Warmest regards,
George Bush
March 2nd
Monday morning and it’s a very beautiful, crisp and cool day, 45, it will probably get up into the 60’s, and it’s fantastic. It’s almost like Spring has sprung on the 2nd day of March. There is something about the outdoors—and then I would add the grandchildren—that makes all of this ugly period seem less bad. There is a tomorrow and there is something over the horizon. I’m a fighter, I’ll do my best, I’ll keep on slugging. But I have that security of having tucked back—way back inside my mindset—the knowledge great happiness lies out there if indeed the voters just say “no.”
I don’t think they will. I have a quiet confidence that I will win. Some of it is because of the opposition; some of it is because I think things like World Peace and experienced leadership will make a difference; and some of it is because I think the economy is going to turn around. . . .
March 5, 1992
(En route Memphis, Tennessee)
The Honorable Richard M. Nixon
Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey 07675
Dear Dick,
I read your paper “How to lose the Cold War.” I certainly agree with the major principle of this paper, namely, that we have an enormous stake with the democratic Russia. . . .
As you know, we are moving on the humanitarian food and medical aid front. Many American technologists are working with the newly energized private sector in Russia. More needs to be done. We are talking with the states of the former Soviet Union on a range of issues.
I am not sure what Russian goods are denied access to our markets. We are working with them on MFN. In my view, it is the EC that must open their markets more.
We are working on the prospects for a stabilization fund—though, we’re talking megabucks here. We are also helping some on debt and perhaps can do more, along with the Europeans. . . .
I will be discussing much of this with Yeltsin when he comes over here. Incidentally, the more I see Yeltsin, the more I agree with your assessment of him. He seems to be bearing up well under an enormous amount of pressure.
I look forward to seeing you at the Library dinner next week.
Warm Regards,
George
March 9, 1992
Mr. Heinz Prechter7
ASC Incorporated
Southgate, Michigan 48195
Dear Heinz:
Thank you for your thoughtful and constructive letter. I appreciate, as always, your commitment to our success as a nation and to helping my Administration provide the necessary leadership.
I particularly like your emphasis on the positive. Our industries are becoming more competitive. The specific instances you mention of plants that have dramatically increased their productivity and of workers who have been successfully retrained illuminate this reality. We need to shine the spotlight on such places.
It not only provides genuine encouragement, but it also helps portray a more balanced picture of what is happening in this country. I agree with you that these success stories are all too infrequently reported in the diet of negative stories that fill the press these days.
As you point out, we are going through a period of necessary restructuring. Adjustment is never easy or painless. But we are doing those things that are crucial to competing successfully in a global economy over the long term.
I will make sure that our scheduling people are made aware of your suggestions of places to visit in Michigan. Finally, I take seriously and share your conviction that we need to be proactive rather than reactive. We will do everything we can here and, with the support of friends like you, I am confident we will prevail.
Sincerely,
George Bush
I sent this letter to the entire cabinet:
March 10, 1992
The Honorable James Addison Baker
Secretary of State
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Jim,
It has been a grueling period, and spring is about to spring. Barbara and I would like to offer you and your immediate family 48 hours away from the Washington grind—a couple of days at Camp David. This could be scheduled during the week or on a weekend when we are not there. (Inasmuch as we go there most weekends, I would encourage you to go during the week.)
It is a great place to relax, to think, to write, or just plain be with the kids. To guarantee privacy and maximum R&R, only one family will be scheduled at a time. Should you desire to go up there with another Cabinet member however, that can be arranged.
My assistant, Patty Presock, will handle scheduling and coordinating all arrangements with Camp David. You can reach her at 456-7400.
Barbara and I hope you and your family will have an opportunity to enjoy Camp David sometime before this fall.
Sincerely,
George Bush
I typed up these notes for the speechwriters on a Saturday at Camp David:
March 14, 1992
The Vision Thing
World Leadership to guarantee that our children live in peace, free from the fear of nuclear war in a world where all people know the blessings of democracy and freedom.
Leadership at Home to guarantee a better America. That means strengthening the American Family (family values). It means being the best in Education. It means winning the war on drugs and crime.
It means striving for a society free of bigotry and hate.
To achieve this ‘vision’ we must remain as the active leader of the entire world. We must be sure our word is credible—that means we must not only have the convictions about democracy and freedom, but we must have a strong National Defense posture. Our security comes first but the security of other friends around the world is vital too.
To achieve the domestic ‘vision’ we must fully implement America 2000 in education. That program, with its emphasis on Math and Science etc., will guarantee our leadership in the highly competitive evolving world.
To reassure Americans about their standard of living and their own prosperity we must expand, not shrink, our involvement and leadership in international trade.
We must find every way possible to strengthen the American family. Parental involvement in schools; community action programs that build on our “Points of Light” concept.
To address family concerns on health care we must press for prompt enactment of a new health care plan.
And to guarantee our prosperity we must make a major effort to control the ever spiraling debt of this country.
“Family, Jobs, Peace” can be expanded to :
World Peace and Freedom Abroad led and guaranteed by a strong America. At home, domestic tranquillity where family is strengthened, educational excellence achieved, the threat of drugs and crime eliminated, and the spirit of America is renewed by government being close to the people and by a ‘points of light’ concept enhanced, a concept which appeals to the better nature of man, a concept of neighbor helping neighbor.
It was a sensitive time in our relationship with Israel. They were asking for $10 billion in loan guarantees, mainly to help them with the huge influx of Soviet immigrants. However, their insistence on continuing the settlement of the West Bank—a key issue in peace negotiations with the Arabs—was putting the United States in a difficult position and hindering the peace process. Israel was an old friend and ally, but I made the tough decision to delay the loan guarantees until they agreed to stop building settlements in the disputed territories because the money, either directly or indirectly, would support those settlements. All hell broke out. I wrote this letter to George Klein, a successful New York City real estate man and a Republican activist in the Jewish community:
March 19, 1992
Mr. George Klein
New York, New York 10022
Dear George:
I have now had the chance to read your letter with the care it deserves. I want you to know that I appreciate your sending it to me; one should never assume that Presidents get the benefit of what people
are truly thinking. What you have to say pains me, but I thank you for being a true friend and saying it.
I, too, am anguished over the loan guarantee issue. Having helped bring about the massive immigration,8 I would like nothing more than to help see it through, but Israeli settlement activity leaves me little choice. I could not alter long-standing U.S. policy and still be a force for peace. We say that settlements are an obstacle to peace, and they are. I do not exaggerate when I tell you that more than anything else Israel is saying or doing, settlements are undermining those forces in the Arab world that at long last are ready to reach out and live in peace with Israel.
Some people here and in Israel suggest that the loan guarantees are solely humanitarian and that we ought not to make them political. But I would argue that it is the settlements that have made this issue political and that in any event peace is also a humanitarian goal. The new immigrants and indeed all Israelis deserve and need peace—real peace along the lines I described in Madrid—if Israel and its people are to thrive. What makes this all so critical is the fact that we finally have a peace process worthy of the name. Nothing should be allowed to jeopardize its prospects; and let me add that we do now have a peace process that was put together in very large part on Israel’s terms. For over 40 years Israel has wanted to sit in face-to-face negotiations with its Arab neighbors. We have produced just that. The Arabs know full well that we cannot and will not impose our preferences on Israel. Nor will we link aid vital to Israel’s security to policy questions. Our fundamental commitment to Israel is just that—fundamental. Please know this, for it comes from the heart as well as the head.
I hope the guarantee question can still be worked out. I recently proposed a compromise that would enable Israel to receive the full $10 billion. The only part reported in the press was $300 million up front. This proposal was rejected by certain key senators. I still would like this matter resolved. Quite frankly, it will depend upon the priorities of those in Israel’s government. But whatever happens, it is essential that this issue not be allowed to weaken, much less cast doubt upon, the core relationship between the United States and Israel. No one should permit disagreement over this or some other policy to affect the foundation of a relationship that has served both countries well for nearly half a century. I for one will do my part to make sure it does not.
George, it is in all candor that I tell you I write this response to your letter with more than a little frustration. I know there is a tendency to add up all the areas where we and Israel have disagreed over the past three years and assume that it represents a trend and a departure from the past. I do not want to raise up all the disputes from previous decades, although I would point out that the past was not always quite the golden age that some remember it to be. Rather, I would prefer to remind people of what we did on Ethiopian and Soviet Jewry, on repealing Zionism is Racism, on defeating aggression during the Gulf War, on convening Madrid and Moscow and the bilateral and multilateral talks to follow. My guess is that historians will look at today’s controversy and wonder what much of the fuss was about. There have been and are important differences between our two countries, but no less important are the many examples of cooperation. With so much at stake, we cannot afford to lose perspective.
I have come to believe that the measure of a good relationship is not the ability to agree, but rather the ability to disagree on specifics without placing fundamentals at risk. We do this all the time with Britain: we should manage to do it with Israel. Without assigning responsibility or blame, let me simply say that I am certain that we in the Administration can and need to do better at making this relationship succeed. I will do all that I can to see that the current strains do not grow worse but to the contrary are put behind us, so we can begin to restore with Israel the sort of relationship that you and I both seek.
Thank you again for writing. As always, I appreciate your counsel and value our friendship.
Sincerely,
George Bush
[When Yitzhak Rabin became prime minister, we worked out our differences and Israel received the loan.]
March 30, 1992
Dear Trammell,9
In Lord Tennyson’s work that you sent me—excerpted from Ulysses, the bottom line says it all:
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
These are not the easiest of times, but I am more determined than ever to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
We have much to be grateful for in America; and yet all we hear in the news media is gloom, doom, and dreary pessimism. This will change as the economy comes out of the doldrums.
It is a crazy political year. And it is ugly, too; but this will pass when the election is over if not sooner.
I cannot read the opposition, nor do I spend much time trying. I am trying to move Congress to pass my education, crime, tort reform legislation and more; and I will keep on trying.
One thing, Trammell, that remains very, very clear in my mind is that I am fortunate to have a great strong family and many friends—what a difference that makes.
Love to Margaret.
Most Sincerely,
George
March 31st
I had an interesting lunch with Howard Baker and McClure.10 They are both very concerned about Ross Perot,11 but I told them that in three months, he will not be a worry anymore. Perot will be defined, seen as a weirdo, and we shouldn’t be concerned with him. They both said, “Well, we hope you’re right but we don’t agree with you.” My view is that when he begins to get defined, either by his opponents or by the press, people are going to see him as strange. Yes, they want change, but they don’t want to turn the country over to an eccentric billionaire. Their view is that the move for change is so much outside, that outsiders are in and insiders are out; and that Perot can take his money and parlay himself into victory or into a serious threat. We need to be very wary of this, but time will tell.
April 1st
The economic news for the first time seems universally upbeat. The confidence reports come out and they show major increases in confidence, which is something we’ve been waiting for a long, long time. I think it’s a little early to say our woes are over—way too early—but this turn in the economy, plus a decision on the Democratic side,12 makes me feel that we might be seeing a real light at the end of this tunnel. . . .
April 8th
It’s a good day. Fed drops the [interest] rates one quarter, and Noriega goes to prison for 120 years. . . . It’s big, big news and sends a strong message to indicted drug dealers.
Panama is doing much better. They are growing at 9%; Democracy is there; American lives were protected; and one of the results was that this drug warlord was brought to trial and is going to pay a price. . . .
April 10, 1992
The Honorable Bill Goodling
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Bill,
Thanks for your letter. It is not my intention to recklessly “bash” the Congress. . . . I hope you agree that real reform is needed—not “perk” reform but real reform. Harry Truman did a pretty good job of running against the entrenched leadership in Congress when things were far less fundamentally fouled up.
I think just one two-year period of Republican control would shake up the ingrained bureaucracy and effect real change.
Thanks, my friend, for checking in.
Sincerely,
George Bush
We were in the middle of trying to decide whether I should attend the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June. Even though we knew the agenda would be liberal, I felt I should go and eventually did. I received a taped message, “Go to Brazil,” from Olivia Newton-John and a group of other Hollywood celebrities.
April 16, 1992
Ms. Olivia Newton-John
Malibu, California 90265
Dear Olivia,
That tape was super
. The voices compelling, the message clear.
A final decision will be made very soon. This is a very rough and ugly year as I am sure you know. I hope you will look over the attached pamphlet. I hope it conveys to you my fundamental and total commitment to sound environmental policy.
I think everyone understands that there is a lot of economic hurt in our country today. People without jobs are hurting and those with jobs often wonder if they will have those jobs tomorrow. We must consider not only the critical environmental needs, but also the economic needs of so many American families. I am confident that both needs can be met—they must be met.
Thanks for that tape, made obviously with caring and love.
Now—will you please thank John Forsythe, Jane Seymour and Dennis Weaver, Cher, the Ekharts, those little kids—Tracy, Katlin, Chloe and the rest, my admired friends Joel Grey and Tony Danza, John Ritter, Rita Coolidge, all the rest and of course your sister Rona, whom I so enjoyed meeting.
We will have that personal meeting—soon I hope. In the meantime, your Taped Message made an impact—honest!
Most Sincerely
George Bush
April 23, 1992
Sam [Skinner]:13
Given the latest Devroyism14 please ask that our fundraising techniques be reviewed. This article read like ‘influence peddling’ and I am disturbed by that. I hope the campaign is not going the hard ball route and are not resorting to gimmicks that cheapen the Presidency.
GB
PS Her story related to NRCC15 but let’s check anyway
April 26, 1992
Sunday (The 26th day of a nice month but in an ugly year)
Dear Peggy [Noonan],
I agree on Clinton he’s got more facts—he’s better at facts-figures than I am. I’m better at life. He’s a nice guy; and I’ve always gotten along fine with him.
Glad you’re coming here.
We need you—
Con Afecto (that’s Spanish),
GB
All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings Page 60