Senator Tower wanted to know about Church's own presidential ambitions, and brought
up that the press corps called the Senate Intelligence Committee the "Church for
President" committee. Why didn't Church renounce his presidential ambitions so as to
give his criticism more credibility? Goldwater spun out a mitigating defense of Bush.
Church fought back with what we may consider the predecessor of the "wimp" argument,
that Bush was always the yes-man of his patrons: if you were going to put a pol into
Langley, he argued, "then I think that it ought to be a man who has demonstrated in his
political career that he can and is willing to stand up and take the heat even where it
courts the displeasure of his own President." "But I do not think that Mr. Bush's political
record has been of that character."
Church was at his ironic best when he compared Bush to a recent chairman of the
Democratic national Committee: "...if a Democrat were President, Mr. Larry O'Brien
ought not to be nominated to be Director of the CIA. Of all times to do it, this is the
worst, right at a time when it is obvious that public confidence needs to be restored in the
professional, impartial, and nonpolitical character of the agency. So, we have the worst of
all possible worlds." Church tellingly underlined that "Bush's birthright does not include
being Director of the CIA. It includes the right to run for public office, to be sure, but that
is quite a different matter than confirming him now for this particular position."
Church said he would under no circumstance vote for Bush, but that if the latter
renounced the 76 ticket, he would refrain from attempting to canvass other votes against
Bush. It was an ambiguous position.
While still reeling from Church's philippic, Bush also had to absorb a statement from
Senator Culver, who announced that he also would vote against Bush.
Bush came back to the witness chair in an unmistakeable whining mood. He was
offended above all by the comparison of his august self to the upstart Larry O'Brien: "I
think there is some difference in the qualifications," said Bush in a hyperthyroid rage.
"Larry O'Brien did not serve in the Congress of the United States for 4 years. Larry
O'Brien did not serve, with no partisanship, at the United Nations for 2 years. Larry
O'Brien did not serve as the Chief of the US Liaison Office in the People's Republic of
China." Not only Bush but his whole cursus honorum were insulted! "I will never
apologize," said Bush a few second later, referring to his own record. Then Bush pulled
out his "you must resign" letter to Nixon: "Now, I submit that for the record that that is
demonstrable independence. I did not do it by calling the newspapers and saying, 'Look, I
am having a press conference. Here is a sensational statement to make me, to separate me
from a President in great agony.'"
Bush recovered somewhat under questioning by Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, a reliable
ally. Senator Symington urged Bush to committ to serve at the CIA for at least two years;
Bush was non-committal, but the pressure was becoming unbearable. After some sparring
between Bush and Gary Hart, Henry Jackson of Washington came in for the first time.
Jackson's constant refrain was that the maladroit and bumbling Ford had put Bush in a
very awkward and unfair position by nominating him: