and going back to mr. meese, reagan and thatcher were known for their tremendous robust international leadership and the willing to stand up to the enemies of the free world. with the rising threat today from isis and islamist terrorism across the globe, how do you think that reagan and thatcher would have responded to this threat in today's environment? >> well, i think that they would -- first of all, i think they would probably be united in their approach. and i think they would do as they both did in dealing with the soviet communism. there are differences but there's also some similarities as well. and i think they would have tried to develop a pattern of bringing other countries together and also of determining a strategy. you know, you mentioned margaret thatcher's most important speech. i think probably the most important speech that ronald reagan gave, he actually gave in england when in june of 1982 he delivered his speech at westminster in which he laid out a blueprint of how to deal with the soviet u

and going back to mr. meese, reagan and thatcher were known for their tremendous robust international leadership and the willing to stand up to the enemies of the free world. with the rising threat today from isis and islamist terrorism across the globe, how do you think that reagan and thatcher would have responded to this threat in today's environment? >> well, i think that they would -- first of all, i think they would probably be united in their approach. and i think they would do as they both did in dealing with the soviet communism. there are differences but there's also some similarities as well. and i think they would have tried to develop a pattern of bringing other countries together and also of determining a strategy. you know, you mentioned margaret thatcher's most important speech. i think probably the most important speech that ronald reagan gave, he actually gave in england when in june of 1982 he delivered his speech at westminster in which he laid out a blueprint of how to deal with the soviet u

and going back to mr. meese, reagan and thatcher were known for their tremendous robust international leadership and the willing to stand up to the enemies of the free world. with the rising threat today from isis and islamist terrorism across the globe, how do you think that reagan and thatcher would have responded to this threat in today's environment? >> well, i think that they would -- first of all, i think they would probably be united in their approach. and i think they would do as they both did in dealing with the soviet communism. there are differences but there's also some similarities as well. and i think they would have tried to develop a pattern of bringing other countries together and also of determining a strategy. you know, you mentioned margaret thatcher's most important speech. i think probably the most important speech that ronald reagan gave, he actually gave in england when in june of 1982 he delivered his speech at westminster in which he laid out a blueprint of how to deal with the soviet u

john, you first and then mr. meese. >> yes, i did write a book on that reagan, thatcher and the pope, when you combine them were an enormous influence. we have been talking about raymond thatcher. in the case of the pope. i think his -- the moment he was selected as pope, the pol had been selected as pope, alarm bells went off all over the communist party headquarters in russia and central europe. his visit to poland in 1979, one month after mrs. thatcher was elected, was an enormous event. it's estimated roughly a third of the polish people attended his masses and sermons. anybody that went knew right way -- i mean, it was marking themselves as a dissident. if they turned to the right, they saw a person joining them in rejecting the regime by being there and the same if they turned to their left. this exposed, this huge attendance and emotional surge of support, exposed the pretense of the communist party to be the government of poland. it was a facade. it didn't represent these people. and everybody knew it. and that

meese sews. ♪ host: bravo. that's great. mrs.n: [laughter] i guess i came around to thinking, well, all right, we'll try. i mean, it can't be worse than it was, you know? [laughter] and so she said, originally they had thought that i would make fun of the press. and i said, no, no, no, i'm not going to do that. the only way we can do this is if i make fun of myself. if i make fun of myself, then maybe i have a 50-50 chance here. as you well know, that first year was not -- nobody was really crazy about me. and i don't think i'd have been crazy about me, reading what i did about me. >> the press was rough. mrs. reagan: the press was rough. and i really don't know why, because it started before i ever got here. they didn't know me. and i never did quite figure out why. but, anyway, i didn't know until i read it in your book that they were having meetings about me and over the west wing, that i was a liability and everything like that. well, i guess maybe i was. i was pretty gun-shy. i mean, it had been rough. and your inclination i