BOB DOLE : 1995 Clinton's Comeback

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A preview of the Iranian Hostage Crisis that captured the imagination of the entire nation, frustrating American power and damaging American Self Confidence and most likely costing President Carter his re-election, while also  creating one of the longest running news programs in the history of network  television,  ABC News "Nightline" .

This Miniseries was originally three episodes but grew into a seven episode set. It will cover the hostage crisis, the 1980 election night, and a case study of a news story that broke on this subject as we were working on the miniseries, the notorious "October Surprise" accusation that has floated around for years, but has developed some credibility in the past few months, thanks to a story, based on a first hand account by a former Texas politician named Bill Barnes about former Texas Governor John Connally. 

The accusation that Ronald Reagan's campaign somehow may have delayed the hostage release until after the November 1989 election. 

We will focus on the story of the hostage crisis, then look at John Connally, the "October Surprise" accusation and John Connally's role in both the careers of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.  In this seven part mini-series within this season. 

It is all here in in this series, about one of the most important sagas in Modern American History. 

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In this episode we follow Jimmy Carter's decision to normalize relations with the People's Republic of China. It was one of the most important decisions of Carter's term as President. It was also a decision that ended our recognition of the  government of the Republic of China on Taiwan. A decision that was met with some level of anger in the United States. It was a bold move.

We will listen in on reaction to the decision in real time as the MacNeil/Lehrer PBS Newshour covered the news with guests National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski,  New York Representative Lester Wolf and Kansas Senator Bob Dole.  We will hear from President Carter both at the time and in his later years as he discusses the relationship with China and why he made the decisions he did at the the time. 

Finally, we will listen into ABC News with Frank Reynolds as he covers the Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping, arguably China's most important leader of the century, as he visited  the United States, on a months notice,  where he visited the Houston Space Center, attended a western rodeo, and generally charmed the American People like few leaders ever have especially one from a Communist Power. 

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We would like to ask you for a favor, from all of us here at the "Randal Wallace Presents"  History Podcast . 

Thank you too!! 

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In this episode we start out with one of Congressman John Jenrette's more fun legacies, the comedy troupe "The Capital Steps" , which entertained people all over the nation for nearly four decades until they finally shutdown during the Covid 19 pandemic. They were laugh out loud funny and I had the privilege of seeing them many times through the years and had not known the tie to John Jenrette (They were DC Staffers who took their name from the Playboy reported liaison Jenrette and his wife had on the steps of the Capital)  until they sang about it at performance I attended in Washington D.C. in 2015.  

This episode is also the only one we put together after Congressman Jenrette died, which occurred near the end of the production of our series. I thought it was important to read into the record his beautifully written obituary that covers so many of the accomplishments he was able to make happen during his time in Congress and in the South Carolina State House. We also wanted to take a moment to ask for a call to action for our listeners to let their legislators and local elected officials know that you would like to see the congressman finally get the recognition he deserves for all his years of service as a representative, congressman, and as a citizen in our community.  He really did help lay the foundation for much of the phenomenal growth and success our region of South Carolina has enjoyed over the past four decades. 

Finally, we allow John Jenrette to have the final word in this section of our series focused on him this season. We have the last interview he gave near the end of his  2019 book tour for the book "The Capital Steps and Missteps" about his life and career. It is a poignant interview and an honest one, in which he talks about his accomplishments and mistakes. It is also an interview in which his illness is very apparent. But I thought it important to share it with you and important to allow this podcast docuseries focused on his life and career, give John Jenrette the last word on his remarkable life and career.

 I want to simply say a thank you to Dianne Devaughn Stokes, and her husband Chuck Stokes, for allowing us to use the interview and their personal work in editing it into such a powerful final talk with the Congressman. 

John Jenrette really lived an incredible life and it has been a privilege and an honor to be able to share the story with you, we hope you learned some things you may not have known and enjoyed the trip as we went through it all.  From here on out, we will be focusing on the Administration of Jimmy Carter in the remainder of our 10th Season. 

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This episode for our Host Randal Wallace may be the most fun of any we have done. It tells the story of the life of the Congressional District and region of South Carolina that was the 6th District of South Carolina. It opens after ABSCAM has ended John Jenrette's career and everyone involved is moving on from the scandal. 

The District was represented by John Napier for a single term, then by a Florence , South Carolina Democrat named Robin Tallon for a number of years. But after the 1990 census the former 6th District is divided up geographically and its political strength evaporates. Tallon steps down as James Clyburn is elected to serve the new 6th District which engulfs Florence County. While Horry County is placed in the South Carolina First District where it is dominated by Charleston S.C. 

Over the next twenty years the region  has several different Congressman all but one of which is from Charleston County with various interest levels for what is happening in Horry and Georgetown Counties. We are represented by Tommy Hartnett, Arthur Ravenell, Mark Sanford, Henry Brown (Berkely County) , and Tim Scott. Then in 2010 everything changed. 

A new census led to a big fight in the South Carolina State House as the state was awarded a new 7th Congressional District. We will see the maneuverings by the man who could rightfully be called the Father of the 7th district, Alan Clemmons, lead to the South Carolina Pee Dee Region finally getting its seat back in which the region was represented together. 

That is where the fun part for our Host begins as we relive that very first race for Congress and the election of that first 7th district Congressman  ensues. which eventually led to the election of Tom Rice.  

A race in which our host, Randal Wallace,  was a small part as a candidate for Congress. We will also see the rise of our new Congressman Russell Fry, who attained the office just at the beginning of this year , 2024, after his endorsement by former President Donald Trump, and his historic election victory.

All of which will lead us back to a final look at the remarkable life and contributions to our region of our first, and until this year, only Horry County native Congressman John Jenrette. His career was a rollercoaster ride of wild excess, historic success, and an enormously dramatic and historic fall, all of which happened in a pivotal 6 year period that laid the foundation for a region of the country that can now lay claim to the title the fastest growing area in the nation. 

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This episode is a special profile of the great survivor of the collapse of the career of John Jenrette. It is the story of his ex-wife Rita Jenrette. She has led a life no novelist would have dared to create. She was married to a charismatic Congressman who self destructed in front of the country, posed in Playboy Magazine, wrote a tell all book, became a B-Movie actress, then a tabloid reporter for "A Current Affair", then got her Real Estate and commodities license and had an enormously successful career in New York City doing mega millions deals with the likes of Donald Trump. 

Only to walk away on the arm of a real life Prince and move to his palatial Villa in Rome, Italy. Where she helped renovate the historic estate that featured actual art work from  Michelangelo among other historically significant artists of history. 

You just can't make this stuff up.  So we will just tell this unbelievable part of the story in this episode. 

We also want to thank a special friend for loaning us her acting and reading skills for this episode. I think we are all happier our host Randal Wallace did not attempt to read Rita Jenrette's portion of The Diary of a Mad Congressman's Wife himself. We were lucky to find an extraordinary talent to do that for us. Though she asked not to be named. 

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Our ad for our sister podcast "The Richard Nixon Experience" 

We have repackaged our Richard Nixon sections on Vietnam and his Administration and our Landmark  Docuseries on Watergate into an overall Docuseries Rebroadcast that will air over the next year to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Nixon Administration. 

The episodes are still available here on our back catalogue as well. 

The Richard Nixon Experience is available at wherever you get your podcasts. 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1532626 

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“This is not a message of happiness or reassurance,’’ Carter said in his remarks 40 years ago, “but it is the truth and it is a warning.’’ 

In a speech given in July of 1979, witten about here in an article titled "Jimmy Carter and the meaning of Malaise"  from JSTOR Daily:

 "Carter proclaimed that the nation was suffering a “crisis in confidence” which struck “at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will.” He called upon the nation to reflect upon its meaning and purpose, and critiqued American materialism.

The immediate response was generally favorable. “No president since Abraham Lincoln had spoken to the American people with such sincerity about matters of the spirit,” gushed presidential historian Theodore White. Polls indicated that 61 percent of the public said the speech inspired further confidence. Seventy-two percent said they were willing to sacrifice to help solve the energy crisis, which had been Carter’s major policy plea. The president’s approval ratings went up twelve points."

But it was in fact, the beginning of the end of the Carter years. With in the next few months he would be challenged by Ted Kennedy, have Sky Lab fall out the sky, have gas lines throughout the country and have the biggest crisis of his term begin in Iran. This speech about "A Crisis in Confidence" in america would come to symbolize the lack of confidence Americans were growing to have in Jimmy Carter.  

Carter would reshuffle his cabinet and try to provide leadership for the nation instead, as one Southern Governor put it " :“Mr. President, you are not leading this nation — you’re just managing the government.’’ Which is an image Jimmy Carter could never really shake with the American public.  Despite many accomplishments Jimmy Carter had during his term much of the feeling that the President was a dour, pessimistic leader, really began with this speech. Though the speech itself was really a call to action to deal with the energy problems the nation had and that Carter believed could be corrected, and that given the proper leadership we as a nation could become an export and energy leader rather than be myriad in problems created by competitors who wanted to hurt the American economy. 

The fact is Jimmy Carter was right. Years later we would become the number one energy producer in the world. This speech actually aged well, long after it could no longer do any good for a President who would be turned out of office after only a single term. 

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The recent disaster of the OceanGate Submersible Titan that took the lives of the  five people on board renewed interest in the April 1912 disaster of the Titanic. We thought it would be a moment in which we could introduce many of you to the story, the ongoing story, of the RMS Titanic. The Titanic sunk on its Maiden voyage from England to the United States taking the lives of over 1500 passengers. 

It had been deemed unsinkable by the White Star Line, who owned and engineered the vessel due to its compartmental , double hull. But it would be proven wrong by an iceberg that ripped across the the compartments and leaving the ship unable to stay afloat. It was another of the warnings from fate not to believe in the arrogance of our own creations. 

Some could argue that as a species we never seem to learn that lesson. That may also be the lesson of the submersible known as the OceanGate Titan. Its founder, Stockton Rush, believed in an experimental carbon based pressure chamber, but many of the experts in the field of deep diving submergence questioned both the shape of the pressure chamber, the experimental alloy being used and the three different types of metal in use. That overtime it could give way and in the depths of the Ocean where they were diving a disaster could strike, like an implosion estimated to have occurred at 1500 miles an hour. 

This is the story of two disasters and we let the survivors and the news agencies tell the story of both the Titanic and the Titan. It is at both gripping and sad, as we must both admire these pioneers of innovation that have made our world safer, more assessable, and allowed us to learn about the world in ways unimaginable in previous generations.  But also we need to heed the warnings of the past that the arrogance of man must never ignore the warnings of an often unforgiving universe. 

We dedicate this Special Edition episode to the memories of Hamish Harding, Shaltzada Dawood, Suliemon Dawood, Stockton Rush,  Paul - Henri Nargeolet and the over 1500 victims of the first Titanic disaster.

And we thank National Geographic,  BBC, British Bathe, CBS, NBC, ABC ,  and FOX News for their coverage. 

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This is the episode where we listen in as Congressman John Jenrette's career comes crashing to its end. A sad ending to what had been an extraordinarily brave career that had seen John Jenrette help so many of his constituents with issue after issue, championing the causes of the nations small farmers, and standing up to protect the African American constituents so long forgotten  or ignored by almost every other leader in the region he had represented. 

We will contrast the unraveling of his career with that of another ABSCAM defendant who put up a fight rather than going quietly about giving up his seat in the Congress. We will look at the expulsion of Congressman Ozzie Meyers, and listen in on his attempt to defend himself on the floor of the House of Representatives. You will also get to hear and contrast for yourself the difference in the two cases involving Meyers and Jenrette. 

Finally, we will read to you several portions of Federal Judge John Garrett Penn's decision in the case of John Jenrette and John Stowe. It is an eye opening opinion in which you can sense his outrage over the government's behaviour in this particular ABSCAM case and especially in the case that was made against John Stowe who was John Jenrette's co-defendant in the case. 

By the time we get to the end of the episode it will certainly paint John Jenrette's case in a far more human light than many have come to perceive it in the 40 years since. 

 

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