Lee Greif began his exciting five year career in politics in 1971. It all started when he was asked by Peter Peyser to be his Chief of Staff. Peyser was a moderate Republican congressman who represented Westchester County, New York. Westchester is a suburban area located just above Manhattan Island in New York State. His work for Peyser included various interesting and difficult duties that Greif was always eager to undertake and performed so well that Peyser was very pleased with him. His achievements under Peyser were many, but he recalls that his greatest achievement was helping to get Peyser reelected twice when he ran his two reelection campaigns.
Peter Peyser was a very successful politician who had many important political ties. One example is his close connection with Nelson Rockefeller. The two were very close friends and political associates. In fact, they often collaborated together when developing policies. Because of Peyser’s ties to Rockefeller and the others, he would often have special assignments for Lee Greif that were very prestigious. These carried with them much responsibility, but Greif was always appreciative when he received them.
When Lee Greif served as Chief of Staff for Peter Peyser, it was during the early 1970s and the Watergate scandal. As a result of working in Washington, during this tumultuous time, he was always involved in interesting and exciting events that would have a lot to do with how the country would turn out. One of the memories which he brings up often is the time that he, Peyser, three other congressmen, and their Chiefs of Staff all shared dinner with President Nixon at the Whitehouse. Among the many other meetings and briefings he engaged in, he particularly enjoyed those with Secretaries Of State and Secretaries Of Defense.
Not everything about working in Washington DC during the early 1970s was fun and exciting however. In fact, he was often required to support policies and positions that were not too popular amongst his colleagues as well as the American public in general. This was mostly due to the fact that he served a Democrat during the Vietnam War and a Republican during the Watergate scandal. While this happened fairly often, there were two times in particular that he had to defend some policies of Richard Nixon’s that were not very much appreciated. He always remained professional in his duties though.
One of the greatest things to happen to Greif while he worked in Washington was meeting and marrying his first wife, Randee. When they met, she was working for the US senator Thomas Eagleton. They both thought Eagleton was a terrific guy and a dedicated public servant. Greif and Eagleton became good friends and political allies. Eagleton gave Greif a lot of much-needed support throughout his political career, and Greif found him to be a force of inspiration in his life. Eagleton, a democrat from Missouri, would later go on to run for Vice President along side of George McGovern during his presidential campaign.
