Ted Williams Rescues Bush 41 Campaign

Ted Williams Rescues Bush 41 Campaign

By Joe Guzzardi

Baseball fans recognize Ted Williams as one of the sport’s all-time Cooperstown Hall of Fame legends, a fearless pilot who served in the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps during World War II and in Korea. Less well-known is that Ted is also a Fly Fisherman Hall of Fame inductee.  Williams caught black marlin in New Zealand and tiger fish in the Zambezi River in Mozambique. In Ted’s opinion, only three fish were worthy of true sportsmen— tarpon, bonefish, and Atlantic salmon. Considered by Williams the triple crown of fishing, he had caught and released over 1,000 of each by 1982.

“The Kid’s” inner circle—his family and close friends—knew that Williams had another passion. Williams was a political junkie.  Born in 1918 in San Diego, Williams grew up in conservative California. Beginning in 1890, and lasting for about a 100-year period, Republicans consistently occupied Sacramento’s Governor’s Mansion, and the state’s voters consistently sent Republicans to the U.S. Congress. Williams most admired President Calvin Coolidge, the former Massachusetts governor who favored tax cuts and limited government spending.

No surprise then that when Vice President George H.W. Bush called on Williams to campaign on his behalf in the 1988 New Hampshire primary, Ted accepted, and thereby changed America’s presidential history. Setting the scene, President Ronald Reagan’s two-terms were up, and Bush was part of a crowded GOP primary card. The Iowa caucus’ outcome had been a shock to the Bush campaign. The Vice President finished a distant third to Kansas Senator Bob Dole and televangelist Reverend Pat Robinson, the newly formed Christian Coalition’s favorite. With only a week between Iowa and New Hampshire, Bush was floundering. The Manchester-Union Leader, a powerful conservative New Hampshire voice, labeled Bush “a wimp,” and endorsed Delaware governor Pierre S. du Pont.  Jack Kemp, the Buffalo Bills’ former quarterback, was also vying for the GOP nomination.

Although Bush had done his legwork and visited the Granite State frequently during 1988, when primary week began, he polled five points behind Dole. Another failure would have put Bush permanently out of the running. John Sununu, former New Hampshire governor and Bush’s campaign reached out to Williams. Neither Bush nor Sununu personally knew Williams, but they had heard of his strong political opinions. A liberal on social policy, Williams was a conservative on fiscal and foreign policy. Although he distrusted all politicians, he particularly hated the Kennedys and consistently voted the GOP ticket.

Sununu phoned Williams and persuaded him to fly to New Hampshire from Florida where he had been fishing. Williams’ presence with Bush, who played second fiddle to “The Kid,” changed the game, and helped put Bush in the White House. Voters turned out in droves to get a glance at their beloved Boston Red Sox hero. One gifted Williams an antique bamboo fishing rod. Ted signed autographs, and introduced his new friend, Bush, as “the next president of the U.S.”

In the end, Bush ended up with 59,290 votes; Dole, 44,797; and Kemp, 20,144.  Campaign donations returned, and Bush was on his way to the White House. Bush, a World War II pilot and Yale University baseball standout, and Williams became friendly. Bush kept his old first baseman’s glove at the ready in his desk drawer, a quirk that endeared him to Williams.

Now Bush’s chief of staff, Sununu organized two major events that included Williams. First, a 1991 Rose Garden lunch on the All-Star game’s afternoon with Joe DiMaggio to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Joe’s 56-game hitting streak and Ted’s .406 average. After lunch, they flew Air Force One to Toronto to watch the game, a 4-2 win for the American League. Second, also in 1991, Bush presented Williams with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the rare times Ted agreed to wear a tie.

Historians acknowledge that Williams was the key factor in putting Bush on the presidency’s path. On November 8, 1988, Bush won a landslide against the Democrat candidate, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, 426 electoral votes to 111, an impossible outcome without Teddy Ball Game’s intervention.

Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and Internet Baseball Writers Association member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com

Ted Williams Rescues Bush 41 Campaign