Earle Hudd is a composite character based on a number of Bush's evangelical minister friends, among them, televangelist James Robison, Billy Graham, Kirbyjon Caldwell, C. Lane Boyd, his minister in Midland at the time of the Bible Study Group (1986), and other charismatic Texas preachers such as Tony Evans and T.D. Jakes in Dallas, Ed Young in Houston, and Mark Craig in Austin. ("A Charge to Keep," George W. Bush, page 1)

George Bush--struggling with business failures and a drinking problem--made a life-altering decision in the 1980s after spending a weekend with longtime family friend Billy Graham: "It was the beginning of a new walk where I would recommit my heart to Jesus Christ," Bush later wrote. The change that decision produced in his life, friends say, was both remarkable and genuine.

Much of the dialogue in the present scene is drawn from excerpts of various Billy Graham sermons.

"It wasn't just a flash in the pan," says Mark Leaverton, co-founder of the Midland, Texas, Community Bible Study-a group to which Bush became a devoted attendee. "It wasn't just a temporary experience for him. He'd changed and all of a sudden studying the Bible was important." (http://www.pbs.org/previews/frontline_jesus_factor/)

"Reverend Graham planted a mustard seed in my soul, a seed that grew over the next year. He lead me to a path, and I began walking. And it was the beginning of a change in my life...It was the beginning of a new walk where I would recommit my heart to Jesus Christ." ("A Charge to Keep," George W. Bush, page 136)

See also "The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty," Schweizer, pages 332-335; and "The Perfect Wife," Gerhart, page 78