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. 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-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 priniples, 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 after romney's famous brainwashed comments and his poll numbers were rapidly declining. rockefeller this time a dove 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. hasn't that 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 and so forth. i said the same thing to be true in these paris negotiations. at the given time we let the

enemy know they've shown no sincere desire to settle this conflict, that they are procrastinating, using the negotiations to gain what they couldn't gain in the battlefield, then we must be prepared to threaten them with force. i don't believe the same conditions president eisenhower submitted would be the conditions here. a review of our strategy, review of targets, review of leaders of operation, meaning whether we're going to continue to fight this war and destroy the cities of south vietnam or fight this war on their own soil. the first two weeks of these negotiations, the death rate for americans in combat has gone up and set new records for this entire long war. the idea [ inaudible ] -- whatever is required, if that should be done. meantime, the enemy should see preparations. but the enemy must believe and see you are amassing weapons and mobilizing the forces that are going to result in an invasion. >> so ronald reagan was recommending, as had eisenhower, that the american navy should threaten an invasion of the north, as well as threaten to use atomic weapons. he wanted the vietnamese quaking in their beds every night. he wanted to win the war. if president johnson committed our troops, which he did, reagan and ike wanted to win the war. in may of '68, reagan said things were different when ike was in charge.

twice during those eight years menacing soviet movements against berlin were disposed of without the call up of a single reinforcement simply by a show of calm, unwavering resolution.s section where ronald reagan reflects on the technological triumphs of the eisenhower years and all that the candidate johnson years have squandered. it is going to go through a list of weapons that we have. not to glorify war but to show that we were prepared under the eisenhower years. i would like you to pay special attention to one particular phrase, eisenhower had complained when truman called him back to the president of columbia university to help nato. reagan is not going to use that same expression and he only would have gotten that from private discussions with dwight

eisenhower. >> i wonder if they are smiling or laughing. you are now ready to talk a new weapon that'll stop us from protecting our cities as they are already protected by missile programs. russians are kill our young man and reigning down on the innocence. our national leaders indicate that we can enter into a treaty in spite of the fact that this southern nation was already broken more and indicated of his release of the reagan treaty. the time once end in advance and our enemy is armed that we'll

fight. the super sonic jet work made by general curtis and one of the greatest genius of our time. the concept of weapon technology with the nuclear submarines. where are these men with their dry and determinations now.

>> to bring this to current time, what do you think reagan and eisenhower should say whether in advance whether our troops are withdrawn from iraq or afghanistan. there were little opportunities and i would find forward with ronald reagan with little that publicly he thanked eisenhower. i was able to find the actual one moment when he did. listen to a reporter, his words are a little garbled at the beginning. he asked reagan if eisenhower maybe a good campaign theme. [ inaudible [ inaudible ] >> today i witnessed the campaign in california. i agree with him.

>> he was the inspiration for it. his direct attributions to the reporter of the critical importance of eisenhower to him. what happens in the summer of '68. i know i am not spending much time in that convention, eisenhower dozes endorse richar nixon. the two families were getting together. what else can eisenhower really do? here is reagan reflecting on that endorsement. [ inaudible ]

>> i am not going to go to the last part of my talk. we are going to go beyond his governor ship in to his presidency and after with the briefest of samples of the continuing influence of dwight eisenhower throughout the remaining years of ronald reagan. 1975, reagan is no longer governor. he's not yet challenged gerald ford in 1976. he reflects back on eisenhower in a war in korea that killed tens of thousands. no young americans were being shot at. never had a nation's wealth widely distributed and never so strong. january of 1978, this is while reagan running for the presidency for the third time. one of the big issues of that era was whether the panama canal should be returned to panama.

william butler, the person who was mentioned earlier, a conservative was in favor of that. reagan was against that. here is a bit of a debate that reagan and buckley had and i would like you to listen as to who reagan cite. this is almost after a decade that eisenhower passed away. >> i also know of the president that you did not mention. president eisenhower told me that the idea that he had for the treaties and was far different from anything that's contained of ministry. he was toying with an interesting idea of forming an international corporation of all the nations of the world of the panama canal and that's with all participating and all using those canals. there would be no possibility of one jumping the traces.

he told me that in a golf cart which was a pretty good place to hear. >> it is the two of them discussing foreign affairs and thinking of all the different areas of the world that reagan is discussing being mentored by dwight eisenhower. reagan is asked who is your favorite president and he answered he cannot choose one and mentioned the obvious choice is george washington and abraham lincoln. he tells reporter, eisenhower wis a great -- he told the reporter, ike said he will have to slide over -- there is an academic

paper that was written during the 1980 campaign that reagan used the term "common sense" to discuss the soviet threat. reagan also used the word "common sense" during the state of the union address directly from eisenhower. there behind reagan's oval office desk he kept a photo of ike. reagan's cabinet room, he arranged to hang a portrait of general eisenhower. he likes to give speeches with index cards. one of his favorite was a quote "peace through strength." while many historians had felt that reagan's role model was roosevelt or franklin. you heard a little about reagan cascading fdr's domestic

policies but some historians felt it was him. i did a search through the search engine at the reagan's library trying to find out autopublautll the public speeches and press conference who reagan cite as his predecessors. fdr was not listed here and cited 55 times byr reagan in public. >> lincoln was about 100 times. the predecessor who he cited in public the most was dwight eisenhower. the reagan years, the '80s, there were many programs celebrating important anniversaries from the '50s. programs that ike had started. in march of '81 when it was the anniversary of that program, president reagan said, i am sure ike is looking down on us today

being very happy of what he's accomplished. similarly it was the 30th anniversary of eisenhower's program. by the summer of 1984, that program which america shifts to ne needy people in other country excess food of supplies and food had been sent to other nations that helped 2 billion people. >> i picked up a pen and signed a piece of paper that quietly changed the world. i can be proud of what his food for peace program had accomplished. critically important and i hope, if you have one thing to remember to remember this. eisenhower when he was president, had made a very famous address to the united nations on december 8th, 1953,

he called atoms for peace. the caveat was the soviet had to agree and the soviet union refused so it never happen. ronald reagan 30 years later were having discussions 30 years later. drop off was cancelled the arms reduction talks. reagan told the press that it was eisenhower's speech that his administration endorsed ike completely and this is what we are dedicated to. reagan made achieving president dwight eisenhower's goal his own official policy. >> june '84, d-day, reagan

honoring eisenhower's troops having been charged at d-day. >> reagan said, i will forever stand for ike's d-day. off the normandy coast was the uss, eisenhower aircraft carrier. it passed by while president reagan spoke. after reagan spoke, he was flown by helicopter and went over the aircraft carrier. the sailors on the ship formed the letter "i-k-e." the memory of ike were great leade leaders. he spoke in the microphone after the crew formed that i-k-e, he

shouted out, i like ike and i love ike. last we'll hear reagan's 1989 farewell address. i would like you to particularly listen to his reflections back on his own presidency and him bringing back the years of eisenhower. he does not mention eisenhower but i would like for you to hear his reflections back, politic n politicians and common sense and the multiple times he honor troops at d-day and also at

korea. [ inaudible ]

i would like to emphasize something that history has ignored ronald reagan's advice to the future was to study history. it is critically important as the fellow in this audience know because that's where you learn not to repeat the errors of the past. his reflection back not only in his own time as president but how he started. that first ike's letter twice mentioning common sense that he continued to use throughout his presidency. another historians, evan tomas, a note that ike had looked in the future to get rid of nuclear weapons but also the west had to keep the pressure up on communism until it collapse from its own internal contradictions. president reagan in my opinion is his major political error.

he directly completed dwight eisenhower's critically important goals. this i would like to end by quoting my own conclusion. the eisenhower and reagan's journey together had begun. in the end, president reagan will triumph in carrying forth the freedom that he inherited from his heroes, abraham lincoln, roosevelt, winston churchill but most of all, dwight eisenhower. please look at the official cabinet portrait picture of president reagan, vice president bush and his cabinet and who is their higher up above, i believe looking down with a smile upon

his prodigy is his vice president eisenhower. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> i would love to get some questions. we do have a microphone that we'll be passing around. please wait for the microphone so the camera can catch it, okay? >> thank you for your comments. i wonder, you talked a lot about the policies and the ideas of president reagan and eisenhower had and how they over lap. what was the initial straw that brought them together as friends or a mentor orname mentee as a

relationship. eisenhower sees reagan not only as the broad ten republican as i indicated. eisenhower felt a big lack of lega legacy. he had hoped that his negotiations with the soviets in the late 1950s would lead to major peace breakthrough and this would be his legacy to america. because of the u-2 incident which i did not get into, that created problems. there were hard feelings between both countries and then his vice president, richard nixon, was not elected. what was he leaving the nation and the party. there was nothing particularly a good sign in the future. he feels a little better with his public record and meetings in '62 trying to improve party

outreach but then reagan interests of his life and i believe he saw in ronald reagan a future for not only the republican party but ike having a direct role in it. he was the under statements of the party. he wanted to continue to see his ideas individual freedom and small government carried force to the next generation, i believe he saw in re begagan of someone to do it. if we are in a war, lets try to win it. that's what he wants to convey his wisdom and of his policies and hoping to continue. i strongly think that for all of us that ronald reagan was going to be in the white house.

>> i mentioned how eisenhower had ways of being, causing people to under estimate him in the press. >> yes. >> you know avoiding questions and things like that. reagan was known sometimes for doing the same thing. he would tell a joke instead of answering questions directly and had ways of avoiding the issues. did he learn that from eisenhower? >> i am not an expert on reagan's press conferences from things like that in the presidency. in my work, i made a careful point of my pain story and as the convention ends in the summer of '68, i continue in my epilogue of these eisenhower aspects that i make note to leave for future scholars of the continued influence of eisenhower throughout the reagan years.

i feel that if i open the door to that academic discussions, something like that other experts other than me need to fill in those gaps. >> was there a time in our findings that you find president reagan disagree with eisenhower and the two policies? >> first of all, i will cite some thing that the two had in common and that is lebanon. in the late 196 the u.s. was asked to help out in lebanon and the operation blew bad that president howard directed, american forces were not stationed in lebanon. he wanted the troops on ships in case they needed an escape route. later when president reagan's greatest foreign affair failures

were the blown up of lebanon where american troops were stationed there and a suicide bomber came and blew it up. while planning for that, he sent for the files of what eisenhower had done for lebanon 30 years ago. the details of that to my digging are unknown, i would not say it was a different agreement but it is a different approach because things are a lot different in 1958 verses the mid-80s. ronald reagan did not comment directly about eisenhower's influence on him other than these examples where he would cite him and make it his official policy. he did not have a press conference at any point talking about the good old days in the golf cart but he does bring it up in sporatic points. he was president in his own

right, accomplishing so much at the beginning when he was first considering entering politics and running for the president for the first time in '67 a and '68, he found ike as a mentor to follow his wisdom and that's what he's done. >> what about on domestic policy. a lot of it is followed on foreign policy. the president reagan follow in any domestic policy. >> good question. my bookends in the summer of '68 and does not have anything about the reagan's presidential years. it is an area now that i strongly feel future scholars need to reassess. both the eisenhower legacy that i feel continues with reagan and the reagan's presidency to be

traced back, following eisenhower, but i did not address that in any way. >> the action you would take in the 2016 election, a team that he would rather hands on and helping the republican party and filters through some candidate options in 1968 but 2016 is some what chaotic. >> well, as winston churchill daughter would say what would winston do in the same circumstances, she would say nobody knows. so i would answer nobody knows. the 11th commandment, you can read about it. it was decided by the gentleman

in charge, another position, gaylord parkinson that republicans should not speak ill of each other. unfortunately, that did not continue tods. eisenhower wanted to get together all the candidates for '68 and similarly ask them if they are not going to say something positive about each other just stay quiet. >> so i feel that eisenhower added to that 11th commandment and i think both he and reagan would be appalled by how the republican candidates attack each other when 16 or 17 of them were beginning of the first of many, many debates. they should concentrate on the people whose policies they want to stop of those oppositions and the democratic party. of course, it is a natural and you want to win the nomination but to the extent of the dial

sifness. as you have seen in the candidates as well, i hope there is less tone used by the gop candidates this year. >> did you come across any personal information from their mentors. it was evident but not expressed concretely. i am wondering behind close doors of their relations about their specific ambitions regarding one another. >> i am hoping to interview nancy reagan but even a few years ago, she was too ill and no longer accepting interviews.

his staffs both during the gubernatorial gee gubernatorial years all have no idea of the eisenhower/reagan relationship and never eluded before and never been discussed before. >> what inspired you to begin this research? >> i feel that at the time reagan accomplished so much and in the beginning where he created a booming economy and in the area of world affairs bringing freedoms to millions and eastern europe and defeating communism which in my opinion is the most historical event of the second half of the 20th century. >> we don't have thousands of nucle nuclear missiles aimed at us

anymore. so much of life in the late 40s and 50s and 60s was involved with fighting communism and not in mayor hot war but the cold war, proxy war here and there and korea and vietnam and many examples and with the defeat by reagan and thatcher and that combination had to be there. it was not present like that in the 60s. that combination ended communism and the berlin wall fell and also, i will end with this. many people think that the first time ronald reagan and public coal for the berlin war to be torn down was when he yelled mister -- there was a question at the end that reagan answered

and publicly on may 15th, '67, called to ter dotear down the berlin wall. he did it several time for the candidacies. thank you. >> thank you. >> i have one more most important questions. how do our guests here get a copy of your book. >> the easiest way is on amazon and i hope that you will purchase it. it is on-demand publisher meaning it takes about two weeks to ship. if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. i would hope to chat after you read it. >> thank you for being here. if you are interested in more information, you can go to our website discovery.org and we'll

have a link to this event soon. american history tv on cspan 3 continues on thursday night with a look at abraham lincoln. we start with a lecture during his presidency. columnist george will, also speaks on lincoln's effect on america today. thursday night, hillary clinton becomes the first woman to accept a major woman nominati nomination. with cspan you have many convenience options to watch her entire speech. watch it live on cspan o