The morning of his inauguration as Governor of Texas, Poppy gives W a set of cufflinks, ones that belonged to own father, the "Senator," Prescott Bush. The hand-off from father to son had also taken place in Texas, but at a very different time. The place is a hot, dusty air base near Corpus Christi and George H. W. Bush a lanky young man, barely twenty, has just received his navy pilot's wings and is about to fly off to fight in World War II.

Now, without much more than small talk (the Bush men seem to have a hard time readily revealing too much of their feelings, other than anger), Poppy hands W. the cufflinks, along with a note.

"These cuff links are my most treasured possession," the older man had written and he invokes that June day in 1943 when his own father first gave them. "I want you to have them now," the note says and then the father speaks of the son 'receiving his wings' on this inauguration day...and how he will be a fine governor.

After expressing his love and pride in the note, the father writes in closing to his son: "Now, it is your turn."

("Faith of George W. Bush," pages 2-4)