Bush, the closing speaker at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention, told dealers that he relied on the advice of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who told him that failure to act could lead to a full-fledged depression.
The loans, approved in the closing weeks of Bush's presidency, eventually allowed GM and Chrysler to undergo more thorough restructurings overseen by the Obama administration.
Bush said he still believes that "if you make a bad decision in business, you ought to pay," but "sometimes circumstances get in the way of philosophy."
He didn't want to gamble on the chance of a depression and 21 percent unemployment.
The Bush administration provided loans to GM and Chrysler starting with $4 billion to each company in December 2008 and January 2009.
He eventually provided $17.4 billion in aid to the automakers before the Obama administration expanded the rescue of the companies to $62 billion.Automobile News
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