Episode 415, The Andrew Parker Show: A Conversation with Senator Rudy Boschwitz — An American Treasure

In this very special episode of The Andrew Parker Show, Andrew sits down with a true American treasure and friend, former U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz. At 94 years old, Boschwitz reflects on his extraordinary journey — from fleeing Nazi Germany as a child to building a successful business in Minnesota, serving 12 years in the U.S. Senate, and playing pivotal roles in history, including Operation Solomon, which brought thousands of Ethiopian Jews safely to Israel.

Senator Boschwitz shares rare insights on:

• The American experiment and what makes this nation “Magnificent America.”
• His 1978 political rise in Minnesota and years working alongside President Ronald Reagan.
• The behind-the-scenes story of Operation Solomon and Israel’s enduring importance.
• His work as U.S. Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Commission and the fight against bias toward Israel.
• A candid assessment of Donald Trump, tariffs, immigration, and the Abraham Accords.
• Reflections on America’s role in the world and his unwavering optimism about freedom and democracy.

A powerful conversation with one of Minnesota’s great leaders — and a reminder of why America remains a beacon of liberty.

Transcript

Episode 415 Transcript

Welcome to another episode of the Andrew Parker Show. And this episode, number 415, is a very special one. Special to me. And once you watch it, it will be very special to you. We are on location in the offices of Senator Rudy Boschwitz, both friend and a...

You know, when you say a great American, oftentimes it's half of them, it's very little, because there isn't support, evidence behind it. But in this case, Vibhashwitz is a great American, is what America is all about. And we're going to, by the end of this episode, have you understand precisely what I mean when I say that. Senator, thank you so much.

for joining us on the Andrew Parker Show. Please do it. Thank you for the nice words. Absolutely, and they're heartfelt. Rudy Boschwitz was born in Berlin. In Berlin, Germany in 1930. is now 94 years old, and they say that he is the oldest living person to have served

as an elected member of the U.S. No. I'm number two. Who's number one? A fellow from New Jersey who was appointed to the Senate and served for a year and a half. Okay. All right. As a member of the U.S. Senate, you hold that position. Many of you know that Senator Boschwitz was elected in

1978. It was a great year for a shift in politics here in the state of Minnesota. He beat ⁓ Wendy Anderson to become U.S. Senator. got 57 percent of the vote in Minnesota. He then beat Joan Groh, a very popular Secretary of State, everybody newer, ⁓ with 58 percent.

of the vote in 1984 and served 12 years in the United States Senate, very important years. But before that, Senator, yes. 1990, I was defeated. Yes, you were. We'll get to that, but not just yet. It's kind of an afterthought, frankly, because the 12 years that you were in the US Senate.

Good news were profound. Absolutely. were. So I want to lead up to the election in 1978 and talk about your perspective of what is this American experiment and your early years in coming to America and healing the hope

that exists in America with freedom and liberty, particularly from where you were coming from? Well, as you know, I was born in Germany. And on the day Hitler became vice chancellor, part minister, ⁓ my dad came home. I was two years old, so I have no recollection of this. My dad came home and told my mom, we're going to leave Germany.

forever. On the first day of Hitler's reign, he said that, and we left in July 33. And of our family, most of them left because of my father, but those who remained, the ones who survived. And we came to America, and I call it Magnificent America, and I was asked once if I'd ever been saved, and

I said, yes, had been. And I related my trip across the ocean, the SS Majestic, a picture of which is in my office up there. And wow, when I had a long speech, I said at the end, when I walked down the gangplank of the SS Majestic and stepped on America.

my mother's hand, stepped on American soil, I was saved. And indeed, America is the most magnificent country in the world and has really been the leader since particularly World War II, as times have gotten better worldwide because of the United States of America.

And that is what all of our U.S. senators should believe. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case. But with the experience that you have had, Senator, I'm not surprised that it is for you. And when you came here to the United States, you grew up, you went in New York and you went to NYU and graduated from NYU in 1953 and you got married.

to Ellen, your beautiful bride still in 1956. 69 years. Gonna be 70 shortly, right? And well, next June. And that was my best decision of my life. Beautiful. So after you graduated, you started in business. What did you do and how did those years go? Well, first I practiced law.

Two and half years served in the Army for a couple of years. I was drafted and then we married and not a year after that, in 1956, we came to the Middle West and eventually in 1963 came to Minnesota. I started five with Minnesota. Not having politics in my mind at all. Nothing. Zero.

How did you get into plywood Minnesota? What was it that brought you into it? My older brother, my mom was there. What else? I have two older brothers I had. He was 11 years old. He married a young woman from Poland, also a refugee. And they were in the plywood business in Poland. And they started up again in this country.

And when my brother married, they thought they ought to find another factory to buy in. They bought the fun factory in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. And then my brother began the process, trying to lure me away from the law and come and work with him, apply for business. He was a manufacturer and he was a good manufacturer. And he was also a very good brother.

And I came and lived in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which was for six years, quite adequate. And then came to Minnesota where my brother did not have a customer. And so I came here and started up my own business. 15 years later, I was a Senator. Unbelievable. And not only that, we had 72 warehouse stores, eight states 15 years later.

was a busy time. And you grew that business from nothing to all those stores in eight states. Yeah. It was fun. Yeah. It was an amazing business and you had commercials, you ran commercials and you ran them a little bit differently than most. Yes. I was in the commercials and so I became well known. And the Republicans won year 1966 or so.

sent me a letter and said, join the 11 Club. And it's 500 bucks. I sent them a check. I think I'm the only one who sent a check that year. And by George, I knew I was a Republican and they began to chase me. And that's how I got into politics. And I like it. I like people. And I also understand the importance of the political process.

Yes, indeed. And in 1978, you were elected to the Senate as we talked about. Tell us a little bit about ⁓ that election. What do you think ⁓ hurtled you to victory? Well, it was other than the plaid shirt. The shirt helped and the family helped. My four sons, unfortunately, we lost one to cancer and

Those four sons went around the state independently. Two of them were old enough to drive a car and two weren't. So each one of the older boys took a younger one. They went from town to town to town and they worked hard and Ellen, my wife, worked hard and I did as well. And then Dave Durenberger and Al Quay also ran.

in 1978, all three of us won. It's a big political shift in Minnesota that year. That year it was called the, what was it called again? Yes, I've been thinking about that and I can't recall it, but it was a watershed year for sure. It was. ⁓

You then served six years and you were 12 years. Yes. And you were reelected for a second term. us a little bit about the race against Joan Grubb.

Well, she was a confident opponent and smart woman. I don't really know her. And I was on top of my game. Yeah, you won it handily. You actually won both of your elections handily by 16, 17 points. And then came the defeat.

in 1990 to Paul Wellstone just by a very, very slim margin. Yes. Do you want to comment on that at all? Well, I didn't take him seriously at all. And all kinds of bad things happened just at the very end. At the end, yeah. The budget.

The budget year of the United States government begins on October 1st. So the budget, they're always late. And it went on to, the Senate went on until the 26th of October. So I wasn't at home. was the senior member of, I was one of the senior members of the budget committee and thought I ought to stay. And again, I didn't take Paul Wildstone. He ran a strong campaign, a good campaign.

And things broke his way. We had a governor's candidate, Phil Reynolds, who got involved with young women in a swimming pool. my. His positives went down to 6%. Immediately. And all kinds of other things came together. It was almost a

A perfect storm to cause it to go well, stone's way, but you did not, shed a tear or go hide in your office. You, ⁓went out and did some work and you were doing some work at that time related to, ⁓ what was called operation Solomon. I I shed a lot of tears losing it.

in life in general and politics perhaps even more so. But that's what happened. Yes, Operation Solomon. There were for 2,000 years a bunch of black Jews in Ethiopia, a bunch meant upwards of 100,000, maybe 80,000. And they for a couple thousand years have

been praying always looking east towards Israel, towards Jerusalem, and they wanted to come and they were very much in need. They didn't have all the rights of all the Ethiopians. The Ethiopian people didn't have many rights and the Jews had even fewer. And so they were anxious to go. And President George W. Bush, George...

H.W. Bush, the father, sent me to Ethiopia to negotiate an air movement of, turned out to be about 15,000 of those Black Ethiopians. And so the Black Ethiopians came to Israel, and there were only two instances in history where Black people were taken off the African continent.

larger numbers boatloads. And only twice in history have black people been taken for love and better life. And in both instances, it was going to Israel and becoming citizens over there where they're doing quite nicely. Yeah. The Operation Solomon is an amazing endeavor that you

point of the spear in operating it. became the... I was a negotiator. Yes. I headed the negotiating team and the team was a very good team and they knew more about Ethiopia than I did and it worked very well and I'm proud of the fact that only twice in history have Black people been taken off of the African continent.

for love and a better life. And both times were when black Jews were taken off the African continent and born into Israel.

You became the representative, the United States representative to the UN commission on human rights named by George. Ambassador. Yeah. Ambassador to the UN human rights commission. That was by the son. George W Bush. That was in 05, 06. Tell us a little about your experience as the ambassador to the human rights commission.

Well, Israel and America don't fare so well in the UN. Israel, of all of the criticism of the Human Rights Commission, about 75 % is criticism of Israel. And the Human Rights Commission, which has members from

approximately 50 countries, they dominated and the worst of the worst countries who have the worst human rights became made efforts to become members of the Human Rights Council, known about 50 members of the 200 members of the

UN became members of that committee and they voted against Israel all the time. 75 % of their decisions were critical of Israel and they wanted to protect themselves so that the Human Rights Commission didn't criticize them. So as a group these guys voted together.

And they were some of the biggest offenders of human rights in the world. Yes. And they sat on this commission. Yes. And they didn't want to be they didn't want to be denounced by the commission. So they became members and they dominated the commission. And you were up against that. Yes. Yeah. It fun.

I bet it was. Certainly. And they continue today to ride Israel. Yes. I can call back. Yeah. Well, we're very lucky to have had you Well, yes, and others as well. Yes. ⁓

with your experience in the US Senate and with all of the work you have done since you have left the Senate for the United States, for America here, but as well in politics, as you have raised money for causes for for elections, for various candidates, for those that you believe in.

and your conservative ideals. How do you compare what is going on in the body politic today and in Washington today to when you were a servant? Well, we discussed this a little bit in advance together, you and I, and the Senate for the first time in its history has had a longer period when the

It was 50-50 or 51 to 49 or 52 to 48. So the leadership on both sides told their members, you can't stray, you gotta vote for the team here, otherwise we could lose the vote by a single vote. And so the interchange between Democrats and Republicans have been minimized because of that.

And it hasn't been a good period. When I was there, mind you, the Senate was in very difficult shape in 1960 and 1950 because Lyndon Johnson was such a, he was a dictator on the floors of the Senate when he was the leader. And when he left, probably by the name of Mansfield from Montana, became the Democratic leader and he

changed the Senate to be a very collegial place and where the rights of every Senator were protected. And I came in just as Mansfield left the Senate and I was one of the beneficiaries of a collegial Senate that was very nice indeed.

You were able to talk with senators from across the aisle, unlike what we hear goes on in Washington today. Just a lot of that. And the Senate was different. The senators in the South were still largely Democrat, but they were conservative and they voted with the Republicans on defense and other important elements and the defense buildup.

the Reagan defense buildup that caused the Cold War to be won without firing a shot. Mrs. Thatcher of England said that Ronald Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot. And it happened because we and the Republicans were in the majority for half the time and the Democrats the other half of the time, but we interrelated.

And particularly with the southerners, we were able to build up the defenses of the United States. know, in terms of conservative versus liberal control of the House and the Senate, it was amazing. Before we started today, you were commenting on the decades long control of the Democratic Party in both the House and the Senate for decades, albeit the Democrats had

Southern Democrats who were conservative, but the Democratic Party was in control for many, many years. Well, the House of 1932 until Newt came back and won the House in 1994. That's 62 year period. The Democrats controlled the House for 58 of those 62 years. And in the Senate,

time period is a little different from 1932 to 1980, 50 years almost. The Democrats controlled the Senate for 44 of 48 years. Amazing. Amazing, yeah. That's when some of the mischief began. And just for a little show and tell, we can see the Senator's seat from the U.S. Senate.

in his office right here brings you back doesn't it Senator? Well you know yes with my chair I had no idea that I was going to receive it but apparently senators when they leave get their chair that showed up one day and it's very nice indeed. a lot of memories yes. Well there are only 100

citizens of the United States that have the honor at any given time to sit and vote in the U.S. Senate. And there only 435, or a total of 535, in Congress of the 330 million, as I talk about quite often, that have that power, that authority given to them by the rest of us to cast that vote. And that is how important

you know, our democracy works and it's how important it is that ⁓ elections A, be accurate, but that people be involved, get involved in elections. And I know you've been involved since you've left the Senate for sure in raising probably as much or more than any single individual anywhere in the country, at least within the limits that you have worked. And it's been really amazing.

You were chair of the NRSC, I believe, when you were, or was it after you, when you were in the Senate. When I was in the Senate, that made me part of the leadership, the Republican leadership. And Reagan would call us together, the leadership now, five of us, six of us, every five or six weeks, and to the White House.

those meetings were just very interesting. What did you think of Ronald Reagan? ⁓ I thought he was great. He knew what he wanted. He was a very active reader and people don't realize that he was very well read and that he had a good sense of history. And he realized that communism and socialism just can't

keep up with free enterprise and a free and open society. And that's how he won. When he was asked what's going to be our program with respect to Russia, he said, we win, they lose. my friend Henry Kissinger wanted to just keep everybody cool. Reagan...

was intent on winning and he won without firing a shot. Well, I don't want to compare our current president to Ronald Reagan, but in that aspect of Ronald Reagan, we win, they lose, at least when it comes to certain things, this president has that similarity. He does indeed. Right. Well, it's been a fabulous

chat, ⁓ Senator and- We were going to talk a little bit about Trump. Yes, I want to give you the opportunity to do that. What do you think about him? I have been on all sides of this issue. actually, I was surprised that he won this last time around. People have continued to beat me up for having that surprise.

over it, but I didn't think the American people would come back from the abyss. They were about to climb into by electing a Democrat with the crazy ideas that the Democratic party has now made their platform. I was fearful that they wouldn't ⁓ elect him, but I guess I should be more optimistic.

Yes, you be optimistic about Trump. He's amazed how many things he takes on at once and moves, by and large, moves them all forward. For instance, the tariffs. Tariffs. Or go way back, the whole business about the tariffs. Go back to the Second World War. All of the productive industrial countries had

were wiped out by the Second World War except the United States. And the United States, after the Second World War, we were concerned that the communists who had already taken the Balkan state by and large would also get Greece in the Balkans, that Italy was in danger of becoming communist, that France wasn't, and so that we wanted the United States.

but it was important to help the European countries recover. And the first thing that happened was these countries, in order to serve their own industries, put up tariffs against the United States. And we did not object to that because we wanted them to rebuild their countries. But that, the tariffs alone, didn't do it.

So we then had the Marshall Plan and we rebuilt friend and foe alike and that never happened before. And it was really quite remarkable. It may happen in Gaza. It may happen in Gaza. then the, in itself, the Marshall Plan and the terrorist.

still more was needed to bring these countries back into the world trade. because so what did we do for now 80 years? We largely become the defense force of Europe against the Russians, against communism. 1980, when I arrived, more or less,

1980 in the Senate, we 350,000 American troops in Europe and 150,000 in the Far East. And even today we have 80,000 troops in Europe and 80,000 in the Far East, in Japan, Korea, the Philippines and a bunch of islands. And we provided the defense so that

Europe didn't have to spend money on defense. They could spend it on rebuilding their economies and all that worked. now Trump, who in his first term said, you guys have spent some money to defend yourself. And that worked. As a matter of fact, he said 2 % and now they're at 5%. 5%, unbelievable. Right.

and what he's done in immigration and giving us a border again, what he's done to fight crime and said, no, we've got to have a safe community for people. Yes. mean, and he's doing this with rocket rocket fire. And the tariffs did not go away. No. So in this term, anybody who understands automobiles understands.

the tariffs and how they were against the American economy. Tariffs remain high against us and he wants to bring them down. And you said that Bill Frenzel wouldn't like it. I think the result of all that will be just the result Bill would like. tariffs will go down worldwide and that trade will become free.

And it goes all the way back to the second world war to understand how it still penalizes the United States and that Trump is right. That's a, it's a great history lesson. I had commented, I did some work in Bill Frenzel's office. He was a, if nothing else, he was a great congressman, a great member of the House of Representatives.

Man of his word things were done on a handshake with Bill Frenzel, but he was a free Trader he was all about the free marketplace and So tariffs generally unless used maybe in the way Trump is using them Wasn't an athma for him ⁓ So, you know the the number of things that Donald Trump has done

since he has been in his second term, as you remark, is amazing. No question about it. The Democrats, no matter what he does, will claim it is a failure. But if you look at it just objectively, it doesn't appear to be at this point. What about

collegiality and polarization. Does Trump have an impact? it positive or negative in that regard, as much as he might try to bring people together? There's no question that he has a hard time bringing people together. And his personality, he wants everything to get done by the end of the week.

He pushes and he pushes. And so, yes, there are some difficulties. He's going to make the Middle East, he has the capability of making the Middle East better. He wrote about the Abraham Accords at the very end of his first term. that for the first time there were six countries, Egypt and

and Jordan before, and he bought four more countries Bahrain, which a little island country in the Persian Gulf, Morocco, the Sudan, and the UAE also on the, and now there are six countries that have normalized their relations with Israel. If he can expand the Accord, the Abraham Accord.

bring in Tunisia, possibly Libya if it develops the government, Oman, Kuwait, possibly Lebanon and the- Maybe even Syria. Maybe even Syria. The Black. the Saudis, of course. And then 10 or 12 countries are in the Abraham Accords. And people will have to say, why do all these-

other Arab countries have full relations with Israel and the Palestinians can't get along. Well, it will put.

Alisa Butler (36:06)

And it's because they think they can ⁓ remove and destroy the state of Israel if they hold out on it. It's a business. And it's a business for sure. The leaders of the monarchy, three of them, a billion, they're working together, have 11 billion dollars that were taken from the people of Gaza. ⁓

And.

Arafat's daughter has a big amount of $8 billion. Arafat skims off the top. All this action you see about food in Gaza, ⁓ two years now, the Israelis have been providing food to their enemies, which is also a... ⁓

first thing in warfare, and people who study warfare have pointed that out. There is possibilities of peace in the Middle East because Trump is going to expand the Abraham Accords, hopefully, and that will be a tremendous accomplishment. Enormous, enormous.

We're talking to Rudy Bosch with the Andrew Parker show episode four 15. And as I said, at the top of the show, hearing from Rudy for this near hour, we'll have you understand what a great American statesman he is, but what a great American he is. And we can all learn from him. Every time I have an opportunity.

to be with you, Rudy. I certainly learn always something new and important. ⁓ You are a man of many words, but they're important words, and there are very few people that are like that. So it's always a pleasure, and I thank you very much for spending ⁓ time with us on this wonderful afternoon, and it's great to see you. Well, thank you for all those nice words.

And life has been good. America is a great country and we made the world better. In the 80 years since World War II, the longest period of time, there has not been a war between major powers. A bunch of wars, but always not between two major powers. And that has allowed

the world to develop very nicely, where there were 12 democracies or so at the end of the war. Today there are 100. And democracies, there never been two democracies fighting one another. that affected so much of the world. Most of the world population lives in democracy, meaning that better times are ahead. Four billion people.

during this 80 years joined the middle class. So that for the first time in the history of the human experience, poverty was not the majority the way people lived. Poverty is now a good deal less worldwide than that. And it's because of the United States of America. It's a magnificent country.

It's a magnificent country, what it does for citizens and to the world. And I thank you. Beautiful words and words of optimism. It is The Andrew Parker Show. Go to theandrewparkershow.com, subscribe, follow, like us, find us on YouTube as well, download and have it and watch it over and over again.

415 episodes. Thank you once again for joining us and until next time, be kind to your neighbor.