bush who is here speaking on behalf of the bush brand. [applause] susan page is the washington bureau chief for "usa today" and author of the recent and currently, i guess, still best-selling biography of barbara bush called "the matriarch." and michael beschloss, one of the wonderful presidential authors who has written so many things, so many books. i will be asking you about some of the stuff i found in my old well-worn copy of "character and michael beschloss, one of the wonderful presidential authors who has written so many things, so many books. i will be asking you about some of the stuff i found in my old well-worn copy of "character above all." the first thing i'd like to ask all of you, we lost barbara bush and george bush just so close together, what kind of reassessment do you think this has brought for the country as to, you know, what the bush name stood for and, you know, what the significance really was of all the work that they did in so many arenas of public service? ck on now. it was world war ii generation. it wasn't a

bush. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california, ms. waters and the gentlewoman from north carolina, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. ms. waters: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. waters: i yield myself such time as i may consume. madam speaker, i rise in strong support of s. 457, the president george h.w. bush and first spouse barbara bush coin act. this bill directs the treasury to issue $1 coins honoring the push and egacy of commemorating his wife. the dollar coin was one of the first coins minted in the united states first the first dwolar coins were struck in 1794. he coin has on occasion been minted with the various images whose actions and deeds played an integral role in our history. hese include president eisenhower, susan b. anthony and

bush was trail blazer. the 32 years' experience culminated in 2014 when joe was named the director of the secret service and he was in charge from the obama administration. and today, he is the chief security officer at comcast corporation. and nicholas trotta is with us, and helped to protect five presidents, including president bush. worked on large scale events such as world leader summits and a lot of the post 9/11 trips and even trips to afghanistan and iraq. and if he is looking familiar, he has been on a documentary or two talking about being on the field with the president when he threw out the first pitch in the game one of the world series. what a moment. also pleased to have with us, spencer geissinger, the former deputy for the president for deputy operations of advancement under president bush. that role saw the integration of dozens of military, security and operational agencies all involved in the presidential travel including the u.s. secret service. today, spencer serves a as the global bus

george bush, i know, put in a good word for me. but the second tragedy struck after i had been at the commerce for about 6 months, the second tragedy that changed my life. in his campan for the nomination against ronald reag was killed in an automobile accident, and they needed a new delegate hunter. i didn't know anything out delegate hunting, but i found out about it. david: so, to remind people, in 1976, gald ford was president, but he'd never been elected. he was gonna run for -elect-- - run for election. - run for election. and his main opponent was ronald reagan. james: right. and it came down to a very, very tight convention. and your job was to get the delegates for president ford. g- yes. - and how did well, that was the last truly contested national convention of either major political party in this country, and it went down, went right down to the last ballot. it was very tight. we were chasing a very small pool of uncommitted delegates. reaganery strong. he almost knocked off an incumbent president, but we were able to

bush. they--that's a generation that's going to beissed. they were people who understood kindness and humility and gentility. they made their mistakes, most certainly, but whenhink about that family and what george h.w. bush did a public servant, it makes you think of a wonderful time for our country. rubenstein: bill clinton came along, and in the 1992 election, he deated your boss. rubenstein: were you shocked by the outcome? rice: i was. i'd already gone back to stanford. rubenstein: oh, you had. rice: i became provost. i was surprised,neut he had done what hed to do, at the end of the ar with respect for gorbachev, never humiliating viet union, not dancing on the wall. one of the last things gorbachev did before he went out to sign the paper that would collapse the soviet union and allow bboris yeltsin to become president of russian federation, "we did good things, didn't we? story will judge us well," and i said to president bush, "do you realiz i how extraordinary th" well, he was geo

and pres--amor bush said, "yes, sir, i will." david: now, you were given a task by rona reagan to help on the debates? james: to help with the debates, lp negotiate the debates and help prepare for the debates. david: was it difficultto n for the debates? people were not confident that he was a good debater. mes: a lot of his close-end people didn't want him to debate. i wanted him t his pollster, i think, wanted him to. i believe nancy wanted him to. i always thought he was trific in front of the camera. the red light goes on, he's perfect. reagan wins the election. and what do you think you're gonna be offed, if anything? james: i don't think. i don't know. i'd heard that my name had been surfaced as a potential white house chief of staff. i said, "that's not possible. "you don't go to somebody who's running two campaigns against you and make him your and guess what. i don't think in'll ever happen againmerican po, not the way we're going today anyway. james: he did. david: and you became chief of staff of the white house. jame

bush's decision to surge in iraq." this is the first of three programs on the surge hosted by the center for presidential history at southern methodist university in dallas. >> i would be remiss if i did not recognize my great friend, colleague, the best president of the best world affairs council in the united states. i know we have a lot of world affairs council members here. jim faulk, very grateful to jim for this help. -- for his help. we have players, including stephen hadley, who will be speaking tonight. a truly great public servant who was the director of the nsc under bush, and i say public servant in days when that meant something and it really mattered. and we respected people who hold these high positions. we look forward to hearing from him tonight. and i think now without even leaving the stage, i will get the first panel underway so that we can start this. as a college professor, i would say, get your notepads out. there will be questions, discussion. we are going to start with our first panel, and i wa

bush! shame on you.nt >> the fmichigan, native took another contrarian position back in the summer of 2016. >> i think trump is gonna win. i -- i'm sorry. >> he was right. >> "firing lineel moore say now? with margaret hoover" is made ss

bush and barack obama. 2007, president bush named him deputy national security advisor to coordinate the war in iraq and afghanistan. before being assigned to the white house, he served as director of operations both on the joint staff in washington, d.c. and on the united states central command. then we have on the panel, professor brett mcgurk, currently based at stanford university. before moving to stanford, mcgurk served as a special president envoy for a global coalition to defeat isis. in that capacity he led the fight against the terrorist network. previously mcgurk served in senior positions in the george w. bush and barack obama administration, including in the bush white house as senior director for iraq and afghanistan and as deputy assistant to secretary of the state for iraq and iran under president obama. mcgurk has led several diplomatic missions in the middle east over the decades. for example he led talks with russia over the syrian conflict under both president obama and donald trump. finally, the panel will be moderated by professor hal brands, henry kissinger dis

bush administration as a speechwriter for bill. in the 90s, i was policy director think tank on power. a very large figure in the conservative movement in the 80s and 90s. jack tragically died years ago. bill where the founders and i was there through the 90s. then hired as a speechwriter. for george w. bush when he became president after the florida recount was taking care of michael carson, speechwriter, one of my closest friends. he hired me and i did that job for two years. as an anecdote on a speechwriting side of things. mike would normally go to the senior staff meetings which were held in the roosevelt room but when he was not there, i would go in and i remember the morning of september 11, being struck, this was one of the most uneventful days with the bush presidency. the big topic of the conversation was there were supposed to be congressional barbecue on the south lawn at the white house. the tuesday late afternoon of the 11th. so when i got back to my office, i did when i always did, i wrote him an e-mail summarizing w

president bush later denied any u.s. involvement in the operation. >> i can tell you that is not true. i would repeat we have no argument with the panamanians defense forces. we have good relations with the panamanians defense >> one journalist in panama during the coup attempt disputes these claims. >> the idea on the american side was to leave these plotters along, to seduce them into believing they had the support of the united states and abandon them so that the excuse could be made we had to smash the pdf completely. we could not rely on disgruntled officers inside the panamanians are made to rise up and we would have to do this ourselves. ♪ >> after the coup attempt, 1300 u.s. troops were flown into panama, and equipment was deployed. the u.s. military stepped up its campaign of intimidation and provocation, setting up roadblocks conducting offensive maneuvers outside of u.s. jurisdiction. >> have blocked passage here. what security? the panamanian people would never threaten them. what is wrong with them? >> the

bush and bill clinton. gloria: you wrote "each participant remembers the debate performance to the prism, emotional as well as political." is there a performance that sticks out in your mind? jim: sure, sure. one of the problems by sitting so close, and remember, it is all about television. this is for the millions and millions watching on television. it is in a studio program. this isn't a pep rally for the opposing candidates, and not even an interview program. the purpose of the debate is not to show how terrific the moderator is, how much i know, exactly, how quick he or she is responding and all of that. for instance, to answer your question specifically, the one i remember more than any other was the first al gore-bush debate in boston 2000. now andtting where i am bush was to my right, and g left.s to my i have a rule that was, and i would suggest this to anybody who moderates any debate, keep your eye on the person who's talking, not the person reacting , because if you watched the person reacting,

the well, i feel quite a contrast with the bush president bush and president trump on all sorts of grounds. because they're completely different human beings. and i have a much higher view of one than the other in that realm. in terms of the strike on iran, i mean, we could have taken out soleimani just like president obama could have taken out soleimani if we wanted to. i'm wary about the decision to have done it. i understand, i don't shed any tears for him. he was a really malevolent figure and has figure rative american blood and lots of blood including nonamerican blood on his hands, so he was really wan of the nastier actors on the world stage. and so the fact that he is gone, i don't shed any tears for him and i don't think others should. if it turned out, and i just don't know, as i'm not don't have access to the intelligence, and even as you do as we learned the hard way sometimes intelligence is wrong, was he planning imminent attacks? that's the phrase that the trump administration used, against americans and american targets. if that in fact was true, that could change the calc

i had less access than meghan or steve had to president bush, but particularly with president bush, the overwhelming impression i had was how different he was from the cartoon caricature that my academic friends back at duke held of him. their version of him was not smart, not thoughtful, not well-read, inarticulate and reflexive, making impetuous decisions. and that was not the person that i saw. i saw someone who was deeply committed to the integrity of the office and the notion that he was a custodian of something greater than himself, that he was temporarily a steward of that he had to hand onto the next person and he did make sure he left the next person better off than he had been. that was the job of the president, to leave the next person better off if you could. i'm not saying he did not make mistakes. of course he made mistakes. but there was a commitment to something that was greater than just his own legacy, his own standing, the way people thought of him. that was inspiring. he also was so much smarter than people give him credit for. i will never forget one day he came to

peter: i feel quite a contrast with the bush, president bush and president trump, on all sorts of grounds. [laughter] because they are completely different human beings. and i have a much higher viewpoint of one than the other in that realm. trump's strike on iran, we could have taken out soleimani, just like president obama could have taken out soleimani if we wanted to. i am wary about the decision to have done it. i understand. i don't shed any tears for him. he was really a malevolent figure, and has figurative american blood, and lots of blood, including non-american blood, on his hands. he was really one of their nastier actors on the world stage. , ithe fact that he is gone don't shed any tears for him, and i don't think others should. if it turned out, and i don't know, i don't have access to the intelligence, that even if you do, as we learn the hard way, sometimes intelligence is wrong -- was he planning imminent attacks, is the phrase the trump administration used against americans, and american targets, if that is fact was true, it that could change the calculus on it. if he w

than when i was getting ready to do the show and i asked him bush lies and they will be now what did he say tell i haven't they everybody's fate now and the time is right like the cause of the fire is now just part of our day to day reality the time that you keep hearing is the nearest charlie normal my partner and i went down to the shops yesterday we went with mosques on i'm getting facebook ads for a bit of quality emma my 78 year old mother who lives in sydney which is a 1000 kilometers wife from a chaise under instructions to not leave the house because the amount of smoke in the impacts on her health that's the shot is coming up of my partner and i with our masks on trains who are terrified about the safety for their children in the high smoke environment mill that was covered in highs yesterday and kept on ride like devices that we know that a social media to us in australia at the places we visit on holidays and for weddings and places where people live in communities i live out in central victoria this is now just part of how to die law of the need to eat it in a walk about

dad: president bush said, "i agree with your idea of going to the u.n. and convincing them." powell: he did. before taking military action, he wanted to present our case to the united nations publicly. afand so, on a thursday rnoon, i was in with him. he said, "would you take the case next tuesy?" david: to the u.n. powell: yeah. david: you made the case that saddam did have, or we thoughad, weapons of mass destruction. when it turned out he didn't... powell: right. david: do you think, you know, you were embarrassed by that, or do you think seat the u.s. was embarr or do you think, had we known he didn't have weapons of mass destruction, presidaht bush would have gonead anyway? powell: no, he and i asked him that specific question when we were going through this. i id, "mr. president, "if saddam hussein can prove that he has no weapons "of mass destruction, then you do not have a basis for war. "are you prepared to accept that, even it means "ofsaddam hussein willthen you do not stay in place?"r war. hesitantly, he said, "yes, i will accept that." so that's whi went forward,

bush institute. failures and the need to learn from experience as we go, we thank everyone for joining us today. director of the human freedom initiative, and the george shelby bush initiative, lindsey has years of experience in human rights and democracy work at our sister organization and the -- lindsey also has extensive experience working for several members of congress including house leadership, he has been a tremendous partnership in this event and lindsey please come up and introduce yourself, thank you very much. good morning i have the longest title so i think that, director of human freedom at the giorgio bush institute, it's quite a mouthful, so the bush industry is really proud to be a partner of this and are also grateful for usaid for all the financial support they have provided. we have this is a kick off for a longer partnership look at how our democracy and governance can combat violent extremism around the world. we add the bush institute to try to do three things we aim to stand w

it was just reagan and bush, because that is all bush wanted, was him against reagan. and bush sat there on his hands and didn't say a word during this back and forth between the national newspaper and kennedy, reagan, and reagan was said to have really -- he is not too old for the job. bernie sanders could be his grandfather, but reagan at the time was late 60's, early 70's. but it showed that he was more than a match for whatever was thrown at him. a lot of people, including his new hampshire campaign guy, said that reagan already had it won. so there is still talk about what really did it for him. i think reagan showed himself throughout that campaign to be a sharp guy and not too old for the job, and people underestimated him. but i think he watched that movie. i asked marlon fitzwater once, the press secretary, if he had heard that story. fitzwater said, yeah. i said, has anyone asked the president about it? fitzwater said, no. if i were you, i wouldn't. and i did not have the guts to ask him. but it is in a couple books. host: 1984 was c-span's first new hampshir

up after the reelection of president bush 2004. our big initiative was an effort to reform social security. it went nowhere. then we tried immigration reform later. we almost got that immigration reform bill through but it in the depth failing. we should have led with immigration lata -- rather than social security. see this rise of anti-immigrant feeling. some sense of hostility. cultural displacement. that did not exist in the 1990's or early 2000's. able to locate exactly what catalyzed thought. there were factors going on that i didn't fully understand. president bush understood what was beginning to happen within the base of the republican party. thesember having conversations. he would talk about nativism and protectionism. another thing that was interesting was conservative talk radio. ,f you listen to rush limbaugh for most of his career, the binary choice was conservatism and liberalism. near the end of the 2000, you started to see the shift in him and others that went to antiestablishment. you were almost as likely to hea

former bush administration officials describe their roles in president george w. bush's two dozen seven decision to increase american troop levels in iraq. here is a preview. so, at the risk of -- not disagreeing, continuing on this, but i think it is at the heart of this project. difference between policymakers and epidemics -- academics. i was struck in the course of this project and reading the final project about something i had realized earlier on in my career when i was working on the issue of sanctions. this was before i went into was a fellow at the brookings institution. you had academics who said sanctions did not work, and policymakers said sanctions were abandoned. i realize policymakers and areemics -- academics interested in different questions. i think this project reveals that in some fashion. as a policy maker, or at the time, the question i was interested in and is still interested in, is did this advice andvide and was the best decision open to the president at that time? that is what i'm interested in. as we see in many of the academic chapters

as you well aware the bush was a destroyer of cause massive devastation the continued. joining us from sydney to discuss the impact of the fires al-jazeera correspondent jessica washington jessica good to have you've been documenting so much of what you've been reporting on on the life and the stories are really coming to life for your reporting on social and just look at your your twitter feed dave spent 10 years collecting pots phase 965 vintage kombi van he was defending homes on the south coast when it caught fire the car was clearly so special to him he said he couldn't even look at it dave the van i mean that just tells you one individual story how are you managing to capture what it is like with the australian bush fires right now jessica how you doing that. it really is a case of i mean there are so many different stories you've got recently got the residents who've had their houses destroyed about their new also have these stories of these firefighters who works reminding the audience that the people who are out keeping these communities safe are actually volun

let me give you the latest on the bush fires in australia. there's been particular focus on thetates ofictoria and new south wales, where there are fears a number of fires could merge to form what's called a mega-blaze. this is a visualization of active fires released by nasa. you can see new south wales is taking the brunt of this. there was arief respite over the weekend, lig city rain well received in sydney. theering] ros: i'm afrai hot, dry weather is due to return and the prime minister warns that the emergency could last months. here a some of the latest pictures we have. extraordinary, from a militg plane tryo land in victoria amid a haze of bush fire smoke. the military is involved in evacuation efforts. we have aerial pictures shong th devastation to one community in new south wales. there are terrible environmental consequences of what's happening, too. kualas get theirat intake from leaves and are gettingat hp he moment. this is home to several threatened species, with the fear that several coulde wiped out. next, let's focusn the

it was just reagan and bush, because that is all bush wanted, was him against reagan. and bush sat there on his hands and didn't say a word during this back and forth between the national newspaper and candidate reagan, and reagan was said to have really -- he is not too old for the job. bernie sanders could be his grandfather, but reagan at the time was late 60's, early 70's. but it showed that he was more than a match for whatever was thrown at him. a lot of people, including his new hampshire campaign guy, said that reagan already had it won. so there is still talk about what really did it for him. i think reagan showed himself throughout that campaign to be a sharp guy and not too old for the job, and people underestimated him. but i think he watched that movie. i asked marlon fitzwater once, in the white house he was his press secretary, if he had heard that story. fitzwater said, yeah. has anyone asked the president about it? fitzwater said, no. if i were you, i wouldn't. and i did not have the guts to ask him. but it is in a couple books. host: excuse me. 1984 w

bush institute. it's wonderful to have them cohost the event with us today. usip was founded thirty-five years ago by congress nonpartisan national institute dedicated to the notion that peace is very practical and very possible. we firmly believe today's complex foreign policy challenges require the best thinking and partnership across the aisle. last year congress asked usip host a bipartisan congressionally mandated with a request to a comprehensive plan to combat extremism in the world's most fragile states. the principle of recommendation is the us should adopt a policy of prevention with a strong focus on government. congress passed the global fragility act to take those task force recommendations to create a binding commitment to a long-term prevention strategy. so it's good to know bipartisan action is possible and today we have the change to talk more about the opportunity to seize that momentum we have before us. we have a great program planned for you. i am delighted to introduce a very go

wounding bush somewhat in the process. bush will go on to win the nomination. another thing we see and 1988, iowans like candidates from neighboring states. bob dole from kansas does win. sometimes that gets a candidate of credibility. we are seeing that potentially with amy klobuchar. races we areew going to skip. 19 92, no republican count. president bush was running for reelection. running forin was the democratic nomination, so democrats bypass the state. came in6, buchanan second behind bob dole, bob dole one. 2000, the bush and gore both win their respective caucuses and go on to win in november. those three caucuses do not seem to have had the historic impact that some of these other things we are talking about. let's move in to 2004. i am watching this clock. bush -- talk about the howard dean. >> for most of us who were there and remember 2004, nothing we remember is the dena screaming. on caucus night, it turns out howard dean comes in third despite having been perceived as the front-runner for months going into the final caucuses, he tries to parlay

i think he saw the depth of his relationship with president bush. no secretary of state in our history whoever had the kind of relationship with the president jim baker had with george bush. maybe jefferson and madison. but basically secretaries of state are usually a political ally, sometimes a political a choice of convenience expedience in some way or another. in this case they were the best of friends. that completely dominated how they conducted foreign affairs at a key moment in history. this is the first gulf war. this is the unification of germany. really key moment and for the secretary of state and the president to be on the same page like they were was remarkable. baker -- nobody doubted that when he said something that was the word of the president and that is something that was born out of this deep personal friendship that has roots in tragedy that the two of them experienced together. host:host: the book out in may day. guest: the man who ran washington. co-author is susan glasser. host:host: we hope you'll come back in mid may when t

press secretary met with bush after the debate and said, bush says what's the good news and he says well the bad news is you lost the or you manage, the good news is known's paying attention to the debate any loss that to. >> so he wins three days later, by the way is the same weekend that the u.s. the russians and hockey. >> you know the miracle on ice is the greatest sporting event in my history so i'm still celebrating that two days later reagan just cleans up in new hampshire and winds like two to one and i was such momentum that it's a good thing we won by such a big margin because we already spent most of our money and we had no money left but i mean, you know,. >> bush that money and he spent it anyone, he won michigan. >> almost one texas, so you know money still counts we had nothing, but the momentum was so large from that that i never had it out that we would be the nominee and of course that's when the new nominee would be reagan. >> right after new hampshire. >> that was it. >> all things being, we still had, one of my states in wisconsin which was thought to be a more

the deadly bush fires. they are worsening. authorities say people are still trying to escape the flames that pushed them out of their communities. they say an elite team of firefighters from california's angel's national forest are heading in to help on the front lines. australia's military is increasing its presence. >> the country's -- welfare of the wooiildlife is a major conc. kangaroos are trying to get out. koala bears are trying to find cover from the scorching flames. stewart brandt is in new castle in the state of new south wales. he's worked as a conservation scientist for 20 years. dr. blanch, we appreciate it. help us first of all understand what you are seeing, what you are feeling there. >> well, i feel like we're in the middle of a war. i feel like there's a war on our wildlife, forests, communities, people living in the bush and whatever we try to do, pretty much nothing is stopping the fires and i've never seen anything like this before and i'm used to bush fires. i'm used to living in the bush and so many of

wounding bush somewhat in the process. bush will go on to win the nomination. another thing we see in 1988, iowans like candidates from neighboring states. bob dole from kansas does win. sometimes they gets a candidate a little bit of credibility. we are seeing that potentially with amy klobuchar. david: the next few races, we are going to quickly skip. in 1992, there was no republican count. president bush was running for reelection. senator harkin was running for the democratic nomination, so democrats bypassed the state. in 1996, buchanan came in second behind bob dole. dole won. in 2000, the bush and gore both win their respective caucuses and go on to win in november. those three caucuses do not seem to have had the historic impact that some of these other things we are talking about. let's move then to 2004. i am watching this clock. you talk about the howard dean game. >> for most of us who remember 2004, the thing we remember is the dean scream. on caucus night, when it turns out howard dean comes in third despite being perceived as the front runner for

that's the plan for dealing with future bush fires. but right now the immediate future is we are in a respite. oddly enough, rosemary, i've been standing here, i'm quite wet. we've been in the middle of a fairly heavy rain shower, which is great. but what's going to happen on thursday or friday is the temperatures are going to pickup, the hot dry winds are going to pickup and we're going back to the conditions we saw at the weekend, which would truly terrify massive bush fires creating their own weather system, creating their own dry lightning strikes which led to more fires breaking out. so today with the rain, the fires are still not out, but they are not considered extreme. people are now going back, those who evacuated are going back to their houses to see what's left standing. and in many cases, there's nothing left, rosemary. >> it is so heart breaking for australians watching this all around the world. andrew stephens joining us there from in front of parliament house in camber a, appreciate it. >> pedram javaheri at the nationa

human hope under george bush. and the washington side and the minute i see them coming to school she. who work on. the general anyhow the man who will cut in. peace that's what we want freedom and peace not. a few of those who flew who were left who wanted to see. when the whole dollar an hour just to her feet. and the george bush them and the holly became better because of that good luck and the how they could but girl in the shop at up basis i could never do it but how can him if you want too much coffee now want to touch the can even be full let me let me keep it damn i love how about a letter what a silo let me allow to be a diamond how i met up how well it had healed you let your color do to bush and then tell us all in there not be a 2nd let me come to what i can accept that we had the end and then take out it but if you so you can do what i feel it to john then add up dean let me say that you know we're george bush who'd been with darwin and the u.k.'s statement. on how the judge. who has not even died well