fresh water. >> today americans are drowning in overly debated issues such as immigration, medicare, terrorism, leaked e-mails. although these are important topics, the issue that will effect the most americans is the issue of the 1%. >> 1%. >> 1%. >> 1%. >> 1%. >> not that 1%. this 1%, the shining blue jewel of the united states, the great lakes. >> truly one of the unique resources in the world. the largest freshwater resource of the world. there is nothing like it. >> our student cam first prize winners from our high school west category are from phoenix, arizona. their documentary is titled "rethinking reform: prisons in america." >> the prison systems around the

united states have changed radically in the last 20 to 30 years, but let me address arizona. 20 years ago our prison population was about 20,000 people. now our state prison system is over 40,000. the composition of the prison population has also dramatically changed. >> finally, our fan favorite was selected through your online voting. we are happy to announce the winners who will receive an additional $500 our first rise winners for high school east category, 10th graders from montgomery blair high school. the documentary is entitled "driving forward." it tackles the topic of highway and bridge funding. >> americans love moving around. we love fast cars, big trucks, road trips, horsepower, and 70 mile per hour speed limits.

we drive further and have more cars than any other country in the world. for all our love of what we drive, we tend to take what we drive on for granted. america's 2 million miles of roads and 600,000 bridges are aging, congested, and often dangerous. >> thanks to all the students and teachers who competed this year, and congratulations to all of our winners. the top 21 winning entries will air on c-span starting in april. all the winning entries are available for viewing online at studentcam.org. ♪ >> up next, west point history instructor captain benjamin thefin talks about influence tom clancy and ronald reagan had on one another in the 1980's as the cold war between the united states and the soviet union moved to the forefront.

this is one hours and 40 minutes. >> now, let me introduce than griffin, who graduated from the united states's military academy in 2006. he served as a squadron intelligence from 2007 2008, and as an assistant for grade intelligence officer in iraq in 2011. he is assigned to the academy of history, and his awards and decorations include the bronze star, the oakley cluster -- oakleaf cluster, and the unit accommodation. he is currently working on a dissertation at the university of texas at austin that explores the role of tom clancy not -- novels on the security policy from a reagan.

he holds a bachelor of science in united states history, a master of the arts degree from the university of arizona, and a mastery of history from the university of texas. he resides in west point, new york, with his wife and two children. please welcome than griffin. -- ben griffin. [applause] mr. griffin: thank you for the kind opportunity to speak here. i know it is friday in new york, so there are plenty of things that you can do. the fact that you came to listen to me personally means a lot. note that everything i say tonight is my own opinion.

it is not necessarily reflective of the opinion of the united its military academy. there is kind of this fetishization of the military here, so we will get to that as well. as air force one was traveling toward reykjavik, ronald reagan decided to take a break to move back and socialize with his staff. talking about things like missile numbers, he topped -- talked to his staff about a new thriller, "red storm rising." he read the book on its release

and used it as research for his summit with mikhail gorbachev. a lot of people who read that took it as a joke. how could the president using this work of fiction as research for a serious topic? arms control. with the head of the united states's enemy, the soviet union. but many of the stores contain more than a small amount of truth. "red storm rising" perfectly encapsulated how ronald reagan viewed the cold war strategy and why he believes we would prevail. -- believed we would prevail. it is kind of a personal wargame, and the conclusions he drew from it would impact the upcoming negotiations with gorbachev. it would lead to a greater willingness to reduce nuclear weapons, but not -- and not to give up the freedom defense initiative, star wars.

perhaps more than other presidents, he understood that fictional narratives have power in the policy world, and would often explicitly went public actions in policy to popular culture. i am often going to mention west point in the speech, so we will start with this. he had given a speech at graduation, and talked to the widespread respect people were expensing for the united states military. he talked about how they had shortchanged the military. and the lingering resentment of those in uniform. he was to be compliments of his young administration, and noted the rising quality of those coming to the military.

in particular, he noted the large pay raise. that is not the entire explanation for why we are seeing a higher quality of soldiers join. he said there was a new spirit in the land. the unequivocal language of his first major foreign-policy piece shows the shaping of narratives was critical. the secretary of defense shows how conscious the choice of link which was in his work. weinberg wrote the president of the speech needed to increase the appreciation and honor american people felt for the uniformed services, which was a matter they had discussed before. a telling paragraph shows the nations lack of respect is a national disgrace.

they singled out hollywood for criticism, saying that the anti-military message in hollywood was reprehensible. "dear hunter," "kent state," some well-received movies about the vietnam war that paint a less than positive, to be gentle, image of the military. it doesn't exactly pay much to american servicemembers. perhaps the largest concern he had was about alienating servicemembers, but it shows how strongly linked to these were in reagan's mind. this is a theme he would touch on in his farewell address.

in the 50's and 60's, people could get a sense of patriotism from popular culture. movies and television celebrated democratic values and reinforced the idea that television was special. reagan lamented that this is no longer true and and though the american spirit was back, he did a lottery institutionalized. films came out like "rambo," and "top gun," which dominated at the box office and were basically recruitment for the military. but there were films like "platoon," that indicated to reagan that there was a lot of work to do to cement a positive narrative with an culture. he recognized the linkage

between the cultural mood in the implementation of policy. it also played a role in how he approached policymaking, and use stories to indicate the shorthand for the policies he wanted to enact. tom reed recalls that during meetings, as they discussed the cold war strategy, the reference to gary cooper, from high noon it -- high noon. he wanted the u.s. to be a global marshall kane. once a conflict was done, he would walk away as the sunset in front of them. red storm rising convinced reagan that the u.s. did not necessarily have a need for

nuclear forces, because the u.s. could defeat the soviets in a straight up tank battle, a regular fight, without having to escalate weapons of mass destruction. reagan expressed in this connection explicitly to margaret thatcher, following reykjavik. thatcher was surprised and a little bit upset at reagan cost willingness to get rid of nuclear weapons. she was concerned about the imbalance, telling them that they cannot possibly eliminate the weapons. without that, europe becomes destabilized and nothing could keep in check soviet advance. reagan is dismissive of his friend, the prime minister's claims. he recommends that she go ahead and read read your rising, to understand -- and read "red storm rising," to understand. [laughter]

it provided a the president and his administration to test their strategic presence. mr. griffin: clancy was an unlucky person to serve as the official spokesperson for the reagan administration. his novels were characterized as summer between exponential and incredible. he would just have to settle with a book jacket with his name on it, something that a lot of people have had to settle for. but he defied the long odds and proved exceptional. behind his death, he would leave an estate value of $82 million and -- $82 million. he graduated from loyola college. he was denied an opportunity to join the military due to his vision. his co-author, larry bond, notes was nearly blind without his particularly thick glasses. he opted to work with his wife

at a small insurance company. a lifelong republican, he voted for reagan for out of the five times that he could, and the one time he did not was in 1980, where he cast a vote for george h.w. bush. he later asked for god's forgiveness, noting that nobody is perfect. he obviously strongly supported the policies of reagan. he once requested a signed photo of the president from william broomfield. he characterized clancy as a faithful republican, and the white house responded positively, in july of that year mailing him a signed photograph he had a long -- photograph. his proximity to annapolis proved advantageous. and he used this opportunity to build his knowledge about new procedures and capabilities when officer in particular, commander

gregory young, provided much of the assistance and technical detail the clancy's novels are famous for. he developed the tactical miniature game, harpoon, used by the military as a training. after playing the game, it was easier to train -- to explain the concepts in his books to anyone. he did not begin working on novels in earnest until 1982, planning red october as the middle book in a trilogy. he started working on a tree in 1982, having finished a draft of red october. he planned to three other novels, and the early draft of hunt for the red october within a nine-month period. from 1986 to 1989, he had a

bestseller every year on the new york times bestseller list. his first book past publication was unusual. hunt for the red october was the first original work of fiction that his press had ever released. prior, the best-known book from then was the blue jacket manual, given to all male recruits since 1902. that request came to their attention by hand delivering a letter to the editor, which they delivered in their letter, perspective. this is the first time clancy received compensation for anything he had written. he was very lucky with his timing, because we had just been decided, to start publishing fiction as long as it was wet, or dealing with the navy. to offset the cost of publishing the book, the publishers sold

the paperback rights to berkley books for $35,000, something the clancy's editor said was decent, but not great for a first-time author. in july of 1984, it hit the shelves, a real career change for the 37-year-old insurance agent. they noted that "clancy reports the reader satisfactorily with a read it is great fun." "they make the world of soviet submarines approachable." but, they lamented the "cardboard" characters. it was the first round of 16,000 books that was sold out by november. it did well in washington, d.c., making the local bestseller list.

it still seems to have in each audience, and certainly wasn't on the path to international superstardom, which would change when reagan intervened. a close advisor once told them that they viewed books as friends. reagan devoured the novel, reading one third of it on christmas day and finishing the rest soon after. his identification with the novel goes with his conceit that his books were personal treasures, because reagan rarely talked about the books that he read. it was strange that he talked so much about red october. he would call the book, "not put down-able." his endorsement greatly influenced sales. clancy got word that the first paperback run would be 850,000 total copies.

time magazine hill the book as a gripping narrative, and gushed over the high level officials that endorsed the book. be noted that the soviet embassy was buying several copies of the book, hinting that it was obviously destined for moscow, where it would be gleaned for intelligence secrets. there was enough buzz around the book for clancy to appear on good morning america. now as a rising star in the publishing world, he met the man who would define his trajectory, as you see in this picture. so clancy prepared to meet the president. he describes stepping over the threshold directly into "munchkin land." drug by reagan, -- instantly struck by reagan he says that , the charisma and personality

of reagan work an order of magnitude over what he expected. he said he could, "charm the pants off of a cobra." he inquired about his next book, and clancy responded that it would be about world war iii. reagan asked to win, and he said, "the good guys." reagan had to then go out to lunch with henry kissinger. [laughter] mr. griffin: he recalls that of reagan could not charge -- charm "garbagechov" that he felt -- clancy discussed the book with john lehman, who confided that his response upon reading the novel was to ask him "who the hell did this?" robert mary, at the time working for the wall street journal, recalls a lively discussion

between clancy and the navy secretary. clancy would note the discussion also had to do with the fbi. gerald stonecroft indicated that he could win a nuclear war, something the clancy did not bite into. despite being in clancy's words a rather -- dovish fellow, -- as well as the director of the u.s. for agency, charles wick, who would later use a letter as an excuse to try and get more funding for the program, noting reagan's love for the author. there was a growing regard for clancy was in washington, and he

established himself as an expert in national security. his other official visits the white house came a week later, for a ceremony of the arrival of the president of argentina and the state dinner in the evening. while awaiting the arrival of the present, he met guests including arnold schwarzenegger. clancy left the white house to prepare for dinner in the evening, and following dinner, clancy and his wife spoke briefly with nancy reagan. robert mcfarlane professed his love for "red october" and told clancy that it was absolutely nothing like the national security visor from the book. -- advisor from the book. clancy would not further elaborate. after watching the president and first lady dance, clancy and his wife made their exit, but not before approaching short snigger

-- about starring in a adaptation of "red october." clearly, he would have been very different from harrison ford. the photographer said everyone in the white house had seen that movie. he quickly became his biggest public support behind reagan himself. by 1985, they had approached weinberger about taking part in the series, which would have found world leaders talking about a book that deserved more attention. weinberger's secretary noted that he had it on good authority that his big boss, cross the river, loved it. he glowingly reviewed the book,

gaining considerable insights into the minds and motivations of terrorist's. they would make use of the reviews in the back, lending the impression -- so it is fairly remarkable that you have a sitting secretary of defense, taking time out to review works of fiction, as opposed to working on the budget are many issues that come with running an organization as large as the department of defense. what appeals to reagan is the strongest amongst the marshall will gain. like cain, ryan becomes protagonist of the novel, very reluctantly.

despite working for the cia, he apologizes for every deception, and it helped establish him as a character that puts what is necessary. in true marshall kane fashion, he does not see accolades for his work and declines in opportunity to go to the white house. instead, he immediately takes a plane to head home, with a gift for his daughter in hand to mark the completion of his original mission. this is the equivalent of marshall kane and amy walking away from town into the dusk. clancy clearly based his character on reagan. a lawyer rather than an actor, his present was a collegiate, earning convictions to the force of his sheer rigor.

he was recognized as ming blinded by a dazzling charm, that the president could turn on and off with the spotlight. it served as a predictor of the same power that clancy would feel walking into the white house and meeting reagan is the first time. even the soviets respect the president in red october. he further describes the president as a strange man, very open, but look i'll -- full of guile. friendly. but always ready to seize the advantage. this echoes future statement about breaking, including gorbachev's relevant that reagan kept talking concessions without getting much back. he characterizes the president as intelligent negotiator, who out maneuvers his opponents. this is an image you would confirm in his white house visit, and for reagan, the familiarity of the story made

the book -- one of those secret personal treasures. they do not explain why reagan chose to support the book so publicly. raising the profile of the author. clancy effectively capture two of the most important policy objectives reagan's first demonstration, making it something worth theirs to publicize. so, in his commencement address, he was talking about the widespread lack of respect in the u.s. military. but, just a few years later in his second term, a month after

meeting with nancy -- clancy, he delivers an address at the u.s. naval academy, which i'm forced into knowledge by the subject of my dissertation. his spirit is described as animating the land, and that we had gotten to a point where there was a new appreciation for the men and women in military service. in contrast to the post-vietnam era, americans could make decisions in a morally difficult environment. this was because not only was the military meeting its recruiting goals, but it was meeting higher on the recruits in the service. the character of the service was superior. increasing folly was essential. new and more powerful weapons give a strong moral compass to

employ their destructive potential. feelings personnel with the idea of cutting edge of technology, at the core of reagan's administration and the center of what most tom clancy novels are about. the military was not the only organization. in 1975, the church committee had investigated the repeated pattern -- visited the national security agency. the excesses of the institutions and was insular records of competence left many americans in doubt as their ability to perform the described functions, and like the military, the intelligence committee suffered from negative for trails, like "all the president's men," and books like "the bourne identity," depicted intelligence as willing to do anything, including her fellow americans. "the bourne supremacy," was the

follow-up to "the bourne identity." unlike the going crazy gave to the tom clancy, he is in credibly negative toward ludlum, saying he is ashamed of these common themes, because he was never thinking of, in a million years, of breaking the law, and it was such a shame that ludlum had to "go down that path." it was all negative review, largely because of the trail of intelligence services, countering with administration wanted to do with aquaculture. -- with popular culture. reagan saw to reverse the trend, and spoke in virginia in june, 1982. he wanted to betray the agency as working in a way that was

lawful and keeping with the traditions of our way of life. he told cia employees that it was his -- their wit and integrity upon which the fate of freedom rested for millions. the member, the cia were "heroes of a great twilight struggle." he expressed his own gratitude for the silent service, praising them for their character as the upholding countries freedom. clancy's characters fit into this narrative of competence, and self-sacrifice, that reagan established. the americans and the hunt for red october shared above average intelligence and virtue, and jack ryan, the protagonist, is a serviceman in the marine corps. after four years as a stockbroker, bending his own money and winning big, he

becomes bored with making money and begins his career at the cia. he was also a historian with published books on naval history, and in addition to incredible success, he is a strong family man, who enjoys a strong marriage to an excellent surgeon, and endearing -- young daughter. he is "the perfect image of family life and the mystic tranquility" that reagan would have wanted to point to. his virtue goes without question, and despite being a spy, he would rather be a soviet sub commander and risk deception. he has no ambitions of celebrity and receives no recognition for his work. only his physical appearance is unremarkable. he is taller than average, a little bit out of shape, and has been knighted by the queen of england for his role of exports it is speaking is mine to u.s. lords and a senior policymakers.

only the president is ever to overwhelm him. he is an impossible amount of information, all the ideals that reagan feels as someone should embody. his extreme intelligence and integrity would be enough to drop reagan's interests. as the president shows the fondness for heroes, the war novels, high noon and marshall kane. all of those things are very important. ryan is not the only character to show these traits. the u.s. have officers are his equals. he describes the u.s. commander is a gifted tactician and man of integrity. you are seeing the blending of the professional competence with high moral character. the cia director, who may have been modeled off of a real director has roots confidence.

clancy compares his intellect to the legendary admiral. he notes that greater was a far easier man to work for. the commander that finds his simmering is one of the youngest and shows the intelligence and instincts. equally important to the trail -- betrayal is the servicemen in the book. this shows the high-quality recruit reagan refers to at the west point naval academy. jones dropped out of the california institute of technology due to a prank gone wrong and it joined the navy to rehabilitate his name. he has an iq of 158.

he is extremely confident on his equipment, and also capable of making important decisions and plays a decisive role in locating the october. by having jones'confidence, every tiny space to the soviets, they are shocked that a u.s. enlisted soldier can make decisions. this is supposed to highlight the difference between the americans and are trusting of the privates and sergeants, where the soviets only trust the officers. the fbi receives positive attention in the novel. they exposed the role of the staff officer. this apparatus has been put in place in wake of the church committee. by inspecting these counterintelligence efforts, they are found successful.

director of the fbi and cia negotiate without and promise not to prosecute and embarrass him politically if the senator agrees to resign later on. they strike a double blow. they are able to turn an important soviet asset, monitoring and oversight in this establishment in wake of the church committee. the characters are unapologetically archetypes. this suits better as a fable. the simplistic design does not escape the notion of the viewers. the wall street journal says it is too good to be true and that everyone is a character. -- caricature. americans in the books are uniformly intelligent, imaginative, capable and discipline, however, he gets the book a positive review and calling it,"great fun." however, reagan's love of the

book rested on the simplicity of design. a historian notes, clancy's work simple fight the cold war into themes that were digestible. this was ready-made for consumption by a large cover americans. this is similar to the role reagan experienced in the 1950's. the historian talks about him was serving as a paraphrase are for the presidents early cold war policies. he introduces americans to the b-52 bomber and talks about the virtue and heroism, boasting support for a war as it is starting to decline in america. clancy feels the--fills the same role.

the novelist helps reagan envision the presence -- present in your future vision of the military. clancy's next novel "red storm rising." it is about a third world war, begun by the soviet, of course. after a terror attack cripples the soviet energy industry, they are forced to attack. as clancy promised, the good guys win, but that is not why the book appealed to reagan. the appeal comes from the fact that there are four major plot lines that matched his vision. this is both in the conduct in results. the convoy operations in the north atlantic and the soviet

conquest of iceland. the soviets are tremendously successful, pushing into west germany and seizing iceland. the narrative centers on the u.s. naval as they try to gain resources to turn back the soviet type. nato was able to establish stalemate in germany, getting enough time for reinforcements from the united states. the scope of the book and use of multiple protagonists, allow clancy to examine how modern warfare would look like. a look at the strength and weaknesses of both sides. it is a world war iii scene in which the united states wins. as the book approaches its climax, the soviet rings about the use of nuclear weapons.

this leads to a coup. taking control of the government and ultimately ending the war. clancy constructed the narrative intentionally. earlier in the book, a circuit cop laments that the money could be used to kill 10 times over. the commander of soviet forces views the secretary as crazy and mad. it is also noted that the u.s. never discussed and employment nuclear weapons. this is because the technical advantage they enjoyed, serves the same purpose, nonnuclear talents enough forces. the importance of nuclear

weapons is important to reagan's own view of nuclear weapons. he reacted strongly to the bombing of japan at the end of world war ii. the international use of nuclear weapons. warner bros. said, if you like your contract you will not read this poem and reagan did like his contract so he opted not to read the poem. as he became more politically active, he discussed policy. in 1968, he compared nuclear destruction to two westerners staring at us alone, aiming their guns at each other's heads permanently. you can see the western metaphor make its reappearance. the situation would leave policy option.

he said it would be a toxic geopolitical standoff. in december of 1981, he referred to the weapons as the last epidemic of mankind. he argued that a nuclear war must never be fought, and it promising to pursue one of the arms programs, a tv movie on the nuclear war affects on a kansas town, saw to it that there was never a nuclear war. the only way to be safe from an attack would be to protect those most vulnerable. the willingness to share the technological breakthrough with the soviets harkens back to his earlier desire for the internationalization and is disdain for nuclear weapons, regardless of who has them.

for many, reagan's defense policy seemed to contradict any notion that he thought to -- saw to limit nuclear weapons. the administration launched a five-point program. this was to relaunch the b-1 program, modernize welfare force, improve the missile launch by submarines and strengthening western control systems. the result of this program in 1985, u.s. to their forces were more lethal and technically advanced than any point in american history. the focus on modernization shows a strong contrast. creating a tantalizing narrative of the issue. the tone is a little less sharp

on how to achieve peace. reagan views military strength as essential to establishing peace, and established a strong east and west military balance. reagan as national security advisers created a stark gap between the u.s. and the soviet union. the overwhelming growth of soviet forces has given, indicative of a critical balance of strength. reagan felt the continuation of the policy would only weekend the u.s. and assure soviet gains. in a radio address, he describes it as the way a farmer feels about as turkey before thanksgiving. he wanted to demonstrate an equal resolve and strength.

he wanted to make sure he was negotiating on april terms of the associate without marking on any significant production of arms. ultimately, his strong stance came at odds with many of the leading voices in public policy at the pentagon. many in the pentagon claimed a nuclear war was still winable. the joint chiefs almost immediately approached reagan, arguing against the elimination of nuclear weapons entirely. they said it was inadequate, and that bringing it up to par what involve tens of billions of dollars over a time of at least a decade. the army chief of staff expressed resignation. there were doubts that they would be able to put the manpower or budget to bring up

the forces. john poindexter, the national security divisor -- advisor, wrote to reagan that this would turn the u.s. situation into the 1950's, leaving only a chance of stopping rather than a strong deterrent. others lineup with the attack stance as well. richard nixon as is -- and his secretary of state henry kissinger said it would reopen the gaps to conventional attacks through the inability for the u.s. to provide special power to match that of the soviet. the national security visor president ford said it would lead to absolute disaster. not only opposition coming to the right, on the same issue, chairman of the house armed

service committee, argued it would take another 10 divisions to make the framework. beyond united states, nato allies expressed genuine concern about what a nonnuclear united states would mean for their security. european stations were amazed at the sweeping nation that feared the united states may depart from europe. this brought swift in uniform criticism. without the nuclear weapons, there was little help fighting soviet powers. reagan stuck to his position. he noted that the most out spoken criticism of the soviet over the years, the right-wing, react strongly against the 10 year framework. as the response shows, he was correct. reagan noted his critics were taking his brains out.

a problem the secretary did not have. he finally noted if reagan believe that, he should read articles about him and refused to comment on the issue of strategic defense. reagan's appeal fell on death ears --deaf ears. despite the criticism from his right, reagan was willing to move forward and engage in tough political battles to ratify the agreement. because he viewed the situation in europe than his critics said, he felt the fall of 1986 were more than a match for the soviet counterparts, making the ballistic missiles and necessary evil. reagan says as much to ask and -- to nixon, reagan posix security came from the fact that the combined gross to mystic process -- product and -- gross to mystic product and the populations.

reaching the point where reagan had sufficient confidence and capacities with united states in his first term. by december of 1985, he began by allotting the administrations record as one of progress and a competent. it went on to argue that the strengthen of the u.s. alliances prevented the soviet's aggression. the document also says there were improvements in defenses. critically, the document engaged with how to maintain u.s. ability and deter attacks. in this area, the explicit efforts of united states should be the main issue.

developing a nonnuclear systems needed to win the nuclear deterrence was a major move for the first administration. he asked for 34 new combat ships and one abrams tanks. expanded support for infantry fighting vehicles and the marines'vehicles, basically the technology we are using today. during his first term, the apache attack helicopter, the black hawk helicopter were used. this meant the u.s. military in 1986 was a more lethal and precise force them when reagan assumed office. all the unified commanders said by any measure of common sense, conventional forces were more ready for combat. this left the reagan with a strong sense that the u.s.

military was strong enough to offset nuclear weapons. clancy's books placed military and a important role. the new technology i mentioned previously plays a critical role in this narrative, though still a classified program at the time, the f-117 appears as the f 119 in the book. these lead to serious logistic problems, establishing and the control of the skies. the tank is response to a stalemate in germany. during a critical exchange, a soviet arms regiment faces a company of the united states. the battle goes poorly for the soviets, to say the least in the book.

the emigration of u.s. tanks and war hawks cost the soviets one third of their strength. this is not an atypical battle. allies allow them to destroy soviet units at a ratio of 10 to one. the allied forces were able to synchronize activities thanks to the early warning control systems platform, which gives highly accurate views of the battlefield. nato makes significant use of his forces, which is essential when you are outnumbered. friendly aircraft strikes exactly where they are targeted. the superior battlefield picture and technical abilities to identify locations of transmissions, allows command elements to take down the soviet army. throughout the book, soviet leaders are frustrated by the capabilities of the nato forces, recognizing that the advanced

technology place a decisive role. the novel came out at the perfect time for reagan. it is a realistic dared of that the president could use to envision how is policy would play out. it served as a personal wargame for the present. the use of this novel seems ludicrous, why would you use a work of fiction to inform your vision? indeed, many close to reagan expressed shock and were appalled. margaret thatcher, had a great difficulty responding to his difficulty that she had the book to her reading list. however, the realism of the novelist makes it a bit more feasible. clancy's research led his books to a great deal of authority.

he asked the author how he achieved it at a white house meeting. clancy said the characters were the hard part. clancy devoted significant time to researching. as far as the research for "red storm rising," he spoke to the human secretary general. -- the u.n. secretary-general. this provided more authenticity to the way the allies interactive. the author was able to observe fighters scrambled procedures, tanks and clancy received a ride on a submarine. clancy would later note that his favorite thing was riding in the m-1 tank. he described it as a corvette.

[laughter] mr. griffin: the novel that takes the weapon system. recent trips and interviews added greatly, but another important contribution was wargaming. it was conducted by the center for critical analysis. lay on was working on similar projects, -- larry vaugh was working on a similar project, and proposed that the two of them work on a book together. the book transformed the central fight needs into a narrative everyone could ingest. this scenario described potentially brought the naval war to the front of the narrative. clancy shows this as an indirect

form of consumption, of actual military scenarios. the wargame was of the only one to have influence. larry vaughn disliked the navy wargames, because it was classified and made it difficult to use, so he made up his own, a game called harpooning. he took his time studying this and wrote a letter to larry vaughn, and it became a method for validating scenarios in the book. soviet bombers were able to heavily damaged in aircraft carrier in iceland. the purpose of war gaming is not to identify what will happen, but what could. a lot of the games serve as important analytical tools for military planners. in addition, a longtime cia

wargamer, the peyton manning of wargaming, noted wargames can have an impact. this forces a lot more personal investment into scenarios, and the lessons last longer because of the personal type. the novel does this as well. you invest more fully into the narrative, so it forces the reader to empathize with what is going on and perhaps remember the policy information or technology over a newspaper article. throughout his career, reagan makes use of narratives. he did this as a sportscaster, call in chicago cubs games. as a movie star in hollywood and

throughout his political career. a speechwriter highlights how reagan tried to communicate with his use of narrative, whether the story was true or not, it was the message that matter. he was telling parables and fables. similarly, a journalist argues that for reagan, every story, whether true or not had a distinctive purpose. this is because you recognize the power of narrative to forge these connections. once he found the right story, he would keep telling it until he found a better one, which often exacerbated those around him with the repetitiveness. reagan found a story in the works of tom clancy. the books resonate with them in such a way to put aside his typical reluctance. reagan and the national security exploited his popular fiction to promote a cult of national security.

in his work, reagan found a similarity with his own administration. the case study of reagan-clancy shows that this is not just official form, but policy comes from complex interactions with culture, individual experience, the public and the policymakers themselves. this provides one example of how they can operate within this environment to define policy success. thank you and i'm going to take questions. [applause] >> we will go around with a microphone. i have been asked to remind you, when you ask your questions, to please stand up. that is so these special recognition software will be

better for tracking purposes later. [laughter] >> thank you. that is very interesting.