The Vice Presidency, which as you know surprised him, he always respected the role of the press. All right. Andrea mitchell joining us by phone. Andrea, appreciate that. And again, just continuing our coverage here. It is 1 00 in the east. We continue our coverage of the death of former president George Herbert walker bush, americas 41st commander in chief. He has died at the age of 94. That word came to us now just over an hour ago, the word being passed from a statement from his son, george w. Bush. We are joined by Hallie Jackson. Let me start with you because we have heard from the current im sorry. That is my mistake. We will be hearing from her in a minute. We are going to pause here just for a few seconds because were going to be joined by our Network Affiliates and pick up the network coverage. This is an nbc news special report. Steve kegeorge h. W. Bush has away at the age of 94. That word coming to us just over an hour ago. A Statement Released by his son, the 43rd president
that s not true. having said that, no, you may not. yes, i think he is. he has children, too. but anyway, they could sort of, carry on, but that s the truth. reporter: you both married the first person i ever kissed? strange, i admit. still staying with your story? yes, i am. reporter: barbara pierce bush died on april 17th, 2018. as always, george bush was at her side. and when more thanners came to pay their respects, he returned the favor, greeting them from his wheel care thanking them as they filed past her casket. surrounded by family, he attended her funeral, holding up, staying strong, despite his failing health. george and barbara bush were together for 73 years. the longest marriage in american presidential history.
problem fully and will clear it up totally. he did not elaborate. i m concerned about it, deeply, mainly for the system. i don t want to go home at night and see my young kids turned off of this political process by some illegal or allegedly illegal or close to illegal act. you try being chairman of the party during the watergate day, you talk about a ghastly assignment and horrible time. hasn t all this made your job much more difficult? it complicated the heck out of my job. but the loser is not the republican party. the loser is the system. i retain a basic confidence that the president is, indeed, telling the truth about his lack of involvement, about his involvement in this whole bedammed mess. reporter: in the end, of course, it became clear that nixon was not telling the truth about watergate, not to george bush or anyone else. george and barbara bush were on
i ll leave some of the names out. but his wife barbara said sit over there next to george, tom, so i can take your picture together. she said i m going to release this as the cochairs of get i don t say who it is we re walking about. george said, oh barbara, don t do that now. they had this wonderful relationship. by then he was in a scooter because he had parkinson s disease from the waist down. it frustrated him so much because he was such a good athlete. he couldn t move around in the same way, but the fact that he lived to be 94 and he s going to get this kind of farewell, no man deserved it more. all right. tom brokaw, thank you very much. it was my great pleasure. jon meacham is still with us. jon, let me bring you back in. tom mentions for much of his life the physical strength of george h.w. bush. i remember him in 1988 running
hand for nixon s farewell and gerald ford s swearing in. so help me god. reporter: ford had to pick a vice president. and george bush was a leading contender. hi, how are you all? reporter: but it was nelson rockefeller of new york who got the job instead. all in all, it was a first class choice, let s face it. i was glad to be in that league. reporter: ford did offer bush a choice of diplomatic assign ls and george bush picked china. put it this way, i m darned happy about it. reporter: george and barbara bush enjoyed the assignment in china. but it lasted bare lay year. it is my intention to nominate ambassador bush to be director of the central intelligence agency. reporter: bush, himself, was stunned by the news. after being on hand for president ford s visit to china and a meeting with chairman moo tse tung. he headed home to a storm of