Lloyd Bentsen

Trivia

• In that Presidential campaign, 67-year-old Bentsen memorably demolished 41-year-old Dan Quayle in a televised debate, when the boyish Quayle was asked whether he was up to running the country, should anything happen to a presumed President George H.W. Bush.
• In 1988 he ran for re-election to the Senate while simultaneously running for Vice President on Michael Dukakis's ticket.
• He was a proponent of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and backed forming the World Trade Organization (WTO).
• In 1970 he ran for Senate, and won, an office he held until 1993.
• Lloyd Bentsen was re-elected twice, then left Congress to run a financial holding company, and got rich.
• Two years later, in 1948, Bentsen ran for Congress, and won.
• After WWII, he went into private practice as a lawyer, and became a county judge the next year. Yup, with one year of legal experience, he was a sitting judge at 25.
• Lloyd Bentsen Jr. was fresh out of law school when he joined the Army in 1942.

Quotes

• “I have never forgotten my days as an Eagle Scout. I didn't know it at the time, but what really came out of my Scouting was learning how to lead and serve the community. It has come in handy in my career in government.”
• “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.”