Nope I watched the entire convention, he was cajoled, intimidated or forced but no way was he Reagan's choice.
GHWB ran as Reagan's third term, he lied and served one term as a consequence. GW was the deep state's revenge.
Agree. Reagan was forced to pick either Bush or Gerald Ford to be his running mate in 1980 by the GOP powers that be if he wanted FULL party backing heading into the fall! With RINO John Anderson running as a independent/3rd party candidate in the fall and taking away some moderate/liberal GOP support away from Reagan, he couldn’t afford to alienate the GOP powers that be at this point!
Also at age 69, Reagan knew this was his final shot at winning the presidency, after coming up short in 1968 and painfully short of winning the nomination in 76! He knew he would need full party support behind him if he were to prevail in the fall!