SMU's long campaign to get the Bush library began in 2001
President Bush had been in office just a few months when Dallas oilman Ray Hunt came to Washington to talk about life after the White House.
Where would his legacy best be tended?
After a private dinner, in a conversation in the White House family quarters, Mr. Hunt, a major Bush campaign contributor, suggested his own alma mater – Southern Methodist University.
"I said to him, 'Mr. President, I would like to raise a new subject and that is that one of these days he will need to be thinking of a library,' " Mr. Hunt recalled in sworn testimony in July. "And when that day comes, I would hope that you would consider SMU."
Mr. Hunt, sitting on a sofa next to Mr. Bush with their wives nearby, said Mr. Bush appeared interested in the idea.
"He commented that his wife [Laura, also an SMU graduate] was a librarian and ... that was a nexus that he really hadn't focused on before," Mr. Hunt said.
That meeting in early 2001 reflects a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how SMU has capitalized on its political, financial and social connections with the Bushes to land the permanent memorial. The university placed a big bet early to get the library, but it sees an enormous payoff: instant national recognition and increased stature.
Read entire article at Dallas Morning News
Where would his legacy best be tended?
After a private dinner, in a conversation in the White House family quarters, Mr. Hunt, a major Bush campaign contributor, suggested his own alma mater – Southern Methodist University.
"I said to him, 'Mr. President, I would like to raise a new subject and that is that one of these days he will need to be thinking of a library,' " Mr. Hunt recalled in sworn testimony in July. "And when that day comes, I would hope that you would consider SMU."
Mr. Hunt, sitting on a sofa next to Mr. Bush with their wives nearby, said Mr. Bush appeared interested in the idea.
"He commented that his wife [Laura, also an SMU graduate] was a librarian and ... that was a nexus that he really hadn't focused on before," Mr. Hunt said.
That meeting in early 2001 reflects a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how SMU has capitalized on its political, financial and social connections with the Bushes to land the permanent memorial. The university placed a big bet early to get the library, but it sees an enormous payoff: instant national recognition and increased stature.