Sat, Jun 1 at 3:42 PM
Jean Becker’s book, “Character Matters,”is a treasure-trove of stories which bring to light, in an incredibly luminous way, President George H.W. Bush's uniquely courageous, decent, and kind leadership.
It would be impossible to pick out the favorite stories; in a way, you don’t need to: there is such a consistency in how people experienced the President. He was the same with everybody—empathetic, considerate, involved personally, yet never losing his decisiveness and stature that he recognized went with the office.
There was one compelling story that impacted me personally. On Friday, January 12, 1990, we were honored to welcome President Bush in Cincinnati to recognize the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative as a “point of light” and give a talk to the Chamber of Commerce. I wrote in my journal that I “briefed him at lunch, all too briefly, but it went well and, needless to say, it was a great honor. He did a great job with the children, talking to about 20 of them in a library, and then addressing all the Taft students in the auditorium.” I am sure they will never forget it.
Little did I know that something else was happening that day. The President's chief of staff, Andy Card tells the story in Jean Becker’s book. Before the trip, Card noted a letter from the Cincinnati zip code sent by a woman who might approach the President. She wanted to meet with him to call him a murderer to his face because her son had been killed in Panama. He was told not to do that. He disagreed and met with her. The story that follows is spine-tingling. It made me choke up as the President read the a letter the boy's mother gave him. He had written it before going into battle. He told his mother he wanted her to know he volunteered because he loved his country.
The President and his mother cried together.
Oh, how we miss President Bush and his qualities of leadership.
I can’t recall a time when the stories illuminating that “character matters” are as urgent and timely as today. I don’t need to provide my emphasis to that.
It is ironic that 25 years ago, I was asked to give a talk to students at Miami University. I asked, “What topic would you like me to address?” The answer was: “Does character count?” My initial response was, “That’s too obvious a question to address. The answer is clear.”
The response I received surprised and alarmed me. “No, it’s an issue on our campus.” I can only imagine that issue being even greater today given the absence of character in so many of our leaders, including our former President. I’m including a copy of the talk I gave on that occasion. It is lengthy and some of the examples are dated, but the principal points it makes stand as tall and true today as they did then.
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