Reagan waited until the Convention in July to announce his choice of a running mate, as was customary at the time. A short list of prospective running mates was put together after Reagan clinched the presidential nomination, including
Howard Baker,
William Simon,
Jack Kemp,
Richard Lugar,
Paul Laxalt and
George Bush.
Possible selection of Gerald Ford ,
Howard Baker and
Bill Brock before making a decision to ultimately decline Reagan's offer. Shortly before the convention, the possibility of choosing former President
Gerald Ford as the vice presidential nominee was given some consideration. Ford asked for certain powers and prerogatives that have been described as making Ford a co-president (had he been chosen). Negotiations for the terms of such an arrangement were held at the Hotel Pontchartrain. These included the return of
Henry Kissinger as
secretary of State and the appointment of
Alan Greenspan as
secretary of the Treasury in a "package deal". On July 16, Ford was interviewed by
Walter Cronkite. According to
Bob Schieffer, "The whole convention came to a stop," when, after being asked by Cronkite, Ford did not dismiss rumors that Reagan was considering him as a running mate. However, negotiations ultimately fell apart later that day when the two sides could not come to an agreement.
Selection of George Bush Reagan's selection of George Bush as his running mate unfolded after the negotiations with Ford reached an impasse, and was finalized less than 24 hours before the ticket was announced. It was
Richard Allen, then Reagan's chief foreign policy advisor, who suggested Bush as a viable alternative to Ford, believing that he possessed "the best credentials of the possible running mates mentioned".
The vice presidential vote (the main convention hall), photographed during the convention Even though Reagan had taken the unprecedented step of announcing his running mate choice from the podium of the convention himself, some delegates still resented Bush for defeating Reagan in a number of primaries, and especially the Iowa caucuses. In a direct challenge to Bush's nomination, they nominated
Senator Jesse Helms to oppose him. The effort went nowhere, and Bush won by an overwhelming margin. This would be the last time during the 20th century that the bottom half of the ticket would be contested, as the rules would be changed in 1988 to prevent this from happening again. ==See also==