charges i would have been executed. only in america do you get the chance to tell your story and know that justice prevailed in the end and know that the truth always comes out. >> this is booktv on c-span2. we have been talking with nada prouty, former cia agent and author of this book, published by carl craig mcmillan, "uncompromised," the rise, fall of that american-arab patriot in the cia. >> it discussion now with arizona republican governor jan brewer. she discusses her tenure in office and presents her lots on illegal immigration. >> my name is john hi bush, and i think there are couple of people here who fall in that category. and executive director of the ronald reagan presidential foundation. it is my pleasure to welcome all

of you here this evening. in honor of our men and women in uniform who defend our freedom around the world i would like to ask you to please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. thank you. please be seated. before we get started, i would like to recognize some special guest that we have with us this evening and i will start with the ventura county clerk, mark lutz. mark, there you you are. [applause] michael brewer, the son of governor brewer. michael. [applause] and of course our library

director. [applause] i would like to take you all back in time to january of 2009 and play a little game with you. i want you to imagine waking up on the morning of january 21 of that year to learn that you are about to become the governor of one of our 50 states. now, we are going to blindfold you and ask that you through a big guard at the map of the united states. and whichever state it lands on, that is yours. you get to run it. now some people here are probably in visioning that their darts lands on say california, so we would finally have someone in charge with enough common sense. [laughter]

[applause] to turn this state around. some might be thinking colorado for the great skiing. others might be thinking florida for its winter or vermont for his colorful fall. but now i want you to imagine that regardless of where you are aiming, you're darts lands squarely in the middle of the state of arizona. now, some of you are probably imagining its glorious weather with over 300 days of sunshine each year or it's fascinating native american and cowboy culture. or the magnificent grand canyon, the rocks of sedona, the red rocks of sedona, the forested mounds of flagstaff or the amazing rivers and lakes that dot the landscape there. our special guest today didn't hit arizona with a dark three years ago by locke.

she became its 22nd governor after many years of tireless work, starting in the state legislature in 1982 moving to the state senate in 1987, the chairman of the maricopa county board of supervisors in 1996 and secretary of state in 2003. in that time, she has never once lost an election. if she had to do it all over, i am sure governor brewer, a 40 year resident of the state, would have chosen to live in and governed arizona as her first choice no matter where her dart landed. but it is the circumstances she inherited when she took the office where she might have wanted to see a change or two. she has had her hands full. filing of financial collapse of 2008, she inherited one of the worst financial crises of any state in the country.

and like most every other governor, she has had to fight to diversify arizona's economy, to improve the chair of higher paying jobs and reform its education system. but very few governors, in fact none, have had to face the challenge of the federal government refusing to exercise its constitutional responsibility to protect its sovereignty and the safety and well-being of its own citizens. governor brewer has. [applause] this governor has got grit. she does not back down from a fight when it comes to protecting and improving the lives of the people of her state. [applause] and her life is a remarkable

tale. if you didn't pick up her newest book before you came in here, i urge you to do so on your way out. it is a great american story told by a great american governor that we are honored to have with us this evening. so ladies and gentlemen please join me in welcoming, governor jan brewer. [applause] >> thank you. thank you all very very much. thank you. thank you and good evening to you all and thank you john for that very kind introduction. i must tell you that it is an extreme honor to be here with you all tonight in ronald reagan's library. it is quite awesome.

thank you for allowing me to be here. i probably don't have to tell you that i love arizona. it's my home. it's an extraordinary place and after a long, hard day, i look forward to walking in my garden, to rest and relax and to enjoy the wildlife, watch the sunset, and plan for challenges that i will have to face tomorrow. however, there is something special about being here in this place that fills me with great joy. it fills me with an overwhelming sense of peace. for me, this really is america's chapel, a place to find confidence and faith in our destiny and yes, dare i say it, our exceptionalism.

[applause] outside these walls, those feelings have been hard to come by recently, especially for anyone paying attention to what is happening to our country. not to mention to the governors who have been battling the bureaucrats in washington. here in the reagan library, my spirit is lifted and i am filled with renewed confidence in our country. i find myself thinking about young americans and how things will look to them in decades ahead and how we must prepare our children to compete and succeed in a changing world. i know this is much to envision our future. we must understand our past. to decide who they will be and what they will give, young

americans must grasp what they have received. the year i was born, america was a nation of nearly 130 million people. only about 40% our present size, and and the world was at war. three years earlier, we have been attacked at pearl harbor, where the uss arizona still rests today. our country sent its beloved sons to fight in unfamiliar places far from home, just as we have sent our sons and daughters today. we sent so many and so many were lost from the outposts in the battlefields of world war ii, more than 400,000 americans would not return home. it is hard to fathom those numbers today. very few americans even know

them. of the remaining survivors of that conflict, the last of a generation which saved the world from tyranny, are in their late '80s and 90s. soon, they will all be gone. four days from now, we will pay tribute to our nation's veterans, so this is a good time for remembering. dwight eisenhower told his troops, poised near the benches of normandy, they were about to embark upon the great crusade. the eyes of the world whereupon you he said, the hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. in company with our brave allies and our brothers in arms on the front, you will bring about the destruction of german war machines, the elimination of the nazi tyranny over the oppressed people of europe and security for ourselves in a free world.

ronald reagan called them the boys of pointe do hawk, the men who took the quest, the champions who helped free a continent, the heroes who helped end a war. those men are now our heroes, forever a part of the greatness of america. so when we gather same for thanksgiving, let us be grateful for the blessings of america and the sacrifices of those who built it and lent it to us. my father, wilford drink wine, was doing his part fighting do not cease, working as a civil servant at the hawthorne navy base in western nevada. he passed away when i was 11 years old. his death came after a long and painful battle with lung

disease. contacted following years of exposure to the hazardous chemicals and toxic fumes at the base. even in and, when my dad struggled for breath, he never regretted serving his country, and i am proud to tell you up his patriotism. i am also proud to tell you that the most important mentor in my life was my mother, edna drinkwine. you see, i know what it's like to be a single mom, struggling to make ends meet while caring for your family. i saw my mother do that after my father died. she had never worked outside the home, but my mother knew she had to support her family, my brother and me with meager savings she bought a very small dress shop and i worked side-by-side with her until the time she sold it when i was 20 years old. that dress shop was really a

classroom for me where i learned the importance of hard work, responsibility, honesty, integrity and yes, courage. from my mother's example. i think about my mother every day, especially since i was challenged with the opportunity to become governor of arizona. eisai challenged because i inherited the worst state at a deficit in the nation. well, i am my mother's daughter. i was up to the challenge. i am a problem solver. i made a lot of painful decisions, some that still weigh heavily on my heart. in arizona, expenditures are almost down 20%. a number of state employees is down almost 15% and state employees, including me, take a 5% pay cut during the crisis.

but do you know what? we now have a balanced budget and a positive cash balance for the first time in years and it feels darned good. [applause] our state government is smaller. our state government is more efficient. our state government is focused on the future. arizona is poised to move into our second century with the creation of a new model to advance our economy. they arizona commerce authorities a public-private entity focused solely on quality job retention and recruitment. meanwhile, education in arizona is being transformed. is a transformation supported by education and business leaders all across america.

it called arizona ready, we are engaging families across the state to take charge of their families education expect more from their public schools. these reform initiatives include adoption of higher academic standards and the elimination of teacher tenure. they include employment policies that prohibit giving retention priorities to teachers based on seniority and we are ensuring arizona has a state-of-the-art educational data system so teachers have real-time information that can be used to improve instruction, so that they can be held accountable for their results. now, fixing what afflicts our great nation will not be so easy. however, if there's one thing i learned from my mother, in my years of public service, it's that life is about choices. it's that doing the right thing

almost always means doing the hard bank. it is choosing what is tough over what is tempting. it's choosing the truthful over the falls. speaking about choices, voters had before the 1984 election, president ronald reagan said, and that quote, the choices this year are not just between two different personalities or between two political parties. they are between two different visions of the future, two fundamentally different ways of governing. the government of pessimism, fear and limits and ours, of hope, confidence and growth. end of quote. it seems to me there are still two very different visions of

the future. we face increasing economic and military challenges around the world. yet, we have a president more inclined to apologize for america than then to first uphold the principles. we have a president who seeks deeper division to craft warfare, a calculated politics of envy and cynical appeals to racial grievance, even as he issues an astounding call for civility. we confront persistent economic instability and decline, yet we have a president who demands more of the same to government access that triggered it. but, what should bother us most is that we have a president who suggest that america is not an

exceptional nation. imagine. what other country has sent its finest young men and women to fight on distant rattle fields for justice and peace? what other nations ever rose to such strengths, get rose not to conquer but to protect. what other such nation has acted not to dominate but to liberate? we are an exceptional nation alright. that is just a fact. [applause] written in blood and sacrifice of american patriots and their families. president obama doesn't have much in common with ronald reagan, but the principle

difference between the two men is fairly simple. one longed to spread the wealth. the other lives to spread freedom. in my book, scorpions for breakfast, i tell of my meeting with president obama in the oval office, when i looked him in the eye and i told him, didn't want to talk about his so-called comprehensive immigration reform while our border was out of control. i stand here today, aiming to make a simple case on the subject of america's borders with mexico and our immigration policy. i know my words will be distorted by those that disagree. my opponents have already painted me as hardhearted and uncompassionate. they are wrong. my career, my record, my life

all stand to prove as to how wrong the critics are. the truth i have come to share with you is anything but hateful. it has nothing to do with skin color, nothing to do with extremism. instead, it is rooted in freedom. my truth shares the spirit of our founding fathers quest to form a more perfect union, union, establish justice and assured domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty. we must secure arizona and america's southern borders. that is my truth. we must secure our borders to keep our citizens safe. we must secure our border because we are a nation of law. we must secure our border to ensure our future relationship with mexico.

there is no other choice, no better option. there is no next best, easier truth. of course, there are those back in washington who will tell us from 3000 miles away, that our border is more secure than ever. tell that to the survivors and friends of a dedicated community minded man's, shot to death on the saint cochise county ranch his family has called home for more than 100 years. tell that to the friends and relatives of brave and noble patrol agents, agent brian terry, a victim of a border gang that was armed by her own federal government, allowing guns to be shipped into mexico and the scandalous fast and furious operation.

tell that to the arizonans who wake up to find house raids in progress or witness high-speed chases on our freeways and our neighborhoods. or who spend hours in an overburdened emergency room on a saturday night while waiting and consoling a suffering child. tell that to our taxpayers who have to bear the expense of federal and state prisons cells over growing with more than 630,000 illegal alien felons at a cost of more than $1.6 billion each year. those are the facts, plain and simple. our opponents, the self-styled self-styled -- self-styled do-gooders spin and shout hate and announce. to disagree with them i have learned is to suffer incredible verbal abuse.

but let me assure you, i can live with those consequences, because i believe and the truth and i believe in taking action to protect our hard won freedom. i sometimes wonder where the president -- was inevitable and whether in fact the struggle will make us stronger. yoolasee it it obscured in our left tilted media but i believe the american people are taking us in right now and moving to correct the course. the 2010 election was historic and consequential, and if we continue to pull together and work hard, there is going to be another like it in a year from now. [applause] when i was here in february for

president reagan centennial birthday party former senator john danforth described ronald reagan as an example of someone who lived the life given to him. on a lampstand signing, not on himself, but on america and on to the world. it is ronald reagan's america. it's that special city on a hill, and i believe it is in that shining city where we might meet ronald reagan again one day. and be able to take his hand and thank him for the nation he preserved for us. as a western governor, let me close with this famous prophecy of an english poet, one that margaret thatcher quoted to ronald reagan as he headed to his california ranch in his retirement. and not by the eastern windows only, when daylight comes, comes

in the light and the sun climbs slowly, how slowly, but westward look. the land is bright. thank you and may god bless you and your families and may god always bless the united states united states of america. [applause] thank you. thank you so very very much. [applause]

>> we have time just for a few questions and then the governor will be signing books for those of you who would like to get one. you still can get one. if i can ask one favor before you ask your question. if you would raise your hand. you see we have staff in each of the items. hold up your hand and they will give you a microphone and introduced herself and we will go from there. yes, right here. >> i am john from burbank and i was wondering if there is any possibility of you using state resources to prosecute some of the people involved in fast and furious? [applause] >> well you know first we have to find the details and certainly the investigation is going on but i would assume that will be handled on a federal level. i will tell you, you won't know,

of course we are getting our budgets under control and we don't have a whole lot of money, but i think that certainly we will get prosecution in persons are going to be held accountable in arizona and in america. >> over here. >> i just want to thank you for championing sp's 1070 and i know you have a recent press release that says it will probably go all the way to the supreme court. would you think considering championed the immigration issue within the gop and the other governors who have -- who are facing the same situation that arizona faces now? >> we believe in the new federalism law. every state has their own rice but we have certainly joined

together on knowing what america is facing. i've had so many of our governors not only close to the western area of america but throughout that have been very supportive of us and we certainly reach out and support them. i am sure that if we -- soon there will probably be a national movement that i am really looking forward to this next election and it's going to count on a lot of people. i think if we see an exceptional election year 2012 we might have the battle one. [applause] >> my impression of the current administration is that their belief system is that this is an unfair world, and the only way to get ahead is to -- that is accomplish something. there was a recent statement on part of the administration that

as you said earlier america has lost it's a sectionalism and a specialness. the two are in conflict with each other. you can have one and the other at the same time. if you are running things will be some things you would suggest to turn the country around somewhat quickly and somewhat effectively? >> first and foremost we have to remember what america is built on and i think we all know that america is all about freedom, and i believe so strongly and i think that every president in every administration not to look to the state to give them the federal responsibilities that are given to them in the constitution. i also believe it is a better government to have a strong defense. i see a complete division of course between the federal government and the state government. [laughter] the federal government simply cannot do it all. we don't want them. we know better in our state what is best for our people than the federal government knows

3000 miles away from us and they just keep inflicting upon us and the administration continually mandates mandate so i would say no way under any circumstances will we do that. we hear from every governor in the state, republican and democrat, get the government out of our lives. we have to get our tax situation under control. we have to get our house situation under control and certainly is not obamacare. [applause] and arizona was one of the states that led the charge on that and we will continue to do what we believe is right. i think if we get back to our principles of what this country was founded on, america will be that great country that we know so well, that exceptional country that we have fought for and that we need to maintain. is going to take all of us, you

and i and everyone in america, fighting hard and stating the truth. i will again tell you, and doing the right thing almost always means doing the hard thing but americans are up to it. [applause] >> hi governor brewer. i am amber and i don't have a specific question but you are the reason that i got involved locally in politics. i started writing, actually i write for the reagan report sometimes. i was terrified. in california it's hard to be a conservative and the role that you play but after i saw you standing next to that sign that says in america, stay off because its dangers in our own country. when i saw you standing up to obama and he didn't back down

and all of us kept thinking, she can't keep going like this. she is going to give in. she's going to chicken out, and you never did. you just sat there and all you wanted was to defend your own state. you are such an inspiration to me and i can't shut up any more. [laughter] and i never will again. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so very very much. this is exactly what their public and party needs and i so much appreciate your comments. it is amazing when you think about our federal government coming into my state, north of the border and putting signs in, my desert where we walk in high can rest rate saying travel at your own risk and if you see anything call 911. and they say it's not a federal issue. but call 911.

and that is not protecting my state. that is flat out surrendering. [applause] and we know it is absolutely, coming here and being with you tonight, it is like seeing actually in eggs state port of monks the storm. if we don't all come together and stand on our principles and get the right tack, the right people elected, where will we be? we will have no one to blame but ourselves. [applause] >> we have time for one more. >> thank you governor brewer. i was just curious if you had planned to i guess make an endorsement for the nomination?

[laughter] >> well i have been asked that by a lot of people as i have been traveling around the united states, and of course the lab and calling in saying who are you going to support and what are you going to do? i keep saying to them, i'm going to wait until i have my debate in arizona which we are working on and hopefully have some really fine questions answered that will satisfy me. however that may say i think we have a grade bench of candidates willing to stand up and share with us what they believe they can do for this great country of ours. i am going to hold out and wait until i am totally satisfied to what their answers are in regard to our economy and certainly in regards to what they are going to do about our defense and certainly how are they going to handle health care and my goodness what are they going to do about illegal immigrants?

[applause] and i will tell you, it's going to take us all again, i can't say this enough, can't say it much more because i've been a grassroots worker for the republican party for probably 45 years. i believe so strongly in our principles and our philosophies and i'm not going to stop. i don't want to stop and i will just share with you that i have a pac called jam pack. we are asking for people to participate in it so we can work collectively together across the united states to get the right people into the right offices to protect us and our principles. [applause] >> for more information about governor brewer visited az governor.gov. >> here's a short author interview from c-span's campaign

2012 bus as it travels the country. >> dr. starbuck you have written a few books on archaeology. why is it important for people to learn history through archaeology? >> it is often said that history is written by the victors, and we read about such things as major battles, generals, military campaigns. history talks about those who want. it talks about the famous. talks about the great events. archaeology on the other hand talks about ordinary people. we dig up the remains of soldiers on average days at their forts, military encampments. is the real bias of real people and archaeology kits that were as history has been biased towards the famous people, the important people. to an archaeologist, everyone is

important. when i dig up military camps, i am digging up the activities, the things that people were doing 360 days out of the year, not what they did on the one or two days they were fighting during the year. archaeologist love to say it is everybody story that we try to tell. >> and you have done, you spoke about how you've done multiple kinds of archaeology. how did you decide to transition to the military archaeology or battlefield? >> i was originally trained in central mexico. it was fun, this exciting but gradually i started digging at historical sites in america. things like factories. i have dug mills, but somewhere along the way, the national park service asked if i would start working at the saratoga battlefield. i never worked on military sites

before. i did note though that when you dig up early american, people in general are drawn to certain types of things and other things maybe they don't find quite as exciting. it was 1985 when i first started digging a battlefield, and i was amazed to find, and everybody was just fascinated, by early military history. and it is not just memorizing facts or memorizing a tool strategies. people want to actually go where the action was. they want to stand for the soldiers stood. they want to stand where the battle was going on and they want to see and touch the things of the past. a musket all, gun flint, a bayonet, part of a musket. people want to physically connect with evidence, with traces from past wars, from past battles. the moment i started digging forts and battlefields, many

more people started signing up to dig with me. magazine started investing articles. television started wanting to do programs on military digs. books, everybody wanted books about digging up -- i never realized the level of interest exists here in america for all the old military campaigns, all the old fords, and i suddenly realized i had never planned to dig a fort in my life, but all of a sudden people cared. people wanted to visit. people wanted to connect with past soldiers. and for 25 years now, i have dug up the remains of america's forts, battlefields and in camp ends, trying to find out what the soldiers lives were really like. >> there is a lot of interest you mentioned in america with battlefields and in the forward to your book it states that sometimes a compromise material record. what does that mean?

>> i'm afraid the battlefields are such famous popular sites that the moment a battle was over any time in our past, the local people would dissents to pick up souvenirs and in no time at all, those musket balls, those bullets in those bayonets would be picked up and carried off. also, if people lived nearby, if the remains of a ford were starting to crumble are starting to rot, the garrison had left, local citizens, local townspeople would always go there, grant anything they could walk off with

buttons, vocals, cufflinks, anything of a personal nature. you suddenly see that button and realize a real person was wearing that and you are connecting with that soldier from the past. i think among the unexpected things we find are the fancy things. i think we assume everything is

sort of standard military issue. everybody's wearing the same thing, fighting with the same weapons. all of a sudden you find something nice and one fords that comes to mind is fort orange. that is where the city of albany new york is today. fort orange was an early dutch fort, and you would expect on a frontier in the 1600's every thing would be simple and crude. well they have found the fanciest glass vessels, glass bottles, glass bowls from holland, the nicest things way out there on the frontier. soldiers, people in the fords did not just have crude, simple out of date garbage if you well. they had nice things. they wanted to bring the best things from home, from the mother country, from europe with them to the frontier of america. when archaeologists find really nice things, we sort of smiled to herself and say, those

officers, those soldiers, they did okay for themselves. >> and what are you digging now? is there and archaeology go dig that you are working on right now or that you will work on this fall? >> i'm doing two things right now. in the summertime i am digging in fort henry and lake george new york. fort william henry is the site of the last of the mohicans. so for anyone who has read james finra coopers famous novel or seen the most recent with movie with dana day-lewis that is the fort we are currently digging in the summer. through the college in the state university. however, this fall here on campus, europe and the state university, we are digging on campus. universities all across america are doing campus digs these days. it's hard for students to take the whole summer off to go far away to dig something, but during the school year, campus

digs, looking for the traces of their early university. that is what we love to do. i have students outdoors right now and digging and it's exciting for them. 100 feet for another class from their up something right now. >> thank you so much for your time. >> good to be here. >> the c-span 2012 campaign bus visits can entities across the country. to follow the buses travel's visit to www.c-span.org/bus.