Former Deputy Chief of Staff, Senior Adviser to former President George W. Bush and author Karl Rove spoke to a packed house Wednesday evening at Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium.
Rove was invited to speak at MSU’s 23rd annual Insurance Day, where as many as 600 insurance agents, state commissioners and CEOs were on hand to complete continuing education requirements and interact with fellow industry members and MSU students studying to enter the field.
A political ally to the 43rd president and longtime friend to Bush, Rove spent many years building political capital and expertise in gubernatorial and congressional campaigns before helping George W. Bush campaign for the governorship of Texas – the office that spring boarded Bush into national spotlight before he ultimately became President. Rove was described as “the architect” by Bush after his win over John Kerry in 2004.
MSU first lady Rhonda Keenum welcomed the crowd to what she called “the flagship university in the state” then introduced Rove with further anecdotes about the days she and Rove spent in the White House.
Rove discussed his friendship with Bush, whom he met when he was 22 and stayed with all the way to the Oval Office. Rove said his longevity with Bush could be attributed to the fact that he could disagree with Bush and state his opinion no matter if Bush would agree.
“I didn’t suffer because I disagreed with him [Bush],” Rove said.
Rove said Bush tried to keep fresh ideas coming from the people around him, and he wanted to have differing viewpoints presented. Still, despite what Rove said was an open and candid environment, the power of the office of the president, specifically the Oval Office, could quiet even the loudest opponent. Describing the first-time visit of former KGB agent and then-Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rove said all Putin could say upon entering the Oval Office was, “Oh my God.”
Vexing as it was, Rove said there were times when he would absolutely disagree with Bush on matters, specifically the appointment of Dick Cheney as Bush’s running mate during the 2000 presidential election. Rove said that the perception of Bush as a Texas oil man and Cheney, former CEO of a major oil industry giant Halliburton, would not be the best decision since the perception of the two as “oil men” would not resonate well with the public. Rove said he gave Bush seven more reasons why he did not support Cheney for vice president. Bush replied that those were all political reasons and that it was Rove’s job to fix them.
Eventually, Rove recounted where he was on 9/11 and how he spent the first minutes of the Global War on Terror trying to find a television to see news footage of the World Trade Center and the secrecy that followed as Air Force One was flying around the country to protect the president. Rove’s recent book, “Courage and Consequence,” which he is currently traveling to promote, has an in-depth account of what it was like to be at the ground zero of decision-making in the early days of the War on Terror.