i'm jay silveria.

i'm the executive director here of the bush school in washington, d.c. and i'm the person who has to herd the cats before we get started here tonight. so for those of you who haven't i'm jay. i'm the executive director here. i'm the person who has to herd the cats before we get started tonight. so, for those of you who have not been here, i will tell you where you are. you are at the bush school in washington, d.c. the washington school of government and public service. we prepare students for the noble calling of public service to our masters level programs in international policy and national security and intelligence studies. we opened our doors in january of '21 with the class of 12 in this fall we will welcome more than 100 students.

>> [ applause ] >> make no doubt, we aspire to change the world. it is going to take us a little while because we will do it one graduate at a time but that is what we are shooting for. tonight we have a special event. it is a special evening and in a lot of ways it feels like a reunion. returning to the bush school d.c. stage is a bush school advisory board member and author, jean becker. so. >> [ applause ] before we began, i would like to introduce a distinguished guest but the room is so full of them, honestly, that i would really only like to introduce one. we are honored to have so many of you that are with us but one that stands out tonight, i would like to have the room welcome judge honorable william webster former director of the cia and fbi. >> [ applause ]

>> thank you, sir. [ laughter ] we understand that judge webster is 100 years old. sir, thank you for your service and thank you for being here with us tonight. well, jean becker served as chief of staff to president george h.w. bush during his post-presidency years. she also served as deputy press secretary to the first lady barbara bush. she is a new york times best- selling author of the man i knew, the amazing story for george h.w. bush's post-presidency. tonight jean is here to discuss her latest book, character matters and other life lessons from george h.w. bush. this event really truly represents the unique strengths of the bush school here in washington, d.c. the location

in the nation's capital, the legacy of president bush and most important, our students. if those of you who would like to meet our students you can join them in class at 6:30 tonight right after the event but the students answer the noble calling of public service and contribute to their communities and country in so many ways. we would not be here tonight, however, and not experiencing a rapid growth and success without the vision and generosity of the diana davis spencer foundation. the students are part of the diana davis spencer program in national security on their way to make a tremendous impact. well, joining jean tonight on stage are three distinguished journalist who have also covered the 41st presidency. and compton was assigned to cover the white house for abc news in 1974. she traveled the globe with seven presidents from ford to obama. covered 10 presidential campaigns and served as president of the white house correspondents association. welcome. >> [ applause ] >> jean given, a former white

house correspondent for reuters news agency covers president carter to clinton and was named a panelist on the 1992 presidential debates. sir, thank you. peter is not hiding behind me. he is a retired cbs news white house correspondent who covered presidents carter through obama. a winner of numerous awards, he is a visiting fellow at the marlin fitzwater center at frank was -- franklin pierce you -- university. a few logistics reminders. this evening event is chatham house rules. take this opportunity to silence your phones, okay? [ laughter ] okay. we will take care of that. will someone get jean's phone? c-span will be here. you can tuck your phone away

and they will record the event appropriately for us together later. at the conclusion of the program, the reception will continue in the back for everyone. so, with that, jean, it is over to you. >> [ applause ] >> okay. let me start by saying this is probably no big shock but we are missing a panelist. that would be jamie. gosh, i wonder why she is so busy tonight. >> [ laughter ] >> has anyone here not seen the news? okay, you know. so, jamie had to pull out. she is on cnn right now. what an interesting night to talk about character matters. >> [ laughter ] >> was that naughty? oh. okay. but, so, that is exactly why from my open remarks i'm going to use my written notes because sometimes i go astray and can

be naughty. i'm going to start with how president bush felt about the bush school. texas a&m lobbied very hard for president bush's presidential library. they were competing with yale and houston and a bunch of other places but he wanted a school of public service. that was the deal. he did not want an institute or a foundation or center. as he once said to me, i don't want to reinvent the wheel, jean. there are enough institutions and foundations doing good work. he wanted a school of public service. as he said in many speeches about the school, public service is a noble calling and we need men and women of character to believe that they can make a difference in their communities, in their states, and in their countries. and the school has lived up to everything he was hoping it would be. the school was so important to him and he would be so proud. what happened to jake? there you are. he would be so proud of this

campus here and what you have done. he would be so happy with it. the quote i just read you is actually on a bust at the bush school at texas a&m. former dena bob gates once told president bush that the students began the habit of rubbing his nose, the nose on the bust, for good luck before major tests. to which president bush said, thank god it is only a bust. >> [ laughter ] >> i know, that's -- [ laughter ], somebody just got that. [ laughter ] i heard a delayed chuckle over here. okay, so, before we get to our panel, i just want to tell a quick story. a couple of experts -- excerpts from the book and then we will talk to the people behind me. this is a good story to tell

and washington, d.c. most of you all know who prince band r was. he was the ambassador from saudi arabia to the united states for 30 years. very close to president bush. in 2012 a woman named margaret tut weiler, a lot of you know her, this is like a reunion. margaret was the spokesperson at the state department all during the administration. margaret called me and said, have you heard the rumor that prince bandar has been assassinated by the syrians? i said to margaret, that is not typically the kind of gossip i hear. i have not heard that rumor. and she said he has not been seen for months. we think he is dead. do you mind calling your sources and finding out? well, this will not surprise judge webster, but what she wanted me to do was call the cia because of president bush's relationship, he was head of the cia, they always had an analyst assigned to him to answer his questions to keep

them abreast of what he needed to know. so, i called our then analyst. by the way, i did have classified clearance, i wanted to make sure you all knew that. because character does matter. oh dear. i called the cia and i asked her , what do you know? and she said, we have boots on the ground, we are checking it out, we think it is true. he has not been seen for months. we can't confirm. don't tell him for a couple of days. margaret calls me back the next day says it has just been reported by the french press that prince bandar is dead. you need to tell him because it's going to be on cnn in 30 minutes. you need to tell him now that bandar is been assassinated. so, i reluctantly told him.

it was tough news to tell him. he looked at me and he said, did you try to call bandar? no. that thought had not occurred to me. so, he said, let's try to get bandar on the phone. i'm like, okay. so, i holler in the window. we're sitting outside on a golf cart working and i holler in the window at his assistant, jim applebee, and said, jimmy, could you get prince bandar on the phone? jimmy hollers out the window, have you not told him? i said, yes, i have. he would like to call him. 10 seconds later jimmy appleby yelled out the window, prince bandar online one. >> [ laughter ] >> so, president bush picks up the phone. i remember this as if it were yesterday. bandar, george bush, hey, man, everybody thinks you're dead. are you dead or alive? he looked at me and he says he is alive. and i said, yes, i figure that out. and bandar tells president bush that the syrians are trying to kill him. he's in hiding.

i thought to myself you might want to get off your cell phone. he said i am in hiding, mr. president, they're not going to find me. don't worry about it. i will let you know that bandar is still alive and well. came to the funeral. but president bush got off the phone and he said you know what, jean, this is a very good life lesson for you. if there is ever any confusion, if someone is dead or alive, you call them. and if they answer the phone, they are alive. you know, he had a point. [ laughter ] so, about an hour later the cia called me back. i really hate telling this story in front of judge webster. the cia woman called me back and she said we are pretty sure he is dead. we have not confirmed it. go ahead and tell him that we think bandar is been assassinated. i took a deep breath, told her he was alive and with attitude she said , and you know that how? and i said president bush called him on his cell phone and he answered the phone to which she said oh, my god, we need to put that man back on payroll.

i love telling that story. it's a great story. this story is actually not in this book. i actually put that story in the book, i think i repeated it in this book, linda webster said i did. i put it back in here. manager wanted me to repeat it. but we learned so much from him by watching him, by listening to him, and this book was my editor's idea. he said, jean, we need to share with the world. you need to share with the world everything you learn from that man. you know, if any of you ever call anyone and ask if they are dead or alive, let me know. i've not done that yet. but what i did is i wrote a bunch of people, emailed a bunch of his friends, and i said do you have a story that you can tell about him that illustrates either his character or something you learn from him? i did not expect, this book was

supposed to be about half the size. i think there is 156 separate stories in here. there is about 10 of you in this room who are in this book. if you wrote an essay, can you stand up? evan, that includes you, evan. look at that. yeah. [ applause ] >> [ applause ] >> the stories are from everybody from john major to brian marini who wrote a great essay before he died to reva mcintyre and dana carvey to bill clinton and nancy pelosi. it is a very bipartisan book, to the young man who mowed the yard at walker's point. and everybody in between. so, before we go to the panel, i just want to read a couple of things to you tonight that really shows the character of this book and of this man. this first is oval awful address he gave after the

rodney king verdict in los angeles. i think most of your member rodney king was a black man who was beat up by white police officers. it was really the beginning of, you know, this terrible situation in our country and this is what he said to the nation after that. if we are to remain the most vibrant and hopeful nation on earth, we must allow our diversity to bring us together, not drive us apart. this must be the rallying cry of good and decent people. we must build a future where in every city across this country, empty range -- rage gives a way to hope where poverty and despair give way to opportunity. after peace is restored to los angeles we must then turn again to the underlying causes of such tragic events. we must keep on working to create a climate of understanding and tolerance, a

climate that refuses to accept racism, bigotry, anti-semitism, and hate of any kind, anywhere, and of any kind. tonight i ask all americans to lend their hearts, their voices, and their prayers to the healing of hatred. we need his voice more than ever. this is from joe straus, former speaker of the house in texas. standing on what he called the front porch of democracy to give his inaugural address on january 20th, 1999, president bush said i take as my guide the hope of a saint and crucial things unity, important things diversity, and all things generosity. in a present era where partisanship has risen and tribalism has spread, there is great impact in those three basic ideas. unity, diversity,

and generosity. too often the way to get ahead in politics is by appealing to someone's worst instincts, rather than their better angels. we have been conditioned to think that the path to power is through dividing and conquering . in contrast, president bush billed bipartisan coalitions around lasting achievements in the passage of the americans with disabilities act, to operation desert storm. i can think of no better remedy to the tribalism and our politics today than the words president bush spoken the approach he embodied. he knew how to tap into our common goodness, rather than trying to exploit our differences. decency and goodness transcend any construct of conservative versus liberal or red versus blue.

i'm going to go from that to his radio address to the nation after he lost the election in 1989 to bill clinton. it is short because i want to get to our great panel. this is what he said to the nation. somehow i managed to mark the wrong page. hold on. here it is. address to the nation november 7th, 1992. way back in 1945, winston churchill was defeated at the polls. he says i have been given the order of the boot. that is the exact same position in which i find myself today. i admit this is not the position i would have preferred but it is a judgment i honor. having known the sweet taste of

popular favor, i can more readily accept the sour taste of defeat. because it is seasoned for me by my deep devotion to the political system under which this nation has thrived for two centuries. ours is a nation that has shed the blood of war and cried the tears of depression. we have stretched the limits of human imagination and seen the technologically miraculous become almost mundane. always, always, our advantage has been our spirits, a constant confidence, a sense that in america the only things not yet accomplished are the things that have not yet been tried. president-elect clinton needs all americans to unite behind him so he can move our nation forward. more than that, he will need to draw upon this unique american spirit. there are no magic outside solutions to our problems. the real answers lie within us. we need more than a philosophy of entitlement. we need to all pitch in, lend a

hand, and do our part to help forge a brighter future for this country. with this spirit, we can realize the golden opportunities before us and make sure that our new day like every american day is filled with hope and promise. that is what he said to the nation when he lost the election. i'm not drawing any comparisons. i, before we talk to our panel, in honor of judge webster, so, the beginning of every chapter, i quote my favorite quote from that chapter. my apologies to all of you who did not get quoted at the beginning of your chapter. i'm so sorry. judge webster did and this is what he said. living lives with honor, honesty, loyalty, and integrity were paramount to barbara and president bush.

how to instill this back into our american discussion and life should be what drives each of us daily. thank you, sir. thank you. >> [ applause ] >> [ inaudible ] >> is this on? so, why are you people here? oh, yeah. i asked you to come. so, i'm so honored to have these three great journalists here tonight and we are going to go in alphabetical order and i have asked them to come and talk about covering george bush, knowing george bush, and i'm going to -- you brought your letter and i want you to talk about, as part of that, how many presidents did you cover? i want you to talk about if you got any letters from the rest of them. so, it is over to you.

>> only one president. >> your mike is not on. >> this is below your pay grade to come up and do that. thank you, jay. >> if any president wrote more letters than george herbert walker bush, it is news to me. not just because of me but because he was so famous for it. when jean asked for a contribution to the book, i said, well, i'm going to tell the story but i'm not going to tell it to you because i want you to buy the book. so, i'm going to tell you what happened after he sent me the letter. it was a moment of international crisis and he was coming off of marine one and face the press, we hadn't spoken to them yet and when i asked him a question, he barked at me, i can read, what is your

question? well, i was taken aback because he had certainly never spoken that way to me before. the next day, i get a letter, a letter of apology to the press. so, when i retired from abc news in 2014, brian lamb asked me to come over to c-span and talk about covering all of these presidents and at the end of the hour he said you've got an envelope here that you haven't explained. i said, well, this is a letter i got from president george herbert walker bush and i said that he had barked at me but then he had written me the most touching letter that i could ever imagine. about a month later, i get another letter, this one from kenny bunk port. i'm stationary with the house with the pines on it. dear and, now, about that bark. i am horrified.

are you sure it wasn't just a little yelp? in any case, have you forgiven me, dear ann? this is not one but two letters from the president of the united states. but george bush is the only president of the united states that i ever emailed and got a response. >> [ laughter ] >> thanks to his chief of staff. i am with my husband bill hughes at his college reunion and we are sitting in the old dining hall at yale that looks like hogwarts and across the ceiling, big, old, dark oil portraits of all the famous men of yale except for one that

just looks so out of place. it was bright in color. there was a man standing there in a pale gray suit standing in front of a brilliant white building with columns. so, i pull out my cell phone in the commons and i said, dear mr. president, i am looking at your portrait here at yale. you are smiling down from the portrait high on the wall, the youngest smile in the hall. i am in the dining room of the commons with my husband. yes, even white house correspondence get to go to old reunions. bucky bush is registered but i haven't seen him. he was in the same class as my husband. our dear friend couldn't make it as expected. i think of you often as i come for the white house in the 21st century and men remember fondly your many correspondences. dear ann, the next day. it is wonderful hearing from

you. i like the youngest part the best. all is well. and this is what i love about this letter. it is not about portraits and history. all is well by the sea. tomorrow is bpb's 85th birthday. big day in her life. i'm giving her a small surprise party tomorrow night at one of our favorite restaurants. i was assuming it was mabel's, but i don't know. otherwise, -- >> he invited 150 people but that is another story. >> a small surprise party. that is good to know. it was not at mabel's though. >> even prince bandar came. >> was yet that -- >> he was alive. >> the president continues, otherwise, all is quiet at walker's point. the kids and the grandkids will start arriving soon and then it will no longer be quiet. mainly, i will sit and watch

the chaos. we rarely go out anymore and live a very happy, contented life. we watch a lot of lawn order. -- law and order. i still go out on my boat. i sit and watch the sea and count our blessings. among them is having many friends like you. thanks for checking in, signed george bush, the old guy. thank you. >> [ laughter ] >> [ applause ] >> he -- before, before we go to jean, he loved email. he was obsessed with email. and i'm so delighted that ann is here tonight. he was one of his best friends , time magazine covered the presidency forever from truman through clint, i think. one of my favorite letters in

the book is a letter he wrote hue. they had a wonderful correspondence about the day that we had to shut down the email because we had a virus and you would have thought the man had died. be sure to read the letter. it gave me an excuse. i love looking at this row over here. jean gibbons, you are on. >> before i begin, let me elaborate a little bit on who i am. a few years ago jean becker arranged for my wife and me to sit down on a talk john meacham was giving at the price of light foundation. jean introduced john but before she yield the floor she introduced becky and me. so, the folks who know who the visitors were, gilding the lily big time, she described to me as president bush's favorite member of the white house press

corps. >> [ laughter ] >> meacham steps to the podium, looks at me and says, bushes favorite member of the white house press corps, that is kind of like being the best restaurant in the hospital. >> [ laughter ] >> so, i am the hospital guy. i first met president bush when he was the newly appointed chairman of the republican national committee. i was covering congress then and pete who was new on the hill invited me and a couple of other congressional reporters to come over to the rnc one afternoon for an off the record get acquainted session with the new chairman. i liked bush from the get-go. that impression has stuck with me ever since. i've never understood the disconnect between the public perception of bush as some sort of aloof aristocrat and the person we all know.

i think bush was the least pretentious, most approachable public figure i probably ever encountered. little things i think mark the measure of a man, during bush's presidency i was on the board of the white house correspondents association and as such got to attend the association dinner every year. one year, i was sitting next to paula poundstone, the comedian who was an entertainer, well, paul or later made a lot of inappropriate jokes and some are crudely insulting the president was sitting right there. there wasn't much laughter during her presentation and only a scattering of applause when she sat down.

she was nearly in tears. bush saw what was going on, grabbed his place card, scribbled a note on it and passed it to miss poundstone. i sought when she read it. this is a tough crowd. don't let it bother you, he said. words to that effect. never mind the insulting jokes in her routine, he saw that the woman was humiliated and embarrassed and reached out to try to make her feel better about herself. i will always love bush for what i wrote about in the book, two or three days in 2012, my wife lynn died unexpectedly. she wasn't sick. she turns 65 only a few days previously. went to bed one night and never woke up. the bottom fell out of my world. two or three days later, i got a call from a former president of the united states, george bush was on the phone calling to express his sympathy. he was 88 years old and time

was his most presses possession but he used 15 or 20 minutes of it to talk to me to try and comfort me. he could have had the staff drop a letter of condolence and sent it on out. i would've been grateful. that would have sufficed. but bush went the extra mile and it meant so much to me then, it still means a lot to me now. there is a sequel to this story. a few years after lynn died, i met a wonderful widowed lady from south carolina. we started dating and at one point i took her to my favorite place in all the world, maine. during our stay, we had the privilege of visiting president and misses bush thanks to jean. and at one point during the

conversation i said to him, mr. president, i think about asking this young lady to marry me and i need a character reference. can you help me out? >> [ laughter ] >> bush said gene is a good guy, go for it. i propose the next day. she said yes. i think president bush had a lot to do with that. jean? >> thank you. before i turn this over to peter , mainly because jamie is not here, we are going to have time for q&a. so, i want you all to be thinking because i can see kelly has a question. if you don't ask questions, i'm just going to get up and read more from the book and you don't want that. so, be thinking about your questions.

peter, you are out. >> well, jean, thank you for the honor of being here. most of all for this book. what a joy it was as ann and gene have mentioned, what a joy it was to watch your devotion to president and misses bush over the many years that we have all known you. every page of this book reminds us of the character of george h.w. bush and this is , as political as this old objective reporter will get tonight, just to say that character does matter and character is going to be on the ballot in every election up and down the line all the way up to the top in november, for sure. the true character of candidates is always on the ballot. through the years, as my colleagues have said, poignant and very funny moments with president bush. there are several that stand out to me and i will be as quick as i can, gene. the prime example of his

approach to managing forsan -- foreign policy crisis. the fall of the berlin wall, i was privileged to be on the white house pool that day for those of you not familiar, a small group of reporters represents everyone else and we were in the oval office and as we enter the oval office, with pictures flashing from all over -- to all over the world from the wall being chiseled down and people from east germany coming across there was the president of the united states just sitting in his chair behind the desk in the oval office seemingly very relaxed. he was understated in his comments and as the q&a started after he made a brief introduction of his own thoughts , i asked him, is this the end of the iron curtain, sir? i went back to my notes in the transcript and he said, quote, i don't think any single event

is the end of what you might call the iron curtain but, clearly, this is a long way from the harshest iron curtain days, a step towards a europe it is whole and free. it was clear to me immediately that president bush, probably one of the best foreign policy experts to ever live in the white house, to serve as president of the united states given all of his previous work as a cia director, member of congress, ambassador at the united nations, he was not about to thump his chest in the face of gorbachev that day. he almost offhandedly said, we are trying not to give anybody a hard time. well, when another reporter will remain on identify as leslie pointed out, mr. president, you don't seem elated and president bush famously said, i am elated, just not an emotional kind of guy.

i know that some reporters hope for the quote of the day and the sound bite and in one of the other entrees that jean provided, my wife elizabeth and i visited president bush months before he left us and i mentioned all of this to him and i said, you know, sir, that the day that the berlin wall fell down i have to admit, you know, i was hoping for a punchier quote from you. but i know that you did not want to rub this thing in the nose of the soviets and he acknowledged that. he said, you are absolutely right. i think in the bush vernacular, he knew it would not be prudent. >> [ laughter ] >> so, that is what happened the day the wall came down. i have a whole collection of what are you doing here stories about president bush. you are wondering where this is going.

i will tell you in quick succession, in 1988, after he was president-elect, before he took the oath he went to an aisle in the florida keys where one of his favorite sports, do you remember what it was? bone fishing. the elusive bonefish that he would go after and he looked up at the dock and he saw standing there, what are you guys doing here? well, we are covering you, sir. there was someone from great britain who was standing there and he said, well, where you folks from? we are from london, sir. he said in a quote that reporters uttered for years to come, you think margaret thatcher would like some of this bone fishing action? >> [ laughter ] >> in the run-up to the gulf war he traveled to the desert of saudi arabia and i was on

that trip and he had thanksgiving lunch with the troops in the desert and then we found ourselves chop ring out to a ship in the persian gulf and somehow, with this life jacket on and all i was shoved right into the face of the president of the united states and he looked at me and said, what are you doing here? >> [ laughter ] >> and am one of the many trips to kennebunkport which everyone in the white house press corps really enjoyed so much my wife and kids and i were standing on a dock and i didn't know he was on the way there but one of his favorite lobster places where he picked up lobster and he rolled up in the boat and he looked up and he said what are you doing here? [ laughter ] >> peter, you talked about his foreign-policy expertise, there was an article in atlantic magazine several years ago which described bush as one of

the three great modern foreign- policy presidents. the others being franklin roosevelt and dwight eisenhower. so, i stopped in to see him and i brought a copy of the magazine with me and i asked him if he had seen it and he said, no, he had heard about it but he had not seen it. i said, well, i have a copy for you here. he looked at it and asked me about the author and then he shook his head and he said, you know, this is very flattering but i'm just not in the same league with roosevelt and eisenhower. you know, i can't imagine some recent people making any kind of a comment like that. >> after he left office, cbs sent me to houston to interview him on the 25th anniversary of one of the toughest days in history, the day of the assassination attempt on president reagan and i interviewed him in his office in houston and he said to me,

you mind if i read from my diary ? well, you know, of course, that would be wonderful. roll the tape. and, so, he read from his diary the notes that he took that day and they were just short bursts of very poignant words and he said, and i'm paraphrasing, he said, dear friend shot. praying for him. have to return to washington. and we all remember when he returned to washington, it was suggested that the most expeditious thing would be for him to land on the south lawn and he refused to do that because of the symbolism that it would show. i recently told jean the story that after the interview is finished, he typically was concerned about me or whoever he was with and he said, well, where you going? what are you

doing the rest of the day in houston? i said as a matter of fact, i'm going to texas a&m. i'm going to go to your library. i'm going to meet ambassador roman who was the director then. and he said, well, you will need directions. and i said, well, back then the big thing was mapquest and i said, no, sir, i did a mapquest. i take highway such and such down to college station and i turn on barbara bush drive and george bush boulevard and he looked at me and he said you must have one of those cpus. >> [ laughter ] >> so, like i was saying, so many of my favorite moments were after he left office. another one happened in texas a&m when president obama -- >> okay, they need to calm down. for those of you who are an aggie, do it again. you know, that's what they do at a and them. you will get used to it. >> well, again, thanks to jean,

she told him i was going to be there with president obama and he said tell him to drop by. someone sent word. i was just going to say hello. they said bring your recording device. so, they escorted me up to the apartment that they had above the library and beautiful place and took me outside and lo and behold, there was president and misses bush sitting on the patio. i said, you know, i have my recorder. i would like to talk to you, if i could. they said, of course. i asked mrs. bush about her literacy program. talk to president bush a little bit about what he had been doing and this is where i got in trouble with jean when she found out about this later, i said to him, you know, well, you must be pleased that president obama came here to honor you for the 20th anniversary of the points of light program. he said oh, yes. i said, you know, what do you think about the heat that he is

taking from certain conservative talk show host? he made a couple of comments about that and then he said but, you know, he says, george w, i don't know you for if you referred to his son is george w that he said he really took a lot of heat and i'm not going to mention any names, he says, but i have got to tell you, that rachel maddow and keith are a couple of sick puppies. >> okay. on that note i'm going to cut you off. [ laughter ] before you drop more names. >> just one quick. so, mrs. bush says, george, you just mentioned some names. >> before, i think jay is coming back out here, i was reminded today, president

bush, his humility. he was famous for his humility. i was reminded today that john meacham was one of his eula just at the cathedral and john asked me, he really wanted to read the eulogy he wrote to president bush before he died because he wanted him to hear it and he said what you think and i said i think it is a great idea. so, john came to see him and he read the eulogy to president bush and you are going to swear i'm making this up, he said to john, well, that is good. that is very good. it is a little too much about me. >> [ laughter ] >> and john looked at me like, what do i do with that? he said, well, mr. president, it is the eulogy i am giving at your funeral. it is supposed to be about you. he says, i don't know. it may be a bit much. [ laughter ] so, jay, you're the boss here.

>> to have time to open it up for some question and answer? >> q&a? okay. >> there's a few people with microphones. i will give you one so that everybody can -- >> thank you, jay. i have to say these four people up on this podium greatly inspired me to go into communications after i left the white house because i think i worked with the bat white house press corps. >> tell everyone what you did at the white house. >> i was, and i will brag a little, i was the only female full-time press advance person for president bush all four years. >> [ applause ] >> and those are the days when they said we pay you so you stand the road. i came home back to my parents house in alexandria, virginia about three nights a month. i went from city to city to city. in these four people very much inspired me after we lost to where i saw a lot of things that changed me as a young adult and went on to go into

communications. i have to ask you all, all of you, what do you -- how do you see reporting today versus the way i watched you all report and i know the way you used to report and brit hume's and judy keenes and the people who really taught me how to be a thoughtful communicator. i would love to hear your thoughts on what you think of reporting today. >> i'm probably a grumpy old man at this point but i find myself swearing at the media about three times a day. i think that it has become much more superficial, focused on celebrity rather than policy. i haven't canceled my newspaper subscriptions yet but i come close to it about once a week. >> ann, what do you think? >> it is true that the way

americans get their news now is so dramatically different in the digital age. it is never going back. it is shorter form. it is quicker. it is in our hands. in our pockets. there is not that sense of a unified flow of news from reliable news sources but what has not changed is what our job always was and i hope still is now for the future generations. to look candidly and fairly at those who hold the public trust, to hold them to account, and to accurately report what the leaders are doing who have control of our nation and let the american people decide whether that is what they voted into office. >> i think a real tragedy, though, is the invention of the

24/7 new cycle. i think that it puts a very short fuse on government decision-making and i think if we had that during the cuban missile crisis, you know, i hate to think what might've happened. >> kelly, i will only briefly say because, like you, i know we want to hear as many questions as we can, i always say, to bounce off what my colleagues have said i feel that breaking news is too often broken news. the rush, the content breathless reporting without facts, without exactly what is going on, without quotes to back it all up. it is just broken too often broken. >> and i fear one thing more. what does an era going forward with the effect of artificial intelligence mean? for all of us?

>> i also mourned the loss of open newspapers all over the country. >> yes. >> my little hometown in illinois, paper has been gone for years. nobody is holding the city council and school board feet to the fire and all over the country it is the same thing and it is very sad. >> somebody over here? >> thank you. i'm ralph. hi. my question has to do with any thoughts or impressions that president bush may have shared about engaging with the people's republic of china during his presidency, engaging vis-@-vis with crime just government versus helping the chinese people move out of poverty and into the middle class and engaging in the 21st century. >> are you all looking at me? >> before you answer, please raise your hand and someone will bring you a microphone so that we can get a next question in the queue, please. >> i think of george bush and

barbara bush writing their pigeon chinese bicycles. brought them back to the united states. he was the ambassador to china when it was still a liaison office and i think he had a unique approach because he saw china at a ground level, a human level and that is incredibly important for someone who then later became president of the united states. >> hi. i wanted to add something to this. i'm not qualified to answer that question but sitting -- seeing that a lot of white house staff is here, jim, i'm giving you a chance to say something. you have to come and use my microphone. i think it would be interesting. tell everybody who you are and why you need to answer this question. >> deputy of chief of staff and the first few years of president bush's term. i think president bush had a

love for china but i also think he knew that the relationship was just beginning and i think he worked very hard to put it on a positive track going forward. a terrible set back to that and it could've led to a severance of relations and he was very careful not to let that happen. he sent brent over there privately to talk to convey his views but he worked very hard to try to forge and sustain a relationship between our two countries and i think, you know, having said that, he definitely was not supportive of communist systems but he had a faith in the chinese people, as mentioned, that that wouldn't necessarily last and i think he

would be very sad today to see relations, you know, on the track they are on, quite us honestly. but i think he worked very, very hard to keep u.s. chinese relationships on a positive track going forward in hopes that it would lead to better things for both countries. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> anybody else? oh. >> go ahead. >> hi, professor from the australian national university. i just want to say, great to be here. great to honor the man, president george h.w. bush. greatly admired bipartisan bases in australia. his legacy is profound. so, real great honor for me to be here. i'm wondering though, just reflecting on what the panel had to say a moment ago about the problem in the media today, what he might say we should do, what can we do? and what do you think we can do

to check the chaos that we are facing? thank you. >> check the chaos, are you talking about in the media? chaos in the media. that is the three of you. [ laughter ] you are not the chaos. you are to answer the question. >> are you referring to the media or the chaos in the nation in the world? >> the chaos that the media is amplifying and that is part of the problem with misinformation, disinformation, and he made the point, the failure to be able to objectively reflect on the facts and the figures and the quotes and do the double checking on the cooperating and allowing false rumors to be perpetuated as truth. >> i have the impression, and it's just, you know, as a user of the media, that there is not

enough caribbean taken to make sure that a lot of disinformation is not getting into the american information bloodstream. i saw an example when i was still working, and the first presidential election when barack obama was involved and i got an email one time and it purported to be a column written by maureen dowell. it was framed with the new york times framing. it looks like it came right out of the newspaper. it said obama had been receiving money from the saudi's and other arab governments and all of it purportedly illegal. and i took it home that night and i showed it to my wife and she was a big obama supporter and she said well, this is very disturbing. you know, this bothers me.

i said, well, it would be disturbing if it were true. i knew maureen's wedding style -- writing style and i knew it was not her voice. so, i checked that she had written on the day this column supposedly appeared but she had not written that story. i called the new york times and i said, hey, you know, this is going out to a lot of people and i never know of them doing anything about it. i think it happens a lot and i don't think the media is careful enough and making sure that what they're dealing with his factual information and not disinformation. >> may i? thank you. my name is dr. alexander. i had one encounter with president hw bush in houston, texas.

we were at a tennis tournament together. >> you did what? >> i had one encounter with president george h.w. bush in houston, texas where i was in florida. i knew jeb very well. i was invited to this tenderness -- tennis tournament and i was told i was to meet someone very special and it was the president. i was sitting on a very hot day watching and, oh, my goodness, andy roddick played tennis and he had a bottle of water and i did not have water at the time and he said to me, he said he knew who i was i said how do you know who i am? he said debbie talks about you all the time. he said where's your water? i said i drink it already. he gave me his water half drank and i took a sip and give it back and he finished it.

when i heard you talk about humility i said, you know, if ever i wanted a second dad, i got one. so, thank you for tonight. this was absolutely brilliant because here i am in a humble position running for congress and i am asked why are you are republican and i said, well, i'm a conservative because of margaret thatcher. she is my role model. when you meet someone like the bush's , you can't help but be a republican. so, thank you. >> thank you very much. thank you. >> [ applause ] >> thank you for sharing that. i love the beginning part of her story. one of president bush's best friends in houston, mattress mac. yes, he sells mattresses. but they were very good friends. [ laughter ] do we have time? i know, jay, the students have to go to class. >> we have time for one more question, please. >> can i throw in one real quick? >> you might run whatever you want. >> most of us saw, the last of us -- in that beautiful,

beautiful ceremony, i had never been invited to a presidential state funeral before and when we came in i happened to be standing with a couple of others, smith and others, from abc news, and on the bus in their there were four young men who were wearing, kind of, you know, plaid shirts and corduroy jackets and they're looking around and walking the cathedral that looked like this. they looked like they were really just, kind of, amazed to be in all of this. and i said to them, hi, how do you know the bush's? and they said, well, mike and brad and caleb, they were his caretakers in kennebunkport. and i got the names wrong. >> you got some of them correct. >> remembered caleb. i want you to know that here

i'm standing with the mayor of washington and some of the most elite secret service leaders but these four were greeted and led down to sit with the family and you have my respect and exactly the kind of graciousness that i recall from george herbert walker bush is bringing you up. you who had cared for him and those lacks weeks and hours sitting right up there as a member of his family. >> i, you know, i have been wanting to introduce evan all night but i knew he would kill me. evan sisley, please stand up. >> [ applause ] >> ea. evan was president bush's last personal aide. he also, evan, somebody give him a microphone. just tell them a little bit about you served in afghanistan with the marines. he just got his white coat. stand up and tell us a little bit about yourself..

>> i don't have much to say other than what you covered. this was really a wonderful program. >> no, we want to talk about you. i'm telling you that president bush lived two years longer than he would have if evan weren't at his side. i do have to tell you my favorite story. evan is getting, he's going to be a physicians assistant. he's going to be a p.a. he thought about becoming a doctor. and he decided he wanted to do something more hands-on and become a p.a. i was there the day he told president bush he was going to go to medical school to which george herbert walker bush says it's just a credit to president bush, anyone who worked for him, serve their

community, serve their country, surrounded by people that he promoted, and given the opportunity. think i know a couple had questions. with apologies, we need to stay on a schedule. notably, the students in the room, also need to get to class. the faculty demand they get to class on time. let me thank all of you for being here. i would like to give you a small token. 2020, the u.s. began minting president george herbert walker bush dollar coins. we would like to give all of you a coin of thanks, for eating with us here tonight. thank you very much. thank you very much.

absolutely. >> i have one. >> thank all of you for being here. we have lots of speakers over time. nothing as special as jean in this panel. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> [ applause ]. >> if you are enjoying american history tv, sign up for a weekly newsletter, upcoming programs like american artifacts, the presidency, and more. sign up for the newsletter today, and be sure to watch american history tv every weekend, or anytime online. cspan .org/history. >> nonfiction book lovers, cspan, has the podcast for

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