ever george w. bush metal for leadership.d it was presented to him by the former president at the bush center in houston. after the ceremony, the two sound down with former white house chief of staff josh bolton. over one hour. >> [applause] >> thank you. [cheering] >> thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. of 2002, and we we re about to go to monterrey, mexico for a conference on

millennium development goals. president bush asked the national security council staff to put together a a proposal on foreign assistance that, you said something like, not on millennium development goals. peoplent bush -- knock people's socks off. it had to have a way to make sure american taxpayer dollars were not going to be wasted. that he came the millennium challenge corporation, which were large grants to countries that were governing wisely, andrning democratically, investing in their people. john bolton was a part of that effort. and

we were going to make an we were going to make an announcement before we left. he said, i have an idea -- have you ever heard of bono? i said yes, josh, i have heard of bono. i have heard of u2. i like rock music. >> [laughter] is interestedno in these areas of development. why don't we ask him if he will stand with the president as he makes the announcement in washington? i was assigned to talk to bono and convince him to come with us for that announcement. i will never forget when he walked in the office, looking at me a little bit suspiciously and saying, but what you really need to do is something about aids. when an entire continent, the continent of asica, faced a bleak future millions were succumbing to a disease for which there was no cure, and for which there was very little hope of a cure.

meeting, bono in that we are going to do something about aids. president bush, when he was governor bush, told me that the heart of america has to shine through our foreign policy, that we has to have a foreign policy that brought compassion to it center. we have been looking at, i said to bono, what we want to do about aids, but no one is certain that antiretrovirals will work. the president wanted to understand that issue better before he did something on aids. i said, look at what we're doing with foreign assistance. it will quadruple foreign assistance to africa, double to latin america. i said, you will just have to trust me, we are going to do something on aids. fast forward to the state of the

union address in january 2003, and president bush would keep that promise. with the largest american andstment in global health, indeed the largest investment by any single country in global health with the president's emergency plan for aids relief. >> [applause] but in between those two events, there was another event. bonoresident had met backstage when he made the announcement about the

millennium challenge. he said to bono offhandedly, why don't you come and see me? we decided that was a good idea. i have to admit i was a little bit nervous, this would be an odd couple. >> [laughter] >> the tough talking texan president of the united states and the irish rocker. as national security advisor, it is your responsibility to recommend these meetings and staff them and make sure they are well prepared. how do you prepare for that meeting? we just let the two of them go ne, with no one else in the room. they talked, i would learn later, about faith. they talked about responsibility th to whomtion, of bo much has been given. they talked about how a great country like the united states could not allow the scourge of aids to whiteout entire populations. -- wipe out entireth populations odd odd couple would be a

powerful twosome to make sure america was in the lead, and did lead to bring others along too -- other countries, nonprofits, parliaments around the world, so that they would say here and no further. bono was the perfect partner for us. through his work with red and his incredible dedication and commitment to this cause, he has been a real force for making certain that what was begun 15 years ago is not just still going, but is prospering and moving forward. when we go to places, as we did, andouth africa, to liberia, you see that there are orphans yes, but there,

are also more and more kids these days whose parents live long enough to see them grow older. we don't have a cure, but we are able to extend life, and we have people to seey their children grow up, and to have those children have their parents for a bit longer. bono? >> [applause] ms. rice: people to see their children grow bono, it wat day for this cause, but more importantly, it was a great day for us when you walked into my office, and later into the oval. pair.o have been quite a it is my great pleasure to ofite to the stage one half that pair of the texas president and the irish rocker, president

george w. bush. >> [applause] president bush: thank you all. thank you. so i thought i was supposed to introduce bono. [laughter] i'm not going to try now. people ask me do i miss washington. no. but i miss serving with some awesome people. vice president chaney's here. you're about to meet one of the really fine people in josh bolton and of course, condoleeza rice, who not only was a famous advisor but was a dear, dear friend. and so i'm -- anyway, i'm going to give bono this award. -- st confess

[laughter] wearing a tux -- yeah, yeah, i got it. yeah. wearing a tux really not my first choice and hanging out with rockers is not my first choice. but condy's rice, i can't tell you enough about bono. i was a little skeptical about him, i must confess when he was coming to the white house and i confess he might have been slightly kept cal about me. [laughter] but we formed this fast friendship. here's what i learned about the guy. he's the real deal. if you want to talk about poverty issues, you better know your stuff because bono is one of the most well-informed people i met in washington, d.c. i don't know if the facts were true that he was spewing out. but -- [laughter] but he was convincing. so i want to tell you a story

about this. and bon -- bob gets a huge mount of credit. so laura and i went to rwanda to see a catholic charity , when they mature so they can thwart of predatory men. and one of things that made this successful is that we included this organization but faith-based organizations on the theory that if you're motivated love a neighbor is the kind of people you want loving a neighbor. there were a group of orphans getting ready to watch this catholic charities program. and i don't know why, but i said "god is good."

and without hesitating they went "all the time." it was a stunning moment. rich white guy saying to to african orphans god is good. and you know, teenage kids would likely be telling me, you think there's a god? easy for you to say. we live in poverty. i said god is good. >> -- all the time. when i got back i had a white house staff meeting. and i told them the story. and my punchline was any time anybody who lives in this blessed country hear somebody say god is good, we ought to scream at the top of our lungs "all the time" which is the point that bono and i try to make. he from a rock stage and me, you center, not e bush

exactly the same platform. and that is those of us who have an obligation, a duty, a moral duty to help those who are suffering from diseases where we can help. and so i'm giving the distinguished citizen award tonight. it's the first one we've ever given. i mentioned this to bono at our ranch and he said he would come. which i can't tell you how much it means for laura and me but for everybody else here. and so -- bono this may not -- he doesn't take awards and i kind of can see why. [laughter] o, this is valuable. [laughter] [applause] o you like pewter?

[laughter] platinum, yeah. anyway, bono, come up here and . t me give you this award [applause] ura -- [applause] president bush: by the way,

strange-looking black tie. josh, yeah, there he is. former chief of staff. an awesome guy. father of eli. how old were you when eli was born? >> 61. president bush: 61-year-old father. i thought he was a grandfather when i first saw him, but then -- joshua bolton. [applause] > that was good. joshua: i'm in charge here. president bush: not for long. this is just a prop. joshua: i figure i got about 60 seconds. how cool is this? how cool is this? i've had a lot of privileges and a long career in government service, working for you, mr.

president. but the opportunity to share the stage with my two biggest heroes in public life is -- is a real highlight. president bush: thank you, buddy. > i feel the same. joshua: my two heroes, one is a world renowned artist. and the other one is a big rock star. i got some questions but, mr. president, before i do, i want to start on just a serious note of appreciation to you and mrs. bush for the spirit in which you carried this program over the last couple of days which has been terrific. i know it's been a tough week for everybody. i watched you as president many times actually probably hundreds of times play the role of

comforter-in-chief. and these last few days you've just done that for even here. -- everybody here. you've given everybody a chance to celebrate the bush institute but to celebrate your mom whose spirit is embedded in everything you do. president bush: thank you. [applause] let me ask you something. you knew mother. do you think she would get along with bono? joshua: yep, better than you, actually. ok. now i'm going to do my questions. and mr. president, i'm going to be talking to bono for a bit here. if you feel you need to interject something -- [laughter] president bush: i just had a dessert. bono: all sugared up. joshua: bono, the president mentioned from the podium that you rarely accept awards.

in fact, i've known you for a long time. and i've never seen you accept an award. you like to give them. i've seen you do that. but you don't like to get them. why did you decide to accept this one? bono: pewter. platinum. [laughter] know, the ---- you the thing that i'm most proud of in my -- in the life i've set or my family and friends outside of the music that i make the people that i've worked with trying to serve the world's poor.

debt cancellation. bill clinton canceled the bilateral. you, sir, canceled the multi-lateral and more children went to school. it's a big deal. but the thing that was thought impossible was the idea of getting anti-retro viral medications to the rural poor especially in africa. it was just sort of impossible. and this president followed that great adage of nelson mandela who always said, it's always impossible until it's done. nd i would count outside of my musical life with u2, pep fund and the global fund and the

fight against h.i.v./aids is the thing i'm most proud of in my life, and that would not have been possible without this man, the support of laura and the family, without the support of mike ndoleeza rice, girlson's not here and since you started this, i have to say the american taxpayers who paid for it. and if you're an american taxpayer, you're an aids activists. i don't know if you know that here in texas. but that's a big deal. [applause] so i'm here to say thanks. joshua: mr. president, condy called you the odd couple. president bush: it's a good point.

he's a lot hotter than i am but anyway. bono: i was just thinking the opposite. [laughter] joshua: give us a little bit of color about how, where, and why the bromance began. president bush: you're the reason why. you and condi said you need to meet bono. i'm like who? [laughter] he mentioned this earlier, but this is a true story. so josh was reflecting the -- the attitude of most of the people and the whiteout staff that was scared to death that i was going to offend bono because cretin.cally a cultural they're hovering around. this guy's going to come around, very die unanimous uck guy. you're going to say that. e's going to say this. josh, on the way to the oval

office turns around and says "you do know bono, don't you? " i i said, of course, he's married to cher. [laughter] [applause] and this guy comes storming in, in the oval. and he's hitting me with all kind of stats. he's got one high energy dude and you've got to be to be putting on a show every night. but something about him. you know, i was skeptical as hell. i really was because you know, a little worried about some pr guy trotting out to make himself look good to his fans. but this guy meant it. it is the beginning of a very unique and a very treasured friendship. and so that's where the bromance started. [applause] i think you gave the prayer at

the national prayer breakfast one year when i was president. bono: i did. but i'd also like to say that i ave some of the most important parts of my life have been spent with cher. [laughter] she has an incredible "i still haven't found what i'm looking for." she opened our tour, so take that. [laughter] i did actually travel and lived with sonny. and i don't approve of the pronunciation of my 911 bone-no. bono. myself as we did the humming thing. the gentlemen got out. and just as the doors closed, he said it's bone-o by the way. and said who is that?

bono. went, that's sonny we have this in common. joshua: bono, i was going to ask you about your reflection how the bromance began. but let me ask you about a specific aspect. from the political aspect that you came from, it must have been seen as dangerous talking to the president. talk a little bit about that. bono: i don't think it was good for either of our bases. let's put it that way. [laughter] this was parity of pain. o, it's like -- it was tricky. but tricky for you. and i remember, you know, the beginning of our relationship -- i do remember -- i was on, you

know, disarmed by the president's sense of humor. we were traveling in a motorcade together. corporation with cardinal mccarrick. and the three of us. and people were waving. and i said, you're really popular around here, mr. president. he said when i first came here, people used to wave at me with one finger. [laughter] and i'd like to tell you, your president said that in front of a catholic cardinal. and the cardinal laughed the hardest. i think if you believe -- you don't have to agree on everything. ust one thing. the best thing is important enough if you want to get shit

done. and as it happens, we agree on lots of things. irish person an sometime i find it difficult the ay some people are very verbal about their faith. irish people it was quite a private thing. and you learn to stand in a country that was torn by religion why we just keep that to ourselves. but i do remember speaking about this disease in those terms. we talked about it as leprassy because it was the untouchables -- leper si because it was was the untouchables. that why -- that's why your mother and barbara bush who hugged her, an aids sufferer because stigma in the dough

mystic age problem in the united states, stigma was a killer. and so you were born of an aids activist, sir. and you became one. and i -- i was thinking today, inbara bush, mother of petfa a strange way. -- we spoke about how -- how how our faith demands that we change the way we feel about this disease. and we found all kinds of people unexpected advocates. and i was deeply challenged because i come from a liberal, the amily, and -- and at one campaign, we were just determined to make sure that we just went right down the center of the aisle on this because we didn't want to divide in half the potential supporters of

these ideas because it's a cliche to think this is just of the left or it's a cliche to think it's just the religious people. i think it's a very american idea, and you know, america is an idea. it's not just a country. ireland is a great country. great britain is a great country. but it's not an idea. america is a idea. and the power to that idea is to respond to an emergency like the h.i.v./aids. president bush: and by the way, my base didn't give a damn if bono was my friend. hey kind of liked me better. joshua: mr. president, i want to dial -- [laughter] i'm doing my best. [laughter] bear with me. i want to dial back a couple of

years. i was with you during the 2000 presidential campaign. and i never once heard you get up on the stump and say, vote for me because i want to double the number of your tax dollars that are going to get sent to africa. now, what changed? president bush: i should have done that. the election wouldn't have been quite as close. what changed was i campaigned as a pro-life candidate and in our circles -- i mean, in politics, most people kind of think abortion. i'm thinking we're all god's children and every life is precious, every life. and so condi -- condi came to see me. and said there's a pandemic destroying an entire generation on account of africa. in my line of work, people tend to speak in hyperbole.

i said prove it. and she did. and she instructed me about the facts. and so i'm thinking i'm the president of the greatest nation and the richest nation ever and life people i was -- all mattered and yet she just inform med that an entire generation was being destroyed. - informed me that an entire generation was being destroyed. i was worried about the security 9/11. country after we spent a lot of time like that. and we have to think why is it that people would come and kill our citizens. it's one thing to respond and we did forcefully. but the other thing is to think about the long-term causes and i was telling this to bono earlier that the age issue is not only a moral issue for a great nation.

it's a national security issue. so think about those orphans that were there. what happens if no one shows up to help. the big rich nations say it's not our problem. let them figure it out. and then all of a sudden, a group of people show up and said we're your new family. we care for you. that's before they instruct them on how to put a suicide vest on. and so it's in our national security interest. e the lesson of 9/11 how others live nearts to our national security. and therefore the adds initiative -- [applause] and so that's how i came to it. bono, we're not big fans of the united nations around here -- >> i am. president bush: it goes to show how kind of ignorant you are at issues. and so the reason why if your

responsible for achieving results, the idea of doing something significant to the u.n. where there's no accountability whatsoever to me would have been a waste of our taxpayers' money. at this point i wanted to be liked. i succeeded at i didn't want to be liked. so condi brings in collin powell and tommy johnson. for e said we must do this the u.n. fund. but i was reduck tant. we set up the global fund. our deal in america is we would match donors. pandemic destroying an entire generation and i called condi, i said how's the global fund doing? finland? that's all. it was empty. nothing was happening. i said to hell with it.

we set up -- josh led the effort. the 17 most affected nations. and put in a strategy in place and got after it. and then guess what happened? after success was proven people started contributing to the global fund. go ahead and defend your position. [laughter] bono: this is interesting. it is true that our first -- our with dr. ventions rice and with josh bolton and with you were to fund and fund only the global fund, which was set up in the united nations, and it was a multi-lateral device just to deal with this pandemic which was the greatest health emergency in 600 years. and if i might because it's

important 15 years since, but to try and describe what that looks , you're gine this room in an africa city, sophisticated university, you could be anywhere. a third of the people are going to die. certain people are going to die. you're a trucker. 50% of truckers are going to die. i was telling somebody -- in the one campaign, i did a tour here, a speaking tour at some truck stop, big, big trucker. tattoos all over his head, that kind of trucker. president bush: he's a rocker. heavier than rock. bono: i brushed by him. he grabbed my hand. did you just say 50%? half of all the truck drivers in all of africa are going to die. i said yeah.

he said, can i help you? i'll give you my name. that is america right there. we didn't know if we could count on america. so the united nations had bravely set up this multi-lateral mechanism. but it was slow to start. i accept that. ut it was slow to start. they didn't want it to be -- they didn't want to make any mistakes. so -- so let me put hit the way. at this date as we're speaking, the president's initiative -- i am telling you this 13 million .ives petfar has been a spectacular success. but you will admit that you can

dd 21 billion now. president bush been i agree. one reason why we put our buddy dybal in there. bono: i would add him in there. he's a great leader. and this is a red iphone. and any time you buy one of these beautiful objects, money goes to the global fund. apple are in for i think it's probably about 200 million -- what would you say? what's the number? close to $200 million. so red has raised half a billion dollars because the point of the global fund was to bring in the private sector. it wasn't just government money. and that's an invitation to all you very fabulous --

president bush: bono, we're raising money for the bush center. what the hell? i got you here for this distinguished award and there you are poaching on our donors. [laughter] bono: we had an argument once. i was getting really frustrated that the president made this is most extraordinary speech, the state of the union, 2003. he said this is -- this is what america's going to do. we're going to show the world what we can do. and we're going to get these drugs, the people say are impossible to the rural poor. we're going to get them there in motorcycles and bicycles. and it took a while. so i got frustrated. and i was in talking with the president. and i can talk. and -- and somebody goes -- hold on a second. i heard you. would you just stop talking?

because i am the president. in the oval office doing this. please, sir. josha: i'm going to stick with bono for a minute. president bush: damn, i thought you -- joshua: bono, you just pulled out your red phone. i want you to say a little more to this audience about what is red and what is the one campaign that you co-founded at about the same time? and what's the bork that they're doing now? bono: start with the one campaign because gayle smith is here. and it is such a huge honor to work with her and she's a force of nature. indeed, she ran developments for barack obama. i called her gayle force one. but she's not held hostage to any ideology.

like any smart people, she wants what works to work. i have to say this for president obama, you have to say this. when this president bush launched the largest health intervention in the history of medicine, a moon shot for america to take on this disease and put billions of american taxpayer dollars in that fight successfully so. it would have been very says for president obama to arrive and say i want to do something different. but he sublimate and he followed your lead and similarly spent very well billions of dollars. and that is why we need -- you know, we're where we are today. and the one campaign to answer your question, josh is we want to be wind of the back of politicians who have the moral courage to do something that can

be unpopular in the short-term. and we also want to be able to be a nuisance if people don't. and i don't want to name names but there have been people who really regretted invited the one campaigner into their office because they don't leave and they're very informed. and they'll wait for you outside your church or your office. they're relentless, the one campaigners. that's what we do. we're haunting chancellor merkel. we're haunting the president of france. at know, president macron the moment has met with us. plth sarkozy -- president sarkozy said i know what you do. you would have to torture me. that's what the one campaign does. red is like the gateway drug to the one campaign. if you don't want to be a marching boots activist but

you're in commerce, what do i have to do? buy red pickup trucks, red starbucks or red apple. bank of america, a huge supporter. their signage on world's aids day is a political tool for us. because it's not just the money we raise, it's the heat. because we understand it's difficult for policy-mackers to make expensive decisions. and so we wanted them to know that we're there, that we're behind them and there's support for this in the shopping malls or in their constituencies. that's what red does. president bush: you know, it's interesting. so the question that red asks and what i fear is that most americans have no clue of what has been discussed today. if you ask an average guy, do you think your taxpayer's dollars is responsible for saving people in africa, they

have no idea what they're talking about. part of your effort is a good idea is to remind the american people of their goodness -- bono: i cannot -- and please, if you could remember this if you hink about this, this disease, h.i.v./aids, it could be something else. we picked a fight with that pills, it ause these took three at the time, three a day to keep you alive, they symbolized the injustice of where you live, should not decide whether you live. and -- and americans respond to that. it's who you are. and i'm absolutely sure that if you knew what you had achieved ecause as well as these 13

million lives, as i say it's 21 million lives, this is -- this is something that should be described like omaha beach. this is like intervention in the second world war. this is a huge and heroic thing that you have taken on. how many people died in the second world war? was it nearly 50 million? something like that. president bush: i wasn't born. bono: right. 35 million people -- >> 47. president bush: do i hear 50? [laughter] bono: so this is -- this is human drama on that scale. 35 million people lost their lives. and when you wake up tomorrow morning, i would love for americans for you to remind yourselves of what you've achieved in saving 21 million

lives from the scourge of h.i.v. and then think how did we do that? it was cross-party support. we had bill frisk their physician from nashville and john kerry working together the kerry-frisk bill with condoleeza rice who let us in. we didn't even have an office. we were in her office. jamie drum monday, lucy, with backpacks of information and data. she was going show me this. let me check this. and she's completely undersold her position here. wouldn't you agree? president bush: i agree completely. bono: condoleeza rice her fingerprints are all over this. she took it very seriously as did this man here. but it's the american people, the american taxpayer that really deserves the applause and i know that's how you feel.

and that's why i came to say thank you. president bush: bono, thank you for saying that. but here's the thing, one of the things that i need to remind people of is that not only did we get anti-viral medicine but we helped establish a health system that can help deal with other diseases. in other words, by dealing with aids, we left behind an infrastructure or there exists an infrastructure that enables government to continue to respond. the goal, of course, and americans need to know this is that -- is to arrest the disease enough to enable governments to catch up with it and to begin to fund these programs themselves but they're not ready to do that yet. bono: vom getting there. and the health system is significant for women. for women in this audience, one of the most upsetting things and i know laura how you feel about

this. but the -- the passing of the virus in utero from an h.i.v.-suffering mother to her child and we're going to eradicate that in the next few years. absolutely. i would give it three years. it is within sight. [applause] now, i will tell you this. we asked for a moon shot. e got one. we can count on congress left and right. cause congress can count and epidemiologist can tell you that when dealing with a pandemic like h.i.v./aids, you have to be running as fast or faster or it and i can count too. , 44 booster shot

rockets, 45, oops, we may actually having got close to the moon and nearly put a flag in it from the united states, we might be able to plant -- we might be about to put a flag of sur ender for this disease. and it's not good enough. i want all of you to send a message to the administration that this is important to the american people. because i do believe they will hear you. -- ause [applause] is it ok that i say that? >> you already did. joshua: i know the bush institute has piggybacked on that frain structure and the work -- infrastructure and the work that it's done. talk a little bit about what the bush institute has been doing. >> so it broke our hearts, laura

and i that women who had the they would get cervical cancer. and in my book i called it the lazarus effect. imagine it's like in a village where mothers started to live and need lesley die diing from cervical cancer. so we started an initiative. condi is the chair of our initiative. e recently did a deal that we're piggybacking on the petfar effort. we're calling awareness to a problem. we're leaving infrastructure behind in some countries and trying to rally others to join us. and it's -- speaking of mother to child transmission, i told this to bono that laura and i looked at one of our cervical ancer programs from mibia,

pretty hard word to say when you're from texas. and we went to a maternity ward. and i think there were probably 100 mothers. all the mothers had aids and not one mother had aids, which is a fabulous, fabulous development. [applause] so anyway, here's the thing -- the question is -- is this in our national interest to do this? there's a lot of competing interests and bono knows that. he's up there battle on the hill a lot. i mean, we've got a loft the ms but we made determination that there's no greater problem than the loss of human life. i mean, medicaid's a problem, social security reform is a problem. o question about it. but it's important to set priorities in life. and our administration believed human life was the highest priority. otherss going to require

to understand why this is in our national interest. and i think the best-selling point besides it's good for our heart -- it sounds nice like in a rock concert or something, i think really the national security issue is really an important issue. but the problem is the farther we get away from 9/11, the more dulled people's memories have ecome and one of the things we do here at the bush center is not engage in global engaging through globally engaging is to onstantly talk about what 9/11 means to our country. >> our greatest support at the moment with this administration are the military, the united states military. and i want to thank them. general mathis is a sobering comment.

e said you cut the foreign aid budget, buy me more bullets. who t was condi over there talked about diplomacy, defense and development. it was really way ahead of its time. i went to the president and i had these pills in my hand. i said, to the president, paint these pills red, white and blue because these pills would be the greatest advertisements for america. he laughed and i laughed. but it turns time-out be true. the polling for the united states is incredible. and it turns out it's just a really smart, strategic thinking to be -- to try and stop fires rather than paying for them when

they're out of control. and we were talking earlier, i can't remember who i was talking with. europe, what happened in syria, the effect that that has had in the european union, we nearly lost the european union that is so great that the threat to europe from unmanaged migration and the political consternation that has come of it that's the country of 20 million. think about egypt. that's a country of 100 million. think about nigeria, god forbid anything should go wrong there. but the stated objective of boca ha ran is to split of what they call gray zones. what are gray zones? gray zones are where christians and muslims live in harmony together. and in nigeria, most of the country that is true. but in the north where i visited last year, there are two million

people walking around displaced without homes. their homes torched. and this is exactly the image you just painted. where are they going? and into whose arms are they running? so it's just old-fashioned thinking to think that you can just hide or put your head in the sand or build something and that will keep the world out. it's just -- that's just not the world we're in anymore. nd it was really cutting edge, avanguard thinking. and the millennium challenge corporation that condy spoke about is really clever. it was just a reward good governance with investments and infrastructure and stuff like that. he called it start-up money for new democracies. it's just cliver. he's got a way of making very complicated things appear very simple.

but he is thinking this stuff through. -- on the development stage we can argue about everything president on baff of all of you -- behalf of all of you delivered something great in the fight against h.i.v./aids. [applause] president bush: what time do you like to go to bed? >> i was just looking at my watch and i realized that 40 minutes ago, we past your bedtime. president bush: that's right. [laughter] bono: have we got some hot milk for the president. his slippers, please. slippers for the president. joshua: that's exactly the same

time that bono's working day begins. president bush: you want to know how when i learned the first benefits of aid as far as people appreciating america was in tanzania. and laura and i went -- i think condi was with me. and we went on the trip. and they had made this cloth with my picture on it. and it turns out some women were wearing that cloth. and we're going down the road. there was like five of them doing this very interesting dance. their face was spread on butts. and i knew they really appreciated american help. bono: mr. president, you never looked as well. [laughter] [applause] joshua: i've got just two sets

of questions. i'm going to put everybody out of their misery soon. i promise. but i want each of you to talk about family because i know how important that is to each of you. mr. president, you've been arried 40 years. bono -- president bush: luckily. bono: has been married 35 years. two daughters, two sons, two wonderful daughters. president bush: got to be a little rare in your line of work. bono: yeah. [laughter] i'm married to an extraordinarily patient woman who happens to be my best friend as well. resident bush: as am it. [applause] joshua: say a little more about you, mr. president, about the

role that your wife has played in your work in africa and how cool is it that your daughters are in the public space right now doing good things as well. >> well, jenna is fostering the great relationship i had with nbc. [laughter] bono: she's bringing back a great concept. it's called real news. president bush: laura and i are very proud of barbara and jenna. they're contributing women that are making a difference. particularly happy that jenna's got kids. grandparenthood -- well, you're not quite there yet. ut anyway, eli is 2 1/2. happens to be the same age as my granddaughter. we're very proud. laura has been very engaged in this. i can remember -- she traveled

with me to africa. but went alone with little barbara on a couple of trips to really encourage not only the nations involved that we're involved with, but the american workers that were there trying to help. and nothing like the president of a first lady to inspire people and thank them. and she did a lot of good work on the account of africa. we still like going back there. kind of a long flight when you're 71 years old. bono: but you've done it almost every year. president bush: global health -- jenna, weapon don't need anybody yelling at your father. [laughter] bono, you want to mention global health corps. bono: i wanted to talk about the girls, if i kid. first of all, as well as the cervical cancer stuff that thea's been leading on with stuff with malaria is really

serious and impressive and you duck applause but not on the. so i want to thank you for that. we really need jenna more than ever now. and this crazy idea of real news is -- is something we really appreciate. and -- and she's an activist at heart. and has been noisy whenever we needed that. i also -- you did the training stuff. and -- and in fact, that's what global health corps do with barbara. training trainers. and she stuck with it. how many people do you have now? >> 1,000. bono: so 1,000 of these -- you know, committed souls -- what's that?

>> [indiscernible] bono: it's magic stuff. no, this is a family -- you would not mess with this family. i have a daughter. our eldest daughter jordan is an activist. she's got this thing called ction button, which is an idea that when you're reading a news story online and you feel involved in that story but you don't know how to react, you press the action button and you -- it sort of points you in the right direction. and huffington post has been running something with it. her sister is an actor, eve houston. stodiburg the steven series "the nick." she's a deeply serious actor and very proud of her. band, he is in a rock

d he has thought about his father all of about six minutes. he couldn't be bothered about the problem of growing up with a famous dad. asthmatic. he has called his band inhaler. and our youngest son, john, he is six foot, which is humiliating. he's a great rugby player. and i love them all and even just talking about them, i miss them. but they are all committed to these ideas. we have a family prayer. it's very simple. just -- we just want to be useful. nothing more complicated than that. i hope you and join me with this, our prayer is to be available for work. that's it. [applause]

joshua: that's a beautiful prayer to bring us to a conclusion. i think -- i think the two men on this stage have just demonstrated again why they're my two biggest heroes. we're proud to be with you. we're proud to be associated with both of you. we thank you for being with us. [applause] please stay here. good job. please stay here. bono: i've just got to get him home now. i've got to get him home now. [applause] >> well, it is bedtime. i've got a couple of things i want to say. first of all, thank you. you brought your a-game. most important, you touched the heart and souls of everybody in this room. and there's nothing any better

than that. thank you for that. as we think back on the last couple of days i've got to say that everybody brought their a-game, condi, the vice president, peter pace, barbara, i mean, everybody brought their a-game. so one big round of applause for them. congratulations. congratulations to the inaugural award winner, bono, blaine smith, the pruitt family, you're absolutely fabulous. all the board members it's a pleasure to meet with each and every one of you. but to everyone in this room that loves america, everybody in this room that's our friend that's here tonight to support us as we continue to develop leaders of character that are going to go out in the world and make this whole world a better place for all mankind, we thank

you. and we thank you for being here tonight. so that wraps it up, except for tomorrow night. jeff bezos, i hope many of you will be there. it ought to be a wonderful evening. to all of you god bless you. and safe travels,. good night. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national able satellite corp. 2018] announcer: the funeral service for barbara bush is saturday at noon eastern from st. martin'ser pisco ball church from houston. speakser include jeb bush, friend susan baker and historian john meacham. watch on c-span or c-span.org or isten on the c-span radio app.

announcer: c-span where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. and today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. announcer: this month on c-span, we feature our student cam contest winners. we asked middle and high school students to choose a provision of the u.s. constitution and illustrate why it's important to them. our first prize high school central winners are will foote and james dyer,. 12th graders at white fish bay high school. in white fish bay, wisconsin where c-span is available through spectrum. in their