told stories from administrations president george hw bush through president trump. this is from the white house historical association summit with representatives of presidential historic sites across the country. this is just over an hour. >> to introduce our distinguished panel of presidents in the press, is another very

george w. bush, you'd covered george hw bush, and ronald reagan, they knew who you were. and they wanted to know a little bit about you, whether they did it in the background, or whether they did it upfront, by asking you questions, they knew a little bit about who you were, and, where you were coming from. and, they would say to that a little bit. i see this now, it may have a lot to do with who gets into journalism today. just an interesting question to me, because, i remember the days when i wanted to be a journalist. i wanted to be a novelist. i like to write and i was going to write this great novel but i found there was a way you can make money writing -- you like people. you like being around people, you want to build a relationship that way and write about it. tell people this story. and, so, we wanted to go -- when you become a political reporter, you go out and meet these political figures, you want to write about who they are, you want to find out something about the person, you want to find out about what they do other than just govern, so, that was the attrac

former special assistants for asian affairs in the office of the secretary of defense under the george hw bush administration. good morning. >> good morning. >> also president trump saying you were leading authority on china. can you expand on that? >> no. he's obviously the president of the united states so he's the leading authority on china. and my fear is this will cause further jealousy and envy by my fellow china hands. they don't like anybody getting extra prominence. we all write books and all try to explain china to our various audiences. >> expand your back ground on china. from the previous administration, particularly what you offer to this administration in regards to input on china? >> well, i've been working on china input on china. >> well, i've been working on china either inside the government or paid by the government for 40 years. my book is kind of a memoir of how everybody including me had a lot of wishful thinking back 40 years ago that china would not quickly but eventually have both a complete free market and also a democratic form of government. roughly ten years ago

george hw bush appointed justice thomas to the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia. that was 1990. 16 months later president bush came knocking again and nominated justice thomas to the supreme court of the united states. his appointment was confirmed on october 15 his appointment was confirmed on october 15, 1991. i will simply add to that, a productive life that since joining the supreme court in 1991, justice thomas has been a loyal and generous friend of the supreme court historical society in addition to introducing many of our lectures . he has hosted state chairs and dinners and served as the society's annual lecturer in 1977-- 1997. it is my pleasure and honor to introduce you to justice clarence thomas. >> [ applause ] >> thank you. good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the supreme court. i am delighted that so many of you could join us this evening for the first lecture in the societies 2017 leon silverman lecture series. tonight's lecture by saikrishna prakash will focus on two of our nation's early chief justices and their work as secretaries

former special assistants for asian affairs in the office of the secretary of defense under the george hw bushdministration. good morning. >> good morning. >> also president trump saying you were leading authority on china. can you expand on that? >> no. he's obviously the president of the united states so he's the leading authority on china. and my fear is this will cause further jealousy and envy by my fellow china hands. they don't like anybody getting extra prominence. we all write

george w. bush, we are just now feeling comfortable with the record systems we have for the george hw bush system and that was only because we invested, i say we, invested a great deal of money and effort and especially filling out the forms necessary to get the documents we had. as an example, we have every single phone conversation that president bush senior had with a foreign leader during his time in office. which is quite remarkable, i encourage you to read them, they are remarkable, it's amazing to see a president who is able to speak with an african leader, asian leader, latin american leader with no aides giving him notes in between. it is quite astounding and something i encourage us to think about. when we have the popular perception, i think our job as historians is to try to move things along so that the new information can essentially help round out the public perception because i have to tell you one other thing, having just written a book on george hw bush, people were constantly asked what did you discover that is new, shocking, and there were some interesting things but i have to

calls it one of the most abused immigration loopholes, george rodriguez served in the reagan and george hw bush many people the incentive to come here and want to stay here. >> exactly right. this is a terrible magnet that brings illegal immigrants into the united states. this is going on a long time. those raised down here in the border region have known of women that would come across the border to have babies and acquire dual citizenship if they could take advantage at a later time. we had a lot of men, a lot of temporary workers that fathered children and took advantage of that but now it is completely abused. in 2013 there was a bust of asian tourists that would come to southern california and have a baby and most recently in miami there were russians, it is crazy. rob: an escalating problem we are seeing grow and grow. there is actually 30 something over -- the developed stations, us and canada, if the uk got rid of this, why do you think there is backlash to the idea of the united states? >> it is obvious. particularly democrats want to replenish voters in particular, more conservative i

donavan award and george hw bush award in excellence in counterterrorism. gina has never been one to back down from the toughest missions. like so many of us she remembered where she was on september 11, 2001 just returned to washington after an overseas mission. gina saw our country come under attack. pan like so many other patriots she lept into action. she spent the next three years working around the clock to track down the culprits. for their service in those moments our nation's heros including gina haspel deserve our greatest respect. in la digs to distinction as first woman to ever lead the cia, she is also the first kentuckian to serve in that role. we can all sleep better at night knowing she and her colleges are on the job keeping our country safe. and kentucky can be proud to have one of our own at the helm. now, the director will come to the podium to share her observations, then she will sit down with scott for a conversation about the important issues facing our country. ladies and gentlemen, it's my privilege to welcome the director of the c

interested in history, should get a briefing from some of the people who were involved in the george hw bush administration when the chinese dealt with tiananmen square. there was a brutal crack down of pro democracy protests in china. president bush immediately announced sanctions against china. he condemned them, criticized and immediately announced sanctions against china. later he sent his national security advisor to beijing and said look, we want to maintain a strategic relationship. you're too big a country for us to isolate. you got to understand, you guys did something that was unconscionable but this is not the end of the relationship. that's leading. you know, that's taking the moral high ground, condemning the -- and president bush got a lot of heat for sending his national security adviser. i think that balanced approach makes some sense. here it seems to me you know, we're behaving like the pr agency for the saudi government. we don't need to do that. let them come up with their story. we have to do what we think is in the interests of the united states. >> i'm wondering how mu

george bush elected . but they talked about how stupid he was. when a president leaves office, generally people become more sober about him. george hw bush is being more highly regarded than he was as president, obama touted as the most intelligent man to sit in the white house has come down in many people's esteem so i think we will find historically trump dealt with more fairly than he is being dealt with currently. >> my name is glenn bronson, i worked in tech and i'm an entrepreneur, successful several times. >> you will be much richer than me. >> i've worked on both coasts with 20 years old and i've gone through several tech bubbles and i can say one of the best ways to stay ahead of government bureaucracy is to conduct technology and go forward and they are too slow to react so you have this window of opportunity before they catch on. that said, one of the things, i like your comment on this, one of the things i do feel and i've seen from experience that does need government regulation is the financial system. and maybe your son would differ on that. what it is is that especially as an entrepreneur if you deal with this, many

he served five extraordinary presidents, jimmy carter, ronald reagan, george hw bush, bill clinton and he deserves a round of applause. [ applause ] >> too many of us he was also a very good friend and trusted colleague and here is where i got in trouble, he was always ready with a cookie, a truffle, a piece of cake or a sliver of pie, no matter what else was going on in the white house that week. when it comes to creativity, while i may be a little bit biased but few match roland mesnier in that department. everyone from local tours to global heads of state have marveled at his one-of-a-kind creations. his holiday gingerbread houses were consistently amazing, whether models on the presidents boyhood home, the first ladies or even fox the cat. when president and mrs. clinton hosted their first state dinner for their majesties, emperor and empress of japan, roland was ready, he did his research taking in --'s inspiration from the japanese cherry trees and created what he called simply, cherry sorbet. but believe me, this dessert was anything but simple. picture a foot tall handblown sug

kennedy, the great crisis, and in 2007, a book on jj -- george hw bush. catherine al gore, president of the massachusetts historical society, dr. al gore is a noted american historian and specializes in biographies of american first ladies. most notably, dolly madison. please enjoy this presentation on how different organizations, organizations and individuals are being changed and incorporating different perspectives and moments into the narrative of presidential here is -- history. thank you so much.. [ applause ] >> thank you for the kind introduction, for including me and including all of us here, this is been a terrific few days with lots of great programming. it's hard to follow john and judy. one of the great things about this team is everyone on this panel has been a scholar and everyone has also run important historic institutions. i want to get at that in the conversation so i will start, all good research starts with questions but also, framing museums, framing presentations also starts with questions or curious, what question animate your work

i will tell you a story, i was in washington with george hw bush. him and he took me to one of his private clubs. to fill in the rest of the story. we went down to eat and he was absolutely great. he was president. he was taking a young governor under his arm. he liked me before george w. bush got elected governor i was his favorite governor. [laughter] but i went in and we had lunch and i was going to go to the alfalfa club, which is a club that they had put up a dummy running for president on the alfalfa ticket and some other ticket and george bush had always Ãbit's a fun organization. he took me behind into the kitchen. here's the president of the united states taking me by the hand going into the kitchen and he shook hands with everybody and their, everybody that was serving. everybody knew him because he had done that so often. he said to me, tommy, it reaffirmed what happened to me at the chevrolet dealership back in montello. president bush says, tommy, never ever forget where you come from. that's why i've never forgotten about elroy, i neve