Inauguration Eve: Bush Lauds Friend, Mentor

By JAMES GERSTENZANG

Jan. 20, 1989 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON —

With the eight years of the Ronald Reagan presidency at an end, George Bush, in a solemn and celebratory rite as old as the Republic, becomes the 41st President of the United States today.

The President-elect spent 15 minutes Thursday with Reagan in the Oval Office, bidding a private farewell to the man, he said, “whose shoes are going to be pretty darn hard to fill.”

“I wouldn’t be President if it wasn’t for my teacher and my friend,” said Bush of the 77-year-old Reagan, when the two spoke to senior staff members after their meeting.

Bush Evinces Optimism

As streets near the U.S. Capitol and the White House were blocked off and elaborate plans were completed for the transfer of power at the stroke of noon today, Bush evinced the optimism that so marked Reagan’s tenure.

It was a day of sunny skies and brimming anticipation for the close of one era and the beginning of another. It was a day on which Reagan and Bush took care to keep the focus on the new team and on what lay ahead.

“I really feel this: Our best days are yet to come,” Bush told a group of youthful supporters.

Throughout the week of inaugural revelry, in full swing well before the swearing-in ceremony itself, Bush has mixed celebration with symbolism. He met with an array of visiting delegations including blacks, schoolchildren and the handicapped, and he keynoted banquets, music shows and testimonials.

He has also dispensed some substance. In an interview with news agency reporters Thursday, he defended his decision to delay the resumption of U.S.-Soviet arms-control talks scheduled next month and indicated that he is not ready to commit the United States to a summit conference with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in 1989.

“I think the Soviets understand that my intention is not to drag my feet but to simply do a prudent reassessment,” Bush said.

Bush said that his inaugural address today on the western steps of the Capitol will be “broad and thematic.” It will be, he said, “a broad appeal to the American people to pitch in and help. It will be an expression of satisfaction about how far we’ve come as a nation, and a recognition that we’ve got a long way to go.”

Tends to Paper Work

On his last day as vice president, Bush, 64, kept mostly to himself. In between a morning gathering with young supporters and a night-time appearance at an entertainment gala, Bush spent much of his time in his office tending to paper work, officials said.

He left the White House complex at 4:20 p.m., waving to workers at the windows of the Old Executive Office Building next door, and went to the stately Jefferson Hotel to visit his 87-year-old mother, Dorothy Walker Bush.

At the prime-time extravaganza later Thursday at the Washington Convention Center, Bush and Vice President-elect Dan Quayle sang the “Star Spangled Banner” and clapped along with country music performers. The event, featuring some of the biggest names in show business, was televised by CBS.

As the show closed, Bush took the stage and said to the crowd and the television audience: “I expect that every one of the other 40 presidents pledged in his mind and soul to represent all the people. Well, this 41st President-to-be feels exactly the same way.”

To Attend Church Service

Bush plans a quiet morning before he takes the oath of office. He intends to attend a church service and spend a few hours with the 21 family members gathered in Washington for the inauguration.

The President-elect, First Lady-to-be Barbara Bush, their daughter and four sons and spouses, and the Bushes’ 10 grandchildren all moved on Wednesday into Blair House, the government guest house across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

This afternoon, they will all move into the White House for a weekend of celebration, before the Bush children and grandchildren set out for their homes spread from Maine to Colorado and Texas.

Offering a peek at life inside the stately townhouse, Bush spokesman Alixe Glen said that a temporary playroom was strewn with coloring books, computer games and popcorn, and a courtyard had been turned into a parking lot for big-wheeled tricycles.

Timed to the Second

At the Capitol, the schedule for the inauguration has been timed to the second. Because the 35-word presidential oath that Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist will administer takes about 45 seconds to recite, the actual swearing-in is set to begin at 11:59:15 a.m. If the timing works to precision, the oath will be completed precisely at noon, the moment at which Reagan’s term ends.

Bush and his wife plan to arrive at the White House shortly before 10:30 a.m. to have coffee in the Blue Room with President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, and with Quayle and his wife, Marilyn. From there, Reagan and Bush are to ride together to Capitol Hill.

Reagan, who will be a spectator at the swearing-in of his successor, is scheduled to leave the Capitol 45 minutes later by helicopter, head for Andrews Air Force Base and depart for Los Angeles International Airport and his new home in Bel-Air.

The Reagans, said White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, have deliberately kept a lower profile as inaugural events began unfolding during the week.

Defer to New President

“The Reagans have felt that this is George Bush’s inauguration and these events are his inaugural events,” Fitzwater said.

During the interview with news service reporters, Bush sought to stem speculation that he is planning to start his presidency with a bang by unveiling a package of new programs in the first 100 days.

“That doesn’t really apply” when a sitting vice president in sync with the outgoing Administration takes over the presidency, he said. The last time such a succession occurred was in 1836, when Martin Van Buren followed Andrew Jackson.

Indeed, Bush offered little hint of imminent significant changes, saying that he supports the Reagan Administration’s recent decision to open talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization and that he does not plan to begin immediate negotiations on the budget with Congress, which currently has Reagan’s budget proposal. On the budget, he said he would not dispatch his negotiators until after he meets Tuesday with congressional leaders.

While Bush kept mostly out of the public eye on Thursday, Mrs. Bush was the center of attention at a special tribute at the Kennedy Center. An adjacent plaza on the banks of the Potomac River became a mob scene of mink coats and limousines as some 225 members of Bush’s extended family joined thousands of invited guests in saluting the incoming First Lady.

Mrs. Bush responded with her characteristic humor and nonchalance after she was feted in three separate theaters by the Houston and National Symphony Orchestras, the Mora Arriagas Mariachi Band, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Gatlin Brothers, Bush’s favorite country music group.

“If we did this (in) one more theater, I think I’d roll over and die,” she said.

“I want you to look at me,” said Mrs. Bush, whose matronly appearance is often contrasted with Nancy Reagan’s attention to high fashion.

‘Then . . . It’s Over’

With that, she stepped back from the microphone and pulled open the jacket of her royal blue suit. “Hair done, makeup, designer clothes,” she pointed out. “ . . . all this week. Then . . . it’s over.”

There was also a final jibe at her husband, who had complained Wednesday about her constant nagging over details of their move into the White House.

“Once you’re President-elect, every single American knows where you are every single day. Do any of you remember where George Bush was last week? He was fishing.”

Staff writer David Lauter contributed to this story.

INAUGURAL EVENTS AND BROADCAST COVERAGE TODAY

8 a.m. (PST)--Departure for Capitol

President and Mrs. Reagan and President-elect and Mrs. Bush drive from White House to Capitol.

9 a.m. -- Swearing-in Ceremony

The Capitol, west steps, followed by President Bush’s inaugural address.

10 a.m. -- Congressional Leadership luncheon for President and Mrs. Bush

Statuary Hall, the Capitol.

11:15 a.m. -- Inaugural Parade

Pennsylvania Ave., Capitol to White House.

COVERAGE

Live television coverage will begin at 7 a.m. on NBC Channel 4, CBS Channel 2, ABC Channel 7 and Cable News Network. Public television station Channel 28, cable channel C-SPAN and Spanish-language stations Channel 34 and 52 will begin coverage at 8:30 a.m.

On radio, live coverage will begin at:

8 a.m. on: KFWB (980)

KNX (1070)

KPFK-FM (90.7)

8:30 a.m. on: KFI (640)

KGIL (1260)

KCRW-FM (89.9)

LATER EVENTS

8 p.m. -- Inaugural Balls

J.F.K. Center, 2700 F NW.

Washington Convention Center, bounded by 9th and 11th, H and New York NW (site of 2 balls).

Pension Building, 4th and G NW.