One Giant Leap for Octogenarians

 

Paper: Houston Chronicle
Date: SUN 06/13/04
Section: A
Page: 1
Edition: 4 STAR

Slowing down to 80 / After a huge Houston birthdaybash, ex-president Bush has plans to `retire'

By TONY FREEMANTLE
Staff

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine - It's midafternoon, the fog is rolling in off the Atlantic Ocean, his staff is fussing at him to get ready for a hastily planned trip to New York for yet another fund-raiser, and George Herbert Walker Bush , the 41st president of the United States, wants to tell the chipmunk story.

His hair is spiky, the result of an early-morning, high-speed run in his boat, Fidelity III. He's wearing a rumpled red sweater, casual pants and boat shoes. It is a breezy, lazy afternoon on Walker's Point, the Bush family's rambling summer vacation compound.

With staff hovering nearby, he must tell the story quickly: He was outside with a fly rod, see, making a few practice casts in the direction of a chipmunk sitting on a low stone wall. He tosses the fly a couple of times, and the next thing you know he's got the poor chipmunk hooked. Had to get the Secret Service guy to get it off.

Minutes later, he is freshened up, dressed in a pinstripe suit, briefcase in hand, ready to dash off on an eight-hour trip to New York City, a world away from the peace and quiet of Walker's Point. He is lending his presence to a benefit dinner for cancer research, a pet cause, and they asked him for a favor, and George Bush just can't say no.

He turned 80 Saturday, an occasion marked by a party for thousands at Minute Maid Park capping off a nearly two-year campaign that raised $55 million for his favorite charities. Today he makes his third parachute jump (fourth if you count the unplanned exit from his stricken airplane in World War II) from the skies above his library at College Station and hosts a mammoth barbecue. And then, nearly 12 years after he left office, he is going to retire. Well, sort of.

"We're trying to back off a little from what I think most people would think is a pretty frantic schedule, hectic schedule," Bush said. "But whether we will be successful or not . . . "

No one who knows the itinerant former president believes he will make a real dent in his almost constant agenda of fund-raisers, speeches, visits to current and former heads of state, and appearances for Republican Party candidates.

Last month alone, he gave 15 speeches in nine states and three countries. That was in addition to attending three Houston Astros games, a charity golf tournament in Kennebunkport and the World War II memorial dedication in Washington, D.C.

"The thing that kills me is that he's going to be 80, and I personally think his schedule is too much," said Jean Becker, Bush 's longtime chief of staff. "I don't think he has any intention of slowing down. If I don't schedule anything, he'll fill it up anyway."

Becker faces a constant barrage of requests for "41's" presence, endorsement or imprimatur. And even though the weekend's activities represent a fund-raising swan song of sorts for Bush and his wife, Barbara, the requests are expected to keep coming.

"Here's a guy just in the mail I was reading here that is starting some museum for the Army, and they want me to sign a letter with (Gen. H. Norman) Schwarzkopf, who I like . . . and we told him, `OK, you can use my name,' and now comes a letter they want us to do something else, and how do I say no? And I don't want to," he said.

The Bushes will remain active in their favorite causes, particularly the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and the three charities that will benefit directly from the "41@80" birthday bash - the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation and the Points of Light Foundation.

And Bush , who remembers well the travails of trying to run the country without his party in control of the House or Senate, knows he will be called on in coming months to appear in support of Republican candidates, and he knows he will accept because it will help his son, the current president.

What they hope to curtail are the many events they are invited to and to which they lend their names.

"I think us showing up helps raise money, and we've been doing that for a long time," he said. "I hope this doesn't come out wrong, but we don't need to be honored anymore, we don't need to sit right there at that head table and be saluted for helping. I mean we're supposed to do that. You're supposed to help, you're supposed to think of others, you're supposed to serve others, and it doesn't always have to be done in a, you know, a salute to us."

And he makes no secret of the fact that he is becoming concerned about "donor fatigue" among the many friends who for so many years have been "hit up" in his name.

Whether he slows down or not, his friends say, those who have always been prepared to open their wallets for him in the name of one cause or another will continue to do so if he asks.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he wants to slow down a bit," said Shirley Green, an old friend and former deputy press secretary. "I would be surprised if he is able to slow down a bit. People love to help him. He is such a loyal person, which engenders loyalty in others."

Protective father

The office Bush uses during the five months each year the family spends in Kennebunkport is unpretentious and functional. An array of mounted fish adorns one wall; against another sits a sofa upholstered in U.S.-flag colors, a gift after the 9/11 terrorist attacks from Houston furniture store owner Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale.

The phone on a shelf behind him rings. With a practiced move and in midsentence, he snatches up the receiver.

"Yeah? Why? No, I cannot. Well maybe you ought to talk to George. George P. But we're not going to do that. . . . No he does not. I think they think you think. . . . Yeah. Maybe it's something to talk to George P. about. All right."

He hangs up.

"Barbara Bush ," he says by way of explanation. "The wedding. George P. (Jeb's son) is getting married up here."

Kennebunkport is the epicenter of the Bush clan, which regularly gathers on the beautiful, rocky point for weddings, funerals and birthdays. And the clan is the center of "Gampy" Bush 's universe. Family comes first, and that's why he says nothing in public about the performance or policies of the 43rd president. Nor does he say anything about the governor of Florida, his son Jeb.

"The only thing he clams up about when you talk to him is his son's policies," said Robert Mosbacher Sr., an old oil-patch friend who served as commerce secretary under Bush .

Some friends have urged him to be more vocal on current affairs, but he demurs.

"It's hard for people to understand it," Bush said. "They say, `Well, you have a legacy, you ought to go speak about this and that. You were there, you did this differently in the Gulf War.' The hell with that. Let the historians figure out what we got right and what we got wrong. You don't need me out there editorializing, particularly if it can have an even marginally adverse effect on the president."

The only other father and son to have occupied the White House were the Adamses: John, the second president, and his son, John Quincy Adams, the sixth. It is unlikely, given both 41's and 43's aversion to public introspection, that historians will gain much deeper insight into that rare phenomenon.

James A. Baker III, Bush 's secretary of state and a firm friend both politically and personally, believes the fact that George W. Bush now occupies the White House only partially explains his father's refusal to speak out.

"He had plenty of opportunity for eight years (during the Clinton administration) to speak out on public policy issues then, and he didn't do it," Baker said. "He's really a man of action, much more than a man of reflection."

Bush also believes strongly in what amounts to an unwritten rule among former presidents - don't publicly question the course set by the man at the helm. Bush dispatches a staffer to find a speech in which he quoted Thomas Jefferson.

" `There is a fullness of time when men should go and not occupy too long the high ground to which others have the right to advance,' " he reads. "It's a wonderful quote, and that is how I feel."

Bush may have conceded the high ground to his son and others, but he is clearly not disengaged. He travels the world. He watches the news. He reads the papers. He hears what people are saying. And he takes it personally.

"I know the zings his sons get bother him more than the zings he got," said David Bates, a close childhood friend of Jeb Bush , who considers the former president a father figure. "It bothers him a lot, but he bites his tongue in public."

One of his president son's harshest media critics is New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. Bush recounts a conversation he had recently with a London journalist who asked him what he thought of her these days.

"I said to him, `Well, it used to be a love-hate relationship, now it's a hate-hate relationship,' " Bush said. "I may grow out of it if she changes her course, and might well grow out of it because I like the woman. But right now? Negative."

Bush the elder is approaching the coming election with a certain amount of dread.

"As the pressure mounts and the ugliness might get worse, I don't know," he said. "I don't know what to do. . . . I've been there, and I didn't like it. Hey, it's a hell of a lot worse when it's your son than when it's you. . . . It's not even in the same ballpark. And I can't do anything about it."

Rising from defeat

It was a long airplane ride back to Houston that day in January 1993 after Bush had been defeated in his bid for a second term by a former governor of Arkansas, who had just been sworn in. A Democrat was in the White House for the first time since Jimmy Carter, 12 years before. Eight years as vice president, four years in the top job, and then "they threw me out on my ass."

On Election Night, Nov. 3 , 1992, when he conceded to Bill Clinton, he told his supporters his immediate post-election plans were to "get very active in the grandchild business." But losing came hard to this highly competitive man.

Whether it be politics, horse-shoes, golf, tennis with Chris Evert, catching fish or hunting quail with James Baker, for Bush the basic code of conduct has always involved a magnanimous winner and a gracious loser.

This time, on a worldwide stage in perhaps the biggest political game of all, Bush was the deeply disappointed, but gracious, loser.

"The '92 election loss had an extraordinary impact on him because of the feeling of loyalty to all the thousands of people that had helped him over the years," said Marlin Fitzwater, Bush 's White House press secretary. "I know he felt he had let them down. It took me a year to get over the bitterness of that defeat."

Many of Bush 's successes in life to that point had been charted, said Thomas "Lud" Ashley, an old Yale University pal who went on to serve as a Democratic congressman from Ohio. The chart of Bush 's life, however, provided little direction for an early exit.

"I think he had to find his way to start with (after getting back to Houston)," Ashley said. "He might have appeared to others - not that he foundered, but that he was a little rudderless. What he got into was philanthropy. He began to see how much of a direct impact he could have."

Philanthropy for the Bushes predates 1993. After daughter Robin died of leukemia at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in 1953, they started a small foundation there, beginning a lifelong commitment to cancer research. Bush says he believes Robin may have lived had modern cancer treatment been available to her.

The former first couple have continued to support cancer research through an involvement with M.D. Anderson that dates back to 1977, when they both joined the institution's board of visitors. George Bush was chairman of the board from 2001 to 2003.

"I think M.D. Anderson was a major cancer center and probably the best cancer center in the United States for a number of years," said John Mendelsohn, M.D. Anderson president. "During the period when President Bush was chairman of our board of visitors, he and our faculty and my own activities and the tremendous support from the university system combined to raise public awareness of how good we are, and three out of the past four years we have been named the No. 1 cancer hospital in the United States. That happened on his watch."

Thrill-seeker at 80

Bush is remarkably hale. He laments that his body is lagging behind his mind, that he's not as steady as he used to be and that he can no longer prowl the rocks around Walker's Point with his fly rod, tossing chartreuse Clousers at striped bass and pollock.

His hearing is not as sharp anymore, he's more forgetful, and he no longer discusses his minor ailments with friends because doing so would necessitate hearing about theirs. "It is better not to discuss your body parts with anyone," he concluded in an article he wrote for Forbes magazine's FYI.

Nonetheless, his friends marvel at his drive and physical energy, at how resolutely he keeps in touch with friends, a task made easier with the Blackberry he keeps with him at all times. They're not surprised that for his 80th birthday, he wants to jump out of an airplane.

"You know, people ask, `Well, why do you want to make a parachute jump, you silly old man?' " Bush said. "And I say well, there's two very valid reasons: One, it is a thrill, and at 80 you can have thrills and should have thrills, and I like it. That's one reason. The other reason is it says to a lot of other old guys around the country, `Hey, do something, get out there and go for it.' "

What he doesn't do, by all accounts, is spend much time agonizing about or trying to shape his legacy. He has published two books, one co-authored with Brent Scowcroft, his former national security adviser, and a collection of letters, but his friends doubt he will pen an extensive memoir.

"He is not an introspective kind of person," Scowcroft said. "Will he write an autobiography? I don't think so. I have urged him to do something with his diaries."

Instead of navel-gazing about his role in shaping the world, Bush 's friends say, he is content to let the record speak for itself. And that record, they believe, is impressive.

"He, more than any other president or person, was responsible for the relatively smooth transition out of the Cold War," Fitzwater said. "He was a guiding force in the emergence of the independent countries of Eastern Europe. He was instrumental in the reunification of Germany. He put together an unprecedented international coalition during the Gulf War. I believe there will be an ever-increasing recognition of his greatness."

Bush is deeply interested and concerned about what is happening in the world, particularly in Iraq, the Middle East and the war on terrorism. But he is characteristically optimistic about the future.

"It depends how you look at it," Bush said. "If you have a kid fighting in Iraq and you're worried about him, you might not see the reasons to be optimistic. But I've got a pretty good scope on history, I think, and I think that there is every reason for our country to be optimistic."

He adamantly claims there is nothing lacking in his life. Well, maybe great-grandchildren, but other than that he says his life is complete. His friends don't doubt that.

"What I see is a guy who is lucky," Ashley said. "A guy who knows he was born lucky. Not privileged, but lucky."

...

THE LIFE OF GEORGE H. W. BUSH

June 12, 1924: Born in Milton, Mass. to Dorothy and Prescott Bush

1940s-1950s

June 12, 1942: Enlists in Navy

Jan. 6, 1945: Marries Barbara Pierce in Rye, N.Y.

June 1948: Graduates Phi Beta Kappa from Yale; moves to Odessa to work in oil industry

August 1959: Moves to Houston; develops Zapata Offshore, a drilling company

1960s-1970s

Nov. 5, 1966: Elected to Congress

February 1971: Becomes ambassador to the United Nations.

October 1974: Appointed chief U.S. liaison to People's Republic of China by President Ford

January 1976: Becomes CIA director

1980s-1990s

Nov. 4, 1980: Elected vice president

Nov. 6, 1984: Re-elected vice president

Nov. 8, 1988: Elected 41st president

Dec. 2, 1989: Malta Summit with Mikhail Gorbachev

Nov. 3 , 1992: Loses re-election bid to Bill Clinton

Nov. 6, 1997: Dedication of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station

Former President George Bush will make his fourth parachute jump from an airplane today near College Station. His previous jumps:

Sept. 2, 1944: Parachutes after being shot down while flying a mission in the Pacific island of Chichi Jima. Rescued by submarine USS Finback

March 25, 1997: Fulfills a lifelong dream by making a parachute jump in Yuma, Ariz.

June 12, 1999: Makes second post-presidential parachute jump to celebrate 75th birthday near College Station

 

 

Paper: Houston Chronicle
Date: MON 06/14/04
Section: A
Page: 1
Edition: 3 STAR

It's heaven on earth for 41 @ 80 / Former President Bush earns his wings

By TONY FREEMANTLE
Staff

COLLEGE STATION - Former President Bush capped his 80th birthday weekend Sunday by jumping from an airplane into the skies above his presidential library and earning his U.S. Army parachutist wings.

Bush , strapped to the chest of Staff Sgt. Bryan Schnell, a member of the Army's Golden Knights Parachute Team, glided to a soft landing on his rear end after a 60-second free-fall from 13,500 feet.

He had trained to make a solo jump, but wind conditions and mostly cloudy skies that may have obscured his view of the landing zone forced him to make a tandem jump.

"This was a real thrill for me," he said minutes after being helped to his feet and greeted by family members. "I felt no fear in the hands of these experienced paratroopers."

After the 1:20 p.m. jump, Schnell pinned the Army parachutists' badge to the black and gold jumpsuit Bush was wearing. The badge bore a small bronze star, official military recognition of the jump he made after the torpedo bomber he was flying was shot down over the Pacific island of Chichi Jima in World War II.

No hostile fire greeted Bush as he glided toward the landing zone Sunday, only the cheers and applause of about 4,000 people who lined the open field near his library on the Texas A&M University campus to watch the event. Bush waved to the crowd below, turned into the wind and landed right on the "41@80" logo painted on the grass.

Among the spectators were Bush 's wife, Barbara; son Jeb, governor of Florida; Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union; and former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

Bush 's jump was preceded by jumps by actor Chuck Norris and Fox News' Brit Hume, who as White House correspondent for ABC News covered the Bush presidency. Their jumps were folllowed by a demonstration jump by Army parachutists.

The DeHavilland Twin Otter carrying Bush and members of the Army Golden Knights parachute team made a low pass over the drop zone before climbing to 13,500 feet. Schnell and Bush , along with five other jumpers, then free-fell for about 60 seconds at a speed of 120 mph before opening their chutes at 5,000 feet.

A graceful aerial ballet followed as the jumpers, hanging from their black and gold chutes, spiraled down to precision landings, with Bush coming down last.

Schnell insisted that having the life of the 41st president of the United States in his hands did not change his approach to a jump he has made countless times.

"The Army takes safety pretty serious," the sergeant said. "We don't make any changes or do anything different."

With a practice jump made earlier Sunday before the festivities began, Bush has now made five jumps, thus earning the parachutist badge. One of those jumps was a solo skydive that marked his 75th birthday. He was slightly disappointed that weather conditions precluded a solo jump Sunday, but he took it in stride.

"It was a different sensation, but when you're in the arms of an expert parachutist, there's far less concern," Bush said. "The feeling is the same. It was incredible."

Other than the wind, which was gusting to 15 mph in the landing zone, Army instructors were concerned about the president opening his chute at 5,000 feet and then becoming disoriented in the clouds, which were topping out at about 4,000 feet.

"We were concerned the president possibly could get lost in a cloud," said Lt. Col. David Standridge, commanding officer of the parachute team. "We didn't want to put a national treasure at risk."

Through an interpreter, Gorbachev said Bush had suggested he also take the plunge but that he replied, "Maybe for his 90th birthday."

"I never jumped from a place higher than boys would jump from when they jump in the river, the lake," said Gorbachev, who presented Bush with flowers and a bottle of vodka when he landed.

Sunday's jump and the barbecue that followed concluded a weekend of birthday celebrating that included a star-studded charity gala Saturday at Minute Maid Park.

Bush did not rule out the possibility of another jump. He said he likes the thrill and the speed of it and it also sends a message that "at 80 years old, you've still got a life."

"Get out and do something," Bush advised other 80-year-olds. "If you don't want to do a parachute jump, do something else. Don't sit about watching the television and talking to it."