Give us a wonderful, wonderful presentation about george h. W. Bush. Well have question and answer after weekends awards and becaus filming tonight, please, use the microphones that we will place, i think one right there and one over to the side there, and thats so your question doesnt get lost on cspan. I want to welcome all of you, and let you know how much we appreciate you all being here tonight. Especially knowing that the democratic partys done a little bit of counterprogramming. [ laughter ] of course, weve got another, another 15 monthsplus to get our fill or probably more than our fill of 2020 president ial campaigning. Here were going to take a few moments to remember a man who won it in 1988. A president who it seemed the longer he lived, the more loved and appreciated he became. I was struck like many others, i think, by the national outpouring of respect and affection in the days leading up to and through the funeral of George Herbert walker bush last november. The funeral of his wife barbara, a little more than seven months earlier. Former president al gore said bush xli, and he was the 41st president. George w. Is bush xliii. Gore says he served our nation with extraordinary integrity and grace. [ applause ] and the country seemed anxious to celebrate those qualities last november and december. He was a world war ii hero, of course, before he began his long political career. By and large history looks back pretty favorably on his presidency. Brookings institution surveyed nearly 200 political scientists earlier this year, and asking them to rate all 44 president s, and the elder bush came in 17th. Just behind john kennedy, just ahead of james monroe. He drew praise for Foreign Policy in large part popularity sank as the economy sank, and he didnt win reelection in 1992. But he won the nation back as a former president. And jean becker was at his side in some cases hanging on for dear life as she puts it for those 25 years. Its great to have her here. For personal reasons, because jean and i go back a ways. We grew up together in a small Farming Community about three hours east of here. Her family farm, my family owned an operated the International Harvester dealership in martinsburg, missouri. Those are the red tractors. Not the green tractors. [ laughter ] i went from our little tiny high school sitting out in the middle of the country to Journalism School at university of missouri, and jean went on to the Journalism School at university of missouri. I took my first job at what essentially was our home town paper the mexico ledger. And a couple years later jean took her first job at the mexico ledger. I moved from there to the newspaper in springfield, missouri. Owned by the net, then the largest newspaper chain in the country. And jean moved to the newspaper in danville, illinois, owned by ganet, the largest newspaper chain in the country. In 1982, i went to this new National Newspaper that ganet was starting, usa today pap few year the later, jean went to usa today. I was not stalking you [ laughter ] i can tell where youre headed. [ laughter ] we both have dirt on each other and we both have promised a non a mutual disarmament agreement tonight. I worked in the papers department, a sports writer. Some people back in martinsburg when my wife and i would go back and visit, see folks after church, they used to think what i did was pretty cool. I got to go to big games around country. The olympics every four years. I got to falk talk to players a coaches, but then jean parted ways. And goes to the white house. And then when paula and i would visit martinsburg and visit with people after church it was, wow, jean becker what do you marhear from her . Jean covered the 1988 election, the one in which george bush defeated Michael Dukakis and barbara bush took a liking to her which is not surprising. And she invited jean to serve as her deputy press secretary. Jean spent four years in the white house, from 89 to january of 93. George obviously took a liking to her, too. He made her his chief of staff. The job that she held until he died. Its safe to say that nobody knew george and barbara bush better than jean, and i think i would include the bush family in that. The birthday parachute jumps, the humanitarian collaborations with bill clinton. She was a party to all of it. If not orchestrating all of it. And she was one of the handful of people at his bedside when he died. The beautiful little Memorial Services that you all saw back in december, they were planned and executed by jean. Now, you my not know it, you probably dont, but jean has written or edited five books . Hmm, i think so. As she points out, none with her name on it. One was barbaras memoirs published in 1995. Another a book of george bushs writing s other letters release in 1999. Shes writing two pearls of wisdom coming out around mothers day, brash bush famous for giving advice and jean collected all the advice off forward children and grandchildren to bill clinton. By the way, all of the proceeds from that book, jeans donating to the Barbara Bush Foundation for family literacy. The second book, which i think the publisher is pushing for release in 2021 will be about what shes discussing tonight. The remarkable postpresidency of george h. W. Bush. She insists that her name will be on that one. So in the crowd tonight are a number of people from back home. Theyve driven here to hear jean speak. Family, friends, coworkers. So you know, back in martinsburg and in mexico, still pretty darn proud of her. Just between us, i am, too. Please welcome my friend jean becker. [ applause ] okay. Its sort of odd after that wonderful introduction. I feel bad that the first thing im going to 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 that we and i i do know stuff about him, and to his coworkers who are here, i can be long. Am i already in trouble . Ah. Oh, wait. There we go. This is one of my favorite pictures of president bush and me, and oddly, were at a dukes basketball game. For any of you who are College Basketball fans, probably seven or eight years ago when president bush had already been diagnosed with parkinsons and in a wheelchair and his health 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 . And i showed the letter to president bush, and i was, like coach k thinks youre going fly to North Carolina and see duke play at home. There we are. [ laughter ] so i love starting with that photo. Its a good photo of me and i dont take very many of them. Certainly working for president bush was just one of the great privileges of my life. He taught me so many things. He taught me to live life with joy. To think big. Okay, nelly, youre going to have to move if youre going to cry. This is my sister nelly sitting flight front of me and about ready to burst into tears. I have to move you he told me to live life with joy. To think big. To be humble, and to make a difference. He wasnt perfect. There were certain things that scared, honestly, scared me to death. The fib scariest words George Herbert walker bush could say to me was, jean, i have an idea and these words usually took place. He came in about 7 00 in the morning and would come. He would have read three newspapers and drank a pot of coffee and says, jean, i have an idea. Sometimes the idea would be, lets go get pizza for lunch. And i would be, oh, thank god. Okay. I would love to. Then sometimes, and i remember this specifically was january 2nd, and we were just sort of recovering from the holidays and he came in and he said, jean, i was thinking over the holidays, and he said, i would like to go back to where i was shot down during world war ii. So figure that out and well talk over lunch and i was like, oh, my goodness, and we can talk about that later if we have time, but what i really want to talk about is the fact that most of his biggest ideas he reserved in his neverever ending mission to make a difference. Oh i love that. And here here, they just taught me how to use this. See if i figured this out. I have. Heres the big shock. Thats president clinton. Who, of course, beat him soundly in 1992, and they became known at the odd couple because they became friends and eventually they became father and son, and they, they bonded over was their mutual desire. We did all of this Disaster Relief work, starting with, there was a horrible sue nam they hit south Asia Christmas day 2004 and we traveled to south asia. Im not sure where we are here. Look at those cute kids. This may be new orleans. Then we did katrina. These two men alone raids 250 million and then did hurricane ike, but we raised a lot of money together. They became very close. President clinton still misses him terribly, and im not telling you this to name drop but im having lunch with president clinton in new york in two weeks, because he misses president bush so much, he called and said, can you come have lunch with me . Im like, okay, but i think i have forgot all this is, this is on the this is a tsunami trip. I think this is indonesia. This is a trip where they became friends. And this is also the trip, while president bush slept flying over, president clinton taught me to play a game, a card game calmed oh, hell i then taught to my familiened we played it all afternoon in the lobby of the courtyard marriott and i lost to my brotherinlaw. So im sort of grumpy about that. This is president bush reading to a group of kids. Fairly certain this is sri lanka. We went to a school. Their school was gone so they were having classes outside. Now, this is the story you really want to hear. George clooney. God, hes gorgeous. So this is actually part of Disaster Relief. So this is after katrina, and what most of you probably dont know is just a week or two after katrina another huge hurricane came through texas and parts of louisiana called hurricane rita, and hardly anyone some of you are nodding your head, but katrina was really sucking the air out of the room. The media was very focused on new orleans, what was happening in new orleans. President bush got a call from a little bitty town, cameron, louisiana, that had been totally wiped out. The only thing left standing was the courthouse, built during fdrs administration and president bush had a relationship with cameron in the offshore oil drilling business. Cameron is where he would go his point on land where he would go to visit his oil rigs, and they called him and said, can you help . And he said, of course. What do you need . And they said, we need, our hospitals gone. If we could just build an emergency room asap. I think people would start coming home if they knew they had an emergency room where they could go and he also the guy who called that i was talking to said, the offshore Oil Rig Workers also used our emergency room. We need and emergency room. So immediately into overdrive and raise an additional 2 million, and the week before christmas i think 2005, president bush is going to fly to cameron, louisiana, with a check for 2 million, and theyre going to dig, break ground for a new emergency room. He put together this lovely program. The governors coming. The High School Marching bands going, is going to march. Theres going to be speeches and ribbon cutting. Im showing president bush the schedule. Its like five days before christmas, and he said, jean, this is really boring. He said, these poor people have lost everything. We cant go do this and put them to sleep, and as possible i had attitude. Just raised 2 million for them. I mean, sir, were going to give them a check for 2 million. He says, we need to jazz it up. And he says, what are we building there . I said an emergency room. He said i knew that. He says i have a great idea. [ laughter ] so heres the problem with this idea. He said, barb and i just love this tv show e. R. And he said, theres this wonderful actor named George Clooney whos the star. He says, lets call George Clooney, and ask him to come. He says, you get it, e. R. , e. R. Well, heres what he didnt get. It theyre watching e. R. On tnt in reruns. George clooney had not been on e. R. For years. Hes already doing ocean 10, i said, sir, i tried to explain reruns and tnt. He says, we got to take George Clooney. I dont know George Clooney. I dont have him in my rolodex. A long story short, the man who produced all the ocean movie as guy Jerry Weintraub since died and president bush, i was telling him about the ocean mefs, hes no longer in e. R. I think jerry did those ocean movies. He called jerry and George Clooney went. I was sick dogs. Did i go . Yes, i did. [ laughter ] because we had to send a plane for georges one requirement, it was we send a plane. I dont blame him. So we found a plane. They stopped in houston. Jerry weintraub came, picked president bush and me up and off we go to cameron, louisiana. The two cutest georges ive ever met in my life. One huge mistake. Theres no picture with me and George Clooney. [ laughter ] and coming home, my ears had totally before they stuffed up, i asked him why he did this i said, why would you do this . You dont know him. You dont know us. This obviously isnt political, but youre not exactly a republican, and his answer was, i was so impressed that he wanted to do this. Cameron, louisiana, is not in the news. The medias not there. The tv cameras arent there. Cspan wasnt there. Everybody was in new orleans, and George Clooney said, if youd asked me to go to new orleans i probably would have said, no, but i was so touched by what he was doing i wanted to be a part of it. Now, the end of the story which you can choose to believe or not is my ears completely stopped up from my cold or whatever. And george kept talking to me. I have no idea what he said, and to this day, its possible he asked me to marry him. [ laughter ] and and i just kept going, uhhuh, uhhuh. Yeah. President bush was the master of acts of kindness. It really is probably the number one thing ive learned from him. And its not that i was ever a mean person, but it was just interesting to watch the way he lived his life. And in big ways and small ways, this picture really doesnt have a lot to do with well, sort half to do with the next story im going to tell. This is three days after 9 11. And this is the National Cathedral, the Prayer Service at the National Cathedral that all the president s came to, and the 43rd president had just sat down good giving his remarks and his dad reached over to funny, when president and mrs. Bush, i just want to play with this, these two, were on their way to the airport, it is protocol that the president s always sit in the order of which they served. So technically, the clintons should be sitting next to the 43s and then the 41s and then the carters, and president bush called me on the way to the airport, the dad, and he said, i really would like to sit next to my son at this service. And i said, okay. Well see what we can do on that, and president clinton was very gracious, and completely understood. But one of the reasons, well actually, ill tell you, tell you my 9 11 story. I was actually in washington, d. C. On 9 11, with president and mrs. Bush. We were in a meeting the day before this cancer group they headed up. They were wheels up about 8 00 a. M. That morning to go to minneapolis, minnesota, where they had, they were going to give speeches that day. I was staying in washington, d. C. To keep continuing to attend meeting of this cancer group. So 9 11 happens, and chaos, of course, and i had no idea where they were. They would have been in the air at the time. So i got the secret service on the phone and the secret Service Agent said, thank heavens you called. President bush wants to know where you are. I said, im at the Renaissance Hotel in d. C. , were on total lockdown. Were fine. Did i do that . Am i doing something . Okay. I said where is he . And the agent said, cannot tell you that. Like every plane in america, theyve been grounded. And nair a safe, secure location, but i cannot tell you on an unsecure phone. I assumed take ton West Virginia. Do all of you know we have a secret place in West Virginia where i think thats not classified. Is it . Okay. Good. I think we we talked about this a long time ago, found about abf out about it. In West Virginia where a lot of d. C. Would be evacuated to at time of war. About 6 30 that evening im sitting with my coboard members from this cancer group and were waiting for the bred to addrepr address the nation. My cell phone went off. Surprising. Cell service in d. C. That day was really terrible. My cell phone rings and its president bush. I said, oh, my gosh. I said, im so happy to hear from you. I says, i know you cantte tele where you are because i know youre in a classified place but im so happy to hear from you. He said were at a hampton inn in milwaukee, wisconsin. [ laughter ] so i i, that could have been the first time i knew i had to write a book, and i told him in the secret service said. They told me in some very secretive classified place. Jean, who the hell would try to find me at a hampton inn in milwaukee, wisconsin. Barbra and i realize, watching tv all day like everybody else in america and a little while ago figured we were hungry and walked across the street to the outbake steakhouse. Can you match imagine . He said, they were a little surprised when we walked in. Literally the night of 9 11 and the president s parents, just happened to be former president and first laid walk in, in milwaukee, wisconsin. After 9 11, president bush, this is part of how his sort of small acts of kindness. He was very disturbed by the antimuslim feeling in the country, and we go back to houston. At kentuckkeny bunkport, maine, antimuslim rhetoric had gotten really ugly. He says to me, is there a muslim group in houston . I would like to go talk to them. That was a fun phone call. There is like, you know, the houston muslim association. I cant remember what theyre called. And i cold called them, and guess what . They had a dinner, like, two nights later with 500 people, but president bush wanted to go, make a statement and invited the media to say, theyre americans like we are. And just a couple of years ago long after he had quit doing any Public Events of any kind, he was he and mrs. Bush were very worried about antisemitism in the country. Very worried about it. Very disturbed. And a jewish group had just wanted to give president bush an award at some dinner and he declined it. He said, call them back if he give it to me in saynagogue, il come. Again, his gesture, his way of saying, stop it. Were better than this. And he was masterful at this. Probably the thing he did that people will never, ever forget this is the son of a secret Service Agent. He was 3 years old, and he was diagnosed with leukemia. Okay. Now im going to cry. Yes. I do love this story. Im going to cry. So his father was one of president bushs secret Service Agents, and the entire detail except one guy shaved their head. Mainly because patrickal dad shaved his head to support his son. Who lost all of his hair during chemo. Well, president bush decided he was going to shave his head to support patrick and support his secret service detail. This picture went absolutely viral. It was in times square on the big times square all over the news. The internet. I happily tell thaw patrick is now 10 and cancerfree and has been cancerfree for a few years. The only problem with this whole episode was he didnt tell his wife. [ laughter ] that he was going to shave his head. And as usual in our life, for some reason, this became my job. Im the one who had to tell mrs. Bush that her husband was now bald as a cue ball, and she was not happy. Because she was afraid that everybody would think he had cancer, or that he had gone crazy. But and the thing thats amazing is he grew his full head of hair back. I dont know how old he was when he did this, but maybe 85. Who shaves their head at 85 . Im not sure. President bush was never, ever really down. This isnt a great photo. I need to find a better one, but now i can play with my clicker. This is all the former president s, jimmy carter, xli, president clinton, president obama, actually president bushs son neil. When Hurricane Harvey hit houston and absolutely devastated houston, and we, president bush said weve got to go to work. Well, hes in a wheelchair, and pretty much out of commission. So on labor day i had a Conference Call with all of the president s chief of staffs, and they were allin immediately, said, were in. Amazing about this photo, we already had an event planned. The 30th 25th anniversary of his Library Opening and doing a very small event in october at president bushs library. Larry gat lilin was going to co sing, a barbecue, very casual. President bush said turn it into a fundraiser for harvey. Lets raise some money. So i told the other president s chief of staffs. I didnt i asked the 43rd president to come. He said, of course. Because he was a former governor of texas and said, of course ill come. But the other three i want to play with my clicker. I just said, gee, if youre in the neighborhood, it was on a saturday night. They all came. We didnt really invite them. I remember when they they kept the chief of staffs all kept calling me saying, president obama was the first. And his chief of staff called and said, well, president obama would like to come. And i said wow. That would be great. And i knew president clinton would come, because theres no way he was going to let president obama come to texas and be honest, with the bush boys, without him, that wasnt going to happen. He flew overnight from europe and poor president carter had said, because hes old, too. He said, im not coming but if everybody else comes, ill come. There they are. So we went from a tent with the gatlin brothers to the arena where texas a m plays basketball, that holds about 25,000, and the concert was head lined by lady gaga who called us, called president obama office to say ive gotten wind of this event. Can i help . And president obamas office called me and yes so i told president bush. I need to get the picture in the slide show of her with the president s. Its impressive. But i went in and i said, president bush, youre not going to believe this. By this time alabama was coming and it was still a heavy country but much bigger names. No one on lady gagas level and i ran and said, oh, my gosh. Lady gaga is coming, and he said, thats great who is she . [ laughter ] so these these five guys ended up raising 45 million. They had a little bet among themselves. Ever since we had to start using 41 and 43 to tell the difference between the two george bushes they all loved their number. President clinton loves being 42. President obama is 44, of course. President carters 39. He never got into 39. But the others just loved their numbers. And they all wanted to raise the money of their number. And they werent happy when we went to 45. I think i think they probably they probably were. But it was, it was an amazing night, and the respect that they showed for president bush in coming was touched my heart. I do remember when mrs. Bush found out, she said, i suppose were going to have to feed them. And i said, well, maybe. So they had dinner for them in the apartment. This is the most stress ive ever been in, in my entire life, and steve was right. I was in charge of the funeral nap was more stressful, but up until this, so it was going to be carried live on television and the production people were saying, jean becker, those five men have got to be there ready to go by 7 00 p. M. Sharp. Have you ever tried to tell five president s to quit talking and particularly president clinton, and they were just talking, talking and talking, and finally i went in to the dinner and i said, you have got to quick talking. I said, were going live in 11 minutes. Get in the car, get in the cart 17 minutes. Oh i have to go to the bathroom and [ laughter ] its, i dont know how, the interesting thing is, i think the bushes apartment at his president ial library at texas a m is probably half a mile from where we were going. The motorcade got there before we left. Literally, the motorcade went the entire we there at 6 59, for the record. I think this story picture, and the story im going to tell, has absolutely nothing to do with the theme of this speech. Which is, how much i, i learned from president bush, but this truly is one of my favorite stories. This man i probably dont need the clicker. You can probably figure this out. This is prince bandar of saudi arabia who was saudi ambassador to the United States for almost 20 year. He was ambassador all during president bushs presidency, president clintons. A lot of george w. s. And president bush was very close to him. He, the bush brothers, they used to call president clinton their brother by another mother. And they gave they gave prince bandars exact same nickname. Their brother by another mother. About seven or eight years ago i got a call late one night from somebody who used to be in president bushs administration. Asked me if id heard anything about bandar. Bandar, at this time, was, had what was essentially the cia in saudi arabia. And she said, were hearing that he has been assassinated. Probably by the syrians. Have you heard this . And i said, no. I people dont call me with this kind of news. And she says, well, could you check your sources . Well i knew what that meant. That meant call the cia and because president bush headed the cia at one point in his career, the cia would do anything he asked and we always had a case officer assigned to us. So the next morning i called our case officer, and she said, we have heard the rumors. We think its true. Hes not been seen for months. And we have boots on the ground but we think its probably true. So then the person who called me the night before called. By now youre probably thinking, why is this her favorite story . She called and said the french press have just reported that bandars been assassinateed by the syrians. Its out in france. If you havent told president bush, you need to tell him. So president bush, right before he went into his wheelchair, and he had developed this habit. He would come to the office on a golf cart, were in kennebunkport, come down on the golf cart and want me to sit on the cart with him and we would do our business there, because it was hard for him to walk and move around. We had this phone on this really long cord that we brought out from the office. I know youre wondering why didnt you just use cell phone . I dont know the answer to that, but we had a phone on this really long cord. So i break the news to him and he said, well, have you tried calling him . And i said no. That is not that really had not occurred to me. To call him. And he said, lets try to get him on the phone. So were sitting outside, and i holler upstairs if the Office Windows open and one of his assistants, jim appleby, jimmy jimmy leans out. I said, can you see if you can get prince bandar on the phone for president bush . And jimmy says, have you told him . [ laughter ] i said, yes, i have. And two seconds later, or two minutes later he leans back out and this will be a title, chapter title. Prince bandar on line two. [ laughter ] so president bush picks up the phone and im sitting over here and president bush goes, yeah, bandar, yeah. George bush. Hey, man, dead or alive . [ laughter ] oh hey, it gets worse. He said, everything here thinks youre dead. Uhhuh, uhhuh. Then he goes hes alive. [ whispering ] i said yes. I figured that out. So he says, well, whats going on, man . Prince bandar tells him yes. I am being targeted, and i know that. Im in a safe place. Dont worry about me. I can take care of myself. I will survive this. So president bush gets off the phone and says, everybody thinks hes dead. I said, secretary baker, general brent scowcroft. Call them. Get them all on the phone. We call everybody to tell them that bandar say live and names president bush got on the phone. Were when e left to go to the house for lunch he said, he says, jean, this is a good life lesson for you. If there is confusion about if someones dead or alive, call them. [ laughter ] and you know hes got a point you know . I would not feel comfortable calling bandar and saying, hey, man, dead or alive . You know what i mean . I i have yet to use that tactic. But it is a good life lesson. The story ended about two hours later and the phone rings in our office, and i pick it up. I answer it. Its the cia. And this, i failed to call them. And the woman the woman says, oh, my god, jean. I know youre dieing for answers, have, you know, have you told the president anything yet . She says, we think its true. But we cant get confirmation. I think you better go ahead and give him a heads up that bandars probably dead. So i tell her. I said, no. Hes alive, and she said, how do you know that . I said president bush called him on his cell phone and he answered the phone, and there was this long pause and she said, you need to put him back on payroll. [ laughter ] so actually i think thats the day i decided i got to write a book. You know . How can you not, not tell the whole world needs to know. This advice thats selfish not to share it. If you dont know someones dead or alive, call them on the phone. Im going to tell you another one of my one of the things about working for president bush, he was just fun. I mean, we worked like dogs. He was so energetic, he was an energizer bunny and we worked all the time. Really fun. Another one of my favorite stories actually involves someone in this room. Paula, where are you . I wish i could stick my way over there. Hiding. Paula would be steve leebergs wife and she came to visit me in kennebunkport and we were going to go, i was going to take her to vermont for the day. We were going it was a saturday. We were going to do this lovely drive around New Hampshire and vermont. I dont think youve ever been to new england and were very excited. I had to run into the office for two minutes at Walkers Point to get something. Im not sure what, and president bush was there. Looking like a homeless person. And he was, he said, oh. He said, ah, do you want to go fishing . I need someone to go fishing with. And i said, i am so sorry. I cant. I have a house guest. And im going to take her to vermont. He looked so sad and he said, you dont think she would like to go fishing with me . And, of course in retrospect, paula, how mean it would have been for me to deny you to go fishing with the 41st president . Well, we went and got on the boat and he had this outrageous boat. 350 horsepower motors, three of them. And, yeah. It was fast. It was a mean boat. And he loved that boat. And were sort of putputting down the kennebunkport river and just get to the mouth of the atlantic, and he looks at paula, and i thought this was very polite of him. Someone here asked me if he was the, a great gentleman. And i said, yes, he was, and now youre not yeah. You asked me that. I says, of course he was. Now im going to, you may change your mind. He said to paula, so what kind of sea legs do you have, paula . Paula said, from missouri, she said, sir, i dont know. I have never been on a boat on the ocean in my life. I have no idea what kind of sea leg ice have. So he looks at her and says, well, lets see what youre made of, and he floors it. [ laughter ] and the boat sort of shot straight up in the air as we hit a big wave and the whale watching boat was going out and they were going crazy, all the tourists, taking pictures. He took one look at paula and she was holding on for dear life. But paula reminded me last night what she remembers most about that trip is he caught a fish, and asked her to drive the boat while he reeled it in. [ laughter ] that was her most, most memorable, i think. So i do want to take questions, because i want to know whats on your mind, but i put on the end of this, oh. Thats prince bandar. A better look at his face. I added funeral photos at the end. This was president bushs service dog sully he had the last nine months and sully was an amazing companion and i still miss that dog. The sweetest dog in the world. Hes now at walter reed hospital. And this was another photo that went viral. He just laid there. I do have one funny story about sully. We had just flew from houston to washington, d. C. And sully i was not his usual handler, evelyn sicily, president bushs aide, usually takes care of sully was helping take pictures because hes a good photographer, and evan asked me if im walk sully off the point. I said, id be happy to. So i walked sully across the tarmac. One of our press people came running over and said to me, jean, the press just want to know if you could oh, my god. They want to interview me. Good grief. If you can move because youre between them and sully. [ laughter ] it was i it was a humbling moment. [ laughter ] this is president bush lying in state. At capitol. They went straight to the capitol when you know, this is the pomp and circumstances, really. Its amazing. This was one of my favorite pictures from that week. President bush and bob dole were, of course, huge rivals, political rivals from the 1988 race, and like president bush and president clinton they became very close. Senator dole also calls me, president bushs friends call me a lot. Its so sweet. They miss him. And im like the booby prize. They call me. Senator dole, for him to get out of that wheel chair. Oh, my god. That picture. And i asked why he did it and he said, he had to. Okay. This is the cathedral walking in to the National Cathedral and all of the president s lined up. You can barely see president carter, but hes right there on the end. There he is. George w. , of course, on the other side with his brothers and sisters. This is also one of my favorite photos. It was president bushs idea to take a train from houston to college station. He loved trains. He was, he loved taking trains, and he thought this would be sort of a fun thing to do. He planned the whole thing and youre going to think im a terrible person, but i remember one day we were talking about it, this was at least ten years ago. You know loved the idea, made this special car and president bush says i think well have lunch on the train. Just have lunch and i said, sir, you youre not going to be on the train. He looked at me and he said, yes, i am. He was. But that twohour train ride was unbelievable. All of Central Texas showed up. These cowboys, we all lost it when we saw this picture. They were all lined up, tipping their cowboy hats. It was a great moment. And this is walking to the grave site. After the very public ceremony, the grave site was totally closed to the press. No cameras, no photographers. Just the family photographer. They wanted the end to be theirs. So it was, thats the whole family. Theres a lot of them walking down to the grave site. This is at president bushs library, section atexas a m uni is where he and mrs. Bush are buried. So before i turn it over for questions, and i hope you have questions. If you dont im just going to tell more really random stories. One of my favorite quotes from his eulogies comes from historian jon meacham. I love this quote. I think it says a lot are who president bush was. His tongue may have run amuck at times but his heart was steadfast. His life as he said was, tells truth, dont blame people, be strong, do your best, try hard, forgive, stay the course. It was and is the most american of credence. American lyninks better of our angle and george bushs thousands points of light. Companion Americas National hymn for limpincoln and bush tr us to choose the right over the convenient, to hope rather than to fear. To heed not our worst impulses but our best instincts. Thank you very much. [ applause ] okay. As you you need to ask questions. Come up to the microphone, and while you line up and we have one man jumping up. You always love the first one. I thought that was such a, so we didnt cry. This is one of my favorite pictures with president bush and just shows how fun he was. He wore this aardvark hat one whole day in kennebunkport, and you know, its really hard talking to him wearing about aardvark hat, and how Many University of missouri graduates do we have here . So one year the, mizzou has made it into march madness. And i have this adorable im a graduate and have an adorable pair of tiger ears. Theyre cute, adorable and little. Not like this. I wore them to work, and im in the middle of talking to president bush. He says, you have got to take those tiger ears off. I cannot talk to you wearing those tiger ears. But while you ask your questions well leave that picture up. Yeah. One of the things about president bush ive always been fascinated by. He was a new england aristocrat but went to texas and fit into that role very well. Talk about that a little bit. Seems the coast, midwest and texas are on opposite sides of the fence now and totally wont even talk to each other. He fit in, he come out of connecticut to texas and fit in quite well. And it wasnt kamp y or anythin like that. Genuine, can you talk how he transplanted his culture, new england culture to texas and nobody thought it was funny or its a great question, because some of the press used to question his texas root. You have to remember, president bush was 18 when he joined the navy in world war ii. And he comes home from the navy. I think at age 20. The war ended. And then he went through yale in two and a half years. So he was 23 years old when he moved to texas. And one of the things, along with his wife barbara and new baby george w. Bush and moved to odessa, texas, where as it turns out they share add duplex with a prostitute and her daughter. Who was also a prostitute. A mother daughter team. And as mrs. Bush wrote in her book, very graphically, it was fine but they share add bathroom. And i know. The deal was, it was like a jack and jill bathroom. When youre in it, you lock both sides. But when you leave, you unlock. Well, the mother daughter, they think more their customers, always forgot to unlock the bush side of the bathroom door. Anyway, in many ways he grew up in texas. And even though they, they lived in washington and new york, when at the u. N. And china. Texas is where they always went home to. And people were surprised by how deeply felt about texas, and i cant tell the story in maine and i hope no one from maine is watching, watches this on cspan. President bush loved maine, loved the coast of maine, and it was his summer home, and he, it was a big part of his life, and the ocean definitely he talked very eloquently about the ocean and it gave him peace. Thats where the atlantic, the atlantic ocean, maine is where he is where he went to sort of find his center, he would say. But texas was home. And he died in december of 2018 and were in maine, its early october. And we know the end is near. And were nervous about moving him home to texas. Number one. Were not sure he can survive that trip. And number two, i wasnt so sure he wouldnt want to die. Sort of like worcestering heights. That he wouldnt want to die looking out on the ocean. And so myself and his medical aide, we asked him. We just put it out there to him. Were preparing stay here as long as you want. And he said, take me home. Dont ever tell people in maine because they think he wanted to die there. So we took him home to texas. The other thing i wanted to add to that is President Trumps first job in texas, he was on oil bit sales man. He sold oil bits to oil rigs and drillers and drove all over west texas and he said what got him through these long drives through nothing, nothingness, theres still nothing out there. Its the most god forsaken land youve ever seen, west ing to c and thats where he became a hard core Country Music fan. Did that answer your question . Okay. Yes, sir. You talk about president bushs relationship with james baker . Yes. Theyre best friends and they met when the bushs moved from midland, texas, to houston, texas, in 1959. And he and secretary baker became tennis partners. They belonged to the same country club and met on the tennis court then the two couples became very good friends. And president bakers first wife died of cancer and he had four little boys. And he would tell you that he would u not have survived his wifes first wifes death without george and barbara bush. And President Trump was getting ready to run for the u. S. Senate and secretary baker was democrat and president bush was going to run as a republican, but he talked secretary baker into running his campaign. And he said, he used to call him bake. Bake, you need to move on and you need to have something new in your life. Come run my senate campaign. Well, they lost. That campaign. But that was what their friendship was like. And in the end, then of course, he became president bushs secretary of state. They were very close. And secretary baker is probably one of the smartest people ive met. Hes an amazing man. But he and his wife, susan, were there the night he died. So i will tell you a funny story about the night president bush died, because you have the find humor in everything. That adorable dog, sully. President bushs son neil was there and his family. I was there, the bakers were there. The doctors were there and his minister was there. And were around the bed holding hands. The minister is praying. And sully, the dog, comes in with a ball. And throws it on the floor. Because heres all the people who play with him all the time. And none of us budge and sully picked up the ball and threw it again. Harder. Then he started nudging my leg, evans leg and looked at us like, come on, lets go. It was great comic relief at a time that we really needed it, so any other questioning . Yes, sir . My question is about millie, the dog. Famously, theres a picture of her and the pull pppies i belien the private quarters on the porch. I thought is barbara that close . Did she take care of that dog . When millie was alive, was at the white house u . Oh, yes. She did take care of the dog. So thats kind of unusual for president and the first lady to get that close to the dog. Yeah, she walked the dog. She was, those were her dogs and once in a while, she would allow someone else at a the white house to walk them, but not very often, and they gave one of the dogs, ranger, to their son, marvin. Who lived in d. C. And marvin would bring ranger over to the white house and president bush got so close to ranger that marvin finally just gave him back. Because president bush loved ranger and everyone at the white house used to feed ranger, so the president of the United States, i never did, but the president of the United States put a little sign around his neck, please do not feed me. If you feed me, i will have to report you to the president of the United States. Because apparently, he was getting just a little fat. Any other questions . Yes . So if you were to have asked the president what books, movies and music he would recommend for others, what would he say . Music is easy. Country. Two different kinds. He liked all music. He loved Country Music. Reba and oak ridge boy sang at his funeral. He was a big rogers and hamer z hamerstein fan. He went to see everything. Include iing hamilton. The may before he died in december. And wasnt a big opera fan, but he loved country and he just sound of music, South Pacific, oh my gosh, he loved all those great. Books, he read just about everything. That is a hard question to ask. He, biographies. And read a lot of biographies. But he also loved fiction and he and mrs. Bush would read trash sometimes. I really dont even, when judith krants died this week, yeah, they read some of her. He was a big fan of danny silva, the main character is an israeli spy and he loved danny silvas books. Movies, thats hard. World war ii movies. He liked war movies. Watched a lot of war movies. He watched just about everything. The only movie i ever went with him to see that he didnt like, i dont know what i was thinking, it was a movie a that came out not that long ago and it was a silent movie. It was sort of a throwback. He really hated that. Thought it was a a llittle craz. He had a very wide, sort of a broad answer, but he liked everything. But the only tihing i ever knew he saw in a theatre he didnt like was avenue q. He thought it was a little out there. But he loved hamilton. Stayed for the whole thing. Do you have a mr. Bush had such a long career in Public Service and i was wondering if he ever told you what his favorite job was . I actually know the answer to that. Besides he would say president , but a close second would be head of the cia. He loved being head of the cia. He loved knowing all those secrets. And you know, i used to ask him, what do you know . Tell me anything. He was like, jean, please. But the cia was his thing and i think he thought for lack of a better way to put it, i think he thought that was pretty cool, actually. Thats a great question. Yes, sir. Kind of a follow up to favorite books. You mentioned he loved reading bog iographie biographies. So, did he have a favorite president . Thats a great question. You know, unfortunately, my answer may be a tad boring. Maybe lincoln. Maybe. He oddly was very close to president johnson. Very close. They were very good friends and he used to ask him for political advice just because he lived in texas. He was thinking about, he was in congress. And he was thinking about giving up a very safe congressional seat to run for the senate. This would have been 1970. And he went to see president johnson on his ranch to ask him what do you think, and president johnson, ill never get this straight, he said, george, the difference between being in the house and the senate is the difference between a jack ass and a thoroughbred. Run for the senate. Exactly. He read all of David Mcculloughs books. Back to your question. He and david were very good friends, so president bush just absorbed john adams, truman, everything mckcullough wrote, h just absolutely absorbed it. He loved it. But he probably would say lincoln. I think a lot of the president s looked at lincoln. His courage. You know, lincoln saved the union. And i think they, so its an easy, but honest answer. Hes probably shaking his finger at me now saying george w. Was my favorite president. Yes, sir. Golf matches between the amateurs of the United States and Great Britain are called walker cup matches, the name for president bushs grandfather. I wonder if you had anying thoughts or reflections on president bushs relationship with the dwam of golf. I heard me played only for speed and not for score. He could play 18 holes in an hour and a half. And i think thats why he was fairly bad at it. He loved the game of golf and used to go to the president s cup and riders cup a lot. He would chair those events and he, but he play nd an hour and a half and he was great friends with phil mikckelson and arnie palm aer and jack nicklaus. He loved the game, but he sucked. One of the golf writers for the National Magazines told me once, he saw him and said, howd you did today out on the links . He said 157. He said what . He said an hour and 57. If he were here, he would tell you he could drive it, but not putt it. I was wondering if you could expand on what it was like traveling back with president bush to where he was originally shot down during world war ii. Did somebody tell you to ask that question . Because i planted that question with my relatives. If none of you could think of a good question. You know what, it was amazing. It was an amazing trip. It is not easy to get there, in the South Pacific and whats ironic, the us navy could have taken us in a heart beat, but his son was the president of the United States. And president bush didnt like that optic. He didnt want the American Government to pay for him to go there, particularly since his son was president. So ironically, Japanese Navy took us. Just think about that. We stayed on i woe wo jima the before at an American Marine base then the Japanese Navy helicoptered him. It was amazing. He sat right in the front with him. They knew exactly his diving, his bombing route. They came in exactly as he came in. They knew exactly where it was. And he remembered it really well. They asked him, is this right, sir . And he said, yes, it is. And we went in and then of course we were on the ground, drive iing around. His job that day was to bomb radio tower. The island itself was not important, but he was to bomb radio tower and was very d disstressed. Its still there. When he saw it, he said, its still here. The irony of it was mr. President , look at the holes. Its totally ramshackled. You did this. The amazing thing is that we met a japanese man there who had grown up in hawaii or spent most of his life until 1941 in hawaii. And when pearl harbor happened, his family fled back to japan because and they were right. They didnt think the japanese americans would be treated very kindly. And they were right. So he went back to japan and he was put on a work crew. And he worked, he was working on chi chi jima. He saw president bush be shot town. He told president bush the story that he and the work crew were watching. President bush was in the water for about three hours. His squadron, the japanese kept setting out from shore to pick him up, but they would chase him back to shore, well, eventually, they had to leave him because they were going to run out of gas. They had to get back to their aircraft carrier, so one of his best friends, a wonderful guy named jack guy, who i got to know, was the squadron leader, and he tipped his wings. It means exactly what you think it means. Were gone. So the japanese set out to pick him up and president bush knows this is it. And out of the water comes u. S. S. Finback. You know, what a miracle. And you know, president bush, he saw the parascope and your first thought is it one of their, one of ours . It picks him out. He told president bush, if we follow japanese workers, were going to lose the war. He said why. They said because we dont respect life the way the americans do. They were shocked at all the time had been spent to save one mans life. That the squadron had stayed to protect him as long as they could and then the ship, they had radioed, the finback wasnt there by mistake. That was that submarines job was to pick up downed pilots. But it was talked about destiny. But whats interesting, he stayed in japan. Spoke perfect english. Got a job at the American Embassy in japan because of his english skills. And in 1980, when president bush was nominated to be the Vice President candidate, hes pulling off like Associated Press stories off the ticker and reading them and reading the g biography of the new, the republican nominee for Vice President and he gets to the world war ii part and he knew this was the man he saw that was shot down. He said, oh, my god. I watched this man being rescued. So all these years later, he got, got to meet him. It was very emotional. He died. We were very sad when he died. The other thing about that trip there was another trip that president bush was telling me about. The people there were so excited to see him. The whole island turned out cheering and he was a hero. And the it was just odd. President bush said i bombed the hell out of them. He said, i wonder if its occurred to them that i perhaps killed some of your relatives. And he was telling me on that trip that when he was Vice President , he went to visit an island in japan, might have been cypan. Im not sure, but it was an island he knew that he had bombed heavily, and there was this huge dinner in his honor and all these toast and everyone was excited the Vice President of the United States was there. And president bush said he became obsessed during the dinner, how many of your relatives did i kill . He said it was such an odd feeling. He says i dont know that they were aware. He said i didnt tell them, but he said i knew i bombed my squadron and me. So it was a great, amaze iing t. And i think were probably out of, wheres my handler, steve. Is that it . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. If steve, thank you, thank you very much. Were out of time. Ill tell you the story of when he tried to make my sister, melly, and my brother, the catholic priest, the pope, run a a campaign for pope, but well save that for next time. Thank you. Tonight on American History tv beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. A look at the live of Hillary Clinton and laura bush. Cspan, in cooperation with the White House Historical association, produced a series on first ladies, examine iing tr private lives and the public roles they played. First ladies, influence and image, features individual biographies of the women who served in the role of first lady over 44 administrations. Watch American History tv tonight and over the weekend on cspan 3. American history tv on cspan3, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. Every weekend. Coming up this weekend, saturday, at 2 00 p. M. Eastern on oral histories, an interview with courtland cox, covering his time attending howard university, his time on the Student Coordinating Committee and serving on the sixth pan african congress. On sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern on real america, the 1963 nbc news report, the American Revolution of 63, a program on the status of the civil rights movement. With protests from all bbany, georgia, birmingham, a alabama, came bring, maryland and engelwood, new jersey, chicago and brooklyn. At 7 00 p. M. , a discussion on congress, Political Parties and polarization with historians, as well as political scientists, norman ornestein and at 8 00 p. M. On the presidency. Andrew cohen talks about his book, two days in june, kennedy and the four hours that made history. June 10th and 11th, 1963, that defined jfks response to the Nuclear Arms Race and civil rights. Watch American History tv. This weekend on cspan3. The president s, from if you believe affairs. Available now in paperbook and ebook. Presents biographies of every president organized by their rank i ranking, by noted historian, from best to worst and features perspectives into the lives of our nations chief executives and leadership styles. Visit our website to learn more about each president and historian featured and order your copy today. Where ever books and ebooks are sold. In 1985, they honored reagan. Next from real america, an Allstar Party for ronald dutch reagan, hosted by frank sinatra. Welcome to our Allstar Party for dutch reagan. Speaking for variety club, bonnie hall. Thank you very much and