George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Get a Free Blog

1963. Before the year was out, George Bush would make his claim. As Senator
Yarborough later commented, it would turn out to be an act of termerity.
During the spring of 1963 Bush set about assembling an institutional base for his
campaign. The chosen vehicle would be the Republican chairmanship of Harris County,
the area around Houston, a bulwark of the Texas GOP. Bush had been participating in the
Harris County organization since 1960.
One Sunday morning Bush invited some county Republican activists to his home on
Briar Drive. Present were Roy Goodearle, a young independent oil man who, before
Barbara Bush appropriated it, was given the nickname of "the Silver Fox" in the
Washington scene. Also present were Jack Steel, Tom and Nancy Thawley, and some
others.
Goodearle, presumably acting as the lawyer for the Bush faction, addressed the meeting
on the dangers posed by the sectarians of the John Birch Society to the prospects of the
GOP in Houston and elsewhere. Over lunch prepared by Barbara Bush, Goodearle
outlined the tactical situation in the Harris County organization: a Birchite faction under
the leadership of state senator Walter Mengdon, although still a minority, was emerging
as a powerful inner-party opposition against the liberals and moderates. In the last vote
for GOP county leader, the Birch candidate had been narrowly defeated. Now, after three
years in office, the more moderate county chairman, James A. Bertron, would announce
on February 8, 1963 that he could no longer serve as chairman of the Harris County
Republican Executive Committee. His resignation, he would state, was "necessitated by
neglect of my personal business due to my political activities." [fn 9] This was doubtless
very convenient in the light of what Bush had been planning.
Bertron was quitting to move to Florida. In 1961, Bertron had been attending a
Republican fundraising gathering in Washington DC, when he was accosted by none
other than Senator Prescott Bush. Bush took Bertron aside and demanded: "Jimmy, when
are you going to get George involved?" "Senator, I'm trying," Betron replied, evidently
with some vexation. "We're all trying." [fn 10] In 1961 or at any other time it is doubtful
that George Bush could have found his way to the men's room without the help of a paid
informant sent by Senator Prescott Bush.
Goodearle went on to tell the assembled Republicans that unless a "strong candidate"
now entered the race, a Bircher was likely to win the post of county chairman. But in
order to defeat the well-organized and zealous Birchers, said Goodearle, an anti-Bircher
would have to undertake a grueling campaign, touring the county and making speeches to
the Republican faithful every night for several weeks. Then, under the urging of
Goodearle, the assembled group turned to Bush: could he be prevailed on to put his hat in
the ring? Bush, by his own account, needed no time to think it over, and accepted on the
spot.
With that, George and Barbara were on the road in their first campaign in what Bush later
called "another apprenticeship." While Barbara busied herself with needlepoint in order