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Center releases oral history

Scholars, former officials from George H.W. Bush administration discuss presidency at symposium

The University's Miller Center of Public Affairs released an oral history of President George H.W. Bush Friday afternoon, offering an unprecedented glimpse into the inner workings of the Texan's presidency and campaign.

More than 50 interviews of senior officials from the Bush administration are now available to the public on the Miller Center's website.

One noteworthy interview with former Secretary of State James Baker reveals that Bush once considered tapping movie star Clint Eastwood as his running mate in 1988.

"Honestly, it was suggested in not an altogether unserious - well, he was a mayor. He was a Republican mayor. Anyway, it was shot down pretty quick. But we were looking at an 18-point deficit," Baker said in the interview.

The Bush Oral History Project began in 1999 as a joint project of the Miller Center and the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.

The release was a part of a two-day symposium in which former members of the Bush administration and scholars gathered to discuss significant milestones of the administration, including the end of the Cold War, the Persian Gulf War, the "no new taxes" pledge and the filling of two Supreme Court vacancies. The symposium began Friday and continued into Saturday morning.

The symposium was filmed by C-SPAN for broadcast on the American History Channel.

At the beginning of the symposium, former Virginia governor Gerald Baliles, director and CEO of the Miller Center, described the importance of the oral history.

"The interviews are a critical tool to capture first-hand impressions of presidential activity and preserve what has transpired at the highest levels of government," Baliles said. "By providing these first-hand accounts of how previous administrations dealt with difficult and complex issues, this groundbreaking work gives the Miller Center unparalleled ability to bring context and insight to some of the most important issues facing our nation."

The oral history's 50 interviews took 12 years to compile. There were "unusual reasons unique to this particular presidency that made it take so long," said Barbara Perry, a senior fellow in the Miller Center's Presidential Oral History Program. "As it was being done, Bush's son was elected and served for two terms, so a lot of people who had been in the Bush 41 administration went to Washington to work with him," Perry said, noting that key staffers weren't as accessible during George W. Bush's presidency.

Ultimately, Perry said the extensive preparation that went into conducting the interviews is essential to maintaining the University's position at the forefront of historical initiatives.

"[The oral history program is] ... decades old, and I think it's not an exaggeration to say that it's the premiere presidential oral history and political oral history in the country," Perry said. Other subjects of the Oral History Program include Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Edward M. Kennedy, and Lloyd Cutler.

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