Bush's floor leader was Strom Thurmond, who supported Bush by attacking the Church
and Pike Committees. "That is where the public concern lies, on disclosures which are
tearing down the CIA," orated Thurmond, "not upon the selection of this highly
competent man to repair the damage of this over-exposure."
Finally it came to a roll call and Bush passed by a vote of 64-27, with Lowell Weicker of
Connecticut voting present. Those voting against Bush were: Abourezk, Biden, Bumpers,
Church, Clark, Cranston, Culver, Durkin, Ford, Gary Hart, Philip Hart, Haskell, Helms
[the lone GOP opponent], Huddleston, Inouye, Johnston, Kennedy, Leahy, Magnuson,
McIntyre, Metcalf, Mondale, Morgan, Nelson, Proxmire, Stone, and Williams. Church's
staff felt they had failed lamentably, having gotten only liberal Democrats and the single
Republican vote of Jesse Helms. [fn 23.
It was the day after Bush's confirmation that the House Rules committee voted 9 to 7 to
block the publication of the Pike Committee report. The issue then went to the full House
on January 29, which voted, 146 to 124, that the Pike Committee must submit its report
to censorship by the White House and thus by the CIA. At almost the same time, Senator
Howard Baker joined Tower and Goldwater in opposing the principal final
recommendation of the Church Committee, such as it was, the establishment of a
permanent intelligence oversight committee.
Pike found that the attempt to censor his report had made "a complete travesty of the
whole doctrine of separation of powers." In the view of a staffer of the Church
committee, "all within two days, the House Intelligence Committee had ground to a halt,
and the Senate Intelligence Committee had split asunder over the centerpiece of its
recommendations. The White House must have rejoiced; the Welch death and leaks from
the Pike committee report had produced, at last, a backlash against the congressional
investigations." [fn 24]
Riding the crest of that wave of backlash was George Bush. The constellation of events
around his confirmation prefigures the wretched state of Congress today: a rubber stamp
parliament in a totalitarian state, incapable of overriding even one of Bush's 22 vetoes.
On Friday, January 30, Ford and Bush were joined at the CIA auditorium for Bush's
swearing in ceremony before a large gathering of agency employees. Colby was also
there: some said he had been fired primarily because Kissinger thought that he was
divulging too much to the Congressional committees, but Kissinger later told Colby that
the latter's stratagems had been correct. Colby opened the ceremony with a few brief
words: "Mr. President, and Mr. Bush, I have the great honor to present you to an
organization of dedicated professionals. Despite the turmoil and tumult of the last year,
they continue to produce the best intelligence in the world." This was met by a burst of
applause. [fn 25] Ford's line was: "We cannot improve this agency by destroying it."
Bush promised to make "CIA an instrument of peace and an object of pride for all our
people." Bush went on to say: "I will not turn my back from the past. We've learned a lot
about what an intelligence agency must do to maintain the confidence of the people in an
open society. But the emphasis will now be on the future. I'm determined to protect those