George W. Bush went on a disastrous first date with the daughter of President Richard Nixon in the late 1960s, according to new details divulged by the former president in a memoir about his father.
George H W Bush—then a Texas congressman—arranged for his 22-year-old son, who was then a pilot in the National Guard, to meet Tricia Nixon at a gala in honor of the Apollo 8 spaceflight crew. It all went downhill from there, the Telegraph reports.
“During dinner, I reached for some butter, knocked over a glass, and watched in horror as the stain of red wine crept across the table,” Bush writes. “Then I fired up a cigarette, prompting a polite suggestion from Tricia that I not smoke.”
The date came to an abrupt end, Bush writes, when Nixon asked to be taken back to the White House “immediately after dinner,” a drive he remembered with a twinge of embarrassment more than thirty years later, when he returned to the White House as the nation’s 43rd president.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Why Trump’s Message Worked on Latino Men
- What Trump’s Win Could Mean for Housing
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
- Sleep Doctors Share the 1 Tip That’s Changed Their Lives
- Column: Let’s Bring Back Romance
- What It’s Like to Have Long COVID As a Kid
- FX’s Say Nothing Is the Must-Watch Political Thriller of 2024
- Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision
Contact us at letters@time.com