UVA’s Miller Center of Public Affairs released its oral history of President George H.W. Bush last Friday. The history—one of five completed by the Miller Center—offers a rare glimpse into the 41st presidency through the words of men and women who played key roles in his administration. The Miller Center is currently working on oral histories for Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
The George H.W. Bush Oral History Project faced complications just after its launch in 1999. Many potential interviewees returned to government work when George W. Bush was elected in 2000. Others were hesitant to speak candidly given security concerns that followed the September 11 terrorist attacks. However, the project ultimately compiled 425 hours, and features roughly 50 interviews with key administration members, including former Vice President Dan Quayle, Secretary of State James Baker and CIA Director Robert Gates.
Russell Riley, chair of the Presidential Oral History Program, expressed his excitement at making the interviews public.
“Many of these interviews make wonderful reads,” said Riley. “It’s like sitting on a front porch in a rocking chair with someone who was in the room with President Bush as he tried to figure out what to do with Mikhail Gorbachev. The Berlin Wall was coming down, the Cold War was ending…” Transcripts from 30 of the interviews are available online, and Russell expects the addition of more in the coming months.
Russell notes that, in addition to themes of political history and policy, the project offers a premium personal portrait of President Bush.
“What are his habits like? What is he good at? Where were his weaknesses, if any?” asks Russell. “That kind of portraiture is very vital, because people aren’t keeping diaries or writing letters anymore.”
The interviews also provide a comprehensive view of the personality and operation of an entire presidential administration—the “nuts and bolts of the mechanics of the White House,” as Russell puts it.
“It is very much an institutional history, in the sense that we’re trying to figure out who are these people and how do they operate,” he stated.
According to Barbara Perry, senior fellow at the Miller Center, the project has a biographical and historical nature that makes it appealing even outside the political realm.
“People in the administration speak of the president and of their colleagues as if they are family members, which lends itself to the idea of sitting around the dinner table and having a conversation. That’s what it feels like,” Perry said.
Copies of the oral history will also be kept at the Bush Presidential Library in College Station and at the Miller Center’s Scripps Library.