Mr. Bentsen goes to Washington
New podcast celebrates legacy of Houston politician Sen. Lloyd Bentsen
Sen. Lloyd Bentsen's legacy of public service is memorialized in a new six-part podcast.
Sen. Lloyd Bentsen was a towering figure in the Democratic Party and a Houston icon. His family is now producing a six-part podcast celebrating his legacy.
“My father’s accomplishments in Texas and then in Washington truly changed the course of history,” Lan Bentsen, Sen. Bentsen’s son, said in a statement. “His policies led to the greatest peacetime economic expansion in American history. His full story has never been told, and we believe that no matter your political affiliation, you will find hope and motivation in this podcast.”
The podcast, dubbed The Bentsen Blueprint, draws on a wealth of transcripts and tapes discovered by his family after Bentsen's death in 2006. With the help of former Texas Tribune political reporter Elise Hu, excerpts from the tapes are woven together with interviews from Bentsen's friends and colleagues to give a deeper understanding of Bentsen's remarkable political career.
Bentsen was a well-known dealmaker who reached across the political divide on many issues. The podcast shows Bentsen's skill at bipartisanship and possibly offers a guidebook for accomplishing things in one of the most politically-divisive periods in American history. The show also tackles Bentsen's economic policies, which helped create a surplus during the Clinton years by reducing the national deficit by $500 billion and creating 5 million new jobs.
Bentsen was born in Mission, but spent most of his five-decade political career in Houston. He served in World War II as a pilot, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross. Bentsen was elected to the Senate in 1970, the second-to-last Democrat to do so in Texas. He served there until he left to become Secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton.
The senator is also part of one of the most famous verbal comebacks in American political history. When he was picked to be Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis's vice presidential candidate in the 1988 presidential election, he debated Sen. Dan Quayle, who was fielding attacks about his youth and fitness for office. When Quayle remarked he was the same age as President John F. Kennedy when he was elected, Bentsen replied: "I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." Politicians have been trying to match that verbal drubbing ever since.
Listen to The Bentsen Blueprint on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
