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Four years ago, Peregrine Worsthorne wrote about his various experiences with American presidents forThe Spectator
magazine. He concluded with this anecdote about George H.W. Bush from the mid-Seventies…
The only thing I remember about George Bush senior was an exceptional act of kindness. He was then the American representative in Peking — as it was still called — and had asked me to lunch.
It was a scorching day. In the course of the conversation I mentioned I was going on to sleep that night in Mao’s favorite village in the south, a place of pilgrimage for the faithful. ‘Don’t forget to take a good overcoat,’ he warned. ‘It’s mighty cold down there.’ Not aware of the extreme changes of climate, I didn’t have a good coat, and it certainly was freezing down there. On opening my bag, however, I found a bottle of Jack Daniels with a note from the future President of the US saying, ‘This might just help to keep you warm.’ If only the son had been as kind and thoughtful as the father. But that, I fear, is another story.
