city. >> the books i published last couple of years are the same kind of our characters written by an 85 yoga but it's a 25-year-old guy was writing about when i was that age. >> 's he talks about his career last 60 years. his books include the kingdom and the power, under they father, and unto the sons. >> i wanted to write about unknown people. a woman that was maybe an central park or maybe a little woman who clean the offices of the chrysler building at 4:00 o'clock in the morning or some doorman outside the plaza hotel and what he saw and what he didn't see. i wanted to write about sometimes what it was like to be a best driver in manhattan articling subways, obscure characters that ordinary people to not recognize. i wanted to be a chronicler of those on recognized in untitled.

>> for more of the schedule go to booktv.org. [inaudible] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome condoleezza rice. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] good evening everyone.

my name is john, i have the honor of being the executive director of the ronald reagan presidential foundation. i want to thank you for coming out this evening. our men and women protecting our freedoms around the world, could you please stand and join me for the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united did states of america. and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. please be seated before we ge gt started i want to recognize a couple of people in the audience. i know the first everyone will recognize they have been terrific supporters of the library and i would be congressman and his great wife. [applause]

as well, we have another couple who is here with us, much of the greatness you see here at the reagan library and it's also were hope you watch in washington d.c. has been made possible through their generosity. that would be harry and his wife roslyn. [applause] thank you i don't know that a book has ever been written that included with it instructions, or an operator's manual on how to best introduce the author. i wish there was. it's not a bad idea, because with the introducer simply followed the instructions on the

manual kinda like the instructions of a bike on christmas eve. all the pieces would fit right into place. when we're finished there would be a single extranet on the floor for the bike or praise of flattery for the author if on use. no, what which such a manual to accompany democracy, doctor rice's most recent best-selling work actually say? part one would be very simple and clear. consider yourself extremely fortunate it would say. doctor rice is none of the most one of the most respected woman in the world. the fact that she is sitting with you are prepared to discuss her newest book is like winning

the powerball lottery. there's no argument with that. on part two, the manual might also say doctor rice agrees to look at the group in a form of speech during if they want your stage take it, be brief and be seated. they would like to hear from doctor rice not all about doctor rice. i think i need work -- i don't think i need that here. once she was here about her life and family entitled extraordinary ordinary people. once more what she had just spent no higher arms, mmr about her years as the first woman to serve as national security advisor to the president and the

first african-american woman to serve as secretary of state. her newest work is a book i think any decent instruction manual company would clearly state that doctor rice had to write. its subject matter goes far beyond her personal and into the realm of how she thinks democracy can play ms playing the fundamental role of the lives of people all over the world. when i say it's a book she had to write what i mean is that i think she detected some years ago that some online for the american people and freedom around the globe with a marked democracy being understood in the context of a very complicated -- whatever the case may be. from the time the united states

and other allies set a motion saddam hussein in iraq to the present day diplomats were fighting for the rights for people around the world the fundamental question that underlies our action is this. it's in the interest of the united states to promote democratic institutions wherever you may. any other related questions she has had task over the years witches can democracy prevail, is it right for every culture, how much might we gate which how long before can take hold. seven of these questions and others like them have been the center hub and the inquiry of doctor rice's world. her book is a long way in answering that. before you read her most recent book i know you'll first enjoy hearing about it from the author herself.

with that, ladies and gentlemen please join me in a conversation on stage in a conversation with doctor condoleezza rice. [applause] [applause] [applause] >> well, madame secretary on behalf of the foundation and all of your fancier we want to welcome you and know that you are at the tail end of a long trip on the road to discuss we can't thank you enough. >> thank you very much. and john thank you for your leadership. i want to thank all of you for joining us for this conversation. want to say there is no place i would rather be than the reagan library to talk about freedom.

[applause] i would like to test out my theory as to why you wrote this book has this been on your mind for a long time and he thought someone needs to get out there and describe how democracy can flourish around the world no matter how difficult it might be? >> it's been on my mind for a long time. but i think we have to go back before that. when i think about democracy it's kind of mysterious. people are willing to trust this obstructions and constitutions and rule of law. they're willing to go to the pole and elect people to represent them rather than going into the streets and rather than binding to family or clan or religion. they trust constitutions and rule of law.

that's a very mysterious process. as a kid, child growing up in birmingham, alabama was perhaps one who very early on saw something even more mysterious. i saw on segregated birmingham we couldn't go to a movie theater restaurant if you are a black person, or you were a second-class citizen, i saw black citizens still devoted to the institutions of american democracy. i have one incident in the book that encapsulates it for me. i was around six years old and my uncle had my mother's brother had picked me up from school and it was election day. there were long lines of black people waiting to vote. i said to my uncle, while this must mean that man, wallace

cannot win. i knew in my own 6-year-old ways that we do not want him to win. so my uncle said, no, were a minority so he is going to win. i looked at him and said then why do they bother? in my uncle said because they know one day that boat will matter. as i went around the world as secretary of state my so long lines of librarians are iraqis, south africans, latin america, people voting sometimes for the first time i thought to myself, they know one day that boat will matter. we are blessed with this extraordinary gift, democracy. americans in particular work blessed with founding fathers who understood an institutional design that would protect our

liberties, our right to say what we think of worship as we please, to be free from the secret police at night, to have the dignities that come with having those having to govern you have to ask for your consent. if we were blessed with that and endowed by our creator with those rights it cannot be true for us enough for them. one of the marvelous legacies of the united states of america and the building in which we sit, the library in which we sit under the most marvelou marvelos legacies of ronald reagan is that he never forgot her obligation to speak for the voiceless, he never forgot our obligation to do the right thing and supporting those who wanted the simple freedoms that we had and he delivered. he believed the united states of america, america is an idea. and it's an idea that is

universal. so, that is why i wanted to write this book. [applause] when you are secretary of state you are in a position to mold the world's opinion of the united states and it sections better than any other american, i'm sure. it has only been just a hundred days since the trump administration has been in power. i wonder if you can speak to has there been any change in your mind as to how americans are viewed as we transition from president obama to president trump? >> i was in europe not too long after the election. the first thing i said tell my friends is, settle down.

the united states of america is engaging in a bit of a democratic experiment. we've just elected somebody who has never been in government before, who is never even sniffed the government before. that president is going to take some time, there is a bit of a learning curve. the one thing you can trust is that america has institutions that are absolutely for an absolutely concrete and will hold america in check. if you look at the president i think is getting used to the fact that actually it is not as easy as it looks in there. that the american presidency is not just one person, it's an institution, a constrained institution. the founding fathers were very terrified of executive power. if they're leaving the king they

didn't want to create another one. . . he has courts which we learned will the president. he has governors 50 of them think they should be president of the united states and they have legislature by the way he

>> america is not perfect and one of the saddest andhearteddest moments for me was -- in iraq. because it was a stain on one of our greatest institutions. the fact that we have men and defend at the front line of freedom is just extraordinary gift an absolute gift and a few people acting badly catch them, a cloud on the commitment of men and women who do the right thing. i felt terrible at that moment.

but i also say to people whenever something like that it happens, you know about when we have -- a riot in our streets about a contested police shooting or we have a katrina i say that's why america is a good example. because of madison said he said i didn't think that the constitution would be the perfect work of perfect men. he said it was because men are imperfect that we need it. and so inperfection is a part of the human condition. the fact that the united states has been struggling with our imperfections ever since by the way, our birth defect of slavery, i mean, come, we remember born with an imperfection. a constitution that originally countinged my ancestor three fifths of a man. but somehow, i would take the oath of office to that same

constitution as a 66 secretary of state and by the way sworn this by a jewish woman supreme court justice. [laughter] and you would say to people, you know, we just keep striving. okay we get up every day. we try to do a little bit better and that's really what democracy is about always a work in progress and that i think is a difference. [applause] i have to -- turn the russia and country for the moment we seem to have some real predicaments on our hands and really do feel like it's been accelerated in last 100 days from -- the relations with russia and the expansion tendencies with iran and its funding of terrorist actions and north korea access to nuclear

missiles, long rage missiles. are there -- is there one of those examples where you would say now, this one rise up with all of the rest if we can't fix this, we have a huge problem on our hands. >> let me say first trump has a oustanding national security team. rex tillerson is a really fine secretary of state. some of us who wanted to see him become secretary of state kind of understood that the president needed to different kind of secretary of state. he needed a business peer. are the oil men know world like nobody else. they have to live in -- deal with long till investment and difficult places deal with difficult people and people working troubling circumstances. there's like secretary of state -- [laughter] jim mattis is -- one of the best commanders of his generation, hr mcmaster the same so an excellent team. but any national security teal would struggle with the north korean problem and single most

dangerous problem that e we've got. i was the secretary of state who tried to negotiate with north koreans to get they will to give up their nuclear weapons that was kim jong-il the father he lived in a parallel universe, but it was abounded parallel universe. i think jr. is unhinged and i think he is living in when he says things like i can destroy the united states. i think i hope he dunts really believe that. right? he felt reckless. anybody who will reach into malaysia to kill his half brother, and by all reports his half brother was under chinese protection. so he's reckless, he's probably a little unhinged and they've made a lot of progress in the last several years on their nuclear program ares you see a nuclear weapon usable nuclear weapon you have to have three elements, you have to have fuel, and they've been harvesting --

you're rain are yum for some time. then you have to have a bomb design. now when people tell you that it's easy to make a nuclear weapon it actually isn't easy to make a nuclear weapon. the bomb design has to hold the material in critical moment until you want to hit it and explode it when you read in the newspapers that the -- tests they're not getting very good yield that means it is exploding prematurely but they're getting better at it it and working hard and getting to a place to explode it when they want to. then they can affix it to the third element which is a delivery vehicle. what's worrying people is their delivery vehicles are getting longer in range. and i don't know whether president trump is being told it's one year or three years or five years. my guess is someplace three to five years. he's going to be able to marry that weapon to a continental

ballistic missile that can reach the united states. now, no president of the united states is going to let a reckless unhinged north korean leaders able to reach the united states with a nuclear weapon. so what do you do about it is this well the only country that actually has influence with north koreans is probably china. but the chinese have always been more fearful of the collapse of the regime of a nuclear regime. so they've refused to tighten the screws on north korean so he can do a lot and close border. they could deny them fuel, oil, and chinese could really hurt the regime. the chinese have to be convinced that they have to do now whatever it takes to stop regime and when you hear administration say, if you won't deal with north koreans, we will. that's the message that they're sending. mow, the we will is kind of ugly. because if you want to look at

military options, you're looking at soul which is -- very vulnerable and very close to the military zone they could do the north koreans could do a lot of damage. a lot of civilian casualties very quickly in seoul. so the options are not very good. it is complicated by the new president in -- south korea who is a man of the left who has said we ought to be negotiating with the north koreans trust me, i tried that. they walked away. and we are going to have to try to find a way to protect south korea, protect japan because again, no president can let the north koreans be able to reach the united states with a nuclear weapon. now, one good thing here -- the russians that we have so many troubling on on other things, it's a long range missile can reach alaska it can reach -- [inaudible conversations] , so this may be a play where we can get some cooperation with the russians.

so -- [applause] a lot of analysis essentially says that -- if he thinks there's one tragedy to occur in the last thousand years and roll around but point to the fact of the solution of the soviet stayed in. so he's often in georgia, and what do you think he's all about? what is it that healths. >> i know vladimir putin well and he actually kind of liked me at one point because i was a russianist you know he thought well they would get more attention and he told me that once. now that you're secretary of state now that we can do it. one day we're sitting there and he says -- you know us. russia has only been great when

it's been ruled by great men like peter the great and alexander the second. now, every bone in your body wants to say, and do you mean vladimir the great but you know you're secretary of state that would be rude. you can't say that. but that's actually who he thinks he is. he thinks he's reuniting russian people in greatness he's avenging the humiliation of the end of the cold war and collapse of the soviet union. so what if it means you take somebody's territory like crimea. so what it you make eastern ukraine basically ungovernable because the russians are backing ukrainian separatists who are killing ukrainian soldiers every day. so be it if you fly bomber runs along coast of sweden, i mean, whether they do russian community at least the last 300 years they haven't done anything to russians, and he threatens he does something that's really

dangerous. russian pilots fly awfully close to american ship tomen planes. and so he's going to push it until he stopped. now, president obama did a good thing in -- deploys forces in land that thas a signal five and attack upon all is inviolable i would have made those perm nant but that will do rotating will do. we immediate to say also to putin, stop flying within -- ten feet of our planes because one of your guys is going to get shot down really soon, and stop doing it. they are doing some very dangerous things, and we immediate to sending strong signals about that. now to ukraine i would arm ukrainian because people deserve the right to defend themselves they are not great militarily.

so you are be careful what you give them something they can't hurt themselves with. right, so be -- be careful what you give them. [laughter] but i do think you should arm ukrainian and final thing this is something that the president has done, rebuilding the american military budgets really important signal. all of those years of sequestration has been really tough -- [applause] >> from a land grab perspective is there one nation that you think is most particularly at risk in improving strait ji strategy? >> you know, i'll he'll try to dismember ukraine that's what he's trying to and assassinate prime minister so that was another -- attempt. but putin is happy with con flingt so he doesn't have to have all of the territory. he can just make ukraine ungovernable. he can sit and make georgia

ungovernable as a whole, everyone in syria -- as long as assad is in power in part of syria so far if a third of syria is completely ungovernable i think that's the game that he play. crimea was a little bit different and things that we have to understand about crimea, i have a lot of liberal russian friends for whom the crimea was the right thing to do. crimea was russian from katherine the great. and then in 1954 -- [inaudible conversations] gave crimea to ukraine as a symbol of ukrainian russian friendship so my liberal russian friends say when it became independent they should have given it back. we say well no, that's not the way it works. international look it's a violation of international law. and we can never recognize the soviet, russian --

of crimea but we need to be aware among russians it is not an unpopular thing to have done, and so it actually added to putin's popularity. but he can be stopped. it is you have to be pretty firm. >> last russia question. with putin in charge in russia, i think -- if i recall correctly pessimistic about russia itself with putin in charge. i presume absolutely no hope whatsoever for democrat institutions to be with russia in charge. >> sad thing had is what he managed to systemly dismantle those institutions when you think about as we said institutional design but executive not so strong because it is checked by other power centers. and boy, shelton was really first one to mess this up for russia. because they actually had a functioning legislature. he got frustrated with it and started ruling and took tank

into the streets. now, that strong russia president is one thing. that strong president sanders vladimir putin season quite another and he's really dismembered but there's always a sliver of hope. because -- you don't know when ronald reagan said tear down that wall. i don't really know if he thought it was going to happen. [laughter] authoritarian regimes are brittle. they're brittle. and putin is right now in a position because -- to rule because there's no organize od opposition to him and he's making sure of that. but a few weeks ago throeded into streets of moscow to protest corruption. still online bloggers are still protesting government actions and so there's something slightly alive underneath.

and another thing is that the russian people are different than they were in the soviet union. the 25 years since soviet union has met and when i first went with to moscow as a graduate student in 1979 russians looked at their feet and they never looked at you. now, they travel, they send their kids to, you know, to study abroad. they spoil their even middle class spoil their children at toys are us and buy furniture at ikea and putin is not their guy. somewhere along here, someone might emerge to be focal point without constituency but before we get too carried away with a new liberal russia, the other potential opposition to putin could come from even harder right. because there's an even more ultranationalist, ultra orthodox -- kind of side that even putin

tries to keep under control. so yes, i worry about russia. the place that i think has great potential. but unfortunately the institution is just not there right now. >> refugee front -- prumple i think is lost now twice in his attempt to switch and even halt for much, much better vetting of refugees coming from syria and other such points. and i wondered it -- if his policies that he attempted to put in place actually survived traditional review and they were in place. do you think that with substantially improve our national security or in your view -- a love that's a much method. >> i think that the executive order as it was redrafted, let's be frank, the first one wasn't so great.

it was evidence of a white house that didn't quite have its act together. did things like try to ban green card holders which is not legal. but this second one probably is the right target. there are few countries in the world that are basically ungoverned spaces. yemen, libya, somalia, sudan, we don't really have ability to vet there on the ground because if we have embassies they're very is small and under constant siege so i think a policy that says you're going to need much more thorough vetting from those kinds of countries and we're going should have taken off the list as it was because they're fighting with us. but we're actually going to -- take the time stem back for six months, eight months, a year and see what i think that would have made sense. unfortunately because i think the way the first executive order came out it kind of poisoned the well for what would

have been a completely sensible policy. so we'll see what happens in the courts. the fact is is is they can really if they want to just improve and increase the vetting, they can probably do it without an executive order just put more -- department of homeland security agents on the job. send people if shall be wants to get a visa don't let them get it in sudan. make them go to another country to get it. i mean there are other ways to do this, and maybe -- maybe that's what they'll do because i do think it is a problem. i think we do have a problem. >> despite the related to president trump's capture what peatses about potential from united states when he talks about america first policy, and thawrnd umbrella might have aid there and betting against a large percent of the audience here might think that -- from the left hand and right

that's just absolute waste of our tax dollars and why we would be putting money into foreign aid when our school should be rebuilt and bridges and all of the rest of that. so question is coming from former secretary of state, do you think there's an argument that -- you know really important for the american people to grasp? >> so it's for me it's -- a little bit the same argument that i would make about democracy. and promoting democracy -- you can say we'll just pay attention to our own knitting, our own affairs. you know, we've got toll build our bridges we've got to rebuild our bridges in pennsylvania, so why are we building bridges in afghanistan? you can say -- our schools are not in great shape so why are we trying to send girls to school in -- nigeria. you can say all of those things. but i think they're really two very powerful arguments against that kind of thinking. one is the moral argument and one is a practice are call argument.

but more or less argument is this, america is an idea. and if life, liberty in the pursuit of happiness are universal, and ared good for if us then it can't be good for us and not good for them. and we are at our best when we leave from both power and principle. now, the principle that no man, woman, or shield should have to live in poverty, and a worst of circumstances because we are also a compassionate nation. but actually believe as many powers as we have we've been girch extraordinary bounty if you go to some of the places in the world, i don't care how bad it looks in the united states of america. it's much, much worse how you turn a blind eye to those nazi and turn a blind eye to an e

bowl pandemic we're too good to be that way, and the moral argument is, that some, you know, i am christian. and i have been told that what you do for the least of my brothers you do for me, and whatever your tradition is and wherever that impulse comes from, or compassion america has had it. and we have to keep it. that's the moral case. now the practical case democratic states that can deliver for their own people don't invades their neighbors. they don't track the soldiers who ten and 11 years old they don't traffic in human sex trade so that women end in brothels in southeast asia. they don't harbor terrorists as a matter of state policy. they don't as democracies don't fight each other. we know that.

called a democracy peace. and so there's a reason that we have believed that we are better off when other people yongd beyond our borders can live with governments to try to take care of them now as assistance yes, i think there was a time when foreign aid was just given for strategic reasons and soviet union gave money so we gave money to somebody else or maybe a little bit of guilt about -- colonialism but those days have been long gone for a long time, and if you look at some of the foreign aid program it is that we now run, millennium challenge is this. millennium challenge says to countries you will receive large foreign aid packages from the united states only if you are governing wisely, if you're fighting corruption, if you are investing in your people. and if you are are doing those things, then, we will give you foreign aid.

i'll give you just one example so he wanted plin millennium challenge impact and wanted in third world are insufficient and very small farms and one of the problems in combining them is nobody knows what the title is to the land. so they were going to do land titling but there was a law in the book that women couldn't hold land this their own name. and so the united states of america said to sutu if you want to see a dime of this foreign assistance you will change that law. and they changed that law. so when you go abroad and you look at what america has done in aids relief for in -- humanitarian crises or in -- the kinds of programs that we have run all over the world. we have largest do that are food aid. you recognize that the most powerful country in the world

also ought to be most compassionate and it is good for us too because when you create are responsible sovereign that act in the system in a way that enhances prosperity and security we're all better off. so foreign aid is a very inexpensive way to keep us from ultimately having to intervene in other more expensive ways include hadding by military force and most american it is this is true. there's been a poll out there, survey -- herns think that foreign assistance is about 25% of the federal budget. [laughter] it's less than 1 and a half percent. and about half of that goes to improving lives of people. >> good statistic. [applause] i have two nor questions and like to invite you and audience

to raise your hand when you have a question. and there's that that follows you everywhere and evidence of it is you well know in the last, at least two decades everywhere you go people ask would you please, please, please run for the presidency, and would you -- [applause] and i know you've always said i don't know, i don't. i just wonder if it's the kind of thing now -- you've reached a point in your career where you say no, and i mean you really, really mean it or do you not say no -- [applause] [laughter] john i really, really mean it. okay. [laughter] you have to know your dna, and -- i really admire people who run

for office and i don't think the process is too tough. i think it should be tough. but i can remember -- running being in the election campaign with george w. bush and at the end of the day he was ready to go and i wanted to get back to the holings and i've had it. so i love doing public service i'll keep doing public service. i'm very involved in k-12 education reform which is important to our krpght without that we're not very strong. work a lot with boys and girls clubs to try to do work on -- and busy teaching those millennials you know -- they are -- they are the most wonderful -- they are the most public minded kids in my 30-plus years of teaches but they are also the kids who got the participation trophy. and -- [laughter] so they are slightly fragile.

[laughter] and yet they're the funniest combination of slightly fragile and hyperconfident because they've been told that they were, you know, the next -- [laughter] so my favorite two lines are, i want to be a leader. and i say now, that's not a destination and it's not a job description. so what tweal are you going to know -- so that somebody might want you to lead? my other favorite one is i want my first job to be meaningful. [laughter] i say your first job is not going to be meaningful. [laughter] what will be meaningful is somebody will pay you to do something for the first time in your life. that will be meaningful. so -- [applause] so i've got work to do at stanford. [silence] [laughter]

final question from me -- what can anyone in the audience do to influence foreign affairs, i mean, the -- so many of interest in, you know, the topic that involves america's relationship with rest was world and i also have those incredibly frustrated with decision we might make or foreign aid or one thing or another is advice you give to someone that the advice bother read that in the paper because you're too far away from doing something, and more actually something is that people can get involved in where they feel like they make a difference. >> i think there are many things that people can get involved you won't have an effect on what we do in syria those are decision that are being taken that we have elected people to represent us to take those tough decisions and north korea. but when you look at -- the united states of america and the wide range of things that we do across the world, much of what we deliver for it the world

is actually through volunteers and through civil society. if you care about girls education, worldwide guarantee you there's a nongovernmental organization that is dealing with that problem. if you care about -- the march of islamic extremism, i guarantee you that there's a civil society organization that are trying to find reconciliation with great religion and trying to help people find a better way. if you care about -- what is happening to people who live in places where religious freedom is not permitted. i guarantee you that there are faced institutions that are finding a way to get bibles to people so that they can practice survey. the one thing that we forget as americans is that not all of our democracy is actually practiced many washington.

thank goodness. much of it is practiced in the states, that's why the founding fathers gave us federalism. and much of it is practiced in civil society. you know, when he came to united states in 1835 and wrote a great book democracy in america, he noticed these as we call them voluntary associations of americans, and he said they just get together voluntarily to do great things. to do good things. and he couldn't quite understand it. and it is a little bit of a paradox because for the most individualistic people on the face of the earth. you know you violate my rights and i will take you all the way to supreme court. right. brown versus board of education, yesterday -- anniversary. but we're also communetarian and we get together to do good things and we would know those voluntary associations today as the red cross or as the boys and girls clubs or rotary clubs and

that has had had an international component too and my own view is that that work haix america much stronger abroad than even the things that we do with our extraordinary hirl power and our extraordinary economic wealth. so there are many ways to be involved internationally, and by the way being informed is also very important because -- in the day when social media does matter and congress is always listing for opinions -- informed opinions would be nice. we're getting an awful lot of uninformed -- [applause] so with that let's turn to the audience to ask questions. finally it you can wait until i'll put a microphone in so hear the question and we'll also -- on television right now so start right here in the middle.

thank you. >> curious as to what your are feelings are with regard to tender box that is the presence on the israeli northern border of 100,000 hiss les this hezbollah in iranian -- where does that fit in compare say compared to north korea and other shins? >> right. look it is a very bad situation. but it is a situation that has two things going for it. israeli military strength and american deployments of missile defenses under iron dome recently that have helped to protect israel. now, both gaza is and sinai have become quite dangerous sinai from a terrorist perspective gaza from terrorist perspective and, of course, you've got thorne border between syria and lebanon which supports into lebanon so these are indeed tender boxes we were by the way

able to cut off the southern border after the 2006 war. by duetting syrian forces outthe and getting lebanese army in, but the way that question deal request that problem is we help protect, we help to protect israelis they are very militarily capable. they also a silent in terms of their intelligence. and that's the reason that i think you see fewer incidents not no incidents. but fewer residents in that area. problem with north korea is we really don't have that kind of fix on the problem. >> over here. >> doctor, thank you, i know that your california resident as i understand -- >> i know you don't want to be president but how can you help out the state. the beautiful state? [laughter] [applause]

>> we really do need help right. first of all we can't keep living beyond our means and try aring to raise taxes as means of covering up fact that we have tensions that are tun sustainable and so on and so on, and so at some point at some point californians are going to have to blow whistle on the budget gains that are going on in sacramento. we have other issues i think in california. i do think k-12 education is just -- a real disaster for poor kids. you know, i -- i am a -- major proponent of school choice for the following reasons -- [applause] we have an opt out system of public education. if you are well off, you will pouf move to district where school is good that's why houses are expensive in fairfax county, about hoover, alabama where my family lives and palo alto and you know you nail the place, you

know where the schools are. and that's where you'll move. if you really well off you'll send your kids to private school. so who stuck in failing neighborhood schools? poor kids. a lot of them minority kids. and yes, some poor parents are dysfunctional but a lot of parents don't have good choices. so the next time i read an editorial in the los angeles times or in "the washington post" about how charters and school choice and vouchers are are so bad for the public school system, i want to say okay, sendier kids to school in outside o of washington or east okay oakland and done that you can talk about keeping parents from poor choice but don't send your kids to trends are and then say we shouldn't have choice for poor arnts. so i think this was one california are could lead.

over here. let me just say that you are my hero. >> thank you. let's so much talk about challenges for women -- the challenges for minorities. i'm the looking for you to help share what you think are the attributes that will help us as women and those of us who are interested in raising millennials that can can be productive and contribute and not feel entitled. i work with millennial and do a lot of staff development. women in leadership is important to me. i would take your big, your top five -- attributes in a heart beat. thank you. >> thank you. well let me start by saying i

grew up in a particular way. i was lucky to grow up in segregated birmingham, alabama. that might sound fun. but my parents had me believing that i couldn't have a -- hey, i could be anything i wanted including president of the united states if i wanted to be. secretary of state whatever i wanted to be. now, the way that they did that was kind of interesting. because they had two important mantra and i now repeat these to my students one you have to be twice as goods. now, they met this at armor against prejudice but i say you work hard enough that you might be twice as good, you're going to be confident. and nobody is imponing to be able to throw you off your horse. secondly they said there are no victims -- right. they said because the minute you have described yourself as a victims you have given control of your life to somebody else. you might not be able to control your circumstances, but you can

control your response to your circumstances. then they would say, now, you -- your armory is high quality education, and then they also have several others which really funny so my father qowld say somebody doesn't want to sit next to you because you're black. that doesn't matter. as long as they move. [laughter] enwhat he was saying, what he was saying is, don't let somebody else prejudice bring you down. right. and so i say to young women and minorities but also to my white male students don't internalize somebody else's prejudice about you or views about you be confident enough in yourself. you know, i watch our kids and i think by the way social media has contradicted to this i heard

someone say once to a group of young people don't compare your actual life to somebody else's virtual life because they read on social media and everybody is perfect on social media. [laughter] and so i think their internalizing now this sense of -- aggrievement and i can't achieve and succeed and we need so say life is not so easy but if you're well prepared you can get there. the final thing that i would say in terms of women's leadership in the like. is -- we have this conceit about mentor and role models that they have to look like you. now, had i been waiting for a black female soviet role model, still waiting -- your role model your mentors have to be people who you admire you know mine were white males. old white men. they actually dominated my field. [laughter]

but they were people who saw things in me that i didn't even see in myself. and when you found those kinds of mentors and role models you're going to be able to navigate a lot of ups and downs and difficulties of getting to the top whatever color you are. whatever gender you are and i just think that i was fortunate that i had parents that -- even under very difficult circumstances never kind of let me off the hook for personal responsibility. >> well put. [applause] right, thank you for coming here today. during secretary clinton's -- term about the second year the state department was doing some influencing in president putin's election term. and then all of a sudden that

was on the news and msnbc and fox news once or twice and then it disappeared because of the -- alleged hacking into dnc and then release of very damming e-mails. what do you think about our interference in other countries elections and nation building? >> yeah. thank you. well, look, it's not we don't actually interfere in people's elections what we do is that we try to help people to have free and fair elections. so one thing that the united states supports is when the national endowment for democracy which president reagan began sends electoral monitors to make sure that the elections are -- are proceedings freerly and fairly. we do speak out when we see

fraudulent of activities in elections. we tend through democracy and freedom house to others, actually train people who then can go and be candidates and so forth. so that's not interference what we're doing but trying to strengthen opposition forces in places where authoritarians suppress them. now, in putin's case, he got really are mad in 2012 because hillary clinton said that his election was fraudulent. his election was restaurant fra. if you were not named vladimir piewtsen you never showed up on russian news channels. you found your officers suddenly close ed and people picked up for tax evasion are and then as this was a really bad election in 2012 and even in a really bad election by the way he didn't win moscow. so that tells you something that

something still alive among the russian people. [laughter] and he's an eye for an eye kind of guy. so -- he says, by the way, they've been trying to -- interfere in our election or for a very long too many but it's just the internet, with and the cyberattacks gives you other ways to do it so he says now i'm going to show you what i can do, and my view is that really was what the interference was all about. now, the way i think that we should have dealt request with this was to say that we know you did it. we will punish it at a time and place of our choosing. and oh, by the way we have absolute confidence in the american electoral system, and we have absolute confidence in the outcomes of the american electoral system because he likes nothing better than seeing us spin around like chickens

with our heads cutoff, talking about, you know, this was influenced and that was influenced. we should have expressed confidence in our own system. he wins when we don't express confidence in our own system. i'm all for investigating what happened there. we need to -- it is a hostile act by a foreign power. we need to know what happened. we need to be smarter with our cybersecurity afterall the chinks hacked into our office of personnel records too pop so clearly we're doing something that's making us vulnerable and so i do think that he was going after hints hillary clinton because angry about what she did in 2012 but that's wrild stop in term was his motivations i would have not gone so to say he was trying to elect a particular person. i think that he was -- eye for an eye. >> we have time for one left -- sorry. [applause]

one last question, and i'd leak to take it from right up here in balcony if you would if you can -- [inaudible conversations] you've given us your thoughts on your relations with places like china and russia i would wondering if you can share similar thoughts on socialist government in south america testimony >> in south america. yes very good question. so latin america is a tremendous success story and in stanford i taught a course called role military many politics so i always had latin american that i could talk about. now you look in latin american and most of the big states are functioning democracies, brazil chile, with peru, columbia we by the way one of the things you wanted to do in the book is say democracy promotion isn't iraq and afghanistan. that's a security problem.

and that's very hard. but columbia is a place that we help bring back from the birth from the -- from the verge of it being a failed state so big latin america is doing very well. there are a few those still hanging on -- and the cubans are still making trouble in latin america. and but they won't last those regimes will not last. the place i'm most worried about is venezuela. this is -- a horrific situation. this used to be a middle income country that now people can't find food and they can't find medicines. i don't think there's a contagion factor to the rest of the region. because indian countries are pretty strong. but i do think that the

organization of american states is ought to finally say to, enough -- and they need to arrange for that regime to be voted out of office. it is beginning to take a long time maybe a transition of a couple of years because -- the liberal forces have been so stressed and suppressed by the regime. but it is sort of chavez without charm, and so -- [laughter] i don't think that that regime can last you're beginning to see cracks in the regime. but venezuela is the single saddest situation right now in latin america and we need to deal request it. you know, the efforts to bring socialist regimes in central america, it will come and go come and go and come and go in el salvador and nicaragua but those regimes are last.

when you pay us a visit and on behalf of all a those here and i want to say thank you for coming and you're invited back at any time. >> thank you so much. thank you. [applause] this weekend is annual roosevelt reading festivalled a fdr presidential library museum in hyde park, new york. author festival features books about the 32nd president, and roosevelt era politics. and today you'll hear from authors steve toomey, gerald hawkins, katherine smith and howard bloom and more for a complete schedule visit our website, booktv.org. and on afterwards this week economist and financial expert rachel snyder reports on how low and moderate income families

manage money. also this weekend, best selling author and journalist gaye reflecting on his over 60-year career. lee plan talks past from professional football player to astronaut, and historian herb most recently of black detroit provides history of african-americans in that city. mr. boyd will be our guest next sunday. live on indepght to answer questions about his work. you can visit booktv.org for more information. a to out authors you'll see this weekend on booktv on c-span2, 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books. television for serious readers. >> this morning i want to begin by introducing you to somebody from our book, and that is kim powers bridges. kim owns and operates bridges funeral home in tennessee. but she's not from tennessee.

kim is actually from oklahoma. she started her first business there, a funeral business. but she had to leave oklahoma when she ran a foul of the law. it turns out that kim was engaged in the very dangerous practice of selling caskets without a funeral director's license. before that, in the early 1980s, kim was on the executive fast track. she grew up in a family of hardworking entrepreneurs. she learned the relationship between hard work and and she left college she enjoyed a lot of success in number of different businesses. and eventually she ended up at one of the nation's largest funeral companies. and a there she sold preneed funeral services -- and she saw this as a way to combine her drive in business with her desire to help people through her work. and as before, she was very successful in that business.

but after few year she began to notice that there was a need and niche to be filled classic entrepreneur and that was she saw that in the funeral industry, the merchandise that was sold was marked up significant amount. casket for instance qowb marked up anywhere from 250 to 600%. so she began to think. how could i -- put together a business model that would enable me to sell the same message but at a much lower cost? so she eventually left this funeral business, she joined up with dennis brimmings who left the same company. and that he spent a year forming what became a memorial concepts onis line. name plans to sell merchandise particularly caskets over the internet, and they would take advantage of drop shipping from manufactures so they wouldn't have inventory on hand that enabled them to keep their costs

very low and then they passed on those savings to the consumers. and they thought they have a winning business plan and they did. but they ran are into a problem. and the problem was oklahoma state law says -- that had if you want to sell a casket to consumers in oklahoma and you're an oklahoma based company, you must be licensed as a funeral director. and kim was not. now she could have gone back to earn this license. but it require her to go to school for two years. she would have to complete an internship during which time involve 25 bodies. then she would have to have a brick-and-mortar business in which she would have a -- selection room, a preparation room, a viewing room, and she would have to have inventory on hand. none of which they were interested in. as if it were not ire ration gnat enough to require a funeral license to sell a box that's

what a casket is a empty box. the law also created a circumstance where -- oklahoma based company had had to sell to consumers in oklahoma but companies outside of the state who sold to consumers in oklahoma did not have to have a funeral directors license. so kim could have taken her business which was essentially computer servers she could have taken her servers and moved across state line to kansas. and there she could have sold caskets to consumers in oklahoma all day it long. but she didn't want to do that. she wanted to stay in oklahoma she wanted to raise her family in her hometown and she thought the law was wrong. and not only wrong but injurious that enabled funeral directors to take advantage of people who were at a difficult or vulnerable time in their lives. so she staid in oklahoma and she fought the law.

well she wasn't only one who thought this law was wrong. legislators did so as well so beginning in 1999, they began introducing a series of bills every year -- to remove the licensing requirement for casket sales. kim testified on behalf of several of these bills. and every year they lost. they lost for one reason -- and one reason alone. and that was the license funeral directors the industry would go to the legislature and they would lobby aggressively to protect their license. and every year they succeeded. so today in oklahoma -- if you want to sell a casket, and you are in oklahoma based company, you must have a funeral directors license. what kim and the legislators ran into is what we call in our book, the bolts bottlenecker somebody who advocates for creation of perpetuation of a government regulation

particularly an occupational license to restrict the free flow of workers into an occupation in order to enjoy an economic benefit as a result. you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. bring you roosevelt reading festival at the fdr presidential library in hyde park, new york. the annual event teaches author presentations about president roosevelt and roosevelt era politics. today we'll hear from pulitzer prize winning author youssef. jared b. hawkins katherine smith, howard bloom and more for a complete schedule visit our website, booktv.org. first up is steve toomey who provides a history of the 12 days leading up to the japanese attack on pearl harbor on december 7th, 1941.