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 been here, i'll tell you where you are. you're at the bush school of marsh in washington, d.c. the bush school of government and public service. we prepare students for the noble calling a public service through our master's level programs in international policy and national security and intelligence studies. we our doors. in january of 21 with a class of 12 and this fall we will welcome more than a hundred students. make no doubt we aspire to change the world. it's going to take us a little while because we'll do it. one graduate at a time, but

that's what we're shooting for. but tonight we have a special event. it's a special evening. in a lot of ways, it feels like a reunion. returning to the bush school, d.c. stage is a bush school advisory member and author jean becker. so. but before begin, i'd like to introduce distinguished guests. but the room is so full of them, honestly that i'd really like to introduce one. we're honored to have so many of you are with us, but one that stands out tonight. i'd like to have the room. welcome, judge. honorable william webster, former director of the cia and fbi. thank you, sir. well, we understand that judge webster is, 100 years old, sir. thank you for your service.

and thank you for being here tonight with us, sir. 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 to the first lady, barbara bush. gene, is the new york times best selling author of the man i knew the amazing story george h.w. bush's post presidency. tonight, gene. here to discuss her latest book, character matters and other life lessons from george h.w. bush. this event really, truly represents unique strengths of the bush school here in d.c. our location in the nation's capital, the legacy president bush and most important students. if those of you would like to meet our students, you can join them in class at 30 tonight right after the event. but these 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 our rapid growth and success without the vision and generosity of the diana davis spencer foundation. these students are of the diana davis spencer program in national security on their way to make a tremendous impact. well, joining gene tonight stage are three distinguished journalist who have also covered the 41st presidents. see ann compton was assigned to cover the white house for abc news in 1974. she traveled the globe with seven presidents from ford. obama cover ten presidential campaigns and served as president of the white house correspondents association. welcome. gene. given a former white house correspondent for reuters news agency covered presidents carter through clinton and was also named a panelist on the 1992 presidential debates.

sir, thank you. peter mares not hiding behind is a retired cbs news white house correspondent who covered presidents carter through obama a winner of numerous awards. he's a visiting fellow on the presidency press at the marlin fitzwater center for communication at franklin pierce university. sir, welcome. a few logistics or reminders for tonight this evening event is very much chatham house rules take this opportunity to silence your phones. okay. okay. we will take care of that for someone. please get jean's phone. c-span will be here. so you can tuck your phone away. they will record the event appropriately. us to gather later at the conclusion of the program. the reception will continue in the for everyone. so with that jean it's over to

you. okay. let start by saying this is probably no big shock, but we're missing a panelist that would be jamie gangel. gosh, i wonder why she's so busy tonight. has anyone here not seen news? okay. you know, so jamie had to pull out. she's on cnn right now. and what an interesting night to talk about character matters matters. was that naughty? okay. i but you said that's exactly why from my opening remarks, i'm going to use my written notes because. i sometimes i go astray and. can be naughty. i will start with how president bush felt about the bush school texas a&m lobby. very hard for president bush's presidential library.

they were competing with yale and houston and bunch of other places, but he wanted a school of public service. that was the deal. he didn't want an institute or a foundation or a center, as he once said to me. i don't want to reinvent the wheel jane. 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 character to believe that they can make 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 jay? i'm here. oh, there you are. he would be so proud of this campus here and what you've done, jay. he would be so happy with it. the quote i just read you is actually on a bus. at the bus school, at a&m.

farmer dean, bob gates once told president bush that the students began the habit of rubbing his nose. the bus, the nose on the bus for good luck before major tests to which president bush said, thank god it's only a bus. i know that's. somebody just got that. yeah, i heard a delayed chuckle over here. okay, so before we get to our panel, i just want to tell a quick story. do couple excerpts from the book and then we'll talk to these three great people behind me. so this is particularly a good story to tell in washington, d.c. most of you all know who prince bandar was. prince bandar was, the ambassador from saudi arabia to the united states for 30 years. very, very close to president bush. and in 2012, a woman named margaret tutwiler. a lot of you know her.

this is a reunion. margaret was james baker's spokesperson at the state all during 41 as administrator. margaret called me and said, have you heard the rumor that prince bandar has been assassinated by the syrians? and i said to margaret, that's not typically the kind of gossip i hear. i've not heard that rumor. and she said he's not been seen for months. we think he's dead. do you mind calling your sources and finding out? well, we're not surprised, judge, but she wanted me to do what's called the cia because as a president bush is relationship he was head of the cia. they always had an analyst assigned to him to answer his questions, to keep him abreast of. he needed to know. so i called are then analysts. by the way, i did have classified clearance i did want to make that make sure you all knew that. because character does matter anyway.

i called i. oh, dear. i called the cia and i asked her what do you know? and she said, we have boots on the ground. we're checking it out. we think it's true. he hasn't been seen for months. we can't confirm. don't tell him for a couple days. margaret calls me back the next day, says it's just been by the french press that. 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 has been assassinated. so we're in kennebunkport. i reluctantly told him it was tough news to tell him. and he looked at me and he said, 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. and his assistant, jim appleby,

and said, jimmy, could you get prince bandar on the phone? and jimmy hollers out the window, you not told him? i said yes, i have. he would like to call him. and 10 seconds later, jimmy appleby yelled out the window. prince bandar on line one. 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? uh huh. uh huh. and they looked at me and he says, he's alive. and said, yes. i figured that out. and he. bandar tells president bush that the syrians are trying kill him. he's in hiding. i did think to myself, you might want to get off your cell phone. but he said, i'm in hiding, mr. president. they're not going to me. don't worry about it. i will let you know that bandar still and well. he came to the. but president bush got off the. and he said watching this is a very life lesson for you.

if there's ever any confusion, if someone's dead or alive, you call them. and if they answer the phone they're alive. you know, he had a. we live about an hour later. the cia called me back. i really hate telling the story front of judge webster. the cia called me back and she said we're pretty sure he's dead. we haven't confirmed it. go ahead. tell them that we think bandar has been assassinated. so took a deep breath, told her he was alive and with attitude. she said. and you know that al. and i said, president bush called him on a cell phone and he on 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. i actually the story is actually not in this book. i actually put that story in the

book. i think i put it actually. i think i repeated in this book get linda webster says i did. i it back in here because i said to my wanted me to repeat it. but we learned so much from him by watching by listening to him. and i it was this book was my this book was my editor's idea. he said, gene, we need to share with the world. you need to share with the world. everything you learn from that man. i you know, i don't if any of you ever call anyone asking they're dead or alive, please let me know. i've not done that yet. but what i did is i wrote a bunch of people emails, a bunch of his friends and. i said, do you have a story that you can tell him that illustrates either his character or something you learned from him? and i did not expect this book was to be about half the size. i think there's 156 separate stories in here. there's about ten of you in this room are in this book. if you're if you an essay, can

you stand up? evan devin, could you look at that? yeah. the stories are from everybody from john major to brian mulroney, who wrote a great essay before he died to reba mcentire and dana carvey to bill clinton and nancy pelosi. it's a very book to the young man who mowed the yard at walker's point and and everybody in between and so before we go to the panel, i just want to a couple of things to you tonight that really shows the character of this book and of this man. this first is oval office. he gave after the rodney king verdict in los angeles. i think most of you remember, rodney king was a black man who, was beat up by white police officers. it was really the beginning of,

you know, the 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 of good and decent people. we must build a future where in every city across country, empty rage gives way to hope, where poverty and despair give way to opportunity. after peace is restored. los angeles. we must then turn again to the causes of such tragic. 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 prayers to the healing of hatred we need. his more than ever. this is from joe strauss, former speaker of the house in texas, standing on what he called the front porch of democracy. to give his inaugural on january 20th, 1989, president bush, i take as my guide the hope of a saint and crucial unity, an important things, diversity and all things generosity and a present era. when partizanship has risen and tribalism has spread. there is great impact. those three basic ideas of unity, diversity, 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 built bipartisan coalitions around lasting achievements from the passage of the americans with act to operation desert storm. i can of no better remedy to tribalism and our politics today than the words president bush spoke and the approach he embody. he knew how tap into our common 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 to the nation after lost the election in 1989 to bill

clinton. it's short because i want to get to our great panel. this is what he said. the nation and i managed to mark the wrong page. hold on a here it is. radio to the nation, november 7th, 1992. way back in 1945, winston churchill defeated at the polls. he said, i have been given the order of the boot. that is exact same position in which i find myself. i admit this, is not the position i would have preferred, but it is a judgment i honor. having known sweet tastes of popular favor. i can more readily accept the sour taste of defeat because it is seasoned for me by my deep devotion to political system under this nation has thrived for 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 and seen the tetanus logically miraculous become almost always. always. our advantage has been our spirit. a constant confidence and 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. but more than that, he will need to draw this unique american spirit. there are no magic outside solutions to our problems. the real answers lie within us. we need more than a full wassa of entitlement. we need to all pitch in. lend a hand. and do our part to help forge brighter future for this country. with this spirit, we can rely.

realize the golden opportunities us. and make sure that our new day. like every america day, is filled with hope and promise. that's what he said to the nation when he lost the. i'm not drawing any comparisons. i say, before we talk to our panel. in honor of judge webster. so the beginning of every chapter i quote my quote from that chapter. my apologies. all of you who did not get quoted at the beginning of your chapter. i'm so sorry. but judge webster did and this is what he said, living lies 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. you need your notes? yeah. i'm turning this. is this on? yeah. so why are you people here? oh, yeah. i asked. i asked you to come. so i'm so honored to have these three great journalists tonight. and we're going to go and order. and just want. i have asked them to come and talk about covering george. knowing george bush. and i'm going to and. i brought you brought your ladder. i want you to talk about as part of that. how many presidents did you cover? seven. i want you to talk about if you got any letters from the rest of them. so it's over to you. only one president can make someone. oh. this is your pay grade to come

up and do that. thank you, jay. i was seven presidents and any president wrote more letters. and george george herbert walker bush, it seems to me, because he was so famous for it when you asked him to how to tell this story, not to tell you. you should buy the book. so i'm to tell you what happened after he sent the letter. it was a moment of international crisis. and he was coming off of marine and faced the press. we hadn't spoken to him yet. and when i asked him a question barked at me. i can read what your question. well, i was taken aback because he had certainly never spoken way to me before. the next day i get a letter of 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 sit down for an hour to talk about covering all these presidents. and at the end of the hour, he said, got an envelope here that you haven't explained. i said, well, this is the letter i got from president george herbert walker bush. and i said that he had barked me, but that he had then written me the most touching that i could ever imagine about month later, i got another this one from kennebunkport. i'm stationary with the house in the pines on it, dear. and now, about bark. i'm horrified. are you sure it wasn't just a little yelp? in any case, have you, me, dear and so this is not to letters

from the president united states, but george bush is the only president of the united states that i ever emailed and got a response once. thanks. his chief of staff. i am with husband bill hughes at his reunion and we are sitting in the dining, old dining at yale that looks like hogwarts. and across the ceiling in all of us are big old dark oil portraits of all the famous of yale, except one that just looks so out of place. it was bright and colored. there was a man standing there in a pale gray suit in front of a brilliant white building with columns. so pulled out my cell phone in the comments, and i said, you, you, dear mr. president i am

looking at your portrait here at yale. you smiling down from the portrait high on the wall. the youngest in the hall. i'm in the dining. in the dining room of the commons with my husband. yes. even white correspondents are get to go to old reunions. a buckie bush is registered, but haven't seen him. he was in the same class as my. our dear french chris buckley couldn't make it to speak. his father's class of 50. as expected. i think of you often as i cover the white house in the 21st century and remember fondly your many kindnesses. and a sign at ann compton who has never emailed a president. dear and. the next day. it is wonderful from you. i'd like the youngest the best. all is well. and this what i love about this. this letter. it's not about portraits and

history. all is well by the sea. tomorrow is, bp's 85th birthday, big day in her life. i am 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, this. this. i'd like other white 150 people. but that's story. a small surprise party. that's good to know. it was not at mabel's. even prince bandar. anyway, go ahead. was no doubt that he was alive. the president. otherwise, all quiet at walker's point. the kids and the grandkids will start arriving soon. and then will no longer be quiet. mainly, i will sit. and watch the chaos. we rarely go out anymore and live a very happy content life. we watch a lot of 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. signed. george bush, the old guy. thank you. he he. before before we go to gene. he loved email. he was obsessed with email. and i am delighted that inside he is here tonight. and a lot of the sidey family. hugh sidey was one of his best friends and. b the former time magazine covered the presidency forever, i think, from truman to through clinton. i think one of my favorite letters in the book is a letter he wrote. hugh sidey. they had a wonderful correspondence about the day that we had to shut down the email because had a virus.

and you would have thought the man died. but be sure and, read the letter and i'm glad he gave me excuse to. i love that. i love looking at this roadsides over here, gene gibbons and you're on over before i began. let me a little on who i. a few years ago. jean becker arranged for my wife and me to down on a talk. jon meacham was giving at a meeting of the points light foundation. gene introduced jon, but before she yielded the floor she introduced becky and me so the folks would know the visitors were gilding the lily time. she described me as president bush's favorite of the white house press corps. meacham steps to the podium, looks at me and says, favorite member of the white house press

corps? that's kind of like being the best restaurant in a hospital show. so the hospital dog cook. i first met president bush when he was the newly appointed chairman of the republican national committee. i was covering congress then and pete tilley, who i knew on the hill, invited me and a couple of other congressional 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 and that impression has stuck with me ever since. i've never understood the decision between the public perception of bush as some sort of aloof yankee aristocrat and the person we all knew. i think bush was the least pretentious, most approachable public i probably ever

encountered 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. what are your. i was seated next to paula poundstone on the comedian who is the entertainer. well, paula laid an egg, as they say, in show business. a lot of her jokes were inappropriate and some were crudely insulting to the president who was sitting right there. there wasn't 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 pledge card, scribbled a note on it, and passed it to miss poundstone. i saw it when she read it. this is a tough crowd. don't let it you, he said or words to that effect.

never mind the insulting jokes. her routine. he saw that the woman was humiliated and embarrassed and reached out to try to make her feel better about herself. i'll always bush for what i wrote about in book two or three days. i. in 2012. my wife lynne died unexpectedly. she wasn't sectioned, turned 65 only a few days previously, went to bed one night and never woke up and the bottom fell out of my world. two or three days later i got a call from the former president of the united states. george bush was on the phone to express his sympathy. he was 88 years old then. and was his most precious possession. but he's used 15 or 20 minutes of it to talk to me to try and comfort me.

he could have had the staff draw up a letter of condolence and sent it on out. i would have been grateful. that would have sufficed. but bush went the extra mile and meant so much to me. then it still needs a lot to me now. there's a sequel to this story a few years after lynne died. i met a wonderful widowed lady from south carolina who 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 mrs. bush. thanks to jane. and at one point during the conversation, i said to mr. president i'm thinking about asking this young lady to marry me. and i knew the character reference. could you help me out? bush said. is a good guy becky. go for it.

i proposed the next day. she said yes. i think president bush had a lot to do with that change. before i turn this over. this is on. before i turn this over to peter. mainly because jamie's not here. we are going to have time for. so i want you all to thinking, because i can see kellyanne and has a question. if you don't ask questions, i'm just going to get up and read more from the book and don't want that. so be thinking about your questions. peter, you're up. well, jeanne, thank you for the honor of being here. most of all for this book. what a joy it was as an and jeanne have mentioned what a joy it was to watch your devotion to president mrs. bush over the many years that that we've 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 get tonight. just to say that character does matter. and character is going to be the ballot in every election up and down the line. all the way up to the top. in, for sure. the true candidate through character of candidates always on the ballot through the years. i have a lot of, as my colleagues have said, poignant and very funny moments. with with president bush. one of there are several that stand out to me and i'll be as quick as i can. the prime of his approach to managing a foreign policy. one of the moments in modern the fall of the berlin wall. and i was privileged to be on the 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 entered the oval office with pictures flashing from all over the world to all over world of of 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 desk in the oval office, seemingly very relaxed. he was understated. his comments. and at the as the q&a started after, he made a brief, brief introduction of his own thoughts. i asked him, is this the end? the iron curtain, sir. and went back to my notes and the transcript. and he said, quote, i don't think 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 toward a europe that is whole and free.

it was clear to me immediately that president bush, the probably one of the best foreign policy to ever live in the house to serve as president of the united states, given all of his work as, a cia director, member of, congress, ambassador here at the united nations, he was not about to thump his chest in the face. mikhail gorbachev, that day, he almost offhandedly said, we're trying not to give anybody a time. well, when another. reporter who will remain unidentified as stahl pointed out, mr. president, you don't elated and president bush famously said, i'm elated, just not in emotional kind of guy. i know some reporters hope for, you know, the quote of the day, the sound bite. and in one of the other entrees, that gene provided, my wife,

elizabeth, and i visited, president bush at kennebunkport, it sadly months before he left us. and i mentioned all of this to him. and i said, you know, sir the day that the berlin wall came down, have to admit, you know, i was hoping for, you know, a punchier quote from you. but i know that you didn't want to rub this thing in the nose of the soviets. and he acknowledged that. he said, you're absolutely right. i in the bush vernacular, he knew it wouldn't be prudent. so that that's know what happened the day that the wall came down. i have a whole collection of what are you doing here stories about president bush. you're looking you're wondering where this is going. tell you in quick succession. in 1988, after he was president elect, before he took the oath, he went to iowa mirada in the

keys, in the florida keys for one of his favorite sports. do you remember what it was? bonefish gone fishing. the elusive bone that he would go after and he looked up at the dock and he saw standing. what are you guys doing? well, we're covering you, sir and there was someone from great britain who was standing there, and he said, well, are you folks from and. well, we're from london served in the u.s. said in a in a quote that reporters for years to come. do you think margaret bush would you think margaret thatcher would like some of this bone fishing action. well, the in the run up to the gulf war traveled to the desert of saudi arabia. i was on that trip and he had thanksgiving lunch with the troops in the desert. and then we found ourselves chopper ring out to a ship in the persian gulf.

and somehow with this life jacket on and all this other equipment in the rush of it, i was shoved right the face of the president of the united states, and he looked at me and said, what are you doing here. and 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 that they 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. so, peter, you talked about his foreign policy expertise. there was an article, the atlantic magazine several years, which described bush as one of the three great modern foreign policy presidents. the others, franklin roosevelt and dwight eisenhower.

so i was in maine. and jane arranged for me to stop in and see him. and i brought a copy of the magazine me. and i asked him if he had seen it and he said no, he had heard about it, but hadn't seen it. and i said, well, you don't have your copy for you here. and he looked at it and he asked me about, the author, and then i shook his head and he said, you know, this is very flattering, but i'm just not in the same league with the 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 the day of the assassination attempt on president reagan. and i interviewed him in his office in houston. and he said to me, do you mind if i read from my diary? well, you know of course, that would be wonderful. roll the tape and and so he read

from his the notes that he took that day. and they were just short bursts of poignant words and. he said, and i'm paraphrasing he said, dear friend, shot, praying for him have to return washington and we all remember that 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 jeanne this story that after the interview was finished, he typically was concerned about me or whoever he was with. and he said, well, where are you going from here? what are you doing the rest of the day in houston? and i said, well, sir, as a matter of fact, i'm going to a&m, i'm going to go to your i'm going to meet the ambassador, papa duke, who was the director then. and he said, well, you'll need directions.

and i said, well. back then, the big thing was mapquest. and i said, well, no, no, sir. i did a mapquest and i showed him i said, you know, take highway such and such down to college station and turn on barbara bush drive, drive, george bush boulevard. and he looked at me and he said you must have one of those cpu's. so i have, like i say, so many. my favorite moments were after he left. another one happened in texas a&m when president obama went to make the aggies need to calm down. okay. well for, those of you who aren't an aggie, when you heard do it again. there you go. you know, that's they do at a&m. you'll get used to it. okay. well, again thanks to jeanne. she told him that, you know, i was going to be there with president obama. and he said, well, tell him to drop by. and someone's sent word i was just going to say hello. and they said, bringer of recording device. so they escorted me up to the

apartment where they had that they had above the library and beautiful place and took outside. and there, lo and behold were president and mrs. bush sitting on the patio. and so i you know, i have my recorder i would like to talk to you if i could. and they said, of course. so i asked bush some questions 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 jeanne when she found out about this later. i said to him, you know, well, you must be pleased that president obama came to honor you for the 20th anniversary of the points of light program. and he said, oh, yes. and he is. so i said, you know, he's what do you think about the the heat that he's taking from certain conservative talk show hosts? he made a couple of comments about that. then he said, but, you know, he says george w, i don't know if

he referred to his son as george w, but he was talking about president 43. he said, you know, he really took a lot of heat. and i've got i'm not going to mention any names, he says. but got to tell you that rachel maddow and keith olbermann are a couple are sick puppies. okay. on that note, i'm going to cut you off. before you drop more names. so just let me give you have 10 seconds left. mrs. bush says. george, you just mentioned some names before, or i think jay is coming back out here. just i just i was reminded today president bush, his humility was famous for his humility. and i was reminded today that jon meacham was, one of his eulogies at the cathedral. and jon asked me, he really wanted to read president the eulogy he wrote to president bush before he died because he just wanted him to hear it.

and he said, what do you think? and i said, i think it's a great idea. so john came to see him and he read the eulogy. president bush and you're going to swear i'm making this up. he said to john, well, that's good that's very good. it's a little too much about me. and john sort of looked at me, what do i do with that? and he said, well, mr. president. it's the eulogy giving at your funeral it's supposed to be about you. he says, i don't know. it's a bit much, but. so jay, you want will indeed. what do you want to. you're the boss here. well, i think it'd be time to open it for some question and answer. okay. okay. so there's a few people microphones, so i'll give you one so that everybody can. thank you, jack. so i have to say, these four people up on this podium greatly

inspired me to go in to communicate after i left the white house, because i think i worked with the best white house press corps. the be able to tell everybody 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 and those were the days when they said we pay you so you stay on the road. so i came home back to my parents house in alexandria about three nights a month. i just went city to city to city. and these four people very much inspire me after we lost to where i saw a lot of things that changed me as a young adult and and 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 and the brit hume's and the judy keens and the people who really taught me how to be a thoughtful. i would love to your thoughts on what you think of reporting today. well, 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 of i. i haven't canceled my newspaper yet, but i come close to it about once a week. and the funny thing. it is true that the way americans get news now is so dramatically different in the digital age. it's never going back. it's it's shorter form, it's quicker. it's in our hands in our

pockets. there's not that sense of a unified flow of news from reliable news sources. but what hasn't changed is what our job always was. and i hope still is now for the future to look candidly and fairly at those who hold the public trust, to hold them to account and to accurately report the the what the leaders are doing who have control of our nation and let the american people decide whether that's they voted into office. i think a real tragedy, though, is the invention of the 24/7 news cycle. i think that you know, it puts a very short fuze on government decision making and i think that's really if we had that during the cuban missile. you know, i hate to think what

would have happened, kelly. i will only just very briefly say, because i've like you and i know we want to hear from many questions that we can. i always say that to bounce off with with my colleagues have said, i feel that breaking news too often, broken news it the rush, the constant breathless reporting without facts, without exactly what's going on, without quotes to back all up. it's 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 mourn the loss of local newspapers all over the country. yes. yes. my little hometown in illinois papers have been for years. nobody's holding the city council and the school board feet to the fire. and you can just all over the

country, it's the same thing. and it's very sad. i think had somebody over here and make about thank you i'm ralph 20 with the eurasia center. i my question to do with any thoughts or impressions that bush may have shared about engaging with the people's republic of china during his presidency. engaging vis a vis with the communist government versus helping the chinese people. you know, move out of poverty and into the middle class and engaging in the 21st century. okay. before you answer me before you answer, please raise hand and someone will bring you a microphone so that we can get a next question in the queue, please. of george bush and barbara riding their pigeon chinese bicycles brought them back to the united states. he was the ambassador, china, when it was still a liaison office. it wasn't fair and i think he

had a 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. i do want to add something to. i'm not qualified to answer that question. but sitting in a lot, white house staff is here. and jim, i'm giving you chance to say something. you had to come and use my microphone. just i think i think it'd be sell everybody who are and why i think you need to answer this. jim saccone was deputy chief of staff in the first two years of president bush's term. i think president bush had a love china. but i, i also think he knew that the relationship was just beginning and think he worked very hard to put it on a on a positive track, going.

tiananmen was a terrible setback to that and it could have led to a severance of relations and. he was very careful not to let that happen. and he sent brant scowcroft over there privately to talk to convey his views. but he he he worked very to try to try forge and, sustain a relationship between our two countries. and i think i think know having said that, he he he definitely was supportive of the communist system. but i think he had a faith in the chinese people as in mentioned that that goodness is fairly last and i think he'd be very sad today to see relations you know on on the track there on quite honestly but i think he worked very very hard to to keep us relationships on a positive

track going forward in that it would lead to better things for both countries. thank you, jim. thank very much. anybody else. go ahead. hi, john blaxland, professor from the australian national university. just want to say. great to be here. great to honor the man president, george h.w. bush. greatly admired. bipartisan in australia. his legacies. 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 media today, what might say we should do, what can we do? and what do you think we can do to check the chaos that we're facing? thank you.

but the the chaos that we're you talk about the chaos world the me in media chaos in the media. that's that's the three of you. no, you're not the chaos. you're you to answer that question. are you referring to the media or the chaos in the nation, in the world the chaos the chaos that the media amplifying. yeah. and that is part of the problem with misinformation, disinformation and that. and you made the point the failure to be able to objectively reflect on the facts and the figures and the quotes, doing the double checking and corroborating and allowing false rumors to be perpetuated as truth. i have impression that and it's just a, you know, user of the media that there's not enough care being taken to make sure that a lot of different is not getting into the american information bloodstream.

well i saw an example of it when i was still. in the first presidential election of barack obama was involved in. and i an email one time and it purported to be a column written by maureen dowd or it framed with the new york times framing it. look for all the world i could have come right out of the newspaper. it said that obama had receiving money from saudis and other arab governments and all of it, you know, purportedly illegal. and i took it home and i showed it to my wife. and i and she was a big obama supporter. and she said, well, this is very disturbing disturbing. you know, this bothers me. and i said, well, it would be disturbing, are true. i knew maureen dowd's writing style and i knew that it was not

her voice. and so i checked and discovered that she had written on the day that this column supposedly appeared. but she hadn't written that that that. i called the new york times and i said, hey, you know, this is going out to a lot of people. and never knew of them anything about it. i think that happens a lot. and i don't think the media is careful enough making sure that what they're dealing with is factual information and not disinformation. and thank you. my name is dr. martin alex, and i have i had one encounter with president h.w. bush back in 2000, one in houston, texas, where we were at a tennis tournament together. he didn't. you did. while at one encounter with a president, george h.w. bush in texas with matches, mac and mac and bill, where this i was in

tennis in florida. and so i knew very well because i worked with bush when jeb's really friends. and so i was invited this tennis tournament and i was told that i was to meet someone very special. and it was the president. and so we were sitting on a very hot day watching andre agassi and oh, my. andy roddick played tennis and he had bottle of water. and i didn't have water at the time. and he said to me, he said he knew who i was. and i said, well, how do you know who i am? he says, i, jeb, he about you all the time. and he says, well, where's your water? and i said, oh, i drank it already. they gave me his water half drank and i took a sip back to him and he finished it. and i said, and when you when i heard you talk about humility, i said, you know, if ever i wanted to second that, i've got one. and so thank you for tonight, i mean, this is absolutely brilliant because here i am in humblest of positions actually running for congress. and i'm asked why you a republican? and i said, well, i'm a

conservative because of margaret thatcher. she's my role model. but then you meet someone like the bushes. you can't help but be a republican. so thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you for sharing that. i love the beginning of harvard story within president bush's best friends in houston. mattress back. yes, he sells mattresses, but they were very good friends. do we have time? do i know jay? have the students have to go to class? the students? you have to go to class. but we have time for. one more question, please. could i throw in one real quick? you may throw in you want because the last two, most of us saw of george herbert walker bush was the national cathedral in that beautiful, beautiful. and i had never been invited to a presidential official funeral before. and what came in, i happened to be standing with a couple of george smith and others from abc

news and on the bus in there, there were four young men who were wearing kind of, you know, plaid shirts, corduroy jackets, and they're around at walk in the cathedral. they look like this. and they looked like they really just kind of amazed to be all this. and of i said to them, hi, how how do you know the bushes and they said, well, we're mike and brad and they were his in kennebunkport quoting ned evans. there they are. and i got the names wrong because we met there. i remember caleb. but 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 had had cared for him in those last and hours sitting right up there as a member of, his family. i you know, i've been wanting to introduce evan all night. i knew he would kill me. evan cicely, please stand up. yeah, evan. evan was. i know he's going to kill me. evan was president bush's last personal aide. he also. evan, somebody give him a microphone. just tell him a little bit about you. served in afghanistan, the marines. he's a friend. just got his white coat stand up and just tell us a little bit about yourself. i'll really have much to say other than what you covered, but this was really a wonderful program. okay, it's nice. and now we to talk about you. okay, i just i'm telling you

that evan president bush lived two years longer than he would have. evan worked at his side. i do have to you my favorite story. so, evan is getting he's in he's going to be a physician's 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. she was then go to medical school, to which george herbert walker bush says, well, that's a good resumé builder. evan. i'm like, what is there to go to work? evan just got his white and we're very proud of it because very much. it's a credit to president bush that who worked for him wanted to go further in life to serve their community, to serve country. he surrounded people that he promoted and gave them the

opportunity do that. and so i wouldn't be doing what i'm doing today. it wasn't for him character and. i know there's a couple of issues who stood questions. so with apologies, we do need to stick on a schedule here because gene would like to sign some more books now notably and also the students that are in the room would also need to get to class in the faculty. i'll demand that they get to class and time. but let me let me thank, all of you, for being here. and i'd like to give you small token, all of you. in 2020, the u.s. mint began minting. president george herbert walker bush dollar coins and so we we'd like give all of you a coin of thanks for thank you for being here with us tonight at the at the bush war. thank you very much, sir. thank you very much. and thank you. thank you very much. absolutely. gene, as i, i, i have one. all right. well, thank all of you for being

here. and we hope that you consider coming to the bush school. we have a lot of speakers over time, but nothing near as special as gene in this panel. so thank you very much thank you very much. okay okay. i may go