Sincerely,
George Bush
March 27, 1990
Mr. Raymond J. Mitchell
Miami Township, Ohio 45439-3124
Dear Mr. Mitchell:
Barbara was touched by your letter telling her of your wife’s rebellion against peas, caused by my rebellion against broccoli.
Tell Janice Ann to “hang in there;” however, Ray, I cannot accept your check even though the cause for which you sent it in is a noble one. I love Baby Ruth’s and Heath bars too, but I just can’t spend your fiver on that. “Eat it today, wear it tomorrow.”
Barbara, broccoli lover that she is, joins me in sending our warm best wishes.
Sincerely,
George Bush
The wonderful cockroach racers from Hawaii surfaced again.
March 27, 1990
Mr. Kimo Wilder McVay
Chairman, Roach Bowl III
Honolulu, Hawaii 96814
Dear Kimo:
I was very pleased to get your letter and to learn that Kinder Gentleroach has indeed been officially received as an entry for this year’s big race.
I know a lot of thoroughbred roach lovers were disappointed that Oval Office Roach did so badly back in 1988, but lots has happened since then.
Commissioner Conrad, through his own success, has brought great lustre to this event. (I am told that his own entry this year has little chance, however, given the fact that his roach is overweight—sad to say.)18
I am a great believer in the Thousand Points of Light concept, and I salute you and all the others for what you are doing to help battle Multiple Sclerosis.
Please consider this your official permission to permit Kinder Gentleroach to enter not only the Roach Bowl classic, but also to run in the Iolani Derby. Kinder Gentleroach is willing to submit to an anti-steroid test, saliva test, etc., and I challenge all other roach owners to compel their entries to do the same.
Sincerely,
George Bush
P.S. I still feel both Yellow Roach of Texas and Oval Officeroach were robbed because Fred Zeder . . . had an illegal bet on other roaches. All we ask for is fair play.19
On March 11, Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union and declared that Vytautas Landsbergis was president. Gorbachev condemned the action as “illegitimate and invalid” and threatened military action. Again, I was frustrated by the difference between what I would have liked to have done and what was the right thing to do.
March 28th
Everyone wants us to “do more,” though nobody is quite clear on what that means. Congress has a free shot because they can exhort and urge without being specific except that they want immediate recognition of Lithuania, which I think would be quite dangerous. So they’re hitting me as the wimp unwilling to move, but the big thing is to get through this so the Soviets and the Lithuanians get into negotiations, and handle it without bloodshed and force. If there is bloodshed, there is not a damn thing the United States can do about it and you’d have blood on your hands for encouraging her and enciting the Lithuanians to bite off more than they can chew at this point. We are continuing to talk about self-determination and freedom, but this is a fine line for walking here . . . It’s funny how these things aren’t quite as simple as they seem from the outside.
The NEA20 for example. When I see Jesus Christ shooting up heroin or floating in a bottle of urine, I figure that there ought not to be one dime of federal funds going into this. And then you think of the alternative which comes to mind— federal censorship—and you worry, “Where will this lead?” . . .
Margaret [Bush] came over with Ranger, and the two kids, and I had a quiet supper with her. She is so sweet to me. When Marv’s gone and Bar’s gone, she’s always considerate thinking I might be lonely. She’s a lovely girl, and I’m very lucky to have her as one of our wonderful daughters-in-law. I love holding Walker. He’s more alert now, and his little face looks up, and if you talk to him just right, he’ll give you a tremendous broad smile. Marshall doesn’t seem jealous. She doesn’t eat much, though. We told her that her eggplant was pizza, but that didn’t work, so we gave her a couple of scoops of ice cream, and she managed to get some of that down.
April 16th
Barbara Bush is annoyed and I don’t blame her about the students at Wellesley protesting her visit.21 They’re protesting because she hasn’t made it on her own—she’s where she is because she’s her husband’s wife. What’s wrong with the fact that she’s a good mother, a good wife, great volunteer, great leader for literacy and other fine causes? Nothing, but to listen to these elitist kids there is. . . .
April 17th
Bar is gone. . . . I sit here at the White House rundown by health problems22 and a little gloomy given the magnitude of the problems. It might be the first day I’ve really felt an accumulation of problems: the Middle East, the deficit, environment, and Lithuania . . . but that’s what I get paid to do.
April 29, 1990
His Excellency Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Moscow
Dear Mr. President:
These are trying times. I have tried very hard to understand the problems you face at home. Indeed as Jim Baker has told Foreign Minister Shevardnadze, not only have we tried to understand, but we have acted with restraint and prudence.
I understand your view that the Baltic States are part of the Soviet Union; and I expect you know our view that we have never recognized their incorporation into the Soviet Union.23 I have given a lot of weight to your stated view that force would not be used and that eventual separation or self determination is in the cards for Lithuania.
The problem is we can no longer sit idly by, giving the impression that we are unconcerned about the aspirations to freedom of the people of Lithuania.
I have often stated publicly, not only my desire to see perestroika succeed, but also to see you personally prevail. I still feel very strongly about that. Last Monday, the Minister from your Embassy came to the State Department and once again asked that we show restraint. On Tuesday I met with key leaders in our Congress and explained that I was not prepared to take action on this matter, though there is a growing feeling in this country that my inaction delivers a serious blow to the aspirations of freedom loving people in Lithuania, and indeed everywhere. This growing feeling, which I share, leads me to believe that there is no way we will be able to conclude our Trade Agreement, and thus MFN, unless dialogue with the Lithuanians begins.
We realize there is no easy answer; but, as you know, we felt that a “suspension” by Lithuania of its resolution,24 as suggested by President Mitterrand and Chancellor Kohl, coupled with your willingness to meet with the Lithuanians outside the federation concept, would be the best way to break the ice. We have, as you probably know, urged this course upon Mr. Landsbergis.
Here is the basic reality—there is no way Congress will approve MFN under existing circumstances—no way at all. Further, under existing circumstances, I will not be able to recommend approval. I have felt that these negotiations should continue and, indeed, have taken some “flak” for not cutting off trade talks from our end. I assume that you have seen some of the statements on this critical subject.
I recognize, with respect, the restraint that you have shown, indeed, the encouragement you have given, to the new democracies in Eastern Europe. I recognize that this restraint and understanding has cost you support at home. You have a large stock of goodwill here and in other western countries for what you have done. But now we have Lithuania and the other Baltic States, which, to us, to repeat, have special standing.
I wish I could think of a more positive role that I could play to help ameliorate matters. In this regard, I would welcome any suggestions you might care to make. . . . It would be very useful if we could talk this out in a reasonable way, trying to work together to solve what at this moment is a terrible problem between us.
I may be forced very
soon to state publicly that under existing conditions there can be no trade agreement. This is simply a statement of reality. It is not intended to be provocative. It is not intended to complicate matters for you. I will accompany this “marker” with the fervent hope that dialogue will begin between Lithuania and the Soviet Union. I regret that the latest Lithuanian attempt at dialogue, with Supreme Soviet Chairman Lukyanov, failed to produce positive results. We must clear the path so that the era of improved relations between our two great countries will continue to flourish.
You have done too much, and we have come too far to see matters between us revert to tension and anxiety.
I would welcome any suggestions. Please know that this was not an easy letter to write. I have tried very hard to keep relations on track, recognizing the dramatic changes that you have brought to much of this world.
I have no choice now but to identify with our strongly held convictions about Lithuania’s self determination and the right to control its own destiny.
I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming meeting. I am determined to keep that meeting on track in spite of existing tensions. There is a lot at stake there.
My sincere best wishes.
George Bush
[Gorbachev, obviously annoyed by the letter, sent me a strong reply, saying the situation in the Baltics was an internal affair.]
May 2nd
Mum was here—she came yesterday and she looked very tired. Her cheeks were hollow and I was absolutely shocked as I walked across from the Oval Office to the Diplomatic entrance, and she said, “Who’s that? Who’s that?” I said, “Mum, it’s George.” Here she was on the White House grounds surrounded by the White House presence, and she didn’t know. But then I hugged her, and she knew . . .
While walking the White House grounds, my mind is not on tomorrow’s press conference; it’s not on Lithuania and the problem there; it’s not on the leak on the budget committee meeting . . . it’s on Mother and our family, and our love for her. She won the Mother’s race when I was in the fourth grade, and she was the captain of the Mother’s baseball team when I was in the 6th, 7th, or 8th grade—but it matters not. At Andover, she was the most vivacious when she came, and I know all my friends looked at her and said how wonderful she was. As the years went by, she was the leader for the Walkers, the Stapletons, the Bushes, the Jansings, and whoever—but now, she is a tired old lady. She stares a lot when she focuses, and it’s that focus of love. I said, “Did you see your newest little great-grandson, Walker?” And she knew and she lit up, and she said, he’s the most beautiful little boy she’d ever seen . . .
Tomorrow she leaves, and maybe I’ll never see her again, but I love her very much and that’s what counts. All the criticism, all the fighting, all the ups-and-downs, all the right-wings, the left-wings, the press, and controversy—they all mean nothing. It’s Mum’s words: do your best; try your hardest; be kind; share; go to Church—and I think that’s what really matters on this evening of May 2nd, 1990. . . .
May 4th
It was a very full day, and I had to cope with the leaks on my proposed talks about the budget. I had asked Mitchell, Michel, Foley25 and Dole to come to a Sunday meeting. We all pledged to secrecy, but then the night before the press conference on the 3rd, we got a call, and the word from the Hill is—there is a budget meeting. So there is a lot of preliminary jockeying, but if we handle it wrong, our troops will rebel on taxes—everybody will rebel on social security benefits—and there will be no deal at all, and we need a deal. I’m willing to eat crow, but the others are going to have to eat crow. I’ll have to yield on “Read My Lips,” and they’re going to have to yield on some of their rhetoric on taxes and on entitlements—
In any event, as I dictate this now on the 4th of May, Friday night, heading for Camp David, I’m tired, relaxed though—maybe it’s the martini—but convinced we’re on the right track in the big picture, and wondering how long the public will support me because I must say, as I drive around the country in the car, there seems to be a warmth of feeling to me and Bar, and that’s good for the country, I think. By that I mean, respect for the institution—respect for the Presidency. . . .
Gorbachev arrived May 31 for our first official summit meeting. We had many difficult issues to discuss, including German unification, the Baltics, arms control, and a trade agreement.
May 31st
I’m dictating this in-between meetings with Mr. Gorbachev. We spent a couple of hours together this morning. He asked me to outline for him how I saw the Soviet Union for the future, and where we place the United States and how he looked at the United States. I told him I stressed equality. We weren’t trying to complicate things for him, but that we wanted perestroika to succeed . . .
I told him we understood the loss of 27 million lives [in World War II.] He had referred to the arrogance of some countries, meaning mainly Japan and Germany. I told him that we no longer looked at them as arrogant, and that we fought in the war against them, but that in my view, they should be constructive partners of the Soviet Union in the future—both of them.
I told him the threat would come from “singularization,” meaning if you caused Germany to be treated differently and set aside and made to be neutral or made to have no weapons, you would risk a repeat of history. He alluded to the enormous problems.
I talked to him about Lithuania; I talked to him about how it caused difficulties for me politically; I mentioned Cuba; I talked to him about cooperation and lack of suspicion, saying that if they thought we wanted to install a regime hostile to them in Afghanistan, that would be bad; and similarly that we didn’t like support for a regime that is inhospitable to us 90 miles off our borders.
. . . We did not talk about the internal affairs much, though he did talk about their commitment to economic reform; their commitment to markets; and their commitment to reform in the provinces. I told him that as you approach market economics, you’ve got to go all the way or it won’t be effective. I said it’s just like being pregnant—you can’t be a little bit pregnant. He replied, and I thought cleverly, “Well, you can’t have a baby in the first month either—it takes nine months, and you want to be careful that you don’t have an abortion along the way.”
. . . In talking about Lithuania, he made clear to me that the constitution must be followed. He said if this was in the United States, George Bush would take care of the problem in twenty minutes.
June 1st
On the 31st, the dinner went well. Gorbachev was in a good mood . . . After the dinner, Gorby got me in the hall and said if we didn’t have a trade agreement, it would be a disaster—it would be terrible—repeated: a disaster. He was very agitated, and almost acted like he had not received the letter I wrote, which we’ve kept confidential—a letter in which I told him that we could not go forward with MFN unless there was some solution to the Lithuania problem. As I dictate this on the morning of June 1st, we have not talked in detail about Lithuania or trade or MFN, although he did touch on his need for support and not being isolated—don’t embarrass us, don’t humiliate us.
. . . Bar is very nervous about Wellesley this morning. She read me her speech. I called her about 7:30 and told her to be sure and put in there that reading to a child is self-rewarding, etc. She said, “Well, you didn’t listen to my speech when I read it to you” and I’m afraid she was somewhat right, although I did think the speech was very good. Now all three networks are carrying the speech live . . .26
Here we sit with all of these problems, and yet, when a bird flies by or two ducks land in the swimming pool, or I see the fountain down near the tennis court, I get a restful feeling. There is a bearded gardening man from the park service. He’s a great big guy, a giant—a tough looking guy—and I watch him from the Oval Office as he tends the flowers with the loving care that just shines through. I go out and talk to him for sometime, and he gives me great detail as to what it is he’s doing, and what flowers will bloom next.
On Sa
turday we took the Gorbachevs to Camp David. We had serious talks in the morning and afternoon but we had some fun, too.
June 2nd
. . . The toast [at dinner] was marvelous. Gorbachev had picked up a horseshoe when I was taking a little nap. He had gone for a walk, thrown it and hit a ringer on the first shoe. So Tim27 had gotten the other shoe, had it put on a plaque with a little etching on there about his visit, and I handed it to him with a very informal toast at the end of dinner that included our top people and their top people—about 30 at dinner. He was very emotional and choked up when he described what he felt was this relationship. . . .
It’s funny how in dealing with the Soviets we think we know a lot, but we know so little. We heard that Gorbachev didn’t like to fly in a helicopter, yet he seemed very comfortable in the helicopter—totally relaxed, looking out the window, and asking a lot of questions—and if he was nervous, he damn sure didn’t show it.
June 3rd
Sunday afternoon. I brought Gorbachev into Lincoln’s bedroom and showed him the room in which Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. I showed him the Gettysburg Address, and explained what it was about. I showed him the pictures of the slaves waiting to be freed, and then I brought him into the office and showed him my five screen television set, and the computers. I showed him my schedule for Monday, and he said, “I’ve got to get my office modernized. I don’t have this kind of thing.” Then I showed him the block schedule and he seemed positively amazed, so I just handed it to him for the month of May and for Monday, June 4th. He said he’d like to send his Chief of Staff over to work with my Chief of Staff, and I mentioned that in front of John Sununu, and I said Sununu would be glad to go to Moscow or he would be glad to have his chief come to us. He also asked me to be sure to come to the Soviet Union, and I told him, yes, I’d be glad to do it. . . .
[The summit was a big success. We made headway on arms control and got a surprising concession from Gorbachev that German unification and German membership in NATO were really up to the Germans, which was a huge step forward. Publicly, we gave Gorbachev his trade agreement, but the secret deal we made with him was that I would not send it up to Congress for approval until progress had been made on Lithuania.]
All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings Page 51