his books include before the storm, barry goldwater and the unmaking of the american consensus, nixon land, the rise of a president and fracturing of america, which became a "new york times" best seller. and to complete the try up fer aunt of goldwater and nixon, he's now at work about a book about ronald reagan called the invisible bridge. and his books have received glowing reviews from people both on the left and on the right, which is quite unusual especially in third rail material like his. he's been chief political correspondent for the village voice. and his essays and articles and reviews have appeared in places like the new republic slate, the "new york times," "washington post" and many others. rick in some ways is our journalist slash historian on the panel, although everyone else here has also written in what we might call journalistic venues and so there's no particular could you be bihole that anyone is in. so i would ask you please to join me in welcoming the panel. [ applause ] so i'd like to start by asking the question, and i'll ask it many different ways, of what is jour

. >> so when the lunar module landed -- >> nixon was watching carefully. >> watching with you drn. >> no. he was watching with bill rogers. >> now there was a speech prepared in case the two astronauts, ael dron and armstrong, were stranded on the moon. what kind of contingencies did you have to prepare for in case this was not successful? >> i didn't have anything to do with it. >> tell us about china. when did have you an inkling that the president was thinking of a dramatic renewed approach to the people's republic of china? >> early on because i knew what he had's written in the magazine on foreign affairs and he talked about it on and off all during the administration that he was interested but i didn't know what was happening between him and henry kissinger. and what i do know is that they were sending all kinds of -- one of the things that always amused me was that one time they decided it was time to -- kiss be ger decided what ambassador would have contact with the chinese. it was our ambassador in warsaw. he sent word next time he saw the ambassador from china to tell him to

of course mcgovern lost in a land slide to nixon, in 1972. same path heading for a big political wipeout? susan estrich is a professor of law and political science at the university of southern california, also a fox news contributor. susan, further connect the dots between rick santorum and george mcgovern. >> well, let me asked barry goldwater into that, as well, a republican commentator, this week took the same position i think as i did but added goldwater into the mix. i think the question is, who is in charge, the political elite? the establishment, the elected officials? the money people who are going to pick the nominee, based on the electability or the grass roots, who are much more ideological and, you know, the street folks in the party. who are going to decide who the nominee is. and if you go back to mcgovern or back to goldwater, in both cases you had the sort of ideological wing of the party taking control of the nomination process, and, picking a candidate who, quite frankly, most people in the establishment thought couldn't wi

land. for more than two months in asia and the pacific in 1953 and to south america in 1958 where the couple demonstrated courage in caracas and to the soviet union in 1959. mrs. nixon campaigned gal yantly in 1960, returning to private life in california and then new york and proudly held the nixon family bible when richard nixon was inaugurated the 37th president in 1969. during the presidential year the first lady was truly our ambassador of goodwill, being in vietnam and earthquaked ravaged peru in 1970 and china in the groundbreaking trip of 1972. mrs. nixon was responsible for the gift from the chinese of the two giant pandas to the american people. she traveled to more than 80 countries and five continents during her life. as first lady, mrs. nixon encouraged volunteer service, the spirit of people helping people. she added 600 paintings and antiques to the white house collection, illuminated the white house at night and opened the white house gardens to the public. mrs. nixon's service to the nation extended over many years. only dolly madison, eleanor roosevelt and hillary clinton, among our first ladies, have served the country as long as patricia nixon. l