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American Morning

Interview with George Bush Sr.

Aired September 19, 2002 - 07:35   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning the second of our special series about former President George Bush's journey back to the place where his life was changed forever, the small Japanese island where he was shot down while on a bombing run during WWII.
I asked him how that experience shaped his presidency and if he's offering any advice to his son, the current president, as he gets ready for a possible war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (voice-over): On a spectacular sunny day in June, former President George Bush is trying to close a chapter on his life off the remote Japanese island of Chichi Jima.

GEORGE BUSH SR., FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This way is America back there.

ZAHN: He has waited nearly 60 years to return to this spot, where he almost lost his life.

BUSH: I knew I had to get out of there. I had to stay away from the land. And I swam.

ZAHN: In these waters on September 2, 1944, Navy pilot George Bush was bobbing in a rubber raft similar to this one after his plane was shot down by Japanese soldiers dug in on the island.

BUSH: I was crying, I've got to confess. I was scared. I was 20 years old.

ZAHN: Bush had been on a bombing raid, targeting a Japanese radio installation on Chichi Jima, when his plane was hit. He parachuted into the water and lost all contact with his two crew members.

BUSH: And I thought about my family and you think about survival. You think about how am I going to make it?

ZAHN (on camera): Did you think you were going to die?

BUSH: I'm not sure I did. I was scared about it. I don't remember now thinking I'm, I've had it, there's nothing I can do, I'm going to die.

ZAHN (voice-over): One thing he knew, he couldn't drift ashore into enemy hands. BUSH: But we were all shown pictures of an officer kneeling and the guy with the big sword over his head about to kill him. And we were shown that as an indoctrination photos when we were going out to the Pacific to make clear to us that being captured would be no picnic.

ZAHN: Then, after nearly three hours of paddling, drifting and praying, a remarkable vision.

BUSH: And suddenly you see a periscope. Then you see a conning tower. And then you see a submarine and the only thought I had was well, God, I hope it's one of ours. And sure enough it was the USS Finback and they pulled me aboard and I walked up dazed kind of. I mean still scared, I guess.

ZAHN: Incredibly, Bush's rescue was captured on film by a Navy photographer. On board the Finback, he would learn his two crew members, Ted White and Jack Delaney, were lost. Eyewitnesses had seen one other parachute, but neither body was found.

BUSH: God, we were close to that island.

ZAHN: Today, as Bush visits the spot where he was rescued, there's no escaping the memory of the two who were lost.

BUSH: I think a lot of about them and I think about them wondering well, is there something I might have done differently? Is there some way that I might have saved their lives?

That's for Ted White and for Delaney, Don Delaney. There we go. That's beautiful.

ZAHN (on camera): How did September 2, 1944 define your life?

BUSH: It taught me that when you face adversity do what mother said, do your best. George, try your hardest. I look at all of this as having made me a better man. A little kid made into a man by a series of circumstances over which he had no control.

ZAHN (voice-over): And, Bush, says, his rescue deepened his sense of commitment to country. After a month on board the sub, he returned to Pearl Harbor, where he was told he could go home.

BUSH: I said no, I want to go back and finish our tour. Hitchhiked back out to the fleet and flew some more missions over the Philippines.

ZAHN: After the war, Bush was awarded the distinguished flying cross for his bravery on the bombing mission at Chichi Jima.

(on camera): You are a decorated war hero. Why don't you view yourself that way?

BUSH: I was doing what everybody else was doing. How come a guy who gets his airplane shot down is a hero and a guy that's good enough that he doesn't get shot down is not? They asked Kennedy about it, why are you a hero? He said they sank my boat. Why am I hero? They shot down my airplane.

ZAHN (voice-over): Like so many WWII veterans, Bush never said much about his combat experiences, even to his family.

BUSH: And I don't lecture today my sons, those in politics and out. I'm very, very close to them but I don't tell him here's the way it was, you ought to do this or you ought to do that or do this in your life or don't do that. I don't think we've ever done that in this family, actually.

ZAHN: The family values Bush describes were reinforced by experiences as a WWII navy pilot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States.

BUSH: They've always said when I was president, Paula, George Bush was privileged. He led a life, a privileged life. By that they meant he had a nice place here, his family did, and his dad could send him to good schools. But where I was privileged was in terms of values and that a lot of people didn't get when I was president nor did I spend any time trying to convince them of that.

It was a very nice touch.

ZAHN: But even Bush now concedes that what his family sees as virtues -- reticence and humility -- may have hurt him when he reached the height of service to his country.

BUSH: God bless those boys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And we'll talk a little bit more about that tomorrow in the third part of our series. The former president talks about why he stays out of Oval Office decisions even while his own decisions during the Gulf War are being second guessed to this day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Am I happy Saddam Hussein is there? Absolutely not. But am I going to be moved by the Monday morning critics who now say we should have done it differently who were totally silent back then? No. We shouldn't have. But should we do something about Saddam Hussein? Well, that's a problem facing the president of the United States of America, not me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Of course, Bill, he's referring to his son.

We worked with author James Bradley on these pieces. He's going to come out next fall with a book that also reprises some of the president's WWII experiences and he'll be joining us with that. And we're going to roll this out into a documentary some time next fall.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Amazing quote, privilege with values, from him.

ZAHN: You could see he was very reflective on this trip. It took him 58 years to get back to the spot where he almost lost his life.

HEMMER: Amazing journey, yes. Yesterday he told you that he swam like an Olympian to save his own life. At the age of 20, I imagine so.

Thanks, Paula. Great piece. Looking forward to part three tomorrow.

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 September 19, 2002 - 07:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning the second of our special series about former President George Bush's journey back to the place where his life was changed forever, the small Japanese island where he was shot down while on a bombing run during WWII.
I asked him how that experience shaped his presidency and if he's offering any advice to his son, the current president, as he gets ready for a possible war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (voice-over): On a spectacular sunny day in June, former President George Bush is trying to close a chapter on his life off the remote Japanese island of Chichi Jima.

GEORGE BUSH SR., FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This way is America back there.

ZAHN: He has waited nearly 60 years to return to this spot, where he almost lost his life.

BUSH: I knew I had to get out of there. I had to stay away from the land. And I swam.

ZAHN: In these waters on September 2, 1944, Navy pilot George Bush was bobbing in a rubber raft similar to this one after his plane was shot down by Japanese soldiers dug in on the island.

BUSH: I was crying, I've got to confess. I was scared. I was 20 years old.

ZAHN: Bush had been on a bombing raid, targeting a Japanese radio installation on Chichi Jima, when his plane was hit. He parachuted into the water and lost all contact with his two crew members.

BUSH: And I thought about my family and you think about survival. You think about how am I going to make it?

ZAHN (on camera): Did you think you were going to die?

BUSH: I'm not sure I did. I was scared about it. I don't remember now thinking I'm, I've had it, there's nothing I can do, I'm going to die.

ZAHN (voice-over): One thing he knew, he couldn't drift ashore into enemy hands. BUSH: But we were all shown pictures of an officer kneeling and the guy with the big sword over his head about to kill him. And we were shown that as an indoctrination photos when we were going out to the Pacific to make clear to us that being captured would be no picnic.

ZAHN: Then, after nearly three hours of paddling, drifting and praying, a remarkable vision.

BUSH: And suddenly you see a periscope. Then you see a conning tower. And then you see a submarine and the only thought I had was well, God, I hope it's one of ours. And sure enough it was the USS Finback and they pulled me aboard and I walked up dazed kind of. I mean still scared, I guess.

ZAHN: Incredibly, Bush's rescue was captured on film by a Navy photographer. On board the Finback, he would learn his two crew members, Ted White and Jack Delaney, were lost. Eyewitnesses had seen one other parachute, but neither body was found.

BUSH: God, we were close to that island.

ZAHN: Today, as Bush visits the spot where he was rescued, there's no escaping the memory of the two who were lost.

BUSH: I think a lot of about them and I think about them wondering well, is there something I might have done differently? Is there some way that I might have saved their lives?

That's for Ted White and for Delaney, Don Delaney. There we go. That's beautiful.

ZAHN (on camera): How did September 2, 1944 define your life?

BUSH: It taught me that when you face adversity do what mother said, do your best. George, try your hardest. I look at all of this as having made me a better man. A little kid made into a man by a series of circumstances over which he had no control.

ZAHN (voice-over): And, Bush, says, his rescue deepened his sense of commitment to country. After a month on board the sub, he returned to Pearl Harbor, where he was told he could go home.

BUSH: I said no, I want to go back and finish our tour. Hitchhiked back out to the fleet and flew some more missions over the Philippines.

ZAHN: After the war, Bush was awarded the distinguished flying cross for his bravery on the bombing mission at Chichi Jima.

(on camera): You are a decorated war hero. Why don't you view yourself that way?

BUSH: I was doing what everybody else was doing. How come a guy who gets his airplane shot down is a hero and a guy that's good enough that he doesn't get shot down is not? They asked Kennedy about it, why are you a hero? He said they sank my boat. Why am I hero? They shot down my airplane.

ZAHN (voice-over): Like so many WWII veterans, Bush never said much about his combat experiences, even to his family.

BUSH: And I don't lecture today my sons, those in politics and out. I'm very, very close to them but I don't tell him here's the way it was, you ought to do this or you ought to do that or do this in your life or don't do that. I don't think we've ever done that in this family, actually.

ZAHN: The family values Bush describes were reinforced by experiences as a WWII navy pilot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States.

BUSH: They've always said when I was president, Paula, George Bush was privileged. He led a life, a privileged life. By that they meant he had a nice place here, his family did, and his dad could send him to good schools. But where I was privileged was in terms of values and that a lot of people didn't get when I was president nor did I spend any time trying to convince them of that.

It was a very nice touch.

ZAHN: But even Bush now concedes that what his family sees as virtues -- reticence and humility -- may have hurt him when he reached the height of service to his country.

BUSH: God bless those boys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And we'll talk a little bit more about that tomorrow in the third part of our series. The former president talks about why he stays out of Oval Office decisions even while his own decisions during the Gulf War are being second guessed to this day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Am I happy Saddam Hussein is there? Absolutely not. But am I going to be moved by the Monday morning critics who now say we should have done it differently who were totally silent back then? No. We shouldn't have. But should we do something about Saddam Hussein? Well, that's a problem facing the president of the United States of America, not me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Of course, Bill, he's referring to his son.

We worked with author James Bradley on these pieces. He's going to come out next fall with a book that also reprises some of the president's WWII experiences and he'll be joining us with that. And we're going to roll this out into a documentary some time next fall.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Amazing quote, privilege with values, from him.

ZAHN: You could see he was very reflective on this trip. It took him 58 years to get back to the spot where he almost lost his life.

HEMMER: Amazing journey, yes. Yesterday he told you that he swam like an Olympian to save his own life. At the age of 20, I imagine so.

Thanks, Paula. Great piece. Looking forward to part three tomorrow.

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