"HE DIDN'T MENTION" Ibid.
NO SON HAD FOLLOWED Naftali, GHWB, 168. "The more interesting comparison was to another, more recent father-son combination from Massachusetts," wrote Naftali: Joseph P. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy. "Joseph Kennedy and his son had very different political views. The father was fiscally conservative and tended to be isolationist. Although a stroke in 1961 robbed the presidential father of any further opportunities to influence his son, there was always speculation about the father's influence in shaping the president that his son became." (Ibid.) REFERRED TO HIS SON AS "QUINCY" Author interview with GHWB. George W. Bush hung a portrait of John Quincy Adams in the small dining room in the Oval Office suite "as an inside joke with Dad." (GWB, Decision Points, 86.) "THE OPINING BUSINESS" Author interview with GHWB.
AFTER THE SERVICE ATB, 638.
"STILT-LIKE HEELS" Ibid., 639.
"I DON'T WANT" Ibid.
"GEORGE WALKED DOWN" Ibid.
THE OATH ADMINISTERED Ibid., 640.
"PRIDE OF A FATHER" Ibid.
ON THE DRIVE FROM THE HILL Ibid., 64041.
INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE Ibid., 641.
WALKING FROM THE WEST WING Ibid.
A FEW MOMENTS LATER Ibid.
AS HIS SON ENTERED Ibid.
IT WAS A LONG PARADE Ibid., 64142.
BUSH WAS JUST BEGINNING TO RELAX Ibid., 642. For the bathtub-to-Oval-Office scene, see also BPB, Reflections, 385; Naftali, GHWB, 16768; GWB, 41, 264.
BUSH SMILED ATB, 642.
"OVER THE NEXT EIGHT YEARS" GWB, 41, 264.
"I DID A LOT OF WORK" ATB, 642.
THEIR INSPECTION DONE Ibid., 64243.
UPSTAIRS, THE NEW PRESIDENT Ibid.
(LAURA RECALLED THAT) Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart (New York, 2010), 175.
"I DON'T THINK" Ibid.
THE ELDER BUSH WAS IN BED ATB, 643.
THE NEXT MORNING Ibid.
THERE WERE A FEW INSTANCES Ibid.
AT NOON THE FORTY-FIRST PRESIDENT Ibid.
"GEORGE W. HAS BEEN" BPB diary, December 24, 2000.
GEORGE W. ASKED HIS FATHER GWB, Decision Points, 84.
NEVER CONSULTED HIM Author interview with GWB.
("KNEW WHAT THE ANSWER WAS") Ibid.
RUMSFELD HAD BEEN Rove, Courage and Consequence, 220.
ROVE RAISED THE SAME CONCERN Ibid.
RUMSFELD WAS AN AGGRESSIVE FIGURE Rumsfeld, Known and Unknown, 28283.
"IT IS AN INTERESTING APPOINTMENT" BPB diary, December 29, 2000.
"WE WERE NEVER" Author interview with GHWB.
THE ELDER BUSHES SPENT THE EVENING BPB, Reflections, 38687. See also GWB, 41, 26465, and Naftali, GHWB, 17172, for the attacks and their aftermath from the elder Bushes' perspective.
"HAD MADE IT CLEAR" GWB, 41, 264.
THE SECRET SERVICE MOVED THE BUSHES BPB, Reflections, 387. See also ATB, 646.
THEY REACHED THE PRESIDENT GWB, 41, 265.
THE ELDER BUSH ADVISED HIS SON ATB, 64647.
BUSH'S MIND RACED Ibid., 647.
"WHAT CAN WE DO" Ibid.
AS AN OLD SPYMASTER Ibid., 648.
BY CUSTOM THE PRESIDENTS Author interview with Jean Becker.
"TODAY I WANT" Ibid.
"WAR HAS BEEN WAGED" GWB, 41, 265.
WHEN GEORGE W. RETURNED TO HIS PEW Ibid., 26566.
"IT IS NOT EASY" ATB, 648.
"ONCE YOU'VE SAT" Author interview with GHWB.
"A JUVENILE DELINQUENT" Author interview with James A. Baker III.
"THE DIFFERENCE IN SOME WAYS" Author interview with GWB.
"I ADMIRED PRESIDENTS" GWB, Decision Points, 272.
"NEVER UNDERESTIMATE" Richard L. Berke, "Bush Shapes His Presidency with Sharp Eye on Father's," NYT, March 28, 2001. George W.'s quote was reported as having been made in the wake of his surprising gubernatorial victory. Rather than a condemnation of his father's presidency, the Times wrote, it was an admission that he "blames the people around his father, as well as himself, for not working hard enough to ensure that reelection in 1992." (Ibid.) GEORGE W. ARGUED THAT Author interview with GWB.
"THAT THERE WAS COMPETITION" Ibid.
BUSH HAD OPINIONS Author interview with GHWB. See also Naftali, GHWB, 173.
"IF I HAD ASKED DAD" Author interview with GWB.
A CAREFUL READING OF GWB, Decision Points, 84 and 243 are examples.
"THAT'S NOT A BAD OBSERVATION" Author interview with GWB.
"I THINK HE'S A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL" Author interview with GHWB.
WAS SOMETIMES LIONIZED Naftali, GHWB, 174, captures this shift in opinion well: "Nostalgia for George H. W. Bush's presidency rose as his son's popularity declined." (Ibid.) "BOTH THOSE GUYS" Author interview with GHWB.
"NO ONE SHOULD EXPECT" Author interview with Jeb Bush.
EACH DAY IN THE OVAL OFFICE GWB, Decision Points, 229.
A "DAY OF FIRE" Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush, 2005 (Washington, D.C., 2006), 66.
NICKNAMED HER "THE COBRA" Maureen Dowd, Bushworld: Enter at Your Own Risk (New York, 2004), 125.
"JUNIOR GETS A SPANKING" Ibid., 288.
"ANGRY" THAT HIS FATHER'S OLD INTIMATE GWB, Decision Points, 238.
"I WAS VERY UNHAPPY" Ibid.
"HE'S NOW GOING TO BE" Author interview with GWB.
"BRENT'S A GOOD MAN" Ibid.
"SOME IN WASHINGTON" GWB, Decision Points, 238.
"THAT WAS RIDICULOUS" Ibid.
DID SCOWCROFT TELL BUSH Author interview with GHWB.
"PRESIDENT BUSH'S VIEW" Author interview with Jean Becker.
("I THINK BRENT HAD") Author interview with GHWB.
"THAT'S TOO CONSPIRATORIAL" Ibid.
THE SON OCCASIONALLY ASKED Author interviews with GWB and GHWB.
"I CAN'T SIT HERE" Author interview with GHWB.
THEY SPOKE ALL THE TIME Author interview with Nicolle Wallace.
"VERY FEW AND FAR BETWEEN" Author interview with GHWB.
"HALF THE TIME" Author interview with GWB.
AT CHRISTMAS 2002 AT CAMP DAVID GWB, Decision Points, 243.
HE ADMITTED, HOWEVER, THAT "IRAQ WAS ONE ISSUE" Ibid.
THE ELDER BUSH'S REPLY Ibid.
A FACT THAT DOES NOT FIT Author interview with GHWB.
"THE DISCUSSIONS WOULD BE" Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack (New York, 2004), 421.
"GEORGE IS A RELIGIOUS GUY" Author interview with GHWB.
BUSH 43 ARGUED THAT Author interview with GWB.
"ANXIOUS" about going to BAGHDAD Confidential author interview.
SET THOSE CONCERNS ASIDE Ibid.
A LITTLE-NOTED BUT REVEALING SPEECH ATB, 65960.
BUSH ALSO BELIEVED Ibid., 661.
THE DAY GEORGE W. BUSH ISSUED GWB, Decision Points, 22425.
READING HIS FATHER'S WORDS Author interview with GWB; GWB, Decision Points, 22425.
"THIS IS A GREAT DAY" ATB, 661.
HE HOPED, TOO Ibid., 662.
"NO DOUBT TOUGH TIMES" Ibid.
HIS PARENTS TRAVELED TO TALLAHASSEE GHWB to Hugh Sidey, January 9, 2003, Office of George Bush, Private Files. For an astute profile of Jeb Bush in this season of his life, see Mark Leibovich, "The Patience of Jeb," WP, February 23, 2003.
"LOOKING LOVELY" GHWB to Hugh Sidey, January 9, 2003, Office of George Bush, Private Files.
YOU "NEVER WANTED TO GET IN THE WAY" Author interview with James Oberwetter.
HE DID NOT PRETEND TO UNDERSTAND JEB'S MARRIAGE FULLY Confidential author interviews.