 | |
| Author | George W. Bush |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Published | 1999 (Morrow) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 253 |
| ISBN | 0-688-17441-8 |
| OCLC | 42719865 |
| 976.4063092 | |
| LC Class | F391.4.B87 A3 |
| Followed by | Decision Points |
A Charge to Keep is a 1999 book written by then-Governor of Texas George W. Bush, with a foreword by Karen Hughes. Later editions have the sub-title My Journey To The White House.
The book contains a brief overview of Bush's life and political philosophy. It is not an autobiography in the strict sense, but rather a collection of non-chronological sketches and anecdotes about his years at Yale and Harvard, business career, and time as governor of Texas. He intersperses these with brief explanations of his political philosophy, including his belief in small government, capitalism, and a strong national defense.
More specific parts of his program, which he enumerates in the last pages, include creating a free market alliance with Canada and Latin America, privatizing Social Security, and firmness with non-aligned regimes, particularly Iraq and North Korea (pp. 238–9). [1] [2] [3] The book has been described[ by whom? ] as containing only few revelations, among them Bush's account of his decision not to grant a stay of execution for Karla Faye Tucker, which he described as affecting him emotionally, contrary to media criticism at the time. [3]
Ghostwriter Michael Herskowitz was hired in 1999 to draft the book, but he was dismissed and Hughes took over after "the early chapters Herskowitz submitted were judged to overemphasize W.'s early difficulties, describing him, for instance, as having been unsuccessful in the oil business." [4]
The proceeds of the book were donated to charity. [3]
The title of the book comes from the hymn, "A Charge to Keep I Have" (1762) by Charles Wesley. Wesley's title is a paraphrase of Leviticus 8:35: "keep the charge of the LORD, so that you may not die."
A painting by W.H.D. Koerner, lent to Bush, shows a horseman charging up a rugged mountain trail, followed by others. In the book, Bush says this scene "epitomizes our mission":
When you come into my office, please take a look at the beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us. What adds complete life to the painting for me is the message of Charles Wesley that we serve One greater than ourselves.
The painting hung on the west wall of the Oval Office during Bush's presidency. [5] He has explained to journalists that its title is "based upon a religious hymn. The hymn talks about serving God." [6] The phrase "A Charge to Keep" was attached to the painting because it was used to illustrate a short story of this title by Ben Ames Williams published in 1918 by Country Gentleman magazine. [7] According to Jacob Weisberg, Bush "came to believe that the picture depicted the circuit-riders who spread Methodism across the Alleghenies in the nineteenth century. In other words, the cowboy who looked like Bush was a missionary of his own denomination." [5]
Bushisms are unconventional statements, phrases, pronunciations, possible Freudian slips, malapropisms, as well as semantic or linguistic errors in the public speaking of former President of the United States George W. Bush. The term Bushism has become part of popular folklore and is the basis of a number of websites and published books. It is often used to caricature the former president. Common characteristics include malapropisms, the creation of neologisms, spoonerisms, stunt words and ungrammatical subject–verb agreement.
The Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C.
Larry Jeff McMurtry was an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas. His novels included Horseman, Pass By (1962), The Last Picture Show (1966), and Terms of Endearment (1975), which were adapted into films. Films adapted from McMurtry's works earned 34 Oscar nominations.
Michael Martin Murphey is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, country music and popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs by Marty Robbins in 1959. He has recorded the hit singles "Wildfire", "Carolina in the Pines", "What's Forever For", "A Long Line of Love", "What She Wants", "Don't Count the Rainy Days", and "Maybe This Time". Murphey is also the author of New Mexico's state ballad, "The Land of Enchantment". Murphey has become a prominent musical voice for the Western horseman, rancher, and cowboy.
Karen Parfitt Hughes is the global vice chair of the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. She served as the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of State and as a counsellor to President George W. Bush.
Karla Faye Tucker was an American woman sentenced to death for killing two people with a pickaxe during a burglary. She was the first woman to be executed in the United States since Velma Barfield in 1984 in North Carolina, and the first in Texas since Chipita Rodriguez in 1863. She was convicted of murder in Texas in 1984 and executed by lethal injection after 14 years on death row. Due to her gender and widely publicized conversion to Christianity, she inspired an unusually large national and international movement that advocated the commutation of her sentence to life without parole, a movement that included a few foreign government officials.
John Richard Erickson is an American cowboy and author, best known for his Hank the Cowdog series of children's novels.
This bibliography of George W. Bush is a list of published works, both books and films, about George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States.
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.
"Nearer, My God, to Thee" is a 19th-century Christian hymn by Sarah Flower Adams, which retells the story of Jacob's dream. Genesis 28:11–12 can be translated as follows: "So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it..."
Marcia Tucker was an American art historian, art critic and curator. In 1977 she founded the New Museum of Contemporary Art, a museum dedicated to innovative art and artistic practice in New York City, which she ran as the director until 1999.
The George W. Bush Presidential Center, which opened on April 25, 2013, is a complex that includes former United States President George W. Bush's presidential library and museum, the George W. Bush Policy Institute, and the offices of the George W. Bush Foundation. It is located on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in University Park, Texas, near Dallas. It will be the future resting place of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States (2001–2009), and his wife Laura Bush.
George W. Bush served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 until 2000, when he resigned as governor amid his transition into the U.S. presidency after having been elected president in the 2000 United States presidential election. As governor, Bush successfully sponsored legislation for tort reform, increased education funding, set higher standards for schools, and reformed the criminal justice system. Bush also pioneered faith-based welfare programs and helped make Texas the leading producer of wind powered electricity in the US.
W. is a 2008 American biographical comedy-drama film based on the life of George W. Bush. Directed by Oliver Stone and written by Stanley Weiser, it stars Josh Brolin as Bush. The supporting cast includes Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, Thandiwe Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Scott Glenn, and Richard Dreyfuss. Filming began on May 12, 2008, in Louisiana, and the film was released on October 17, 2008.
Karl Christian Rove is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August 31, 2007. He has also headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives.
Kenneth Jezek is an American actor and dancer.
Milton Leon "Mickey" Herskowitz is an American journalist and biographer. He has written more than 50 books and has published autobiographies with several athletes. He was a sportswriter and columnist for the Houston Post and the Houston Chronicle, and a former ghost writer for George W. Bush.
The 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs is a 2012 non-fiction book. Alongside a foreword by President George W. Bush, it features articles from academics and businesspeople, including five winners of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
The Texas Silver Spurs is an honorary men's service organization at the University of Texas at Austin, best known as the caretakers of Bevo. Founded in 1937, the Spurs were established with the mission to benefit the university through service and philanthropic efforts. The Spurs serve as ambassadors of the University of Texas.
Portraits of the former President of the United States George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush were painted by the American portrait artist John Howard Sanden in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The paintings were unveiled in 2012 in a ceremony at the White House where they presently hang.
