George H.W. Bush--A Role Model for Me and for Us All

Jon Meacham’s Biography of George Herbert Walker Bush

Just over three years ago I read this magnificent biography of President George H.W. Bush. Immediately afterwords, in December 2015 I dictated this set of reflections about the book and his life. 

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This is one of the finest biographies I have ever read. It describes the life of a man whom I’ve admired for decades.  The basis for that admiration—his strength and integrity and his commitment to service and his country and his family--was brought forth in a transparent and convincing way.

The book is greatly strengthened by Meacham’s judicious use of Bush’s diary which he dictated for much of his active life.

Bush’s role in overseeing the peaceful end of the Cold War in the late 1980s and early 1990s, his empathetic and constructive relationship with Gorbachev and his balanced judgment emerge clearly.  His decency was remarkable.

I agree with Meacham’s judgment: “His life was spent in the service of his nation, in his spirit of conciliation, common sense and love of country will stand him in strong stead through the ebbs and flows of posterity’s judgment.  On that score—that George H.W. Bush was a uniquely good man in a political universe where good men were hard to come by—that was shared by a bi-partisan consensus a quarter of a century after his White House years.

Modest but driven, almost always compassionate, he was out to serve but also to win.  Yet he had his personal doubts.  I think he failed to appreciate his full excellence, this despite a remarkable record of accomplishments:  at Yale; in the service; in business and in public service: in Congress; Envoy to China; leading the CIA, etc.

I had no idea how many disappointments he had faced, above all the death of his and Barbara’s daughter, Robin, at the age of three.  Losses in political elections, not getting the job he wanted.  And indeed until the very last moment, feeling he would not get the Vice Presidential slot with Ronald Reagan. 

I’m not sure Bush ever would have become President if he had not been the Vice President for Ronald Reagan. He learned so much from Reagan, though never, happily, tried to be like him.

Of the various tributes to George H.W. Bush, I rate none stronger than this.  It came from his son Jeb:  “How great is this country that it could elect a man as fine as our dad to be its President?”  That remark so struck Laura Bush that she included it in the White House memoir she wrote after she and George W. left Washington in 2009.

I think it is fair to say, as Meacham does, that George H.W. Bush represented “the twilight of a tradition of public service in America, one embodied by FDR, by Eisenhower, and by George H.W. Bush.”

There is so much to be learned, and imitated, in Bush’s relationship with Gorbachev.  It took the two of them.   Bush fully understood how important it was to work constructively with Gorbachev.  And so did Gorbachev with him.  The “old suspicions” between the two super powers had to go, Bush said. Both nations had to learn how to thrive in a multi-polar world.  

If only we had not lost that instinct.  Gorbachev made a huge concession in agreeing to a united Germany and then, with great reluctance, agreeing for it to become a member of NATO.  Gorbachev’s associates were dumb-founded that he agreed to do that. 

Nowhere did Bush’s respect for and empathy with Gorbachev manifest itself more than in his reaction to the attempted overthrow of Gorbachev.  He resisted John Major’s suggestion of convening the NATO ministers out of his fear that “it will make it look like we are militarizing and that we anticipate a military threat to the West...it is the last damn thing we need to get involved in in that kind of confrontation.”

And then he spoke with Gorbachev on the phone:  “My dearest George,” Gorbachev said.  “I am so happy to hear your voice again.”  “My God,” Bush said, “I’m glad to hear you.”  They spoke for 11 minutes.  “He sounded jubilant and he sounded upbeat,” Bush dictated, “he was very, very grateful to me...for the way we have conducted ourselves.”

The peaceful resolution of this crisis was, for Bush, ratification of his essential diplomatic instincts of balance and moderation.  “We could have overacted, and moved troops, and scared the hell out of people,” Bush told his diary.  “We could have under-reacted by saying, ‘well, we will deal with whoever is there.’  But...I think we found the proper balance.”

The respect which Bush showed to other leaders was genuine and worked to great advantage.  The relationship with French President Mitterrand was an example.  There had been worry that France might not support the use of NATO outside of Europe in the circumstance of the Gulf War.  However, when Bush asked for that support, Mitterrand simply said, “we will be there.”  To his diary Bush confided that he felt that the visit he (Bush) had with Mitterrand at his place in Maine and “the respect I have tried to show him personally, (paid) off in diplomacy.  I differ with his personal diplomacy, but I think when you talk from a basis of friendship, it does help; and I think he knows I respect him.”

As always, respect builds trust and trust means everything.  

During the Gulf War, Bush reflected on the nature of American leadership.  Gregarious and inclusive by nature, Meacham writes, he could uphold the Presidency in keeping with these essential elements of his own character.  “All countries in the west clearly have to turn to us,” Bush told his diary, “but it is my theory that the more they are included on the take-off, the more we get their opinion, the more we reach out, no matter what is involved in terms of time involved, the better it is.  Everyone is proud.  Everyone has his place in the sun—large country or small, they should be consulted, their opinions considered and then when the United States makes a move, and I make a decision, we are more apt to have solid support.”

If only we conducted ourselves more in line with that conviction today.  If only that spirit had permeated our relationship with Russia over the last 15 years.  If we had, I do not believe we would be in the position we are today.  The neocons, whom Bush resisted, but whose son, George W. Bush, sadly did not, have continued to have an influence that has been disruptive, in my view, to the best interests of the United States. George H.W. Bush demonstrated this more than ever as he decided not to occupy Iraq.  The war to unseat Hussein, “to occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us, and make a broken tyrant into a latter-day Arab hero,” Bush recalled in 1998.  “It could only plunge that part of the world into ever greater instability and destroy the credibility we were working so hard to reestablish.”  If only his son had followed this instinct.

The candor and honesty of Bush’s own self-reflections pours out of his diaries in a manner that I can sometimes identify with.  The post-Gulf War period was, as Meacham describes it:  “a study in shadow.”  Coming off that intense experience, Bush had to turn back to what he really didn’t relish, domestic affairs, and it is clear to me he was tired.  He was now 66.  He fantasized in his diary about surprising the world by announcing that he would not seek reelection:  “You need someone in this job (who can give) his total last ounce of energy, and I’ve had (that) up until now, but now I don’t seem to have the drive.”  He was tired of what he described as “sniping, carping, bitching, predictable editorial complaints.”  

But he continued on.

I’ll conclude these notes with a salute to George H.W. Bush by his son George, on the occasion of the commissioning of an aircraft carrier named after his father.  “We will always be inspired by the faith, humor, patriotism, and compassion he taught us through his own example.  And for as long as we live, we will carry with us Dad’s other lessons:  that integrity and honor are worth more than any title or treasure, and that the truest strength did come from the gentlest soul.”

George H.W. Bush is a role model for me, for all of us.

George H.W. Bush--A Study in Character

This is the first time I have devoted a blog to the simple posting of a link to a video.

This one is only a few minutes in length and shows George H.W. Bush as a candidate for the Republican nomination in an interview on Face the Nation. Reagan ultimately won the Republican nomination and of course the Presidency.

It is a priceless short course in the character of this man whom I greatly admired--a combination of thoughtfulness, civility, toughness, competitiveness and, something he declaimed (unfortunately) vision which he graphically expressed here for our Nation and would go on to live as he became President in the 1988 election wisely navigating the demise of the former Soviet Union without disrespecting President Gorbachev, defeating Hussein's incursion into Kuwait and fostering the "Thousand Points of Light".

Here is the link.

Enjoy and ponder.

https://twitter.com/justinwolfers/status/1069068691252436992?s=12

"Do I See Those Around Me?"

Do I See Those Around Me? Really See Them? Intentionally see them? As Individuals, just like me. 

The honest answer is: sporadically, just some of the time ...at best.

If asked to sum up everything I believe and hope to honor when it comes to human relationships,  it would be: this:

 "Everyone Counts". 

Perhaps the most basic way we show another person counts is to simply recognize and appreciate they are there.

I was moved to think about this thanks to a talk by Peter Salovey, President of Yale, in which he cites this poem written by Claudia Rankine,  the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale.  In her powerful work Citizen:  An American Lyric, she explores the meaning of belonging in contemporary America,  by describing mundane situations like this: 

 

In line at the drugstore it’s finally your turn, and

then it’s not as he walks in front of you and puts his 

things on the counter.  The cashier says, Sir, she was

next.  When he turns to you he is truly surprised.

Oh my God, I didn’t see you.

You must be in a hurry, you offer.

No, no, no, I really didn’t see you.

 

Who do I see—or not see?    Who do I see, and who do I look past?

Questions I will try to keep more consistently in mind. 

Frederick Douglass: His Life and Values and What They Mean Today

I just finished, early this morning,  ten days immersed in the inspiring biography of Frederick Douglass written by David Blight.

Knowing Professor Blight as I do,  I expected to enjoy this book; to find it informing and meaningful. I never expected, however, the incredible expansion of my appreciation for this man's life and values-- nor the inspiration I have taken from it--which this magnificent biography has provided. 

It comes to me at an age even older (80) than FD was at his death. That is significant to me. 

If there ever  would be a wavering in my own commitment and energy to "carry on" as best as I can to foster my highest ideals, the story of Douglass' life will serve as an antidote. 

The relevance of Douglass' life and David Blight's luminous presentation of it to the situation we face today in racial and ethnic relations is altogether clear, sobering and compelling. I don't know what Douglass would say in confronting the challenges we still have in front of us. My guess it would be to draw hope from the progress which has been made thanks in no small measure to the courage and stamina of men and women who perhaps with out knowing is followed his call to action--but I feel sure he would be vociferous in pointing out the chasms which still exist and  calling for our action and perhaps the providence of God to close them.

 I am very glad your book is enjoying strong sales on Amazon so more people will learn from and be inspired by it. I

I show below the posting about this book I just made on Amazon:

"What a man (Frederick Douglass), what a story of his life, what an insightful author (David Blight). The number of biographies which I have read go beyond counting. This is one of the three finest and, perhaps partly because of my age, (close to Douglass' at his death) the most inspiring. It is extraordinary in every respect. 

You leave this meticulously researched biography feeling you have lived Douglass' life alongside him., from beginning to end. You understand the challenges he has faced, the people who helped him along the way, and the people whose lives he changed. You marvel at his rhetorical and writing skills and the mind, heart and soul which drove and nurtured  them. 

You become deeply aware of his complexity, the challenge of his family relationships, the internal feuds and the external ones too, the depth of his providential belief, combined with his pragmatism. But above all there is his unrelenting courage and dedication to telling the truth about slavery and its legacy while never giving up hope and the demand for self reliance. It is hard to imagine anyone traveling as much at a time travel was not easy, especially for a black man and giving so many talks and writing so much as Douglass did.

David Blight's honest telling of Douglass' life reveals misjudgments and some petty grievances. We see Douglass as a human being, not perfect. But we see him much more as a giant, unwavering in his conviction in the demonic quality of slavery and the need to respect the dignity of every human being, regardless of color. I believe David Blight has in a way entered Douglass' mind and heart as well as another human being can. He has of course been greatly helped by Douglass'  three autobiographies but he goes beyond that to offer reasoned but never over reaching conclusions on his state  of mind, his motivations and concerns. 

Many words have been offered by esteemed historians in praise of Blight's work. "Magisterial", "comprehensive", "incandescent", "elegantly written", "a stunning achievement", "exceeds high expectations". I embrace them all. But I would add one more, in capital letters: "INSPIRATIONAL". 

Inspirational in Douglass' unceasing (to the week of his death) and uncompromising call for the end of discrimination against blacks and allowing them and everyone the Freedom that everyone cherishes and deserves. 

Inspirational, too, in the depth of caring and scholarship and sensitive and literate interpretation and narration which David Blight has brought to this work, which as he writes in the Acknowledgement, in many ways represents the product of his 'entire professional career'". 

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Why Has the Study of History Mattered to Me?

(Drawn  from my Conversation with History Honors Majors at Yale University – November 2004)

·     More specifically, why has the learning and acquiring of some sense of history – its events, its life stories, and its illumination of the role of the contingent and unforeseeable versus the predictable – why has this mattered to me?

·     Why has reading – or more to the point, experiencing – the work of great historians mattered to me?

·     And finally, why has the act of personally researching and elucidating certain lessons of history been something I have found useful in my life and, beyond that, extraordinarily enjoyable in its own right?

And perhaps more important than any of these questions, how do I talk about them with you – young men and women whom I don’t know personally, each on your own exciting path of learning – how do I talk about them in a way that offers some possibility of providing an insight of interest and value to you -- and not be just a trip down memory lane for me?  All I can say is:  I will try.

Let me begin with a sufficient amount of personal background to make what I have to say intelligible.

I came to Yale already greatly enjoying history, but thinking I would probably be a math or science major.  My freshman year convinced me otherwise.  I must say, Year I Physics played a major role in this. It became pretty clear that engineering would not be my chosen field.  But even more importantly 

than this negative inference, I got lucky.  I signed up for a course that sounded beguiling ... interesting.  Nicknamed “Cowboys and Indians, it 

covered the development of the West:  History 37 A & B.  The subject matter was fascinating – westward expansion; manifest destiny; diplomatic battles with nations over territories; tension between ranchers and farmers; economic issues intertwining with the political – and yes, lots of detail on cowboys and Indians.  But even more important than the exciting subject matter was that it introduced me to Howard Roberts Lamar, a wonderful professor who eventually became acting president of Yale.  I got to know him.  He inspired me.  I have maintained contact with him ever since.

In my junior year, I encountered the other professor who had the greatest impact on me while I attended Yale:  David Potter.  He was my senior advisor.  Above all, he introduced me to the excitement and the discipline of historical analysis.  Forty-five years after I completed my senior essay, in February 1960, I still hold it as one of my proudest accomplishments.

To complete the biography quickly, the decision for me what to do following Yale was a no-brainer:  three years in the Navy, an obligation undertaken in return for the scholarship I received at Yale.  Those three years made a transformational difference in my life. After the Navy, I had planned to go to law school.  I was accepted at Harvard.  I ended up feeling I’d take one more year off, with something other than studying.  And I turned to Procter & Gamble, a company I had learned about when I was soliciting ads for the Yale Daily News.  I thought I’d go in there for a year and run a business.  And I stayed for a career.  

My 40-year career led eventually to my becoming CEO and Chairman of Procter & Gamble.  I had the privilege of helping lead the Company into China and Southeast Asia, and Eastern and Central Europe.  I had the opportunity to work hard to take diversity to a new level, recognizing what Provost Dick Brodhead once said:

         I have always regarded the intellectual cost of separationism to be as great in its way as its social cost.  In this country, those who have stopped thinking are typically those who have stopped interacting with people who might make them think – people, namely, who do not already think more or less the same as they do.

I tried to create a place of honest and tough-minded dialogue, the kind that should exist in any university like Yale, the kind well-described by my classmate Bart Giamatti when he said:

         We must beware of voices that are scornful of complexity, and contemptuous of competitive views and values. These voices can be encouraged because they are said to be “idealistic” or “decisive”.  What they are is precisely not idealistic, but in their simplifying, reductionistic.  It is that civil conversation – tough, open, principled – between and among all members of the institution that must be preserved.  If it is, community is patiently built.  If it is not, the place degenerates.

People have often asked me – indeed I was asked this question by the captain of one of Yale’s varsity sports teams last month – “Can a history major be of any value in business?”  My answer – “I can’t imagine any course of study being more valuable.”

Which brings me back to the three questions I posed at the outset.

Why has the learning and the acquisition of some sense of the lessons of history – its events, its life stories, its contingencies – mattered to me?

Some of the reasons are probably obvious, perhaps some not, and it would take too long to catalog them all.  But the most important are these:

1.         The striking reality that personal leadership makes things happen.  That while there are trends that in some ways are inexorable, the difference that the individual makes in shaping these trends can be and often is decisive.  

2.         The inspiration I have gained for the qualities of great leaders.  The recognition that it takes wisdom, good judgment, courage and persistence to make a change in anything that’s important.  That had everything to do in how I’ve tried to lead and encouraged others to do the same.  

3.         The recognition that there is great goodness in the world, but also evil, and recognizing that if good people don’t stand up courageously and persistently for the good, we are going to be in trouble.

4.         The study of history has also helped me develop a deep respect for different societies and culture, as I learned about their particular contributions and the challenges they have encountered and overcome.  This recognition has fired my determination at Procter & Gamble respected national and regional identities as we operate globally as a company.

5.         The recognition that great achievements and change are never achieved without setbacks and the wisdom to make course corrections in one’s original strategy.  This has been of enormous help to me as I thought about how to pursue some of the biggest challenges in my career including the development of our business in Russia and China.

6.         The recognition that certain values must prevail and must carry any institution forward, and it is up to us to make those values pertinent and relevant to today.

7.         Finally, the realization that, if great institutions are to survive and grow (a matter that is not foreordained), they must achieve that fine balance of preserving certain core values that are fundamental to success, while being prepared to evolve and change everything else.

Let me now address the second question.  Why has the reading, or more precisely the experiencing of the writings of great historians mattered to me?

Partly, it is the content.  For example, the bringing to life of the characteristics of great leaders.  Or the understanding of the religious, ethnic and political realities that have made the achievement of peace in the Middle 

East so difficult or the knowledge of the historical origins of countries like Iraq which becomes a foundation for assessing what future policy should be.

However, as I reflect on it, just as important as the content has been the learning I’ve drawn from experiencing the intellectual integrityand imaginationof great historians as conveyed by their writing.  Reading such history has served as an example to emulate in my own thought process and expression of thought.

I refer here to the fresh, penetrating, multi-faceted analysis of factors – economic, political, social and individual – that have helped lead to create major events or trends.  I refer to the ability to identify previously un-discerned or at least un-described discriminating details which become related to a broad theme, enable one to see the subject in a new light.  I refer to the expression of all this in writing that has impacted me with such force that I react with thoughts like:

-         I wish I could have expressed it that clearly

-         I can see the applicability of the dynamics described here to my own organization

My appreciation of why experiencing the work of a great historian matters was brought home to me again recently as I read the final work of David Potter, a wonderful book called “The Impending Crisis”.  It deals with the sharpening sectional tensions between 1845 and 1860 that led to the Civil War.  I’m on page 320 of this book, and I don’t think I have encountered a 

page without a sense of admiration and sometimes awe at the substance and the way it’s expressed.  I’m in the hands of a master.  It lifts me intellectually.  It prompts me to try harder to emulate the sensitivity, the precision and the intellectual integrity of analysis that I see here as well as the clarity of how it’s expressed.

Which brings me to the final question.  Why has the act of personally researching, exploring and trying to illuminate lessons of history been something that I have found helpful?

In one way, the usefulness has been situational, highly coincidental, illustrating that you don’t know where your study might lead sometime in the future.  The subject of my senior thesis was “The Influence of the Institution of Slavery on the Diplomacy of the Republic of Texas”.  I worked for two years on it, I’m sure memory pushes aside some of the tougher moments, the countless re-writes.  But it really was a thrill.  It even won a prize.  What did it lead to?

Totally unpredictably, my interest in the issue of slavery and this period of American history was one of the reasons that my interest was immediately piqued when I was asked 10 years ago to lead the development of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.  This institution is committed to bring to life lessons of history – as people have fought for their own freedom and helped others achieve it – as a catalyst for dialogue and discussion, on how we can live and work together better today.  

There were many reasons I agreed to undertake this role – the most important being that I had come to see firsthand the power that comes from people of different backgrounds and experience working together (and the ease with which stereotypes can separate us).  But my interest and I believe my effectiveness in leading this project was clearly enhanced by my deep-rooted knowledge and attachment to this subject. And it has benefited enormously from re-connecting with professors expert in this subject including Yale’s David Brion Davis and David Blight.

But as I say, this is a situational connection.  You may find one; you may not.

But whether such a specific connection develops or not, of this I am sure.  The act of researching, analyzing and writing about this subject brought with it an appreciation of the challenge and, yes, the satisfaction of doing deep analysis that can lead to fresh perspectives as well as an appreciation of the value of clear expression.  This has been of extraordinary value to me.  Indeed, I am certain that these were among the most important qualities which led to the success of my career at Procter & Gamble.

But more fundamentally than that, they fired a love of learning, of curiosity to understand cause and effect, to distinguish between the general and the specific, to understand the difference an individual can make. And this and more has driven me – happily – to keep learning as the years have gone by.

Over the course of my life, I’ve been struck by the difference I see in people’s continued rate of learning:  Their openness to new ideas; their willingness to reach out to try new things; to bring fresh perspectives.  What accounts for these differences?  I know of no simple answer.  Many factors come into play.  But the three factors I have observed most often are:

1.         The extent to which people engage in new experiences -- often challenging, even at first glance, frightening experiences.

2.         The extent to which people build relationships with people who are different than they are, and

3.         Finally, by how much they read – about life experiences, about trends.  History is a key part of this.

So what do you take away from these comments?  I hope at least three things.

1.         Never give up the life of the mind that you are experiencing today.

2.         Develop a relationship with and maintain contact with one or two professors over time.  Professors who have galvanized your love of learning, of analysis, of the art and power of fine expression, and

3.         Save your history term paper!

Love Trumps Hate--In Fact Love Is What It Is All About

We should act on this from President Obama:

 "We have to take these same values that are encouraged within our families--of looking out for one another, of sharing, of sacrificing for each other--and apply them to a larger society."

That is the only way I believe we will thwart the stern warning confronting our nation today -a warning which was issued by Reinhold Niebuhr sixty-six years ago in his book, "The Irony of American History". 

"If we should perish, the ruthlessness of the foe would only be the secondary cause of the disaster. The primary cause would be that the strength of a giant nation was directed by eyes too blind to see all of the hazards of the struggle; and the blindness would be induced not by some accident of nature or history but by hatred and vainglory."