Nixon and Watergate

Send us a textAs we open this episode , we will see Bob Dole truly become the last man standing from an era of political figures who had dominated the scene for over two decades. There would be two Senate leadership races as George Mitchell retired as the Democratic Leader and Alan Simpson faced a challenge in his position as Bob Dole's number two man in Republican leadership. Both races would be decided by one vote. We will hear Senator Tom Daschle describe the situation that unfolded on the democratic side after his opponent, Senator Jim Sasser of Tennessee, was defeated in his election. That left Tom Daschle facing a last minute challenge from the much more Senior Senator from Connecticut, Chris Dodd. Daschle will tell the story in his oral history of how he won the election to replace George Mitchell as Democratic Leader. Then we will hear from both candidates in the race for Republican Majority Whip as Dole's longtime Whip faced a challenge from a rising political star in the Senate and former House Whip in Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi. It would come down to one vote, and Simpson would lose. That race would leave Bob Dole the only leader left from a generation of leaders who had been at the helm of government for decades. Representative Bob Michel had retired in the most recent election cycle, Speaker Tom Foley was defeated, Alan Simpson lost his Whip post, George Mitchell retired, and in 1992 George H. W. Bush had been defeated for President. The only member of leadership in either party that was still there was Bob Dole, and it would again come to him to keep everyone on track as we head into 1995.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textAll eyes were trained on one man as the lame duck session began. It was the soon to be new Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich. In this episode we introduce you to him and watch those first moves from the new star of politics in 1994.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThe power switch was swift as all eyes fell on the Republican leadership in the hours after the Republicans swept to to power in both houses of Congress. There was a push for moving the Contract with America's agenda to the forefront, talk of downsizing the staffs in Washington, and both leaders were busy ironing out what exactly their agendas were going to be. Then came an even bigger piece of news. That Senator Richard Shelby arguably the last Southern Conservative Democrat was ready to finally come over. Senator Phil Gramm had been trying to convince him for years but Shelby had remained loyal to the Democratic Party, but as you will hear, he just did not feel it was home any longer, and he was going with the ever rising tide in Alabama before he found himself politically homeless. Richard Shelby became a Republican, and he would  remain one for the rest of his career which lasted until 2022 when he retired from the Senate.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textWhen the sun rose on November 9, 1994, Washington D.C. had had a seismic shift in the politics it had known for nearly a half century. Even the House Speaker Tom Foley, of Washington State, had lost his seat in Congress. There is hardly words that can describe how brutal the night before had been for the Democratic Party and its President Bill Clinton. The Contract for America had nationalized the election and every congressional candidate had run on the platform in the Republican Party and they had all , to a man , won. The Democrats had had a few bright spots, Senator Ted Kennedy had survived his brush with political death from the challenge of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and LBJ's Son in Law Chuck Robb had beaten back Iran Contra Scandal figure Oliver North. But the bright spots had been few and far between. The Democrats had seen some of their brightest stars extinguished from Governor Mario Cuomo of New York , to Governor Ann Richards of Texas, Former Budget Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski was defeated, the Speaker had lost, Representative Jack Brooks lost, and a new Republican star named Lindsey Graham had quietly won a seat in South Carolina. Bob Dole would be returning to his position as the Senate Majority Leader as opposed to being just the Minority Leader, and with all this change captivating the attention of the nation, and its capitol city, Washington D.C., it left  President Bill Clinton standing at a podium proclaiming to whomever would listen that "the President is still relevant here." It was a case of total victory, and the Capitol was now "Under new Management."  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIt is election day 1994 at last, and this is the coverage of that historic night. For the first time in 40 years the Republicans will take control of Congress. It is a clean sweep too, the Republicans would win in every category and level of government. They would win the control of the House, the Senate, the Governors Mansions, and the State Legislatures, it was a total and complete victory. Bill Clinton was clearly on the ropes and the spotlight would move down Pennsylvania Avenue to a new star that was about to dominate the conversation for the next year, the new Speaker of the United States House of Representatives  from Georgia, Newt Gingrich. But that would all come later, after this night. On this night, without question, at least in my lifetime, this was the biggest night for the Republican Party ever. While Newt Gingrich would get the majority of the spotlight, and people would be looking for the reaction that would be coming out of the White House, from Bill Clinton. One man, in my opinion, could truly kick back and say, he had been the one continuous leader that had brought his party back from the brink after the disaster of 1992. Of everyone involved, this was truly Bob Dole's night.   Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textAs we close in on election day in 1994, both President Bill Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, hit the campaign trail as the de-facto heads of each party to try and pull their candidates through all across the country. We will look at them both as they have rallies across the country from Seattle, to Denver, to two national radio addresses. The stakes are sky high as both of them fight hard for their two teams as the balance of power in both houses of congress teeters on the verge of victory or defeat for both sides of the aisle.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn 1994, our host Randal Wallace, was active in the leadership of the Lander University College Republicans. That year the long term Congressman from the Third Congressional District of South Carolina , Butler Derrick, decided to retire from Congress. That made the race for  Congress a wide open one to fill the seat.It was then that he got involved in the Congressional campaign of a one term State House member named Lindsey Graham.  It was a political friendship that would continue on until this day. Graham would win in 1994 and again in 1996, 1998, 2000, and then he would move on to the United States Senate in 2002, 2008, 2014, 2020, and he will be up for re-election again in 2026. He would become a national political figure as one of the leading people in the Congress of the United States. He emerged as a House manager in the Impeachment Trial of Bill Clinton, he filled the seat of Strom Thurmond, and lead the Republican Party efforts to answer any number of major issues plaguing the country both domestically and internationally.  His greatest accomplishment is most likely his efforts to end the stalemate over Judicial appointments that led to control of the Supreme Court eventually ending up in the hands of a conservative majority. In this episode, we look back at the man many have called the Senator of the 21st Century, Lindsey Graham. We start at his race for Congress in 1994, and we gather up a lot of the biographical materials the press put together during Graham's short campaign for President in 2016, Sadly, we could find nothing on the 1994 race on audio, but we do have an unusual source, the memoir of our Host, Randal Wallace, written from his materials in 2007 in his unpublished Memoir "The Eye of The Storm." We also follow Lindsey Graham's life at various times over the next 31 years.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode, we will give you a taste of the dramatic races from all across the nation. Two Bush brothers were on the ballot, we had a barn burner for Governor in South Carolina, and the House and Senate had close races too. It was a dramatic campaign in an historic year at the polls.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode we kick of the 1994 Midterm elections. As we look at Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole and Senate Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Phil Gramm, begin their march to the majority in the United States Senate. We will listen in as Bob Dole deftly answers questions about the year's most controversial Senate race in Virginia between Chuck Robb, the son in law of former President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Oliver North the former aide to Ronald Reagan. We will introduce the Midterm elections to you here,  as we get ready to kick off a multiple episode look at these monumental elections from 1994.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode, we look back with a great deal of respect to a very formidable adversary for most Republicans like me, in Senator George Mitchell of Maine. He was the Senate Majority Leader for most of the Bush Administration and the first two years of the Clinton Administration. He was most likely the single biggest factor in making George H. W. Bush eat his no new taxes pledge during the budget negotiations of 1990. He decided to retire in 1994. This dinner was held in his honor and to raise money for a scholarship fund that he set up with the remainder of his reelection campaign fund to help more people get an education. Mitchell was the son of an Irish immigrant janitor, and a textile worker in Maine. He knew the value of a good education and how hard his parents had worked for him to have the opportunities this nation provided. This dinner was his way of setting up a fund to help those coming up behind him. It was here that we also got a chance to see both Bob Dole and President Clinton give good hearted speeches in tribute to the outgoing Majority Leader. It is a chance to size them up as they go head to head, but this time, it is all in good natured fun and in honor of a highly respected colleague, all on the eve of the 1994 midterm elections.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThe Contract with America would change everything in Washington D.C. For four decades the United States House of Representatives had been controlled by one party. The Republicans had settled into a life of being a permanent minority. That total control of the Federal Government had led to decades of entrenchment for democrats everywhere you looked in the running of the government. They were in all the bureaucracy, the courts, and in control of everything within the congress. It was a dominance that had brought down a President in 1974, and thwarted the agenda of three more Republican Presidents. It was time for a change and the unpopularity of the Clinton agenda would finally bring about an opportunity for that change. What Republicans needed was a field general. It got one in House Minority Assistant Leader, Newt Gingrich. He would develop the Contract with America, help sell it to the country, and to his fellow Congressman, he would help educate not only a class of Congressional candidates but also a generation of campaign operatives that they brought in, and took to school educating them on how to run a campaign. They polled the issues, they polled the voters, and they laid the groundwork for a foundation to nationalize the election. It gave every candidate a set agenda to run on. I would argue, and do in this episode, that it was a one-two punch that led to the success of the Republican Party in the elections of 1994. First off, you had Bill Clinton lurch to the left, which was unpopular with the vast majority of the electorate, but you also had Bob Dole there to stand the ground at a moment when every other Republican in the Federal Government was demoralized after the loss in 1992. It was Dole that held the ground against Clinton's left wing leap. Dole stopped the Gays in the Military, didn't have a single defection on the budget, and defeated the Healthcare boondoggle. It was a mighty impressive performance for a man leading the minority party in Congress. It was Bob Dole's leadership during those two years that laid the foundation for the campaign that, without question, Newt Gingrich, was able to lead to victory in 1994. A one-two punch that nearly knocked out the Clinton Administration. It was the high tide of the Republican comeback from the debacle of 1992.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn 1994 wildfires swept across California and the Emergency Management people steeped in to help fight them. Bill Clinton was briefed on the issues and  in this episode we hear his call in to check on what was happening and to show his support for the efforts. It is a rare window in on the inner workings of the Presidency during a crisis. You will hear the President as he talks with his staff and you will hear from two United States Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, as they also help monitor the efforts, and show moral support to those devastated by the wildfires in the the state.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textSouth Carolina has always been enormously proud of its military Collegiate institution, the Citadel, in Charleston S.C. Senator Ernest Hollings was a proud graduate of the University as was so many very prominent people throughout the state. Graduates include Governor Justin Hagood, Pat Conroy, Charles Tew, Greg Davis, State Senator Stephen Goldfinch, U.S. Representatives Nancy Mace, Gresham Barrett,  and State Representative Thad Viers are all among the list. In this episode we listen in as Senator Strom Thurmond, himself a graduate of Clemson University back in the era when it was a military college, introduces Senator Bob Dole and welcomes him to the Citadel. In this episode, we will also see the University bestow on Bob Dole an honorary Doctorate of Laws, as they welcome a genuine American hero to the podium to address the class of 1994. We are not sure but we think , given the date of this event May 14, 1994, that the Senators left The Citadel and then headed to another event that honored Vietnam Veterans in Columbia S.C. It was there that our host, Randal Wallace, got a chance to meet Bob Dole and snap the only photograph he had with the Senator, back in the era before cell phone cameras made pictures an easy thing to get, and that photo is now the cover art for this Podcast series.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode we look back at one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in the entire history of the country, the 1994 Crime Bill. It has been the source of many misconceptions and misinformation, even some of which has been spread by me. I had actually forgotten that this piece of legislation actually wasn't a bipartisan piece of legislation. That it was not sponsored by Republicans and that even Stom Thurmond, so often maligned, as a man willing to incarcerate people on a big scale actually opposed this bill. This bill was the product of Democratic majorities, led by Senator Joe Biden, and pushed by President Bill Clinton. It was a big jobs bill and advocated for the expansion of the Federal Prison system. It put people in jail for long and in some cases lifetime sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. Here you will listen in on President Clinton as he signs the bill, listen as his democratic collogues brag on the bill, and we will hear the press conference given by Bob Dole, Trent Lott, Alan Simpson, and Strom Thurmond among other Republicans in opposition to the 1994 Crime Bill. Plus, in fairness, we will give you a review of what the bill did right, and how it actually did cut the crime rate that was seen by everyone as out of control in 1994.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textI may not agree with his every conclusion about the history of the Special Prosecutor and Special Counsel office  and the people who have held it. But I can say that I could find no fault with how this one man handled the job. The Special Counsel and Special Prosecutors Office, begun in 1974, as a way to investigate the sitting President and his staff for alleged wrongdoing, has a history so awful, with so much wrongdoing itself, that it is literally almost impossible to defend as an institution. I don't think the abuse of power has any equal in our governmental history. The shameful conduct of Archibald Cox, Leon Jaworski, Richard Ben-Veniste, Henry Ruth, Lawrence Walsh, Ken Starr, and even the behaviour of our modern day investigators in the Trump-Biden-Trump era is enough to make even the worst tyrants blush. In my opinion, there are possibly two exceptions to this appalling record of power hungry maleficence, Robert Hurr, who investigated the records found in Joe Biden's garage, and Robert Fiske, the original Whitewater Scandal Special Prosecutor. Both men laid out what they saw in detail, and then either walked away, or were in the process of doing so when they were replaced. You cannot ask for anything more than that. In this episode, we get a real treat, as Robert Fiske traveled to Vermont to speak on the history of the Special Prosecutor and Special Counsel Offices and put the Robert Mueller Investigation into historical context. That investigation was ongoing when this lecture occured. The lecture was hosted by the Vermont Law and Graduate School and it runs nearly an hour. I may not agree with all of his opinions on the office, but I certainly can say, I always agreed with his decisions when he held the power to destroy people, and didn't, always looking at the facts and not trying to further his own career at the expense of others.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThe Whitewater investigation takes a giant leap as Attorney General Janet Reno appoints a Special Prosecutor to look into the case coming out of Arkansas. Former Watergate House Judiciary Committee staffer Bernard Nussbaum is now the assistant legal counsel to the President and his advice is not "No but Hell No!1 Mr. President, don't do that!" But it fell on deaf ears as Democratic Senators put pressure on the White House to take the step and allow a Special Prosecutor to be appointed. At first Clinton got lucky. Janet Reno appointed Robert Fiske to oversee the job. He may actually be the one and only Special Prosecutor in the history of its existence who was willing to look at a case and render a nonpartisan fair judgement, which he did, that nothing had happened in Arkansas involving President and Mrs. Clinton, and that Vince Foster had, in fact, committed suicide. He got fired for saying it. Not in so many words, but the Special Counsel statue had run out and Republicans worked to get it renewed. When it was renewed Janet Reno recommended that Fiske remain the Special Prosecutor and be allowed to finish his report. They removed him, and replaced him with Kenneth Starr instead. The rest is history. This is that story.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIt has been described as the hardest assignment in Washington D.C. It is the response to the sitting President after the State of the Union Address by a member of the opposition party. The President, speaking to a Joint Session of Congress, has a packed House chamber to talk with and a national audience tuning in. The person given the task to respond to it is usually alone in a room with a camera. It is by no means a fair matchup. In 1994, you also had the added stress of having to match T.V. Personas with President Bill Clinton arguably the greatest television Presidential orator of all time. Only Ronald Reagan could give the guy a run for his money. This daunting task would fall to Bob Dole, not once but twice in three years, as he was selected to give the Republican response to the State of the Union in 1994 and 1996. He volunteered, so you can't feel too sorry for him, but it was a tough assignment all the same. The speech Dole gave in 1996, is far better remembered, because he came across like an undertaker. However, in 1994, he was received in the homes of millions of Americans much better. The speech was singularly focused on the Healthcare debate, a debate the Republicans were winning. Dole had a very well put together chart from Senator Arlen Specter's office on just how big and expansive a bill the Clinton Healthcare plan actually was, and Dole did a masterful job of delivering the message. It was one of his better performances. Here it is in its entirety, plus a little bit from President Clinton's speech as well. When we finish those two addresses to the nation we will fast forward you to an interview with Bob Dole as he lays out the Republican agenda, and his thoughts on an array of subjects, for the rest of 1994. It is an interesting interview, and  one of the first times Dole drops the hint that he was indeed going to be a candidate in 1996 for President of the United States.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThe Republicans did offer up an alternative to the Clinton Healthcare proposal. It was the Dole/Packwood Republican Alternative plan. In this press conference you will hear Bob Dole discuss the proposal and have Senator Bob Packwood lay the plan  out for the press corp.Here are two Republican leaders trying to get their ideas on the table in order to address the growing healthcare crisis. In a lot of ways the plans were not far off but the political divide and the history of big majorities for democrats in congress would lead some decision makers on the Clinton side to try and push their proposal forward and sideline republicans. It would prove a disastrous decision and lead both plans to fail. It would be yet another two decades before Healthcare would be addressed again.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode we take a look back at Hillary Clinton when she first burst onto the national scene in the early days of the Clinton Administration. She was a lady busy redefining the role of the First Lady. She was an active serious advisor to her husband. An accomplished career woman in her own right she had been the single person Bill Clinton had always relied on for his policy and often political advice. She was aggressively pushing an agenda all her own and the President was supporting it even as the press began to start focusing on her place in the Clinton Administration. All of this was happening on a wide variety of areas when President Clinton zeroed in on addressing the growing healthcare crisis in the country. Clinton decided he had more faith in his wife's ability to get it done than on any other political ally or advisor. This is the story of that effort. What she did, how hard she worked at it, and how it failed largely due to her approach. The bill was to big and to expansive, and it had been written giving only lip service to Republican concerns and advice. In the Washington D. C. of that era it would prove to be a mistake not to include your opposition especially to push aside its leader, Bob Dole.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode we look back at the other man who alongside, Bob Dole and Pete Wilson, spoke at both funerals for Pat and Richard Nixon. The Reverend Billy Graham was a giant figure in the second half of the 20th Century. His influence on the spiritual lives of people around the globe is rivaled only by the various Pope's who served during his lifetime. He was a major figure in the American Civil Rights movement, and he was an advisor to every President from Harry Truman to Barak Obama. He played an enormous role in 1968 in the election of Richard Nixon to the Presidency. This was learned in a recent blockbuster book by Dr. Luke Nichter who became the first author and historian to gain access to the VIP Notebooks that Billy Graham kept for over 70 years as his ministry grew and he became more and more involved in advising the major public figures of the era. In this episode we will hear from him, as we also say goodby to President and Mrs. Nixon, listening in on both eulogies, and we will examine the role Billy Graham played, through the Billy Graham Evangelical Association videos, in the the civil rights movement and with the various Presidents. Plus we will hear a segment of an interview with Historian Luke Nichter about the role Graham played in politics especially during the crucial year of 1968.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode we cover the deaths of both Former First Lady Pat Nixon and former President Richard Nixon who both passed away within 10 months of one another in 1993 and 1994. As anyone who has been listening to our podcast on a long term basis knows, the life and career of Richard Nixon is a central focus of our show. We even have a sister podcast titled "The Richard Nixon Experience" that is a second avenue to listening to the many episodes we have produced on the President and his life. This episode adds some additional materials we have not used before mixed in with some of the material from our Nixon series that ran a couple of years ago. We have the newly released video of President Clinton meeting President Nixon for the first time in 1992.  We also feature for the first time the eulogy given for Mrs. Nixon by Bob Dole, and several portions of oral histories about President and Mrs. Nixon from the Bob Dole oral history project, with Dole, George McGovern, and Sheila Burke, Bob Dole's Senate Chief of Staff. We think this is an excellent addition to materials we have already produced on Nixon. It should add to the already growing materials that have been brought to the forefront of Nixon scholarship in recent years. It seems a growing appreciation has been happening for the Presidency of Richard Nixon, and we here at this podcast are proud to have played a small, and very early role, in that new appreciation for the 37th President and his many accomplishments. As we have said and written repeatedly we believe he deserves to be ranked among the 4 Greatest American Presidents, and it appears our podcast tag line is truly now at hand. The Renaissance of Richard Nixon is finally happening at last.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textJim Brady was a popular member of the Reagan campaign , and briefly the Reagan Administration. He was gunned down in 1981 in the attempt to assassinate Ronald Reagan. He lived, but suffered permanent brain damage, leaving him paralyzed and slow to speak for the rest of his life. His wife, Sarah Brady, would go on to lead a lifelong crusade to bring some form of gun control to America. This is the story of the passage of the bill named in her husbands honor. Bob Dole opposed the legislation. This episode we will hear the floor debate between Dole and Senate Leader George Mitchell. We will learn how Dole treated everyone fairly, and we will get to see a real test between the President and the Minority Leader. In this early battle between the two leaders of their party, Clinton would win. The Brady Bill passed the House of Representatives 238 - 189 , and it passed in the United States Senate 63 - 36 with an amendment. The Bill introduced one of the things that Bob Dole had been pushing for years, a National instant background check.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThe North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, opened up the largest free trading block in the world. It was supported by every living former President in 1993, and Bill Clinton worked very hard to make it happen. He got support from an unlikely source.Bob Dole. In fact, he had bipartisan support and opposition. Our own two Senators here in South Carolina, Strom Thurmond and Ernest Hollings, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, both opposed NAFTA's passing. This is the story of how it passed through Congress. You will hear from three living former Presidents: George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford, in the Bush speech you will also hear about an opinion piece written by Ronald Reagan in favor of NAFTA as well. It was a controversial piece of legislation, and while it delivered on many of the high hopes when it passed, it also did not stop some of the very concerns those who were opposed to its passage brought up in their arguments. In this episode we will hear some of the oral history that Bob Dole gave and you will hear for yourself some of , what sounds like , regret he voices, ever so briefly, in his interview about supporting the passage of the bill. Here is the story of NAFTA, how it passed, and what people thought about it as the historic debate raged in Washington.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textAs this series has unfolded I am sure that most people have listened in and thought it was more about President Bill Clinton than Senator Bob Dole. That will begin to change with this episode. This is where we will begin to use an absolute treasure of a find from the Dole Archives collection at the Robert J. Dole School for Politics in Kansas. In this episode we will be introducing you to these oral histories compiled by Richard Norton Smith of various major figures who served in the same era as Senator Bob Dole. I think you will get extraordinary insight not just to Bob Dole the man, and the era in which he served , but also valuable insights on how your United States Senate actually functions. We are very excited to be diving into this collection to help tell the story of one of the greatest leaders our nation has ever produced in Senator Bob Dole. We want to thank all of those who contributed to this collection, the Dole Institute and historian Richard Norton Smith. These oral histories are an absolute treasure.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this our second episode of our tour through Georgia, we head out into rural south west Georgia to visit the community of Warm Springs. It was there in a small little resort town that Franklin Roosevelt discovered a treatment for his polio. It never cured him but it certainly revitalized him. The warm 88 degree water full of minerals allowed Roosevelt to move in the water like he was back on his feet again. it buoyed more than just his body, it lifted his spirit too. Roosevelt spent two thirds of his personal fortune, building a hospital to help those afflicted with polio, and that hospital still exists today helping with other disabilities and diseases. Roosevelt, who was born wealthy, met all types of people here in Georgia. He learned their struggles, their economic hardships, and the sky high cost of electrification. He vowed to help them, and he did. A great deal of the policies that made up the New Deal were from learning the problems of average Americans that he saw first hand in his adoptive home of Warm Springs. It was also here that he returned after his 14,000 mile trip to Yalta near the end of World War 2. He was tired, and it showed. He had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, his blood pressure periodically spiking, and it was clear his health was not good. He came here to Warm Springs to recuperate, and gather strength for the final push of the European War, and his dream of building a United Nations for peace. He did not live to see either of them. Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, here at the Little White House in Georgia. We will tell that story in this episode too. Then we will head back out on the road and go an hour and a half deeper into Georgia to a tiny little town of around 524 people. It is so small, its downtown actually looks like a movie set. You would probably ride right past it if not for its very famous residents, former President and former First Lady Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter called Plains, Georgia home, for 100 years. We will visit their gravesites, their remarkable, and yet very modest home, and visit the high school museum both attended. It was their in that museum that we learned about his famous school teacher Ms. Julia Coleman, their work at the Carter Center, and finally stumbled on the only work of fiction, out of the 27 books he wrote during his long post Presidency. We bought a copy of the "The Hornet's Nest" the first novel ever written by a former President. We will take you through it all, and even walk you through downtown Plains, Georgia, in this episode wrapping up our tour through Georgia.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this special, two part travelogue, we take you along with our host through Atlanta and south west Georgia as we visit several of the most historic spots in the nation. In this first episode we head into Atlanta and visit the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. We will look back on some of the major accomplishments of the Carter years and some of his post Presidency work helping with elections, eradicating diseases, and continuing to teach Sunday School in his local Church. We will in this visit show you around the museum and relive a few of these special moments. Then we will drive about five minutes down the street to visit the Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site run by the National Park Service. It encapsulates an entire Atlanta neighborhood and features the historic Church, Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. King served as an assistant Pastor alongside his father. It also includes his boyhood home and an extraordinary museum about his life where you can see his Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, Atlanta boasts one of the few places where you can see two Nobel Peace Prizes on display with in five minutes of each other between Dr. King and President Carter. You can tour the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the King Center, and walk down by the reflecting pool and Eternal Flame where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his wife Coretta Scott King are entombed. It is an extraordinary Historic Site and we hope you will tune in and learn about the Civil Right Era that was born here in this Atlanta neighborhood. Then in our next episode, we will head out into rural Georgia to visit the historic Little White House where Franklin D. Roosevelt stayed off and on for 21 years as he fought to recover from his debilitating Polio illness, and we will also visit the small southern , rural , Georgia town that Rosalyn & Jimmy Carter called home, Plains.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn the second episode on the Black Hawk Down incident we will listen in on the Senate as it debates two seperate amendments concerning the operations in Somalia. The McCain Amendment that would have cut off all funding to the operation immediately and the Byrd Amendment that gave the President a six month time table to bring the operation to a conclusion. This would be a mix of Republicans and Democrats on both sides of this debate. Bob Dole and Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell would be on the same side, siding with the President, and Senator Robert Byrd , in favor of giving the President six months to bring the operation to a close. It was a fascinating debate.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThis is the first of two episodes looking back on the situation in Somalia. In this episode we will hear from both President Bill Clinton and Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole , and we will directly from the pilot, Michael Durant, himself as he relives his experience in Mogadishu in several interviews.  This is the story of Black Hawk Down and the Battle of Mogadishu. Here is the Wikipedia write up on the military operation: The Battle of Mogadishu (Somali: Maalintii Rangers, lit.'Day of the Rangers'), also known as the Black Hawk Down Incident, was part of Operation Gothic Serpent. It was fought on 3–4 October 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia, between forces of the United States—supported by UNOSOM II—against Somali National Alliance (SNA) fighters and other insurgents in south Mogadishu.On 3 October 1993, U.S. forces planned to seize two of Aidid's top lieutenants during a meeting deep in the city. The raid was only intended to last an hour but morphed into an overnight standoff and rescue operation extending into the daylight hours of the next day. As the operation was ongoing, Somali insurgents shot down three American Black Hawk helicopters using RPG-7s, with two crashing deep in hostile territory, resulting in the capture of an American pilot.[17] A desperate defense of the two downed helicopters began and fighting lasted through the night to defend the survivors of the crashes. No battle since the Vietnam War had killed so many U.S. troops.[19] Casualties included 18 dead American soldiers and 73 wounded,[20] with Malaysian forces suffering one death and seven wounded, and Pakistani forces two injuries.[21] Somali casualties, a mixture of insurgents and civilians, were far higher; most estimates are between 133 and 700 dead.[18][10]After the battle, dead US troops were dragged through the streets by enraged Somalis, an act that was broadcast on American television to public outcry. The operation was ended the next year.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textI went on line and looked up the Oslo Accords signed by President Bill Clinton, PLO Leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin. It was an important moment that has faded now in its importance as the Israeli conflict with Hamas has taken centerstage. I thought it interesting to read what Artificial Intelligence wrote about the accords, that this episode will also allow you to relive as they happened. "The Oslo Accords were a pair of agreements signed in 1993 and 1995 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that aimed to establish a framework for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The first accord, signed in 1993, involved mutual recognition and established the Palestinian Authority (PA) to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza. The second, signed in 1995, further defined the interim period and outlined areas of Palestinian self-rule. Ultimately, the accords aimed for a final peace agreement, including the establishment of a Palestinian state, but this goal has not yet been achieved. Key aspects of the Oslo Accords:Mutual Recognition:The Oslo I Accord marked the first time Israel and the PLO formally recognized each other. Palestinian Authority (PA):The agreements led to the establishment of the PA, which was intended to be an interim self-governing body for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Interim Period and Final Status Talks:The accords outlined an interim period, during which the PA would assume some governing responsibilities, with the expectation that final status negotiations would address issues such as borders, refugees, Jerusalem, and settlements. Israeli Withdrawal:The accords included provisions for Israeli troop redeployment from parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Two-State Solution:While not explicitly stated in the initial agreement, the accords were intended to pave the way for a two-state solution, with an independent Palestinian state existing alongside Israel. " Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textWe travel up to New Hampshire in this special edition episode to hear Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole , in his first foray into the state this cycle, as he helps fundraise for Congressman Bill Zepher. At the time Dole had not yet fully committed to running in 1996 himself but he was clearly the Republican Leader in America. This is Bob Dole at his best in front of a small audience answering there questions in a thoughtful, detailed way , often with plenty of that Kansas wit and humor on full display. If you ever wondered how he would end up the nominee of his party since he often seemed fairly stiff and colorless on television, this is where you will hear how it happened. Never has there been a bigger contrast between the charisma of a candidate in person as opposed to how they appeared on television than was the case with Bob Dole. Here he is at his best in New Hampshire at the Christmas Inn on September 6, 1993.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode, we look at what is arguably an impressive achievement by both President Bill Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole. The 1993 Budget Bill accomplished several goals of the new Clinton Administration including a tax increase on the middle class. That money funded up several programs Clinton had wanted to see implemented. IT could be argued that it played a role in the economic boom to come and then again there is an argument against it too. By ending the Cold War under the Bush Administration much of the economic boom and deficit reduction came as that expense had gone away. Which is why Bob Dole's role is also an achievement worth bragging about. Dole and the Republicans opposed the middle class tax increase. This led to a huge debate in 1993 and in the end Bob Dole was able to prevent every Republican in congress from voting for the Budget Bill. A victory for him, and in doing so in 1993, he was able to set the stage for the 1994 mid term elections that would be historic for the Republican Party.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThis is one of , if not, the saddest stories of all my time in politics. It is the story of Vince Foster, the longtime friend, and aid to President Bill Clinton. He had once shared back lawns with Bill Clinton in childhood. He had worked alongside Hillary Clinton at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Arkansas, and he had moved with them to the White House. Vince Foster found himself in the tumult, rough, and tumble world of politics in Washington D.C. on the national level. His first forays into it had not gone well, he was one of the people who was supposed to have vetted Zoe Baird for Attorney General, and he was involved to some extent in the situation that blew up in the White House Travel Office. In both cases, he was never found to have done anything wrong even by Republican Special Prosecutors who would later investigate the situations. But Foster took all of these situations to close to his heart. Though he would also be one of the people who found Janet Reno, who would serve successfully throughout the Clinton Administration, Foster never seemed to adjust to the wily ways of Washington D.C. Perhaps, he had other issues too. On July 20, 1993, Vince Foster rode out to Fort Marcy Park in Fairfax County Virginia, and shot himself in the head. He was found later that night while his lifelong friend, Bill Clinton, was on a live extended interview with CNN host Larry King. It was a sad story for which no words could capture. As a lifelong Republican, I will also say this, it was our party and conservative America's most shameful, or even worse most shameless hour. To this day the suicide death of this man has been exploited in attempts to go after Bill and Hillary Clinton. It has been done with no concern for the widow and small children this man left behind. There is nothing in this story nor in the rumors it spawned in which my party can be proud. It was a senseless tragedy. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, don't take it lightly, and we here at this podcast cannot urge you enough to reach out to someone and or reach out to the national Suicide hotline at 988, that is the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThe bombs fell again on downtown Baghdad. This time in retaliation for the Iraqi Intelligence Agency's attempt to kill former President George H. W. Bush. Bush had gone to Kuwait to celebrate the anniversary of the victory by the United States of liberating the tiny Arab Nation. The Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein thought it was the perfect time to get even with his former nemesis. It would prove to be an enormous mistake on his part. The assassination attempt failed and after discovering that it was indeed sponsored by the government of Iraq, President Bill Clinton was swift in retribution. He ordered airstrikes on Iraq to send a clear message that this type of behaviour would not be tolerated. We would retaliate in a measured and deliberate way, bombing the Intelligence headquarters located in downtown Baghdad. An act that would be witnessed by Iraqis' everywhere. We bombed the portion of the building in charge of this type of intelligence gathering and it served notice to Saddam that we could "reach out and touch someone" if we had to do so.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThis is part two of the dueling press conferences on April 23, 1993 to celebrate the first 100 days of the Clinton Administration. This time its Bob Dole's turn to speak to the public and talk about all that had occured in the early Clinton days. It was the first of many sparring matches that would occur from 1993 to 1996.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThis is the first of a special two part podcast story. This is the end of the first 100 days of the administration of Bill Clinton. He topped it off with a press conference touting the many different things he felt that had been accomplished during those first 100 days. It is Bill Clinton at his finest, singing his own praises, and grabbing the spotlight. He won't have the stage all by himself on his big day as there will be another press conference right after this one across town and that will be the subject of our second part of this story.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textJanet Reno would serve as Attorney General for the entire term of Bill Clinton's Presidency. It proved the third time was the charm. In this episode, we look back at Janet Reno the person and we will examine some of her tougher decisions that happened throughout her nearly 8 years as the Attorney General.  Even though I am a Republican I would actually give her tenure high marks. The toughest situation she ever faced occured right off the bat, as she inherited an ongoing standoff in Waco, Texas with a religious cult leader who was hold up inside a compound there with his followers. There were many stories coming out that he was abusing children that were inside the compound. She decided to act and it had disastrous consequences, that would later lead to a much bigger homegrown terrorist attack a year and a half later in Oklahoma City. We will let you listen in on the news coverage of the day and hear the Attorney General herself testify before Congress as to what factors weighed on her mind as she made the decision to move forward. Wrong or right, she accepted full responsibility for the decision, and for what happened, and you have to admire that.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode, we look at the former First Lady and her impact on the Clinton Administration. I don't think there is any debate on the powerful role Hillary Rodham Clinton had on the administration of her husband, for good and for bad. She was his tip advisor and a full partner throughout his entire political career. She would lead the efforts on Healthcare and while proving ultimately unsuccessful, she proved she was a powerful intellect and formidable person. She also was instrumental in what, I believe, was actually the worst scandal of the Clinton years. Unlike, an Arkansas land deal, or an affair with a White House Intern, the White House Travel Office, actually involved career civil servants who had come to work everyday just to do their jobs. They were not millionaire donors, or active political people, but just ordinary Federal Employees, totally ill equipped to be dragged into a legal morass that threatened to bankrupt them and destroy their lives. In the end, they were all found not guilty, and vindicated, but not before being humiliated and fired. It would be Bob Dole who would put in legislation to reimburse these folk's for the massive legal bills they wracked up defending themselves from the Clinton machine. It was the low bar moment in the years of Bill and Hillary Clinton.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textBill Clinton will have a town hall in Chillicothe , Ohio, to answer questions and roll out his economic plan to the nation. We are presenting it to you here in its entirety. You will get the chance to see Bill Clinton do what he does best, connect with people. He puts on his full salesman pitch to try and sell this plan to the American People. He does well in person, as you can tell with this crowd, but he has a rival across Pennsylvania Avenue, in Bob Dole who knows how to sell people too. As we will learn in our episodes to come.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode, we will listen to the efforts by Bill Moyers to aid his President to build both a Great Society here at home all while protecting the civil rights of its citizens at the same time. You will hear Lyndon Johnson talk about what he expects in his anti poverty programs, his education programs, and how he intends to deal with industry. You will hear Johnson as he struggles with his own demons, and the effects some of them have had on his relationship with Bobby Kennedy, his immediate predecessors brother. You will also hear Moyers update Johnson on the events in Selma, Alabama on the eve of the march there. A march that led LBJ to place before Congress a Voter Rights Bill that would guarantee the right to vote for all Americans regardless of race. Then in a poignant call in February of 1967 , we will hear Bill Moyers say his farewells to President Johnson as he leaves his role at the White House to become a Jouranlist at a national publication. This was the move that would lead Bill Moyers to the career most of us remember him having, as an award winning journalist that told the story of our nation as few have ever been able to do. We will end the broadcast with one of his stories about a little church vandalized by racists, but in the wake of its rebuilding and reinvigoration, brought the small Lexington County , South Carolina town of Dixie Anna together. It is in that piece for CBS Sunday Morning , that we say our final farewell to Bill Moyers. Bill Moyers was 91 years old.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode, we concentrate mostly on the Vietnam War and watch the decisions unfold that led us into a full scale land war in Asia. Bill Moyers was there and honestly offers both his opinions in real time to the President and gives historians an ear full of why he thinks things happened the way they did. This is an extraordinary look inside the inner workings of a White House at a historic moment and one we will most likely never have the opportunity to have again.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThis is our first of three special edition episodes looking back at the life and career of Bill Moyers. He was a legendary journalist who worked for PBS for many years. As a young man one of the earliest documentaries I owned was one he did on Hitler and Roosevelt comparing their life stories. He did amazing work. He is no stranger to our broadcast either, having appeared in several of our episodes when we were chronicling the years of Lyndon B. Johnson. He served as an aide to the former President during most of his years as President. In this episode we will look back at his journalism career mostly and hear him talk about many of the issues gripping the nation. Then in our next two episodes we will hear him on the phone with President Johnson. He was one of Johnson's few aides that he completely trusted. Bill Moyers was like family to the President. As you will see he seemed to be everywhere from the Great Society, to Civil Rights, to the War in Vietnam.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode we look back at the roll out for the Clinton Economic Plan. It is to this day a source of some level of controversy as to how much credit it deserves for the extraordinary boom that happened after it passed. The question is how much did help spur the economy, or was it the budget deal that Bush signed that raised some tax rates and cut some spending, or was it the simple fact that the Cold War was over and the enormous amount of money we had been spending in defense had simply gotten a lot smaller. Or could it have simply been the combination of all three. That is the scenario that I think is most likely. But in this opening battle we see both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue as they prepare to debate the questions, and address the problems of getting the nation back on the right fiscal track. It will be the first of many battles where we get to see President Bill Clinton do battle with Bob Dole.  In the end , the economic plan will pass with no support from any Republicans and the plan will lay the foundation for the Republican Revolution that would overwhelm Bill Clinton in 1994.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textCOMING THIS WEEK a three part tribute and retrospective to Journalism Giant Bill Moyers who began his career as an aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson. First we look back at his life and career and then in two more episodes wie listen in on his calls with President Johnson as they figure out how to build a Great Society, usher in an era of Civil Rights, and fight the War in Vietnam. Relive it here this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThis special edition honors three figures we lost in May of 2025. Two political figures who loomed large on the national scene, Charlie Rangel and Gerry Connelly, and one of the stars of our hosts second favorite show of all time "CHEERS" , George Wendt aka "Norm!!" Charlie Rangel served in Congress for 40 years out of Harlem in New York. He was a major player in Watergate on the House Judiciary Committee, and later served as the Chairman of Ways and Means. He was a lot of things through out his tenure on the National stage but boring was not one of them. We will look back on this great character of politics , his impact, and some of his ethical troubles too. But one thing was for sure he was a tough partisan with guts and we will show his famous moment on the House floor when he told his investigators to put up or shut up in their long winding investigation. Gerry Connelly, was as quiet and reserved as Charlie Rangel was not but still Connelly had an impact on a variety of issues our nation faced through out his many years in Congress. His Obituary wrote : "He spent a decade working as a staffer for then-Senator Joe Biden on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where he developed his deeply-honed knowledge of foreign policy before entering the private sector. His elected life of service spanned 13 years on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, including 5 as Chairman, and 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. While serving in Congress, he was elected as the Ranking Member of the Oversight Government Reform Committee, and President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly twice."He also held a special friendship with his Republican Counterpart on his Committee , Representative James Comer, and here we will hear Comer honor his friend. Finally, we will shift gears and leave the world of politics to honor a comedic actor, and huge part of our childhood, as we also lost "Norm Petersen" in May. The lovable barfly accountant, that helped make the TV Show "CHEERS" a hit for 11 years on NBC. Actor George Wendt passed away in his sleep in May but he left an enormous body of work that will keep us smiling for decades to come. We wanted to honor him here on this podcast too.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this episode we tune in as Terrorism makes its first big appearance on our shores as Islamic extremist bomb the World Trade Center. In this episode we relive that terrible day. It would foreshadow the dominant issue of the next decade.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textIn this special edition episode we hear Bob Dole address the National Association of Counties. It is the organization that works for the nations county governments and it shares similar issues with cities which is where I spent my time as an elected official. In this speech you will come away getting a full dose of Bob Dole's legendary sense of humor and his amazing grasp of the issues facing local government in that era. It is funny how those issues stay fairly consistent through time. This is a chance to see Bob Dole at work and I think you will admire what you hear.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textThe most controversial issue that President Clinton tackled right off the back was changing the policy in the United States military banning homosexuals from serving. It would be met with opposition by Bob Dole, Strom Thurmond, Phil Gramm and the Joint Chiefs' of Staff. In fact, even the Democratic Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Sam Nunn, was opposed to the change. But Bill Clinton insisted that the issue would be addressed. After months of debate and study the policy that would be agreed to for years was "Don't Ask don't Tell" it would stand until President Barak Obama dropped the policy and the ban for good during his Presidency. What made this issue interesting , at least for me, and I hope you will pick up in this episode, is that the opposition did not jump on this issue in an attempt to politicize the problem. It was there, and the issue hurt the President in those years, but the Republicans tried to present their opposition in ways that did not inflame the public any more than it already was upset. It was a very different way of acting than what we have seen in modern times. Especially, with an issue as easy to politicize as this one was. It is an interesting episode in which we hear from all the major players, from Bob Dole, and Bill Clinton, to the Joint Chiefs, Strom Thurmond, Phil Gramm,  Don Rickles, and countless others all trying to find a proper solution to the issue.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textAs we start down the road of the Clinton years we shall see that both men, Bill Clinton and Bob Dole , struggle just a bit to get their sea legs in their new positions. We start out with inside footage of Bill Clinton as he starts his first meeting with his cabinet and later his first meeting with the Congressional Leadership. We will also see him as he meets the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan for the first time. We will then listen as Greenspan talks to 60 Minutes about his time in the chairman's role and his assessment of Bill Clinton. The two men worked closely together and often Clinton listened to him as they set financial policy together. Then we follow Bob Dole as he goes and speaks to the Nations' Governors as the Senate Minority Leader, but everyone in the room recognizes his unspoken position as the leader of the Republican Party in America. That is a new role for Bob Dole who has often been the Senate Leader but usually under a Republican President, either Ronald Reagan or George H. W. Bush, but in 1993 he is the unquestioned  leader of his party. Here you will hear him speak and answer questions with unusual humor and candor, as both men begin a new era in Washington D.C.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a text1993 to 1994 will really be a clash between two political titans, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole and President Bill Clinton. As we begin in what will be essentially a two part biographical series of both men, we thought we would take a look at both of them from interviews made during the early days of 1993, before we had any idea exactly what the future would hold for either of them. We will listen to several interviews of then President-Elect Clinton aired on the day he took office looking back at the journey that brought him to the White House. Then we will listen to a 60 Minutes interview conducted by Steve Kroft with Bob Dole and hear his life story and about how he was dealing with the new Clinton Administration. In it you see how his life was reborn thanks to his new status as the leading Republican in America. This episode we hope will give you some real insights into the personalities of both men, Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, and how it would affect the history of the nation over these next four years.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textWhen we finished our 14th Season it was Inauguration Day for Bill Clinton. In this episode, we pick up where we left off on Inauguration afternoon and evening. We will witness the celebrations of the victors and the agony of the defeated as Bill Clinton and the democrats enjoy their victory until late into the evening. It was for them a fun night, and first few days at the helm of power. But when they wake up from the honeymoon it will be Bob Dole who will be ready to get down to the business of running the country. Here is day one of the Clinton Administration.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!

Send us a textWhile we were on hiatus from producing episodes we had a number of passings that we want to comment on , both nationally, and locally here in the Myrtle Beach area of note. Over the next few days we will have two special editions mixed in with our regular series in order to honor these folks. In this episode we will look back at two people who were very close to me over the past two decades. Former Myrtle Beach City Clerk, Joan Grove , and former Surfside Beach Mayor Bob Childs. Two people who left an indelible mark on our small corner of the world here in South Carolina, where we produce these shows. Joan Grove was the City Clerk for two decades in Myrtle Beach, working with three different City Managers and four Mayors. She was the voice of the City Council every two weeks for our televised meetings as she read all the ordinances into the public record. More than that, Mrs. Grove was beloved by the city employees, elected officials, and residents alike. She took me under her wing when I first arrived as 30 year old councilman with no real travel experience to speak of and she made sure I got where I needed to be. We remained friends long after both of our time with the city was over. We will look back at her in this episode. Bob Childs, served in the United States Capitol long before he moved to Surfside Beach and ran for Council. He had stories to tell about every major figure of the last half of the 20th Century because he had served right beside them as they wandered around the Capitol. He moved to Surfside and became its Mayor, getting its finances in order, and accomplishing great things during his tenure. He was admired by all who knew him and we will be looking back at him in this episode as well. Finally, we will end this show as one of the most fun trivia questions of the age finally comes to a close. John Tyler, the 10th President of the United States who was born in 1790, and he had fifteen children. He had one of them when he was age 63. That son, Lyon Tyler, had a son at the age of 75. Harrison Tyler , who passed away  in June, was born in 1928, and he lived for 97 years. Which became one of the trivia worlds most fun questions. Who was the oldest living grandson of a President? The Tyler  family life spans over three generations that covers 235 years from 1790 to 2025. We will look back at the Tyler family tree as we bid farewell to a very nice man, Harrison Tyler, who I met one day while touring his home in Charles City County, Virginia.  Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcastsThanks for listening!!