george bush was the vice president. he watched as reagan did the most important thing for those years. it was the military strength. he rebuilt the army and navy and marines. and the soviet union was watching. and gorbachev who came into power in the soviet union in the middle 80s began to understand that the soviets really could not catch up. and gorbachev came to the conclusion that he ought to try to figure out how to bring the soviet union into this family of nations so that there could be economic prosperity and the soviet union. ronald reagan built up the defense structure and realized they were developing a unique opportunity to change the conflict between the superpowers and they understood that in order to do that, he was going to have to do two things in particular. one, he was going to have to bring our allies together in the agenda and he was going to use nato as a vehicle into the most important allies of the structure were margaret thatcher, transform and own own it cool with germany. and then he understoo

it's on the presidency of george h. w. bush. [inaudible conversations] a >> i am here to use moderateion this discussion with governor sununu.w hampshirom the governor of new hampshire 83 to 89 with the white house chief of staff the father of eight childrench that wouldildren explain a coupe among his children who is curve a a candidate fornto governor and he was alsoan of ea chairman of the newblican hampshire public authority 2009 through 2011. i must confess i am a little biased because john sununuindis wrote the book "the quiet man" the indispensable presidency of george h.w. bush". flora -- from those of usf from texas, a 41 coming it is one of the most revered. briefly a was a hero. he was the youngest pilot in the united states navy in the second world war shot down. he went there after two yale where he was actually born while he was at yale. 41 was a phi beta kappa and all-american baseball player, captain of the baseball team. he his entire life was a huge success in private business and has a service to the united st

and george w. bush, george w. bush learned from his father. morning, i think maybe was at ed rollins who talked about that. and his press conferences. and the way he handles the relationship with the media. george h.w. bush was very interested in relationships. he was interested in his relationships with people on the hill but with foreign leaders, he would call foreign leaders just to talk to them, to establish a relationship so that when the time came that he needed to talk to them over a particular issue that they already had an established relationship. and so, he encouraged people to come to the u.s., foreign leaders, to come to the u.s. and one of the things he developed was he developed joint press conferences with foreign leaders that all of his successors have followed. he did the same with the press. i think he thought of the press as a group that he needed to deal with and have a good relationship with and he often thought of those in personal terms. you think of his relationship with society of "time" magazine that was a very close

but this book is about george h. w. bush the person, and how that person most characteristics and personality contributed to a wide variety of accomplishments. so please join me in joining -- join me in welcoming governor sununu. ' >> thank you very much. [applause] >> this is a touching book about sort of the inside story and a description of many events which contributed to the presidency of george h. w. bush. but because of his unique personality are not necessarily known by the public. why don't you tell us how you first came to be associated with 41 and under what circumstances. >> i was running for governor in 1982, and i was running against an incumbent democrat that was guaranteed to win, so to speak. i won that primary in september and i need a fund raiser, so i picked up the phone and called the vice president of the united states, whom i had met during his travels to new hampshire and 80 when he was trying to beat ronald reagan in the primary. and i said mr. vice president, i need somebody to come again to be the

that was the appeal of george w. bush. that's the term compassionate conservatism that george w. sh ran on. i'm going to be conservative, but they're not going to be able to call me heartless, like they called newt gingrich heartless and bob dole heartless. i'll be the compassionate one who believes the government does have some role here. so conservatives got onboard with that in 2000 in a big way and george w. bush became president. by the end of the george w. bush years, eight years later, conservatives looked around and said government's bigger than it was before. there is a new federal agency right now, we just bailed out wall street. and what did we get in terms of an electoral bounty for this? we lost the house, lost the senate, and they just elected barack obama presidency. not only did this guy give conservativesy a bad name, we didn't win anything for it. that's why the modern right of the last eight years comes from. it was partly a reaction to barack obama. it was a reaction to the decision to be pragmatic in 2000 and to go with george w. bush. we're never going down t

bush had gone to george h.w. sh and said, if you don't toughen up, you're not going to win this race, so go ahead with the willie horton ad. susan: and ultimately, successful. they reached the white house. and it's interesting to note -- we were talking about this before we started -- we're doing this program live on the 20th of january, 2014, and it is today exactly the 25th anniversary of the bushes coming into the white house. the bush years -- and we have, as we do in each of these programs, a still of the important things that happened during those four years in the white house just to put it on the record books. and they include his "no new taxes" pledge. the savings-and-loan crisis also happened during that time period. of course, the first iraq war, which was known as desert storm. tiananmen square also happened during that time. and for many of your interests, the end of the cold war happened during the bush years. so on the national stage, so much going on. what was happening domestically during that tim

i mean, at george w. bush'sibrary when he opened it, his wife actually said that my husband, george, and bill had more conversations on the telephone in his second part of his election. and that turned out to be very true. and it's a shame that more reporters don't really say the truth today, which it is. ms. swain: thank you very much. jeffrey? tom: thank you. mr. engel: you know, that actually -- that reveals a really crucial thing about understanding the presidency more broadly, in that this is a job unlike any other. the pressures of this job are multiplied beyond what anyone else could possibly fathom. and consequently, the people who have experienced that pressure know what it's like to be in the room. there's only a very small handful of men alive today who know what it's like to live in the white house and send u.s. troops into combat and deal with congress and deal with the entire panoply of the nation. and consequently they consult with each other, they talk to each other. they know what it's like, and

but this book is about george h. w. bushhe person, and how that person most characteristics and personality contributed to a wide variety of accomplishments. so please join me in joining -- join me in welcoming governor sununu. ' >> thank you very much. [applause] >> this is a touching book about sort of the inside story and a description of many events which contributed to the presidency of george h. w. bush. but because of his unique personality are not necessarily known by the public. why don't you tell us how you first came to be associated with 41 and under what circumstances. >> i was running for governor in 1982, and i was running against an incumbent democrat that was guaranteed to win, so to speak. i won that primary in september and i need a fund raiser, so i picked up the phone and called the vice president of the united states, whom i had met during his travels to new hampshire and 80 when he was trying to beat ronald reagan in the primary. and i said mr. vice president, i need somebody to come again to be the sp

bush! mr. george h. w. in the months from now, we have got to get the deficit under control, but the answer is to keep the taxes down and to give the ,resident the line item veto and i will take that case all across this country. [applause] the topge h. w. bush: priority to me in the 1990's is education. literate, well educated america, and that is the answer to poverty, that is the answer to competitiveness around the world, and that is the way to take kids out of the inner city and given a good, fast place to start from in our competitive society. you know, i saw something a couple of weeks ago that symbolizes the american desire to look ahead, and that was a camp. i went to -- that was space camp. over ino one alabama, but soon, they will be all over. the united states must always have a bold, strong, competitive, manned space program, and i want to lead the way. [applause] mr. george h. w. bush: another issue, another issue, freedom around the world. the 80's have been a decade of triumph. this is a time

it's a george h.w. bush who felt things more deeply than he ever let on. >> i would like to hear what you said the night he's speaking into his tape recorder. your mother asleep in the next room. and these are his reflections. >> your thoughts? >> oh, wow. i never really understood how much the defeat stung him, because he kept it hidden. he bottled up this sense of defeat. >> the loss his father felt, the younger bush says, was not just his defeat by bill clinton, but something deeper. >> dad really didn't accept the baby boomer view of duty and honor. and therefore, to be beaten by the first baby boomer president, was upsetting to him. >> george herbert walker bush was born on june 12th, 1924, in milton, massachusetts, to a patrician family with high expectations and a firm sense of public duty. his father, prescott, was a serious and forceful figure, who would become a united states senator. his mother, dorothy, taught her son to strive for excellence, but never to show off while doing so. >> one of the f

ask your doctor about crestor. >>> george h.w. bush >>> george h.w. d served in the military, but before his years were over, he had to show he would lead the military into battle as well. >> i'm heading back to washington. it's probably been the most hectic 24 hours since i've been president in terms of showing a national security interest. i've been on the incessantly and the bottom line is that the west is together. >> it was the most hectic 48 hours for president bush because just days earlier the forces of iraqi dictator saddam hussein innovated and occupied their tiny neighbor kuwait. it was a defining moment for the post-cold war era. bush led the world's only superpower, but instead of intervening alone, he reached out to the rest of the world. >> he knew foreign policy. he understood it. he had practiced it. he knew a lot of these people from prior it rations. >> some of his friends in the region were reluctant allies. >> i was afraid some of them would peel off and support the upper regime. one of the worst offenders has been my friend saddam

, and george and laura bush lookingy like kind of shellshocked a little bit. >> finally after 3:00 a.m. a second call to bush from gore who was still hunkered down backstage at the war memorial. >> the phone rang again, and i heard governor bush in this very incredulous voice saying, you're retracting your concession? and, you know, i mean, there's no precedent for anything like that. >> and then at another point toward the end of the conversation, he said, i don't care what your little brother said. the networks are all saying now it's too close to call, and, therefore, i've got to withdraw my concession. >> i mean, hell, his brother was the governor. he was like, my brother -- al was like, hey. i'll never forget his facial expression. >> so he hung up the phone and cheers and somebody says, wow, you called jeb bush his little brother, so al says i didn't call him his little brother. he called him his little brother. >> as the bush team squirmed in austin, it fell to gore campaign chairman bill daley to deliver an unpr

it's a george h.w. bush who felt things more deeply than he ever let on. >> i would like to hear what you said the night he's speaking into his tape recorder. your mother asleep in the next room. and these are his reflections. >> your thoughts? >> oh, wow. i never really understood how much the defeat stung him, because he kept it hidden. he bottled up this sense of defeat. >> the loss his father felt the younger bush says, was not just his defeat by bill clinton, but something deeper. >> dad really didn't accept the baby boomer view of duty and honor. and therefore to be beaten by the first baby boomer president was upsetting to him. >> george herbert walker bush was born on june 12th 1924, in milton massachusetts, to a patrician family with high expectations and a firm sense of public duty. his father, prescott, was a serious and forceful figure, who would become a united states senator. his mother, dorothy, taught her son to strive for excellence, but never to show off while doing so. >> one of the famous

it is a george h.w. bush who felt things more deeply than he ever let on. >> i'd like you to hear what he said on the night he began speaking into his little tape recorder. your mother asleep in the next room. these are his reflections. >> no, the job is not finished. and that kills me. our kids were absolutely magnificent. boys telling me, we're proud of you, dad. we're very proud of you. and i'm thinking, they go back to their communities. yes, their father was president and all that. but a failed president. >> your thoughts. >> well, i never really understood how much the defeat stung him because he kept it hidden. he bottled up this sense of defeat. >> the loss his father felt, the younger bush says, was not just his defeat by bill clinton but something deeper. >> dad really didn't accept the baby boomer view of duty and honor and therefore to be beaten by the first baby boomer president was upsetting to him. ♪ >> george herbert walker bush was born on june 12, 1924, in milton, massachusetts to a patricia

it's a george h.w. bush who felt things more deeply than he ever let on. >> i'd like o you to hear what he said on the night he was speaking into his little tape recorder, your mother asleep in the next room. these are his reflections. >> the job is not finished. it kills me. our kids are absolutely magnificent. always telling me we're proud you have dad. we're proud of you. i'm thinking, they go back to their communities, their father was president and all of that. >> your thoughts. >> i never really understood how much the defeat stung him because he kept it hidden. he bottled up this sense of defeat. >> the loss his father felt, the younger bush said, was not just he defeat by bill clinton but something deeper. >> dad didn't really accept the baby boomer view of duty and honor. to be beaten by the first baby boomer president was upsetting to him. he was born to a family with high expectations, the firm sense of public duty. his father was a serious and forceful figure who would become a united states sena

george w. bush. >> it's important we hold to the path that we set out. ♪ ♪ >> and in this country, there were many experts who believed in george bush's vision. that deposing saddam hussein could be the jolt the middle east needed, that democracy was possible in iraq. the final push to war came in february of 2003. >> we're about to see a major historical event unfold live on television. >> when secretary of state colin powell presented a powerful and persuasive case against saddam to the united nations. >> we have firsthand descriptions of biological weapons on rails. ladies and gentlemen, these are sophisticated facilitiefaciliti. they can produce anthrax, enough dry biological agent in a single month to kill thousands upon thousands of people. >> everything you just heard colin powell say is not true. >> leaving saddam hussein in weapons of mass production for a few more months or years is not an option. >> there is no clear evidence anyone knew it but there were no mobile factories or program, n

george bush.s what she was doing, but she was using her power as secretary of state. as state's election administration official to try to produce that result, and that was wrong. >> my sense is she was trying to do the best job she could. she had been thrust into this sort of involuntarily. it was a great big role. >> thank you very much. i appreciate it. >> there was nobody she could call up and say i've got a presidential recount here what do i do as secretary of state? >> she was very nervous. she was quite young and my recollection is this max stipanovich was her adviser and he was a soiled person. >> a well-respected tallahassee lobbyist with ties to jeb bush and a long history in republican politics, max stipanovich became katherine harris' brain. >> i explained to her you don't have any friends. let's assume we're not going to have any friends when this is over and we'll be loathed by the media for the rest of our lives and the lives of our grandchildren. that's note what's important here

you know, george w. bushte a memoir, a book about his father published last year called "41" and as he said, himself, it's a love story. it's about his relationship with his father. and in many ways john meacham is not a love story, but he does seem to have fallen in love with the character of george h.w. bush. doesn't always agree with his decisions but he respects him so much as a sort of noble figure, almost out of a different age. t believes so much as his father did, prescott bush who instilled this in him, the belief in service and loyalty. that's the way george h.w. bush tried to live his life and obviously george w. and john meacham so much respect. >> you get what we heard from john meacham there, these diaries, these diaries he handed over, four years' worth of diaries including what president george h.w. bush said when he lost the election in '92. that night talking about his deep pain of losing and also about his reflections, m.j., on the generation, and he talked about sort of a lack of commitmen

campaign of vice president george h.w. bush. he speaks here at the florida republican party convention where he's introduced by his son, jeb bush. vice president bush won the florida primary in 1988 on his way to the republican nomination, defeating michael dukakis to become the nation's 41st president. >> where's george? come on up. also introducing the next candidate is my brother george bush and my daughter noelle bush. our next speaker is a man of tremendous courage, conviction, and experience. i'd like to talk a little bit about courage first. he was the youngest navy pilot in world war ii. he got his wings when he was 19 years old, flew 58 combat missions, has three air medals, including the distinguished cross. his courage and complete disregard for his own safety both in pressing home attack in the face of intense and accurate anti-aircraft fire and continuing in his dive on the target after being hit and his plane on fire were all times keeping with the highest traditions of the united states naval service. also his cou

george w. bush -- or george h.w. bush at one point conceded is he might have mellowed. he's talking about gay marriage when he says that. but embedded in all these comments is perhaps the most damning assessment of the george w. bush administration when he talks about the rhetoric. he says i do worry about some of the rhetoric that was out there, some of his maybe and some of it the people around him. hot rhetoric is pretty easy to get the headlines but it doesn't necessarily solve the diplomatic problem. then he references the axis of evil and says he think that might be historically proved to not be benefiting anything and there is the most damning assessment of the bush administration. >> frankly, it is not a huge surprise in the elder bush, he was the consummate diplomat. he was surrounded by james baker and brent scowcroft who were two of the most able diplomats we've had recently. he put together the coalition of the first gulf war and of course brent scowcroft is maybe his best friend and has already said that cheney who emerged as vice president is not it the che

this hour, george h.w. bush will take the stawill -- george bush will take the stage and make some comments made by his father. he slams two of the most notable figures from his son's, donald rumsfeld. watch. >> i accept your nom nag for president. >> this is george herber walker bush unleashed hp sharing thoughts from his time in office to his family. >> this admin is not going to rest. >> to his son's presidency. >> he handed over four years of diaries in the white house with in strings attached. >> and he said to you, call them like you see them. you're gonna sort it out. >> among the many revelations bush 41 is bluntry critical of the men who served his son in the white house. he calls dick cheney iron ass and former secretary of defense donald rumsfeld an air gapt fellow. but perhaps the biggest surprise, bush is critical of his own son for his hot rhetoric. >> we've never heard him criticize his son before as president. why do you think he went public now? >> i think with the distance of history, he believ

is true. >> from your book, 1987, newsweek, well before you got there, talked of rumors that george h.w. bushffair with a long time aide denied by both and george w. bush asked his dad about the rumors and did what? >> he called and said the answer to the big affair is no and it should it down. >> but his parents were not pleased that he had gone public. >> mrs. bush was angry or upset and she thought it would intrigue the her to and vice president bush said in the thyry he worried that he was right it could feed the story but the parents were wrong, george w. did the right thing because it put it to rest. >> given the 92 slogan was annoy the media and re-elect bush, in 1987 they ran the famous cover calling him a wimp, how did you persuade him to give you the interviews and share the documents? >> i found him to be a more complicated and interesting figure as i got to know him and my argument was that this was my book writing part of my life, you are a multitasker too, you know this. there are a lot of questions in bush land when it was announced i would do this because i was coming from the

george w. bush walked his father through the diplomacy, through the inspections, through everything. the president, the former president said, if the man won't comply, you have to do what you have to do. when the operation was launched in march of 2003, there was an exchange of letters between the two men. the letter from father to son is incredibly warm, ratifying his course, and says that you are now facing a set of problems that perhaps no president has faced since lincoln, because that iraq operation was still seen then as part of a war on terror to keep americans safe on the homeland. and dada -- >> rose: i didn't think that, i thought it was a war because they thought saddam had weapons of mass destruction. >> that would then possibly get into the hands of trips and be used against us. >> rose: right. so you get the feeling that there is huge love within this family. >> yes. >> huge sets of family responsibility, goes back to prescott and however far back. and now there is jeb. >> right. >> ro

we were con trained because george w. bush did not like humor that belittled other people or insulted people or any way made fun especially of his political opponents. that was a great credit to him and the reason why he got so much done in a bipartisan way. he did not stoop to insulting his political opponents. we were left with jokes about broccoli, the dog. you can't make new jersey jokes, west virginia jokes. the list gets smaller and smaller and the pile on the floor gets bigger and bigger. it was great fun and it really makes you appreciate the people who have to stay up and do omedy monologue. we would come up with stuff. original comedy is really fun ut really difficult. >> i gathered, -- we got one people that want to ask questions. >> i'm an undergrad here. we have a speech writing advisory group. i think this is a more general speech writing question. are there any crutches that you see used a lot in speech writing specific to presidential administrations? do you guys have any pet peeves? >> let's get the other ques

and today it was round two of the vice presidential debate between george bush and geraldine ferraro.ryone was arguing about who won last night, bush offered his own judgment and it immediately got him into trouble. he said "we tried to kick a little s last night." roger mudd tonight on the bush comment and who won, who lost dispute. >> everybody claimed victory today and in various ways. george bush claimed victory on the docks in elizabeth, new jersey, using anything he could get his hands on to prove it. but bush then let his victory claims get out of hand when he bragged that "we kicked ass last night," an inelegant phrase he would not rebate but said he stood behind it. >> it's an athletic expression. i stand behind it. i use it all the time. i just don't like to use it in public. >> that was 1984. and that year ronald reagan and his vice president george bush did win re-election against mondale and ferraro. but when reagan and bush won that '84 election, they won ronald reagan a second term in office. you only get two. when it came time to pick another nominee four years later i

george herbert walker bush. the passions of the reactions against george w. bush had his two terms after the glow of 9/11, the glow of 9/11 faded, the ferocity was such, people looked back at 41 and turned him into this medernickiaiaia politician. he too had a unilateral streak. >> he did produce two sons who were incredible leaders where you agree with them or not in this country. one a president of the united states, another a governor. how do you -- he must have said these things about george w. bush and the war and the advisorrers before jeadvisors bo run. >> maybe i'm just being owe attitude. i don't see how jeb bush has a problem with someone named donald and it's not rumsfeld. you know? i really don't see how -- there's another line of argument well now jeb is liberated to pick sides. it's no longer one bush view. i don't really see that. i think that george h.w. bush told me some things about cheney, about rumsfeld, about his son, about some disagreements he had. these are big, big boys, managing massive

george h.w. bush the strength of character he brought to his service of his country deserves more attention and appreciation. now comes destiny and power. jon meacham's altogether fair, insightful biography of the 41st president, a portrait made especially compelling by the author's remarkable access to bush's private white house diaries. this is a timely, first-rate book. thank you. back in a moment. ♪ charlie: hannah rothschild is here. she is a writer, documentarian, and philanthropist. she recently became the first female chair of the board of the national gallery in london. her debut novel is called the improbability of love. it explores the london art scene and it features a talking painting. i am pleased to have hannah rothschild of the table. welcome. hannah: thank you. novel, hannahnew rothschild writes about a familiar world. where is the photograph taken? hannah: that was a house that belonged to earl spencer and prince william and prince harry. we rescued it. that is the cherry on the cake

that's george herbert walker bush and that's the george herbert walker bush at the biographer that's biographer that i believed was a sweet and noble man, far sweeter and nobler and i hope this book helps change that. >> may be far sweeter than others. we knew that she was a diary keeper. it starts in 1948 when they go to odessa and they felt that they were going to russia. the first time your dad drove through texas and stops the local diner in abilene he orders chicken fried steak not knowing if it is chicken fried steak fried like a chicken so they ordered a lone star so it doesn't matter so there is one moment in 1948 where you were listening to the mother goose records she had just gotten. you jabber in the leg with a knitting needle. [laughter] if you have the woman at the highest levels of politics and have sentry this is what you get, the first impressions of texas politics. she said in 1963 in society which didn't dallas and houston are big forces, she saw that about her husband in 1963. we have her account of the day of president kennedy's assassination. an incredibly movin

in looking at george h.w. bush and george w. bush, george w. bush learns from his father. , and rollins talked about that. the way he had of the relationship with the media -- george h.w. bush was interested in relationships. he was interested in his relationships with people on the hill. with foreign leaders. he would call foreign leaders. just to talk to them, to establish a relationship. when the time came that he , over ao talk to them particular issue, that they already have an established relationship. so he encouraged people to come in one of the things he developed was joint press conferences with foreign leaders that all of his successors have followed. he did the same with the press. i think he thought of the press as a group that he needed to deal with and have a good relationship with and he often talked to them in personal terms . think of his relationship with sidey. at his memorial service, bush which he a eulogy couldn't finish because he was crying. so his sister read the rest of it. reporters encourage in the summer to bring their and bush had a party for

what makes george h.w. bush -- let me take that back. george h.w. ush was, as you remember, he runs in 1979 against ronald reagan in the primaries, and it's a very bitter primary because he's really the moderate republican. george -- ronald reagan is far, not far, but to the right of george h.w. bush. there's no sense that george h.w. bush is ever really a deep conservative. he's a business person who has business interests. remember, his father was a very moderate republican senator from connecticut. connecticut is not known for their deep conservative political roots. certainly, they have republican conservatives, but george h.w. bush was never really a conservative republican. but he did have some in his administration as we later saw, particularly a fella named dick chain who becomes his secretary of -- cheney who becomes his secretary of defense. george w. bush, as i've said, really a hybrid. his political ideology is so deeply invested in his personal born-again christianity, and he caroled, interestingly enough, some of his dad's moderate repu

that is george herbert walker bush and the george herbert walker bush that as a biographer i believeis a sweet and noble man, far sweeter, far nobler than the country appreciated at that time. i thinki think it is changing, and i hope this book helps change that. >> thank you. [applause] >> maybe far sweeter than mother. >> it forgets to houston he said it. [laughter] >> the reason i mention that is you read her diaries. >> i did. >> i knew she was a diary keeper. she did not let any of us read her diaries. what did you learn in that? >> ii learned that this is an amazing, historical document starting in 1948 when they go to odessa. and misses pierce thought there were going to russia. it was the wrong odessa, but it was not that far off. and the truly misses pierce sent boxes of soap and detergent to her son-in-law and daughter, figuring they did not have that in texas. the 1st time your dad drove through taxes and the studebaker, the local diner in abilene here is chicken fried steak not knowing if it's chicken fried. we were the lone star so did not matter. you are listening to mo

as is always the case with george w. bush, when that was over we reconvene in the oval office momentarily and is always said -- thanks, guys. mr. schlesinger: thanks. ,inally, adam frankel speechwriter for president obama in his first term. mr. frankel: i was assisted to ted sorensen for a number of years, probably the most intensive credential in this crowd. story about the cuban missile crisis where he was a member of the xcom that gathered during the crisis. asked to produce two speeches depending on how it unfolded, one in the event of an invasion of cuba, the other if they went with a blockade, he went to write the speeches and couldn't write the one about the invasion. he would tell that story as a way of showing us how the decision-making process unfolded. it unfolded many years later. when the raid on bin laden happened, i was at home on an all ornd got showing that the president was about to deliver some remarks. so, i e-mailed the other speechwriters to say -- does anyone know anything about this? dark except for be

this was back with george bush sr. was president. bush recorded a note in his audio diary expressing his concern that the situation would spiral out of control. here is his private recording from that day in 1990 which he dictated as he travelled back to the when you say. >> this is a terribly serious problem. it's perhaps the most serious problem that i have faced as president. because the down side is so enormous. if indeed the iraqis went in and got ahold of saudi arabia and our objective was to free saudi arabia we'd be involved in something that would have the magnitude of world war -- could have the magnitude of a world war, so many countries involved. >> on this point, do you have evidence that the saddam hussein was planning to go into saudi arabia back then? >> i know that there were enormous fears at the highest levels of the government. the president of the united states government. what you heard there was august 5th, 1990. you remember well on august second, the president said i'm not contemplating intervention of any kin

george bush won florida and george bush won virginia. why do it circle them? that's 2004.every one of them turns to blue. now watch this. we work in the census data. latinos in america, hard to see yellow but all five states high latino population. nevada and new mexico are blue. they have turned because of the latino vote. florida, virginia and colorado, florida with a large latino population, it's smaller in colorado and even smaller in virginia but you have closely contested elections, anderson and the democrats are winning 67% of the latino vote, it changes the electoral map hugely in the democrat's favor. >> but cruiz says conservatives stay home and they adopt the same on immigration and other issues. is that true? >> not really. there is a big debate among republicans but carl said flatly it's not true. look, turn out was down in 2012 from 2008. so a lot of people say ah, conservatives didn't turn out but democratic turnout was down more if you go from 2008 to 2012. a lot of people point to the state of ohio and say, you know, if more republicans turned out, romney

. >> sreenivasan: plus, george h. w. bush reveals what he really thinks about dick cheney and donald rumsfield in john meacham's new biography on the former president. >> george h. w. bush said that he believed that cheney was responsible for a good bit of that hawkish image-- that he wished cheney had not had as much influence. dick cheney should have had his "own state department." all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by bnsf railway. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. carnegie corporation of new york. a foundation created to do what andrew carnegie called "real and permanent good." at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: the crash of a ru

schultz or caspar weinberger could understand how george bush could say that. ve a feeling that president bush selectively remember these things. the other criticism here. you have to judge the whole. thing, he waser against the 1964 civil rights act. fundamental piece of american scripture at this point. what did he do in 1968 when he had gotten into congress? he voted for open housing to lift racial discrimination from the real estate sales. 1988n a brutal campaign in against michael dukakis who they referred to as a midget nerd in his diary. when he got to washington, he did everything he could to establish a political culture of consensus. tell me a republican president today he would sign the americans with disabilities act. find me a republican president today. charlie: maybe his son. reasons i call this destiny and power, is he always believed he was the best man for the job. he thought it was a possibility long before a probability. if you believe that, your compromises along the way are not cynical, but instrument to -- instrumental. there is also reaga

george h.w. bush having some tough words for dick cheney and donald rumsfeld in this new biography. jeb bush did not go out of his way to defend donald rumsfeld except to say my brother's a big boy and he knew what he was doing. >> one of the things is that bush 41 said that jeb bush didn't want dan quayle to be on the '92 ticket. did you ask him about that? >> reporter: i did ask him about that. jeb bush claims that he had an aide who told him about it on the bus ride here this morning but that he has no recollection of saying that dan quayle shouldn't have been on that 1992 ticket. he says, in fact, he's a big fan of dan quayle's. >> all right. casey hunt up in new hampshire for us. thanks so much. >>> also making political headlines today, former president george h.w. bush rarely talks about the administrations that have followed, but as we've said, surfacing today, tough criticism at key figures in his son's administration. and now some of them are firing back this afternoon. msnbc's steve kornack