her geography books as a child, which captured her imagination. done by thes being ill-informed history and those textbooks. to thealso points us importance of local politics and state politics. different states have different rules and mechanisms for selecting statewide coverage. that is where that battle has to be thought, and that is another egregious case. that, forou raised those of us who call ourselves historians. trans-nationalism is included in the term african-americans. but african-americans, black americans, using terms that were not as nice as those. thethe internationalism and connectedness that black people in this country have felt, both not only to africa but the

people of african descent mosthere, is one of the compelling and long-standing aspects of african-american culture and history. that is something that has disappeared or overlooked. i think there are moments in history when it is up and down. need to reconfigure because the vast globalization of communications and travel that we are now living through. travel, alld black i know from tate -- and there are people doing much broader , doing very important work on the role of travel in the lives of black people who are going as tourists, which becomes much more possible in this period and the way which travel themes really essential to way african-americans think about themselves and their

relationship to the world. a tremendous amount of work needed to be done on that. greatk there has been a deal of attention to music and other forms that have traveled -- certainly down more on the electronic age. we also need to pay attention to the naacp and people doing work in international studies and diplomacy. .ilitary men and women i do think there is a need for all of it. >> we may take one more question .r maybe two we have to stop? winky.

>> food or drink are not allowed.

>> we have been hearing from you panel on african-american politics and culture. p.m. l be back at 1:40 you are watching american .istory tv on c-span3 and the pivotal roles president reagan played -- he is the author of reagan's 1968 dress the discovery institute hosted this program.

>> we are joined by dr. gene kopelson. he is a cancer doctor by trade, but also an accomplished historian. he has written about theodore roosevelt, about washington state politics in the 1960's, about the holocaust and other subjects. his talk tonight will focus on -- will center on his first book called, "reagan's 1968 dress rehearsal." it tells the little-known story of friendship that developed and ultimately a mentorship between dwight d. eisenhower and ronald reagan. i will not steal the thunder, but dwight d. eisenhower was really instrumental in ronald reagan's early political career. we all know how that ended with reagan's election as president to decade later.

so, he will tell that story. he will talk for about 45-50 minutes. there will be some audio and presentations. we will do our best to make sure that we are adjusting it in the back and he can hear it. after he is done, we will open it up to a q and a paid leave -- q&a. please join me in welcoming gene kopelson. [applause] gene: thank you for coming on a beautiful sunny seattle day. the audience should know that it really was. thank you to the other people here at the discovery center. keith, who originally helped, tessa, and also c-span. i would like to go back to give you the rationale for why i wrote this book.

to me, the 1980's, the age of ronald reagan was really a golden age for america and for the world. ronald reagan, unlike today, had a strong military, he created a booming economy, he created 20 million to 25 million jobs, he defeated communism with the help from others, but he was a primary mover without firing a shot. he brought freedom to millions in eastern europe and he restored pride in america. so i set out to try to find out how and why he first sought the presidency in the 1960's. you know this talk is about eisenhower, but i would not be surprised if you asked how eisenhower had to do with ronald reagan? after all, reagan is elected in 1980's and didn't eisenhower spent the 1960's on the golf course until he passed away?

during my research, i found out ronald reagan viewed dwight eisenhower and his presidency in the 1950's as america's golden age. you will hear examples of the legacy of dwight eisenhower, as the governorship of ronald reagan. our purpose is to pique your interest by showing you very few selected highlights of what i found. for instance, you will see one of the major aspects of my book in -- is ronald reagan's first quest for the presidency in 1968, but i will not go into details of the campaign. and that ronald robert kennedy was a major political foe at the time. i want to apologize in advance for some of the audio. i thought it was important to listen to it, even though there are segments that are difficult

to listen to given that it was recorded on old equipment five decades ago. what i would like to end my little introduction with is, many of you are familiar with the voice of ronald reagan, as governor perhaps, but mostly at the present. try to realize that what you are going to hear in the latter half of my talk is ronald reagan running for presidency in the 1960's, talking about world affairs. an area that historians and others in the public do not associate with ronald reagan. this is brand new information. what i did in my research was go to the reagan and eisenhower correspondence at the eisenhower library, which consisted of memos, letters and telegrams. i interviewed approximately 35 reagan campaign grassroots

activists from that era in the late 1960's. there were 4 personal meetings between eisenhower and reagan. at the reagan presidential library there are gubernatorial audiotapes they recorded his , speeches. of course, he's been most time -- he had spent most time in sacramento running the state. but on many weekends, he flew away to seek support in other parts of the country. that is when i began to learn of the critical importance of his growing stature in foreign affairs, which he had learned from dwight eisenhower. also, the eisenhower postpresidential diary is in abilene at the presidential library. very few historians had examined it before i did. and a special treat, you'll hear eisenhower and reagan, and reagan reflecting on his mentor. specifically at the eisenhower library, there are recordings, scripts, memos, letters about reagan that eisenhower received or wrote, as well as their

direct correspondence. just as one example, the eisenhower summit in gettysburg, pennsylvania. this is the signature of ronald reagan when he came to meet with the general, which is what he was called after the presidency, general eisenhower, in mid 1966. junehe signed in because the wife of eisenhower insisted that every visitor to the home sign in a guestbook, including children and grandchildren. this is a picture of the two of them. they spent a number of days together for many hours discussing politics and foreign affairs. the story of eisenhower and reagan began during world war ii and we will now get a tiny sample of how eisenhower advised reagan on politics, how to run a general election campaign, and a

photo of them sitting in the white house in the future. during world war ii, the two of them, at the time general eisenhower was commander of the allies. he was in england planning d-day. and captain ronald reagan was in the public relations unit in the army. they jointly made a war bond radio broadcast. this is when the government asked for financial support from the public to support world war ii. they made, let's all back the attack, in january 1944. they did not meet in person, but this was their first true interaction. the 1950's, ronald reagan, a democrat at the time, was unhappy with the mismanagement of president truman's handling of the korean war. also, he was very unhappy with the growth of bureaucracy that had begun under fdr and had continued under truman. he sent a telegram to dwight eisenhower, urging him to run for president. ronald reagan became a democrat

for ike, he did not realize that eisenhower was a republican, the -- so reagan reflected -- i thought he was the man to sit in the white house, and i thought he was a democrat, but i will support ike so he became a . so he became a democrat for ike. by this time, he has switched to the republican party. eisenhower at the gettysburg held a conference to try to improve public outreach for the gop. he wanted to help the gop attract independents, because he had been unhappy with the republican party's poor salesmanship. after all, they had lost the 1960 election to john f. kennedy , and they created a publicity record called "mr. lincoln's party today." the script is in the archives of the eisenhower library and in it, dwight eisenhower, who saw the script and helped plan the

publicity record, crossed out some of the original planned wording and wrote these words telling a political philosophy. good republicans have divergent individual beliefs. good so-called conservative republicans, good middle-of-the-road republicans, but they have a shared fundamental principle. he felt the republican party had a wide tent. also, critically important, ronald reagan to be the narrator of this new gop record was perfectly fine with dwight eisenhower. on the record, reagan had introduced eisenhower and eisenhower thanked him. during the record himself, the individual themes of republicanism, individual freedom, smaller government, the -- they were emphasized, and the gop, having an inclusive tent for a conservative republicans in the middle of the road, was the theme of the record. after that, two years later,

barry goldwater was running as the first major conservative to become a republican candidate. that convention was held in san francisco. one person observed watching eisenhower deliver his speech was ronald reagan. these are the words of a liberal writer who was there standing , close to nancy and ronald reagan while eisenhower delivered his speech. he said that reagan was totally concentrated on eisenhower. i remember being struck by the intensity, it was as if he was an understudy examining the star eisenhower's performance. the conclusion was correct, that mr. reagan planned to go into politics, but that writer did not realize that they had a personal relationship that was about to get much deeper. reagan was not studying eisenhower just as any politician, he was looking at him as a role model. some of you may recall that just

before the election of 1964, ronald reagan on national tv delivered, a time for choosing. this became known to the public speech." for those not familiar, i would encourage you to read or watch it. i would like to emphasize that ronald reagan said during the speech the west never opened up , its mouth about the millions of people enslaved in soviet colonies and satellite nations. bringing freedom to people was critically important to ronald reagan. one other person sitting at home watching tv watched ronald reagan deliver the speech, it was dwight eisenhower. he immediately called his former attorney general and said, what a fine speech ronald reagan delivered. he then called a former special assistant and said, what an excellent speech ronald reagan had delivered.

there is an intermediary that would appear between the two men. gosling was the cocreator of the radio program, and andy. amos and and andy -- andy. the grandson of ike described the goslings as treasured friends. he became the intermediate between eisenhower and reagan in 1965. specifically, that july, he phoned eisenhower, asking, can you give advice, mr. president, of a political newcomer, a friend of mine named ronald reagan who is thinking about entering politics. what can you advise him to do? the next day, eisenhower wrote back a multi step political plan for ronald reagan to follow. reagan would end up following eisenhower's advice to the letter. especially we will listen in a , little while, to an address that reagan would deliver when

he announced he was running for the governorship of california. eisenhower advised reagan to make a statement that he was a republican. that the prior year in 1964, he had honorably supported the party, the platform and candidates. and that the gop, in seeking common sense solutions, can accommodate men who have different details. i highlighted those words "common sense." the next point, common sense appears again. ike advised reagan to never cease presenting himself as a republican seeking the support of all to bring common sense and integrity to government. that reagan should to find his political convictions, beliefs, and principles. keep hammering away at them at every opportunity and reach out to the media. what we will do now is, reagan, in january of 1966, listen to how he follows, especially at the end of the recording, the same exact words that eisenhower had advised.

again, some of the recording, you could have trouble with. >> winston churchill made a change in the party, that some men changed principles. if you are a democrat, look again -- [indiscernible] overwhelmingly approved by americans to reduce the cost of government and restore those which werepowers taken from individuals by the government. yourself, which party would be most at home? i think i can lay claim believing as i do their vote is the party of limited government and adheres to the constitution.

i campaigned in 1960 and 1962. in those campaigns, i supported those candidates. gene: reagan on state television had used eisenhower's advice and some of his exact words when he announced he was seeking the governorship. the beginning is a section that is difficult to hear, so i would encourage you to read the address of fdr, how those of us -- how roosevelt proposed slashing the budget, having smaller government, that is why reagan voted for him and compared it to what actually occurred. ronald reagan followed ike's advice. he made the theme of common sense in that first letter that ike had advised him, as his actual campaign. -- campaign theme in 1966. eisenhower admitted he had been studying reagan and had not

looked at him as a right winger, he was in the broad tent of modern republicanism. and bringing in his former primary opponent, the mayor of san francisco, enter reagan's campaign. helped ronaldwer reagan fight false charges of being an anti-semite. he mentored him on speech delivery, this is a well-known actor, eisenhower actually critiqued his speeches and reagan thanked him. and told him that he should seek out independents and democrats. this is the true origin of where reagan democrats began. he endorsed reagan and donated to the campaign. eisenhower in 1952 had been the citizen soldier. in 1966, reagan became the citizen politician, as you have heard the term.

two years later, when he would run for the presidency for the first time, he would make a campaign film called ronald reagan, citizen governor. this is just an example. in 1952, ike had tried to obtain votes for mexican americans and others of hispanic origin, by having spanish campaign buttons. ronald reagan in did the same 1966 when running for the governorship of california. the fact that they were a mentor and coach, coach and a student, in my opinion was obvious from their early beginnings. this is eisenhower on the left and ronald reagan as a football player on the right. they each new what it was like to be a player, student, coach. they each knew the importance of teamwork in obtaining good results. ronald reagan wins the governorship of california by almost one million votes in 1966. this is the congratulatory

telegram that the former president dwight eisenhower sends to reagan. immediately, thoughts turn to 1968. a friend writes to eisenhower, for 1968, i am not enthusiastic about nelson, rockefeller, or george romney, the father of mitt romney, or charles percy or richard nixon. too bad we do not have a fresh candidate. do you have any ideas? eisenhower's answer is illuminating. he devotes one sentence to percy, does not mention romney, and he only diebold is -- -- and only divulges one sense about richard nixon. he devotes half of the letter to ronald reagan, he says, i have had a number of talks with ronald reagan, not just an occasional letter or phone call. in our discussion of specific issues, he has given good sense

and is that and has considerable imagination. he shows maturity and i have contributed time to the campaign. eisenhower had donated money to the campaign as well. at the same time, this is only about 2.5 weeks after ronald reagan has been elected governor of california. dwight eisenhower proposes to the gop leadership that he will host a luncheon for all prospective 1968 republican presidential candidates. this is ike's list in his order. nixon, romney, percy, ronald reagan -- ahead of rockefeller, the governor of new york, and a senator from oregon. in effect, dwight eisenhower had mentor novice politician ronald reagan from the beginning of his career into a potential president of the united states. what did ike think about ronald reagan in the white house?

in june of 1966 after their first meeting to the press, he , certified ronald reagan as presidential timber. and to the press in 1967, he said that if reagan is the nominee he will endorse him for president. at this time, the next month, reagan is still not sworn in as governor. ike writes this to his protege, that he would like to discuss more about world affairs the next time they meet. so that is leading into the second part of my talk. this is a tiny sample of how dwight eisenhower mentor ronald -- mentors ronald reagan on foreign affairs. at this time, resident johnson with having the beginning of his problems about vietnam. ike, who did not want to see american boots on the ground, in another land war in asia as had been the case in korea. he advised johnson to have a massive show of force once he

committed american troops. to have a massive show of force to win quickly. johnson did not listen and the vietnam quagmire began. eisenhower had a committee that forms in 1967. it was going to advise johnson on specific military strategies and tactics. eisenhower pushed for witt he three. wanted hot pursuit, meaning when the enemy aircraft and a troops flee across the border, to pursue them and get rid of them. there was to be no fault in american air power bombing north vietnam. he wanted to threaten to use atomic weapons. this is what eisenhower had successfully done to stop fighting in korea when you first -- when he first became president. the threat to use atomic weapons. ike also wanted to threaten an amphibious invasion of the north.

he wanted the war brought to north vietnam. he wanted them to be fearful of what might happen. privately he urged that they , bomb the dams in north vietnam. of all the 1968 candidates, only ronald reagan spoke those exact same goals and he learned all of this, beginning with the first meeting in june of 1966 and onward. we are now going to listen to more audio clips of what reagan learned from eisenhower, not only about vietnam, but much more. standing up firm against communism and more discussions on world affairs. i would like to mention one thing. just to refresh your memory, reagan is going to refer to an event in the 1950's where red threatened taiwan and offshore islands.

eisenhower stood firm against them and said they will have to climb over the seventh fleet to do that. so listen to what ronald reagan said in 1967 about dwight eisenhower. [indiscernible]

gene: he was saying that they had to stand firmly against evil. that there was good and evil in the world and he was recalling a time when in america when dwight thathower was at the helm america did stand firm against its enemies. around this time ike encouraged reagan to run for president. there is a memo of conversation where he encouraged ronald reagan to run as california's favorite son.

he had plans for that all along, knew, at the gop convention in 1968, if ronald reagan was planning to be california's avery son, he could be the nominee. that encouragement could the traced back to eisenhower. reagan said, i suddenly see what president eisenhower said, perhaps one of our greatest mistakes in vietnam was assuring the enemy in advance of our intention not to use them. the enemy should still be frightened that we might. reagan and eisenhower learned lessons long ago, never to tell your enemy what you will do or what do you want do. it should be the threat that is very important. now, we will switch gears for a slight second. william f buckley was a well-known conservative during this time. a national program called firing

line. he interviewed ronald reagan. ronald reagan was a fellow conservative. they were discussing various things. then buckley asked reagan dwight -- asked reagan why dwight d. eisenhower did not dismantle the new deal. i think he expected ronald reagan to agree with him and criticize eisenhower. but i would like you to listen to how immediately ronald reagan comes to the defense of his mentor, dwight eisenhower. >> the very fact that he did not -- that this is overlooked a great deal. [indiscernible]

i would answer that in only one term in eight years did he have -- he was isolated behind a democratic congress -- ying on a philosophy [indiscernible] gene: i think that buckley was surprised. immediately, reagan came to eisenhower's defense. reagan was being thought of as a

potential vice presidential nominee. to be paired, often discussed with new york governor nelson rockefeller, a liberal republican. one magazine cover showed the two of them, but eisenhower said this was not a good idea. that it would be a political convenience and he was against it. back to the vice presidency, after the civil war, william tecumseh sherman famously said if nominated i will not run, if elected i will not serve. ronald reagan frequently during this time was asked about the vice presidency and the sherman statement. would he follow the sherman statement, that if he was selected he would decline. listen to what he answers and specifically pay attention to the discussion he had with dwight eisenhower about it, the main point. >> the question of this and what question of this and the

member statement, after what president eisenhower said about the sherman statement. -- gene: a humorous answer, but the point of not discussing the sherman statement, rather the fact that he got the advice directly from dwight eisenhower. eisenhower knew that in six months, seven months, it would be the republican convention. there was an interesting newspaper like a zine interview published. the reporter met with supposedly with ike's golf buddy. i believe this was eisenhower himself. not a golf buddy. those of you that no eisenhower history, know about his hidden hand techniques. that he had a number of press conferences after the press seemed confused.

he purposefully directed that confusion to throw the press off course. he did not know that he did not that she did not want it known who he would truly support. man in romney was a panic. this was a number of months after romney's famous brainwash comments and his poll numbers were in decline. rockefeller had refused to support goldwater. interestingly, with richard nixon, ike clearly felt like the man most qualified for the job, but he told the reporter the gop should not necessarily nominate the man most qualified. he wanted the convention to pick a winner that could win over lyndon johnson. who was the most recent winner? ronald reagan, who had just

won california by one million votes. he warned, if republicans or democrats pull out of vietnam, and turn our backs on more than 13,000 americans who died, they have to contend with me. the reporter asked if this meant was -- if reagan was his choice. eisenhower did not answer. i believe this was dwight eisenhower's method of telling in and of secure way with plausible deniability that ronald reagan would have in fact been his choice. in january of 1968 there were two shocks. the tet offensive. troops in south vietnam were by a major military offensive by the vietcong and north vietnam. the trade in the u.s. media, especially by walter cronkite, one would think that if you

polled americans today, they would think it was a major military defeat. but it was not. it was a major american victory, but you would not know that by having watched american television. shortly thereafter, the u.s.s. pueblo was hijacked and -- was hijacked, and intelligent curry -- and intelligence ship was hijacked by north korea. so you had 2 things going on. the war in vietnam and suddenly north korea makes an appearance again. one of the things president in terms of overall military strategy compared to dwight eisenhower's velocity -- eisenhower's philosophy was

massive retaliation. if we have many nuclear weapons and arms so nobody will mess with america. jfk did not particularly like that, he wanted a flexible approach. when the uss pueblo hijacking occurred and the united states did nothing ronald reagan was , very upset. listen to what he says. >> this, beginning with the bay of pigs, and closing with the kidnapping of 82 young americans. this is a nation given to the inability of our air force to move out and support the uss pueblo. we are equipped for nuclear retaliation. that is the most significant claim of this administration. [indiscernible]

now, a response is needed. we had no response at all. gene: and many of you who remember ronald reagan from the 1980's, this is the 1960's. these recordings have not been heard since then. now many of you know the term surge from the war in iraq. ronald reagan used that term, he lamented what was going on in vietnam. listen to this military discussion from ronald reagan at that time. >> military leaders, leaders of world war ii, general eisenhower -- stopping the enemy.

number two, they all seem to agree on the necessity to invade or at least pose a threat of invasion on enemy forces. ,f the same took us two years if we had at the time as a sudden surge it will be over by now. military his major agreement. it was johnson's very slow, gradual escalation. north vietnam and the viet cong could've just as america was slowly building up their forces. that is not what i can done at d-day. that is what eisenhower recommended. many more troops, send them home now would like to you to

listen to ronald reagan as to what he wanted to see done when discussing vietnam. my statements last week about what should be done at the negotiating table, by former eisenhower -- president eisenhower. we should keep in mind the two years of negotiations, more than 20,000 americans were killed. president eisenhower, coming in as a new president brought in the negotiations by releasing the fact that the united states would review its option regarding theaters of operation. i said the same thing.

if the enemy has shown no evidence of a sincere desire to bring peace, using the negotiations then we must be prepared to threaten them with force. the same conditions that president eisenhower, review of our strategy, review of targets ortheaters of operation, fight this war on their own soil. the first two weeks of these negotiations has gone up and set new records for this entire war. [indiscernible] in the meantime, if the enemy should seep preparations -- see

preparations and mobilizing their forces -- >> he was recommending as was eisenhower that the american navy should threaten an invasion of the north. as well as threaten to use atomic weapons. vietnamesehe north quaking in their beds wondering what might happen to them. he wanted to win the war. president johnson committed our troops, reagan and eisenhower wanted to let the war. in may of 1968, reagan said things were different when eisenhower was in charge. menacing soviet movements against berlin were -- were disposed of simply by a show of unwavering resolution. sectionlike to end this where ronald reagan reflects upon the technological triumphs of the eisenhower years, and all

that the kennedy johnson years has squandered. it will go through a list of weapons that we have, not to glorify war, but to show that we were prepared under the eisenhower years. please pay special attention to one particular phrase, eisenhower had complained when -- to have nato, that he was coming to help truman get his chestnuts out of the fire. >> where did he take it different course, in recent days? it was warm and friendly. you are smiling and laughing at us. it will stop us from protecting her cities, and there is are already protected under

ballistic missile programs. russian rifles are killing our young men and raining down on the innocent civilians of saigon. in spite of the fact that this other nation has broken more than 50 treaties with this country and indicated it has the right to break a treaty anytime it suits its national purpose. lenin said to taiwan's hands in advance, that we will fight and win is stupidity. a great society has made a point, it's best for innovation. the truth he is that great society's it is nothing that is new. practically all the weapon systems were developed and brought forward during the eisenhower years. completion driven to of a new breed, of a

miniaturized formal -- thermal warhead by dr. edward keller. operableorce and made by general -- the father of the strategic air command. concept, butlaris where are these men with their determination, having to poll america's chestnuts out of the fire in the 1950's, what do they have to say about american technology in this decade. to current times, what do you think reagan and eisenhower would say when our troops will be withdrawn from iraq and afghanistan. there was very little opportunity and i would find fault with reagan with very little, publicly he thanked

eisenhower. i was able to find the actual one moment when he did. words to a reporter whose are little garbled at the beginning. he asks reagan if eisenhower's use of the term common sense might be a good campaign theme. >> when you said we were known as the party of common sense,- i used it in the campaign in california years ago. >> he was the inspiration for it. of theect attribution critical importance of eyes of him.re to what happens in the summer of eisenhower does endorse richard nixon. richard nixon went to eisenhower

to ask for his endorsement and the two families are getting together, david eisenhower was about to marry julie . here is reagan reflecting upon the endorsement. [indiscernible] i think the number of fellow republicans would have taken great pride in a statement of approval at the convention. i will go to the last part of my talk. we will go beyond his governorship into his presidency and even after with the briefest of samples of the continuing influence of dwight eisenhower throughout the make -- remaining years of ronald reagan.

1975, reagan is no longer governor. he has not yet challenged gerald ford in 1976. he reflects on eisenhower. ike ended a war and career -- correia. - korea. the government didn't get it either good never had a nation's wealth and so widely distributed. never were recent strong. 1978, while reagan is running for the presidency for the third time, what are the big issues was whether the panama canal should be returned to panama. william buckley, who was mentioned earlier, a conservative was in favor of it. ronald reagan was against it. here is a little bit of a debate that they had. i would like you to listen as to am reagan sites- cites,

decade after eisenhower had passed away. president eisenhower told me the idea that he had for the treaties and it was far different. he was 20 with an interesting idea of forming and international corporations of nations, all the nations of the world, for both the suez and the panama canal and with all participating and/or using, there would be no possibility of court --ng the gulf carter. >> it is the two of them discussing foreign affairs. think about all the areas of the world that reagan is discussing being mentor to buy dwight eisenhower. campaign,t 1980

reagan is asked, hoosier favorite president any answer he can't choose just one but he said the obvious choices would be george washington and abraham lincoln. then he switches the conversation to dwight eisenhower. good manager.a there's peace in the world and he brings up the firm stance that he took on quemoy and matsu. he said they would have to climb over the seventh fleet. there's even an academic paper that was written during the 1980 campaign that reagan used the term common sense to discuss the soviet threat. he also used the word common sense during his 1984 state of the union address. behind reagan's oval office staff he kept it photo of dwight

eisenhower. he kept a bust of dwight eisenhower and it is cabinet room he hung a towering portrait of general eisenhower. he used an index cards and not a teleprompter. one of his favorites was a quote, keys through strength. historians prior to now have felt that reagan's role model was roosevelt, you heard a reagan's castigating roosevelts domestic policies. some historians felt it was him. through thech search engine at the reagan library, trying to find a from all of his speeches, press conferences, etc.. who did ronald reagan site of his predecessors? , he was only cited 55 times

by ronald reagan in public. lincoln would be a major influence, and he was, about 100 times. but the predecessor who recited in public the most was dwight eisenhower. in the 1980's,s there were many program celebrating important anniversaries from the 1950's, programs that eisenhower had started. international sister cities program. in march of 1981, the silver anniversary of the program, suredent reagan said i am eisenhower is looking down on us today very happy at what we have done. of 1984, the program in which america shipped to needy people in other supply,s excess food 653 billion pounds of food had

been sent to over 100 nations which had helped close to 2 billion people. reagan reflected back on eisenhower's programs and said he picked up a pen and signed a piece of paper that quietly changed its the world. critically important, if you have one thing to remember from today, eisenhower, when he was president, made a very famous address to the united nations on december 8, 19 53 called atoms for peace. he proposed the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons from the face of the earth. u.n.under the aegis of the organization. the caveat was that soviets had to agree. the soviet union refuse. so that never happened. that ronald reagan 30 years

later, was having discussions with the soviet leader, prior to gorbachev. that particular day and drop of the arms reduction talks and reagan left the meeting and was met by the press. he told the press that there was dwight eisenhower's atoms for peace speech that his administration and diet -- endorsed his view completely. this is what we are dedicated to. ronald reagan made achieving eisenhower's goal his own official policy. june 1984, ronald reagan flies to normandy to honor america's troops, which were eisenhower's troops, having been in charge. ronald reagan said, i will forever stand for ike d-day veterans, they are my heroes like they are his. when he delivered that address on land in normandy, often --

off the normandy coast was the uss dwight d eisenhower aircraft carrier. it passed by and her aircraft flew over reagan while he spoke. after reagan spoke, he was flown by helicopter and went over the aircraft carrier. formedlors on the ship the letters, ike. reagan said, but d-day landing was eisenhower's. her wrotenspires efforts on both sides of the atlantic. he spoke into the microphone after the crew had formed that, !nd he shouted out, i like ike i love ike. and he now we hear his farewell address. i would like you to listen to his reflections back on his own presidency, and him bringing

back the years of dwight eisenhower. he does not mention eisenhower, but i would like you to hear his reflections back, citizen politician, common sense, and the multiple times he honors eisenhower street said d-day and also at core real. --korea. a rediscovery of our values and common sense. when younse tells us put attacks and someone, we have to cut the people's tax rates. common sense also tells us to preserve the peace. we strengthen our defenses. [indiscernible] believe back in

more rules and regulations and the government was taking more of our money. [indiscernible] i wanted to say stop. a father down the street who fought in korea. >> i like to emphasize something that history is ignored. ronald reagan's advice to the future to study history. it is critically important as the people in this audience know, because that is where you learn not to repeat the errors of the past. on his own time

as president, but how to -- but how he started. it was at first eisenhower letter, him mentioning common sense that he continued to use throughout his presidency. thomas,historian evan noted that eisenhower look to the fewer and his ultimate aim was to disarm and get rid of nuclear weapons. but also, that the west had to keep the pressure up on communism until it collapsed from its own internal contradictions. president reagan, one of eisenhower's proteges, in my opinion, is his political air and he completed eisenhower's critically important goals. before, i you saw hope you will buy my book and learn how many other aspects of it. i would like to end by quoting my own conclusion". the eisenhower and reagan

journey together have begun when coach eisenhower had mentored his new political student, reagan's first campaign for the presidency. in the end, resident reagan would triumph in caring for the mental of freedom that he had inherited from his heroes, abraham lincoln, theodore roosevelt, calvin coolidge, winston churchill, but most of all dwight eisenhower. and please now look at the official cabinet portrait picture of president reagan, vice president bush and his cabinet and who is their high up above, looking down with a smile upon his brother jay, ronald reagan, is former president eisenhower. thank you very much. [applause] >> i'd love to get some questions. we do have a microphone please

wait for that. >> thank you for your comments. you talked about the policies and the ideas that both president reagan and eisenhower had and how they overlap. what was the initial draw that brought them together as friends . what in your research to do encounter, was it there, principles and ideas or personalities? >> partly the common ideas. eisenhower sees reagan as not 10tewell within the rot a bigf republicanism but lack of legacy. that hisped negotiations with the soviets in the late night -- 1970's would

lead to major peace breakthrough. this would be his legacy to america. incident, thatu2 created problems. there were hard feelings between the countries. then his vice president, richard nixon is not elected. he felt at that point major theair, what was he leaving nation, what was he leaving the party. there was nothing particularly good signs of the future. he feels better with his publicity record and meeting and 1962 trying to improve party outreach. enters hisagan, life, and i believe he saw in forld reagan a major future not only the republican party, but having --ike having a direct role. he wanted to consider new cm his ideas, individual freedom and

small government carried forth through the next generation. i believe you saw in ronald reagan someone to do that. when the discussions preceded for an affairs and reagan being the only candidate in 1968 who felt that see did, if we are in a war, let's try to win it. wisented to convey his wisdom about specific policies to hopefully continue. foresaw a dayke that ronald reagan would be in the white house. >> you mentioned how eisenhower had ways head people underestimate him. avoiding questions and things like that. and reagan was known for doing the same thing sometimes.

he would tell a joke instead of answering a question directly. issues.ays of avoiding did he learn that from eisenhower? expert ont an reagan's press conferences and things like that. in my work, i make a point that at the story ends convention in 1968. thentinue in my epilogue eisenhower aspects that i make no to leave for futures dollars to delve into much more detail about the continuing influence of eisenhower throughout the reagan years. i feel i have opened the door to that academic discussion. >> was there a time in your findings that president reagan disagreed publicly with president eisenhower and if not,

where do you feel the departure from the two policies went? cite something that the two had in common. lebanon. u.s. waste 1950's, the asked to help out in lebanon. eisenhower directed american forces, were not american forces were not stationed on land. a generation to one of reagan's greatest foreign affairs failures was the blowing up of the marine barracks in lebanon, american troops were stationed there at a suicide bomber blew it up. learn that while planning for that, he sent for the files of what eisenhower had done 30 years before. the details of that are unknown.

i would not say it was a disagreement, just a different approach. things were a lot different in 1958 versus the mid-80's. ronald reagan did not comment directly about eisenhower's influence on him, other than these examples where he website cite him.en -- he did not have a press conference talking about the good old days in the golf cart. he does bring it up through sporadic points. by the time he was president, he was president in his own right a couple she so much at the beginning when he was first andidering entry politics then running for the presidency for the first time in 1967 and 68, he found eisenhower a mentor.

>> what about on domestic policy? a lot of it was focused on four policy -- foreign policy. i have to cite my same answer. and 68 and doesn't -- it is an area that i strongly feel future scholars need to reassess, both the eisenhower legacy that i feel continues with ronald reagan, and the reagan presidency to be traced that reagan was following eisenhower. but i did not address that in any way. could you hand account -- handicap president eisenhower the action he would take in the 2016 election?

it seems like he was rather hands-on in helping the republican party filter through some candidate options in 1968. churchill'sn daughter would always say when asked the question, what would winston do? she would say, nobody knows. so i would answer nobody knows. his general philosophy is a wide political tent. i have to imagine the 11th commandment. it was read about it, decided by the gentlemen in parkinson, that republicans should not speak ill of each other. that has not, continued today. eisenhower had a press conference meeting where he wanted to get together all the republican presidential candidates for 1968.

similarly, after them, if you're not going to say something positive about each other just to stay quiet. i feel that eisenhower added to that 11th commandment. i think both he and reagan would be appalled by how the republican candidates attacked each other when a 16 or 17 of them were doing the first of many debates. they should concentrate on the people whose policies they want to stop, their opposition, the democratic party. it is natural, you want to win the nomination, but to the extent of the divisiveness. as we have seen in the democratic candidates as well. i think they would have hoped that there would be much less harsh tones used by the gop candidates. >> in your research, did you

delve into or come across any personal accounts from any family members of eisenhower and reagan that illuminated the relationship? i am wondering if behind closed doors they talked to their relations about their specific ambitions regarding one another. >> i had hoped to interview nancy reagan, but even a few years ago, she was too ill and was no longer accepting interviews. the staff, both during the gubernatorial years as well as a few people from this credential years have had no idea of the eisenhower reagan relationship, never been alluded to before, never have been discussed before.