better in a chaotic world and then 9:00 p.m., best-selling author james patterson and former president bill clinton discusses their thriller, their presidents daughter about the abduction of a former u.s. president's daughter by terrorists. watch american history tv every saturday booktv every sunday on c-span2. ♪♪ next, book tvs monthly in-depth program with best-selling author and historian, craig charlie, december 1941 and most recently, mary ball washington, the untold story of george washington's mother. >> author craig shirley, you bring forth biographies of ronald reagan, how did you divide them up. >> interesting question, they were divided up by chapters, mostly a political the first

book was reagan's revolution and i was about 1976 to gerald ford in which herd narrowly want lost by just a few in 1976 the next book was about the 19 '80s campaign that took four years to complete. another book called last act about reagan's postelection years, nobody has everut done le that and what he did, there's a lot of living that went on, 13 years by the time he left until he passed away, he flew hot air balloons did a lot of things long before he was with alzheimer's and then i finally did another book on reagan about

reagan rising, the. when 1976 and 1980 it was an important time for the conservative move in american politics about the panama canal treaty fight and raising is an issue, tax raising is an issue, all sorts of issues and at the time, so he was advocating a certain view of government and the conservatives were pushing back and had a different view of government so it's an interesting time for the i american conservative movement led mostly by ronald reagan who definitely was on a panama canal treaty in 1980 nomination so now i'm working on two more books on

reagan including his real true ideology andru another one reagan's skill negotiator, under valued and that were under appreciated so he was skillful his whole life and all his life he was underappreciated in many regards as a negotiator but it's been a fun ride there are a number of good reagan stories, i'm proud to be amongst the ranks. >> what you mean when you talk about his real ideology the new book you have coming out? >> that's a good question. he was never as conservative avenues conservatives wanted him

to be. there's much more pragmatic and temperate in his outlook on the world than a lot of conservatives wanted him to be. there's a great warrior who negotiated treaties, the elimination of thousands of nuclear warheads, he ran on the missile cap in 1980, his campaign behind the soviet we need, we need to catch up to the negotiating table and agree to reduce nuclear arms and it only took eight years before we saw the winning of the cold war.

>> craig charlie in your book, last back to you talk about emerging legacy, what does that mean?an >> that's interesting because in webster's dictionary, there is not a bomb it is him, there is not bush is him or trump is a but there is paganism -- a separate distinct and individual ideology itself, a hybrid between libertarian, conservative is and other elements that go into it, his own philosophy and he enacted much of it when he was president, not all of them but he had a different view of the world and most politicians did at the time or do now and there

is nobody's shadow cast more over the public and party than ronald reagan, he is the uber leader or even abraham lincoln as the icon of the republican party. >> some argued ronald reagan newt gingrich you also have written about and donald trump are the outside figures of the modern republican party, would you agree with that? >> absolutely agree with that, they certainly are. enrich the revolution of 1984, trump and his populace revolution four years ago, all of them represent different periods and times and

philosophies, this ideologies going back to abraham lincoln and down through the ages. >> so when did you first meet ronald reagan? >> i first met ronald reagan in 1970 working on a campaign new hampshire, considered by everyone longshot and ended up winning by 6000 votes and reagan came up to campaign for new hampshire so it was an important primary and reagan one new hampshire he came up to campaign and the gentleman for thompson

he came in to new hampshire hotel and film commercials and i was there the lobby he was accompanied by 28 so governor reagan and i sat there and the lobby complete all of this man and had been for many years and he was completely relaxed and friendly, we talked about high school and college sports and the weather, we didn't like it. utterly charming and kind and here i was this 21-year-old kid talk into national leader of american conservativism at the time and a republican nomination here is nothing but kindness and generosity of spirit those are

the memories i carry with me the rest of my life. >> you talk about how you sat down in this hotel lobby and chatted with him about presidency, office and the phons were hooked up correctly. >> was the story by president reagan's chief of staff in post- presidency, they had rented office space, former president reagan century city ironically the movie was still showing a terrorist disaster, office was chosen where this had happened but it was high the building the office was being assembled and

the reagan's were not -- reagan was not supposed to be an office for several weeks or months he had his own pass in bel air and lots of their. he showed up in the office that day and said here i am, what am i supposed to do? he ran around with cardboard boxes and set them up in the officeff and a pad of paper and they thought he would be okay for a short time but the phones were used incorrectly so they were going to reception desk, they were going to the office for the president was and he would answer, joe blow political

and want to be with the president and reagan provided gun he came out a couple of hours later and said these people want -- they took him back so when everybody he wrote down was called back and got their pitching taken with ronald reagan except for this one fellow result -- after he was on the list, he wanted to come back and bring a neighbor and the president said no just want. that's enough so came back a second time. >> what are the top line things in your view ronald reagan accomplished as governor of california for eightac years and as president for eight e years? >> he went to sacramento i

thought he would do a lot more than he actually did in his first several years and he started to address the government more diligently and was able, he enacted a huge tax rebate at the time in 1970 something like $500 million, an astronomical amount of money at the time it had to deal with campus unrest in the 60s and the antiwar protest going on in berkeley and other campuses, one story there perhaps from reagan was at a college campus and it was hippie time and it said make love at work he turned into an

eight said i don't think you could do that either so he had back to deal with, he had to try to reorganize government and he did, was a successful, same at the time from a california in itself, just one state alone but he reformed welfare, police protection was fronted to a greater degree and felt successfully campus unrest, they were listening to their concerns at that he could actually do anything about it but it meant a lot, he would talk to people and that's one thing he did do, it

would show students asked governor reagan his weekly television show and he would answer the questions is unheard of at the time, he became able to handle all their questions so even the los angeles times when reagan left but they acknowledged reagan saved him from bankruptcy, when he became governor, a 1 million-dollar a day to visit increasing by 1 million a day he turned around eightrn years a surplus and savd estate from bankruptcy president

was exactly what he said he would do when hein ran in 1980,e would defeat the communist, inflation and turn around the economy and restore america and he did allll of those things, he defeated communism and the wonderful work, when he was running in 1980, interest rates were something like 18%, inflation was almost high, the value of the dollar was worth today what it was yesterday. it was devastating to pupils savings especially to the citizens so he turned around the economy and created jobs and when he left office, inflation was i think .7% when he left in january and he restored american morale the proof is in the

pudding. his approval sadie, all americans were something like 73%. when he left office in january that year, it was higher even then when fdr passed away in april 1945. it was a long time and still working hard by the american people with washington, lincoln. >> one of the critiques of the reagan's presidency he spent a lot of time talking about deficit they grew under the stewardship. >> he later wrote in his amemoirs, one was deficit and e

other was torture, he would do for about a particular camp is the deficit is expendable we now know as the peace dividend, necessary to build up america's defenses, action couple years since richard nixon's time in the presidency, jimmy carter and slashed the national defense so in 1980 week for flying airplanes that were 50 years old and the soviets were perfecting their newest technology which is supersonic so it was rebuilt. what was his commitment because

it and have a stronger defense than everything else is, this was a deficit created by the defense buildup but millions of people behind iron and other third for countries and for russia itself then it was the price we repay to brief the millions of people. >> you talked about true ideology being more pragmatic than giving credit for, is not going to hurt his legacy among conservatives? >> i don't think so, i think his legacy is pretty well cemented among conservatives, his library

in california was the most is the presidential library, some part of the reagan library which is out of the way, it not like los angeles, simi valley is off the beaten path somewhere and get more people grow their than the kennedy library for the clinton library or the bush library, anything approaching that so he still remains this day very popular and successful. >> in march of this year, he wrote in newsmax that reagan was a populist have the articulation and intellect of the statement from reagan, like trumpnt rent t a time when many americans had grievances against the establishment. unlike trump, he made every talk

area optimistic and every speech uplifting, something trump could never do if his life depended on it. >> that is, i'm glad he reported that some of that is the central difference between trump and reagan. reagan was reelected and trump wasn't. second, reagan had tighter approval and third, most of trump's drive from ronald reagan, conservator judges or tax-cut not just stimulating the economy to expand personal freedom for the individual, there was a time in 1981 preceptor being swornde in, a group of conservatives said yes

they were creating jobs and it was extending virtual, he knew the power is finite, you can't put it here or there, and he wanted to go back to the time of the founders and framers and moved away from the national government and give them more power which was to give them more of their own money so that was a motivating force expanding the power of the individual, very committed. he looked at the speeches and how many times uses the words individual oror individuality or something other, this was the core of his philosophy, a small

respectful government claimed police force andt intelligence n this country and otherwise leave people alone that was his philosophy had become his philosophy in the 1940s and all over the 40s and 50s, i'd say 1982 and socialism added to his coalition with fiscal conservatism. >> it was 2017 your book 1976 and 1980 came out, i want to play video from 1976 in kansas city. >> if i could take a moment, i have an assignment of the other day, someone asked me to write a letter for a time is going to be opened in los angeles 100 years from now.

it sounded like an easy assignment they suggested i write something about the problems and issues of the day and i set out to do so writing down the coast of an automobile looking at the blue pacific and mounds on the other side and i couldn't help but wonder if there was born to be that beautiful 100 years from now. and as i went, but your own mind turned to that path, you're going to write to 100 people from yours or not, for they look back in appreciation insight thank god, post people in 1976 who headed up that freedom to cap us now 100 years later, free who kept our world from nuclear destruction? if we fail, they probably won't get to read the letter at all because they spoke of individual freedom and they won't be allowed to talk or read of it. this is our challenge and this is why here tonight, better than

we've ever done before we got to quit talking to each other and about each other go out and communicate to theco world thate may be fewer in numbers than we've ever been but we carry the message we must go forth from here united, determined but what a great general that a few years ago is true, there is no substitute for victory. f [cheering and applauding] >> what did you hear? >> it's interesting that speech is so important, reagan's political future. first of all, i wasn't there in 1976, it is now gone, destroyed

in a tornado years ago. i worked my way through college but she was working for the campaign and on board that might and she told me many times we talked about, she said it was the most thrilling appearance of her life to hear reagan give this speech but i wrote the book, i interviewed many people including a field director on the floor as well and he was standing next to a board supporter from florida and after reagan gave the speech, she muttered oh my god, we've nominated the wrong man. this was razor thin, 1000 -- for

the nomination and it was only by 50 to 60 delegates and reagan lost my 80 some so it was very slim, very narrow accusations hanky-panky in the new york delegation but it was pretty clean as far as i could tell, they called in life detectors and one police officer said the test came back positive -- or negative. he said it was the first time ever i've heard of him telling the truth but it's so important because not ironic, therefore newspaper articles and columns,

i remember newsweek reagan political career, 65 years old-around in 19688 and 76 and most people assumed but he gave this speech and what is interestingre is he was out campaigning for delegates across the nation, press conferences and endorsements and fundraisers things like that and everywhere he went, police officers and captains and flight attendants, everybody came up to him and said you've just got to do it one more time, run it one more

time back i think convinced him to try one more time and he wasn't writer try, that was probably it for him but there was one time was on an airplane to greet people coming on army people and the woman came on and she said just one more time sitting next to him years ago i interviewed him and he told me the story. he turned to mike at the time and said i guess i better two or more time, i guess i better go so it was that speech. which is interesting because it mentions in this nominee who is

the last speaker of the night but this might the city, it was ronald reagan in a last-minute idea reagan was not supposed to speak to his audience, he only came by but fort knew he was the president or head of the fractured party so it was last-minute, they encouraged reagan to come down from reagan interviews them and one interview in the sky box, reagan says no but all of a sudden 17000 people told him to come down to the stage, we walked

reagan, we want ron, we want ron slowly and reluctantly leaves and goes back down and it's not a teleprompter, can you imagine on three networks before these people that type of home run talk, there is a great review and it writes out america in a matter of minutes and it tells you who is on reagan's side and mike also told me he made his way down the podium and says the governor said to him what you think i should say?

and he said governor, you will think of something. >> ronald reagan went on to win the election in 1980 and 84. 1014 electoral votes and 62 total for jimmy carter and walter mondale in those elections. good afternoon and welcome to book tv on c-span2, this is our monthly in-depth program one author and we look at his or her entire body of work. craig shirley is ourev cast, hes written seven books from we talked about reagan books including reagan's revolution, his first one by came out in zero five, rendezvous with destiny him out in zero nine. then he switched topics to 194131 days changed america and will be talking about that as well. last act, final here's in the emergency legacy came out in 2015.

megan bryson, 76 to 80 came out in 2017 and citizen news, the making of a reagan conservative also came out in 2017 and filing his most recent book is on mary ball washington, the untold story of george washington's mother that came out 2019 and we will be discussing that as well. this is angr interactive program and we want to hear your voices and here is how you can participate in this program with craig shirley and paul number one. for those of i you in the mountn and pacific time zones 2027488201 if you can't get through on the phone line and want to participate, you can do it a variety of ways. number one via text if this number is only protects include your first name and city if you would. 2027488900 -- three and we will

look at comments on our facebook page, twitter page, instagram. just remember that book tv is our handle there and finally, you can e-mail book tv at c-span.org. we will be scrolling through all the numbers and ways of contacting us in a minute so you can participate and we will take your calls in a minute as well. in the midst i of writing biographies of ronald reagan, you switched to december 1941, what inspired that? >> i remember as a child, i was born in the 50s so obvious that i didn't remember world war ii but i had grandparents in every sunday afternoon after

church there's a dinner at one of my grandparents house and napkins and there wouldin be a g turkey or ham and they would have various relatives in the conversation turned, my grandpa would say about that before the war but sold after the war and they would talk about their exploits and expenses because world war ii was an actual expense, everybody sacrificed in part of the war effort. everyone had victory cards which was common for some, one third they become a one fourth of all vegetables grown in america for several years during world war

ii and my father was a boy scout and they use the boy scout to handout functional bars and restaurants and churches and other locations where people would gather, they would sink ships by bonds and other promotional ways and my grandfather tried to enlist three times and three times the draft board said you're 41 years old, you have dependents, not that desperate. after four or three times, my grandmother, both my grandmother's one to six machine guns and the other grandmother was a bombd inspector, i can't

even imagine what a bomb inspector were due at the time. my grandmother who was inspecting machine guns in new york, they would come down the assembly line and she would pick up one and set a gun taken of rent and fire it and set it down. i saw one time in the industry but everybody in my family including my uncle paid the ultimate sacrifice my father is too young or world war ii he says brother ronnie but there brother was a navy radio operator and killed in action in the pacific, shot a bomb in southeast asia and ironically was killed on his 21st birthday in 1945.

he became a cherished memory for all of us. the ration and meet ration to make oil for your brand so i always had this, there are many pearl harbor that i think orton prints bob is out 20 or 30 years ago, a terrific book december 7, 1941 but there was never a book done on the effect of december seventh on the civilian america have america changed literally overnight, literally overnight and how the war affected the national mood and behavior is

something after pearl harbor, fisher auto body parts stopped makingar cars. they ordered, they issued a proclamation on how many baby diapers you could use. stop making cars on the orders of this and started making the 24 and 25 bombers offered automated parts. they couldn't use then' governmt sent out a memo to regular operators you cannot those owners and operators for promotional purposes, they could

do that. broadcast this, they took trips quite literally and they would say what they couldn't say. they believed their nation was at risk of being threatened and they had to do this to you war so it is fascinating how homogenous our nation was in 1941 versus today. the only thing obviously is september 11 when they ran into the world trade center and the pentagon and are national unity

for a couple of weeks, months they soon felt bickering among themselves over unionke issues whereaswe we stayed unified as a nation starting december 7 state thatth way until 1945 when the japanese finally surrendered in world war ii. >> the book is divided by day december 1 through 31st, how prepared was united states december 1 before the major war and how muchh of a surprise to the american government was december 7? >> were not prepared at all we had just come within one month earlier of dissolving our standing army and i think it was

october 1941, the standing army which would have sent hundreds of thousands of homes at the time were not battle justice but were trained, we had these claims, who were not repaired for more at all. our government was interestingly enough and something we discovered, the fdr library i sent andrew was my head research on this book and he went to the library in upstate new york at fdr's home and he came across a memo written december 4, 1941, a 17 page memo on stamped on it

was top-secret. it was laying around gathering dust three days before the attack this memo in detail between the efforts and united states so he was going to assess them over the japanese attacked the philippines, indonesia and who i am and this memo was prepared three days before the attack and no action was taken with warning out to the field commanders december 6, 1941 but

was not the ships and planes to minimize the attacks and it should have been out but they weren't so the memo interestingly enough was unnoted until librarian new york methow was the economy, eight years of fdr at that time, but with the economic situation in america? >> it is a nuanced cancer, the new deal as an economic strategy was failure. on employment in 1933 was almost

the same as 1941 with the essence of the work. the new i deal was great because it gave people hope and that's important i but there was no future. they felt several things it was a mistake, one raised tariffs on imports coming into the united states fdr didn't cut taxes, there is this money and circulation the other thing, too, the new deal in my opinion was focused on production ahead of consumption to achieve growing economies you need

consumption. it's not enough to fill a car, you have to sello it and use it so gm or wherever could make all the cars they wantey and they d. but if people don't have the money to buy them it besides it and the economy through those many years until they add them when they really started to perk up because the british people were already waiting for him in world war ii and the nazis japanese in the pacific and they were consuming american products they were either borrowing or by or we were donating under programs like that so the

american economy owned the company because uber's producing things being consumed by the british people and after pearl harbor flew into mass production of and planes and guns stops and all but in everything was in the war effort, every sacrifice was part of, it was made by the american people. >> before we get to cause, it should be noted you are not a full-time offer last month. >> i wear many hats. i used to for many years i coached youth and high school i was going to finish up my life

as a college coach but i also own a small public relations firm here in virginia with many conservative foundations and think tanks and others in the firm, my partner this is now for 35 years, never missed a payroll and 35 years so i guess you could say business has made it. i'm also a farmer. >> let's hear from our callers now. we've discussed a little bit of american portableit history and world war ii history. michael is in florida.

>> you guys are always so amazing. reagan was so amazing because of his popularity, i think it was positive conservatism in my opinion, one of the democrats is the same us trump but trump is different and breaking -- i think it needs a more precise metaphor, a slushy precise temperature control otherwise it's solid or liquid and that is a not a good slushy. reagan has a sense of that. the balance between positivism, group interest and abundance versus fear, scarcity and self interest. right now in our current contest with trump, we are seeing the battle one versus the other and

what he had a sense of important, it needs temperature control. it seemedco engines used to blow up and created this think that was a governor, the covenant ish something which is our social content, neurobiology -- >> before we get to there, quickly, you are a fan of ronald ragan and not donald trump, correct? >> correct. >> thank you, let's hear from craig shirley. >> thank you for yourr call and your interest. i am in the same camp myself as a fan of reagan's and somebody who worked for reagan and admire reagan and donald trump about donald trump is not -- very good story to tell as president in the -- how he provided the economy and vaccinations and all

the other issues, deregulation. there are some issues i take issue with him and i take issue personal behaviors as far as what he said and comments he made it very presidential and that was the's legacy so it's still to be determined from a background roll before we address it but a detour in time or was it something more important? i tend to lean more important but in short nuanced content, i do think there is an evolution in the u.s. system reverted to the left and sometimes to the right and right now we got to the left ever since george w.

bush back in 1988 and his son and clinton barack obama and others, we have been moving to the left whereas we were moving to the right before that many times, there is this rhythm an american presidency, we go through periods of great presence and meant less great. presidents. his legacy is important and needs to be studied. i'm writing two more books on ragan, i just finished april 1945 in status companion book in 1941 and the reason i did this book, so much happens on this argument happens in april 1945, franklin roosevelt and at high

park of new york, adolph hitler committing suicide and being taken down by the mob, bloodied campaign and okinawa island which was the final staging before the invasion of japan. discovered.s our troops, soviets and americans are closing out of berlin, there are so many things that happened in these four weeks which is why i devote time to this next book. it comes up early next year. >> used in virginia. >> thank you so much for this wonderful program, it is interesting we are back and see a lot of things we aren't aware of and i would like to help mr.

shirley bring even more things out in a positive way. have a problem in the president president reagan library and the 5139 where proclaimed 1983 care and share day nonprofits do as much as they can to help the less fortunate so that is a positive message that needs to come out even more. i wanted to see if he could comment on two people, i received a letter from a friend of president reagan, charles quick who headed the information agency with the information i sent to him concerning the company of the future now back in the early 80s and one other

thing, roy : have a relationship, i believe charles with introduced him to president reagan but he was also donald trump's main mentor so i wanted to see if he knew much about those two gentlemen. >> charlie wick was a dear friend of the reagan's back to the hollywood days, he came up with many years and the framework, reagan not in europe but the other broadcast but they were very close and used to spend christmas together every year, missus reagan respond charlie wick and his wife and i think he was god product to at

least one of the reagan's children so they were close politically and geographically they worked their entire life. when you're president shaped a lot of people and a lot of people come away thinking the president is going to pick their fights listen to them, roy was important to joe mccarthy in the subcommittee investigating the sabotage in the u.s. government during the early 50s but roy was -- he was a self promoter and promoted, he made himself more important than ragan that

hehe was. his framework for how he runs the country and current the country in his worldview is already set so there's very little you can show that he had any influence, he simply met him once or twice, there were several letters i believe, memos in the reagan white house generated and nancy reagan and missus reagan and president reagan of new york and the analysis was to stay away from him as much as possible so his influence is outsized considering who ragan was and

who he listened to and whose advice he took. >> sylvester georgia, good afternoon. there on the tv. >> it's a wonderful program, thank you. two things from the first one, i lived on the street from a pearl harbor survivor decided the japanese submarine fat morning and the other thing i want to ask you, one of the books he wrote about reagan between 7680, itw remember ragan debating his fellow conservative about panama canal treaty and reagan international status in his home party. >> sure did. i'm sorry, go ahead. >> he is done. >> okay, the panama canal treaties in this country, everybody was talking about it in 1977 and 78.

the treaties first started going back when the panama was dark out under teddy roosevelt administration and panama canal was created. over the 70s 1960s and 70s we always have control and jurisdiction over the panama canal. ... sovereignty to the panamanian people but at the time it was being run by dictator >> but then there was a late

debate inside the republican party reagan was opposed to relinquishing with the treatiesns to the panamanians in 1978 for those in favor. other conservatives were in favor like john wayne and others but reagan was leading a national campaign against the treaties. and there was a national television and it gripped the nation for a long period of time and they only pass the senate there were two treaties by one vote.

so the jurisdiction over the panama can now or return to the panamanian people. reagan used it for maximum advantage to himself in the public eye and with millions of americans. and it really helped him i interviewed former president carter for my book rendezvous with destiny for the 80 campaign. voted for the panama canal treaties. and he fell as a result from voting for those treaties.

just after the vietnam war and watergate so the panama canal. and growing up with a were taught as a child. and albert schweitzer and to try and fail and then psychologically. and not an accomplished issue

but american imperialism but at a time when the soviet union was what that canal so they could easily move their fleets. it was a hott issue. and then with the panama all canal survivor. and that was a great sacrifice that they made. host: other survivor. one hour left with craig shirley.

we referenced william f buckley but i wanted to ask about him and milton friedman. it can't be measured and billed buckley was also a friend of nancy reagan and and

then to be underestimated in its role in the conservative movement beginning in the fifties and defining conservatism with the john burke society and other things like that as part of the american conservative movement. but also milton friedman and in economics. and as a national celebrity i remember pbs was economics and

then to inspire reagan policies. and then to help restart the economy as a means of adding dollars to the workplace. host: the reverend robert hyde from syracuse new york word is nancy reagan's role in what you think of karen's new biography of her? >> i have not read the book yet. i am anxious to read it. i am sure it's a very good book. she is a good reporter.

so what was nancy reagan's role? >> nancy reagan was invaluable. and wanted to be the best shoe salesman in the world she would have made sure he was the best shoe salesman if he want to be president so she did everything he should ond. - - he could. and was a traditionalist and elegant and beautiful. and also had a lot better antenna for detecting people who were using reagan for their benefit. and famously was involved in the church.

they were a true partnership it's one of the great romances of the white house history going back to georgia martha washington. some presidential controls were more strange than others. and then to be much more subtle and to be effective as a first lady not as eleanor roosevelt but mrs. reagan was wonderful to me over the years

i remember starting on my first book on the 76 campaign. i was having trouble at the reagan library. and she caught wind of it through mutual a friend of mine one of the president speechwriters. no book at ever been written on the 76 campaign. and then directed them in those had been sealed because they were not the priority and then to make that for my exclusive use for the 76 campaign. i will be forever indebted to mrs. reagan and to honor her

memory. host: the tv has covered her on the new biography we covered her at an event at the ronald reagan library. >> good show gentlemen. i am celebrate my 60th birthday today. i want to share a story that fda on - - fdo - - fdr queens the day of infamy. i remember him saying that he and one of his siblings were driving on the way and the bulletin came over the car radio the japanese had bombed

pearl harbor. my dad and aunt looked at each other thinking the same thing. their oldest brother was a chief petty officer based at pearl. a lot of things were going through their mind my grandparents did not have a radio so my dad and aunt decided not to say anything to them when they arrived. luckily my uncle called and it during that amount ofca time that they heard from him you can imagine what they went through as time went on shortly after that my grandparents of course got word the japanese bond pearl harbor that my uncle called and was in sick bay that day recovering from an appendectomy. think god he was saved. host: can you bring this to her wrap?

>>caller: so basically nationalism was running very good my friends my - - man's were in military camps and then my dad served in the marines my uncle in the navy my other and then army. it was time of being proud to be an american and i just want to say thatou mr. shirley, thank you for writing about world war ii because it was the greatest generation. >> thank you you and your family for your service i'm sure you have a lot of blue stars hanging in your windows and it was a time of great patriotism and sacrifice. every family sacrificed large or small are they had victory

gardens s to have taxes or bonds but everybody make some type of sacrifice in world war ii. it's a remarkable time which we will probably never see again in this country. host: an e-mail from mark. do you think carter would have been reelected over reagan if the iranian hostage rescue had exceeded in 1979 quick. >> that's good question. and i have delved into this in mind books and other writings. i talked to president carter about that. it's possible he might have

one for the release of the rescue hostages but on the other hand but eagle claw happened months before the election. and with the high inflation and highre interest rates and then toer blame the values so maybe have made the election closer as it was. host: boynton beach florida good afternoon.

>>caller. i just wantst to tell you a couple of little things and ask a question. by the way when i was six weeks old my father took me out of the bassinet to hear roosevelt declare war and then my father's three brothers subsequently served. one getting at least 14 metals. that mike question is about breckenridge. in april 1945 we found out about auschwitz and doc out. i heard that the state department heard about it the whole time goingng back into the thirties but they almost single-handedly from any information going to the newspapers. are you familiar with that story. >> thank you. and i salute your brothers and family for their commitment to the war.

he mentioned roosevelt. i don't thinknk it does him justice although the new deal hasn't not an economic failure but still a success and fdr's greatest success was in the defeat of the empire of japan and nazi germany. and winston churchill could literally save the world and saved europe and america from the axis powers. no amount of praise can be heaped on roosevelt for what he did in world war ii.

so there is no debate on world war ii. he is the reason we won world war ii. i've heard that story but there is no evidence to prove it. trying to remember auschwitz was first opened. i i think 1933 or 1935. the us state department or the government probably knew about these things but there is no paper trail and nobody i have interviewed talked about it. i had to rely on what was available to me at the time the trumanru administration documents the documents of newspapers and things like that. and that's when the other camps were discovered early

1945. so the subject of a very good book over when the united states actually knew about auschwitz. and why didn't it move to stop it earlier? host: in 2017 your book citizen new to. is newt gingrich a friend of yours? >> yes. i would consider him a friend. but it is an authorized biographyk and then to establish himself so one of the leading political figures in america today you have to

think long and hard for someone who had as much influence or debate over gingrich had. and with the social media comments and fox news we e-mail back once every couple weeks and he is cooperative in this book with unlimited access and to talk to him about the campaigns and with the contract with america and basically talk about everything and al gore.

so you have to go back to probably henry clay who was speaker of the house in 1820 defined a national political leader as these two gentlemen of henry clay and newt gingrich. so i think his place in history is assured. host: do youou think nancy pelosi has that same status today? >> as a woman, yes. she is not an idea factory the waning great on - - gingrich is or was but she understands power better than he does she has never been run out or

challenged as speaker. and certainly from a political standpoint an admirable woman and has done much with her to ten years as speaker of the house. but didn't do the revolutionary things that newt gingrich did. and then to go after corruption left and right. much more so than anybody else did. they are similar and different. to understand power better and he understands ideology and movements. teeseventeen the atlantic

wrote about this about newt gingrich. for a few figures have done more than gingrich to lay the groundwork for trumps rise during the two decades in congress he pioneered a style of combat replete with name-calling conspiracy theories and obstructionism that poisoned america's political culture and plunged washington into permanent dysfunction. >> i reject that. add animosity for eons. when they really literally went to war to each other 600,000 men died as a result so it had to come to that and newt gingrich is not to blame for that. he is a tough fighter but he

was a firefighter. he knew corruption when he saw and defended people who needed defending his motives were mostly if not all. i talked to many people and i acknowledged him. and i came to the conclusion of a good man with criticism. and then to be a critic and because is envious and is opposed to the philosophies.

host: new jersey please go ahead with your question or comment. >>caller: it is customary for former presidents to give speeches. what do youaf look at now 30 years after the fact of ronald reagan taking one or $2 million for a couple of speeches in japan? was that an presidential or unseemly? host: do you think it was? >>caller: i really don't want to think about it seeing how other former presidents like the clintons have cashed in ons the presidency. but this one was the first i remembered in my lifetime. >> thank you. that's a good question. may be i would advise and maybe to take a lesser amount but he needed the money at the

time. i know that. the japanese were willing to pay it.ot so why not? but probably for momentary point in history is somewhat diminishes the luster of his legacy. but not completely that he is still regarded as one of the greatest presidents normally it is iran-contra when people raise the question of the presidency or his dealings his early hardline soviet union. normally those are the points made about reagan. but i understand your concern. it is valid. i don't have an answer to. maybe five had been there at the time i could advise him i may have advised him to do

something different. host: craig shirley, what is your take on iran-contra with ronald reagan? >> it was unusual arms for hostages which was illegal. but also the logan act with the individuals to be engaged in their own foreign policy. but oliver north lieutenant colonel who was out of control of therating out basement of the white house announced of what he was doing. there was a turnover in the chief of staff position from the supremely confident jim baker. down to don regan who is apparently incompetent and

then and then to serve the president of the united states but at the end reagan took responsibility himself and said it happened on my watch. the argument is over reagan knew about it or not. he said he didn't and hero in his diaries he was mad at oliver north are finding out he went to camp david to give him a briefing on this deal the logs did not show that he ever went there to brief ronald reagan. so the proof is on reagan side. but it is a black guy on his administration in the middle

east that really pulled on his heartstrings a lot. so nobody profited or made many it was wrong as a violation and reagan took his lumps. it is something that needs to be considered all the aspects because i remember at that time t in 1986 with his popularity is 65 percent approval in a matter of days because of the controversy over iran-contra and it was a

months long debate here in washington in the united wases before the matter cleared up. host: before we run out of time. we have a half-hour left we went to get to mary ball washington. your most recent book. you write mary washington was a woman who use the façade of motherly virtue to cover her desire to control her son in the same way he led a country to break away from the overbearing matron he had to struggle to find independence in hisif own life to step away from the power of his demanding mother. how are you able to discover that? >> through letters and extemporaneous accounts and the obvious truth someone

washington was 14 years old the economies were under british rule. he wanted to enlist in the british navy as a captain. so mary wrote a letter and it came back and said under no circumstances let george become a cabin boy. it would be treated terribly. it is a caste system and in the british navy that royalty was first and then the subjects and then there were other lesser people. and then american cabin boys.

including that one third of british cabin boys died at sea. washed overboard, killed in battle, cost groovy, many ways that and of course they were serving with some sailors with the bums. and just to go through the brothels and to grab men and they with them on the ships and train them to become seamen. so it would be a really rough crowd or a dangerous crowd. so in so doing, she said he would not become a british

cabin boy. she change the course of history with that decision and may have saved his life as well. so also changing theng course of history. host: what got you started on mary ball washington? >> two of my favorite presidentso are george washington and ronald reagan. i think they are fascinating individuals and they pursue many different careers in the military in politics. so after i discovered books written about washington it pretty well petered out.

but then to do a book about his mother nobody had ever wrote a book about mary ball washington before. i live on the middle peninsula of virginia. they heard they were thick of the - - thick as these down there there's a lot of history but mary herself died in her eighties a breast cancer. and just a couple years ago a descendentju who owned in antique store, she also died of breast cancer. and those 250 years to inflict this woman as well. she had an enormous influence on her son her entire life.

and how he is influenced by her. she was a single mother raising six children and what we don't know and then to hold the property for the deceased husband. and then to be strong and capable woman because she had to be strongab and capable. but especially for her as a single mother. so again she is somebody that

is fascinating. you cannot find out everything about her i was limited on what i could discover but what i couldn't discover is where she is very nobody knows where the mother of george washington is buried maybe meditation rock she's to go to a big outcropping of rocks she's to go there with her bible and think and meditate and she may have been buried there she may have been buried at her cottage. nobody knows. so i was limited in how much i could write about her because not everything is known about her like we know everything

about roosevelt's mother but we don't know. that about mary ball washington. host: go ahead with your question or comment. >>caller: i appreciate you being on today and your insight. on the t more personal level for president reagan he appreciated his staff and when a staffer would have a significant event in their life such ass a marriage or the birth of a child he would personalize something to the staffer. >> yes.

reagan had mixed and debatable relationship with the staff was son he was curious are personally involved but on the issue of marriages and birth of babies he was deeply involved in write them a letter bring them in the oval office for a photograph there was are zone of privacy around him and nancy reagan people cannot penetrate that this was a man who would write very tender letters to people when hehe was governor giving them donations. one famous letter when he was governor he would get a bunch of letters every morning. he got hundreds of letters the staff would pick five the hate

letters the love letters and the people in need letters. he read one from a woman in need out in indiana. raising the two children by herself and on a difficult time and he wrote her a letter back and sent her a check for $100. she couldn't believe it that the president of the united states would actually answer her letter and give her a check so she took it to the bank and they said yes this is the president signature. so later thehe next month it was balancing his checkbook and his desk in the oval office and noticed that this woman he donated the check to had not deposited the check. so the phone to the communications office and say

i knew this girl in fifth grade with brown hair get her on the phone and then five minutes later they have her name and address. they are famous for tracking down people they tracked her down and got on the phone and he asked her why and she said i'm sorry mr. president but i want to keep it as a souvenir. he said i will send you another check but don'tch cash both of them. so there were moments of great tenderness he way donate personal effects to the school so many times he showed affection and warmth ando kindness to people. the white house staff is big on things like that but one department he loved the most

was the speechwriting department. he probably had the best set of speechwriters in the history of america with the exception of ted sorensen who was kennedy speechwriter. he had a marvelous set and it wasn't just order takers but many think tank inside the white house and come up with ideas and suggestions like tear down this wall and things like that. and sometimes reagan would accept them and t sometimeses he wouldn't but he was involved in every last one of them. and he was very involved with them and of course they were very appreciative and loved ronald reagan. host: here is an e-mail from

margaret in dixon illinois. thank you mr. shirley for your extensive information on ronaldte reagan. i live in dixon illinois. the church he attended the still going, the school he attended his own museum. the public library has a large section on reagan i will check in there for your book. i once lived in his home before it became a historic site. >> isn't that aow wonderful story? i have been there many times and attended his church several times. there are two statues of ronald reagan in dixon one on horseback down when he was a lifeguard saving 77 lives so

it is very important for the legacy is also important to remember he moved around many times his father was a shoe salesman and an alcoholic and took jobs in many locations including chicago and dixon and other places in and around western illinois. this is important but there are a number of homes he lived in he lived by your rica college and that he once joked to serve food in a women's sorority that it's the best job he ever had. host: a text from anastas, can

you comment on the importance on the radio show reagan did between 76 and 80 and goes on to say i heard president reagan speak and 75. it changed me. it felt like he spoke only to me. >> what a wonderful letter. i'm glad he talks about the commentary because that was i so important this was the era before cableth television you were limited with the informed communication but then you have local radio and syndicated radio and magazines and personal letters or spoken word but communication was much more limited in that era and makes it very important.

and he did over 1000 radio commentaries in his lifetime before his presidency. so five days a week so in the studio of west los angeles at the corner of hollywood and vine and he wrote many of them. somewhere written by pat buchanan or peter but he wrote the vast majority of them until published about the radio commentaries and they were syndicated on hundreds of radio stations around the country including in syracuse and then ofhe course millions of

people and his ability to mobilize to seek the presidency one more time. and those who listen to reagan andme became reaganites after his comments. host: st. paul minnesota. >>caller. >> president biden indicated trickle-down economics has never worked. i am curious to mr. shirley's take on the comment and the economic legacy of president reagan in general. >> thank you for that question. i'm glad you brought it up. i heard that in his speech. and of course it is nonsense. never was trickle-down

economics is giving people back their own money it was an unfortunate comment and phrase that was created by david stockman who was then reagan's director whon later resigned and remains with the stain on his recordd today. it is a false argument it is a waste of time to engage but reagan created 19 million new jobs. but the proof is in the pudding as they say. and then from 1981 through

1989. >> we have great presidents and bad presidents. at the moment we are stuck with joe biden who will just be mediocre. my hopes are not even at high to be honest. >> that may be a little bit rougher. [laughter] and then to have a true fundamental belief to solve people's problems. to accept the nomination in 1986 if you don't trust me then trust yourself. and one is the party of the individual and that people are

inherently to solve their own problems so that is the summation. and that is in the context of what reagan did. >> barbara please go ahead with your question or comment. i have a comment and i cannot believe that you sat there and said nobody had money off the iran-contrao affair. there is no way for you to make that statement the cia everybody that they knew all

of the politicians that were paid to look the other way and then the military-industrial compact complex that runs the world which is why it was done and had it done and then you say reagan paid the price politically? big deal. he should have gone to prison. >> i think we should put barbara down as undecided. host: new york hello. >>caller: mr. shirley over the years i have heard rumors and suspicions when president reagan was running for office against jimmy carter he had the representative in a when talking to the iranian leaders not to release the hostages

because it would aid him and election time i wondered if that was true if you could shed some light. >> there is no evidence written the last names summed up his book and said the representatives of the ayatollah to keep the hostages in iran during the 1980 campaign that nothing could be further from the truth. george bush did not fly to paris france he was in the united states the wholeeh time no representatives on the reagan campaign or anyone from the military or cia that these are conspiracies that are just

made up and i interviewed bruce langdon and from the book on the 80 campaign and he said the reason we were released for the inauguration of reagan that they were terrified and then pushing each other around it didn't feel they could push reagan around. and they were terrified reagan would take military action. and that is when they were released the hostages.

it is that simple reason and simple fact. host: for all in-depth authors we like tons ask what they are reading. here are the responses from craig shirley including mark twain, also lonesome dove. currently he is reading and of days. think and grow rich. franklin winston and one minute to midnight. a lot of history titles but what stood out to me one is think and grow rich. what is that about quick. >> that book is been around 100 years.

my grandmother first turned me onto it as a young boy. it is similar to other motivational books with the power of positive thinking by norman vincent peel. have how you achieve success. and to social means and cultural means and then just to re-energize every couple years and i have for a couple years now and for many years whenever i hired a new person at my pr firm i gave them a copy of think and grow rich because it wasau so much useful information. host: you are also rereading

cs lewis? >> i love him. he proved you can be spiritual and libertarian. it teaches about what he teaches how to ruin people's lives and things to avoid and know about. so to have those boxing matches to hand a fire hose what is going on and what to embrace and is a good spiritual andri practical book.

host: please go ahead color. >>caller: so what was your thoughts on the reagan documentary of a few months ago did you think it was accurate? host: what we are thoughts? >> it was interesting because watching like american experience but this was a little more in depth because as the reagan next period was it accurate quick. >> it was not accurate it was a mess. it was w made by a man who used to work for michael dukakis i

was not approach by doing an interview because he knew i would not cooperate in the way he wanted the one person who did cooperate later tolde me he was duped that was selectively edited. another liberal attempt unfortunately to dispatch the reagan legacy. much better treatment of reagan's life is a movie coming out for release in the next several months it is called reagan i know the producer and he is using several reagan books it is not a documentary and several

well-known actors are in it as well so i think it would be a much more accurate portrayal of reagan's life and career that was documented. >> so when you say that producers is a straight up guy is that coming from a conservative point of view quick. >> socially but not politically but i have known him over many years and many years has been working on this movie i have been on several political panels but there is noe' agenda. and those documentaries have been anti- reagan the few that are pro- reagan so i will not

be happy with it but i believe it will be an actual accounting. >> we have heard over the media and donald trump did ronald reagan face a hostile media? >> yes. the "washington post" it is despicable. and i believe every democrat running since adelaide stephenson since 1952 is that the newspaper coverage was heinous toward reagan on - - toward reagan three networks were very rough on reagan all

three years. that's why houston use the phrase. and then to support the tax cuts. things like that. the white house staff knew he can get a fair shake in the media. . . . . >> where much more w respectful inside of the aisle than they are today. now that is hostile, cbs the washington post and new york times. which is why the media is around

the three networks, fox and one american news and examiner and the cspan and other broadcast outlets. where people who are on the right feel like they get a chance to tell the view without being filtered or censored. >> crazy author for biographies on ronald reagan a couple more in the works and is written about world war ii and another one in the works and is also written about newt gingrich and mary ball washington, the mother of george washington.n. he's been ang guest on in-depthi want to for the past two hours and thank you. >> thank you very much peter. >> weekends on "c-span2" intellectual, every saturday to

be documents america's story and unscented book tv bring to the latest nonfiction books and authors. "c-span2" comes from the television companies and more including comcast. >> comcast is creating wi-fi enabled with low income families can get the things that they need to be ready for anything pretty competent cast along with these television companies sports "c-span2" is a public service. >> the secret service was founded in the aftermath of the assassination of abraham lincoln and it wasn't until the death of john f. kennedy that the presidential production services began to get closer attention from the american people. and began reporting on the secret service for the washington post and 2012, and prolonged of article, zero fail, she writes that she started her

coverage, the scandal in which agents brought prostitutes to the hotel protocol making arrangements for president obama to visit columbia and we talk with her about her in-depth look in the book, subtitled the rise and fall of the secret service. >> on this episode of - listen at cspan.org or whatever you get your podcasts. [inaudible]. >> wilson center president jane harman has written a book called "insanity defense" and she argues the past administration has failed to confront some of the most challenging national security issues and offered some recommendations to make the u.s. veteran future and she's interviewed by janet napolitano former homeland secretary during the obama administration printed and this is former democratic california congresswoman and wilson center president emerita.