and from london we have historian john meacham who regularly burns tapes. i love this quote from the greatest comeback. the deputy assistant to richard nixon said starting in '66 there's a recurring refrain you would hear around the nixon office and through the years of the administration and continued into post-presidency, what does buchanan think? what does buchanan say? pat, you have a thousand memos that you sent to nixon and his responses that make up this book. extraordinary. tell everybody again the story of how you met nixon and how you got involved early in his comeback. >> i met nixon in 1954-'55. the assistant pro looked at the rookie caddie and i went along 18 holes and 12 years later i'm in st. louis young editorial writer and he's coming over to speak and go to a cocktail party afterwards. i got invited to it. met him in the kitchen. i said if you're going to run in '68, i would like to get aboard early. two weeks later i was in his office in new york and i was hired december 1965 and there are only three people in the office. rose mary woods,

from iowa, john dickerson, the chief political correspondent for slate magazine and political director for cbs news. with me is al huntqnews and jon meacham author and historian. joining is with all due respect john -- i'm pleased to have all of them here. take a look at the assessment of this state of the union and what it says about what the president calls the final quarter of his presidency. and i begin with al hunt reaction to this state of the unit and what it said and what it means. >> charlie, thisweeks ago who suffered a disastrous electoral defeat. he's a lame duck president and terrible cycle yet tonight i think he gave one of the best speeches of his president z i thought he was compelling, he was appropriately assertive he was confident. he didn't give a laundry list of 28 different programs. but i think he struck a good balance when you know, a populist rhetoric that is in tune with the times as opposed to maybe five or ten years ago. ten years ago at least. and also stressed values and i thought he did it remarkably, it was remarkably effective. much more than i expected. >> rose: even if his intent to get things done. >> h