Reflections: Life After the White House [Hardcover]

Barbara Bush (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 2003

Picking up where her earlier bestselling memoir left off, Barbara Bush begins this second volume with the inauguration of her son, President George W. Bush, in January 2001. She then flashes back eight years to President Clinton's inauguration, when President George H.W. Bush and Mrs Bush were leaving the White House. Mrs Bush takes us through each of those next eight years, relating her and President George Bush Snr's inner lives through touching and often very amusing stories about their travels, their charity work, their hobbies and their relationships with their five children and thirteen grandchildren. In the Epilogue, she reflects on the experience of having a President for a son, and discusses the family's reactions to September 11, 2001 and its aftermath. Typical of Barbara Bush, this memoir is filled with wise and perceptive observations, as well as with the humorous anecdotes for which this beloved and admired former First Lady is well known. Not since Abigail Adams has one woman been both the wife and the mother to a President, giving her a unique historical perspective. Mrs Bush's millions of admirers are sure to delight in her second volume of memoirs, told in her warm and funny voice and filled with interesting stories from the past decade of her full and fascinating life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Barbara Bush was born in Rye, New York, and married George H. W. Bush in 1945. She was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. She has five children, including President George W. Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and is the founder of The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Prologue

January 20, 2001

There is a myth in the United States -- you've heard it many times. It says that all American mothers hope that their child will grow up to be President of the United States. In my case that certainly is a myth. I never dreamed that any of ours would; there were days when I hoped that they'd just grow up!

I did hope for our children to be happy. I also hoped they would be decent, responsible, independent, and caring. Besides that, I hoped they would believe in a greater being, God. All our children have achieved those dreams.

But on January 20, 2001, even without having wished that one of our children would grow up to be president, there we were sitting on the west side of the United States Capitol, waiting for our son, George W., be sworn in as the forty-third president of the United States of America. Can anyone understand how we felt? I'm not sure we did. Afterward, I wrote down my thoughts during the Inauguration:

In a few moments our son will walk down the steps, take a seat and at noon will be sworn in surrounded by family, friends, the [Supreme] Court, the incoming Cabinet, the Congress, the outgoing president and Vice President, and many others. We are thrilled to see former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter sitting on the platform. Rosalynn had written me such a nice card:

Dear Barbara,

Congratulations! How proud you must be.

As a mother, I can feel the exhilaration you are experiencing having a son become president of the United States. Jimmy and I will be thinking of you and George and be in prayer, too, for George W. as he assumes this most powerful position.

We are happy for you and know our country is in good hands.

Merry Christmas to all your family,

Sincerely,

Rosalynn Carter

We received hundreds of cards and letters after that very painful election finally ended. These messages came from Democrats and Republicans alike. I believe that this card meant more to me than all the others we received about the election and the final results. I thought that was most generous of her and meant a lot coming from someone who knew exactly what the job entailed...

I know I should be thinking marvelous deep and lofty thoughts, but I find myself thinking of Al Gore and what he must be feeling. He walked down the steps with a broad smile on his face and I saw him shaking hands with Coretta Scott King and other friends. His step faltered a little when he came to Jim Baker. He shook his hand and moved on. Jim Baker, a longtime Bush family friend and distinguished former Secretary of State, was George W.'s lead lawyer in Florida. Jim certainly acted as a statesman throughout the whole hideous vote recount debacle. He is credited by many of us, along with 50-plus lawyers, with seeing that the recounts were honest. The V.P. walked down the steps and took his seat one over from the Supreme Court. I'm sure that Al Gore has no love for them after their vote to stop the recount. And, if one can believe many of the speculative stories about why Al Gore lost the election, he is sitting next to the man who he believes lost the election for him, Bill Clinton. I'm sure he thinks he won the race, and although I don't, I do feel sorry for him. He is gracious, and a minute ago came over to shake our hands and to meet Jenna and Barbara, George and Laura's twin daughters. We've lost and losing is not easy.

This all took me back eight years ago to January 20, 1993, when many of the same cast of characters were on the same Capitol steps -- the difference being that my George and Dan Quayle were sitting in the seats where Bill Clinton and Al Gore were sitting that day, and where George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would sit in a few moments. What an incredible eight years it had been...

Copyright © 2003 by Barbara Bush --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 420 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1st edition (October 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743223594
• ISBN-13: 978-0743223591
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #728,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Visiting with Mrs. Bush, November 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Reflections: Life After the White House (Hardcover)

I bought this book for my elderly mother two weeks ago and she is enjoying visiting with Barbara Bush again. She read her first book, and loved every minute of it. This book picks up where the first book left off. My mother is the same age as Mrs. Bush and identifies with her in many ways (Barbara's wealth notwithstanding).

If you are not a fan of the Bush family, don't bother with this book. But if you admire Barbara Bush and love her sense of humor, you will enjoy reading of her adventures and trials since her husband left office and her son took office.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Love Barbara, Hate the Book, December 20, 2003

By 

Jane Miller "jmiller423" (Howell, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reflections: Life After the White House (Hardcover)

I love Barbara Bush, but this book is difficult to read. It is a diary that hasn't been fleshed out. It consists of numerous entries that state that she went somewhere, met someone, her husband went somewhere, met someone, etc. Only rarely do we get a glimpse of her personal life. I enjoyed her recounting the time her grandchildren pelted the Secret Service agents with water balloons. It made the family seem more human, but these little gems are tucked away in the book amid detail after boring detail.

I am an avid reader. I pick a book up and rarely, put it down before I have read it in its entirety. Currently, I am stuck on page 281. I am going to have to force myself to finish it.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's a wonderful life!, November 4, 2003

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reflections: Life After the White House (Hardcover)

This book details the life of Barbara Bush from the time her husband left the White House until her son took office, with a short addendum about 9/11. She describes the places she went, and the people she spent time with, as well as family events and world happenings. She is not unlike many other active women her age, with the exception that her travels are to places like Egypt and Russian and she is always greeted by local dignitaries, royalty, government officials, or some of her very large circle of influential friends. She is at her best when she describes her family members and get-togethers with her children and grandchildren. All too often, her activities are listed in a rapid-fire manner without enough description and fleshing-out to make them vivid to the reader. She has not lost her considerable wit which is turned on herself as often as it is on someone else. She is a delightful, down-to-earth lady who, as she says, "married well", but this book doesn't do justice to the life she has led in the past 10 years.