Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign that Changed America

by Shirley, Craig

  On one hand, Ford really liked being an ex-president. As one of two living former Republican presidents—the other in hiding and reviled—Ford was now beloved, and he enjoyed the creature comforts that came with the high honor. On the other hand, he'd always wanted another crack at Carter. To run in the primaries would have meant stepping off his pedestal, so he hoped his nascent draft committee would develop momentum. He was surprised and disappointed when it didn't, and had a hard time letting go of his dream when it became clear that his old nemesis Reagan was on his way to the nomination.41

  When Reagan first presented his idea, Ford understandably demurred.42 He'd been second banana once before and did not want to go through that thankless hell again, having neither authority nor responsibility. According to his former chief of staff Dick Cheney, Ford “hated … those nine months he was vice president under Nixon.”43 It made Ford gag to think of once more having to defend someone else's policies, as he'd been forced to do as Nixon sank in the quagmire of Watergate.

  But as the “co-presidency” power pot became sweeter and sweeter, Ford listened more and more. Marty Schram of the Washington Post nailed it: “The portrait of the former president moving toward his onetime foe … as revealed in interviews with a number of the principals involved, is a picture of a man wrestling the conflicting forces of pride, responsibility and ambition … a man keeping a hectic schedule with little sleep … who allows himself to be nudged and finally budged by advisers whose motives ranged from patriotic duty to party loyalty to personal career gains.”44

  GEORGE BUSH STARTED OUT Wednesday morning thinly hoping that he'd get the phone call asking him to go on the ticket.45 He didn't know then that informal conversations had already begun between Ford's men and Reagan's men. Bush had read the stories of the past several months about the Reagans' concerns about him, yet many running mates in the past hadn't gotten along. Just ask anybody in the Kennedy family what JFK really thought of Lyndon Johnson. Politics, Bush knew, was about compromise and finding common ground. That's how you won elections.

  Yet as the morning wore on and talk of the Dream Ticket drifted up to Bush's suite on the nineteenth floor of the Pontchartrain Hotel, Bush grew testy. He became convinced that Reagan and Ford would run together, which didn't help his mood as he prepared for his speech that evening. It seemed as if all forces were arrayed against Bush: the Reagans, the conservatives, the politicians, the media—and now apparently Ford, who had previously touted Ambassador Bush in two meetings with Reagan.

  Jim Baker's aide Margaret Tutwiler was so distraught by the Ford buzz that she called her wealthy father from a pay phone outside the convention hall, asking him to send a plane ticket for her. She'd been the second person hired by Bush for his presidential run, and after more than two years, she was exhausted.46

  HAND-PAINTED SIGNS BEGAN APPEARING on the floor of Joe Louis Arena proclaiming “Ron and Jerry.” Just as quickly, a manufactured sign declaring “Reagan-Bush” disappeared. Reagan and Ford met again around 5:30 P.M. with no conclusive results, but all reported that it had gone well between the two men.47 By this point, Ford was under unrelenting pressure from his fellow Republicans to join the ticket. Bob Dole saw Ford after the former president's afternoon meeting with Reagan and told everybody “the deal was on.”48

  Dick Allen passed Ford and his Secret Service escort in the hall as he made his way to Reagan's suite. He walked into a quiet room, where Casey, Hannaford, Meese, and Wirthlin were sitting on a large “U-shaped couch, hushed,” Allen later remembered. Allen had stopped by to see whether Reagan needed anything before heading over to the convention hall. Reagan said, “No, but thanks,” and then asked Allen, “What do you think of the Ford deal?” Allen, startled, said, “What deal?” Reagan responded, “Ford wants Kissinger as secretary of state and [Alan] Greenspan at Treasury.” Spluttering, Allen said, “That is the craziest deal I have ever heard of.”49

  Lyn Nofziger stopped by just before 6 P.M. and Reagan matter-of-factly told him about the Ford proposal. Forty minutes later, Kissinger came by for a private chat with Meese.50

  At 7 P.M., an old friend and adviser of Reagan's dropped by his suite and was surprised to find Reagan dining alone, quietly looking out the picture window at the view of the Detroit River. Reagan told his friend: It's Ford.51

  Allen believed that the only logical choice for Reagan was Bush. He reached out to Stefan Halper, a second-tier Bush aide who had been handling foreign policy and research. Halper, like the other Bush folks, was becoming convinced that the Dream Ticket was a reality, but Allen told him that if it wasn't, his man had to be prepared to tell Reagan he supported the entire platform, including dropping his opposition to the tax cuts and the pro-life plank. Halper took it under advisement.52

  JUST AFTER THE EVENING'S procedures got under way, Ford dithered once again, this time leaning toward the Dream Ticket in front of millions of Americans. He did a television interview on CBS with Walter Cronkite at 7:15 P.M. and said, “If I go to Washington, and I'm not saying that I'm accepting, I have to go there with the belief that I would play a meaningful role, across the board.”53 He added, “I have to have responsible assurances.”54 Ford was negotiating with Reagan on national television, with Cronkite in essence brokering the deal by specifically asking about a co-presidency.

  News of Cronkite's interview with the former president caused a wave of jubilation throughout the hall. As far as the delegates were concerned, the Dream Ticket was now a fact. “A palpable euphoria swept through Joe Louis Arena, television speeding it along like a hot wind pushing a hungry fire,” wrote Peter Boyer of the Associated Press.55 All that was needed now was for Reagan to accede to Ford's demands and the delegates could get on with the coronation.

  In Reagan's suite, the feeling could be described as less than euphoric. Everyone was genuinely astonished that Ford did not balk when Cronkite mentioned a co-presidency. Allen said that Reagan was “appalled.”56 Wirthlin concurred, saying that Reagan exclaimed, “Did you hear what he just said?”57 Reagan himself later confided that the Cronkite interview forced him to wonder what the hell he'd gotten himself into. “Wait a minute,” he recalled thinking, “this is really two presidents he's talking about.”58

  George Bush's team was just as shocked by the Cronkite interview. When Ford said that pride would not stop him and Mrs. Ford from going back to Washington as an “executive vice president” or “deputy president,”59 Bush aide Vic Gold blew up at the television. “Pride!” Gold screamed. “What the fuck does he know about pride, that horse's ass!”60

  Ford later conducted a similar interview with Barbara Walters of ABC and upped the ante. “I was a vice president and I had problems,” he told Walters.61 To get Ford to agree to the last-minute interview, Walters, practically crying, had repeatedly begged and pleaded with the former president.62

  Network reporters were out of control. It was a media riot, and “the relentless speculation and pursuit of the rumors by network ‘floor reporters’ seemed to create a life of their own,” as the New York Times observed at the time.63

  Lynn Sherr of ABC—one of those “floor reporters”—took to the airwaves to announce excitedly, “We heard from Senator Schweiker that Senator Laxalt told someone else who then told Senator Schweiker that it would be Gerald Ford!”64 Sherr was not alone in such schoolyard journalism that night. Besides Tom Brokaw of NBC, about the only network journalist who was keeping his wits about him was Frank Reynolds of ABC. On air, he speculated that the deal could be “ephemeral.”65 Then again, Reynolds knew Reagan better than anyone else in the electronic media did; though he was a liberal, the Reagans adored him and he returned the affection. Reynolds knew, or should have known, Reagan would never go along with a deal that would undercut his own authority or majesty. For Reagan, it was never just about the art of the deal—any deal—but the deal itself.

  AFTER FORD'S INTERVIEWS, REPORTS began leaking out that Reagan's staff was angrily fighting among themselves, frustrated with t
he corner they had apparently painted themselves into.66 Some conservatives were frustrated also, including Reagan's longtime friend and supporter Tom Winter, co-owner and co-publisher, along with Allan Ryskind, of Human Events. Reagan had been a faithful subscriber for years, corresponded with the two men, had dinner with them—and in turn the publication was devoted to Reagan. On the other hand, they reviled Ford. When Winter heard about the Dream Ticket he went off and got so sullenly drunk that he was later found by his friends slumped in a chair, babbling incoherently.67

  Jimmy Lyons, another old Reagan friend, stopped by Reagan's suite to throw in his two cents that he thought the Ford idea was “insane.” Lyons could talk to Reagan like that.68 First, he was a Texan, and second, his bank, River Oaks, had made an unsecured $100,000 loan to Reagan's campaign at a critical point in 1976.69

  Shortly after the Cronkite bombshell, Reagan and Allen were alone in the suite. Allen pressed Reagan to think about Bush, but Reagan balked, citing abortion and “voodoo” economics. Allen pressed him, asking whether the governor would reconsider Bush if he pledged to support the entire platform. Reagan saw an out: “Well, if you put it that way, I would agree to reconsider.” Stef Halper, having handled his side of the agreement, later called Allen to tell him Bush would agree to support the platform if picked by Reagan.70

  THE CONVENTION'S SCHEDULED AFFAIRS were almost an afterthought amid all the Dream Ticket excitement. The roll call of state delegations confirming their selections for the party's nominee would only officially pronounce what everyone already knew: that Reagan would be the GOP's standard bearer. The drama involving Reagan's running mate was much more exciting.

  There were only three principal convention speakers on the list that night: Bush, Brock, and Guy Vander Jagt, who would finally get to give his keynote speech. Vander Jagt asked and had been assured by the Reagan camp that no final decision would be made on the vice presidency until he spoke.

  Bush's self-deprecating if somewhat brief remarks that night were a good, solid effort—better than the “gentleman's C” he had often earned at Yale—and he was warmly received by the delegates. “If anyone wants to know why Ronald Reagan is a winner, you can refer him to me,” Bush said. “I'm an expert on the subject. He's a winner because he's our leader, because he has traveled this country and understands its people. His message is clear. His message is understood.”71

  With nothing to lose now that Ford apparently was getting the VP spot, Bush was publicly relaxed, calm, and effective.72 Privately, he seethed. While Bush waited underneath the stage to give his remarks, a convention aide said, “I'm sorry, Mr. Bush, really sorry. I was pulling for you.” Bush curtly replied, “Sorry about what?” “You mean you haven't heard? It's all over. Reagan's picked Ford as his running mate.”73 Bush snapped, “Well thanks a lot!”74

  After his speech, as Bush headed to his car to take him back to his hotel, Stef Halper tried to tell Bush that it was not over, that he'd been in back-channel conversations with Dick Allen. Halper had never seen Bush rage like this. “Don't you get it? It's over!” Bush slammed the car door in Halper's face, leaving him standing there sheepishly on the curb.75 ABC's Jim Wooten caught the private George Bush and reported that the Houstonian was “shaken … bitter.”76

  Reagan, on the other hand, was becoming more and more pensive. Just before 8 P.M., the presumptive nominee was munching his preferred snack of jelly beans and watching Dole on ABC saying, “Ford and Reagan can work it out.” Reagan replied to the television, “No, Bob. I cannot give him what he wants.”77 Yet he did not halt the negotiations. Reagan was invested in his own proposal and wasn't about to quit now, since he was, as Mike Deaver once said, “the most competitive son of a bitch who ever lived.”78

  FINALLY AT THE CONVENTION podium, Vander Jagt did not disappoint. In a thirty-five-minute address, he wowed the delegates, prompting David Brinkley of NBC to comment, “Well I've got to say he turned them on.”79 But some media observers viewed his speech as pompous and overwrought, in the manner of William Jennings Bryan. One hard-bitten reporter turned to another and called it a “goddamn snake-oil speech.”80

  Whatever the case, the speech came too late to make a difference for Vander Jagt's cause. Reagan and his men would not pick him for the number-two slot—though exactly who they would pick remained very much in doubt.

  ED MEESE WENT BY Reagan's suite at around 8:30 P.M. to happily inform his man that Ford had backed off on previous demands to take over the National Security Council. Then, just a few minutes before 9 o'clock, Reagan withdrew to his bedroom to call Ford. When he reemerged, the presumptive nominee announced that Kissinger had taken himself out of contention for the State Department, but no one bought that for a second.81

  In the background on one of Reagan's three television sets, Frank Reynolds could be heard betraying his own good judgment, telling viewers, “We now have reports that a deal has been made between Governor Reagan and former president Ford and that it has been accepted and agreed to, and that former president Ford will be Governor Reagan's choice to be the number-two man on the ticket to run for vice president. That is historic. It is unique. It is unprecedented, and we don't know it for sure, but there are reports confirming what our correspondent Jim Wooten told us some time ago, that the deal was under way.”82

  Sam Donaldson, also of ABC, announced at 9:30 that Ford and Reagan would make an appearance in Joe Louis Arena before the night was over. At twenty minutes to ten, Garrick Utley of NBC interviewed former senator Robert Griffin of Michigan, a Ford intimate, who said, “It looks good.” Utley said, “This is practically a confirmation.” Practically.83

  At ten minutes after ten, Walter Cronkite solemnly told his viewers, “CBS has learned there is a definite plan [that] the nominee of this party, Ronald Reagan, [will choose] the former president of the United States, Gerald Ford … as a vice-presidential running mate … an unparalleled, unprecedented situation in American politics. They are going to come to this convention tonight to appear together on this platform to announce that Ford will run with him.”84 That was that. If “Uncle Walter” said it was so, you could bank on it.

  Yet all Cronkite had to go on was what his correspondents were telling him. And they were going on what the correspondents for the other networks were reporting, fanned by GOP operatives who had no idea what was really going on. Reporter Dan Rather broke in breathlessly at 9:10 P.M. to tell the anchor, “Walter, the number of sources on the floor who say a deal has been cut is increasing.”85 Earlier, Cronkite had presciently said to Ford, “Well, we're going to jump to conclusions all over the place tonight.”86

  Ted Koppel of ABC seemed about the only sane person now on the tube, as he mused, “I hope we're all not feeding off each other.… The delegates feeding off the television reports and the television reporters feeding off the delegates.”87

  JUST A FEW MINUTES after 10 o'clock, Reagan's name was placed in nomination—for the third time in twelve years. The delegates went bonkers, cheering, applauding, using the same air horns that had filled Kemper Arena four years earlier, prompting the New York Times to compare their noise to the “ululations of Arab women.”88

  Paul Laxalt fired up the crowd, asking, “Who is this man who will not make any more weak, ill-advised decisions like the Panama Canal giveaway? Who is this man who will stand by our allies and not indulge in any more ‘Taiwan sellout’?” Each time Laxalt asked another question, the delegates would scream in unison, “Reagan!” Laxalt concluded his remarks to warm applause and the hall got down to the actual voting.89

  Alabama went first and served up a plate of 27 deep-fried delegates for Reagan. Then the Alaska delegation, recently taken over by the Moral Majority, delivered its 12 votes for the Gipper. California, with its controversial winner-take-all primary, gave all 168 of its votes to its favorite son. Reagan's daughter Maureen made the announcement on national television to the cheers of Joe Louis Arena. Boos were heard when John Anderson received votes from the Illinois and
Massachusetts delegates, but the boos were loudest when the band played the Ohio State fight song just as Michigan was getting ready to announce its vote tally.90

  AS THE DELEGATES CONTINUED their roll call, the Reagan and Ford negotiators frantically held two more meetings high atop the Renaissance Center, one at 9 P.M. and another at 10 P.M.91 The Ford men kept excusing themselves to go meet with the former president, leading Reagan's negotiators to believe that their counterparts were negotiating power for themselves. The Reaganites whispered that Ford's men were trying to talk Ford even at this late hour into committing completely to their plan. In fact, Ford was telling his aides, “Go back and get more.”92

  Bill Simon stopped by the Reagan suite and told the Californian in no uncertain terms that the whole Ford thing was nuts. Simon, though he had been Ford's treasury secretary, made it clear to Reagan that he didn't trust the man.93 Reagan respected Simon and listened to him.

  Reagan's men were dismayed. It was now sinking in that they were inadvertently working on “a return of the Ford White House.” They mostly respected their counterparts and believed the ticket would be good for the country, but they also had a nagging suspicion about hidden agendas. Although Kissinger claimed that Meese, Wirthlin, and Casey had asked him to use his influence with Ford to get him to go for it,94 Meese was already having second thoughts. Meese told Reagan, “You know, I don't think this is going anyplace.” Reagan replied, “I don't think it's going to come to any fruition either.”95 Cheney, meanwhile, was astonished at the concessions Casey was making in Reagan's name.96