George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Get a Free Blog

that "all foreigners are out to screw us and it's our job to screw them first," as he told C.
Fred Bergsten of Kissinger's NSC staff. Nixon's bumbling management of the
international monetary crisis was one of the reasons why he was Watergated, and Big
Jawn was certainly seen by the financiers as a big part of the problem. Bush was
humiliated in this episode, but that is nothing compared to what later happened to both
Connally and Nixon. Connally would be indicted while Bush was in Peking, and later he
would face the further humilation of personal bankruptcy. In the view of James Reston,
Jr., "George Bush was to maintain a smoldering, visceral dislike of Connally, one that
lasted well into the 1980's." [fn 9] As others discovered during the Gulf war, Bush is
vindictive.
Bush appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his pro forma and
perfunctory confirmation hearings on February 8, 1971. It was a free ride. Many of the
senators had known Prescott Bush, and several were still Prescott's friends. Acting like
friends of the family, they gave Bush friendly advice with a tone that was congratulatory
and warm, and avoided any tough questions. Stuart Symington warned Bush that he
would have to deal with the "duality of authority" between his nominal boss, Secretary of
State William Rogers, and his real boss, NSC chief Kissinger. There was only passing
reference to Bush's service of the oil cartel during his time in the House, and Bush
vehemently denied that he had ever tried to "placate" the "oil interests." Claiborne Pell
said that Bush would enhance the luster of the UN post.
On policy matters, Bush said that it would "make sense" for the UN Security Council to
conduct a debate on the wars in Laos and Cambodia, which was something that the US
had been attempting to procure for some time. Bush thought that such a debate could be
used as a forum to expose the aggressive activities of the North Vietnamese. No senator
asked Bush about China, but Bush told journalists waiting in the hall that the question of
China was now under intensive study. The Washington Post was impressed by Bush's
"lithe and youthful good looks." Bush was easily confirmed.
At Bush's swearing in later in February Nixon, probably anxious to calm Bush down after
the strains of the Connally affair, had recalled that President William McKinley had lost
an election in Ohio, but neverthless gone on to become President. "But I'm not suggesting
what office you should seek and at what time," said Nixon. The day before, Senator Adlai
Stevenson III of Illinois had told the press that Bush was "totally unqualified" and that his
appointment had been "an insult" to the UN. Bush presented his credentials on March 1.
Then Bush, "handsome and trim" at 47, moved into a suite at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
in Manhattan, and settled into his usual hyperkinetic, thryroid-driven life style. The
Washington Post marvelled at his "whirlwind schedule" which seemed more suitable for
a "political aspirant than one usually associated with a diplomat." He rose every morning
at 7 AM, and then mounted his exercycle for a twelve minute workout while taking in a
television news program that also lasted exactly twelve minutes. He ate a small breakfast
and left the Waldorf at 8, to be driven to the US mission to the UN at Turtle Bay where
he generally arrived at 8:10. Then he would get the overnight cable traffic from his
secretary, Mrs. Aleene Smith, and then went into a conference with his executive