Bush 41 Bio Means Questions for Jeb

He says the nation’s 41st president recognized early in life that being born to privilege meant he had much to give back.

Bush, left, listens to Pulitzer Prize…

Combing through notes, diary entries, and personal exchanges, biographer Jon Meacham has pieced together the new book Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush.

Bush moderated the chat with Meacham at his George W. Bush Presidential Center. George H.W. Bush called Rumsfeld, 83, an “arrogant fellow”, saying he “served the president badly”.

While he continued to praise his son, he did tell Mr. Meacham that the younger Mr. Bush was responsible for empowering Mr. Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld and was at times too bellicose in his language.

Former President George W. Bush signs copies of “41: A Portrait of My Father” Thursday morning at the Barnes & Noble store on Northwest Highway in Dallas.

Jon Meacham’s biography of the 41st president has gotten a lot of attention.

In 1965, after losing an election to the US Senate, Mr Bush, at 41, declared his intention to become president.

And there is plenty of dish: Bush’s distaste for 1988 Republican rival Bob Dole (“a no good son of a bitch”), Nancy Reagan’s dislike of Barbara Bush, Vice President Dan Quayle’s machinations to stay on the ticket in 1992.

“I do worry about some of the rhetoric that was out there – some of it his, maybe, and some of it the people around him”, Mr. Bush told Mr. Meacham.

“When you write the book on me, you’re not going to find anyone predicting I’m going to be president”, Bush quipped.

“And I was asked that question by Lee”.

During his son’s years in office, Mr Bush devoured the news. The book included reference to a fax the elder Bush sent to his son after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“What ever he might have done to seek power should not be seen, in my view, as cynical but as instrumental because in the end, he put the country ahead of his own political interests”. That pledge enraged many conservatives in his own party.