06: The State Funeral of President George H.W. Bush

Dad taught us that public service is noble and necessary, that one can serve with integrity and hold true to the important values like faith and family. He strongly believed that it was important to give back to the community and country in which one lived. He recognized that serving others enriched the giver's soul. To us, his was the brightest of a thousand points of light.

On November 30, President George Herbert Walker Bush passed away at his home in Houston, Texas. Over 17 million people watched the funeral broadcast live the following week. There were hundreds of newspaper and web articles and social media posts describing and opining about the events surrounding the funeral. On the podcast this week, I'm going to look at the funeral from the perspective of communications, specifically what we saw, what we heard, and how both shaped our opinions of the people who attended the funeral as well as that of the deceased, our 41st president, George Herbert Walker Bush. Welcome to this week's episode of the Confident Communications Podcast. I'm your host, Molly McPherson. The United States five living presidents, family, friends and dignitaries from around the country and the world filled Washington's National Cathedral for a service this past week to honor our late President George Herbert Walker Bush. Let me start this episode right off the bat with this Although this episode is about current and former presidents and first ladies, this will not be political in nature. As in all of my work, my presentations, my workshops and writing, my work is nonpartisan. I cannot favor one side in any aspect of my work because I will inevitably offend the other. If you are new to the podcast or to me by way of a professional introduction, I work independently as a communication consultant. I work with organizations and their boards. I have clients around the country and I work with them on communication plans, crisis communication plans. I also conduct workshops and get hir as a keynote speaker. And if you can't tell, I love my job. I absolutely love what I do. I tell people that you can find me at the intersection of public relations, issues management, online training, and social media. In my work, I tend to discuss presidents more often than most because I am a history buff. Every summer I choose one historical novel or one historical biography to read. It's my beach read. But I also like to introduce presidents into my work because I feel that everyone is familiar with higher office and politics and elections, at least people over the age of 18. My clients because so many people comfortably can give opinions or thoughts on debates and elections and the people that are running for high office. It's a communal conversation. And I mean, admittedly, it's easy too, because everyone knows about the presidents. And there's so much information. I mean, it's just rich and filled with content that you can talk about. The reason why I wanted to talk about the funeral is one. They don't happen that often. So it does become a national event, and it is an official day of mourning. Anyone that works in the government would have the day off. And there was a lot of coverage about the funeral, but also I speak a lot about the presidents, not necessarily about the work that they do or the party that they represent, but about their community communication styles. Because people see them on video, they see them in debates, they hear what they have to say, they read their tweets, and they gather a lot of information about the person as well as the president based on how they communicate. So I tend to use them as examples a lot. And ironically enough, when President Bush passed away, I happened to be traveling and I was doing a series of talks. And on November 20, I was speaking to a group of directors down in Nashville, and I was discussing President Bush. 41. And there's a bit in my talk where I mention the stagecraft of imagery and visuals. Another term that I use is optics. And I tend to focus on the mistakes that they make and what we can learn from them. My examples are ecumenical. I draw conclusions from both sides, but I speak specifically about body language, the gestures or actions used in debates or during the press conferences. For example, I will discuss when Bill Clinton was talking to an audience during a debate in 1992, cameras caught George Bush checking his watch. I don't know if you remember that, but there was a lot of blowback because President Bush, again, 41, looked impatient, and he was known to have that kind of quick, clipped style of talking, and that hurt him in terms of the overall optics of his temperament. And I compare it to Clinton's thumb gesture. You know, I point out that President Clinton, or, at that time, candidate Clinton, would point or gesture with his knuckle or his thumb. That made for a much less harsh optic compared to, you know, President Bush pointing or showing any type of impatience. There's also an example of Al Gore's sign during the 2000 debate against George Bush, the son. And that sparked endless mockery for Al Gore. But you get the point. And I was discussing George Bush. I was discussing President Trump and the use of his hand and his okay sign. And an admission here, whenever I am clearly in a room with Republicans, if I'm deep in the south or the Midwest, I like to mention President Trump's power moves with his Gestures and why it's because optics do matter. So back to the event of last week. So naturally, when I watch an event with all the living presidents, I want to discuss it. But here I was on November 29 talking about President George Bush, and the next morning, or I heard the night before he had passed away, which wasn't necessarily surprised. We knew that he was in ailing health. And I don't live too far from his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. So he is very topical of me and very, I'm very mindful of him. But to have him pass away as I was speaking of him was certainly unusual. But I did note at the class at that time, I said, you know, I want to reflect on, you know, him as a president as well. But anyway, I did want to bring the topic of the funeral into the podcast because it's such a fascinating look at how people, especially presidents and first ladies, interact with each other. And I like to look at, you know, not only the, the main event that's happening, we're watching a funeral, but I'm always looking at those subtle communications happening in the background. You know, I'm always looking at the body language, the mannerisms, the gestures, the speeches and the relationships being played out on television or online. And it doesn't matter if it's a state funeral, a political debate, the Academy Awards, I'm always watching the event. I'm also paying close attention to what people are trying to message, you know, both intentionally and unintentionally. So onto the funeral, I'm going to discuss the optics and the body language mixed with the eulogies, how what we saw and what we heard at the funeral shaped what we thought of the people after the funeral aired. So, as I mentioned, the state funeral was held at the national cathedral in Washington, D.C. and it was attended by all five living U.S. presidents and their spouses. So I'm going to start with the person that was probably considered the frostiest person in the room that we saw, and that was Hillary Clinton. She was seated next to her husband, the former president, Bill Clinton. And Hillary Clinton is a former first lady, also the former Secretary of State. And what did not go unnoticed by anyone was how she did not acknowledge her opponent, Donald Trump, in the 2016 election. When he arrived, she looked stone cold ahead. And when I watched that, and I'm sure many people thought the same thing as I did watching it, is the conversation that Bill and Hillary had prior to the funeral. And, you know, they did, you know, that they planned this out and they sat down and said to each other, what are we going to do? Are we going to say hello to him? We're going to shake his hand. And I'm picturing Hillary saying to Bill, bill, you may shake the hand of Melania and make it quick, but do not shake Trump's hand. I'm not going to look at either one of them. So Bill Clinton did look towards the first lady when she came into the aisle, no surprise there, and greeted her with a handshake, and then he turned away. But there was a lingering look to President Trump to see if he would extend a hand to Bill Clinton. He did not. And Hillary wanted absolutely nothing to do with President Trump. She did nod very aggressively, I might add, at Melania, as if to say, I am acknowledging you, Melania, and I want all of the cameras to see that I am acknowledging you. So I appear to be nice, but I refuse to acknowledge your husband. And Hillary, a side of the from how she treated President Trump, there were, and I forget on which stations they had commented that she was cold to President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn. But that turned out not to be true. There were many shots on camera of her speaking very cordially to the couple. But Hillary had no time, no place, no face for President Trump at all. Now moving on to Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was Bill Clinton how he always is. He's someone who is very much in command of his presentation. And people that worked with him, people that I knew who worked with him during his administration would say that Bill Clinton in person is much colder than he is in the public. So his public Persona is incredibly engaging. And you hear that time and time again how he can just draw people in, especially during the campaign and the run up for his first election. Everyone said he's so warm and he's so charismatic, which he is. But I was very surprised to hear that when he's on his own or when he's with staff, he's quite cold. And the opposite is true about Hillary, where when she is on camera or when she's in a room, she appears quite cold. But someone had told me if you sit down and have dinner with Hillary Clinton and you're seated next to her, that she's quite pleasant. So there you go. There's a little anecdote for you. But Bill Clinton knew he was on camera. So whether or not he was genuine or not, he seemed to be very comfortable sitting next to Hillary and also to the Obamas. He would lean in to speak to former first Lady Michelle Obama was leaning in, very engaged with the former President Obama, and he even rested his hand on Michelle Obama's arm as they chatted. And Hillary Clinton leaned over to speak with them. But you could tell there was a real ice cold war between the Trumps and the Clintons. The Obamas were certainly a buffer between the two, but oh, man, oh, man, you could tell that there is some serious dislike between those two couples. As far as Michelle Obama is concerned now, she was very, her mood was generally nice and upbeat until, of course, President Trump walked into the room. And frankly, she had every right to be. I mean, she flew in from her, she's on her book tour right now where people are paying so much money and there's so many accolades for this woman. This woman, I think is riding on the highest wave of her life. So she could walk into that cathedral. Well deserved, quite high. So she was also dressed in a great pantsuit, which I know it just, it really was good. It just struck the right chord with me. But she seemed perfect for the occasion. And so she again was another buffer. But with the exception of the candy pass, that's the redux from the John McCain funeral was one of the most remarked upon aspects of the ceremony. A lot of the reporters noted it and it was all over social media that when George Bush walked in, he gave her that piece of candy. And I just think that says a lot about Michelle Obama. And again, like public opinion wise, since she's on tour right now promoting her book Becoming. She is so popular and many people, and I'm sure some of the networks noted that as she works her way through the tour, she does mention in the book that she will never forgive Donald Trump for the danger in which he put her family in based on his alt right conspiracy theories. So there's that. Moving along to the person who is the most discussed at the funeral other than President Bush, was the current president, Donald Trump. Fittingly, President Trump was the elephant in the room, or in the cathedral in this case, yuk, yuk. His arrival and his departure, what he did with his hands, how he sat, who he said hello to and who he snubbed. President Trump definitely owned the subplot of the funeral. And one body language expert noted that you could spot the moment Trump arrived in the National Cathedral even before the cameras captured him. You could tell that the room just stiffened, like everyone knew that he was walking in. So he and Melania walked up a side aisle together holding hands, which, I mean, frankly, that always looks awkward. They are not natural hand holders that is for certain. But they walked in. They did not have aides tell them to take their coats off before they walked in. So Donald Trump walked in with a heavy wool coat, and Melania looked like she was wearing a coat, too. I'm not quite sure. I'd have to look at that again, but I think she was wearing, like, a belted coat that she never took off. But another body language quote that I heard or read was that when President Trump was walking in, when the cameras were on the previous presidents and the first ladies, it was like a herd of animals sensing a lion, that their poses and their nonverbal signals morphed into something more wary and worried and stone faced, which I thought was absolutely true. Now, there were a lot of discussions as well about his body language that President Trump was sitting with his legs splayed. He placed his hands in a forward steeple position, which is always considered a position of power. A lot of men will steeple their hands, and that's like a powerful, dominant, thinking posture. And he put his hands between his knees, he tapped his fingertips together, which typically shows impatience. So the cameras were capturing that. And there were a lot. There's a lot of chatter online and in newspaper articles about, you know, just how impatient he looked and also how uncomfortable he looked. But when I watched it, what I. I think what I focused on even more than the impatience, and I didn't hear this from anyone. This is purely my opinion that Trump looked uncomfortable, and not just uncomfortable being in the place, but being in his own skin, because he's a rather large man and he's sitting in this small chair. So they must have replaced the pew, which I'm sure, you know, because the cathedral's so old like those chairs, that pew is probably very small and very uncomfortable. But he just looked uncomfortable. Like he looked like an overweight guy that was kind of forced to sit up. So I'm just gonna give him a little bit of the benefit of the doubt. There is he just physically, on top of being, like, emotionally uncomfortable, he was also very physically uncomfortable as well. And the last couple, you know, of the former presidents, of course, were President, former President Jimmy Carter and former first Lady Rosalynn Carter. We did see them interact a bit, and there was some chatter how Hillary snubbed President Carter, but that turned out not to be true. She was quite cordial to them, but they were sincere. They're the oldest now. He's the oldest. They were stuck off to the side. So not. That meant there wasn't a lot of chatter about Them. And most of the controversy really was sparked around President Trump and Hillary Clinton. Now, there was also another point of contention with some viewers and social media users that noted that President Trump did not have his hand placed over his heart when the casket was carried past the pew where they were standing. And, and which is true, a lot of the cameras did not capture that at all. And there was a lot of social media posts comparing, you know, accusing, you know, President Trump of calling former President Obama a President Obama, you know, a Muslim. And he's evangelical, yet he's, you know, he's not putting his hand to his heart or resetting the Apostles Creed. The photograph, there is a photograph of President Trump's hand on his heart. So he did do that gesture at one point. And the still photo photos captured it, like Getty Images, I believe, captured the photo. But the broadcast or the telecast that aired, you couldn't see it. And it was just a matter. It could have been pool reporting. I'm not sure. I'm assuming it was probably pool reporting, but they just didn't, they didn't capture that moment. But when the casket was at rest and the military guard had departed, President Trump always already had his hands at his side. But at one point, it was up on the. So that is a false story up there. However, the piece about not reciting the Apostles Creed as the other attendees did during the Bush funeral, that piece was true. And obviously the tell there is, everyone else in the row was reading it and President Bush, President Trump just stared straight ahead. And some people noted that if he was as Christian or evangelical as he claims to be, he could certainly recite that. And also you could tell that there wasn't a Catholic in that front row because most Catholics can cite the Apostles Creed from heart, even though they changed it. They don't even need to look down and read it. But for the most part, most people that do go to service regularly can read that. And the truth was that he did not read it or attempt to read it or speak it during the funeral service. The other person I want to just mention briefly is the historian John Meacham, who eulogized Bush and he was exceptional. So he's a Pulitzer Prize winning author and Mr. Bush's biographer. And he gave the eulogy. He delivered it first to President Bush while he was still alive. And I believe it was President Bush said to him, john, that's, those are a lot of words about me or something along those lines. But it says something. A lot of it says something about our 41st president and the type of relationship he had with Jon Meacham. But the takeaway I got from his eulogy is be friends with a really, really good writer so they can eulogize you at your funeral. It was just exceptional. And the other person I wanted to, wanted to speak about at the funeral, of course, was George Bush or 43. When George Bush and the rest of the Bush clan pulled up to the cathedral, President Bush walked in front of that awkward pew and he shook the hands of all the presidents and all the first ladies and he greeted each one and he was very cordial. And I had mentioned that Michelle Obama was smiling wildly when he gave her the piece of candy. So it appears that they really do have a warm friendship, at least, you know, a relationship where they're very warm and cordial with each other. But George, and this is 43 at this funeral, at his father's funeral, he was at his best. And when I speak about 43's best, even in my talks, I do give a talk on, on power communication skills based on all our presidents. And I compare FDR to Teddy Roosevelt and George Bush, who's considered, rating wise, one of the worst presidents. However, when George Bush 43 is his authentic self, like you picture him in Texas, like sitting around with buddies, he becomes very popular because he's very real. An example of that was his bullhorn speech in the days following 9 11.

I want you all to know that America today, America today is on bended knee in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. This nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey, Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens. I can hear you. I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people. And the people, the people who knock these buildings down will hear all of us soon.

I show that clip a lot in my talks because it is a prime example of someone speaking off the cuff with their authentic self. You don't see an aide coming up and slipping him a piece of paper for him, you know, for him to read or whisper in his ear and tell him what he needed to say at that moment. In the rubble of 9 11, George Bush knew precisely what to say because he was speaking from his heart. And the same applies to the eulogy. Anyone that watched that eulogy, and even if you didn't watch the funeral or you haven't seen it, I would encourage you to watch the eulogy of George Bush. That he gave to his father. It was the perfect eulogy from an eldest son. And I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that could watch it without tearing up. And when he started, he was very funny. He made some jokes in there. You could hear his Texas twang, his very familiar cadence. And twang came back. And from an optics point of view, I thought that this was George Bush's moment of redemption. After 9, 11, he was on a high. And then during the Iraq war, when he was in front of the mission accomplish sign on that carrier, which wasn't meant to be there, but that's for another episode, a future episode, but his popularity rating just sank. And there's a new movie coming out, Vice, that I cannot wait to see, and I'm sure he does not fare well in that. That movie either. But this funeral, I think, captured just the essence of George Bush and brought his popularity up, and not that he meant to do that. And you knew that. And that was the other piece of it. You never got the sense that he was using his father's funeral to get back in the good graces of, you know, voters and political types and historians. It was so genuine. And the. And the piece where he spoke about in his grief that he's smiling, knowing that his dad is hugging Robin, that's his sister, who died of leukemia when she was just shy of four and holding mom's hand again, I choke up even reciting it now. But he became tearful as he mentioned his mom and his sister and his dad. And when he had mentioned that he was just the best dad. I'm going to choke up right now. There was so much anguish at that podium. And, you know, I guess in millennial vernacular, he lost it. And he really did. And it was so genuine and it was so heartbreaking to see a man express such profound grief. But so many people, thankfully I haven't but have already said goodbye to their father. But to see it play out like that live on television, it was so powerful. It was so sad, but it was so real. And because George Bush, 43, is at his best when he's real, it was an exceptionally high point for him. And I was happy for him just to have that moment of redemption. And it was nice to see him go back to the pew, you know, rest his hand on his dad's casket as he walked by it and sit down and have his wife, Laura, former first lady Laura Bush, you know, grab his arm as if to say, you know, good job, George. You did a great job. Georgie. But it really was, I thought, an incredibly touching moment. And I also thought all of those presidents, as George Bush was speaking, every single one of them sat there thinking, what is someone going to say about me? President Trump, President Obama, President Clinton, President Carter. I mean, and people can be laudatory about President Carter, but you think. And you know Obama as well, but then you get into this kind of critical age. So I know all of them were thinking that same thing, and they were probably hoping that they had a eulogy just as profound as the one that George Bush gave his father. And the other two entities that I want to mention in terms of an optic point of view, there's a lot of social media. During the course of the days between the death of George Bush and his funeral and his burial, US Navy posted a number of tributes to the late president. He was a former Navy pilot, but also the Secret Service. The U.S. secret Service tweeted a tribute as the agency concluded the security detail. And it said Timberwolf's detail, which was the name of President Bush, George W. Bush, Herbert Walker Bush concluded at 0600 hours on December 7, 2018, with no incidents to report at the George Bush Presidential Library, College Station, Texas. Godspeed, former President George H.W. bush. You will be missed by all of us. Bush Protective Division, again, choking up, even reading that, because you know they meant it. His security detail, the stories that came out about how he treated his security detail, it's well known that he was a good president, and in terms of how he treated his detail. And I have heard stories from friends who have been on details of other presidents, and they're not that nice. So kudos to the U.S. navy, but also the U.S. secret Service. And the final bean that really just pulled at the heartstrings, just tugged away at it, was Sully. Sully, the Labrador who served as President Bush's service dog. The tweet by his spokesperson, Jim McGrath. I retweeted that I had nothing to say. There were no words for it. But he tweeted a photo of Sully, you know, sitting before the President's casket, and the caption was mission complete. Which, now that I say that, I wonder if he meant that when he was thinking of the Mission Accomplished side sign of President Bush when he was on the. Gosh, I have to think about that one. But anyway, it said mission complete. And McGrath had said about Sully that he could follow two pages of commands, but the only thing he couldn't do is make a martini, which I think is great. But Sully. So Sully had a great week in terms of people speaking about him online and this dog, which I assume is a he. But Sully the dog was named after the former most popular Sully. Sully Sullenberger, the pilot who landed the US Airways plane on the Hudson River. But really, I think Sully the dog has eclipsed Sully Sullenberger. I'm sorry forever. And that's probably because I'm a dog person. So all the articles you read about Sully the dog and how important it was, you can tell they are written by dog owners. There was a particularly snarky, cold hearted piece in the slate that I assume was written by a non dog owner who pointed out that Sully the dog was only with President Bush for six months and that he was an employee of the President and not his beloved servant, which I thought was pretty crass. And. But any dog owners, we don't, we don't care about that. But Sully was. Sully was the real deal. But Sully also came with a really savvy PR team. So it appears that the pets for vets, I am completely making that up, but I think it's something like that. They have a really strong PR team and the same group that put Sully with George Bush put the Today show puppy with a purpose on the air as well. And Sully also had an Instagram account which I didn't notice, so I have to check that out. And he has, I guess, over 150,000 followers and. But Sully, six months or not, seeing that dog at the casket and seeing him walk around the rotunda and in the U.S. capitol. Stop. I just can't Sully forever. And that brings us to the end of our conversation today about the funeral and the optics and the body language and what we learned from the funeral of our 41st president, George Herbert Walker Bush. And as I mentioned, he did serve in the Navy. He was the youngest pilot during World War II. And the Navy, along with the use. The U.S. coast Guard has a saying that I think would be apt to end the podcast this week of confident communications and that is fair winds and following seas. Sam.