John Dwyer Heubusch ( ; born 1958) is an American political and private-sector executive and author, best known for his previous work directing the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Simi Valley, California, overseeing the legacy of the 40th President of the United States. The Reagan Foundation funds the permanent Reagan Museum and the activities of the Reagan Presidential Library, as well as the Reagan Institute located in Washington, D.C.
Heubusch has worked as a Pentagon analyst, staffer on Capitol Hill and at the Department of Labor, the head of a major national Republican campaign committee, and a Fortune 500 executive.
Early life Heubusch was born in Washington DC, grew up in McLean, Virginia, and attended Bishop Denis J. O’Connell high school in Northern Virginia,Washington Times. November 5, 1996, "Doer's Profile - John D. Heubusch" before graduating from Virginia Tech in 1980 with a B.A. degree in English and political science. He later earned an M.A. in National Security Studies from Georgetown University. Heubusch began his career in 1980 as a research analyst for the Department of the Air Force.Congressional Staff Directory, 1987 edition (CSD Ltd, Mt Vernon VA), Charles Brownson, ed., p. 813
Congressional aide, military reform, and Executive Branch He moved to Capitol Hill in 1981, landing a job as a legislative aide to Republican Congressman Denny Smith of Oregon. Eventually, Heubusch was named as Smith's chief of staff, while also serving as a House Budget Committee staffer, with a focus on national security. Rep. Smith, a conservative former fighter pilot, was keen on rooting out Pentagon waste and ensuring the safety and effectiveness of defense equipment and systems. Concerned about the poor quality of weapons testing to ensure combat readiness, Smith and Heubusch, who had been named staff director of the Military Reform Caucus, were instrumental in creating the creating the Department of Defense Office of Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) in 1983 as part of the Defense Authorization bill. The idea was to create an independent office within the Pentagon that would act as a testing watchdog; despite some good work over the years, OT&E later became part of the cover-up of some poorly designed weapons systems.Church, Foster, The Oregonian, July 11, 1988, "Smith in the Middle of Aegis Issue"
Their efforts led to:
The eventual abandonment of the Sergeant York (DIVAD) air-defense system. OT&E conducted tests on the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun in 1984 and 1985, after the Congressman had blasted the York and called for a performance review, and the results were abysmal. The director of OT&E reported the DIVAD was "not operationally effective," and shortly thereafter, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger canceled the program after only 50 had been built."Gunning for Sergeant York" , Time, August 1985 Heubusch later called DIVAD "one of the lemons of the 1980s."Vartabedian, P.H., Los Angeles Times, January 13, 1990, "Image Problem May Make It Hard to Find a Buyer for Ford Aerospace Defense: The unit's odd assortment of products means it will likely be broken up and sold piecemeal" The re-armoring and retrofitting of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle by the Army. This followed the revelation of data in 1985 that, according to Heubusch at the time, showed that weapon impacts "caused problems with ammunition fires and explosions more serious than what the Army has let on."South Florida Sun-Sentinel, November 21, 1985, "Fighting Vehicle Pleases the Army" In 1986, Heubusch and Smith also protested the Bradley's failure to ford streams without taking on massive amounts of water and sinking; "The Bradley doesn't swim worth a damn and the Army knows it," Heubusch told reporters.Walker, Bill, Sacramento Bee, December 21, 1986, "Does Army Vehicle Sink Or Swim?" Eventually, the Army was forced to redesign the vehicle to improve its safety and better protect the lives of its occupants. Investigation of the Aegis air-defense system for US Navy vessels. In 1984, Smith ridiculed Navy testing of the Aegis system, saying it was conducted in secrecy, that the testing was too easy and that it produced inaccurate results. In 1988, a Navy ship in the Persian Gulf using Aegis shot down a 177-foot-long Iranian airliner (because it couldn't distinguish it from a 62-foot-long fighter), and 290 passengers were killed. Heubusch revealed that a General Accounting Office report on Aegis testing, made public in July 1988, confirmed Smith's contention that the Navy "essentially rigged the tests to prove it was easy for the ship to do what they said it would do."Duin, Steve, Oregonian, July 14, 1988, "Frightening Flotsam of the Aegis affair"Royce, Knut, Newsday, July 17, 1988, "Weapons Test Flawed Report -- Report Faults Trials on Aegis System that Shot Down Jet"
The Washington Monthly magazine looked backed in 1993 at the individuals who had contributed most to cleaning up the Pentagon during the Reagan era. "Many people, including a larger contingent of active-duty officers than might be guessed, played important roles in the military reform movement . . ." 17 men and women are named, among them Gary Hart and journalist James Fallows—and they include Smith and Heubusch.Washington Monthly, October 1993, "The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard."
In 1989, Heubusch left Capitol Hill to work for Elizabeth Dole, named as Secretary of Labor under new President George H. W. Bush.Foster Church & Alan R. Hayakawa, Oregonian, February 26, 1989, “Job Shuffle Takes Two Denny Smith Aides To Labor Department “ Heubusch became Dole's Chief of Staff.Alan K. Ota & Roberta Ulrich, Oregonian, November 4, 1990, “Dole Resignation Sparks New Speculation” When Dole left the Labor Department to head the American Red Cross in 1991, Heubusch moved with her and became vice president of communications.Newsmakers, Washington Post, April 1, 1991
Executive Director of NRSC, 1995-96 Following the Republican landslide of 1994, Senator Alfonse D'Amato was named head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), one of the four permanent GOP campaign operations in Washington, responsible for maintaining the new GOP majority. Instead of the parochial practice (common then and now) of naming one of his own staffers to manage the sprawling 200-person operation, D'Amato and his chief strategist, Arthur Finkelstein, sought to professionalize the committee's operations. After an intensive search process, they named Heubusch as executive director.King, John, Associated Press, December 11, 1994, "POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: San Diego Almost A Done Deal" Other key hires included Jo Anne B. Barnhart as Political Director, and Gordon Hensley as Communications Director.Roll Call, September 23, 1996, p. A-24, "Politics' Fabulous Fifty" (Barnhart was a long-time aide and campaigner for Sen. William Roth, and later served as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration.)
Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas had just piloted Republicans to a 7-seat gain and recaptured control of the Senate. The Bob Packwood sex-harassment scandal led to a costly special election, lost narrowly by GOP candidate Gordon Smith.AP story in Baltimore Sun, February 1, 1996, “Ore. Democrat Finally Wins Senate Seat; Wyden Ends Party Losses From 1962, Calls Victory A Backlash Against GOP “ The NRSC faced several challenges beyond their control, many emanating from the two dominant Republicans of 1995–96 that forced a government shutdown, House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole. The Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995 gave Bill Clinton an opportunity to marginalize his opponents, and slowed the momentum of the reform-minded Republican Congress. By late 1995, unrelenting Democratic and press attacks had turned Gingrich into a pariah through much of the country (2-to-1 unfav-fav ratio in surveys);Roman, Nancy E., Washington Times, January 23, 1996, "'96 elections: A referendum on GOP Congress" meanwhile, Dole was running for president. In mid-1996, Dole resigned from the Senate to campaign full-time, but by then he was behind Clinton to stay, and eventually polled less than 41% nationwide.
D'Amato remained personally devoted to Bob Dole. Heubusch and the NRSC team urged Republican Senate candidates to carve out their own individual profiles on issues. The NRSC paid particular attention to blunting the wave of millionaire political unknowns (e.g., Tom Bruggere in Oregon, Mark Warner in Virginia, Elliott Close in South Carolina) recruited that year by Senator Bob Kerrey for the Democrats.Nakashima, Ellen & Hsu, Spencer S., Washington Post, October 7, 1996, “Mark Warner Sets Va. Media Spending Record; Senate Candidate Puts $5.2 Million Into TV” It also shored up many endangered incumbents, including Bob Smith (New Hampshire), John Warner (Virginia), 75-year-old Jesse Helms and 94-year-old Strom Thurmond.Dewar, Helen, Washington Post, July 15, 1996, "Democrats' Senate Prospects Grow Brighter"
Heubusch was also quick to exploit a June 1996 ruling by the US Supreme Court in a Colorado case, that allowed political parties to spend unlimited sums in campaigns, as long as the spending remained independent of candidates.Lambro, Donald, Washington Times, July 8, 1996, "Ruling unleashes cash for campaign " Heubusch immediately set up an independent arm of the NRSC to coordinate such expenditures.Marcus, Ruth, Washington Post, October 26, 1996, "Reinterpreting The Rules; 'Independent Expenditures' Alter Senate Races" There was aggressive independent spending in 14 Senate races "and we won nine of them", Heubusch later told the Washington Post.Washington Post, February 12, 1997
On Election Night, as Clinton defeated Dole by nearly nine points and Gingrich's House Republicans lost a net 8 seats, Republicans won open Democratic Senate seats in Alabama, Arkansas and Nebraska, while a GOP incumbent (Senator Larry Pressler) lost South Dakota. In a poor year for most Republicans, the NRSC under Heubusch had gained a net two seats, for a postwar GOP record total of 55 (and narrowly missed another gain in the Cleland-Millner race in Georgia). Heubusch, Barnhart and Hensley were later singled out by Roll Call newspaper in 1996 as among national "Politics' Fabulous Fifty."Cook, Charles E., Roll Call, December 12, 1996, "Political Surveyor" column, p. 5
Executive for Gateway Computers and the Waitt Foundation In 1997, Heubusch was hired by Gateway Computers, a South Dakota–based computer and electronics manufacturer, as vice president for governmental affairs, creating and heading their DC office.Brasher, Philip, AP story in Toronto Globe & Mail, April 3, 1997 "Gateway woos Washington, PC supplier hires lobbyist, contributes to both parties" He was a registered lobbyist from 1997 to 1999,Data from US House of Representatives, Office of Records & Registration and lobbied against taxes on internet purchases.Sinocast, Comtex News Network, February 27, 1998, "What happens when Internet tax ban ends?"