Bush’s legacy reaches beyond presidency
HOW HISTORY WILL REMEMBER THE 41ST PRESIDENT
Douglas Brinkley called from Washington, D.C., where he was covering memorial services for President George H.W. Bush for CNN. Such is Brinkley’s existence as a noted historian, who serves as the Katherine Tsanoff Brown professor in Humanities at Rice University, as well as a frequentlycalled-upon commentator for the cable news network.
Though Brinkley hasn’t written any books about Bush, his focus on U.S. history and U.S. foreign policy suggests he may get there soon enough. Brinkley served as the editor of “The Reagan Diaries” in 2007, which gave him a close look at President Ronald Reagan’s eight years in office, when Bush served as vice president. He fielded a few questions about Bush and his legacy.
Q: Can you give an assessment of how you think President Bush will be remembered?
A: He’s going to go down as one of the great foreign policy presidents in American history, even as a one-termer. The only other comparison there is James K. Polk, who was the president during the Mexican-American War. But Bush is considered to have won his war. And the Cold War ended on his watch, but I see him more as a Cold War statesperson. There’s a lot of talk about his World War II experience, but by 1946 the Iron Curtain had fallen, and there was a new generation of young service people who had to prepare for this giant fight against the Soviet Union. Bush was constantly on vigil in that anti-Communist crusade. Whether he was working at the CIA, as an envoy to China, an ambassador in the UN, in Congress, he’ll be remembered as an inside-Washington player who thwarted the expansion of socialism. And in that regard, he was better than Reagan. Q: Which is interesting because Reagan remains a deified figure.
A: Kennedy, Eisenhower, Reagan . . . every president gets remembered for different things. With Eisenhower, it was the interstate system, economic prosperity, NASA. Kennedy, the Moon. Reagan, though, was more connected to the ’60s counterculture division, this fight between the left and the right in California. Bush doesn’t have the same big role in any state’s history, whether it’s in Maine or Texas. But his is the story of a gentleman Cold Warrior. And he avoided a direct war with the Soviet Union, which is impressive. He fought proxy wars when he had to, and always supported national security structures.
Q: Is the one-term presidency a legacy problem?
A: When you’re a one-term president, it means you weren’t a defining figure in your political party. It’s like Jimmy Carter. You start listing successes: Camp David Accord, China, Panama, Africa, injecting human rights into the State Department, and you see a different picture. That’s what will happen with 41. Some big things happened: The Berlin Wall came down, German unification, the Gulf War. But the 1988 election wasn’t one for the record books. It was kind of a yawn. The one in 1992, with Perot getting 19 percent of the votes, that one is interesting. But I think the view of him is better if you look beyond the presidency. There’s a reason the CIA building was named after him. It’s not like he served years as director. He spent decades working for American interests abroad in a Cold War context. One hundred years from now, he’ll be looked at as an essential Beltway diplomat and Cold Warrior. Nixon will be remembered for Watergate, and Reagan as a conservative movement figure. Bush will not be seen as a political figure the same way, but instead as a guy who was dedicated to his duty in the Cold War.
Q: How much credit does he deserve for the end of the Cold War? James A. Baker III lauded him for overseeing its end without spasms of violence.
A: He’d been gaming the Cold War his whole life. Working on these chess moves that would make us victorious. By the time the Berlin Wall came down, he was deeply studied in what was going on between these countries, China, the USSR, eastern Europe.
Q: He did so without a lot of fire and brimstone.
A: Talk to people at the CIA. They’re all soft-spoken. That’s their thing. There are no firethrowers there. He’s no exception. Q: After he died, the initial response was reverence. Then came a little pushback on social issues. But even some who didn’t see eye-to-eye with him found him more civil than some of our elected officials today. Thoughts?
A: He clung to a political space his entire career, and it was center-right. There were things like the Clean Air Act, the Disabilities Act. Some decisions look really bad years later, but he was often willing to pivot to help everyday Americans prosper. People mocked the “thousand points of light” — Trump mocked the thousand points of light. But it was a good reminder to be involved and engaged, whether it’s in a church or school. He wasn’t a great salesman for that slogan, or any others. He wasn’t a natural politician. But he was an excellent operator at getting things done, usually with integrity or class.
Q: I won’t ask you to come up with defining rankings. But where do you think he fits in a group of 45?
A: He’s a giant American figure, but not a defining one as a president. When you pull way back and look at Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Johnson and Reagan, he’s not one like Reagan and Kennedy who will get written about for years and years. He’ll be in the top half, but in the middle of the pack — but not in the Top 10. But again, the CIA building is named after him. The airport in the fourth-largest city in the country is named after him. His son became president. He’s going to be remembered. Just not in a cottage-industry way, with books like Kennedy and Reagan. But like I said, his legacy will be much bigger than his presidency. Even as vice president. When I edited Reagan’s diaries, I was surprised to find how often Reagan mentioned Bush. They dined together and talked together all the time. He was clearly a valued adviser. And that’s because he was so involved in larger foreign policy issues.
“Look to the very heart of Europe, to Berlin, and you will see a great truth shining brighter with each passing day: The quest for freedom is stronger than steel, more permanent than concrete.” – George H.W. Bush “America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world.” – George H.W. Bush