The Vice Presidency, which as you know surprised him, he always respected the role of the press. All right. Andrea mitchell joining us by phone. Andrea, appreciate that. And again, just continuing our coverage here. It is 1 00 in the east. We continue our coverage of the death of former president George Herbert walker bush, americas 41st commander in chief. He has died at the age of 94. That word came to us now just over an hour ago, the word being passed from a statement from his son, george w. Bush. We are joined by Hallie Jackson. Let me start with you because we have heard from the current im sorry. That is my mistake. We will be hearing from her in a minute. We are going to pause here just for a few seconds because were going to be joined by our Network Affiliates and pick up the network coverage. This is an nbc news special report. Steve kegeorge h. W. Bush has away at the age of 94. That word coming to us just over an hour ago. A Statement Released by his son, the 43rd president
arena of american politics and still keep your humanity, keep your grace, keep your integrity. we have talked about one of the most significant moments, not just in george h.w. bush s presidency but really in modern american history. that is the 1991 gulf war. it was august of 1990 when saddam hussein s forces in iraq invaded kuwait. george h.w. bush formed an international coalition, amassed troops, set a deadline for hussein to withdraw his forces or to face war. got approval from congress. then when that deadline passed and saddam hussein hadn t budged and george h.w. bush declared war. this was that moment. now the 28 countries with forces in the gulf area have exhausted all reasonable efforts to reach a peaceful resolution v
obama. george h.w. bush s life is a testament to the notion that public service is a noble, joyous calling and he did tremendous good along the journey, expanding america s promise to new immigrants and people with disabilities, reducing nuclear weapons and building a broad coalition to expel a dictator from kuwait. it was his steady diplomatic hand that made possible an achievement once thought anything but. ending the cold war without firing a shot. it s a legacy of service that may never be matched even though he d want all of us to try. again, that statement just coming in to us from former president barack obama and the former first lady michelle obama. going to bring back hallie jackson from buenos aires. she s been traveling with president trump to the g20 summit. interesting to come back to you on that note, the note that barack obama strikes in that statement about george h.w. bush s reputation as an
his mother from a privileged household in new england, oh george, told talk about yourself, she would say nap s why he as a politician in contrast to others who occupied that position, he was reluctant to do it. his good manners were always there with him. he was ambassador to china, the director of the cia, the vice president to the united nations. when he became president, he really did close a deal with the russian government that was discarding the soviet union. he was a seminal figure in so many positions in american political life. tom, i wonder if you could take us back to the spring of 1991 just after the successful completion of operation desert storm, the liberation of kuwait from iraqi occupation. he hit 91% approval rating. there were patriotic celebrations in this country,
no choice but to drive saddam from kuwait by force. general barry mccaffrey is still with us. general, just before george h.w. bush made that statement on national television in january 1991, there had been predictions that if the united states did launch that war, it would turn into a vietnam in the desert. it had been basically 15 years since the end of vietnam. there were terrible memories of that that were wide in this country. and it turned out that that war lasted far shorter than almost anybody had predicted. the ground war lasted i think less than 100 hours. far fewer casualties. when it was over, george h.w. bush said we had kicked the vietnam syndrome once and for all. i do wonder looking back at that moment, in an indirect way, did that triumph did the unexpected ease of that triumph change this country s psychology when it came to war, when it