George H.W. Bush: The Leadership Lessons

Episode 227 The LEADERSHIP of GEORGE BUSH (Part 3) With the Help of Richard Nixon (Tape Series 15)

October 03, 2023 Randal Wallace Season 11 Episode 227
George H.W. Bush: The Leadership Lessons
Episode 227 The LEADERSHIP of GEORGE BUSH (Part 3) With the Help of Richard Nixon (Tape Series 15)
Show Notes Chapter Markers

In this episode we look back at the early career of George H. W. Bush, as we review his father's term in the United States Senate, his own race for the U.S. Senate against Senator Ralph Yarborough, his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, and his defeat at the hands of Lloyd Bentsen in 1968. All this from a comprehensive report by NBC News with Brian Williams that gives a great overview of the former President's career. 

We will then follow NBC News' Brian Williams  to the look at the help and connections that Bush received from  President Richard Nixon. Nixon had been a friend of Bush's father , Senator Prescott Bush, who was an old golfing buddy of President Dwight Eisenhower. That connection and Nixon's need to elevate the defeated Republican from Texas as cover in order to also place the former Democratic Governor, John Connally, in as the Treasury Secretary, led to the door opening for George Bush to become the Ambassador to the United Nations in New York. It would be in that role that George Bush would shine and see his star finally begin to rise in Republican circles. 

It will be here that we begin to let you listen in to the interaction between the new Ambassador and his benefactor, President Richard Nixon. We will insert into the report full conversations between Nixon and Bush as they discuss issues in the United Nations and positions the President wants Bush to pursue.  One you will get to listen into is the work Bush did in the UN to help Pakistan as it was invaded by the Indians in 1971. It is a fascinating look behind the scenes of American Foreign Policy concerning one of the most dangerous regions of the world both then and now, the border between India and Pakistan. 

You will also again get to listen in as President Nixon moves Kansas Senator Bob Dole out as the Chairman of the Republican Party in order to move George H. W. Bush in after the historic landslide victory of the President by the largest margin in history, a 49 state landslide. But the job won't turn out to be as good as it seemed as Watergate would soon overwhelm the President and put George Bush in as unenviable a position as could possibly be imagined. Then we bring you through the Ford years and the eve of Bush's run for the Presidency in 1980.

Finally our episode will conclude with an interview of George H. W. Bush conducted in 1999 with C-Span's Brian Lamb where the former President discusses these years and his own relationship with former President Richard Nixon, (though this interview was conducted long before we knew so much about the wrongs done to Nixon by the WSPF) It is a fascinating look at the relationship between Bush and the man who made his subsequent career possible, Richard Nixon. 

Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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New Year's Eve phone call between President Richard Nixon and UN Ambassador George H. W. Bush
Music Intro
Host Randal Wallace introduces the episode
NBC News biography on George Bush by Brian Williams
Phone call between President Richard Nixon , National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, and UN Ambassador George Bush on the situation in India and Pakistan
Phone call between President Richard Nixon and UN Ambassador George Bush on India and Pakistan
NBC News biography on George Bush by Brian Williams
Phone calls between President Nixon offering George Bush the Chairmanship of the National Republican Party
Phone call between President Richard Nixon, Chief of Staff Bob Haldeman, then RNC Chairman Senator Bob Dole, and George Bush the then UN Ambassador
NBC News biography on George Bush by Brian Williams
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C-Span interview between George Bush and host Brian Lamb from 1999
NBC News John Chancellor introduces the coverage of the George Bush Presidential announcement in 1980
Closing music