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The question

What disappointment has stayed with you longest?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

George H. W. Bush

41st President of the United States, 1989–1993

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
When I lost a race for the United States Senate, I thought the world was going to end for me politically, and 18 years later I was elected President of the United States. The biggest disappointment was that I wasn't able to communicate properly to the American people — with the proper conviction and the proper ability — where the country really stood. The pessimists, the naysayers, the change-wanters overwhelmed me, and I wasn't good enough. I wasn't articulate enough to have the country understand that we weren't in a recession, that we were in a rather booming economy in the last half of my presidency. That was a personal shortcoming, a failure on my path.

Academy of Achievement interview, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2 June 1995 source ↗

Others on this question

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Minnie Driver British and American actress
I thought that I would become more mature about certain things, and it didn’t happen.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 February 2023 source ↗

More from George H. W. Bush

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Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief
Abraham Lincoln truly inspired me. It wasn't just the freeing of the slaves, he kept the Union together. Some people even forget that today. What I think inspired me was the fact that in spite of being the president of the United States he retained a certain down-to-earth quality. He never got to be a big shot, and he cared about people.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2 June 1995 source ↗
Question What worries you about getting older? Time & hindsight
I don't want to be called a senior citizen, I feel like a spring colt. I don't want to be called a has-been, because there's things I want to do in life. But, I've been there and I'd say, "Don't let the bastards get you down." And they don't anymore, I don't talk to them anymore, so they don't get me down. I've got my family, and I've got so many blessings that I don't think I've earned, that I'm a very happy man.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2 June 1995 source ↗
Question What fills you with the most pride? Identity & self
This may sound like a cliché, but I’ll put it this way. The proudest thing in my life is that my children came home. The proudest moment of my presidency, domestically, was when I signed a piece of civil rights legislation known as the ADA, doing something for the disabled. A massive piece of civil rights legislation that put disabled people, 50 million of them, into the mainstream, or at least removed legal obstacles to their being in the mainstream.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2 June 1995 source ↗
Question What counsel has proved most valuable to you? Time & hindsight
If I were to give advice to young people, high-achieving young people for example, I'd have to say, don't neglect your family. Politics is important, sitting at the head table is glamorous. Traveling around the world, trying to do something for world peace was wonderful. But family and friends and faith are what really matter in life. And I know that. I see it so clearly now. And so, as they climb the ladder of achievement, I'd simply say, remember what Barbara Bush told those girls at Wellesley: "What happens in your house is more important than what happens in the White House." And it's true. It's so 100 percent true.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2 June 1995 source ↗
Question What became visible only after your working life slowed down or ended? Time & hindsight
If I were to give advice to young people, high-achieving young people for example, I'd have to say, don't neglect your family. Politics is important, sitting at the head table is glamorous. Traveling around the world, trying to do something for world peace was wonderful. But family and friends and faith are what really matter in life. And I know that. I see it so clearly now.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2 June 1995 source ↗

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