THE LATE SPRING NIGHTS GHWB diary, May 13, 1990.
ONE OF THE FIRST SUGGESTIONS Author interviews with Dan Quayle and John Sununu. See also Sununu, Quiet Man, 16465; and Quayle, Standing Firm, 19192.
"WE DON'T NEED" Sununu, Quiet Man, 165.
AT THE FEDERAL RESERVE, ALAN GREENSPAN See, for instance, Darman, Who's in Control?, 2012; Himelfarb and Perotti, Principle Over Politics?, 5558. See also David J. Stockton to Alan Greenspan, "The Implications for Monetary Policy of a Major Fiscal Initiative," June 4, 1990, CEA Budget Summit Agreement Spring 1990, John B. Taylor Files, Council of Economic Advisors, GBPL (Document 8709).
SEQUESTRATION Darman, Who's in Control?, 237. See also Naftali, GHWB, 97.
"I KNOW I'M GOING TO HAVE" GHWB diary, March 20, 1990.
THE SAVINGS-AND-LOAN BAILOUT Naftali, GHWB, 7375.
THE GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE HAD SAID SO Greene, Presidency of George Bush, 7980; Darman, Who's in Control?, 200.
BUSH HAD LONG SUSPECTED GHWB diary entries for May 14, June 8, July 23, October 24, 29, and November 6, 1989.
"CONSERVATIVES STRONGLY OPPOSE" Ibid., March 20, 1990.
OTHER OPTIONS INCLUDED Ibid. See also Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp to GHWB, "Re: Capital Gains Question," December 25, 1990, Post-Budget Summit (1), John H. Sununu Files, Office of the Chief of Staff of the President, GBPL (Document 12337).
"WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO" GHWB diary, March 20, 1990.
HE HAD A RESPITE...IN EARLY MAY Ibid., May 12, 1990.
THE VISIT WAS SWEET BUT PAINFUL Ibid.
BUSH KEPT UP HIS PERSONAL DIPLOMACY Ibid., May 6, 1990.
A WHITE HOUSE LECTURE Ibid.
"OH, TO BE 42" Ibid.
AFTER THE LECTURE Darman, Who's in Control?, 25051; Greene, Presidency of George Bush, 8384; LSY, 43234.
THERE MUST BE, MITCHELL SAID Darman, Who's in Control?, 25051.
THE WHITE HOUSE AGREED Ibid., 251.
NOW A POSSIBILITY Naftali, GHWB, 98.
ON AIR FORCE ONE Darman, Who's in Control?, 25253.
"THE BIG SUBJECT THIS MORNING" GHWB diary, May 10, 1990.
"WE'RE GETTING POUNDED" Ibid., May 15, 1990.
AT A MEETING OF THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET LEADERSHIP Darman, Who's in Control?, 259.
"IF WE CAN GET" Ibid.
IN THE SAME SESSION Ibid., 260.
THE ADMINISTRATION'S HOPE Sununu, Quiet Man, 193, 198.
SIGNALED THEY COULD "LIVE WITH" Author interview with John Sununu.
THE NEXT MORNING Darman, Who's in Control?, 260.
"MY DOG WASN'T EVEN" Ibid., 261.
"WHAT DO YOU PROPOSE?" Ibid.
FOLEY SPOKE FOR THE GROUP Ibid., 26162.
FOLEY HAD SPOKEN "SIMPLY" Ibid., 262.
"OKAY," BUSH SAID Ibid.
"IT DID DESTROY ME" Author interview with GHWB.
"I PAID A BIG PRICE" Ibid.
HE WAS, THEREFORE, WILLING Greene, Presidency of George Bush, 8687.
"THE MOOD WAS GOOD" Darman, Who's in Control?, 262.
MEMORIALIZATION OF THE AGREEMENT Ibid., 26264.
"WHERE ARE WE" Ibid., 262.
INSTEAD OF KILLING THE IDEA Ibid.
HE WROTE A STATEMENT Ibid., 26263.
WISELY, SUNUNU ADDED THE PHRASE Author interview with John Sununu.
SUNUNU HOPED THE ALTERATION Ibid.
"IT IS CLEAR TO ME" "Statement on the Federal Budget Negotiations," June 26, 1990, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George Bush, 1990, 868.
NEWT GINGRICH LEARNED ABOUT THE TAXES Author interview with Newt Gingrich.
"IN MY MIND" Ibid.
WHEN GINGRICH ALLY VIN WEBER Author interview with Vin Weber.
"YOU'RE KIDDING" Quayle, Standing Firm, 19293.
"YOU NEED TO ROLL THIS DAMN THING" Author interview with Dan Quayle.
"WE FEEL HE SAID THE RIGHT THING" NYT, June 27, 1990.
BAKER AND BUSH EXCHANGED NOTES "Exchange of Notes Between GB & JAB," June 26, 1990, box 288, James A. Baker III Papers, Princeton.
"YOU'RE NOT KNOWN FOR MUCH" Author interview with Roger Ailes.
"IT WAS TWO YEARS AGO" Ibid.
"I'LL LET THE STATEMENT" NYT, June 27, 1990.
THE BUSHES HOSTED A BARBECUE GHWB diary, June 26, 1990; "Remarks at a White House Barbecue for Members of Congress," June 26, 1990, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George Bush, 1990, 872.
"OUR PEOPLE WERE" GHWB diary, June 26, 1990.
"LOOK, I KNEW" Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George Bush, 1990, 881.
"HE TRULY BELIEVED THAT THE COUNTRY" Author interview with Dan Quayle.
"EVERYONE WANTS TO PILE ON" Darman, Who's in Control?, 266. Nixon also reached out to try to reassure Bush. "As you know, I had to burn a lot of my own speeches and eat a lot of words when I went to China in 1972. What mattered most was not that I had changed my mind, but that I had done what I thought was best for the country and for the cause of peace in the world." (Richard Nixon to GHWB, June 29, 1990, Richard M. Nixon Library.) Bush took pains to appear strong to his old chief. "Your letter was very comforting to me," Bush replied. "The heat has been predictably intense but nothing that we can't handle in the long run." (GHWB to Richard Nixon, July 4, 1990, Richard M. Nixon Library.) CONTROVERSY OVER NEIL BUSH'S INVOLVEMENT Naftali, GHWB, 7375; LSY, 39597. See also GHWB diary, July 11, July 14, 1990; GWB, 41, 22223.
"MR. PERFECT" Author interview with BPB.
"[I'M]...WORRIED ABOUT NEIL" GHWB diary, July 11, 1990.
BUSH NEVER LET NEIL KNOW Author interview with Neil Bush.
(HE DID SHARE HIS DIRE THOUGHTS) Author interview with GWB. See also GWB, 41, 22223.
"WE NEVER HAD" Author interview with Neil Bush.
BUSH MET AT THE WHITE HOUSE GHWB diary, July 22, 1990.
THREE NAMES WERE UNDER CONSIDERATION Ibid.
DAVID SOUTER, A JUDGE FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE Sununu, Quiet Man, 342; Naftali, GHWB, 134.
JONES WAS THE MOST INTERESTING CHOICE GHWB diary, July 22, 1990.
SOUTER EMERGED IN THE CONVERSATIONS Ibid., July 22, 1990. See also handwritten notes of phone calls related to the appointment of David Souter, July 24, 1990, Supreme Court-David Souter, Sarah DeCamp Files, Office of Public Liaison, GBPL (Document 4166).
"SEEMED TO BE RIGHT" "GHWB Handwritten Notes of Private Meeting with David Souter," Monday, July 23, 1990, Bios. Supreme Court Nominees, DF.
"I DON'T WANT" GHWB diary, July 23, 1990.
"A HUGE MISTAKE" Author interview with GHWB.
THE FAILURE TO NOMINATE JONES Author interview with Dan Quayle.
HIS DEFENSE OF LITHUANIA Naftali, GHWB, 98, argues that Bush had "risked his international prestige to slow events in the Baltics long enough to permit the inclusion of a united Germany in NATO" and then "threw himself into negotiating a bipartisan compromise at home that would heal the open budget sore. In each case, Bush sacrificed short-term political gain for what he considered the national interest." (Ibid.) "THE RIGHT-WINGERS" GHWB diary, July 23, 1990.
HE AWOKE ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1990 Ibid., August 1, 1990.
"ALL IN ALL" Ibid.
BUSH TOOK A BREAK AWT, 302.
BUSH WAS IN A T-SHIRT Ibid.
"MR. PRESIDENT, IT LOOKS VERY BAD" Ibid.
THIRTY-SEVEN: This Will Not Stand I FEEL TENSION GHWB diary, August 6, 1990.
IF IRAQ WINS AWT, 319.
RICHARD HAASS BRIEFED THE PRESIDENT Ibid., 302.
"SO MUCH FOR CALLING" Ibid.
THE INVASION HAD BEGUN Norman Friedman, Desert Victory: The War for Kuwait (Annapolis, Md., 1991), 36.
EIGHT-TENTHS OF A MILE Powell with Persico, My American Journey, 463.
SADDAM HUSSEIN HAD CONTROLLED IRAQ Friedman, Desert Victory, 1734. See also Patterson, Restless Giant, 230.
A JUNE 1990 COVER STORY U.S. News & World Report, June 4, 1990.
TO AVOID HAVING TO REPAY KUWAIT Haass, War of Necessity, 55.
ARGUMENT OVER THE RUMAILA OIL FIELDS Friedman, Desert Victory, 11.
(THE IRAQIS ACCUSED) Haass, War of Necessity, 55.
THE "19TH PROVINCE" Rick Atkinson, Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War (New York, 1993), 53.
IF SADDAM WERE TO HOLD Cheney with Cheney, In My Time, 184; Thomas Friedman, "U.S. Gulf Policy: Vague 'Vital Interests,'" NYT, August 12, 1990. "The oil price argument goes as follows: If Iraq is able to get away with annexing Kuwait, it will control 20 percent of the world oil reserves," Friedman wrote. "If, in turn, it could also intimidate Saudi Arabia, the Iraqis would have influence over 45 percent of the world's oil reserves." (Friedman's article is also authoritatively cited in Micah L. Sifry and Christopher Cerf, The Gulf War: History, Documents, Opinions [New York, 1991], 2036.) However, Friedman also wrote: "At root, then, the vital interests to which President Bush referred are both genuine and significant, given America's current dependence on foreign oil. Laid bare, American policy in the gulf comes down to this: troops have been sent to retain control of oil in the hands of a pro-American Saudi Arabia, so prices remain low." (Ibid.) AND IF HE WERE TO USE Cheney with Cheney, In My Time, 184.
GIVEN HIS PROVEN CAPACITIES Haass, War of Necessity, 48.
SADDAM HAD ISSUED THREATS State Department cable, Secretary of State (James A. Baker, III) to all Middle East diplomatic posts, July 24, 1990, Working Files Iraq Pre-8/2/9012/90 (3), Richard Haass Files, NSC.
IN LATE JULY, SADDAM HAD SUMMONED State Department cable, Embassy Baghdad (Ambassador April Glaspie) to Washington D.C., July 25, 1990, Working Files Iraq Pre-8/2/9012/90 (2), Richard Haass Files, NSC.
A FULL READING OF THE RELEVANT DOCUMENTS Ibid. See also memo for GHWB, "Points to Be Made [in a proposed telcon] with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (Not Used)," August 1, 1990, Working Files Iraq Pre-8/2/9012/90 (2), Richard Haass Files, NSC; Sandra Charles through Richard Haass to Brent Scowcroft, "Inter Agency Meeting on the Persian Gulf," July 27, 1990, and State Department cable, Embassy Baghdad (Ambassador April Glaspie) to Washington D.C., July 29, 1990, both in Working Files Iraq Pre-8/2/9012/90 (3), Richard Haass Files, NSC. Jeffrey Engel, "The Gulf War at the End of the Cold War and Beyond," in Into the Desert: Reflections on the Gulf War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 2832, provides a comprehensive and balanced treatment of the Glaspie-Hussein meeting and its effect on the beginning of the Persian Gulf War.
AS EARLY AS 1943 Engel, Into the Desert, 3637.
WHEN THE SOVIETS INVADED AFGHANISTAN Ibid., 37.