervous. Anyw anyway, dad gets out in the ocean and opens that thing up. Putin, of course, was just in heaven. The interpreter thought he was going to die. So Walkers Point was an important part of getting out of the bubble. But not nearly as important as crawford and camp david. Crawford is a place laura and i love. Its a place that we went to in august, which made it kind of uncomfortable for a lot of the people on our staff from the east coast. I loved it. I mean, i would get outside. This is before we owned a bulldozer. Would chop down cedar. It was unbelievably therapeutic. I would ride bikes. But mainly, i rested. Here is the thing about these retreats though. You never escape the presidency. And so the definition of getting outside the bubble in crawford meant there were probably 150 staffers of some sort or another down laura and i entertained a lot of World Leaders there, and weve got a lot of fond memories of conducting personal diplomacy on the ranch. It became kind of a way for us to give some of these leaders a special look, and it really did open up the dialogue in a much easier way than had we been discussing things in the white house. I remember koizumi and i sitting out by the pool there talking about japanese history. Laura and i took a great walk across the prairie with Angela Merkel and her husband. Putin came, and we had a press conference, and rather than have it on the ranch, i decided that a cool thing to do would be to go to crawford high school. Now, crawfords a town of like 600 people. Theres 31 people in the senior class, and three were allowed to ask questions. Then of course we had to answer questions from the press. But we had a lot of World Leaders there. Israeli Prime Minister, crown prince of saudi arabia. One of the interesting stories from the crown prince of saudi arabia was when he came, and he was angry because sharone had occupied ramallah, and he was madder than heck about it. And one of the first things he said to me was, tell the pig to get out of ramallah. Now, that is about as great an insult as you could possibly issue in the middle east. And, you know, frankly, i wasnt about to allow a foreign leader to dictate our foreign policy. And i said, now, look, just give me some time. That wasnt the answer he wanted, and our interpreter, who is a friend of mine and Colin Powells and condis, came into where we were sitting because he wanted to be alone for a while with his people, and said, hes going to leave, which would have been a disaster for a young presidency to have a major ally bolt the scene, and it would have been something we would have been dealing with for a long period of time. So i said, colin powell, go in there and fix it. He came back and said, i cant. He said only you. I said, okay. So i walk in there. I dont know what im going to tell the guy. Hes in there smoking butts like mad in our living room, and so i said, i hear youre going to leave. He kind of grunts yes. I said, before you do, i want to talk about two things, religion, and i said let me talk to you about my faith. I said, i quit drinking because of religion, and described the relationship i had with billy graham and all that, and i said, im curious about your religion. Nothing. The guy wasnt interested. Smoked his cigarette. So that didnt work. So i played the ranch card. I said, i hear you have a farm outside riyadh and you love it there. Yes. I said i love this place. Id like to give you a tour before you leave. Can i give you a tour . He reluctantly said yes. So there we are in the ford 150. Im driving, which is unusual, and abdullah and the interpreter leaning over the back seat, were driving along. These are live oaks. Couldnt careless. These are cedar elms. Not interested. These grasses, restoring our prairie to native grasses. Could care less. He didnt say anything. Im saying this thing is going to be a disaster. Were at the very far end of the ranch, and theres a turkey standing in the middle of the road, a lone hen. He said, what is that . I said, well, thats a turkey, your royal highness. At one point it was going to be the bird of the United States. Thats what benjamin franklin, one of our leaders, suggested. But instead we went with the bald eagle. And the turkey is standing there, didnt move. And he leans over and says, its a sign from allah, my brother. And im saying to myself, thats damn good advance work. [ laughter ] and we got back to the house, and i said, you want to eat . He said, yes. I said, were going to have lunch, and the relief on the Foreign Ministers face and the ambassadors face was palpable. Dallas bob jordan was there by the way. The reason i tell you that is the ranch was a great place to get to know leaders and to establish a bond with them, as was camp david. Now, camp david was initially called shangrila, which means heavenly place, which it is. Its tucked in the mountains. Thankfully its only a 25minute helicopter ride from the south lawn, which means its extremely accessible, and so laura and i accessed it a lot. We went there as often as we possibly could. Youre going to hear from one of the base commanders from camp david. The whole deal is its a military base, and theyve got a lot of other military functions and duties. But when the president s there, its to like pamper the guy, and they do a really good job of it. Dwight eisenhower changed the name to camp david, and my brother, marvin, lobbied for a while to get me to change it to camp marvin. [ laughter ] thankfully i didnt. Weve got a lot of fond memories of camp david, a lot. And, you know, again, its a place where laura and i invited a lot of World Leaders. Tony blairs first visit to the United States, we took him to camp david. Laura decided to have a movie there. Theyve got a nice movie theater, and its called meet the family oh, meet the parents. I was asleep. [ laughter ] if you like to exercise, its a fabulous place to get outdoors and exercise. We had Mountain Bike trails, a wonderful gym. I think the thing that i remember most about camp david was christmases. Its big enough for our big family each to have their own cabin, and so mother and dad would come. Jeb and his family, neal and his family, camp marvin and his family, and doro, and it was spectacular. A spectacular time. And the reason i emphasize the family aspect is because during the presidency, you know, sometimes its kind of hard to count on certain people, but you can always count on your family to bring you comfort and love. So thats what were going to hear about tonight is a true shangrila. Holly kuzmich is going to interview admiral Michael Georgione who was the base commander when we first got to camp david. Shes going to interview Stewart Mclaren who is the president of the White House Historical association. And finally my chief of staff, josh bolten, one of the coolest guys i know, will be onstage as well. But beforehand, one of the real treats for laura and me was to have a beautiful Little Chapel there called Evergreen Chapel. And a preacher there had a huge influence on us, and his name is stan fornea. And thankfully stan fornea has agreed along with his wife belinda, has agreed to join us tonight. So please welcome the right reverend navy something captain. Chaplain. I know chaplain. Navy captain stan fornea. [ applause ] thank you very much, mr. President. What a privilege it is for me to be here this evening. Thank you for the invitation. On january 22nd, 1963, news reached camp david of the assassination of president kennedy, who had just been a recent visitor to camp david. There was a contractor working at camp at that time by the name of kenneth plummer. And mr. Plummer noticed that in that experience, there was nowhere for people to gather to pray, to think, to be quiet. There was no sacred space whatsoever. So mr. Plummer began the process of saying he wanted to see a chapel built at camp david. It took him some time, but through his persistence, he was able to form a nonprofit. He raised the money to build the chapel, and ground was broken by president reagan, who was the first contributor. And then the chapel was dedicated during the presidency of president bush 41. It was also during that time that president bush decided that he wanted a chaplain there, and so i have had the privilege of following in the legacy of having Navy Chaplains at camp david ever since that time. If there is any one thing that i would want you to know about camp david, it is that there is a very unique climate of community there. It is a small group of people. A lot of people do not realize it is a military installation. And those who are there were chosen because of their desire to serve their nation by serving their commander in chief. And this unique climate of community and even maybe so far as a climate of family that exists there to a great extent is made possible by the president s and how they use and serve. I am a little prejudiced because of my time with president bush, but i would suggest to you that theres no one who has contributed more to a climate of community and family at camp david more than president and mrs. Bush. And that is evident by many Different Things that they did. President bush was always connecting with people there, and that connection with people there, and that connection with people helped create this unique climate of community that existed. You may know that president bush enjoyed Mountain Bike riding when he was at camp david, and my first day there, i had one of the lean and mean marines tell me if president bush asked you to ride bikes with him, tell him no way. [ laughter ] and i said, why . And he said, because nobody can keep up with president bush on these trails and on those bikes. And so he said, i know its hard to say no to the president , but youve got to say no if he asks you. And one sunday after chapel, we had lunch with the president , and he was beginning to set me up, and i knew it. So he said, chaplain, do you ride bikes . And i said, no, sir. No, sir, i never had really the chance to ride bikes very much. And he dropped it, and i got out of that experience. But he connected with the Young Marines and the others there in doing that. There is no way the president connected more with people and the staff at camp david than through Evergreen Chapel. I had the privilege to conduct over 100 Worship Services for the president and mrs. Bush and the family and the staff of camp david. And it was always the most marvelous experience. The president would always be faithful. In my almost four years there, the president never missed a Worship Service even if we had weeklong services during christmas or easter or holy week. They were always there, and the Camp Community gathered with the president and mrs. Bush when we worshipped together. Mrs. Bush, i remember, would every christmas and easter bring gifts for all the children of camp david. And during our christmas pageants and other things we would do, she would distribute those gifts to our children. And she did that faithfully event after event and year after year. It was just the most marvelous climate of community that existed there. President bush also did something very unique for us, and that is he asked me one time, lets gather all the Camp Community together, their spouses, their children, and lets invite them all to a town hall meeting in the chapel, at which time the president spent almost two hours standing before us, talking about the presidency, his leadership skills, and opened the floor for people to ask questions. And it was so successful and because everyone could not get in at one time, the president said, lets do it again. And we had all the camp staff come once again, and the president gave two hours of just standing before us and talking about what it means to be the president of the United States. So the president and mrs. Bush did a great deal to create this wonderful climate of community at camp david. I think maybe he may have learned some of that from his father. It was christmas one week, and president bush was there and president bush 41 and the extended family. We had had a service in the chapel that sunday, and we were distributing tshirts that had Something Like Evergreen Chapel christmas on it. And at the end of the service, everyone left. I was left in the chapel by myself, and the phone rang, and it was president bush 41. And he said to me, he said, chaplain, is there any chance that barb and i could get a couple of those tshirts . And i said, of course, mr. President. So i got in the golf cart and took them some tshirts over at their cabin. Always gracious, he invited me in, and i had a cup of coffee, and when i got ready to leave, president bush said, do you know why we wanted these t shirts . And i said, no, sir. And he said, well, he says, weve stayed here a little longer than we anticipated this year, and were running a little short of clean underclothes to wear. [ laughter ] at which time, i said, well, you know, mr. President , theres somebody here that can take care of that laundry need if you have it. And yet he looked at me and he said, chaplain, this is christmas week. I wouldnt dare ask someone to do that for me during christmas week. And then he looked and said to me, dont forget its their christmas too. And i always thought that spoke so much about the way the bushes felt about the staff at camp david and how much appreciation they had for the climate of community that existed there. But, you know, sometimes even in a closeknit community there can be some challenges, and ill close with this story. But i was sitting in the chapel one weekend. The president was there along with Prime Minister abe of japan. And it was a saturday. I had sent my Chaplain Assistant home because nothing was scheduled, and i was sitting in the chapel by myself that saturday, and i heard the door open, and in walked president bush and the Prime Minister. And i thought that was nice that the president was showing the Prime Minister around, and the president looked at me, and he said, can you do one of the history briefs that you do for the Prime Minister . Now, that involved a screen and projection equipment, none of which was set up. I had never set it up in my life, and i said, of course, mr. President. We can do that. I said, it will take a moment to set it up. So he sat down on the front pew, and i went back in the back and pulled the screen out and set it up, and then ran up in the balcony to turn on the projection equipment. And this may come as a surprise to you, but i noticed the president looking at his watch every now and then. And so i eventually got it done. I was sweating. I was proud of myself for getting it set up so quickly. And i finally said, mr. President , were ready to go with this. And he said, just a minute. And he looked at the Prime Minister and said, hes good at doing Worship Services, but hes not very good at handling technology. [ laughter ] i was proud of myself. I thought i had done very, very well. And im not saying that the president s greatest virtue is not patience, but he is prompt, which reminds me i need to stop talking and move on. But i do want to tell you in all sincerity that the four years that i spent at camp david was the absolute highlight of my entire 35 years of ordained ministry. Nothing else has ever come close to it, and i dont know if there will ever be anything that can top the fact that i had the privilege of serving our nation in the military and especially the privilege that i had for four years of serving president bush, mrs. Bush, and their family, especially during a time of great turmoil and war, in the chapel at camp david. And for those experiences, mr. President , i thank you very much. [ applause ] and now you know. Youve already heard, but would you join me in welcoming our guest, stewart mclaurin, the president of the White House Historical situation, joshua bolten, who as chief of staff had to endure a lot of those Worship Services as camp david as well, rear admiral Michael Georgione, a former Commanding Officer at camp david, and then holly kuzmich, who is the moderator tonight and you know as the executive director of the bush institute. So join me in welcoming them, would you please. [ applause ] well, thank you all for being here. And our job tonight is to demystify a place that most people will never get to visit, and you all obviously have some great background and stories to share with this crowd about camp david and to try and bring that to this audience. So lets start there. Stewart, president bush mentioned the name shangrila. That was its original name at camp david. Tell us how it came to be, how the site was selected, where that name came from. What was its origin . Well, president and mrs. Bush, its wonderful to be here at this extraordinary president ial library with all your guests tonight. President hoover had a wonderful fishing camp out in the shenandoah and when fdr became president , he tried it out, but he had asthma. And it was damp climate out there, so he didnt like it. His doctor said get a place thats a little higher elevation. So he asked the National Park service to select three different sites, his options. One was back in the shenandoah. It was 30,000 feet out toward the blue ridge. Two others were in maryland, and one was the site that was eventually selected to be shangrila. So he took a small motorcade up there of three unmarked vehicles and decided he liked it. It had been built in the 1930s, about ten years prior by the Works Progress administration, so it had some rudimentary government buildings on this site that were functional. So he decided this would work. So they decided this would be shangrila. The name shangrila, there had been a very popular british novelist named james hilton who had written a book called lost horizon, and shangrila was the himalayan paradise that was talked about in that book. So that name was adopted, and they moved in, and on july the 5th was the first day that they started shangrila as a president ial retreat. And things went along really well for a couple of years until the secret service got nervous about the safety of shangrila, that it might be vulnerable to air attack from the enemy. So roosevelt started looking for an alternative to this place, a place a little more secure, a little more safe from air attack. So there was a place that was a little more tropical, a little more remote, and just think what would have been had president roosevelt followed through and moved the president ial retreat from shangrila to guantanamo. [ laughter ] so, mike, you were the Commanding Officer at the end of president clintons term and the start of president bushs term. You got to run the place. Tell us a little bit about what that entailed and tell us about the place itself. Whats there . What is camp david like . Thank you, holly. President bush, mrs. Bush, great to see you again. Thank you for this honor. 200 acres of mountain park. Work with National Park service. It is a rustic retreat, simple, singlestory cabins, oak plank siding, cedar shake shingle roofs. Just enough amenities. Enough security of course, but very pleasant, simple place to go where many president s have found that respite theyre looking for. Talk a little bit about your role and the staff. It is navy command. Its run by the navy. Its been that way since the roosevelt years. He took the sailors from the yacht that stewart talked about and the marines to guard it. So its a navy command that operates and maintains the principal facility for the president. But on the weekends, it takes on that whole aura of being the place where the president and his family and guests can get away whether for their own personal use or for diplomatic purpose. And so president s use this partly as a recreational retreat to get away. They also use it to entertain and host World Leaders. Tell us a little bit about what goes into a world leader visit. Big pucker factor, first, for getting ready, and a lot of work with the state department. But a fascinating time to stand on the sidelines and watch our president work with World Leaders. And i talk about in the book about its one thing that we all talk about building relationships before you need them. But when you stand on the sidelines and you watch president s actually do that, as i saw president and mrs. Bush do that with the blairs, and you see how important it is as humans, of course, to get to know someone on that level, its very impressionable and it really affected me and many of the crew that saw it as well. It is great to be part of that, youre not of that world but in it. How many staff are there . About 200 sailors and marines that work there fulltime. So, josh, you were there in a variety of roles. You went first as deputy chief of staff working for president bush, then you were omb director. Then chief of staff. I never got invited when i was budget director. [ laughter ] nobody wants the budget director. So when you were chief of staff, part of your role was really helping to host and entertain these foreign delegations when they would come. Tell us about that role and what that entailed for you. Well, first, thanks to president and mrs. Bush for the privilege of being here. It is a special privilege to be with reverend stan fornea, listening to his voice a view minutes ago brought the same kind of comfort that i think reverend fornea brought on a regular basis with his sunday sermons. I mine, it is not even my faith and i always looked forward to going to chapel to hear him speak. Yeah, you know, its not just about the president and not just about the visiting Prime Minister, theres typically a whole delegation that comes with, and as important as the opportunity that camp david provided for building a warm, personal relationship between the leaders, also important was the opportunity it provided for an opportunity for those serving just below the two leaders to get to know each other, establish the kind of relationship that becomes critical, especially in a crisis. So i had, especially when i was chief of staff, i had the privilege of basically hosting my counterpart or counterparts for a wide variety of World Leaders, and the relationships that were established there in many cases turned out to be extremely important in the months and years that followed. So lets talk about the more, we have a photo of one of the more informal moments of hosting a delegation in the bowling alley. Tell us about this very posed photo. Yeah. Well, my score or well, the person on the far right i guess as were looking at it is the president s military aide, but the two others were the top two advisers to crown prince mow hamid ben side of the united arab ematmosphere whose relationship with president bush was very important to the United Statess relationship overall in the gulf region and so while president bush and the crown prince were off having a walk or Something Like that, there wasnt much for others to do. Maybe they had already gone to bed. So i said who wants to bowl. To this day, the guy who is to my right is now emrites ambassador and the other runls the abu dhabi sovereign wealth fund. Do this day when i see them, they bring up the time we went bowling at campdo this dawhen i they bring up the time we went bowling at cafund. Do this day when i see them, they bring up the time we went bowling at camp david. It creates a special bond even with something as pedestrian as bowling. Maybe because it is pedestrian. Do you remember the two teams, do you remember who won . Im sure i won. Quite confident of that. I got to visit camp a lot, and im going to tell you my average was good by the time the administration ended. So stewart, one of the most consequential things that happened at camp david were the camp david accords. Tell us about that, how those meetings came to be and what that entailed. Sure. This was of course during the carter presidency. Earlier that year, president and mrs. Carter hosted president and mrs. Sadat without the Prime Minister at camp david. That was a very warm and friendly meeting. Several months in advance when they were contemplating bringing both sides together for a summit. Very contentious time, multiple wars over decades between egypt and israel. Time came to plan the summit, there were conversations between president carter and the National Security adviser, where should this be, they looked at spain, portugal. President carter wanted a confined, intimate space away from the eyes of the press where they could be driven to talk to one another. They set aside initially three days for the summit at camp david, with protecting four additional days should they need them. They ended up spending 13 days there, 10 of which they didnt talk to one another at all. There were similar scenarios to president bushs story where they were going to walk, going to leave, and had to be pulled back and stay. Finally it resulted in the accord which camp david may be most famous for, the camp david accord, that famous picture on the south wall of the white house of the three leaders celebrating that achievement, but it was a very tedious time. Camp david provided the perfect cramped, comfortable but uncomfortable setting to drive that dialogue to successful completion. Mike, president bush mentioned tony blair was his first visitor there as a foreign leader. You got to see that and experience and understand the rule of camp david and a casual retreat in diplomacy. Say a little more about that and what you saw in terms of why that setting sort of lent itself to those kinds of meetings. It certainly made sense to me, president bush knowing from his father what the charm of camp david was for diplomacy, i believe this was the first time they were meeting the blairs, instead of a white house dinner, formality, come to camp david. The military is addressed as appropriate, but the couples were dressed casually. Says so much about you have to set the tone. Did the same minister with the Prime Minister in july, get to know each other, great allies, talk about history, talk about a relationship. Watching again two couples spend a light hearted weekend together, watch that movie he talked about, hold a press conference off camp, at a much more calm time in our world was impressionable, shows why president s need a place like camp david. The contrast between gordon brown and tony blair. A bit more formal as you can see, the president is wearing it well, he is i am sure striking up a relationship as great leaders do, figure out ways to connect with leaders and their own personalities. He showed up in a suit and tie. Some are very formal. It happened with the president of france during the g8 summit under president obama, very formal. The president made a joke to relax everyone. Some dont understand the purpose of camp david. Once they let that guard down, it provides the right setting and decorum to talk. Did you all know he was showing up in a suit and tie . Did not know that. What did you have to do . We are dressed appropriately all the time anyway, you just react. I was staffing that. There was a scramble to find neck ties. The military, they always look good. Not the staff. So josh, you have an interesting experience when you were there and i want you to tell this story about a world Leader Meeting that only partially took place at camp david because of where you flew president bush to to have the other side of the meeting. Talk about that. One of the most complicated and delicate things that i did as chief of staff and my predecessor andy card did was figure out how to get the president out of the United States and over to iraq without anybody knowing it. At any given moment there are literally hundreds of people that know where the president is, are protecting him, watching every movement, and so on. And president bush several times during his presidency made the courageous decision to go basically into a combat zone and either visit the troops, or the case of the one i organized in 2006, to meet the new Prime Minister of iraq. President bush thought that once the Prime Minister had finally pulled together a cabinet with the various factions and ethnicities in iraq, it was important for the president personally to show up and to, you know, meet face to face on their in their offices, on their territory. And making that happen logistically is really, really hard to do. For the trip to iraq and then afghanistan in 2006, by the way, you cant let anybody know the president is coming because then the bad guys will be there with rpgs or whatever to knock down air force one as it is landing. And so when we started the planning for this trip, i believe i came up with the idea. Now, it could have been deputy chief of staff joe hagen who served almost the entire 8 years in that role in the bush white house. Im pretty sure it was me, but youre the only one here. You may want to credit joe. But the idea we came up with was that, okay, lets get the president out of washington from camp david because as these gentlemen know, camp david is one of the only places he can go with no press watching, theres a perimeter there, so it is a relatively secure place from which to disappear. The president s ranch being one of the only other places where you can spirit the president out without a lot of people knowing it. So we started with that frame, lets get him to camp. And then we thought, you know, how do we get the whole iraqi cabinet assembled to meet him. So the brilliant idea was that we would organize a cabinet to Cabinet Meeting so the iraqi cabinet would be in baghdad with Prime Minister malaki, and relevant counterparts of the u. S. Cabinet would assemble at camp david. With president bush. With president bush, and we would have a joint Cabinet Meeting by video conference. So that was what we advertised to the iraqis, what we advertised to the entire world was that president bush and his cabinet would be at camp david and all of the iraqis would be in baghdad and they would have a meeting by video conference. We invited the cabinet members. I think there were about six or eight of them who were relevant to come up to camp david and the chairman of the joint chiefs, a couple of other people, and we all, there was a big dinner. In laurel, the convening place that has a dining room, there was a big dinner for all of the cabinet members there with the president and Vice President cheney and our plan was that president bush and his National Security adviser steve hadley and i would slip out before dessert, and leave dick cheney to make small talk with the cabinet. By the way, this is where the plan almost failed. Because we needed to keep everybody there at dinner while the rest of us scooted out on golf carts and went to the heli pad and got on a helicopter that had no lights and took off from camp david. But as i was leaving, i vaguely remember the Vice President saying anybody read any good books . So i was really worried that somebody was going to spot some bluffs. We had not told the cabinet about it. We couldnt tell anybody because word spreads pretty fast. Anyway, we flew from camp david by darkened helicopter to Andrews Air Force base where the dark helicopter drove into a hangar in which air force one was being kept. In other words, it wasnt outside where anybody could see it, it was inside a hangar. We boarded the plane and took off late at night without lights, flew eight or ten or i dont know how many hours it was, mr. President , to baghdad, and we landed there. And just as we were landing, the iraqi Prime Minister was informed that yes, theres going to be a video conference, but president bush is going to be here in baghdad. So oh good. This photo here is a photo of the president , and im the guy, i always got the end seat. Im the guy at the end there, and what you see up on the screen is all of the members of the u. S. Cabinet being video conferenced in from camp david. And it was a hugely successful meeting, a way in which the protected and confidential nature of camp david contributed to a very Successful Operation that could not have been done but for the kind of place that camp david is. Yeah. Yeah. Stewart, we talked about the camp david accords. Talk about some of the other consequential historical events that happened, meetings that happened at camp david throughout history . Winston churchill was the First International visitor with fdr that went to camp david. I think mrs. Roosevelt wanting to get them out of the white house to get them away from her was the incentive. They enjoyed fishing, talking, talked about invasion of cicely and normandy, consequential conversations. Eisenhower had khrushchev to camp david. Eisenhower was the First American president to make use of helicopters for president ial travel. He spontaneously, soviets didnt want crews chef on the helicopter. He said if the american president gets on, i can too. They did a tour of washington and went to camp david, enjoyed a great time there. Khrushchev liked it so much he talked eisenhower into letting him buy two that he took back with him to the soviet union. Then a great story, another soviet story with nixon. He has brezhnev up to camp david. Interestingly, even though khrushchev had been there, brezhnev said he didnt know much about this camp david place. He was a little suspicious of it. He went anyway. Nixon, you know, the party guy, Richard Nixon, he had the typical Navy Blue Blazer for brezhnev when he got there with the president ial seal. He also had the keys to a brand new navy blue Lincoln Continental car. Brezhnev liked cars. So brezhnev relished this. Told nixon to get in the passenger seat. Brezhnev got behind the wheel, i am sure the service was having a great time with this. Nixon was used to driving narrow curvy roads around camp david in a golf cart. Here is nixon here in the passenger side, brezhnev is behind the wheel. They go down curvy, downhill, around the curve. Brezhnev hits 50 Miles Per Hour in the Lincoln Continental. You can see Richard Nixon as the story goes, sitting there in very nixonian, slow down, slow down. Brezhnev slams on the brakes around the curve. They come to a White Knuckle stop with Richard Nixon. And he says very fine automobile. Holds the ground really well. So he liked that. So i think the custom of shortlived tradition of them getting automobiles ended there. But thats a lovely story of brezhnev and the Lincoln Continental. Josh, tell us about your first visit there. President bush didnt use it just for diplomatic, he also hosted staff for weekend visits, and recreational, getting away from the white house. I was a regular visitor during the last three years in the administration when i was chief of staff as my predecessor, andy card, and his wife were in the preceding five years. But it was it wasnt common for people other than the chief of staff and National Security adviser and so on, but president and mrs. Bush took the trouble to work their way through most of the senior staff of the west wing and give them an opportunity to bring, come to camp david with their spouse because the ethos that they always spread was that service in government and in the administration is a family affair, and everybody is serving. So that was it was a really important not just a perk but a way of building the community that reverend fournier was talking about. There were two assistants to the president at the time i think that were unmarried. Me and ari fleischer. So we didnt actually make the list very early. Then finally we both got invited the same weekend, but no spouse. We concluded it must be jewish singles weekend. [ laughter ] i was disappointed to find in fact it was me and ari. I imagine ari was disappointed, too. But it was a really important way to establish more of a personal relationship. I mean, we didnt need camp to feel that way, but i think it contributed a lot to the family atmosphere that pervaded during the entirety of president bushs term. Mike, you lived there with your wife and two daughters. That had to be a really fascinating experience to raise children at camp david. What was that experience like for you and your family . Were the only family that lives inside the camp. Think about us everyday families, transplant yourself to you and your children living inside a camp called cedar. So really cool, quite an extraordinary place, modest house with a great yard we used to say. Neighbors happen to be the president and camp marvin and all of the others, but still a young family. It is a different dynamic. Lots of highs, a few lows. Great memories as you can see by photos such as this during the dedication of Evergreen Chapel. You were not allowed to have pets there. No pets rule at the time. Yes, my wife broke the rules as she often did at camp david. But for good reason. I am sure the president would find it comical that we have these rules, again, were a military organization to protect and defend the camp and the president and his guests. There was clearly a no pets rule which we honored. One day michelle and girls were coming back from fairmont fair, won some goldfish. Theyre in the back seat of the car with baggies of goldfish, the marines salute, maam, you cant bring pets in. Michelle is flabbergasted. Do i need to call someone . No, maam, you cant bring pets in. Girls are catching on, tears are starting to roll down the eyes, michelle is looking at them, she goes well, theyre for dinner. I think the marine sentry was like okay. You have a great story about when the palestinians were there about being observant about dress. Yes. Talking to your wife and daughters. Yes. We were always there to honor the president and guests and respect the cultural differences. Rose cabin was across from cedar, this was during the peace summit of 2000 under president clinton. We briefed the girls about how to dress. It was summer months, july of 2000, hot, rainy, sticky. Dont expose body parts, dont wear your bikini top. Very respectful. Michelle kept the blinds shut in cedar. One morning went out to water geraniums and across the way was rose bud with male palestinians in bath robes, open cankimona. Thought this was strange. Runs back in, girls, lets play in the backyard. You learn how to react to things like that, keep it low key. That hams in your neighborhood where you live, right . Thats a common thing. Exactly. Stewart, the president is not the only one who lays a mark on camp david, the first ladies leave a mark. Tell us about that and the marks they leave. Not unlike the white house where the first lady, first family leave their mark as a legacy, important way to be remembered at the white house. We had wonderful projects with mrs. Bush, lincoln bedroom, green room, library. At camp david, the same is often true. The first lady will make some changes, Maime Eisenhower came into the truman, military government issue, this wouldnt do. The camp quickly became colored in green and yellow and pink. And she brought in a navy reserve decorator from california, transformed the place. Thats where the cabins got their names after the trees. Aspen was given to the president s cabin by president eisenhower, wanting a tree for mrs. Eisenhowers native colorado. Thats how it became the aspen lodge. Mrs. Nixon like in the white house who was unheralded in extraordinary work and legacy there, with transforming some of the french influence to Great American influence. Did quite a bit at camp david as well, and they grew the facilities, enlarged and heated the swimming pool, just as other amenities have been added. Eisenhower did the three hole tren trent jones golf course. Mrs. Nixon did quite a bit. Mrs. Bush, i love the things she did, bringing in the directors of the president ial libraries to camp david. All their bosses spent time at this important place, none of them had seen it. A day there, having lunch, understanding the place was very important, and she also, another wonderful touch i love is she had pictures collected of all of the World Leaders that her husband met with as well as leaders going back to fdr, put those in places around camp david. And then a nice special legacy piece which you can take advantage in the store today, she had an artist from National Arboretum go with her around camp david, select certain plants, shrubs, flowers, memorialize those in extraordinary drawings, and the originals are still at camp david. And there are reproductions here available, so you can take home a piece of camp david with you tonight, thanks to mrs. Bush. Great. Mike, we heard about the bushes, how they spent the holidays at camp david. Between the two presidencies, there were 12 christmases there. What was it like through the holidays . A typical American Family come together as family. It is wonderful to watch, and know you have a role in providing that calm, that serenity, peaceful meal, the right decorations, provide the atmosphere. Thats your goal, to serve the president and his guests so when they leave that sunday or when the visit is over, theyre happy, restored. Watch the bushes for 12 years was a phenomenal thing to witness. We are close to being out of time. As you all know, you all get to see a special sneak preview of our exhibit across the way, and not only does it cover camp david but it covers Prairie Chapel ranch, it covers Walkers Point and the lbj ranch. Youre among the first to get to see it. Please make sure you take time to walk across the courtyard and visit that tonight, and the bookstore is open tonight. Mikes book inside camp david for sale as well as the White House Historical association. Please make sure to visit. A musthave. Weve got some great things in the exhibit. Weve got the original camp david sign, correspondence with churchill, a chain saw that president bush used. Hopefully there are a few more down at the ranch, hoping it is not the only one used in crawford. Please take a visit there. Join me in thanking our great panel iss panel ists tonight. [ applause ] American History tv presents programs on the modern presidency. Next, three former white house speechwriters examine turning a president s policies and politics into a speech. After that, former secret Service Agents talk about challenges protecting the first family. The cia chief historian looks at the relationships between president s and their cia directors. Every saturday night, American History tv takes you to College Classrooms around the country for lectures in history. Why do you all know who lizzy borden is, raise your hand if you heard of this murder, gene harris murder trial before this class. The deepest cause where we find the true meaning of the revolution is in this transformation that took place in the minds of the american people. Were going to talk about both of these sides of the story here, right, the tools, the techniques of slave owner power and talk about tools and techniques of power that were practiced by enslaved people. Watch history professors lead discussions with their students on topics ranging from the American Revolution to september 11. Lectures in history on cspan3, every saturday, 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv, and lectures in history is available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to podcasts. Next, on the presidency. Three former white house speechwriters on the process of turning a president s policies and politics into a speech. This session was from the president ial ideas festival, hosted by university of virginias miller center. We appreciate you coming in. There are a few other panels going at the same time. Thanks for picking this one. Well try to make it worth your while. Those of you maybe in the wrong place, this is the one on speechwriting. Were lucky. I am tyler connor, former speech writer for president obama. We are lucky to have sarah perry, and John Mcconnell who worked for president george w. Bush. Jeff hessel was supposed to be here, had a conflict. We will tell as many of his stories as we can remember