Of the party. He is one of the most experienced Public Servants in u. S. History. Lester holt has more on a life which extended well beyond politics. I come before you and assume the presidency at a moment rich with promise. Reporter for george bush, becoming president was the capstone of a lifetime of Public Service that would also include being the father of a president. In fact, the bush family has been among the most prominent in american political history. But while George Herbert walker bush grew up in wealth and privilege and went to the best schools, he also learned the importance of serving his country. A navy pilot during world war ii, he was shot down over the pacific and rescued by a passing submarine. The moment incredibly captured on camera. He returned home, married his sweetheart, barbara pierce, and started a family. Moving to texas in 1948 to get into the oil business. They suffered the loss of daughter robin to leukemia, but raised five children. In 1964, the year he turned 40, bush got into politics running for senate. I certainly hope and ill bet you do too, that our children can grow up knowing what freedom really is. He lost but later won a house seat and ran for senate again in 1970. This time with help from president nixon. And george bush in my opinion is the best man for america. When he lost again, nixon appointed him ambassador to the u. N. I consider myself a very lucky guy. But his next job was chairman of the Republican Party during watergate. You try being chairman of the Republican Party during the watergate day, youre talking about a ghastly assignment. Bush escaped watergate unscathed and nixons successor gerald ford made him his envoy to china. Just a year later an evening bigger assignment. Director of the Central Intelligence agency. Cia, i loved. One year only but i loved defending the culture at a time when everybody was down on it. When ford lost to jimmy carter, bush left the cia. What he will do next, he didnt say. Reporter what he did next was run for president. I do pledge a new candor. Reporter bush lost the nomination to Ronald Reagan in 1980 and his political career seemed over until this stunning announcement. That george bush be nominated for Vice President. Reporter for eight years bush was reagans loyal Vice President surviving questions about his role in the irancontra scandal to become reagans heir apparent. I am here today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States. Reporter bush emerged from reagans shadow. I want a kinder and gentler nation. Reporter and made a promise he would later break. Read my lips, no new taxes. Reporter george bush defeated Democrat Michael dukakis in 1988 and became president of the United States. So help me god. Reporter the bush years saw epic events on the world stage. The detiananmen square massacre, the fall of the berlin wall, and the collapse of a soviet union itself. By the grace of god, america won the cold war. Reporter but his president s defining moment was Saddam Husseins invasion of kuwait. This will not stand, this aggression against kuwait. Reporter backed by an International Coalition bush launched Operation Desert Storm and drove iraqi forces out. Aggression is defeated. The war is over. Reporter but Saddam Hussein remained in power until bushs son toppled him 12 years later. I thought Saddam Hussein would fall of his own weight when the war ended and i thought theyd throw him out of there and they didnt. Reporter bushs postwar popularity soared and then sank over economic concerns closer to home. In 1992 he lost to bill clinton becoming a oneterm president. I had my chance. I gave service to this country. And now im perfectly content to let history be the judge. George bush enjoyed an active retirement full of grandchildren, fishing, even skydiving. And he saw his eldest son become president , but he kept his advice to a minimum and his son charted his own course. Bush was no stranger to partisan politics but he aspired to a higher ideal as when he teamed up with bill clinton on Global Relief efforts. You can be political opponents and still Work Together for something more important than your own political future. Reporter a former president for decades, he saw a granddaughter Jenna Bush Hager become a today show correspondent. What is aging like . Aging is all right. Better than the alternative. Reporter he saw republicans turn away from the bush brand and the Party Establishment it represented. Excuse me one second. Reporter rejecting sons jebs bid for the presidency. And he survived his wife barbara bush and welcomed an outpouring of affection for her. Theirs was the longest marriage in president ial history. Throughout his long life george bush was admired as a man of decency. Values that to the end reflected what was most important to him. His family. I just want to get up into heaven. I dont get there by bragging on myself. My mother told me that years ago. I want to bring in andrea mitchell. I know you have been covering this for a few hours. Youve been covering george h. W. Bush for a few decades. For our audience that joined us, i want your first thoughts on the passing of george h. W. Bush. Its the passing of an era. He was the best prepared president of the United States in terms of Foreign Policy experience, cia, china, u. N. Ambassador, say nothing of having been a member of congress. He also was the last of a generation. Last of the greatest generation, world war ii veteran. The youngest naval aviator going in at 18. In the middle of the war marrying barbara pierce, the love of her life. 73year marriage. The oldest american president. Lived the longest of any american president at 94. And the stamp that he had on bipartisanship. He was a fierce partisan. We know that from the 88 campaigns and other campaigns, but bipartisanship when it came to solutions. He believed in Public Service, making tough decisions. I think of the andrew s air fore base agreement in 1991 that pledged no tax pledge and perhaps doomed his reelection bid. Not going into baghdad. Hard decisions. Believing in multilateralism. The postwar regimes that helped build europe, japan, and the United States by creating markets in asia, creating markets in europe. Most importantly perhaps in Foreign Policy the end of the cold war. The fall of the berlin wall. The reunification of germany. None of this was ordained it was all a matter of diplomacy, intelligence, having the great advice of Brent Scowcroft at his side and jim baker as secretary of state and other key advisers. Barry mccaffrey, a very close adviser to colin powell at the joint chiefs. The contrast to where we are today is evident in the passing of george h. W. Bush. As i look through peoples comments on social media, there are those who say i think they mean it well, they say dont canonize him. Give him credit for what he was. He said in his own words ill leave my legacy to others. There was a modesty about him. Yet he was an overachiever. Youngest naval aviator. Head of the cia. Vice president , president of the United States, went to yale. What do you how do you put into context who he was given the context of what weve got today . Obviously his world view is different than donald trumps. His view of bipartisanship is different. On his own and without the contrast and comparison to today, what is the evaluation of george h. W. Bush . I think history will be kind to him. I know the flaws. I did, you know, journalistic battle with him at times. He always engaged and understood that that was part of the process. He didnt call people enemies of the people. He, as other president s, bill clinton, president obama, bush, w. Bush 43, this knew there were fierce fights, partisan battles, adversarial challenges, but they knew that was the system that the founders had envisioned. That was part of the deal. He believed in Public Service and he, unlike many predecessors and followers, he was humble. That humility was perhaps his political flaw on the campaign trail. He didnt respond always as one would respond. He was a combatant but not the best combatant politically. I admired his humility, his belief in Public Service, his jen rogenerosity of spirit, des the flaws. He might be the first to acknowledge those flaws, but i think of the letter he left for bill clinton, his political rival, saying that he wishes him well. His success will be our countrys success, and that i am rooting for you. The handwritten note he left on the desk in the oval office for the incoming president to see after the inauguration. Those are the qualities of the Republican Party that he led that Ronald Reagan led before him. They were rivals before they were colleagues. Thats a quality that i miss in our politics. He was challenged by conservatives who didnt think he was all that conservative and then challenged by what at the time was a new breed of edgier conservative, a more partisan group that he didnt want to engage in. He almost got squeezed out. He occupied a space in the Republican Party where he had sort of enemies on both flanks. Sure. Remember voodoo economics. When he was talking about the dr trickledown theorys. He had to swallow those words. That was one problem. He was never completely trusted by the hardliners, certainly not by pat buchanan. Certainly the challenge from ross perot on economic issues, but also against the nafta agreement. And think today about nafta. I was in the east room when bill clinton was in 1993 pushing nafta and all the former president s, you know, all the former president s came to the east room, republicans and democrats to endorse nafta. And al gore, the Vice President engaged ross perot in historic debates carried live about whether or not that trade agreement was good for america. Theres certain flaws in nafta which were drying to be addressed but not completely thrown out and have now been negotiated and signed in the last 24 hours. Theres a lot to look at. I think in Foreign Policy certainly the end of the cold war and the reunification of germany in a peaceful way and the support for foreign aid which helped rebuild post World War Ii Europe is a legacy. When you think about the gulf war, one of the qualities that will be remembered is the way in which george h. W. Bush was prepared to pick up the phone, call World Leaders and build a coalition. As we look at the middle east today, the United States has faltered in its leadership role. The middle east is littered with governments that are weak, failed states. How much of that goes back to not finishing the job in the gulf war that he thought he had finished . I dont think we can assess it that way. The decisions actually that his son made to go back to iraq were fateful decisions. Im not sure those are decisions the father would have made. We know the fathers closest political sorry, Foreign Policy adviser, Brent Scowcroft, his National Security adviser, his best friend, Brent Scowcroft came out against the gulf war and for that was fired by the son. Yeah. Extraordinary. In september of 2002 for writing an oped in the wall street journal arguing against the gulf war. He was fired from his post. So the son went against what his father i think would have done. But my colleague and friend susan page wrote today one of the sharpest exchanges she had with george bush is when she challenged him about the iraq war, and he said he would never tolerate criticism of his son, not from himself or from our president. He was never publically dismissive, despite all of the reports and rumors of what had happened with the iraq war, the second gulf war. Andrea, thank you for kicking off this hour with your analysis and the context. Thank you. All right. Next up, more reaction to the passing of americas 41st president. I used to worry about death. I dont anymore. I have a feeling theres an afterlife. I have a feeling its a good one. Who would you want to see first . Depends if barbara predeceases me, probably her. My mom. My father. Maybe robin, our little girl that died. With fidelity Wealth Management you get straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, taxefficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. Fidelity Wealth Management. Even when nothing else is. Gopis found a way tolth. Keep her receipts tidy, brand vo snap and sort your expenses with quickbooks and find, on average, 4,628 in tax savings. Quickbooks. Backing you. Well, not because it was easy. I mean, the game is all i know. You think back to your draft. It felt like a fantasy. But the second you know you cant compete anymore, you owe it to yourself, to your team, to find a fresh start. So, yeah, thats why i did it. Thats why i walked away. From my fantasy league. announcer redeem your season on fanduel. Play free until you win. Fanduel. More ways to win. I am a techie dad. N. I believe the best technology should feel effortless. Like magic. At comcast, its my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. My name is mike, im in Product Development at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. Visiting my buddy 41 briefly this afternoon. I said this to you, jim or john in the book that you wrote. I continue to believe it. I think when it comes to Foreign Policy the work that president george h. W. Bush did with jim at his side was as important and as deft and as effective a set of Foreign Policy initiatives weve seen in recent years. President obama praising president george h. W. Bushs impact on Foreign Policy tuesday, hours after meeting with him for what would be the last time. This morning president bushs successors are remembering him and his years of Public Service. The obamas writing george h. W. Bushs life is a testament to the notion that Public Service is a noble, joy us calling. His son, president george w. Bush said his father was a man of the highest character and the best man a son could ask for. And he never stopped serving, i saw him up close working on tsunami relief in asia and home after katrina. Joining us now is jois jonathanr and karen also joins us. Karen, lets go to george h. W. Bushs undoing in the end, he served one term. That was because america was in recession. There were criticisms of him at the time that he was not able to connect with americans over the Kitchen Table issues that they were struggling with at the time. From as surefoot ted as he wasn the international stage, at a very turbulent and dangerous time, he was not quite as certain of himself on domestic policy. So he gets hit by two big problems economically. One is the recession. The other is americans growing concern about the enormous federal deficit. And he was not somebody who was able to inspire the kind of Economic Confidence that bill clinton could in that 92 election with his message that its the economy, stupid. And at the same time he was hit by a second candidate, ross perot on the deficit. And that turned out to be his undoing. This is a president who just, you know, a year and a half before had had stratospheri rat. Jonathan, i want to remind people about the famous broken promise that george h. W. Bush made about taxes. Lets listen to that. Read my lips, no new taxes. So history will say his decision to go away from that promise was economically wise, it was politically disastrous. Thats right. That promise was made at the 1992 republican excuse me, the 1988 Republican Convention when hes running against michael dukakis. In 1980 when bush is running against reagan for the republican nomination, reagan is running on what they called supply side economics, which through some magic theory thats been disproven by history that you could dramatically increase defense spending and still balance the budget. And it was not plausible. Bush called it voodoo economics. Then he becomes reagans Vice President. He has to walk that back. He has to live with this idea that you can never ever raise taxes to close the deficit. He has to own that idea. In order to get the republican nomination in 1988, he has to say i will never raise taxes. Read my lips. But he knows in his heart and mind that that is bull. Hes probably going to have to raise taxes. He does in 1990 and 91. The republican right, conservatives from that day on they determined they would sit on their hands and that contributed to his defeat mightily in 1992. David, president clinton has just had an oped published in the Washington Post in which he praises george h. W. Bushs Foreign Policy. He writes even more important, though he could be tough in a political fight, he was in it for the right reasons. People always came before politics, patriotism before partisanship. To th