Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 169, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 17, 1980 Page: 17 of 18
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■
Bush 'shocked' at call
that came near midnight
By LAWRENCE L. KNUTSON
Associated Press Writer
DETROIT (AP) - George
Bush, survivor of one of the
wildest one-day roller coaster
rides in political history, opens
a new career as Ronald
Reagan’s running mate vowing
to “work, work, work” for the
Californian’s election.
Bush several times on
Wednesday thought that he had
been pushed off stage by former
President Gerald R. Ford.
Bush learned Reagan had
chosen him in a phone call from
the former California governor
just before Reagan himself
went to the Republican National
Convention to receive his own
nomination as the GOP
presidential candidate.
Then Reagan announced to
the delegates, still stunned that
Ford was not being chosen, that
he would ask them to approve
Bush’s nomination for the No. 2
spot at their final session
tonight.
The former U.N. ambassador
and CIA director was Reagan’s
longest lasting, most for-
midable competitor in the
primary campaign and their
polices differed in some
respects*
The Reagan philosophy is
nailed into the 1980 GOP plat-
form which does not endorse the
Equal Rights Amendment.
Bush, who among other
things is an ERA supporter,
said he told Reagan that “I
would do what all Republicans
should do, enthusiastically
support this platform. ’ ’
“I told him I will work, work,
work for his election," Bush
said. “If the convention does
what he has asked them to do, I
will be an enthusiastic running
mate.”
Bush told reporters that after
the events of the day, the offer
of the nomination left him
“totally surprised.”
He said it came “out of a
clear blue sky.”
But why should he have been
surprised when he had been an
obvious front runner for weeks,
when reports as late as Wed-
nesday morning had the
Reagan camp 95 percent
decided on Bush?
It was the Ford factor, Bush
replied.
Ford had been asked to take
the job before. He had declined.
He had repeatedly said he was
not interested. He said his
residency in California,
Reagan’s home state,
disqualified him under the
Constitution.
But by late Wednesday af-
ternoon Ford was recon-
sidering. The Ford and Reagan
staffs were in negotiations.
Ford was said to be seeking
terms. Members of Congress
close to both men said Ford was
Reagan’s first and only choice.
The negotiations collapsed.
The deal fell through. At 11:37
p.m. Reagan called Bush. He
made the offer. Bush accepted.
The phone call and Reagan's
announcement of it triggered
pandemonium on the con-
vention floor and in the hotel
rooms housing the Bush family,
friends and staff members.
There were hugs, kisses,
handshakes, slaps on the back,
shouts and squeals of ex-
citement.
"What an up-and-down
seesaw,” a supporter said.
THE NEWS-TELEGRAM, Sulphur Springs, Tuxas, Thursday, July 17,1W0—17.
Reagan informs losers,
readies to take charge
ii
'i DETROIT (AP) -
Republican presidential
nominee Ronald Reagan, after
his dramatic turnabout
selection of George Bush as his
running mate, telephoned the
vice presidential also-rans
early today and prepared to
accept his party’s banner.
The nomination of Bush and
delivery of acceptance
speeches by the two candidates
tonight were to wrap up the 1980
Republican convention and
formally send the Reagan-Bush
ticket off !to battle the
Democrats and their almost
assured nominees — President.
Carter and Vice President
Walter F. Mondale.
At a news conference today,
Reagan was to present formally
the new campaign partnership,
a union formed Thursday night
soon after the collapse of efforts
to draft Reagan’s first choice,
former President Gerald R.
Ford.
But the event may seem anti-
climactic because the former
film star upstaged himself by
making an unscheduled post-
midnight visit to the Joe Louis
Arena to proclaim his selection
of Bush from the convention
podium to roars of approval
from thousands in the hall.
He returned by motorcade to
the Detroit Plaza Hotel through
streets lined with cheering
spectators, many waving
“Reagan-Bush” sips. Then he
sat alone in a room of his 69th
floor suite and telephoned some
on the list of those he had also
considered for the job.
It was not immediately
known how many of the eight or
so he was able to reach — or if
one of the calls went to Ford In
the suite one floor up.
Nofziger said there’s a good
chance that Reagan and Bush
will embark on a whirlwind two-
day campaign tour this
weekend, including a stop in
Houston where Bush lives.
Ronald Reagan
TV not only reported, but made, news
LOS ANGELES (AP) - It
was television politics run
amok, an explosion of the
medium’s power that must
have had Ronald Reagan
wishing for the hidden smoke-
filled rooms that television has
replaced.
As it is, Reagan and his
forces, so in control of events
just two days ago, are probably
assessing the damage sustained
by the Reagan candidacy in
Wednesday night’s bizarre
session.
“You have just seen an
example of politics out of hand
in an electronic age,” NBC’s
John Chancellor told his
viewers when it was over.
In the course of a few short
hours, the Republican Party
endeavored to alter history
through the invention of a “co-
presidency” — designed to
accomodate the “dream ticket”
of Reagan and Gerald Ford —
and then quickly changed its
idea and got a Reagan-George
Bush ticket.
- Television not only reported
the story, but acted in it. It
played out over the tube this
way.
Walter Cronkite began CBS’
evening coverage by reporting
that a Ford-for-vice-president
rumor had been circulating all
day. Nothing very shaking
about that; in this Reagan-
owned convention, TV reporters
had been left with nothing to do
but speculate about Reagan’s
choice for the second spot.
But Cronkite switched to Dan
Rather on the floor and what
Rather had to report was
shaking, indeed. Ford and
Reagan, he said, not only met
during the day, but they
negotiated a Ford vice
presidency. Rather’s sources
had Ford asking what his duties
would be, and outlining his idea
of a “co-presidency.”
CBS then cut to the anchor
booth, where Cronkite, smiling
broadly in the knowledge of the
coup he was about to score, sat
with Gerald and Betty Ford.
“I would not go to
Washington, Walter, as a
figurehead vice president,”
Ford said. “I have to have
responsible assurances.”
Other networks rushed to
catch up, collaring Republican
officials for comment. Under
the glare of the cameras, ex-
pressions of hope hardened into
near-sure confirmations.
Barbara Walters was taking
credit for “breaking” the Ford
candidacy — being the first to
know.
Then when confusion reigned,
anchorman Frank Reynolds
complained that if Reagan was
watching, all he had to do was
pick up the phone and call the
ABC booth.
Every floor reporter for
every network collared top
Republicans and some not-so-
top Republicans and each was
more than willing to admit that,
yes, as a member of the “inner
circle” the Reagan-Ford ticket
could be confirmed.
No one — delegate nor
television commentator —
dared be left out on the big
news.
Reagan then found himself
backed into a sticky position: he
could yield to the frenzied wish
of the convention and deal part
of his hoped-for presidency to a
former chief executive (and
former rival); or, he could let
the air out of the tautly inflated
balloon on the convention floor.
Reagan chose Bush.
In the hope of defusing the
potentially disastrous cir-
cumstance, Reagan went to the
convention floor Wednesday
night. He had planned to make
his triumphant appearance the
following morning in ac-
cordance with tradition and the
GOP schedule.
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 169, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 17, 1980, newspaper, July 17, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth823698/m1/17/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.