the following is a cnn special report. he had the best resume in town. >> he never put his own self-interest ahead of america. >> i, george herbert walker bush. >> led the nation through tumultuous times. >> i tell people, if you want to know how to fight a war, take a look at the way george bush fought the first gulf war. >> the battle has been joined. >> driven by duty and destiny. >> the bush code was always "look ahead." >> he gave his word, and he was

a man of his word. >> he was the complete package. >> i want a kinder and gentler nation. >> he was fiercely competitive. >> you have horseshoes. you go out on the boat, then you play tennis. and i thought, this is exhausting. >> and wickedly funny. >> wouldn't be prudent at this juncture. >> wouldn't be prudent. >> i don't think there was any end to his self-effacing sense of humor. >> beloved by his family and trends. >> he's as close to perfection as any person i've ever met. >> i think it would be difficult to know him and not love him. >> a reveal beiing look inside life of an american original. >> we honor george herbert walker bush for service to america that spanned nearly 70

years. >> now, a cnn special report. remembering 41, president george h.w. bush. >> they deployed. >> march 27th, 1997, near yuma, arizona. >> must be his right there. >> the nation's 41st president, 72 years old, and 12,000 feet in the air, jumping out of a plane for the first time since world war ii. >> outstanding. >> i get an exhilarating feeling out of it, and it also has some memories of a parachute jump that went very badly. >> he wanted to relive the moment of when he got shot down. >> his crew members lost their lives. he was almost captured. >> that experience, after an incredible life of purpose and

accomplishments, starting to jump out of planes maybe to get that right made a little sense to him. >> when his whole family tried to talk him out of it, george herbert walker bush responded with this letter. >> dear kids. okay. so you might think i've lost it. i plan to make a parachute jump. so there. >> it didn't seem like the best idea in the world to me. >> even his former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff couldn't talk him down. >> i said, mr. president, do you really want to do this? yeah, i want to do their. i said you know we don't think it's a really great idea. well, colin, i want to do it. it was just so typical of him. >> because? >> i haven't done anything like this before. i want to try it, and that's what i want to do. >> all right! [ applause ] [ laughter ] >> why does he jump out of

perfectly good airplanes? >> it's the thrill of the jump. and once he did it the first time, became a natural for the next times. >> all right! >> and so he kept jumping. over and over and over. >> on his 85th birthday, he said i'll be jumping when i'm 90. >> george bush is a man who keeps his word. >> the 41st president of the united states. >> that promise from bush put the pressure on sergeant mike elliot. >> there's nothing like having a president strapped to you, and his entire family is watching you. >> especially, his wife barbara. >> where's my hero, woo! >> mrs. bush, you know, she runs the family. >> oh, yeah. brought him to you safely now. >> he was concerned on each

occasion. she came up and said if you hurt him, i will kill you. all of you. and she was serious. >> to my boys on my birthday. >> just because you're old guy, you don't have to sit around drooling in the corner. get out and do something. get out and enjoy life. >> for him to do it on his 90th birthday, when he's like disabled is pretty remarkable. and he does it for his own benefit, to live life to the fullest, but it also is inspiring to everybody. >> he's always looking for the next big moment, and he never likes to miss out. ♪ >> that was just one of the traits engrained early on. george bush, nicknamed poppy, was raised in a tight-knit, family in greenwich,

connecticut. from his father prescott, a businessman who later became a u.s. senator. >> i'm prescott bush, republican candidate for the united states senate. >> he learned the importance of public service. but his greatest lessons came from his mother dorothy. >> he loved his dad a lot, but he was very close to his mom. i think the lessons that his mom taught him early in life stayed with him his entire life. >> she emphasized character, conduct and competition. when, absolutely, but above all, be humble. >> my mother told me, george, nobody likes a brag doughsha, okay, mom, we're not going to talk about ourselves, and that kind of hung over for me through my public life. >> bush was ambitious and a natural leader.

from senior class president at the prestigious phillips academy to captain of his baseball team at yale university. >> he said my goal has always been to be number one, to be the captain of the team, that big left fist, punching the area. that's character melded with this deep ambient sense of service. >> qualities that immediately caught the attention of a smart, attractive girl named barbara pierce. at a school dance, sparks flew, but world war ii intervened. >> i was 17 years old. it was a sunday. somebody came running by, and she yelled that pearl harbor'd been attacked. >> against his parents' wishes, bush put aside college and enlisted in the navy on his 18th birthday. >> didn't matter how old i was

or what experience i had not had, i didn't know anything about flying. i was just determined to do it. >> years later, with characteristic modesty, he downplayed hay downplayed his military service. >> i knew fact certain that i wanted to serve. duty, honor, country, but, again, i hate telling you this, because i don't want to be sounding like i'm different. i'm not. >> but he was different. when we return, the day that changed george bush's life. and later, the truth behind the special relationship with the man who would defeat him. >> he thought i talked too much. but i never talked too much on the boat, because he was going 60 miles per hour bumping us to death.

you get a free 50" samsung 4k tv. seriously, no! [announcer]seriously! t-mobile is giving you a free 50" tv. you gotta be kidding me. this deal won't last long. so get your free samsung tv at t-mobile store today. woooo!! pop pop pop!! and then, more jobs robegan to appear.. what started with one job spread all around. because each job in energy creates many more in this town. thiuninterrupted streaminglogy brilliant sound clarity and life-like color.

experience dell cinema on the xps 13. shop the biggest cyber week ever at dell.com (intel chime)

starts with looking buiat something old,nk and saying, "really?" so capital one is building something completely new. capital one cafes. inviting places with people here to help you, not sell you. and savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. because that's how it should be. you can open one from right here or anywhere in 5 minutes. seriously, 5 minutes... this is banking reimagined. what's in your wallet?

. in 1943, george bush postponed college and went to serve his country. >> i got my wings a few days before my 19th birthday. i think i was the youngest commissioned officer and pilot in the navy the day i got my wings. >> but bush missed barbara pierce, the girl he left behind. >> this one was december of '43. >> he began writing her letters, a tradition he'd continue with family and friends his whole life. >> my darling barb. i love you, precious, with all my heart, and to know you love me means my life. goodnight, my beautiful. i had a great family and fiance and best of all worlds, but i never had any question about that i was doing the right

thing, that i was lucky to be a pilot in the u.s. navy on this team. >> just a few months later bush and his crew were shot down. >> the anti-aircraft fire was much, much heavier this day, and we started our dive, and suddenly, i saw these puffs all around me. you just felt the plane go forward like this. going down, it goes up like that. and i knew something bad had happened. the cockpit literally filled up with smoke. >> bush ejected from the plane but barely survived being hunted down by the japanese. >> i felt sick to my stomach and was crying, throwing up and swimming like hell. could have made the olympics on that day, because we had to get out of there. >> while bush was rescued, his two crew men were never found. >> there was no sign of dale or

ted anywhere around. i looked as i floated down and afterwards kept my eyes open from the raft but to no avail. i'm afraid i was pretty much a sissy about it because i sat in my life raft and sobbed for a while. i felt so terribly responsible for their fate. >> in is for ted and for delaney. here we go. beautiful. i think about it a lot. i still do. i wonder if i could have done something different. wonder why the chute didn't open for the other guy. why me? why did god, you know, let me survive when they didn't? that, that has plagued me. because, as each day went by, i think i realize more and more how lucky i was to be alive. what's so fascinating and generational and characteristic of george h.w. bush is he would

talk himself back into the game, just push forward. >> when we come back, bush pushes forward and finally gets his girl. >> i knew he was going to come home. i mean, that was stupid. but i knew he was going to come home. he was superman. still is. >> and later, 43 on 41. the endless fascination with father and son. >> was it hard to live up to him? ♪ there's no place like home ♪

argh! i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪ after returning home a war

hero, george bush married the love of his life. >> i kissed barbara, and i'm glad of it. i don't think she'll ever regret it or resent it. i certainly am never ashamed of it. i've never kissed another girl. >> when we tell our children what i never knew, i was the first girl you ever kissed, but when i told them that you were the first person i ever kissed. >> i was the second, darling. haven abbott. >> oh, he was not. >> mother's made it pretty clear, i think, to the kids that her first love was dad. and she loved us of course. but she adored dad. >> soon after, they started a family. their firstborn, george walker bush. next the couple had a little girl, robin. then three more sons, jeb, neil

and morgan. >> we're blessed that we had such an amazing set of parents who guided us and have given us these values. >> and then tragedy. >> they'd come in with the bone marrow tests. >> 3-year-old robin had leukemia. >> and i, i've got to go, i had to go home, and barb hung right in there. >> dad was just a whirlwind of activity. and mom was the rock of stability, you know, she was by robin's side the whole time. when robin finally died, mother cratered. and dad became the rock. >> robin died before her 4th birthday. and bush, once again, wrote to his mother. years later, a letter still too painful for him to read. >> we need a legitimate christmas angel. we need someone who's afraid of frogs. we need someone to cry when i get mad, not argue.

we need a girl. >> they had another girl, dorothy, in 1959. >> i believe the death of my sister strengthened their marriage in ways that's hard to fathom. >> and family played a key role in bush's political career. barbara was there every step of the way. >> she had a foot with the family and a foot in his career, an essential political partner. >> barbara was someone who could tell george what she thought, and she would, just like she could tell everybody what she thought, and she would. >> and while george bush usually led the fun, barbara ruled the roost. >> one of many nicknames she has was "the enforcer." so there were unwritten rules. and if you violated them, she would enforce the rules. and do it in a way that was pretty effective.

>> let me guess. your parents had very different parenting styles. >> mother was on the front line and expressed herself frequently. and we test, look, we were a rambunctious lot. pretty independent kids and she had her hands full. shy w she was the sergeant. >> so how did you know when he didn't like something? >> oh, he made it clear. he didn't yell, scream. the worst words you could hear were "you've disappointed me." so if you love a guy and he says you've disappointed me, that's pretty stinging. >> i would get the look. >> and he had how expectations for how we would behave. >> even when behaving was a challenge. >> what is your earliest memory of your dad? >> i think it was in 1964 election, so i would have been 9 years old. and all of us were dressed up

for pictures for some advertisements, and i remember we had to sit on the back of an elephant and marvin and dorro were crunching up against each other, and there were words and it turned out to be a good picture. >> there would be many picture perfect moments as bush's political career took off. >> this is dorothy bush. she's sure she wants her dad to become a united states senator. >> from congress to the u.n., as envoy to china, to run being ni cia. bush had the resume, the reputation and the relationships. >> and he knew that you need friends and allies. and he worked on that all the time. but it was not just he was doing it because it was smart foreign policy. it's just him. it's the way he is. >> that's one of the reasons why in 1980, ronald reagan, after a bitter primary fight, picked bush to be his vice president.

and eight years later he became the candidate to beat. >> i want a kinder and gentler nation. like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky. >> coming up, the highs and lows of the bush presidency. >> read my lips. no new taxes. [cheers and applause] as one of the nation's largest investors in infrastructure, we don't just help power the american dream, we're part of it. this is our era. this is america's energy era. nextera energy. this is america's energy era. opportunity is everywhere. like here. where you can explore the world knowing you can always find your way home. ♪

-we're in a small room. what?! -welcome. -[ gasps ] a bigger room?! -how many of you use car insurance? -oh. -well, what if i showed you this? -[ laughing ] ho-ho-ho! -wow. -it's a computer. -we compare rates to help you get the price and coverage that's right for you. -that's amazing! the only thing that would make this better is if my mom were here. what?! an unexpected ending!

people are always amazed to hear that george bush 41 was taller than ronald reagan, but there he was, 6'2", and clearly a man of substance. >> a man of substance, but not a showman. there is a cover of newsweek "the wimp factor." when you saw that, how did you react? >> i thought it was so stupid. i've never seen anything as far off base. he was a strong man. a fearless man. who always tries to do the right

thing. >> his pick for a running mate surprised many. >> give me a few words to describe him. >> honorable. decent. caring. >> even when quayle was repeatedly attacked, bush stood firm, refusing to take him off the ticket. >> we talked about it, and if he wanted to replace me, fine, i'll be a soldier, salute and move on. he knew that, but he had my back. >> he was a person of enormous consideration of others. he showed us loyalty, and we gave him loyalty back. >> the thing that surprised me about george h.w. bush was he really is a people person. the fact that i was young and different and the soviet specialist, for goodness sakes, the black female soviet specialist never phased president bush.

this is a man who takes every human being on their own terms. >> including his controversial nominee to the supreme court, clarence thomas. >> i barely knew him when he nominated me, so i am clueless as to why he did. >> you get the call to come to kennebunkport. and what did you think? >> it's all surreal. when i got up there, i ran and saw mrs. bush. she had this big hat on. i greeted her, and she said congratulations. and that's when i knew. and she said oh, i guess i let the cat out of the bag. so i see him on the deck. then we go to the sitting area in their bedroom. and we talked, couldn't have been any more than five, ten minutes. and he said if you become a member of the supreme court, can you call them as you see them? and i said, well, of course i can do that.

and, excuse me, he said, can you and your family get through a tough confirmation? that was a good opportunity to say no. >> how old are you, judge? 42, 43? >> well, i've aged over the last ten weeks. >> tough turned out to be an understatement. >> do you swear too tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> when thomas' colleague, anita hill accused him of sexual harassment. >> he would turn the conversation to sexual matters. >> bush called thomas to the white house. >> he says, i got you in this. and i will be with you to the end. when things got tough, he was the same honorable person. dear justice, dear clarence, dear friend. >> later, he sent justice thomas

an extraordinary personal letter, never before made public. >> i will never forget our chat right here in our house in maine just before were you thrown to the lions and put through a cruel exercise that only a strong and principled person could have survived. you didn't have to say you'd serve with honor and respect for the court. i knew that all along. >> he had your back. >> he stood shoulder to shoulder. >> when i would be attacked in washington, he would come to my defense. and he said, don't worry about it, we'll make it. and we did. >> many a time when i had done something that had got me in an a little trouble with somebody or the press, and i'm in my office, saying oh, dear, i could expect a call. colin, president. don't worry about it. everything's fine. >> even when there were

disagreements. >> in his diaries, he called you iron ass. >> right. >> now i know that the two of you have actually joked about it. >> he sent me a nice note. >> and the note said? >> it confessed. he said, "i said it." iron ass. it's appropriate. >> bush's empathy carried over into his domestic policies. with cloean air and the americas with disabilities act. >> let the wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down. dpa god bless you all. >> it's changing the culture how people with disabilities can have jobs and shine where they might have jobs. they have all these big, liberal advocates that advocated for their movement, but my grandfather is the guy who got it done. >> and in the international

arenarks he w arena, he was the ultimate diplomat. >> when you think about what he did on foreign policy in just four short years. >> the unification of germany, abolition of the warsaw pact and the implosion of the soviet union itself. if this is not historic achievement, i don't know what the hell is. >> on the day that the berlin wall came down, we all went over to the oval office to tell president bush that he had to go to berlin. >> you wanted him to go to berlin. >> i wanted him to go to berlin. >> and he said? >> and he said what would i do, dance on the wall? this is a german moment. >> everybody's glad the cold war is over, but he didn't gloat, because it would not be in his nature to gloat at someone else's misfortune. >> and in 1990, when iraqi

dicta dictator saddam hussain invaded kuwait, he put together a war cabinet. >> if you want to know how to fight a war, take a look at the way george bush fought a war. >> he was intimately involved in each step of the process. >> we would sit there and fight about it, but he would listen. he was so open and honest that we could disagree with each other in front of the president. >> this will not stand, this aggression against kuwait. >> but the decision to go to wawar weighed heavily on him. >> this is the day before the deadline. january 15th. he called me, hey, bake, come on over and have lunch with my, and

i could tell he was worried. he was anxious. >> so ang shauxious that on thef desert storm, the president made this private recording of his inner most thoughts. >> my mind is 1,000 miles away. i simply can't sleep. i think of what other presidents went through. the agony of war. >> the skies over baghdad have been illuminated. >> that same night, the president watched the war start live on cnn. >> i've done everything. now it's in the hands of these young kids. military. >> it worked, and it worked beautifully. he told the world what he was going to do. went in and did exactly that and brought our troops home. that's the way to fight a war. >> was it a mistake not going into baghdad?

finishing off the job, taking out saddam hussein? >> the answer very simply is it was not a mistake, because we were never going to baghdad. >> bush's approval ratings skyrocketed to nearly 90%. when we return, george bush, mr. competitive. >> he liked to win. >> oh! >> and a cut up. >> i don't think there was any end to his self-effacing sense of humor about himself. he would say, it wouldn't be prudent at this juncture.

we are a blend... of heritage and style. if dry, damaged hair is part of your blend, we have a blend for you. whole blends honey treasures. paraben-free. blended with purpose. with lush honey, renowned for replenishment, and royal jelly and propolis, known to nourish and repair. as a whole blend, it brings wholesome nourishment to your one-of-a-kind hair, to help heal damage to the ends. blended makes us better. whole blends. text honey to 52046 for a free sample. missed out on this. don't worry, the biggest deal is happening right now at t-mobile. when you buy one of the latest sumsung phones you get a free 50" samsung 4k tv. seriously, no! [announcer]seriously! t-mobile is giving you a free 50" tv. you gotta be kidding me. this deal won't last long.

so get your free samsung tv at t-mobile store today. woooo!! pop pop pop!! as a home instead caregiver, for everything that i give, i get so much in return. hearing all of stanley's stories about his home, and everything that he's learned over the years, it reminds me that this is as much for him as it is for me. join our family of home instead caregivers and help make a world of difference. home instead senior care. apply today.

home instead senior care. they seem to be the very foundation of your typical bank. capital one is anything but typical. that's why we designed capital one cafes. you can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. and one of america's best savings rates. to top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. this isn't a typical bank. this is banking reimagined. what's in your wallet?

walker's point. the bush family compound in kennebunkport. >> i like being in our home in maine, seeing our sons and daughter doing, getting along in life and sharing that experience. >> it's where george bush spent almost all his summers, where he proposed to barbara. >> whenever they talk about

kennebunkport, their eyes light up. >> brought his children and grandchildren. >> they loved having family around, and dad would be in bed drinking coffee or reading the newspaper or something and kids came down. it was just a fun period. i think back to it very fondly. he would tell you that faith, family and friends are what's important in life. what really made him a happy man. >> a happy man who never let up. >> gampy, we all called him gampy. when you were around him, you felt this immense energy and excitement. >> he had this kind of itch that he needed to scratch through activities. >> he's the most competitive human being i've ever known in my life. i used to be his tennis partner. >> his boys are throwing up these lobs over his hiead, and he's running all out to go get these lobs that i wouldn't even run after. >> golly. >> boy oh, boy, he would never,

never, never give up. >> he liked to win, and he played fiercely. >> one thing after another. >> starts at about 5:30. we would go fishing in the morning. usually get an 8:00 or 9:00 tee time, 18 holes. his nickname playing horseshoes is "mr. smooth." >> i thought, this is exhausting. >> come on, partner. >> he's a hell of an athlete. i always wondered why he played so fast. i think the answer's because he wanted to get to the next event. >> including racing around on fidelity, his beloved speedboat. >> i remember vividly over the years that he would come flying into the cove and do a hairpin turn as fast as he could go. >> scared the heck out of me and the secret service. but it was a lot of fun. >> he never wasted a moment. >> and bush had a great sense of humor. >> he loved to laugh. >> especially at his pal,

comedian dana carvey from "saturday night live" who did bush almost better than the president himself. >> they'll beat you bad. they're bad, bad, bad. >> let's go over the ridge, ah-ha, and then mr. rogers. beautiful day in the neighborhood. go that thing. going up there in that whole area. that quadrant, right there, is what hooked it. >> boosush, always a great spor went on snl, poking fun at himself. >> saturd"saturday night live" fun at me on a regular basis. do i have any negative feelings about that, i do. but it wouldn't be prudent at this juncture. >> he never stopped loving it. >> but no amount of levity could

prevent the coming tide. >> 1992 is the perfect storm, ross perot, rising up through the news cycle. >> i'm all ears. >> you have a formidable politician in bill clinton, a mild, but enduring recession, and you had a candidate who was not fully engaged in the minutia of the politics. >> americans began to view bush as out of touch and blasted him for breaking this campaign promise. >> read my lips. no new taxes. >> it was a problem. there's no doubt about it. look, we had to get a budget deal, and so he sat down with the democrats in the congress. they said if you want any kind of a deal you've got to have some taxes. he says if that's the only way i'm going to get the deal, country comes first, my

political career comes second. that's the kind of man he was. >> the 41st president could not serve a second term. >> just called the president-elect in little rock and offered my congratulations. >> he was clearly devastated. >> hurt, hurt, hurt. i don't like to be a failed president. i was absolutely convinced that we proved them wrong. >> in public and even with his own family, bush never let on. >> self-pit eye is ny is not a his being. >> i never saw my dad depressed. that's not my dad. dust yourself off and get back in the game. >> preparing to face tomorrow, finish with a smile and with

some gusto, do what's right and finish strong. >> and he did. worried about white house morale, he had an idea. >> he just out of the blue called me, and he's like very charming. how you doing. people think we're a little down out here, thought you'd come down and cheer up the troops. he was thinking of his staff more than anything else. a little down, want to bring them up. >> so the two men plotted a surprise show. >> i was staying in the lincoln bedroom last night and i couldn't resist getting on the phone and calling up the secret service and acting like the president. feel like jogging tonight, in the nude. >> he got the humor in it, and he did not take it seriously. there was a carefulness to him, you know, a gentleness, a kinder, gentler, thousand points of light, you know. >> coming up, those thousand

points of light define his life after the white house. plus the surprising letter he left for bill clinton. >> you will be our president when you read this note. >> and the real relationship between father and son. >> you hear people say, just run on his daddy's coattails. had to figure out ways to defuse that. ( ♪ )

[ horn honking ] [ engine revving ] what's that, girl? [ engine revving ] flo needs help?! [ engine revving ] take me to her!

♪ coming, flo! why aren't we taking roads?! flo. [ horn honking ] -oh. you made it. do you have change for a dollar? -this was the emergency? [ engine revving ] yes, i was busy! -24-hour roadside assistance. from america's number-one motorcycle insurer. -you know, i think you're my best friend. you don't have to say i'm your best friend. that's okay.

you don't have to say i'm your best friend. i found a companyeans to who believes in me.rt. they look out for me. and they help me grow my career. at comcast it's my job to constantly monitor our network, prevent problems, and to help provide the most reliable service possible. my name is tanya, i work at the network operations center for comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome.

january 1993, his final days in office. president bush was thinking of someone else, his successor. >> i'm sitting here now, the desk there, the pictures gone. i'm dreading the next few minutes, walking over and saying good-bye to the staff. i leave the note on the desk for bill clinton. it looks a little lonely sitting there. >> president clinton still has the letter. >> dear bill, when i walked into this office just now i felt the same sense of wonder and respect that i felt four years ago. there will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. i'm not a very good one to give

advice, but just don't let the critics discourage you or push you off course. i'm rooting hard for you. good luck. george. >> how did you feel when you read that letter the first time? >> i was moved by it. he revealed his true self. he made us feel at home, as much as he could, total class. >> at his most painful political moment, bush was gracious and a gentleman. >> he was someone for whom the office was never too big because he rose to the moments when it was most needed. but he never tried to make himself bigger than the office either. >> and that sensibility carried over to his life post presidency. as he and mrs. bush helped raise

hundreds of millions of dollars for charity. sometimes by doing this, and sometimes this. and while he vowed to stay on the sidelines, he was thrilled to watch his sons pursue politics. >> so help me god -- >> from the governor's mansion. >> i george walker bush do solemnly swear -- >> to the white house. >> he's not the kind of guy to sit down and say let's discuss how i feel today. but you could tell that he was very proud, as was i. i decided i was going to go see what it was like to be in the oval office as president. and i was in there taking in the moment and dad walks in. i said, welcome, mr. president, he said thank you, mr. president. >> did he give you any advice? >> no, no. and he was very guarded about giving me advice unless i asked for it. >> was it hard to live up to him? >> no. >> because?

>> of unconditional love. in other words, the message from george bush was, i love you no matter what you do. >> and he knew exactly when to provide support in the wake of 9/11. >> not sorrowing as those without hope, but in thankful remembrance. >> one of the more very dramatic moments for me came on september the 14th at the national cathedral. i was very fearful of bursting out in tears and the country didn't need to see a weeping president trying to rally the nation. i felt his hand reach across laura and grab my arm. it was a small gesture, but it meant a lot to me, a very sweet moment of fatherly love. >> while 41 was careful not to criticize 43 in office, years cite size 43 in office, years later the elder bush did admit to some concerns. >> he worried that the atmosphere around 43 created a cowboy culture. >> there's an old poster out west as i recall that said

wanted, dead or alive. >> he doesn't think presidents accomplish very much by swaggering. they should be strong, but they don't need to be needlessly provocative. >> even his own son? >> even his own son. >> he sometimes thought your public tone -- >> yeah. >> was a little too harsh. >> probably. i got my daddy's eyes and my mother's mouth. i'm sure of all the millions of words i uttered some of them came out in a way that might have been a little overpowering. >> at his son's request, president george h.w. bush reentered the spotlight. >> i'm honored to be standing here with two former presidents. >> joining with bill clinton, the man who defeated him, to raise money for victims of disasters like the 2004 tsunami. >> hi, how you doing? >> from here, the unlikeliest of friendships grew. >> i just enjoyed being with the guy.

old enough to be his dad. and he's very considerate of me in every way. >> i love george bush. i do. i think it would be difficult to know him and not love him. he's a good man. he's devoted to his family. he's devoted to his friends. he's devoted to his country. >> those of you who know him, this is a gentleman. >> in 2011 bush came back to the white house to receive the nation's highest civilian honor, the presidential medal of freedom. >> inspiring citizens to become points of light in service to others. his life is a testament that public service is a noble calling. >> and despite suffering from a form of parkinson's, even at 90 he kept his promise and jumped again. >> i remember him saying the 90th jump, he goes i'm going to do it again at 95.

>> he's been a great kind of a role model for how to live your life to the end with grace and dignity and caring for others. >> when barbara, his wife and companion of 73 years passed away, he insisted on personally greeting the public who came to pay their final respects to the former first lady. >> he was honorable. so i think that that will stand the test of time. >> he was direct, honest, open. he was the complete package. >> one of the most self-effacing, understated, humble human beings i've ever known. >> we did a lot of tough things together. and how beautiful. >> there's an old military expression i think that applies to him. this is a guy i'd take on a long patrol. and that's my 41.

>> he was a kinder, gentler president. he kept his word. >> i think my dad comes closer to achieving the epitome of being a virtuous man than anybody i know. that will be his legacy to me and our family. >> i think that if historians objectively analyze his presidency, they say he was the greatest one-term president in the nation's history. >> i hope that people will say served with honor when he was president. he acted with principle. i just come back to the fundamental values. goes back -- give the other guy credit. work hard, don't talk all the time. don't talk about the big i am, george. >> it's about family, it's not about the big deal or the head table or all that stuff. that's what it's about.

>> i have no regrets about the way i conducted myself. duty, country and honor. george's mother was a gentle, wonderful soul. and both his mother and father taught him by example. she gave george this bible, and i think that poem does reflect george bush's life.