While the city was abuzz with news of the mayoral election last night, 450 guests at the city’s oldest museum were focused on even higher political office.

Attention was riveted as first lady Laura Bush, dressed in a dark-brown Carolina Herrera gown, visited the New-York Historical Society for the 2005 History Makers Gala. The event, which raised more than $1 million for the society, honored two people Mrs. Bush knows quite well: the founders of Chelsea Piers, Tom Bernstein and Roland Betts. The honorees have been friends and financial supporters of President Bush for a long time, and were, for nine years, his business partners in the Texas Rangers.

“We did have a lot of fun back in those baseball days,” Mrs. Bush said from the podium. “We built a stadium – and you go through a lot with a public project like that. It seems to me that Tommy and Roland gained a little bit of experience which they’d put to use in their projects in New York City.”

Chelsea Piers, the 30-acre waterfront sports village on the Hudson River, has been a boon for a previously derelict part of the city, creating new jobs and opening up access to the waterfront. It draws 4 million visitors a year to what had once been bustling commercial piers (as captured in N-YHS archival photographs published in the event’s program).

Calling New York “America’s premier city,” Mrs. Bush said, “Roland and Tommy will figure prominently in the history of this city’s renaissance.”

Mrs. Bush also thanked the New-York Historical Society for “all you do for our American history,” acknowledging the national importance of the society’s holdings.

The president of the society, Louise Mirrer, said that Messrs. Betts and Bernstein were selected as 2005 History Makers Award recipients “because they exemplify the great American story that the N-YHS seeks to tell.”

“Both men are deeply committed to the vitality of New York City and, under difficult circumstances, worked hard and persevered in their vision so that the twin goals of preserving the history of the city and enabling economic development were achieved,” Ms. Mirrer said.

While the evening celebrated Chelsea Piers, as well as the society’s landmark exhibit on slavery in New York, it was also about relationships. Mr. Bernstein said it best: “It’s about all the things that bind us together.”

Mr. Betts met the president when they were classmates at Yale (Mr. Bernstein graduated a few years later). Mr. Betts and his wife, Lois, have had an enduring friendship with the Bushes. Yesterday’s festivities for Mrs. Bush’s New York trip included a birthday luncheon hosted by Mrs. Betts.

In recent years, Mr. Betts has filled in for the president as the first lady’s date at many black-tie events.

“This is the first time the tables are turned,” Mr. Betts said. No doubt he enjoys her company very much. As he put it, “You are always impressing me with your grace, dignity, your warmth, and charm,” Mr. Betts said.

Mr. Betts and the first lady share a passion for education. Before going to Columbia Law School, Mr. Betts taught at a public school in central Harlem, trained teachers, and served as assistant principal. He also wrote a book about his experiences, “Acting Out: Coping With Big City Schools,” published in 1978.

Mr. Betts’s friendship with Mr. Bernstein began 22 years ago, when they shared an office as associates at the law firm Paul, Weiss.

Mr. Betts recalled being introduced to this “freckle-faced kid.” They were told a glass partition would be installed so they could both have their privacy. The partition never arrived, and years later, Mr. Betts sought him out as a partner.

Mr. Bernstein spoke warmly of this partnership. “When I got married, Roland told me to tell Andi that he was my day-wife,” Mr. Bernstein said. And he had fond memories of the Texas Rangers, too.

“We were about even. We won 707 games and lost 685.The only thing we needed was a pitcher,” Mr. Bernstein said.

Mr. Bernstein thanked the New-York Historical Society for its “unwavering support” of the International Freedom Center, the project for ground zero that Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Betts both supported. Mr. Betts was until last month a director of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and remains a chairman of the design memorial committee.

Guests included the president of Yale, Richard Levin, who works closely with Mr. Betts on the university’s corporation; Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff (not dressed in black tie because his later engagement that evening, Mayor Bloomberg’s victory party, didn’t call for it); Kenneth and Kathryn Chenault; the photographer Clifford Ross, and Robert A.M. Stern.

On this night, the wives – Mrs. Betts and Mrs. Bernstein – dined together at a table separate from their husbands. Mrs. Bush did not stay for dinner. The menu, catered by Abigail Kirsch, started with ginger lime roasted shrimp and thai shrimp, followed by an entree of beef and mushrooms, and ending with cappuccino and chocolate ice cream.

Mrs. Bush was at the society twice last year, at a History Teacher of the Year Awards ceremony in October 2004, and a Logicom luncheon in September 2004.

The N-YHS is no stranger to first ladies, having displayed two exhibits in the spring that showcased achievements and contributions made by first ladies throughout America’s history. Senator and former first lady Hillary Clinton spoke at the Society’s annual Strawberry Festival benefit luncheon this past March.

The society’s welcome to Mrs. Bush will be quickly reciprocated. Today Mrs. Bush welcomes to the White House the co-chairman of the society, Richard Gilder. President Bush is scheduled to present the National Humanities Medal to Mr. Gilder and his friend Lewis Lehrman, who is a board member of the society. The history patrons are founders of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which is on deposit at the society. The ceremony also includes the presentation of the National Medal of the Arts to New Yorkers Louis Auchincloss, Leonard Garment, and Wynton Marsalis.