Transcript: Chapter 06

Herbert Parmet: Bush was portrayed in some aspects of the media as an up-and-coming romantic hero. The future, romantic future of the Republican Party. Young, good-looking guy, full of energy, with a devoted wife and children. It was a good package.

Narrator: In 1970 President Richard Nixon asked Bush to run for Senate -- again against Ralph Yarborough -- promising him a job if he lost. Bush's House Seat was secure. He was a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and he was torn. He had often reached across the aisle to vote for legislation important to his fellow Texan President Johnson. Now he consulted LBJ. "Son," Johnson said, "I've served in the House, and in the Senate too, and the difference between being a member of the Senate and a member of the House is the difference between chicken salad and chicken shit. Do I make my point?"

Doro Bush Koch: My dad chose the chicken salad.

George H. W. Bush: Today I am announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate. It hasn't been an easy decision. I have been very happy in the House of Representatives. I have been particularly happy...

Peter Roussel: There were high hopes for him in that race. It was one of the premier races of that year, and a lot of people thought, well, Bush is going to win this Senate race, and there's probably a good chance that'll be the stepping stone for him ultimately going to run for president.

Narrator: Bush asked his friend James Baker, a prominent Houston lawyer with deep Texas roots, to run his campaign.

James A. Baker, III: I lost a wife to cancer when she was only 38 years of age. And George Bush was my tennis doubles partner, and he came to me and he said, "Bake," he said, "you need to take your mind off your grief. How about helping me run for the Senate?" And I said, "Well, George, that's great except for two things. Number one, I don't know anything about politics." I'd never done anything in politics. "And number two, I'm a Democrat, and he said, "we'll take care of that." And we did. And I changed parties.

Narrator: Bush had confidence he could beat Ralph Yarborough this time -- Texas was growing more conservative. Then Lloyd Bentsen, a businessman more conservative than Bush, challenged Yarborough in the Democratic primary and won. The Nixon White House moved into action.

Richard Nixon (archival): We have to think in terms of what is best for America and it's because I believe that George Bush will do better for Texas and better for America, that I'm for George Bush for the United States Senate.

Narrator: Despite the endorsement, White House staff considered Bush too tame a candidate.

Herbert Parmet: They considered Bush loyal, a source of money, but basically weak. He didn't have the drive to play the game the way they wanted it played. He was too much the gentleman. The aristocratic gentleman. And that's what Prescott Bush was.

Narrator: Many of Yarborough's liberal Democratic supporters considered Bush a more attractive candidate than Bentsen. But the polarizing presence of Nixon convinced them to vote against Bush.

Peter Roussel: Early on, the networks called it for Lloyd Bentsen. And I was up in the suite with him there, and he just kind of sunk deeper and deeper into the couch there. And finally somebody said, "It's time to go downstairs and concede." And he felt pretty low.

George H. W. Bush (archival): And nobody likes to lose, but certainly he ran a good tough race. I feel kind of like Custer, There were too many Indians. Well, there are too many Democrats in some of these counties I guess. The other thing is that I have a horrible problem between now and kind of figuring this thing out, because I can't think of anyone else to blame. Thank you very much.

Lud Ashley: He was brought up not to show great disappointment in defeat or great glee in victory. But he doesn't like to lose. He does not like to lose.

George H. W. Bush: I think in defeat you grope for things that are happy, and it's hard. But I think I would be less than frank if I said I felt good or could see anything from a personal standpoint to be excited about at this point. We're hurt and we lost. We wanted to win.

Narrator: With two unsuccessful Senate campaigns, Bush's political future was in doubt. For the next 18 years, George Bush would not be in control of his political career. He would try to advance his career by serving others in administrative posts, to which he was well suited, but which, to many, seemed a dead end. When Nixon offered Bush an insignificant job as assistant to the president, Bush made his case for more.

Herbert Parmet: He said, what this administration needs is someone who could strongly represent the administration not only in the United Nations but in New York, and who would have clout in the social society of New York. And I'm your man.

George W. Bush (archival): The relief for me is really great just to know that my family is so happy after a kind of a tough defeat in November but now, you know, a new life and a new vigor has kind of sprung back into our veins.

George H. W. Bush (archival): I, George Bush, do solemnly swear...

Lud Ashley: I wondered how on earth he could be appointed to the United Nations with as little foreign policy experience or knowledge that he had at that time. And I asked him about that. I said, "What the hell do you know about foreign policy? And he just gave me this big smile and he said, "You ask me in a month."

Chase Untermeyer, reporter, Houston Chronicle At the time a lot of people, myself included, thought, well, this is the end of the road. Because what does it mean to be ambassador of the United Nations? That is certainly not a way to get any vote in Texas.

Narrator: Bush plunged with relish into the organization that he had denounced in his '64 campaign. He knew little about foreign policy, a lot about dealing with people.

Timothy Naftali: From the time Bush became the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, he began to collect foreign friends. Leaders, soon to be leaders, deputies, ambassadors, foreign ministers. He was very good at empathizing with them. In fact, at the United Nations, he developed friendships with people who didn't like U.S. policy.

Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor, 1989-93: He started a practice of walking down the halls and dropping in on his fellow ambassadors, just to say, "How are you? How are things in your country? What do you think of the United States? What do you think of the UN? What are the problems of the world as you see them?" And he developed that into a fine art.

Peter Roussel: He's a master of the personal touch. He's an incredible "thank-you" note writer. He would meet somebody somewhere, and the next day they'd have a little note in the mail: "Thank you, Joe. I enjoyed meeting you." You'd say, "Here's somebody took time to write me a thank-you note." Who does that anymore?