Friday, March 21, 2014

Robert Strauss died...

...at age 95. What a character this guy must have been! From his obit in the Times:

Strauss rose from the Texas Plains to become an influential Washington insider, leading the Democratic Party and hopscotching among White House posts when not making millions as a lobbyist and deal maker.

When President Carter ordered White House personnel to fly coach, reporters asked Mr. Strauss if he would still fly first-class. “Yes,” he said, “unless there is something better.”

Others joked about Mr. Strauss’s cultivation of the role of “insider’s insider.” Jim Wright, the former House speaker and a fellow Texan, said of him, “It’s an honor to have with us a close friend of the next president of the United States — whoever the hell he may be.”

He was indeed a "close friend" of President Carter's:

Five months later he resigned to become chairman of Mr. Carter’s 1980 re-election campaign. After Mr. Carter lost to Reagan, Mr. Strauss slipped into the role of unofficial adviser to the new president and a lunchtime companion of Mrs. Reagan’s.

“Bob Strauss is a very loyal friend,” Mr. Carter remarked. “He waited a whole week after the election before he had dinner with Ronald Reagan.”

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