← Duologue with Leslie Heaney
Duologue with Leslie Heaney
The Unsung People Who Made Presidential History with Jean Becker & Tom Collamore
00:47:02
They never appear in the photo. They never take the credit. But without them, there’s no flyover, no Brandenburg Gate speech, no “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” For sixty years, the people behind every presidential moment have operated under one...
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- [00:03]
A
Hey, everybody, it's Leslie. And you're listening to Duologue with Leslie Heaney. So before a president ever arrives on the scene, there are some unsung heroes who are wrangling Secret Service, the press corps, guests, attendees, local VIPs, and these people are called the Presidential Advance Team. Today I'm sitting down with Gene Becker and Tom Calamore, co authors of Don't Tell the President, a collection of 60 years of presidential stories told by the advanced people who actually live them. Don't Tell the President is a bipartisan, partisan book. It starts with a story from Lyndon Johnson's administration. They actually found someone who's still around to tell that incredible story to Barack Obama. These co authors are the perfect people to be writing this book and telling these stories. They had a front row seat to the world of Presidential Advance. Jean served as George H.W. bush's chief of staff for 25 years, and she's the New York Times bestselling author of the Man I the Amazing story of George H.W. bush's post presidency. Tom was Chief of Staff and Assistant Secretary of Commerce in the George H.W. bush administration and is currently a senior advisor to the George and Barbara Bush Foundation. In this episode, Gene, Tom and I cover some incredible stories in this amazing book, ranging from funny, hilarious near misses like Chelsea Clinton getting a ride to Air Force One in a laundry truck in Moscow, to more serious ones like George Bush's visit to ground zero after 9 11, or Obama's visit to Sandy Hook. And then the incredible story about the decision made by an advanced person to turn a routine Reagan appearance into one of the most iconic moments in presidential history at the Berlin Wall. This episode is a ride through presidential history, and these guests are two of my all time favorites. And with that, I give you Jean Becker and Tom Kalamore.
- [01:50]
B
Well, I am so delighted to be speaking with you both about your book, Don't Tell the President the Best, Worst and Mostly Untold Stories from Presidential Advance. I've got the COVID right here, by the way. I love the COVID of the car or the presidential limo being towed or lifted. Sort of is a great picture of what kind of stories might be inside the COVID here. But anyway, thank you both so much for being here.
- [02:18]
C
Really happy to be here.
- [02:19]
D
I'm honored to be here. Yeah, happy to be here.
- [02:21]
B
Okay, so tell everybody who's listening, how did this book. How did this book come about? You both are Bush 41 people. Was it over dinner? Were you two brainstorming? Tell us. Give us the whole behind the Music on this.
- [02:36]
D
I've been wanting to write this book for a while, Leslie, and as you know, I wrote a book called the Man I knew about my 25 years being President Bush's chief of staff. And my. It did really well and hit the bestseller list for one week at number 15. So my editor invited me to New York to talk about. He wanted me to write another book. And I pitched him this book. And I remember I said to him, I have spent a lot of time in bars with presidential advance people, and I happen to know they all have great, great stories and would love to write this book. And our editor, Sean Desmond, was like, you know, that sounds like a great book, but not now. I have another book I want you to write. Character Matters was his idea. He said, you know, Gene, I just think we have a lot to learn from George Herbert Walker Bush. You touched on some of it in the Man I Knew. But now I want you to write an entire book that's based on life lessons from George Bush, you know, a great idea. I wish I could claim it was my idea. So fast forward, that book is done. The book is out, and Sean. Or is. It's done. And Sean said to me, okay, let's talk about that advance book. And for a variety of reasons, I was feeling sort of overwhelmed at that moment in time, having just finished one book, knowing I had a book tour coming up, and I'm having breakfast with Tom Collabor in College Station, Texas, where President Bush's library is located, his presidential library. And literally in the middle of that breakfast, I looked at him and I said, do you want to co author this book with me? And for some reason, he immediately said yes. And now I will let him tell you if he felt that was a mistake or if he's glad that he said yes.
- [04:35]
C
I must have had a big, satisfying breakfast.
- [04:38]
B
I was going to say, huevos rancheros. What were you up to?
- [04:41]
D
We weren't even drinking. Maybe too much coffee, Baby, I think that's it.
- [04:47]
C
I think that's it. No, this. It's been a fun, fun partnership because between Gene and I, we discovered we. We have a lot of tentacles into the world of advanced people, not just from Bush World, but through various connections. This is a very bipartisan book. The. The earliest story in the book is 1960 with a gentleman we found who advanced Lyndon Johnson's first trip to Boston after he was put on the ticket. And it's a great yarn, and we go all the way through the Obama years. So we've got 60 years of presidential history. And we have 96 contributors who we refer to as our unsung heroes. Because, you know, advanced people are trained to work in the shadows behind the curtain, never be in the photo, never take credit, just make their principle look good. And it's been a lot of fun giving them a little bit of sunlight on their diligent work. Over the years.
- [05:50]
D
There was some, I'll just add a quick PS There was some concern on the part of some of them. There is this sort of unwritten rule that what happens on the road stays on the road. But we were able to convince them that, you know, these things all happened so long ago, it's okay. But that's why we did not, Leslie, invite either President Biden or President Trump's advanced people to contribute stories, because these are stories better told when they're in the rearview mirror and the principles are off the stage.
- [06:24]
B
So, yeah, you know, I loved, I love the fact that it's bipartisan and kind of takes you through all of, all of these different presidencies. You know, Tom, I told Gene that when I graduated from college, I worked for Colin Powell. He was organizing, this is before he'd become chairman of America's Promise, which was this not for profit that he chaired. But the kickoff was this presidential summit in Philadelphia. So all of the living presidents were coming to Philadelphia for this event. And there was a gala and there was different sort of lead up events for the different not for profits that were representing each of these tenets of America's promise. So we had Carter's people and Clinton's people and 41's people and Nancy Reagan's people because Ronald Reagan wasn't well enough to. Anyway, so I was a 23 year old with all the advanced people. I was kind of working anyways.
- [07:21]
C
We needed a bodyguard.
- [07:26]
B
Talk about spending time in bars behind the music and then watching them try to navigate who's doing what with what. Because it was everybody's advance all, you know, to your point, Gene. All trying to make sure that their person was in the right place. But the logistics of that, with social, with Secret Service and everything.
- [07:44]
D
Anyway, that was a complicated event.
- [07:46]
B
Very.
- [07:47]
D
I wonder if we met there and didn't even know it because I was there with President Bush. We should have had you write an essay for the book, Leslie. Darn it.
- [07:56]
B
Well, Jean, you and I talked about. You said that.
- [07:58]
D
We did talk about it. That's right.
- [08:00]
B
Like I just had so many different, you know, I didn't have that one and I. What I was Doing was kind of liaising between all of the different. Not only just the different presidents offices, but the different celebrities that were there. I have a great story about John Travolta and Barbara Bush and navigating Scientology with that office. But that's for maybe you and Tom and I to discuss offline. But anyway, I said to Gene just the importance of, you know, this group of people that really kind of literally and figuratively sets the stage, right. Our leaders can do. Can do their jobs, but within that, because they're all human and, you know, the advanced can do the best possible job. But, you know, there's humans on the other end, too. And some. Sometimes there are these really funny moments, and sometimes there's these, you know, more serious moments. And you cover both of those in the book. And I found it really interesting, and I'd love for one of you to speak to a little bit. Is the forward that Jon Meacham wrote about, you know, who's President Bush 41's official biographer, I believe, and also presidential historian, gives kind of the. The history of advance itself, which I thought was really interesting. It's advance work is really an American thing, and its origins really come more from entertainment than from politics.
- [09:24]
D
I love that. John Meacham, I guess you know this because he's a historian and former editor of Newsweek. We asked him to do the forward, and he very nicely said yes. I maybe blackmailed him with something, I can't remember, but he did all this research. I learned a lot from his forward. And the fact that this sort of began with, you know, Barnum and the circus and. But he. John possibly has the best line in the book. There's a lot of great lines. It'd be hard to do the top 25, but John says that it's possible. The first advanced people, first advanced person in history was John the Baptist.
- [10:08]
B
Yeah.
- [10:10]
D
Can't make that up.
- [10:13]
B
Well, that's one of the things, right, Is. Is advanced people not only handling all logistics, but also making sure that crowds come and people are there to meet and greet the president when he. When he arrives. For people that are not as familiar with what it is. Would either of you maybe. Tom, do you want to give a stab at what or just give a description about the job of the advanced person?
- [10:37]
C
An advanced person is really an accomplished orchestra conductor because it's a moving circus and there are a lot of parts. And a lot of people ask us what makes a good advanced person. And a good advanced person is someone who's quick on their feet, is Flexible and has good communication skills and team building skills because, you know, you mentioned it earlier, there's the Secret Service. More very importantly, there's the press corps, who has to be treated well and be happy. And you're trying to, you know, not manipulate, but make sure that they're in a spot that gives you the picture and the message you're hoping for that day. And then there's dealing with the local VIPs and the national VIPs who might be along for the ride and the staff and, but more most importantly, making sure that the principal, the president or the vice president or the first lady is comfortable in the setting and has an opportunity to execute on what they're there for. In the book, we give a lot of examples of innovative ways that advanced people are creative and able to make it all happen.
- [11:50]
B
Well, I love to, you know, I was thinking about it and I, you know, Gene, you tell this great story about from the Johnson administration. You know, I was thinking about, you know, today it must be so much easier when I was involved in, you know, just watching the advanced people. When I was working for Powell was a lot of startax cell phones, a lot of sweating, a lot of running. Now, obviously people have, you know, we all have iPhones or we're communicating. But you tell this great story of LBJ's or in the book, you both do LBJ's advanced person and the challenges of navigating that in some creative ways that he was able to, you know, get what he wanted to get done for that appearance by LBJ at that base.
- [12:30]
D
It's actually the first essay in the book and it is one of my favorite stories. It was written by LBJ's great friend Larry Temple. And he said that this advanced story was legendary in LBJ world. He was president, United States, he's coming back from Vietnam and Air Force One has to stop at an Air Force base to probably in western United States to refuel. And the advanced person is meeting with the commander of the base and he tells the commander that, that the president loves flyovers. They were, of course, do this wonderful welcome to our base ceremony for their commander in chief and the commander of the base. I'm sure they were busy. We're in the middle of a war. And he said to the advanced person, no, unfortunately there will not be a flyover. I cannot make that happen. So in the next meeting, and keep in mind, this is the 1960s where we're all using the old fashioned dial. I don't even think we had punch button Phones yet. I think we're still dial toe. The advanced guy puts a bicycle bell in his pocket and a phone, an old fashioned phone in his briefcase. And during the meeting he managed to ring the bicycle bell. He pretends it's his phone ringing. He opens up the briefcase, answers the phone. I would love to know what the commander thought, what the hell phone he was answering. And he says, the advance guy says, oh yes, I can hold for the President. Yes sir, Mr. President. Yes, everything's going fine. They're very excited. You're. Oh, oh, well, well, I'm not sure there's going to be a flyover. We've talked about it. I'm not sure there's going to be a flyover. Yes, sir. Yes, Mr. President, I know. Okay, thank you, sir. Hangs up and the poor commander says, you'll get your flyover. That's sort of a classic, you know, advance. They can be very wily. They can be very.
- [14:36]
B
From the commander's perspective, I guess James Bond must have just been out, you must have thought, gosh, they must have some secret technology in the breeze case that he's able to pick up the phone. But there are other light hearted stories, I mean, other stories, advanced stories, great sort of mishap stories in this book. And I, Tom, do you have any favorites?
- [14:58]
C
Oh, I have a few.
- [14:59]
D
He has numerous.
- [15:00]
B
Yeah, give us your favorites because I
- [15:02]
C
do think you're, you touched on something important though with the Evil. You know, the, the book, you know, tracks the evolution of technology. Right. And so the business of advance changed, you know, you know, just completely as the technology evolved and changed. One of my favorite stories in that regard is actually a Clinton story. And, and it involves the technology in one part. So President Clinton, the First lady and Chelsea are in Moscow for the first summit with the new President Yeltsin. In the new Russia. The, the, the wall has come down and there's great change going across Europe. So Clinton decides that instead of staying in the ambassador's residence as you normally would in Moscow, he's going to accept the invitation to stay at the Kremlin. So they're at the Kremlin and on the final day of the visit, as is usual, they kept Chelsea out of the public event. So the idea was after the departure ceremony, the motorcade would come through a courtyard and pick up Chelsea, her advanced person, the Secret Service agent, and the Clinton's luggage, their valet. And their luggage was there as well. So the motorcade comes through slowly the, the courtyard and everyone's ready to get in. But the motorcade doesn't stop. It keeps going. And they think, oh, well, they're going to have us get in the vans at the back because we have all the luggage. Well, it keeps going. And the next thing they know, they're looking at the tail lights of the motorcade continuing on to the airport, which is outside of Moscow, a fair distance. And the group looks at each other, and this is where technology comes in. So the Russians are jamming the staff frequencies and the Secret Service frequencies, so neither Chelsea's agent or the advanced person could contact anyone in the motorcade to say, hey, what the heck? And the Russian agent, for some reason, was unable to contact his people as well. So now they're all like, well, now what? And it turns out across the courtyard, there's a laundry van sitting there. And so they go investigate the laundry van. And after a short while, they decide, well, this is better than nothing. So they load the luggage and Chelsea into the laundry van and start chasing the motorcade again. No technology, no communications ability. And they, you know, between the US Secret Service agent and the Russian agent, they're able to talk their way through the gate at the airport. And they get to the tarmac as the President Mrs. Clinton. They're finishing their goodbyes and about to go up the steps. And Chelsea walks up.
- [17:42]
B
This laundry van, is pulling up to
- [17:44]
C
the laundry van, pulls up behind the motorcade. They finally get the attention of an agent on the motorcade. So they get permission to come up right to the stairs, the back stairs, to unload the luggage. And Chelsea gets out, and she. She's a trooper in all this. She's not really ruffled. I think she thinks it's kind of funny because she walks up to the stairs of Air Force One and puts her hands on her hip, as a teenager can do, and says, did you guys forget something?
- [18:15]
D
It's a great story. Always.
- [18:16]
C
Well, but it's a. It's a fun tale.
- [18:19]
D
I would love to see. Video, the laundry van pulling up.
- [18:22]
B
I know.
- [18:23]
D
I wonder. There's video out there.
- [18:25]
B
Yeah. The driver of the laundry van knocking on the. You know, do you mind we hit your ride?
- [18:30]
C
Yeah.
- [18:31]
B
You know, Tom, you talked about, you know, just mentioning sort of how technology has evolved in the role, but, you know, the work of advance also changed over the years with, you know, around security issues, too, right after Ronald Reagan. Do you want to speak a little bit about. About that kind of, you know, I guess the considerations they would make.
- [18:49]
C
Sure. Well, you know, the Reagan assassination attempt, which is hard to believe, I guess we're all getting older, but it was 45 years ago, just a month ago, and sort of eerily, we had another incident at the exact same hotel just a few weeks ago, literally Almost on the 45th anniversary of the Reagan assassination attempt was this, was this mess at the White House correspondents dinner with President Trump. But of course, things again evolved a lot, particularly after the Reagan assassination attempt, because we also have a story in the book about an attempt on President Ford's life where he was exiting a hotel in California in the open air and waving to people and Sarah Jane Moore took a couple of shots at him and through a lot of luck he wasn't hit, but he very well could have been. So after the Reagan attempt, presidents no longer entered in the open air into, into buildings, public buildings, right? So the, the Hilton actually went and built a concrete sort of bunker type thing for the big enough for the beast limousine to fit into so that the President was completely encased in this thing with doors at both ends before he got out of the limo into the Hilton, as he would have the other night at the correspondence dinner. But this, this was a, became a common practice. I mean, tents are erected and you, you never see a President outside getting in and out of his limousine anymore. And you know, like happens after every incident, the Secret Service reviews, you know, does a full wash of what happened and adjusts protocols accordingly and learns from every, you know, scare and incident that happens. But I will say this, the, the ability of an advanced person to connect with and have a good relationship with the Secret Service is critical to being successful nowadays. Otherwise, you know, if, if the staff and the Service aren't in sync with each other, you're not going to have a good event or a successful event. And in my experience, the Secret Service is, while they have their protocols and they're not going to give on something they think is risky, they want the event to go well. They're a full participant in the team effort to make it all work.
- [21:13]
D
Lastly, I'll add a quick PS to what Tom said. Two PS's, actually. One is I actually did a podcast here in Houston for the Houston World Affairs Council last week. And they asked me, the woman who interviewed me asked me about the incident at the Washington Hilton at the correspondence dinner. And I said, I gave what talked about Tom, the same thing you talked about with that, you know, that's where the Reagan was shot. And I said it'll be interesting to see what changes might come out of this incident because certainly jfk, the, the oldest story in the book that Tom mentioned is about how advanced change, big time, after JFK was assassinated and then, of course, after Ford, after Reagan. So I have a feeling there are some changes afoot eventually. The other PS Is more charming. The Secret Service agent who is credited with saving President Ford's life that day in San Francisco. My little brother is a Catholic priest in San Clemente, California, and that Secret Service agent is in the choir at his church. And he was rather amazed. Eddie. Eddie was one of the proofreaders of the book for us. Eddie is a great writer, and in addition to being a priest, he's a great writer. He's been a proofreader of all my books. He's a great proofreader. And he was just a little surprised to come across this name. And he's thinking, wait a minute, I know this name. So he asked him. He said, yes, I was. He was a retired Secret Service agent. So the son was. The very fun thing is we're doing an event at the Nixon Library in California, which isn't far from Eddie's church, and we're going to do an event at Eddie's church as well. And we will certainly feature this hero Secret Service agent in our.
- [23:09]
B
So great.
- [23:10]
D
You can't make this up.
- [23:13]
B
I love it. I love all those connections. What. Jean, what about you? I mean, there's so many, you know, there are some great mishaps in this book either because of advance, you know, and things sort of not going well, whether an animal's involved or, you know, somebody doesn't put a footstool where it needs to be so people can see over a podium. But what do you have a favorite? I mean, that among the many great
- [23:41]
D
stories, there's so many favorites. And I'm going to tell sort of two inappropriate stories that just shows how there's some things you just some things you can prevent and some things you can't.
- [23:54]
C
Wait, this is breaking news. Leslie, Jean is going to tell an inappropriate story.
- [24:01]
D
Is this a Sonny and Cher moment? Anyway, so first of all, to our great surprise, we found out that Robert M. Gates, the former head of the CIA, the former Secretary of Defense, used to be an advanced person. Basically, he was a member of the National Security Council under both Presidents Ford and Carter. He was at the NSC under President Bush 41, too, but he was the deputy to Brent Scowcroft. But during the Ford and Carter administrations, Bob Gates participated in what's called pre advance. On foreign trips, which are much more complicated. There was a pre advance team that would go out to really decide the substance of the President's trip. And then the advance team would come later to do the logistics and put everything in place. Well, Bob is on the pre advance to Martinique where President Ford is going to meet with, I think Giscard d'. Estaing. Martinique is a French held island. So the French sort of felt they were in charge of this visit. And the pre advance team arrives and the French wanted the two presidents to meet in a cabana on the beach because they thought that would just be a great setting and very relaxed and very picturesque. So the pre advance team goes to this beach. It's a nude beach. You know, it's like, okay, seriously,
- [25:33]
B
is Ford out of the car or was it.
- [25:36]
D
Well, this was on the pre advance. So Bob Gates shut it down and said the two presidents will not be meeting on this beach. And this is so French. I think the French said something like, what's the problem? But Bob Gates won the day. And this is just such a. I don't think I've told this story in any of our events, Tom, or podcasts. So the 43rd president, United States, George W. Bush, is in Africa doing a very serious trip, talking about his wonderful AIDS program that he initiated that's credited with saving literally millions of lives. But while he is there, he decides to go on a safari. And his. I think only. I don't think both of the twins were with him. I think it was only Barbara. Do you remember, Tom? I think it was just Barbara.
- [26:26]
C
It was one.
- [26:27]
D
Yeah, I think it was Barbara. And so they got on a safari. And what the advanced team had no way of knowing or predicting, it was the mating season for elephants. And the safari was dominated by elephants getting it on. And I can only imagine what. I guess it's quite a sight to behold. And the president is literally covering up Barbara's eyes so she couldn't see. But Therese Burch, longtime great advanced person, is the one who was elite advance. And she put at the end of her essay, she said, you know, I learned if you're advancing a safari, find out if it's the elephant's mating season. But you know, that's the kind of stuff you know, what are you going to do about it?
- [27:17]
B
Right? You think, you think you've thought of everything but one that you, you have not thought of. And then, Tom, you had your own experience that you write about in the book, doing some advance work for 41. It was a mishap with the President. This is not a funny story, but a, but a sort of Another story of kind of how things can go wrong even with the most.
- [27:42]
C
With the Pope, you mean? Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, this was just series of unintended consequences or advanced people maybe getting a little over their skis, but we Vice President, then Bush was going to Detroit to bid Pope John Paul II farewell from a visit he had to the US and the idea was to get to Detroit, go to a mass, but then there would be a farewell ceremony at the airport. Anyway, we arrive there and there's downtime in the hotel before the events. And so I take the Bushes into their suite and the local news is on the television and a breathless reporter from the airport is reporting in, saying that the controversy between the vice president's advance team and the Vatican advance team is still brewing. And it's all about how the Bush people have decided that the presidential blue backdrop is a better look than the yellow and white Vatican backdrop for the departure ceremony. And in unison, the Bushes just turned around from the television and looked at me. I said, I got it. You don't need to say a word. I'll be back, you know. And so we quickly assembled the team and got things sorted out, dispatched people to go mend fences and.
- [29:05]
B
Right. Said. Who said, who among you said that? Right. Who caused this?
- [29:10]
C
Well, we had a pretty good idea, but we won't get into that part of it. But anyway, we. We got it fixed and no harm done. But that was a. That was a pretty extreme moment of an advanced team, unwittingly embarrassing their fairly high order, if you will.
- [29:29]
D
Leslie, can I tell another quick story? Always tell at every event in Texas, but it's just what I love about this story. Just shows there's a lot of very serious stories in this book about the assassination. And Tim, some presidents, nine, 11, you know, President Obama going to Sandy Hook. But it's the unexpected elephant mating type stories that, that, you know, give. The book is just so fun. Anyway, it's 1992 presidential campaign. Two young Clinton advanced team. They're advanced. They're working for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign. They're both right out of college. The Clinton Gore campaign is doing a bus tour through Texas. And these two guys, their job was to stay ahead of the bus and go to every town ahead of the bus and, you know, figure out the site, figure out the crowd, you know, make sure when the bus gets there, there's a big crowd, the press, et cetera. Well, they're in this little town in Texas that's halfway between Houston and Dallas, and. And they lock themselves out of their car bright and early one morning, and they're just panicked. And lo and behold, they look up, they're in this downtown, little bitty downtown, and there's a locksmith shop just almost across the street from where their locked car was. So they ran in there.
- [31:02]
B
Jean, should we mention too, that Texas is Bush territory?
- [31:06]
D
That would be major. That's a great thing to point out. That would be his home state. That would be where he lives since 1948. So they run into the locksmith shop and feeling so lucky, and then they said the dumbest thing they could have possibly said. We're from the Clinton Gore campaign, and we just locked ourselves out of our car. Oh my gosh, can you come unlock it? And the good old boy Texan locksmith, he's in a rocking chair, he says to them, I'm sorry, I don't do outside jobs. We all know that makes no sense. And they said, the car is right there. They pointed to it, if you could see it, parked on the street right in front of the locksmith shop. And he looked out the door and he said, that would be outside. I don't go out there. So the two, the two kids had to break into their car. They threw a rock through the window, basically. And the guy who wrote it, Ben Austin, I had to call him and ask him a couple of questions when we were editing his essay. And I apologized to him. I said, on behalf of all Texans, I am so sorry this happened. And he said, you know what, Gene, let's be honest. If it had been the Bush quail campaign bus going through Arkansas and the same thing happened, no locksmith would have unlocked their car. Yeah, that made me feel better.
- [32:34]
B
It's so true. It's so true. And you know, you talked, Tom, you mentioned sort of. I mean, there are all these great sort of stories like the one that Jean just told, but there are also, you know, these. The very difficult. Right. And delicate work that advanced people have to do when they're taking their president into, you know, a very difficult situation. Whether, you know, Eugene, you mentioned it, whether it's George W. Going to New York after 911 or Obama going to Sandy Hook Elementary School and trying to kind of help them navigate those difficult times. There's several stories you could tell from the book, but is there one that stands out for you?
- [33:14]
C
Well, I think it's often it's an untalked about until it's happening. An important aspect of the job is comforter in chief as well as commander in chief. And so when the nation is beset with a tragedy, you know, it's all hands on deck to support the President's acknowledgment and participation in comforting those affected. I think the 911 essay in the book is probably the most poignant essay we have in the book. It's written by a fellow, Brian Montgomery, who was the head of advance for President Bush. And he was in Florida that morning and stayed with the President all the way through his visit to Ground Zero three days later. And he takes you through all of the emotions on the plane as they, you know, hop around the country hoping to get back to Washington that day of September 11th. And he talks about the next day advancing the President's visit to the Pentagon, which was still a, you know, smoking rubble and operation, trying to find the remains of those lost, and planning with the team at the White House, the service at the National Cathedral, but most importantly, going then going to New York and being at Ground Zero and being asked, he and Karl Rove were asked to go find an appropriate place for the President to address the rescue workers. And that's what created the bullhorn moment of him standing on top of a crushed fire department SUV and next to that elderly looking gentleman firefighter. Really quite a picture. But then on to the Javits center to meet with the first responders, families of the missing, and spending time with each one of them, which is just gut wrenching. And it's hard to imagine how hard that is to. To do what he did that day. Andy Card talks about that day and reflects being on the helicopter headed back to Air Force One from the Javits center. And the. And the President, he were talking and Andy just said he wasn't trying to give flattery or anything. He said, sir, you know, you just did the presidency proud. This was an incredible, incredible time you just spent. But Brian Montgomery talks about going home that night to his townhouse in Alexandria. And at the end of the essay, he's getting undressed and he looks at his shoes, his dress shoes, and they're covered in this white paste that was on the ground at Ground Zero. And he's like, wow, I can't clean these shoes. I don't know what to do. And he's sort of frozen. So he put them aside, and the next day or two, he put them in a plastic container and they're still in his bedroom 25 years later. You know what to do. But it's quite an essay, and it speaks to the commitment of people to try to make it possible. For the President to execute his solemn duties in a time like that.
- [36:38]
B
And the importance, you know, living in New York City, as I was at that time, and seeing Bush down at Ground zero with our first responders, just knowing that your President was leading you and was there, and I can't imagine what that must have been and how important that was for the families that he took the time to meet with. But, you know, giving the American people that, and I hate to use it, it's trivializes it, but that visual of him being on the ground and being there, which is all the, you know, as you said, it's kind of the work that advanced it and getting, getting that setting set up and giving him the opportunity to have that moment, you know, on behalf of and for the American people. You know, I thought, you know, there's a great book, Eyewitness to History. I don't know if you've read that book, but it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a book. It's sort of throughout time where, you know, people who had been just regular people who happened to be at different points or people who had roles at part of different administrations or different historical moments and what it was like to be present there. And this book kind of reminds me of that book in a way because you are going behind the curtain, right? You're getting to see all that goes into all logistics that goes into giving our leaders these moments to allow them to, to do their job. And then you get to sort of see the human moments of, you know, what they're experiencing as people, as they're, as they're going through their job. And one of the other great stories in the book, you know, we talk is the example of Reagan and the Berlin Wall.
- [38:12]
C
Well, it's an example, Leslie, of how advance can make a huge difference between a, a, you know, a routine, relatively routine speech and appearance and turn it into an historic moment and an iconic moment. And that's what happened with the Berlin Wall. The pre advance team, led by Jim Hooley, who was Reagan's head of advance, was in Berlin and they were, you know, list listening to their host government, the, the West Berliners and the US Embassy, who wanted Reagan's speech to be inside for obvious security reasons and just easier logistics. So they, they were at the Reichstag, you know, touring the Reichstag, and Hooley looked out the window and he saw the Brandenburg Gate. And he's, you know, has a eureka moment, like, well, wait a minute. Why are we not Going to do the speech there. Let's go have that visual. And it wasn't easy for him to make that sale to all the various stakeholders. And that's, you know, goes back to my earlier comment about what it takes to be a good advance person. But he made the sale and so the advance team set it up and you know, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down. This wall is an iconic moment in, in the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War. It is one of those moments that is going to be in history books forever. And it's because the advanced guys had a vision and had the tenacity to follow up on the vision and make it happen.
- [39:48]
B
Yeah, I mean, I think that's such, that is such an important iconic visual because I think for so many Americans or people around the world prior to that, I don't know if they've actually could visualize what it was like having that city divided.
- [40:02]
C
Well, and you know, there were still people dying trying to run across the border on a weekly basis when this was going on. And the East Berlin authorities were using water cannon on, on the civilians to keep them away from the Brandenburg Gate, particularly at the time of Reagan's visit. And the advance team arranged to have leaflets distributed all over East Berlin by friendly forces to make sure the people knew that this event was coming coming up. And they had speakers turned in the direction of East Berlin so that they could hear the speech. And, and of course they, they, you know, East Berlin authorities couldn't, you know, use violence against the crowds that gathered during the speech because that would have been for the whole world to see. Right. So that was another successful part of that moment.
- [41:02]
B
We talked a lot about sort of advance and when, when advance goes well or when there are these important moments and roles advance can play. But there's also the stories of when there ha. There is no advance and what can, what can go wrong. And there's that story about Bob Dole and Florida. You want to, you want to take that one?
- [41:20]
D
I would love to tell that story. Before I do though, I just want to add when going back to the Comforter in Chief comments that Tom made one of the most gripping stories in the book and I think the most gripping photo bar none, is President Obama going to Sandy Hook. And there's a picture in the book of him literally holding his head in his hands. He's in a classroom. I'll remind your listeners that Sandy Hook was where the entire first grade class was wiped out by a gunman. And President Obama is Trying to compose himself to go out. And he'd already met with the parents, but now he's going to go and meet with the whole community, give a talk to the whole town of Newtown, Connecticut, at one of the, you know, the worst days of their life. And he asked for the room. He asked the staff to give him the room. He needed time alone to prepare for this moment. And I'm very grateful to his photographer, Pete Souza, who took the photo before he left the room. But it just shows the very human side of our presidents. You know, they feel grief just like we do. But. So I just wanted to. Wanted to point that out. Then we'll go to the Bob Dole story, and I'm hoping we can maybe send you some photos that you can share with your.
- [42:45]
B
Yes, yes.
- [42:46]
D
Because this. This story is more fun with photos. So here's the deal. 1988, Bob Dole is running for President of the United States. He had done really well in Iowa. Vice President Bush had come in third, which was a huge upset. But then Vice President Bush had done really well in New Hampshire. So Bob Dole is headed south to the Super Tuesday states, which is a big, big day in primary voting. He's on his way to Florida, and a good friend of his calls him and says, I have a great campaign event for you. Great idea. Universal Studios is building a theme park near Orlando, and it just would be the best place for you to talk about your economic plan and the importance of jobs, and it's just the great setting for you to tackle the economy. And why don't you come this afternoon? To which Senator Dole said, yeah, that sounds like a great idea. We'll be there. So he gets off the phone, and the head of his advance, a guy named Mike Lake, who wrote the essay for the book, is on the plane with him. And he says to Senator Dole, no, no, no, no, no. Let me get an advance team there. Let's go tomorrow, maybe even the next day. Let me get an advance team there. We don't know anything about this place. We don't know where it is and who's there, what it looks like. But Senator Dole overruled them and said, no, I. My friend wants me to come this afternoon. We're going to go this afternoon. Well, they get there, Leslie, and there's nothing there. It's a construction site. There's a bunch of bulldozers moving dirt. They haven't even started building anything yet. It's a bulldozing site. And the only people there to greet him are the following. Daffy Duck, Frankenstein, and Charlie Chaplet. Mae west was also there, but somehow she didn't make the cut in the photo. So the photo of the day, which I don't think this term was used then, but it basically went viral in newspapers and on TV reports. They had a lot of press traveling with him. Is Bob Dole being greeted by these Universal cartoon characters and movie characters. And he did have a wonderful sense of humor. Mike Lake points out that he, after they sort of surveyed the situation, Bob Dole quipped to the press, I thought it might be interesting for you to meet some members who would be in my cabinet if I'm elected president. Unfortunately for Senator Dole, later in the day, totally unrelated to this unfortunate incident, he fired some of his top campaign staff and. And a number of newspapers ran the Daffy Duck, Frankenstein, Charlie Chaplin photo with a story about him firing his campaign staff. But that's a great example of where advance could have prevented that from happening. They. They probably would have never gone. You know, the advance team would have reported back and said, yeah, we. In fact, it's so odd that his friend would think this is a good idea. Now I'm beginning to wonder if his friend secretly was working for Vice President George H.W. bush. We'll never know how he proposed that idea.
- [46:02]
B
I mean, this is like. Well, that amazing picture is in the book along with so many other pictures that captures some of the moments that we talked about in this conversation. And it is a terrific, terrific book. Run, don't walk. Everyone is listening to Buy It, Don't Tell the President. The book is terrific. I love. I mean, you two, the Sonny and Cher group. I mean, I don't know, the TV show.
- [46:27]
D
I don't know.
- [46:27]
C
We have more. We could go on. We could.
- [46:29]
D
We could go on.
- [46:33]
A
That brings us to the end of this episode. A huge thank you to the incredible Jean Becker and Tom Calimore. I hope you all who are listening enjoyed this episode as much as I did having this conversation. Trust me, that Don't Tell the President is the perfect beach read this summer. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it, pass it around and rate us wherever you get your podcasts. It makes such a difference in reaching a larger audience. We really appreciate your support. And as always, thanks so much for listening.