spoke at the cato institute of washington. this includes remarks by one paul sun, senator rand paul. it's an hour and 10 minutes. >> good afternoon. welcome to the cato institute. i'm david boaz of the institute of her trying something different you are doing an event after work hours. we'll see how that works out, but hopefully it's good for people who have jobs and can't come to the events we do usually at noon. required to have a very interesting discussion of "ron paul's revolution." about 30 years ago there was a book published about the early years of the libertarian movement called it usually begins a timer and unless we found a cato, that most of our interns and students who came to her seminaries had first read

the fountainhead. not all of him, but more than anything else. i think you can say over the past six years, it usually begins with ron paul. as we get more people hitting their first taste of libertarian ideas and maybe then they move on to read ayn rand and cato policy studies, whatever. but a lot of people being brought to the concept of liberty and limited government by his campaign and to me it is clear that he got more attention and more success and boats in this cycle, 2011, 12 in 2007 into destiny. i had a lot of reporters ask me, why is that? to me, the clear answer isn't because he he did anything

different. he hasn't changed his views, even much of the way he presents them. what did change a think as a public policy environment in which she was talking. back in 2007, ron paul warned that an cheap money from the federal reserve was not sustainable, that the economy was booming and nobody wanted to listen. after the financial crisis, when he came back around 2011 to campaign again, they were listening. in 2007, 80, he talked about some money and 90 i knew the pretenses of this problem the federal reserve? haven't they been maintaining the great moderation? attorney but then, everyone is going to listen to criticisms of the board. he talked about overspending, how the republican party has got more than any republican in history. by 2011, perhaps because he was a democratic president,

republicans were about ready to hear that in a 2007, ron paul talked about the most military intervention and at that time, republicans were determined to stand in lockstep, say the surge is working and refused to any criticism. the 2011, republicans are getting tired of endless wars. all of that changed th that chan all of that changed the context in which the second ron paul campaign took place in cost him to get more attention and voters than before. many of you know there's headlines today saying ron paul and his campaign or ron paul suspends campaign. it's clear to me if you read beyond the headlines that the campaign is not over. what he said it is not going to run expensive television ads and the lingering primaries that nobody's paying much attention

to. to continue doing the kind names he's been doing, talking about issues, giving speeches to college students and his volunteers working hard and caucuses and the other places that delegates are selected. so that's an interesting story still going on. how many delegates can ron paul get? but that doesn't really matter to us today because this book is not about ron paul's campaign. this book is about ron paul's revolution, which is a broader topic. brian doherty is becoming a historian of the libertarian movement. he's written books on the burning man festival and on the supreme court battle over the second amendment, both of whom have some libertarian content. kumar particularly wrote the book radicals for capitalism, a

freewheeling history of the modern american libertarian movement which i declared it the encyclopedia britannica blog is going to be the standard history of the libertarian movement for a long time. it's a massive work that will be the standard source for people studying this movement. ryan dougherty is senior editor of reason. he's been there for market a decade. he's a fellow at the competitive enterprise institute, but most importantly, started his career as an intern at the cato institute. in fact, we had five interns that semester and one was trying in one was fine kaplan has here in the front row. brian doherty returned is the editor of regulation magazine before moving onto other editorial projects. he's been covering ron paul

since 1999, which is in essence i floodwalls research boat. so please look on the author of "ron paul's revolution," brian doherty. [applause] >> thank you all very much. the mac is projected well. i'm going to talk for a think 20 minutes up front and then there will be some questions later. i'm going to start with what i think was a very interesting frame from a history with the topic of my book. unfortunately, the endpoint extended beyond the book itself, so it's not reflected in the book and as of this when is the first time i met ron paul into the state the last time. both of them were events that large state universities. the first is that the university of florida when i was a college student in january 1988. he ran for president than with

the libertarian party. i was a member of the university of florida libertarian and we had engaged a speaking engagement for ron paul at our campus of nature around 100 people which was an amazing success. 10 times as many people that i come to any event. but they were all there to examine a curiosity. it was an even 100 libertarians. these third-party presidential candidate. our greatest triumph was getting a 16 word article in the newspaper the next day and afterwards we took dr. paul to an ihop. we thought it was the height of radical scruffy political act was from. a few weeks ago, the last time so far was also at ucla in los angeles, where i now live. 7000 people showed up to see ron

paul running for president again with one of the major parties. they were not curiosity seekers. they were not there to learn. they knew they had to say right and left. daily were booing. the word ben bernanke, they were doing. afterward, rather than retreating to an ihop, i was watching groups gather to talk about their congressional runs for the l.a. county gop central committee were so well attended event at the college campus about to throw for what they were going to write every day. the ark of the story from the first appearance to this latest one was truly dreamlike and a

really weird way if you've been watching this story as long as i have. it made me think a little bit about the best way to frame how ron paul did this. one of the things you hear that about his rocksolid consistency, which is very true, but i realize in a certain extent the ron paul phenomenon works as well as it does because the four different almost paradoxical divisions that ron paul bridges, not to get all english major re. i will talk about for them quickly tonight. when ac is a phenomenon of rio and impressive real-world political success, yet one his greatest achievements are to a large extent irrelevant to that political success. especially in the wake of the so-called drop out or pull, it's worthwhile reminding people of some objective measures of that political success, especially from 2008 to 2012.

of course success as a congressman, a guy believing things than his other colleagues believed, which leads to the dismissive comment here about his congressional career. how many bills has he passed? if you believe in the congress, the 2012 you're understandably not going to go out of bills passed. it doesn't mean you're not a great congressman. as a president and the 2008 run to the 2012 run, he managed to pretty much double his total and managed more than double his percentage of the gop primary vote from 4% to 10% and in the end the figure will be even higher with the other candidates have and even though he might not be running in texas or california, expects his people will come vote for him in great numbers anyway. he raised 35 million last time around and bystander clinical

terms, didn't do anything with it. you think you might have burned out he stands. he did not bring out his fans. they get that much and more this time, which is interesting, but compared it's giving us even more interesting. he gathered nearly twice as much as combined. paltry 36 million so far this go around. santorum around 14 million. this guy has a base was willing to give them that is something very important in politics, something the gop is having real. they're able and willing to do the nitty-gritty politics. they are able and willing to run for central committee. they are able and willing to achieve positions of total power is that the river,, but high authority from alaska to iowa. they're able to in delegations in caucus states like ron paul said he would and everyone else

that he wouldn't. they can do that reach of politics says. this is a story of real-world political success and the analogy of the gop powers should keep in mind about the goldwater kids in 1860, similar youth-based movement that gathered around and heroic, strongly antigovernment figure who had written a best-selling book and managed to surprise the establishment of the time with what they could achieve in the future. the more recent analogy is a religious right. the libertarian wing of paul represents that was outmanned and a majority way. they're going to be overdosing their weight in the gop beyond their apparent numbers. its true importance is not about that political success.

his son about the gaming and gop precincts and the like. it was a continuation of the libertarian movement about which ron paul rose. he was educated to become the political thinker by the works of the rakes of hayek and they always embraced leonard read of the foundation about what change was about, on educating one mind at a time. ron paul has used politics is the tool for that libertarian goal and if you asked me 10 years ago, i would've said maybe with the best tool because he was merely describes your outlier in congress, but he's proven me 100% wrong using the tool of major party politics. he's been one of the greatest educators for libertarianism of our time as david said. it's not just about politics.

the other sort of gap that ron paul bridges is key to his appeal is the apocalyptic ron paul who was at the same time to very hopeful ron paul. ron paul is one of the other politicians around who is willing to say, america is not necessarily the greatest khmer riches come of this wonderful nation in the world that can only do rate overseas and if there's anything wrong, for the other guy. in foreign policy terms, behavior overseas is actually in some ways a criminal empire and we might want to consider we are burning enemies overseas buyer behavior. he's willing to say that constant series in decades of alien, naturally dollars deficit spending is impoverishing us. it's not something we can continue. we can't just behave as we have

behaved. he's going to point out we are facing serious, serious problems with our debt and fiscal crises that are not going to go away by saying, as mitt romney recently said, we can't have a trillion dollar spending cut it when you're like ron paul once. by that which ranked the economy. we can't keep thinking that way and pretending it's okay that armed government agents will not have our doors of the raw milk or medical marijuana. he's a true prophet in that sense, willing to decry what america has become. that doesn't usually work well in politics and i think it does scare people about ron paul. at the same time, when i asked him, how do you succeed with this message that seems so full of doom and gloom? he pointed out, the young people i talked to see the hope in it because i'm not just saying everything is doomed and we don't know what to do about it.

we do know what to do. we know we can try to return our government to its constitution limits. we actually can spend less than we are spending. we can bring the troops home. we sent them over, we bring them back. he paints an intellectually vote and we had of the apocalypse, which allows him to win hopeful enthusiasm, even as he rightfully paints a very dark picture of where overreaching government has led us. together interesting bridge that ron paul devices he's a major political figure who is at the same time greater than write more progressive than progressive. he actually says will still be increasing our debt for decades. we could actually achieve a balanced budget and we don't have to raise taxes to do it. he's the guy saying we talk

about big government. we tack about government interfering in a vise grip but stop interfering in people who want to smoke the marijuana. we can do this. we can have a government that is a government that conservatives say they want and when confronted with ron paul seems a little bit afraid of it. it was cleared to me that ron paul out to have been the tea party candidate by acclamation in the 2012 race and that it didn't turn out that way is not so much a fault of ron paul as a failure of will to be as conservative as they say they are. clearly the most conservatives consistently conservative candidate out there. at the same time he's in many ways a more progressive than president obama who is unfortunately the favorite politician of the progressive left, such as it is.

i mean, your president obama who has expanded the president's powers to unilaterally imprison beyond even george bush is a time. ron paul is a guy who gave 7000 college students to boo a mere mention of the bill signed by president obama. your president too, who has started new unauthorized wars with the drug program and presided over continuing gigantic defense budget bigger than any in world history and ron paul campaign some the other hand for peace and withdraw the u.s. military from the world. you've got obama who wants to expand every aspect of the war on drugs, including state legal medical marijuana. ron paul thinks government attempts to arrest people for actions that harm them at themselves are inherently less legitimate. the obama administration has set records in deportations. ron paul is saying to a

republican debate the border walls are essentially un-american. on this wide range of issue in protecting people from concentration of power, more progressive were merely any other national political figure. i don't want to glide over that one point that makes progressives is that they love income redistribution and in fact, ron paul is sort of a living sort of rebuke than in a sense that it sort of proves they only care about income redistribution and they don't actually care about peace, civil liberties and saving people from oppressive concentrations of power. the fault lies in progressives, not ron paul. the fork divide that ron paul bridges that i think contributes to success as he is both incredibly intellectual politician with an incredibly

emotional hold on his audience that they discovered us and that hundreds researching this book. he is as they heard various people say the only politician of herm josé i hear it and went out and read a bunch of books. ron paul, not only does the right books commended them have bibliographies that point you in the direction of where his ideas came from. he will leave you to chalmers johnson. he's actually a genuine, intellectual leader in modern america, even though i don't than he is himself a great intellectual, but he's a great student of great thinkers and has been a diligent and passion transmitter of their ideas across the generations. at the same time for being as intellectual as he is ending his demeanor as he presents his

ideas, he's not a podium thumper. the guy is not selling emotion, though there is a great emotional context to what he says about the richness of the liberty. it's especially interesting to note in more recent talks. he is extempore same. it might be of use to your talk. it's more obvious if you hear them talk a lot. he does not note. he has ideas about liberty peddie wings its way through and more recently has been talking in a sophisticated way of about the sheer richness of a human life lived according to his own desires and choices. there's something philosophically important mind about what specific thing you may choose to do tonight, but by the fact you are allowed to choose your identity and how you move through the world and i see

this movie and his audience on a very sophisticated level and by being so thoughtful and bookish in this way, he's managed to imbue these tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands now fans of the emotional attachment that is a little bit to him, though i do want to stress it is to him because he is the embodiment time in public life, of the ideas that have moved him. ron paul is not a leader in the sense that he could tell his troops what to do. ron paul is only a leader committees introduce people to a set of ideas that they have grown to hold two. if ron paul told his people to reject his ideas, they're going to reject ron paul. they are not going to reject those ideas. that emotion is going to carry this movement long beyond the

2012 election cycle, long beyond whether he is dropped out or withdrawn or whatever we want to say about his most recent actions. they are going to continue to work within politics. they're going to continue to work with the media, both distributed and not distributed. it is a point worth noting that the single most heard answer when i asked rob told people the question, how did you get into all of this was a youtube video and they wouldn't necessarily remember what it ways, at that point it seemed 200 made 100. it is that distributed noncontrolled means making art and culture and distributed amongst themselves is the key to read the revolution has been able to succeed. the idea say the same. ron paul has been saying the

same thing for 30 years. as david said, part of why they returned out the subjective commissions of reality make it more obvious ron paul is right about things that the federal reserve and blowback and the like. another reason is the means of communicating ideas are so much more decentralized and white bread and while this may be the last year for ron paul is a national political figure, the reason why he wrote this book is because i'm convinced it's true that 15, 20, 30 or sidelined if you look at elections of 2008 in 2012, the most important in about and any historian recognizes ron hogan for president in the ron paul revolution was launched. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, brian. we have an excellent commentor on the boat and on "ron paul's

revolution." i published evidence at the cato institute blog to my native state of kentucky is the least libertarian state in the country. so imagine my surprise when the grand paul emerged from an ophthalmology at this in littletown of bowling green to defeat first the secretary of state and then the attorney general and win a seat in the united states senate. both his republican and democratic opponents ran pretty negative campaigns against him, accusing him and all manner of extreme libertarian views. some accusations were actually true. >> i never admitted to any of that. [laughter] >> voters wanted a change in washington and they elected him by a comfortable margin. he was perhaps the most authentic tea party winner of 2010, which is why he then read a book called the tea party goes to washington. since he got to washington, he

is t-tango that the tsa, proposed a budget that balanced, drawn rave reviews for its efforts to rein in the pastry attacked and then denounced as a libertarian extremist by her national review. so what is new? we couldn't have found a commentor who knows more about ron paul or has more of a stake in the future of ron paul's revolution. please welcome the junior senator from the commonwealth of kentucky, the home of the eight time national champion university of kentucky wildcats, senator rand paul. [applause] >> i want to congratulate brian on his boat, the ron paul -- "ron paul's revolution." he's got it right. it's more than just ron paul. it's a movement as part of the

libertarian movement, but it's something bigger than one person. i doubt be the first to admit that the movement is not just him. he realizes there's something bigger and he's fun to sing in the crowd, freedom is popular. it brings people together to matter what walk of life you're from, what you do complete personal background is, brings people together and stays out of people's affairs. this is kind of a young crowd. anybody ever go see the grateful dead? virago. they figured ryan have probably seen the grateful dead. i never got to a concert that i got in the parking lot. they used to say about three in cincinnati for two in detroit. guess they're planning on going to the next concert. what reminds me in many different ways as i would see people in orlando so yeah, i met you in iowa in ankeny at the ron paul headquarters. brian was there and it would be 250 have people from all walks

of life, all over the country, all working together and headquarters. it always struck me when you go to a ron paul rally, it was in everybody's suits and ties. it wasn't the chamber of commerce. you may see somebody with a tattoo, somebody with a grateful dead t-shirt. but he was different. it was different in a better way. people from all different walks of life what they are and they think he did make a message of freedom popular. david talked about how people came in to the movement by reading ayn rand. i started it, but i had major and nurture, so i probably was born a libertarian, but also read the ayn rand novels. some are afraid now, but because he likes someone, doesn't mean i've endorsed every word in every book you people are now afraid.

one of the funniest bloglines has recently was paul ryan ali said he was a fan and now there's a line that says ryan shrugged because he's backing away from that. but when you go to the ron paul, there's so many cool things have been direct to campaigns. anyone see the amy allen ron paul revolution? if you haven't seen it, look at it. she came and performed live when they did the minneapolis rally at the same time as the republican convention. she came and performed one of my campaign events and my dad came and campaigned for me at january january 2010. but just bringing a certain sense of coolness to it that you weren't seen anywhere else. you didn't have any candidates get on the page. you may not have anything who when asked about the war and how to end it said we just marched in, we can just march out. couldn't be any simpler than that for any less fearful than

to say something like that. you have a guy who would go to the debate in miami that the latin american sponsored debate and say we need to end the trade embargo. he's not going away. when he first stood up and talked about blowback him i believed the south carolina primary in 2008 he said that to booze and he wasn't sure how people would respond. interestingly with a lot of negative response, but there is a whole new positive response of all these new people. i keep trying to convince the republican party come you may not like everything he's presented, but at least appreciate your electorate is getting bigger, your party's getting bigger. you need to welcome the ron paul people because they've been may be unhappy with both parties were banned libertarians or constitution party or independent party. but they're coming in and you need a bigger party. one thing you may also never hear again any republican debate

as i think he said at one point that it doesn't say blessed are the war makers. if it listed are the peacemakers. if you ever hear another presidential candidate say that i don't know. but that was pretty impressive to me. there is a continual battle in the battle goes on in their paintings we continue to fight. but without the patriot act is to make up more no votes than ever before. that's still a growing movement of people who are concerned about the fourth amendment. i said over and over to people in my came came as well as when it got here is you have to believe all the bill of rights, so many conservatives bug the second amendment rallies in groups, there's not enough for them and at rallies and groups, but she can't have the second amendment if you don't believe in the first amendment. you can't have the second amendment if you don't believe in the first amendment. so there is a growing movement

within the republican caucus that i have lunch with every day is becoming more libertarian. there's people no longer afraid of it. i say the term conservative got kind of used by people people who were conservative. so in a conservative president who doubled the depth of the republican congress. it's obviously worse now, but it is going in the wrong direction and republican administration or the term conservative became of less value in libertarian became more value. we had to fight and the defense authorization act. we didn't need, but we got close to some victories. one amendment dianne feinstein introduced was to say that citizens would not be able to be held indefinitely were sent from the united states to guantánamo bay. at one point in time she actually was going to withdraw the amendment. likely and i sat there and said no. what's an amendment introduced communicating as consent to pull it back. that's pretty unusual.

usually if an author wants to pull an amendment, you let them out of courtesy. he said that god is out there we've got a vote for me still almost won, but the introduced a watered-down version of it and so the last 5545. 45 people believe you should be a citizen from here to guantánamo bay. interestingly, two hours later we had another vote under her voice setting everything. about 9:00 the senate starts thinking they need to get back on oxygen or whatever, but it's bedtime. it's about 9:00 in their voice setting everything in it though comes up and i've been watching in this amendment does if you're found innocent and article iii courts in the united states have been accused of terrorism and found an essay that you could still be send indefinitely to guantánamo bay. you could have a jury trial be found innocent and still sent to guantánamo bay. they were trying to convince me, but the democrat leader,

republican leader with mccain. they both told me they didn't play like it. but sort of like just get along. i was like wow, and the akamai staff and i went back inside we got to have it though. so i asked for a voice vote. on the voiceover is the voiceovers for first-timers actually time it's actually surprising sobriquet. carl levin with me. 51 democrats voted no on this in eight or nine republicans. the 59 costa mesa absent pain horrendous. carl levin said to me, it's the law. it's awful that she could be found innocent in our country and kept in prison forever. that's the law? that's awful. for goodness sake, at least have a recorded vote. we did and we won. out of the revolution have you people been elected over time. i think a lot of principles of

ron paul. where the guy tie in northern kentucky who could be one of the top five appeared he wins. he's in a subway primary. three leading republicans in a republican seat in a theater close to her at the top. interestingly, a young man who i don't think i've ever met and i don't think thomas thinks his upper back. thomas massie is a good chance of winning. the young man his 20 when your soldiers put a half a million dollars into super packed and he's supporting thomas massie, but it's a liberty young man who had been to the ron paul rally. he just got involved in the race in a big way. that race would be a week from today and if we win that coming out of another libertarian appear. i think within our caucus a season change. the ron paul revolution is having an effect on people who would've only say that conservatives now sometimes say

their libertarian. enterococcus we debate and some rather maintain that some of us are so gung ho to put boots on the ground everywhere. some of us are so gung ho to go to war without a declaration of war or the very least a vote in congress. we still don't have enough, but when i introduced the president's words. president obama in 2007 said no president should unilaterally go to war without the authority of congress. sounds pretty basic it is basically what the constitution says. i should use see how people vote, to attend this for his words, 10 republicans. not one democrat voted for saying congress should have anything to do. recently the state committee hearing nes banana, you know, what about going to war with syria or iran are both of them? he said if we do, we'll get permission from the united nations. and he said google consult with

nato. and they said well, we're probably inform congress what we're doing. but there is no definite, no act that is going to occur before the action occurred but congress is very peripheral. that's around five in the biggest problem we have. as far as being almost of no value and navigation on foreign policy are the same with regulatory policy runs this place and the executive runs this place. no one attempts to insert themselves. that's the biggest challenge we have. the ron paul revolution is helping us go the right direction. it will be a great and i hope the revolution becomes a bestseller. [applause]

>> thank you, senator paul. the speakers are very concise, so we have time for questions. let's open the floor up to questions. please rate to be called on it this way for a microphone to come so we cannot hear you would please give us your name and any affiliation you have. are there any questions? over here. >> tanks. john aptly with the american conservative. what about the last? are the younger people on the left a comment to this, can you reach the last? everything you type that is great, but is very future of bringing in a new party your new movement, what about the left, et cetera. >> all given individualist answer to that. yes, i know for a fact that the ron paul movement revolution has succeeded in winning over many people from the last.

i met and talked to many of them. there is of yet no hard-core social science research on the ron paul ms., so i can only say that i met a bunch of them. a bunch of them say they have friends, so it is possible in the antiwar wedge, you know, was always the pulled them in. by being the guy who is consistently and radically antiwar, he was able to win them over from the income redistribution issues come which i mentioned earlier, which are still an enormous barrier for many. in the occupied wall street and that was going hot and heavy, congressman paul was the only candidate who actually was willing to grant the grievances that were real. the problems of crony capitalism by rail and he likes the idea of engaging about the fans try to engage and they were usually well received.

in one case -- i shouldn't even tell the story, but a rather gross act of violation of personal space occurred on the ron paul people stents involving human excrement being left behind. that's symbolic of the worst edge of what you're occupied wall street lefties think of the ron paul people in their midst. the ron paul people were ready, willing and able to engage them where they lived. i'm trying to expand the difference between actual free markets and what we've seen with the bailout from tariq and try to expand the connection from peace and small government. i know is one of her many individuals. i don't see much sign of flipping over the left is an organized entity and obviously to the extent the left is an organized entity feels connected to the democratic party. it's going to be even trickier, but one-on-one, drip by drip, ron paul's message can succeed

in winning over leftists. >> a little bit about what david said about secretary of state together and say i came to it because i read ayn rand. when you talk to the ron paul people, they say how did you get there? them available via came from the left or right. you hear people ask that question. you come from a vast array? the vast majority are probably from the right because were obviously in a republican primary. but new people coming in from the left also consummate them are converted on some of the other issues, but they came in primarily on the war issue. it also gets back to whether romney can hold this people and get them to vote. it would be enough for ron paul to endorse them. they will vote for romney if they heard romney is wanting to audit the side or if they heard romney is relaxing or have some

restraint with regard to war or if he's continuing to draw down with thee into the afghan war, which a lot of conservatives are now in favor of. they could vote for republicans to figure those things. >> i have noticed writing an article on the future issue of reason about this at the way ron paul himself has delivered his message particularly this go around has been in a way to do it deliberately, but in a real way should appeal to a progressive leftists for various reasons i will explain in a later piece of writing. and i know he's mindful of it. i heard him wondering aloud, but it's interesting, lefty progressives interested in what i have to say right now. in the same indentures him come

if you're interested in libertarian movement at large, you should be thinking about that question. >> okay, take a microphone right here. >> my name is erica jamie. i'm here in my own accord. the question has to do with this morning with barry goldwater and his efforts in the 60s. it took 40 years for his efforts in the 60s to turn into the reagan revolution of the 80s. i question specifically would be ron paul's effect nowadays can i do think republicans can learn anything quickly? and if so, how? >> not super quick way. like i don't think this go around. the resistivity followed the gop state convention said oklahoma over the weekend where the resistance is real in some cases very physical. you have romney people hating

romney people. -- ron paul. this is rooted in the notion that i tend to think ron paul is factually correct about a lot of the things about fiscal crises. so i have to think of some political party has to come around on this worthy alternative is a little bit too terrible to contemplate. and i do think that the forces of object of history and started changing attitudes are more in the libertarian wing of the republican party site than the rick santorum wing. the value issues are becoming less popular. the libertarian issues are becoming more popular, so i do believe for a tumble to be be seen in local republican parties for new candidates, some of which senator paul just mentioned, it does seem clear to me the republican party will be

a more ron paul like party down the line and i think it needs to happen pretty fast, but it's only beginning this year. >> my comments with the indies to be much more quicker than from goldwater to reagan or two down because we face a much more serious and imminent crisis. the banking crisis occurred in 2008, i was told people, i think of that crisis is too close to did an equal. two plus two equaled a million. when things get out of control. i've been talking to people lately who are concerned to get to fascinate on steroids coming out of europe basically, that he contagion throughout the world. you may say that's too dire. i don't have the feature, but a think it's important that if we believe in limited government that we have people in place should a crisis occur, should the destruction of currency have been in a more rapid fashion

that we have people preaching that. the example does one say you're trying to scare people. if this happened to destroy currencies and i bet you something really bad. in the 1920s germany destroyed their currency and elected hitler. people say that's an over-the-top comparison. you worry about what comes out of destruction of currency. do people choose a strong leader were there enough people who still love liberty to say there is another way we can come out of this and that's involving freedom and free markets in the individual. it's important even if you're a minority in case something bad does happen and we have to change direction in a country that we don't go in the wrong direction. >> yes here. go ahead and take a back up to the back. >> ken meyer --

[inaudible] does he plan to commemorate the upcoming nato summit in chicago and anyway? >> i don't know. >> not that i know of. it strikes me is not the sort of thing he tends to do, so i'm going to say not. >> i don't know. not his usual style of paint. yes in the back row. >> question for brian doherty. looking at 2012, which presidential come if it's romney for obama, which victory would be better for the small incubating ron paul movement or would there be any difference at all? >> i had to think about this morning talking to reporters so i have a fresh answer. yesterday i didn't have an answer. for reasons i cannot articulate, i'm pretty convinced obama will

win reelection and i cannot defend that, they just set it on the record. you can get back to me about it. since the republican party as a vehicle through which this action is happening now, it's probably better if romney wins and is as bad as libertarians expect them to be, which allows for a convinced game primary challenger to really make real to the party but there's two things fighting for supremacy, like in 1860 was the rockefeller wing versus the goldwater rain. not to place any particular weight on any particular paul, but it strikes me that in my grand historical vision of puppet mastering, type may be romney when ensuring republican party they can't do it any more people like romney might be great.

>> sounds at a good question to have no comment on for me. [laughter] >> of different question. were you wearing on your lapel that looks at a red cent? >> they started handing these out. you can get one for a dollar. it's just a penny that is painted with red fingernail polish and their motto was not one red cent more. the government has taken all my money and i'm not giving them one red cent more. spin that could be worse. our swedish friends used to have a picture of a kroner cut in half, signifying their desire to be allowed to keep half the money they earn. [laughter] >> yes, ratepayer. and then go ahead and give the mic to the gentleman just behind you. >> thank you from a gentleman for time. your anecdote earlier -- >> microphone up to your mouth, please. >> -- rename it the first time i

met the senator and i sought out beyond them in the rayburn house. my question is regard to use the term revolution. i've been trying to reconcile how you need to use that word and i find it difficult to use that word in terms of returning to traditional american of constitutional values. i was curious how your client not to what's going on now. >> the main ring is the 90s that reportorial lee i'm reporting on a phenomenon that calls itself that. the ron paul grassroots again you seem not turn in that logo that appears on the books cover in in early 2007. the main answer is they call it that because the phenomenon i'm working on calls itself that. so i haven't got hard about whether that's an apt term. i'm going to think outside a little bit now that you've asked me. i do think it's an apt term, especially in the link to stick,

root linguistic meaning of revolution evolving, i don't think i talked about the constitution much, but they should because it is key to paul's appeal to a lot of people as he is trying to turn us back to the root notion of constitution liberty unconstitutionally limited government that they believe america started with. you can argue about the listen to arguments about how much hard-core libertarian should go to the u.s. constitution in sympathetic, but in the current context, it would be a great improvement to return to that conception of the constitution and to rollback to a combat involves for the more colloquial revolution, and radical change would be a severe change as well. i do think the term is apt on those levels.

>> said he got to know and were around the campaign, it is different than any other came pain because the revolution may or may not be the best for them about to be a couple examples. they said the way we can win at slots have a blimp. so everybody told him everybody told him that was a idea. what did they do? pick up limping did it anyway. people said let's fly over indianapolis 500 with the wrong call banner or radiology resident on the top of this building, google ron paul. takeoff from kennedy favors building and looked down and see google ron paul intends a letter to spirit for campaign that sack of your own menu to them make their romance ads. a lot of creative stuff came out of the youtube's, but it is a movement because they would libertarians, they didn't like being told what to do. they did what they wanted to do and it needed a much more

interesting campaign. they were going to do what they want us to do, but a made up more interesting than typical campaign. >> at tea parties and mention a couple times with a couple different contacts and the question i have is the certainly seemed like there was a movement that had its origins in the 2008 campaign at least parallel is very supportive of the senators in 2010, but since then, it seems to have gone off in a different direction. not necessarily opposite the movement, but definitely somewhat different. it is very disturbing to see exit polls during the republican primary, see romney getting a vast majority of the tea party support, which was completely off topic. so i wonder from your work on the boat and being that the

campaign if you could give us a different perspective of what you think this happens there and if it's possible to bring the folks sympathetic to the tea party back to the fold so to speak. >> i'll quickly address the question of the connection between the ron paul weight and tea party movement. as a matter of intellectual history, i think it is fair to say in the sense that the notion of a trance party same shrinking government movement that attached itself to the economic review the tea party all started with ron paul in december 16, 2007. the problem of intellectual history's most people don't know any history, so having said that i will also say most of the people who became coalescing into this in mind around the turn didn't necessarily know that edward necessarily acting as same imposed that the original ron paul be the tea party movement came from. so it's fair to argue that ron paul is a moderate tea party and

also didn't have a lot to do with the moderate tea party. just like you said, was distressed to see tea party identified people being for romney. it struck me and i've written this that logically by political logic, the tea party should've been in ron paul's pocket and the other problem is that people are not logical about their politics. senator paul has identified himself with the tea party and away he might want to address if he agrees something has gone wrong. i felt on the trail in 2011, 2012 that it was the only good bodies continued to that notion identification, certainly not the ron paul world. i was feeling that the tea party as labeled has been less of a story 2012 and expected it to be >> i think brian is right and

the first tea party was december 16, 2007 because i was staring us in austin and there were other tea parties that came around. do they really starting to decimate? or 2009? in 2009 i was beginning to think about running as msn space talking is going to give a speech at saturday the 20 people through their 700 people, the biggest rally ever seen. but i think it had its origin and roots in the 2007, 2008 campaign. iowa say there's two things that got the tea party started, two issues. people unhappy about obamacare and people also unhappy about the bank bailouts. but going around that movement also is a hearkening back to rules, the rules be the constitution the government. when people say the tea party

said, i think it's in a dinosaur amazing victory that we've gone from no unquestioning the constitutionality of laws for 60 or 70 years, particular the public, but even the print court to take an obamacare to the supreme court. when i first started coming in simplicity was incredulous. it then went to district court and is not summarily dismissed as liberals predict a 95 conservative justices saying that in a cavity is not commerce and if we can regulate an activity, we can regulate anything. it would be no limit what government can do. on the parallel course events of the justices say that by your thinking about buying something at commerce in making the decision not to buy it, but your thought process engaged in commerce and that might be a bit of a stretch. but you've got competing influences. even the factor having that discussion is amazing and i think we're going to win in june. the tea party was run to big

sellout some of the same anger people have had in the wall street movement, but also about obamacare and the constitution, some about the 10th amendment. as the 10th amendment movement in there. when i got to presidential politics, they didn't have a firm opinion on policy custody broke the same way republicans have been breaking that libertarians less interventionist, more restrained foreign policy is that this 20% to 30% of the republican primary, but maybe is was 15% to 20%. in the tea party breaks up and decide for me think other people acceptable because of foreign policy, a lot of the tea party traditionally conservative broke away from ron paul and the same way many republicans say. ..

how can he be part of it in countries like afghanistan.

there are so many jobs that are created because of involvement in the countries. his views are very honest yet very simple. >> unquestionably, every time government loses money for whatever purpose, it is creating a job i paying someone to do something. ron paul learned a lot of his economics. just as you can see, the money that is moving around -- it doesn't mean that the government stops moving money around and there will be no jobs. it means people and what they want will be reflected. if the government isn't moving around, the jobs that will be created with what people actually want to do -- not the

we weird imperial power games that washington chooses to do with their wealth. of course there will be adjustments, but it will be a world that is richer and the and because more people are actually getting what they want and not what washington decides they should have. >> yes, i would just say that in the marketplace, 300 million people get to vote on what it wants the money. in government, a select few do. the whole jeffersonian idea is to minimize what they do. because what they do takes money away from the productive sector. most of us believe in limited government and believe that we should only have the bare minimum of what we need. because then i am deciding where your money is. whereas if i leave it in your pocket, it is also the more productive sector. government is not very productive. we have ask hundred million dollars in checks that we lead

to dead people. we don't do a very good job. you have to have some people to protect through the military and army? yes. but then we are taking it and voting in on how to use it, and we don't use it as effectively as the marketplace uses it. so whether or not that i is naïve or not, even if you believe that government should be creating jobs by doing things, we are spending more than a trillion dollars and we don't have each year. so it's not even real money or real assets or savings that we are sending overseas. we do have a lot of things at home. we have two bridges in my state that are over 50 years old that need to be replaced. one of the famous lines was we bomb bridges over there and we build them while their falling out over here. the private sector is argued to

be more productive than the public sector. and we should always minimize how large it gets. >> yes, brian, i know that you are a big comics nerd. could you talk a little bit about what helped produce this endlessly written by a radioactive's writer or something? and senator paul, could you talk about what it was like to have rand paul is your father. was he a libertarian parent, and if so, was that a good thing or bad thing? >> welcome i think even i need to talk about this. i have been a little bit scoffing at stories that try to because believe in the pennsylvania dutch background that you grew up in. a lot of people don't like that.

if you ask the congressman this question from and i believe him when he says it, it has to do with a lot of views that libertarians have. you know, books like doctor zhivago, it hits home for him the subject of communism and economics blackbird help him understand the dangers of inflation. and it is really an intellectual thing for him. it is obviously emotional as well, but i don't think he can explain it by anything other than he picked up the right literature. and i think it's the great wheel of life turning, helping to make sure the millions of other kids are reading right literature as well. >> it really does go back to the nurture nature argument. i think he was born with individualist blood in his body. they were a family that didn't have a lot of money.

he was in the depression, people counted pennies and nickels. they really watch everything they spend. even though they had a little bit of land, maybe an acre and they grew all the vegetables and they work hard. and they knew what hard work was like. i think he didn't like people telling them what to do. a lot of people are born that way. but then he discovered pasternak and von mises. so as he began to read those things, i don't think there are what makes you an individual but they give you an argument to support your individualism. so whether or not you're born that way, i don't know, but it's always a common nation of that and a lot of us. >> no curfew, you know it's gets

to the other issues that other people have. can you be traditional and very conservative in your personal life and be very libertarian in what you think government should be involved in. sometimes i think that libertarians are upset that someone is considered to traditionally conservative cannot understand something else. something that they don't want laws against for certain things. but at the same time, they are very conservative and live in a traditional conservative family. and unfortunately i didn't get in trouble a few times. >> okay, let's take the last question. >> rj smith, competitive enterprise institute. i think one of the most interesting things that have come out of the rand paul revolution has been some of the new people who have been elected and the rediscovery of property

rights and the importance of the fifth amendment and compensation. it just happens that the most courageous person on the u.s. senate in the 40 years since environmental movement got started has basically been using environmental laws to take property rights without compensation, it has been rand paul and my three and bickering with the legislation, they have been reduced to stop the epa and army corps of engineers from claiming drylands as wetlands and taking this is no compensation. preventing the use of gibson guitar company from bringing in woods from foreign countries who say it's okay. i wonder if you would comment on that. >> is top-secret. i'm not allowed to tell you. no, i'm kidding. i collected a lot of these

stories. we have introduced legislation red that's the thing the win after gibson guitar. he didn't call me that i discovered that we were actually forced to be regulated under four months. you can be convicted of honduran revelations and spend time in u.s. prisons over everything. so we have gone after things like that on the lacey act. people have been in prison for putting dirt on their own land, basically raising the elevation of their own land. people say that they are a polluter because they're putting birth on thailand. a lot of these over criminalization's and we are very interested and we will keep going after them. >> i would like to add that. we have known each other for years. we both used to work together in the old townhouse in the early '90s.

it wasn't as impressed as maybe i should have been. i was thinking that yes, oh, the epa and property rights oh, yes, we have been talking about that in 1991. i've heard it before. and i thought it was just us, but it is indeed a big and grand thing and thank you for bringing that point on. >> all right, the book is revolution by rand paul. thank you all for being here. books are for sale at every bookstore in america. please join us for a book signing and for wine and tea. [applause] >> on tomorrow's "washington journal", a discussion about car

sales in the united states with justin hyde. and how corporations in the financial industry influence what we eat. "washington journal" begins at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> a big discussion that i remember was what is richard nixon going to do. >> i remember going home and being scared to death. this was like a time bomb. and it is a disaster for all of us. >> there was a list of 50 names of people. >> shortly after the speech, the chief of staff called me.

i care member exactly what he said. and i said what is that? and he said we forgot the resignation letter. >> he says he don't get it, you need a ride right at. >> vesely was not for me -- and i am a trained historian -- it was for the players -- the key people from that era to tell the story themselves. so i thought the best way to do this was to start a video oral history program that involves the nixon players and players in the watergate drama on the left and the right. to have them tell the story and use portions of that story to let visitors understand the complexities of the constitutional drama. >> the former head of the nixon library and museum. he details the libraries world

history project on sunday night at 8:00 p.m. on c-span's "q&a." >> lily ledbetter's 10 year legal battle with goodyear is documented in her book, "grace and grit." in 2009 from, the first bill the president obama sign was but lily ledbetter fair pay act. she wrote about her case in the book "grace and grit." she talked about the book at an appearance in alabama. this is just over one hour. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> i have to tell you right off that i have a little hearing problem. i have a ruptured blood vessel from fine lot, but i'm doing

okay. if you can get past my southern drawl, some people say i have a good story. i am not anyone special. this belongs to everyone in this room. it touches every family. if it's not you yourself, if someone in your family. your sisters or maybe your mother's but women are so mistreated in their pay and benefits package is a family issue, and a belongs to the family. this is why the story has stayed so popular. because people are living it

every day. i make a lot of trips around the country. last year i did a lot of military speaking engagements. a lot of people are having to move their mothers and mother in laws into their homes simply because they did not receive an update during their working years to have a decent retirement. that is not right in this country. the family is trying to raise their children, their teenagers, and have interferences with family life, and it's a hardship for the other people too. let me say a little bit about who i am. when i came here, i was the district manager for h&r block. managing 16 locations. prior to that, i was a financially assistant at jackson state university. before that i was one of those people who for six years, i worked two full-time jobs nine months per year.

one of them i worked 12 months and the otheear. one of them i worked 12 months and the other nine months of work another job full-time. so i worked two full-time jobs for six years. so i definitely know what i'm talking about. i went to the dear in 1979 because they built a radial division in alabama in 1976 and i was in office when they then saw a good article from businessweek on the plant in the regular division and they were going to implement a new management style team. that's what i believed in. that's what i wanted to be a part of. the radial tires were the ray of the future. i really have them on my car or my husband's digestion. so i started interviewing and in

1978 i was hired. in 1979 i was a part of the supervising team. there were about 5000 people working together at the gadsden, alabama plant. so i started lobbying the best i knew how can i learned a lot because i wanted to be in the radial division. and i did get back, and i had to physically work every job from one end to the other as part of my training. then they put me on the night shift and said later that they had never put a new hire on night shift. but i survived and it was a good job. that's the sad part about my story. those jobs that goodyear, they were good manager jobs for women. we are detailed and we follow through and we are always on the job. that was 1979.

i worked at every division in the plant out there throughout my career. i spent two years in the mailroom and by 1998, when his work one night. the first thing i always did was check my mail. there was no showing that three men in my name -- each one of us -- mine was $30,727 base pay. and the men made $35,000. the first that popped in my mind was how much i have lost. i was embarrassed. i was devastated.

i went into the ladies lounge and walked around and sat down a minute and tried to get my composure. i didn't understand. i knew that i had to get through the next 12 hour shift but i have had me. so i finally realized that i had to get on the job or i would be late. all through the night, kept looking at people and wondering who let me know. it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks that my retirement is based on what i'm learning. it was matched by a percentage from goodyear and i had that after six months after going to work there. my 401k with 10% of what i earn. it was matched by 7% stock. that cost me a lot of money throughout the years. i was devastated all the way home the next morning.

i thought about my options. i was two years away from retirement, but i couldn't let it go. i couldn't let it go because of who i am. so for me growing up in alabama in the rules section and having to pick cotton as a child, i learned the ethic about working. you get a good base pay for good days work. but i couldn't let that go. i got home and told my husband. i said unless you object, have to my have to go to birmingham and file charges to the equal employment commission. i can tell you upfront, if i start, we will be in this for eight years. there is not a quick solution for case like this. and corporations in the corporate world, they have deep pockets, they can spare the money and wear you out and spend you out. he said what time you want to

leave. we went to birmingham, i filed a charge with the equal employment commission. the interviewer that i had talked to me about the details. when her manager and you have to go in and say that they are not treating me right, you sound like a crybaby and a whiner. she stayed with me three hours and doug out of me every thing that had occurred to me during my career when she finished, she said mrs. lily ledbetter, these people have been messing with you for a long time. and i said yes, ma'am, i understand that more today than i have ever tasted before. and i went back home and i went back to my job and a retaliation starts as soon as goodyear is notified. they did not have a policy and procedures book. there was no job description, they created a new job.

and it was very difficult to survive. so i saw the handwriting on the wall. by 1999 from the equal employment commission called and said you have one of the best cases we have ever seen. and we would advise you, we would suggest that you get your own attorney. because we are so backlogged and understaffed that until you would get to trial, if he would do it much faster with your own attorney. i found a young attorney who fought my case pro bono. and i relied on him. the people i spoke with said that he had never lost a case. when i got there, someone said that he's never had to go to trial before. [laughter] but i will tell you, that he was my kind of guy. he was good at negotiating settlements. for an individual to come out in a case like this with anything

in their pockets, you need a decent settlement. but there was never one offered. that is why i saw it through and i wouldn't get -- give up. in 1999 he tried to buy my case. we didn't get there until 2003. my case was heard in my home county in alabama in january of 2003. after a week of testimony the jury came back with a verdict in my favor. i had two women who came forward, one of them still working at the plant and at the time she took a tremendous risk, and she paid a horrific price for doing this. but she had suffered a lot of discrimination as well. and she has never gotten

anything for it. the other had sold her service and have been working 22 years. she went to work for honda as a supervisor. she took a personal day and came to court and testify on my behalf. the lawyer asked her why she never complained and she said i was a divorced mother supporting a blind and handicapped son and i live paycheck to paycheck and i couldn't afford to bring up my pay. because you see, we were all told in management but if you discuss your pay, you will not work here. evidently, no one ever did discuss their pay. and she said that i knew that if i brought up my pay, but i would not have a job. and i couldn't afford to lose my job.

>> most of the years that i worked there i was in a supervisory perdition. a general maintenance man was going to testify for me. there was another area manager sitting there to testify as well. but we didn't need them after the two women. all of the managers names in our salaries and what we started at and where we worked up a time -- and it was a disgrace. that is really all the jurors should have seen. it was beyond a shadow of doubt that i have been discriminated against simply because i was born a woman.

but that was 2003. the verdict came back and they said i lost the age determination just a couple of other ones that were thrown in. but the pay discrimination they found in my favor. $3.8 million. they said don't cry, don't quit, don't do anything. when i heard that verdict, that's all i needed to hear. i will tell you this. when i saw this, i knew i would never give -- get any money. my husband and i were trying to keep my kids in college instead. and that is hard. that's the normal family life.

the judge explained to the courtroom why i was only entitled to $300,000. the only discriminatory item that i had was the fact that i was a woman. i didn't have color or anything else. so i could only get $300,000. that page, you can only go back two years. i knew that going in. i did not know about anything else. backpay can only go back two years.

i hope i live long enough to see the cat taken off of this. the cat needs to come off. because that is the only way we can compensate an individual for all that lost money. the judge took the lowest paid mail and he only been working at goodyear just a little over one year. he had less education unless experience. and he already made $600 more a month than i did from a lower paying job. the judge calculated my two years backpay, and i was given 30,000 per year. so i left the courtroom with $360,000.

the headlines said from california to chicago to new york and florida, all across this nation -- the headlines read jacksonville, alabama, woman awarded $3.8 million from goodyear tire and rubber. they say that i got that money. the gadsden headline said that as well. i got a lot of compliments of the headlines in the news. well, that was 2003. he went to the 11th circuit record and then my guilt was hurt in the supreme court in november of 2006. life goes on. we had our normal family life the best we could do. but i worked the case just like it was a job. i called over 100 people to find

the people that we needed to testify on my behalf. people were afraid of losing their jobs. they were so afraid. that is why they switched over. most of this was color coded. but life went on and my husband had two surgeries on his back. he was laid up for weeks. then he had cancer on the writer and the left ear. they removed the left side of his face and grabbed the skin off his right leg. i left him at home with a health care nurse to travel to the supreme court to hear my case. because it was important for me to be there. all i heard was leadbetter and

she and this is our story. but the equal employment commission has supported my case all the way from the time it started until the supreme court. the law was on my side. all the cases previous to this was based on paycheck, which meant we were still getting a paycheck, it started a new accounting period but when the government reviewed the goodyear side, it would be such a hardship on the corporation, they claimed. well, we waited until may of 2007 and the verdict came out. they came back five to four and justice alito red everything.

he said that i should have filed discriminatory behavior during the first paycheck that i got them even, even though i didn't know it. what this means is that if you have a new job, you have six months to file any charge. but i don't think people go around and try to figure out should i be filing a charge. you are trying to learn the job. i barely learn how to get to the restrooms at that point. that's just not the waves was to be. but ruth bader ginsburg said she doesn't understand what these people go through in the real world. the ball is in your court, and you can correct this injustice and stand up and change the law back. she's exactly right.

congress are heard loud and clear. that was may of 2007. the lawyers will be when they call, that you don't have to respond to the media, but the law was on my side. i have worked in this case. my lawyers have worked there. we didn't have anything to be embarrassed about. the arbitration case settlement that we had allowed me to come back and work two days a week and i could get my old rate of pay. i said look, i don't want to earn any more money, i just want what i'm entitled to because i should've had it when i was working. i don't want to earn any more. and i said i know how goodyear things. i would be on the mailroom on saturday and sunday nights. and they said oh, no, you can get along with hr in scheduler with them. and i said no, he has been a

goodyear just the right time to transfer out, and he did two months after the verdict came out. now he does work for goodyear anymore. two weeks after the birth, my lawyer bobby a plane ticket and said we are going to washington to testify before the house. i did so twice before the house and twice before the senate. and i had the opportunity the first time in the senate to testify before ken kennedy's committee. the chargers showed how they had voted since they been on the bench, and it was they didn't always appear to be the same

individuals. my case is not the only one that they have reversed would change log for. i spoke at the democratic convention. i was invited by the president. in the meantime, we are doing radiation and chemotherapy at my house for my husband. and i am flying back and forth to washington. the coalition in washington county up there three or four days a week. i would be up at 5:00 a.m. and i would do a tv spot, and we were getting support from democrats as well as republicans. the lily ledbetter is bipartisan. it does belonged to the

republican or democratic parties. it is fundamental to each american life. the we are able to be paid for we have legally been entitled to and have earned. i could see the tears of the democratic national convention. they asked when did i endorse obama, and i said tonight. i knew that i had to get off the fence and go for him because john mccain had just said that women's problem was that we didn't have enough education or training. that's why we didn't make enough money. i couldn't can let that go. i had to start campaigning and tried to get the laws changed. because it was important. it was a record deal. it took us 18 months to get the lily ledbetter bill passed. and the paycheck fairness act.

fifteen years in the works, it failed by two votes. all democrats voted for it, but no republican would come across the aisle and vote for it. it was the same as the lily ledbetter bill. had that been the law, i would've known that i was getting shortchanged. way back when and i could've done something about it. but there's his people's lives. this is not a game. this is families across the nation. and i have learned that young people are suffering because her mothers are working two jobs and they still can't make ends meet. and their mothers are not there to prepare good healthy meals, the kids are becoming obese, they are not there to go to the parent teacher conferences, education is hurting. this needs to be turned around. this is what is driving the nation down. the fact that so many people are underpaid or the work that they do. simple to me because when people

are paid fairly, it benefits the community and the state and the nation. they will turn them on a background in the neighborhood, and they will spend it and it makes things longer all the way around. i also have learned that doing the right thing may not be popular. but doing the right thing sometimes means having the courage to speak the truth. that came from a judge in birmingham, and i so believe it. i also learned that it's not so much what happens to us, but how we react to it. i lost my husband in december of 2008. i came home from doing a 2020 mac that meant in new york and found him and he was already cold. the treatment had worn them completely out.

we have nine operations on one of his eyes. he never did regain his eyesight. and he had prostate surgery the previous year, plus all the other treatment. his body was so worn out. but i could not let it go. and i won't let go today because we still have a lot of work to do. i am disturbed right now that they are trying to take away the rights and the decisions that us women have made for our bodies. we have to wake up. i did learn that one person can start a battle. but it takes a lot. everyone across this nation, one of the headlines read that she struck a nerve, and that's exactly what i did. people got behind me. in that same interview, it was a good job.

those of you that worked at the plant, you know that those were good jobs. i just got -- if i would've just gotten paid what i was legally entitled to, i would've let it go. i thought about it long and hard. because once i had started, i knew i would be in for a long time. but that was the price i was willing to pay and my family supported me. i could not let it go. my title immediately became troublemaker. so i'd carried it through. the birmingham attorney sent back information to the media, and i have not heard from them.

but this is something that we all need to get behind. we can't let this go. the kind of people who went to the white house the first time was senator hillary rodham clinton. the second was from president obama and the third letter was from michelle. i would suggest this. until the college students that. research people. research their voting records are what have they done for you back home? those are the people that you need to support. not what they might do or might

think about doing, but what they have done. i couldn't let this go. i can't let it go today. i have traveled the world. in march of 2009, i shared my story for six days. i have never lived anywhere but alabama and the south. and this had to be a big southern problem, but no, no, it is coast-to-coast and north to south and east west. it's also around the world. we shared my story with french and the japanese, and they send reporters into the country and interviewed me. and they put articles out there as well. the chileans newspaper interviewed me for the second time. they have the same problem. what is sad is that they are looking at the united states for leadership to set an example.

but there is a lot in the book. and i would love to share with you a little bit about what we have and give you some information there. then we can open it up to questions. i hope you have seen the rachel interview on hardball. it is online. there are a lot of videos on the internet and there are a lot of people who have done a good job.

on tuesday morning we are going to harvard and boston. tuesday night. so i think that lanier scott ison captured my story extremely well. since this is a local audience, i will share some things. i did turn down a movie deal early on. simply because i wanted the story to be heard across the nation. because it's important that we wake up and stop this from happening to other people and other families. we do not have to accept that. we can do something about it. >> thank you. and she had said, her story is every woman's story.

unfortunately, the reason why this is the case is because today, in america, you probably know this, caucasian women earn 77 cents for every dollar that a man earns. this fact is based on the median earnings of all full-time your brown workers. full-time year-round workers. a woman earns approximately $11,000 less than a man. so the equal pay act was passed in 1963. women earn 53% to every man's dollar. that was just 50 years ago. and there are two things to note. the gap has not closed.

not very much. that is about half a cent annually. if you add up that difference over the course of a lifetime, a working lifetime is considered 47 years of lifetime work. so as a high school graduate, that means that you lose $700,000 if your woman. for a college graduate, that is $1.2 million. for a professional school graduate, you have $2 million that you have lost. so for lily ledbetter when she discovered that note after 19 years, that meant that she was making 40% less than the other managers doing the exact same job. in other words, she lost over $200,000 in her career and i was not taken into consideration in her retirement and social

security. for women of color, those numbers are worse. african-american women earn even less than that. her story is every woman's story. there are over 60 million working women in the workplace. so in these cases, from wall street to wal-mart, it doesn't matter where you look, women are discriminated in the law. here is her story from her point of view. from a woman's experience. so what we did a lot of

information in the back of a book about the paycheck paycheck fairness act that still needs to be passed and about pay equity. if you read the story from you also have bad but tuity. if you read the story from you also have bad but that is a resource. and we hope that things will change. >> we are going to wrap it up for questions. i will give you two answers right off. i do not know who gave me the no. because what happened after i filed the charge, i don't know who gave it to me or where it came from. goodyear -- one of my bosses they are burned my personal file. the judge said let me explain the law to the goodyear attorneys. one person files a charge chart from you are required to retain those records into a closed.

they could not produce it. so it wasn't there. that's all we had other than our pay records that had been discovered that mike attorney could finally get from goodyear. so i don't know who gave me the no. and no, i do not buy goodyear tires. if i have a vehicle with them, i get rid of them immediately. >> one thing that's interesting to point out is that you have spent over a decade fighting the battle. when he got to court in 2003, the number of legal documents -- if you stack it up, it would be three stories high. so it's hard to understand what someone really goes through and how much time and effort and energy and heart rate goes into something and experiences to stand up for what's right.

>> i could not let it go. it just was not right. i could not let go. the law is on my side, and all it did was talk to the supreme court about this ruling until the next ridiculous case that came. it was on the wrong form or wrong date -- it should have been let go. but they thought, okay, just let that one go. the shots were not called in a correct way, in my opinion. she is right. it's a long fight on individuals and hard on families. we cannot leave home on a vacation or go on a trip because we needed to be in reachable place for the attorneys for 10

years. it took nine years in 18 months. >> were we thinking at the time? >> you don't see any cases in the paper that are quick fixes. they dragged him out. equal employment commission has more money than i do a lot of work with them now are you would think that they are doing is training governments that don't bring in the official people to train them and what they should be doing. and they go in and train those people, and therefore, they don't make these mistakes. they are doing a lot of work now as well as some who have a large

sum as individuals. in my case, when i talked about that money, that $360,000, had the supreme court awarded as they should have, my attorney and i had to pay federal and state taxes on it. so i would've had less than $50,000 and spent 40 of my own money. it was not a complete washout. i had already spent $40,000, and i worked every weekend getting ready to go to trial and i was there for every deposition in i think you will enjoy the book. especially if you work in the plant now or you have worked their way you know someone who has worked there. you are you're going to say yes, i can do that. i saw that. you really will. are there any other questions? i'm sure you have something you would like to ask.

>> [inaudible question] >> i am concerned about voting. they're trying to stop people from voting. >> you're right. and we all need to be concerned about that. that's true. >> i commend you for all you've done. >> please use the microphone to

ask questions or everyone can hear. >> on the day that the supreme court made its decision, i'd like to know what you felt. i'd also like to know how you felt that they president obama signed it into law. >> that's a great question. the day i heard the verdict, my husband and i were at a luncheon at a senior group from the church when i got the call. the media started calling. [inaudible] brian williams to the questioning. the next day cnn came. it was just one media interview

after the other. [inaudible] >> i have met him since then. some of the videos are still on youtube. you can believe what you see on tv. they take your photos down, they rearrange or tables, they make a change and i said, i don't think so, i just lost $3.8 million and you want me to make a change. [laughter] my husband is from the retired military and he said i have a fresh pot of coffee. but when we went to the white house for the bill, they called me and said does your daughter

to come. we both had been on the train for the obama's since an operation. and i said that i would call her. and the lady we talked to said i'll have to give her clearance and it's not easy. so let me know quickly. so i called my daughter at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. and i told my son-in-law what i needed. an hour in the morning went by and my daughter called back and said did you get five of the same. and i said sure. i was so embarrassed that i call back and i gave them the social security numbers. we walked up to the white house gate that morning and people were chanting my name and all those women and the men. you would've thought i was a rockstar. my grandson's eyes were this big. looking at me. they had never been involved in any of this. we get to the white house and

they pull me out separately and they are leaving all the people and doing everything. then they sign the bill. that was an awesome walk down the red carpet. the feeling i had because i was afraid and i have prayed so hard. i don't think you're supposed to pray for personal things like that. but i had prayed that it would send a message and it was the first bill that president obama sign in the law. i was the second one to talk to dance with him at the ball. there is a picture in the hardback "washington post" book. they are online. while we were dancing he said we are going to do this. well, i knew that he wasn't talking about dancing. he was talking about the lily ledbetter bill. he said we are going to do this. so he saw through and he got it done and it went through and he signed it.

when the pen hit the paper, it meant so much. all you do have family who are working out there today, you have that right and you have opportunity to file a charge if you find out you're being discriminated against. it was an awesome feeling. we ran into the reception that was the first that they had done since they got there.

and i turned it down because they do market going to college campuses, military bases, law schools and anywhere else anybody invites me. last week i addressed the assembly in california. that was an awesome experience as well. i'd then some places with lanier and she's got three more years and do another book. it has been rail and the doors open and i had dinner and the home monday night of the marshall loeb, who started "fortune" magazine. i could need for looking at the chandelier and all the things that the wall on the floor

because i participated in a fundraiser in new york. not that i could give any money, but me being there created a lot of excitement and pictures and i spoke at the equal pay piano and when that the latter to raise money to get women into politics, either republican or democratic and i was an awesome experience. so many doors. i've got to do my last thing on my bucket list in 2010. i got to meet justice ruth bader ginsburg. i also was the first ordinary citizen to testify for elena kagan when she was confirmed. i didn't take that lightly. i found out her background and look there that could have been supported her and that is the first one to testify for her. so it has been an awesome journey. it really has.

when i did the thing with valerie garrett and the president come he told me he was getting me tired of getting me a proof to get the white house. a lot of people think i only went one time. but i was supposed to have been there last monday, but i heard he had the commitment to california and i've never missed a commitment yet. the guy said, could you stand out. it's a podium for 15 minutes then we've got people staying here to montgomery from birmingham and surrounding areas. so i got my person to drive me, so i haven't missed one yet. i'm getting close though. >> it's amazing. >> any other questions? i've got one in the back of the room. he's got the night. >> in a movie, who would you pick to play the part of lilly ledbetter. >> a veteran meryl streep.

i have a meeting tomorrow with a movie producer from california. he is an alabama native, we do have the tv channels to make movies, but i waiting to get meryl streep. if i'd gone with the publishing house of disney, they got a lot of work for women. she started giving over a million dollars for the women's museum in washington d.c. and they have the land and that those been passed in the house hangout. so they're raising money. we don't have a women's museum in washington. she'd be the one. she's got a younger daughter who say it plainly younger. i've got my choice, but i don't think i have much in that choice. >> i would just like to commend you for your tenacity and everything that you've done and

at what else god has for you to do continues to strengthen you and everything he ascertained for you to do. what are they to ask is did you say there was the paycheck fairness law to come up and with a hindrance are you receiving bipartisan support? is it just democrats, republicans? where is the is the state of that law and where is it being passed quite >> it will come up again and i've been told that it will pass, but what happened -- a crane close. i nervous -- not really, but -- if that had been the law a good juror shortly after, i could've found out because goodyear said they wished i had come to them first. i did. and what might sad was too much

bs from the man. except he said the word. i asked him from time to time to check and see about what was the top come in the mid the bottom two increases figures. i don't know if john new or not. he worked there, but i don't know if anybody knew. he said he hadn't had time to check. when i got the note, i went straight to toc because it was time to stand up. paycheck fairness will come up again. the only reason it didn't pass this last time was when they had just gone back and there is no republican going to cross that line. they wouldn't cross it for nothing because the two callings and the other lady retiring this year, both of them i called them.

they called me back. you folks alike this. i stayed to there in washington and back in those days could be a lawyer from the law center, and maybe one or two others sometimes and we would call on the congress had us and in the senate and in the beginning we'll make up the assistance. now i can call and walk in the door. i see harry reid. it's rosa delora, i see her. if a senator leahy from vermont, i see him and i travel all over the country for each one of those people. i've been to california for george miller and i think him because it was his committee who named the law ledbetter. and i am told that i am the only alabamian with a lot named for them. it's not common. there is less than 35 in

history. i'll be going back to seattle law school in seattle, washington next month and isolated there that's been doing the research. so this is not a common thing to have the law. the congressman miller said, we don't blame them. whoever drafted the bill. any other questions? [inaudible] before you got that now, did you have any suspicions you are not being paid? >> common sense would tell me based on the treatment and so forth and a lot of other things are so great in the book, common sense told me they were not paying me what the men were being paid, but i was sort of a trailblazer. and i think any woman had ever lasted as long as i did in that

job. not to my knowledge. i felt like i was in the ballpark, but when i got that note and saw how much less in calculating overtime in retirement, i wasn't even in the ballpark. i was in a different game to tell you the truth. if i'd been close it would've been okay if because they did change to the pay-for-performance they called it, but every which way they wanted to get the money up recently. but i did not know why would've filed a charge. i followed a church in the early 80s to get my job back and keep from losing the job i had in that setting record, tunis in the book as well. i knew how to file a charge and i worked for h&r block managing all this people and locations than i hit the wall. >> this question is really for

lanier. can you go through the process of you and lily linking up. i'd like to know how many pages of notes you have from here. >> thousands. i met lilly after the bill was signed when i did a statewide magazine. when she decided she wanted to do a book, she knew she wanted an alabama writer. she liked the article above. we have a natural reporter and lo and behold we got together and started talking and i started listening and writing, but it was tough because lilly was traveling so much. we talked a lot on the phone. i did a lot of research, but it took a year of research and interviewing and writing the book proposal to sell the book, nine months to finish the book

and nine months to publication. so that was the process. >> the picture on the front is a birmingham photographer. so it's an alabama writer and an alabama native. we did a tour of possum trot and where i grew up and all that section and that's the video running for obama right now. >> the family cemetery. >> yeah, you've got together to get the history. >> it's been a journey through the lawyer in birmingham is the one that negotiated contracts for lanier and a book agent in new york. he's not made at times and he had two children when we started

together. that's how they got through, he had four. he went to washington that first-time and sat right behind me during the testimony and he was so infuriated when he came to do the child, he wasn't sure how the rural people in alabama would respect him for accept what he said, so he brought one of the partners in the firm, who is a short redhead serta seamier drive. but john would get serious at him because he didn't do it exactly like he wanted. he's one of those precise people, but he's really been good to me and when my husband died he was there. he came to the receiving that night. he went to washington for the bill signing. that's an interesting story,

too. he was in afghanistan in court and his wife had his assistant network gave him a plane ticket to atlanta to baltimore because her mother lives in baltimore. so she had him flying to bwi and spend the night with her. but she called him in saint john, there's a thousand dollars plane ticket waiting for you at the delta cantor in atlanta. biotherapy to that bill signing and he really had a good time. he really enjoyed himself. he got to meet a lot of people and it was good, somebody asked him what he did for close. he did not go back, but he stopped at pennies than oxford and bought him a shirt. he had fresh clothes and it was good. he was there, washington attorney was there and kevin russell was the one who had to italy with me because john was

the first choice, but he had a court trial, so you didn't go. kevin tells his harvard students now that he lost the biggest case of his site. i tell people they didn't pay in many brought me a pair of italian leather shoes. so it's really been interest in life. a lot of places i go i don't have any money. i don't have any money that i can't. i may speak to a group of and it is the hot 160 to $70 on a. somebody told me that god was not finished with my life. the hair at the university of alabama for a series of tests. mine showed it was my number one

job should have been in politics or public speech and i thought that was the funniest thing i've ever read. so now i told don't take those tests seriously. it may mean something. but if there are no other questions, will sell you some books, science and books if you brought one. [inaudible] >> okay. >> i've got it framed. when my husband passed passed, my boys took all of his things. there's only one last. in fact, my metal grandstands went to auburn and he care that you and it around and he's got it done in agra now. i took the family pictures down.

now it looks like a museum. the bill and the pattern and i got an honorary doctorate of law in 2010 from the city university of new york. i earned it. it only took me 20 years. i could've got the real one of months, but that was quite an honor. my daughter and youngest friends son went on that trip. their eyes get real big one against the airport, this person standing over the nature of this around and he liked that. the oldest one went with me. he just turned 21, so he went to harvard, he and his mother did. i also had a bad present to me from louisville, kentucky engraved in assist to l.a., thanks for going to bat for the women of kentucky.

i did pick 16 and and design from new york. i have a huge, huge waterford on my dining room table that came from the ywca about three years ago at the national convention. i had a collection, make you stick it out. i took all that out and how about these awards. the military basis come back with a volta. i'll tell you, i went in the airport in the guy said he can have that they are. i said i might as well have it out. i'll take all that stuff out and see what it is. but it's really interesting and a plaque from harvard last time had 77 cents at the top so the

young man i hire to come in and help me get all this fixed entrainment of framing may be, she framed my pen and my go for a period of the $500 per image because it's big plaque and a pin. i am not kentucky colonel. the proclamation on that. it's just as good. i have to lilly ledbetter days proclaiming a state of illinois. the government came in both time and presented those. but the commissioners did that one and i really would like new mexico and arizona and all the states. i've been everywhere and almost every state and i go back to in three times.

so it's really been an interesting life so far. >> we've got a lilly ledbetter day here in gadsden, too. >> you sure did. two, three years ago. i sure do hope they give me that picture, the one with the green jacket. they didn't give me that picture, but it had lilly ledbetter a day here. but still no one in the state of alabama. i did get proclamations of the two governors, but they had to come through the democratic people in montgomery. they didn't come from anybody. he didn't just volunteer. >> last question. you went to be a natural ball. it's the president make a dancer? >> yes, very good. he's got a lot of rhythm. how did you know?

>> i had ballroom dancing. that's where the grace comes from. she found that it did holloran dancing for eight years and could be. i went to the grand nationals in miami, florida and won every one of them. she said your brother worker and you can ballroom dance classics as for my granddaughter's name. that came from lanier. the article for the magazine had tired with grace on one side and great on the other. we couldn't do that on the book. [applause] >> i want you to see this bracelet and wherein said still

settle for less. i really like that on college campuses. i have a nap when i it says make a difference. but i wanted that to be the last line she made a difference. thank you for being here. [inaudible conversations] >> it is quite true that a people's history is the result of synthesizing the work of a great many other historians.

but it happened in the 1960s with the counterculture was that, you know, a whole new generation of young historians had, up and they were innocents reevaluated all aspects of our past. >> i don't know, took a shot, which i. i went down and i think it was something like 90 sixteenths and tracks had passed in each one would fire into the group. then they came around and a shot to put it simply, they made

captive and 84 of them were shut down the ss versus the couch again. the survivors played dead in the field after they were massed, fired by machine guns at close range from a distance from a sub at the podium to you in the audience machine guns were fired. they didn't run. they fell to the ground. >> retired general and former secretary of state colin powell wrote about his life in military career in the book, "it worked well for me." he taught about the book with robert siegel. this is an hour and 15 minutes.

[applause] as i mentioned earlier, i have seen young people services less well attended. good to see you again. >> good to see you, bob. >> in the book as bob graham very well summarized, lessons he learned from the life of public service and you're right about us look at two later, your experiences as secretary of state and the beginning of the iraq war. i want to begin with one of the rules, one of the 13 most wish my published. this is 13 for perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. reading you, i find you the most optimistic person i've read in a long time. should it decline out there? [laughter] >> it's really important that

have to be the summary of the rules that thanks to the first and also the good things will get better in the morning. and i start that description by saying that's not necessarily the case, but it's the attitude you should have. things would get better. don't make it better. it is within your life to make things better. if you come up with her patch for optimism as a force multiplier. it's a military term. i was looking for ways to enhance the power of our forests, whether it's by communication or supply lines or whatever it is, but we look for things that make the force morrissette is. i have found work in a team in these. i have found that if he was the leader or manager can they an attitude of perpetual optimism, we can do it, we can do it, that

will affect an entire organization becomes a force multiplier. they can do more than they thought they could do. i also have thicker around the country, i see all the problems discussed here in washington very often. the unemployment rate, fat that our economy is going to come back fast enough. problems with the overseas adventures we've been involved didn't and other crises around the world. but i also see people who are hard at work. people in business, financial leaders, mass audiences. i still find that people are optimistic about this country. they have confidence in who we are and what we are in almost record my confidence among the people. if there's one thing that's bugging them a sense that leaders in don't understand how much confidence and optimism is that they are admitting for the first and washington to cut

through the knots of conflict and lack of compromise and get this country moving. so i have always tried to be optimistic and convey an attitude of optimism and i'm optimistic about the country. these are not the worst of times. people forgot in my lifetime, for example, what are the sites and 68 to 74. 68 bobby kennedy was assassinated in buses or put her on the house that night. to make sure the right has stood me up or down. and then bobby martin, vietnam war, counterculture, social problems. we had to come out of it on. we didn't win out order. there is still the soviet union and china was not sure where it's headed, but a communist

nation aligned against us. throughout that we never lost hope of confidence. a wonderful man, simple midwestern values and he brought us back and president carter had some difficulties, but he moved along when ronald reagan shows up and visit sunshine morning morning in america. it's the soviet union that's gone. it's china is trying to become a world power. not by invading anybody come in to selling to us. just imagine where we are now compared to 30 years ago when china is selling us stuff and the money we are paying them, they then want us to buy more stuff. this is our economic problem, ladies and gentlemen. so yes i'm up to mistake. americans have to be optimistic.

but it's what feels us. it's what makes us americans. >> i didn't know until reading the book the confidence is the movie the hustler. >> the hustler, for those of you who are not old enough to remember is paul newman goes by the name to fast eddie and he's determined to be the champion. he thinks he's the best in the world. because into the pool hall is going to play minnesota fast. fast eddie is good. he's very committed good. but minnesota fast as his manager who's sitting in a chair, george c. scott watching all of this. as evening goes on in their drinking and and shooting pool, eddie is between the double in minnesota fast is becoming desperate and keeps looking to george c. scott, what do i do?

got from my sister, stick with this comeback kid. he's a loser. and that kind of stuns everybody. and then they play some more. minnesota fast keeps losing. his affect on them, i got in. he excuses himself, goes in the document comes out a few minutes later and is searching for his coat they think. as the attendant's brain is cut out to them after taking his coat, he just smiles and puts his hand out un- talcum powder poured into his hand. he rubs his hands, looks at fast eddy and says let's play some pool. he beats the devil out of them of course. fast eddie has crashed. so he never gave a perpetual optimism. he thought he could win, did win and work against the weakness. as they say in the book, i love

that scene in a day when that is in trouble, a frequent occasion to admit publicly that they had to testify before congress or face a hostile press -- not >> so i would put my uniform on and go into my restroom and wash my hands and look in the mirror and say to myself softly, fast eddie, let's play some pool. [laughter] you don't watch the end of the movie. >> no of course because fast eddie and paul newman is the star of the movie. he has to be paid to the end. but i never watch him. i don't want to see that. [laughter] >> it's a very touching story described when you visit a japanese school once.

i gather school for kids who are prepared to succeed. >> is a private japanese school in tokyo and very intelligent, smart kids from well-to-do families. i gave my speech to students. i love talking to students. when i was through, questions were ready and i noticed his were lining up with their little cards with their questions. i don't like that because these are the questions teachers have looked at an approved and make sure these are the honorable kids. so i took a couple months are looking in the audience. anyone else has a question? the young lady in the back of the auditorium where rice to hang out when i was her age, she raises her hand and gets up and says general, are you ever afraid? i'm always afraid. i'm afraid everyday. are you ever afraid?

i said i'm afraid of something i must everyday and i fail at something almost every day if not every day. what you have to learn to do maybe your is to understand that fear and failure is a normal part of existence and you have to learn how to control it. you will never defeat it, bu could manage it. so have confidence in yourself, be optimistic you can get out of problem you're having there's a failure, figure out what you did wrong and corrected it and move on. roto-rooter shoulder and forget about it and move on in suicide. the room was deadliest. i think everybody had that thought on my mind. kids are afraid you may have to be taught how to manage and overcome fear. it was the most moving moment for me. if i could trade press for a moment, father. most of the book is like this.

they get to the tough, hard chapters, but this is a book of parables come a book of stories and reflections and memories had this kind of a phone book as well. that's why doesn't have an index. 44 short chapters. [laughter] you can be sure it will take three hours. some of the chapters are a page long. i think the longest is it a nine pages. there's no sequence, no coherence, just 44 stories. >> i gather when you're a kid come you are hanging around the back of the classroom, you're not the obvious ball of fire most likely to succeed. >> is absolutely right. i come from an immigrant family. i came in the 1926 other

relatives and they settled in new york after bouncing around a little bit. lots of cousins in the family and we were all simply taught. we have expectations for you. we didn't come to this country to have children that are going to stick something up their nose and occupant education. so we have expectations for you, one. and two, don't ever do anything to change the family. do you understand? is a killer argument because if any of us got in trouble, would pay to be beaten rather than have one someone give this machine. it is devastating in the third they were tied his mind. my new teachers, your tolls. so this embracing family expected assault to go somewhere in life. my cousins became lawyers conduct tristan judges and i just sort of hung around with a

straight c. average all the way through city college of new york. i'm not sure how i got in, but i graduated with a low average number of years later. the reason i got out of city colleges because i was great in rotc. i found my calling there. i got straight a's in rotc in the administration for mac is in the grade. that brought me up to 2.0. they said goodnight. get them on the air. [laughter] now considered one of the greatest songs the city of new york has ever had. they named the center after me, the sub one for service. when a city kid can i told the

story if it is that where you start in life. it's where you end up in what you did along the way to get to where you can buy. their past is not your present and it is not your future. your past is your past, always be growing and never think that you can't make it. and my family, one of the problems in our country right now is her graduation rates are what they should be, particularly among minorities. what i tell kids when i got bored with school if it ever come home and told this to immigrant people, my parents can assure people fight for three and five for five come if it ever and say to either one, inc. all drapeau, the answer would've been will drop you out and go get another kid. [laughter] there's a chapter in the book called we are mammals and it essentially is i love not only

the hustler. i looked him up planet, "national geographic," while kingdom. above watching lions and tigers raised their cups. the cubs finally opens its eyes and is allowed to move out of that. but the cubs given a box and wish you could could do things. if he steps outside was not ready for it, grab behind the neck or hit them upside the head with a pot and is back in. as he gains experience, go further. good daddies out there somewhere. if the male line, warsaw, makes noise, but other than that he doesn't do much. he just around. [laughter] >> the point as i watch this and about two years old they sent out on their own. but what has happened in a

two-year period as they learn the importance of sibling, cousins, females in the pride. they have had passed onto them a thousand generations of what it is to be a lion and how do we think, how can we imagine that we don't have the same requirements to pass on all the experience we have as human beings to her children. but there's too many children in america were not having the experience passed onto them. if you don't see the good things in my are supposed to be doing, guess what? you'll find about things in life and that some of the problems we have in our country right now. >> right away, when we spoke last week, until jury been to jamaica for the first time doing a story about jamaican sprinters. when we recorded two jamaicans talking to each other, i couldn't understand a word they

were saying. >> all of my relatives spoke with a heavy jamaican accent. my mother and father were to god, but i had a couple of bonds that i couldn't understand at all and they never lost it. so i could speak with don and understand and also slip into jamaican patchogue. no problem, mom. and i was telling robert that there's certain things in the language do you have to understand. so if you see two jamaicans, how you doing? this is not bad, not bad. that means he's doing good. if you ask them how you doing? that's a good, man. that means it's bad. you have to understand this reversal in a lexicon. but as of may at bringing. all of us who are immigrants are

not immigrants have a special feeling for the family we are part of the place we came from where they came from. it was very tightknit, a story i told elsewhere is that in my neighborhood in the south drunks, had ants in every other building them when i walked home from school about four blocks, banana colored the neighborhood was called, they were all hanging out the window, leaning on the windowsill. they never left. they didn't put, didn't go to the bathroom. they were always there, watching. if anyone at the cousins did anything wrong or got caught misbehaving, it is instantzñç5 retaliation. nothing compared to the south bronx nation of the city because we were there greatest treasure.

they would not let us fail in bid to many children in america today, particularly in inner cities and homes and reservations, were children are not raised to not fail. a kid in denver who was in hispanic code at to private school, catholic school and became the ballot torian of this class. he missed the first person in his family to have such an honor. the guy said to him, how did it happen? he said it was never ever given the opportunity to fail. they wouldn't let me. anytime something went wrong, they were all there. i was never allowed to fail. if they felt that way about me, i had to feel that way about me. i'm the first one in my family

to finish a school. he paused and said it changed the history of my family. but so we have to focus on in america these days. >> one chapter of your book is called tommy what you know. you write about fools you developed for intelligence and the four rules for tommy what you know, tommy what you don't know, then tell me what you think and always distinguish which from which. i guess my big question is then huge capital letters how, but specifically, someone whom we identify with caution in the use of military force, never going in my come away in our applications carefully comment being very much the realist in foreign policy, tell me about the decision aid to go to war in iraq and your presentation to the u.n.

>> in the first year of president bush's administration, we had planes flying over the northern southern portion of iraq and iraqis are shooting. but for the most part, they were contained. we're watching very carefully to see whether or not we could allow the regime to break down to do whatever it wants, impresses people more about weapons of mass destruction. they had been in the first gulf war. they killed 5000 iraqis. so is a figment of our imagination, people don't have the ability to do it. they used chemical weapons, but they also were playing with nuclear programs than we had a pretty good idea their claim of

biological weapons as well, which were deadly. along comes 9/11 and the president is faced with the challenge of bringing the country together, fighting this conflict we are now in practice from afghanistan by al qaeda. so we go to afghanistan and cuba seems to be under control at the time, although it didn't stander control, the president's attention turned towards iraq because his concerns, when provided with a could be a nexus between the weapons of mass distraction that they have worker developed. the president started asking military authorities to give him plans. in august of 2002, i sense the

president is receiving military information, but we came back and asked if he had been known and had dinner at the president and condi rice is there. he said you need to understand if we have to use military force and take out this regime, we become the government of this country in national law. if you take out of shame and next 25, 27 million people standing there, you're in charge. if you break it coming up on it was the expression i used. we talked about what it meant, what the implications could be. he said what you think we? said we ought to avoid the war see if we can get the u.n. to act and get a resolution will put the inspectors back in and see if saddam wants to play by

the rules and turn over everything he has to give us information we know he has. the president agreed in september 2002, went before the u.n. and made the case to get engaged and pass necessary resolutions. every time the drive for seven weeks and they got a resolution from the u.n., putting saddam on notice and also demanding he turned and all the information and weapons he had. while he flunked that test. i also made clear to the president that if you pass the test, you may still be stuck with saddam hussein in power, but he won't have weapons of mass destruction. i made clear to him that if there was necessary use military force would be fully supportive because you try to avoid the war. to speed this up in late january, none of us were satisfied with the response to

the u.n. have been able to fully uncovered. so that the middle of january, the president had decided to force to be necessary and at the end of january, i was within and he said we need to present her case to the united nations to the world and to take you to do it and do it next week. i had four days for the time he told me to make the presentation. i wasn't concerned because the cases were done by the national security council was what we all thought. at least most of us thought. when i saw the case they were working on, it was somewhat be needed. it can connect to the intelligence. i asked the central intelligence, how did it get like this? she said we didn't have anything to do with it. we provided all the information and they took it from there. i couldn't get any change in

time because the president had to denounce the cpn the fifth of february. i wasn't worried because there is a national intelligence estimate mass for by the congress that it gone to the congress the previous fall and based on that estimate, the congress overwhelmingly passed a joint resolution, saying to the president, try to solve this diplomatically, but if you can't, we'll support you going to war. a most furnace before is going to go to the u.n., congress is said to the president come if you have to do this, we'll support you. it was not a close vote. it was overwhelming. so i knew i could pull it all together for the national intelligence estimate. and that therefore it is important to my staff holding an altogether with with the director of intelligence in the combine this with 60 intelligence communities they came together for the nia. so we pulled it all together and i tossed a lot of it aside

because there weren't enough sources for it. the things that were in the presentation i was assured her very well sourced and they could stand behind it. and so i went up to new york, brought some of the sites with me and had a presentation guided by the caa. every word was attested to that the intelligence he been using it, my colleagues in government in the administration using a pen so that's what i presented and thought it went off rather well in the british and the spanish foreign ministers joined in the green and others such as the french and russians were not in agreement, but that's where we were. about a month later the president decided to launch into military action and within a few weeks or discovered nobody sound anything over there, we can't find anything.

then over time it started to emerge a little bit at a time for some of the source and we had been assured of congress acted on, the president acted on. some of the stories seem was not reliable and i was taken aback when i thought they were for services for the fans only to discover it was a single source and the germans had that haven't been getting information that would never talk to this guy. so the case of the presence of weapons of mass destruction started to fall apart completely. we had the capability to develop them and if left free of sanctions we knew he was still interested in nuclear weapons and everything imaginable that would be bad. but then we presented at the repair turned out not to be the case. a lot of people agreed with the

case and bought into it. the cia stepa. six months later the cia said we still support the judgments they made last year. and so, the problem i've had for the last eight years is notwithstanding all that, my presentation is seen as the defining one, the most prominent one and became the symbol of the whole intelligence package we put together rather than answering questions about it. all i can say is i'm glad saddam hussein is gone and we don't have to worry about weapons of mass destruction being present or not present in the country is still not completely through the transition, but we've given them an opportunity for a better life for the people and i will always regret the information i present an was not wrong. i get offended when people say you'll do better. you wonder this was a lie. no, we accepted the considered

judgment of the director of central intelligence in all 16 intelligence agencies that beat into them. but am still seen as the similar but all i must dissent and i have to work with. i discussed this in the boat can sail never get rid of that. it will be in my obituary.ó? i have to keep moving forward. >> unlike anyone else involved in this come you apologize.ó=o? >> i said it regretted it, yet. i regretted that the information was wrong. i didn't apologize because i wasn't the source. >> if in fact as he told president bush come if saddam hussein does have weapons of mass distraction come he would remain in power. he'd be in compliance. in reality, he didn't have any weapons of mass destruction. >> he chose not to take to get out of jail card. he didn't want us to know any

good on his own people to know. he really thought we would not attack, that somebody would stop us. french, german, russian. president bush was determined we had to remove him from this potential threat and provided better place for the iraqi people. so controversial to this day. but that's a story. >> tissue so strongly the u.s. is sending too few troops to iraq to occupy the country? >> you didn't know what was going to happen once that that's all. there is no question that the capture of baghdad bbc. they brought the iraqi army down in size considerably. i had no question about that. has he developed plans, i was concerned not enough forces going in in anticipation of what this might be a problem. so i called general franks who's

the commander i said i don't want to get in your business, but be sure you have enough troops to do with this. i don't know what this is. you don't know what's really going to happen after you choose an initial object is. he was satisfied he did. i presume the joint chiefs are satisfied secretary rumsfeld was satisfied. these are the military authorities and they persuaded the president. baghdad so quickly and was surprised me as soon as baghdad fell, you could almost see within a week or so that ministry being burned down, old animosities that saddam hussein had kept surprised had popped up between shia and sunni and kurds and the bombing started. my colleagues dismissed all of this to what we suggest is dead enders are dead enders are some

of my colleagues describe it. while this is merging, we are sending troops home and we stopped the flow of the additional troops that were supposed to come because we expected some sort of iraqi government to spring into place rather quickly and there would be no need for this large number of troops. some of you may remember when general should that be, he was asked at a hearing, how many troops do you think your take on, general? he said a couple hundred thousand venues immediately criticized by the leadership of the department of defense the next day saying it can't be right. we don't agree with the general. this is a general who's been around for 35 years, who was involved in the balkans. he knows a little bit about all of this. his judgment was immediately dismissed because we didn't expect that to happen. the thing you don't expect to

happen at the things you planned for and be ready for when they do happen. >> compounding this come to you right the book that the decision had been made to keep the iraqi army in uniform so they could help contain the order in the country once the regime was decapitated. you were quite surprised when paul bremmer, the man who is the u.s. chief of the operation. >> there is a serious discussion of how are we going to keep order if we don't have enough troops to do it? we need some for so to help us keep order. the iraqi army was one of the few functioning institutions in the country. not functioning that well, but he functioning institution. ambassador bremmer, our man on the scene felt strongly the army had to be disbanded because it is such an instrument of

oppression and that was his point of view. we have studied those in we had received three separate briefings from the pentagon, saying that they were counting on getting rid of the really bad leaders of the iraqi army and filling it back up with trusted individuals because the structure was still there rather than build an entire new army. the cia felt that was terrific ago. i did, my stuffed it in the president was briefed that this was what were going to do. so suddenly between the pentagon come it's not clear where it all originated. gave jerry bremmer of the necessary guidance and instructions to disband the army if that's what he thought was ray. jerry issued the order, disbanding the army. i did know was going to happen. the joint chiefs of staff did not. cia did i and suddenly the army

is totally disbanded and you have hundreds of thousands of people who are armed and trained and who were set free within a few airliner pensions and we had to pay some of them in order to keep peace. when we started to rebuild an iraqi army, i think it was a bad decision. she would tell you it's the right decision, but i think it was the wrong decision must import the comet was not what we told the president we were going to do. >> given the u.s. is now out of iraq in terms of being a combat, would ultimately -- what is the legacy within the military and the policymaking community. what are we going to be like because of the iraq experience? >> i'm going to start with the

military. the military has remarkable capacity to learn from experience. they are one of the most introspective organizations in american society. they say in my book they look in the mirror and see the reality in.hide from the reality. i'm absolutely confident the united states armed forces will recover rather quickly now that they're not going back and forth every few months and they have time to get back into training and we kicked themselves, refit their forces and learn the lesson. one of the lessons they looking at now and i still keep in touch with my army friends and read all the necessary magazines and torture. i'm retired, but i haven't resigned. they may call me back. [laughter] right after the cub scouts.