george bush lost reelection to former arkansas governor bill clinton. bush traveled to kuwait to commemorate the gulf war in 1993. an assassination plot on his life was uncovered by bush was unharmed. it was later discovered the part of poorly orchestrated plan was the work of the iraqi intelligence service. the kuwaiti court would convict all but one of the defendants. bush retired to texas with barbara, getting in a few rounds of horseshoes and celebrating countless birthdays buy birthdays by parachuting out of planes. spending time with her family in maine and reliving memories of when he was a boy. i can honestly say that the three most rewarding titles bestowed upon me are the three that i have got to left: husband, father, and granddad. bret: while retired, his life was active until the end. joining forces with former political flow bill clinton to raise money for the victims of
his legacy will be and perhaps what people should take from it. it is such a great point that you raise, bret. i think when you think about george h.w. bush, you think you picture that photograph of him as that young naval aviator, and him being rescued, of course, when has plane went down, and how young he was to take on that level of responsibility and devotion to the country, that it was just so natural for him, without a doubt, growing up of course, and a family that was a family of service. also a family of great humility, and you know how he often said how his mother would always tell him, don t brag about what you do, just do it. and i think that is such a wonderful as i said to shannon a wonderful example for those of us who work in
weekend. behind me, air force one, where president reagan took it around the world on his vice president, george h.w. bush. i think the world will probably, as the president said, smiled down. history will tell how the world remembers the term of president george h.w. bush. but what i am struck by is the family relationship. i mean, think about this, 17 grandchildren, eight grandchildren. his oldest daughter, robin, died when she was four years old in 1953. when barbara bush died, his wif wife, there was that moment where, at the funeral, president bush was sitting in his wheelchair, doro bush, his daughter, behind him, and he is looking at the casket. it was a moment that really, i
interviewed him in houston that he invited me, and my producer, to go off and have lunch with him. and we were talking remember in 2005 after the terrible tsunami in asia, he and his son, bush 43, assigned him and bill clinton to go tour the area, and part of it was to raise money. now george h.w. bush and bill clinton did not seem like a natural fit, among other things, bill clinton had beaten bush and the 92 election. in addition, their personalities could not have been more different. president bush 41 regaled us at lunch about their trip together through southeast asia. one of the things he said was, we are so different. he loves to talk and opines about everything, and i am more measured. but a lot of what he said was very interesting and among other
washington, worked in the white house, work in public service, that i hope is something that they treasure and now is remarkable and people who take up the leadership mantle of our country. bret: brad blakeman is with us, i go back to the world war ii time, the youngest aviator, brad, in the u.s. navy, 1944, september 2nd, his plane shot down, rescued in the pacific ocean. he rejoins his squadron. he received several honors from the military and from his country and often times, as we talk about george h.w. bush, we focus on his time as president. but it was much more than that. it was. i was with him, we had one of our largest sea battles, the first time he had been back to that area probably since he was shot down. one of the few times i saw him shed a tear as he stood there at