Reagan assassinated in 1981, who does Bush Sr. choose as VP?

[Blair]

As it says on the tin, John Hinckley Jr. assassinates the president. Newly sworn George H.W. Bush must appoint a vice president, who does he choose?

 

[James G]

Not Al Haig!
I would assume he'd pick a long serving Republican senator, one with a strong domestic background to balance his own of foreign affairs and national security.

 

[James Ricker]

This is pre S&L scandal so he'll probably go with the guy he was seriously considering as a running mate in 1988, John McCain (R-AZ)

 

[James G]

This is pre S&L scandal so he'll probably go with the guy he was seriously considering as a running mate in 1988, John McCain (R-AZ)

Was Mccain even a senator back in 81?
Edit: just checked. He wasn't even a congressman then.

 

[James Ricker]

Was Mccain even a senator back in 81?
Edit: just checked. He wasn't even a congressman then.

Just checked, he just got out of the Navy in 1981, so we could be looking at Bob Dole (R-KS).

 

[James G]

Just checked, he just got out of the Navy in 1981, so we could be looking at Bob Dole (R-KS).

"Bob Dole will accept the request from the President to serve as the vice president pending the approval of the Senate," said Bob Dole.

 

[Derek Pullem]

Howard Baker?

 

[Sasalele]

I'd say Bob Dole or Howard Baker. More likely to be Bob Dole to appease conservative Republicans.

 

[Don Corleone]

Dole and HW hated each other. They might suck it up but a different conservative is more likely.

 

[Kodoku]

Possibly Howard Baker.

 

[wiltedwildrose]

What about Jack Kemp?

 

[Zheng He]

Ford?

 

[Lalli]

Ford?

Wouldn't that be mistake take Ford as VP, if you mean Gerald Ford?

 

[The Byronic Hero]

"Bob Dole will accept the request from the President to serve as the vice president pending the approval of the Senate," said Bob Dole.

 

[Meadow]

J A C K
E
M
P

 

[Zheng He]

Wouldn't that be mistake take Ford as VP, if you mean Gerald Ford?

I was thinking Ford helps with stability in a difficult time but does not run on the 84 ticket.

 

[President_Lincoln]

My prediction would be either Kemp or Baker. Kemp was a rising star in the party at the time, and his small government views could balance HW's more centrist outlook for '84.

 

[David T]

Bush knows that there is still a lot of suspicion of him among conservatives as not being a "real" Reaganite, and appointing Kemp is an obvious way to dispel it. (Remember that even in 1988, Bush felt he had to appease right-wing skeptics in his choice of a vice-president--the selection of Quayle owes more to that than to anything else IMO.)

 

[Zheng He]

Bush knows that there is still a lot of suspicion of him among conservatives as not being a "real" Reaganite, and appointing Kemp is an obvious way to dispel it. (Remember that even in 1988, Bush felt he had to appease right-wing skeptics in his choice of a vice-president--the selection of Quayle owes more to that than to anything else IMO.)

And it failed given how Pat Buchanan and his followers came out of the woodwork in 1992.

 

[David T]

And it failed given how Pat Buchanan and his followers came out of the woodwork in 1992.

True, but that was because by 1992 the Cold War was over, and a non-interventionist foreign policy had again become acceptable to a part of the Right. In the 1980's however, right-wing non-interventionism was a very isolated position, mostly held by a few libertarian disciples of Murray Rothbard. In 1981, there was a pretty strong hawkish foreign policy consensus on the American Right, and Kemp would fit into it quite comfortbly.