we're that. but president bush did not do that. >> i remember at the time recalling something that churchill wrote. he wrote it becoming prime minister, he felt at the moment he became prime minister that all his life had been a preparation for that moment. i think as the soviet union trembled on the brink of collapsing, george bush's experience, george bush's background, george bush's nature, george bush's instinct and george bush's capacity to bring things together, to enable something to happen, were crucial to helping bring that about. he truthfully might have said of that event that all his life had been a preparation for that moment. >> what i like to remind people is that there is no precedent in history for the collapse of a great empire without a major war. and the period 1989 to 1991 was one of the most momentous