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 ga

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 t

bush his post-presidency. jean is here to discuss her book "character matters and other life lessons from president george h.w. bush." this really represents the unique strengths of the both bush school in washington, d.c. the legacy of president bush, and most importantly, our students. if those if you would like to meet our students, you can join them in class at 6:30 tonight 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 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 journalists, who have also covered the 41st presidency. ann compton was assigned to cover the white house for abc news in 1974. he traveled the globe wit

more is that bush right? in addition to inheriting mount vernon also inherits all of george washington's papers, which gives rise to the thought of having an authorized of george washington bush right decides that perfect person to do this is john marshall and they kind of have a handshake deal to work on a series of books and they work on this it's multi-volume set called life of washington and they work on this over a period of many years. they never make quite as much money on it as they were hoping, but still, it a pretty successful project. now their work on the book together is very revealing, and marshall would do drafts of chapters or of an entire volume, and then washington would go to richmond and stay at marshall's house, which is still in richmond. some of you may have been there and they would go through it line by line and washington would make corrections and would sort of offer suggestions and changes. washington also served as a kind of research assistant. marshall we have a letter, for examp

w bush campaign in the year 2000 as a compassionate conservative decidedly not focused overseas the bush administration understood itself to be a domestic policy administration prior to 911, there wasn't much of the foreign policy strategy in place. bush, of course it's want it to be taken seriously on the international stage. but just three years earlier, he couldn't name the leaders of foreign powers who had nuclear weapons after 911, of course, all that changed the most powerful individuals on this subject was vice president richard cheney, vice-president day dick cheney, architect of a neoconservative foreign policy that reshaped the middle east and adding to his menacing public persona drew comparisons to darth vader public image. he ultimately embraced we're going, to talk about star wars. we might as long as darth vader he had developed a reputation as kind of a very service, pithy, tough-guy. >> if you provide sanctuary to terrorists to face their full wrath of the united states of america he was arguably the most powerful vip in history then there were various secretaries and a

peter:when you talk about a seachange, barbara bush left college to marry george h w bush. but four of the five last first ladies have all had advanced degrees. katie: that is right. but only e of them, jill biden, hasorked outside this role, essentially the most scrutinized volunteer role in american politics. the fact that there are women who have advanced degrees and not pursued that says something about these unofficial but very rigid expectations around the world -- around the role. peter: barbara bush was not the first first lady to speak at a wellesley commencement. let's listen. >> in the position of leadership and power, we have an indispensable element for criticizing and constructive protests. peter: what are we listening to, katie rogers? katie: hilary iran him addressing her class at -- hillary radom -- hillary rodham at her commencement address. she requested to deliver the speech to her fellow graduates, it was considered a really radical thing to do, she challenge this idea of the status quo. peter: you write that her speech received a standing prevention --

the president bush made.f the 911 attack. i think now in almost 23 years on, laura bush is seen as almost a sort of a more meek mediating force maybe on the presidency and she sort of brought foreign policy and even the domestic policy decisions on no child of behind used sort of the laura bush first lady lands to sort of put a softer focus on some of those choices. that's for the americans to decide whether or not that was the right thing to do but i think you know looking back at her, she said has his ability to reframe some really hard sort of questions that americans were asking. explain that to the public. >> katie rogers, you report that joe joe biden invited historians to the white house over the early in their administration and that help to clarify her role. >> another a great question. and i don't know. you know think based on i interviewed upwards of 1205 people in this book and many of them were on aut her and i think that you know based on my reporting this is not my opinion is just that she had

bush v. gore. steve and i are veterans of a peculiar type of transition. i want to start there and talk about what it was like to be planning a presidential transition when you actually did not know if you had won. steve, became after that after the the election was called. became national security advisor and steve was deputy national security advisor. why don't you talk about what it was like to be in one of the more unusual transitions the country has faced. stephen: thank you and it's great to be with you. your recollection is probably better than mine. there was an issue about whether the bush administration should be presumptuous and start a very public transition process. there was a big debate within the administration. i think the vice president was very much in favor of let's get on with the start of transition. the soon to be declared president elect george w. bush had other ideas. he thought it was important to not be presumptuous, to wait for the electoral process to come to an e

vera, we will add the zalo, so evenly over the entire area. nutrition bush, about 100 g per bush. than 40 microelements that are very useful for the plant. zala mainly contains potassium, as well as phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, important nutritional elements for raspberries. in addition, horse or cow manure can be used for its feeding - this is a good source of nutrients. compost, which is recommended to be spread in a layer 5-7 cm thick, peat mixed with the same woody zala. but mulching will help protect the thin and delicate roots of raspberries from severe frosts. we mulch with straw, yes, we distribute it evenly, in a layer of about 5-8 cm, close. we don’t lean it against the trunks to prevent rotting. yeah. why straw? well, it’s light, accessible, and retains moisture well. over time, especially after winter, it is recommended to replenish the mulch layer to ensure constant protection of the soil and plant roots. regular mulching has its advantages: plants develop stronger roots. raspberries are less susceptible to diseases and can focus on growing large, juicy berries. mo

bush had other ideas. he thought it was important to not be presumptuous, to wait for the electoral process to come to an end enforce the decision to be clear before we started the transition process, which is great for him because he didn't have to run the transition process like you did. the supreme court case was settled and it was clear he was indeed the president-elect, i think we have less than a month to do a transition, process and only takes three plus months. it is even then rather rushed. it was a remarkably compressed period. my recollection is that priorities you set for us. we have to get our people in place. that is the first thing we have to do. secondly, get some idea of what the processes -- how would the national security structure operate under george w. bush? then we decided we had to put together a little memo. what is a major initiative we will have in the early days of the bush administration? we had a 10 or 11 page memo we prepared. after 9/11, a lot of that went to the desk drawer

>> and it quickly george bush doesn't care about black people please call black vote, george bush does not care about black people. >> george bush doesn't care about black kyiv. >> and i can remember the hair on the back of my neck stand up it had an explosive reverberation. his explosive comments on nbc is hurricane relief telephone ripped open a heated, emotionally when he charged and uncomfortable debate. >> i resented it's not true and there's one most disgusting moments of my presidency. >> he did not feel it was justified. he said, i keep searching my soul to see what justified it in. there's nothing there. >> that moment is the seed seedbed out of which grew black lives matter away from that thinking it's my turn to talk. i must say what i feel. >> but at this point, kanye west, he had changed character. >> i could say at anti semitic things and adidas can't drop me. >> now of course people saying kanye was right. now, what does that mean leoneans are accustomed to hurricanes and they're accustomed to storms but i don't think we could have ever prepared for the realities of hurr

bush administration. that was an incredible opportunity to understand the operations of the white house, knowing what's happening from east to and and each of inch of the 18 acres there. fast forward. to 2000, you know, i went back into the white house to help in the transition. all of us remember the 2000 election was that, you know, we didn't know for five and a half weeks who the president was going to be and the team around george w bush asked, a few old hands who had worked in the white house to come back and and to help. and i went in to help to set up a personnel operation and transition people in that were coming off the campaign. i never intended on staying in in white house. i had two young children at that point. i said i'd help you for four months to get them up and going. i ended up being there eight years, including a stint at the state and then ultimately the job with laura bush. and i think, how did i get there? how did i to laura bush? i think it was the background of having worked in the

barbara bush had a different view. she felt that what was happening in the west wing was george's role and she had her role. she was very involved in the literacy initiatives and things that she cared about and established a foundation early on to which she devoted considerable time. laura bush really had came in with an interest in literacy as well. 9/11 changed a major focus for her and to pivot from domestic issues of education reform to what was happening on the global stage after the terror attack on the united states. her focus became more global. each of them had an influence. each of them had the support of their husband to do their job which really makes a huge difference. it really inspired me to do the work that i do now at american university for the last 10 years, this initiative that really peels back the layers and examines the contributions of first ladies on our politics, policy, global diplomacy and their legacies of things that continue well after they leave as first lady. >> one thing you've said th

bush administration. that was an incredible opportunity to understand the operations of the white house, knowing what is happening from east to west and all of the acres there. fast forward to 2000, i went back to the white house to help with the transition. the 2,000 election was one that we didn't know for five and a half weeks who the president would be. the team around governor george w. bush asked a few old hands who worked in the white house to come back and help. i went in to set up a personnel operation and transition people in that were coming off of the campaign. i never intended in staying in the white house. i said i would help for four months to help gem get running but i ended up being there eight years including a stint at the state department and the time with laura bush. how did i get to laura bush? it was the background of having worked with the white house, familiar with the operations. i was her chief of staff in the second term. in the second term, there is no time to waste. you reali

bush gave a masterful speech at the reagan funeral, missus bush chose bush, wanted a president to speak at the reagan funeral, the national cathedral. and a clash of culture and bush was houston elitist, goes to school in a limousine. a great man, great hero of world war ii, they had lunch once a week, reagan tried but on the other hand they disagree on so many things. it was a very complicated relationship. mrs. reagan said i sleep with this guy, of course i will give him my advice, and in those opinions for mrs. reagan. >> you take the model of listening to your wife. and one more question, let's take one more question. he's not going anywhere, never upset and let's have chris and q and a in the book signing. >> craig, coming back to the polling made a minute ago, presidents that come from outside the political class versus those that do, reagan and trump come to mind, you also have covered a lot of other history and looked at different presidencies do you see a pattern in the accomplishments, the major game changing accomplishments out of the political class versus those that do and

bush specifically chose bush. wanted a president to speak at the reagan funeral at the national. i was there for the funeral it was terrific it was just wonderful. it you know how to describe it. it's just a clash of cultures. so it's just, you know, that reagan was western agrarian populist, bush was houston elitist and, you know, born when he was a kid, he went to school on a limousine, although he's a great man who's a great hero of world war two. is that is that there was just i mean they did lunch once together, once week and reagan tried. but the other hand is that they just disagreed on so many things and so many things. so it was a very, very dance. your question? it was a very, very complicated relationship. and, of course, mrs. reagan said, look, i sleep with this. of course i'm going to tell him, give my advice you know, and so it's understandable that reagan would some of his opinions based on his conversations with mrs. reagan. well, i know that you take that model of listening to your wife as you at

bush. when katrina hit.ow what they're going to have to deal so they pursued even though biden was in delaware he was in constant contact was making calls from delaware working the phones on this.e the caller is right. there always reasons or criticize the government response and that includes this case the ultimate judges will be the voters basically those in north carolina. >> own to show a littlean bit fm an interview president trump did on fox on monday night. on the biden administration response to hurricane helene. then we will show it vice president harris, at his his opt said as well. >> almost $300 billion for ukraine. and yet they're offering people set of $50 for the worse but for the worst hurricane that anyone has seen. more importantly than that they do not have the people. it is a bad, it's a very bad thing. >> how'd you do differently? as i have a tremendous team of people or they don't have the people here i was in north colletti yesterday was in georgia. georgia is different for you have a

bush here at the library. special and dinner and tribute to honor all that served and officially opened our new special exhibit, portraits of courage, a commander-in-chief's tribute to america's warriors. growing out of president bush's personal commitment and the ongoing work of the bush institute's veterans and military families program, the exhibit brings together nearly 100 portraits painted by president bush of service members who have protected our nation with honor since 9/11, and whom the president actually grew personal relationships with. the extraordinary collection is on loan from the collection of presidential art at the george w. bush presidential center, and we are lucky to have it here for what is actually its first west coast debut, which is pretty neat. sorry -- we are also lucky to have the opportunity to hear a very special story tonight. this one is from one of the veterans that wasactually painted by the president and his portrait is on display in the exhibit that you will all see after t

this iso bush specifically chose bush you want a president to speak at the reagan funeral at the nationalhedral. i was there for the funeral was terrific. it was just wonderful. i don't know how to describe it is just a clash of culture. was populist and bush was houston elitist. when hesi was kid he went to school in a limousine. he's a great man and a great hero of world war ii they did have lunch once a week. reagan really try that on the other hand they would just disagree on so many things. to answer your question is a very complicated relationship. and of course mrs. reagan said look, i sleep with this guy. going to given my advice. based on his conversations with mrs. reagan. >> to take that model of listening to your wife. i saw it may be one more question let's take a one more question and then craig, are you willing to take more questions? >> he is not going anywhere. i love a captive audience. >> and authors neverne upset. i think i had chris first. let's have chris and then let's have q and a in the book signing. >> okay excellent. >> creek, coming back to a point that was mad

bush's role in that. do you mind sharing some of the points you said validate the october surprise as something that actually -- >> thank you for that question because that is one of the major things i researched and put in the book, it still controversial. controversy generates discussion. what happened, the iranians still held american hostages and carter was trying desperately to get them out without using military force, he said he would do if he had to and nothing seems to be working. the republicans were afraid that the democrats were going to pool in october surprise by getting the hostages out right before the election which means carter would win reelection and statistically carter in the polls, carter and reagan were neck and neck. carter occasionally a little bit ahead. this was one of the things i learned in great detail, how they were doing, to make certain carter did not get the hostages out because if he had, there is a good chance reagan would not have won the election. the october surpris

bush was the quintessential establishment, republican, determined that america should continue to lead the world after the fall of the berlin wall he helped reunified germany germany is united germany is free tonight, the battle has been joined, and he led an international coalition to kick saddam hussein out of kuwait guys over baghdad have been illuminated. >> that victory was swift and convincing kuwait is liberated. >> bush declared a new world order led by the usa, a new world order where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause he called me today the economy. the economy. but across the nation, many americans did not feel they were winning. >> unemployment is the highest in nearly a decade the country was in a recession mr. war, one, people wanted to focus on problems at home from his perch on cable television pat buchanan took notice and pitch pitchfork bat i seize this moment, declaring my candidacy for the republican nomination for president of the united states reagan had spoken of america as a city on a hill buchanan saw fortress in need of defense. >> the united s

we would make history bush would win the nomination easily. here we go. >> but buchanan would eventually win the argument for the party's future. >> my friends we must take back our cities and take back our culture, and take back our country hampshire primary buchanan bombshell rocks, the granite state that was pat buchanan's high watermark. but his america first philosophy had an impact on the gop we will not be permanent peacekeepers, dividing warring parties in 2000 during george w bush's presidential campaign. >> he said, america should scale back its foreign commitments. >> i don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building then suddenly the word changed 11, busch promised to eliminate terrorists threats around the world are not these buildings down will hear all of us begun strikes against al-qaeda terrorists training camps. he invaded afghanistan coalition forces have begun striking selected targets tyranny and hopelessness. >> the united states will not ignore your oppression. >> a totally transformed bush said

bush, by persuasion and force. one of sources. the american president's inspiration was a book by former soviet dissident and then israeli politician natan sharansky in defense of democracy. both bush and netanyahu spoke beautifully about the magical, transformative power of democratic governance. it didn't work out very well, but one of the results is still very much alive. the americans imposed democratic elections on the palestinian territories. hamas won. since then... everything has gone awry, right up to the collapse a year ago. incidentally, iran is also rapidly growing its influence owes to the united states. the destruction of saddam. iraq, the main counterweight to iran, and the general chaos in the region due to american intervention, allowed tehran to play the shi'id trump card to the fullest. another surge of hope for a general transformation was associated with the arab spring, at the beginning of the last decade. it turned out that they had overdone it, deciding that democrats were coming to replace autocrats. and d

look at laura bush.resident bush did not plan on being a wartime president and laura bush and not plan on the wartime first lady, but they adapt. i really think will happen is that some of this is going to be contextual and is going to be societal changes in what is going on politically, what is going on in the world, and they will begin adapting to it. so as a senate beginning, i don't think is going to be a whole lot to change, because that basic purpose is the president, is for the president's agenda, and they will find ways of doing it as every first lady as. >> people have a perception ladies and define what they are doing. well, they don't. miss johnson came in after jfk was assassinated, so her first year was defined by trying to work jackie kennedy. laura bush came in after 9/11, and he never envisioned applying. so how much history, eleanor roosevelt delivered a myriad of issues, how much history defined their goal in addition to their passion and their husbands support is extremely important. >

bush's role in that. do do you mind sharing some of the points that you said kind of validated the october surprise as something that actually i don't mind sharing it and thank you for that question because that's that's one of the major things researched and researched and put in the book is still controversial and controversy generates discussion and question what happened to our kids. i say if i can sum it up quickly, the iranians still hold 52 american hostages, and carter was trying desperately to get them out without losing military force. don't. he said he would do it if he had. and nothing seemed and nothing seemed to be working. they were afraid that the democrats would pull it out to. the surprise by getting the hostages right before the election, which would mean that carter would have been reelected and statistically, carter in the polls, carter and reagan were neck and neck carter occasionally a little a little bit ahead. and this one of the things i learned about in great detail in the reaga

the only people who said yes were barbara bush and george h.w. bush. everybody else said no. let me ask you. would teddy roosevelt have become president and had been such an influential figure in this history without this infrastructure women around him? >> no. i think theodore roosevelt was incredibly impulsive. he followed his instincts to his peril and he needed the women in his life, as we discussed, to soothe that nature, to play different roles that different points in his n political trajectory. edith said, whenever i go against her judgment, i regret it. let's take a look at examples of that. in 1904, when he wins the election in his own right for the presidency, he says he will not run for re-election in 1908. he makes himself a lame duck and edith knows, you have just made the worst political mistake of your life. in 1912, when he decides to run again, it is edith who comes to him and says, put it out of your mind, theodore. he will never be president of the united states again. also, she was the only one who could say that to him. she was right. he was never presid

minister brian mulroney, and at a certain bush. and then you hear the entire press corps explode. >> mr. president, president quayle, do you agree with quayle that she's a tramp? >> i believe that children should have the benefit of being born into families with a mother and a father who will give them love and care and attention all their lives. >> it leads to people going on and on about this. murphy brown fictional character versus dan quayle situation. >> i think that father figures around that. the kid will will enjoy life better. >> people like dan quayle are so out of touch being a single parent, that just kind of reflects what's going on in society these days even johnny carson just roasted him for you know, the next week i'm going to join the cast of murphy brown to that kid it was just relentless and and i just hid behind my curtain. i mean i was really afraid to go out because it was so there was such an energy coming that was so huge that i didn't know how to manage it. i had a great mentor and he said just make one sta

and but president bush, i can't say anything but good things about him. i mean, he's been a great he was a great commander in chief he's a great person. uh, he's even a great a commander in chief. and after his, his predecessor, his, his presidency. so it's a i really love talking them. he's really humble. he really nice to us, really takes care of us. you know, he don't he don't treat us special. he talks to us like like a normal person. i'm almost i feel like he's at times when i talk to my i feel like he's my favorite uncle, you know, where i could talk to him and tell him anything and and he, you know, he'll tell me a joke here and there and and just and just mess around me and and we talk about other things and, you know, grandkids or whatever the case is, you know, but, uh, but it's really special for him to paint me as really special to see the other paintings early on, me and my wife and my son walking through here and we're going through names. i knew him, i know him, i know him. and and the faces that we hadn't seen in a long time. but we see hi

bush administration was born, by persuasion and force. it didn't work out very well - one of the results is more alive than all the living. the americans imposed democratic elections on the palestinian territories. hamas won. everything went awry, right up to the collapse a year ago. by the way, iran also owes its rapid growth of influence to the united states. destruction. france, unfortunately, unfortunately, does not play the same role in the region now, even in lebanon, even in lebanon, it is an influence, but, but the real role is no longer there, why? i i think that this is the key question, the key answer, it is in syria, from the moment when we changed - connections with eve, initially, when i was there, around 2005, then during bush, bush junior, remember, foreign minister franz, the un security council against the us war in iraq, but then between ... assad is better than the islamists, a valuable insight, it, however, has not yet visited everyone, and after all, how much they warned, what is happening in the middle east, an outs

not care les about bush. you like bush. >> brian: i do. you like w, you guys get along. >> yeah, i disagreed with what he did so much. i really disagreed, it got us into middle east, we spend $10 trillion and got nothing except death. >> brian: you like kids, 10-year-old from tennessee has a question for the 45th president. >> president trump, i'm daniel, i'm 10, i'm from tennessee. what was your favorite president when you were little. >> brian: your favorite president when you were little? >> i liked ronald raying knowa, knowa, -- reagan. i did not love his trade policy, that was not his strength. he had a great dignity, ronald reagan, you could say, there is our president, more than any of the others. great presidents, lincoln was probably a great president. i said, why wasn't that settled, we had a civil war. >> brian: half the country left before me got there. >> is almost say like why wasn't that? example, ukraine never would have happened if i were president, israel would have never happened, october 7

yes, were barbara bush and george h.w. bush and everybody said no. so let me. you would teddy roosevelt have president and had been an incredibly influential figure our history without this interest of women around him. no no. i think that theodore roosevelt was incredibly. he followed his instincts to his peril. and he needed the the the women in his life as discussed in the loves of theodore roosevelt to sue that tempestuous nature, to to play different roles at different points in his political trajectory. i mean, so edith, you know, he said of edith, you know, whenever i go against her judgment, i regret it. well, let's take a look at examples of that. right. in 1905 1904, when he wins election, his own right to the presidency, he says he will not stand for reelection in 1908. he makes himself a lame duck and edith is seen to wince. she knows you have just made the worst political mistake of your life. in 1912, when he decides run again, it is edith who comes to him and says, put it out of mind, theodore. you will never be of the united states again. ouch.

bush was unbeatable. coming off the victory in the gulf war thinking about running for president. >> they want to work so james and paul got to pick and choose which candidate they were going to represent. >> our buddy george stephanopoulos called me and said, i've signed on with bill clinton. >> he's our generation's bobby kennedy which is the highest praise he could give. >> i never felt comfortable with political consultants because i thought it was unlikely that they knew more about arkansas than i did. you just talked to everybody, including members of the press, and ran your campaign. so i had something to learn. i knew, and i was very impressed with what he'd done when i met carville, i thought i was home. >> we were two guys with pretty flashy and strong willed mothers who came from little southern towns, and i thought he was so smart clinton and carville are from roughly the same generation, roughly the same kind of socio economic background and they both had a little bit of rogue in them when cl

president bush appointed her deputy. campaign manager, and i was in the midst of a special senate election in pennsylvania. >> he promised me that was it. he wasn't going to be in my lane anymore because i was doing national politics we were at dinner where james was introducing a couple of us to mary for the first time, and he had cut the deal with, um bill clinton to join the campaign. they congratulated him and i said i didn't want to make a scene because they were his friends, not mine she was freaking out. >> and the rest of us couldn't figure out exactly why. and then little by little, we realized, oh, my god he hasn't told her poor mary, if he would have slapped me across the face, i would have been less surprised. the president's inner circle were all sophisticated men of a certain age they could not articulate what needed to be articulated. when you're facing the kind of opposition that james was presenting, president bush has presented an agenda for american renewal. i have a question for america. do you feel r