When George W. Bush left office in 2009, he did so with one of the lowest approval ratings of any modern president. Public dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq, the national financial crisis, and perceived mishandling of events like Hurricane Katrina combined to create an unfavorable public perception of Bush’s presidency that persists in the memory of many Americans seventeen years later. For some, particularly those who worked in the Bush administration, this perception doesn’t feel entirely fair. On Wednesday, a group of former Bush administration officials gathered at UVA’s Miller Center for an event to present their retrospective views on the younger Bush’s time in power.
The panel consisted of three people, all of whom held significant roles in the Bush administration: Joshua Bolten, Bush’s former chief of staff, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and policy director for his 2000 presidential campaign; Stephen Hadley, Bush’s national security advisor in his second term and assistant to the president in his first; and Margaret Spellings, former president of the George Bush Presidential Center, secretary of education during his second term, and director of the Domestic Policy Council during his first. The panel was introduced by William Antholis, Director and CEO of the Miller Center, and moderated by Russell Riley, co-Chair of the Miller Center’s Presidential Oral History Program.
Riley opened by asking the panelists what they had expected to be doing at the start of Bush’s presidency, before the September 11th attacks drastically changed the administration’s aims. Bolten stated that, perhaps unsurprisingly, they expected to dedicate Bush’s presidency to fulfilling his campaign promises, one of the most prominent of which was advancing education. Spellings emphasized education as well, taking time to express her belief in No Child Left Behind’s success in closing the achievement gap in schooling. She also noted Bush’s emphasis on tax cuts and immigration reform. On the foreign policy end, Hadley made note of Bush’s campaign for defense reform, particularly its focus on withdrawing from Cold War-era treaties governing ballistic missile use. He praised Bush’s success in this regard, recounting his dealings with Vladimir Putin over negotiating an end to the treaties.
Riley then asked the panelists what we ought to remember about the Bush presidency, and what misconceptions people might hold about it — especially concerning Bush’s immediate response on September 11th. Bolten emphasized Bush’s personal initiative in responding to the attacks, noting, for example, that he convened a war council over the objections of the Secret Service and made a point of visiting a mosque days afterwards. Spellings emphasized his commitment to bipartisanship, while Hadley argued that many of the administration’s key policies were Bush’s own. On the Iraq War, Hadley also came to Bush’s defense, stating that the war resulted from broader considerations over Saddam Hussein’s refusal to obey commands from the international community — not just immediate post-9/11 concerns — and that the war could have been executed better had the international community been more unified in its cause.
Riley’s final set of questions to the panel dealt with unrecognized success stories from the presidency. Bolten argued that the most prominent success story was the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (“PEPFAR”), which has saved an estimated 25 million lives on the African continent. He gave particular credit to Bush for taking the initiative on PEPFAR despite foreign aid to African nations not being much of a part of his presidential campaign, and for working on passing the initiative through Congress when the United Nations proved a less-than-efficient means to do it through. Hadley praised Bush’s efforts to improve US relations with India, especially given increasing competition with China, and offered similar praise for his Millennium Development initiatives. Bolten also made the argument that Bush’s efforts in stemming the tide of the 2008 Financial Crisis are understated, especially his successful push to bail out the banks when many in his own party were opposed to doing so.
The panel then moved on to Q&A. The first audience question asked about the evolving role of the Department of Homeland Security. The panelists described some of the maneuvering behind the creation of the Department, and also the justifications for its necessity, considering the circumstances of the time. The second audience question dealt with the impact that George H.W. Bush had on his son’s presidency. Spellings praised the elder Bush’s lessons on conducting yourself around people; in general, she stated the similarities and lessons were more in demeanor, as the two presidents differed in policy. Hadley stated that there may have been some influence, but that Bush Jr. was fundamentally his own man during his presidency. Bolten, on a fitting ending note for a panel on presidential legacies, stated that Bush Sr.’s greatest impact on his son was made through showing him that presidents cannot go into office expecting their presidencies to last forever, and that they have a limited time to create a legacy.
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