Bush Gossip - What was he doing in Alabama instead of Guard meetings?

For much of 1972, the 26-year-old Bush lived, worked and played in Alabama, mostly in Montgomery. He came to town to work for Blount at the urging of his father and with the help of a family friend, GOP political consultant Jimmy Allison of Midland, Texas. And he lived in a two-bedroom, one-bath cottage in Montgomery's historic Cloverdale neighborhood, the furnished home of a 68-year-old widow.

That's what the Smith family remembers most about Bush, how he left their aunt's home damaged, dirty and dumpy.

"He was just a rich kid who had no respect for other people's possessions," said Mary Smith, whose family found damaged walls, broken furnishings and a chandelier destroyed after Bush left the house. A bill sent to collect the damages went unpaid, the family said.

Bush arrived in the third week of May 1972 as an outsider to a campaign that already had been running for five months, since Blount had won the Republican primary on May 2. Bush came in cocky and that turned some people off, McLennan said.

"I think he had some preconceived notions about how the world spun," McLennan said. But after a while, Bush seemed to warm up to his new surroundings and everyone on the campaign, McLennan said. "I think he really grew to respect the people there."

It wasn't always mutual. "There were some people who obviously resented George coming in there. Everything was rocking along and then George was dropped in the middle of it."

Archibald, a Blount relative by marriage, said he believes Bush's social side interfered with his job. He said he remembers many times when Bush would come to the Montgomery office late and leave early. He'd tell stories about his drinking the night before, like a frat boy bragging to his brothers. "I just found it strange that a guy in his mid-20s would feel comfortable enough to talk about that," Archibald said.

Several weeks after Archibald went to work for Blount as a volunteer in September 1972, Allison told him the campaign was having trouble getting materials out to the counties. Allison told Archibald to take over the job, one that Archibald said Bush wasn't doing. That's where Bush got the nickname "the Texas Souffle," Archibald said, from some of the volunteers who thought he looked good on the outside but didn't have much inside.