訃告
George H.W. Bush
喬治·赫伯特·沃克·布什
Doing his darnedest
盡心竭力
George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st president of the United States, died on November 30th, aged 94
美國第41任總統喬治·赫伯特·沃克·布什逝于11月30日，享年94歲
Wherever he went, as America’s president or before it, George Herbert Walker Bush usually carried a felt-tipped pen and a supply of notecards. On these he wrote letters. Some were thank-yous; others a clumsy, but courteous, attempt to get his views across to other people; yet others just a “good to see you” kind of thing. When the time came to write his presidential memoirs, to salve some of that desperate hurt after Bill Clinton thrashed him in 1992, he published instead 600-plus pages of correspondence. They ranged from doting letters to newborn grandchildren to his worries, as a young seaman in 1943, that his girlfriend Barbara, “so darn attractive”, would drop him while he was away; from his attempt to explain the Watergate scandal to his four young sons, to his mortified account of throwing up in 1992 on the Japanese prime minister, “the damnedest experience”. He admitted that some of the letters were nutty. But they were also of the moment. As he said, “It’s all about heartbeat.”
喬治·赫伯特·沃克·布什在成為總統后或在此之前，無論去哪兒，通常帶著簽字筆和便簽。他就用這兩樣寫小紙條。有些寫著“謝謝你”；另一些潦草卻不失禮貌，試圖向別人說明自己的觀點；還有一些只是寫著“很高興見到你”之類的客套話。為撫平1992年比爾·克林頓輕松擊敗他后的絕望傷痛，到了撰寫總統回憶錄的時候，他卻出版了600多頁的書信集。有的表達對新生的孫子孫女的寵愛；還記錄了1943年，身為年輕海軍的老布什擔心當時還是女友的芭芭拉“太有吸引力”，怕不能在她身邊的時候拋棄自己；有的寫給四個年輕的兒子，試圖解釋水門事件；將1992年向日本首相吐痰的經歷尷尬解釋為“最糟糕的經歷”。他承認有些寫的很荒唐。但也是當時的一種真實記錄。正如他所言，“都是心跳時刻?！?/p>
In one letter he happened to mention a childhood rebuke from his mother: “Now, George, don’t walk ahead.” He took her words to heart, staying, for most of his political career, loyally behind and modestly to one side. As chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1974, he stuck by Richard Nixon until it became more urgent to save the party; at which point, he publicly asked him to resign. He felt afterwards as though someone had died. In his eight years as Ronald Reagan’s vice-president, though they had sparred bitterly in the 1980 primaries over Reagan’s “voodoo economics” and his callow Hollywood sparkle, he never criticised or upstaged him. During the Iran-contra affair of the 1980s, though present at many salient meetings, he declared himself out of the loop, and it was hard to prove otherwise.
其中有封書信碰巧提到了童年時母親的責備：“現在記住，喬治，不要當出頭鳥?！彼涯赣H的話銘記在心，在大部分政治生涯里，他總是忠誠對上、謙虛對下。1974年擔任共和黨全國委員會主席的他，在拯救共和黨變得更加緊迫之前，一直支持理查德•尼克松；而到了關鍵時刻，則公開要求尼克松辭職。隨后他感覺好像某人已經死了。在羅納德·里根擔任副總統的八年里，盡管他們在1980年的初選中就里根的“巫毒經濟學”和他幼稚的好萊塢光芒進行了激烈的辯論，但是老布什從沒有批評里根或是搶其風頭。在20世紀80年代的伊朗門事件期間，雖然出席了很多重要會議，但是他宣稱自己已脫離了這個圈子，很難證明不是這樣。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
評論
打印
