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Reese developed a friendship with [[John Tower]], another partisan of the Bushes. Reese headed the campaign organization, "Young Men for Tower" in 1966, when the Republican senator won a second term over the Democratic Attorney General [[Waggoner Carr|Vincent Waggoner Carr]]. Carr and his brother, [[Warlick Carr]], were prominent attorneysborn in Hunt County east of Dallas and reared in Lubbock. Before his death, Warlick Carr contributed to the Republican [[John Cornyn]]'s reelection bid to the same seat that his brother had sought four decades earlier.<ref>Waggoner Carr Campaign Contributions and Donations - Huffington Post [Accessed November 15, 2010]</ref> According to Reese, Tower was "shy and a private individual, not a people person, and he irritated people by his bluntness."<ref>Reese, p. 143.</ref>  After the 1966 election, Reese encountered the affable Carr on an elevator, who told him that Carr had lost not because of Tower but through the "Reese organization," based on the Jaycees model.<ref>Reese, p. 143.</ref>

Reese developed a friendship with [[John Tower]], another partisan of the Bushes. Reese headed the campaign organization, "Young Men for Tower" in 1966, when the Republican senator won a second term over the Democratic Attorney General [[Waggoner Carr|Vincent Waggoner Carr]]. Carr and his brother, [[Warlick Carr]], were prominent attorneysborn in Hunt County east of Dallas and reared in Lubbock. Before his death, Warlick Carr contributed to the Republican [[John Cornyn]]'s reelection bid to the same seat that his brother had sought four decades earlier.<ref>Waggoner Carr Campaign Contributions and Donations - Huffington Post [Accessed November 15, 2010]</ref> According to Reese, Tower was "shy and a private individual, not a people person, and he irritated people by his bluntness."<ref>Reese, p. 143.</ref>  After the 1966 election, Reese encountered the affable Carr on an elevator, who told him that Carr had lost not because of Tower but through the "Reese organization," based on the Jaycees model.<ref>Reese, p. 143.</ref>

Reese recalls the feud between Tower and the 1972 Republican gubernatorial nominee, State Senator [[Henry C. Grover]] of Houston. The story also involved Reese's mentor [[Rudy Juedeman]], a former majority leader of the Montana House of Representatives. While Reese and his wife were on an out-of-town trip in 1971, Juedeman called to urge that Reese return immediately to Texas to discuss the possibility of seeking the 1972 gubernatorial nomination. With several high-profile Democratic candidates splitting the ranks of their own party, the GOP nomination might become an unexpected ticket to the governorship. [[Jimmy Lyon]], president of River Oaks Bank in Houston,<ref>In 1965, [[Jimmy Lyon]] built the since destroyed USS Flagship Hotel, the first such structure over tidewater.</ref> then a Republican state kingmaker of the more conservative faction, held firm for Grover, a former educator, and resisted efforts by those who wanted to entice Reese to run, such as former party chairman Peter O'Donnell of Dallas, an organizer of the Draft Goldwater Committee in 1963.<ref>Reese, pp. 143-144.</ref>

Reese recalls the feud between Tower and the 1972 Republican gubernatorial nominee, State Senator [[Henry C. Grover]] of Houston. The story also involved Reese's mentor [[Rudy Juedeman]], a former majority leader of the Montana House of Representatives. While Reese and his wife were on an out-of-town trip in 1971, Juedeman called to urge that Reese return immediately to Texas to discuss the possibility of seeking the 1972 gubernatorial nomination. With several high-profile Democratic candidates splitting the ranks of their own party, the GOP nomination might become an unexpected ticket to the governorship. [[Jimmy Lyon]], president of River Oaks Bank in Houston,<ref>In 1965, [[Jimmy Lyon]] built the since destroyed USS Flagship Hotel, the first such structure over tidewater.</ref> then a Republican state [[kingmaker]] of the more conservative faction, held firm for Grover, a former educator, and resisted efforts by those who wanted to entice Reese to run, such as former party chairman Peter O'Donnell of Dallas, an organizer of the Draft Goldwater Committee in 1963.<ref>Reese, pp. 143-144.</ref>

Grover's nomination still required a primary runoff with [[Albert Bel Fay]] of Houston, a favorite of the Bushes and the Texas business establishment who had extensive financial holdings in Texas and Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffa20|title=[[Albert Bel Fay|Fay, Albert Bel, Sr.]]|publisher=''The Handbook of Texas'' on-line|accessdate=October 25, 2019}}</ref> Reese said that he believes that a dispute over the Republican state chairmanship in 1972 split the Grover and Tower partisans to the breaking point and prevented the election of a Republican governor at that time, six years before Bill Clements was narrowly elected in 1978 over Democrat John Luke Hill. Tower managed to win a third term in 1972, helped in part by the large margin that the national GOP ticket of Richard Nixon and [[Spiro T. Agnew]] accumulated over the Democratic partisans of [[George McGovern]] and [[Sargent Shriver]]. Grover, however, lost by almost exactly 100,000 votes to Dolph Briscoe, an Uvalde banker, rancher, and large landholder with close ties to President Johnson.<ref>Reese, p. 144.</ref><ref>Texas gubernatorial general election returns, November 7, 1972; Briscoe received 1,633,493 votes (47.9 percent), Grover, 1,533,986 (45 percent). Briscoe was a "minority governor" because he failed to garner a simple majority of the votes. The La Raza contender, then 29-year-old Ramsey Muñiz, received 214,118 votes (6 percent). Two other minor candidates shared the remaining 27,994 votes, (0.8 percent). With the death of Sargent Shriver (1915-2011), McGovern became the last living former national candidate from the 1972 general election. McGovern subsequently died in October 2012.</ref>

Grover's nomination still required a primary runoff with [[Albert Bel Fay]] of Houston, a favorite of the Bushes and the Texas business establishment who had extensive financial holdings in Texas and Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffa20|title=[[Albert Bel Fay|Fay, Albert Bel, Sr.]]|publisher=''The Handbook of Texas'' on-line|accessdate=October 25, 2019}}</ref> Reese said that he believes that a dispute over the Republican state chairmanship in 1972 split the Grover and Tower partisans to the breaking point and prevented the election of a Republican governor at that time, six years before Bill Clements was narrowly elected in 1978 over Democrat John Luke Hill. Tower managed to win a third term in 1972, helped in part by the large margin that the national GOP ticket of Richard Nixon and [[Spiro T. Agnew]] accumulated over the Democratic partisans of [[George McGovern]] and [[Sargent Shriver]]. Grover, however, lost by almost exactly 100,000 votes to Dolph Briscoe, an Uvalde banker, rancher, and large landholder with close ties to President Johnson.<ref>Reese, p. 144.</ref><ref>Texas gubernatorial general election returns, November 7, 1972; Briscoe received 1,633,493 votes (47.9 percent), Grover, 1,533,986 (45 percent). Briscoe was a "minority governor" because he failed to garner a simple majority of the votes. The La Raza contender, then 29-year-old Ramsey Muñiz, received 214,118 votes (6 percent). Two other minor candidates shared the remaining 27,994 votes, (0.8 percent). With the death of Sargent Shriver (1915-2011), McGovern became the last living former national candidate from the 1972 general election. McGovern subsequently died in October 2012.</ref>