send us your summer reading his via twitter, or instagram, or post it to our facebook page, facebook.com/book tv. booktv on c-span 2, television for serious readers. [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon. and welcome to the new nixon library. i'm bill, president of the richard nixon foundation. we are honored to have several presidents council members here today and a very special presidents council member who is joining us today, pat buchanan. shelly actually start working

for richard nixon before pat did. has that ever been pointed out? that will be next. we look forward to it. thank you all for the support that enables to us promulgate president nixon's legacy and encourage civic and citizenship in our community. i hope everyone will consider being a president's council member. i'd like to introduce several people, more than we might, because this is lamb family reunion. you can tell when complete how many alumni from the administration and people that were close to the president during his career, are here today. very special group. first, larry higby, who served as assistant to hr hads movement larry is a number of the board of directors of the richard nixon foundation. we appreciate his service and the focus on advancing the legacy of richards nixon, thank you.

sandy quinn, foundation member. we have one individual that i don't see here but i want to recognize him because he's very special to the foundation. colonel jack brennan. [applause] colonel brennan is a vietnam veteran, a purple heart recipient. [applause] >> jack what's first marine military aide to the president of the united states. he became close to president nixon and served as his chief of staff from 1975 to 1980. he was played by kevin bacon.

so next to corn brennan, his honor james rogen of the superior court of the state of california. were ascending to the bench jim represented the california 27th district in the house of representatives. under president george w. bush, he was the undersecretary of commerce and that's director of u.s. patent and trademark office. he has taught the kaplan university lawsuit. overnight ben stein became a famous person in america because he was able to repeat one word in so many reflections. buehler. while he is so often noted for the hi is an author, actor,

activist, attorney, and a pun did. he was a white house speaker writer fog president nixon. he protest the groundbreaking nixon health care message to congress in 1974. thank you. [applause] identity at like to recognize frank yanna. a white house fellow who became a special assistant to the president. he co-led the design and construction of the new nixon library which has received two national awards already and hopefully a third next month in new york. frank currently acts as spender adviser to the richard nixon foundation. frank? [applause] >> then i make a reference to the union. two other very special individuals i want you to meet and honor. they both joined the staff of senator richard nixon in 1951, working with nixon roz's loyal

and loving permanent sect, rose parry -- rosemary woods. he served in the white house that assistant to rose wood though he was with the foundation and the nixon library before its opening in 1990, until she retired in 2007. she remains assistant treasurer of the nixon foundation board. their combined knowledge of richard and pat nixon and their careers, combined loyalty and dedication, their intelligence and their integrity, have guided and inspired generations of colleagues and friend we're delighted that marge and louis are with us today. [applause] >> and now the reason we're here today. to welcome pat buchanan and his new book "the white house wars."

"the new york times" already recommends the book that we should purchase and read. and it describes pat as one of the most consequential conservative inside the past half century. to introduce pat we called on his nixon white house colleague and longtime friend, ben. a native california, ken joined then 1968 campaign while he was in new york at the columbia university law school. he graduated and joined the nixon administration as a staff assistant and then as a speech writer and special assistant to the president. ken joined the former president in san clemente to work on his memoir and was the chief researcher for the frost, nixon interviewed. ken traveled with the candidate to enhance the speeches and in the white house he was president reagan's chief speech writer. among the many memorable and historic speeches kent rot for president reagan was his

stirring and moving farewell address to the republican national convention in 1988. ken then worked -- also worked in vice president bush's successful campaign. today ken is a veteran of nine presidential campaigns, he has been an adviser and strategist for governors and jurists and many of california's most distinguished public servants. he has showed for many years on our richmond nixon foundation board of directors and continues to advise and contribute in his current emeritus board capacity role. thank you, ken. ken still lives in san clemente and remains active in law, politics and community life. we're die lighted that ken and his wife, meredith, are here today, and don't get me start on meredith's impressive biography. please join me in welcoming a great american, a great californiaon and great friend of the nixon family and nixon

foundation, ken. [applause] >> 50 years ago as a student at columbia law school, i had seen an article in the "new york times" about the staff that was surrounding then-potential candidate richmond nixon. among that was members of the staff was a fellow named pat buchanan. i wrote a letter to nixon asking if i could help on the '68 campaign, and mentioning that maybe one of these fellows i can could work them. didn't get a letter back the first time so i wrote it again,

and meredith worked on wall street, three locked from in the nixon office so she hand-cared it there and so took awhile but a few weeks later, i got a letter back from one of his assistants. that assistant happened to be pat buchanan. have that letter here, pat. 50 years ago. [applause] i'll give it to you later. it's a copy. so, i met pat in his cubicle on the office on fifth avenue before we moved to park, and told him i'd like to do some research and among other things, i was a law student but raid on a farm in california -- raised on a farm in california and i knew farm issues. i got a first taste of his brain power when he started shooting

questions to me and asked me about an obscure agricultural concept from the harry truman years called the brannon plan. what i knew about it. i knew nothing about it. so i thought i'd messed up my interview and all my chances about working in the campaign. not only that, i later found out that because i was from columbia, pat thought i was a spy from the rockefeller campaign. so this day he still thinks that. he must have taken pity on me and told me to come on in and put me to work in answering correspondence and the rest is history. that began a 50, year friendship as a colleague and work mate and pat became my boss and mentor. i starts of working for herb cline in the communications shop and then shifted over to pat's office. now give you a little insight

into hard ball in the mixon white house. had a title when i worked for pat and it emanated from our good friend here, larry higby. larry higby became a noun in the white house. her worked for bob haldeman, so those of news the white house, the number two people that worked for anyone in the white house became a higby. so larry's last name became a noun. so, john ehrlichman, holland was ear lickman -- ehrlichman and ron zigler had a higby, happened to be diane sawyer, and even the higby had a higby, gordon. so i was buchanan's higby and

that became that 50-year long-term friendship. pat was part of a white house that was very unique. it was part of a murder's row of speech writers that they've never had ever since. pat buchanan, bill sapphire who won a pulitzer prize. ray price, who came to the nixon staff from the new york herald tribune and he had written interestingly enough the editorial that endorsed lyndon johnson over barry goldwater and you head two journeymen speech writers, bill and -- the most remarkable speech-writing staff. ben and i were in awe of them as their talents because we were locally speech writers. pat began his remarkable career with nixon or, as as he called him the old man in 1965, when he

became mr. nixon roz writer, researcher, briefer, traveling campaign aide, and along with his current book, which i knowow have all purchased, you really have to buy his other book think greatest comeback, where chronicled this remarkable period that pat worked with president nixon from 1965 to 1968, when he worked so one-on-one with richard nixon closely during this comeback period where richard nixon rose from the political dead to become -- return to become president of the united states. it's really remarkable book. the white house pat was not only the conservative -- a premier political strategist for the president. no other single person in my judgment had the same shrewd, creative insight into the american political mind and able to capture unique forces shaping

america in the '60s and '70s has pat did. more importantly in terms of the white house, he knew president nixon better than anyone else because he had spent that time with him in those three years, just one-on-one and close contact at his side in the '60s. so you'll find in this book when you read it, it's really a road map to the great battles with the american left and the media as they're were fought for more than our white house and if you were in the white house at the time when we were there, it's really a true insight into the years we were there. it was all done in the grip of the social unrest and the vietnam war and frankly the records that were left behind by jack kennedy and lbj and the great society. it was the era before the computer key pad, by the way. the computer key pad took away one of the great fun of writing

speeches. it noose noise to it. ... ....

>> royalty, fidelities or ideas and personal conviction. we enjoy the path and when we are here, pat and shelly would visit and the old man would be so happy to have pat there and the room was full of laughter and all the political gossip it would bring from washington and battles they had and stories tay worked on, the inside and the president would ask pat what was going on and share stories. was a lot of fun to watch their intersection but we have fun and it wasn't all work and that's because of pat's humor and joy of why he made it so-so pat welcome to the left coast especially glad to have you -- especially glad to have you back in the house. with the old man's name on it

and maybe we can suit up and turn this country around. huh? [applause] [music] [music] thank you. thank you very much ken. i can still remember him coming down through columbia university up there at a park avenue, and after the interview with me he was going down the hall. and i did say, check this guy out. i think we have a rockefeller spy here and rock teller spy went on to be a strategist for the greatest political mind of the 20th richard nixon and -- a speech writer for one of the greatest communicators ronald reagan and just been on a tour of the library now that frank

and others and bill have really fixed it up and that was the first time i've seen it. and i will say for the folks and folks out here on c-span audience, of course, everyone here. having worked with the old man for eight and a half years shelly worked even longer with him. that you can't watch that film without having heart really torn at. it is magnificent. i barely got through it. [laughter] but you ought to see it. when you talk now about -- about the nixon and what was in the book -- the nixons white house wars the battles it made and broke a president and changed america or -- basically divided america forever. listed some of the -- what was

going become on in the 60s so let me begin around 1968 the year before richard nixon took office. we took off for january 31st from new hampshire and romney in the race for a couple of months not doing well. we flew up to new hampshire and i remember teddy white asking me about the fence which just occurred with a brother in vietnam at the time and that, of course, cost -- thousands american lives and many weeks before they got back to the way, it was the first event walter said war has basically lost. we went into new hampshire and ran a tremendous opening month campaign in time when president was there and took it back to

florida to make sure he was rested come become and went after governor romney through the yard because at the end of february romney dropped out of the race. and richard nick son was alone. and that was followed thin by nelson rockefeller supposed to get in he got out of the race. and then began what we call crazy march. gene mccarthy won 42% of the vote against lbj people don't remember. lbj was a write-in and didn't have his name on the ballot i don't know what political intellect thought that u. anyhow mccarthy got 42 to lbj49 and next right after that happened we wanted, of course, a landslide. right after that happened bobby kennedy in the senate went to the senate -- it same senate room where jack declared for president. declared for the nomination and around march 17th few day after new hampshire.

and then -- richard nixon had had me at the end of -- at end of march -- had had me waiting at an airport laguardia to report on him on what lyndon johnson said on his speech when vietnam because we had canceledded our speech i'm waiting in that limousine, and i'm listening to and -- listening to -- lbj that's when he announced he wasn't going to run again. and he's out of the race all of a sudden. four days later, dr. king was shot to death in memphis. riot and hundred cities my hometown, washington, d.c. i got calls from are friends 14th street burning up. federal troops in the nation's capitol marines, on the steps of the capitol itself -- this is what was going on in that spring -- and then came oregon, nixon president nixon won 6 straight states noone contest against him and main fear was a guy in california named reagan as long as we have the gold water

conservatives with us and nixon republicans no one from the left rockefeller romney i believe could beat us. so reagan didn't get in. except in oregon for about a month or so. he was this yet a film up there. he only got 32% and nixon got 60% so that hotel may 28th, and i waited, though, we went down and having dinneand we won big and early but interesting thing that night was the first time a kennedy had been beaten. and any political race since world war ii -- and bobby kennedy was coming up from california -- we went down to the front of the bench in the hotel to watch him come in he had the dog with him and he came in. i went down to a room that was

like this -- and watch him give this beautiful confession speech to senator mccarthy say we're going on to california. one week later i was back in new york when -- an aid mine jeff called me from headquarters and -- bobby kennedy has been shot so i call the president mr. nixon who had been awakened already by julie and already told about it. then i asked the president that same year because i thought of former journalist that it might be interesting it i went to democrat convention that would be fairly exciting more so than ours and we have a walk many ours. and so i went out there and i happen to have a suite up on 19th or no of what we call the comrade hilton hotel. and i had going down in the street, and went across the street and i was born, raised, you know, catholic school and always in a coat and tie down there in grant park. and everybody seemed they always would point at me and yell fbi, fbi and may did other things as well so i was up on 19th floor -- watching what was going to see in the park and who walks in but norman mailer with light heavy weight champion jose torres ass i alone there and rack et down in front of us -- and so as we looked out in this phalanx of police came down and across michigan avenue and they

headed into that park and whaled on these folks for 15 minutes concern and jose torres was cursing the police. i remain slept because i was rooting for the police after what had the fellas have been doing to me but there we saw the democrat party couple apart in the streets of chicago and historic event. you know, i almost felt i did feel sorry for hubert humphrey coming out of dump the hump remain constant. attacking him -- to the first five week he couldn't get any speeches done without having disrupted. and sure enough he gave a salt lake city speech and -- he started moving and i think larry

are could barely remember that. he started moving, it was 43 for nixon at the beginning of october 28 humphrey. wallace was 7 points behind hum try. by the end of october, this 43, 43 all. poem don't recall he had a phenomenal comeback in the month of october 168. so then we go in the white house. we arriveded at the white house and america coming apart after 1968, dead american when is president nixon took office no end or victory in sight. president was the first president since zachary taylor in 1848. to take office without either house of congress behind him. he had a hostile press corps.

supreme court was led by earl warren. that exactly mr. nixon friend from california days. and the bureaucracy and new deal in great society complete with hostiles there, that's the nation mr. nixon inherited but if you take a look back at the presidents inaugural in '69 it is immensely conciliatory in other words he held out his hand to foreign powers, soviet and others, at home he said you know what, you know, let's listen to each other. let's hear each other. let's stop shouting at each other that's what he wanted to do in his first nine monthening were sort of positive he kept a lot of great society which i didn't agree with and on

successful early tour to europe, european capitols, apollo 11 the first launch of astronauts into space came in the middle of july. always canaveral with them and watch that go off. i can remember ray saying we're three miles away. my fell low speech writer it was just magnificent this gigantic rocket as i say three miles away and i remember ray price saying -- the noise alone was worth the 23 billion when that rose all. so person went out to guam and welcome the astronaut -- and he gave a speech in gum and he talked ab new foreign policy to help our friends with themselves i think he -- had a speech i think really far, far ahead of its time and frankly as far as i'm concerned on money. then came october. all of a sudden massive common installation demonstrations requester coming up and had a successful summer in san san and i know david was leading columnist of the dead for "the washington post. " he wrote on 8th of october, he said, we're meant to see breaking of the president. it is becoming more obvious with every passing day that the man and the movement that broke

lyndon johnson authority in 1968 or out to richgd nixon in 1969 livelihood is great but they'll succeed again. at that point looking at the demonstration i wrote the president a significant memo one of many that ares in the become and we were been asked i think by, for name eight successes we've had during this year or something i wrote the president back saying, no, this is like asking -- the 16th about the 8 successes he's had in 1788. we're in the eye of a hurricane. and it was said sir -- early the 16th that he would have been a great king. but he inherited a revolution,

and it was about a day or two later bob called me that day and said when do you think the president should make the speech? and i said we've got two massive demonstrations coming up the biggest in history in washington. we don't want to be in effect spook by these things so -- do it mid-way between the two. and sure enough the president picked november third between the october 15th, demonstration and the one coming on november 15th to make his great silent majority speech. now, let me say that -- there's a lot of people who have claims credit are for that. but entire credit for that speech belongs to richard kneel

house nixon as far as i know -- no speech writer i surely did not. i have my files to find out if contradict tore something to that speech or write something to that speech. the president of the united states wrote that himself he stood up in tooth of the storm and realized his presidency was in real danger of being broken by johnsons and he delivered it and called on great silent majority to stand behind him for peace with honor and vietnam. and they did. the response was phenomenal and something like 70% of the american people supported the policy even the congress 300 members of congress members of the house of representatives or members of congress endorsed the president's speech. and it was i think the real making of the president. and about -- that night that night something happen haded, something else happened. after the speech was over -- three networks trashed it.

instant analysis they trashed it one of them brought on abel who cared miserably in paris, and he trashed the -- what the president has done as well. and so we got -- messages the next day or so saying you know call him and write letters and thanks. so i did again, with and memo, to the president that said in effect it is no mow time to go public with the hostility and deal with power of these networks two-thirds of the american people were getting their primary -- this was their primary source of information about the nation and about the world was three networks where you have about 12 men in new york and washington deciding what people saw and heard about their country and what they should think basically in a lot of ways about their president. so i told the president that we

have to take a morning -- qowb delighted to write a speech vice president agnu we have a plan sent over to bob you took it into the president with a photograph of the memo back that's got bob's writing on it hehas seen go ahead. that meaning president has seen go ahead get the vice president. write this speech for him we'll deliver it, you know, in a couple of -- in a couple of days. which is what we did in vice president went out to des moines, iowa. and delivered a speech on the 13th, and the speech was one with of the greatest successes certainly in the career of vice president ridiculed for a great part of that time and i can

remember it after i finished the speech. i went over to called other by the president of the united states to the oval us office and he was doing some editing on my work. and i was a little concerned about this. [laughter] because i thought that -- the speech was a political masterpiece. and he was -- he had his coat and tie on but had glasses on, with reading glasses and he had a pen out and he was writing words in one of them you know these guys are licensed by goth now jolted by that. and then as we read on he said -- it quietly and sort of a murmur this will tear the scare off those and i broke out laughing. and he had did too. because we knew what this was

really going to set country on fire o the first president ever to take on national press and -- national networks. i'll tell you when i sent it up with two changeses and only two changes came from the president because i wouldn't sent any others up there and i had remembered i -- i got word to bug them to say people hear what i say tonight depends on them not us. abc decided to go live with the speech. and then i went up to the university club a little nervous swimming many the pool sally brinker called e me and said cbs and going to be a great speech or this is the end of my political career. [laughter] and -- agnu speech almost as much of a sensation as president of the united states richard nixon and what he gave i helped attacking post and times so what had happened in the united states in the first year had tried to reach the and work with the democrats. people will tell you he did not mind telling you the truth. ray price worked on that and it was conciliatory but what happened is, they were going to break nixon as they had broken lyndon johnson but in the end of that year 1969 after the year in america richard nixon if you can believe it was at 68% in the

"gallup poll" and 0% disapproval. astonishing when here was nixon seven years before biggest loser in american politics astonishing. move forward now, did i larry you got that -- water with up here? is right there. thanks. thank you. always done this fine work. [laughter] thank you. i -- [laughter] a little more energy also in there. advance now to another event. and it was april 28th, 1970. i got a call i was in my office in the executive office building looking out on 17th street, and i got a call that president of the united states.

said come on down to my eob office so i did. so i came into his office and he said -- quickly. we're going into cambodia. sending american forces into cambodia to clean out the fish hook and parrots beak both of them one of them is headquarters for vietnam off the communist. other was the closest area to saigon with they would strike and strike and retreat to sanctuaries they had eight of every one of them. and he said we're starting bombing. and i was taken aback sir you are started bombing they know we're coming. and that's where i learned secret of the administration he said we've been bombing those guys for a long, long time. and this was a famous -- bombing of cambodia which allegingedly later trying to impeach richard nixon but they did not do so.

so -- nixon gave me a draft from are the national security counsel that he didn't like. he said there's some good paragraphs in here but it's -- it's dry. and we need something else. so he dictated paragraph after period of and wrote them on a famous yellow pad and he says give them become and get this become to me in three hours and don't tell min or give the speech to anyone. and so i said well i have to tell my secretary because you're going to have to type the draft as i start writing them. tell her but no one else but i knew this would make a problem that had individual lose national security advisory dr. krisingier so i worked upped

draft, took it down to president and three hours after i was done with it then headed up to university club where they all -- we all swam all man club so swam with bathing suit and up and down the pool, and somebody comes in says mr. beau you have a phone call from the white house. i have a phone and dray matting matting -- dramatic voice henry there is the speech -- so henry and i going over fighting over this. president did his final draft himself and the speech was -- explosive for the reason that most of the country assumed we just continuing to move out of vietnam. and he was going to clean out

the sanctuaries basically so american troops in vietnam would be secure while we were withdrawn also to reduce casualty but the country sort of exploded. and it did add to it president went over to the pentagon to get to report the next day on how well the troops were doing, and when he came out he was woman, her son, and her husband in vietnam, and she said thank you. so nixon president said there's kids over there. there's men over will they're outstanding terrific and you take bombs blowing up campuses and he came become to the white house so comments started to rise. two day later the national guard shot -- four students at kent state and wontedded nine, and full story that city and town burned down much of the main street, the governor had had come in and called out o national guard. and then they burned the -- r.o.t.c. building monday night on the campus, and then on monday the

crowds got out and national guard backing up a hill and pieces of concrete and rocks were thrown at them but pour dead in ohio as the song goes. and nine wounded richard nixon blamed and called in bombs and people shot the bombs, it was really awful for the president and he had a press conference that friday night. and then the saturday morning he hadthat famous visit to the lincoln memorial where he took -- got up in the middle of the night and wept over there and up to the capitol and over to may flower for breakfast, and he was -- then two days later, with students at state were shot african-american students who had nothing to do with the rioted that gone in the street but police fired at him so richard i saw hill in those days.

i think that was the -- if you will of president nixon before the water gate broke on him. i've never seen him so down. and i've got my book memos from the white house staff was divided the country was divide, and i've never seen the president have it -- have it so tough and how it got through it alone -- is remarkable a tribute to the man remarkable tribute because there are a lot of people emp inside the white house who let the president know that they thought he had not done the right thing. let me move from there to -- to this politics with ken -- talked about adam had had briefly the political grand strategy of the

nixon administration while i think he's -- he ranks right up there as a success. politically in the 20th century with fdr, he created that new deal majority that got five straight presidential elections and nixon ranks up there. let's go back 1962. after nixon lost to jack kennedy and got beat by pat badly during the time of the missile crisis. howard k. smith of abc ran a concern -- documentary on next weekend the political obituary and invited to testify on tv to at a failure mr. nixon was and what a loser mr. nixon was at the bottom of his career. 1972 richgd nick son was become and won the greatest landslide

in american political history. now how did he do that in terms of political strategy? basically when i went to work for nixon in 1965, i argued that i know about nelson rockefeller in 1960 where nixon tried to bring together nixon and republicans strong enough together to beat john f. kennedy rock feller behaveddedly and didn't take or get him as vp, i told him by '65 because i was gold water. center of gravity of this party has shifted. so we just seen a bunch of outsider conservatives stereotownship and types in california have taken over the republican party nationally. and at the same time, you are mr. republican. you have the center of the republican party locked up.

if you can marry these conservatives to the center of the party, but forgetting rockefeller wing they're not going to beat anybody anymore. that you've got to get these two together. you've got the nomination. this basically a strike that nixon took and very much more able did not read the liberals out of a party. but he did put together this coalition to keep reagan from coming in against him successfully. and that won him republican nomination but into the bhows, the question was recall i said it was 43-all. we were tied up. at the end of the race with humphrey coming back so we needed a strategy to build a majority and so you've heard an awful lot about the southern strategy and there's no doubt there was a southern strategy. so we would be the law-and-order to back up the cops and redid that the time of counterculture of all the revolution so nixon was traditional and he stood up for that. it was not woodstock so he did that with the traditional culture vs.

the counterculture most of the working-class had the response over there so he stood behind the troops in vietnam and against the radicals with that moratorium to spun off with fat be it kong flag but john mitchell i remember was on the fifth or in said that look like the russian revolution down there so we stood with them unabashedly even in mr. nixon's stood with populism and with of middle americans and the silent majority and we stood with them moving out of the democratic party so there was

the piece of there that says these folks like what they got but not all of the radicalism of. so we are real dividing the country differently and amazingly to have less than one-third. in the republican party was flat on on its back. in and also a to win for five presidential elections in the

coming years so that is the strategy that nixon had and then to do some opposition work and in 1971 to send a memo to me that is one thing we both agreed on that the adversary that nixon could face 1970 to was ed muskie. but 68 or 70 he gave a nationwide speech and the press

nationwide speech and the press nationwide speech and the press like to demand his position was ideally suited as a moderate level and a catholic so i wrote a memo that said in very strong terms saying we will have to go

after you and teddy kennedy cannot be fest and scoop jackson need to go to the tunnels but three years later i was explaining that memorandum to the committee. [laughter] but president nixon even billy graham was telling him that must be is very strong in the south so bloodied doing you kidding? you are supposed to handle this.

we had a little interviewed after to you a story because it was the "pentagon papers" because trish was buried in the rose garden so the of the most that were secret classified but they were currently designed to damage the war effort and "the new york times" had supported the war then turned against it kissinger was outraged and the president was outraged but it turned out to be a fellow very quickly i don't think it was a wise idea to get that investigation going because the former father-in-law was close to hoover. because the president wants you

to do it. i said i am not eliot ness. [laughter] so i said i will go and talk to these investigators. could then we went into this meeting and they had jackets on it and i am supposed to head up a group. and to know that will not be difficult and with that background that would lead

discredit those people. so of those reports of the orgy and i said that despite% in the poll and he will shoot up the 15%. [laughter] and they all started to laugh. and said i am not doing this job i will unstop regrettably day ticket over otherwise gordon liddy would be charged. [laughter] but with muskie i will say that adversary strategy it was as effective as anything i have ever seen. muskie was going to extremely well but then up in new hampshire c-span is listening to my record they did not do that.

so of course, the of french canadians were not amused by this that they publish this to denounce muskie so he shows up and breaks down in tears but this is all filmed so then what happened is muskie one by about 10 points but it was the small amount considering he came from next door. now muskie's wiped out by a george wallace and has swept every county in florida on busing issue and wiping the floor with the six liberal democrats. so he was pretty much out of the race. so i just put that into my notes to do the analysis for him of humphrey and nixon and scoop jackson to study and research of press clippings and i had that

done they are the only credible ones that we see as a candidate because no president is so virtuous as judge mcgovern to run against so by 1972 we had george mcgovern said now heading down to watergate with the break-in of june june 17, let me put it this way the whole fate of watergate lasted 22 months

from the break-in and tell the presentation. but they get i got a call a june 17 saying five people brokage into the of watergate headquarters surely it was probably from our folks. but none tell the spraying of 1973 from the time we decapitated the entire white house staff then with the watergate hearings i testified five hours because of that pack of lies that were released with dirty tricks. that became to october slated

signifier in of james colby. -- james komi i announce that -- comey -- with the time my book was published with the saturday night massacre. so to put that into some perspective it is october just testified so we were doubted key biscayne the president said take a couple-- off and on october october 6 the egyptian and army had a surprise attack they shot the american air force out of the sky and punching through the sinai peninsula also the defense minister was caught by surprise.

in fixing nuclear weapons on his aircraft so you have a war started in the middle east and then a great argument in the white house and then working out a deal with a special prosecutor to turco for -- to turn over the subpoena to the special prosecutor. so those to validate and then to be provided to the watergate committee and eliot richardson and i was told was a board. so we were not sure of those special prosecutors for richardson said of cox refuses to accept the deal he cannot subpoena any more. and then i will tell him that is it. and i will exercise my duty so

we were all set so he called me to say yes. so that we find out he was not aboard a recent memo to the president who said come over to the oval office around 330 on saturday and calmly explained have henry kissinger for those ships that are moving their airborne tory the airfields' and american forces are on heightened alert. and then watching the reaction that i have no choice but to do it. if he has no choice. [applause] i think he did the

right thing. so the circumstances and with the special prosecutor's office so now to get to some questions to talk about the achievements of richard nixon the red greenfield he was an editor "the washington post" said i think we

belong to the nixon generation when that was not an issue in the election but that is not day matter of discussion and that is right and is a democratic strategist to said that he was the most consequential political figure of the 20th century. that this is the age of nixon. said to be on five national tickets to set the all-time record on the cover of time magazine 55 times to the seven re send alger hiss and vice president and beyond with

foreign policy and he did the greatest strategic arms in then to open up china witches' communist china and that yom kippur war saved israel and gold of my year herself to say nixon as the brash -- the best friend we ever had.

it to come back around out of the soviet bloc. son to enact that vote to create the epa guide to remember one comment sitting in a meeting and senator baker was there working on the clean-air act a there was a comment to city were finished so what else could you do? to create pochette to ring back social security elevating the national cancer institute to have four justices elevated to

the supreme court and to desegregate the southern schools and then to write a book called one of us. and off the gold standard so i do remember a comment the senator made and he said when we get finished with this thing, the only thing that is going to be able to move in america is the small pony. he created osha, indexed social security to protect it against inflation, elevated the national cancer institute and declared a war on cancer, he got four justice elevated to the supreme court including one president, one future chief justice, he desegregated the southern schools. even tom baker, a liberal democrat and anti-nixon columnist for "the new york

times" wrote a book called one of us where he said he believes it is nixon's greatest achievement. a lot of these things are historic events. i think he was rivalled only by fdr and he prepared the ground for ronald reagan who got another 49 state landslide 12 years later. i voted for reagan and one time he pulled me aside and said i think mr. nixon had a pretty good for policy the. [laughter] so who was richard nixon?. politically speaking a famous british correspondent he wanted an interview and said he should do it so i was in the room in the oval office to say the arab good british writers don't take notes.

basking if they would enter politics at the time of the new deal and how he grew up big your belinda. and then only to use government so when he came to power in 1946 with the anti-communism and the cold war from that case and the battles against adlai stevenson but they clearly moved on from the anti-communist conservative

to a much broader vision of the world. with the idea to create a generation of peace that you haven't had one of those in world history so with domestic policy to be progressive for pragmatic to the issues like epa to feel you could do good for the people one of the programs you will see they were not a libertarian also internationalist getting back to 1947 where he had jack kennedy with a bill supported the of marshall plan and containment of the soviet union. sa with politics and with his political strategies and tactics to be anti-elitist but partly

populist middle american representing those that were not represented so the combination of those three teams from 1972. as a traditionalist with the idiosyncrasy i did the briefing books for nixon when he was vice president in 65 for 66 she had done the briefing books but that during us campaign of 68 he would go over to his office with a briefing book by a certain date to get all the questions out of the press was asking what

are they pushing the secretary of? so after a while i could predict almost every question and sometimes i predicted every single one. so starting in 1973 so i notice that you predicted every question the president was

asked. yes sir. i believe that we did. so the other questions that were not asked but he said next i leave those out. [laughter] so one other time i decided to take that lead from crossfire ted weeks before the new hampshire primary so we went up to new hampshire president bush was 70% so that we did well and he paused and said next time it is an island. [laughter] >> one other time and dates to one of my various rooms of the president. ten weeks before the new hampshire primary it took place.

he put together a little organization and went up to new hampshire and did some wrist pain and i think president bush was at 70% and i was at 15% and david duke was at 5%. i went up there and worked and campaign. .... you're the only extremist i know with a sense of humor, he said. thank you very much. appreciate it. [applause]

>> thank you, pat. pat has agreed to answer some of your questions, but before he does i want to plug the book. they are available for order in the museum store and down the colonnade. the first question. >> hi. mr. buchanan. the first four months of our -- over here on your right -- >> oh, i'm sorry. go ahead. >> i can't stop thinking during the first four months of our current administration about nixon's final speech the morning he resigned when he said things like, those that hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself. and also he said never be petty,

and he was telling people like monica crowley at the end up of his life, asking rhetorically, why did guy through the fire if others were not going to learn from my mistakes. are you afraid that the current president is doing things that is going to hand the same sort of enemies the proverbial sword so that is a nixon said to frost, they'll stick it in and twist if will relish? >> i think, yes. i think president trump has gotten the worst media i've seen of any candidate or president for the last, i'd says, 18 months of his campaign, and first four months of his presidency. there's no question about it, and the mood in washington, dc -- let me say this about all that. the things have have broken so far in termsf substance, this is no watergate. we don't have a singlcrime yet that has been alleged against

the president or his white house staff, and yet the mood in and he hostility and the animosity on the tv and the cable tv and the rest of it, are unlike anything i've seen. i think i was quoted in the press saying, don't know how you sustain this kind of intensity and hostility. only been four months. and you got 44 to go in his first term. so, i don't know how this is going to end but i don't know that it's going to end well for the country. i do think the president is in some danger now of losing the critical margins he has got in the house as people move away from him and the congress so he's unable to do what he wants to die. supported donald trump. run reason was, frankly, came outcome on the issues raised, border security, staying out of foreign wars, none of america's

business, new trade rankments whereby be don't have a 400 bin trade deficit with the chinese taking all these factories out of the country and jobs. he it's owl has to issues and i supported him, and i do think he has got some real problems, and i do thing, quite frankly there some -- how to he handled it. we didn't call the press names when we did it. we had a major speech two speeches, and move off it. president nixon, no doubt he thought he was getting terrible press but he contained himself and was very disciplined, and i don't see self-discipline is not the first phrase that comes to mind when i think of the president. yes. >> in the back row. >> hi.

i'm am a young individual and very much concerned about the massive immigration and i just want to make sure that what can we do for modify and repeal the 1965 immigration law that has drastically changed the country and had a huge impact in california and what's your thoughts about wall street? >> i worked in mr. nixon's office at the corner of wall and broad for three years. on the 1965 act, i will say, i was editorial writer in st. louis, and i don't recollect even taking a position on it, and i don't -- if you read lyndon johnson's memoirs, that act was enacted -- i don't think he mentions it in his memoirs. i looked it up one time and couldn't find it. i agree with you. this is one though issues i ran on in 1990, which was i fought

for other moratorium on all immigration, kept the numbers down to a certain level until we could assimilate and americanize and acclaim mate everybody who came. many million over those years, the way the folks that came from eastern and southern europe came in the 1890s to 1920s, and then you had a period of low immigration so that by the time you got up to 1960, 97% of us all spoke english and we all had the same culture, traditions, history, holidays. and to your point, to your point, i don't know that you could get that through if you talk about the '65 act i don't know you could get that through the congress of the united states right now. i don't know that all thank you republicans would go with it. i'm not sure president trump would go with it. but i understand and i do believe immigration and i read and write a great deal about

europe -- immigration is the great problem, the great problem i think of western civilization. [applause] >> could you tell us about what -- to your rex, mr. nixon thought that george wallace and how much he was inspired by wallace's success in getting white working class democrats to vote for him. >> are you talking about governor wallace? well, we were with nixon, the wallace -- wallacein' 1964 had come out of alabama and torn up the democratic primaries. he did tremendously well in quick then indiana and maryland. think he won a majority of the white vote in maryland, coming out as a governor, and started off as basically anti-civil rights laws and things being imposed on the south, and

wallace then in '68 ran as democrat, which meant he wasn't going to run as a third-party candidate in '68 but wallace's appeal no, doubt, he had an enormous appeal that nixon wreck need and it was pop list, and the longer wallace was around from 1964, '66, '68, the moe he added to his repertoire. talking about -- say i know some four-letter words, too. work and and soap and they is no doubt the votes wallace gone, the vote head wanted to get. what was best for us w to get wallace other of the race or have h lose the democratic nomination. in '68, governor wallace was

shot in maryland -- '72. i'm sorry. hi was leading the democratic party in votes in the primaries and won michigan and maryland the next day. so wallace was a powerful force but i think my only deal was that wallace was -- do not win a democratic nomination, and he could not win a general election, and if he got into a general election, as he did in '68, basically he siphoned off votes that would otherwise go to nixon. looked every the '72 election, wallace at one precinct where he got 173 votes, nixon got 172 of them. in other words they didn't go to george mcgovern, they came to us. their whole idea of the southern protestant strategy. you need to get wallace not to run. to do that as third-party candidate but as rising any higher he couldn't do it but in

a way nixon couldn't compete with him. he couldn't compete with him. in '68 we sent spiro agnew to the south, i went there with him because he competed very well in getting the votes, and frankly, there's a quote in my book from frank gannon where hundred -- lyndon johnson told mr. nixon on the trade inaugural, everybody wag praising mr. muskie and how good he did and johnson didn't think about muskie but helped news north carolina, tennessee, and states like that. >> question in the center. >> right here. you speak a lot about what president nixon inherited in vietnam. next monday's memorial day and i actually lost my dad in vietnam vietnam. looking back at hindsight there

are a couple of thing that president kennedy, president johnson or president nixon might have done to either change the outcome of the war or speed up the country's departure from vietnam? >> obviously since i was -- my brother was over there and since i was supporting the war from the very beginning, from the time i was in journalism school and jack kennedy put the 16,000 green berets? my view and -- wallace, george wallace in '68 wasn't all wrong when he said, his slogan was, win or get out. it wasn't always wrong. i think the united states of america, which had reduced the japanese empire to rubble, greatest empire asia had seen in four year, could have won the wore but what happen was the american establishment was broken on vietnam, it lost the will, it would not take the measures necessary to win the

war, and therefore, when president nixon came in, in '69 he decided we have to get out and the consequences -- you had to know the consequences could be bad. my view was -- president incomes nixon talked to me -- i talked to him after he left office, he says he should have done in '69 what he did '72, which was mine the harbor, and bomb hanoi, and unleash the power of the tutses win the war or break the north vietnamese, and i don't know why he didn't do that. don't know why -- of course, don't think you can blame president kennedy. he did put 16,000 in, but i think lyndon johnson raid athlete up to 500,000 troops. mcmaster, just read yesterday his book. he wrote a book about 20 years

ago, which he really blame this johnson -- president johnson, mcna player and the others -- mcnamara as the 0s as having behaved differ honorably in the war and not realizing the outcome. that's something that -- i would -- if you had a microphone, i'd like to hear you view because hi brother came back with a lot of people that knew what was going on. >> time for one question. >> go ahead. >> just as a reminder. >> what's your comment? [inaudible] question. >> i will say the president -- the cambodian thing was a success from the standpoint it cost a lot of people but the american casual -- casualties

from cambodia to kent state. they were losing guys at 200 to 300 a week. >> yes, we have time for one more question. nixon's white house wars are available for purchase in the colonnade and the book store and pat will sign books for you. our final question. >> it's an honor to ask you this question, pat. you have been my close idol since i was a kid mitchell question to you, sir, is how do we good about bringing younger millenials to our cause? thank you. [applause] >> you know, as they say on tv, that's a great question, which mean is need time to think of it. it is hard to say because i i really think the '60s was a time when a part significant

slice, small but a articulate slice of the donety through out the idea that animated the country its growth and through the generations, on culture, morality, issues of race, various things i can't -- and that ideology, if you will, that has spread and deepened to the point where we could win 49 united states in '84 been and 72. we can't do that anymore. the country is so change and the academic community is so changed and the school systems are so changed and the values are so changed, that it is very tough -- when you say win them over to our side. you mean over the republican party. the republican party is doing okay at the state and local level, exceedingly well, but i'm a believer that -- i'm a bit of a's miss 'tis if you- --

pessimist if you have read my books -- i'm a believer that things have changed are not going back, and if you're talking politically, what they call the blue wall, the 18 states and the district of columbia that before 2016 went democratic, and all the previous six elections, that is growing. the demographic include it is very difficult for me to see our the republican party at the national level has any great longevity, especially with the gentleman's question of continued mass immigration, which mostly comes now from third-world folks who depend heavily upon government, who don't understand the idea of the republicans about smaller government, less government programs. i remember when i was running in 1992, i was in a gym working out and this hispanic-american said what are you going to do for education? i said education by and large is a local state responsibility.

and the federal got only spends that six or seven cents of every education dollar so you need to focus on state and local. he said-what are you going to do for education? because that's what i care about. wants the federal got to do it. and i think republicans have a very difficult time reaching these folks. no question about that. [inaudible question] >> fox has got some problems these days, though. [laughter] [inaudible] >> look, i went to journalism school in 1962, and there's time -- coleman university, top journalism school in the country . [inaudible] -- the goldwater

folks. thank you very minute. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> book of asked members memberf congress what they're read. >> what's on your bookshelf. >> a read a lot about the future of the gig economy, and i'm doing more of my reading unfortunately just because of