dr. lee edwards. [applause] >> well, thank you patrick. and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. it's a beautiful day at washington. and a greatay to be alive. especially if you are a young conservative. we're sitting he on this stage and you sittinghere in the audience, we agree on one thing. books can change a life and even the course of history. they certainly made a profound difference in the life of ronald reagan. in mid october of 1965 my wife ann and i spent two days traveling with reagan in southern california. when he was considering whether to run for governor of that state. at the end of the second day reagan took us up the road to his hom in pacific overlooking los angeles to serve us some ice tea and cookies. he and nancy were in the kitchen and i walk over to the bookcases in their library den and beg examining the titles. they were works

dr. lee edwards. [applause] >> thank you. good morning ladies and gentlemen. it is a beautiful day in washington and a great day to be alive. especially if you are a young conservative. [applause] we sitting here on the stage and you sitting there in the audience are agreed on one thing, books. they can change a life and even the course of history. they certainly made a profound difference in the life of ronald reagan. in mid october of 1965, my wife and i spent two days traveling with reagan in southern california when he was considering whether to run for governor of that state. at the end of the second day, reagan took us up to a winding road to his home in the pacific palisades overlooking los angeles to service -- to serve us some iced tea and cookies. while he and nancy were in the kitchen, i walked over to the bookcases and and began examining the tight. they were almost without exception works of history, an ex -- economics, and politics. they included the road to serfdom, of a good witness" -- and a local of the road to witness". that is not good enou

dr. lee edwards is a fellow of the conservative thought and heritage foundation, and chairman of the victims of communism memorial foundation. he is the author of 20 books including biographies of ronald reagan, barry goldwater, histories of the heritage foundation and has worked on the translated into chinese, japanese and french he is a fellow of the institute of politics at the john f. kennedy -- of harvard. dr. edwards has appeared on many tv and radio programs and has had many articles in national newspapers. his upcoming book is a biography of william f. buckley. he currently resides in virginia with his wife. >> thank you. good morning, ladies and judgment. it is a beautiful day in washington, and a great day to be alive. especially if you are a young c books made a profound difference in the life of ronald reagan. in mid october of 1965, my wife and i spent a today's traveling with reagan in southern california when he was considering whether to run for governor of that state. at the end of the second day, reagan took us up the steep road to his home in pacific palisades, overlooking