On that note, it seems fitting to close this chapter, and this book, with an excerpt of a letter Dad sent to his five kids:
This is my last day in Kennebunkport after almost five months of great happiness. There is something about this place that gets into one’s very soul. Don’t you agree?
Here’s what I want to tell you at summer’s end.
I had a little plaque made. It says CAVU. CAVU was the kind of weather we Navy pilots wanted when we were to fly off our carrier in the Pacific. We had little navigational instrumentation, so we wanted CAVU—“Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited.”
At Gar Hole’s funeral this summer—he was our exec in the Pacific—I saw a wooden plaque that read CAVU, so I had a little bronze one made up for the end of our house here, the end where the seas pound into the rocks the most, the spray most likely to weather my plaque. It will then blend nicely in and guests will no longer say “What does CAVU mean?”
When it has blended in, outsiders might not notice it—fine by me. But I will not pass by it without realizing how lucky I am, for the plaque describes my own life—as it has been over the years, as it is right now.
I used to seek broad horizons in life, and I found plenty. Now I don’t care if I can’t even see Ogunquit [a town thirteen miles south of Walker’s Point]. Limited horizons are OK by me just so family is in view.
I don’t want to sit at the head table or be honored or get a medal or have stuff named for me. That’s happened and I have been truly grateful for some of the honors, but no more need come my way.
I sit on our deck, out of the wind, near the sea. And I realize that because of all five of you and yours I am a very happy man. I don’t need anything. I don’t want anything—only your love.
Because of your love and your caring about us and the joy your kids’ laughter and even the sadness a tear reveals, I know my life has been very full and happy. And your mother feels exactly the same way.
Your mother and I sit out here like a couple of really old poops, but we are at total peace. She does crossword puzzles, real puzzles, reads a ton of books, plays golf, calls people up on the phone, writes letters, and occasionally gets mildly (to use an old Navy expression) pissed off at me. I can handle it though—no problem. I fall back on bad hearing and changing the subject. Both work.
Because of the five of you whose hugs I can still feel, whose own lives have made me so proud, I can confidently tell my guardian angels that my life is CAVU; and it will be that way until I die—all because of you.
Acknowledgments
Writing this book has been a privilege and a passion for the last year and a half. I went into this project not having any idea how to begin. I come out of this project grateful for all of the support I received along the way.
Once I decided to take on this project, the first call I made was to my sister-in-law and friend Tricia Reilly Koch. I knew she would love this challenge, and in her inimitable way she accepted my plea for help with unbounded enthusiasm. I truly could not have done this without her.
Tricia and I are grateful to Larry Kirshbaum, former CEO of Warner Books, who now runs LKJ Literary Management. Larry believed in this project the instant he heard about it and stayed with us after he left Warner Books. He was our biggest cheerleader, and his guidance was invaluable.
We could not have asked for a better publisher than Hachette Book Group USA. Our thanks go to Maureen Egen, Jamie Raab, Karen Kosztolnyik, Emi Battaglia, Jennifer Romanello, Bob Castillo, Jimmy Franco, Karen Torres, Chris Barba, and the rest of the excellent staff.
There would be no book if it were not for the special talents of Mary Kate Cary and Jim McGrath. They are hardworking, loyal, and masterful at their craft. Each contributed to this book in their own special way, and for that I am grateful. Barbara Feinman Todd was with us early on, and I appreciate her valuable contributions.
An enormous thank-you goes to everyone at the George Bush Library, especially the “Ladies at the Library,” Laura Spencer, Debbie Carter, Mary Finch, Bonnie Burlbaw, and Buffie Hollis, who did research, fact-checking, and found pictures so beautifully. Also a thank-you to Robert Holzweiss, supervisory archivist, Patricia Burchfield, and Warren Finch.
Everyone in Dad’s office staff in Houston was a big support. Special thanks goes to Mary Sage, who constantly found contact information at a moment’s notice; and Jean Becker, who offered first-rate advice whenever I called.
It became clear that former world leaders were difficult to track down, but I so appreciate the efforts of General Brent Scowcroft, Ginny Mulberger, and Gail Turner, who made them easy to find.
Patty Presock’s meticulous files were a springboard for this book, and she was instrumental in getting this project off the ground.
Susie Peake kindly helped early on with the infamous letters eventually recovered by the United States Secret Service—and so a special thanks to them too.
It’s essential in life to have a computer guy. Ours was Matthew Pocarro, who can do or fix anything on the computer.
Melissa McPherson transcribed hundreds of tapes for us faster than we could get them to her.
Many thanks to Brett Orlove and Terri Lacy, who kept us legal.
Susan Biddle, former White House photographer, photographed the cover and was able to capture so beautifully how much I love my dad.
David Valdez, my dad’s personal photographer during the White House days, provided many of the wonderful interior photos for this book.
Eric Draper, my brother’s personal photographer, also provided more recent photos.
The list of people to thank is endless. And they all added so much to the project. I am completely responsible for all the people I left off this list.
My profound thanks go to Roger Ailes, David Baldacci, Doug Band, David Beightol, James Bradley, Mary Cheney, Gina Dellaquila, Susanne Dieper, Deborah Hocutt, Matt Hueber, Jack Janes: Danny, Reilly, KC, Max, and Jenna Koch; Christy MacCormack, Matthew McLaughlin, Jack Mills, Martina Nibbeling-Wriessnig, Louisa Sheldon, Bobby Watson, and of course Google.
I have four amazing brothers: George, Jeb, Neil, and Marvin helped me every step of the way. As did my mom, who is one remarkable woman. I love them all more than they’ll ever know.
Last but not least, I want to thank my husband, Bobby, and my children, Sam, Ellie, Robert, and Gigi, for their patience and understanding throughout this project. And for bringing me joy and happiness every day of my life.
I am grateful to the following people for spending their valuable time being interviewed:
Roger Ailes
Leonore Annenberg
Lud Ashley
James Baker
William Barr
Ralph Basham
David Bates
Becky Beach
Jean Becker
Rich Bond
Rudy Boschwitz
Pat Buchanan
Chris Buckley
Bill Busch
Ashley Bush
Barbara Bush
George H. W. Bush
George P. Bush
George W. Bush
Jeb Bush
Jenna Bush
Johnny Bush
Laura Bush
Lauren Bush
Mandi Bush
Margaret Bush
Marvin Bush
Neil Bush
William “Bucky” Bush
Pierce Bush
Bill Canary
Andy Card
Jimmy Carter
Dana Carvey
Dick Cheney
Bill Clinton
Tony Coelho
Sean Coffey
Tom Collamore
Ben Crenshaw
David Cunningham
Dick Darman
F. W. de Klerck
David Demarest
Bob Dole
Michael Dukakis
Nan Ellis
Chrissie Evert
Geraldine Ferraro
Tim Finchem
Laurie Firest
one
Marlin Fitzwater
Gerald Ford
Tom Frechette
Bob Gates
Dan Gilcrist
Vic Gold
Mikhail Gorbachev
Al Gore
Boyden Gray
Don Gregg
Jack Guy
Joe Hagin
Betsy Heminway
Spike Heminway
Martha Holdridge
Ede Holiday
Karen Hughes
Toshiki Kaifu
Ron Kaufman
Larry King
Hank Knoche
George Koch
Helmut Kohl
Howard Kurtz
James Lilley
Tom Luce
John Magaw
Sir John Major
Fred Malek
Paul Marchand
Lynn Martin
Mary Matalin
Tim McBride
Reba McEntire
Jon Meacham
Ken Mehlman
Dr. John Mendelsohn
Carlos Menem
Rich Miller
Jack Mills
Bob Mosbacher
Hosni Mubarak
Brian Mulroney
Jim Nantz
Sally Novetzke
Frank “Junie” O’Brien
Gian-Carlo Peressutti
Colin Powell
Patty Presock
Dan Quayle
Pat Quinn
Ken Raynor
Sig Rogich
Dan Rostenkowski
Pete Roussel
Karl Rove
David Rubenstein
Marty Russo
Carlos Salinas
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Norman Schwarzkopf
Brent Scowcroft
Bernard Shaw
Alan Simpson
Honey Skinner
Sam Skinner
Craig Stapleton
Debbie Stapleton
John Sununu
Pete Teeley
Harry Thayer
Meg Thayer
Clarence Thomas
Angus Thuermer
Ellen Tolton
Martin Torrijos
Margaret Tutwiler
David Valdez
Paula Zahn
Rose Zamaria
Jiang Zemin
I would also like to thank all those who sent letters filled with wonderful stories about Dad:
Sir Antony and Lady Jenny Acland
Princess Catherine Aga Khan
Joe Allbritton
Duane Allen
Ann Kelly Allin
Jay Allison
David Alsobrook
Hushang Ansary
Placido Arango
Bill Archer
Marjorie Arsht
John B. Ashmun
Sally Atwater
Bob Barnett
Thomas Barrow
David Bates
Bertie Bell
Griffin Bell
FitzGerald Bemiss
Bishop Ben Benitez
Mrs. W. Tapley Bennett
Lloyd Bentson
Jack Blanton
Taylor Blanton
Houston Blount
Tom Bradbury
Phil Brady
Nancy Brinker
Jim Burch
Therese Burch
Dan Burke
Jan Burmeister
Bill Busch
Billy Bush
Jamie Bush
Jeb Bush Jr.
Johnny Bush
Lauren Bush
Frank Carlucci
Henry Catto
Ellie Caulkins
Elaine L. Chao
Pat Chick
Mary Higgins Clark
Kay Clarke
Stuart H. Clement Jr.
Caroline Cole
Tom Collamore
Francine Collins
Lodwrick M. Cook
Denton A. Cooley
Fred Couples
Earle M. Craig Jr.
Quincy Crawford
Ben Crenshaw
Walter J. P. Curley
Ed Curran
Osborne Day
Tony De Angelis
Mary Delaude
Harold R. DeMoss Jr.
James “Jim” Dionne
Maureen Dowd
Phyllis Draper
William H. Draper
Jane and Murray Dwight
John and Diane Eckstein
Chris Emery
Emilia Fanjul
Brad Faxon
Betsy Field
Jack Fitch
Marlin Fitzwater
Rudy Gatlin
Steve Gatlin
Sandy and Bert Getz
Vic Gold
The Reverend Billy Graham
Shirley M. Green
Liz Grundy
Sondra Haley
John Paul Hammerschmidt
Mabel Hanson
Sarah Harding
Mark Hatfield
J. M. Hewgley Jr.
Grace Holden
Robert B. Holt
Mary Jackson
Dan Jenkins
Anne Johnson
Belle G. Johnson
Lady Bird Johnson
Bill Jones
P. X. Kelley
Jack Kemp
Howard W. Kruse
Richard K. LeBlond II
Dr. Burton J. Lee III
Bessie Liedtke
James Lilley
Debbie Longnecker
John D. Macomber
Allie Page Matthews
John McCain
John R. McKernan Jr.
Anne Mendelsohn
Phil and Amy Mickelson
Arthur Milnes
Eric and Jane Molson
Bob Mosbacher
Thomas W. Moseley
Jim Nantz
John Newcombe
Greg Norman
Phillip O’Bannon
Sandra Day O’Connor
Jack Oliver
Pierce O’Neil
Joe O’Neill
Robert Paine
Arnold Palmer
Andrew Peacock
Gian-Carlo Peressutti
Peggy Pierce Peters
Gregg Petersmeyer
Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Pfau Jr.
Richard “Digger” Phelps
Margy Pierce
Scott Pierce
Gary Player
Jim Pollard
Rob Portman
Twanna Powell
Nancy Reagan
Louise Walker Resor
Sig Rogich
Emile Roy
William Donald Schaefer
Willard Scott
James E. Selmon Jr.
George P. Shultz
Hugh Sidey
Anette Siegel
John Silber
Ray Siller
Sichan Siv
R. C. Slocum
Alex G. Spanos
Stephen Spenlinhauer
Jodie Dwight Stevenson
Dick Thigpen
Mary Holden Thompson
Sheila O. Todd
Russell Train
Paula Trivette
Takashi Tsurusawa
Chase Untermeyer
David Valdez
Jack Valenti
Wilhelm Wachtmeister
Bert Walker
Caspar W. Weinberger
Jane Weintraub
Wendy Whitworth
Stephen A. Wynn
Zahira Zahir
Sources and Other Notes
In writing My Father, My President, many of the observations were the collective memories of my whole family, a product of our years together. I depended heavily not only on my own recollections, but also those of my parents, my four brothers—George, Jeb, Neil, and Marvin—and my aunts and uncles as well. As I began to share some of our stories and memories with my mother and father, the amorphous themes that were to becom
e My Father, My President soon took shape. My parents and I began discussing the book in earnest during the summer of 2005 in Maine, and my entire family was invaluable to me as work progressed throughout most of 2005 into 2006.
Many of the personal letters and family documents that I used came to me from the private and never-before-seen files kept by Patty Presock during Dad’s vice presidential and presidential years. Unless otherwise noted, all photos herein came from our private family files: from my grandmother, my mother, and, in many cases, my own family photo album. All of these photos have now been donated to the George Bush Presidential Library. As I mentioned in the acknowledgments, the highly talented staff of the library not only provided original source materials but also helped me tremendously in tracking down specific facts and clarifying hazy memories.
I relied on the following six “Bush books” throughout many chapters of this book: my mother’s original autobiography, Barbara Bush: A Memoir, and her sequel to it, Reflections: Life after the White House; my father’s collected letters, published under the title All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings; Dad’s book with Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed; and Jim McGrath’s collection of Dad’s “wit and wisdom,” titled Heartbeat: George Bush in His Own Words. Dad’s 1987 book, written with Vic Gold, Looking Forward: An Autobiography, was useful as well.
Among the strengths of this book, I hope, are the entries taken from my father’s diaries. Some of them are available to the public through the Bush Library and some were previously published in All the Best; the rest will remain private until they are available posthumously. Many of the letters and documents I relied on are from Dad’s personal files and our family records. Some of these papers are at the Bush Library, but many of them are not yet available to the public.
Every letter we received and every interview we conducted was tremendously valuable in the process of writing this book, each in its own way. Whether or not each source was quoted in the text of the book, every letter and interview led us to new insights, further recollections, and, many times, a few laughs—or even tears—at a story well told. I am tremendously appreciative of the hundreds of Dad’s friends—world leaders, Secret Service agents, congressmen, friends—who were so generous with their time in support of this book.
Chapter 1. The End Depends upon the Beginning
In writing about Dad’s early childhood, I relied heavily on observations from his siblings—Prescott Bush, Nancy Ellis, Jon Bush, and William (Bucky) Bush—and have acknowledged their contributions in the text. An interview with Nancy Ellis by Amalie Moses Kass, “The Childhood of a President,” published in 1989 in Wellesley magazine, was the source of several quotes from Aunt Nan. For additional information about Dad’s childhood, I interviewed Betsy and Spike Heminway, who were childhood friends of my parents.
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