Woke up and had breakfast at our funky hotel eating at the world’s largest oatmeal bar: 15 kinds of toppings. This hotel is a really funky redone 1970’s motel. Lots of kitschy details. We had a good night’s rest.
Our gps routed us through small towns and cornfields, but then we were finally on our way to Dallas.
The next Presidential Library is the one for George W Bush. We arrived shortly before noon and spent the next three hours walking through the life of a really mediocre president. He was not outstanding. Having followed the excellent behind the scenes tour of his father’s museum, this was less impressive.
However, there were a number of highlights at the W museum. We continue to find that both volunteers and paid staff at the presidential libraries tend to be people who are there for a long time and are very knowledgeable and passionate about the president and the values that their president embodied. We had several very good interactions with volunteers explaining to us some of the intricacies of the Oval Office, of how some of the decisions had to be made with advisors, given all kinds of different information, and a really fine explanation of how the White House Situation Room came to be.
An excellent volunteer, Michael, took us through what the world was like in the 50s with the Cold War and especially how the world had lined up behind the US and the Soviet Union. It was a very detailed walk-through The Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba and how out of that crisis in 1960 John F. Kennedy asked that a situation room be set up permanently in the White House. The purpose was for Important information about what was going on in the world was funneled through there on a daily basis. In 2006 when W was president, the decision was made to take out the old situation room and upgrade it with new technology. The previous one was dismantled and offered to W to be in his presidential library. It took a long time and a lot of negotiation, but two years ago they worked it out that now the reassembled situation room is on display with a very fine lecture talking about it. And then there was an opportunity to sit in the president‘s chair and imagine one was getting important information and making important decisions.
We were also struck by the number of very difficult crisis situations that Bush had to deal with including 9/11 and the war on terrorism, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the financial crash in 2008. A lot of really really difficult situations made under great pressure. There was an exhibit that talked about the difficulties with his first election, which resulted in a much longer time counting and recounting votes, including the "hanging chads", places that they had to decide on the paper ballots about what the intended vote was.
And we were also struck by the smart and compassionate way that George W and Laura Bush lead the US to be leaders around the world in programs such as USAID providing food for hungry people, and the prevention and treatment of AIDS around the world which saved millions of lives, supporting immigration, and the environment. Work in these areas continue to be a focus of the institute that they formed as part of the presidential library. We were again struck by how many of these really important values issues were in alignment with what we believe, and are in great danger of being dismantled and decimated with the current administration.
And there were a lot of paintings that George W painted after he was done being president. First he started by painting wounded warriors, then immigrants, and animals, and recently he has been painting portraits of people enjoying his museum.
When we were finally done, we drove about an hour to Patti’s sister’s house in a suburb of Dallas where would would settle in for several days. It was great to unpack and enjoy their hospitality.
A late afternoon dip on the pool fit their normal routine. Having a pool in the Dallas area is very appreciated. It was hot and the pool felt refreshing.
We went out to dinner with our nephew Drew and his wife, Toni. Excellent sushi was an enjoyed by all, as well as the chance to catch up on the family news.
We all talked for a while into the evening and then it was time for all to head to bed.
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