Legacy of his grandparents a george h. W. Bush and barbara bush. Thank you. Welcome. I feel like i probably do not need to introduce my fellow panelists here, because everyone knows who they are, but on my left we have george p. Bush. Speaking on behalf of the bush brand. [applause] susan page is the washington andau chief for usa today author of the bestselling biography of barbara bush called the matriarch. She will be signing copies of it after this. [applause] beschloss, one of our most wellknown president ial historians who has written so many things, so many books, i will be asking you about some of the stuff that i found in my worn copy of character of all. Something i want to ask all of lost given that we have barbara bush and george h. W. Bush so close together, what kind of reassessment do you think this has brought for the country as to what the bush name and what the significance really was of all of the work that they did in so many arenas of Public Service . Looking back on it now coming close to a year, i just think about a life of Public Service. I think of the world war ii generation. It really wasnt about them as individuals. It was the turning of a page of our countrys history in many respects. I was privileged to be asked to give the eulogy for my grandfather. When we came back to houston, it was a celebration of both of their lives. It was not a celebration of one individual. It was a celebration of our heritage. As texans, their time in the middle and after his military service in world war ii, later rising to political ranks in houston, texas and really the story of a couple seeking to achieve the American Dream as it was defined. Those simple values and that work ethic was celebrated that week. I will say this also, in texas we had a different celebration, but in dci thought it was refreshing that for three days, the white noise of washington dc shut down. The country came together. It was special to witness. I hope people continue to recognize the contributions of that generation. I came in on the 1990 two campaign when george bush lost his bid for a second term. We know how discouraging that was for him. In that election, there was not animosity toward president bush and certainly not toward barbara bush. There was a feeling that there was a time for a change after three terms of republican president s, but there has been a reassessment of both bushes since that election. There is no appreciation for the skill with which george bush war, which wasd not a cinch to work out. I also think that the administration of President Trump has prompted some americans to appreciate the tone,ty, the bipartisan the willingness to talk across party lines, some of the qualities that president bush brought to the white house are newly appreciated today in the way in a way they were not appreciated previously. I think that Barbara Bushs reputation continues. To get better as we understand how important she was. I agree with everything that has been said so far. If you are looking for conflict i suspect this is not the place to come for it. I think we are all great admirers of both. I am interested in susans point because if you go back to 1992 and the year that george h. W. Bush was defeated for reelection, the arguments that bill clinton was making is that he is out of touch, his skills are not needed in a postcold wasera, even though it george h. W. Bush that ended the cold war so that you could have a era of peace so you could focus on the domestic side, but to me it shows something that is very profound about history. To think that as history goes on you begin to change your views. Getime goes on and as you access to letters and diaries because things i can guarantee you do not look the same about a single sitting president as they will 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 years later. Preferably a longer. Of time. As time went on, it allowed us to see and allowed more americans to think about this to understand that it was not at all foreordained that though cold war would end as it did. The cold war ended in 1990 one on terms that harry truman and all these other cold war president s could only have dreamt of. One of the central reasons that that happened was that every cold war president made a contribution. God whenrotected by george h. W. Bush was president during the last years of Mikhail Gorbachev because if i was looking for qualities of president s that would turn out to be important, i would want someone with the human qualities to build a relationship with gorbachev so that gorbachev would do things like open the berlin wall and allow the Eastern European satellites to go and later on to join nato in that that he did not feel georgia george h. W. Bush would make fun of him or embarrass him in certain ways. I think we now see much more clearly how lucky we were to have him as president. The other thing i will say, and i want to ask particularly susan and karen about this because both are and have been writing about first ladies, i have been doing this for almost 40 years and i have written primarily. Bout the first lady i have met a number of them, including barbara bush. And also nancy reagan. Karen, how far along are you . I am getting there. It is a terrible thing for an author to ever ask that question. In any case, one thing i would generally say about first ladies, and tell me if this sounds right to you, that is that you ask a first lady about ething that you know they will always essentially say it was not me, it was the president. I may have had some influence, but he carried the load on this. Give him the credit. More time you spend studying the howt ladies, you find vitally important to these first ladies were, both in their own right and in these presidencies. I cannot think of an exception to that. Maybe the best example of that would be best truman. Beth truman. Beth truman was thought of by the general public as a someone who barely knew what her husband was doing professionally, spent a lot of time in the truman home in missouri, wasnt even in washington. There was this huge event that truman was in the middle of world war ii, the integration of the military. When theyre both gone and we got into the letters and diaries, you saw how essential she was, not only to him, but to the presidency. All im telling you is if you would hear a first a lady in realtime, or a first house as a man will be a first spouse, i hope soon does that sound right to the two of you . I found that speech to barbara bush behind the scenes that she was very influential. But generally as a partner to george h. W. Bush through his whole life, she was indispensable to him. About 130 people for the buck and almost every person i interviewed, i would end the interview by saying if george bush had not married barbara pierce, would he have done the things he did, including being becoming president . I asked george h. W. Bush this and he thought about it and he said yes, i think i would have. If you are married, that is the wrong answer to give. Person iery other interviewed, not quite everyone, but almost everyone said no, he would not have done all he did without being married to barbara pierce. The younger the person to answer, the more likely they were to say that she was crucial. Themrandchildren, some of did not seem to understand the question. Like how could you ask that question, of course he had notsk you, if married barbara pierce would he have done the things he dead . No. Absolutely not. She was later labeled the silver fox, but i think she would have inferred the enforcer. Actually, enforcer was later on in life. Was the gray fox, which seemed a little insulting. The enforcer, even if the label came later, it more clearly reflected oh, yes, in the entourage and the family. George. My question to same time, later on, as life went on, people realized that she also had a very tough side. Does that sound right to you . Absolutely on point. Im sure you never saw that. I was never the recipient of that. [laughter] that skill set to raise george w. Bush. She clearly was the enforcer of the family. She at times was the bad guy, if you will, in terms of executing discipline. That started in the days of midland all the way to the 18 grandkids and Walkers Point up in maine. We all respected my grandma. She made sure we stood up straight set up straight, spoke with correct grammar. We are going to miss her so much. That is the spirit that she had. I would say politically she was an advisor to my grandfather. She was not the one who ruled the roost. Whowas the first person askd ask for we would for advice on. Sitting now as we are in houston, texas, the bushes come are twond and they kinds of exotic species that we did not see much of in texas. They were connecticut yankees and they were something that was even rarer at the time they were republican. Houston,y moved to your father takes ever the Republican Party, in part because there is a messy battle going on between the berkshires and the corporate republicans. Crucial tomily is so implanting the dna of the Republican Party into texas politics. The kind of republicanism that you see today in texas in many ways doesnt resemble that that much. There sense that it is and do that there can be a return to it perhaps . There is a silent majority of republicans that do not have the time to go and be an activist. Solution oriented leadership, whether it is in austin or washington dc. Regretfully because of the conflicts we have seen in texas within our own party, we have lost our super majorities, especially in the statehouse. Here i am on my soapbox saying im one of the few republicans trying to bring people together as we head into a redistricting decided by the composition of the house and senate. Truly the state trends more blue. One of the really interesting things that you came across in your research, actually asked misses bush, do you still consider yourself a republican . What did she say . When i interviewed her we were coming up on the oneyear anniversary of President Trump selection. It will stun you to know that she was not a big fan of President Trump. I asked her and she said yes, of course. What turned out to be my last interview with her in 2015, i iid when i first talk to you ask you if youre still a republican. What you think now . No. She said she felt she no longer had a home in the Republican Party. George h. W. Bush voted for Hillary Clinton. Barbara bush did not like Hillary Clinton much either, so barbara bush road in jeb bushs name for president. It says wrote in jeb bushs name for president. For theof them voted republican candidate in the last election of their lives. Is, we talk thing about probably the accomplishment of George Herbert walker bush that is going to get him the biggest place in history just ofr guiding, not the country but the hold world whole world through the end of the cold war. He was so surefooted. Now whoa president talks about america first, but george bush had relationships with a lot of the key players in that decade, whether it was the envoy to china, or the head of the cia. Do you think that this kind of internationalist strain of the Republican Party still exists or has donald trump taken it to a different place . He is the leader of the party, so he does define foreign policy, republicans do not have to agree on every single issue there is. If you look back on the time of my grandfather, whether it was liaising with china, he viewed that as one of his favorite posts of all time. In terms of his international relationships, he spoke with his Vice President about the string of soviet premieres died. He prided himself on his frequent flyer miles with Chase Untermeyer and other aids and developing those relationships and making sure our National Security objectives were being achieved. Whenever you could actually get him to talk about politics, which was very difficult to do as a grandchild, he would beam with excitement when it came to foreign policy. , thechael, again surefooted nests, the degree to surefootedness, you also saw that in the International Coalition he got going into the first gulf war. For sure. It was very much him. Not only the fact that he had a diplomacy, fit for but he had been ambassador to the u. N. Since 1971, relatively early in life. That is what you do up there. A lot of the people he knew as ambassadors were leader of governments by the time he became government president. Let me follow up on something we were talking about before i that barbara say did notd nancy reagan have the closest relationship on earth. They did not have a lot in common other than that they both went to smith college. Married to people who were optimistic, liked to make friends, liked to see the best in people. Those two women, if they walked into a room, i think i would say this for both of them, and there was someone 18 rows back who did not have george bushs best interest at heart, barbara bush just had a sense for sensing that person in the room that that person was a danger or needed some work. I think nancy reagan did too. Does that sound right to you . I think barbara bush was more likely to remember. And exact a price. George h. W. Bush was more likely to either forget about it or forget. Do you think that is true . Absolutely. My grandmother had a long term memory. I have the scars to show it. That applied to politics. It would be a discussion and she would say so and so soandso crossed you in texas. She was the first to jump in on previous political conflicts. That is what was meant by the enforcer. Is that something that was essential to his political career . Would he have been able to succeed without it . He obviously had great advisors along the way, but there is nothing like the spouse stepping in. He had no other agenda than to beat too forget how brutal that 1980 republican primary really was. Other. Ally went at each you want to remind us what happened in dallas, in case everyone there was voodoo economics. Forgeteagan did not that. That primaryend was very, very difficult. Several people i have talked to about all of this suggested that often it is easier for the husbands to let go of this than the wives. Or the candidates. Do not want to identify this person who i interviewed for the buck, an elected official who is , antage now the book elected official who is on stage now [laughter] im not sure if you remembered this. Sometimes it is necessary for the candidate are the official to have amnesia, so it is useful to have someone else you trust who does not. I think that is right. Sometimes you need to let bygones be bygones, but sometimes maybe it is useful to have someone to say that is an they are not with you. Jfk, why areld , because so nice to x i thought he has done such terrible things. Cannot be inyou politics if you have that in mind all the time. Is an important to have someone who does have that in mind . Can we ask the officeholder . Especially in the twitter era. , ou read your comments it is important to have someone who can keep an honest appraisal, who can remove yourself. As somebody in politics, it is difficult to remove yourself. That is the vital role that my grandma played. For that matter, so did the kids. My dad and my uncle worked extraordinarily hard and all of us did to make sure that they were successful but also to give that honest appraisal whenever have to decisions will be made. Whenever tough decisions will be made. My grandfather in maine talked with his political team, but my soliciteds conversations at the dinner table. We had our vote and we had our say. Which thed a venue by family would weigh in, including grandkids. That is a role that successful politicians who won the family vote . I do not recall. Other names that you remember that were raised . Lugar,ink dickel indiana. Zero looking at a senator from indiana, dust you have forged your own path, your own identity beyond your name. Often kind of taking on the establishment. Republicantire texas establishment was behind it david dewhurst, you backed ted cruz. He famously you helped donald trump in the state. Earlier this year the president was here for an event and he introduced you as truly the only bushs who got it right. I when i entered politics, dont think anyone could have predicted what would happen in 2016. I worked very hard for my dad when he ran. In 1980, we talked about that being an ugly campaign, but 2016 was pretty bad. One of the lessons i have learned in my family is that politics can be a dirty sport. Things are said that we all sometimes regret, but we all have to move on, if you want to move forward in politics. I have paved my own way, i have supported the president , i intend to do so this cycle. I have also stepped away from the party on a variety of issues, including White Nationalism after the shooting in el paso, which was written about in the atlantic. I have stepped out on a variety of another other issues. A lot of Lessons Learned from my grandfathers time and my grandmother that i try to use in my formal Public Service. After Tropical Storm them elda lda, i and my team went out and mocked and cleaned mucked and cleaned homes. It was great to see nonprofits out there fighting the fight before the government did. I think in many ways, the appreciation of the bush name is, you cannot divorce that from the contrast of the current occupant of the white house. Of georger obituary Herbert Walker bush for the Washington Post it was probably a 180 inches story and i did not mention Donald Trumps name until the third to last paragraph and i got all these emails from trump reporters why did you slam trump in this article that was supposed to be about george h. W. Bushs life . That he ran on character above all and experience if i can interrupt, the most popular bush commercial in 1980 features the narrator saying, the more you know about george bush, the more you know that no been betters ever prepared to be president of the united states. Does that sound right . Yes. Make you play it over and over again . One take johnny. Do you remember the day that that was done . No, not today. I think that is why the bid for reelection was so crushing for george h. W. Bush. Character was so important to him. Felte time, both bushes that bill c