dana: that s one of the best quotes in presidential history. [laughter] anita mcbride, much love to your family as you get home to you. thank you, dana. dana: here s george h.w. bush speaking on how he would like to be remembered. honor. service and honor. and very at peace now with myself and with our record. and i have no regrets. i ve had my chance. and as mom said, i did my best. i m history and i m a proud father, and i should not and must not speculate on that kind of question, sensible though it may be. dana: george h.w. bush. we re spending a second hour here just looking at the life and sometimes of george h.w. bush, the 41st president of the united states. much beloved, but that wasn t always the case as you just heard from anita mcbride. in 1992, when he lost the election to bill clinton, it
honorably. and so now i m free, and i m free to set my own priorities. and my own priorities no longer involve soing the problems of the solving the problems of the world or trying to take legislative initiatives that might lift someone else up. dana: that was former president george h.w. bush on life after his presidency. now let s bring in anita mcbride who joins me on the phone as she s headed back to d.c., executive in residence at american university s center for congressional and presidential studies. she was also chief of staff to first lady laura bush, and you also have a very special relationship to your husband, of course, tim mcbride, who was a personal aide [laughter] to president bush. and so this is, i know, a loss that you feel very personally, anita. in the post-presidency, how did george and barbara bush try to figure out how to ease back in to civilian life? well, dana, as you know and you had a chance to see him often as well and just how active and busy that t
zero sum game, and nothing much gets done. and a lot got done in the 80 and early 90s with the sensibility of a reagan and a bush. and you talk about his modesty. the fact is that his mother, dorothy, very much told him not to use the word i, which i guess is admirable when you re a kid, not necessarily so helpful or productive when you re the president of the united states, but he very much didn t like to use the i word, didn t like to brag about himself, and some people think that modesty, that self-depracation, self-effacement may have worked to his disadvantage as we got into the 90s and he faced bill clinton. dana: and yet he lived true to himself. i wanted to play a very special interview that took place in 999. 1999. this is former white house press secretary for 43, tony snow, who was also a bush 41 speech writer interviewing george h.w. bush about the letter writing. this is in 1999. take a listen. i ve always felt life was
after leaving the white house until her passing in april of this year. the longest married presidential couple in history at 73 years, and we ve been watching as people bring flowers here to the gates of this community including a couple of funeral wreaths that were hung earlier today joining some of the other bouquets and american flags that have been left behind to honor the combat navy pilot who flew 58 missions in world war ii, the son of a senator, the father of a president and a governor. george h.w. bush was a congressman, an ambassador to the u.n., director of the cia and, of course, a two-term vice president under ronald reagan before his four years in the white house beginning january 20, 1989. and in a statement his son, the former president george w. bush wrote after 94 remarkable years, our dear dad has died. george h.w. bush was the best dad a son or daughter could ask for. the entire bush family is deeply grateful for 41st life and love, for the compassion of those w
have cared and prayed for dad and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens. his son jeb tweeted earlier this morning: i already miss the greatest human being i will ever know. love you, dad. bush 4 is, dana 41, dana, as you know, left behind 5 children, 17 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren. dana: and, rick, former prime ministers are also paying former presidents are also paying tribute. reporter: yeah, including from former president barack obama and his wife michelle who posted a statement that read in part: america has lost a patriot and a humble servant, adding after 73 years of marriage george and barbara bush are together again now, two points of life that never died, two points of life that ignited countless others with their example. and president donald trump and the first lady also released a statement: through his disarming wit and unwavering commitment to faith, family, country, president bush inspired