Bush calls Reagan mentor, Lincoln greatest

President Bush considers Ronald Reagan his ideological “mentor,” Abraham Lincoln the greatest president and Franklin D. Roosevelt a source of endless fascination, he said in a TV interview that will be aired tomorrow.

In a wide-ranging discussion with C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb, Mr. Bush also said he and his father, former President George Bush, rarely compare presidential notes.

“We really haven’t gotten to the stage yet where we’re sharing common experiences in the White House, although there’s kind of knowingness about our positions,” he told Mr. Lamb on Thursday. “He did the same thing I did.”

Mr. Bush said his presidential library will be built in Texas, although he has not yet settled on a site.

“We’ll be doing that soon,” he said in the Map Room of the White House. “We want to make sure we understand fully the legal obligations so that when we start approaching universities or cities or whoever we approach, that everybody understands the ground rules.”

He added: “I want to be very thoughtful about who we approach, and give everybody a chance that’s interested to come up with their best shot at attracting it.”

The president said he is also determined to make the library vibrant.

“It’s not just a collector of interesting artifacts,” he said. “Hopefully good thought will come out of there, because the library will cause there to be a dialogue. It will advance higher education or secondary education in some way.”

Mr. Bush said he does not have an official presidential historian who shadows him throughout the White House, although he wishes that were possible.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of security matters, particularly given the nature of the war we’re in,” he said. “I don’t think the government would have felt comfortable allowing an observer to record.”

But he said transcripts of his press interviews will be made public some day, as will records of his phone conversations.

“When I call a foreign leader, there’s an understanding that somebody is listening to the conversation,” he said. “That will be made available for the records.”

Throughout the 23-minute interview, Mr. Bush repeatedly spoke of Mr. Reagan.

“You know, I think if I had to have a mentor, a public figure that reminded me on a regular basis about the power of freedom and liberty, it would have been Ronald Reagan,” he said. “He was a stalwart when it came to proclaiming as clearly as possible the need for people to be free.”

Yet Mr. Bush acknowledged his own struggle against global terrorism is unlike Mr. Reagan’s victory in the Cold War.

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