Bush ‘Upbeat’ in Final Full Day in White House

The Oval Office was “all packed up.” So, too, was the cozy study next door that overlooks a quiet, private patio.

“It was painted and fixed up over the weekend, ready for the new occupant,” said Marlin Fitzwater, the President’s spokesman.

All that was left for George Bush on his final full day in the presidency on Tuesday was to greet a small parade of friends and staff members, and, as he finished his chores in a mood described by his press secretary as “very upbeat . . . lighthearted,” to meet for lunch in the Oval Office one last time with Vice President Dan Quayle.

It was a day that started out much like many of the previous 1,460 of his presidency: Moments after 7 a.m., the 41st President of the United States emerged from a small elevator on the ground floor of the White House, two stories below the family quarters in the executive mansion, and strolled past the Rose Garden to arrive at the Oval Office at 7:05 a.m. The wintry dawn was just breaking.

He wrapped up last-minute paperwork, signing a bill that continues Secret Service protection for Quayle until July and forwarding to Congress a classified report on compliance by the former Soviet republics with arms accords.

For a President whose time in office was counted in hours, the work that remained--beyond the updates on the military operations in the Persian Gulf and Somalia--was mostly ceremonial.

Bush presented Fitzwater, fastidious about keeping his bald head protected from the sun, nine caps of the new Miami baseball team that bears the spokesman’s name, the Florida Marlins. The administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Daniel S. Goldin, was invited to the Oval Office for a five-minute picture-taking session with the President. The White House groundskeepers were invited to the Rose Garden for pictures with the President too.

And, for their final evening in the White House, the President and his wife invited the Rev. Billy Graham to have dinner with them and to spend the night. Both families will attend the inauguration today, with Graham delivering opening and closing prayers.