George H. W. Bush was remembered Sunday as a loving father who reached out to his son during a time of national mourning, a vanquished\u2026<\/b>
\nGeorge H. W. Bush was remembered Sunday as a loving father who reached out to his son during a time of national mourning, a vanquished political opponent who accepted defeat with grace and a commander-in-chief whose time in the White House was marked by poise and dignity.
His eldest son, fellow former GOP President George W. Bush, as well as Democratic ex-presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, explained what the late statesmen did to earn their respect and what he meant to them during a special segment of \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d
\u201cThe mission was not George H. W. Bush, the mission was: how do we serve the United States?\u201d Bush said of his 94-year-old father who died Friday. \u201cDad taught me this. And therefore one of the jobs is to strengthen the institution of the presidency, bring honor to the office. And\u2026 clearly George H. W. Bush did that.\u201d
In the candid sit-down with Norah O\u2019Donnell, Bush recalled how his father was at his side during one of his most trying days in office \u2014 when he eulogized 9\/11 victims during a ceremony at the National Cathedral in Washington \u2014 where services will be held Wednesday for his father.
\u201cThat was a hard speech to give for starters,\u201d Bush recalled.
His wife, Laura, mom, Barbara and dad all sat in pews close by.
\u201cAnd I knew not to look down there, to see Laura, mom and dad,\u201d Bush said. \u201cI better focus on this baby, because there\u2019s nothing worse than a blubbering president.\u201d
After he sat down, his dad reached over to grab his hand.
\u201cI felt this hand, it was my dad. It was very comforting. It was just a beautiful gesture,\u201d Bush said. \u201cAnd it was captured on film and so I\u2019m able to kind of reminisce about that moment. And the emotions of it are still with me.\u201d
Bush also said witnessing how his father weathered public criticism helped prepare him for the brutal realities of the White House, noting that \u201cbeing the child of a president is unpleasant.\u201d
\u201cYou watch somebody you love get lampooned or made fun of or harshly criticized, it hurts,\u201d Bush said. \u201cSo by the time I became president I had a fair amount of asbestos on my skin and it didn\u2019t hurt nearly as much, it turns out.\u201d
O\u2019Donnell suggested that he had become \u201cfire retardant\u201d and he agreed.
\u201cIn the end, though, we both knew it was part of the job. Which is actually good, you know, for the country. You want powerful people to be held under scrutiny,\u201d Bush said.
He credits his father for getting him interested in politics when the elder Bush ran for the U. S. Senate in Texas just after the son turned 18.
\u201cI got on the campaign trail with him and liked it. Turns out, I like people a lot and campaigning with him was awesome. It was fun and free-spirited in a way,\u201d Bush said.
When Clinton recalled the birth of his post-presidency friendship with Bush, whose bid for a second term he ended in 1992, he remembered a handshake of sorts, too.
Clinton and Bush Sr. were tasked with going to Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people.
\u201cSo we\u2019re flying over there. There\u2019s one bed and he made this suggestion that we split the time in the bed,\u201d Clinton told \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d \u201cAnd I said, no we\u2019re not going to do that. You go sleep in the bed\u2026 I can lean up against the wall and sleep. I\u2019ll be fine, I can sleep on the floor.\u201d
This gesture, \u201csomehow\u2026 broke the ice,\u201d said Clinton.
\u201cWe were like two people circling each other wanting to reach out and shake hands and somehow the darn bed thing was the handshake,\u201d Clinton said.
He worked again with Bush 41 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
\u201cIn a world where everybody is just gutting each other all the time I thought it was a good thing to show,\u201d Clinton said of the modern era of partisan entrenchment.
Clinton said he believed history would be kind to Bush and he appreciated that his one-time political rival tried to be useful after leaving the White House.
\u201cAnd he befriended me,\u201d Clinton said. \u201cIt\u2019s been one of the great joys of my life, my friendship with him,\u201d Clinton added.
The late president also befriended President Barack Obama, who was the last ex-president to visit with him \u2013 three days before he died.
\u201cThe two had a very pleasant and private visit at the Bush residence, where they rekindled what was already a very warm friendship,\u201d Bush\u2019s spokesman Jim McGrath said.
Obama said what he learned from his predecessors was \u201cwhat are the actions they took that you admire? What are the mistakes they made that you want to avoid?\u201d
For Obama, it was Bush showing restraint as the Soviet Union crumbled that made the Democrat so admire the Republican.
\u201cWhat people don\u2019t appreciate fully \u2013 even within his own party \u2013 is the degree to which he had to land the plane when the Berlin wall comes down,\u201d Obama said.
\u201cYou have chaos potentially in the former Soviet Union and Russia. And uncertainty in Europe. All those things could have gone haywire at any point,\u201d Obama continued. \u201cAnd the restraint, the caution, the lack of spiking the football [what] they showed was, I think, an enormous achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n