two trips to the united states in 1842 and in 1867. >> author jenny hartley on this episode of book notes plus. listen at c-span.org/podcast or wherever you get your podcast. ♪ ♪ :: a new memoir about former president george h.w. bush. before we begin at i could tell you about two two upcoming s you can view on our youtube channel. on wednesday, june 9 at p.m. will present a program in partnership with just association of former members of congress called can congress to form itself again.

the moderator will be carla hayden and panelists will include current and former members of congress. on tuesday june 15 at noon historian michael burlingame will be here to talk about his new book and american marriage based on 30 years of research, he describes and analyzes the marriage between abraham lincoln and mary todd. the national archives preserves the records of our presidents back to herbert hoover. the stories told in the library's cover i president entire life not just their time in the highest office of the nation. after returning to private life a number of them turn to humanitarian causes and advisory roles and you'll find those activities documented in the library's as well. after leaving office in 1993, george bush remained engaged in public service and continue to encourage others to make a difference in large and small ways.

he shared his decades of experience with his successors and worked for a kinder gentler america. today's guest author jean becker was with president bush for nearly all of his postpresidential years. in her new book tonight she brings the reader into the realm and gives us a close-up look at his work after leaving the oval office. jean becker was president george w. bush is chief of staff and a five years from 1994 until his death in 2018. as chief of staff she had a ringside seat to the never boring story of george herbert walker bush is life after his presidency including being at his side when he died and subsequent facing the challenge and great honor of being in charge of his state funeral. previously jean served as deputy press secretary to first lady barbara bush from 1989-1992. as a former journalist she is also a member of the fulbright

foreign scholarship board and the seachange can't support as well as ad hoc member of the advisory boards of the george bush presidential library of the george bush school of government public service. our moderator for tonight discussion is warren finch director of the george h.w. bush presidential library and museum. warren has more than 30 years of experience in the archives and records administration. first with the office of presidential libraries here in washington, d.c. and then with ronald reagan library in california and now the bush library and museum. he's an archivist, detail to the bush white house in 1992 to assist with the move of bush presidential materials to texas and has been in college station ever since. now let's hear from jean becker and warren finch. thank you for joining us today.

>> hello, jean. >> academia, warren. great to see you. >> thanks to the archivist for the kind introduction. also i would like to shout at her partners in crime that george and barbara bush foundation, my colleague from l.a. laura. and then also to the dean of the bush school and the staff at the library have been so helpful here during the covid and also to the staff of the foreign president's office. it's a great organization we belong to you. we've been very lucky to be part of it, , be a part of life of george and barbara bush for all these years. my first question, so you kind of came to the bush office in kind of a curious way. can you just talk a little bit about you work for "usa today" and you did the diary.

can you talk about how that led to barbara bush hiring you to work on her staff? >> it is sort of an interesting road to the white house and to their life. i was a newspaper reporter at "usa today" in 1988, the 1980 election. and barbara bush and kitty dukakis both agreed to write a weekly column for "usa today." it was called their campaign diary. i think it ran every monday morning, and i was her editor. i was given that assignment i was grumpy about it. i did want to beat her editor. it ended up being a lot of fun. i got to know both of those amazing women really well. after the election i was very surprised when mrs. bush chief of staff susan porter rose offered me job in the first ladies press office. the gay couple weeks to think about it. i love being a reporter and then

it was my dad a farmer in missouri who said what is wrong with you? you've been offered a job by the incoming first lady of the united states and you're still thinking about it? but he was right and i said yes, and the rest is history. i quickly followed them to houston when he lost the election in 92 to up mrs. bush with her memoirs. i was a researcher and her editor. she booked the book yourself. she would want me to say that. and then the book was done and president bush said to me, will you stay just a couple more months? i need to hire a chief of staff to his chief of staff retired and he said just stay into labor day. this was march of 94. i will hire someone. we never talked about it again. i think 25 years later i said to him, i'm still waiting for you to come in my office and tell me

that you write a chief of staff and i'm unemployed. he thought i was a little crazy. >> twenty-five years plus working for president bush. you have written this great book. what i love about the book is it's a book of stories. so tell us a little bit about the book, why you wrote it and why people should read it. >> first of all i wrote the book, by beginning idea was president bush left recently mea great stories. it was such a wild roller coaster ride with him for 25 years. he did a lot. he was funny. the whole story, the odd couple of he and bill clinton. he went back to -- where he was shot down. he raised hundreds of millions of dollars for disaster relief. and then there was just funny

stories like when he called prince vanguard to ask him if he was dead or alive. that was the day i knew i had to write a book. i started writing the book just because i thought the american people need to know the heart and soul of this amazing man, and in the middle of writing the book it occurred to me that there was something a lot more important at work year, pouring out of my heart onto my computer, talking about him. president bush really left us a blueprint on now to live life. when someone dies and often will say it was a lifelong -- well lived, if you want that to be said about you when you die, you need to read this book. president bush taught us now to live life. >> i mean he did. jumping out of airplanes, perfectly good. love the story where mrs. bush said it was a great way to go one way or another.

>> and she was glad because on his 90th birthday he jumped at saint and church in kennebunkport, maine,, and she said if it doesn't go well we will carry him inside and have the funeral. >> won't be far to go. today is mrs. bush is birthday. we put a bouquet of roses at a great site today. just an amazing love story between the two of them. mrs. bush and her scrapbooks, hundreds of scrapbooks. i think there are like 125, 150 of the scrapbooks. somebody made the mistake of asking mrs. bush it she actually did them herself. you can imagine what she said. >> of course she did. >> she started the scrapbooks when they first got married.

>> worn, and explained that photo. i hate to interrupt you. that is a photo of the aggie wranglers at texas a&m and the bushes are pretending that they are aggie wranglers in that photo. you know they just how to have fun. i'm sorry interrupted you. >> they did. i love the aggie wranglers peer, that everything. for those of you are not in aggieland, the aggie wranglers are at precision dance team and they look like they are going to knock themselves out but somehow they do it in the bushes love them. today is mrs. bush is 96 present. she's actually bared her along with her husband and their daughter at the presidential library. talk a little bit about, i mean, you talk about -- that was a great partnership. they were both, i'm 60 and i think i can say they were both

kids when they got married. although he had been in the war. >> they were 19 when they got married. it was very -- married for 73 years. i am wearing barbara bush blew in honor of her birthday today and pearl earrings. i almost put on a pearl necklace but they used to drive mrs. bush crazy. i would play with them, twirl within and she would say quit twirling your pearls. in her honor i did not wear pearls today. but i would like to read a letter that's in the book that president bush wrote her that will say everything you need to know how he felt about his wife at 73 years. he wrote this january 6th, 1994, the 49th wedding anniversary. for barbara pierce from g hwd. will you marry me? i forgot you did that 49 years

ago today. i was very happy on that day in 1945 but i'm even happier today. you have given me joy that few men know. you have made our boys into men by calling them out and then right away by loving them. you helped the sweetest greatest art whole wide world. i have climbed perhaps the highest mountain in the world but even that cannot hold a candle to being your husband. mom used to tell me now, george, don't walk ahead. little did she know i was only trying to keep up with barbara pierce. i love you. >> great letter. >> at such a great letter. warren, before i'm going to -- promise i'll let you talk again but i know right now people are

weeping across america with that letter. and i'm going to make them laugh. so were going to wipe away the tears quickly. mrs. bush was a good sport. resident bush keister unmercifully. he had a wonderful sense of humor and i think she was the target of post of his practical jokes. this is a worse thing he ever did to her. son going to read this. mrs. bush often told people that one of the many reasons she married at george bush is he made her laugh. he was a master practical jokes with his wife often his target. one of his more famous success stories had to be the day he managed to convince her that she might be going to jail for trafficking pork. during the summer of 1998 --

see, there's a lot of surprises in this book. everyone needs to read the book. during december 1998 1998 o light that someone in the house was printing mac off of her computer. several unnamed teenage grandsons with the immediate suspects and the quickly acknowledged their crime. leading leaving some phota printer lead to their downfall. a few days after the unfortunate incident mrs. bush found in her stack of mail a letter from the office of the inspector general of the federal trade commission. it read in part, in doing a routine check it appears you have recently been engaged in downloading pornographic material. we respectfully request that you report to our regional office in portland, maine, for hearing on august 17, 1998 at 8:30 a.m.

my next her husband in bed as she was reading the remailed she blurted out to him that she might be going to jail. i was not there when all this transpired but i was told that president bush managed to keep it together for a few minutes before dissolving into laughter. yes, he had written the letter with the help of some staff members. you know what, warren, that was sort of the secret to their wonderful marriage. they knew how to laugh and he knew how to tease each other. >> so can you tell the story, president and mrs. bush are both in the hospital, and she comes to visit his room and his hair is all messy and tell that story, would you? >> about a week before she died and then both been in the hospital. she had been dismissed and we get word, i met houston's great

methodist hospital within and we get word that she is headed back in. she's headed back to the hospital in an ambulance she started to take a turn for the worse and so i told them she was on her way back. of the gutter settled to a room. they had adjoining rooms at methodist the last couple of years i think methodist hospital figured out if one was in hospital eventually the other one would end up there, too. i think it was sorted by design. president bush wanted to go in and see her. she was not in a coma but she was somewhere else. she was pretty much out of it. she was in a very deep sleep. i hate to be critical of the 41st president but he looked awful. his hair was standing straight up. he was wearing an oxygen mask come was on oxygen. he was in hospital again. he looked like you and and d if we been in the hospital for

five days. they getting in his wheelchair and they taken into her room and he's just sitting there holding her hand. all of a sudden her eyes flew open and she looked at him and she said, my god, george, you are devastatingly good-looking. hate to say it but he was not at that moment. and then she just closed her eyes, and the love of her life was holding her hand. he looked at me and he sort of shrugged as if to say, well, it is what it is, jean. >> can't help it. >> can't help it. anyway, she died about a week later and the bushes live in a three-story townhouse, and the bedroom was on the second floor and the power went out that day. he was out for three hours and

he was downstairs, downstairs when he was told that the time was near. the secret service, god love them, carried him up the stairs because he elevator wasn't working. he said i have to be there. so they died holding hands. you know, warren, i would love right now to give a huge shout out to the bushes granddaughter, the beautiful and wonderful ellie. a couple of years ago wrote a book about her grandparents love story. it's called george and barbara bush, the great american love story. i think. it's just a sweet wonderful book and i know, i think you have -- >> alley and kelly and chase who helped with the book, they came to the bush library and did a lot of research. these scrapbooks that mission

bush kept they were amazing. we did the museum on the tenth anniversary come for the tenth anniversary. one of the reason we want to redo the exhibit is because we have discovered these scrapbooks, amazing stuff. like you said there's 125, 150 of them. we had been through them all but apparently we hadn't been through all of them in great detail. there's one from 1945 and alley and kelly are going to the scrapbook with mary finch and open a page and there's an envelope just a letter envelope sealed up and it's got the names of people who attended the dinner. they opened the envelope and inside the envelope is the wishbone from the first thanksgiving turkey george and barbara bush had in 1945. mrs. bush was always great about this. i mean, just lovely. everyone kind of went -- all

kind of at once. after you read "the man i knew," read that book. >> she did a great job. i love that wishbone story. talking about ellie doing a lot of research at the library. i would like to point out that the library was close entire time i was writing this book because of the pandemic working from home, warren and his team, debbie willey, the head archivist there, robert, your deputy director, you already amazing pic i kind it was hard for you all to help fact check and research this book, and also warren has the best wife ever, mary finch, who's the audiovisual director of the library. you guys are rock stars. >> thank you, senator of what you take a moment to thank you pick this book wouldn't have happened without you. you did it under, you help me

despite the fact you were home, but you managed to dig out mainly fact checking. i did have to e-mail george clooney directly and a little fact checking with them. i'll just throw that out there. >> poor, jean. >> not going to talk about him tonight. >> it's amazing the staff, the amount what they could do working from home. just amazing, great staff here. they did some great work. >> let's see, let's talk about this relationship between president bush and president clinton. president bush would say one time he said i cannot like him when he was governor. didn't like him so much when he ran against me. but i kind of like to begin after he left office. and then of course there's adams

and jefferson. they were good friends, not good friends and at the end of the lives they were good friends again. but it think president bush and bill clinton had this special relationship, and talk about a life well served to, , lived, ty did some amazing work. >> warren, they really did. you and i and i talked aba couple days ago because this event is hosted by the national archives. we did want to talk about that relationship that happened between former president. they really are the president's club. there's a great book written by the great michael duffey about all the president's club. they really do have a special relationship with each other. here's a picture of them with all the former president at that time. i confess that i am photo bombing -- they are backstage.

this is at texas a&m, about ready to do huge fundraiser for hurricane harvey relief. they are backstage. that's my great friend who was helping out and she and i photo bombed the president's. but they are just telling stories and catch up with each other with hurricane harvey devastated houston. of course the two george bushes immediately wanted to roll up their sleeves and go to work. i just sort of told the other three former presidents, my fellow chief of staff i set up just fyi, we are going to be doing this. here they are. they all showed up, and it is just a really special relationship president bush and president clinton became great friends. does a whole chapter about all their disaster relief work. mrs. bush called them the odd couple and that's the title of the chapter. they literally raised hundreds of millions of dollars for hurricane katrina, hurricane

rita, hurricane ike, the tsunami in south asia which is where it all began. i'm going to ask everyone to read the book. the stories are terrific. you're going to love the pope john paul to the funeral stripper i thought tenet i would tell a few stories seven surprise people that are not well known and one involves former vice president al gore. it sort of demonstrates that the men and hopefully one day soon the women who occupy the highest offices in the land, they do have a connection, no matter their politics, no matter their background. they had a shared experience that not many of us can really understand. some going to tell you too quick stories. it's december 2000, the supreme court has ruled that george w. bush did win the election.

the recount is over and vice president gore is scheduled to give his concession speech to the nation. -- concession. president bush called me before the speech and he said jean, as soon as the speech is that i would like to call al gore and talk to him. it was in the evening. i was at home. the bushes were at home and as respected as a could i said, sir, i'm not sure that you are the person vice president gore needs to hear from you tonight. i'm thinking to hear from anyone named bush as a father of the man who just defeated him, i said are you sure you want to call them? he said jean, i have been where al gore is. i know what he is about ready to do. i know what he is feeling and i would like to call and talk to him when he's done. so i told him i said well, i will call the white house

operators, the best way to reach the vice president is the widest switchboard and that made him very happy. it meant he had cut me out of the middle. he said i will call the operators when the speech is done. i love the operators and you do have to worry about it. so i watched the vice president speech. it was very gracious. i'm watching them, out of the ice in our office building at the white house complex and get in the car to come watching all this live on tv. and sure enough i see him pick up the phone. and i'm thinking, no, no, no. that can't possibly be my boss. well, five minutes later my phone rings and its president bush. jeanne, i just got off the phone with al gore. i think he was thrilled that i called. we had a great conversation. i i told him that his speech was wonderful and perfect, and i

think he understood why i called. he understood that i was where he was, and so i did the right thing. and you know what, i know that he did. i was wrong and he was right. fast-forward to 2008. it's a wide open election year. george w is going to leave office and it's the morning after the first democratic debate. president bush comes in the office and he says jean, get joe biden on the phone. and chris dodd. i don't like how they were treated at the debate last night. i said well, what are you talking about? he said look, they were standing on the in. they hardly got any questions. they kept sending all the questions you hillary clinton, to barack obama, and that guy john edwards. they get all the questions. joe biden and chris dodd upstanding u.s. senators and

they deserve to be treated better. this is how i was treated in 1980. i was a man on the end to could never get any questions. so once again i said, don't you think senator senator biden and senator dodd what they get inside your callings and? he said get them on the phone comes we did. he had a great conversation with them. i only tell those stories because they are in the book but it just gives people just a little insight to sort of the camaraderie that happens behind the scenes between these people who have this shared experience. >> he operated well on the telephone. his letters were amazing. it's funny, you know, it's not

always a great speech maker a budget giving him a room with ten people. i think he had a funny line at a state dinner. with ten people he was amazing. >> that's a great point. i'm sorry, he was very personable. i do want to go back to the photo of all the president's backstage at hurricane harvey. the great team of archives could pull a backup. i have to tell a funny story about that night. so this is on a saturday evening we really didn't even invite the others. i disorder told them fyi in case you're in texas and want to come to this event. they all came. president obama, president clinton, president carter. when i told the bushes they were all coming, i'll never forget this. mrs. bush said oh, dear, we need to give them dinner. we are going to have to feed

them. and i thought such a normal reaction. that's what any wife in america would react to with my husband comes home and says honey, i've invited some people over for dinner tonight. so we did give them dinner before the event, and a funny thing is, i'm going to tattletale on to make people who i love. i get a call from secretary becerra, james baker, , he says jean, i'm coming to that harvey it in. i understand all the president's are coming. i hear there's a dinner before hand. can i get into that dinner? president bush said i had to call you. and i'm like, like i'm going to kill secretary baker know, you can come to dinner? of course. there's plenty of room for you and susan. they would love to see you. then he calls back he says jean, dick cheney is coming and you he would like to be at that dinner. he says everyone wants to be in this dinner.

and i said did you call an invite dick cheney? he said, one may be because i thought dick would want to be there. i said fine but you cannot invite anybody else because the table is now full. you may not call one more time to save anyone else is coming. so it's sort of, it was funny and it was just a great evening. again, a great example of the camaraderie among these people, and these guys and soon a woman i hope that we need a woman to be part of this, to be a part of this club. >> that was great meeting, just a fantastic evening. there is at this camaraderie between these men, and maybe a woman one day, , but so far it s just men, who had been former presidents, have the shared experience can run for office, won and lost, and for president bush he was able to so much good, so much after he left.

>> and they really, they are such a great resource for the country. i know on january 20 this past year when they're all in washington for the inauguration, they take the psa for vaccine, encouraging americans to get vaccinated. they are all right now they have all agreed to be honorary chairs of the points of life gala in september honoring president bush who will give the george bush worker it's a nice of them to do that. my guess is the quality videos. they really do come together when the country needs them, and it's just a great resource. i'm a big fan of the president's club. they do more than dash i think we have a picture of the funeral. president bush used to -- president bush used to laugh and say we come together at funerals

and library openings. that's not exactly true. they do a lot more than that but there they all are at the funeral, state funeral of the national cathedral of president bush. i might add, of course we don't see there is the 43rd president. he sitting on the other side of the island with his family but he did manage to slip across before the service began, president george w. bush came over, shook all their hands, thank them all for coming and then he did give michelle obama a mint. festered at john mccain's funeral. >> they were both breaking up at the opening of the afghan american museum in d.c. i think they were sitting next to each other giggling. >> they were misbehaving, think the war. they have a great friendship which is wonderful. >> it is nice.

so if you've got a question you can type it into the chat and then at the end of our program there is a type of questions i'll be happy to ask jean one or two questions. one more thing. we've got this big 4141 locomotive thanks to union pacific that was given to us by union pacific, we did about ten or 15 years ago, and just briefly tell the story, president bush thought it would be a grand idea that after the funeral in houston that anyone could write up on the train and have a sandwich, as they say in the south. talk a little bit about how you tried to explain to him maybe he wouldn't be having a sandwich. >> well, gosh, i'm sort of embarrassed i put this in the book but it was a funny moment. we would plan his funeral often on over the years and every once in a while we would get out the

folder and particularly after president ford died, after president reagan died. he would make changes to his funeral plan. president bush loved trains and he said to me i would like to take a train from houston -- it would be a church service in houston, and then the burial of course at the library at texas a&m. he said jean, let's take a train. it will really be perfect because we can all be on the train and we will have lunch. it will be very relaxed and everyone can that the feet up and relax before the burial. and he kept talking about it in the first person. and hope you all don't think i'm disrespectful but but i sork at him and i said, sir, i think that's a great idea and i will work on that train but you're not going to be on the train. he looked at me, he was always right. i should learn to come he was always right. he said oh, yes, i will. [laughing]

and, of course, he was. of course he was on the train. >> might not be eating a sandwich but he would be on the train. i wasn't on the train because i was trying to beat it back to college station to actually beat the train back so we could meet it there. along with officials from university but it was amazing. the highway parallels the railroad tracks and there were people all along the railroad tracks with signs that say god bless you, mr. president. thank you, america loves you. boy, and then the arrival in college station was just amazing. it was a rainy, somber day and everyone was just kind of down and suddenly the aggie band played the aggie -- table and gave a cheer and use big hug. >> he was home, he was home. >> so we do have, so here's a

question. let's go to question if you don't mind. >> okay. >> maybe we will be off after the questions. someone wants to know, mrs. bush -- you referred to president bush as george bush. in my experience she actually oftentimes used his nickname so people that knew george bush when he was young knew him, he had a nickname. i have heard mrs. bush often refer to him by that. >> she called him pop or poppy. she usually calls him pop. let me see if i can get this straight. the lineages lineage s. president bush's name and was george herbert walker bush. he was named for his grandfather whose name was george herbert walker. that was his maternal grandfather. when he was growing up george

herbert walker's children all called their dad pop. so when little george herbert walker bush comes along they nicknamed him poppy, as sort of a a play off of what they called their father. and so president bush was called poppy i think, warren, almost until he went into the navy at age 18 after pearl harbor, and he wrote some are, it's not this book because of course that predates this book. they wrote when he went off to the navy he found out that poppy was not really a good day for a young man in the navy who wanted to be a pilot, a navy pilot, and he really tried to drop the name when he moved to texas. i was thinking of you writing about no one in texas is called poppy but mrs. bush called him pop into the very end. it was very, very sweet.

can i quickly just -- this was a problem for you, too. president bush's name was george herbert walker bush. he went by george bush his entire life. he did not like having four names. he found it a little stuffy. but then a man named george walker bush was elected president of the united states in 2000, and all of a sudden you had two president george bush is. as were nose this was a big problem because there was a lot of confusion about who you were talking to about, and the huge recommendation to my boss, the number 41, was that he start using his initial. because the 43rd president already went by george w. bush. to distinguish himself from his father.

my boss was urged to go by george h.w. bush and it really irritated him because he did not want come he did not want to start incorporating his middle name. thank heavens for the brilliant man, i cannot remember who it is and now, but it's in the book, who came up with 41 and 43. oh, my gosh, president bush loved being called 41, and it was perfect. >> a great story about that. there's a great portrait of george h.w. bush and his son george george w. bush, and artist that painted a portrait. it was kind of confusing though george w. bush post this way, george w. bush poses way. he said i-40 when he's 43. a gust of confusing the artist at heart he won, 43. it was the way to distinguish them.

>> president clinton told me once, actual i think his chief of staff told me this, that i think it was 43 who called president clinton 42 once and the president clinton, it made his day. he told his staff oh, my gosh, -- pretty sure it was 43 who called in that. he just called me 42. i'm now like a member of the family. which i thought was very funny. >> so president bush was reagan's vice president for eight years, and there's question here about, you know, they were adversaries and i'm not sure that president bush ever thought he would be picked for the vp, the talk a little bit about how that relationship grew between the two of them. >> well, i should point out, who have asked the question i apologize, that predates my book and it predates from when i was

in president bush's inner circle. do i know the answer? ideal, just from being around for 25 years. so president reagan sort of joe's george bush to be his vp candidate in the 11th hour at the 1980 republican convention. he was not his first choice. historians among you will remember it was former president ford was actually his first choice, and that did not work out so it became instead, as george bush from texas, and the two men became best friends. the timing of this question is really perfect because i just had lunch the other day with secretary baker and susan baker, and a lot of you might remember that secretary baker was actually present reagan's first white house chief of staff, which was amazing considering the fact that james baker ran

george bush his campaign in 1980. but i'm asking secretary baker about the relationship. i don't know boy we started talking about it, and he said ronald reagan was one of the nicest most genuine people you would ever want to meet, and that he and george bush had of course tangled on the campaign trail but they were able to put aside their differences. they figured out they had a lot more in common than not, and they had an amazing relationship for eight years. >> so here's a question. why did mrs. bush in quotes let her husband jump out of airplanes? provoke a good appliances, mrs. bush would say. >> there's a great letter in the book that president bush wrote to his five children about his first parachute jump, his first post-world war ii parachute jump. in the beginning of the letter

he says i have not told barbara yet but i will be telling her tonight after i make her favorite drink, a manhattan. she was not thrilled. she thought it was a little crazy but i think one of the things, i think she thought it was really crazy, but one of the things that i think made their marriage work is she knew she couldn't talk you out of it. she could tell that this was important to him. so she went along with it. she was very unhappy when he jumped on his 90th birthday. i had to sort of be the go between the two of them. it was kind of interesting and without the weather is going to call it off, and it turned out the weather didn't call it off. i actually called his oldest son, the 43rd president, and asked him to intervene and he said jean, i'll talk to mom. dad wants to jump. we need to let him jump. so she was a very good sport but

it was an 90th birthday parachute jump or said well, if this goes wrong will just carry him to the church and have the funeral. president bush swore to me he was going to jump on his 95th birthday. i told him i would not assist him in any way and he said, don't worry about it. i can figure it out all by myself, and, of course, he died he 40 turn 95. >> that last jump was a secret. i was on a train between new york city and albany i believe and i was doing a podcast with a political show, and the guy says dino president bush is jumping out of a plane today? and i said no. whoever interviewed me said, he's going to jump right now. i said would you just tell me when you land on the ground? >> sorry, warren, i should've called and told you. we kept it a secret and this is why. we wanted him to have the opportunity to change his mind.

>> and i think -- >> we didn't tell anybody that they of because we wanted him to have the chance to say maybe i should not jump on my 90th birthday. >> at its apparently it's a hobby that's gone down to the grandchildren. my understanding is jenna bush is going to jump out of a perfectly good plan also. >> they love to jump, they do. >> so that's all the questions we got for right now. it was lovely having you. everyone should get the book. it's a great book. for some great stories any. there's a george clooney story in your that is just great. there's also a story in here about how president bush determines whether prince vanguard is dead or alive, which is come into george bush fan, has anybody called in? no, sir. anyway, it's a great book. love having you, and get out of

college station i will get down there. we have to see each other and have lunch. >> i would love to have lunch with you, warren finch. i am your biggest fan. thank you so much. thank you to the national archives for hosting us tonight. >> yes. >> and read the book. it will help you lead a better life. i really do think that. and you will laugh. >> i'm supposed to be nonbiased and he was a great man, just a wonderful, wonderful life and the post-presidency. could have gone home, could've gone home to houston and did nothing but he just did all kinds of good things. he and mrs. bush both. they will both be remembered, her for literacy and him the points of light foundation and point of life will live long after. thank you, jean. >> thanks, warren. good night everybody. >> good night.

>> weekends on c-span2 are an intellectual feast. every saturday you'll find events and people that explore our nation's past on american history tv. on sundays tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. it's television for serious readers. learn, discover, explore. weekends on c-span2. >> sunday c-span series january 6th, views from the house continues, three more members of congress share stories of what they saw, heard and experienced that they including democrat dean phillips of minnesota. >> at that very moment when the capitol police officer announced we should take cover, i stood up at the back of the gallery on the second level, the mezzanine, representative gosar from arizona was objecting to the

arizona slate of electors and at that moment i simply shouted out at the top of my lungs this is because of you here i screened it. >> okay. >> it's because of you. [shouting] >> and i think i was representing four years of angst and anxiety and anger. many of us saw this coming from a mile away, many in the country did. i think i've represented probably millions of americans who felt the same way. at that very moment the entire country including myself recognize the fragility of our democracy. i had great appreciation for the traditions in the congress and the courtroom. i do not like to violate it but i do not regret it because it was what i i was feeling and t was four years of pent up anxiety about what was transpiring right in front of our eyes. >> this week to alter from democrat jamie raskin a a of d republican brian fitzpatrick of