George W. Bush once had a blind date with the daughter of President Richard Nixon. It didn’t go so well.

    Bush recalls the incident in an anecdote-filled book released last week about his father, former President George H. W. Bush, called “41 — A Portrait of My Father.”

    The elder Bush was a member of the House of Representatives from Texas in the late 1960s when he arranged a blind date for young George W. with Tricia Nixon. The son made his first-ever trip to the White House to pick her up.

    “During dinner, I reached for some butter, knocked over a glass, and watched in horror as the stain of red wine crept across the table. Then I fired up a cigarette, prompting a polite suggestion from Tricia that I not smoke,” he wrote. “The date came to an end when she asked me to take her back to the White House immediately after dinner.”

    Bush calls the book a “love story” about his father.

    In it, he writes of the family’s concern when the elder Bush declared his intention to go on a parachute jump to mark his 90th birthday earlier this year. Asked what his birthday wish was as he prepared to jump, George H.W. Bush said, “Make sure the parachute opens.”

    While the book is heartfelt in its praise, Bush writes that his father and White House staff should have been more active in explaining to Americans why he broke his “no new taxes” pledge as part of a 1990 budget agreement, an issue that hurt the Republican president among conservatives and was a factor when he lost his 1992 re-election bid to Democrat Bill Clinton.

    “By taking the issue to the people, a president can build up public support and change minds in Washington. Unfortunately, George Bush did not do that for the budget agreement of 1990, and the bitterness that resulted from his broken pledge damaged his standing within the party,” Bush writes.

小布什忆与尼克松女儿尴尬“相亲”

小布什年轻时曾与总统理查德•尼克松的女儿“相亲”，不过约会不顺利。

上周发布的关于父亲的新书《41：我父亲的肖像》一书中，小布什回忆了这桩旧事。

上世纪六十年代末老布什是德克萨斯州国会众议员，他当时为儿子安排了与尼克松女儿特里西娅的约会。小布什第一次去白宫就是去接特里西娅。

“用晚餐的时候，我伸手取黄油，不料打翻了杯子，只能十分惶恐地看着红酒的污渍在桌布上蔓延。我点了一支烟，却引来特里西娅的礼貌提醒，请我别吸烟。刚吃完饭，特里西娅就要我送她回白宫，约会就这样结束了。”

小布什自称此书是关于父亲“爱的故事”。

书中透露，老布什今年早些时候宣布想以跳伞来纪念90岁生日时，家人都十分担心，跳伞前被问及生日愿望时，老布什说：“降落伞一定要打开。”

小布什在书中表达出对父亲衷心的赞赏，不过他在书中提到，父亲和白宫工作人员本应该更积极地向美国人解释，为何父亲在1990年预算案中违背自己“绝不开征新税”的承诺。这个问题让老布什在保守派面前失分，是1992年竞选连任败给民主党比尔•克林顿的原因之一。

“通过向人民开诚布公，总统能获得民众的支持，改变政府内部的想法。不幸的是，就1990年预算案而言，乔治•布什并没有那样做，违背承诺的苦果动摇了他在党内的地位。”书中说。

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【相亲】

xiāngqīn

a blind date

a date where the people involved have not met each other previously

【引发】

yǐnfā

prompt

occasion or incite