You're listening to Civics 101 New Hampshire Public Radio show about the basics of how our democracy works.

And today, in the wake of the death of President Jimmy Carter, we have a special episode about how we mourn our presidents.

But he often said, when the really tough choices come, it's the country, not me.

It's not about Democrats or Republicans. It's for our country that I fought for. And right now, we are listening to audio from President George H.W.

Bush's 2018 Memorial Service at the Washington National Cathedral.

And I want you to listen to how Bush is being described as a human being.

The George Herbert Walker Bush, who survived that fiery fall into the waters of the Pacific

three quarters of a century ago, made our lives and the lives of nations, freer, better, warmer,

and nobler.

As the video of the memorial pans over the audience, you can see Bush's family, including his son,

President George W. Bush, And you also see former presidents,

Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and the sitting president at the time, Donald Trump.

And when he died, there was this incredible outpouring of grief, of memorials, of remembrances, people telling stories about him, and they

were quite laudatory. This is Lindsay Trevinsky. She's a presidential historian and co-author of

Morning the Presidents, Loss and Legacy in American Culture, where she and her co-author, Matthew

Costello, explore how we remember

our presidents when they die. And when she was watching the funeral of George H.W. Bush,

one thing stuck out to her. When someone passes away, you know, family or friends, they want to put

the best version of that person forward. But what struck us as interesting was that people who had been sometimes very critical of Bush 41,

here they were talking about how he was kind and he was decent.

And his presidency represented a moment of international strength and international stability.

I believe it will be said that no occupant of the Oval Office was more courageous, more principled, and more honorable than George Herbert Walker Bush.

...