At a time when the country is so politically polarized, U. S. relations with foreign allies are strained and the White House and news media seem…
At a time when the country is so politically polarized, U. S. relations with foreign allies are strained and the White House and news media seem to be continually feuding, it is comforting to think back a generation ago, when George Herbert Walker Bush sat in the Oval Office.
Bush made bipartisan deals, which probably cost him re-election. He united a global coalition to drive Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. And he was unfailingly thoughtful and respectful in his dealings with reporters.
I know, because I covered his election campaign and subsequent four years as president as White House correspondent for the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain (now called McClatchy).
Bush always was the gentleman in his dealings with reporters, even when we wrote stories he didn’t like. In 1989, when I wrote a story that his aides were privately trashing his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, for being out of touch as president, Bush told me at a White House function that the story was creating political problems for him. But he never chastised me for writing it and said he was sure it was accurate. “I just wanted you to know it upset me,” he explained. After that, I never heard any more negative comments about Reagan from White House officials.
He knew all our names and often sent us personal notes on embossed cards or autographed photos with humorous captions.
