presidential library, pat buchanan describes when nixon rebounded from president in 1960 in california in 1962 to win the president in 1968. monday, september 8th works gerald ford's pardon of richard nixon. >> tonight is a great night because you've got a special treat for you. we have someone who spent a number of years of richard nixon's side and remembered that when he lost two elections, the presidential 1960 to come the gubernatorial -- and the gubernatorial in 1962, people wrote him off. they said richard nixon is gone. he said this is my last press conference. not so.

at about the same time, a young man last columbia university, graduated from columbia, joined the "st. louis post-dispatch," became an editorial writer and along the way she met richard nixon and that began a magnificent journey. it became a magic carpet ride from richard nixon's defeat through years of what richard nixon described as the wilderness years to the achievement of the highest office in the world, president of the united states. and pat buchanan was with him every step of the way and its record in this great book just launched last week. in fact, this is the pacific coast launch of it. the greatest comeback of how richard nixon built the new majority and the silent majority and how he won the presidency.

so here is a man who spent every day within, strategizing, planning, creating and he is a first-hand eyewitness to the magnificent brilliance of the 37th president. please file, pat buchanan. [applause] ♪ [applause] ♪ >> thank you very much, sandy.

with that reception, and may start looking at 2016. [laughter] [applause] e-mail, i always relished coming back here. this is the second time i've spoken in the east room of the nixon library and it's a mag is sent and memorable place. i was going to mention to all the folks i've served with over the years and even going back four in five decades and i'd like to single out one who has lived richard nixon and for the campaign of 1960 before i was fair. campaign for governor and 62 before i was there any road with richard nixon on that plane around trying to do. goldwater in 1964 before of this they are and that is shelley buchanan. do you want to stand up,

shelley? [applause] she was shelley's carny ban as i recall. i would also like to say a couple words about sandy quan who got to no richard nixon in new york when i first went to work for him. he told me pass, when you get to washington as three people want to see. subfloor, who had then old friends and loyalists of a long time. sandy has done a mag at the same job for the foundation and i know you heard him tonight. i really think he deserves more than one round of applause. [applause] the greatest comeback is not definitive history of that period. for what it is is a memoir of my

time in those three years of richard nixon before he became president. and it is the story of a man who rose from one of the worst of feeds and american political history and the worst occasions and came back from basically a broken career to lead a shattered and ruling party. not only to the area in 1968, but to create a great coalition that succeeded fdr's coalition and dominated the presidency for 20 of the next 24 years. i have often told friends that what richard nixon did in the 20th century is matched only by one other man. that is fdr who created the coalition which dominated the white house. i guess if you exclude eisenhower for seven of nine presidencies after 1932. let me to you a little bit ban and back and try to tell some of

this story, as much as i can do with a limited time we have available. the first words i heard from the president of the united states with the use. pecan and, was that you throwing the eggs? he had just been inaugurated, delivered his natural speech, was coming to pennsylvania avenue and his limousine was showered with debris and rocks and eggs and everything and he showed up at the white house said he was going and the viewing stand and shelley and i were walking in along these words that the secret service had put down because it was so muddy. i heard him behind at the secret service saying can you step off the board, sir. so i set up the boards and then watch the president of the united states and that's what he said. buchanan, was that you throwing the eggs?

let me go back, really. that incident instantly as a metaphor for the city of richard nixon came into. he was the first president since back retailer to take over the white house with both houses of the congress in opposition. big media either low or detested richard nixon by and large. the bureaucracy had been built up in the new deal, the fair deal and the great society and was overwhelmingly democratic. it was a hostile city of richard nixon came into that had just broken the presidency of lyndon baines johnson who after winning the magnificent van slyke and 64 had stood down in 1968. that was the america of basically of madmen if you will. the america that we saw in that

film. take a look at what happened in those years before i got to meet richard nixon. 1963 we had john f. kennedy assassinated. 1964 you had the first uprising at berkeley at the great campus disorders of the 1960s. this was the beginning a few of the revolution in the 65. folks out here will remember the worst race riot of its time since the civil war. we had the beginning of the revolution. i was a young man, an editorial writer in st. louis. i drove back to washington to hear martin luther king delivered his famous speech at the lincoln memorial. i was up in the memorial with him. it was a magnificent moment. one year later 50 years ago this month i visited shobha county, mississippi before they found the bodies of the three civil rights work are his. the civil rights revolution of

those days, which had started off so well was rapidly disintegrating into disorder and the panthers and all the rest of it. that was the world they came into. it's take a look at what nixon himself was enough. you know, people talk about 62 and 64 and they are correct. but you go all the way back to 1950. i was the last election richard nixon won in its own right. he won a landslide, the biggest victory california have ever seen over helen k. haygood douglas. eisenhower could have been elected on any ticket. 1954 when nixon was leading the republican party, the republican party lost both houses of congress. they lost 13 senate seats in 1958. 1960 he lost narrowly. they be a stolen election and jack kennedy.

we all heard what happened in chicago and in texas. 62 came out and ran for governor and was defeated by governor pat brown. then they had this press conference where he said this is it. he had it with the press. he said that while the fun you'll be missing. you won't have richard nixon to kick around anymore has folks, this is my last press called us. he was finished. done it now. in 64, even though he was out of there, he not only introduce barry goldwater at the convention, richard nixon went and campaigned across america for barry goldwater are good and campaigned for himself. but look where he was sent by the party was in 1965 when i arrived. the republicans had 140 seats in the house. 32 in the senate. outnumbered more than two to one in both bodies. they have 17 governorships.

state legislators were outnumbered two to one. people are talking about the republican party is the party then it finished, was split between the goldwater reagan the rockefeller from the wing. that is what richard nixon inherited. that is when he began to come back. so that's the situation and counter frankly when i joined richard nixon. how did i get a boy with richard nixon? has an editorial writer and having some difficulty with my publisher at the time. and i thought maybe i have to get out of this office and get into the real world. so nixon was invited by dirksen to fill-in for him at a speech in belleville, illinois karen across the river from st. louis.

so he was going to speak their and then he was going to go to a cocktail reception given by don has to by don hassey was the cartoonist at the globe democrat and a good friend of mine. so i said richard got to do is you've got to be invited to your party and you've got to get me to meet richard nixon because i want to meet him. he said i'll do it for you. so i went over to wait until the speech was over and got in the motorcade behind his and got him and he got me into the kitchen, introduced me to richard nixon. and i said mr. vice president, how are you quiet if you're going to run in 1968 i like to get early. it was direct. the direct approach was passed. last night don't beat around the bush. and he said what do you do? i said i'm the assistant editorial editor of the st. louis globe democrat.

he said i don't want to know what your title is. i want to know what you do. and so i said i'd write editorials and send the guy to editorial writers i said i write on everything. i read in local politics, statewide county politics, national tax policy, foreign policy. i write and everything. so he seemed pretty impressed interest to commence in that i was not putting him on a day they said we've met before. and he said what? i said we've met before, sir. i was at the burning tree country club. i was on the last man on the branch, pea coat tonight. we frankly emigrated the burning tree country club. they were black vote kids out there who were unhappy in their reporting in on what they had.

the black kids would go out in the morning and afternoon. so late afternoon and outcomes this golf bag. i said that the vice presidents back. and sure enough, the pro came out in the two of us were the only ones sitting there. so he says come on over. so we put them at the vice of the united states for 18 holes and to convince nixon i wasn't making a salad, i gave him the name of the pro in the assistant pro at burning tree. so the next morning after this meeting with nixon, he is driving out to lambert field for an hour in the cartoonist comes in and says pat, nixon talk about you all the way out to the lambert air force. that's a good sign. [laughter] then i didn't hear anything from him. two weeks later i get this phone call and it's a familiar voice. can you continue our

conversation? so i went to new york and for three hours in richard nixon's office, he quizzed me on everything i could think of. foreign policy, domestic policy, tax policy, congress. it was exhausting for three hours. when we were done he said that to hire you for one year. because if we don't pick up seats in 1966, the nomination is not going to be worth anything in 1968. then he offered me a salary that was 50% higher than what i was making. so i said yeah, i'm interested in this. last night so i said i will take it, but you better call my publisher first because he doesn't know i'm here. so that's how i got on board richard milhouse nixon in 1965. now, when i go out with him, i said that three assignments were

are you going to help write a column for me, get rid of this stack of mail this high and travel with me in 1966. i said fine, but i had larger dreams about my functions with ease. the first thing was got to do, mr. vice president if we win the nomination is you've got the center of the republican party. they admire you, respect you. wonderful folks in california. i'm a member of the goldwater movement. i said if we can put together the goldwater movement with the nixon center of the republican party, there's nobody that can stop you from getting that nomination. rockefeller is too far out on the left. so i began, first thing i did is mr. nixon said something about bill buckley and the buckley has been more dangerous than the

birchers. i said we are going to have to clear this. and so i wrote this letter explaining what mr. nixon had meant to the publisher of national review and bill buckley. we show that breach. with a friend, we started holding meetings during 66 of the leaders of various conservative groups nixon had made and i certainly had met. i was a journalist, but houston native who they were. so enough with them and started inviting every columnist who is a conservative too, and meet richard nixon and have an interview and so we kept building this alliance with richard nixon and the conservative movement. the center of the republican party and conservative wing of the republican party. then his own idea went out on his own in 1966 and campaigned in 35 states, 80 congressional

districts, every single republican in all 11 southern states all over the country, working for the republican party and there was, i sat in my book, it was the nixon's interest to do this. but it is also consistent with what he believed. nick's was a fighter. he left his party and so he finiteness ever going to fight with every district we can. i traveled with him that whole time. he was a spartan. i've never seen anybody work harder than that. there was occasional incidents like when i tell you one. mr. nixon had some trouble with the rockefellers. let me sell you one story from the campaign of 66. we were in fort smith, arkansas. nick then got up and he had a press conference and did an event for john paul hammerschmidt who eventually was

one guy that eats bill clinton for congress. i think she beat bill clinton. but anyhow, word for smith come as a nixon goes to the hotel and its direct angular name. it's on the inside, but only one story. so nixon as this room here and it says i do not have to be disturbed. i've got a big speech tonight. i don't want anybody to disturb me. i said you got it done in moseyed around my own room and saw this huge fellow marching straight across from the hotel straight towards nixon story. he was yelling to mr. nixon who was asleep in. so i started running and i didn't get there in time. this guys pounding on the door to door opens opens and richard nixon landed men. i thought that's the hand of

someone. nick sinn says pat, have you met when rockefeller? this was winthrop rockefeller, the brother of nelson and david rockefeller, but it was a great war hero. the interest of the brothers he been involved in some scandal in the 50s. but a great fellow and that was my first introductions to the rockefeller campaign. second, you may note the name pat lang. skillings traveled with us and we got to work in during this campaign and comes up to me and i was the goldwater man and my view of nelson rockefeller to describe how harshly they were. the old man is going to endorse rockefeller. i said what? i took off down the hall, tonight since we.

so i go over and open the door to the bathroom. he's about to get into the shower. i said you're not going to endorse that link you to blink, are you? they said don't worry, we'll get something for it. sure enough, what richard nixon did again this tells you something about the man. he had been treated beautifully brutally. they invited him to nothing. they didn't invite him to any republican events or anything and here he is going up to endorse nelson rockefeller, which he did as he said first the parties got to win and while going to have to diminish our egos of it. we all have to come together. we've been deeply divided, goldwater rockefeller. this is the right thing to do when the right thing to do once again was off for the thing to do for richard nixon. so he endorsed rocky and at the

end of the camp and, richard nixon -- again we were in oregon and we heard word that lyndon johnson was coming back to this summit meeting 1966 and not sober and he was going to campaign in all of these states, and it doesn't date. i mistakenly went and mistakenly went in and told nixon before he went out for his beach that night, the president is coming back. it's going to campaign and a dozen states. nick's inside well, we'll have to see about that. he was clearly shaken. he went out that night and endorse the governor of oregon and he kept calling and bob maccoll. until they are the ants said it's tom. it's tom. so that is a lesson if you read politics to not give your candidate bad news before he's about to go make a speech. but i will say this.

nixon came back and he was very down. if johnson comes back we could be cut from 40 c. to maybe winning 12 sets. so he was down. i went back to my room and at midnight he called me and any set takes him knows that he dictated a speech on vietnam, right on through. i must've taken 12 pages of notes. he said you could up the boarding a flight of boise, idaho and work on the speech and prepare for me. i'm going to campaigners said of washington all day long in the next morning i come not to boise. he worked on it and worked on it as we flew around the country and just before the election, nixon dropped it in "the new york times" and appraisal by johnson. johnson got up in a press conference. look at the date, november 4, 1966. radical moment come back. as on the front page of "the new york times."

from lyndon johnson's tapes, he called hubert humphrey is bad juju see what that sco be said about us in "the new york times" this morning? johnson went down in a press conference had just been pinched richard nixon as badly as any president has ever attacked the leader of the opposition of the party. those are the words of jewels would cover read a book about the event. we flew up to waterville, maine. mike wallace at the airport and are supporting to nixon on what i had heard. i was on the plane listening on radio and nixon came out to the plane. i figured not going to believe what the president is saying about us. so we flew up there, flew after a synagogue -- cognex and waterville, maine and nixon came out and handled it and said look, the president is a hard-working man, hardest

working president i've seen. he's tired from his trip. we've got questions on vietnam to need to be answered. the whole country, the media as stoudemire said richard nixon is saying exactly the right. so all of a sudden the end of 1966, richard nixon is bolted out into contention by lyndon johnson for the republican nomination. however, 66 election we won. 47 house seats, three senate seats. so we get to the weekend after that, our celebration at the drake hotel. richard nixon took us to the restaurant. we had a great time. time and "newsweek" have not after the election. who's on the cover? six republicans. new republican leaders. governor reagan, governor rockefeller, governor romney, senator percy, senator barack

and senator hatfield and no richard nixon. it was a real downer for us that he had been left out after all the work she had done. but i will tell you, they did us a favor. they did us a favor by keeping us out of the new and vaulting everybody else out. before that election day, nixon told the national press he was on one of those programs that after this election is over, i'm going to take a six-month moratorium from politics completely. and i saw nixon a day or so later. i said sir, is this wise? governor george romney of mexican is ahead of linda johnson by eight points in the national polls. he is running far away for the republican nomination and we are going to drop out for six months in do-nothing?

makes him sad in his own manner, pat amo let them chew on him for a little while. and i gather he met the press corps. if you read my book, that is exactly what the press did. but you know in fairness i put a line in my book about that from me, how tough it must've been when he was 20 years old in paris sees what happened to his father's launch for the presidency. it was not an outstanding performance. romney win out and he got caught up in the vietnam issue and the press went after him one after another attacks on the press. it is one of the first things i've ever seen. i said i've never seen anything

vicious. he said you should see what tully writes about me. it was just terrible. a great writer, new york post. i was an admirer fan. it was american voters. a huge success he brought out the early national rambler. that's one of the things that halted his career. i slipped into the meeting myself. one of the large jewish community bonders. i want to see what he says the next morning in his paper and he had listened to run this week in his conclusion said the nash rambler must've been a of a car if george romney was able to sell it. [laughter] i mean, that was typical of what was being written about brown v.

you almost feel badly for the guy except we're benefiting from all of this. but then we really got into the later 60s here in 867. people might remember the places, but newark and destroyed. you see what happened as a consequence. they would have been horrible race riot. the federal troops in both of the cities. they have many, many dead. thousands and thousands arrested. hundreds of millions of dollars and they showed -- this is part of a was happening in that decade for which we were not responsible, but there's no doubt about if we benefited from this. the revolution was on good social, cultural, moral. the campuses were ablaze. the antiwar movement was raised in bed. it had not been raised even 65

but by now was ablaze. you had the civil rights movement as they mentioned was degenerating in many cases and black power and all the rest of it. so love these things cost more and more americans to say we supported this. we supported civil rights, but it's not turning out well. and something is terribly wrong with our country. this is what idol america was saying. and then governor romney in his famous statement on the court tv show and i believe it was in late august he got on and he made a terrible mistake. maybe it was what he believed. he said it was wrong of vietnam. we should never cut and there. when i went in 1965 that god the greatest great watching you ever seen. and i was brainwashed by the american military and the american diplomat.

after four days, finally did "new york times" picked up on it. romney says he's been brainwashed. was not a good thing for his candidacy. gene mccarthy who became a friend of mine was brutal on governor romney. he said an obvious case a full brainwashing was not needed. [laughter] that if light rinse would've sufficed. but this is brutal. you have to remember in those days, that is how tough governor george romney had it in those days to the point were meant against a benign feeling sorry for the guy. so then we come to 1968, which was a real year of tragedy. it was a year of real tragedy, most of this year an american political history since the civil war. my friend tom brokaw wrote a

book called through about it. i 64, 65, 66. thomas had to go through the area to experience that. we began the campaign and dwight chapin is here. dwight chapin and i had ray price and i think i was there, just the three of us flew in a small plane out of la guardia february 1st, 1968 into the game and never took a car, took nixon up to nashua, new hampshire were regarded into a room and resolve a name. benjamin chapman. he was going to go into each romantic move in manchester the next day and sign up for the primary. i remember going down the hall in this hotel, was going down

the hall and this inebriated fellow was walking towards him. his walking towards him and he kept looking at him and looking at in any passed by. there is some recognition on his face, but not a great deal. but that's how we got nixon into new hampshire. that very day was the first day in vietnam. and i was concerned because my little brother was with the 101st airborne in vietnam. but in that month, they dominated goodness. there is a picture of richard nixon he announced. one column in "the new york times" committee columns in those days in the four color photograph is of the saigon police chief shooting a fellow at the head of the terrorists would come in and was murdered people. the photo, but that is the beginning of tag here.

that didn't february also have been massacred rain. 3000 were killed. viacom and the north vietnamese were murdering our loyal to the saigon government, working with the americans. before february bissau, governor bob quick to raise. again, i was with great chapin. i got a call from a friend of mine and he was covering romney. he said romney is dropping out this afternoon. they were at the littletown sure to come into the reds room. ron is going to drop out this afternoon. to journalism school is recovering. so mike wallace at which you have to say about governor romney trapping out of the race? i will say mr. nixon carried it

to be well. he said that's the first i've heard of that. [laughter] sometimes you're just stopped cold. so anyhow, romney was gone from the race. what has been two weeks later they had the new hampshire primary. richard nixon while he won, he got over 70% of the vote. we didn't have an opponent then, but if you look at the total vote for me the nixon, reagan serve up with other romney, bobby kennedy on the democratic side. eugene mccarthy of lyndon johnson. nixon got more votes. people weren't looking at it and all the others put together. because of a little project we had come he got four times as many from the democratic ballot as bobby kennedy. people didn't notice because what that said if the country is

turning towards this party and some worry towards this man is supposed to be the greatest loser of all time. the biggest was eugene mccarthy who got 42% of the vote against london to, president of the united states. i don't know what they're thinking. johnson's name -- johnson city was even on the ballot. the president of the united states was running as a write-in candidate for new hampshire. so i was astonished he did this and half of mccarthy's those were from hawks. people wanted johnson to be tougher. so johnson's people handed it horribly. days later robert kennedy job and then began to savages. he said johnson is appealing to the darker impulses of the americans. there was just brutal stuff. he jumped in and mary cantin again who is loved bobby kennedy called of a complete

opportunist. he comes down from the hills to shoot the wounded. it was just a brutal attack. so then rockefeller -- we expected expected rockefeller to come in and go after us because robbie was gone. so rockefeller was a price comparable to nick and dwight and i -- he didn't watch television. he was asked why tonight to watch it and then come in and tell us what our impressions were. it's a very smart thing to do i think because he wanted to know what other folks are different viewpoints are thinking about what they see. and so rockefeller did not announcer announced he was going to run. no desire to be president and i hope you'll take it seriously. so we went in and told richard nixon and for years they asked me what nixon said and i didn't tell them. nixon said the girl.

at that time, drew pearson had put up these report that nelson rockefeller had a girlfriend. after the marriage -- his initial marriage broke up, this would've just killed him. and so that room was floating all over the place, so we thought that was the reason he wasn't going to run. that didn't turn out to be true. so that smart. we are still in march. the last day of march we were going to give the speech, which i was very opposed to. we had to cancel it because johnson announced he's going to speak on march 31st. we were going to speak on the 30th. sit nixon told me, go to the airport. get in the limousine and stay at the year four i'm going to do wisconsin and get on the runway and when my plane comes in, i want you to read data to make it on the plane, tell me what

johnson says so i'll be a will to said sure. size of the one missing with this black driver who was nixon's driver. and here comes johnson talking about yet non. we knew we were going to come. and then he says that will not accept a seat, nor will accept the nomination of my party for another term. lyndon johnson basically was saying he wasn't going to run again. there was a whole new ballgame. so i said move this down the tarmac and get me right next to that plane before the press gets on their because the vice president doesn't know what's happening. so i ran in there to the plane and told him what was happening and next in that i guess it's the year of the dropout. [laughter] and he admitted in his memoir that he should not have said

that. the romney drops out. rockefeller drops out. johnson drops out on one month. they ergonomist abraded picture. i thought we were in trouble because i thought we could beat johnson. i thought we could beat bobby kennedy because he was on the left wing of the democratic party's savaging the president can't delete. if we got the nomination, rather than bobby kennedy. hubert humphrey was a different story. humphrey was a committed liberal, democratic liberal who is in tab at democratic establishment as vice president. i said we could have a real problem beating hubert humphrey who is the smallest candidate. so that is march 31st. four days later, dr. king was assassinated in memphis. 100 american cities went up in flames and smoke of fire and violence and looting in burning

and there were federal troops in my hometown of wash in d.c., places i'd grown up an assembly with as a kid were being burned down. it is the worst series of racial violence in american history, 100 cities burning. and it was horrendous. that tremendously influenced the politics that year. the american people were beginning to say this country is coming apart and over in baltimore, which burned badly, stokely carmichael, racial and from the airy became a communist and went to ghana for jimmy. he was down there encouraging all of this burning and looting. the governor named spiro t. agnew out of the civil rights leaders said brad and the riot act for not condemning for racial and sindhi areas. now give back to condemn these guys that are burning down our city. it is a very tough thing and agnew was done at the liberal

governor. he attended a rockefeller man. i have no sobol of this include the because i was very impressed with what agnew was doing. nixon was equally impressed as we would find out later. and then my alma mater, columbia university before april without exploded in the worst violence of any campus in the 1960s. mark read. they took over the campus, took over the dean's office. they trash the dean's office and it took a week they finally called the new york n.y.p.d. to clear the campus were black radicals and white radicals both. nixon i will say there was a division inside the nixon camp. i was either goldwater conservatives in the research writing group is very conservative. most conservative element of the whole nixon campaign. we have liberals in there too. we are deeply divided over how we should do with that and nixon

was gone along, which the american people want to crack down on the nonsense. the supported civil rights and all these initiatives and they see that happening another three laws have to be enforced. a poll was taken about 2% of the people in oregon were campaigning to agree with the students on the campus were demonstrating a degree they have a just cause and what they're doing is the right thing. three of the future satellite majority was being formed right there in 1968 in april. so then we moved to may. and merry, richard nixon was in the oregon primary. he had no opposition. so he wiped the floor with everybody. 70% break-in.

22% of rockefeller appeared 4% for nelson. i remember shelly and i were at the work in primary that night. with pat, pat nixon had a dinner and so i went off because the first time in history that kennedy had lost an election. by the kennedy was beaten by eugene mccarthy in the oregon primary. and so i said i've got to see this because bobby kennedy was coming up from california where he was campaigning to the benson hotel to concede defeat. i could see freckles. he had his dog with him. and i went to the room just like this where he was standing up like here, conceding defeat. i will say i was not a fan of bobby kennedy, who is the most greatest concession speech. i said this is really a class act. he had handled it extremely

well. she mccarthy ran a fine race. we are defeated here. there's another race in california in a week. we will meet senator mccarthy down there to congratulate him. it was just a lovely speech. .. morning, woke me up in my apartment, and said simply, bobby kennedy has been shot. and so i called mr. nixon, and he was already awakened. julie and david were watching returns over there at the time, and they had apparently seen the news stories, and it was that kind of year. and so nixon went to the funeral, but then we had a battle inside the nixon campaign, basically, over a real issue was -- which was, which way do we go? how do we defense against

governor george wallace? the benefit nixon got was the republican party, which i described to you as twice the size of the -- the democratic party, was splinters three ways, george corely, wallace, the governor of alabama, was leading in seven or eight states and at one point he was holding 21% of the boat. you had the bobby kennedy, george public govern, eugene mccarthy wing of the party, antiwar, and then you had the johnson-humphrey center of the party. in the battle inside the nixon camp we had to find out a way who was going to defense against wallace to take away votes from him while nixon held the center fought against hubert humphrey. that went on for a while until i wrote nixon a memo, in my book. said for two months we have been five points behind humphrey. in those days you didn't gain

five points overnight. almost told you how it would come auto out. i said we have to be bold to win this thing. nothing i can thing that is bolder than if you put the bedtime for bon sew on the ticket, and that was the governor of california. ronald reagan, and the nixon campaign in '68, it was a tremendous drive and a move to conscript the governor of california, ronald reagan, who was impresencely popular and could contest for the conservatives and northern catholics and half of us wanted to put ronald reagan on the tick. then we got to miami, and we didn't get reagan. we didn't get reagan because the polls, as we arrived in miami, showed nixon ahead, so then we said you don't want to take a risk now, because we're ahead. so you take someone who is not the big risk, and nixon can win it himself.

so that's how spiro t. agnew was chosen by mr. nixon, and i tell you, the press corps, because the incident in baltimore where he read the riot act to the civil rights leaderses, the press was outraged. mike wallace came up to me cursing, what do you so and sos thing you're doing. you just lost the election. wallace was a friend of ours. but he just was outraged, and so i go upstairs, and there's nobody up on the 17th floor but richards nixon himself, and he says, pat, let's watch agnew's press conference. said, right you are, and so i go in and we're watching tv, and agnew is up there being as tougher as he can be in the press conference, and the press is going after him, and agnew is holding his own, and i'll never forget what nixon said to me. he said, buchanan, i think we have ourselves a hanging judge

here. and he turned out to be. so, then i had one more experience i want to tell you about. and that is, win we got this mission bay out here after our own convention where nixon was nominated issue told nixon that -- i said it's important i think we have eyes and ears at the democratic convention. so, can you send me to chicago? and i want to observe and i'll be your eyes and ears, sir. bogey going to key biscayne because those days a candidate whose convention was over would get out of the way while the other candidate had his convention. it's a courtesy that is not done anymore. so nixon went to key biscayne and i went to chicago. and i stayed at the -- i was right there at the main center hotel, which we called the comrade hilton. on michigan avenue. and truth be told, i was gassed

there. i went across the street in grand park and was accused of being an fbi agent by all the radicals, and then when the big night came, i was in -- alone in the 19th floor of the comrade hilton and i heard a commotion down on the street at the same time somebody walked in and it's the novelist, normal mailer. he says, hi, pat. i said, hello, norman. what are you doing here? he has a present with him, he say torres, the light heavyweight champion of the world and we're having a drink and he is telling me what a conservative, small c conservative he is, and we hear this noise no front and we sat there and witnessed those cops coming down balboa, going into grand park, using clubs, chopping people down left and right. norman mailer has it all in his book on miami and the convention in chicago, and he mentions he was on the 19th floor. he does not say who he was looking out to window with. but it was an incredible event,

and hunter thompson, who later became a friend of mine, he wrote that richmond nixon is president of the united states because of what happened at michigan and balboa that evening, and there's no doubt it's a major contributing factor, but it was unbelievable. i will call -- nixon called me at one time, 2:00 in the morning, kept calling me. what's going on now, pat? he is watching this on television in key biscayne, and one time i said, sir, it's 3:00 in the morning, you want to know what's going on? i opened the window and held the telephone out and you could hear on sendities about richards dali which i cannot repeat, and i held it out for 30 seconds and i said that's what's is going on here, sir. and that was almost fatal to hubert humphrey inch closing, let me talk about the fall campaign, which -- i think is a testament to hubert humphrey.

he had a hellish time in september. the demon traitors were constantly on his case, dumped hawk and all these things. couldn't speak-wasn't allowed to talk, and just broken-hearted over it until finally he gave his speech in salt lake city saying basically i'll halt the bombing, mover to the left and get our troop outs of vietnam, bring them home, and goodbye to the war, and the left came home. and at that time the george wallace voters -- let me tell you about the polls on october 4th, month before the election, george wallace was at 21%. hubert humphrey what 28% and we were at 43%. 15 points ahead of humphrey. election ended four, five weeks later, 43-all. hubert humphrey almost put the boss, the old man, as we called him, into the history books along side tom dewey, the stake was the democratic part and all the democrats started coming

home, wallace to humphrey and got them all and one until four years later after the white house that we put together the 49-state new majority. we did have a final nixon beliefs, and he wrote, that the final telethon that we had -- let me tell you how that worked. a telethon four hours before the election. the questions would come into the nixon girls and the volunteers, and they would write the questions down, and they'd take them into a back room where i was, and where shelly and rosewoods and major acker were, and the questions would come in and i'd say, well, we i can frame this question a little bet, and then they would type them up, then send them out to bud wilkinson and he would pitch the fast balls down the center for richard nixon. and he was produced by someone who had broken his foot in a

parachute jump and his name is roger ailes, who has become fairly well flown today. but he was 28 years old that last night. so this is what the whole story and the book are about. and it's a -- to me it was an incredible history, with an incredible man who just -- i mean, his perseverance, his courage, his ability to get up from defeat, again and again and again, is just unbelievable. it really is a testament. i don't care which side of politics you're on. the fact that he came back the way he did. and let me mention, we all know, we were talking at dinner tonight, that people say, what do you remember nixon for? and one says, china. or watergate. those two things. let me just list some of the things he did very quickly. in his first term before watergate. the ended the vietnam war, brought our troops home, brought

the p.o.w.'s home. opened up china to the world and west. negotiates the evidence greatest strategic arms agreement since the washington naval treaty of 1922. he rescued israel in the yom kippur war. he brought egypt out of the soviet bloc other into the west. ended the draft. gave 18-year-olds the right to vote. desegregatessed the south. only 10% desegregated when johnson left office. 70% when nixon left office. he created the epa, osha, and the cancer institute. he named four justices to the supreme court, including two chief justices. the lat e e'er one, william rhenquist. he then won a 49-state landslide, unbelievable. the biggest loser of all times, 49-state landslide, and he put together a political coalition that dominated presidential

elections for 20 of the next 24 years. had it not been for watergate i think people would be talking about whether he is a near great or a great president. but that's the man i knew as the boss, and the old man. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, pat. thank you. thank you, pat. pat has agreed to answer a few questions which we'll do before the book signing, so if you have a question, please raise your hand and i'll come to you and you can speak into the mic so we'll get it on television. i'm going to start with this young lady from ucla, come on

over here and she lives in anaheim. >> you said that president nixon created the new majority what would you think the current run party can do to shift the majority back to the right? >> i don't -- you know, the question is whether the -- a republican today can replicate what richard nixon did in creating the new majority. at 49 state coalition that reagan re-created in 1984 when he won 49 states and he won 44 against jimmy carter. i don't know that you can because the truth is we're another country right now. we have changed dramatically. dem graphically, we're a different country than we were today. you can look at 18 states, including four of the mega states, california, new york, illinois, pennsylvania, and going democratic, six straight times. ...

country is now exempt from the federal income tax. so how'd he get back folks who when you say we're going to cut government which means your brother benefits, you also cut taxes but they don't pay back? it's a much tougher, it's a much tougher haul. i think republicans can win in 19 -- or 2014. boy. here we are right back where i was. in 2014. i think they will win the senate but 2016 is an uphill run.

>> paul carter from whittier, an attorney who produced that great map that shows richard nixon's history in southern california and orange county and he's writing a book about richard nixon native son what you cannot next year. i give you a good plug. >> thank you very much. i was wondering if you can get your thoughts regarding whether president nixon had a so called southern strategy? >> well clearly we wanted, we wanted, nixon went into all in 11 southern states in 1966. he went in and campaigned against your t-walls, and -- against george wallace. i described in my book. the libel against richard nixon is that he used racist takes to win the south. that is a false. people who did not with thehat democrats. woodrow wilson desegregated the federal government, carried all 11 southern states. r in a

fdr put garner of texas on his ticket who composed a poll tax. fdr put a klansman on the supreme court. fdr put jimmy burns the south killing on the supreme court who brought the anti-lynching law.hs wh so for decades the democratic party used the issue of race to maintain the solidity of thesolf northern liberal southerner the coalition. whatn happened was adlai stevenson, the states wallacesae carried ones that he carried with eisenhower is that because he was tougher have foreign policy? he put on his ticket to a man from alabama from the tickseed manifesto calling for resistance to integration and passive resistance to the supreme court decision. so the democrats look at the

column i wrote for nixon when he went south leave it to the dixiecrats to squeeze the last ounce of political juice out of that racial injustice. and he voted for the civil-rights act 1964 and 65 and he desegregated the south. but naturally the south moved from the conservative convictions but only after it was desegregated. and to take it on in that book. and read all confederate states every single time

they ran all four times. >> we are live streaming we asked our viewers to submit questions on e-mail one is from denver colorado what your memories of election night 1968? >> they are fairly terrifying. [laughter] teddy white in his book says cutting across the country after we had our telephone on monday night we got on the played nixon flew across the country and my hands broke out in hives but the

night of the election and haul their bid was the most confident. on saturday before the election and i got a call from john sears in he said tell the old man michigan is :that the harris poll had us at 40. said he indeed be in front of the television watch the oregon ducks play you h -- usc and he says thanks. i honestly thought we would

lose the election. but wallace was taking baldies votes from the democratic base, all the states and we went across the mississippi the question was but then the democrats are still dominant. that night i was at the waldorf-astoria and i stayed up all night intel 67 in the morning then i fell asleep i woke up in nixon went to key biscayne. they left me there. but i waited intel 8:00 in the morning that we did not beat illinois. >> thank you. of a business graduate.

>> of all the daily press summaries from your office to the president was the most positive news that you delivered other than the election of '68 and '72. >> all of the news summaries? i cannot even think of any particular warned. but i will tell you i will tell you this story. by the time they got there to work on the press to study those issues that would raise 25 per 30 questions and nixon reid -- wanted answers reduced 120

words then we would send a memo predicting what were the most likely? the most likely 15 questions we thought he would get. we did very well. we had as a good record so i said tim the memo and i predicted the questions and every single question the press asked on every issue i predicted a and had an answer in the book. so i get a call with the press conference was over and the president said buchanan icu predicted every single question they would ask. i said yes, sir. he said that's good.

but there are some questions in the book they did not ask next time leave those out. [laughter] collect -- collect. [laughter] >> my question on monrovia. >> how are you? >> i am concerned about the country and with the invasion coming from the south. my question is this. but do you know, of any leader of any country that ever applauded or plant and encouraged the invasion of their own country?

[applause] >> i do believe one of the first responsibilities of united states is to secure the borders of the individual states of the union it i regret to say congress over the last 25 years over the border we have a hellish problem with the cohesion of aurignacian. that blood dash that is now in the united states unless we get control we are in peril to use that -- lose that country we grew up in since i launched my own political career that was not that successful planetary

apprehensive and i do not understand why the president cannot even take a look at the crisis on the border. shooting pool when he should be down there. [applause] that is my view. >> mr. buchanan did my question is counterfactual. if nixon won the election rather than jfk, what we have had the cuban missile crisis? the bay of pigs in how would you handle vietnam? then going to diaries he thought jfk was all white way i don't thank you thought that about nixon but how do you see that? >> i do believe christian of

saw kennedy hesitate to launch the bay of pigs which was a complete debacle even in the kennedy himself and then got no response but i think that persuaded khrushchev he could put away missiles in cuba. he would not have done that under eisenhower because of world war ii and i don't think he would have done that with richard nixon had he won that election at all. i don't think richard nixon would have sent them into cuba unless he was determined that would work that was the situation and doubted the but with the

it, i will be honest we supported those vietnam's wars third 1962 and i think the whole country may be 65 lyndon johnson had 70 percent of the country and the vietnam war was supported by 80 percent. i don't know with vietnam but i don't think khrushchev would have trifled with nixon in the way he did with jfk but brezhnev fought in the yom kippur war with soviet airborne divisions i don't know if it is true the soviet ships were coming in our interest nuclear-weapons nixon had the all out

airlift. it was a tough time i was in the president's oval office just before the of massacre richardson was right outside. and he said i cannot be defined by a member of my own cabinet. so he had to get rid of richardson at that time. then i saw my old friend eliot's to see my friend get his head chopped off. and also talk about china relations at the diversity

in china you there at the very beginning. if nixon were alive today what would he say about the future relationship of both china in the west where they're going? >> president nixon again in my book and some of these things i got by going back into my files not realizing what was in their heads the suggestions like one of them said rundown what rockefeller said on china. so what? we ran it down he wanted to know if he was in favor to recognize china or a engaged him. nixon believed very much in the united states and the

soviet union and china had to manage this relationship that would be troublesome and have a lot of rough spots in such a way that we never go to major war against each other. he really believed in his own capacity to achieve this. i am much more of us skeptic and nixon he did believe he could create a generation of peace in china was a large part hardy manager relationship now with china and japan? i think he would talk seriously and directly to the chinese not to ruin all the benefits from the relationship as it is grown in the 40 plus years since they have gone there. that is all like to say but he was very proud of the fact that he had gone there

to the people's republic. >> in the middle of the room our final question spinnaker is what's going on in indeed released to play this game of tactics you mentioned before egypt was removed now into the west but now it seems it will go back in the other middle eastern states are going back to russia how do you see that playing out? what goes through your mind? you saw it go the other way. >> my view of the russians is different in a number of folks no question he once

crimea back he is responding to what happened when his sky in kia of whom he had cut the deal with to have the ukraine was dumped over by the crowds in the streets encouraged by united states in may came and he saw that as the coup day todd managed by the americans he said it fears will not get my naval base to salute the nato soldiers said he got that back but i don't see him as a big player in the middle east i think that is building its own way you can find out by studying the 30 year war in europe the catholics and protestants in

the turmoil of religion and states with a population of germany. and i think that started off on its own track with the middle east. but the ukraine i am a little apprehensive of what took place with the downing of that aircraft it was not deliver it mass murder but somebody made of plunder to bring that down now putin is on the spot many republicans are calling for weapons to the ukraine if you encourage the ukrainians to grab their problems to humiliate the russians you're putting putin in a point where he will have to respond to in ukrainians will lose if there is no more.

we will find united states and russia face to face. with regard to the middle east i don't thank you misstates should go back in with more and more troops? should american troops have to die? [applause] that is my view. he stops the press conference. [laughter] >> thank you, pat buchanan. let's show our appreciation for a great presentation. [applause] >> pat, don't leave before i present you with our great gift.

what would nixon do mug quickly expect to see you using that on the mclaughlin group and fox and other places. thank you for coming. you know this is your home away from home so please come back. ladies and gentlemen, had will be in the front lobby signing yearbooks which coincidentally are now on sale in our museum store. for those of you on television, if you're like an autographed book you can't order it via www.nixon foundation.org. thank you all for coming. god bless you and god bless america. [applause] >> is there a nonfiction author a book you would like to see featured on booktv? send us an e-mail to booktv@c-span.org. tweet us at the booktv or post on our wall facebook.com tv. spin how do you acquire a book? how'd you find those books? >> there are a million ways to do it.

one which is not often talked about is you really come up with an idea and you try to find the perfect writer, the person whose passion for the idea matches yours, and that's one way you can make a book at them. another way is you make sure to talk to agents as much as possible to see what kind of projects they are enthusiastic about, and then you raise your hand and hope that they will send you a good proposal. sometimes you cultivate just authors through the door and she plans ideas with him and you hope that over time they come up with a project that they want to spend five, 10 years with and make a great book out of.