interviews and as he wched the 1976 and then later conferred with him as he watched the 1980 and 1984 elections. he had great respect for president reagan's skills all around as a communicator, as a politician. yaen way sh it's nice to be able toinlt deuce a former colleague of mine in the reagan white house. there are hundreds of books written about president reagan. i haven't read all of them. many of them purport to be written from the inside. they say what i saw or what they say about reagan the man or the real reagan.

there are very few people and very few books written by people that had real actual close personal exposure to the president. jim rosebush has written one of those books. one of the few that could say he was there to observe the president personally. i thought my strongest insights came from mrs. reagan. she taught me a lot about how to deal with president reagan and how to communicate with him and help him to be a better

communicator and help me be a better bern to work with him. so when he worked with her, i think it was better to help with president reagan. he assisted in negotiating trips with china, japan, korea, france, england and germany. he was very privileged to be in at the very historic bilateral meeting between reagan and gorbachev. he is very insightful in his communicating skills.

jim will have to wait for my book for another view. i really can endorse many of his insights into how the president prepared for his speeches and what techniques he used to become the great communicator. in this book, he excerpted manufacture the great speeches from president reagan, an element of research that is very valuable contribution to reagan's scholarship. jim was there when she did the just say no speech campaign. that was not in the oval office but in the west hall of the white house. now i also did a little personal research into jim that he is not aware of yet today. i have my own sources in the white house. and i did find out that jim was asked to do a lot of things,

impossible things from time to time. he was asked to pull a lot of rabbits out of the hat when he served the president and mrs. reagan n the trip of 198420 to beijing, china, there was a very important state dinner given. and it was president reagan was the host for the premier. and it was a reciprocal dinner. it was one of the brand new american hotels. may have been the hyatt. it was called the great wall hotel. the reagans were hosting the dinner. they wanted to have an orchestra play american music for the chinese to show that there were

western hosts. but the orchestra was all chinese and the conductor was chinese. and it turns out that the chinese only knew three songs. that was it. after they played the three songs they stopped. jim being partly in charge of all of the arrangements for the dinner knew that this was not very good. so he went over to the conductor who spoke only chinese, jim did not speak chinese. it turns out that jim spoke a little german and the chinese conductor spoke a little german. they communicated somehow in german. jim communicated to them and said, look, i know you only know three songs. you need to play those three songs over and over again.

so jim, welcome to the nixon library. a place where we welcome your personal look into history. >> thank you, ken. really, i have to know your sources. where did you find that out? i'm tremendously honored to be here at this beautiful library. which i have to say is managed even better than the white house. the floors are buffed to a high shine. the whole organization really just sings. it's beautifully managed. i really appreciate the invitation to be here. but i was going to say how much i appreciate the introduction by ken. but this story about being in china, i have to add a few details. i want to say how glad ken did

the introduction tonight. he what note ford being a important part of both administrations, nixon and reagan which is a tremendous part of hist troy participate in, but so he was untouchable. if you didn't like what ken was writing in the speeches, you could never touch him. he had the direct confidence if you know what i mean. just like ronald reagan, he never sought the credit. he always gave the credit to his boss. and that was just one of the great characteristics of ronald reagan that i want to talk with you about tonight. we have to start off talking about the east room. i was used to sitting where you are or being involved in

arranging what was going on in the east room. coming into it tonight from this vantage point is a little unnerving. the east room during the reagan time was the scene of the grant press conferences of which you don't see anymore. reagan spoke to the american people more than any other president. he gave these massive press conferences that we haven't seen in a long time. he prepared for them in the family theater on the ground floor of the white house where there were theatrical film screenings and that was where he practiced. and he practiced for hours. the press conferences if you remember were officiated by helen thomas who is the dean of

the press corps, right? so you remember that they could never end, they couldn't begin or end without helen's okay. you couldn't have a debate with helen. she ran them. but she was the one who at the end would say, thank you, mr. president. and they would end. ronald reagan had a particular problem with this. so reagan, being an honorable gentleman, wouldn't ever take helen's comment, thank you mr. president as the actual end. in truth, reagan who was quite programmed and set apart perhaps too often from the casual encounter with a journalist or the media, he -- they wanted to get him in an off handed comment.

and it was a contest. so when help woen say, thank you, mr. president, and he would start to walk off the stage, you'd have at least a dozen questions being yelled out to -- mr. president this, mr. president that. and being the gentleman that he was, well, he couldn't quite get himself off of the podium. so it caused what we consider a very messy situation. because it would put the president in a position of sort of half answering a question or not knowing exactly what to do. after going through this for about a year, we came up with a solution. and that was to shift the side of the room. so previously reagan -- it would be on the -- ut would actually be the east wall which you'd be seeing here to my right. that's where the president was set up for these press conferences. and he had to navigate at the end walking across the east room to get back home which is to go back upstairs. and he called it the quarters like truman did. living above the store. so we decided to flip it and put

the podium for the president on this side of the room so the cameras could see the president walking through on the red rug and that was a very effective way to begin the press confence and it gave reagan an out. all he had to do, we had to train him. turn around, say good night, and walk off into the distance and back upstairs. and that was one of the interesting things that happened in the east room. an important way of handling the media for reagan. sort of emblematic of how the white house worked and how the president is a part of his communication ability and you know he said it wasn't that i was a great communicator. though i was called one. it was that i communicated great ideas. again, he always linked himself with great ideas and the concept of america as less of a place as

he called it in early as 1954 as an idea. the other things that i -- i have all the flood of memories income this east room, i recall the staging that we set up fully occupying half of the room for the american ballet theater. we hosted a series called and performance called at the white house where yizak pearlman hosted one year. there were tremendously interesting and fun memorable occasions. not to mention the fact that reagan hosted more state visits from heads of state than any other president. and there was always entertainment after dinner as was the case with every president, really. but one most notable evening, we had people like harry komo and sinatra serenading the stage. the reagans loved planning it and being a part of it. one night we asked robert gulet to perform.

but his performance took on a slightly different tact when perhaps before dinner he had a few too many beverages. so that when he got up to perform and the entertainers would come off of the stage and mix with the crowd, he fell into the lap of the lady sitting in the second row. so it brings back a lot of memories. and i have to say that thinking about, of course, the relationship between our two presidents that we're really honoring together tonight, i recall correspondence between the two great leaders. and i could see the importance -- the important role that president nixon played in the development of ronald reagan as a great national leader. president nixon was not willing to share with president reagan once he came into office.

his views on personnel, people that would serve him well and people that would serve nixon well. you see long letters passing between the two of them on personnel issues and nixon's advice to president reagan about foreign leaders and heads of state. i would say the largest contribution that nixon made to president reagan as a head of state and working with other bilateral meetings and relationships with other heads of state is nixon sent reagan on several official visits representing president nixon to -- and this was as governor reagan, to europe, to six countries in europe where reagan had an opportunity to meet with heads of state, foreign ministers, and head of nato. and this, i think, in this -- this is including ire land as well which, of course, was the country that the old reagans came from. i think this helped reagan with

an understanding of how he might handle the leaders later. so this is a tremendous benefit that nixon accorded reagan as a future leader. he also sent the reagans to the philippines. that also had his own interesting story involving nancy reagan, as well. so i like to think of these two leaders. it's given me an opportunity through writing this book and talking to many audiences around the country to think about what true leadership of character really is. i've come to see that -- this relates again to president nixon. that a great leader of character is a person who has the ability to discern the future and lead a people to it and through it. i think this is a characteristic that was shared again by both presidents. they had the ability to not only to discern themselves and the

united states in its destiny to be the shining city on a hill and to bring light, freedom and understand together rest of the world, share this unique system of ours, this american exceptionalism which they both believed in. but to help lead a people through it. and if you look at the top five presidents in american history which where president reagan resides with washington and lincoln and fdr and kennedy, you can begin to see those that were in this top five constellation, the ones that had both the ability to discern the future and lead the people to it and through it and also had the kind of character which i've come to define as a belief in standards or principles beyond yourself. today we have this crisis this tremendous crisis of leadership not just in this country but globally.

and i like to say that reagan was a force of character. well, so many political leaders today are a force of personality. reagan was reticent to ever refer to himself in any context of leadership. he always expressed the responsibility for anything he was able to accomplish, he gave the credit to the people. he always referred to that in a way that what he was able to accomplish is a result of what the people were able to do. he had that much love for america and that much love for americans. i thought i would just share also a comment before i get into sharing with you four vignette that's illustrate the points that i bring out in this book and my personal relationship as

reagan himself told me and opened up the secrets in the mystery of his character that today we're talking and thinking about egyptair flight number 804. it made me think about something that i discussed in the book and that's how reagan handled korean air flight 007 which was shot down by the sovieted. this was a 747 airliner that had 286 people onboard including a u.s. congressman. it ventured slightly into soviet airspace and was shot down and reagan decided that he would hold off on making any public statement about it. he was -- he was brought this early september in 1983. he came back from the ranch to the sober situation room and everyone was clammering to have him come out and make a bold statement immediately. reagan, true to his character which was not to always follow the advice of his advisors or

bureaucrats either in the state department, defense department or the nsc, he always listened to his own conscience. he decided -- because he was a broading strategist. he had an idea that everything was happening for a purpose. he talked about that. he felt that in this case there was a purpose to this and the purpose was to allow him to turn this into an object lesson about the defeat of any kind of control over what he called man's right, god given right to liberty. so reagan waits 24 hours to make any public statement. his advisors were very impatient about this. but when he did come out and make his statement which was very definitive, this is what he had to say. and i just dug this out of here coming over to the library this afternoon.

we're listening to what we think, of course, was a terrorist act last night. so here's what reagan says about the korean air incident. "make no mistake about it, this attack was not just against ourselves, this was the soviet union against the world in the moral precepts which guide human relations among people everywhere. it was an act of barbarism, born of a society which wantingly disregards individual rights and the value of human life and seeks constantly to expand and dominate other nations." he concludes this way. and by the way, the reagan always communicated and ken knows this very well because he was a very critical part of the speechwriting team. but reagan always used the words of those that were already

commonly accepted leaders. people who made his speeches glisen not just by reagan's authority but their authority. so in the case of reagan, he quotes, for example, from the script tours, 96% of his speeches could be taken quotations or references to a bible paraables. 96% of the time. reagan loves to do. this because it's him -- it's a tremendous communicating tool. it's not as if i'm saying to you this is what i believe. but listen to what he says here. "let us have faith in abraham lincoln's words that right makes might and in that faith, let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it. if we do, if we stand together and move forward with courage, then history will record that some good did come from this monstrous wrong, that we will carry with us and remember for

the rest of our lives." so who was this man? who was this mysterious ronald reagan who could stand up and talk about man's god given rights? that man is made in the image and likeness of god? that can put within historical context this mission and this destiny for this country in a way that recent presidents and our current president certainly don't frame the american experience and american exceptionalism? and how can we again raise up a standard of faith, beliefs, and character in our leaders? so that we will not lose this last best hope of the world as reagan always referred to america? well here are four different vignettes from my experience with reagan that illustrate, i believe, where this man came from and how he came to the qualities and the faith that made him this effective leader of character.

you know, i have written this book from the standpoint of showing the proof of what character does. today millennials are not so interest in -- in fact, they're not very much interested in history at all. only interested in history for its impact that, is, how is history impacting me? or how will history -- how will knowing history actually change the course of the future? that's why i say that i have written this book for the future and today this noon i spoke at biola over here, the bible coverage of l.a., and speaking to these college students who are so, you know, they were not even born close to the time of reagan and yet they're so earnest about wanting to understand what made reagan great. but they also want to know how they can use this in their own lives. this is the standard we need to raise up again. it is the responsibility of all of us to do it. because, remember, reagan always

reminded us not only that our best days were ahead but that those of us in this room have the ability to start the world over again. or as he loved to quote, come, my friends, it is not too late to seek a newer world, to seek, to strive, and to never give up. he was constantly telling the american people that we had the hope, capability, the destiny and the responsibility to keep that light shining. so how i did come by this? so in early 1981, i was taking my first solo limousine ride with the president. and i was there to basically, i thought we were going to a speech. just the two of us in the back of the car. i thought i would brief the president on the speech he was going to give that day. he didn't want anything to do with. that he wanted to use this opportunity which ended up being 20 or 30 minutes because the motorcade was delayed to explain the roots of his character to

me. this was largely because i was responsible for running thinks favorite domestic policy program which was a little initiative which -- in which we looked for private sector solutions to public problems. so in the case of public education, public housing, public transportation, garbage collection, you name it, anything that was done by the taxpayer and by the government we felt it was important to create the first time we coined this term public/private partnerships. so this was so close to reagan's heart. it was such a reflection of his character, he wanted to know where the character came. from another similarity with nixon, he talks about his mother. his mother was the source of all of his character. you know, it's often asked of me, ask of me would president

reagan have assumed this high office if it had not been for nancy reagan? well, she certainly contribute the to his success, but it was another woman, nelly reagan, who made him read the bible, maybe him recite the bible, made him act in morality plays based on the bible. she had him accompany her when she went to minister to the poor and to the sick in local hospitals. and to people who were actually poorer than the reagans themselves who never even owned a house while reagan was growing up. reagan goes into a context of where his mentor was his minister. he was expected to mayor rit minister's daughters. the only girl that he dated in high school and college. he considered going off to yale dif inti school. went to a church school. he drove 100 miles every sunday

back from eureka college to dixon, illinois, to teach sunday school. so 25% of his life was spent in and around the church. and he developed this spiritual context based on the scriptures. so when reagan talks to me this way, i begin -- i think i had an extraordinary level of curiosity about the reagans because i had not worked in the reagan campaign. i had -- did not come from california. i was not a part of the film industry. so i had to learn, ken i were talking about this we had to really learn our client. why they thought the way they did, why they acted the way they d it was as if we had to understand it to be able to serve them in the best way that we possibly could. so this was reagan in early 1981, opening himself up to me and showing some of that insight that he never, ever talked about. you know, it was -- there was a famous interview that he gave to w. magazine tlaen was a reporter and she was absolutely -- a friend of ours. she was determined to make a

news story and figure out what was going on inside that quiet interior that reagan would never talk about. so she says to the president, we know and talk about clearing brush and cutting wood at the ranch. in fact, that's all you talk about. what do you think about when you're cutting the wood and clearing the brush? and he says without skipping a beat, the wood. so that's as much as he would actually reveal about himself. and i felt for a long time that it was too his detriment because he was being portrayed by the media in a way that didn't even resonate with me in terms of knowing something about what was going on inside. now i know it was his genius. because if he had talked about his faith, if he had talked about his belief system, he never would have made a movie in hollywood and he would have been marginalized in the political world. sow kept it quiet. and there was a 9-year-old boy that attend one of my speeches.

and he said to his parents on the way home, and they reported to me the next day, he had it all figured out. he said, now i know. if reagan had talked about what was going on inside, it would be as if he were a knight going into battle without his armor on. and i thought in a split second, that is exactly what was going on with reagan. he kept all of this inside. because if he had exposed it, it could have been -- it could have worked in the opposite direction. now this is the first book as nancy reagan says of my book, said of my book this is the book that ronny couldn't write about himself. but this is the book that we need to have to reveal the insides so that we know what a leader of character is thinking on the inside. for the future. like so many presidents have not had revealed about them. so a second vignette has to do with his arrival at the

brandenburg gate in that famous speech where he gives the six most iconic words of the last century, you all know them. mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. those were the six most iconic words that were almost not spoken. what happened? so one of the brilliant young speechwriters worked with ken and went to germany and did he what we call today focus groups. he talked to the german people in small groups. he said the american president is coming here. what do you think he should say? we think we should call on gorbachev to break down the wall. he goes to the speechwriting staff and they say this is vintage reagan. he has the credibility to say it. they put it in the speech draft. he loves it. it goes around to the national security council, defense department, state department, and every single speech draft it is whited out. comes back to reagan. he said, what happened to it?

he puts it back in. speech goes around again. whited out again. comes back a third time and even his own chief of staff and his own personal staff whites it out. so he gets to that iconic brandenberg gate in an armored van that day. it wasn't the limb see. and he says to his personal aide, i think at that time, jim coon. he said the boys at the state department aren't going to like this. here is reagan again listening to his own heart and own advice. he gets up there and not only does he say the six iconic words, but read the rest of the speech. because reagan talks about his opposition to any walls that would separate a man from his god. a man from his right to live free. reagan was a freedom man. an evangelist for rights. he believed that was the mission and role of america and that by building up the u.s. presidency, this was not for his own embellishment. this was to consolidate the power of the united states in its authority based on its

values, its principles, its constitutional form of government. he believed that if that light went dim, we would have turmoil in the rest of the world. and that's exactly what we see today. now another vignette had to do with our discussion between the president and myself in front of a roaring fire in the villa of the ogakan on the shores of lake geneva at the first bilateral meeting between reagan and gorbachev. reagan had decided he would approach gorbachev in this initial meeting on the basis of their shared faith. he had been tutored by a woman named suzanne massy in 17 individual sessions in the white house that were off the record. and distinctly different than the material in the briefing books he was provided by the state department and nsc. she was actually tutoring reagan on russian culture as opposed to soviet policy.

this was a wonderful back filling for reagan. he began to appreciate to a greater extent the culture, the russian culture and also suzanne massy was an expert on gorbachev. and she explains to reagan that she believes gorbachev was a man of some faith. also having been influenced by a christian mother. so reagan sees an opening. he's going to develop this relationship with gorbachev based on shared values. even though mrs. gorbachev lectured nancy reagan on the valiant, extraordinary values of communism and socialism and how it's the best system in the world. that is a whole other evening of stories to tell you about. but that was reagan's approach to this meeting. so we're waiting one night for the gorbachevs to arrive. and reagan and i are just

sitting in front of this fire and just small talk. and relaxing. and i said, turning to a serious note, mr. president, what do you think will really bring the death now on soviet style communism and eastern bloc totalitarianism? and he said, jim, the way it will be done and the way it will be accomplished is through the people's own desire to know freedom, people's own desire to know god. well, that was a little bit startling for me. but another revelation about that mysterious interior of reagan. even while we were pursuing this three part strategy of an assertive military buildup, economic sanctions, and aggressive diplomatic moves with the soviet union and, by the way, i didn't run out after that evening in front of the fire and tell the press corps by the way,

there is a new strategy. of course, we will to support that three point strategy and policy that was the right thing to do. and here reagan is revealing to me that he sees this whole fight and this whole struggle in a different context. he seize the march of humanity to the inevitable music of progress and the ultimate achievement of freedom and prosperity. this is where he sees it going. yes, he has to handle incidents like the korean airliner downing just like we have the egyptair downing to day. but he sees it in a larger context. so this was another indication to me that reagan was this brooding strategist although he never labelled himself as a strategist nor did he ever say, by the way, folks this is my strategy. he always told us, however, what

the outcome was going to be. that is why he could say that he was the eternal optimist. that's why he gave us hope. that's why he gave us confidence belief system. and finally, the fourth example was the day that i was with him when he was going in for surgery. and we didn't know when we went in bethesda naval hospital, we thought it would be an outpatient experience for him. but in any case, decided to stay the night. so, the president asked me, would i go back to the white house and get a change of clothes so he could -- when he came back to the white house the next day he'd have a different outfit. so i said, i'd be happy to do anything that the president asks me to do. i ran out and got in one of those small chrysler sedans, that was a part of the white

house motor pool at the time, raced back to 1600 pennsylvania avenue. i went upstairs into the family portis where i had been many times and i went to his closet. i had never been in his closet before. but i had passed it many times. it was in between the reagans' bedroom, which you know, as an aside, had hand-painted bird wallpaper. the president used to say he would sit in bed with a slingshot and try to hit the birds on the wall. that was pure reagan. so, it was also pure nancy reagan to have had the birds on the wall. i go to the closet, which was different than several rooms of nancy reagan's closet full of beautiful clothes. in any case, i just drew the doors back on this closet, and i stand there and think, okay, i've got to figure out something to take him to wear.

and it just hit me, this is a man of simple mid western tastes. not at all the way he was being portrayed in the media as a rich person's president, as a spendthrift, this and that. if only everyone could see in this man's closet, it wasn't about clothes but what it stood for, the image and seeing there was one black suit and one blue suit, one brown shoes, one brown belt, one black belt. and i stood there and i thought, well, here is a president with absolutely no vanity, no sense of person. he was a very impersonal person. he never sought accolades. he was completely guileless, had no enemies, he saw no one as an enemy. he didn't have any acute sense of anger or need to prove himself. the kind of person you'd like to

be but you can't ever imagine achieving, at least that's the way i thought of myself. i completed my errand, went back to the hospital, never ever imagining that i'd have this experience of this insight of -- it wasn't in a way looking into reagan's soul through looking into the closet that day. i get back to the hospital and he was getting ready to be wheeled in for his surgery. and everyone was very impatient about it. i said, mr. president, one more thing, my daughter claire drew you a get well picture. so, claire, who was born right before we went into the white house -- this is another east room story -- not east room story but state dining room story, on the other side of the white house, was crawling around on the rug in the state dining room. as young children are prone to be she had eaten something and thrown up on that rug.

her history, her legacy is that she was one person who made them have to take the rug out to be cleaned. but that was in the state dining room. so anyway, claire draws a picture for the president and says, mr. president, get well. i love you. and she drew a picture. so, i gave it to the president. i thought, this is a nice thing to carry with him going into surgery. and all the doctors, okay, come on, come on, we have to go. he was on the gurney. he said, no, jim, can you hand me a piece of my personal stationery, which is sort of green, gold embossed with the president on top, which only the president was allowed to use. he wrote out in his hand, thank you so much -- dear claire, thank you so much for your get well wishes. i love you, too. so i go with the president. another little insight that is a mosaic in my experience and i

hold in my heart about who ronald reagan really was. so, we wheel down halfway to the operating room. my responsibilities are over. the doctors take over. and i turn left and i thought i was going to exit and go home. i opened these swinging doors and there were at least 500 cameras, lights, and reporters. for the first time in my experience with the reagans, i could actually say i understood them. and it was the perfect moment because 500 journalists wanted to know what was going on on the other side of that door. and what i was able to do, just like i'm doing in this book and all these talks across the country, to really explain the heart, the soul the spirit, the strength of ronald reagan from the inside out.

it's critical importance to his ability to be that kind of leader that we look up to so much today. that little letter claire wrote played in every mainly newspaper in the world that afternoon. what did it do? it began to explain and to illustrate the heart of ronald reagan. and i want to take your questions and hopefully provide you with some answers. we'll have a little discussion here. but i wanted to share with you just one -- maybe one, if i have time, just a second one, brief passage from one of my very favorite speeches that the president gave, and i think is illustrative of his personal belief systems. and it had to do with a speech that he gave at an ancient castle from the 14th century. it was at a gathering of high schoolers and college students who were meeting on the subject

of democracy. and as i say, everywhere reagan went, he was a freedom fighter. he wanted to support anyone else who was fighting for freedom and democracy. this is what reagan says, and i decided to go stand out in the audience. because i thought, well, i can stand up -- excuse me -- next to the president any time. but i wanted to gauge the reaction of the audience. and there was so much enthusiasm and i think serious -- they took this speech very seriously. i could imagine myself there thinking how many of these young people are going to be freedom fighters. how many of these young people are actually going to participate in reuniting germany. and i imagine that many did take up this charge and mantel that reagan gave them. here is what he said, these are the last two statements. your future awaits you, so take

up your responsibilities and embrace your opportunities with enthusiasm and pride in germany's strength. understand that there are no limits to how high each of you can climb. let us ask ourselves, what is at the heart of freedom. in the answer lies the deepest hope for the future of mankind and the reason there can be no walls. again, walls. you look up reagan references to walls. he talks about walls a lot as i mentioned from the berlin wall speech. the answer lies the deepest hope for the future of mankind. and the reason there can be no walls around those who are determined to be free. each of us, each of you is made in the most enduring, powerful image of western civilization. we're made in the image of god. the image of god, the creator. and then he ends by saying, the future awaits your creation. from your ranks can become a

bach, beethoven. for germany's future. my young friends, believe me, this is a wonderful time to be alive and to be free. remember that in your hearts are the stars of your fate. remember that everything depends on you and remember not to let one moment slip by. for as schiller has told us, he who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times. i believe that reagan did his best for his time, and he lives for all times. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you, jim. jim will answer your questions. i'd first like to announce that he will be available in the lobby to sign your book and meet every one of you. so books are available for purchase in our museum store.

but i'd like to ask the first question. is what we're seeing with donald trump anything like the reagan revolution in 1980? >> well, it's a revolution, that's for sure. okay, so, there are two similarities -- there's one between trump and reagan. sometimes i do two a day. of course i'm asked this system. our whole system, way of life is convulsed by this disruption that really started in 2008. and by the way, it should be no surprise to republicans, it should be no surprise to members of congress that this has happened. the united states congress itself, which was that body, has an 11% approval rating. why should they be surprised the american people are dissatisfied. so reagan calls himself a citizen politician. trump thinks of himself as a citizen politician. the comparison stops there.

so, i think they're sort of like parallel universes. trump is the product of social networking, the social media platform of the last decade. he made it. he helped create it. he acted in it and acted out in it. why should we be surprised? reagan is the product of the founders, the qualities, the faith, the context that came to him through his mother and his training in the scriptures and in the great limp church that he read and the role models that he adopted for his own life coming out of, being a young boy, suffering under the complexities of an alcoholic father.

he to rise out of that in a way president lincoln could never. reagan rose out of it, and those are the values he brought to it. he was a completely selfless person, which i think trump comes out of this self-promotion and personality. now, i'm not saying that this just happens to be a product of american culture today. so, i think we have to decide really what the best path we can take for america at this time. but i do know one thing, aside from what happens in the political results that we have and where we stand on it, i do know one thing -- with all of the leadership training going on in the world today, even leadership institutes at the elementary school level, there's one missing component. that's why we have less leadership today despite the fact we invest more of our time and instruction focused on leadership. that is we have lost the element of character. another question? >> we have a question from the back row.

>> you mentioned the president indicated his philosophy on a wall. what would he be thinking of a wall on our southern border? >> did everyone hear that? so, walls. we're on the subject of walls. so, i think this is fascinating. i've been asked this before, when you say reagan wanted to tear down walls and trump wants to build one. how would reagan feel about that? well, we know. this is not me conjecturing, about reagan -- this is what reagan said in his own words. in his last address in the oval office, as i mentioned, when he talked about that shining city on the hill. he said i don't think i ever explained what i meant when i saw it. when you go back to his first job as a sportscaster, you know when he was reporting on those chicago cubs baseball games he wasn't even there. he wasn't even at the ball field.

he was in an isolated room with a microphone. he was getting telegraphed the plays. he had to turn it into a fiery game. he had to make what he called the theater of the mind, the audience believe that he was actually there. so, reagan is talking about his shiny city on a hill in his last address to the american people. he said i see it as a city with no walls and a city with its doors open to all who would enter and enjoy our way of life. so, i know that reagan, especially having been a two-term governor of california with the agricultural economy here, and he knew the dependence especially at that time of the california economy on immigration, he would have supported anyone who wanted to come here in a legal path to citizenship to enjoy the fruits of democracy. i also know at the same time he was an unforgiving and fierce

opponent of anyone who would threaten our way of life. because, after all, that's why they wanted to come here in the first place, to understand that. to answer your question, he was definitely a person -- remember, he always thought about these things that were happening on a day-to-day basis, whether it was immigration or any of the issue that came up, whether they were on the side of terrorism or the economy, he always reflected on them in a more metaphysical context. he saw it in a long-term. another question? >> a question in the first row. >> i want to thank you for stepping up to the plate and being a stellar example of exceptionalism. i also feel strongly that you have the -- you communicate the power of the president and the heart of one could be a great president. so if you get that calling, please step up to the plate. >> well, thank you. that's very humbling. i appreciate it very much.

another question? one here. >> i would like to know why did president reagan not try to groom a successor to carry on his revolution and his legacy? >> you know, i'm so glad you said that, because i think about that all the time. you see in corporate america, for example, so often there's a crisis, whether it's a public or privately held company. the leaders don't seem to invest in my viewpoint enough in their successes. it's the responsibility of every american president to leave their party stronger and in better hands than they found it. yet, i think very few presidents do that.

i'm not sure that i believe reagan really did that either. remember, it was very hard for him to establish relationships on the basis of sharing his personal values. he was so private about it that when jim watt, a member of the cabinet, said going into the cabinet meeting and said, i think we should start every meeting with a prayer. reagan turned to him and said, i already have. reagan was a person who did it all. in every oval office address, he would be -- sometimes people would say -- why are you slumped down? he was slumped down in his chair. the person relating to me, is he okay? oh, yes. that's how he handles every oval office address, he prays first. but he doesn't go out and tell you who pray. he didn't tell you how to do it. he doesn't tell you to be a sunday school teacher. that was both part of his genius but i think also not actually

grooming future leaders. that's why we have to do it. it's falling on our shoulders. we have to find out what made reagan great and we have to go out and be the champions of it and demand not only of our selves. but first of all, talking to young people today they were asking me a similar question and i said, before you can really train others with character, belief and faith, you have to believe yourself. you have to know what your credo is. i believe you. i believe a leader, part of your responsibility, and maybe 50% of it, not only doing it, leaving it in better hands but take over. the american political system doesn't in some ways support that. another question? >> we have a question in the back row. >> how influential was nancy reagan in the administration? >> now, we're getting around to what people really want to talk

about, is nancy reagan. i go out and get a lot of talks, serious talks. but it always gets around to, tell me about nancy reagan. of course, nancy reagan was a person who was in a way, as i say, reagan was uncomplicatedly uncomplicated. but nancy reagan was complicatedly complicated. so, she's a much more controversial figure in a way. how important is she in the white house? she was used really as a ploy by the media to certain extent, who would have liked to -- watch this now -- diminish the authority and power of her husband by making the public try to think that nancy reagan was more powerful than she was. to get him to change his view --

yes, nancy reagan brought in people of varied positions and backgrounds to help either, perhaps, moderate the president's view. most notably on u.s./soviet relations but she was never really in a position of power to change his view because they were so embedded in his character that he was stubborn about it. so, yes, nancy reagan was, as i call her, the taxpayers' best deal because she worked so hard on behalf of the american taxpayer and she took care of her husband, who was this unmitigated important success in american history. i give her tremendous credit for that. and having been a person who traveled millions of miles with her, and having spent millions of hours with her and knew her

very well, i can say that she never wanted to be in a position of power. she wanted to do the best job she could for the taxpayer but also primarily for her husband. she wanted this to be his story and his success. >> to your right. >> so, what was the funniest thing that happened to you while you were serving reagan? >> oh, where do you want to start? i think, one -- you learn a million lessons from the reagans. i learned so much from them. one of the many things that happened, i can think of two of them. these were lessons i had to learn. i told nancy reagan, i want you up in the family kitchen cooking over a hot stove with an apron on, because i wanted to show nancy reagan was a human. she was like everyone else. we all cook in front of a stove. you know, and she said, absolutely, i'm not doing that. i said, yes, you are. you're definitely doing that

because i want to bring up the white house press corps and cameras and i want them to see you doing this. it will show your humble side. she said, no, i'm not doing that. and i said, why not? she said, because i never cooked a meal in my life. so, the point is -- obviously, i had to learn was that unless you're authentic, it's not going to work. right. the other funny -- these are all foibles, funny things that happened to me, say ha ha. i remember the time we went to switzerland. well, this was actually part of the gorbachev trip -- i'll tell you two things about this and one was little scary. wherever we traveled with reagan we wanted to show their interest in the culture of the cub. not like some presidents who gallop through six countries in a day, oh, hi, shake your hand and leave. we wanted to show interest in that culture.

also on a big global anti-drug abuse, as you know. so, i thought going to switzerland like other countries we would find an effective drug treatment center and celebrate their successes, right? so i go to geneva and ask the staff at the embassy, usually put at our disposal, i said find for me the best treatment center in geneva. well, they came back and they said, no, no, you can't do that. i said, yes, i'm going to do that. they said, no. you can't do that. and i said, why is that? they said because the swiss officials say there is no drug problem in geneva. well, it's strange. if you have been to geneva, you may know there's a park in geneva known as needle park. having known this, not by personal experience but by observation, i knew there

were effective drug treatment centers. i said get me a car and a driver and i'll drive until i found one, and i did. i found a wonderful drug treatment center up in the hills, lausanne, in between geneva and there, i had a wonderful time with them. i know as of that date i was put on a black list by the swiss government. do not let this guy in this country again. the last story when we had arranged these bilateral meetings between the head, that would be reagan and gorbachev and nancy reagan and reza gorbachev. we pulled up into the soviet compound. and usually -- well, this is always the case. when a motorcade came to a stop, the lead secret service agent would radio the other agents he was going to get out and it was okay to unlock the doors.

otherwise, you know, you were locked inside the armored car for security reasons. we drive in the driveway of soviet compound and i see, here is trouble. i see mrs. gorbachev not in the place where she's supposed to be. she's in the driveway. and as we pull in, the car, she's standing right at nancy reagan's door. she's wearing a white blouse and black tie like this. and i thought to myself, just nancy reagan and myself in the backseat. i thought, what is she doing? and so, before -- this was an error i'm sure -- an unforced error. i'm sure some secret service agents were fired over this. but, for some reason the lead agent unlocks the car door, she yanks the door open and grabs nancy reagan and races her into the house, into the compound.

and the lead secret service agent and i, who were supposed to be in there with her. the door slams shut like that and we're left outside. all we can think about is, of course, we're going to lose our jobs. how are we going to explain this to the white house press corps and this story would dominate what good the president was going to achieve on his side with gorbachev. it would have, believe me. so, in what seemed like an eternity, pounding on the door, let us in. no, we couldn't gain any entrance. so, we went back to the limousine and we're trying to figure out what to do about this. a member of my staff came up and said, you know, this sounds a little farfetched but there's a novel that just came out about a soviet first lady being replaced by a look-alike who looks like nancy reagan. and could it be that they took

nancy reagan inside and they are going to replace her with a soviet operative, someone who looks like nancy reagan. of course it's laughable now but it wasn't then. and we were like, that's just fantastic. that could never happen. you have to realize those were the days of the big like theory and these clandestine operations. finally we go back again and again and again. we go back a third time knocking on the door. let us in. he was, mr. rosebush, what are you doing out there? you're supposed to be inside. aha, that's how we handle it. so, we go in and climb the stairs and go to the room that was the predetermined site, bilateral meeting between the two ladies. i'll never forget the look on nancy reagan's face. it was like, where have you been? because mrs. gorbachev spent all that time lecturing her about the values and the

supremacy of the soviet state. i think i'll stop at that. thank you all very much. >> thank you, jim. [ applause ] >> as i mentioned, jim will be available in the lobby to sign your book. before he goes there's a parting gift, since this lecture had much to do with leadership, it's appropriate to give mr. rosebush a leather-bound copy of one of president nixon's 10 books, "leaders." it just happens to be available for purchase in the museum store. you can buy it there. thank you very much. we'll see you on memorial day. ♪ ♪ c-span is live today at the 2016 democratic national convention. starting with a preview of the day scheduled events of speakers. followed by the convention

coverage. tonight's featured 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 on c-span, c-span radio app and c-span.org. next, on the presidency we'll hear from author gene kopelson about dwight eisenhower and ronald reagan and the pivotal role the former president played in the revolution of reagan in the 1960s. kopelson copy of 1968 dress rehearsal, ike, the discovery

institute in seattle hosted this hour and 10 minute program. we're joined this evening by dr. gene kopelson. he's a cancer doctor by trade but an accomplished historian. he's written about theodore roosevelt, washington politics in the 1960s, about the holocaust and other subjects. his talk tonight will center on the first book, which, there's a placard here with the cover called "reagan's 1968 dress rehearsal." it tells the little-known story of a friendship that developed and ultimately a mentorship between dwight d. eisenhower and ronald reagan. and as it turns out, i won't steal your thunder. i'll let you tell the story. but dwight eisenhower was really instrumental in ronald reagan's early political career.

we all know how that ended with reagan's election as president two decades later. so, he's going to tell that story. he's going to talk for about 45 minutes, 50 minutes. he has a presentation, some of the audio is older so we'll do our best to adjust it is in the back so you can hear it. and our viewing audience can hear it. after it's done we'll open to audience q&a. with that please join me in welcoming dr. gene kopelson. [ applause ] >> thank you, everybody, for coming on a beautiful, sunny seattle day. the audience should know it really was. thank you to other people here at the discovery center, bruce chapman, tessa wrath and c-span delia rios.

i'd like to go back to give you the rationale for why i wrote this book. it was a golden age for america and a golden age for the world. ronald reagan had a strong military, he created a booming economy. he created 20 million to 25 million jobs. he defeated communism with of course 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. i set out to try to find out how and why he first sought the presidency in the late 1960s. you know this talk is about eisenhower but i wouldn't be surprised if you said what could dwight eisenhower possibly have to do with ronald reagan? after all reagan elected in

1980, didn't eisenhower spend the '60s on the golf course, then become ill and pass away. but during my research, done at both reagan and eisenhower libraries, i found out that ronald reagan viewed dwight eisenhower and his presidency in the 1950s as america's golden age. as you're about to learn fitting two examples of the legacy of dwight eisenhower, governorship and presidency of ronald reagan. my purpose here tonight is to pique your interest by showing you very few selected highlights of what i found. for instance you see one of the major aspects of my book is reagan's first quest for the presidency in 1968. but i'm not going to delve into any of the details of that campaign. nor that kennedy was ronald reagan's major political faux at the time. you can learn more about that. as steve mentioned, you want to

apologize in advance for some of the audio. i thought it was important to listen to it, even though some seg ms are hard to listen to, given that it was recorded on old equipment five decades ago. what i'd like to end my little introduction with is many of you are familiar with the voice of ronald reagan as governor perhaps but mainly as president. but try to realize what you're going to hear in the latter half of my talk is ronald reagan running for the presidency in the late 1960, talking about world affairs, an area that historians and others in the public just don't associate with ronald reagan. this is brand-new information. what i did in my research is go to reagan eisenhower correspondence at the eisenhower library which consisted of memos, telegrams and letters. i interviewed across the country approximately 35 reagan campaign grassroots activists from that

era in the late '60s. there were four personal meetings between eisenhower and reagan. at the reagan presidential library, our gubernatorial audiotapes, they recorded each of his press conferences and speeches. of course, he spent most of his time in sacramento running the state. but on many weekends he flew away to campaign and seek delegates and financial support in other parts of the country. that's when i began to learn of the critical importance of his growing stature from dwight eisenhower. in foreign affairs. also, the eisenhower post-presidenti post-presidential diary located in abilene at the presidential library and very few historians examined i before i did. lastly as a special treat you're going to hear reagan's in eisenhower's own words and hear reagan reflecting on mentor. specifically at the eisenhower library, they are recording scripts and memos, letters about

reagan that eisenhower received or wrote as well as their direct correspondence. just as one example, the eisenhowers summered in gettysburg, pennsylvania. this is the signature of ronald reagan when he came in to meet for the first time with the general, which is what he liked to be called, in mid-june of 1966. he signed in because ike's wife, mamie eisenhower insisted that every visitor to her home, signed in a guest book in her home including children and grandchildren. this is the two of them. they spent many days together discussing politics and foreign affairs. the story of eisenhower and reagan began during world war ii and we're going to now get a tiny sample of how eisenhower advised reagan on how to enter politics and how to run a

general election campaign and what ike thought of reagan 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, captain reagan was making publicity films for the army. they jointly made war bonds appeal 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 '44. they did not meet in person but this is their first true interaction. the 1950s, 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 giant growth of federal

bureaucracy that had grown under fdr but continued under truman. he sent a telegram to dwight eisenhower urging ike to run for president. reagan became a democrat for ike. he didn't realize, as did much of the public, that eisenhower was a republican. if i thought he was a man to sit in the white house and i thought he was a democrat. but if he's a republican, i'm going to support ike. he became a democrat for ike. a decade later, by this time, reagan had officially switched to being a member of to republican party. eisenhower at his gettysburg farm held a conference to try to improve public outreach from the gop. he wanted to help gop attract independence to democrats because he had been unhappy with the republican party's poor salesmanship. after all they had lost in 1960. nixon lost to john f. kennedy. they created a publicity record called mr. lincoln's party today. the script lies in the archives of the eisenhower library. and in it dwight eisenhower, who

saw the script and helped plan this publicity record, crossed out some of the original planned wording and wrote these words as his own deepest held political philosophy. good republicans have divergent individual beliefs. they are a good conservative, middle of the road and liberal republicans but they all have a common shared sense of principle. he felt that the republican party had a very wide political tent. also critically important hiring the new republican, ronald reagan, to be the narrator of this new gop record was perfectly fine with dwight eisenhower. on the record reagan introduced eisenhower and eisenhower thanked reagan. during the record itself the individual themes of republicanism, individual freedom, smaller government were emphasized and the gop having a wide inclusive tent for middle, moderate, conservative republicans 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 liberal writer gore vidal. he was standing next to nancy and ronald reagan. while eisenhower delivered his speech. the writer said reagan was totally concentrated on eisenhower. i remember being struck by that intensity. it's as if reagan the actor is an understudy examining the star, eisenhower's performance. the conclusion was correct, that mr. reagan planned to go into politics. but gore vidal didn't realize that ike and reagan had something of a personal relationship that was about to get much deeper.

reagan wasn't just studying eisenhower as any politician, he was looking at him as a role model. some of you may recall that just before the election in 1964 ronald reagan on national television, delivered "a time for choosing." this became known to aficionados as the speech. one point i'd like to emphasize, reagan said during the speech, he castigated the west. bringing freedom to people was critically who are to ronald reagan. one person sitting at home watched tv watched reagan deliver the speech, it was dwight eisenhower. he immediately called his former attorney general and said what a fine speech ronald reagan had just delivered. he then called a former special assistant and said what an excellent speech ronald reagan had delivered.

there's an intermediary who would appear between the two men. freeman godsen was co-creator of amos and andy. he described as eisenhower's most treasured friends after the presidency. he became intermediate between eisenhower and reagan in 1965. specifically that july he phoned eisenhower asking, what do you think -- can you give some advice, mr. president, of a political newcomer, a friend of mine named ronald reagan, who is thinking about entering politics? what could you advise him to do? the next day eisenhower wrote back a multistep political plan for ronald reagan to follow. reagan would end up following eisenhower's advice to the letter. especially, we're going to listen in a little while, to an

address reagan would deliver thereafter when he announced he was running for the governorship of california. eisenhower advised reagan to make an unequivocal statement he was a republican. that the prior year in '64 he honorably had supported the party, its platform and its candidates. and that the gop in seeking common sense solutions, can accommodate men who differ sharply on detail. 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 define his political convictions, beliefs and principiples, keep hammering away at them at every

opportunity and to reach out to the media. what we're going to do now is reagan in january of '66, listen how he follows, especially at the end of this recording, the same exact words that eisenhower had advised him. again, some of the recording you may have a little trouble with. >> winston churchill made a change in his own political party that some men change principles. those of you who are democrats, may i suggest you take the platform franklin delano roosevelt was elected, promised to reduce -- restore rights and powers, unjustly -- think the individuals by the federal government, restoration of constitution limits on power. ask yourself which party would be most at home today. i'm not a politician in the sense of ever having held public office but i think i can lay claim to being a citizen, everything i do for the republican party is a party of limited government, individual freedoms, adherence to the asking.

-- constitution. i worked for that party as actively as i can in 1960, '62, and '64. in those campaigns i support all. basic and widely differing philosophies. >> reagan on state television had used eisenhower's advice and some of his exact words when he announced he was seeking the governor ship of california. by the way, the very beginning, the section that's difficult to hear, i'd encourage you to read that address of fdr, franklin roosevelt, how roosevelt proposed slashing federal budget, having smaller government. that's why reagan voted for him and compared that to what actually occurred. well, ronald reagan followed ike's advice. reagan made eisenhower's theme of common sense in that first letter that ike advised him to do twice as his actual campaign theme in '66.

eisenhower admitted that he had been studying reagan and did not view reagan as an extreme right winger. he was well within the broad tint of modern republicanism. he actually ended up advising reagan on polling, to emphasize northern california in his campaign for the governorship. to bring in his primary opponent, the former mayor of san francisco, to bring in his supporters into reagan's campaign. and also, twice, dwight eisenhower helped ronald reagan fight false charges of being an anti-semite. eisenhower mentored on speech delivery, this is the well-known actor ronald reagan. eisenhower actually critiqued some of his speeches and reagan thanked him. that again, he should seek out democrats and independents. in my opinion this was the true original of where reagan democrats began. eisenhower publicly endorses reagan and donates to the campaign. eisenhower in '52 had been the citizen soldier. in '66, reagan became the

citizen politician, as you heard him use that 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 helped himself to try to obtain votes for mexican americans and others of hispanic origin by having campaign buttons. reagan did the same in '66 when running for governorship of california. the fact thaht they were mentor/coach, coach/student was in my opinion very clear and obvious from the beginnings. this is eisenhower as a football player on the left and ronald reagan as a football player on the right. they each knew what it was like to be a player, a student or coach. they each knew the importance of teamwork in obtaining good result. ronald reagan wins governorship of california by almost 1 million votes in 1966.

this is congratulatory telegram that former president dwight eisenhower sends to reagan. immediately after reagan wins that governorship, thoughts turn to 1968. a friend writes to eisenhower, for 1968 i'm not very enthusiastic about nelson rockefeller or george romney, that's the father of mitt romney, or a senator from illinois charles percy. or richard nixon. too bad, ike, we don't have a fresh candidate. do you have any better ideas? eisenhower's answer is most illuminating, one sentence to percy, doesn't mention romney, and he mentioned his vice president had matured a great deal. but eisenhower devotes half of that letter to ronald reagan. he said i've had a number of talks with ronald reagan, not just an occasional letter or

phone call. in our discussion of issues reagan showed good horse sense or common sense and considerable imagination. he's shown maturity and i've contributed my time to the campaign. eisenhower had actually donated money to the campaign as well. at the same time, this is only about two and a half weeks after ronald reagan has been elected the governor of california. dwight eisenhower proposes to the gop leadership that he's going to host a luncheon for old prospective 1968 republican presidential candidates. this is ike's list in his order. nixon, romney, percy. there's ronald reagan ahead of nelson rockefeller, the governor of new york, and a senator from oregon mark hatfield. in effect, dwight eisenhower had mentored novice politician ronald reagan from being the beginning of his career into a potential president of the united states. what did ike think of seeing

ronald reagan someday in the white house. well, in june of '66 after their first meeting to the press he certified ronald reagan as presidential timbre and to the press in 1967 and he said that if reagan is nominee, he certainly will endorse reagan for president. at this time the increases month, reagan is still not sworn in yet as governor. ike writes this to his protege, that he'd like to discuss more about world affairs the next time they can meet. so, that's now leading into the second part of my talk. this is just a tiny sample of how dwight eisenhower mentors ronald reagan on foreign affairs. at this time president johnson was having the beginnings 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, advised johnson to have a massive show of force once johnson had committed american troops, to have that massive show of force to win and to win quickly. johnson did not listen to ike and the vietnam quagmire began. eisenhower had a committee that formed in 1967, he headed it, that was going to advise president johnson on specific military strategy and tactics. eisenhower pushed for victory. he wanted hot pursuit meaning when enemy troops or enemy aircraft flee across the border to pursue them and get rid of them. there was to be no american air power bombing north vietnam. he wanted to threaten to use atomic weapons. this is what eisenhower had successfully done as president to stop the fighting in korea 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 urged that american air power bomb the dams in north vietnam and mining the harbor. of all the 1968 candidates, only ronald reagan spoke those exact same goals. and he learned all of this beginning at their very first meeting in june of '66 onwards. and we're now going to listen to more audio clips about what reagan learned from eisenhower on not only vietnam but more standing up against communism and much more discussions much more broad about world affairs. i'd like to mention one thing to refresh some of your memory. reagan is going to refer to an event in the early 1950s where

communists, red china threatened taiwan, also called formosa's offshore islands. eisenhower stood firm against them and said they will have to climb over the seventh fleet to do that. so, listen to in 1967 what ronald reagan said about dwight eisenhower. [ inaudible ]

>> [ inaudible ] >> ronald reagan was saying america and its allies had to stand firmly against evil. that there was good and there was evil in the world. he was recalling a time in america when dwight eisenhower was at the helm that america did stand firm against its enemies. well, around this time, ike actually encouraged reagan to run for president. there's one memo of conversation where he encouraged reagan to run as california's favorite

son, which reagan not only did, he had plans for that all along. but surely an astute a politician as eisenhower knew at the gop convention in '68, if reagan were planning to be california's favorite son, he might become the nominee and that encouragement could be traced right back to dwight eisenhower. reagan said, i still repeat what president eisenhower said some time ago that perhaps one of our greatest mistakes in vietnam was in 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 the lessons long ago never to tell your enemy what you will do or what you won't do. it should be the threat that was very important. now, we're going to switch gears for a slight second. william f. buckley was a very well-known conservative during this time period, national

review, a program called "firing line." he interviewed ronald reagan and reagan, of course, as a fellow conservative, they were discussing various things. buckley then asked reagan why eisenhower did not dismantle fdr's new deal. i think that he expected ronald reagan to agree with him and to start to criticizes dwight eisenhower. but i'd like you to listen to how immediately ronald reagan comes to the defense of his mentor dwight eisenhower. >> mr. eisenhower -- >> yes. i think the very fact, and this is overlooked a great deal, the very fact that one of his most notable achievements he vetoed 165 spending measures in his time in office. >> enormously -- would you say that was the inertia of preceding years of

the new deal and that eight years is not a sufficient period to start to change that trend or simply he had insufficient -- or prefer the alternative that only towards the ends of his eight years in office he began to. >> no, i'd add something else in there, that only one term in his entire eight years did he have a congress of his own velocity, of his own party. he was a president isolated by a democratic congress that was carrying on literally the philosophy that had been in existence since 1932. and as i say, the greatest thing that he could do was in those endless vetoes, when he had the power to keep them from getting two-thirds majority necessary. >> well, i think buckley was surprised but immediately reagan comes 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 particular magazine cover had showed the two of them but eisenhower said this was not a good idea, just a marriage of political convenience and he was against it. but back to the vice presidency for a second. after the civil war, general william tecumseh sherman said if nominated i will not run. if elected i will not serve. ronald reagan frequently during this time was asked about vice presidency and the sherman statement. would he follow the sherman statement that if he was selected he would decline it. but listen to what he answers and specifically pay attention to the discussions he had with dwight eisenhower about it, which is the main point. >> the question gets down to the sherman statement.

and would someone read the sherman statement. i have to remember what former president eisenhower said to me on the golf course one day. he said it was a statement that sherman shouldn't have made. >> humorous answer. the point is, it was not really discussing sherman's but he got the advice directly from dwight eisenhower. well, eisenhower knew that in six months -- seven months was going to be the republican convention. it was very interesting newspaper magazine interview was published. the reporter met with supposed -- supposedly with ike's golf buddy. i believe this was dwight eisenhower himself and not a golf buddy. those of you who know eisenhower history know about his hidden hand techniques from professor fred greenstein of princeton university, that he had a number

of press conferences that to the press seemed quite -- he seemed confused but he purposefully directed that confusion to throw the press off course. and he did not want it known who he truly would support but he told the reporter romney was a man in a panic. this was a number of months this was a number of months after romney's famous brainwashed comments and his poll numbers were rapidly declining. rockefeller this time a dove and rockefeller had refused to support the '64 candidate, barry goldwater, was not going to be eisenhower's choice. but very interestingly, his former vice president, richard nixon, ike clearly felt was the man most qualified for the job. but he told the reporter that the gop should not necessarily nominate the man most qualified. he wanted the convention to pick a winner, someone who could win over lyndon johnson. and who was the most recent winner? it was ronald reagan, who just a

year and a little while before that had won california by almost a million votes. ike also warned that if a republican or democrat suggests we pull out of vietnam where 13,000 americans died in the cause of freedom, they're going to have to answer to me. so the reporter asked the fictional golf buddy, does this mean that ronald reagan's in as your choice? the golf buddy never answered, but the reporter answered himself saying, you might say yes. so i believe this was dwight eisenhower's method of telling, in an obscure way with plausible deniability that ronald reagan may in fact have been his choice. in january of '68, two major shocks hit america. tet offensive. you can read about it. the troops of south vietnam were surprised for a short period of time by a major military offensive by the vietcong and

north vietnam. portrayed in the u.s. media, especially by cbs's walter cronkite, one would think -- i think if you polled americans today who even remember what tet meant, they would think it was a major military defeat. but it wasn't, it was a major american and south vietnam military victory, but you wouldn't know that by having watched american television. shortly thereafter, the "uss pueblo" was hijacked. an intelligence ship in international waters was hijacked by north korea. you have two things going on at the same time -- the war in vietnam and suddenly north korea makes an appearance again. the american crew was imprisoned and tortured. president johnson seemed paralyzed with indecision and there was no public response. i'd now like you to listen -- but i need to tell you one things in terms of history. one of the major changes john kennedy did in terms of overall military strategy compared to dwight eisenhower, dwight

eisenhower's philosophy was massive retaliation. if we have many, many nuclear weapons and many, many conventional arms, no one's going to mess with america. jfk didn't particularly like that. he wanted a more flexible approach. well, when the "uss pueblo" hijacking occurred and america did nothing, ronald reagan was very, very upset. please listen to what he says about the pueblo and america's response. >> he's planning a seven-year run including the bay of pigs and the kidnapping of 83 americans. the official explanation fortin ability in the fast southeast to move out and support the pueblo is that all the fighters in alert in korea are only for nuclear retaliation. has thantd been the most persistent claim of this administration?

we have moved at a cost of $500 billion over the last couple of years. now a response is needed. we've had no response at all. >> again, many of you used to ronald reagan from the '80s. this is the '60s. these recordings have not been heard since then. now many of you know the term "surge" from general petraeus and the war in iraq. well, ronald reagan used that term. he lamented what was going on in vietnam. so please listen for the specific military discussions of ronald reagan at that time. >> without exception, military leaders n particular this brave galaxy of leaders of world war ii, general trudeau and bradley and general eisenhower, without

exception spoke of stopping the entrance of surprise. that's number one. number two, they all seem to agree there is not a necessity to invade or at least to pin down an enemy force -- any argument about escalation is a specious argument. we have escalation. i disagree with the administration militarily. it is the same installation that took us two years to get. if we had it at the time the military was recommending in as a sudden surge and thrust of power, the war would be over. >> that's reagan's major military disagreement and it stems from eisenhower. it was johnson's very slow, gradual escalation, north vietnam and the vietcong could adjust as america was slowly building up their forces. that's not what ike had done in d-day. it was a massive invasion. that's what ike recommended to

johnson. send in many, many more troops. send them all in at once and we can win. but that's not what had happened. and now i'd like you to listen to ronald reagan comparing eisenhower in korea, his model, as to what he wanted to see done when discussing negotiating about vietnam. >> my statements last week about what should be done at the negotiating table, include former remarks by president eisenhower. the effect when you sit down and negotiate with a communist, we should keep in mind that two years of negotiations in korea in which during that period of time, more than 20,000 americans were killed, and i think you have to recall president eisenhower coming in as a new president, toward the end of that two-year period, draw an end to the negotiations and settling the conflict by simply releasing the word the united states was going to review its operations, weapons, theater of operation, manner of fighting