Word: nunn
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Nunn's other passion is his proposal to create a Citizens Corps. The plan would have young people work at community jobs -- or serve in the military -- in exchange for education grants of $10,000 to $12,000 for each year of service. "We have to restore a sense of civic obligation," says Nunn. "Today everything is considered an entitlement." Nunn's national-service proposal has been criticized for discriminating against the poor, a charge Nunn finds "ridiculous . . . The current system isn't working. The dropout rates are horrendous, and $10,000 is more than almost every student could hope...
...this adds up to a presidential run in 1992, it will not be the first time Nunn has clashed with George Bush -- or the second, considering that the fight over John Tower has been cast as a Bush-Nunn feud. In 1975, when President Ford selected Bush to head the CIA, Nunn and Senator Henry Jackson were concerned that Ford was helping Bush audition for a future vice- presidential race, perhaps even with Ford on the '76 ticket. "We felt strongly that the CIA shouldn't be used that way," says Nunn, and "we forced Bush to renounce his ambition...
...first, Bush swore that he would "take no part, directly or indirectly, in any partisan political activity of any kind." But that didn't satisfy Nunn and Jackson. They demanded a more explicit promise. Finally, and over Bush's objections, Ford sent Congress a letter ruling out Bush as a potential vice- presidential candidate. "Yeah, we beat him back then," says Nunn, "but you notice where he's sitting today." As for '92 and an ultimate Bush-Nunn face-off, that could make the present skirmish look like child's play...
...Senate floor?" said one operative working on Tower's behalf. "Besides, this way the Administration gets to identify exactly who's against them." Increasingly, the battle was drawn tightly along partisan lines, with pro-Tower Republicans headed by Dole facing off against Democrats lined up behind Sam Nunn, the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee...
...Nunn lacks sparkle and charisma, but his power derives from a serious devotion to the issues and to the practice of basic politics...