Bush ‘gave the job his best ... and did what he thought was right’
Nothing was ever a big show with George Bush. The theatrics of politics ran against his nature and upbringing.
This was the end of Bush’s eight-year partnership with Reagan and the beginning of his partnership with me. And though ours would last for just one term, it could hardly have been more collegial, uncomplicated or free of tension. We were friends who quickly became close friends. We remained so through all the years since, right up until his passing.
Vice-presidents don’t always stay on the best terms with the presidents they serve. What starts out as partly a political calculation, the selection of a running mate, is by no means certain to mature into warm friendship. In our case, what made all the difference was a few choices we made early — and the character of Bush himself.
It helped that the president was also my predecessor as vice-president. He knew the job and its potential hazards — staff rivalries, unaligned agendas, the usual guessing game about the No 2 man’s further ambitions. Bush had figured out how to steer clear of those troubles, and how to make the most of a position with little executive authority.
No one in the Reagan administration had more international experience than vice-president Bush. He knew the world, and most of the major players personally. He put all his strengths in the service of the Reagan agenda.
In our conversations after the 1988 election, the new president’s best advice for doing the job was: “Be prepared and be loyal.” Even so, he didn’t press me at all to handle my responsibilities exactly as he had done. He encouraged me to find my own approach to the office — a Quayle model. I told him the Bush model looked pretty good to me, and I’d go with that.
I was only 41 when we were sworn in, and naturally I couldn’t match my new boss’s knowledge and wisdom. But I had been in congress since I was 29. Any administration needs good contacts on Capitol Hill, direct lines of communication with members, and fresh reports on the legislative lay of the land. Contributing these became a big part of my portfolio.
One challenge in the vice-presidency is that you’re always on somebody else’s turf. Even though you’re one of only two constitutional officers in the West Wing, your involvement in this or that matter can draw resentment. Having seen this in his own tenure, Bush helped me avoid internal discord by assigning me well-defined tasks and, even more crucial, by generously expressing confidence.
I was expected at many regular meetings in the Oval Office. He told me at the outset that I was welcome at any other meeting, too. A vice-president’s obligation is to be prepared, and no one could have asked for better preparation than the sight of George Bush conducting presidential business. Not only the storied Bush resume suggested that he was one of the best equipped, most knowledgeable and most substantive men ever to hold the office, it looked that way in person, too.
Travelling abroad, I also came to appreciate the reputation Bush had built over many years. Heads of government, even if they didn’t know the president personally, knew they were dealing with a serious man with serious purposes. Whatever their angles or agendas, they never doubted the intentions or the word of the American president. The swift end of the Gulf War, the peaceful conclusion of the Cold War, the reunification of Germany, the liberation of Panama and other big events of that era — none followed a predetermined course. What mattered most was a decisive American leader, a man of calm and measured judgment, working steadily — usually quietly — to keep events on track.
Nothing was ever a big show with George Bush. The theatrics of politics ran against his nature and upbringing. He gave the job his best and expected people to notice, and he always did what he thought right. He could have paid more attention to his own speeches, and would doubtless have fared better if he had written more of them himself — his letters reveal a lovely and insightful writer.
Politics doesn’t always reward modesty, however — one lesson of 1992. The judgments of history are kinder, and a case could be made that George Bush gave America its most successful one-term presidency. That’s not the distinction we were hoping for then, but it’s remarkable to count his achievements. Even the economy, which withstood a brief recession that hurt us politically, was growing at a rate of more than 6 per cent by the end of the term. That doesn’t look bad in retrospect.
Bush found a way to get things done with a congress controlled by the other party. He respected the legislative branch, and legislators knew it. He never answered opposition with petulance or heavy-handedness. He worked faithfully with congress; any president owes at least that much to the country.
For me, loyalty to Bush was the easiest part. He was the kind of person who inspired loyal friendship even without the title, someone whose good opinion you wanted because of the kind of man he was.
Our 41st president was the most honourable, decent and capable of gentlemen — as close to the ideal of the office as anyone in our lifetimes. If you’re looking for a role model, I told my children when they were growing up, start with George Bush.
After he put me on the ticket in 1988, so many good things followed that I could never have expected in my own life. The finest of all was more than a quarter-century of close friendship with someone I came to admire more with the years. When I heard the news from Houston, along with many others I thought: There goes a man who was very good to me — and to his country.
Dan Quayle was US vice-president from 1989 to 1993.
The Wall Street Journal
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After the US presidential inauguration on January 20, 1989, George Bush and I walked over to the east front of the Capitol to say goodbye to Ronald Reagan. As we watched the helicopter carry off the 40th US president, I heard the 41st say quietly: “There goes a man who was very good to me.”