Friday, January 31, 2003

Some Folks Inherit Star-Spangled Eyes

Book review by Mark Hand

J.H. Hatfield, Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President (Third Edition), Soft Skull Press, December 2002. 384 pp. $16.50.

Fortunate Son Soft Skull Press has just released a third edition of J.H. Hatfield’s Fortunate Son, the biography of George W. Bush that in its original incarnation angered Bush campaign officials during the early stages of the 2000 presidential race and scared St. Martin’s Press into withdrawing the book from circulation

The third edition includes a preface by investigative journalist Greg Palast and a new introduction by New York University professor Mark Crispin Miller. Palast gets it right when he writes: “Twenty pages in, I’m wondering, so where’s the goofball info? Where are the rumors and unsupported claims?”

I hadn’t read the earlier editions of Fortunate Son. After reading this third Soft Skull edition, though, I have to agree with Palast’s assessment. It’s a well-written, information-packed book about the son of a powerful member of the U.S. establishment.

The son succeeded in convincing the U.S. business elite that he would rule with their interests at heart and at their beckon call. In return, Bush’s powerful backers and the establishment media appointed Bush the next great thing and, voila, he’s placed in the White House in January 2001.

In his preface, Palast uses his trademark bombast to tell the story about how the Bush henchmen went hunting for Hatfield because he had written a book that painted their man with major character blemishes. Hatfield discovered that Bush was busted for cocaine possession in 1972 and that the arrest had been expunged from his record by a friendly Texas judge. Bush’s henchmen didn’t like this story getting out so they turned the tables on Hatfield.

In late 1999, it was discovered that Hatfield also had a checkered past and the Bush team didn’t hesitate in getting the story out. The Dallas Morning News reported in October 1999 that Hatfield was convicted in Dallas of hiring a hit man to murder his employer with a car bomb in 1987. The hit man failed, and Hatfield served five years of a 15-year sentence in a Texas prison. The revelation about Hatfield’s felony conviction and time in prison led to St. Martin’s Press pulling the book from circulation. St. Martin’s had yet to confirm the news about Hatfield’s felony conviction before taking the extraordinary measure of pulling the book; Hatfield, however, later conceded that the story about him was true. St. Martin’s also didn’t challenge the accuracy of any of the major revelations in Fortunate Son, including the story about Bush’s cocaine arrest.

St. Martin’s decision to pull the book angered many people, including Sander Hicks, the owner of Soft Skull Books, who convinced Hatfield to let Soft Skull publish the book, the first edition of which came out in 2000. “St. Martin’s sold him out as soon as sparks started to fly,” Hicks writes in a special section at the end of this latest Soft Skull edition of the book. As for the Bush thugs, they couldn’t handle the book, Hick explains. “Destroy the man who wrote it and you don’t have to address the harder, clear, logical questions raised in the text.”

In his new introduction, Mark Crispin Miller writes about how Bush’s henchmen threatened to harm Hatfield’s wife and infant child when the author promised to defend himself vigorously against any character assassination attempts, when the new Soft Skull edition of the book was published. The new threats spooked Hatfield, though, to the extent that he tried to convince Soft Skull to cancel publication of the book. It was too late. Miller then explains what followed: “And Jim Hatfield fell apart, the fear and ostracism finally proving more than he could handle.”

Tragically, Hatfield committed suicide in Springdale, Ark., in July 2001 at the age of 43.

Fortunate Son is a comprehensive look at George W. Bush’s climb to the presidency, with an emphasis on Bush’s life after he landed his first real job in the late 1970s. The biography hits its stride on page 54 when Hatfield investigates Bush’s creation of his own drilling company, Arbusto Energy. In this section, Hatfield profiles one of Arbusto’s original investors, James R. Bath, who reportedly used money from Saudi business associates to help Bush get his drilling company going.

Hatfield writes: “Ironically, the money used to underwrite the first business venture of a future president of the United States may have been derived, at least in part, from the family fortune of Saudi terrorist, Osama bin Laden.”

Bush was still a heavy partier and drinker at this point in his life; he didn’t give up alcohol altogether until the mid 1980s. Hatfield recounts Bush’s 40th birthday party celebration at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs in July 1986. It was after this raucous celebration that Bush reportedly swore off drinking.

This section proves to be the low point of the book. Without providing any source material, Hatfield explains how Bush had a life-changing experience at the Broadmoor. Hatfield writes: “Alone in the hotel bathroom, Junior stared at the face in the mirror — a man with disheveled hair, crusted vomit on his chin, and bloodshot eyes that were beginning to tear up. He fell to his knees and sobbed uncontrollably, asking God to save him before he drank himself to death.” Where did Hatfield learn about Bush’s alleged breakdown at the Broadmoor? There’s no attribution or footnote.

Later, however, Hatfield excels in his examination of Bush’s purchase of the Texas Rangers baseball team and his election to the governor’s mansion in Austin. Since the dramatic collapse of Enron, the name of Ken Lay has become synonymous with the Bush family’s political fortunes. But Hatfield correctly explains that the real force behind George W.’s climb to power in Texas was the billionaire speculator Richard Rainwater.

Go back to the 1994 governor’s race, Hatfield writes, and you’ll hear Ann Richards arguing that Rainwater “owned” the Republican candidate. “Bush is completely beholden to Mr. Rainwater for his paycheck,” Richards spokesman Chuck McDonald told Hatfield.

With every day of his presidency, it grows increasingly likely that George W. Bush will leave a deep imprint on this country and the world, a legacy that does tremendous damage to the freedom of Americans and those around the world who dare to stand in the way of the goals of the War Party in Washington. The scars will take a long time to heal, especially if the Bush regime holds onto power through 2008.

Hatfield’s book can help us better understand these troubled times. It provides valuable insight into corporate America’s love affair with George W. and why they sang hallelujah when the Florida fiasco ended in Bush’s favor in late 2000.

Fortunate Son and the intriguing story behind it dropped from my radar screen following St. Martin’s Press’ scandalous abandonment of the book, which proves that Bush’s smear campaign succeeded to some extent. But Soft Skull Press has done us all a favor and this country a service by resurrecting such a gem of information. If you missed out on any of the earlier editions, take advantage of this new chance to read about the making of a dangerous president. Beware, though. Hatfield’s story of George W. Bush’s rise to power will make you shake your head even harder in disbelief and disgust that a second-generation Bush succeeded at ascending the throne.

More from Mark Hand

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