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In the fall of 1970, Rove used a false identity to enter the campaign office of Democrat Alan J. Dixon, who was running for Illinois State Treasurer, and stole 1000 sheets of paper with campaign letterhead. Rove then printed fake campaign rally fliers promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing," and distributed them at rock concerts and homeless shelters. Rove’s role would not become publicly known until August 1973. Rove told the Dallas Morning News in 1999, "It was a youthful prank at the age of 19 and I regret it."
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Rove traveled extensively, participating as an instructor at weekend seminars for campus conservatives across the country. He was an active participant in the 1972 Presidential campaign of Richard Nixon. As a protégé of Donald Segretti (later convicted as a Watergate conspirator), he helped convince voters that Nixon’s opponent, George McGovern, was a liberal.
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In December 1969, the Selective Service System held its first lottery drawing. Those born on December 25th, like Rove, received number 84. That number placed him in the middle of those (with numbers 1 [first priority] through 195) who would eventually be drafted.
On February 17, 1970, Rove was reclassified as 2-S, a deferment from the draft because of his enrollment at the University of Utah in the fall of 1969. He maintained this deferment until Dec. 14, 1971, despite being only a part-time student in the autumn and spring quarters of 1971 (registered for between six and 12 credit hours) and dropping out of the university in June of 1971. Rove was a student at the University of Maryland in College Park in the fall of 1971; as such, he would have been eligible for 2-S status, but registrar’s records show that he withdrew from classes during the first half of the semester. In December 1971 he was reclassified as 1-A.
On April 27, 1972, he was reclassified as 1-H, or "not currently subject to processing for induction," a classification given to four million young men between January and August 1972, as the Vietnam War wound down. The draft ended on June 30, 1973.
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The College Republicans convention at the Lake of the Ozarks resort in Missouri in the summer of 1973 was contentious. Rove’s opponent was Robert Edgeworth (the other major candidate, Terry Dolan, dropped out, supporting Edgeworth). A number of states had sent two competing delegates, because Rove and his supporters had made credentials challenges at state and regional conventions. For example, after the Midwest regional convention, Rove forces had produced a version of the Midwestern College Republicans’ constitution which differed significantly from the constitution that the Edgeworth forces were using, in order to justify the unseating of the Edgeworth delegates on procedural grounds. [4] In the end, there were two votes, conducted by two convention chairs, and two winners–Rove and Edgeworth, each of whom delivered an acceptance speech. After the convention, both Edgeworth and Rove appealed to Republican National Committee Chairman George H.W. Bush, each contending that he was the new College Republican chairman.
While resolution was pending, Dolan went (anonymously) to the Washington Post with recordings of several training seminars for young Republicans where Rove discussed campaign techniques that included rooting through opponents’ garbage cans and other forms of espionage, and stories of derring-do such as the incident at the Dixon headquarters. On August 10, 1973, in the midst of the Watergate scandal, the Post broke the story in an article titled "Republican Party
Probes Official as Teacher of Tricks." |
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In 1977, Rove was the first person hired by George H. W. Bush for his official (and unsuccessful) 1980 presidential campaign, which ended with Bush being selected as the Vice Presidential nominee by Ronald Reagan in the summer of 1980. Rove was fired in mid-campaign for leaking information to the press. In November 1980, Bush was elected Vice President. |
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In 1986, Rove helped Bill Clements become governor a second time. In a strategy memo Rove wrote for his client prior to the race, now among Clements’s papers in the Texas A&M University library, Rove quoted Napoleon: "The whole art of war consists in a well-reasoned and extremely circumspect defensive, followed by rapid and audacious attack."
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In 1986, just before a crucial debate in campaign, Rove claimed that his office had been bugged by the Democrats. [18]. The police and FBI investigated and discovered that bug’s battery was so small that it needed to be changed every few hours, and the investigation was dropped. [19] Critics suspected Rove had bugged his own office to garner sympathy votes in the close governor’s race.
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"Sources close to the former president George H.W. Bush say Rove was fired from the 1992 Bush presidential campaign after he planted a negative story with columnist Robert Novak about dissatisfaction with campaign fundraising chief and Bush loyalist Robert Mosbacher Jr. It was smoked out, and he was summarily ousted"
Rove has been accused of using supposed pollsters to call voters to ask such things as whether people would be "more or less likely to vote for Governor Richards if [they] knew her staff is dominated by lesbians." During the race, a regional chairman of the Bush campaign allowed himself to be quoted criticizing Richards for "appointing avowed homosexual activists" to state jobs. But only circumstantial evidence links Rove to the push-polling.
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During the bitterly-contested 2000 Republican primary, allegations were made that Rove was responsible for a "push poll" conducted in South Carolina, that used racist innuendo intended to undermine the support of Bush rival John McCain: "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?"
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