both oh, howard baker. right. that his father in senator everett dirksen was like congressman duncan's father. he knew that racism was wrong and everett dirksen had helped pass the civil rights act. and howard baker voted for. well, congressman, father went on this very street. this library sits when the sit ins were taking place right on this street. and you could throw a rock from where was this library and hit where those citizens were taking place when were taking place here they soon were taking place in knoxville, tennessee. and it was john duncan singer, congressman duncan's father, who basically pushed shoved, negotiated and worked out so that for the first time in the history of knoxville, it didn't matter what your race is. you could be served at a lunch counter or restaurant or a public in knoxville, tennessee. there were some things then that were out of bounds right now. and congressman, you might want to comment. you might not, but there were some things that were out of bounds. and for your father a

both oh, howard baker. right. that his father in senator everett dirksen was like congressman duncan's father. he knew that racism was wrong and everett dirksen had helped pass the civil rights act. and howard baker voted for. well, congressman, father went on this very street. this library sits when the sit ins were taking place right on this street. and you could throw a rock from where was this library and hit where those citizens were taking place when were taking place here they soon were taking place in knoxville, tennessee. and it was john duncan singer, congressman duncan's father, who basically pushed shoved, negotiated and worked out so that for the first time in the history of knoxville, it didn't matter what your race is. you could be served at a lunch counter or restaurant or a public in knoxville, tennessee. there were some things then that were out of bounds right now. and congressman, you might want to comment. you might not, but there were some things that were out of bounds. and for your father a

you could say this -- one reason reagan chose howard baker, ask howard baker who had been retired from the senate, a revered figure, had been the ranking republican on the watergate hearings. reagan wanted somebody who had good relations with the hill, was well respected, a pillar of washington, to come in and write the ship. don regan was a terrible chief of staff. good treasury secretary but terrible chief of staff. i'm not quite sure if there is an undertone of whether baker was a bad influence, a moderate republican like the first baker, james baker. i thick that's not true. reagan was very much his own man always in this widespread view of reagan's critics that he was staff driven turns out to be almost entirely wrong. john: how do we know that? steven: documents that have come out. people telling stories about certain kinds of meetings and entries in his diary. you triangulate a lot of source material and realize -- i could give a lot of examples. maybe the most famous was the famous star wars speech of late march. just about everybody was against it, some strongly so and they we

one reason reagan chose howard baker who retired from the senate, a weird figure, on the watergate hearings, reagan wanted somebody with good relations, well respected, pillar of washington to right the ship. john reagan was at terrible chief of staff, good treasury secretary but terrible chief of staff. that was the main reason. i am not sure if there is an undertone of was baker a bad influence? like james baker. i think that is not true. reagan was very much his own man always. the widespread view, he told his friends he was staff driven, almost entirely wrong. >> host: how do we know that? >> guest: documents that have come out, certain kinds of meetings, you know, you triangulate a lot of source material and realize -- i could give a lot of examples. ..s. maybe the most famous was the famous star wars speech of late march. just about everybody was against it, some strongly so and they went ahead and did it anyway with maybe only two people on his staff that thought it was a good idea. john: tremor with just about three minutes left in our program a big question on reagan but one that y

howard baker, the republican leader in the senate said you are going to lose, you can't win this thingit was his first term as senator, and hatches that i have to stop this i will save the two-party system, otherwise it will collapse. he had the help of a handful of other senators and launched a filibuster. an incredibly dramatic one. against senator robert byrd. it turned into a series of very dramatic votes that hatch eventually one which suddenly gave him as a first-term republican senator from utah, the gravitas inside the republican and conservative movement to number one, b spoke of as a presidential contender, and number two, spend the rest of his career, in a number of cases, leaping over the ideological wall and doing great things with liberals and democrats. a great example is 1984, orrin hatch got together with liberal democratic rep is in it of henry waxman on an issue i don't think is left or right, an administrative issue, affecting almost all americans, and that is generic drugs. the hatch waxman act of 1984 basically created the modern generic drug industry, which has s

michael, i know you are student of history, and to paraphrase the words of howard baker junior, why how did the secret service know, when did they know it? a lot of people in washington have to be asking themselves that. how disturbed are you by these allegations raised by the january 6th committee? >> i'm very disturbed by it, and i think that a lot of people, if they aren't, they should be, the fact that these allegations are being raised the way that they have, the fact that seemingly everybody is slow rolling this a little bit, doesn't really seem to be as exercised biden. i find that a little bit problematic. there were a number of us around that time who said that it seemed a little bit of. in particular, i can attest to this as a native washingtonian, who knows what a large crowd comes to d. c., what happens in this town. between police, d. c. police, capitol police, secret service, fbi, all of the law enforcement agencies. and it just felt different. the fact that you watched them stormed the way that they did, the lack of resistance to that. you heard people say at the time, if

i think one reason reagan chose howard baker had been the ranking republican on the watergate hearingsreagan wanted to somebody that had good relations and was well respected and a pillar of washington to comeon in and ride the ship. i am not quite sure if there's an undertone if baker was a bad influence. i think reagan was still his own man always and there's this widespreads view. >> how do we know that? >> documents that have come out. people telling stories of different meetings. you triangulate a lot of material. i could give you a lot of examples. maybe the famous one was the star wars speech just about everybody was against it like the secretary of state with may be only two people that thought it was a good idea to read a. >> a question on reagan but one that you come back to a couple of times including greatness and the age of reagan y right reagan was more successful rolling back the soviet empire then he s rolling back the domestic government empire chiefly because the latter is the harder problem. another big question and a short amount of time. that conclusion in the seco

. >> what hasn't been talked about with the reagan presidency is the role howard baker played his chieftaff after the debacle around contra what look like reagan was and did trouble especially with questions about his mental w capacity. i would like you just to lay out how consequential it he was his chief of staff towards the end of the -- i'll hang up and listen to the answer. >> wouldn't it just in question. the whole chief of staff cycle in reagan's presidency, i would say this. one reason reagan shows howard aker who retired from the senate but in washington had been the ranking republican on the watergate hearing. reagan wanted somebody who had good relations with the hill will force vector than a pillar of washington, and in right the ship.e he was a good secretary. chief of staff and he knew that was a mistake. i'm not quite sure if your undertone of other question is was baker a bad influence like the first baker, james baker. i think that's not true. i think this widespread view reagan that he was -- german turns out to be entirely wrong. >> how do we know back? >> documents h

baker within your time. the book they cowrote together is "the divider: trump in the white house." appreciate your time. >> live on c-span, coverage from howard theatre in washington, d.c.. president biden will be talking about the midterm elections hosted by the democratic national committee. while we are waiting for the president remarks we will let you know that tonight at 8:30 will have a debate between the candidates in ohio's u.s. senate race. democratic congressman tim ryan and republican j.d. vance. that was held in youngstown. at 9:30, florida's u.s. senate debate with marco rubio and his democratic challenger representative val demings. you can watch those debates tonight on c-span. tune in on the go using our free mobile app or watch anytime online at c-span.org. here in washington, d.c., waiting for the president's remarks. [soft chatter] >> president biden is speaking soon about abortion rights at howard theatre in washington, d.c. hosted by the democratic national committee. expecting the president shortly. host: let's start broadly with the u.s. house, which is going from it will be a red tide and then the democrats gain some t