i just -- there is not a question, just i want to say to my colleagues here and everybody here what i told you privately, that i thank you for your leadership. in puerto rico working out of the crisis that we inherited is not the perfect law, but is something that we need. and you have been a great leader. puerto rico appreciate that, your leadership. lydia velazquez leadership, pedro luis's help, paul ryan helps. so thank you. >> yes. >> on behalf of the people of puerto rico. and i have to tell everybody here with my colleagues here that leader pelosi, puerto rico fans are great friends. any time you are state of need, you will find a great friend. i am a witness of that. thank you. >> thank you, governor. we do listen. so i want you to know, we do listen. i do listen and i do enjoy being with all of you today. thank you for your leadership.

thank you for your bipartisanship, which is very important to our country. congratulations and thank you, governor herbert for your leadership. congratulations and good luck to you, terry mcauliffe. now as i end my remarks, i'm leaving. >> let's give a round of applause and thank her for her leadership. [ applause ] the democratic national convention is live from philadelphia this week. watch every minute on c-span. listen live on the free c-span radio app. it's easy to download from the apple store or google play. watch live or on demand any time at c-span.org, on your desktop, phone or tablet, where you'll

find all of our convention coverage and the full convention schedule. follow us at c-span on twitter and like us on facebook to see video of newsworthy moments. the democratic national convention live from philadelphia, all that week from c-span, the c-span radio app and c-span.org. this weekend on the presidency, james rosebush, former deputy assistant to president reagan talks about the president's personal life and personality. mr. rosebush is the author of "true reagan: what made ronald reagan great and why it matters." the nixon presidential library and museum hosted this hour-long event. >> before we start the discussion this evening, i would like to introduce someone who will introduce our speaker. indeed, it's very interesting and relevant because he served in both the reagan and nixon white houses.

he joined president nixon's campaign in 1968 in the midst of going law school at columbia university and served as a deputy assistant to president nixon. he then joined president nixon in san clemente after he retired, and he helped him research and write his best-selling memoirs "r.n.." he returned to politics in the reagan administration where he served as a speech writer and senior adviser. and since then he has been active and influential in many state and national campaigns. he is also a very supportive member of the nixon foundation board. ladies and gentlemen, ken kashigian. [ applause ] 6. >> thank you, jonathan. first i would like to add a note that is relative to this setting.

having worked so closely with both presidents. i think you would like to know first how much they respected each other. i worked both very closely with president nixon and with president reagan. and president reagan had extraordinary and deep respect for president nixon for his insights and his depth of experience in foreign policy, and he also looked to president nixon for political advice from time to time. and i also lived in san clemente. for obvious reasons. i worked with president nixon on his memoirs after he left the white house. i worked for him for four years and i sat for many hours with him. he prepared his memoirs and as we prepared for the david frost interviews and as he watched the 1976 and then later conferred with him as he watched the 1980 and 1984 elections.

when he analyzed president reagan's political skills. and i can assure that you that dick nixon saw reagan has the highest practicer. he had great respect for president reagan's skills all around as a communicator, as a politician. any way, it's nice to be able to introduce a former colleague of mine in the reagan white house. as you know, there have been hundreds of books writtening president reagan. i haven't read all of them. so 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. the truth about reagan. but the fact is there are only a very few people in a very few of those books actually written by

people who had real actual personal close -- close personal exposure to the president. and frankly, we would fit in a pretty small room. jim has written one of those books. jim rosebush has written one of those books. one of the few that could say he was there to observe the president personally. he was the point man on the president's important private sectors initiative program. he also came at the request of one of our mutual friends mike deaver, chief of staff to nancy reagan, which gave him even more insight. i often thought some of my strongest insights into the president, president reagan 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 person to work with him. so when he worked with her, i think it was better to help with president reagan.

i'm sure you'll hear that from him today. and so jim had the benefit of not only working with the president, but of working with mrs. reagan. he had the benefit of foreign travel with the reagans and assisted in negotiating trips with host countries such as china, japan, korea, france, england, and germany. he was very privileged to be in at the very historic bilateral meeting between reagan and gorbachev. the account of which in this book alone is worth the read. i encourage you to read it. i will also observe that jim is very insightful regarding the president's communicating skills. while jim is going to 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 many of the very best speeches of president reagan, an element of research that is very valuable contribution to reagan's scholarship. jim was there working with mrs. reagan when she did the "just say no" drug campaign, and it was one of my privileges to work with her and president reagan on that speech they gave which 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. and on the trip in april of 1984 to beijing, china, there was a very important state dinner given. for the chinese premier. >> ziyang. and president reagan was the host for the premier. it was a reciprocal dinner. now the president was hosting the dinner for the premier. it was one of the brand-new american hotels, it may have been 2 hyatt. it was called the great wall hotel. the reagans were hosting the dinner. what they wanted to do at this dinner is to have an orchestra play american music for the chinese to show that they were western hosts. but the orchestra was all chinese and the conductor was chinese. and it turns out that the

chinese orchestra knew only three american songs, western songs. and they played these three songs, and that was it. after they played the three songs, they stopped. jim, being partly in charge of all the arrangements for the dinner, knew this was not very good. so he went over to the conductor who spoke only chinese. jim did not speak chinese. and they looked at each other. it turns out that jim spoke a little german, and it turns out that the chinese conductor spoke a little german. so 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. [ applause ]

>> thank you, ken. thank you. but i really, i've got know your sources. where did you find that out? i have to say that 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. but i want to say how important it is to me that my friend ken did this introduction tonight. and i want you to know that ken was not only noted for having been an important part of both administrations, nixon and reagan, which is a tremendous part of history to participate in, but ken was two things, very

important. he had the confidence directly of president and mrs. reagan. and so he was sort of an untouchable. so if you didn't like what ken was writing in some of reagan speeches, you could never touch him because he had the direct confidence, if you know what i mean, of the president and first lady. everyone knew it. he commanded a tremendous amount of respect. and the other thing you have to know about ken just like ronald reagan, he never sought the credit. he always gave the credit to his boss. that was one of the great characteristics of ronald reagan that i want to talk with you a little bit tonight. but we have to start off, i have to say we're talking about the east room. i was used to where sitting where you are in the east room or being involved in what was going to go on in the east room. but coming into it tonight from this advantage point is a little unnerving, i would have to say. the east room during the reagan

time was the scene of the grant like during nixon as well of these grand press conferences, of which you don't see anymore. reagan spoke to the american people more than any other president. he gave his oval office talks, more oval office talks than any other president. he gave the radio talks and he gave these massive press conferences that we haven't seen in a long time. he prepared for them in the family theater which is in the east wing 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. so if you knew helen or if you

watched helen, you knew you couldn't really have a debate with helen. she was the one who 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. that we had to solve, and it had to do with the east room. so reagan, being an honorable gentleman, wouldn't ever take helen's comment "thank you, mr. president" as the actual end. if you remember, it was a contest on the part of every media outlet to get that last question. because 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 offhanded comment. and it was a contest. see when helen would say "thank you, mr. president" and he started to walk off the stage, you would have at least a dozen

questions being yelled out, oh, mr. president this, mr. president that. and being the gentleman that he was, what he couldn't quite get himself off of the podium. so it caused what we considered 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 -- it 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 dais for the president on this side of the room so the camera could see the president

walking in through the cross hall on that red rug, and that was a very effective way to actually begin the press conference, and it gave reagan an out. all he had to do, we had to train him in this, 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

being in this east room. i recall the staging that we set up fully occupying half of the room for the american ballet theatre. we hosted a series called and performance called at the white house where yizak pearlman hosted one year. leantine price 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 perry como and sinatra serenading from the stage. it was really marvelous. the reagans loved planning it and being a part of it. but one night we asked robert goulet 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 usually would come off 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 recalled condolence -- correspondence between these 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 international leader. president nixon was not willing rhett sans -- rhett santa 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. but 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 was that 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 the head of nato. and this, i think, in this -- this is including ireland as well, which of course is the country that the old reagans came from. i think this gave reagan a deepened understanding of how he might handle these leaders most

effectively 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. in this depict. and it's also 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

understanding to the 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 was the 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 vignettes that really illustrate the points that i bring out in this book and my personal relationship as reagan himself told me and opened up the secrets and 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 soviets. this was a 747 airliner that had 286 people onboard including a u.s. congressman. if you remember, 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 clamoring 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

brooding strategist. he had an idea that everything was happening for a purpose. you know, 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 inalien able right, his 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. because 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 wantonly 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 glisten by not just reagan's authority, but by their authority. so in the case of reagan, he quotes, for example, from the

scriptures, 96% of his speeches contain quotations or references to bible parables. 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 interested 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 college 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. well, 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 from

tennyson's poem "ulysses", 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 motorcade 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 start briefing the president on his 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 en route to the speech where we were going, 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. or to seek how the private sector could do better than the government working alone. 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. so, again, 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 contributed to his success, but it was another woman, nellie reagan, his mother who made him read the bible, made 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 the minister's daughter. it's the only girl that he dated in high school and college. he considered going off to yale divinitity school with his best friend. 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 and 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 did. 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. and there was a reporter, 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 who attended 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." well, those were the six most iconic words that were almost not spoken. what happened? so one of the brilliant young speechwriters worked with ken went to germany and he did 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 tear down the wall. he goes to the speechwriting staff and they love it. well, this is vintage reagan. he has the credibility to say it. they put it in the speech draft. reagan loves it. the speech goes around to the national security council, the defense department, the state department. and every single one the part is whited out. reagan puts it back in. the speech goes around again, whited out again. comes back a third time, even his own chief of staff and his own personal staff whites it out. so he gets to the iconic

brandenburg gate. gets out of an armored van that day, it wasn't a limousine. he says to his personal aide, i think it was jim koom, he says the boys at the state department aren't going to like this. here is reagan again listening to his own heart and his 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. ration was a freedom man. he was an evangelist for freedom. he was an evangelist for human rights. he was an evangelist for fledgling democracies wherever he could find them in the world. 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 aga can khan on the shores of lake ven neva 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 tutorial 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 reza gorbachev lectured especially nancy reagan on the valiant, the extraordinary values of communism and socialism and how it was 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 knell 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. because 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 core, oh, by the way, there is a new strategy. of course we had 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 sees the march of humanity to its 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 explained himself or labeled 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 and it was all based in his 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 to deaths -- 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 quarters 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. do you know about this? 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 nancy reagan's close, which was several rooms full of beautiful clothes. but in any case, i just drew the doors back on this closet, and i stand there and i 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. i thought if only everyone could see in this man's closet. it wasn't about clothes, it was about what it stood for, the image and seeing that there was one black suit is and one blue suit and one brown pair of shoes and so forth, 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 -- and one day by the way -- this is another east room story -- no, not an east room story, but a state dining room story. on the other side of the white house, was crawling 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 hued stationary with a gold embossed seal of the president on the 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. for sure, and 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. so that little letter that

claire wrote played in every major 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. call schloss hambach. 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. and this is what he said, among other things. but this is just his 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 come a new bach, beethoven and otto khan 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 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. ♪ "american history tv" on c-span 3 continues thursday night with a lock at abraham lincoln. we start with history professor jason silverman giving a lecture about immigration during lincoln's presidency. and "washington post" journalist bobwood ward on what lincoln's presidency means for the 21st

century u. and lib con's effect on america today. washington journal is in cleveland for the republican national convention and this morning a staff attorney for the aclu of ohio will discuss the rights of protesters at the rnc and the lawsuit the aclu filed on behalf of pro and anti-trump protesters ahead of the convention. followed by rnc rules committee members. then christy thompson, politics reporter for the cincinnati inquiry u will preview the convention speakers and events. join us for washington journal live from cleveland beginning at 7:00 a.m. eastern this morning.