Weve got another 15 months to get more than our fill of 2020 president ial campaigning. Here we are going to take a few moments to remember a man who won it in 1988. Thatemed the longer he led lived, the more loved and appreciated became. I was struck like many others i think by this national outpouring of respect in the days leading up to and through the funeral of George Herbert walker bush. At the funeral of his wife barbara, seven months earlier, al gore said he served our nation with extraordinary integrity and grace. [applause] the country seemed anxious to separate those qualities last november and december. A world war ii hero before he began his long political career. By and large, history looks back pretty favorably on his residency. Brookings institution surveyed nearly 200 political scientists earlier this year asking them to rate all 44 president s, the elder bush came in 17. He drew praise for foreign policy. His popularity sank as the economy sank. He did not win reelection in 1992. He won the nation back. Jean becker was at his side, in some cases hanging on for dear life. It is great to have her here. For personal reasons. Jean and i go back a ways. We grew up in a small Farming Community about three hours east of here. Her family farm, my family owned and operated the International Harvester dealership. I went from our tiny high school sitting in the middle of the country to Journalism School at the university of missouri. Jean went on to the Journalism School at the university of missouri. I took my first job and was essentially our hometown paper, the new mexico ledger. A few years later, jean took her first job at mexico ledger. I moved there from the newspaper in springfield, missouri. Jean moved to the newspaper in danville, illinois. Owned by the same company. In 1982 i went to a new national newspaper, usa today. A few years later, jean went to usa today. Jean i was not stalking you. [laughter] steve we both have dirt on each other. I worked in the papers toy department, i was a sportswriter. Some people in martinsburg we would go back and visit, they used to think what i did was cool. I got to go to big games around the country. The olympics, i got to talk to players and coaches. Then jean parted ways and goes to the white house. [laughter] then when paula and i would go visit martinsburg, it was wow jean becker, what do you hear from her . [laughter] jean covered the 1988 election for usa today. George bush defeated michael dukakis. Laura bush took a liking to her. Which is not surprising. She invited jean to serve as her deputy press secretary. She spent four years in the white house from 1989 until 1993. George obviously took a liking to her. He made her chief of staff. It is safe to say that nobody knew george and barbara bush better than jean. I think i would include the bush family. The birthday parachute jumps. The humanitarian collaborations with bill clinton. She was a part of all of it. If not orchestrating all of it. She was one of the handful of people at his bedside when he died. The beautiful Memorial Services you all saw in december were planned and executed by jean. You probably dont know it, jean has written or edited five books. None with her name on it. One was barbaras memoirs published in 1995. Another was towards bushs letters. Pearls of wisdom is scheduled to come out next spring in time for graduation. It revolved around barbara bush. Who his famou who is famous for giving advice. By the way, all the proceeds from the book, jean is donating to the Barbara Bush Foundation for family literacy. The second book, i think it is set for release in 2021 will be about what she discusses tonight. The remarkable postpresidency of george h w bush. She insists her name will be on that one. [laughter] in the crowd tonight are a number of people from back home. Who have driven here to hear jean speak. Family, friends, coworkers. In martinsburg, new mexico, we are pretty darn proud of her. Between us, i am too. [laughter] please welcome my friend, jean becker. [applause] jean it is sort of odd after that wonderful introduction. I feel bad but the first thing i will 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 we [laughter] i do know stuff about him. His coworkers who are here, i can be bought. [laughter] mi my already in trouble . This is one of my favorite pictures of president bush and me. Oddly, we are at a duke basketball game. Probably seven or eight years ago when president bush had been diagnosed with parkinsons and was in a wheelchair, his health was 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 . I showed the letter to president bush and i said coach k thinks you will fly to north carolina. There we are. I love starting with that photo. It is a good photo of me and i dont take very many. Working for president bush was one of the great privileges of my life. It taught me so many things. He taught me to think big, you will have to move if you are going to cry. [laughter] my sister is sitting right in front of me in she is ready to burst into tears. To live life with joy, think big, be humble, and make a difference. He was not perfect. There were certain things that honestly scared me to death. The five scariest words he could say to me was jean, i have an idea. These words usually took place he came in about 7 00 in the morning. He would read three newspapers and drink coffee. One of the ideas would be lets get pizza for lunch. I would say thank god. I remember specifically, this was january 2. We were recovering from the holidays. He said i was thinking over the holidays and he said i would like to go back to where i was shot down near world war ii. We can talk about that later if we have time. What i really want to talk about is the fact that most of his biggest ideas it is never ever is they taught me how to use this. Here is the big shock. President clinton, who beat him soundly in 1992. They become known as the odd couple. They became friends. Eventually they became father and son. What they bonded over was their mutual desire, they did this Disaster Relief work starting with a tsunami that hit asia in christmas day, 2004. We traveled to asia. I am not sure where we are here. For katrina we raised 150 million. Then we did hurricane ike. We raised a lot of money together. They became very close. President clinton still misses him terribly. Im eating lunch with president clinton in new york in two weeks. He called and said could you come have lunch with you . I think i have this is a tsunami trip. I think this is indonesia. This is the trip where they became friends. President clinton taught me to play a game a card game. I then taught it to my family. We played it all afternoon in the lobby. I lost to my brotherinlaw. This is president bush reading to a group of kids. Im fairly certain this is sri lanka. The school was gone so they were having classes outside. This is the story you want to hear. George clooney, he is gorgeous. [laughter] this is part of Disaster Relief. This is after katrina. What most of you probably dont know is a week or two after katrina, a huge hurricane came through texas and parts of louisiana called hurricane rita. Some of you are nodding your head. Katrina wasnt sucking the air out of the room. The media was focused on new orleans and what was happening. President bush got a call from cameron, louisiana. It had been completely wiped out. The only thing left standing was the courthouse. President bush had a relationship with cameron. His point on land where he would go to visit. They called him and said can you help . He said of course, what do you need . Our hospital is gone, if we could just filled an emergency wing asap i think people would start coming home. The guy who caldwell was talking to said the offshore Oil Rig Workers need the emergency room. We go into overdrive and raise an additional 2 million. A week before christmas i think in 2005 president bush will fly to cameron, louisiana with a check for 2 million. They will break ground for the new emergency room. The governor is coming, the High School Marching band is going to march. There will be speeches, ribbons, im showing him the schedule. It is like five days before christmas. He says these poor people have lost everything. We cant go do this. It is possible i had attitude. We just raised 2 million for them. I said we are going to give them the check. He said we need to gas it up. What are we building . I said and emergency room. He says i have a great idea. [laughter] heres the problem with this idea. He says laura and i love this tv show. He says there is this wonderful actor named gorge clooney who is the star. He said lets call George Clooney and ask him to come. Here is what he didnt get. They are watching it on a rerun. George clooney had not been on it for years. He is doing oceans 10, 11, 12. I tried to explain reruns. I dont know George Clooney. I dont have a number. To make a long story short, the man who produced all the oceans movies president bush, i was telling him about the movies. He said i think weintraub did those movies. He called him and George Clooney came. I was sick as a dog. Did i go . Yes, i did. [laughter] we had to send the plane. Georges one requirement was we send a plane. They stopped in houston. Off we go to cameron, louisiana. Here is the one huge mistake. There is no picture with the end George Clooney. [laughter] coming home before my ears stuffed up, i asked him why he did this. You dont know him, us, this obviously isnt political. His answer was i was so impressed that he wanted to do this. Cameron, louisiana is not in the news. The media is not there. Everybody was in new orleans. George clooney said if you asked me to go to new orleans i probably wouldve said no. I was touched by what he was doing and i wanted to be a part of it. The end of the story, my ears completely stuffed up. George kept talking to me. I have no idea what he said. To this da it is day it is possible he asked me to marry him. [laughter] i just kept going uh huh. President bush was the master of acts of kindness. It is probably the number one thing i learned from him. It was interesting to watch the way he lived his life. In big ways and small ways. This picture doesnt have a lot to do with it sort of has to do with the next story. Three days after 9 11. This is the national cathedral. The Prayer Service that all the president s came to. The 43rd president had just sat down. His dad reached over. They were on their way to the airport it is protocol that the president sit in the order that they serve. Technically the clintons should be sitting next to 43 and then 41s and then carters. President bush called me on the way to the airport and said i would like to sit next to my son. I said ok, we will see what we can do. President clinton was very gracious. I will tell you my 9 11 story. I was in washington, d. C. , on 9 11. We were in a meeting the day before. They were wheels up about 8 00 a. M. To go to minneapolis. I was staying in washington, d. C. Continuing to attend meetings. 9 11 happened. Chaos, of course. I have no idea where they were. I got the secret service on the phone and the agent said president bush wants to know where you are. I said i am at the Renaissance Hotel in dc on total lockdown. Did i do that . Am i doing something . I said where is he. The agent said i cannot tell you that. Like every plane in america, they have been grounded. They are in a safe, secure location. I cannot tell you on an unsecured phone. I assumed they were taken to west virginia. The secret place is not classified, is it . Good. [laughter] i think we found out about this. I assumed they were in west virginia. About 6 30 that evening im sitting with my Board Members from this group. We are waiting for the president to address the nation. My cell phone rings. Cell service was really terrible that day. My cell phone rings and its president bush. I said im so happy to hear from you. I said i know you cant tell me where you are because i know you are in some classified place. He said we are at a hampton inn in milwaukee, wisconsin. [laughter] that couldve been the first time i knew i had to write a book. The secret service said you were at some classified place. He said who would think to find me at a hampton inn in milwaukee . Ive been watching tv all day. He said we figured out we were hungry. We walked across the street to the outback steakhouse. They were a little surprised. Literally, the night of 9 11, the president s parents happen to be a former president walked in to milwaukee, wisconsin. President bush, this was part of the small acts of kindness. He was very disturbed with the antimuslim rhetoric in the country. We were in kennebunkport, maine. We go back to houston and the antimuslim rhetoric had gotten really ugly. He said to me, is there a muslim group in houston . There is the houston muslim association. I cold called them. They had a dinner two nights later with 500 people that president bush wanted to go make a statement and he invited the media. To say they are americans like we are. A couple of years ago, he and misses bush were both very worried about antisemitism in the country. A jewish group just wanted to get president bush at some dinner. He said call them back and tell them i will come. Again, it was his gesture. It was his way of saying we are better than this. He was masterful at this. The things he did, people will never forget. This is the son of a secret service agent. He was diagnosed with leukemia. Im going to cry. His father was one of president bushs secret service agent. The entire detail except one guy shaved their head. Mainly because patricks dad shaved his head to support his son. President bush decided he would shave his head. To support patrick and his secret service detail. This picture was absolutely viral. It was in times square. It was all over the news, internet, patrick is now 10 years old and cancer free. He has been cancer free for a few years. The only problem with this whole episode was he didnt tell his wife he was going to shave his head. For some reason, this became my job. I had to tell misses bush that her husband was bald as a cue ball. She was not happy. She was afraid everybody would think he had cancer. The thing that is amazing is he grew a full head of hair back. I dont know how old he was when he did this. Who shaves their head at 85 . Im not sure. President bush was never done. Now i could play with the clicker. This is jimmy carter. President bush 41. This is president bushs son, neil. Hurricane harvey devastated houston. President bush said we have to go to work. He is in a wheelchair. Pretty much out of commission. On labor day i had a Conference Call with the chiefs of staff. They were all in, immediately. What is amazing about this photo, we already had an event planned. It was the 25th anniversary of his library opening. We were doing a very small event at president bushs library. We were going to have a barbecue, very casual. President bush said lets turn it into a fundraiser or for harvey. I told the other president s chief of staff i asked the 43rd president to come. He was the former governor of texas. The other three, i just said to see if you are in the neighborhood. They all came. I remember the chiefs of staff kept calling me. Obama was first. The chief of staff said president obama would like to come. I said wow, that would be great. I knew president clinton would come. Theres no way he would let president obama come to texas with the bush boys without him. He flew overnight from europe. Poor president carter had said im not coming but if everybody else comes i will come. There they are. We moved the event to the arena where texas a m plays basketball. The concert was headlined by lady gaga. She called president obamas office to say i have gotten wind of this event, can i help . President obamas office called me [laughter] i told president bush i need to get the picture in the slideshow with her and the resident. I said president bush you will not believe this. At this time alabama was coming. No one on lady gagas level. I said oh my gosh, lady gaga is coming. He said that is great, who is she . [laughter] these five guys ended up raising 45 million. They had a little bit among themselves. Ever since we started to use 41 and 43 to tell the difference, they love their numbers. President clinton loves 42, president obamas 44. President carter never got into early nine. They all wanted to raise the money of their number. They werent happy when we went to 45. I think they probably were. It was an amazing night. The respect that they showed for president bush touched my heart. I remember when mrs. Bush found out, she said i suppose we will have to feed them . They had dinner in the apartment. This is the most stressed i have ever been. It was going to be live on television. The production people said jean becker, those five men have to be ready by 7 00 p. M. Sharp. Have you ever tried to tell five president s to quit talking . Particularly president clinton. They were talking, talking, talking. Finally, i went into the dinner and said you have to talking. We are going live in 11 minutes. Get in the car. The interesting thing is the bushs apartment is probably half a mile from where we were going. The motorcade got there before we left. The motorcade went the entire we were there at 6 59. This story im going to tell has absolutely nothing to do with the scene of the speech which is how much i learned from president bush. This truly is one of my favorite stories. This is prince bandar of saudi arabia. The saudi ambassador to the united date for almost 20 years. President bushs presidency, clinton, a lot of george ws. The bush brothers they used to call president clinton their brother by another mother. They gave the print the exact same the name. About seven or eight years ago i got a call late one night from somebody who used to be in president bushs administration asking me if i heard any about bandar. He had what was essentially the cia in saudi arabia. She said we are hearing he has been assassinated. Have you heard this . I said no, people dont call me. She says could you text your sources . I knew that meant to call the cia. Because president bush headed the cia, they would do anything he asked. We always had a caisson for certain assigned to us. The next morning i called the case officer. She said we have heard the rumors. He think it is true. He has not been seen for months. We have boots on the ground but we