Bush–Rather Confrontation

During early 1988, CBS Evening News began to air a series of profiles of the individuals who were running for the Republican and Democratic nominations for president. A major contender for the Republican nomination was George H. W. Bush, the sitting vice president under then-president Ronald Reagan. When CBS attempted to schedule time with Bush for interviews and material to construct his profile, the Bush campaign refused to participate unless the vice president could appear on the evening news live and unedited. His staff indicated that he was not willing to be interviewed on tape and have his remarks edited for broadcast by CBS.

Although unhappy about this restriction, CBS agreed and scheduled Bush's live appearance for the regular evening news on January 25, 1988. However, CBS prepared a 5-minute segment to precede the interview that focused on Bush's involvement in the IranContra affair that had been plaguing the Reagan administration for several months. The tone and focus of this 5-minute prerecorded segment was clearly negative and confrontational toward Bush, placing him in an immediately defensive position as CBS anchor Dan Rather began the live interview portion of the program.

The live sparring match between Bush and Rather consumed approximately 9 minutes of additional airtime, an extraordinary amount of uninterrupted airtime for any evening news segment. As Rather continuously pushed and challenged and accused, Bush fought back strongly and firmly, establishing a powerful presence for the vice president who had sometimes been characterized as a “wimp” prior to this encounter.

The interview itself took on the flavor of an intense argument between two contenders. Neither combatant gave much respect to the other, as they constantly interrupted and overlapped each other, each trying to score the next verbal jab. In the aftermath, Rather received more of the blame for allowing the encounter to go so far out of the norms of a public display and for his obvious refusal to show any respect or deference to the vice president of the United States.

It is always difficult to pinpoint the effects of a single campaign event, but this one certainly came at a critical time for Bush, and many observers believe it had a major role in securing Bush's future position. Coming into this interview, Bush had been trailing Senator Bob Dole in the polls as the Republican choice for the presidential nomination. Research after the encounter has suggested that Bush probably gained more from the encounter and that Rather's behavior violated viewer norms and expectations of journalistic objectivity. The use of the “surprise” anti-Bush documentary preceding the interview gave the impression that Bush had been “set up” and created sympathy for him that helped bolster his position.

Bush, of course, went on to win the Republican nomination in 1988 and eventually the presidency. In the aftermath of the final election results, many observers pointed back to this encounter with Rather as a major turning point for Bush, who was unlikely to ever again be referred to by the media as a “wimp.”