President of the U.S., 1989-1993; Former Republican Rep. (TX)
1970: Ran for Senate unsuccessfully a second time
In 1970, Dad ran for the Senate again. We felt good about his chances in a rematch against Ralph Yarborough. But Yarborough had become so unpopular that he lost his primary to Lloyd Bentsen, a conservative Democrat. Dad ran a good race, but again came up
short. The lesson was that it was still very tough to get elected as a Republican in Texas.
Soon there was another lesson. Defeat, while painful, is not always the end. Shortly after the 1970 election, Pres. Nixon made Dad ambassador to the UN. Then, i
1973, Nixon asked Dad to head the Republican National Committee. It turned out to be a valuable lesson in crisis management when Dad guided the party through the Watergate scandal.
Ford offered Dad his pick of ambassadorships in London or Paris,
traditionally the most coveted diplomatic posts. Dad had told him he would rather go to China, and he & Mother spent 14 fascinating months in Beijing. They came home when Ford asked Dad to head the CIA. Not a bad run for a twice-defeated Senate candidate
1988 cover of Newsweek: "Fighting the Wimp Factor"
One of my tasks [on my Dad's presidential campaign] was to sort through journalists' requests for profile pieces. When Margaret Warner of "Newsweek" told us she wanted to do an interview, I recommended that we cooperate. Margaret was talented and seemed
willing to write a fair piece. Dad agreed.
Mother called me the morning the magazine hit the newsstands. "Have you seen "Newsweek"? They called your father a wimp," she growled.
I quickly tracked down a copy and was greeted by the screaming headline
: "Fighting the Wimp Factor." I couldn't believe it. The magazine was insinuating that my father, a World War II bomber pilot, was a wimp. I was red-hot. I got Margaret on the phone. She politely asked what I thought of the story.
I impolitely told her I thought she was part of a political ambush. She muttered something about her editors and hung up. From then on, I was suspicious of political journalists and their unseen editors.
Ann Richards burst onto the national scene in 1988 when, as Texas state treasurer, she skewered George H. W. Bush at the Democratic National Convention, saying, "Poor George, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth." The country roared with laughter
and the first President Bush later acknowledged the barb by giving Ms. Richards a solver pin shaped like a foot after he won the election.
Source: Courage and Consequence, by Karl Rove, p. 80
, Mar 9, 2010
1973: Heal rift after Karl Rove elected as College GOP Chair
The 1973 College RNC convention opened Saturday morning with my name and [my opponent] Edgeworth's placed in nomination for Chair of the College Republicans. As the roll call was being read, Edgeworth produced a bullhorn and began reading his own from
the side of the room. He knew he'd lose the official count but wanted a reed, however thin, upon which to allege that he'd been cheated. The final official tally was 54 for Rove, 25 for Edgeworth.
Edgeworth asked RNC chairman George H. W. Bush to seat
him as the rightful national chairman and sent a blizzard of paper to Bush's office. Bush appointed a committee to investigate, and spent the next three weeks reviewing the matter. Bush then sent a letter announcing that I had been duly elected.
A few days later, I went to meet with RNC chairman George H. W. Bush in his office. I expected a quick visit. Instead, the new chairman invited us in for a long talk. He touched on the controversy and asked what we were going to do to heal rifts.
1974: Considered as Ford VP; 1976: formed presidential PAC
George H.W. Bush, after Carter's 1976 victory, left his post as CIA director. "I'm thinking of running for President, Karl, and I'd like your help," he told me. He had come close to being named vice president by Ford in 1974 and his business activities
gave him the financial freedom to look at the race. "Would you like to run my PAC?" he asked.
I immediately accepted his offer. In retrospect, the next 18 months seems amateurish & low-budget, especially when compared to what candidates do now when the
run for president. For half the Fund for Limited Government's existence--and perhaps in order to embody the smaller-is-better spirit--I was its only staff. Bush hit the candidate fund-raiser circuit, lining up support among party leaders for a future
White House run. He and I flew around the country, carrying our own bags on countless commercial flights. We focused on districts with high-profile contests, where Bush's appearance could make a difference, aiming to pick up chits with political leaders.
1973: Appointed Karl Rove as chair of College Republicans
The 1973 College GOP convention opened with my name and Edgeworth's placed in nomination for Chair. Edgeworth produced a bullhorn and began reading his own from the side of the room. His purpose was to dispute the outcome of the convention by having
competing roll call votes. He knew he'd lose the official count but wanted a reed, however thin, upon which to allege that he'd been cheated at the convention.The final official tally was 54 for Rove, 25 for Edgeworth.
Edgeworth asked RNC chairman
George H. W. Bush to seat him. Bush appointed a committee to investigate Edgeworth's claims. The group quickly discovered that Edgeworth's votes were specious. Bush signaled he expected to wrap up the investigation quickly.
Bush sent
Edgeworth and me a letter announcing that I would be recognized immediately as chairman by the RNC. I went to meet with Bush in his office. He invited us in for a long talk. He touched on the controversy and asked what we were going to do to heal rifts.
Bush, after Carter's victory [in 1976], left his post as CIA director & reentered the business world. "I'm thinking of running for President," he told me. Ford wasn't running in 1980, and the other potential candidates didn't deter Bush. He had come clos
to being named vice president by Ford in 1976 and his board seats and other business activities gave him the financial freedom to look at the race. Friends had convinced him the next step was to form a political action committee so he could move around
the country and test the waters. "Would you like to run my PAC?" he asked. I immediately accepted.
Bush hit the candidate fund-raiser circuit, lining up support among party leaders for a future White House run. He and I flew around the country,
carrying our own bags on countless commercial flights. We focused on states and districts with high-profile contests, where Bush's appearance could make a difference, We aimed to pick up chits with political leaders by helping them and their candidates.
Requires that all hotels have exercise bikes in his room
The Secret Service's only complaint about Bush is that, to this day, he is hyperactive. "He can't sit still," an agent says. "He is in perpetual motion." In every hotel, the Secret Service had to make sure Bush had an exercise bike in his suite. If the
hotel did not have one, the agency rented one. "He can't read a book," the agent says. "He has to be on a StairMaster. It's go, go, go. For the Secret Service, that meant more work. The tennis court, the golf course, the boat. Always something."
Source: In the President`s Secret Service, by R. Kessler, p.133-134
, Jun 29, 2009
Pardoned 6 officials in Iran-Contra scandal
In the waning days of the Bush presidency he pardoned former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger for lying to Congress and five other officials implicated in the Iran-contra scandal. For more than a year,
Bush and his lawyers had resisted demands of a special prosecutor to hand over the outgoing president’s notes about Iran-contra. His pardon of the scandal’s accused felons mooted the matter, rendering
Bush’s notes legally irrelevant and historically inaccessible, because there were no defendants left in the case to put on trial. Many Democrats and some Republicans believed it a case of the president, in effect, pardoning himself from possible
prosecution, because Weinberger’s indictment charged, in part, that he’d lied about the knowledge and active role of then Vice President Bush in Iran-contra.
1992: Saddam foiled in plotting his assassination in Kuwait
In June 1992, I ordered the military into action for the first time, firing twenty-three Tomahawk missiles into Iraq's intelligence headquarters, in retaliation for a plot to assassinate President George H. W. Bush during a trip he had made to Kuwait.
More than a dozen people involved in the plot had been arrested in Kuwait on April 13, one day before the former President had been scheduled to arrive. The materials in their possession were conclusively traced to Iraqi intelligence, and on
May 19 one of the arrested Iraqis confirmed to the FBI that the Iraqi intelligence service was behind the plot. Most of the Tomahawks hit the target, but four of them overshot, three landing in an upscale
Baghdad neighborhood and killing eight civilians. It was a stark reminder that no matter how careful the planning and how accurate the weapons, when that kind of firepower is unleashed, there are usually unintended consequences.
Q: "How has the national debt personally affected each of your lives?"
Bush: "I'm sure it has. I love my grandchildren. I'm not sure I get... help me with the question."
After more struggle, it was Clinton's turn--and he did
something quite extraordinary. He took three steps toward the woman and asked her, "Tell me how it affected you again?"
The woman was speechless. Clinton helped her along, but the words weren't as important as
the body language: the three steps he had taken toward the woman spoke volumes about his empathy, his concern, his desire to respond to the needs of the public.
Bush, by contrast, was caught gazing at his wristwatch--hoping desperately that this awkward moment would soon be done. And indeed, it was: The presidential campaign was, in effect, over.
It’s an emotional roller-coaster; Gore’s a sore loser
George Bush says his family has been on an “emotional rollercoaster” since the election but he believes his son will prevail over Gore’s challenges. “I don’t like sore losers,” he said, but quickly added, “I don’t want to be out there criticizing.”
“We
heard our son on national television declared the winner. We heard his opponent concede - I was in the house when it happened [when Gore telephoned to concede] - and it was a moment of euphoria. There has not been a euphoric moment since,” Bush said.
Source: Election Notebook, Boston Globe, p. A30
, Nov 30, 2000
Memoir intended to show his heartbeat, via personal letters
When I left office in January 1993, several friends suggested I write a memoir. I was unpersuaded. I felt [Barbara Bush’s and Brent Scowcroft’s] books “got it right” both on perceptions of the Bushes as a family and on how my administration tried to
handle the foreign-policy problems we faced. But then along comes my friend and editor, who suggested that what was missing is a personal book, a book giving a deeper insight into what my own heartbeat is, what my values are, what has motivated me in
life. And then she said something that got me interested: “You already have done such a book. I am talking about a book of letters already written.”
This book is not meant to be an autobiography. It is not a historical documentation of my life.
But hopefully it will let you, the reader, have a look at what’s on the mind of an eighteen-year-old kid who goes into the Navy, and what a President is thinking when he has to send someone else’s son or daughter into combat. It’s all about heartbeat.
OpEd: Governed with views of Congressional Democrats first
While George Bush was serving his eight years as vice president to Ronald Reagan and awaiting his big chance, the GOP changed. The Conservative Opportunity Society and emboldened moderates had turned to
Gingrich for strategy and tactics, if not always for leadership. It isn't clear that Bush ever understood the trend. As president, he governed with the views of congressional Democrats first on his priority list. To pass legislation,
Bush had to get Democrats on board. Too often, House Republican sensibilities became an afterthought.
Most of those House Republicans were Reaganites, another group the Bush White House took great pains to exclude from policy making.
The younger Conservative Opportunity Society members were known derisively around the White House as "bumper-sticker conservatives."
We meet on democracy’s front porch, a good place to talk as neighbors and as friends. For this is a day when our nation is made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended. And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your
heads:
Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love. Accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the shared faith that makes its continuance likely. Make us strong to do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and
write on our hearts these words: “Use power to help people.” For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. Help us to remember it,
Lord. Amen.
I come before you and assume the Presidency at a moment rich with promise. We live in a peaceful, prosperous time, but we can make it better. For in man’s heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over.
Source: Inaugural Address
, Jan 20, 1989
Free markets, free speech, free elections
The totalitarian era is passing. This is a time when the future seems a door you can walk right through into a room called tomorrow. Great nations of the world are moving toward democracy through the door to freedom. Men and women of the world move
toward free markets through the door to prosperity. The people of the world agitate for free expression and free thought through the door to the moral and intellectual satisfactions that only liberty allows.
We know what works: Freedom works. We know
what’s right: Freedom is right. We know how to secure a more just and prosperous life for man on Earth: through free markets, free speech, free elections, and the exercise of free will unhampered by the state.
For the first time in this century,
for the first time in perhaps all history, man does not have to invent a system by which to live. We don’t have to wrest justice from the kings. We only have to summon it from within ourselves. We must act on what we know.
Source: Inaugural Address
, Jan 20, 1989
Click here for definitions & background information on Principles & Values.
