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Historical Perspective on Bush's Trip

Aired November 27, 2003 - 16:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A thunderous response in the mess tent at the Baghdad International Airport, as the president of the United States just popped in to address about 600 members of the U.S. armed forces. A surprise visit to Baghdad, lasted a little more than two and a half hours. The president well on his way back to the United States. And now, we're left to put this all into some kind of perspective, political. We talked to Ron Brownstein about that. Let's talk about the historical perspective. For that, we turn it over to presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, joining us from New Orleans on this Thanksgiving.
Good to have you with us. Thanks for taking time out of your holiday for us, Doug.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Presidents have defining moments, naturally, and in this case, it becomes very obvious to those of us who watch it, I guess, that it is up to them to choose those moments in some ways, isn't it.

BRINKLEY: Well, of course. And, you know, it's always important, I think, to move when you're in trouble. The last few months, President Bush has been under a lot of flack for his post-war Iraq policy. There's a lot of bad news on the front page of our papers every day. He's been criticized for not going to some of the funerals, or to any of the funerals, of our servicemen that have been killed in Iraq.

And then today, the Thanksgiving surprise. Boom. Bush pulled off a winner today. It's a kind of a mistake-free event.

First off, it was -- it's important to keep in mind that this was high risk. When he went and spoke on the Lincoln earlier in the summer and got criticized for wearing the flight suit, and calling victory too soon and doing a Hollywood-like dance, this was not Hollywood. There was very high risk nature, not just the secrecy involved but landing in Baghdad, being escorted. One mortar fired at him, one grenade lobbed somewhere and this could have been a disastrous event. He went and gave a strong speech. It brought chills to a lot of people watching in their living rooms. All of the men and women of the armed forces I'm sure have e-mailed home, have got on the telephone, and it gave us a very special Thanksgiving. It was, I think, his finest moment acting as president since 9/11 when he grabbed that bullhorn.

O'BRIEN: Now, I doubt this president went to the library of presidential precedent to check and see what his predecessors did in these cases, necessarily. But I'm curious, as you look back, whether it was Eisenhower going to Korea, or LBJ and Nixon to Vietnam or his father going to Saudi Arabia, if there was any sort of lasting impact to these sorts of visits?

BRINKLEY: It's a good question. And the answer is yes. Remember, Dwight Eisenhower, as you mentioned, ran for the presidency in 1952, with Truman in the White House saying I will go to Korea. I will get us out of that quagmire. Of course, he got inaugurated. A few months later was there and got us out of Korea. During the Cold War, the vortex of evil, if you'd like, it was Berlin. It was the showdown spot. And there you have John Kennedy given his second most famous speech after his inaugural in front of those hordes of people in Berlin. It's a memorable moment. Ronald Reagan's most memorable speech of the cold war was at Berlin.

And of course George Bush, I think one of the key moments of this president's father was, as you say, when he went to Saudi Arabia and was shown there with the troops. You never go wrong when you're president of the United States and you spend time with the troops, our troops, particularly when they're abroad, and you know, Bob Hope died this past year, and he used to always bring good cheer during Thanksgiving and Christmastime to our armed forces around the world. And clearly, President Bush today brought a lot of hearty good cheer to our men and women in Iraq.

O'BRIEN: Doug Brinkley, presidential historian from New Orleans, thanks again. We appreciate it. Have a happy holiday.

BRINKLEY: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 27, 2003 - 16:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A thunderous response in the mess tent at the Baghdad International Airport, as the president of the United States just popped in to address about 600 members of the U.S. armed forces. A surprise visit to Baghdad, lasted a little more than two and a half hours. The president well on his way back to the United States. And now, we're left to put this all into some kind of perspective, political. We talked to Ron Brownstein about that. Let's talk about the historical perspective. For that, we turn it over to presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, joining us from New Orleans on this Thanksgiving.
Good to have you with us. Thanks for taking time out of your holiday for us, Doug.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Presidents have defining moments, naturally, and in this case, it becomes very obvious to those of us who watch it, I guess, that it is up to them to choose those moments in some ways, isn't it.

BRINKLEY: Well, of course. And, you know, it's always important, I think, to move when you're in trouble. The last few months, President Bush has been under a lot of flack for his post-war Iraq policy. There's a lot of bad news on the front page of our papers every day. He's been criticized for not going to some of the funerals, or to any of the funerals, of our servicemen that have been killed in Iraq.

And then today, the Thanksgiving surprise. Boom. Bush pulled off a winner today. It's a kind of a mistake-free event.

First off, it was -- it's important to keep in mind that this was high risk. When he went and spoke on the Lincoln earlier in the summer and got criticized for wearing the flight suit, and calling victory too soon and doing a Hollywood-like dance, this was not Hollywood. There was very high risk nature, not just the secrecy involved but landing in Baghdad, being escorted. One mortar fired at him, one grenade lobbed somewhere and this could have been a disastrous event. He went and gave a strong speech. It brought chills to a lot of people watching in their living rooms. All of the men and women of the armed forces I'm sure have e-mailed home, have got on the telephone, and it gave us a very special Thanksgiving. It was, I think, his finest moment acting as president since 9/11 when he grabbed that bullhorn.

O'BRIEN: Now, I doubt this president went to the library of presidential precedent to check and see what his predecessors did in these cases, necessarily. But I'm curious, as you look back, whether it was Eisenhower going to Korea, or LBJ and Nixon to Vietnam or his father going to Saudi Arabia, if there was any sort of lasting impact to these sorts of visits?

BRINKLEY: It's a good question. And the answer is yes. Remember, Dwight Eisenhower, as you mentioned, ran for the presidency in 1952, with Truman in the White House saying I will go to Korea. I will get us out of that quagmire. Of course, he got inaugurated. A few months later was there and got us out of Korea. During the Cold War, the vortex of evil, if you'd like, it was Berlin. It was the showdown spot. And there you have John Kennedy given his second most famous speech after his inaugural in front of those hordes of people in Berlin. It's a memorable moment. Ronald Reagan's most memorable speech of the cold war was at Berlin.

And of course George Bush, I think one of the key moments of this president's father was, as you say, when he went to Saudi Arabia and was shown there with the troops. You never go wrong when you're president of the United States and you spend time with the troops, our troops, particularly when they're abroad, and you know, Bob Hope died this past year, and he used to always bring good cheer during Thanksgiving and Christmastime to our armed forces around the world. And clearly, President Bush today brought a lot of hearty good cheer to our men and women in Iraq.

O'BRIEN: Doug Brinkley, presidential historian from New Orleans, thanks again. We appreciate it. Have a happy holiday.

BRINKLEY: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com