Bob Dole 1993 - 1995 The Last Man Standing
Randal Wallace Presents : Bob Dole The Last Man Standing
In 1992, in the midst of a recession, the Republican Party would be swept out of power losing not only the White House, but the House and Senate as well. On the Federal level of Government, one man stood alone, as the leader of his party. That man was also the last of the World War 2 generation to be left on the national stage. He was Senate Minority leader Robert J. Dole of Kansas.
Over the next three seasons we will tell his story and the story of the rise of the modern Republican Party. It will be the final story of National leadership for the generation of people who built the American Century. For all the attention a new generation of Republican leaders would garner, it was in fact, Bob Dole, so often in the shadow of the giants of his age, from Nixon to Reagan to Bush, and who would largely be forgotten in the coming era of Gingrich , Clinton, and the second George W. Bush, who actually led the Republican Party out of the political wilderness and back to power in both houses of Congress, even as his own efforts to win the Presidency would fall short.
In our first of three seasons, we will look at both Bob Dole and President Bill Clinton, from 1993 to 1995, as they go head to head in a political duel, that will lead to the resurrection of the Republican Party in America.
We invite you to come along with us on a wild ride through the high points and low moments of modern American History, in an effort to show the citizens of today that we are an amazing and resilient nation.
Our Podcasts are separated by individual Documentary style titles. --
Season 1 : Bridging the Political Gap episodes 1 -11 --- Season 2 : Lessons in Leadership : --- The GIANTS of the Senate and Joe Biden episodes 14 - 16 ---- World War 2 Episodes 17 - 20 --- General MacArthur You're Fired Episodes 21 - 23 ---- A Celebration of the life of George Shultz episodes 26 - 28 ---- November 1963 : The end of the Age of Innocence episode 29 --- Season 3 ----The Johnson Treatment episodes 32 - 39 ---- Upheaval 1968 episodes 40 - 50 ---- Season 4: Richard Nixon 1968 -1971 The Man Who Saved the Union episodes 51 -67 ----- Season 5 Richard Nixon 1972 The Foundation of Peace episodes 71 - 96 -----1973 Ten Days in January 97 - 100 -- Season 6 Richard Nixon 1973 : Enemies at the Gate 101 - 125 ---- Season 7 Richard Nixon 1974 Through the Fire 126 - 147 ---- Season 8 Richard Nixon 1974 - 1994 The Fall and the Re-Rise of Richard Nixon. 148 - 174 plus bonus materials --- Season 9 Gerald Ford Beyond Watergate 175 -190 -- Season 10 John Jenrette. & Jimmy Carter too 191 - 224 -- Season 11 George H.W. Bush : The Leadership Lessons 225 - 250 --- Season 12: Mayor Hirsch 253 - 259, George H.W. Bush : The Sweep of History 260 - 285, Season 13 George H.W. Bush The Gulf War, The Coup, Clarence Thomas & the Cold War's End 286 - 318, Season 14 George H. W. Bush 1992 The Changing of the Guard 319 - 363 Season 15 Bob Dole 1993 - 1995 The Last Man Standing 364 -
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Bob Dole 1993 - 1995 The Last Man Standing
STROM THURMOND : A Life in Full (Special Series , Part 3) The Campaign of my Life, 1996
Campaign 1996
For me it was the campaign of my lifetime. No race ever equaled the life altering impact of that year in my life. This was the year that I got to see up-close two of the political figures I most admired, Senator Bob Dole of Kansas and Strom Thurmond. The South Carolina Presidential Primary turned out to be the most important of all the primaries that year as Bob Dole was in a fight for his political Presidential survival and two Governors and Strom Thurmond stepped in to help him win it.
Then that same organization stepped up to insure that Strom Thurmond was re-elected to a 8th term. I was a tiny little cog as a volunteer and College Republican Chairman at Lander University in Greenwood S.C. and after graduating I helped out in my hometown of Myrtle Beach. I had been around politics all my life but it was 1996 that I got to be right there, for the first time, at the feet of two of the political figures I most admired as they campaigned across South Carolina, first in the upstate for Dole and then for Thurmond in the Low Country.
In the Thurmond race there really was only one issue and that was the Senator's age. National publications were trying to cast doubt on the Senator's mental fitness ( a totally bogus charge, I was there and the man was amazing) , the Democrats from Washington D.C. had recruited a billionaire member of the Springs Mills family, a huge textile company, in Elliot Close, and finally there had begun an influx of new residents into the state that were not as familiar with Thurmond's actual record of constituent service as the native Carolinians had been. If ever Senator Thurmond appeared to be vulnerable in his 74 year career, this was it.
But D.C. just did not know S.C. as well as it thought it did.
Thurmond put together an incredible team to shore up his political defenses. He had two governors, Carroll Campbell and David Beasley working on his behalf, arguably one of the best Republican Party Chairmen in the nation in Henry McMaster working for him, and three legendary political campaign people working on his behalf in Manager Tony Denny, and consultants Cindy Carter Thompson and a very young Robert Cahaly (The Trafalgar Group) all on the team. Not only that, he had the State's Lieutenant Governor Bob Peeler and its Speaker of the House David Wilkins on Board and Myrtle Beach's famous State Representative Mark Kelly all working overtime to insure Thurmond won.
And let's not forget, the two day - 10 county nonstop bus trip across the state, known as "The Thurmondator Bus Tour" where Strom Thurmond himself barnstormed the state, courthouse to courthouse, festival to festival, just like a campaign of old.
Elliot Close did not know what hit him.
This episode is that story and you will be able to relive as much of it as I was able to save.
By the time this show is over you will be quoting the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, "I feel Good!!!" As Mr. Brown makes an appearance to help Senator Thurmond celebrate this final election victory to capstone his incredible life and career.
** I wish to acknowledge the fine work of WIS TV 10, SC ETV, and CNN for their news broadcasts that we used in putting these three podcasts together, much of which was aired over a three day period when the senator passed away.
Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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Thanks for listening!!
