Thread by @bradmeltzer

THREAD ON READING TO PRESIDENT BUSH

This is me with my wife in Kennebunkport, Maine on our last visit to see President Bush before he died. Here’s the story of that day—and special thanks to USA Today for letting me tell it.

I knew this would be my last visit with the President. I had gone to Kennebunkport, Maine to honor my friend Barbara Bush at a literacy event—and to see President George H.W. Bush.

Before the event, I got the phone call, asking if I was free for some private time with President Bush. They’d been bringing inauthors and friends to read to him.

“I’d be honored,” I replied. My wife and I made our wayover to Walker’s Point, anxious to see him, but also a bit nervous. President Bush was 94 years old. There’s no joy in final goodbyes.

On the way in, they warned us that our visit would most likely be short—he’d probably fall asleep at some point during our stay. My wife made a joke about how I’m used to putting people to sleep. I laughed, pretending this was all normal.

We were playing with his service dog Sully as they wheeled him in. To my surprise, President Bush looked great. Alert. Big smile. Happy to see us. He wasn’t talking much, but he’d nod to answer questions.

What caught me more off-guard was what was on his desk: three or four books, including one that was dog-eared from being read and clearly re-read. It was my new non-fiction book, The First Conspiracy, about a real life plot to kill George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

The aide told me how much he enjoyed reading it then left us alone, just me, my wife, Sully, and President Bush. He’d had offices in the CIA, Congress, and of course the Oval Office.

But here we were, the final stop, in a small office overlooking the ocean with nothing more than a desk, a few keepsakes, and a really nice rocking chair engraved with the Presidential seal.

“You want me to read from this?” I asked the President, holding up my book. He nodded so I read him some of my favorite passages, telling him the story about how George Washington fought back against those plotting against him. President Bush was listening, sometimes sleeping.

But this was the moment that got to me: When I got to the part where, for the very first time, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to George Washington and his troops. Slowly, I started reading the words out loud:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” Right there, President Bush shot awake—he was listening the entire time, but now, his eyes were wide, soaking up every word, like it was part of his lifeblood.

He couldn’t get enough. As I read the Declaration, the tears swelled in my own eyes, as well as my wife’s. For President Bush, it was like a transfusion. At the end of each chapter, I kept asking him if he wanted to hear another chapter.

Yes. Yes again. We kept going, moving on to that part of the Revolutionary War where George Washington is pinned down in the Battle of Brooklyn.

It’s a moment where Washington easily could’ve died. He was outgeneraled. Our troops got outmaneuvered. It would’ve been easy for Washington to beat his chest and go out in a blaze of glory, rushing in while trying to take out as many of the British as he could.

Instead, Washington did what he always did best. He adapted.

That night, during a massive downpour, George Washington and his officers devised a secret plan—a daring escape. They arranged for all nearby watercraft to be commandeered and brought across the East River. One by one, regiment by regiment, the soldiers snuck onto the boats.

Most important, the troops witnessed something else. George Washington, their leader, made sure that every soldier was evacuated before he himself got on a boat. In other words, the soldiers saw Washington risk his own life to save the lives of his men.

It’s one of my favorite stories about George Washington because it reveals his leadership, his sense of honor, and most of all, his decency. When President Bush died last month, there was one word that was mentioned over and over in nearly every tribute: Decency.

In truth, it’s because President Bush was a truly decent man. But it’s also because our country is currently starving for decency. Our current political discourse…the way we talk to each other…we’ve lost that sense of decency. It’s time to get it back.

Months ago in Maine, after a full hour, I finished one of the most rewarding experiences of my life: reading about the humility and decency of our first president to the man who was our oldest living President.

Putting the book back on his desk, I said my final goodbyes. President Bush shook my hand and didn’t have to say a word. He’d given me lessons I’ll carry with me forever.

Brad Meltzer is a #1 bestselling thriller writer. His first nonfiction book, The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington, co-written with Josh Mensch, is out on Tuesday. usatoday.com/story/life/boo…