Nov. 30, 1999
By
Nick Hillyard
CyberCaucus 2000 News Service
Drake
University
DES MOINES, Iowa -- When asked "Why do you support George W. Bush?," many supporters of the Republican presidential candidate will say how much they liked his father, President George Bush.
"[Bush] is a brand name, and this is the age for marketing and brand names," said Myron Marty, Ann G. and Sigurd E. Anderson professor of history at Drake University. "Brand names today make people feel comfortable, they're predictable."
Arthur Sanders, associate professor of politics and international relations at Drake University, said, "People think his father was a decent president, so he will be."
How do the father and son compare? Their backgrounds are similar. Both attended Phillips Academy, served in the military and went to Yale University before entering politics.
"Bush didn't follow in his father's academic footsteps," Marty said. The elder Bush graduated in the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity from Yale, an honor for students at the top of their college class. The younger "Bush went to Yale with his friends, got into intramural sports and became a party boy," Marty said.
During World War II, the elder Bush was a heroic Navy pilot. During the Vietnam War, his son served five years in the Texas Air National Guard.
From 1971 to 1973 Bush was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and he later took a large interest in foreign affairs during his vice presidency and presidency. The younger Bush - now governor of Texas - was recently unable to name the leaders of three countries heavily covered by the media, when asked by a reporter.
"He didn't inherit his father's interest in foreign affairs, but he did inherit from his dad the suspicion that he's not conservative enough," Marty said. Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, Alan Keyes, Pat Buchanan and Dan Quayle, all presently or formerly Republican presidential candidates, have all tried to position themselves to the political right of Gov. Bush's compassionate conservative outlook, Marty said.
This suspicion may go back further than President Bush. Prescott Bush, President Bush's father, was a senator from 1952 to 1963. He strongly opposed the Republican Party's right wing, especially Sen. Joseph McCarthey of Wisconsin and his fight against communism in the United States.
If Gov. Bush is elected, the two Bush men wouldn't be the first father-son duos to hold the presidency. John Adams, the second president of the United States, was the father of John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States. In the younger Adams' first political campaigns, the Federalist Party supported Adams because his father had been president and he had an impressive diplomatic record.
"Adams didn't need his father's name to help his election, he had a long, distinguished record of federal service," Marty said. From the age of 18, Adams worked in diplomacy, taught at Harvard University, served as foreign minister to the Netherlands and Germany and held the office of secretary of state before his presidency.
Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president, was the grandson of William Henry Harrison, ninth president. Although the elder Harrison had the shortest administration on record, one month, many historians believe that the younger Harrison won the presidential election because of his family name.
In both the Adams and Harrison families, some historians believe political parties used their families' names to make a viable candidate. "There is a thurst among Republicans for someone who has a chance to win," Sanders said.
Sanders said former President Bush has given his son quite a few advantages. "It's clearly given him credibility that he might have otherwise lacked. It's given him a long list of financial contributors, so he's successfully raised money from the start," Sanders said.
"You take your advantages and use them, that's what you do in a campaign. He's done a good job of that," Sanders said. "George W. Bush wouldn't have been elected governor of Texas if he wasn't the son of President Bush, he also wouldn't have the kind of lead or the money he has now. Sometimes governors of large states make good candidates, though."
Bush's lead is curious when you consider his father wasn't reelected, Sanders said. "Presidents are looked back on more fondly than when they were in office. People remember what they liked and forget what they didn't," Sanders said.
"Using his father is a good starting point, the real question is what he does with that. By itself, it's not enough. He's pushed his campaign as far as he can without articulating what he plans to do in office. It will all blow up in his face if he doesn't take the next step," Sanders said.