mobilizing the forces that are going to result in an invasion. >> so ronald reagan, a recommending, as had eisenhower, that the american navy should threaten annen va einvasion of north, as el with as threaten to use atomic weapons. he wanted the vietnamese quaking in their beds every night. he wanted to win the war. if president johnson committed our troops -- which he did, reagan and ike wanted to win the war. in may of '68, reagan said things were different when ike was in charge. twice during those eight years men imagining soviet movements against berlin were disposed of without the call up of a single reinforcement simply by a show of calm, unwavering resolution. now i'd like to end this section where ronald reagan reflects upon the technological triumphs of the eisenhower years and all that the kennedy/johnson years had squandered. he's going to go through a list

of weapons that we have, not to glorify war but to show that we were prepared under the eisenhower years. one particular phrase,iz ize eisenhower complained when truman called him back, with a he was helping truman get his chestnuts out of fire. and reagan is going to use that same expression and he only would have gotten that through discussions with dwight eisenhower. >> where did we take a recent course. in recent days there's been smiles in the kremlin. they've been warm and friendly. but i wonder if they're smiling or if they're laughing at us. we're now ready to talk a nuclear weapon treaty that will stop us from protecting our cities as theirs are already protected. russian weapons are killing our young men and raining down on

the innocent civilians of saigon. but our national leaders indicate that they believe we can enter into a treaty in spite of the fact that this other nation has already broken more than 50 treaties with this country and has indicated that it believes it is its right to break a treaty any time it suits its national purpose. lenin said to tie one's hands in advance and to openly tell an enemy who is presently armed that we will fight him and win is stupidity. a great society has made a big point of its supposed freshness of outlook, its zest for innovation and its gift for invention. the truth is that great society has brought forth little that is great and nothing that is new. practically all the truly commanding weapons systems now in american inventory were developed or brought forward during the eisenhower years. the ballistic rockets with their numerous variations. the development driven to completion by a brilliant young missile man of a new breed, general bernard shriver, of a

thermalized nuclear warhead. the supersonic jet strike force conceived and made operable by general curtis lamay, the father of the strategic air command and one of the greatest air geniuses of all time. the entire poe laylaris conceptn of an admiral's persistence. but where are these men with their drive and determination now? adding pulled america's chestnuts out of the fire in the '50s, what do they have to say about american technology in this decade? >> to bring this to current times, what do you think reagan and eisenhower would say whether in advance we should tell when our troops are going to be withdrawn from iraq and afghanistan. there was very little opportunity -- and certainly i would find fault with ronald reagan for publicly the very little he thanked dwight

eisenhower. but thanks to my research i was able to find the actual one moment he did. listen to a reporter. his words are a little garbled at the beginning. he asks ronald reagan if eisenhower's use of the term "common sense" might be a good campaign theme. >> some expression i like, general eisenhower said we are the party of common sense. he thinks that would be a great slogan for us. >> well, i tell you, i used a slogan at a campaign in california years ago and i agree with it. matter of fact, he was the inspiration for it. >> he was the inspiration for it, his direct attribution to the reporter of the critical importance offiz ize eisenhower. now what happens in the summer of '68, i know i'm not spending very much time on that convention. eventually eisenhower does endorse richard nixon. richard nixon actually went to eisenhower to ask for his endorsement, and the two families were getting together.

david eisenhower, ike's grandson, was about to marry julie nixon, nixon's daughter. what else could eisenhower really do? but here is reagan reflecting upon that endorsement. >> the possible effect of general eisenhower's endorsement of richard nixon, i think the number of republicans must have taken great pride in his unqualified statement of approval of all the other republican leaders who have been mentioned. he is a revered and honored figure of the republican party. >> i'm not going to go to the last part of my talk. we're going to go beyond his governorship in to his presidency and even after with the briefest of samples of the continuing influence of dwight eisenhower throughout the remaining years of ronald reagan. 1975, reagan is no longer governor. he's not yet challenged gerald ford in 1976.

but he reflects back on eisenhower. ike ended a war in korea that had killed tens of thousands it and for the rest of his eight years, no young americans were being shot at. he halted dead in its track the advance of communism. big government didn't get any bigger. never had a nation's wealth been so widely distributed. never were we so strong. in january of 1978, this is while reagan is running for the presidency for the third time, one of the big issues of that era was whether the panama canal should be returned to panama. william buckley, the person who was mentioned earlier, a conservative, was in favor of that. ronald reagan was against it. but here is a little bit of a debate that reagan and buckley had. i'd like you to listen as to whom reagan cites. this is almost a decade after eisenhower had passed away.

>> but i also flow a president you didn't mention who was first engaged in the problems in panama. president eisenhower. president eisenhower told me the idea he had for the treaties and is far different than anything contained in these treaties. matter of fact, he was toying a very interesting idea of forming an international cooperation of shipping nations, all the nations ever the world, a quasi corporation to own both the suez and panama canal, and thus with all participating and all using those canals, there would be no possibility of one jumping the traces. he told me that in a golf cart which was a pretty good place to hear it. >> of course again it is the two of them discussing foreign affairs. think of all the different areas in the world that reagan is discussing being mentored by dwight eisenhower. well, during that 1980 campaign, reagan is asked, who's your favorite president? he answers, he really can't choose just one. and of course, mentions that the

obvious choices for anybody would be george washington or abraham lincoln. but he immediately switches the conversation to dwight eisenhow eisenhower. he tells the reporter, ike was a darn good manager. those were the really last prosperous years we've known. there was certainly peace in the world, and he then brings up the firm stance that eisenhower took. he told it the reporter, ike said they'll have to climb over the 7th fleet. nobody tried to. there was no war and the two remained free. there is even an academic paper that was written about during the 1980 campaign, that reagan used the term "common sense" to discuss the soviet threat. reagan also used the words "common sense" during his 1984 state of the union address directly from dwight eisenhower. there behind reagan's oval office desk he kept a photo of ike. in his private study reagan kept a bust of dwight eisenhower.

and in re gan's conald reagan's room he held a photo. one favorite quote was basically peace through strength. vital element of keeping our peace is the military establishment. while many historians prior to now have felt that reagan's role model was franklin delano roosevelt. some historians have felt that it was him. i did a search through the search engine at the reagan library trying to find out for all of his public speeches, press conferences and any public utterance who did ronald reagan actually cite of his predecessors. fdr, who's not listed here. he's democrat, obviously, was only cited about 55 times by ronald reagan in public.

lincoln, who you'd think would be a major influence -- and he was -- about 100 times. but the predecessor of him who he yited cited in public the mo dwight eisenhower. the reagan years, the '80s, there were many programs celebrating important anniversaries from the '50s. programs that ike had started. one of which was eisenhower's international sister cities program. so in march of '81, when it was the silver anniversary of that program, president reagan said, i'm sure ike's looking down on us today being very happy with what he's accomplished. similarly, it was the 30th anniversary of eisenhower's food for peace program. by that summer of 1984, that program in which america shipped to needy people in other countries excess food supplies, 653 billion pounds of food had been sent to over 1 is 00 nations which had helped close

to 2 billion people. reagan reflecting back on eisenhower's program said, ike picked up a pen and signed a piece of paper that quietly changed the world. ike would be very proud of what his food for peace program has accomplished. critically important -- and if you have one thing to remember out of today, to remember this. eisenhower, when he was president, had made a very famous address to the united nations on december 8th, 1953 called "atoms for peace." in this he proposed the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons from the face of the earth. done under the aegis of a u.n. organization. the caveat was the soviets had to agree. the soviet union refuses. so that never happened. but ronald reagan, 30 years later, was having discussions with the soviet leader. this was prior to gorbachev.

that particular day andropov canceled the arms reduction talks. ronald reagan left the meeting and was met by the press. he said it was to dwight eisenhower's "atoms for peace" speech. thus, president ronald reagan made achieving president dwight eisenhower's goals his own official policy. june '84. d-day. ronald reagan flies to normandy to honor america's troops, which of course were eisenhower's troops having been in charge of d-day. ronald reagan says, "i will forever stand for ike's d-day veterans. they are my heroes, like they were his." when he delivered that address on land in normandy, off the normandy coast was the "uss dwight d. eisenhower" aircraft

carrier. it passed by and her aircraft flew other president reagan while president reagan spoke. after president reagan spoke he was flown by helicopter and went over the aircraft carrier. the sailors on the ship formed the letters "i-k-e." reagan said the d-day landing was ike's heroic operation. the memory of ike, our great allied leader, still inspires heroic efforts on both sides of the atlantic. he spoke in to the microphone after the crew had formed that "i-k-e" and he shouted out, "i like ike. i love ike." and last, we're going to here ronald reagan's 1989 farewell address. i'd like you particularly to listen to his reflections back on his own presidency and him bringing back the years of dwight eisenhower. he doesn't mention eisenhower,

but i'd like you to hear his reflections back citizen politician, common sense and the multiple times he honors ike's troops at d-day and also at korea. >> we call this the reagan revolution and i'll accept that. but for me it always seemed more like the great rediscovery, a rediscovery of our values and our common sense. common sense told us that when you put a big tax on something, the people will produce less of it so we cut the people's tax rates and the people produced more than ever before. common sense also told us to preserve the peace. we have definitely become strong again after years of weakness and confusion. so we rebuild or defenses. we've reduced stockpiles of nuclear weapons. i never meant to go into politics. it wasn't my intention when i was young. but i was raised to believe you will to pay your way for the

blessings bestowed on us. back in the 1960s when i bega began, -- i went into politics in part to put up my hands and say, stop. i was a citizen politician. just seemed the right thing for a citizen to do. the father down the street who fought in korea or the family who lost someone. >> i'd like to just also emphasize something that history has ig floored. ronald reagan's advice to the future was to study history. it's critically important as the fellows in this audience know, because that's where you learn not to repeat the errors of the past. and his reflections back not only on his own time as president but herald back to how he started, all under the

mentorship of dwight eisenhower. it was that first ike letter twice mentioning common sense that he continued to use throughout his own presidency. another historian, evan thomas, noted that ike had looked to the future that his ultimate aim was again to disarm, to 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, when advising his proteges, in my opinion is his political heir. he directly completed dwight eisenhower's critically important goals. this cover you saw before. i hope you will buy my book and learn many of the other aspects of it. but i'd like to end by quoting my own conclusion. the eisenhower and reagan journey together had begun when coach eisenhower had mentored

his new political student all during reagan's first campaign for the presidency. in the end, president reagan would triumph in carrying forth the mantel 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 there high up above, i believe looking down with a smile upon his protege, ronald reagan, it's former president dwight eisenhower. thank you very much. please, i'd love to get some questions. >> we do have a microphone that will be passed around.

>> thank you for your comments. i wonder, you talked a lot about the policies and the ideas that both president reagan and president eisenhower had and how they overlapped. what was the initial draw that kind of just brought them together as friends or as people as a mentor/mentee as a relationship? perhaps their ideas and common principles or their personalities? >> partly that, their common ideas. eisenhower sees reagan as not only within the broad tent of republicanism, as i had indicated, but eisenhower felt a big lack of legacy. he had hoped that his negotiations with the soviets in the late 1950s would lead to a major peace breakthrough and this would be his legacy to

america. but because of the u2 incident, which i didn't get to, that created problems. there were hard feelings between both countries. and then his vice president, richard nixon, is not elected. so he felt at that point major despair, what was he leaving the nation, what was he leaving the party. there was nothing particularly of good signs in the future. he feels a little better with his publicity record and meeting in '62, trying to improve party outreach. but then ronald reagan, through freeman gosden, and i believe he sees in ronald reagan a major future for not only the republican party but ike having a direct role in it. he was the elder statesman of the party. he wanted to continue seeing his ideas, individual freedom and small government, carried forth to the next generation. and i believe he saw in ronald

reagan someone to do that. then when discussions proceeded of foreign affairs and reagan being the only candidate in '68 who felt as he did, if we're in a war, let's try to win it, that's who he wanted to convey his wise wisdom about specific policies to and hopefully continue. i strongly think that ike definitely foresaw a day that ronald reagan was going to be in the white house. >> so you mentioned how eisenhower had ways of being -- causing people to underestimate him in the press. >> yes. >> avoiding questions and things like that. reagan was known sometimes for doing the same thing. he would tell a joke instead of answering a question directly and had ways of avoiding issues

artfully. did he learn that from eisenhower? >> i'm not an expert on reagan press conferences and things like that from the presidency. in my work, i make a careful point that my main story ends as the convention ends in the summer of '68. i do continue in my epilogue these eisenhower aspects that i make note to leave for future scholars, to delve into much more detail about the continuing true influence of eisenhower throughout the reagan years. i feel as if i've opened the door to that academic discussion. but something like that, other, more expert people than me need to fill those gaps in. >> was there a time in your findings that president reagan disagreed publicly with president eisenhower? and if not, where do you feel the greatest departure between the two policies were? >> well, first of all, it was --

i will cite something that the two had in common, and that is lebanon. in the late 1950s, the u.s. was asked to help out in lebanon and there was "operation blue bat" that president eisenhower directed. american forces with not stationed on the land in lebanon. he wanted the troops on ship in case they needed an escape route. flashforward a generation later. one of president reagan's greatest foreign affairs failures was the blowing up of the marine barracks in lebanon. american troops were stationed there and a suicide bomber came in and blew it up. i did learn that while planning for that, he sent for the files of what eisenhower had done for lebanon 30 years ago. the details of that, to my digging, are unknown. i wouldn't say it was a disagreement. it was just a different

approach, because things were a lot different in 1958 versus the mid '80s. ronald reagan did not comment directly about ieisenhower's influence on him, other than these examples where he would cite him, and then make it his official policy. he did not have a press conference at any point talking about the good old days in the golf cart. but he does bring it up at sporadic points. so it obviously was there. of course, by the time he was president, he was president in his own right accomplishing so much at the beginning when he was first considering entering politics. and then running for the president for the first time in '67 and '68, he found ike as a major mentor to follow his wisdom. and that's what he had done.

yes. >> what about on domestic policy? i think a lot of this is focused on foreign policy. but did he -- sorry. did president reagan follow president eisenhower in any domestic policy? >> good question. i have to cite my same prior answer. my book he a theme ends in the summer of '68 and does not have virtually anything about the reagan presidential years. it is an area now that i strongly feel future scholars need to re-assess, both the eisenhower legacy that i feel continues with ronald reagan, and the reagan presidency to be traced back to aspects that reagan was following eisenhower. but i did not address that in this -- any way. >> could you handicap what former president eisenhowerany . >> could you handicap what former president eisenhower -- the action he would take in the 2016 election? seems that he was rather

hands-on in helping the party kind of filter through some candidate options in 1968. but in 2016 obviously it is somewhat chaotic. >> well, as winston churchill's daughter would always say when asked the question "what would winston do in a certain circumstance," she would say -- nobody knows. so i would answer nobody knows. but his general philosophy is a wide political tent. and i have to mention the 11th commandment. 11th commandment, you can read about it, occurred when reagan first ran in the republican primary. and it was decided by the gentleman in charge, another physician, gaylord parkinson, that republicans should not speak ill of each other. unfortunately, that has not continued today. eisenhower had a press conference meeting where he actually wanted to get together all the republican presidential candidates for '68, and similarly ask them if they're not going to say something

positive about each other, just to stay quiet. so i feel that eisenhower added to that 11th commandment. and i think both he and reagan would be appalled by how the republican candidates attacked each other when 16, 17 of them were beginning the first of many, many debates. they should concentrate on the people whose policies they want to stop, those of their opposition, the democratic party. of course, it is natural. you want to win the nomination. but to the extent of the divisiveness, as is seen in the democratic candidates this year as well, i think they would have hoped that there would be much less harsh tones used by the gop candidates this year. >> in your research, did you delve into or come across any personal accounts from any family members of eisenhower and

reagan that eliminated their relationship any more? i gather from your presentation that their mentorship relationship was evident but never publicly expressed concretely. so i'm wondering if behind closed doors they talked to their relations about their specific ambitions regarding one another. >> i had hoped to. i had hoped to interview nancy reagan. but even a few years ago she was too ill and was no longer accepting interviews. his staff, both during the gubernatorial years, as well as the few people from his presidential years that i spoke to, all have had no idea of the eisenhower/reagan relationship. never been alluded to before. never been discussed before. >> what inspired you to begin this research and explore this

relationship? >> thank you. it was because i feel that the time of ronald reagan accomplished so much. as i mentioned at the beginning, restoring pride in america, creating a booming economy, and then in the area of world affairs, bringing freedom to millions in eastern europe, and defeating communism which, if had my opinion, is the most important historical event of the second half of the 20th century. we don't have thousands of nuclear missiles aimed at us, at least from russia, anymore. and so much of life in the late '40s, '50s, '60s was involved with fighting communism, not in a major hot war, but the cold war. proxy wars here and there. korea, vietnam, many, many other examples. and with the defeat by ronald reagan and mikhail gorbachev, pope john paul ii, margaret

thatcher, that combination had to be there. it wasn't present like that in the '60s, but that combination ended communism. the berlin wall fell. and also, i'll end with this. many people think that the first time ronald reagan in public called for the berlin wall to be torn down was when he yelled, "mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall." that's not when it happened. it was may 15, 1967, during an internationally televised debate with robert kennedy about vietnam. there was a question at the end that ronald reagan answered and publicly on may 15th, '67, called to tear down the berlin wall. and he did that several more times during his first campaign for the presidency. so thank you. >> i have one more most important question. how do our guests and viewing

audience get a copy of your book? >> the easiest way is on amazon and i hope you will go ahead and purchase it. it is available, it is an on-demand publisher, meaning it takes about two weeks to ship. thank you very much in advance and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. i'd love to chat after you read it. >> thank you, gene. thank you again for being here. if you're interested in more information about discovery institute, you can visit our website, www.discovery.org. we'll have a link to this event on the site soon. thank you. appreciate it. c-span is live today at the 2016 national convention.

starting with the day's scheduled events and speakers, followed by the convention coverage. tonight's speakers include president barack obama and vice president joe biden. democratic vice presidential nominee senator tim kaine will also address the convention. and thursday, chelsea clinton introduces her mother before she accepts the party's nomination as president of the united states. live coverage of every minute of the 2016 democratic national convention today on c-span, the c-span radio app, and c-span.org. up next on the presidency, west point history instructor captain benjamin griffin talks about the influence that author tom clancy and president ronald reagan had on one another in the 1980s as the cold war between the united states and soviet union moved to the diplomatic forefront. the new york military affairs symposium hosted this 1:40

minute event. and now let me introduce ben griffin who graduated from the united states military academy in 2006 and was commissioned as a military intelligence officer. he served as a squadron intelligence officer while deployed in iraq from 2007 to 2008, and as an assistant brigade intelligence officer while deployed in iraq in 2011. he is currently assigned to the united states military academy as a history instructor. his military awards and decorations include the bronze star with oak leaf cluster, the meritorious service medal, and the meritorious unit commendation. he is currently abd from the university of texas at austin and working on a dissertation that examines the role of tom clancy novels in the national security policy of ronald

reagan. his research interests include, grand strategy, american foreign relations, and the cold war. ben holds a bachelor of science in united states history from the united states military academy, a master of arts in international security from the university of arizona, a master of history from the university of texas. in addition, he is a national security fellow at the clements center for national security. he resides in west point, new york, with his wife beth and their two children. welcome, ben griffin. >> thank you very much for the kind introduction and the opportunity to speak here. i'm very thrilled to have this chance to be with you all tonight. thank you all for coming. i know it is friday in new york city so there are plenty of things you can do. the fact that you chose to come here and listen to me means a lot to me personally. before i begin, i am an active duty officer. everything i'm saying tonight is

my own opinion. it is not reflective -- not necessarily reflective of the united states military academy, united states army or united states government. you mentioned the military techno-porn. that's really a lot of what tom clancy does. that's what his books are largely about, this kind of fascination with military technology. we'll get into some of that tonight as well. speech entitled "the good guys win." ronald reagan, tom clancy and the transformation of national security. as air force one was traveling east towards reykjavik in october of '86, ronald reagan decided to take a break from the front cabin, move back to talk with and socialize with his staff. but rather than focus on preparations for the upcoming summit, talking about things like missile numbers or throw weights or nuclear yields, he instead opted to talk with his staff about the newly released world war iii thriller by tom clancy, "red storm rising." he read the book almost

immediately upon its release and he actually termed it research for the upcoming summit with mikhail gorbachev. many who heard that took it as a joke. how cot preside how could the president be using this work of fiction as research for a very serious topic of arms control with the head of the united states enemy, the soviet union. but like many of reagan's jokes and stories, they contained more than a small bit of truth. the storylines were perfectly encapsulating how ronald reagan viewed cold war strategy and importantly why he believed the u.s. prevailed. essentially it provides a realistic story that allowed him to visualize the near future. he used "red storm rising" as kind of a personal war game. conclusions he grew from it would actually directly impact the up in coming negotiations with gorbachev, would lead to a greater willingness to reduce nuclear weapons but not to reduce the -- or not to give up the strategic defense initiative

pla pla popularly known as "star wars." reagan understood fictional narratives had power in the policy world and he would often link public attitudes towards policy to culture. as he's giving his speech at graduation at west point he talks to the widespread lack of respect for the uniform that many in the country are exhibiting towards united states military. he's returning to the themes of his 1980 campaign and talking about how the nation has shortchanged the military in the wake of vietnam by stripping men of the gi bill, continuing to maintain low pay levels and just a lingering resentment of those in uniform from the public. he argues that the military deserves better than a bare s

subsistense level. he noted that this is in part due to recent policy changes, in particular a large pay raise which makes the military happy. we always like getting paid a bit more. but it is the not the entire explanation for why we see more enliftments and a higher quality of soldiers joining. instead, reagan argued, there was a new spirit abroad in the land which more than changes the payer benefits led to a rediscovery of how much there is to love in this land. the unequivocal language of what is his first major foreign defense policy speech demonstrates the shaping of public narratives was critical for policy success. a memorandum from caspar weinberger, his secretary of defense, shows how conscious the choice of language was in his words. weinberger wrote the president that the speech needed to increase the appreciation and honor the american people felt for uniformed services which was a matter that the secretary of defense and reagan had discussed before. earlier drafts of the speech show this link in even stronger terms. a telling paragraph terms the n

ingratitude and lack of respect the nation showed the military as a national disgrace. it singled out hollywood for criticism knowning the film industry's pandering to this anti-american and anti-military sentiment was reprehensible. margins of this draft in the speech there is a list of movies. "coming home," "deer hunter," "kent state," "apocalypse now." they were well received movies about the vietnam war but ones that paint a less than positive, to be gentle, image of the military. "apocalypse now" isn't exactly a pay on to the virtue of american service members. this passage didn't make the final drauft of the speech, probably because reagan doesn't want to alienate that community. in its presence even in draft form shows how closely link policy and culture were in re

gan reagan's mind. in his last address from the oval office he would recall during the '50s and '60s people could get a sense of patriotism from popular culture. movies and television celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that america was special. reagan then lamented this is no longer true. the president believed that well grounded patriotism was no longer in style. though the american spirit was back, they still needed to do a lot of work to reinstitutionalize it. reagan's concerns seem a little bit odd when you look at the culture of the '80s and major movies that come out, "rambo," "rocky 4," and "top gun." those dominated the box office. at the same time you saw other popular but also critically acclaimed films that indicated to reagan there was still a lot of work to do to cement this more positive narrative within

the america culture. it shows the linkage between cultural mood and implementation of policy. fiction also played a role of how reagan approached policy making. sometimes he would use stories to describe the type of policy he wanted to enact. one primary national security advisor to reagan recalls that during meetings as they are discussing this cold war strategy reagan referenced gary cooper from "high noon" when he wanted a policy that would do the right thing without seeking credit or adulation. the president wanted the u.s. to be a social "citizen kane." he used fiction in more direct ways as well. this is demonstrated by "red storm rising." the book convinced reagan that the u.s. and soviet union enjoyed conventional parody, there was not necessarily a need

for nuclear forces because the u.s. could defeat the soviets in a straight-up tank battle or regular fight between their armed forces without having to escalate to weapons of mass destruction. reagan expressed this connection expl explicitly to british leader margaret thatcher after reykjavik because she's a little surprised by reagan's willingness to get rid of weapons. she's talking to reagan saying you can't possibly eliminate these weapons because there would be nothing to check a soviet advance. reagan is dismissive of his friend and the prime minister's claims. instead he recommends that she go ahead and read "red storm rising" so that she can better yur understand what this new strategic situation looks like. tom clancy novels would really fill two roles for the reagan administration. the first one is they communicated his policies to a broader audience, and it also

provided an imaginative space for the president and for others in his administration to war game an test their strategic principles. clancy was an unlikely person to serve as the unofficial spokesman for the reagan separation. when working on the novel he wrote a friend that the odds of becoming the ned fred drik forsythe are sween sho forsythe. as upon his death he would leave behind an estate valid at approximately $82 million. he graduated from loyola college in baltimore after majoring in english and minoring in physics. but denied an opportunity to join the military due to his vision. his co-author, larry barnes, notes that he was nearly blind without his particularly thick glasses. so he instead opted to work with his wife as a small insurance

agency in maryland. he voted for reagan 4 out of the 5 times he could. one time he did not was in the 1980 primary where he cast a vote for george h.w. bush. clancy later explained this vote by asking for god's forgiveness and remarking that nobody's perfect. he strongly obviously supported the politics of reagan. in march of '81 he wrote his congressman to request a signed photo of the president. broomfield forward toeing the request. the white house responded positively and in july of that year mailed a signed photograph indescribed to clancy and to his wife, wanda. clancy also maintained a long lasting and deep interest in the military in general. the navy in particular. the location of his insurance company in owings and its proximity to annapolis and washington proved advantageous. clancy used this opportunity to build knowledge about nato procedures and capabilities.

one officer in particular earned clancy's thanks at the end of "hunt for october" providing much assistance with the technical detail that clancy's novels are famous for. clancy also built expertise by playing a tactical military game, harpoon. he noted in a letter that after digesting the game, it would be easy to explain the concepts in his book to anyone. although clancy had long harbored a desire to write novels he didn't begin work on it in earnest until 1982. from the start he had a grand vision for his project though. he planned "hunt for october" as the middle book in a trilogy along with "patriot games" and he started working on that draft in late '82 after already finished a 500-page graft "hunt for october." in addition he planned three other novels. earlier chapters patriot games and these other novel concepts in a nine-month period would speak to his future prolific

outputs when really from '86 through '89 he has a best seller every year on "the new york times" best seller list for the end of the year. but his first book's path to publication was rather unusual. the naval institute press push blis -- publish the hard cover and "hunt" was the first work of fiction they ever released. prior to "hunt" the best known book from them was a guide given to all naval recruits since 1902. clancy first came to their attention by hand delivering a letter to the editor which they later push accomplish. and it was the first time clancy ever received compensation for anything he had written. after writing this letter, he approached him with the draft of his manuscript. he was very lucky with his timing but they had just started to publish fiction as long as it was wet or dealing with the navy in some capacity.

to offset the costs of publishing the book they sold paper back writes before publication. $35,000 were paid for the rights, something clancy's editor describes as decent but not great for a first-time author. in july of '84 "hunt for october" hits shelves of book stores around washington, d.c. and new york signaling a career change for the 37-year-old insurance agent. the book got generally favorable but not exceptional reviews. our review in the wall street states clancy rewards the reader quite satisfactorily with a thriller that is great fun. the los angeles times took a more ambivalent track praising clancy's talent for making arcane information of u.s. and soviet submarines approachable but lamenting the cardboard characters, something that's going to be a common refrain in reviews of tom clancy's works. reviews like this were common place. "hunt" sales exceeded expectations since the first run of 16,000 books sold out by november, as did about half the second run of 10,000 books.

in washington, d.c. it made the local best seller list there but still seemed on track to maybe have a niche audience and certainly was on the path to national or international super stardom. this is going to change once reagan intervenes. the president had once told a close advisor, nancy reynolds, that he viewed books as friends. and received a copy of "hunt for october" from her as a christmas present in 1984. reagan proceeded to devour the novel. he reads one-third of it on christmas day and finishes the rest of it very soon after that. his identification with the novel causes him to depart from his conceit that books were secret and personal treasures. because reagan rarely talked about books that he read. so it is strange that he would opt to talk so much about "hunt for october." he would publicly praise the book as unput downable and the perfect yarn. his december endorsement greatly influenced sales and by march they had passed 75,000 hard copies. clancy got word the first paper back run would be 850,000 total

copies. the presidential endorsement also led to features about tom clancy in "time" magazine which held the book as a glipi ingrip narrative and gushed over the officials in washington who read the are book. eventually there was enough buzz around the book to earn clancy an invitation to appear on "good morning america." with these accomplishments under his belt and a risings star in the publishing world, he prepared to meet the man who would define his trajectory. as we see in this picture. on march 13, '85, clancy prepared to meet the president. led into the oval office, he describes stepping over the threshold as the equivalent of dorothy stepping from the wrecked house in munchkin land. instantly struck by reagan, clancy gloomily writes the charisma and star quality of reagan were of magnitude he hadn't expected.

with a personality that envelopes you like a cloud. reagan asked about clancy's next book. upon hearing it was about world war iii, inspired about who was going to win. clancy responded -- the good guys. much to the approval of the president. all this took place in about five minutes. as reagan had to then go out for lunch with henry kissinger where the two would discuss the recent death of soviet leader constantine chernyenko. clancy and reagan departed their spra separate lunches, clancy with a mixture of administration officials and mixture tur of journalists. robert merry at the time a white house reporter working for the "wall street journal" recalls lunch quickly turned into a

lively discussion between clancy and the navy secretary over the naval warfare and strategy. clancy later said it covered sdi and the prospect of the use of nuclear weapons over which he and past and future national security advisor general brent scowcroft disagreed about. general scowcroft advocated you could win a nuclear war, something clancy didn't quite buy into. other attendees at the lunch from senator hatfield from oregon and asked him to sign clancy's book. as well and director of u.s. information agency and long-time friend of reagan, charles wick. charles wick would later use a letter that clancy wrote in support of his role in the program as an excuse to get more funding knowing reagan's love for the author. audience of the lunch and the seriousness which participants recall it is indicative of the growing regard for clancy within the official washington and he

was already establishing himself as an expert on issues of national security. clancy's only other visit to the white house came one week later. on march 19th he returned for a ceremony marking the arrival of the president of argentina for a state dinner in the evening. clancy mingled with fellow guests, and after a brief welcome ceremony the clancies left to prepare for dinner. national security advisor robert mcfarland felt compelled to tell clancy he was actually nothing like the national security advisor in the book. clancy briefly mentioned in the letter he floated an idea to the national security advisor which he liked but clancy did not further elaborate on this. after listening to some music and watching the president and first lady dance, clancy and his wife made their exit. the night before hearing how

producers approached schwarzenegger in starring for "hunt for october. clancy was clearly a hit in newspaper articles listed the officials who read and enjoyed hunt for october. indeed, while at that state dinner, the photographer enthused to clancy that everyone in the white house had read the book. secretary of defense weinberger was the last in the administration to read it but quickly became its biggest supporter behind reagan itself. the editors of the times literary supplements approached weinberger about taking part in a series that would have prominent world leaders talk about a book they felt served more attention. weinberger's secretary passed him a copy of the book "hunt," and said on big authority, the big boss cross the river loved it. they were shaping cultural american opinion on the americans policy.

he glowingly reviewed the book, offering many reasons for those who want to make the peace and made this review to the wall street journal, and would release patriot games. and gave invite into the minds and motivations of terrorists and upholders of international peace and order ensure the freedom of all, and would make use of weinberger's reviews as reviews in the back, fairly a fair impression. it's fairly remark believe you have have many issues that come with running an organization as large as the department of defense. so a reason for the novel' immediate appeal to reagan is that there is a very strong resi resilien resilience to gary cooper's

character. he also serves as a moral center for the novel. despite working for the cia, he apologizes for every deception, such as when he's force to wear a naval uniform and states he does not like to pretend what he is not. it helps establish him over what's right and necessary. in true marshall kaine fashioca declines an opportunity to go to the white house to receive official praise from the president and instead immediately boards a plane to head home, with a gift for his daughter in hand to mark the completion of his original mission. so ryan asleep on an eastbound concord is the clancy equivalent of marshall and amy walking away from town with a discarded marshall star in the dust. and increased reagan's affection for the novel because clancy based his character on reagan.

clancy's president was capable of e.r.a..iarning convictions d the force of the sheer rhetoric, that president could turn on and off like a spotlight. these sentiments served as a predictor of the same force clancy would experience upon walking into the white house and meeting reagan for the first time. even the soviets respect the president in hunt for october. it serves as the primary foil and views the president as a ba bastard, very open, full of guile, who is friendly, but always ready to seize the advantage. the description echo future leader statements about reagan, and gorbachev laments he pockets without giving much back and clancy's character is an intelligent negotiator, and exercises the strategic vision to out maneuver his opponents. this matches clancy's image of reagan that he would confirm.

the familiarity of the story and the positive betrayal for himself in "hunt for red october," made the view of a friend, one of those secret personal treasures as journalist luke cannon describes him. they raised the profile of its author. hunt's pro trail of confidence and honor of those, and the clearly distinction between the u.s. drove this. clancy effectively captured two of the most important policy objectives, making it worth the administration's objection to publ publicize. "hunt for red october" built the favor racquetbaably trends, and national security posture. so in his commencement address as i mentioned, at west point, he was talking about the widespread lack of respect of the uniform and the u.s. military and returned to those themes from his campaign.

but just a few years later in his second term, months after meeting with clancy in may of 1985, he gives an address at the commencement of the united states naval academy, which as a west pointer, i'm loathed to acknowledge, but i'm somewhat forced to by the subject of my dissertation. the president noted this new spirit was still animating the land and we had gotten to where there was a new appreciation for our men and women in military service and contrast to the immediate post-vietnam area, had faith in america to make decisions in a morally difficult environment. it was meeting recruiting goals and bringing higher quality recruits. reagan believed the character of those in service was superior. the increase in quality was essential, as the navy now possessed the most sophisticated equipment in high-tech weaponry needed to the modern fleet. new and more powerful weapons

required skill to use, and a stronger moral compass to employ given their greater destructive potential, linking the quality of personnel with idea on the cutting edge of technology reflected the core how the reagan administration thought to revitalize the military strength. the military was not the only organization to restore public regard and build moral. in 1975, the church committee investigated the central intelligence agency, that the federal bureau of investigation investigatio , and led to a significant undermining of public opinion. the habit you'ual ex-cesse is, intelligence committee was suffering from negative betrayals like "all the president's men," depicted to do anything, even assassinating

americans. it's also worth noting weinberger reviewed a third fiction book, and that book was "the borne supremacy," however, in "hunt for red october," and patriot games, he is incredibly negative towards the "borne spra supremacy," and training the military things it would not supposed to be doing. it's a shame he has to go down that path to sell a couple books but apparently, he understands why it's written. it's a remarkable negative review because of the betrayal of negative services, something that is countering what the administration is attempting to do with popular culture. so reagan also sought to reverse this trend and spoke outside of the ci ahead quarters in langley, virginia, and had the

full confidence the agency perform functions in a way that is lufawful, constitutional, an keeping with the traditions of the way of life. he told the cia employees that it was their intellect and integrity, and wit and intuition the fate of freedom rested for millions. the members of the cia were heroes of a twilight struggle, and reduced sentiments to the covert action arm. he expressed his own country's gratitude praising them for their skill and character as they upheld their country's freedom, and fit perfectly into the sacrifice of his public statemen statements. the americans in "hunt for red october," share both above-average intelligence and virtvie virtue. jack ryan seeing his character cut short after a helicopter crash, however, after four years

of winning big, ryan became board with making money and was a successful historian and respectable books on naval history. in addition to naval sacuccess, he's a strong family man, an adoring young daughter, and jack ryan, junior. the perfect image of domestic life, and tranquillity, reagan would have wanted to point to follow. he rarely confesses his c cia affiliation to anyone, despite be a spy. he also harbors remarkably few ambitions and seeks no recognition for his work. only his physical appearance is unremarkable. at 6 fo'1", he's taller than average. he's been knighted for the queen offing lan of england, and is at ease

speaking with u.s. lords, admires, and u.s. policymakers. jack ryan is an impossible imalgumation someone of his intelligence to embody. as the president consistently showed a fondance for those 1950s novels, things like "hi noon," and "marshall cane," and the arc tehitect of what a heros supposed to be to him. the u.s. naval officers are equal and their status and paragons. clancy describes admiral joshua painter, the commander of the uss kennedy as a gifted tactician and a man of puritan c puritanical integrity. you're seeing the blending of high moral character, and admiral james greer, who may be

off admiral endman is able to stay through retirement age on confidence. he was ordered as the father of the nuclear submarine fleet. skipper of the submarine that finds red october, is one of the youngest commanders and shows intelligence to trust his instincts and listen to subordinat subordinates. equally in the betrayal of the officers is the betrayal of officer jones, the only officer to really receive attention in the book. he reflects exactly the high quality recruit that reagan referred to in his commencement addresses at the academy and wine burg weinberger identifies in his memoi memoire. he joined the ability to return his name and foster the return to the school. he has an i q of 158, and listens to music during his

spare time and turned the sonar into a giant speaker on the ocean floor. he's capable of making responsible decisions. clancy drives home his point about the quality of the enlisted in the american military by having so far i don't officers marrel over jones's confidence in the final acts. every time he talks to a soviet, they're shocked an american-enlisted soldier can make decisions, that knows his equipment and understands the technical specifications, highlighting the difference between the american system of trusting our privates and sergeants with the soviet system only trusting the officers. the fbi also receives positive tension in hunt for re-october , and selects the skmcommittee on intelligence, to supervise in the wake of the church committee. clancy depliicts the fbi is

exceptional and they've been on to the staff for sometime. the directors of the cia promise not to prosecute the aid and embarrass the senator if he agrees to later resign. they strike a double-blow, and are important to turn the asset, and strike a blow against the unfair and perhaps overzealous monitoring and oversight that's established in the wake of the church committee. the characters in "hunt" are unapologu un-a pol jetly, and a thriller with potentials of realism. and the simplistic design does not escape the notice of viewers. will watt stre the wall street reviewer knows ryan is too good to be true. another viewer notes the only sort of virtue that's not described by ryan is how good he is in bed. imaginable capable and disciplined, however he still gives the book a positive review calling the work great fun. the los angeles times took a

more ambivalent view. the work never quite sinks. so clancy escaped the navy puns and their view, i guess. however, reagan's love of book rested exactly on the system li simplicity of design, and clancy's work simplified the cold war into themes easily digestible and made a more acceptable some ofti reagan's policy, made by consumption of american households. in cold war antalism talks about commissioners serving as the paraphraser for the cold war policy, and introduce america to the b-52 bomber, and tries to bolster support of a war as it's starting to decline in america, and feels the same role as paraphraser for reagan.

he causes millions to bring the cold wear fabbel inle into thei homes, and helps the present and future state of the military, continuing to move the u.s. closer to eliminate the dangerous capability gap between it and the soviet union. "red storm rising" would help if at all, then it was in the favor of the united states. so "red storm rising" is about an oceanal third war. after a terror attack cripples the soviet energy industry, they forced to attack in order to break nato. as clancy promised, the good guys win that. by itself is not why the book appeals so much to reagan. the appeal to "red storm rising" comes from the fact it's four major plot lines matched the revision of what the stories would like both in the conduct and