of devotion. this letter to her written by george while he was serving in world war ii. i love you, precious, with all my heart. how often i have thought about the immeasurable joy that will be ours some day. how lucky our children will be to have a mother like you. reporter: two of those children would solidify the bush political dynasty as president and florida governor. but in a surprising comment in 2013, as talk of a presidential run by jeb swirled, the matriarch told nbc s today show there should be a limit on the family s white house claim. there are other people out there that are very qualified and we ve had enough bushes. reporter: after jeb did decide to run for the 2016 republican nomination, she fully backed him and hit the campaign trail. these he s decent, honest. he s everything we need in a president. reporter: in or out of politics, the legacy barbara bush nurtured will live on
service. they treated them so well. and i think it says a lot when you hear about the ushers and the staff and how much they loved them. but one of the things that the bushes did for the secret service was on holidays, on christmas, on new year s, they would always stay home and stay in, so that as many secret service agents as possible could be with their family. or when they went to the vatican to see the pope, the president would say, who s roman catholic, and he would always make sure that they were in to these visits. and that kind of courtesy and consideration speaks volumes. and i think it s the reason why you re seeing this kind of expression of condolences tonight. i just want to add one thing to what dana said about mrs. bush. she talked about the civility with jeb and how he was his mother s son. i would also say that her other son, george w. bush, used to love to say all the time, i have my daddy s eyes but my mother s
so those statements among hundreds and indeed thousands likely pouring into the bush family. of course everyone remembering them for their unique role, her unique role in american history, anderson. and at such an important time in american history as well. jeff zeleny, thanks. barbara bush had a unique vantage point on politics. in 2005, she talked to larry king about how it feels to have people picking on your kids even if that kid happens to be president of the united states. historically republicans and democrats have had great friendships. i think some of them still do. there s certainly a lot of bitterness, though. yeah, there is. when they take on your son. very much so. you get personal about that. we can t do anything about it. but much worse when your kids are criticized, in this case, the president, our son, is criticized, or when jeb went
having said that, of course i told george how i felt. reporter: for george and barbara, their more than 60 years together included decades of devotion. this letter to her written by george while he was serving in world war ii i love you, precious, with all my heart. and that you love me means my life. how often i have thought about the immeasurable joy that will be ours someday. how lucky our children will be to have a mother like you. reporter: two children, george w. and jeb, would solidify the bush political dynasty as president and florida governor. in a surprising comment in 2013, as talk of a presidential run by jeb swirled, the matriarch told the today show there should be a limit on the family s white house claim. there are other people out there that are very qualified. we ve had enough bushes. reporter: after jeb did run for the 2016 republican nomination, she fully backed him and hit the campaign trail. he s decent, honest. he s everything we need in a presid
jeff zeleny, thanks. barbara bush had a unique vantage point on politics. in 2005, she talked to larry king about how it feels to have people picking on your kids even if that kid happens to be president of the united states. historically republicans and democrats have had great friendships. i think some of them still do. there s certainly a lot of bitterness, though. yeah, there is. when they take on your son. very much so. you get personal about that. we can t do anything about it. but much worse when your kids are criticized, in this case, the president, our son, is criticized, or when jeb went through a lot of grief down there in florida. you feel it. you you feel it more than when it was about yourself. when you re in the arena, you can strike back and call them so and so s and do something.