Political Careers Of Lee Greif And Peter Peyser
October 27th, 2008Though he had many different careers in his life, Lee Greif recalls his five year turn in politics with the most fondness. First hired in 1971 by new Congressman of New York Peter Peyser, Greif was chosen by Peyser to be his chief of staff. The early 1970s was a tumultuous time to be in politics, but it was obvious Peyser did not regret picking Grief as his chief of staff because he ran two successful campaigns for reelection. Throughout this period, despite the high tension of the era, Grief was extremely grateful to be involved in the political arena as he found it very interesting.
Peter Peyser had an interesting political career of his own. A Republican congressman representing the suburbs of Westchester County, New York, Peyser became a close friend and partner of Nelson Rockefeller. The two of them would often meet to discuss various policy matters and ways to accomplish their public policy goals. Grief had the opportunity to work on many projects because of Peyser’s association with Rockefeller, and did a good job on most of them. These difficult but successfully accomplished assignments earned Grief the attention and support of his superiors.
There were a lot of opportunities for Greif to be involved in a hands-on way while he was chief of staff in the early 1970s. Along with three congressional chiefs of staff, he was on the scene for one of Nixon’s dinner parties at the White House, and he got experience briefing many high-ranking officials, including state and defense department secretaries. But working for a Democrat during two periods of crisis — Watergate and the Vietnam war — Greif wasn’t always well liked by everyone, and sometimes he had to tout controversial ideas and policies. He remembers at least twice having to stand up for administration proposals that didn’t have a lot of public support.
While acting as a chief of staff in Washington in the early 1970s, Lee Greif met Randee, the woman who became his first wife. When they met she was employed as a chief of staff for a senator of Missouri, Thomas Eagleton. Lee and Randee became good friends with Thomas Eagleton and they considered him to be a terrific guy and they often kept his company. Eagleton was a dedicated public servant, so having his support was a huge asset to Lee. Lee began to see him as a role model and major source of inspiration. Eagleton would later go on to run as Vice President on McGovern’s presidential campaign. The 5 years that Greif would spend in Washington as chief of staff for Peter Peyser was an important and fondly remembered time in his life. He would apply the knowledge he learned here to all the other challenges in this