George W. Bush said that during his two terms in office, he rarely called on his father's counsel. But there were exceptions, intersections where the personal drifted into the presidential .
A look at some of those times, as cited by Bush in his 2014 book "A Portrait of My Father," about George H.W. Bush. The elder Bush died late Friday at age 94.
— The younger Bush asked his dad what he thought about making Dick Cheney his vice presidential choice, and his father approved. Cheney was the elder Bush's defense chief and the most influential of the people who served the 41st president to work for the 43rd.
— The elder Bush confessed to "uncontrollable sobs" that wracked his body when he watched on TV as his son reacted to the Supreme Court decision settling the 2000 election in his favor.
— The new and former presidents stood together in the Oval Office on the younger Bush's first day in office, when he invited his parents to come stay at the White House anytime.
— On Sept. 11, 2001, a day after his parents stayed at the White House, the closing of air space to commercial traffic after the terrorist attacks stranded his parents in a Brookfield, Wisconsin, motel on their way to Minnesota for an engagement. Barbara Bush joked about the indignity in a chat with her son, in what he remembers as a bit of levity that painful day.
— The younger Bush says he did not use email during his presidency; his dad would send corny jokes to presidential aides, who passed them on.
— The younger Bush also sought his father's opinions about making Colin Powell secretary of state and Bob Gates his defense chief. The elder Bush liked the choice of both men, who had also served with him.
— After the devastating 2004 tsunami, Bush asked his father and the Democrat who defeated him in 1992, Bill Clinton, to lead a private fund-raising mission to the stricken region. Thus began an unlikely friendship between the two old rivals, and a partnership that continued when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
— Bush asked his dad in 2007 if he thought it would be a good idea to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Bush family's summer home in coastal Maine. The father heartily approved and joined them. The dad, then 83, took them on a speedboat at top speed. "Putin loved the ride," said Bush the son. The next day, they went fishing; only Putin caught a fish.
See AP's complete coverage of George H.W. Bush here: https://www.apnews.com/GeorgeHWBush
ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — Two-time Olympic champion Michelle Gisin was undergoing surgery on her back Thursday having been airlifted from the course by helicopter after crashing hard in a practice run for a World Cup downhill.
Gisin is the third current Olympic champion in the Switzerland women’s Alpine ski team to be injured crashing in training in the last month, after Lara Gut-Behrami and Corinne Suter, just weeks before the Milan Cortina Winter Games.
The 32-year-old Swiss hit the safety fences racing at more than 110 kph (69 mph) on a cloudy morning at St. Moritz in practice for downhills scheduled Friday and Saturday, then a super-G Sunday.
Gisin “can move her arms and legs normally,” the Swiss ski team said in a statement, but also has injuries to her right wrist and left knee.
She is having surgery in Zurich, where she was taken by an air ambulance service, and is in a stable condition, her team said.
One of Gisin's skis seemed to catch an edge approaching a fast left-hand turn and she lost control going straight on, hitting through the first layer of safety nets until being stopped by the second.
Television pictures showed Gisin conscious lying by the course with scratches and cuts on her face as medics assessed her.
Gisin, who won gold in Alpine combined at the past two Winter Games, is currently the veteran leader of the Swiss women’s speed team because of injuries to her fellow 2022 Beijing Olympics champions.
Gut-Behrami’s Olympic season was ended tearing the ACL in her left knee while crashing in practice last month at Copper Mountain, Colorado.
Suter is off skis for about a month with calf, knee and foot injures from a crash while training at St. Moritz last month.
At the last Winter Games in China, Suter won the downhill, Gut-Behrami won super-G — where Gisin took bronze — and Gisin took the final title in individual combined. The Swiss skiers have seven career Olympic medals.
Gisin crashed Thursday when United States star Lindsey Vonn was already on the course having started her practice run. Vonn was stopped while Gisin got medical help and resumed her run later.
Vonn was fastest in the opening practice Wednesday.
The Milan Cortina Olympics open Feb. 6 with women's Alpine skiing race at the storied Cortina d'Ampezzo hill.
AP Winter Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Michelle Gisin of Switzerland is being carried on a stretcher to a helicopter after a fall, during the women's Downhill training race at the Alpine Skiing FIS Ski World Cup, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
Switzerland's Michelle Gisin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill training, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Michelle Gisin of Switzerland in action before a fall during the women's Downhill training race at the Alpine Skiing FIS Ski World Cup, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
Michelle Gisin of Switzerland is being carried on a stretcher after a fall during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill training, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Keystone Via AP)
Michelle Gisin of Switzerland is being carried on a stretcher after a fall during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill training, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Keystone Via AP)
