he lost the state and propelled george h.w. bush to the lead for a time. ronald reagan eventually overtook him and won the nomination. i don't think george h.w. bush would have been president if he hadn't won iowa in 1980. he wouldn't have gotten the vice presidential nomination. he had a foothold in the race and stayed in and ended up being president of the united states. it can be consequential skipping debates. >> we haven't spoken about chris christie yet. how do you view his strategy tonight? he's talked about going after donald trump and he has talked perhaps about putting ron desantis in his crosshairs tonight. >> bill, all eight have something in common. they are behind. they are behind a lot to the guy who is not there. they can quarrel among themselves, but they have to catch secretariat right now. you better make the case, same ideas, fewer indictments. somebody has got to make the case. i've got the same idea as donald trump has, but you don't need to worry about me making initial appearances and whether or not i can make bond if i am the presid

happened to ronald reagan when he skipped the iowa debate in 980, he lost the state and propelled george h.w. bushentually won the nomination, but i don't think george h.w. bush would have been president had he not won iowa in 1980 and wouldn't have been able to stay in the race. he had a foothold in the race, stayed in the race, end up being president of the united states. so it can be consequential, skipping debates. it's risky. bill: trey, we haven't spoken about chris christie yet. he's talked publicly about going after donald trump, and he's talked about perhaps putting ron desantis in his crosshairs tonight. >> yeah. well, you know, bill, all eight have something in common, they're behind. [laughter] they're behind a lot to the guy that's not there. so if they -- they can quarrel among themselves, but they've got to catch secretariat right now. you better make the case same ideas, fewer indictments. somebody's got to make the case i've got the same ideas donald trump as has, but you don't need to worry about me making initial appearances and whether or not i can make bond if i'm the presiden

several george h.w. bush the first time they wouldn't let me see a good bit of stuff, but a lot of stuff closed because george bush was governor and then later most of the stuff i wanted to see in the bush library did not open until obama became president. and i'm sure there were political reasons. there were political reasons for that. the last time i went to, the bush library was as i wrapping up to research the so-called october surprise, the idea that the reagan camp had cut a deal with to hold the hostages until after the election and was told in no uncertain terms. i would not find anything about in the bush library. and they kept me under surveillance the whole time i was there. but found a lot of information i used anyway. but the last one i mentioned is the reagan library and the reagan library. when it first opened, it didn't much information about carter, but for some reason that i know not what someone convinced and nancy reagan to open the papers on the 1980 election the election where when carte

. >> george h.w. bushmillions of documents to a former bowling alley and a former chinese restaurant where they combined them so, they're in a bowling alley/chinese restaurant [ laughter ] >> seth: now, usually this would be the part of "a closer look" where i carefully dissect that insanity but instead, i want to see what it would feel like to actually believe him. which brings us to a new segment called "seth takes donald trump at his word. ♪ [ laughter ] >> seth: you know what when you tell me george h.w. bush took millions of documents to a bowling alley/chinese restaurant, i believe you. [ laughter ] i believe you, because i don't think you'd ever make something up like that and here's how i believe it happened george h.w. bush was leaving office and packed up millions of documents, loaded them into what was probably multiple trucks and then his family came out and said, "whoa, dad, what are you doing? and he said, "i'm in a super bad mood about only serving one term, get out of my way. and they said

george, i should tell you, george h.w. bush at the end of his administration, a couple of speeches in which he said almost precisely socially the same thing. i saw. and this was what that quotation often suggests is something that i firmly believe, and that's there turmoil everywhere in the world. and there always will be. but it's vital for american decision makers and for the american people to and determine what constitutes a so-called existential threat. what really is an existential threat? it's also extremely important as this quotation suggests and i embrace for american policymakers and the american people to carefully assess what constitutes a vital interest where we are or are vital. do we have, like today do we have a vital interest in taiwan? yes or no? i believe very thoughtful can argue that in both ways. but it has no easy answer. but it is imperative, as clinton's quotation suggests, to think hard and long what constitutes a vital interest? what constitutes an existential threat? once you decide if something is

tonight, our focus is on two presidents, george h.w. bush and bill clinton. well, in 1991,2 days after leaving forces against iraq, george bush went before congress to talk about the hard work of. and in 1995, at the university of texas in austin, bill talked about race relations and the opportunity to improve them. here's president and president clinton. members of the congress. i have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you, the president of the united states states. thank you very much. thank you, mr. president. president. mr. president and mr. speaker and members of the united states congress. i come to this house and the people to speak to you and all america make certain that we stand at a defining hour halfway around the world. we are engaged in a great struggle in the skies and on the seas and sands. we know why we're there. we are americans. part of something larger than ourselves for two centuries. we've done the hard work of freedom. and tonight, we lead the world in facing down a threat to decency and humanity. what is at stake i

innocuous sounding program run by the national program office which is run by vice president george h.w. bush's preselected five separate ps3 teams, a former respected official like howard baker the longtime senate republican leader, director richard helms former u.n. ambassador jeane kirkpatrick former cabinet secretary james schlessinger and even donald rumsfeld who all were given special instructions for evacuation and in emergency the a preassigned pf -- pc3 ters would different bunkers and continuity facilities ready to serve a presidential successor. someone like a commerce secretary agriculture secretary would arrive at an emergency site he or she would find a way to step already and witty including inexperience later like don rumsfeld or dick cheney selected as the chief of staff designee. the full records of the record will be classified in the years ahead and we haveid no idea whee they are similar programs that exist today but the problem of how you prepare a successor to assume the presidency not in a theoretical sense but an immediate sense like minutes and hours matter is one th

. >> next week on speeches that define the presidency, george h.w. busholf war and bill clinton confronts race relations. a reminder that all of the have beenhat we showing in this series and all american history tv programs are available to watch online at c-span.org/history. >> american history tv saturdays for c-span2 exploring events that tell the american story. 7:00 p.m. eastern best-selling author shares his book the wager about the mid-18th century mutiny aboard the wager ship off the coast of south america and a court-martial that followed. 10:30 p.m. eastern south dakota republican governor on the presidency and the lessons that she sees for contemporary politics. exploring the american story watch american history tv saturday on c-span2 and find a edule in your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. >> if you are enjoying american history tv, sign up for a newsletter using the qr code on the screen to receive the weekly schedule of upcoming programs like lectures of history, the presidency and more. sign up for the america

and next week on speeches that define the presidency, george h.w. bush leads the gulf war and bill clinton confronts race relations. a reminder that all of the speeches that we've been showing in this series and all american history tv programs are available to watch online at c-span dot org. >> welcome to uncommon knowledge. and then to host with the ronald reagan institute

would not have gotten the nomination in 1980 without direct mail, because when john connally and george h.w. bush were getting the thousand contributions, he was getting hundreds of thousands of ten, 15, $25 contributions funded campaign made all the difference. mr. viguerie what makes an effective direct mail letter? talk about one that you've written. well direct mail is used to be, until recently, the second largest form of advertising in the country. television number one now is number three, because the internet, internet's number one, television number two. direct mail is number three. and i recognize that early on. and i recognize that it's not a when i write a letter that goes to a million people, i don't write it to a million people. i write it to one person. had one person in mind, i'm writing that letter and i have a conversation. well, for most of my political life it was my parents, my mother, my dad. i would have them met. they didn't give every time, but they were occasion a gift. so you don't want to write to somebody that gives it's not a child or never gifts. so you want somebod

nomination in 1980 without direct mail, because when john connally and george h.w. bushe getting the thousand contributions, he was getting hundreds of thousands of ten, 15, $25 contributions funded campaign made all the difference. mr. viguerie what makes an effective direct mail letter? talk about one that you've written. well direct mail is used to be, until recently, the second largest form of advertising in the country. television number one now is number three, because the internet, internet's number one, television number two. direct mail is number three. and i recognize that early on. and i recognize that early on. i write a letter that goes through a million people i write it to one person. that onein person i have in mind i'm writing that letter too. cooks for most of my political it was my parents my mother and dad. they would occasionally give. to someone who always gives or neverr gives. and somebody who occasionally gives you have someone have a conversation with. bill buckley famously said he was a conservative but not of the breedrd or set a night hangg o

evergreen chapel donated to private money, with camp david commissioned in 1994 during president george h.w. bush how do presidents get to camp david customer could talk about fdr within driving distance. but present to circle do not drive to camp david in a morbid. >> we prefer to bring them end by the helicopter squadron eisenhower was the first to come in like that. and weather permitting they will fly in the talk marine one. they'll come up by motorcade from where ever their departure platform is. >> camp david is a presidential retreat. yet you know presidents often find themselves working in camp david. tell us a little bit how it functions as the white house? >> thank you. i think most people recognize no matter who is the president, there can be a lot of critiques about what you do when you're off duty for how you do your job. but the fact is you are always on duty. and you need time off, we all need time off. in addition to a second home some of us have been some do not, camp david provides that peaceful getaway for family, friends, and if needed for staff and for world leaders. it's a g

we know that casey was, i think the witnesses for george h.w. bush then candidate for vice president. the secret service record of where he was that day is listening. all of the proof. it is still to the contrary. i get that perfection from them. the only other losing person from the american side around the gates. having precision in the cia. he came close to admitting it. you know, i guess. a lot of efforts that took place living in madrid. the pages dying from those days. i believe that we will. research so much history. you willev never find someone looking. i did not put it in my book. some of the low-level people in the campaign. they were very involved in it. they were involved at the level i cannot understand. they are extremely involved in it. they have done many positions. they turned it down because they would have to have a lot more money doing other things. >> the land contract scandal. the truth of the matter is that is where it really began. bush was trying to, well, actually, as president. this came out that he was trending hostages.

[applause] >> and next week on "speeches that defined a presidency," george h.w. bushhe gulf war, and bill clinton confronts race relations. reminder that all of the speeches that we've been showing in the series and all american history tv programs are available to watch online at c-span.org/history. >> american history tv saturdays on c-span2 exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 7 p.m. eastern best-selling author david grant shares his book the wager about the mid 18th century mutiny aboard the british naval ship the wager off the coast of south america with the court-martial to follow. 10:30 p.m. eastern south dakota republican governor kristi noem on the presidency of calvin coolidge and the lessons she sees for contemporary politics. exploring the american story watch american history tv saturdays on c-span2, a full schedule on your program guide or wch online anytime at c-span.org/history. >> if you're enjoying american history tv then sign up for our newsletter using the qr code on the screen to receive the weekly schedule of upcoming

the conditions, they got used to that with -- we have not won 51% of the popular vote since george h.w. bush namedly lee wat atwater, we got bob dole and mitt romney and john mccain until we had trump. they assumed that they are so morally soup w superior, the left fields about itself. it will lead to a utopia of equality of result with the republicans because they are morally inferior they have to play by a different set of rules, and unfortunately, many republicans buy into that, they want to be liked and speaked and known, and they enable it and appease it people have to say, call me any name you want, say anything you want about he, yome, you will not tell me how i have to dea half a behave and i will not destroy the bill of rights, we're getting near that a lot of conservatives are saying we either speak out, we speak out forcibly, or we will lose our rights. mark: the media we talk about media, a wrote a book on it, is it not true victor davis hanson, we don't have a free press, they are free to do what they want but we have a government press or a democrat press, or i call a tat state

and so we know after the witnesses george h.w. bush would begin can for vice president was also there. the secret service that day is missing. we have seen some recent examples of how secret service records can be missing. and all the proof he and his friends came up to prove did not work. the proof that he was there is still not set in concrete. i think that's incredible. i was hoping for a confession from him and if he did, he did not make it. the only other living present from the american side who was probably there was robert gates. he had a low low admiral position in the cia. came close to admitting it when he was vetted the secretary of defense. there's lots of evidence that took place. we know casey had a meeting in madrid with other representatives of the ayatollah. the diary in journal from those days so far as missing. i believe we will. we have had so much history but if somebody keepsng looking if it's still in existence. that's what i did not put in the book because i did not want to write a whole book on this subject. o

to vindicate -- our next guest signed on to the brief, former deputy attorney general under george h.w. bushdonald aier, who is with us. boil it down for us non-lawyers, why does this matter, whether it's state or federal court, and why do you think he should be tried in state court? >> well, the norm at process is a federal case is tried in federal court or handled in federal court. a state case goes forward in a state court. this is a special provision that's been around for almost a couple hundred years now that allows -- the purpose is to protect the functioning of the federal governmental roles by officers who were doing their jobs, to allow them to remove the case from state court to federal court. the question is, does it qualify? the supreme court has decided a number of case on the issue, and the basic rules are, the basic requirements are that, first of all, the official, the federal federal who wants to remove the indicate to federal court, has to have been performing his job. he has to have been acting within the scope of his official responsibilities, but the second requirement

the george h.w. bush project, the george w. bush project and barack obama project. in addition to having pulled together and completed the edward kennedy oral history project and helping launch the hillary clinton oral history project. we don't just do presidents. we do other senior officials. and with that, it's a great opportunity to introduce our special guest, who's joining us by zoom today, robert gates. as you all know, robert gates served as u.s. secretary of defense from december 2006 in the bush 43 administration. and he continued his service through july 2011 into the obama administration. he's been awarded the national security medal, the presidential citizen's, and has twice received the national distinguished service medal. secretary gates also completed three miller center oral history interviews. and for that, we are so grateful the one person who is not here today is other coeditor of this book. this book is co-edited by barbara perry russell riley and mike nelson. mike is a professor at college in tennessee. he had planned to be with us today, but a

agreement that actually administration was able to either negotiate or set up perfectly for kind of george h.w. bush to carry over the finish line, then you have what's called the state department side. and i know that any number of folks in this room and in our broader conversations with our scholarly initiatives here, these battles of the state department and the pentagon continue to echo today. we're a little more friendly towards arms control or optimistic about what it can do to restore strategic superiority of the united states. this idea that nuclear parity is the way to go, there's often a public line that you hear something that dates back to the seventies when nixon and kissinger were talking about nuclear sufficiency as a way to assuage public concerns. i wouldn't buy that. i, i don't think it should come as a surprise. a president who is as hard line and is you. you know, i'm fully committed to american security would settle for sufficiency sufficiency. different s what he liked. i believe it's supremacy so we remember we win. they lose. yeah and so you know, the state department, though

for decades begins a tremendous and runs through george h.w. bush cold war is global there is vietnam and korea europe is at the center of the enemy have a long bipartisan effort a struggle as kennedy calls it and now 34 years later europe and the united states are drifting apart there's a president over there talking about coming together on climate change. forgive me. i don't want to become partisan, that the soviet union would have fallen and then to waste time and money and the europeans are european they just clung to us for those decades because we are protecting them against the soviets. is just disappointing. >> i share a lot of concerns and opinions trying to stand up for trans-atlantic values and of course it even goes beyond those values of european and american people so the research is that history but then with soviet journey. that they need to learn those lessons because they did talk about american policy things i want to highlight to pick up on general mcmaster how important the expansion was in all the pressures after world war ii

george h.w. bush in 1989 and bill clinton in 1999, three rescues of the communist party.ght by being generous china would reciprocate? no, it used it to strengthen itself and become more hostile. >> this is the biggest diplomatic mistake in u.s. history. the grandest wager and clearly we have an east coast establishment that wants to continue it. you know bret stephens talking about being magnanimous towards the chinese which really means being pretty awful to american workers. >> when you think about this brics meeting that took place, i guess putin didn't attend but he phoned in or something. how significant. it's not a big deal. isn't that a direct assault on americans preempt members in the world as a global super power expand like they wanted to especially the dedollarization. >> china certainly wants it to move in that direction. china wants to dedollar rise the world. we have got to remember that biden has opened the door to this. you know, if we worry about dedollarization, we worry about the petro dollar. biden made saudi arabia and trump had the greatest relatio

they brought up a great point and in 1980, ronald reagan was so far ahead and didn't debate george h.w. bushowa and reagan gets back in and had to reclaim momentum and made him his vp. it's somewhat of a risk for trump to jump in and do this again, but i would love to have seen him down there. i think it makes everybody better. i think trump is saying this is what i do theirically, i'm sure he's -- theoretically, he's probably pretty proud of his record and defending his record and some people say, wait a second. he's getting himself in legal jeopardy, that's easy out. people get into him at a case and say hey, guys, i can't engage because i'm in the middle of being railroaded with four separate cases. stuart: any chance that trump could turn up at the debate stadium and say, hey, let me in? shows up at 8:30, 8:00 at night for the debate beginning at 9:00? any chance he shows up? >> will he sign that form that says i will support the nominee when he's already on the record saying there's about four people going for this nomination that i could never support. so would he sign that? that'll be

and right now, a significant chunk of a once noble party, the party of eisenhower, reagan and george h.w. busharty that did in fact put country above themselves. they are not doing that right now. you talk to republicans, i talked to republicans, they will say the quiet part in private, that we want to move on from trump, but you can't just say it. this requires action. it requires a willingness to say, my team is wrong, and until we get it right, i will vote for the other guy. because let's be clear, as abraham lincoln said, human beings, he said men, men act on incentive. the only incentive, the only way to do this, and you mentioned president biden, he's my friend, i helped him when i can -- the only way to do this is to continue to have republicans lose at the polls, and i am not a democrat. i am not a republican. i have voted for people in both parties, but the only solution that i can come up with, and i am open to others is the only way to fix the republican party is to have it continue to lose, and that is really, really hard. but i genuinely believe that it will be the ballot that con

the program run by george h.w. bush that pre-selected the team, howard baker former cia director, un ambassador and former cabinet secretary and even the cheney were all given special instructions or evaluations and in an emergency, different bunkers and be ready to serve. someone would arrive and he or she would find white house staff including an experienced leader already selected in position as chief of staff. the full records will be classified in the years ahead but the problem ofou how you prepare to assume the presidency in the immediate sense when minutes and hours better. today the third generation are settling and it is 365 days a year. while some new facilities have been built, authorities of the plan during the attack still rely on plans developed as the most advanced technology available. thank you very much. >> thank you for inviting me back and your kind enough so i am here today to talk about 1927 but there is a presidential succession and for these changes.g at the end of world war ii and chain reactio

richard nixon, ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, bill clinton? the answer after this. ♪ ..e has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. i got into debt in college, and no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere. so i consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. get a personal loan with low low fixed rates, and borrow up to $100k. sofi get your money right. we're traveling all across america talking to people about their hearts. ooh, take this exit. how's the heart? i feel like it's good. you feel like it's good? how do you know when it's time to check in on your heart? how do you know? let me show you something. it looks like a credit card, but it is the kardiamobile card. that is a medical-grade ekg. want to see how it works? yeah. put

[ cheers and applause ] troy: in 1988, george h.w. bush is running to take on the reagan mantle. rge bush holding the bag -- filled with an assortment of staggering problems. bierbauer: when the president calls, some come running. all agree the savings and loan crisis is an urgent problem. brady: could the s&ls be bailed out without a tax increase? is there any other way to do it? i don't think there is, and i think that's becoming the conclusion of most people. pizzo: bush had to fill this smoking hole left by reagan for him, and the only way to do that was to pass new legislation, because now we had to start dipping into taxpayer money. bierbauer: senators say the only bailout will be for depositors, not for bad bankers. no one needs to worry about one nickel of their money in these institutions. this legislation says to tens of millions of s&l depositors, "you will not be the victim of others' mistakes." thank you all very much. and now i'm proud to sign this monster. reporter: essentially, george bush is covering the biggest overdraft in history. [ applause ] [ laughter ] bush

. >> the passing of george h.w. bush. i was amazed by the degree to which people that were not politically necessarily on his side that he exemplified the kind of stability that we do not have nowadays and maybe we better rethink whether it has been a good idea to throw that away. we have a couple questions that are virtual. just given the time, a quick question, not a comment, please. just to save time for others. the first one coming in virtually is about arlington national cemetery. i will preface itt by saying hee is an example of the fact that some of the most prominent and well remembered elements of presidential morning are improvised because when john kennedy was assassinated, someone suggested arlington cemetery to jackie' and she said absolutely not.yo jack was from boston. i think it's a funeral factory, it is cold. their language, not mine. she was argued out of that by people in the president's entourage who said, you know, the president was a larger figure than someone who should just bee buried in massachus

george h.w. bush, et cetera. he said he does not want to run for president, hasn't ruled it out. a little bit inflated here because he is talking about this. who knows? he has said early on, he has been saying for months he thinks that the president's age is an issue and other people, there should be a younger infusion of people, but it's harder to put together a campaign than to talk about it, so color me skeptical. >> it does not seem like representative phillips, his sentiment about joe biden is being talked about loudly, like you said. democrats might say things behind closed doors, but they are not going on tv and discussing it. i do think he is representing perhaps some anxiousness among democrats who are a little nervous about what a biden and trump matchup looks like it we know from polling that the two seem to be in a dead heat if they are the nominee, so that's making some democrats nervous, but i'm not sure if his view is widespread. >> i think if donald trump is not the republican's nominee, there may be a moment when everybody in the democratic body goes, shouldn't w

george h.w. bush went -- attended the debate, won the state and became instantly the frontrunner.n recovered. he won the nomination, won the presidency and all of that. but it highlights the fact that if you skip a debate, people in the state look at you and say this guy doesn't care about our state. he doesn't care about us and it can hurt you. as strong as it was it, hurt him in that state. he showed up in new hampshire and debated and he wasn't great but it was all it took. but i think there is some risk. >> let me interrupt. 2016 donald trump skipped the second key debate in sioux city, iowa. >> lost the state. >> lost to ted cruz. >> exactly. the other thing is, you know, i do think that if somebody shines in this debate, really shines, stands out. all the talk of the media, that might not have happened. one thing trump did is he stomped over everybody in 2016, 2020 was a challenge, of course. but by showing up to debate that's kind of how he got the nomination. he about himself. interrupt everybody. he dominated, force of personality. you can't have force of personality if y

george h.w. bush did not have the speech and to kind of kick this off -- you know commencement speeches aren't usually very memorable. and don't capture first ladies give tons of these and don't capture a lot of attention except for the city where they happen. and this one got worldwide attention, not just because of the controversy, but also because of the message. and to kind of put this in a little bit more context she was last of the world war ii generation for first ladies and got to the baby boomers of hillary clinton and she was really viewing in general issues. so tammy and ann start first -- why did you think this captured the attention of these women after they were not real excited about having somebody who they believed hadad simply gotten whe she was because of who she married. >> go ahead tammy if you would like to start. >> sure, nobody. >> there's a couple of things about this speech that make it a bunch of things that make it worthwhile but i think one of the reason why is it was so c