>> larry: one week from tonight we have mick jagger. first, we welcome back laura bush. her new book is "spoken from the heart." a terrific read published by scriptners. you were such a private first lady. wasn't this hard for you to do? >> it actually was not. it was really great to have a chance to do this. it was really great to have a chance to do this. i wanted it to be very candid. i wanted it to be revealing. and i knew there were a lot of gaps that what reporters asked me about, all those eight years we were there, you know, didn't cover some of the things that were in this book. so i had a great time writing it. i went back home to midland when i started it. my mother still lives there, and went by all those houses my dad built. and the houses george and i lived in, and the schools we went to. >> larry: lived your life over. >> that's right. and i really did there is something cathartic about it. i saw things really for the first time with my vantage point, now, at my age. a lot of things that happened to me when i was younger and still thought of them as a 17-year-old. but now i could see them. >> larry: why did you? you had a wonderful childhood and a lot of sadness. why did you hold back all these years? >> well, i mean, that was -- no one ever asked. it was -- >> larry: no one ever asked you about it? >> no. so it wasn't really the thing to talk about. people asked me about the car accident. i was asked about that when that became public in the 2000 race. but the things about having the little brothers and sisters that didn't live, you know, that was just something we didn't talk about that much. but when i started to write it, the book, i realized how much that had influenced my parents and what a sadness it had been for them. so it was a sadness for me. >> larry: how old were you? >> i was two when my mother lost the second -- her second child, my first little brother. and that's my first memory is looking through a nursery glass window at little western clinic in midland. i don't remember seeing a baby. i just remember this big window that was actually inside a building, and knowing that my little brother was there. >> larry: is there a grave? >> he is just buried with the other babies, the other premature babies in midland at a cemetery. >> larry: what was it like for a little girl? >> well, it was sad. and then when i was eight my mother had another pregnancy, and when i was 13, she had another one. so i knew always that that was their big sadness, they didn't get to keep those three other babies and have a big family of three or four children. so it was for me too. i wanted all those brothers and sisters. >> larry: but it was a overall happy childhood? >> very happy. very stable, loving parents that were funny and fun and great to be with. and, you know, i knew always, i've always known what an advantage that is, to have parents who were like that. >> larry: great to have a mother still around. >> that's right. my mother will be 91 in july. and she is doing great, and she is still in midland. >> larry: probably watching. >> i hope so. >> larry: you write about a tragedy, that accident. explain that. i'm going to read a little. >> okay. >> larry: by the way, you can read from the book too. would you -- was he your boyfriend? >> no, mike douglas was my very good friend. >> larry: mike douglas? >> i had known him most of my life. we had known each other -- our families had been acquaintances, and i had old movies when we were really young children with mike in it. and then we had been great friends through high school, talked on the phone almost every night. i was just driving with a friend to a drive-in movie, and we're on a very dark and two-lane road, which is now the big loop, the big freeway that circles midland. and it ends in a highway, big spring highway, which also was probably two-lane at the time. >> larry: and here is the way you write. "i was in the intersection, and immediately in front of me was another car. it came rushing out of the darkness, and i was right upon it without a second to turn the wheel. all i heard was the horrible sound of metal colliding, the catastrophic boom that occurs when two hard pieces of steel make contact." how old were you? >> 17. i had just turned 17 two days before. >> larry: you had no idea who was in the other car? >> no, i didn't know who was in the other car. i was thrown out of the car, but i got up. i was not badly injured at all. and my friend who was in the car with me, had stayed in the car. she just got out and we stood to the side. and we knew that the person who was in the other car was lying on the ground there. and in a few minutes, another car drove up, and a man rushed to the person who was lying there, and my friend judy said "i think that's the father of the person that is there". >> larry: he was following him in the car? >> they lived right beyond this intersection. and i said, no that can't be the father. that's mr. douglas. and then when we got to the hospital and we just had the little cloth drape pull between where we were lying and where he was. and then i heard mrs. douglas. >> larry: isn't that the strangest of coincidences? >> it's strange and terrible coincidence, it really is. really is. >> larry: he died that night? >> he died instantly, i'm sure. >> larry: and you said you lost faith. >> i did, because the whole time i just kept saying please, god, please, god, let him be okay. and you know, it was like no one heard. >> larry: there was no reason for guilt. you hadn't done anything wrong. >> well, i mean, it was an accident. but still, of course i felt terrible guilt. it was my fault. i ran the stop sign. i mean, i ran a stop sign i didn't see. and i was a very inexperienced driver, and on a dark road. and all those things. but still, it doesn't matter. >> larry: the friend who was in the car with you, still a friend? >> judy, yeah, very good friends still. >> larry: the father, did he forgive you? >> i don't know that. i never went over to their house. my parents went over the next day, and visited with them. and then no one really ever suggested that i go see them. >> larry: really? >> and i know it ruined their life. >> larry: did you have any kind of depression? >> no, i don't know that i would say that. i didn't -- i dealt with it by trying not to think about it, by putting it out of my mind and not talking about it. and no one talked about it. my best friend and i would talk about it every once in a while. but no one suggested going to get help or talk to a pastor or talk to anyone. it was just how it was, really, in 1963 in west texas where you just sort of swallowed your troubles and went on. >> larry: how did you get your faith back? >> well, it was slow. i mean it was slow, and it was a long time coming. and, you know, it was more of a study of what faith is and what that means. and, you know, it just came slowly. really, it was what the accident was a tragedy beyond belief for the douglases and for mike, whose life ended then, and then for me. and i learned the hard way there are those kind of tragedies that you can't do anything about ever, that you can't change, no matter how much you might want to. >> larry: but your faith tells you he is still somewhere, isn't he? >> well, my faith tells me that god forgives, and that, you know, that there is a better place. >> larry: coming up, marrying into the bush family, and her wedding day. extraordinary book, laura bush, "spoken from the heart." don't go away. what did we make better ? communities. industry. energy. her. this. lives. how ? by bringing together... information. ... people ... ... machines ... ... systems ... ideas... verizon helps businesses worldwide... including fortune 500 companies... find and achieve... better. better. better. better. so, you - uh, cause we're bears? why is t- [ panda chuckles ] well, you know snapple's made with healthy green tea, tasty black tea and real sugar. - are you familiar with tea? - uh, yeah, snapple man. we're from china. we're familiar with tea. it's just that i know you're trying to be healthy so-- healthy? hello! we're pandas. it's called extinction. look it up. [ announcer ] healthy green tea, tasty black tea, real sugar. we're still getting paid, right? the best stuff on earth... just got better. thank you so much. constipation's uncomfortable enough, so why take a harsh laxative? phillips' caplets work naturally with your colon... for overnight relief without cramps. phillips' caplets. i thought you said carl was our best presentation guy. [ worker ] well, he is. last week he told my team about fedex office print online for our presentations. we upload it to fedex office, then they print, bind, and ship it. the presentation looks good, right? yes, but -- you didn't actually bring carl with you. good morning! but i digress. [ male announcer ] we understand. you need presentations done right. and right now save 20% on all online printing purchases. visit fedex.com/print. >> larry: we're back with laura bush. the book "spoken from the heart," published by scribner's. our special guest for the hour. mick jagger one week from tonight. how did you meet george w.? >> well, we actually grew up together in the same town not that far away from each other. our houses were probably ten blocks apart. but we went to two separate elementary schools. and we went only one year together to one year of junior high before the bushes moved to houston. >> larry: how much older is he than you? >> he is my exact same years. 18, 19 years later i was back in midland visiting my parents, and george had moved back to go in the oil business, and some friends had invited us to come over to their house for dinner. they had been sort of talking up george for a year or two because we were literally the last of their friends who weren't married. they put us together. >> larry: what do you remember about the first meeting? >> i remember a lot about it. i remember what i wore. i remember what jan and joey fixed. they fixed hamburgers in the backyard. i remember how i thought george was very funny. he made me laugh. the next day he called me and asked for a date. we went to a miniature golf course and played miniature golf. >> larry: was there an immediate attraction? >> there was, really. there was really. we were really ready. we were looking for somebody to share our life with. >> larry: how long before you got married? >> three months. >> larry: pretty quick. >> very quick. >> larry: was there an engagement ring? >> no engagement ring. just got the plain gold band. i did get the bigger ring later. >> larry: there is a passage in the book about your wedding day, if you would like to read it. >> sure. "the morning after my 31st birthday, i stepped into the chapel on my father's arm. george was waiting at the altar. the night before, when george stood to give his toast, he had wept. george and his father are deeply sentimental men. in years to come, to others, the cool remove of television would frequently obscure the depth of their caring, how much, and how deeply their own hearts open. george herbert walker bush didn't even try to give a toast. only bar spoke". >> larry: you and bar have had -- how would you describe that relationship? >> well, we have a very loving relationship now. >> larry: but? >> when we first married, i just expected bar to welcome me with welcome arms and to be treated like a daughter myself, like my mother did to george, of course, because i didn't have any brothers and sisters. but bar had five children, and already had some grandchildren. and it took a while for us to really develop a great relationship. and it happened when we moved to washington in 1987 to work on mr. bush's campaign on mr. bush's campaign. and we lived in the same town and we lived up the street from them, just a mile up the street. and during that year and a half, we finally really got to know each other and love each other. >> larry: was she testy with you? >> i wouldn't say that. i wouldn't say that. she just had a lot of family members. and when we were together, before that, it would be in the summer when all the brothers and sisters and the grandchildren and everyone would be there, or it would be at a major high profile event like a republican convention or an inauguration, you know, some event where gampy's political life was on the line. so when we got to know each other, we really got to love each other. >> larry: i interviewed your husband during that convention in 1986. >> yes, i remember that. >> larry: you call him gampy? >> gampy and ganny. those interest names the bushes use for the grandparents. >> larry: do you still use them? >> yes, i do. >> larry: tell me about the drinking. >> well, george and i lived in midland for the first ten years that we were married. and the life there in west texas had a lot of drinking. drinking was a part of it. our social life was to go out on the weekends, go out on friday night usually with all of our friends to eat mexican food. and the ladies would drink margaritas, and the men would drink beer. and the next night on saturday night we would go to somebody's house for dinner where, you know, we'd barbecue and people would bring hors d'oeuvres or whatever and we would drink. >> larry: you too? >> us too. everyone, women and men did. i really thought that george drank too much, and i would notice it. and you know, it might be funny. i say this in the book, when other people's husbands have too much to drink, but i didn't think it was funny when mine did. >> larry: did you encourage him to get help? >> i encouraged him. i put in the book i didn't use the line "it's jim beam or me." that was a joke that came later. i wasn't about to divorce george. >> larry: no? >> divorce wasn't in our dna. plus i had baby twin girls and i wasn't going to be left with twins. >> larry: is it hard to live with an alcoholic? >> he wasn't really like that. it was heavy drinking, but it was at night. he was an athlete. he ran every single day. i just knew he would like himself better if he quit. and there were a number of things that happened. we met billy graham the summer before in maine. and then some midland men started a bible study that he started going to. his dad was thinking about running for president. and all of those things really worked to make george see that he didn't want to keep drinking. >> larry: weren't there some bad nights, though? >> well, there were bad nights, but not, you know really. >> larry: you never wanted to split? >> no, no, i never wanted to split. we don't have divorce in our dna. >> larry: how did he stop? >> he just stopped. we went to the broadmoor for our 40th birthday parties. all of us were turning 40 that year of our friends. i used to joke that he got the bar bill, and that's when he stopped. but i think there was really nothing different from that weekend from other weekends. we traveled with people and had a lot to drink. i think it was just one too many weekends. >> larry: more with laura bush. >> he can do it. it's hard to just stop like that. >> larry: didn't go to aa or anything? >> didn't do that. >> larry: could someone have tried to poison president bush and laura? we'll talk about that. also about baseball, ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪ do u gonna be there? ♪ are u sure u gonna call back? ♪ ♪ when am calling up and all that? ♪ ♪ ♪ can't u hear i'm sick? ♪ i'm lovesick ♪ can't u hear it explode? ♪ all down, all down we've got a way for you to check the status of your loan online. securely, any time, anywhere. - and that's why i love... - i love... i love being a home loan expert. >> larry: we're with laura bush. she is now first lady. how did hillary treat you, the outgoing first lady. >> very well. she gave me a tour of the white house, after the election was finally decided, which you remember was 36 days after election day. >> larry: what was that like. >> that was wild. she gave me a tour, and she was very forth coming with advice, which i appreciated a lot. and we walked all over the white house and saw everything. and one of the things she pointed out was the window from the upstairs dressing room, the first lady's dressing room that looks down on to the rose garden. and she said that barbara bush had pointed that window out to her, and that bar had said if there is an event in the rose garden where the president was speaking, she would look out that window or look over in the office. and hillary told me that. so when i gave michelle obama the tour, i passed on this is the window to look out. >> larry: what is it like to live there? >> it's really unbelievable to live there. it's such a magnificent house. so many reminders of all the different families that have lived there. you live with their decorating. you live with their furniture. you live with their choices of art. and there is something really comforting about that because you are always aware when you live there of the challenges that other families who lived there faced. a lot faced tragic -- you know, their own personal tragedies like the death of willie lincoln or calvin coolidge's son who died while they lived there. or, you know, the challenges our country faced while they lived there. and in those days after september 11th, when we would think about other times that our country had faced challenges, that was comforting and encouraging to us. >> larry: do you feel like a renter or an owner? >> no, you know that it's a temporary home. but you also feel like you're the steward of it. and that it's your responsibility to make sure that it's kept up and looks great, you know, is lovely and welcoming to whoever comes to visit. >> larry: i remember talking with you at length about 9/11 when you were in the white house. and i remember talking to ted kennedy. of course, the two of you shared 9/11. you were with him. >> that's right. >> larry: tell me. >> i was on my way to capitol hill to brief a senate education committee, senator kennedy's committee on early childhood education that morning. and really, which was one of the goals i had set for myself as first lady. and so i was on the way there when my secret service agent leaned over to me and said a plane has just flown into the world trade center. we went ahead to capitol hill because when we heard about the first plane we had no idea what would transpire later. but by the time we got to the capitol, we knew about the second plane. and so we knew that it was an attack. and so i went to senator kennedy's office, and he kept up a steady stream of small talk. he showed me mementos that he had in his room. he showed me the photographs that he had on his wall. >> larry: didn't talk about -- >> and really didn't even discuss it. and i speculated about that many times. i've wondered if that was just how he wanted to deal with the tragedy, because he had had so many tragedies in his own life, or if he thought i would fall apart. if we started to talk about it. and really, when i think about it, and when i wrote the book, i thought about this, what would we have said except oh no, oh no. over and over. so in a lot of ways, it gave me some space. >> larry: and you didn't discuss it at all? >> we didn't. but then we went out to the press. we discussed it then. we said to the press that we were postponing the briefing to the committee, that we would come back and do it later. and i did later, the next january. so we discussed it then with the press. and one of the things the press said to me, larry mcquillan said as we were turning to walk away at the end of the little press briefing, he said, mrs. bush, what do you say to the children? and that really is when i thought that i did know what to say to children. and i knew how to encourage children. and i knew what parents should do. should turn off the television so their children wouldn't see