# George H.W. Bush — "Your success now is our country's success" > [!quote] "You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success now is our country's success. I am rooting hard for you. Good luck — George" > — George H.W. Bush, note left in the Oval Office desk for [[Bill Clinton]], January 20, 1993 ## Context Defeated by Bill Clinton in 1992 after a single term, Bush left this handwritten note in the Resolute Desk for his successor to find on Inauguration Day — beginning a tradition of outgoing presidents leaving a private letter for the incoming one. Clinton later said the note "revealed the heart of who he was." Bush had conceded graciously on election night and cooperated fully in the transition. ## Why this matters The peaceful transfer reduced to its emotional core: a defeated incumbent privately wishing his victorious opponent — of the other party — genuine success, because the country's fortunes now ride on him. "Your success now is our country's success" is the loser's-consent principle made personal. It encodes the premise that the office is bigger than the man and that an opponent's win is not a catastrophe to be reversed but a result to be supported. The note became a touchstone precisely because it embodied a norm later presidents would shatter. ## Verification - **Primary source:** [Clinton Digital Library, note from President George H. W. Bush to President Bill Clinton, January 20, 1993](https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/101724); [PBS NewsHour, "From Bush to Clinton, a grace note for the ages"](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/from-bush-to-clinton-a-grace-note-for-the-ages). - **Status:** Verbatim from the original note. Undisputed. ## Related quotes - [[Gerald Ford - the genius of the American system]] — another one-term loser's grace toward his successor. - [[Barack Obama - a hallmark of our democracy]] — the same wish — rooting for the winner's success — across party lines in 2016. - Featured in [[Presidents on the Peaceful Transfer of Power]].