Send a text

Episode 429 – Bob Dole: The Life That Brought Him There (Part 10)
Watergate

Part 10 takes listeners inside one of the most seismic political crises in American history — and does so through the eyes and voice of Bob Dole.

As the Watergate complex break-in spiraled into a constitutional confrontation, Washington changed overnight. This episode weaves together archival news coverage and oral history reflections to recreate how the scandal unfolded in real time — the investigations, the hearings, the shifting political ground, and the growing pressure on President Richard Nixon.

At the center of it all is Dole’s perspective: what he believed as events developed, how he interpreted the mounting revelations, and how he navigated the political and personal stakes during a moment when party loyalty, institutional responsibility, and public trust were all colliding.

Listeners will hear not only the immediacy of the crisis as it broke, but also Dole’s later reflections — shaped by decades of hindsight — on what Watergate meant for the presidency, for Congress, and for the country. His retrospective insights add depth and nuance, revealing how time can reshape understanding of even the most explosive events.

Part 10 is both a historical reconstruction and a personal reckoning — a look at Watergate not just as a scandal, but as a defining test of leadership, loyalty, and constitutional order, told through the experience of a man who lived it from inside the Senate chamber.

Send a text

Episode 428 – Bob Dole: The Life That Brought Him There (Part 9)
Out as RNC Chairman

Power in Washington can rise quickly — and shift just as fast. Part 9 explores the dramatic turning point when Bob Dole’s tenure as chairman of the Republican National Committee comes to an abrupt end and George H. W. Bush is brought in to take the helm.

Through a series of revealing phone conversations, listeners are taken inside the political maneuvering at the highest levels of the Nixon White House. We hear the tone, strategy, and personal dynamics in calls between President Richard Nixon and Bush, as well as between Nixon and Dole, offering a rare window into how leadership decisions were made during one of the most volatile periods in modern political history.

This episode examines not just the mechanics of Dole’s removal, but the broader political context surrounding it — a moment when the administration was increasingly consumed by the unfolding Watergate complex scandal. Ironically, stepping away from the RNC chairmanship may have distanced Dole from the day-to-day political machinery that would soon be engulfed in controversy.

Part 9 captures the tension, loyalty, and hard political realities behind a pivotal transition — showing how a setback in the moment may have altered Dole’s long-term political trajectory and spared him deeper entanglement in one of the defining crises of the twentieth century.

Send a text

Send a text

Episode 426 – Bob Dole: The Life That Brought Him There (Part 7)
With Nixon’s Help (A)

Part 7 explores a pivotal chapter in Bob Dole’s rise on the national stage — his growing alliance with Richard Nixon during one of the most turbulent periods in modern American history.

As the Nixon administration grappled with the war in Vietnam, Dole emerged as a reliable and disciplined voice defending administration policy on Capitol Hill. This episode examines how Nixon’s stewardship of the conflict shaped Washington’s political climate and how Dole’s loyalty strengthened his standing within the party and at the White House.

We also dive into the political firestorm surrounding the Pentagon Papers — the leak that intensified public distrust and sharpened partisan battles in Congress. Listeners will hear how Dole responded in real time to the crisis and what it revealed about his instincts as a political combatant and party loyalist.

The episode further explores Dole’s connections to key Nixon figures, including Attorney General John Mitchell and senior advisor John Ehrlichman, offering insight into the broader political network surrounding the administration. Through these relationships, we see how Dole’s influence grew not just as a senator, but as a trusted ally during moments of national controversy.

“With Nixon’s Help (A)” captures the intersection of war, scandal, loyalty, and ambition — and shows how Bob Dole’s alignment with a powerful president helped accelerate his path toward national leadership.

Send a text

Dwight Eisenhower: The Inspiration (A)

What kind of leader shapes a young soldier’s idea of courage, duty, and sacrifice—and then stays with him for a lifetime?

In this powerful second chapter of our Bob Dole series, we turn to the man who became Dole’s lifelong hero: Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Long before Bob Dole entered politics, he was a wounded young officer watching the world being remade by war. And at the center of that war stood Eisenhower—the Supreme Allied Commander who carried the weight of history on his shoulders as he ordered the D-Day invasion that would determine the fate of Europe and the free world.

In this episode, we explore why Eisenhower became Dole’s model of leadership and character, beginning with a sweeping look at D-Day, the Allied victory, and the burden Eisenhower carried in sending thousands of young men into battle. We trace Eisenhower’s rise from soldier to president, his extraordinary list of accomplishments, and his complex partnership with Richard Nixon, a relationship that would shape American politics for decades.

We also examine Bob Dole’s deeply personal connection to Eisenhower’s legacy, including his leadership in the long effort to build the Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C.—now a permanent tribute to the man who inspired him.

And as Eisenhower led the greatest military operation in history, Bob Dole was fighting his own war. We follow Dole into Operation Grapeshot, his arrival in Italy, and the brutal reality that would soon change his life forever.

The episode closes with Eisenhower’s own haunting reflections on the true price of war—words that echo through Bob Dole’s story and the lives of all who served.

This is the first of two episodes exploring Dwight Eisenhower’s towering career and the enduring influence he had on Bob Dole—soldier, senator, and statesman.

A story of leadership under fire.
A story of heroism, humility, and history.
And the story of the man who inspired Bob Dole to believe that service was worth the cost.

Send a text

February 2026 on the Wallace Podcast Network — One Month. Three Podcasts. A Shared Journey Through History.

This February, all three shows across the Wallace Podcast Network come together for a powerful month of storytelling that connects world history with hometown legacy.

On Grand Strand Politics, we revisit our acclaimed January 2024 special series, “Robert Hirsch: Our Mayor.” This special rebroadcast honors Mayor Robert Hirsch — a World War II pilot who flew soldiers over enemy lines before returning home to help guide Myrtle Beach through a defining era of growth and change. It’s a story of courage in war and leadership in peace, right here on the Grand Strand.

And there’s even more exciting news tied to this story — a brand-new book about Mayor Hirsch’s remarkable life, The Blonde Bombshell by Colonel Daniel Hunter Wilson, is available now on Amazon. The book dives deeper into the wartime heroism and civic leadership that made Hirsch such an unforgettable figure in local history.

Meanwhile, Randal Wallace Presents: “Bob Dole – The Life That Brought Him There” and The Richard Nixon Experience will simulcast episodes exploring two of the most consequential political relationships of the 20th century:
the partnership between Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon… and later, the bond between Nixon and Bob Dole.

Across these episodes, listeners will travel from the battlefields of World War II to the shifting political landscape of the late 1960s and early 1970s — discovering how shared wartime experiences shaped a generation of American leadership, both on the national stage and in communities like Myrtle Beach.

It’s a month of intertwined stories — of service, sacrifice, ambition, and legacy — told across three distinct shows with one shared historical thread.

We invite you to tune in all February long to all three podcasts across the Wallace Podcast Network for a unique, connected listening experience that brings history to life from the global stage to the local shoreline.

Send a text

In this episode of Great American Authors, we take an unforgettable look at two astonishing works born from the tumultuous aftermath of Nixon-era Washington — The Canfield Decision by Spiro T. Agnew and The Company by John Ehrlichman.

Today, The Canfield Decision enjoys a surprisingly warm reception online, with roughly 87% of readers awarding it three to five stars on Goodreads and similar platforms. But that wasn’t always the case. Upon its release, critics and much of the media savaged the book, dismissing it as thinly veiled political wish-fulfillment from a disgraced Vice President. We unpack the striking discrepancy between that early panning and the thoughtful, often affectionate audience it’s gained in recent years — readers who find nuance, ambition, or just plain fun in a novel penned by a man few expected to ever write fiction.

We place the book in the context of Agnew’s political fall from grace. Once the second-in-command in the nation, Agnew’s public resignation and subsequent legal troubles left him a pariah. Remarkably, The Canfield Decision became his first major step back onto the national stage — a work that speaks volumes about ambition, image, and reinvention. What did Agnew hope to say with this book? And why do modern readers connect with it in ways early reviewers didn’t anticipate?

From there, we pivot to another Nixon-era insider turned novelist: John Ehrlichman, author of The Company. A former aide to Richard Nixon and one of the central figures of Watergate, Ehrlichman wrote a sprawling fictional chronicle of power, corruption, and betrayal in America’s secretive intelligence community. Unlike Agnew’s quietly redemptive tone, Ehrlichman’s The Companybristles with bitterness toward the very system he once served — especially toward Nixon himself.

We explore the reviews then and now for The Company, and how Ehrlichman’s own disillusionment shaped a narrative that many readers and critics call prophetic, sprawling, and ethically complex. As we compare and contrast these two presidential novels, we also ask: what happens when real political trauma is transmuted into fiction? What does each author reveal about themselves — and about American power — in the act of storytelling?

Join us for a deep, insightful, and sometimes surprising conversation about politics, prose, reputation, and the curious afterlives of The Canfield Decision and The Company — two books that defy expectations and challenge how we think about presidential literature.

Send a text

We stumbled on this interview while researching materials for a tribute to former Vice President Dick Cheney. We had not been aware that this interview existed if we had known it we would have used it during our original broadcast.

The interview is hard hitting, Barbara Walters pulls no punches through out. It is very much worth listening to and Agnew holds his own pretty well,

Enjoy this special edition.