Destiny And Power - Destiny and Power Part 45
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Destiny and Power Part 45

NIXON SETTLED ON Naftali, GHWB, 20.

BUSH HAD COME UP SHORT ATB, 11718.

"THOUGH WE FINISHED" LSY, 135.

NIXON DID ASK BUSH NYT, August 17, 1968.

"IN HER REINCARNATION" BPB diary, September 3, 1968.

AT ONE POINT BARBARA NOTICED Ibid., January 18, 1969.

BUSH TRANSFORMED HIS HOUSE Ibid., January 20, 1969.

THEY RODE WITH MR. AND MRS. ROSS PEROT Ibid., January 20, 1969.

AT THE SUGGESTION Author interview with GHWB. See also LF, 9899; and WP, January 21, 1969.

BUSH SHOOK JOHNSON'S HAND LF, 99. The scene and its implications are also covered in LSY, 138; Naftali, GHWB, 2021; GWB, 41, 89.

THE CONGRESSMAN RECALLED LF, 9899.

AFTER BUSH "WISHED HIM" Ibid., 99.

JOHNSON ALSO APPRECIATED LBJ to GHWB, January 31, 1969, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. See also LSY, 138.

HE HAD ASKED BUSH Joe B. Frantz to LBJ, January 23, 1969, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. See also LBJ to Joe B. Frantz, January 30, 1969, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.

FROM BUSH'S PERSPECTIVE LSY, 138.

SHOULD BUSH CHALLENGE Naftali, GHWB, 2021.

IT WAS JUST POSSIBLE LSY, 138.

"PLEASE KNOW THAT I VALUE" LBJ to GHWB, January 31, 1969, Correspondence of Lyndon B. Johnson and GHWB, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.

DWELLING "IN A WORLD CONGESTED" ATB, 120.

"HE JUST MUST" BPB diary, February 10, 1969.

WORTH THE RISK? Wicker, GHWB, 2124; LSY, 13742.

FLEW TO SEE THE FORMER PRESIDENT LF, 100101. I also drew on the account of the visit in BPB diary, April 9, 1969. Bush's trip to the ranch at Stonewall was the subject of some speculation afterward. In a Washington press conference on May 28, 1969, Bush was asked whether he had consulted Johnson about a possible Senate race, and Bush said yes, he had. "I feel better informed about the Senate race....You can't talk to a man like the President about Texas politics without being better informed. Our meeting at the ranch was very informal. I had a very nice letter from him asking me to drop in-really nothing more than that." Had Johnson mentioned Ralph Yarborough? "No," Bush replied. "He didn't say anything about him nor did he say anything about favoring either me or Senator Yarborough." ("Bush Press Conference" transcript, May 28, 1969, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.) After the press conference, Bush was concerned that he had inadvertently put Johnson in an awkward position. He called Tom Johnson, an LBJ aide, to explain what had been asked and what he had said, and then wrote LBJ a letter making the same points. (Tom Johnson to LBJ, May 28, 1969, LBJ Papers; GHWB to LBJ, May 29, 1969, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.) "MR. PRESIDENT, I'VE STILL GOT" LF, 100101.

"SON," JOHNSON SAID Ibid.; BPB diary, April 9, 1969.

BUSH CALLED ON PRESIDENT NIXON BPB diary, May 22, 1969.

"THE PRESIDENT SAID" Ibid.

"WE ARE MOVING INTO A NEW DECADE" ATB, 123. November 1969 had brought encouraging news: A Texas Republican, Marvin Collins of Austin, had successfully managed Linwood Holton's campaign to become the first Republican governor of Virginia in a century. The Virginia victory gave fresh hope to Republicans across the South, and Collins, a Bush adviser, now had firsthand experience in breaking the longtime Democratic hold on statewide offices. (DMN, January 5, 1970; LSY, 136.) BAKER'S FATHER HAD BEEN AN ADMIRER Baker with Fiffer, Work Hard, 75.

"YOU RAN A GREAT RACE" James A. Baker, Jr., to GHWB, November 6, 1964, box 12/12, James A. Baker III Papers, Seeley G. Mudd Library, Princeton University. Hereafter cited as James A. Baker III Papers, Princeton.

THERE WERE COOKOUT LUNCHES Baker with DeFrank, Politics of Diplomacy, 18.

BUSH WAS QUICK AT THE NET Ibid. Bush called double faults "power outages." (Author interview with Jonathan Bush.) TOGETHER THEY WON Baker with DeFrank, Politics of Diplomacy, 18.

AFTER LUNCH ON THANKSGIVING DAY Baker with Fiffer, Work Hard, 355.

BAKER CONSIDERED MAKING HIS OWN RUN JAB III to GHWB, July 24, 1969, box 12/10, James A. Baker III Papers, Princeton.

BUT BAKER COULD NOT DO IT JAB III to GHWB, August 22, 1969, box 12/13, James A. Baker III Papers, Princeton. For Bush's reply to Baker, see GHWB to JAB III, August 28, 1969, box 12/13, James A. Baker III Papers, Princeton.

THE BUSHES WERE THE LAST Baker with DeFrank, Politics of Diplomacy, 18.

"YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING" Author interview with James A. Baker III.

A "BIG BROTHERLITTLE BROTHER" DYNAMIC Baker with DeFrank, Politics of Diplomacy, 19.

(BAKER AFFECTIONATELY CALLED BUSH "JEFE") Author observation.

BUSH CALLED ON NIXON IN THE OVAL OFFICE Time, January 26, 1970; DMN, January 10, 1970; NYT, January 14, 1970; WP, January 14, 1970.

"I WISH YOU LUCK" Time, January 26, 1970.

A FILM CREW SHOT FOOTAGE NYT, April 6, 1970.

JOHN CONNALLY AND OTHER DEMOCRATS DMN, December 19, 1969, December 31, 1969; LSY, 141; Naftali, GHWB, 22; and Wicker, GHWB, 22. There was also some talk that Connally himself might run. "One aim of the group seeking to persuade Connally or Bentsen to run for the Senate is to keep a strong conservative voice from Texas in the national Democratic party, partly with a view to helping return some influence [to] conservatives on national party affairs," wrote The Dallas Morning News's Richard Morehead. (DMN, December 19, 1969.) For his part, Johnson publicly refused to be drawn into the primary race. (Memorandum of Tom Johnson to LBJ, January 13, 1970, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.) In the general election, Johnson denied a report that he had asked President Nixon to prevent the Teamsters from endorsing Bush for the Senate seat. "This is a pure lie," Johnson wrote on an internal memorandum reporting a press inquiry (from Charlie Bartlett) about the rumor. "I have never called Nixon on anything-Have never discuss[ed] Tex. Senate race or any other race with Nixon or any of his cohorts." (Handwritten notation of LBJ on Memorandum from Willie Day Taylor to LBJ, July 9, 1970, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.) RIVALS IN THE TEXAS POLITICS OF THE AGE Douglas Harlan, "The Party's Over," Texas Monthly, January 1982; Al Reinert, "Bob and George Go to Washington or the Post-Watergate Scramble," Texas Monthly, April 1974; Chicago Tribune, November 11, 1967.

CONNALLY HAD BEEN A LAWYER FOR SID RICHARDSON NYT, June 16, 1993. See also WP, December 28, 1960.

TEXANS "WILL BE CONFRONTED" DMN, February 6, 1970.

BENTSEN DEFEATED YARBOROUGH Martin Waldron, "Conservative Beats Yarborough in Democratic Primary in Texas," NYT, May 3, 1970. See also Ibid., May 4, 1970.

REPORTED THAT BENTSEN HAD WON NYT, May 3, 1970.

THE SOUTHERN STRATEGY WAS Ibid., May 4, 1970; LAT, April 12, 1970.

A TROUBLING SIGN FOR ANOTHER SOUTHERN LIBERAL NYT, May 6, 1970.

IN A PRIMARY AD FOR BENTSEN The Wall Street Journal, October 15, 1970.

"SERVE AS THE FIRST BROAD REFERENDUM" Time, January 26, 1970.

AN ELEVEN-PAGE MEMORANDUM Richard Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York, 1978), 49091.

BRIGHT, AGGRESSIVE, AND UNAPOLOGETICALLY CONSERVATIVE Patrick J. Buchanan, Right from the Start (Boston, 1988), 13, 24, 26793, 325; Current Biography, 1985 (New York, 1986), 4950.

THE KEY VOTER Nixon, RN, 49091.

"TO KNOW THAT THE LADY IN DAYTON" Ibid., 491.

"IF THIS ANALYSIS" Ibid.

"SCHOOL BUSING, TED KENNEDY" Carl Freund, "Bush Blasts Against School Busing," DMN, September 16, 1970.

FAVORED MAKING POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA Ibid., August 11, 1970.

HE OPPOSED FIREARM REGISTRATION Ibid., October 23, 1970.

"THE WAY TO TURN THE KIDS OFF" Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, "The GOP's Southern Star," WP, November 1, 1970. During the student unrest of the late 1960s, Bush had joined a group of fellow congressmen for a secret tour of college campuses organized by Bill Brock of Tennessee. Realizing they had too little firsthand knowledge of what was happening in terms of campus demonstrations, Brock asked Bush and four other GOP lawmakers to breakfast, where he proposed that they quietly lead groups of colleagues to different colleges to see what was happening. There would be no advance publicity, just conversations. In a report to President Nixon after the visits, the Republicans struck a moderate tone, urging the White House to resist calls coming from the right to curtail federal money to institutions prone to demonstrations. (WP, May 29, 1969; Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1969; NYT, June 20, 1969.) REHIRED AD MAN HARRY TRELEAVEN WSJ, October 15, 1970. See also LSY, 143.

"FOR BUSH, POLITICS IS A PERSONAL GAME" DMN, August 30, 1970.

WAS "TO MAKE GOOD THINGS HAPPEN" Ibid.

"PACKAGING [BUSH] LIKE A BAR OF SOAP" DMN, October 7, 1970. But it was, it seemed, working. "They've succeeded pretty well in painting Bentsen as the establishment guy, older and old-fashioned, and Bush as the fresh, young, new face," George Christian, a Bentsen adviser, told the NYT's R. W. Apple, Jr. (NYT, October 30, 1970.) IN ONE TRELEAVEN SPOT Norman C. Miller, "Television's Key Role in Politics Illustrated by Texas Senate Race," The Wall Street Journal, October 15, 1970.

BUSH TOSSED A FOOTBALL Ibid.

"DURING THE SEVENTIES" Ibid.

IT WAS ONE OF MORE THAN THREE DOZEN Ibid.

"OUR PROBLEM WAS" Ibid. Bentsen accused Bush of speaking in "glittering generalities." (DMN, October 7, 1970.) BUSH CLAIMED HIS POLLING WP, October 13, 1970.

THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION'S POPULARITY Ibid.

"IN THE VIEW OF SOME" David S. Broder, "Nixon May Find '72 Mate," WP, October 27, 1970.

"SEEMS FAR FETCHED" Ibid. Bush made the expected noises when asked about it, saying: "I'm running for the Senate in Texas and for nothing else." (DMN, October 28, 1970; LAT, October 28, 1970; WP, October 28, 1970.) Broder's story was thought to have come from Robert Finch, a White House adviser who disliked Agnew, and it was widely seen as another attempt by the Nixon operation to bolster Bush. (James M. Naughton, "Agnew Rumor May Have Been a Trick," NYT, November 11, 1970.) BUSH LOST TO BENTSEN "Voting and Elections Collection," CQ Press, http://library.cqpress.com/elections/.

RURAL TURNOUT NYT, November 4, 1970; LAT, November 22, 1970; Chicago Tribune, November 4, 1970; author interview with GHWB.

"LIKE CUSTER" Big Spring Daily Herald, November 4, 1970.

"GOD IT HURTS TO LOSE" ATB, 128. Bush had spent about $400,000 more than Bentsen, but the money was obviously not decisive. An unnamed "political source" in the LAT laid the blame squarely with the candidate and his men. "They think of the typical Texas voter as living in Dallas or Houston," the source said. "But he doesn't; he lives in the rural area. For another thing, Bush has always lived in the wealthy country club areas of cities in Texas, as in Odessa or Midland or Houston. And so he doesn't really know the electorate." (LAT, November 22, 1970.) "I'M THE ONLY GIRL" ATB, 129; DMN, November 5, 1970.

"WE'RE TORN BETWEEN" ATB, 129. Barbara did worry about George W. "Georgie Bush campaigned for two months and hard. We were so proud of our son. People loved him all over the state. I now believe that the loss was as hard on Georgie as it was on us." (BPB diary, January 1, 1971.) Asked about his mother's concerns, George W. Bush recalled, "I took it hard. I love the guy." (Author interview with GWB.) In the White House, meanwhile, Nixon was happier with the overall midterm results than he had expected to be. The Republicans lost only nine House seats and won two in the Senate, which was much better than midterms in times of economic stress usually were for the incumbent presidential party. (Nixon, RN, 49495.) "WHAT," THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS ASKED DMN, November 6, 1970.

FOURTEEN: A Turn on the World Stage THE FACT THAT ONE DOOR "Remarks at the Swearing In of George Bush as United States Representative to the United Nations," February 26, 1971, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon, 1971 (Washington, D.C., 1972), 34547.

CHARLES BARTLETT, THE KENNEDY INTIMATE ATB, 133. See also Wicker, GHWB, 2527.

"YOU'D BE AMAZED" ATB, 133.

"TALKED ABOUT THE U.N." Ibid.

LOTS OF THOSE LSY, 14647.

POSSIBILITY OF A POST WITH SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM P. ROGERS BPB diary, November 7, 1969. Rogers had raised the possibility of Bush's coming to the State Department if the Texas race did not work out. (Ibid.) COMMISSION TO REORGANIZE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT James Reston, Jr., The Lone Star: The Life of John Connally (New York, 1989), 37679.

PETER O'DONNELL WROTE PETER FLANIGAN Ibid., 380.

TEXAS REPUBLICANS COULD NOT SEE Ibid.

"CONNALLY IS AN IMPLACABLE ENEMY" Ibid.

THE PRESIDENT NAMED CONNALLY Ibid. As Reston wrote, Tower and Bush could not quite believe it. "As you know, John Tower and George Bush are extremely upset over the appointment of Connally" to the panel, Bill Timmons, Nixon's assistant for legislative affairs, wrote Haldeman, who replied: "This is not a major appointment and is not made to 'give recognition' to Connally. It is a bipartisan board with no visibility and P. needed a strong Democrat member for obvious reasons in connection with our foreign policy. Connally, as you know, was helpful in getting reorgan. passed on the Hill & can be very helpful in foreign policy areas of great importance." (Ibid., 64950.) See also Naftali, GHWB, 23, and LSY, 14547.

BY EARLY DECEMBER 1970 THERE WAS MUCH BIGGER NEWS Reston, Lone Star, 38081.

REPLACING THE BANKER DAVID KENNEDY Ibid., 37981. "I've never seen the President so pleased-from the personal standpoint," Haldeman wrote. (Ibid., 381.) NIXON AND CONNALLY UNDERSTOOD ATB, 131.

"CONNALLY SET" Reston, Lone Star, 382.

BUSH HAD NOT FORGOTTEN ATB, 133.

TRYING TO ACT AS A BROKER BPB diary, January 1, 1971.

AN ANHEUSER-BUSCH HEIR WP, December 22, 1969; NYT, August 1, 2013.

"I WAS ABOUT READY TO SUGGEST" BPB diary, January 1, 1971.

FLANIGAN, LIEDTKE SUGGESTED Ibid.

TAKING THE HINT Ibid.

WOULD HE BE INTERESTED Ibid.

BUSH SAID YES Ibid.

"WELL, YOU KNOW, GEORGE" Ibid.

("HOW GEORGE KEPT HIS TEMPER") Ibid.

BUSH REPORTED TO HALDEMAN'S WEST WING OFFICE ATB, 132. See also LSY, 14648.

BUSH MADE HIS CASE Ibid.

"SPELL OUT" Ibid.

NIXON HAD NOT CONSIDERED Ibid. See also LSY, 147.

"WAIT A MINUTE, BOB" ATB, 132.

NIXON PAUSED Ibid., 13233.