be a little more reasonable on a couple of issues to have a broader reach, and the social issues are critical because they cut off a lot of the big states where the big electoral votes are. >> yeah. so you think you're growing or shrinking? >> pardon me? >> you think you're growing or shrinking as a part right now in. >> i think right now we're in a decision-making period. i don't think we know where we'll be until about a year from now. >> okay. >> it will depend a lot on the reaction of this president, and his performance, how republicans react to it, where we are a year from now probably -- will probably determine that. i would think -- i would think having been shut out of the presidency for so long we'd start to get more practical. >> okay. great to hear from you, mayor giuliani and a big day for you remembering all the good work that you've done as mayor of new york. thanks for coming on this big day. joining us here in dallas is david gregory, moderator of nbc's "meet the press" and chuck

todd, msnbc's political director and host of msnbc's "the daily rundown." let me start with david because you've had a really good look and we have jonathan martin of politico and in washington we're joined right now by alex wagner, host of "now" with alex wagner on msnbc and howard fineman has joined us as well. editorial director of "the huffington post why the "media group and msnbc political analyst. let's go to david right now and get a sense of what the library is all about. >> well, chris, and obvious lly stop me at any time as the ceremony unfolds if you want to go to it live. this library is very much in the image of what president bush wants to be remembered for. his was a tumultuous presidency. there's an aspect of the library, the presidency he imagined and the presidency he ultimately led as a wartime leader, the 9/11 portions are compelling. it is striking that iraq is not separate from the entire section on the war on terror, which was the enduring criticism.

>> can we take a break, david. >> yeah, go ahead. >> just have a pause while they introduce the presidents right now, thank you. >> i want the agenda. >> mrs. lucy b. johnson. police linda j. robb. >> mrs. trisha nixon cox. mrs. susan ford bales. mr. michael reagan.

>> we're watching, of course, luci baines johnson, trisha nixon, the older daughter of richard nixon, susan ford, the older daughter of susan ford, sort of a reunion of both party and their full families. looks like a lot of appearances today. i'm surprised at how many people have made this big ticket appearance.

okay, chuck. never know. all five presidents have been together so i don't want to miss that moment when they come out. chuck, what do you think of all of this? >> look, this is a moment, you know, our presidents get together for elaborate dedications and funerals and this is the upside of when these people get together so it's a moment for people that love american history, love american politics on both sides and sort of one of those moments we all pause. and that's why i enjoy just as a junkie watching all this. look, we're all -- we're going to pore through this legacy whether george w. bush likes it or not, because it has had an incredible impact on our american politics, but this is one of those bigger days. >> here we go. the first ladies, of course, starting with the current one, michelle obama. everybody loves michelle. >> mrs. hillary rodham clinton. >> mrs. barbara bush. >> mrs. roslyn carter.

>> these an unusual picture in the papers tomorrow. david, what do you think? you know all these people. >> i think this is such a singular moment in our country, and it's so important in our politics, for those of us who follow politics so closely and understand the deep ideological and philosophical differences. this is a celebration of the presidency, and that doesn't just mean pomp and circumstance. it means an appreciation for what's hard about it, what's unique about it, that you are scrutinized from left and right no party your party, and there is a special bond here. these families understand it and the men we'll see understand it all too well. >> speaking of ruffles and flourishes, there it is, about to meet the presidents, i

believe. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, barack obama. >> it never gets old for them. >> john kennedy says it has a certain belt to it. >> you see governor bush and hillary clinton walking out side by side. enough dynasties in this country, wasn't just about jeb, about her son. >> here they are. this is a great picture. this will be on the top of the paper tomorrow. >> there he is. the former president bush, the senior. >> he's very healthy. he just has struggling walking though. actually is feeling a lot better. >> has a smile on. >> we've got joining us michael beschloss, the great american historian. i remember the first picture like this is when sam rayburn passed together and they all got together. this one will be in color.

>> that's exactly right. places like roosevelt's funeral in 1962, and if you were a martian who knew nothing about america and you saw this scene, you'd realize that this is really the country that the founders wanted, where you had people duke it out all day over policies as many of these people on the stage do and did, but at the end of the day they all come together. >> i think it's also a testament to our healthier life expectancies these days. how often, mikeal, and you probably know this by heart, how often have we had five? is that common or not? >> that is very rare and a creation of recent times. although one of the longest lived presidents oddly enough was john adams. >> here's the dedication. >> let us pray. we have gathered here today, oh, god, to offer thanks to the life and legacy of president and mrs. george w. bush. we thank you for their

distinguished leadership to our nation. moreover, we are grateful for their moral courage and commitment to public service. oh, god our lord create ore and sustainer, today we honor a man who genuinely believes in your quest of freedom for all. we ask that president bush and his family continue to feel the prayers and support of people all over the world who recognize his past and continued work for the expansion of freedom. we ask your blessings upon the george w. bush presidential center and all who will walk through these doors. we pray that it will serve as a beacon of hope and freedom throughout the world. we pray that it will remind each and every one of us of our nation's heroic past and generate noble insights for future leaders of our country. grant that each of us today will

rededicate our lives to the values of this great institution as we continue to learn the lessons of history. help us to live out the words of the prophet micah, to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly about our god. we pray all these things in thy name, amen. >> thank you, mark. >> thank you. ♪ >> well, we're going to be treated to something special the next several minutes after this music. we're going to -- this march music. we're going to hear a little bit, maybe five minutes each, from each of the presidents standing there, so for the course of roughly half an hour we'll get a testament from all of these presidents to george w. bush. it's going to be quite interesting, chuck.

>> it is. i've got a little bit of an understanding of what president obama is going to say. i mean, it really is all you would assume of taking the idea of celebrating the presidency but personalizing it a little bit and while president obama and president bush haven't gotten as close as president clinton has with the entire bush family don't expect awkward politics and any of that stuff. >> yeah. >> it's not the occasion here. this is about celebrating the difficulty of being and sitting behind that resolute desk. >> and you have to think that president obama, too, will salute not just george w. bush but the bush family. >> the bush family. >> and their legacy of public service. that's sort of the safe play. >> it's a safe play and that's what i would expect. >> we have to stop for the pledge. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

>> please be seated. ladies and gentlemen, the chair of the george w. bush institute advisory board, dr. condoleezza rice. >> good morning. mr. president and mrs. obama, president and mrs. carter, president and mrs. george h.w. bush, president and mrs. clinton and president and mrs. bush, i have the honor of introducing a number of global leaders, national leaders and texas state leaders who have come to join us on this momentous occasion.

as your name is called, may i ask you to stand, and may i ask the audience to hold your applause so that we can acknowledge our global leaders together. president of the republic of georgia, mikael saakashvili and former president of spain, president agnar, the former president of ghana, the former president of south korea lee myung bak and mrs. kim, former president and mrs. lourdes rodriguez deflores of el salvador, former prime minister silvio berlusconi of italy, former prime minister tony blair and mrs. sharri blair of the united kingdom, former prime minister and mrs. john howard of

australia, former prime minister and mrs. ehud olmert of israel, former -- current secretary-general of nato, mr. mr. mr. rasmussen, his royal heiness bandhar al sultan of saudi arabia, abdul al chalifa of bahrain, former ambassador to the united states and absof india, current ambassadors to the united states, ambassador salim al saba of kuwait, ambassador patilja of indonesia and ambassador hakimi and mrs. hakimi of afghanistan,

ambassador of botswana, the german chief of mission, mr. janz hannefeldt. please join mow and acknowledging our global leaders. i would now like to acknowledge the governor of texas, rick perry. the governor of arizona, jan brewer, the governor of new jersey, chris christie and mrs. mary pat christie, the former governor of alabama, bob riley, and the former governor of michigan john engler and his wife michelle. i want to greet the following

members of congress, senator ted cruz and his wife heidi of texas, senator john cornyn of texas, senator -- former senator bill frist, former senator kay bailey hutchison, the speaker of the house, congressman john boehner and his wife debby, congressman jeb hensarling, congresswoman kay granger, con man michael burgess, congressman pete sessions, congressman mike conknowway, congressman kenny martin, congressman john micah.

and now of the texas elected representatives, lieutenant governor david dewhurst, speaker of the texas house of representatives joe strauss, the mayor of dallas, michael rawlings, the mayor of highland park joel williams, the mayor of university park richard davis and the former mayor of dallas tom leopard. i want to thank you for being here for this wonderful occasion, and i would like those in the audience to once again -- >> alex wagner joining us from new york and also have howard fineman in. let me ask, alex, your thoughts about this. this is a panoply of american political history right in front of us. >> yeah, indeed, and it was interesting, chris, when the clintons were on stage next to the obamas and then the bushes. you're reminded of just how vibrant the clintons are, especially in comparison to bush

who has literally been off the radar. bill clinton still remains a huge force in american politics and hillary clinton has been a force as secretary of state, still much discussed as a 2016 presidential contender. it's really interesting just how much more they are in the american popular consciousness as well as a political system compared to bush who has i think perhaps wisely chosen to keep his head down low and maybe to some degree really that's why his approval numbers, as reflected by the nbc news/"wall street journal" poll this week, have shifted a little bit higher. the country has sort of in some ways forgiven him a little bit because he has kept such a low profile. >> i think it's the rising -- it's always true of this. i'm not knocking him. i think people do have a high regard for presidents per se unless they have done something really wrong. howard, your thoughts about this. don't you just love this picture of the president chatting away like he's in college with -- with barbara bush there, just chatting away whenever the

camera is not on him, howard? >> my first thought, chris, that i know all these people and have covered all these people. that's a little bit of a shock. the second one is i would say that the -- that the person in charge of that group up on the stage there is barbara bush. she's the queen of the presidency, if you will, and just the thought -- >> the queen mum. >> the green mother of the presidency, and just the thought of her sitting there chatting with president obama i would love to be a good enough lip reader to know what they were saying, but she's the one with the sense of history. she eats one with the command. she's the one who made both her husband and son president, i could argue, and the fact that she is sitting there talking to president obama after she was just on tv this morning saying that the country had had enough bushes, i just think it's

remarkable. >> they just showed a video but this threesome would be the best moment in television and it's evident that michelle is trying to get in a conversation with her husband and barbara bush. >> the president is talking with barbara and they are cracking jokes and talking about the scene and the president is obliged to tell michelle what he's been talking about with barbara. i would love to just be in that conversation. you know, i agree with michael beschloss and chuck and everybody and all of you about the great grandeur and all of this. i somewhat disagree that the founders would necessarily love it. it might be a little too triumphal for the founders, a little too institutional for the founders. on the other hand, we have to acknowledge and we should acknowledge that the people on this stage are the people who have made so much history in america. we need to understand them. we need to understand what they are saying to each other.

we need to understand their view of history in america. >> okay. here we go. here's t first lady, laura bush that's being introduced. let's watch this occasion. >> welcome, everyone. welcome to all of our friends and family who have joined us today. be seated. welcome to all of our friends and family who have joined us today from around the country and around the world. thank you, all, for coming, and a special welcome to president obama and michelle, to president clinton and secretary clinton, to president carter and roslyn, and finally we're thrilled to have our father and mother, president george h.w. bush and barbara bush. i know for the presidential

families that nothing says an exciting get-together more than an invitation to come an see millions of documents from someone else's time in office. so thank you all very much for coming. a warm welcome to the former heads of state who have joined us, the diplomatic cox the members of the united states congress and our armed forces, and we're especially happy to see the familiar faces of so much of the bush/cheney administration. in the united states the presidency is not just about one person. the presidency is about all of the people that join with that president in years of service to our remarkable nation. they are the people who never fly on air force one but who have put in countless late nights and earlier mornings, who spend less time with their family and friends and more time

hard at work caring for our country. the presidency is about the men and women of our military who serve every president and who make the ultimate sacrifice to protect us and keep us safe. the stones in the walls behind us represent your years of service. this building is here because of your service, and for that george and i thank you from the bottom of our hearts. a presidential library is not just about one president. each library is about our nation and the world during that time. the george w. bush presidential center reflects george's role as the first president of the 21st century. like our new era, the building and its grounds are designed to be forward looking, and they are

green and sustainable. they celebrate the native environment of our home state of texas. the archives housed here are completely digital, and the entire bush center is designed to present the past and engage the future. we welcome scholars and students and the community at large to gather here for generations to come. the center is designed to be human in scale because like the white house presidential libraries belong to all americans. the people across our nation were the ones who inspired us every day. here we remember the heartbreak and the heroism of september 11th and the bravery of those who answered the call to defend our country. we remember the volunteers of all ages and all walks of life who came to the gulf coast following hurricane katrina, and

we remember all the people who step forward to help others, whether to teach a child to read or to feed a hungry family, and throughout this center i'm reminded of my husband. i remember the image of george standing amid the rubble of the world trade center, his arm around the shoulders of a retired fire fighter who had grabbed his old gear to go search for the missing. i remember george standing alone on the pitcher's mound at yankee stadium preparing to throw out the first pitch in new york of the 2001 world series during that long season of heartbreak and healing. i remember his quiet visits with the families of the fallen, sharing their stories and their tears, and i remember how steadfast and steady he was for eight years.

since we've been home i've added new memories. i see george lifting a brush to paint and refurbish a health clinic in the african nation of zambia. i see george last may on a bike ride with wounded veterans when he hopped off his own bike to help push an army major who was pedaling with one leg up the steep hills. my george is a man who one someone needs a hand offers him their arms. this is the spirit i hope is forever captured in this beautiful building, that this will always be a place that welcomes each visitor with open arms. thank you all, and welcome. >> david gregory, you know, of all the people i knew in journalism, i thought you did a great job covering this. you seem to understand this fellow, maybe not as well as

laura bush, but pretty well. >> well, thank you, and as we wait to hear from him, you know, we know the former first lady had such an imprint on this library, and i think that this library is about the president. i think trying to project above all else his own sense of personal integrity, that he faced tough choices, that he had principles, that he stuck to his beliefs and that he's willing to be unpopular over the course of history despite that because his own principles and his own gut about how to lead were the most important. >> chuck, your thoughts about this? who wouldn't want to have a spouse stand up and give a speech about them. >> laura bush, you've got to understand this is the george w. bush and laura bush presidential library. it says george w. bush, but she's very involved in this, and she is maybe more defensive of the bush legacy than george w. bush is and i would expect that. a spouse can be defensive. look at the way barbara bush

was. >> but smart in her defense. >> it's very interesting. you can't help but see her influence throughout this museum, downplaying of people like dick cheney and downplaying of people like karl rove and elevating people like condi rice and andy card. >> and also helping aids in africa, cervical cancer within women. that's so powerful for her. >> that's what they wanted the administration to originally be. pre- 9/11 what they ran on, the '99-2,000 version of george bush, the compassionate conservative. a lot of that in there. there's a lot of this by this library and the reagan library. >> what's the difference? >> similarities? >> the similarity is this. the first ladies' fingerprints are all over this. >> as they should. >> nancy reagan has that library out in california in a way that she wants reagan to be recalled. >> and remember bill clinton, just the opposite of the clinton library. that's bill clinton's library. that's not hillary clinton, not to say she didn't have influence

but bill clinton's. >> let me say something about the keeper of the flame. no better keeper of the flame than nancy reagan. >> and she's not here today. >> she's watching right now. couldn't get her. hi, nancy. i know she's watching this because she really cares about the presidency. keepers of the flame, it tends to be the wife who keeps that flame. remember jackie kennedy who lit the flame literally for jack. >> let's not assume it's all -- >> i'm very careful. >> go ahead, david, excellently careful in saying spouses until you interrupted me. bush spouses is the right word. go ahead, david. >> i just think it's so striking as we're still taking in this image. think of the historical firsts that you've got the elder president bush with his son. they are both now former presidents, and in our history john quincy adams, of course, following john adams, but john adams was too old and died very early and john quincy adams presidency, and so he -- he's able to soak in this moment, as

are we able to look and as poem who follow politics understand the cross-currents. look at how the republican party moved from the elder bush to a much different frame in the younger bush and how it's now moved away from the younger bush. it's just striking, all of these philosophical differences, ideological differences. a lot of raw emotion because of decisions about war and interrogation of prisoners and all the rest all captured on that state. >> here he comes. we'll hear an amazing half hour now of presidential addresses in order. it's going to be jimmy carter first and then chronologically through the senior bush, bill clinton, barack obama. it's going to be fascinating now. >> ladies and gentlemen, president jimmy carter. >> well, it's a great honor for me to be here today, and it reminds me of my favorite

cartoon in the "new yorker" magazine. this little boy is looking up at his father and he says, daddy, when i grow up, i want to be a former president. well, four of us have already made that goal and one is still working on it, but it is a wonderful thing to be with the other presidents and to have a chance to address this wonderful audience. i'll be very brief and i'll be limiting my comments just to the things that i know personally that have been important for me and for george w. bush. in 2000, as some of you may remember, there was a disputed election for several weeks, and finally when president bush became president they had the inauguration in washington on schedule, and i think my wife and i were the only two volunteer democrats on the platform, and george and laura afterwards came up and thanked us for coming, and so he said if there's anything i can ever do for you, let me know, which was

a mistake he made. i said, mr. president, there's programs in 35 countries in the world and the worst problem is a war going on between north and south sudan, and millions of people have been killed, and i'd like for you to help us have a peace agreement there, and in a weak moment he said i'll do it, and i said when can i meet your secretary of state and your national security adviser, and he said, well, i haven't even chosen them yet, but give us three weeks. so three weeks later i came up and met with colin powell and condoleezza rice, and president bush kept his promise. he appointed our distinguished senator from missouri, john danforth and a great condition from kenya, and in january of 2005 there was a peace treaty between north and south sudan that ended a war that had been going for 21 years. george w. bush is responsible

for that. and that was the first of his great contributions to the countries in africa. as has already been mentioned briefly here, he increased the development assistance to africa from a time he went into the office until the time he left from $1.4 billion to more than $9 billion, and that's an increase of 640%. that is development assistance. he established a program, 50,000 hiv sufficienters in africa being treated in office and when he left office 2 million and now at the new institute he has a new pink called pink ribbon and red ribbon, to help women with several call and breast cancer in subsahara africa and something dear to my heart and means a lot to millions of

people in africa. so mr. president, let me say that i'm filled with admiration for you and deep gratitude for you about the great contributions you've made to the most needy people on earth. thank you very much. >> ladies and gentlemen, president george hi. w. bush. . w. bush. w. bush. w. bush. >> thank you all very much. what a beautiful day in dallas. it's a great pleasure to be here to honor our son, our oldest son, and this is very special for barbara and me, and thank

you all for coming and to those who have made this marvelous museum possible, we thank you especially, and we're glad to be hear. god bless america, and thank you very much. >> good job. >> too long? >> ladies and gentlemen,

president bill clinton. >> thank you very much, mr. presidented a mrs. bush and president as mrs. obama, president and mrs. carter, all the representatives here of the other previous presidents, the ford, nixon, johnson families. i told president obama that this was the latest grandest example of the eternal struggle of former presidents to rewrite history, and i want to take my hat off to president bush. this is a beautiful library. the exhibits are great. the work of the bush institute

is inspiring, and i congratulate him on the platinum leads rating for his library. i think this is the second building in the federal system that has it, and i want to say, mr. president, once again, you got the better of me, twice in the last few weeks. my library has a platinum leads rating but it was open for a few years before we could afford to achieve it, and you've beat me to be a grandfather, and i congratulate you and laura for it. you know, starting with my work with president george h.w. bush on the tsunami and the aftermath of katrina, people began to joke that i was getting so close to the bush family i had become the

black cheap son. my father told me not to talk too long today. barbara, i will not let you down. there is one other connection that i have that i think is largely unknown which is that a couple of times a year in his second term george bush would call me just to talk politics, and a chill went up and down my spine when laura said that all their records were digitized. dear god i hope there's no record of those conversations in this vast and beautiful building. i want to say as president carter did i was impressed that

president bush invites us to make different decisions if we choose on the decisions he was facing. it's one of the most interesting things about this library. i want to talk about a couple of other things that are beyond controversy. first i want to thank president bush for passing pepfor. no president of my party could have passed that through the congress and i worked all over africa with our health access, initiative, aids, malaria and health systems, i have personally seen the faces of some of the millions of people who are alive today because of it. and i want to thank president obama for continuing it and increasing it. i want to thank you and laura for continuing your work in global health. i want to thank you for your

efforts when president to reform our immigration system and keep america a nation of immigrants, and i hope that congress will follow president obama's efforts to follow the example you set, and i thank you for that. and i want to thank you for the work we did together in the aftermath of haiti, the poorest country in our hemisphere. we have closed our fund. i believe in working yourself out of a job, but we helped a lot of people start businesses which are now thriving, and we gave the country the first home mortices tim it ever, so i thank you for that, mr. president. i -- i can't -- i probably shouldn't say this, but i'm going to anyway. your mother showed me some of your landscapes and animal paintings and i thought they

were great, really great, and i seriously considered calling you and asking you to do a portrait of me until i saw the results of your sister's hacked e-mails. those bathroom sketches were wonderful, but at my age i think i should keep my suit. i like president bush, and we do a lot of speeches together, and i like it when we have disagreements. he's disarmingly direct. we were having an argument over health care in one of these speeches, and i want on about the german health care system and he said i don't know a thing about the german health care system. i think he probably won the argument. we are here to celebrate a country we all love, a service we all rendered and debate and

difference is an important part of every free society by asking us to join him in the decisions he made and inviting us to make different ones if we choose, he has honored that deepest american tradition. for all of these things as an american citizen i am very grateful. >> good job, buddy. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. >> thank you so much. thank you. thank you. please be seated. to president and mrs. bush, to president clinton and now former secretary clinton, to president

george h.w. bush and mrs. bush, to president and mrs. carter, to current and former world leaders and all the distinguished guests here today, michelle and i are honored to be with you to mark this historic occasion. this is a texas-sized party, and that's worthy of what we're here to do today, honor the life and legacy of the 43rd president of the united states, george w. bush. when all the living former presidents are together, it's also a special day for our democracy. we've been called the world's most exclusive club, and we do have a pretty nice clubhouse, but the truth is our club's more like a support group. the last time we all got together was just before i took office, and i needed that

because as each of these leaders will tell you, no matter how much you may think you're ready to assume the office of the presidency it's impossible to truly understand the nature. that's why every president gains a greater appreciation for all of those who served before them, for the leaders from both parties who have taken on the momentous challenges and felt the enormous weight of the nation on their shoulders, and for me that appreciation very much extends to president bush. the first thing i found in that desk the day i took office was a letter from george and one that demonstrated his compassion and his generosity for he knew that i would come to learn what he had learned, that being president above all is a humbling job. there are moments where you make

mistakes. there are times where you wish you could turn back the clock, and what i know is true about president bush, and i hope my successor will say about me, is that we love this country and we do our best. now in the past president bush has said it's impossible to pass judgment on his presidency while he's still alive, so maybe this is a little bit premature, but even now there's certain things that we know for certain. we know about the son who was raised by two strong loving parents in midland, famously inheriting, as he says, my daddy's eyes and my mother's mou mouth. the young boy who once came home after a trip to a museum and proudly presented his horrified mother with a small dinosaur tailbone he had smuggled home in his pocket. i bet that went over great with barbara. we know about the young man who

met the love of his life at a dinner party, disc his plans to go to bed early and instead talking with the brilliant and charming laura welsh late in the night. we know about the father who raised two remarkable, caring, beautiful daughters even after that i tried to discourage him from running for president saying, dad, you're not as cool as you think you are. mr. president, i can relate, and now we see president bush, the grandfather, just beginning to spoil his brand new granddaughter, so we know president bush the man and what president clinton said is absolutely true. to know the man is to like the man because he's comfortable in his own skin. he knows who he is. he doesn't put on any pretenses. he takes his job seriously, but

he doesn't take himself too seriously. he is a good man, but we also know something about george bush, the leader, as we walk through this library we're reminded of the incredible strength and resolve that came through that bullhorn as he stood amid the rubble and the ruins of ground zero, promising to deliver justice to those who had sought to destroy our way of life. we remember the compassion that he showed by leading the global fight against hiv/aids and malaria, helping to save millions of lives and reminding people in some of the poorest corners of the globe that america cares and that we're here to help. we remember his commitment to reaching across the aisle, town likely allies like ted kennedy because he believed that we had to reform our schools in ways

that help every child learn, not just some. we have to repair our broken immigration system, and that this progress is only possible when we do it together. seven years ago president bush restarted an important conversation by speaking with the american people about our history as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants, and even though comprehensive immigration reform has taken a little longer than any of us expected, i am hopeful that this year with the help of speaker boehner and some of the senators and members of congress who are here today that we bring it home for our families and our economy and our security and for this incredible country that we love, and if we do that, it will be in large part thanks to the hard work of president george w. bush.

and finally, a president bears no greater decision and no more solemn burden than serving as commander in chief of the greatest military that the world has ever known. as president bush himself has said america must and will keep its word to the men and women who have given us so much, so even as we americans may at times disagree on matters of foreign policy we share a profound respect and reference for the men and women of our military and their families, and we are united in our determination to comfort the families of the fallen and to care for those who rare the uniform of the united states. on the flight back from russia after negotiating with nikita khrushchev at the height of the cold war president kennedy's secretary found a note on a

small piece of paper in which the president has written a famous saying. i know there is a god, and i see a storm coming. if he has a place for me, i believe i am ready. no one can be completely ready for this office, but america needs leaders who are willing to face the storm head on, even as they pray for god's strength and wisdom so that they can do what they believe is right. that's what the leaders with whom i share this stage have all done. that's what president george w. bush chose to do. that's why i'm honored to be part of today's celebration. mr. president, for your service, for your courage, for your sense of humor and most of all for your love of country, thank you very much, from all the citizens of the united states of america, god bless you and god bless these united states.

♪ ♪ michael beschloss, i wondered about this camaraderie, the rapport, if you will among these men. i want to know what you think about it. i don't think people see this relationship with certainly the wonderful back-and-forth between the president and mrs. bush. there it is again. just chatting away as people.

they don't see that. we don't see that. once they get beyond the presidency, they find out they share a lot of things in common. that most other human beings do not have, never having lived in the white house. one place that was on display. were you at the opening of the carter library in 1986. i thought so, i always remember the speech that ronald reagan gave that day as sort of the gold standard. reagan, as you well know, ran in 1980 as the nonjimmy carter, yet gave this very gracious speech about president carter that day. that became the template and we heard that very much from president obama today. >> let's listen to the "battle hymn." ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ i believe one develops a set of principles through faith, how you were raised and where you were raised. i had a set of principles that i had developed throughout my life. and by the time i became president, i was willing to defend those principles. i wanted to make sure that the

economy was strong. we needed to bolster our military in order to maintain the peace. it was important to promote a culture in which each individual is responsible for his or her decisions. we could improve our public school system, so that people had a chance at the american dream. that free enterprise system needed to be defended. and that we could achieve a more peaceful world through a strong america. i never wanted to be a war-time president. but war came to our shores on 9/11, i had a lot of emotions. mostly i was determined. i was determined to protect america. >> any commander-in-chief ought to develop a special bond with the military and i certainly did so. the toughest decision a president makes is to send men and women in harm's way. >> i thought of a multitude of issues i was interested in. and of course, one of them is

literacy. after september 11th many other options for issues confronted me and one of them was women's rights. so when i made the presidential radio address, talking about the brutal treatment of women and children by the taliban, i started getting responses from women everywhere across our country. >> one of the guiding principles of my presidency was to whom much is given, much is required. and america is such a blessed nation, that i believe we have an obligation to help human suffering where we possibly can. life is service to the end. >> ladies and gentlemen, president george w. bush.

>> thank you all, please be seated. oh happy days. i want to thank you all for coming. laura and i are thrilled to have so many friends, i mean a lot of friends here to celebrate this special day. there was a time in my life when i wasn't likely to be found at a library, much less found one. this beautiful building has my name above the door, but it belongs to you. it honors the cause we serve and the country we share. for eight years, you gave me the honor of serving as your president, and today i'm proud to dedicate this center to the american people. i am very grateful to president obama and michelle for making

this trip. unlike the other presidents here, he's actually got a job. president thank you for your kind words and for leading the nation we all love. i appreciate my fellow members of the former president's club. 42, 41 and 39. i want to thank you all for your kind words and the example you have set. alexander once worried about ex-presidents wandering among the people like discontented ghosts. actually i think we seem pretty happy. one reason is that we have wonderful first ladies at our side.

hillary and rosalund thank you for your generosity. mother and laura, you know how i feel. connie introduced the world leaders with whom i had the privilege to serve, your good friends and i'm honored to have you here in the promised land. i want to welcome the members of congress, mr. speaker, appreciate you coming and the diplomatic corps, i know you'll all be happy to hear that this speech is a lot shorter than the state of the union. i thank the governors, governor of our own home state and other governors, mayors, state and local officials who have joined us. i welcome members of my cabinet, the white house staff and administration, especially vice president dick cheney. from the day i asked dick to run with me, he served with loyalty, principle and strength. proud t