got the nomination wrapped up. if he loses it, we may be looking at the convention scenario. >> real quick, yes or no answer, can cruz beat hillary? >> i think he can. >> ed? >> i think it depends -- yes. >> no way. >> that will do it for us. thanks, panel. on the buzz meter this sunday, ted cruz wins two out of four states last night just as donald trump's huge super tuesday and his momentum has his media detractors trying desperately to derail him. >> donald trump has commandeered a hostile takeover. he owned this republican party. >> donald trump has essentially taken over the republican and they can't believe it. they created this monster. they have effectively dr. frankenstein created this monster and they don't know what to do about it. the fox news team and the

other candidates zero in on trump. >> you change your tune on so many things and that has people saying what his core. >> i have a very strong core, but i've never seen a successful person who wasn't flexible, who didn't have a certain degree of flexibility. >> chris wallace will be here. why are the media so focused on trump's joke on his anatomy? will conservatives fall in line behind cruz? bernie sanders winning two out of three states yesterday after being buried by hillary on super tuesday but could she be hurt as federal prosecutors grant immunity to the ex-official who set up her private email server. the horrifying testimony offer -- of erin andrews.

>> everyone was screaming that i was naked on the internet and i didn't know what it was. >> this is "media buzz" and i'm howard kurtz. politicians give speeches when a bunch of states on primary night but on super tuesday, donald trump invited reporters to mara largo and incredibly nice to people in the media. >> i'm watching the fox and msnbc and cnn. i'm becoming diplomatic and they are certainly being very nice to me tonight. >> his republican rivals are complaining the media are in the donald's corner. >> the media has been almost cheerleading and i'm convinced because many in the press want him to become the nominee.

immediately, the hounds of hell will descend on him. >> then became the raucous debate in detroit. trump went there. >> i have to say this, i have to say this. he hit my hands. nobody has ever hit my hands. i've never heard of that. look at those hands. are those small hands? and he referred to my hands, if they are small something else must be small. i guarantee you there's no problem. i guarantee you. >> still shaking my head. but a divided decision last night with trump winning the bigger states of louisiana and kentucky but ted cruz taking the caucus states of kansas and maine, perhaps changing the media narrative. joining us now heidi prazmalus, and gale trotter and maraliason. >> are the immediate

reflecting -- media reflecting what they are calling pandemonium, possible suicide in the republican party and this last gasp for donald trump? >> i was looking at those headlines to. desperate mission. my reaction was not so much. if you look at the detail it's like the gop establishment is waiting. that's not as sexy as a headline. >> you think these colorful words and headlines and the conservative crack-up are a tad overhyped? >> yeah. if you look at what's actually happening. you do have some donors that are hindsight got in, there are some ad adsr ads these are half measures. i don't think it's really a massive assault like it's being portrayed in the media and i think the donors know if they do do that and they somehow succeed in taking trump down, there would be hell to pay.

there would be a massive rebellion you are starting to see with this populace. >> trump's cover of time refers to him as a showman, a bully and a dem i gogue. >> i saw rubio's attack turning into a suicide mission and could it ruin his career, destroy and hurt the republican party. >> here you have hannity for example taking trumps side and suggesting rubio might be getting out and toning down the attacks. you have the national review, weekly standard and fox commentators weighing in against trump, how do you see this shaking out on the conservative side of the media? >> there's certainly a split in the conservative media. national review is part of the never trump movement. we see other organizations which have a lot of say in the conservative movement, very influential. they seem to be -- >> what are these folks going to do if trump wins the nomination?

>> exactly. they can't give a good answer. they have been arguing against hillary being in the oval office for years. now they have painted themselves in a corner where they have a difficult time rallying around trump if he's the eventual nominee. >> people send me email that fox is pro trump, pro rubio. ted crews winning the two smaller caucus states last night. does that change the media narrative are even a few days ago when all the headlines go is trump unstoppable? >> i think it changes a tiny bit. kroouds -- cruz is only behind trump a few delegates. michigan, ohio, florida, later, it's new jersey, new york, and

california. i think the media have played this pretty straight. cruz had some unexpected victories. he won his states bigger than trump won his last night. everybody in the media has no idea what they should do. they are clueless, some big donors, maybe we should stop him at the convention. when you are covering the potential crack-up of a major american political party, it's very confusing because nobody knows what's going to happen or what should happen. >> we're all listening to the establishment. there's no trump think tank. there's school for that. we're all assuming -- that there's this other alternative that's going to emerge even though we are officially folks in the 11th hour. >> the media are clueless, after all remember all the commentators and pundits who said trump had no chance. i'll talk about that later.

but also in term of the narrative turning, we heard marco rubio, senator cruz said the same thing, saying the media are pro trump, want him to win the nomination, is that because he gets a lot of air time or do they really believe that journalists are rooting for donald j. trump. >> i think in some circumstances. we saw in the "new york times" this week and the conversation they had with trump behind the closed door and the release of that information, voters want to know what donald trump told "the new york times" about immigration and they are not releasing that. >> it's up to donald trump to release that. that's violating a basically journalistic princele of -- principle of off the record. >> i want to take you behind the scenes. after the debate, i went downstairs to the spin room. there's 200 reporters, local, national, cable folks, all getting a chance to interview donald trump. i didn't see the other candidates and let me put up a picture of a reporter for extra.

a.j. callaway, he was comparing his hand size with that of donald trump and this is all on camera, a third of the questions were about trump's problem there's no problem. here's cnn's dana bash ask this very question. do you realize you are probably the first person many american history, maybe even world history to make a joke about your you know what on a debate stage? >> i only made a joke about my hands. i have very powerful hands. >> you went a little further than that. >> i can't believe i'm asking you this question, but should the media be well into the extent into this one, huge moment. >> no. i think it's unprecedented so maybe a follow-up question or two but then if you watch the news conference last night when trump came out of kentucky, they asked him about it again. >> the entire front page story in the "new york times," headline, a national descent

into trump's pants. it's not just sleazy television reporters. >> to be fair, rubio said at the debate said let's talk about the issues and trump immediately thought the biggest issue to talk about his was anatomy. >> rubio started it by making the joke about trump's hands. do women react differently? i think a lot of guys think it's funny and it's unprecedented, it's easier to talk about than the tax plan. do women react dimple -- differently. >> i think so. it's an episode of bar room brag doesh -- braggadocio. remember the paula jones lawsuit. she alleged there were distinguishing characteristics about bill clinton's male anatomy. this is not something new. i think it is off putting to a lot of women.

>> that was a scandal as opposed to to a joke on the stage. mitt romney called donald trump a phony, a fraud. i lost track as i was taking notes. a media finds it a little skeptical. >> the media coverage of the reaction to romney i think was fair because the base reacted with disgust and complete contempt for that. supporters said wait a second who are you telling me how to vote. donald trump is demly database democratically getting his votes. the former nominee telling the party we have to stop the guy who is on his way to being the current nominee? it was extraordinary. >> all the cable networks went live when trump had a rally in which he responded to romney. it became a news cycle about

donald trump courtesy of mitt romney. >> it's a little toned up. >> you agree it's a big story because of romney's place in the gop. >> i think he was probably under pressure to do that. who else is the titular stature to do it? >> nobody else had the willingness to do it. >> the media poured fuel on the fire if you listen to some of their right wing talks. rush limbaugh said you should be outraged, you are being manipulated. >> everybody is doing the double entendres, nobody can resist. >> let's put up the video. the trump press conference and chris christie and people on twitter making fun of the new jersey governor. why so much attention to that? >> it's really fascinating because it's a question of these pictures went viral. there's a lot of criticism of

it. was it a staging issue that he shouldn't have been standing right behind trump because if you are standing there for 45 minutes, it's very easy for the cameras to catch comical facial expressions. >> in fairness, i think if you are not married to the guy, it's hard to stand there for 45 minutes in rapt admiration. let me get a break here. chris wallace on his role in moderating the very heated republican debate in troit. when we come back, the head of the super pac and the party's effort to derail him. ♪ everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox.

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media chatter about the republican establishment launching an assault on donald trump. we turn to mike murphy who ran jeb bush's super pac.

here's our conversation from los angeles in his first television interview since the bush campaign ended. mike murphy, welcome. >> good to be here, howie. >> do you think that the media have pumped up donald trump while being unfairly and unduly negative toward your guy, jeb? >> well, i think jeb got a bit of a hard treatment from the media. he had the misfortune of being the quality issues, experienced candidate in a year where people seem to be looking for a circus and jeb doesn't wear clown shoes. on we go. the voters are always right as they say and the voters got to pick somebody. >> you early on dismissed donald trump as a zombie frontrunner. you said he was other people's problems, not the bush campaign problems. >> i called him the zombie candidate. i don't think he will be elected president. he could be nominated. if nominated, i think he will lose in a landslide to hillary clinton which is one of the tragedies of trump. we'll see if i'm right or wrong.

he's definitely done better in the primary than i thought. when i talk about he wasn't our problem, i meant early in the race with so many candidates. we had to concentrate on getting the regular candidates behind us. we didn't think our problem. >> you are the not only person who under estimated trump. speaking of regular respects, this is a very big story from people to romney, ryan, jeb's guy, trying to slow this train down. he's running against the establishment, doesn't this in a way help trump that you are all beating him up? >> it's a problem of arithmetic. jeb was the first to take on trump. i'm proud of what he did. i'm proud of what mitt romney did. i'm looking at the numbers. 50 to 60% oppose him. the problem is there's so many

candidates, the anti trump vote is getting split up. if you were to pick one candidate it's probably ted cruz which is equaling terrifying to the establishment. it's a real pickle. the most qualified guy running is kasich but i've got good news and bad news, i called my dad in detroit to told me he's voting for kasich in the michigan primary but he's also a democrat. >> you've gotten a fair amount of bad press in that cycle, because of the head of the super pac, you spent millions of dollars much of it on negative ads against marco rubio, only a small fraction against donald trump, some people said you certainly scuffed up rubio but you helped the guy who is now the frontrunner. >> well, over half our spending was on positive jeb ads. we spent more than anybody else taking on trump, just like jeb took him on in every debate while others were in the witness relocation plan seemingly unavailable. look, we fought our corner hard.

we have the quality candidate. i'm proud of everything we i make no polingses. >> did you miscalculate and go after the wrong guy? >> no, because we knew early, early, we wanted to consolidate and potentially it could come down to jeb and trump. early, we were competing against scott walker, against marco rubio, competing against over in our category. the problem is this year, the voters at least half of them, unless we consolidate, trump's pleurality will see him to the nomination. >> if you do derail trump, won't cause that huge anger on all the people who are voting for him? >> no, look. i'm not part of anything. there's an anti establishment establishment, i'm just a republican primary voter now. i don't speak for jeb bush. i don't think trump will be good for the party and country. what will happen if we beat them

fair and square, great. if he -- if we can't beat him fair and square, he may get beat. erin andrews, a testimony about a video. a heart attack doesn't care if you run everyday, or if you're young or old. no matter who you are a heart attack can happen without warning. if you've had a heart attack, a bayer aspirin regimen can help prevent another one. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. bayer aspirin.

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the meeting says something about the flexibility of his hard line immigration stance. it came up in a debate in detroit. >> news broke that the "new york times" has a secretly recorded tape of donald telling "the new york times" editorial believe, he doesn't believe what he says in immigration. >> did you tell them specifically that you are flexible when it comes to your deportation plan? >> i did have a meeting with the editorial board of the "new york times." a very nice meeting. many of those things were off the record. i think at their suggestion and my suggestion and i take being off the record is a very important thing. i think it's a very powerful thing. >> trump is right on that point. i don't want to indict the whole paper. there were 30 people in that meeting. this was an ethical betrayal by something. the story is a nothing-burger. how likely is that trump would tell some deep dark secret to

the "new york times." he said before he's flexible and open to making deals if he's elected president. with so many pundits now admitting donald trump is rolling to the nomination, it's worth looking back at what some of them said many months ago courtesy of "morning joe." >> we've gotten to a point where a comical figure, comical, blow hard like donald trump is conceivably a frontrunner. we will not participate in this sort of legitimate maes of a fringe candidate. >> he could actually win this thing. >> he's not fog to win the thing, joe. >> we don't know whether he is or not. >> i don't want to pretend that i've been predicting all along that he's going to win. quite the contrary, i couldn't imagine he would win. >> many journalistsaging what they saw as impossible is possible. ahead on "media buzz," just when they were saying hillary clinton

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from the noemt of the fox debate began in detroit, the focus was on donald trump. as we saw with wall -- wallace's first question about mara mitt romney's attack. he listed what he said are your personal qualities, quoting now, romney on trump, quote, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd

third grade thee at tricks. >> i totally disavow the ku klux klan. i totally disavow david duke. >> i sat down with the anchor of "fox news sunday" in studio one. you began this debate with a bang, asking mitt romney's caustic attack and david duke and the kkk. why did you start this way? >> this was the news of the day. you have the nominee of the party last cycle, 2012, basically doing everything he can to blow up the candidacy of a clear frontrunner this time. it was screw quite -- it was quite extraordinary. we like to go with something fresh. it happened a few hours before. it was a no-brainer. bh -- when you got into how much donald trump could actually

cut the budget and had the graphic to show there were shortfalls in his proposal. to what extent what you had anticipated what he would come back and you decided to come back with other numbers? >> oh, absolutely. one of the problems with trump is he throws around a lot of numbers, a lot of rhetoric and nobody kind of fact checks on him or maybe it's the next day in the newspaper or a little thing in the "washington post" and i thought it would be really interesting to do that in a debate, in realtime. a fact check in live time. and i had read a lot and thought a lot, we have done a lot of research. i have a great researcher laurie martin here in fox and i wanted to ask him the question of waste fraud abuse and i heard what he said before and it department -- didn't add up. i had four different full screens, those graphics made up and we were going to do it depending on what he said, and i have to tell you the producers were a little nervous because i

had full screen one, which was about one thing. >> too wonky. >> they weren't worried about that. they were worried about what if he doesn't say one of your things. well, then we're screwed, but fortunately he did. >> rubio went after cruz harded. after the cnn debate, i thought it was an embarrassing spectral for the candidates. to what extent were you trying to keep it under control? >> we were trying. >> did you success? >> no, as i also said after that debate a certain point if you want to ask like damn fools, you can't stop them from acting like damn fools. i thought there were parts of the debate that were substantive on taxes, immigration, foreign policy, variety of issues. it was really interesting with trump. i fell very strongly that he came into that debate, you can tell in his demeanor that he was

trying to be more presidential. he was trying to pivot from the blustery donald trump who had gotten all this attention in the first place to a potential and legitimate, someone that could you can envision as a president, and as the debate went on, of course, there was that one moment early on when he had to make the joke about his manhood. i could have done without that, but there were a lot of good moments. i thought he went out of his way not to get into a confrontation with meghan. to be nice to see you, all of that. >> on that point, a lot of the press coverage billed this as a rematch between donald trump and megyn kelly. because he skipped the iowa debate citing her as a reason. were you also conscious of that going in? >> sure. i felt all of us felt this isn't about trump versus megyn or any of the other moderators. this is about the four candidates and the voters and we want to be as invisible as possible. the thing i was going to say though is trump started out by

his standards at least kind of high brow and by the end it was a little marco rubio and lying ted and he had been sucked into it. >> a lot of praise for the moderators from the "washington post," politico and others. i thought the most interesting was the video monday -- montage and megyn kelly following up what is his core. >> he said he has a core and he needs to be flexible. >> i thought that was one of his strong moments. he didn't get nasty about it. he didn't get resentful about it. he said i have changed and that's what a leader needs to do. if the facts change, you learn more about it, your opinion changes. that's a strength. not a weakness. for all of your hard work and preparations, the moment that went viral was when he joked about his anatomy.

what were you thinking about that moment? >> oh, lord. you had to shake your head. listen, that happened early on, that was 10, 15 minutes in. we had another hour and 45 minutes. you are focused on what you got to do, and i had a lot in the beginning because i had the initial questions to trump and then i also had that whole first round about the economy, so you are tend to go your knitting. you got to make sure that you are on top of your material, you are listening to what they are saying but you are also thinking about where you want to take the debate. >> you never know what's going to happen in a debate. thanks for joining us. you bet. my pleasure. the media now treating hillary clinton as the nominee-in-waiting but could the latest email story change that narrative?

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...who make sure the millions of products we ship arrive without damages. because od employees treat customer service... ...like our most important delivery. od. helping the world keep promises. this is a fox news alert. we have some sad news to report. nancy raegan has died. she was 94 years old. we've gotten confirmation of her death. she was married to ronald regan beginning in 1952 until his death in 2004. she was an iconic figure in her own right. one of more glamorous first ladies. nancy reagan, age 94. she was a singular figure in the sense she had her own identity. she was certainly always very supportive of her husband.

some people used to gently make fun of the way she looked at him when he was president, but she also is the woman who has sort of kept the reagan reagan legacy alive since ronald reagan's death a decade ago. >> just the other day, i was thinking i wonder what ronald reagan is thinking of what's become of the party today. it's like really a benchmark. someone who reinvented the party and brought together so many diverse factions of the republican party, and fast-forward to where we are today, the other end of the book end is a party in complete disarray. >> spinning in his grave is what he would be doing. because he run the coalition in a again -- genial way. >> let's talk about nancy reagan's role. it's interesting in this

campaign, you still routinely invoke shining city on a hill, and nancy reagan was part of that, you know, that. >> she takes credit for the fact that ronald reagan has become the number one patron saint of the republican party. and every single candidate says they are the true inheriter of the reagan legacy. marco rubio says i'm the new generation going to continue the reagan legacy. everybody wants to be raeg. he's like the jfk for the democrats. >> right. and nancy reagan through her work with the reagan library, through increasingly rare public appearances as she got older and more frail, certainly has not let the world forget about her husband's presidency ks even democrats say was a very significance presidency that changed the country.

>> this is heart breaking news and to have this come on soon on the heels of justice scalia's death. you remember president reagan appointed him. to have that generation pass away and to have such controversy in the republican party right now. i think that will leave people very unsettled to have another icon of the reagan administration and rebirth of the conservative movement. i think it will cause people to be very intro spective on what the future of our nation will be. >> let me pause and read a statement. this is a statement by joanne drake she's the spokes woman about the former first lady nancy reagan. she died this morning at her home in los angeles at the age of 94. the cause of death was congestive heart failure. mrs. reagan will be buried at the ronald reagan library next to her husband in simi valley.

prior to the funeral service there will be an opportunity for the public to pay their respects. mrs. reagan requested that contributions be made to the foundation at www.reaganlibrary.com. nancy reagan had her own career. she was an actress, a public figure and there was something about the two of them. she call him ronnie and even when there were controversies about nancy reagan, there was that story about how she would rely on astrologyists and give her husband advice, it was very endeari endearing. >> there was some book i read many years ago of letters from ronald reagan to nancy. you go and read that and you see the conversation they had over

many years. it was a very genuine and loving relationship. even their children said that there was ronnie and nancy and we were kind of the satellites outside of that, and to have that kind of in contrast to some of the relationships that we see going on in washington, d.c. right now is a little surprising. a big contrast. >> last night some of us went to the gridiron and the gridiron was kind of a singular moment in nancy reagan's career she spoofed herself on stage with secondhand rose. >> some people don't know that the gridiron is an annual washington journalists and politicians get together. there's no video of it. >> she actually performed secondhand clothes a spoof done to the secondhand rose. she had gotten in trouble for her lavish spending or borrowing something and not reimbursing her. she spoofed herself and sang and danced because she was a former

hoofer. >> just as the history's view of ronald reagan has changed, when he ran in 1976 and 1980, he was considered just an actor, ill informed. he had been governor of california for two years a lot of people dangerous president. he did a lot of combat with democrats, even though he would famously drink with tip o'neill and reining in the size of government. to what extent as the image of nancy reagan changed with the media and public? >> i think the years passing have put her in a more glowing light. the controversies have fallen away, and especially as he developed alzheimer's and she was his caretaker, i think she became a more beloved figure. >> who can forget the scene of

the funeral? the statement she's going to be buried next to them. she had the service and the sun went down. >> it was the era that reagans were in as well there was a code of conduct that does not exist today. the reagans also created this precedent, though, of republicans being -- created this kind of expectation that republican candidates are not angry. they are happy. people are drawing -- trying to draw parallels between trump and reagan. but reagan was the happy warrior. >> ed, what do you make of this sad news of nancy reagan passing away? we just received it this morning and talk a little bit about the person that you knew both a woman and a wife and first lady.

>> she was an extraordinary woman and i have often said this. ronald reagan probably wouldn't have been president without her. in 1976 after he ran and lost to ford, the president told me he wasn't sure he wanted to run again. mrs. reagan was convinced that he was the right man for the country and she encouraged him and supported him. she was an extraordinary first lady. she brought great glamour and style to the white house. she had two major programs she took for herself, aids, and the drug program, the just say no program was very significant. she was by far and away the most significant adviser to the president. they had an extraordinary marriage, close friends and lovers. a long period of time. there was never any friction. she tried to reglam -- bring glamour back to the white house and obviously did. i think she was a very classy human being and a great, great

adviser to the president, and as beloved in most circles as he was, so my sense is it's a real tragic loss. he was a great president. she was a great first lady. >> so interesting you bring up the just say no program. i thought even though it was made fun of in some quarters, that was the beginning of nancy reagan starting to have a more serious image as first lady, pursuing an important cause rather than just being seen as somebody who was glamorous and a clothes horse and like to preside over fancy parties. ronald reagan had doubts about running in 1980 and he ultimately run. nancy kind of pushed her husband to go for the ultimate prize. >> she did. she encourage him and equally as important after he was severely wounded in the first three months of the administration, she was not anxious for him to run for re-election. she thought is a dat -- sadat

had been murdered, the pope had been shot, her husband almost died. it was a very hard discussion of whether he should run for re-election and obviously it was a campaign i'm in. i was very involved in that. at the end of the day, she made up her mind it was the right thing for the country. he wanted to do it. the interesting thing was the ranch that raegan loved so much in california was not this big glamorous texas ranch with beautiful scenery but a very small little place, had lots of snakes and mosquitos and what have you. she would let him go there whenever he wanted to. she was always concerned about his health as any great wife does, and i think to a certain extent she was the reinforcer to him. she didn't play around in public policy. she always thought he was the man to make those kind of decisions. she cared about staff in the sense that she wanted to make sure the staff was loyal to him and the staff basically was serving him well. she had a great sense of p.r.,

and i think the team, meaning her and the president, were inoperable and extraordinary. >> i covered that assassination attempt march 30th, 1981. i remember being outside the hospital and getting updates of his condition and thinking how awful it was for nancy reagan both as a first lady and as a wife who who worked at the pentagon in the reagan administration. she served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs under presentied reagan. so what were your memories of that time of nancy reagan, i tonight know how much you dealt with directly. as an important presence in that

administration? >> i think nancy's influence with the president, as president reagan's closest confidant, i'm not sure we would have ended the cold war as we did. we were not negotiating with the soviet union and once the united states was in a position of military power, once we repaired our relations with our allies, nancy reagan, more than anybody, told president reagan "it's now time to do the deal." it is now time to end the cold war. she was very closely allied with the secretary of state, george shultz, and the two of them really helped president reagan do what president reagan wanted to do, which was to end the cold war without firing a shot and also to find a way for missile defense system, a way that the united states would no longer be held hostage to the nuclear weapon of the soviet union. in addition to the things she accomplished on her own.

the way she re-energized the white house as the greatest house in the land. she also plays a major role in getting peace in our time. >> if you're just joining us, we just received the sad news that nancy reagan has died. passing away in los angeles at the age of 94. we are recalling her as a person, as a first lady, as an important influence on her husband. k.t. mcfarland, this goes beyond the image that nancy reagan had as a glamorous first lady. even when it came to geopolitics, she was an important influence on her husband, as important adviser as the defense secretary and the secretary of state? >> in a different way. >> sure. >> because she understood the role her husband could play in history. and i think, ed, you would agree with this, nancy reagan was one of the people whispering in president reagan's ear that it

was time to have a new relationship, reach out, have an overture, mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. the joke was always around the white house that when president reagan met with soviet leaders for the first time, that gorbachev had said, well, mrs. reagan, whisper in the president's ear every night when you go to bed, peace, peace, peace. and she said, i'm whispering in your ear. it's time for peace, peace, peace. so she had a role not as a political adviser, but as someone who said president, my dear husband, this is your time, this is your moment, you can do this, no one else can, and she was the woman behind the man. >> ed and k.t., stand by. the job of first lady is undefined, a difficult one at times because the first lady doesn't want to overshadow her husband. this was controversial when hillary clinton was first lady and she was given the health care portfolio and testified on

capitol hill. nancy reagan, although we're hearing from people who worked in that administration, she was not seen publicly as someone who was immersed in policy but, you know, the most important person in the presidency is the woman who the guy talks to the last thing at night. >> yes, and we're seeing it with all the first ladies. laura bush might have been more of a traditional first lady. the first ladies all kind of take on traditional portfolios, but given the pedigree as well, like with michelle obama and her professional background, and just the levels of education, you know there is a lot of that kind of advising at nighttime or whatever and a lot of the back and forth as well with the first lady having the ear of the president. >> michelle obama by her own design has been a first lady who doesn't work full time because she's got two children to raise.

nancy reagan and ronald reagan didn't have that. what are you hearing about her influence? because i guess if it had been used at the time that she was advising on the cold war, especially in the context of the 1980s when women were not in as many leadership positions both government and private as they are now, that might have been a little bit controversial. >> it might have been controversial but what they were saying is she wasn't advising on policy, she was advising for the benefit of the american people. and i think when you brought up the assassination attempt, who can forget that famous line when reagan was about to go under the knife for, you know, removal of the bullet and he said to nancy, honey, i forgot to duck. and i think that was a real insight into the type of relationship they had, even in the most extreme pressure of trying to protect the united states from the cold war, they could joke about things like that -- >> what a reassuring line that was to see the old reagan humor, charm and grace after coming

pretty close to dying after john hinckley fired those bullets at him and his press secretary jim brady. all right, i've got chris wallace on the phone now. >> why don't we wait till noon? >> well, we'll be happy to take you now if you're available. as a reporter, you covered the reagan white house, you were there every day so you had a sense not only of the president but of nancy reagan. >> no, i was actually pretty close to nancy reagan. there's a family connection which can go at some point. i also did an hour documentary on her in the -- in his second term. she was an enormously influential person in the reagan -- the entire reagan story. his political career. the fact he became president, how he staffed his presidency. as have been mentioned. his decision particularly in the second term to become much more aggressive in seeking

accommodation with the russians, negotiating with the russians, she was a key player in all of that. >> the person -- you did get a chance to know her, i think a lot of americans at the time admired nancy reagan. some were critical at times. she hit the press particularly in the early years before she became involved in earlier efforts before the just say no to drugs program. tell us a little bit about what she was like as a human being. >> complete fun, i'm completely biased by her. >> fair enough. >> i thought she was just terrific. when you sat and talked with her, you were the only person in the room and that famous gaze she looked at the president with when he spoke, she would focus that on you, and she was gossipy. she liked, you know, to chat about things that were going on. very approachable. once you were kind of in the

circle of trust, the family connection was the fact that my father back in the 40s had been a good friend of her mother, edie davis. mention that reagan was several years younger. and i think she had kind of a crush on my father. in nice kaany case, the relatio transferred to me and we used to chat on the phone frequently when she was first lady. very pleasant. very approachable. very practical. fiercely protective of her husband. said in the interview, the hour documentary i did on her for nbc back in '85 that she felt she had better antenna about people than her husband did. that they were -- that he was too trusting and that she times would have to tell him who had his best interest at heart and who didn't. and i got to say, most of the judgment she made, at least in my way of thinking, were pretty darn good. >> i remember her being involved

in decisions to ease some people out of the reagan white house which may be the president was reluctant to do because he was a nice guy. it's interesting to know about the friendship between mike wallace, your dad, and nancy reagan. talk a little bit about the post presidency. because not only -- even before ronald reagan died we had the sad long period where the effects of alzheimer's kick in. he famously wrote that letter to the public which was kind of like a good-bye letter and she was really the public face of the couple who had been president and first lady and almost by default charged with keeping that legacy alive. >> the day that came out, called mrs. reagan fully expecting to not ever reach her but just expressing my sympathies and she got on the phone and we talked for probably 20 minutes or so the day the reagan letter was released and she talked