History doesn’t change, of course, but how we understand or view history most definitely does change in light of new circumstances and new perspectives.
Things that we might have considered unimportant and of little significance a generation ago can take on increased importance and become much more significant with the passage of time.
That’s why historians always say it is impossible to ascertain how history will view or judge a president while he is still president. You need perspective, and you need time.
You need to see how a president’s current decisions and policies affect the future—how they affect future administrations and subsequent presidential decision-making.
You need to see what issues or concerns that journalists and policymakers downplayed at the time have since risen to the forefront and must, therefore, be given greater weight and consideration today.
George W. Bush. These thoughts come to mind in light of new information about President George W. Bush and his remarkable and hitherto unremarked upon prescience about a pandemic—and his insistence as president that his administration and the nation prepare for such an eventuality.
I say new information, but it is not really new. Bush gave a very public speech about the importance of pandemic preparation in November 2005 at the National Institutes of Health. But of course, no one paid much attention then or now because a pandemic seemed so unlikely and remote.
ABC News’ Matthew Mosk reports:
In a November 2005 speech at the National Institutes of Health, Bush laid out proposals inn granular detail—describing with stunning prescience how a pandemic in the United States would unfold.
Among those in the audience was Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leader of the current crisis response, who was then and still is now the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“A pandemic is a lot like a forest fire,” Bush said at the time. “If caught early it might be extinguished with limited damage. If allowed to smolder, undetected, it can grow to an inferno that can spread quickly beyond our ability to control it.”
The president recognized that an outbreak was a different kind of disaster than the ones the federal government had been designed to address.
“To respond to a pandemic, we need medical personnel and adequate supplies of equipment,” Bush said. “In a pandemic, everything from syringes to hospital beds, respirators masks and protective equipment would be in short supply.”
Bush told the gathered scientists that they would need to develop a vaccine in record time.
“If a pandemic strikes, our country must have a surge capacity in place that will allow us to bring a new vaccine on line quickly and manufacture enough to immunize every American against the pandemic strain,” he said.
Bush set out to spend $7 billion building out his plan. His cabinet secretaries urged their staffs to take preparations seriously. The government launched a website, www.pandemicflu.gov, that is still in use today.
But as time passed, it became increasingly difficult to justify the continued funding, staffing and attention, Bossert said.
Now, though, as America and the world cope with a coronavirus pandemic that few saw coming until it was on our doorstep, Bush’s speech, and the actions that led to his speech, seem remarkably wise and prescient.
Consequently, any and all subsequent historical analyses and assessments of the Bush 43 presidency will have to consider Bush’s leadership in preparing the nation for a pandemic.
This was not something that anyone had considered especially important before the coronavirus. However, it now obviously matters a lot more when we consider the successes and failures of Bush as president.
Historical Standing. Bush’s leadership here certainly will raise his historical marks and relative standing vis-à-vis other presidents; and it will lower, surely, Trump’s historical marks and relative standing. Bush showed prescience and foresight. Trump, by contrast, has shown myopia and shortsightedness.
Again, the facts of history have not changed; but how we view or understand those facts in light of new or modern-day circumstances does change. It is an historical truism: time will tell. It always does.
Here is the ABC News clip: it is well worth watching.
Feature photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images via ABC News.
