When George Deukmejian died on May 8, one month shy of his 90th birthday, the former two-term governor of California had been out of politics for the last 28 years. To most voters in the Golden State he was a distant memory.
In part, that was because California was such a swiftly-changing state in which there were perhaps less than a third of its estimated 39.54 million residents who were there when “the Duke” was its Republican governor (1982-90).
But there was another reason for the dim memory of the son of Armenian immigrants who fled the genocide of the Ottoman Empire and became a highly successful governor of America’s largest state.
George Deukmejian, in sharp contrast to such storied predecessors as Earl Warren, Ronald Reagan, and Jerry Brown, never wanted to be president.
A St. John’s University Law School graduate and veteran of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Corps, Deukmejian’s passion was state politics. He served in both houses of the California Legislature and, as senate majority leader in the late 1960s, worked closely with fellow Republican and then-Gov. Ronald Reagan.
As state attorney general from 1978-82, Deukmejian developed a reputation as a tough “law and order man.” Elected governor over Democrat and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley by a margin of 1.2 percent out of 7.5 million cast, Deukmejian vetoed tax hikes from the Democratic-dominated legislature, attracted new business to his state, and by 1985, presided over a $1 billion state surplus.
In 1988, it seemed only natural that Deukmejian would at last dive into national politics. He was on the short list of virtually every political handicapper to be the Republican vice presidential running mate of presidential front-runner George H.W. Bush (who affectionately dubbed his friend from California “the good Duke”—in contrast to eventual Democratic opponent and Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis).
Deukmejian would guarantee California’s electoral votes for Bush. In addition, his longtime association with Reagan would reassure supporters of the outgoing president that Bush was not going to abandon the agenda of their hero.
Less discussed but often privately acknowledged was that Deukmejian would bring in major dollars from the prosperous and closely-knit Armenian-American community.
“We had a meeting at our church over the weekend,” Ed Davidian, a prominent Akron, Ohio, commercial real estate entrepreneur told me in late 1987. “They said Bush will be nominated and Deukmejian’s the VP.”
This was not to be. In August of 1988, on the eve of the Republican National Convention, Deukmejian wrote a letter to Bush declaring he wanted to remain as governor. Were he to leave, the governor noted, Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy would assume the state’s top office. With Democrats in control of both houses of the legislature, the all-important reapportionment following the census in 1991 would be in Democratic hands.
“George was never expressly offered the vice presidential nomination by Bush,” Ken Khachigian, a close adviser to Deukmejian, told Newsmax. “I think he wrote the letter as a pre-emptive move rather than putting Bush in the situation of making an offer and turning it down.”
Deukmejian completed the remaining two years in office and, returning to private law practice and serving on corporate boards, he never held office again. As one who had been on the public payroll since 1962, the Long Beach man freely admitted he needed to make money while he was still vigorous. Deukmejian continued working as a lawyer until his retirement in 2000.
“What you have to remember about George is that, unlike many California governors, he didn’t have any presidential ambitions,” said Khachigian, “You become vice president with the goal of becoming president and this he didn’t want to do. His ambitions ended in Sacramento. And then he went home.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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