" we discuss president trump's influence on the presidency with historian douglas brinkley. later, craig shirley talks about the influence of president ronald reagan. ♪ president's day was established in 1885 to celebrate george washington's birthday. journal."ashington keeping with the spirit of the day, we are asking you to tell us the qualities we should look for in our president. you can use the current holder of the office, past holders of the office, make your thoughts known on our phone lines. 748-8001.s, (202)

democrats, (202) 748-8000. , (202) 748-8002. if you want to tell us on social media, do so @cspanwj on twitter. you can also go to our facebook page. dickerson talking about the qualities of a u.s. president. thoughts one of his that piece. good campaigners make good presidents, we would have a constant string of successes. don't convey. when johnson crushed barry goldwater, he carried a laminated card in his pocket of the key polls in each battlegrounds date -- battleground state.

in 1974, jimmy carter was a political unknown, no one on the game show "what's my line" recognized him. two years later he was president. campaigns reward fighters. governing requires, operation -- requires cooperation, compromise and negotiation. obama must attack the republican boehner, paulohn ryan the next. if you want to give us your thoughts this morning, republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002.

if you want to post on twitter, do so @cspanwj. go on facebook. the bismarck tribune has a piece looking at president's day and the issue of presidents. one reason washington and lee can get so much attention might americans perceive their presidents. bush, obama, trump have had diehard detractors. that is one of the greatest things about our democracy, the freedom to be vocal critics without the fear of being president. when we want to honor the presidency, we fall back to the legendary presidents. washington and lincoln have legacies that will last forever. washington helped create our

nation and lincoln saved it. calls on the idea of qualities. first one up is james from michigan, democrats line. qualities i am looking for our things our current is lacking. honesty, truthfulness, stand up for american values. this president has no moral credibility at all. what president has embodied those and tell us how? democrat and republican presidents, from reagan to obama, there are a lot of things i disagreed with them on, but a lot i have agreed on. one thing they definitely stood

up for, character. they stood up for america. leaving in this world. trump has belittled us all, made this country less than what it is. this is jditter, -- looking out for the american citizen is a quality that should the sought. -- should be sought. bill, virginia beach, virginia. empathy, to be able to identify with the american family, and wisdom to know how to keep the peace while expressing the guts. that is jfk. president -- host: how does a president with those

quality show that? caller: jfk did. he kept us out of the war with the russians. go to warry wanted to against russia. he hesitated. he kept us out of war. richard rodgers says the quality i look for is honesty. his word should be his bond. nancy,he, nebraska -- nebraska, line for democrats. caller: i agree with the republican about the qualities of the president and would like to chime in that the future is female. host: when you say with the previous caller, which qualities stand out for you? caller hung up. caller: jerry, detroit, michigan. qualities that would make a

good president, he has to be empathetic. he has to understand people, be compassionate. he has to have an ability to listen to concerns, the best example of that would be the former president, barack obama. he exhibited those qualities that donald trump lacks. , especiallyose who on the republican line, who will excuse the arrogant, , narcissistic qualities trump has. the current president lacks those qualities. host: gives me a specific example of when obama showed empathy or this idea of

understanding the people he governed. when thehe example is sandy hook shootings occurred, he expressed empathy towards those people. the kind of address things that people are concerned about, certain issues, i think. host: jerry, giving us president an example. bill king says this -- when it comes to the qualities of a u.s. president, he should have the the fictional as superman does. truth, justice, and the american way, three things our current potus is missing. website, we did

this in 2017, a survey of historians about ranking the past presidents. include donald trump, but it does include former presidents in a lot of categories, asking historians to give their thoughts on the matter and why. when it comes to the matter of public persuasion, this is how presidents.former the top one, franklin d. roosevelt. by theodore roosevelt, abraham lincoln, george washington, ronald reagan, john f. kennedy, andrew jackson, thomas jefferson, bill clinton, and then barack obama. there are several categories we will show you. crisis leadership, moral go to our website. it does not include the current

president. qualities of a u.s. president is what we are asking you to tell us in this hour. on, michigan, you are not the republican -- you are next on the republican line. caller: alexander hamilton was concerned about the qualities of future presidents. in the federalist papers, he wrote five qualities he felt a president needed to be. vigor, a doer, unity, one person, secrecy, counterbalanced by the liberated judgment, dispatch, doing things right now, get it done, secrecy. those five categories.

was hamilton a favorite of yours? caller: most definitely. my favorite founding father was james madison. adore alexander hamilton. he was magnificent. qualities orthese other qualities that stand out in your mind? caller: before i read that, no. when i read that, i was amazed how many of them mr. trump has. and seego down the line by his behavior these are qualities he has. which is amazing. i was awestruck. host: that was pat in michigan. on twitter, the only quality we can be sure of is a great president like donald trump.

, st. paul, minnesota. give us your thoughts. caller: of i like with the previous lady had to say. in modern times, george bush the first has some of the most excellent qualities. he had privacy business experience, public service, military service, vice president, ambassador to the united nations and china, and the ability to get things done without thumping his chest. in terms of what i call leadership, that is what i admire. do you have critical thinking skills, emotional intelligence, a subtle persona? i appreciate you letting me speak. host: is there a modern

president that embraces that? caller: i think most of the modern presidents have had that. was a different later. as the lady just said, he is a little rambunctious, but clearly has some good decision-making capabilities. if you want to list qualities, she listed alexander hamilton, but if you want to can those qualities, you use a current example in the office, past examples, other historic leaders. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. herbert, georgia, democrats line. caller: good morning. , it is whatr i like

jesus said. whoever wants to become first needs to be a service to destinies to be a servant to all. -- needs to be a servant to all. i have seen it in obama. he understood the struggles, fro am white mother with black skin. he can identify with that. we have a president now, i have been listening to c-span every morning for the last 18 years. most of your white, republican like donald trump because they have the tea party ist groups.rem tommy, new york,

republican line. honest, have strength, a silent power, like ronald reagan. the other countries knew not to mess with him because he had .ower through strength they knew enough not to fall around with him. were to go right at you if you went at him first. once he did that one time, they showed strength through power. reagan, who else and that for you? reagan, i am trying to think. nowadays, trump is trying to show strength. he is not giving in any other countries.

he worried about looking good with the other countries, obama. iran the money. he worried about america, but, like trump, believe it or not, he is putting america first. c-span presidential historian survey, one category , oneistorians were asked of the categories was that of moral authority. on top of that list was george washington, followed by abraham lincoln, and then franklin d. roosevelt and eisenhower. theodore roosevelt, thomas , barack obama, woodrow

wilson, and james madison, harry truman, and it goes on from there. that is available on our website. people have been telling us about the qualities that fit best for a u.s. president. massachusetts, independent .ine, joe go ahead. it is high time we have a woman president. for every elective office in this country, we should elect women only. host: why do you thing that will make a difference? areer: obviously women definitely smarter than men. women, especially a mother, will think long and hard before she war, her boys off to

whereas dad could get a hair up off, alaand send them donald trump. on twitter -- presidents should learn their lessons from history. the potus is a steward. line.cago, al, democrats talking about the qualities of a president. lacks allnald trump of the qualities of a good president. in terms of judgment, studying for the presidency. i think he lacks all of the skills of a president. the next three years. how people see he is an effective leader is beyond me. if you look at his business record, there were many people

who worked for him who never got paid. a number ofkruptcy times. he lacks all of the skills of a good president. i liked harry truman. and of course, barack obama. host: for harry truman, what qualities? times: racially, for the he came up, he opened up the army to blacks and he did a lot of good things behind the scenes . he was down to earth. he was a down-to-earth individual. i liked harry truman, personally. host: elliott on twitter says -- when it comes to fdr, one of the governmentdents, big and welfare society he started will sooner or later bring this country down. an op-ed, taking a look at george washington this day.

lookingon saw citizens for a savior to waltz and from the government to solve every problem weakens the nation and citizens ofe personal responsibility. this never ends well for everyday citizens. if the country follows elections's examples, will become less consequential because government will become less consequential in the lives of the american people. washington clearly understood power is not something to amass, barter with, or cling to, nor is it a tool for pursuing political purposes and self-promotion.

washington knew the future of the nation was not dependent on him. he believed america's destiny would be secured by citizens making contributions in their home, community, and country, and travel on. park,p, carol, winter florida, democrats line. carol, florida, hello. caller: i am here. host: you are on, go ahead. caller: i called because i am concerned about what happened in florida to the children last week. i see you are talking about presidents. i will make one comment. minutestillerson on 60 last night. he seems to embody the qualities i would he looking for in a president.

scout, he says he is still a scout at his age, and he is no longer a ceo. he is working for the people of the united dates. states.nited i would love to see someone who says something like that and has experience with all different countries. that is not what i called you about. host: what about this idea as in president as a comforter chief, especially in times of national distress, like the shootings. what do you think about the presidential role then? caller: i don't know that he -in-chief.comforter have been reading about grant and fdr and truman. had good qualities.

you rise sometimes to the job. -- i have yetsee to see trump rise to the job as much as i would like. i did not vote for him. i am a democrat. i voted for hillary. it would have been nice to have a woman as president. also, she had qualities she had learned on the job. she was senator for new york state, asretary of tillerson is now. have voted for every president since john f. kennedy. i have looked for things i want in a president. know from their town halls if they are going to

be able to fulfill or try to fulfill what we are looking for. host: ok. let's go to eduardo, republican line. you are on, go ahead. caller: to me, my favorite president was lincoln. me, my favorite president was lincoln. and, kennedy, and jimmy carter. you know? i thought obama was good. he destroyed 2.5 million

families. ok? host: what was it about jimmy carter you liked? caller: he was a man of peace, a man for the american people. [indiscernible] why they got on him so bad, because the thing with the -- situation in iran. [indiscernible] host: teresa, next, california, democrats line.

caller: thank you for taking my call. what qualities should we look for? everything miss manners not. honesty, compassion, empathy -- everything this president is not. honesty, compassion, empathy. abraham lincoln was one of my favorites. i liked jimmy carter for the same reasons the last caller said. basically, everything this man is not. out? what stands , he wasjimmy carter probably a better human being than he was a president. he was honest and he was compassionate. he had equality for everybody. presidents,e lincoln and carter, have those

qualities. this president does not have an ounce of it. it is a shame. our: lincoln shows up in survey of presidential historians when it comes to the category of relations with congress, specifically how a president works with congress to get things done. lyndon johnson on the top. followed by george washington, .oosevelt, lincoln, eisenhower it goes from there, the listing of all of the presidents in these categories at our website. that is where you can find a listing of this survey. it was done last year. from virginia beach, sherry, virginia beach on our democrats line. caller: how are you? host: i am well. like a president -- we have not had one of these, ever. that would include

always ao, there is favoritism aspect in us. there should never be a favoritism aspect when it comes to a large group of human beings. i told the young lady who asked me the question before you answer the phone -- the quality that should stand out in a president should be more like a for god. he is dealing with people who belong to the creator of the universe. the scripture says when the righteous are empowered, the people rejoice. broad spectruma of things to do for everyone. not excluding someone, not insulting people. host: for the qualities you listed, these qualities that

would make a good president, there is no one who embodies that for you? inler: at this moment history, no. there never has been. there have been people who have come close. at an johnson stepped in horrific time in america. assassination of his friend and president. i liked him. i was a young child at the time, but i liked him. i have had nothing but good rapport of him afterwards. wonderfuly heard things about him. he tried to be a people's person. that goes with anybody who deals with people, doctors, nurses, schoolteachers. somehow, we have a bias in us that is unnecessary when it comes to a large group of people. virginiat is sherry in

beach. we have been asking you to give us your thoughts on qualities that should be sought out, looked for in a u.s. president. paste have expressed presidents as a model, some current presidents. you must qualities. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we will spend the next half hour same, showingthe you stories in the paper making news. story stemming out from last week's reveal out of the robert mueller investigation of the 13 or so individuals charged with interfering with the u.s. elections. hands swirled in the u.s., but whether it tipped the election is unclear.

there is uncertainty over what tipped the balance. clinton lost the electoral college. a few democrats believe trump one solely because of the russian investigation. many think the meddling exasperated clinton's challenges, making her more vulnerable to what some believe was the decisive blow. russia weakened her enough so that the comey letter could not occur off. -- could knock her off. the election was won because trump was a better candidate with a superior message -- that

was david bossie. to the pages of usa today, when it comes to election security, in light of what happened, states rule is the subject of a story there. saying congress has done little to help the states, a bipartisan senate bill to help improve election systems has not received a hearing or a vote. there are no plans by senate leaders to bring it to the floor for a vote. also talking about how states are doing for themselves when it comes to election security. in mississippi, they highlight that one agency finished the crippling -- finished encrypt encrypting its-- system.

$27,750 for a company to try to hack its election system. they could not. -- this is a president who claims a vindication anytime someone sneezes. what this sets out is information about one element of the use of social media to attitudes to motivate people to protest, to infiltrate thepolitical system through cyberspace. it does not contain any of the allegations that are most known to the public. that is the russian hacking into the democratic institutions. publishing of stolen information. on that, the trump campaign and the candidate trump himself was

itting in what was going on. they said the russians were behind the hacking and the numbering, but the campaign used the products of that element of the russian campaign. host: qualities we should look for in a president. let's hear from cj, republican line, minnesota. caller: thank you for taking my call. i appreciate this. one i wanted to say is it depends on congress that the president gets. the president, barack obama, the , some of theot issues we are getting now should have been solved. refused to work with president barack obama and all of the issues in trump's first year could have been resolved.

a president is only as good as his congress and senate. host: do you think president obama did a good job reaching out to congress? caller: yes, he did. they refused to work with him. they absolutely would not work with him. they did not want to see him do good. host: from fred and twitter, the president needs to lead by upholding his oath office in the constitution. reggie says we look backwards in history. the president should be forward thinking. the president needs to adhere to the constitution and be in control of our foreign policy, stay out of needless war and conflicts. new jersey, janice is next, democrats line.

caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: my thoughts on the goodties we need in a president is someone who is very intelligent, has a worldview of issues. believe trump has not done so because he does not call on the people who are knowledgeable. when he first went in, it was like he knew all of the answers for everything. you need to look at people who and special skills education in certain subjects and lean on them and to be a good listener and talk to others. when it comes to someone -- has that worldly view of that world view you are talking about, who stands out in your mind that possesses those things? caller: i believe hillary

clinton did. she had a job dealing with that before she came in. that person may not have all the education, the background, if he is intelligent enough to the two people who he tows, -- enough to speak people who he knows, even our university, think tanks, people who have studied these things, who can give us good information about how to do things differently, sometimes the ego of people who have leadership, it is their worst enemy. n on someonelea else. they want to take credit for everything. wouldould be one thing i look for. moral character is what we are all looking for. none of us are perfect. probably has a

dark side somewhere. overall, they have to show good moral character. they need to put aside the democrat and republican issues. they have to look at what is best for the people and listen to what they are finding the people really need. not power.oney is it is not always a great answer to some of the problems. we need to look at how we can help people that are more in need. host: let's go to louisiana, lorenzo. line, some of the top qualities a president should have is to be firm, fair, compassionate, and to know the constitution. also, it is to understand that being the president of the

united states, any public servant job, the people come first. you are working for the people. also, to have a good military mind. if you do not have an understanding of the military, surround yourself with the proper people. without a strong military, we -- it is not good. you were saying about jimmy carter -- iink would rank him higher than what your poll has him. ast: why do you think he was good leader, especially in light of the things you mentioned? caller: number one, he was a christian. has moreis country than different types of religions, but his heart was true.

said about they abortion they had with the operation over there, that was one of the things that brought him down. other than that, his heart was true and he believed in the abided by the constitution. when i was in the marine corps, he was president. it is hard to be a politician when you try to be honest and tell the truth. host: that is lorenzo in louisiana. one other story when it comes to the release of the molar -- of the indictments. americanrolls took on personas. they opened up long before

clinton announced her candidacy. by the time election day neared, the activities were designed to help trump and hurt clinton. it did not appear americans knowingly or willfully participated in the dubious work. the extensive operation put to rest any notion that russians were not meddling in politics. all defendants were charged with conspiracy to do fraud the united states. it goes on to describe the instances of how this factory worked. the tvthe people on shows yesterday, a former insider ford donald trump, chris christie, talking about the release of that -- a former , chris for donald trump

christie, talking about the release of that information. [video clip] r made itor muelle that all of it was done unwittingly, that no one participated in a knowing fashion. we have to see where he goes next. at this point, there is no allegation by director mueller. jacksonville, florida, independent line. go ahead. i like that the president of the united states is for the defense of the country. people, the sense the country first, from the phonetic islamist.

other people would say he is racist. look who he has working for him. for the people who quote the bible. i will make it sure for you. acts, and ephesians say obey your master on earth as you in heaven.master there is not one word against slavery. bob, farmville, virginia. go ahead. i have been an independent sense of obama became president. set forth forhe our country in the divide in racism he incurred on our country is sad. he had a golden opportunity to bring our country together. folks are not looking at the

.deas of what he brought forth just because of the michael brown thing, he took the wrong side. professor gates, he acted stupidly. he refused to give his identification card. the first thing he did, he picked the wrong side. did not getlinton elected, baggage. her husband was a pervert. that, people don't view those things as important. as far as qualities, what is most important on that list and who embodies it? caller: i did not vote for trump . i did not care for him. is, i see what he is doing good things for our country. it opened my eyes a lot.

-- all of a sudden, i think i am going to vote for him in the next election. host: asheville, north frontna's paper, on its page gives us a list of facts about the american presidents by the numbers and highlights a few things. one of the numbers, five presidents who never had legitimate children. proved harding fathered a daughter with his mistress. james buchanan never fathered a child. three presidents married while in office. john tyler, grover cleveland, and woodrow wilson. tyler'se number of john

children. the most of any president. two of his grandsons are alive today. number of presidents who had children born in office. grover cleveland and john f. kennedy. you can find that if you go to the website of the "citizen's times." lara, spoke again, washington, republican line. good morning. nice to see you. i -- are you there? host: you are on. go ahead. caller: the qualities important to me, as an american, a person who has extensive history and our country, is a president who

is loyal to our country, who respects our u.s. constitution and upholds the rights of people and our constitution. i find everybody in a dither over this russian thing, if we remember correctly, there were --eral times the irs was obama. clinton was caught buying thugs to be the people at the trump rallies. we have more to look at than just russia. by aieve trump won landslide. it was not close. twitter you are off of says this. one, be for the american. not be a politician. not be afraid to speak his mind. be wise.

for the 15 minutes or so we have, you can give us a call. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. pleasant,m, mount pennsylvania. caller: thanks for having me on. we get hung up about the wrong qualities we should have for a leader. looks, whatrength, we perceive their morality to be. don't have the muscle -- the moral authority of the top. institutions who have moral authority tend to go the opposite way. the strongest quality would be decision-making skills and adherence to the law. anything else, it is showmanship. we have a decision-making job.

we want to hire a decision-maker. the person who makes the best decisions. in the 1980's, trump rebuilt -- after it took five years of local government. withd it in six months half $1 million. i think something like that shows good leadership. host: veronica on our democrats line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: what i look for in a , i don't care what color our president is. i care about them being concerned about all americans, not just the rich and wealthy, all americans. all work and pay taxes and try to make a good life for ourselves and our children. i want someone who is fair to everyone. -- as a president.

i did not vote for him. i voted for hillary. baggage, they has blame her for what her husband did, but she had government experience. that is very important. how are you going to have a leader lead the united states when he knows nothing about it. we are americans, not companies, not machines. we are human beings. host: we will have to let you go. i think your signal is breaking up. sun sentinel continues its coverage on the high school shooting. never again the headline from that. theorida representative on abc program called for a debate on the issue of gun control. here are some of his thoughts. [video clip]

i cosponsor of the legislation that expands background checks and expands rights for those who are law abiding citizens and responsible gun owners. after the pulse nightclub shooting, i introduced legislation to keep those on the no-fly know by list -- no-fly, no buy list. what we need is leaders to allow some of these bills to come to the floor for debate. there are republicans prepared to support commonsense gun laws, strongerw laws, that protect rights of responsible citizens, people who are responsible gun owners, but will prevent those who want to do harm to innocent people from obtaining these weapons.

this is not the only part of the puzzle. we have to do better on gun safety legislation. we have to do mental health. ted has a bill on school security. we also have to find out what happened at the fbi. it is obvious there were signs there was something wrong with this young man and he was about to do something terrible and no one paid attention to that. off twitter -- a president like truman, radical thinking for america first. be fighting japan if not for radical thinking and saving american lives. trump is the right choice for america. stephen, idaho. hello. caller: good morning. what i am looking for in our president is someone who can get people in the correct job

positions to be able to do his job better. look at the problem he has run into with people trying to block appointments all through his cabinet. we need to focus on that. he is doing a heck of a good job. have a good morning. of support staff and clearances in a couple of stories this morning. banks, serving as a special assistant to the learning, exited after he would not be granted the clearance, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. this is because of reports of use of marijuana. others, said in an email that his application was

denied after he admitted to smoking marijuana in 2013. he said he looks forward to supporting the president in the future. politico first reported the resignation of mr. banks. the white house did not respond to a request for comment. in a five-page memo, and john kelly put the responsibility on the fbi and the justice department to handle investigations -- background investigations. they deserve a white house that has been carefully vetted, especially those who work closely with the president. we should and must do better, he said. forward, all investigations of potential commissioned officers should be flagged at the fbi and deliver to white house counsel personally.

that is in the washington times. independentohio, line. nominated ald trump serial executioner judge to the supreme court. of the 50 states, only eight last year.isoners of those, four supreme court's and theyhite justices are ohio, alabama, arkansas, and texas. has violated the principle of nonviolence in the courts and thee bombs bridges around world, he lets hours ago in disrepair. he has been violent to animals, bringing hunting to our national to protectionnd for marine mammals.

quality for a president is universal non-violence and peacemaking. host: has any president kept that quality? caller: in the last century, in the last 120 years, jimmy carter has been our best president. because he was such a peacemaker, bush number one and iranians toth the keep our pows in jail in iran until after the election. in a number of ways, george bush plotted to defeat jimmy carter in criminal ways. georgia, on qualities that should embody a president. go ahead. a business background.

you are dealing with massive numbers. you need to be able to comprehend massive numbers. otherwise, you will be to preemptive to drop things that sound good in theory. host: the los angeles times reporting yesterday afternoon saying heformer aide will plead guilty to fraud related charges. he has made clear he will testify against paul manafort. the change of heart by the deputy campaign manager , who had pleaded not guilty after being indicted in october, was described in interviews by people familiar with the case. plead guilty in

the next few days. others discussed the matter on the condition of anonymity. james, akron, ohio. caller: i want to say one thing. i have been complaining for over 30 years about the ability of someone to tell a lie on a , a president, whatever, and get away with it. if you knowingly tell a lie, you should be prosecuted within the law. this happens year after year after year. there are vicious lies put out about the candidates. one from one to another. was terrible under barack obama. it got worse with hillary clinton. host: to the qualities of the president? my presidents, i have

three. jimmy carter, barack obama, and richard nixon. i will tell you why nixon. -- first,nixon did carter and obama had no help from congress. none, whatsoever. richard nixon did something for the african-american community that no one thinks about. we were having trouble as far as trying to make a living. froze the end, and the ability of the companies to raise the prices for two years. during that time, african-american people got an opportunity to say -- i have two dollars coming and i can make a difference with the two dollars that i have to do. it gave us a chance to get ourselves back on our feet of bid. james, listing his presidents and their qualities.

one more story to show you. talking about the cancellation of a trip by the epa administration, scott pruitt, saying his trip is canceled. ally, hadeduled to leave today come under fire in the past week over travel. the security detail suggested invalid --vel with in business class. providing reason for the postponement. on this presidents' day, we continue with conversations with historians about the role of presidents of how presidents have influenced the presidency. douglas brinkley joins us first or a discussion about the current president and how he has shaped the office. later on in the program, craig shirley, who has written several biographies about ronald reagan,

his influence on the presidency and how it influences the office today. >> this week on the communicators, we wrap up our series from the consumer electronics show with the latest look at television, phones, and virtual reality. >> organic light emitting diode payment that is the panel technology which is different from lcd, even though the led part sounds the same in that it is an and visit technology, it makes its own light. very thin formis factor and it enables some curves. our sister company lg display, for example, the panel supplier, is showing a prototype of the rollsf display, actually

up into a storage box, you press a button, and it rises out. when you are done watching, it goes back in. this is a little bit of a glimpse of the future. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. today, on the c-span networks, at 6:00 eastern, the launch of landmark cases, live from the national constitution center in philadelphia with a review of 12 historic cases. at 7:30, the portrait unveiling ceremony for former president barack obama and first lady michelle obama. comparing on a0, gate to today. at noon eastern, the savanna book festival with various authors. at 9:00, pulitzer prize and

national book award winner paulson whitehead. 2:30 eastern company historians on world war i and .egacy of woodrow wilson and at 6:30, scholars explore the relationships between ronald reagan, george h w bush, and russian leader mikhail gorbachev. richard burr:00, kaiser on george washington and the fight for philadelphia. watch today on the c-span networks. host: joining us from rice university, douglas brinkley, history professor, longtime historian from austin, texas coming joining us on this president's day. good morning. guest: good morning to you. host: we started talking about

qualities of the u.s. president. i'm interested on hearing your thoughts about qualities of presidents, what makes for good qualities that people bring to the office? guest: being the right person at the right time. particularly, wartime presidents. we tend to do rankings here at c-span, and the top ranked presidents often had to grapple with war. abraham lincoln is usually number one forgot in us through the crucible of the civil war. and then franklin d roosevelt getting us through the second world war. after that, i still believe character matters, that the president is supposed to represent what is best in the american public, and tell the truth to the citizens, that we should be demanding that of our presidents. we have had presidents like jimmy carter who have been very

truthful but we don't rank very high, and some president to make --ngs up quite frequently fdr would sometimes tell one person one thing, another person the next. he would say, i am a juggler, i don't let my right hand know what my left is doing. so there really isn't one particular standard. in the old days, military leadership was a crucial. that is why so many of the old president's work generals, because you could test your leadership in a situation. so many of our early presidents, zachary taylor, harrison, rutherford b. hayes, dwight eisenhower, were generals. host: when it comes to the previous presidents, how they have shaped the office, give us your assessment about how this president has shaped the presidency so far? guest: hard to tell.

i keep thinking he isn't asterisk president. asterisk president. since the day he was inaugurated, the fbi breathing down his back about obstruction of justice, collusion with russia. at willt know where th all end up you are kind of waiting for something to drop. we arenot been free -- still wondering if this guy is really the president or just andbody that got elected will be under endless investigation. i like to quote the poet robert frost that says the only way out is through. thing forink the best donald trump is to go through the process of the mueller investigation, get the report out there. if he has nothing to worry about, then i think he has more of an open chance of gathering more than this 35% of the vote.

it is very hard to be an effective president without at least 50% of the public. you need half the public behind you and trump has never had that. he has always been seen as one of the lowest rank residence for a first year, although, no were big andx cuts historic. even inwas going to ask light of the things you listed, he was able to get a tax cut done, people talk about putting neil gorsuch on the supreme court. even in the midst of all that, he would have victories? guest: i think those are the two shining moments in his first year. whoproblem is, he is a bull carries his own china shop around with him. he is clamorous, makes a lot of noise. maybe we are just a noisy society and he represents it. but he steps over his own message and awful lot.

when we pulled back, we will look at this age of twitter, and it was a marvelous tool for him when he ran as president, even as president, but lately there is twitter fatigue setting in. out the weekend, sending all of these tweets. i felt a collective who cares? potent weapon,t if the tweets don't carry weight because everyone is inflammatory in some way, then i think he loses even more of the power he has accumulated. but really when you look at a president, the big thing is, do they get reelected? the reelection is whether the public thinks you are doing a good job or not. it is hard to see how a president will look when you are in the middle of it. in my mind, donald would be very low, has not been able to get traction in the first year. doug brinkley, talking

about that trump presidency, influence on the office. if you want to ask questions, (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002, democrats. (202) 748-8003, independents. mr. brinkley, when it comes to this use of twitter, talk about how past presidents communicated directly to the people. now in the age of this president, he has the means of bypassing other means of communicating. to not just pick on president trump, our social media environment is very helter skelter. i'm not sure any of us know what is going on with school kids posting, parents don't know about it, people addicted to their electric devices. is this a good thing for american society that we are in

this social media age? in the past, presidents would use whatever medium was at its disposal. i was recently in richmond, virginia. we call virginia estate of the mother of presidents, eight presidents were born in virginia. george washington, thomas jefferson, james madison, james monroe. in those days, correspondence mattered. the writing of documents, running out policy. later, virginia presidents of harrison, tyler. harrison died in office after only a month. he was trying to use the inaugural as a way to communicate a big message but he died catching pneumonia. john taylor came in to finish his term. there is an example of a , the war who was great

of 1812 leader, the capturing of , fallen timbers, the northwest territory, but only cut the president for a month. then you have zachary taylor, woodrow wilson. by the age of wilson, you have photography, a traveling press corps. wilson can find ways to reach the public. he is using radio. fdr uses radio in an extraordinary new way, coming into everybody's home. john f. kennedy became the master of the press conference, he created it. ronald reagan using his hollywood background to break the glass on tv and talk directly to the people, move us through his words into a realm of patriotism. so these things keep on changing but twitter is so impulsive.

it is that very nanosecond, you are putting in when you are feeling. if --ld be angry all day most of us are angry and a cool our jets. but if you really really express your anger, week become a country of name-calling and bitterness, instead of letting things position themselves in the proper way. i think we are much too incendiary right now, and donald trump is a large contributor to that. i assume future presidents will have to wrestle with this idea of direct medication via social media. guest: that's right, and it is the wild west of social media. i have three kids that go to school in austin, and there are no classes telling them how to use social media. they just jump aboard. , how is this ways

working to the benefit of our society, i'm not convinced it is. i'm not sure generation facebook is a great thing. others will say, of course it is, it allows everyone to put their life out in the public zone. itself hasy, c-span been a great vehicle for public policy change, covering events all over the country, not just washington, d.c. star went up,tele we could move images. i could be here in austin and talk to you in d.c. that would have been seen as a miracle to other presidents. telecommunications changes at record rates. it seems to me, the recent manifestations of twitter will probably seem old decades from now but had a real cutting-edge, like a knife over the last year and a half. talking about the current

president's on the office of the presidency. we are talking with douglas brinkley of rice university. first call comes from mike, fort wayne, indiana. democrat line. brinkley, i will always appreciate when you are on. you are fair-minded. say,l also like to briefly, the deal is, people talk about the current president . believe, if you go back to the johnson, irter, and know a lot of evangelicals in the south have criticized all of those men. as a black man who grew up in segregation, those men had a backbone. wouldould not this a -- not say the things that the

current president is saying about individuals, and that is why they are loved in places like the deep south. we can say what we want, we can bury our heads in the sand. christlikee really when i say this. it is still about race. there is still a backlash over 44th being back-to-back. i grew up in paris will, ohio, along the river, not far from south bend. you name three great civil rights presidents. toneed to give high marks kennedy, lyndon johnson, jimmy carter. for civil rights they could not be much higher. kennedy came in the 1960 running against richard nixon and it something very a student, he made a phone call to martin luther king after he had been

arrested in georgia, and that spread through the african-american community. kennedy was able to win african-american votes in 1960. eisenhower was doing quite well with the black vote in the 1950's. kennedy claimed it and then stepped up, gave a major televised address on civil admitting james americus into ole miss. at theal but when a long end with the march of dr. king. , what he was able to do for voting rights, civil historic pieces of legislation since the emancipation proclamation. jimmy carter, out of fair-minded, face of the new south. when he was elected governor of georgia, the first thing he did was say, it is time to end the segregation in the south. then he hung a portrait of

martin luther king jr. in the georgia statehouse. alas, not all presidents are civil rights warriors. trump, hee of donald has gone after a different voter, not african-americans, obviously. once you say that barack obama was not born in the u.s. and you become the leader of the birther movement, it is hard to appeal to african-americans. instead, you pick up the george wallace segregationist vote in the south, the strom thurmond dixiecrat. he put together a southern coalition that reminded me of the jim crow ages in many ways. thats not a new south donald trump was representing, but remnants of the old south, hence, his defense of confederate statues, the mix above rhetoric he gave, a stain on his presidency, when charlottesville occurred, equating neo-nazi supremacists, bigots to the other protesters

there, gave them an equal footing. don't think donald trump gets high marks on a category of civil rights. on the contrary, he is one of the worst. in the same league of somebody like andrew johnson, who, after lincoln's assassination, became president. host: next guest on the independent line. go ahead. caller: i have two points to make. i am an immigrant. i came to this country 10 years ago. donald trump, when it comes to immigrants, it is not a good standard at all. many immigrants voted for donald trump to become president in 2016 but it is not even helping the situation right now because of the way he talks. i cannot allow my daughter to watch tv when donald trump is

on. what she says is, i hate this man. thing, the russians. if donald trump has nothing to hide, how come he cannot take action. they need to act. host: thank you. we will leave it there. guest: those are both very sally and points you make. ginned up theas anti-immigration rhetoric from the beginning of his campaign in 2016. his symbol became build the wall. mexicansrly belittled and mexican americans, latino community, did whatever he could to inflame them for his own political purposes. it will not shine well on him in history. he will say it is all about national homeland security but

there's been a cruelty to the way he has done with the immigration issue that i find unforgivable. it is sad that kid sometimes, we don't have somebody who is, that you could tell your kids, i hope you grow up to be like donald trump. i would be worried about parents that say that. donald trump lies too much, he conflates things, he is a bully, he misuses cyber in a way to divide us. what is there to want your children to learn from? that there are no rules, break them all? dangle a foot over the line of what is moral and immoral? yes, he is not a moral leader. people that invested in donald trump are those that believe that our country was sluggish, that we had too much outsourcing , were doing too many factories abroad. he was able to pick up that

loose ross perot vote. 19% of the public voted for him in 1992 over that stuff. the sound used to say you hear is the sucking sound of jobs leaving america. trump went after that vote and got it in ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin. it is an unusual election. he beat the first woman candidate, by a miniscule amount, this issue of russian appearance in our elections that will be talked about for decades, if not centuries. somethingave to do about russia heading into the midterms in 2018. donald trump represents kind of a dark underbelly of america. he has put together a coalition of people who do not like otherness. there is enough ob a going on here. to me, it is not gold star stuff

in history. as long as the economy harms, the stock market doing well, unemployment going down, people are willing to tolerate a lot. if he does not get us into a major more, he is not, by any means, toast. he could be reelected a second term. host: when it comes to immigration, compare and contrast his approach to it, back to barack obama, how he dealt with deportations. guest: donald trump, when we talk about him, too often, we talk about him being unprecedented. it is unusual that we have one president pulling on so many different strands of american history but there has been a long anti-immigrant tradition in the u.s. i am catholic, my mother's family was from slovakia. there was a movement in our country not to allow slovakian's

to come in. john f. kennedy had to combat the idea that he was catholic in a protestant country. millard fillmore left the white , become a leader in the know nothing party. the whole idea of the know nothing party was anti-catholic anti-mormon, anti-jew. we have the alien and sedition acts in the 1800s, repeating itself in the 1900s. woodrow wilson has an ugly record when it comes to talking about immigration during his presidency. trump is just part of a tradition. -- all presidents before donald trump in recent times have been much more open hearted about the immigration issue. barack obama wanted tough border security but wanted to give it immediately the dreamer's american citizenship and let

them be a part of america, because they already are. dacad trump has been using as a wedge issue on immigration. of course, now is tying into the building of this wall. this wall is this idiotic idea. anyone who travels the border in the rio grande, canyons, i guess you are looking at additional border fencing in some patches down there. but the whole thing became a giant metaphor for anti-immigration, anti-mexican sentiment. it is not a pretty chapter in our nation's history. memphis, tennessee. democrat line. caller: i am a former administrator myself. trump'santed to say, influence, he is a powerful businessman, that is the way people looked at him.

he has a poor choice of words that gets him in trouble sometimes. me.ow that he can help as a president. i know that i have been wronged by the system. dealing with the v.a. under the barack obama presidency. , was wondering, is it possible will this president listen to african-americans, minorities that are wronged by the system, what do you think he would do in order to take people -- who were secrecy like that under or discreetly got punished for no reason at all, they got their freedom of speech taken away from them. host: we will let our guest

respond. i often have trouble when we constantly say that donald trump is a businessman. that kind of insult people that do business in an openhanded way. you don't create trump university as a businessman. that is somebody who is trying to pull a scan, a carney, a hyper salesman. the casino bellringer. come on and get rich. i agree with the caller, that is what people were attracted to him. personality, political correctness had run amok. trumpt so far, donald seem to be a corrective for that. there was a general feeling, let's give it a chance, maybe trump will break the furniture in washington. that is what needs to be done. i think the strongest message isce trump's reelection, he

on it now. can you do infrastructure? can you bring meaningful employment to states like ohio, michigan, pennsylvania? can you take those closed factory towns and get them reopen? he speaks the language, the rhetoric of that, but in truth, the tax cut helps billionaires. now you are getting back to hoping there is a trickle-down effect. i think his most powerful moments, not his greatest policy achievements, but these moments are when he used twitter to deal ,ith carrier, ford motor's let's get the job here in the u.s. that is where he wants to be. economicd of an removal agent, somebody who brings jobs back to america. if he stayed on that message and not start constantly abusing people, name-calling on twitter,

i think he would be higher in the polls. 35% that he needs to get him through the mullah report once it comes out, meaning perhaps charges of obstruction of justice, the democrats get congress in 18, may move to impeach him, this is a president that has a lot of weight on his shoulders, but his appeal for reelection will be i am bringing jobs back to places where nobody else cared about you. when you talk about this clearly,candal, history and a history of it. iran contra, monica lewinsky. how is this president handling indifferently than history tells us about past presidents handling scandal? the entire first year has

been scandal after scandal. had iran-contra well into his second term. ,arren harding was on a roll then he died, and then things blew up after they had a chance to establish policy after the first year. watergate happened in the second term. the biggest landslide for reelection beating george mcgovern. , it has beenual scandal after scandal, they never seem to stop. why? part of it is, there was no public record, there was no military record. by the nature of the work that he does in real estate in new hidingou are constantly money, off and money, getting loans. so you try to obfuscate a lot of his past. we have not seen his taxes which

were supposed to be released. he promised it and will not do it. it is kind of ugly when you watch how billionaires manipulate money, move the , and don't offer transparency. there is a kind of taint surrounding donald trump. two thirds of the country don't trust him, do not think he is reliable, do not see him as a businessman, but a charlatan. then you have a third of the country that says this is the best president of my lifetime, he talks straight, directly to me. he goes over the lame mainstream media, punditry, is connecting with my feelings and thoughts. thoseoblem trump has, diehards are a third of the country, and two thirds are not buying the act. host: columbia, maryland. republican line. linda. caller: good morning.

i think your guest is relying heavily on the polls which were very wrong in the first place regarding his chance of winning the election. i don't think he is very unbiased at all. i think history will show there was minor russian interference on behalf of more than one of the candidates and the left-wing media bias is a much bigger problem than anything close to russian interference. ,nd voter fraud is disguising you know, how popular this president is. to say that he won by a small minority, in the electoral college only, excuse me, that is not necessarily proven. we need to get into examining our voting machines, our systems, local elections. has been a lot of anecdotal evidence of votes being destroyed, not counted properly. it is starting to come to light but democrats in certain states

don't want to look at that. host: thank you. guest: i am not somebody who thinks that donald trump did not win. the game is the electoral votes and he is clearly president, deserved to be president. the fact that hillary clinton got 3 million votes more than him is an interesting factoid for presidential historians but it did not bring her into the white house. we have the electoral college. just as george w. bush beat al gore. the republicans, elector college in two big elections in 2000 and 2016, have worked in their favor. one of these days, it may work in a democrats favor. stop dissing american democracy all the time, everything is broken, we are a all of this constantly casting doubt on our system. we are the greatest country in the world.

we should be, and are, i think him on how to run free and fair elections. we have hit some stumbling blocks, we will a few more, but we should be proud of the way that we elect people to congress, senate, statehouses, governorships all over america. it has not hurt republicans who are controlling everything right now. as for the caller's notion of democratic voter fraud, the republicans are in the white house, senate, congress, the majority of statehouses, governorships. we all need to try to perfect our voting system, but at the same time, not the ride -- de view.t, in my it is an ugly world out there. totalitarianism is rearing its ugly head out there. russia and china do not respect

free speech, the first amendment. they are country that will kill their own people, if they air their dissent. we are much more sophisticated, elegant, enlightened than china and russia. i am proud of that fact. that is why i spend my life studying american history. hanging chadsave from time to time, but we will fix it. democracy will move onward. host: president trump's influence on the presidency. douglas brinkley is our guest. of you are on twitter ask you this. he wants you to comment on president trump's impact on permanently changing the incestuous culture in washington and paving the path for another outsider to become president. guest: i don't see it that way. i see him as ransacking our agencies and institutions.

come in and cut 25% of the people from epa, go to state department and not fill ambassador ships, act like career service people for our country are somehow the problem. they have been keeping us running all these years. broken,tics might be but many people who work in the government in the u.s. are some of the finest people imaginable. as for constantly being an outsider, i think donald trump is a one-offer. i say that because the pendulum will swing in different directions, just as barack obama was so cerebral, some said professorial, we went the opposite direction with donald trump who says, i don't read books. the pendulum swings back. is acould be, trumpism realignment of the republican party.

if donald trump gets through the mueller report, gets reelected i would say that that is what the republican party is. people like bob corker of tennessee, jeff flake of arizona, even mitt romney, if he gets into the senate from utah, those people are more tied to the democratic, establishment of view. that is why those types of republican do not have a home in the party. that is why governor kasich would not even go to the republican convention in his own state because he said donald trump is not a republican. maybe the party has changed, donald trump is what the republican brand is. we will know better by 2020. host: edward from washington, d c democrat line. to dr. i give kudos

douglas brinkley. i agree with him 100%. let me take you back to the history books. i want the professor to comment on this. journal gave hillary rodham clinton -- never endorsed anyone in 200 years except abraham lincoln, and one other. also, the foreign policy magazine endorsed hillary .linton and dozens of magazines in texas also endorsed her. i am ashamed of this president. i am an african american scientist. stood a good chance of being the scientific administrator for her. she would have been one of the

best presidents this country ever had. donald trump was not elected by the popular vote, he was elected by the electoral college. we have to make sure this does not happen again. our people need to get on the phone and call up everybody that you know in those swing states and make sure that they vote. people don't realize how powerful this electoral college is. 530 electoral fellows distributed across the nation. california has five. north carolina has 12. host: let me leave you there. mr. brinkley, to his idea of the political structure, as it stands with the electoral college. if you want to add something else. guest: the caller is absolutely right, he gets back to these swing states. almost tell can you, in 2020, what will go blue for democrats, red for

republicans. it comes down to six or seven states. democrats have to really bring out the vote. for example, barack obama's numbers for bringing out the african-american vote have to be replicated. remember, obama won indiana and north carolina. democrats can never afford to lose pennsylvania like they did. ohio is going to be an ultimate swing state. i think it is tipping republican right now. to go tolinton needed wisconsin. she did not visit once. republicans have to pay more attention to florida. the number of people moving in from puerto rico, of course, you are an american citizen, you don't have to apply for anything. they are moving in the tens of thousands, soon to be hundreds of thousands that will be

residence in florida, angry at the way the donald trump has not acted to help rico in their time of peril. it used to be cuban-american votes mattered in florida. it will be the puerto rican american votes. if i were the gop, i would be worried about florida. there is no cap to the presidency if you cannot hold it. donald trump also talking about offshore drilling in florida. governor scott saying don't drill, this is the state of tourism and coral reefs, wilderness oceanic zones. what do you mean we are going to start oil drilling? trump has been off message with the state of florida, and that could cost him mightily. democrats have to come up with something in the great lakes region. what are they standing for in ohio, michigan? we will have to see how both parties attack these issues in the next few years. host: christine, virginia.

independent line. good morning, being presidents' day, i would expect my president to have a higher standard of ethics and honesty. i think the level of corruption has been terrible. i am concerned about redistricting for the next election especially. i really hope the courts can at least hold sway against this presidency. congress does not seem to be able to. thank you so much. when we say on presidents' day we expect our president -- presidents' day was created in 1971 by richard nixon, not somebody who we think of with truthfulness and ethics. he created it on this third monday of every february as a kind of washing away the idea that i used to prefer honoring

george washington on his birthday. now all presidents kind of get morphed together, and i think something gets lost in the translation. often times, presidents have to tell the truth to the american people. you look at the washington post or politico, and you see how often he has lied in his first year in office, it is mind-boggling. he is the babe ruth of lying. he is in a category unto himself. whether people like that or not, that is the new norm. if i can get tax cuts, i am ok with that being the symbol of the u.s. i am not. think it is problematic to have a president constantly telling untruths. i am not talking about white lies or a blooper. we are talking about systematic

disrespect for reality. we previously had a caller say i'm a scientist. i would like to tell that caller i'm sorry, we have a president that belittles our nation's scientists. when i grew up, scientists were people to look up to, people who used empirical data, people who created incredible things, created the revolution around rock, silicon valley, seattle, the people that brought us to the room. -- moon. scientists gave us our medical advances today, and here we have donald trump routinely dissing science. i find it disturbing. thee all, we to make sure president has a sanity to them over all. there are times when donald trump swings far off of what we call the zone of normality. he goes up into very weird

tangents that can be disturbing. host: we had the president go to florida, particularly in reaction to the florida shooting, this idea of the president being a comforter in chief, how he plays it on versus previous presidents. guest: barack obama is the gold standard on the appropriate grief counselor in chief. he did such a marvelous job of going to places like sandy hook, tucson, and beyond during his presidency. bill clinton, i thought, gave one of the greatest speeches in american history when he went to oklahoma city after the bombing there in 1996. called in the empty chair of speech. it was a beautifully done moment, ronald reagan with the challenger disaster. donald trump botches those moments. he had one in charlottesville, and he blew it.

withd one here in florida marjory stoneman douglas high school, the killing of 17 of hour our fellow citizens. he seemed unsure what to do, started to blame the fbi right out of the gate in an unhelpful tweet. he is not only not good at being a green counselor in chief, he has inflamed britain. they had a terror attack and he writes nasty things about our greatest ally. he is not wanted in london right now. these are problems. this is somebody -- that kind of tone deaf narcissism that our president has, that he is not able to find the way to heal the country, is another shortcoming of donald trump, i'm afraid. with that said, i don't believe just because the killer in florida wore a make america great again means that trump is responsible in some way.

derangedthat is this and crazy, it is unfair to blame a president, a rock band, .ommercial but trump could have done better on all of these moments. instead, he goes to quickly to tweets that seem to be self-aggrandizing, be living -- ,nd belittling something else and true to judeo-christian healing. host: david, you're are on the line with douglas brinkley. caller: thank you for c-span. i really dispute you on every point you make. the thing you say about puerto rico. the people that elect puerto rico -- the people that have left the mother is so much crime over there. i know that because i am half puerto rican. they have had a runaway.

number two, you are saying everyone voted for trump are the incurable's. you also must bring to mind the people that brought barack obama into office were the white people. i could name 20 things where he kept poking his finger in the eye of the united states. bergdahl, the other guy with the sex change, everything that he has done, the racial things, he has divided the whites and the black so much it is not funny. all of a sudden they were all right. bringing people, mexicans into this country. this is not a dumping ground for the rest of the world. the rest of the country, the rest of the world should be taking care of their own people. host: we will let douglas brinkley respond. we have had a number of callers and you can feel the civility we are having and then you get a car like that who is

just raging like a tasmanian on the air, just saying all sorts of things. that is what we are talking about, always having to be incendiary, putting logic and reason and compassion and intelligence, back burnering those instead for a sense of rage. that has been the formula that has worked for trump and has brought in supporters. i'm not suggesting that some of those supporters are not justified in their local needs. who likes outsourcing in cayman bank accounts, money being pulled out of the united states to a broad? some of the economic populist message of donald trump resonated, and it should. we do need to make america great again, rebuild american cities and communities, but what i'm objecting to is the way that

trump goes about it by trying to divide and conquer. our caller is saying barack obama did the same tactics, so now it is payback. i never found president obama's americans, inllow demeaningnt way, as and belittling as though he then donald trump talks to our fellow people,americans, lgbt african-americans, women, the president right now has a dozen women charging him for sexual harassment. the language that he uses about women on a regular basis has created the whole #metoo movement. he seems to be unable to criticize the white house staffer who beat his wife, will not come public and say how

horrible and heinous that is. i don't think people are asking much of a president to be able to respond in some way. but alas, he doesn't, because he is incapable of it, because he feel -- needs to it because he feels he needs to admit something wrong. the president cannot say i made a mistake. all people make mistakes. when you say somebody says they never made a mistake, you have a problematic person. host: stephen on the democrat line. caller: thank you for c-span. i just want to share something with you guys. agree, the fence would be unnecessary and futile. these rich people are telling us, build the fence. in the meantime, they are being stocks in airlines, so once the fence is up, they can make money

from the airlines. just gets back to -- the whole border issue is one that needs to be addressed, we need to have national security, tight borders. i do think there is agreement between republicans and democrats on that. the question is, is this wall our big public works initiative, our moonshot? i have objected personally to president trump connecting it to the dreamers. i think you need to fight for the wall on the merits of the wall. in the end, it will be a patchwork of what is already there. he needs political cover to say, i said i was going to build the wall, and i did. most people realize it is unnecessary. we simply need tighter border security.

alas, people will find ways into the united states. we are not going to live in a cocoon in the 20th century -- 21st century. host: donna, independent line. have a question and then a comment. are you related to david brinkley? guest: i am not, but you can imagine i am asked that quite a bit. book about i wrote a walter cronkite, i'm afraid i confuse the matter even more. but no relation. just curious, because i have never seen you before. my comment is, today is president's day. we are supposed to be honoring our president. i have been watching c-span since it came on air, i am 77 years old. i have been really upset. you have done nothing but bash our president since the show

started this morning. i think that is very shameful. why would a guest like you come on on president's day to do that? you are obviously liberal, right? president's day is not king's day. it is not the day to kiss the feet of a sitting president. we are supposed to be talking about past presidents, the idea was to talk more about george washington and abraham lincoln, but the unusualness of donald trump makes him a conversation. , think everyone would agree across the country, all the time. i wish i could be, on this theident day, saying that past year donald trump has treated the presidency with respect the institution demands. instead, it's been a white house in turmoil, resignations whotantly, a president

feels something is going to drop all the time. i have not given up that he can change and do things. there have been moments in the first year that have been outstanding. but the overall record you get is he creates an echo chamber of disharmony that turns americans against americans. i am not labeling my call or anything. you are right, left, republican, democrat. i know we have republican and democrat lines. sometimes people just say the truth. obviously, it is a truth as one sees it. i have written a lot of books on history, i edited the diaries of ronald reagan, i was given all of his notes. -- three book on

ronald reagan books. i did a biography of gerald ford. i am just talking straight to you. it is not a hillary versus trump .hing donald trump has lowered the bar on the behavior of the --sidency to an acceptable unacceptable level. you don't find it that way. you find it charming, i guess, that he is every day bashing things, criticizing the fbi, state department, cia. from the first day, he lies about the size of his inaugural crowd. photographic evidence proves that it was not as big as barack obama's. i know it does not bother you because you like the brand of donald trump, and he has many followers. --m simply suggesting,

he could become a two-term president. if i were advising donald trump, i would find ways, particularly now with the infrastructure, to find ways to work with the democrats and lessen the partisan sniping and work for a few months -- i know it is hard in this culture -- but maybe do one thing that we can do together as americans. host: florida, dana. go ahead. caller: hi. is, i think they need to get over the fact that we did not like hillary. we are tired of the clintons, i am tired of her lies. i watched her speech on the benghazi. i am a military mom. she lied. what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. you need to address that. she is not going to get indicted

for nothing because of the money and the power. and you know that. to you to sit there on president's day and say badly about president trump is very wrong of you. that is the hatred in america right there. we may not like everything. i voted for him. we may not like everything and approve of the tweets but you are preaching hate. that needs to stop. host: thank you. mr. brinkley? guest: i am a christian and i don't have hate. i have no hate in my heart. have nobodyi will that i disliked because that is how i am, how i choose my life. it is not a matter of hatred for donald trump. there is a disappointment in his behavior. his behavior matters. watchof kids listened and . it is supposed to be an aspirational role being president. you want your children to say, you can be that.

nobody wants their kids swearing all the time in public. nobody wants to see muslims belittled, african-americans made to feel small, wants to mock make it -- mexican-americans, treat women meat objects, not without souls our consciences. that is the problem. who doesn't want him to heal himself? but he carries a lot of weapons of war with him in a peacetime environment. he wants to wake up every day because that is where he grew up in new york city, in the real estate world, gets thingsgs -- done, you intimidate people. i guess because i study presidents, i have not seen it before. ie caller and i disagree, but

think the caller would recognize that this is something different. i tended to like past presidents , more than what i see going on now. anon't see this as enhancement on the presidency. i see the presidency as being smaller, our allies around the world laughing at us, the u.s. no longer taking the leadership role in the world it needs to take. weekly house where staffers are leaving under some sort of controversy because they .ere not vetted the fbi and the justice department honing down on a president right now because he cannot come clean and talk straight to the american people. cannot release his taxes like he promised voters he would do. it goes on and on. we will see how it plays out. i'm not suggesting that he cannot be reelected, that trump movement is big. but the idea that in the united states we are not allowed on president's day to say what we feel is misguided about a

president -- that reeks of a dictatorial attitude. you have to worship at the feet of donald trump. there is no hatred that i have toward him whatsoever but i problematic behavior. be normal and run the country. douglas brinkley our guest first hour, history professor at talking ersity and about president trump's presidency. the mr. douglas brinkley, thanks for your time this morning.

guest: thank you. up, craig shirley, ritten several biographies on ronald reagan, will talk about comparisons he sees with the current president. guest next on our "washington journal" on this president's day. by the way, president of the out a states sending tweet today, have a great, but reflective president's day. we'll be right back. temperature >> today, president's day on c-span network. p.m., launch of landmark philadelphia, with review of the 12 historic cases to be featured in the series. 7:30 p.m., the portrait unveiling ceremony for former and firstbarack obama

lady michelle obama. and then 8:30 p.m., slate panel on comparing watergate to today. on book t.v. on c-span2, at noon eastern, the 2018 savannah book robert with authors, lata, scott shap iro. 9:15 -- >> watch today on c-span network.

>> c-span's history series, landmark cases, season two, 26, 9 p.m. bruary eastern with look at significant decisions heard in 1819, explore thanksgiving case peterson from immediavirginia. cases live monday february 26th at 9 p.m. eastern c-span, c-span.org or listen app, the free c-span radio order a copy of the companion $8.95 at able for c-span.org/landmarkcases. additional resource, link on our website for national interactive center constitution.

"washington journal" continues. host: our next guest of the author is craig shirley, of "reagan rising, years 1976-1980," and craig shirley, good morning. we are talking about influences on presidency, start with ronald way did he shape the presidency we know today? guest: i think he revived the presidency. previous presidents were all well intentioned, america has lucky, we've had basically ged men who have been elected to the presidency. presidency, some of them are lost in the power, don't nderstand the presidency and diminish from the time of president kennedy's '63, ination, november of diminished through lyndon jimmy , nixon, ford and carter. reagan reinvigerates the merican presidency back to where it was under franklin truman and nd harry

dwight eisenhower, modern fullyn of chief executive engaged with foreign domestic policy and also, has common too, like franklin roosevelt did. he brings the presidency back. brings restoration. before reagan was elected when still president, there were a lot of columns and pieces written that say the prez one man now.ig for we need to have a presidency for he domestic policy and a president for foreign policy also by er and implication gerald ford and richard nixon, the presidency big to manage the affairs of the nation and affairs of the world. reagan was when elected and never again was written. that, still since been written since it was in the late 1970s when people were saying presidency was too big for one man. a sense between

ronald reagan and president trump? >> guest: i think so. become idency hasn't diminished. it did under clinton, that was ore personal problems than anything else. he bush's didn't completely understand the presidency, but the presidency was the way whereas world , leader, but also leader of the nation. leader of the 50 sovereign states. clinton diminished the because his personality was diminished because of his personal it was reinvigorated because of september 11th under and continued so under president obama and i tinues today, although think the majesty obviously isn't there with the presidency that was ld trump there under previous presidents. ost: what specifically do you see in things he's

reinvigorated? trump in his nt first year, he is pursuing by nd large, he's not a conservative himself and was a registered democrat for a long time and was on the wrong side many, many issues for a long time, he has by and large conservative course that reagan set for the republican party. republican the party, you know, before reagan's election in 1980 was not about cuts, not about shrinking of government, not about winning soviet union it was about various pe r permutations going back to the there was man, acceptance, bipartisan acceptance, berlin wall was perm soviet union was thing of perm nance, she's were facts of facts that could be denied when reagan comes in and e changes the republican party and philosophy and outlook and attitude toward the soviets and

individual. he goes back to what framers and derived, ntended, all philosophy from enlightenment more he individual is important than the state. eagan brings this back to the republican party. trump, this is reagan's ntellectualism and make no mistake, reagan wasn't intellectual. anderson, aide to reagan, estimated his iq was 175 or higher, reagan read extensively, thought extensively, wrote extinsively, all hallmarks of being a true intellectual. obviously doesn't, he said himself, he doesn't read books, gets news from television. don't know if he reads newspapers, or writes or not. an instinctual, instinctual if not real conservative. craig shirley for the hour, if ou want to ask questions about

ronald reagan's influence on the presidency. 202-748-8001 for republicans. for democrats. 202-748-8002 for independents. twitter at on c-spanwj. ronald reagan ability to are nicate to an audience, there glimpses with donald trump and the modern day? no.st: not at all, reagan was -- just beyond the voice, had a marvelous hat people studied, how sinnerous it was and kayedence and pitch and he was able to soothing tones, which is why he did the radio reintroduced broadcasts during his prez denny, gave press conferences during his presidency. was s the best thing going reagan himself and his ability he had nicate is that developed that going back to his who, and wrc radio in des

moines and iowa back in the '30s. obviously worked on movies in the '40s. and then in the '50s, fully developed. coming quickly behind it. so now he is an informed, intellectual conservative with powerful voice and the ideas his mind and his voice and other things came together 1960s. host: trump doesn't show those things? so.st: i don't think i don't think so. the other thing about reagan, not just he had a voice tis what did with it. reagan was always recruiting. he would go before republican in kansas city at the republican national onvention and at the detroit 1980, when he won the nomination and calls on democrats and independents, 17,000ng to joe locerina,

in the audience and before this calls on republicans, democrats and independents to shared coalition of values. the same thing in 1976, when he is iving his what essentially his concession speech, he loses the nomination by narrowest of margins and asked at the last minute to come up to the podium, again, to speak at kemper arena to thousands of americans there millions of people watching around the country. democrats alks about and independents because they have a platform and message that to the ng them republican party. so it wasn't just that he had a oice, it is what he did with the voice. trump is not a recruiter. new not trying to bring people into the republican party. host: craig shirley is our for you from all fondalack, wisconsin.

up, good morning. caller: good morning. i was a dairy farmer in northern wisconsin, 295 cows and i was for 36 years and reagan farming, the way arming goes, everything goes. so -- host: harold, how did he mess up farming, in your opinion? guest: yes, he did. he messed up farming. was over 4000 family farms lost from 1983 to 1993 and the part, over 1000 commit suicide. google it, if you don't believe it. host: okay, harold, thanks. guest: i don't know how to address that. grew from 1981 to eyond the reagan and bush presidency and into the clinton presidency because of reagan's

policies. farm products, we increased is rts and consumption, that -- i come from a family of all seem ers and they to do very well in the 1980s, i don't know about this situation. host: buffalo, new york, democrat's line. joe is next. caller: morning. morning. go ahead. like to just -- i'm a -- and i've ion welder been a working class guy my whole life. all i can remember from reagan him busting the unions. he took the air traffic out ollers and threw them on their butts and then took the pension system and he destroyed that. got rid of all that and made 401(k) and it is -- as far as all the money, seems are all sending money to the top 1%. i know you're tired of hearing

that, but i'm 57 years old, i've don'td all this happen, i have a pot to piss in, i still make the same money as a welder in the '90s. you know, i understand you're to talk up reagan, but could you be a little more onest about the things that happened because of his presidency? thank you. host: thanks, caller. been perfectly honest with reagan during his presidency. into bout to be inducted the department of labor hall of fame for the work he did as the screen actors guild, elected -- resident labor, union president to be elected president of the united labor card arried a his entire life up until his passing. pro-union, he got healthy number of union voter 47% of ry 1980, i think union households and 1984, omething like 59% of union

households. union people, working people overwhelmingly n and always did. wages went up, as far as patco, was simple, they were public union. they had signed a contract and the contract and like all public unions, whether officers,rs or police or anything else, it is civil ervice, they broke their contract, they went on strike illegally, reagan had no choice, to fire them because they had broken their contract and against the law and meanwhile, millions of stranded anded, i was myself in tucson, arizona, because i couldn't get a flight patco had gone on strike in 1981. constituted, american travel remained safe and on time everybody ended up fine.

it's just that, you know, he had no choice, they backed him into refused tod they had the offers he made for increased hours, nd reduced work they went on strike. host: strikes me reagan wasn't government end how worked. is there similarities or shared alues when it comes to turnt president? guest: absolutely. reagan understood early on, pedro, that power is finite. power is not infinite. it can be here or there, can't be everywhere frchlt 1932 and rise of the deal, up until 1980, power had been shifting the individual and count and he states and becoming concentrated in washington. too much power in washington and not enough power in the states and ultimately the individuals. that was his goal, to shrink the power and authority of the national government and send it ack to the states and ultimately the individuals. he did that through tax cuts, hrough cutting through

regulation, through growing the than al economy, faster the budget of the federal government. so increase the power and authority of the individual in the states. that way, trump is also policies.onservative so there is similarity there between trump and ronald reagan. line, elaine, an from washington state. aller: yes, i have two questions. even though i feel like i'm alling in on bash the current president's at a. this?s the purpose of all and is it funded by the russians? to know.ll i want in are causing dissention america, on president's day, of to days tis a horrid thing do. guest: this is not unique. all presidents have been bashed. george washington, who was bashed by the

pamphleteers and tabloids of the era. all presidents denounce the media. it is just comes with the tariff act, john anderson had newspaper editor necessary criticized the national government. lincoln complained, newspaper necessary maryland and -- teddy roosevelt complained about the media, woodrow wilson had nationaled to restrict media during world war i. f.d.r. issued to say what media say. you couldn't say brought to you by campbell's soup. broadcast troop movement or ship movement, they by the national government. john kennedy stopped -- subscription of new york herald tribune to the white house, he didn't like the

editorial policy. nixon, we know all about nixon especially "new york times," jimmy carter complained about the media, all presidents. it or not, the press is doing its job. nothing were meet philadelphia in 1787, the framers, you know, if you look first amendment, oddly jammed in there is freedom of mostly about use personal writers, write speech, of government, freedom of religion, all freedoms. but there is no mistake about framers and founders at the time despise the media of the valuable saw them as ally of the people against the national government. by and large worked for 200 been clumsy mistakes, gone too far, things like that. a check on ted as

the excesss of the executive branch. as much as people complain about he media and trump today and i admit tis harsh, the press has presidencytoward the because the press is supposed to be harsh. host: i will ask you to compare contrast, ronald reagan's response to bad press and this president's? reagan's was far different. 56 movies in e hollywood and some of them quite very good.en't was criticized. god bad reviews. thick hide from his time in hollywood. by the time elected president, rolls off ck skin, it him. privately, might fume or omplain, but never publicly,

never let them see him, never histhem see him sweat about bad press conference and so that between ed difference reagan's approach to bad coverage and donald trump's encourage.o bad host: arkansas, independent line, mike for craig shirley. go ahead. caller: good morning, mr. shirley, thank you for taking my call. want to ask you about. is it true or not true mr. reagan, president reagan, closed the mental institutions? number two. hy would the captive necessary iran released shortly after mr. reagan became president? do with the iran contra? elling arms to iran, circumventing the congress? third. it is a proven fact his

economics did not work. richer got and richer and continued to this day. thank you for taking my call, i answer in a straight-forward answer. ost: craig shirley, ask you to focus on iran contra, how did eagan deal with the idea of scandal and again, how this president deals with issues of scandal. uest: first of all, the hostages were released because -- i interviewed bruce langdon, the charge faire of the embassy, held captive for 440 days. ayatollah feared ronald reagan, that is why they were released, going to take as drastic action to get them eleased or military action against the government of iran and that is why they were released, plain and simple. they were not fearful of jimmy carter, not scared of jimmy

scared of they were ronald reagan, that was the political and cultural head of mission in tehran. contra, it was wrong, it happened without his knowledge, without his approval. it's been proven time and again that it was rogue operation, the white utside of house by oliver north to sell rms, reagan didn't know about it, he denounced it. he was the one who called for the investigation. was completely open to the public, completely open to congress. exonerated by the tower commission, which investigated democratic ith contraandd musky, iran exonerated ronald reagan. reagan didn't know it was going on. things do happen in our national government. host: how we weathered it, then. well, he viewed it as, took it hard because he saw it s reflection of his own

presidency and took a hammering in the national media and but he g in the polls, did recover in the national polls by the end of his so idency and did recover even the "washington post," which had been bashing him for very unfairly most of the time or often, they an editorial the last day of his presidency lauding has densy and the historic nature of it and what he accomplished. caller's last point, let's go back to 1980, we had 18% inflation, 21% interest rates, term stag-flattion, a that economics textbooks said could not be possible. have zer or or negative growth and inflation at the same time, it was impossible.y yet we had that, the country, unerm ployment, as high as 10% by 1981.

six quarters of negative economic growth the last year of presidency, the last year and a half of the carter presidency. standard, every measurable way, we were in dire was the straits and it second worst economic calamity since the great depression. comes in and changes all that. interest rates are down, by the presidency, down inflation wiped out. 19 million new jobs created, growing, income minimum wage goes up and every standard reagan improved a lot f people's lives in the eight years of presidency. host: may of 1985, president airwaves to to the address his desire for additional tax cuts. ou can see that on the c-span radio library, here is ronald reagan in 1985. 1981, our critics charge letting you keep more of your arnings would trigger

inflationary implosion, send interest rates soaring and destroy our economy. cut your tax rates anyway by nearly 25% and what that helped falling inflation, falling interest rates, and the in ngest economic expansion 30 years. we have made one great dramatic owe it to er, we ourselves now to take another. fairness, ke of simplicity and growth, we must radiccally change the structure the tax system that treats our earnings as personal revenue of the internal service, radically change system that treats people's earnings the congress much differently regarding the tax they pay. radically change the system that causes some to nvest their money, not to make a better mouse trap, but to avoid a tax trap. shirley, daniel rather says this about ronald reagan's

compares to cy and the current president. they both got the u.s. economy reagan deficit, balanced the budget, tax cuts and defense spending led to budget deficit and furthermore, greater defense spending fuelled fwroeth and consumption and the post-war era, the united states ran large deficit for 46 years and almost pursuing macroincome policies. uest: the cold war, we were in the depths of the cold war in 1980 and by all standards, the g the cold war to soviet union. soviets were in central america, southeast asia fallen to communism, soviet embassy regarded a forward operating kgb, in that every union, ble way soviet

made it afghanistan, is that cold measurable winning war in 1980, we were losing the cold war and national defense was pitful. e had gi's on food stamps, in 1980. equipment that didn't work, ntiquated equipment, we had bombers that were flying, first dwight ted when eisenhower was president, still 1980. 30 years later in b-1 and b-2 bombers, b-52 pom bombers. reagan needed to revitalize to negotiate se from a position of strength. he always said that, always first -- my first goal is the protection of the american people and that is -- military standards and by

standards. i worry about balance budgets, later. can deal with that when he left office, he said, wrote in his diary twochlts doing he regretted not more about was deficit spending and abortion, those are two beyond his were just power as president, he had the revitalize national defense, power to revitalize economy. revitalize moral of the american people, that is undeniable he successful. host: henderson, north carolina, democrat's line. john.rom caller: yes, sir, my concern is decisive years behind ronald reagan and the downfall f the president's afterward, why do you think our country meet grown to size we criteria for candidates to meet n order to become candidates for the presidency of the united states? can achieve anything

you want to if you have more -- carry yourself with highest family. goingesidents nowdays are downhill with more -- how can we going to ountry is prosper? host: thank you, caller. guest: boy, that's a good to answer.t is tough the constitution says you have to be 35 years old and a natural-born american, that's it. presumably, the primary process, about this, it does bring out the best people it brings out the best in people. primary process through which candidates go through, 30, 40, 45 state caucuses and the like, nomination, does people.guably good i would argue by and large, it

perfect.ed, it is not not perfect at all. been many flaws in it. we now regard harry truman as president.ar great when he left office in january f 1953, approval rating was 22%. andrew jackson is now regarded s great or near great president. took 150 years for arthur andrewger to write about jackson. arc of s you need the time to properly, as the ground fall to the arguments the background is to more avorably or more accurately or fr fairly address a presidency. and sometime guess down. john kennedy was considered to was great president when he assassinat assassinated. he is still considered in the

near great category, i would him to be the most romising man ever elected who had unfulfilled administration. there was a lot of promise there. done, too.ood things but f.d.r. in some estimation of historians diminished as president. changes everything. and time sometimes improves of presidency n diminishes es it people's opinion of the presidency. host: independent line, from craig shirley, author of "the years." caller: or mr. shirley, people to e books about people change people's view, except people like myself, who lived uring the president reagan's years, i don't have anything against him personally. however, you're completely inaccurate with -- i started my police career in '81 in

and ronald reagan subsequent to his years, if his good, why is that it his vice president changed policies by necessity and i'm telling you now, that i'm -- my whole life without any kind of debt whatsoever, otherwise, i can tell you this, that with the advent of credit cards and the mentality that president reagan and others that started continuedl, but we've in this mindset of spending money you don't have and you going to endhat is up? thank you very much. host: sorry about that, caller shirley? caller: actually, many americans have debt, they have mortgage credit card debt and they live their lives perfectly fine and make their minimum payments go on.y do budgets matter? i think so. do balanced budgets matter? so.hink deficit spending matter? i think so. it.e are priorities to

individual he lives debt free, well, congratulations, but there are other people who don't. and so reagan had decided, you know, early on, as i said earlier, the soviet union was balancing ant than the budget. host: with president, the urrent president with recent proposals, tax cut, adigszal spen -- additional spending, do you think he's changing the republican party attitude toward debt? guest: i think he's chafsh chane attitude party against debt. reagan never had a republican congress, he had a republican from '81 to '87, but never had a republican house. know all the spending bills, according to constitution, must original in the house of representatives. he never had sway over the house to contain e, spending as much as he would like to.

about, i said before, worried about the debt and deficit, only so many things you could do. host: gina, in alabama, republican line. hello. caller: hello and good morning mr. shirley. i have a couple of three points here. became a oint is i republican because of ronald reagan, i seen him as a i'm in the fifth district, district of alabama. i went to point mallard park alabama.r, wonderful speech. he was a wonderful, wonderful speaker. hen after that, my first vote was in 1984. nd i got to vote for president reagan. i haveo, so pleased, but comes to erns when it

like other callers, the concerns with talking about president rump, ross perot was right about nafta, that has been realized now, but hopefully can get our jobs back. trust rayssions and i and i think 2018 is going to be year, i do have a question for you. could you explain to people how saved social security during his presidency? i will take my answer offline. have a -- nd social security commission. there was organized by reagan basically in hich redetermine it, refigure it out, it will involve tax increases. reagan to save social security, had to go along with the ncreases to, you know,

contributions to social security trust fund. basically it. reagan was also a realist and do and t he could couldn't do. social security was popular. popular.s and george bush tried to, you now, during his presidency, tried to get people to maybe put retirement money into wall failed miserab miserably. since the time of franklin understand eople contribute to the retirement system through government-run invested in ystem, government bonds, you draw it out upon your retirement, eginning age 59 and a half or whatever you choose to do it. reagan was a realist. he could do ings and couldn't do. he knew he couldn't privatize it just was a , fact of life that he had to accept.

from chief in r illinois, chicago, democrat's line. caller: that is keith, by the way. host: sorry about that. morning, mr. shirley. reagan ike to credit politicallyg me very aware. i started voting in 1978. thing really stood out kid that grew up during the civil rights connection between goldwater and reagan. 3rd, in ofh on august all places, philadelphia, mississippi. a speech on states' rights and atwater eople like lee working for him. talking about welfare queens. think today we know what that

led to. and s a southern strategy he it did work. there have been mishopes built reagan, who i felt was a fine president. but the mishope system wrong. we had lebanon, we had aids, we apart from alling drugs. just incarcerate and leave them on their own. into health turned out the streets and it all ends with ran contra, and another caller pointed this out. had it not been for george policies rrecting his economically, we would have had no boom in the '90s. caller.ay, thanks, guest: where do i start? george bush raised taxes because refused to let graham rugman enact automatically. reagan signed into law in 1987, hollins, congress

came to the conclusion they were incapable of controlling own, so they heir enacted graham, rugman, hollins, signed into law. if you couldn't control spending, there would be automatic cuts in the budget. eagan signed into law and bush in 1990, the it pledge he made at the convention. and -- i mean, i've dealt with this a hundred reagan and philadelphia. campaigned in 1988, but nobody suggesting he racism. on at caller was talking about the county fair, all politicians and reagan ampaign did, too. in the 1980 campaign, reagan did

the fall campaign, falsely asserted by hillary clinton and others at the county fair. at liberty state park in new jersey, surrounded in front americans and of the statue of liberty, which eagan paid tribute to contributions of immigrants to the united states. that is number one. that carter s launched his campaign, fall of campaign in alabama, just tennessee, which was the birthplace of the kkk. carter was ggesting appealing to white racism by fact is that the there were hooded kkk members launchd on the cart er in his campaign in 1980, confederate battle flag. arter defended confederate

battle flag. we southerners understand battle, which he defended. he was not accepting endorsement but somebody could easily say, well, carter was he didn'tcism because take on the kkk, just as reagan was soft on racism, he launched campaign at -- in the county fair, didn't launch at the county fair tis convoluted and not true. signed martin luther king holiday. he was governor of american , appointed retirement associations than any governor in the history, including his predecessor, pat brown, father of the current governor, jerry brown. abhorred racism. when he was a boy, his father "birth of let him see a nation," because of the racist message of the movie.

woodrow wilson was previewing it in his white house. the oodrow wilson loved movie. when he was going to eureka college, there was a football being played nearby. parents' home in dixon, illinois. wo african americans were not allowed to stay at the hotel, reagan took his african american parent's home s and they stayed there that night nd his parents warmly welcomed them. both individuals have paid tribute to reagan many, many it is justthe years, smear, it is unfounded smear and factually untrue. host: to terry in florida, line.endent caller: thank you. good morning. president's day. america.ys and to pedro, and mr. shirley?

two questions for you and a comment. get to the question first and then the comment. first question is, do you think is, has the president lied? that is the first question. i pose that question to the want to nd the call, call in and ask that question, you know, whatever. question is, about lying. has he -- has the presidents, now, lied presidents and it is a proven lie? proventable, documented, lie? thing second, the third is a comment. comment is that, if , if it shows

cowardness, they must be fearing something to lie. caller.ay, thanks, guest: i don't know what the question is. think it is -- has the president lied? he probably has. s a matter of fact, traced history of all presidents, they -- in some way, shape or know, you could say, they lied. you know, carter campaigned in a government as good as the american people. it was four years laefrt as good peep snel or n american people better than government? it is a lie? no, something he intended to happen, it doesn't happen. it doesn't make him a liar. eisenhower, wight bout soviet h-pom capabilities and gary powers affair, appeared on thewers was shot down

u-2 plane and taken by the ussians and there weren't overflights by the u.s. of the russian soviet union. reagan himself? guest: probably. not intentionally. there is difference between telling a lie. and a lie to me, saying something, it is a harsh word. lie means you a deliberately tried to confuse tried to conceal your true intentions, if you make a make a mistake, that is something different. host: republican line, cliff in angelo, texas, for craig shirley. caller: yes, good morning. just have a couple observations and would like to have your respond. speaking about presidents and as a republican, i see so much of similarity between president

and president trump, a i sort eople have said, of have three observations that both of them, both of wall, breakown for a down this wall, that is to freedom hopefully. our wall to protect us as a walls inthey both have common, i think. i think they are both strong eaders who believe and this is sort of my second point, beyond both strong leaders, they believe in free enterprise in a very big way. it can be proven that works, free enterprise. nd i think you can prove with venezuela, cuba, russia, work.ism does not i don't know if you can argue that it works. number three. both of them in their own way have broken down this

that in soorrectness many ways is killing this country. trump might have said a few fibs and exaggerated and said a few want to take exception to. i think that is mainly msnbc and cnn, and they do 23 hours a day of bashing trump. we'll leave liff, it there and let our guest respond. end of eagan was -- the this presidency, i would perceive is the beginning of the political ain of correction, political correctness in america. reagan did address it, too, one point he says, where do we notion, naul e concept of dividing ourselves, of playing war fare against each ther, heed it is antithet cal to the american experience. never played off one economic one , one social group, ethnic group against another that, is a new phenomenon.

phenomenon, reagan did raesz issue of political correctness. the question, other two -- ost: talked about concept of law and -- guest: yeah. reagan did recognize the berlin the soviets. for it was erected in 1961 because germans were pouring over the border into west berlin and was an embarrassment to the soviets and so many people were soviet from the failed system. they put up a wall to keep their peep nel and it did work. so i'm surprised actually trump case our e that arguing for a wall along the mexican border. new orleans, democrat's line, george, hello. caller: yes. name is george green, a pastor in new orleans. guest is n for the hat, mr. shirley,

host: george, you are on, just continue on. caller: my question for the guest, he was saying that, you know, they keep spending and spending, you could never get money, never attain a prosper if you spend more than you have. as a pastor, i teach our about the proper way of budgeting. the second thing, our country principles back to and have moral standards. decay al standards are nothing our country. the third thing is, i served in years, in y for 13 the military, everybody had greed. i have a problem with african american, native american, we are all americans. we are all americans. to the to get back foundation and principle of love thy brother as you love yourself. thank you, caller. guest: i agree with everything you said. of being a int pastor, talk about this

resident's support from the evangelical community, call it what you will. and what -- guest: yeah, i know. reagan, if ison to any. uest: support of reagan, evangelical voters first came to '76.nence in carter ran as a born-again christian. the pulpit.d from messages and ppeals to evangelical voter necessary america and election 1980, his national trf the cast was hosted by reverend pat robertson. democratic, was hosted by pat robertson, as a result, 60% of the over evangelical vote in 1976. betty ford and her interview with 60 minutes pro-choice comments, she

was pro-abortion, pro-choice, nd daughter and affair and things like that. betty fords recoiled over that interview and over the issues. went republican in 1980 because they perceived reagan more pro alliance and carter issues iously economic affect everything, including migrated to who the republican party quickly offer the fours years. started out as democrats. far as what he says to them, moral america, i don't think nybody would disagree with that. i don't think anybody ould disagree about the u.s. military or about balanced budgets and deficit spending, that. like he was right all three points. host: support of religious folks are you president,

surprised by that? guest: no. well, yes and no, pedro. given his behavior, you would say, well, that really are you is kind of strange thing, i'm trying to phrase to blical equate it to. bible teaches about making peace with people who perfect, but at least are on your side. the nk that is what it's lical group was on side, he was more to their liking than hillary clinton, that is for sure. from colorado, alice next, republican line. dead morning. good morning pedro, depend morning, mr. shirley. you mentioned reagan's two doing something about the deficit and abortion. the truly believe that lack of teaching respect for uman life has led to some of our shootings and i blame eachers, parents, the movie

industry and no respect is being shown, i hear about, i was at a and talked to a young girl. she said, the kids talk back to time.eachers all the nobody is holding the children and the parents accountable. i believe that the reagan would be really upset and i really you making that comment. i didn't realize that he did want to do something about abortion. yes, abortion for some cases, of legal and uld be should be uniquely done. lack of respect for video games and killing people all the time is just disheartening to me. host: thank you, alice. guest: i agree with the caller. think that the disrespect of human life led to society, i don't think there is denying that. urge her to go online. reagan when he was president

rote a short book named "abortion, the conscious of the the nation," and in this book, talks aboutlet culture of abortion and how it leads to ortioning society and culture, our life and respect for each other. nd so this is very much on his mind during his presidency and his ast years of presidency. democrat's line. caller: hi. yes, i'm a 68-year-old registered nurse and i remember he did.nd what answer ou to truthfully what he did regarding the ill and in 1980, jimmy cart carter signed the mental health when s act from 1980 and ronald reagan came in, the u.s. of that repealed most law and what they ended up doing -- instead of fixing

mental health institutions, certainly they were broken and men and cared for people. they sent everybody out of the ental institutions on to the streets. these are the people now who are guns andg murders with these are people who are reagan, it was awful what reagan did, instead f -- host: caller, leave it there, we're running out of time. uest: reagan had nothing to do with that. the american civil liberty went people and sued saying being held in mental institutions were being held against their constitutional rights, against due process, the court ruled the aco was right mental institutions thousandsir doors and of people who couldn't take care of themselves were let go on the

homeless, had me nothing to do with ronald reagan, all the american civil union.ies host: peter in washington, pennsylvania, republican line, we are running short on time, in. right generated into ike a conflict between to talk to e need g more and see what he would do for our country. gabriel, y, caller, to in oxner, california, democrat's line. dp ahead. i just want to say, i was in grenada twice in 1979, weeks after e just the leftist revolution. i had a vacation planned and i and i t was wonderful loved it. they were building the international airport, i walked met medical students down there, we jogged on that thing and when reagan invaded

he claimed ater, they had a secret airport down there, it was a military airport. true.as never it was an international airport for tourism, it was, i think, on the st. lucie airport, no different from that. here were so many lies around that, the press was not allowed invugz.er the medical students were integrated the island.of i think reagan went in, shortly lebnon -- en /* host: caller vto leave it there. apologize. mr. shirley. guest: american medical students grenada, school in when flown to the united states, landed at andrews air force and down t of the plane, got and kissed the ground. they were happy to be back in because of thees soviet-backed to create

another outpost in the atlantic, caribbean, for the soviet union. thriving, today is a independent democracy, free republic, free market republic, a result of the invasion to cuban he soviets and growers there. "reagan aig shirley, rising" author and founder and bannister shirley and public affairs, thank you for joining us today. press pool that travels with the president is reporting this morning the spoken to cornyn and chris murphy about when it comes to guns. compliance with criminal background check legislation, the ding to reports, president is supporting efforts checks.ackground that story will play out over the next day or so as we go on

this week. tomorrow's program on "washington journal," two guests issue lanny davis, special clinton o administration, authoritarianor a adequate making of president 2016," and joined by kirk.d all those programs, plus your papers d a look at the on "washington journal" 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. see you then. >> washington journal live every day with policy issues that impact you. ,uesday morning, lanny davis former bill clinton special counsel discusses his book about

the role of former fbi director james comey in the 2016 election. fox news channel media buzz talks about his book about president trump's relationship with the news media. watch "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern tuesday morning. c-span,g up today on former senator and presidential candidate bob dole receiving the congressional gold medal from house and senate leaders with remarks by president trump. after that, the future at work from a recent meeting of the u.s. conference of mayors with aol founder steve case and offer jd vans. infrastructure safety, the threats from russia and others on elections later this year. from this morning's washington journal, historian douglas brinkley on president trump's influence on the presidency. today, president's day on the

c-span network. at 6:30 p.m. on c-span, the launch of landmark cases live from the national constitution center in philadelphia with a review of historic cases to be featured. at 7:30 p.m., the portrait unveiling ceremony for former president obama and first lady michelle obama. at 8:30 p.m., panel on comparing watergate to the -- to today. on book tv on c-span, the savanna book festival. p.m., in-depth fiction additions with pulitzer prize and national book award winner whitehead. on american history tv on c-span3 had 2:30 p.m. eastern, historic's on world war i and the legacy of president wilson. p.m., saul's explore the relationship between prent