ONE OF ONLY 175 COPIES SIGNED BY PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH

(BUSH, George H.W.) OSTRANDER, Dan. "Read My Lips: No New Taxes." (Oroville, California): Butte College, 1999. Quarto, original gilt-stamped blue cloth. $1600.

Signed limited first edition, number 168 of only 175 numbered copies (201 total) signed on the half title by President George H.W. Bush, featuring his Forward in which the president writes candidly of breaking his "pledge of 'no new taxes' from the 1988 campaign," with color portrait and major speeches including the president's Acceptance Speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention, his 1989 Inaugural Address, and much more.

Read My Lips is the only book, at time of publication, in which President George H.W. Bush wrote of his famous quote, "Read my lips: no new taxes." Edited by Daniel Ostrander, a professor of political science at Butte College, it is "a very scarce and desirable signed Bush book which extensively covers Bush's controversial 'real my lips' pledge and gives historical background on the subject" (De Bonte Koe, 334). In his Introduction, Ostander writes that President Bush should be remembered, like FDR, as a visionary leader "who used political pragmatism rather than ideology to guide this nation." In President Bush's foreword to this very scarce edition, he writes of the "painful and tedious negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Congress" in hammering out a budget agreement that would reduce the deficit, forcing him to break his "pledge of 'no new taxes' from the 1988 campaign… Many political pundits believe that the deal did contribute to my defeat in 1992, which was quite painful… This book helps clarify and explain the effect of the '1990 Budget Deal'… I hope this book will give the reader some insight into the art of negotiation and compromise and our system of government at work." In 2014 President Bush was awarded "the John F. Kennedy 'Profile in Courage Award,' for his support of the deal that cost him politically but has been credited with laying the foundation for the surpluses that followed when President Clinton took office… Bush aides and members of the Kennedy family came together to celebrate the former president's willingness to buck party orthodoxy and reach across the aisle, qualities they said are sorely lacking in today's Washington" (Boston Globe). Included are key speeches, including President Bush's: April 1988 Republican National Convention Speech; January 1989 Inaugural Address; October 1990 Remarks to Business Leaders on the Federal Budget Agreement; October 1990 Address to the Nation on the Federal Budget Agreement, and January 1992 State of the Union Address, and much more. As issued without dust jacket.

A fine copy.