UVa's Miller Center examines history of Bush Sr.

Hollywood’s Dirty Harry could have replaced Dan Quayle as President George H.W. Bush’s presidential running mate in 1988, one of Bush’s top aides said in interviews released Friday by the Miller Center.

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III said during interviews that actor Clint Eastwood was briefly considered as a running mate for Bush in his run against Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988.

Eastwood was considered “when we were way behind,” Baker said in transcripts gathered by the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. “Honestly, it was suggested in not an altogether unserious — Well, he was a mayor. He was a Republican mayor. Anyway, it was shot down pretty quick … but we were looking at an 18-point deficit.”

Details about Eastwood and other moments of senior Bush’s presidency were released Friday as part of his oral history project. The release is a culmination of 12 years of work by Miller Center staff and more than 50 interviews of important Bush cabinet members and advisors.

“No questions were off-limits to our interviewers, and in most cases those being interviewed were exceptionally generous, welcoming our curiosity and patiently explaining both success and failure as they saw it,” said Russell Riley, chair of the Miller Center’s Presidential Oral History Program. “Their words add detail and texture to our understanding of President Bush, the team of people he had, and the unique problems of the world as they occurred.”

More than 25 interviews from Bush’s top administration have been cleared for release, including those of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who served as the senior Bush’s defense secretary; Secretary of State Robert Gates, who served as CIA director in the senior Bush administration; and former Vice President Dan Quayle. Other interviews are being withheld at the request of those interviewed until a later date, said Barbara Perry, senior fellow at the Miller Center who was involved in the project.

Today, members of Bush’s administration and scholars are meeting at the Miller Center to discuss his four years in office and the longtime impact on the country. The two-day event began Friday and is being aired online on the Miller Center’s website, Millercenter.org.

Gen. Brent Scowcroft, who served as National Security advisor to senior Bush, sent a statement read Friday that said Bush was the “most experienced man to be President since the Founding Fathers.”

Bush himself was not interviewed as part of the history, but has been a big supporter of the project, Miller Center officials said.

“Fortunately, the Miller Center has always understood and respected the goal of public service,” Bush said in a statement included in a news release. “That shows in the Center’s scholarly work, like the patient, ongoing project to chronicle the story of my administration. The documentary record is vital, but your scholars also add the human side that those papers can never capture. For my presidency, and for others, the Miller Center is a place that gets history and preserves it for future generations.”

The Miller Center has released oral histories of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and is currently conducting those on Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as well as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.