>> next on the "presidency," camp david insiders offer their recollections of the presidential retreat in the maryland mountains. it was president franklin d. roosevelt who first used the hideaway and who set the precedent for hosting dignitaries there when he invited british prime minister winston churchill to be his guest. the george w. bush presidential center in dallas hosted this hour-long program. we hear first from the 43rd president, who shares his own camp david memories. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the chief executive officer of the george w. bush presidential center, ken hirsch. [applause] ken: thank you and welcome to the engaged series presented by highland capital. i'm ken hirsch, introducer in chief. our goal here is to provide content you can't get anywhere else. we are honored today with this

session to launch a wonderful insiders look at presidential retreats and a glimpse of what life looks like for a president outside of the white house. it's a fascination that some people have. we are delighted to take a deep dive into camp david, crawford, kennebunkport and the lbj ranch. tonight, we have a series of guests who can give us that special insight. to kick us off, i would like to introduce the 43rd president of the united states. [applause] mr. bush: this is a special moment for laura and me, because we have such fond memories of the presidential retreat. one of the things about a presidency that is hard to

explain is, what it feels like to be in a bubble. you are kind of in a bubble, particularly in washington. the presidential retreats, for any president, are very important in the life of the presidency. i want to thank ken and holly and the team here for opening up the presidential retreats and a lot of the stories of presidential retreats for the people in dallas. we had three presidential retreats. that's unusual. one of which was kennebunkport, maine. that was my dad's presidential retreat. laura and i would go out there on occasion. when we went, it was all family. that's incredibly important. part of our presidency. i think we entertained sarkozy and putin.

said toer forget -- dad putin, do you want to go on a boat ride? his boat was three 300 horsepower engines. he is kind of a macho dude at this point and putin said yeah. he said it in russian. he had an interpreter that was a strange guy who was nervous. dad gets out on the ocean, and opens it up. putin was in heaven. the interpreter thought he was going to die. [laughter] walker's point was an important part of getting out of the bubble. not nearly as important as crawford at camp david. -- crawford and camp david. crawford is a place laura and i love. it's a place we went to in august. that made it uncomfortable--

[laughter] a lot of the people on our staff are from east coast. i loved it. i would get outside and, this is before we owned the bulldozer, would chop down cedar. it was like unbelievably therapeutic. i would ride bikes. but mainly i rested. here is the thing about these retreats though you never escape , the presidency. the definition of getting outside the bubble at crawford meant that they were probably 150 staffers of some sort or another down there. that made it fun because that meant there were a lot of other cedar choppers available to help. [laughter] laura and i entertained a lot of world leaders there. we have a lot of fond memories of conducting personal diplomacy on the ranch.

it became a way for us to give some of these leaders a special look and, it did open up the dialogue in an easier way than had it been discussing things in the white house. we were sitting out by the pool, talking about japanese history. laura and i took a walk across the prairie with angela merkel and her husband. putin came and we had a press conference and rather than have it on the ranch, i decided a cool thing to do would be to go to crawford high school. crawford is a town of 600 people. there are 31 people in the senior class. three were allowed to ask questions. we had to answer questions from the press. we had a lot of world leaders there. the israeli prime minister, the crown prince of saudi arabia,

one interesting story from the crown prince of saudi arabia, he came and he was angry because sharon had occupied ramallah and he was madder than heck about it. one of the first things he said g toe was tell thepi get out of ramallah, that was is greater than insult as you can issue in the middle east. i wasn't about to allow a foreign leader to dictate our foreign policy. i said, give me some time. that wasn't the answer he wanted. our interpreter, a friend of mine and colin powell's and condoleezza's came in to where we were sitting, because he wanted to be alone. he said, he is going to leave. that would be a disaster for a young presidency to have a major ally bolt the scene.

it would've been something we would be dealing with for a long period of time. i told colin powell to go in there and fix it and said he could. -- and said he could not. he said, only you. i walked in there and did not know what to tell him. he was smoking butts in the living room. i said, i heard you're going to leave. he grunts and said yes. i said, before you do that i want to talk about two things. religion. let me talk to you about my faith. i said i quit drinking because of religion and describe the relationship i had with billy graham and all that. i said i'm curious about your religion. nothing. he wasn't interested. smoking cigarettes. that did not work. i played the ranch card. i said -- i hear you have a farm outside of riyadh.

and that you love it. yes. i said, i love this place. i would like to give you a tour before you leave. can i give you a tour? he said yes. there we are the ford f-150, i'm driving. that's unusual. abdullah and the interpreter leaning over the back seat, we were driving along. these are live oaks, could not have cared less. -- notre cedars interested. could care less about the grasses. he did not say anything. i said, this is going to be a disaster. we're at the very far end of the ranch. there's a turkey standing in the middle of the road. hen.an hen --a lone he said, what is that? i said, that's a turkey. at one point, it would be the bird of the u.s. that's what benjamin franklin, one of our leaders suggested. instead we went with the bald eagle. the turkey did not move. he leans over and says it is a sign from allah, my brother. i said that's damn good advance

work. [laughter] we got back to the house, and i said, you want to eat? he said yes. i said we were going to have lunch. the relief on the foreign ministers face and the ambassadors face was palpable. the reason i tell you that is the ranch was a great place to get to know leaders and to establish a bond with them as was camp david. camp david was originally called shangri-la, which means heavenly place, which it is. it is talked in the mountains. thankfully, it is only a 25 minute helicopter ride from the south lawn. it means is extremely accessible. lara and i accessed it a lot. we went there as often as we could.

you will hear from one of the base commanders from there. the whole deal is that it is a military base. they have other military functions and duties. but when the president is there, it is to pamper the guy. they do a really good job of it. dwight eisenhower changed the name to camp david. my brother marvin lobbied for a a while to get me to change it to camp marvin. thankfully i did not. we have a lot of fond memories of camp david. a lot. again it's a place where laura , and i invited a lot of world leaders. tony blair's first visit to the united states, we took him there. laura decided to have a movie there. they have a nice movie theater there. it was called "meet the parents." i was asleep. [laughter]

if you like to exercise, is a great place to exercise. we had mountain bike trails. a wonderful gym. i think the thing that i remember the most about camp david was christmases. it's big enough that everyone has their own cabin. mother and dad would come. and his family. marvin, camp marvin and his family would come. it was a spectacular time. the reason i emphasize the family aspect is that during the presidency, sometimes it's hard to count on certain people, but you can always count on your family to bring you comfort and love. that's what we're going to hear about tonight. a true shangri-la. holly is going to interview michael george lyons who was

the base commander when we first got to camp david. she will also interview stephen -- stuart mclaren the president , of the white house historical association. finally, my chief of staff, josh bolten, one of the coolest guys i know will be on stage as well. but beforehand, one of the real treats for laura and me was to have a beautiful chapel there called evergreen chapel, and a preacher there had a huge influence on us. his name is stan fournier, thankfully he has agreed, along with his wife, to join us tonight. please welcome the right reverend, navy something, captain, huh? i know chaplain. [laughter] navy captain stan fournier. [applause]

[applause] rev. fournier: thank you, mr. president. what a privilege it is to be here this evening. thank you for the imitation. on january 22, 1963, news reached camp david of the assassination of president kennedy, who had just been a recent visitor. there was a contractor working at camp at that time by the name kenneth plummer. mr. plumber noticed that in that experience, there was nowhere for people to gather -- to pray to , think, to be quiet. there was no sacred space whatsoever. process to began the say that he wanted to see a chapel built at

camp david. it took him some time but through persistence, he was able to form a nonprofit. he raised the money to build a chapel. ground was broken by president reagan, who was the first contributor. the chapel was dedicated by president bush. it was during that time the president bush decided he wanted a chaplain there. i have had the privilege of following in the legacy of having navy chaplains at camp david ever since that time. if there is any one thing i would want you to know about camp david, it's that there is a very unique climate of community there. it is a small group of people. a lot of people do not realize it is a military installation. those who are there were chosen because of their desire to serve their nation by serving their

commander-in-chief. this unique climate of community and even maybe so far as a climate of family that exists, to a great extent is made possible by the presidents and how they use and serve, and i'm prejudiced because of my time with president bush. i would suggest to you that there is no one who has contributed more to a climate of community of camp david moore then president and mrs. bush. that is evident by many different things that they did. president bush was always connecting with people there. that connection with people helped create this unique climate of community that existed. you may know the president bush enjoyed mountain bike riding when he was there.

one of my first days there, i had one of the lien and mean marines tell me if president bush asks you to ride bikes with him, tell him no way. [laughter] i said, why? he said, because nobody can keep up with president bush. on these trails on those bikes. and so he said, i know it's hard , to say no to the president, but you have to say no if he asks you. one sunday after chapel, we had lunch with the president. he was beginning to set me up. i knew it. he said, chaplain, do you ride bikes? i said, no sir. i have never had the chance to ride bikes very much. he dropped it and i got out of that experience. he connected with the young

marines and the others there in doing that. there is no way the president connected more with the people on the staff at camp david them -- at camp david then through evergreen chapel. i had the privilege to conduct over 100 worship services for the president and mrs. bush and the family. and the staff of camp david. it was always the most marvelous experience. the president would always be faithful. there,lmost four years the president almost never missed a worship service. they were always there. and the camp community gathered with the president and mrs. bush when we worshiped together. mrs. bush, i remember what, every christmas and easter, bring gifts for all the children of camp david. during our christmas pageants

and other things we would do she , would distribute those gifts to our children. she did it faithfully year after year. it was the most marvelous climate of community that existed there. president bush also did something very unique. for us. that is, he asked me one time, let's gather all of the camp community together, their spouses and children, and let's invite them all to a townhall meeting in the chapel. at which time the president spent almost two hours standing before us. talking about the presidency. his leadership skills. and opened the floor for people to ask questions. it was so successful, and because not everyone was able to get in at one time, the president said, as do it again. we had all the staff come once again and the president gave two hours of standing before us and

talking about what it means to be the president of the united states. the president and mrs. bush did a great deal to create this wonderful climate of community at camp david. i think maybe he may have learned some of that from his father. it was christmas one week and president bush was there and president bush 41, and extended family. we had a service in the chapel that sunday, and we were distributing t-shirts that had something like -- evergreen chapel, christmas on it. at the end of the service, everyone left. i was left in the chapel by myself and the phone rang and it was president bush 41. he said to me, chaplain, is there any chance that barb and i could get a couple of those t-shirts? i said, of course. i got in the golf cart and to the cabin.

always gracious, he invited me in and i had a cup of coffee and when i got ready to leave, president bush said, do you know why we wanted the t-shirts? he said, well, we stayed here and little longer than we anticipated this year. and we are running a little bit short of clean under clothes to wear. at which time, i said, there is somebody here that can take care of that laundry need if you have that. and yet, he looked at me and said, this is christmas week, i wouldn't ask somebody to do that for me during christmas week. then he looked and said, don't forget, it's their christmas too. i always thought that spoke so much about the way the bushes

felt about the staff at camp david and how much appreciation they had for the climate of community that existed there. sometimes, even in a close-knit community, there can be some challenges. i will close with this story. i was sitting in the chapel one weekend. the president was there along with the prime minister of japan, prime minister abe. it was a saturday. i had sent my chaplain assistant home because nothing was scheduled. i was sitting in the chapel by myself that saturday and i heard the door open and in walked president bush and the prime minister. i thought that was nice. the president was showing the prime minister around and the president looked at me and said, can you do one of the history briefs that you do for the prime minister? that involved a screen and projection equipment. none of which was set up.

i had never set it up in my life. i said, of course mr. president. we can do that. i said, it will take a moment for me to set it up. so he sat down and i went back and i pulled the screen out and set it up and then ran from the balcony to turn on the projection equipment. it may come as a surprise, but the president was looking at his watch every now and then. i eventually got it done. i was sweating, i was proud of myself for getting it set up so weekly. i finally said, mr. president, we are ready to go with this. he said just a minute. it was the prime minister and said, he is good at doing worship services, but not at handling technology. [laughter] i was proud of myself. i thought i had done well. i'm not saying that the president's greatest virtue is not patience, but he is prompt.

which reminds me i need to stop , talking and move on. i do want to tell you, in all sincerity, that the four years i spent at camp david was the absolute highlight of my entire 35 years of ordained ministry. nothing else has ever come close to it. i don't know if there will ever be anything that can top the fact that i had the privilege of serving our nation in the military and especially, the privilege that i had for four years of serving the president and their family, especially during a time of great turmoil and war. in the chapel at camp david. and for those experiences, mr. president, i thank you. [applause]

ken: now you know that you've already heard, but would you welcome me and join me in welcoming our guests, stuart mclaurin, the president of the white house historical association, joshua bolten, his chief of staff, endure a lot of those worship services. rear admiral michael gorgione, a former officer at camp david. and holly, the moderator tonight, the executive director of the bush institute. join me in welcoming them. would you please. [applause] >> thank you all for being here. our job tonight is to demystify a place that most people never get to visit.

you all have some great background and stories to share with this crowd about camp david and to try to bring that to this audience. let us start there. stewart, president bush mentioned the name shangri-la. , that was its original name at camp david. tell us how that came to be and how the site was selected, where the name came from. what was its origin? stewart: it's wonderful to be here. this wonderful library with your guests. president hoover had a wonderful fishing camp out of the -- out at the shenandoah called the rapid camp. fdr became president, he tried it out. it was damp out there and he did not like it. his doctor said to get a place that was higher elevation. he asked national park service to select three different sites as options. one was back in the shenandoah. 30,000 feet in the blue ridge. two others were in maryland.

one was eventually selected to be shangri-la. he took a small motorcade of three unmarked vehicles and decided he liked it. it had been built in the 1930's about 10 years prior by the works progress administration. it had some rudimentary government buildings on the site that were functional. he decided this would work. he decided this would be shangri-la. the name had been a popular british novelist by the name of james helton, who had written a book in 1933 called lost horizon and shangri-la was the himalayan paradise that was talked about in that book. that name was adopted. they moved in and on july fifth was the first day they started shangri-la as a presidential retreat.

things went well until the secret service got nervous about the safety of it. that it might be vulnerable from air attack. roosevelt look at alternatives. a place more secure and safe. there was a place that was a little more tropical and remote. think what had been, had president roosevelt followed through and move the presidential retreat from shangri-la to guantanamo bay. [laughter] holly: mike, you were the commanding officer at the end of president clinton's term and the start of the bush term. you got to run the place. tell us about what that entailed and tell us about the place itself. what is there? what is camp david like? michael: thank you for this honor. 200 acres. catoctin mountain park. we worked with the national park service. it is a rustic retreat. single-story cabins, cedar roofs.

oak plank siding. just enough amenities and security, but very pleasant, simple place to go where many presidents up -- where many presidents have found the respite that they were looking for. holly: talk about your role and the staff. michael: it's run by the navy. it is been that way since it started. roosevelt took the sailors from the yachts and have them guarded. the marines from eighth and i barracks. it's navy command that operates and maintains the principal facility. on the weekends, it takes on an aura of being a place where the president and his family and guests can get away. whether it be for his own personal use or for diplomatic purposes. holly: presidents use this as a recreational retreat, to get away. they also use it to entertain and host world leaders. tell us about what goes into a world leader visit. michael: a big factor at first forucker factor getting ready. a lot of work with the state

department. we usually stay on the sidelines and watch our present work with world leaders. we always talk about building relationships before you need them. when you stand on the sidelines and watch the presidents do that, as i saw president and mrs. bush do that with the blair's week after the inauguration. they invited the couple to camp david and you see how important it is as humans to get to know someone on that level. very impressionable. it really affected me and many of the crew as well. you are not of that world, but you are in that world. holly: how much staff? michael: 200 marines that were there full-time. -- that work there full-time. josh, you are there any for i.t. roles. you were his deputy chief of staff for president bush, then you were chief of staff, which got you there. >> i never got invited as budget director. [laughter]

nobody wants the budget director. holly: when you were chief of staff, part of your role was helping to host and entertain these foreign delegations. tell us about that role. >> first, thanks for the privilege of being here. it's a special privilege to be with reverend stan fournier and his wife, who, just listening to his voice a few minutes ago, it brought back the same comfort that i think reverend fournier brought to all of us on a regular basis with his sunday sermons. it's not even my faith, and i always look forward to going to chapel, to hear him speak. it's not just about the president. it's not just about the visiting prime minister. there is typically a whole delegation that comes with. as important as the opportunity

that camp david provided, for building a warm, personal relationship between the leaders, also important was the opportunity provided for an opportunity for those serving just below the two leaders to get to know each other, and establish the kind of relationship that becomes critical, especially in a crisis. when i was chief of staff, i had the privilege of hosting my counterpart or counterparts for a wide variety of world leaders. the relationships that were established there, and many cases, turned out to be extremely important in the months and years to follow.

>> we have a photo of one of the more informal moments of hosting a delegation in the bowling alley. tell us about this very post -- posed photo. >> my score? [laughter] the person on the far right is the president's military aid. the two others were the top two advisers to crown -- the crown prince of the united arab emirates. whose relationship with president bush was very important. to the united states's relationship overall in the gulf region.

while president bush and the crown prince were off having a walk or some thing like that, there wasn't much for others to do, or maybe they had gone to bed. i said, who wants to bowl? to this day, the guy who was to my right, is not the emirati -- is now the emirati ambassador to the u.s. and the guy on my left is at the abu dhabi sovereign wealth fund. when i see them to this day, they bring up the time we went bowling at camp david. it creates a special bond, even with something as pedestrian as bowling. or maybe precisely because it is. >> were these two teams? do you remember who won? >> i'm sure i won.

i got to visit camp a lot and i'm going to tell you, my average was good. [laughter] >> stewart one of the most consequential things that happened at camp david with the -- were the camp david accords. tell us about that and how those meetings came to this was during the carter presidency and earlier that year, the president and mrs. carter had hosted the sadats. without the prime minister at camp david. that was a very warm and friendly meeting. several months in advance, but there contemplating bring both sides together, a very contentious time, multiple wars fought over decades, the time came to plan a summit and there were conversations between president carter and the

national security adviser, where should this be, they looked at spain and portugal. president carter wanted a confined space away from the eyes of the press where they could be driven to talk to one another. they set aside three days for the summit. protecting for additional days should they need them. they ended up spending 13 days. 10 of which they do not talk. there were similar scenarios to president bush's scenario, where they had to be pulled back and stay. it resulted in the accord, which camp david maybe most famous for. the camp david accords. that famous picture of the south lawn of the white house of the three leaders celebrating that achievement. it was a tedious time. camp david provided the perfect cramped, comfortable, but uncomfortable setting to drive that dialogue to successful completion.

>> mike, president bush mentioned that tony blair was his first visit to their is a foreign leader. you got to see that. and you get to experience another stand the role of camp david in a casual retreat in foreign diplomacy. say more about that and what you saw. why did that setting lend itself to those kinds of meetings? >> it made sense to me, what the charm of camp david was for diplomacy. i figured was the first end ever meeting the players. instead of a white house dinner and formality, they went cap david. the couples are just casually and respectfully. it said so much to us about setting the tone. they did the same thing with another prime minister that july.

open collar, get to know each other. let's talk about history and our relationship. the two couples spent a lighthearted weekend together, watching that movie he talked about, held a press conference off camp, and it much calmer time in the world. mentioned when gordon brown came to camp david. they figured out a way to connect with each other. he showed up in a suit and tie. that happened during the g-8 summit with president obama. some people don't understand the purpose of camp david. once they let their guard down, it provides the right setting to talk.

did you know he was going to show up in a suit and tie? holly: we did not. we're just appropriately all the -- we are dressed appropriately all the time. you just react. there was a scramble to find neckties. as a military, they always look good. not not the staff. >> josh, you have an interesting experience when you are there. i want you to tell the story about a world leader meeting that only partially took place at camp david, because of where you flew president bush to. >> one of the most complicated and delicate things that i did as chief of staff, and my predecessor did, was figure out how to get the president, how

-- out of the united states head over to iraq without anybody knowing it. at any given moment, there were hundreds of people who know what -- where the president is, protecting him, watching him, and so on. president bush, several times, during his presidency, made it is -- made a courageous decision to go into a combat zone and visit the troops, or in the case of the one that i organized in 2006, to meet the new prime minister of iraq, president bush thought that one prime minister had finally pulled together a cabinet that represented all of the various factions and ethnicities in iraq. it was important for the president personally to show up

and meet face to face in their offices, on their territory. making that happen logistically is really hard to do. for the trip to iraq and afghanistan in 2006, by the way, you can't let anyone know that the president is coming, because the bad guys will be there with rpg's or whatever, to knock down air force one as it is landing. when we started the planning for it, for this trip, i believe i came up with the idea, now it could have been deputy chief of staff joe hagan, who served almost the entire eight years in

the bush white house. i'm pretty sure it was me. you're the only one here. you may want to credit joe. the idea we came up with was that, ok, let's get the president out of washington, from camp david. as these gentlemen know, camp david, there's no press watching, there is a promoter -- there's a perimeter there. it's a relatively secure place from which to disappear. the president's ranch being the only other place where you can spirit the president out without a lot of people knowing. we started with that framework, which is let's get him to the camp. how do we get the whole iraqi

assemblage to meet him? the idea was that we would organize a cabinet meeting. so the iraqi cabinet would gather in iraq, and the u.s. counterparts would gather at camp david with president bush and we would have a joint cabinet meeting by videoconference. that was what we advertised to the iraqis. what we advertised to the entire world. president bush and his cabinet would be at camp david. all of the iraqis would be in baghdad and they would have a meeting by videoconference. we invited the cabinet members,

there were about six or eight of them, who were relevant, to come up to camp david and the chairman of the joint chief, a couple of other people, and there was a big dinner in laurel, the convening place that has a dining room. there was a big dinner for all of the cabinet members, with the president and vice president cheney. president bush and his national security advisor, steve hadley and i, would always slipped out before dessert, and we would leave dick cheney to make small talk with the cabinets.

this is where the plan almost failed. we needed to keep everybody there at dinner, while the rest of us scooted out on golf carts and went to the helipad and got onto a helicopter that had no lights. and took off from camp david. as i was leaving, i vaguely remembered the vice president saying, anybody read any good books? [laughter] i was really worried that somebody was going to spot us and blow our cover. we had not told the cabinet about it. we could not tell anybody. word spreads pretty fast. we flew from camp david by helicopter to andrews air force base, where the dark helicopter drove into a hangar, in which air force one was being kept.

it was inside a hangar. we boarded the plane, then air force one took off from andrews, late at night, without any lights. we flew that eight or 10 hours to baghdad and landed there. just as we were landing, the iraqi prime minister was informed that they would be a videoconference, but president bush would be here in baghdad. and so, this photo here, is a photo of the president, and i am the guy at the end there. what you see on the screen is all the members of the u.s. cabinet being videoconference in from camp david.

it was a hugely successful meeting. a way in which the protected and confidential nature of camp david contributed to a very successful operation that could not have been done, but for the place at camp david. stewart, we talked about the camp david accords. talk about some of the other consequential historical events, meetings that happened, throughout history. >> winston churchill was the first international visitor with fdr. it was mrs. roosevelt wanting him to get the white house from her. they enjoyed fishing there and talking. they talked about the invasion of sicily, normandy, pretty consequential conversations. eisenhower had khrushchev to camp david.

eisenhower was the first american president to make use of helicopters for presidential travel. he spontaneously, the soviets did not want khrushchev on the helicopter, so i can asked directly in person, can i give you a tour? he said at the american president would get on, i can get onto. they did a tour of washington and then went to camp david and enjoyed a great time up there. khrushchev liked that american-made helicopter so much, talked eisenhower into letting him by two that he took back with him to the soviet union. another story is in. bereschnev did not know much about camp david. he went anyway. nixon, the party guy, he had the typical navy blue blazer fior b

bereschnev with the presidential seal. he had the keys to a brand-new navy blue lincoln continental car. brezhnev love cars. he told the passenger seat. nexen was used to driving curvy roads around camp david in a golf cart. nixon is in the passenger side, brezhnev is behind the wheel. they could on his curvy roads. he hits 50 miles an hour and the lincoln continental. you can see the richard nixon sitting over there, saying slowdown. he slammed the brakes around the curve. they come to a stop, and he says, fine automobile.

it holds the ground well. he likes that. the custom of american presidents giving automobiles ended with that campaign. that's a wonderful story of president brezhnev and the lincoln continental. >> josh tell us about your first visit. he used it to host the staff for weekend visits. and for more recreational getting away from the white house. >> i was a regular visitor during the last three years of the administration, when i was chief of staff as my predecessor and his wife had in the preceding five years. it wasn't common for people other than the chief of staff and national security advisor's, but the president and mrs. bush took the trouble to work

their way through most of the senior staff of the west wing and give them an opportunity to to come to camp david with their spouse because the ethos there was spread was that service and government and administration is a family affair. everybody is serving. it was a really important, not just a part, but a way of building a community that the reverend was talking about earlier. building that kind of community around the white house and the rest of the administration. there were two assistance to the president at the time. they were unmarried. it was me and ari fletcher. we didn't make the list very early. finally, we both got invited on

the same weekend. we concluded that this must be jewish singles weekend. [laughter] i was disappointed to find that it was just me and ari. [laughter] i imagine ari was disappointed too. it was a really important way to establish more of a personal relationship and, we didn't need camp to feel that way, but i think he contributed a lot to the family atmosphere that pervaded the white house staff through the entirety of the term. >> mike, you lived where with your wife and two daughters. that had to have been a

fascinating experience to raise children at camp david. what was that experience >> we are the only family that lives inside the camp. think about us everyday families, and transplant yourself to you and your children living inside a cabin at camp called cedar. quite extraordinary place with a modest house and great yard. your neighbors happen to be the president and cap marvin and all the others. you're still a family. it's a different dynamic. lots of highs and a few lows. great memories like you can see in this photo. >> you are not allowed to have pets there. >> my wife broke the rules. but for good reason.

i'm sure you will find this, comical that we have these rules. we are still a military organization to defend and protect the camp. one become a michelle and the girls were coming back from a fair. they had won some goldfish in the fair. they're sitting in the backseat of our car with little bags of goldfish and coming through the gate. the guard is telling them they can't bring pets in. the girls are catching on and tears are starting to roll. michelle is looking at them and she goes, well, they are for dinner. [laughter] i think the marine sentry said, yes-man, carry on. then they came. >> you have another great story

about when the palestinians were there, about being observant of dress and talking to your wife and daughters. >> we were always there to honor the president, his guest, and be respective of the cultural differences. rosebud was the cabinet across -- cabin across the cedar and they were palestinians there enjoying the peace summit. we briefed the girls on how to dress. summer months, july 2000. hot and rainy and sticky. don't exposed body parts and don't wait your bikini tops. very respectful. michelle kept the blinds at cedar. she went out to water her flowers one morning. across the way was rosebud with a bunch of mail palestinians in their bathrobes. that was it. she thought, that is strange. she runs back in and says, girls, let's play in the backyard.

it's that thing that you learn how to react and keep it low-key. that happens in your neighborhood everywhere you live. common thing. >> stewart, the president is in the only one who leaves an impact on camp david. tell us about the families and the marks they leave? >> not unlike at the white house, where the first family will leave their mark as a legacy, a way to be remembered in the white house. we had some wonderful project with mrs. bush and the lincoln bedroom, the greenroom, the library. at camp david, the same is true. the first lady will make some changes. eisenhower came into this fdr-truman military government issue and this would not do. the camp quickly became colored in eisenhower green and yellow and pink. she brought in a navy reserve decorator from california.

that's why cabins got their names after the trees. the aspen lodge was named after mrs. eisenhower's favorite tree in colorado. mrs. nixon was unheralded in the work and her legacy there. she transformed some of the french influence to the great american influence. she did quite a bit at camp david as well. they grew the facilities, and large the swimming pool. the other amenities have been added. eisenhower did the three hole golf course there. mrs. nixon did quite a bit. i love the things that mrs. bush did in bringing for the first time the directors of the presidential libraries to camp

david. all their bosses had spent time at this important place, but none of them had seen it. they were having lunch and understand the place. that was very important. another wonderful touch i loved was that she had pictures collected of all of the world leaders that her husband had met with as well is going back to fdr and put those in places around camp david. a special legacy piece, which you can take advantage of here in your store today is she had an artist from the national arboretum go with her around camp david and select certain foliage and memorialize those in extraordinary drawings. the originals are still at camp david and there are reproductions here. you can take him a piece of camp david here tonight. >> we heard, mike, we heard about the bushes and how they spent the holidays at camp david. between the two presidencies, there were 12 bush family

christmases. what was it like to be there and served during the holidays? >> you see the typical american family come together as family. it's wonderful to watch and know that you have a role in providing that call and serenity and that peaceful meal. the right decorations and provide the atmosphere. the goal was to serve the president's guests, so that when they leave, they are happy. to watch the bushes during christmas is for 12 years was a phenomenal thing to witness. >> we are close to being out of time. you all get to see a special sneak preview of our exhibits. not only does it cover camp david, but it also covers walker's point and the lbj ranch. you are among the first to see it. make sure you take time to walk across the courtyard and visit that tonight.

our bookstore is of a tonight. we have mike's book for sale. as well as the white househistorical association. please make sure to visit. we have some great things in the exhibit. we have got the original camp david sign. we have correspondence between fdr and churchill. we have a chainsaw for the president bush use. hopefully you have a few more at the ranch. i'm hoping it's not your only one. please take a visit there and please join me in thanking our great panelists tonight. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] must be nice to be a guest. well done.

♪ >> you are watching american history tv, 40 eight hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span 3. c-span us on twitter @ history for information on her schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. >> next, oberlin college professor talks about the role african-americans played in the civil war. she also talks about their attempts to become soldiers. this talk was part of a daylong conference hosted by the university of virginia's center for history. >> our next speaker is tamika nunley, a professor of history and comparative american studies at oberlin college.