Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, as our Nation paused just for a little while this week to remember the 41st President of the United States and to honor his legacy and his life, I think it is important that we also pause here in the Senate Chamber, and, quite frankly, I bring that same sense of respect from my State of Oklahoma.

President Bush was widely known as our President. Quite frankly, one of the legacies I think he will leave the longest tale on is his commitment to faith and family. His compassion for people ran throughout his lifetime.

The conversation during the funeral yesterday in Washington, DC--and it is happening right now in Houston--centered significantly around his relationship with his beautiful wife Barbara. Seventy-three years of marriage is quite a legacy, and it is rare in America. It was a gift to America to see that kind of example set in front of us; it is that kind of commitment to their family and to each other.

They met each other at a dance in Greenwich, CT, in 1941, when he was a 17-year-old high school senior and she was 16, and they went out to dance together with Glenn Miller songs playing. Tell me that is not a throwback to a different time and a different age.

They were engaged in 1943 at the height of the war. During that same time period, he was engaged in working with the United States to protect our country during World War II. He served as one of the youngest fighter pilots--the youngest during that time period.

Some of his letters have survived, and much has been said about what a prolific, personal writer President Bush was in his own life. The letters he wrote to Barbara during that 1943 time period have survived, including a letter he wrote to her on December 12, 1943, when they were still engaged. He said:

My darling . . . Bar, you have made my life full of everything I could ever dream of--my complete happiness should be a token of my love for you.

Who writes like that, other than a man who is a great personal example to the Nation?

They were married on January 6, 1945, and had six children. They were the longest married Presidential couple, married 73 years. In 1994, Barbara Bush described herself and her husband in her memoirs as ``the two luckiest people in the world, and when all the dust is settled and all the crowds are gone, the things that matter are faith, family and friends. We have been inordinately blessed, and we know that.''

In 1994, that same year--he is still writing her decades later--he wrote her on their anniversary with this note:

Will you marry me? Oops, I forgot you did that 49 years ago today. I was very happy on that day in 1945. I'm even happier today. You've given me joy that few men know. I've climbed perhaps the highest mountain in the world, but even that cannot hold a candle to being Barbara's husband.

Their love story didn't come without some challenges, though. Barbara was open about her struggle with depression in the 1970s. She described those times, saying this:

Night after night, George held me weeping in his arms while I tried to explain my feelings. I almost wonder why he didn't leave me.

But he didn't.

In 1953, their daughter Robin died of leukemia before her fourth birthday. The family struggled significantly with that. In fact, even President Bush 43 referenced it yesterday at the funeral here in Washington, DC, but George Bush wrote about it during that time period as well. He wrote about the loss of their daughter Robin, who died at 3 years old. He wrote to Barbara:

There is about our house a need. . . . We need some soft blond hair to offset those crew cuts. We need a doll house to stand firm against our forts and racquets and thousand baseball cards.

We need someone who's afraid of frogs. . . . We need a little one who can kiss without leaving an egg or jam or gum.

We need a girl.

We had one once--she'd fight and cry and play and make her way, just like the rest. But there was about her a certain softness.

She was patient--her hugs were just a little less wiggly.

But she is still with us. We need her and yet we have her. We can't touch her, and yet we can feel her.

We hope she'll stay in our house for a long, long time.

In 1953, even in times of personal struggle, their love for each other and their tenacious compassion and passion for their family carried them through.

George Bush was at his wife's side when she died earlier this year, on April 12, at age 92.

On George Bush's 18th birthday, he enlisted in the Armed Forces. As I mentioned before, he was the youngest pilot in the Navy when he received his wings. He flew 58 combat missions during World War II.

He served two terms as a Representative to Congress from Texas and ran unsuccessfully for the Senate--though his dad's desk, when he was in the Senate, was right there when he was a U.S. Senator.

President Bush served as the Chief Diplomatic Envoy in China, even before the United States had formally opened the official Beijing Embassy.

He became the 11th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency--which was, at that time, called the DCI--from 1976 to 1977. He is the only President who previously held that position. Interesting enough, many people don't know that the CIA headquarters in Langley are actually named for President Bush and have been that way for a long time.

It was an interesting season when he was the leader of the CIA in the 1970s. There was a lot of mistrust between U.S. citizens and Central Intelligence. At that time, President Bush did something exceptional as the Director of Central Intelligence. He actually provided transparency--a radical idea--where he would come to the Hill and invite Members of the House and the Senate to his house, and they would have informal dinners to talk about what they were doing. He came to the Hill 51 times to testify before the House and the Senate, a record that is still unsurpassed by any Director of National Intelligence. It is a remarkable record of transparency and of leadership.

In 1980, he campaigned for the Presidency but lost. Then he was tapped by the President he lost to in the primary, a gentleman named Ronald Reagan, to be his Vice President. Interestingly enough, at 50 years old, which I am today, the first President I really remember watching was President Reagan--and Vice President Bush--to see how they handled things. It was remarkable leadership during that time period.

In 1988, he won the Republican nomination for President and then became President--the first President I ever had the opportunity to vote for. At that time, I was 20 years old. So for my first time ever to vote for President, I had the privilege to vote for President Bush and the honor to sit in the Cathedral yesterday to recognize his life.

He was a remarkable President for being a one-term President--pushing back the Sandinistas who were ravaging Nicaragua; transitioning Europe out of the Cold War; finishing the Cold War without a shot being fired; unifying Germany when most of Europe, as the Soviet Union fell and the Berlin Wall fell after Reagan's famous ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall''--the wall didn't actually come down at that moment; it came down during the Bush administration, as they led Germany out of that and then into unification, even though most of Europe did not want a unified Germany, remembering still what a unified Germany did during World War II. He led through that.

He led, as President, Americans to start thinking about other Americans in a new way, to stop saying so much that the government should provide for every issue, though the government has a role. But he pushed back on something he called the ``thousand points of light'' and challenged Americans to take care of their neighbors in their neighborhoods and for us not to look toward Washington, DC, to solve each problem but for nonprofits and communities and churches and the engagement of neighbor to neighbor to be able to turn around a nation. It was a remarkable calling for us to be called to each other.

In 1992, he lost his bid for reelection. But it is interesting that in his speech, just after he lost the election, he made this statement:

I hope history will record that the Bush administration has served America well. I am proud of my Cabinet and my staff. America has led the world through an age of global transition; we've made the world safer for our kids. And I believe the real fruits of our global victory are yet to be tasted.

If he were seated here today, I would tell him: We are still tasting the fruits of that freedom.

He made this statement, as well, at the same time:

Ours is a nation that has shed the blood of war and cried the tears of depression. We have stretched the limits of human imagination and seen the technologically miraculous become almost mundane. Always, always, our advantage has been our spirit, a constant confidence, a sense that in America the only things not yet accomplished are the things that have not yet been tried.

Then he said this:

President-elect Clinton needs all Americans to unite behind him so he can move our nation forward. But, more than that, he will need to draw upon this unique American spirit.

Multiple individuals have recently referenced the letter that President Bush left for President Clinton on the desk in the Oval Office so that when the transition occurred, President Clinton would walk into his new office in 1993 and see this letter that ends with this statement, dated January 20, 1993. It is a long note, but it ends with this handwritten statement:

You will be our President when you read this note.

And he underlined the word ``our.''

I wish you well. I wish your family well.

Your success is now our country's success. I am rooting hard for you.

That is a pretty remarkable statement for someone who had just been beaten in the campaign to then turn as an American leader and say: America still continues, and we are rooting for your success.

He left office and continued to serve, continued to press the ``thousand points of light,'' continued to encourage people to serve their neighbors and to serve each other, and he continued to love his beautiful Barbara.

He celebrated watching his kids get elected to office, including President of the United States, but he continued to be who he was--a gentle, compassionate, faith-filled person, who wanted the best for our Nation.

He showed us how to lose gracefully and not make enemies of our adversaries, and he turned political foes into lasting friends. Interestingly enough, on June 12 of this year, on his 94th birthday, he wrote a note again to some friends. In that note he wrote earlier this year, he said:

I am truly touched and overwhelmed by all the messages I have received today. And although I have seen them all, I can no longer answer them all. My 94-year-old hands would rebel. Just know I appreciated hearing from you. As many of you know, for years I have said the three most important things in life are faith, family, and friends. My faith has never been stronger. I am blessed with the world's most loving family. And thanks to you, I feel the love of the best friends a man ever had. My heart is full on this first day of my 95th year.

As I walked out of the funeral yesterday, I turned to the person next to me and said: I think that is the first political funeral or event I have ever been to where I have been able to honor a life where Jesus got equal time.

At a lot of funerals, it is all about them. President Bush shaped a funeral where it was as much about his relationship with God as it was about his history and legacy. It is a remarkable reminder of a man who prioritized, as he said, his faith, his family, and his friends, and it sets an example for the Nation.

He was around Oklahoma a lot, as well. He popped in and out. He spoke at Oklahoma State University at graduation while he was President. In fact, he made a famous comment about stopping in at Eskimo Joe's, a local restaurant there, and he endorsed the cheese fries in front of thousands of people and across the Nation.

He stopped in at a different time at Cattlemen's restaurant in Oklahoma City. He popped in and ate a great steak. He said: If you are ever in Oklahoma, stop in at Cattlemen's. Folks at Cattlemen's still talk about the time President Bush showed up and had a steak. He met everybody in the restaurant, and he even went into the kitchen and met all the cooks. The folks still remember it well.

He stopped in at Enid with Don Nickles. In fact, Don Nickles, my predecessor Senator, tells the story that he went to Maine at one point, when he was the whip in the Senate, to have a briefing with President Bush and a small group at his place in Maine. While he was there, the President offered to take him on a quick boat ride to be able to get over, and President Bush was notorious for his speedboat, in which he put people and just rammed the throttle full speed in takeoff, because his boat could go faster than the Secret Service boat that was following them, and he loved to be able to outrun them and take off.

Even after his retirement as President, there is the story from one of our staff members who writes about a friend who was a student at Texas A&M University, where the President had his library. He tells the story of this 20-year-old student named Michael, who is serving as a personal aide to the Bush Foundation and how one day in the morning President Bush walked up to this 20-year-old who was working there and said: Are you hungry?

To which he replied: I am always hungry.

President Bush took him to lunch that day. This was in 2004. The two of them sat, and the President peppered him with questions about his family, about his background, and about his siblings. Michael got to call his family later that day and say: Hey, I just had lunch with the President.

What was interesting is Michael's statement, which was this: President Bush made me feel like I was the President.

May it be said of all of us: No matter what our title is, no matter what our position is, no matter what our place is, at the end of our life, we would still be talking about our faith, our family, and our friends--that for every person around us, we expect compassion and gratitude for them and to set a good example for them. May it be in our political discourse, and may it be in our homes and our communities.

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