BOB DOLE : 1995 Clinton's Comeback

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The most controversial issue that President Clinton tackled right off the bat 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. 

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As 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. 

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1993 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. 

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When 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. 

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While 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 a 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 during his lifetime. He had one of them when he was age 63. That son, Lyon Tyler, had a son born when he was 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 bar room questions.

 Who was the earliest President with a living grandson? 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. 

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In our premier episode of our 15th Season, we start back at the dawn of the Clinton Administration as Bill Clinton has just been elected President of the United States, and his party is left in full control of Congress. It all appears to be a beautiful honeymoon on the horizon for the new Commander in Chief. There is only one problem from basking in the glow of that honeymoon. 

Bob Dole is the chaperone. 

We will open up with Bob Dole's day after the election press conference in the Senate as he runs down the election results across the country and welcomes the new President Elect to Washington D.C. Dole will be quick to point out that his 43 Senate votes is the equal to Bill Clinton's victory percentage. 

It is clear by this press conferences' end that the new President will not have an opposition leader willing to lay down for him. But what is also clear is that Bob Dole does not intend to be an obstructionist on every single issue but hopes to find common ground with the new President. It is the first day of a political duel of two titans who will match wits with one another for the next four years and in the process both the Republican Party and the career of Bob Dole, who just the year before had contemplated retirement, will be re-born. 

In this episode, we will also listen to two documentaries that will look back at the life of the Senate Leader as we start our three season look at the career of Bob Dole and his chief rival Bill Clinton. 

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In this brief episode we talk about the new series that will begin on June 11, 2025. Plus we also talk about the future of this broadcast. 

This look back at Bob Dole will also mark the end of our look at the Greatest Generation of Americans that overcame a depression, fought World War 2 , and came home to build the American Century while winning the Cold War. 

Bob Dole's story is their final story on the national political stage. After Bob Dole walks away in 1996, this generation will begin their gradual fading away and into history. We are honored to tell this story about this man who was a true American Hero in every sense of the word. 

We are not sure where this podcast will be going from here. So, while we lay out the plan for the next 3 seasons of our show, we are also listening for any ideas about the future or whether we are at the end of our run. We look forward to hearing from you as this story unfolds. 

Thank you for tuning in, this is a joy to be telling these stories.

Randal Wallace

Host of "The Randal Wallace Presents" Podcast, formerly known as Bridging the Political Gap 

Questions or comments at  , [email protected] ,  https://twitter.com/randal_wallace   , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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In this episode we hear from South Carolina's Senior United States Senator Lindsey Graham as he spoke to the Child and Family Resource Foundation in Hartsville, S.C. He will discuss the many things going on in the nations' capitol under the Presidency of Donald Trump. 

Lindsey Graham is widely seen as one of the leading foreign policy, and budget policy experts in Washington D.C. He is a legendary public figure who has been a stalwart for conservative policy for over three decades  in both the House of Representatives and as the State of South Carolina's United States Senator. 

He spoke to the Child and Family Resource Foundation in Hartsville, South Carolina. The Foundation's primary focus is : 

From your home to the classroom, as a parent, as a care-giver - through all of life's ups and downs,
Child and Family Resource Foundation is here to be a voice of hope and healing to you, all the while
connecting you to educational and community resources for life success.

Their website is www.childandfamilyresourcefoundation.com 

and on social media at @ChildandFamilyResource

Tracy Redfern, the founder of the Foundation, is the first cousin of our host Randal Wallace.

Questions or comments at  , [email protected] ,  https://twitter.com/randal_wallace   , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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On June 11, 2025, our podcast will embark on the final story in the original thesis we intended to tell when we started this podcast nearly five years ago. On June 11, 1996, exactly 29 years ago, we saw Bob Dole resign his Senate seat, giving one of the most important speeches we ever heard, to pursue full time his bid for the White House. He would be the last of "The Greatest Generation" to do so. 

In 1992, in the midst of a recession, the Republican Party would be swept out of power losing not only the White House, but the House and Senate as well. On the Federal level of Government, one man stood alone, as the leader of his party. That man was also the last of the World War 2 generation to be left on the national stage. He was Senate Minority leader Robert J. Dole of Kansas. 

Over the next three seasons we will tell his story and the story of the rise of the modern Republican Party. It will be the final story of National leadership for the generation of people who built the American Century.

 For all the attention a new generation of Republican leaders would garner, it was in fact, Bob Dole, so often in the shadow of the giants of his age, from Nixon to Reagan to Bush, and who would largely be forgotten in the coming era of Gingrich , Clinton, the second Bush, McCain, and now Donald Trump, who actually led the Republican Party out of the political wilderness and back to power in both houses of Congress, and he was able to do it even as his own efforts to win the Presidency fell short. 

It was a remarkable final chapter for this greatest of  generations and the opening chapter in the career of our host Randal Wallace.  This series will be that story too, a story straight from the heart of our host over these next three seasons. As he was an eyewitness, to the last campaign of the very man who would become that last living symbol of the bygone era led by the Greatest Generation. 

Join us for : 

Season 15 - Bob Dole 1993 - 1995 The Last Man Standing

Season 16 - Bob Dole  The Life that Brought Him There     &

- The 1995 Resurrection of Bill Clinton  

Season 17 - Bob Dole 1996 The Campaign of a Lifetime. 

Questions or comments at  , [email protected] ,  https://twitter.com/randal_wallace   , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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Keith C. Hinson was the Founder of Waccamaw Land and Timber Company where our Host Randal Wallace has sold Real Estate for the past 22 years. He is a giant figure in the history of Horry County S.C. where this podcast is produced. 

No matter where you turn  in or around the Myrtle Beach area you will see the mark he has left for the better in our region and its development. His passing last week is an enormous loss for the State of South Carolina, this region of the state, and for his family and friends. 

We here at this podcast extend our heartfelt condolences to his friends and family during these days of mourning his passing. 

Questions or comments at  , [email protected] ,  https://twitter.com/randal_wallace   , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
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