reagan. >> we cannot provide our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb. by committing immorality so great as saying to a billion human beings now enslaved behind the iron curtain, give up dreams of freedom because to save our own skins. bret: in the 70s he opposed the nixon-ford-kissinger policy of detente. >> my view of detente is one of making concessions to the soviets. we give them something they want very badly. we don't ask anything in return. bret: neither the summits more arms control treaties stopped the spread of communism as america looked to be slowly losing the cold war. after his loss to gerald ford in 1976, reagan spoke moving about the stakes. not simply the future of civilization, the survival of civilization. >> someone asked me to write a letter for a time capsule that is going to be opened in los angeles 100 years from now. i said to myself we live in a world which the great powers have aimed at each other horrible missiles of destruction that can in a matter o

no one knew ronald reagan better, and this is ronald reagan on attorney general meese. if edwin meese is not a good man, there are no good men. welcome. >> thank you. [applause] >> i have two quotations, both from 1982. one is the historian arthur slessinger junior. after a visit to moscow. those who think the soviet union is on the verge of collapse are kidding themselves. the second is ronald reagan addressing the british parliament. quote, in an ironic sense, karl marx was right. we are witnessing a revolutionary crisis, but the crisis is happening not in the west, but in the soviet union. close quote. how did ronald reagan of illinois miss what the great historian arthur slessinger of harvard -- i think your pardon, what did ronald reagan see what arthur slessinger junior missed? >> ronald reagan went into the study of communism with an open mind and it was not determined by his ideology, as i suspect mr. slessinger's was misguided by his own ideology. with ronald reagan, most people don't realize, ronald reagan was a voracious reader. he liked to study. he had stud

this writes i agreed with reagan. reagan went -- he made the effort to sound out gorbachev. he went to geneva. he got him to agree to sit down and talk. reagan always believed that if he could sit down, he always said like man-to-man across the table from each other, we could solve the world's problems. and i give ronald reagan a lot of credit for that. i mean, i found very quickly, and i began by saying i'm a lifelong democrat, didn't vote for reagan, i found very quickly in my research and my time writing things to really admire him for. and this was one of them. this was definitely, this was a big one. yes. anyone else? here we go. >> during your introduction, you mentioned three different biographies you wrote about the beatles, julia child and this most recent one with reagan. did you see any similarities that behind the scenes drove these people to become successful, to rise out of obscurity? is there anything you can mention about that? >> wonderful question. yes. i always believed that you can't know anything about a subject until you know where they come from. so th

staff under president reagan.ef admin officer of the ronald reagan presidential foundation and institute. pete, take it away. pete: absolutely, todd, thank you very much. we are here with joanne drake. they gave you a proper introduction so our audience has already heard it if you haven't. >> thank you. pete: you spent a lot of time at the white house working with president reagan. you are here at the library and institute it wouldn't have been a reagan presidency without h.w. bush as well. talk to me about your interaction with george w. geor. bush here as well. >> george bush was as large as life. during eight years of the reagan presidency as well as his own presidency. their relationship was pretty extraordinary, i think. and i was just a small staff during the reagan white house. during the second term but i was very privileged to run into george bush a lot, day-to-day he was there i worked with him on events that he did with president reagan on the grounds of the white house. and you really could see that bo

reagan's two terms are going to be up.eorge bush is vice president and asks you to help run his campaign. were you reluctant to leave as secretary of treasury to do that? james: i was going to do it if he asked me to. i didn't like the idea of having to get back into the grubby nitty-gritty of politics and leave the treasury, ranking cabinet in our government. behind for the campaign, catches up, wins, and you are ready to go back to houston? james: i wanted to be secretary of state. david: he offered you that right away? james: the next day. david: you had to deal with a number of problems. one was the invasion of kuwait by saddam hussein. to go around and get the coalition put together and also raise the money to pay for it. was that hard to do? first and onlye time it has ever been done, so i tell people it was a textbook example of the way to fight a war. you tell the world what you are going to do, get the world together with you to do it, you go do exactly what you said and nothing more, nothing less. you bring the t

there is ronald reagan. his shirt is half off, he goes, well son, if you could spend the night on my back lawn, i could spend some time with you. what is the problem? he never let me down. i was a journalist for a while after i graduated from college. atest very tough questions press conferences. i asked very tough questions at press conferences. decided he would take me as part of his entourage. there were five or six people he took fro with him. i was with him every day. steve: that was an incredible campaign. he most of the early primaries -- lost some of the early primaries, then went all the way to the convention. rep. rohrabacher: the delegation gave a majority to ford, and it to happen, soed we lost. rep. rohrabacher: do you think you choseistake that his running mate to bridge the gap? rep. rohrabacher: they thought he was going to bring over a certain number of delegates with him, and he was unable to do so. because weh a try were behind delegates and lost anyway. steve: had he gotten the nomination

reagan library with air force one where reagan traveled the world to all kinds of places. the transition from president reagan to then president george hw bush their relationship and how chris, you perceived that. >> i can't say they were close friends and in fact the fact that bush was named as vice president back in 1980, reagan was enamored, everybody else ended up thinking was a terrible idea of the kind of almost go presidency with gerald ford and was involved in negotiations at the republican national convention and all fell apart and suddenly wednesday night he didn't have a vice president and bush had run the strongest race and gotten the most delegates second only to reagan and reagan decided let's go with bush. it wasn't his first choice. they had a close political partnership if not close personal partnership and lord knows george hw bush in eight years there was never a hint of any descendent, he was utterly loyal to what the public could see to ronald reagan and reagan, i think, won, certainly respected him and presidents always feel the vice president is the

and reagan met the challenge. the problem of today is demographics, if you look at all these countries in asia, the muslim countries, they're producing very fast, as soon as you win a war, they've replenished the numbers, you look carefully at demographics, you will see they have four sons per father, so they can replenish, a country like afghanistan can defeat russia or the united states. >> my question to you is this, accidents of history, as you were explaining, the republicans became dependent on the southern states, and the rereligious states that oppose abortion, they oppose liberal values, what you need now is to educate women in these other countries to have fewer children, support contraception. my question to you is this, do you think the way politics developed in america, internally, has compromised the ability of a republican president to actually win these conflicts abroad, and to leave the world? >> thank you. >> does the caller have a point? >> i'm not so -- i don't know. it's a little hard to say,

a short time later, he accepted reagan's offer to be his running mate. reagan won in a landslide.uring his eight years as vice president, bush was credited with softening reagan's view of the soviet union and pressed hard on issues like deregulation and the war on drugs. international progression, bush became the republican party nominee in 1988 with senator dan quayle from indiana as his running mate. the republican team defeated massachusetts governor michael dukakis and texas senator lloyd benson. >> i, george herbert walker bush, do solemnly swear... >> bret: during his president, the soviet union dissolved, the berlin wall fell, and manuel noriega was arrested, securing the panama canal. everything came to a head when iraq's saddam hussein invaded neighboring kuwait. >> we are not walking away until our mission is done, until the invader is out of kuwait! >> bret: president bush reacted quickly, committing over 400,000 u.s. troops, and building a strong coalition of allies. operation desert storm had begun. the majority of america supported the president's decision to throw s

a short time later, he accepted reagan's offer to be his running mate. reagan won in a landslide.uring his eight years as vice president, bush was credited with softening reagan's view of the soviet union and pressed hard on issues like deregulation and the war on drugs. international progression, bush became the republican party nominee in 1988 with senator dan quayle from indiana as his running mate. the republican team defeated massachusetts governor michael dukakis and texas senator lloyd benson. >> i, george herbert walker bush, do solemnly swear... >> bret: during his president, the soviet union dissolved, the berlin wall fell, and manuel noriega was arrested, securing the panama canal. everything came to a head when iraq's saddam hussein invaded neighboring kuwait. >> we are not walking away until our mission is done, until the invader is out of kuwait! >> bret: president bush reacted quickly, committing over 400,000 u.s. troops, and building a strong coalition of allies. operation desert storm had begun. the majority of america supported the president's decision to throw s

bush had won the strongest race and got the most elegant second only to reagan and reagan at th last minute decided let's go with bush. it wasn't his first choice, but i think they had a close political partnership if not close personal partnership. the lord knows george h dubya bush w bush in eight years was never a hint of any dissent, of any separate agenda, he was jus utterly loyal at least to what the public could see to ronald reagan. reagan i think was certainly respected him and thoughtta i think president always feel tha the vice president is the one who because of the amendment that they can only serve two terms can carry on their legacy. if you get some buddy from the opposite party in this case it would've been michael dukakis, they will undo a lot of what th president has accomplished in his eight years. so reagan was very supportive o george h w bush, fort bush 41. it was a seamless transition from one to the other. it was interesting was one question as you pointed out earlier, reagan was so much larger than life in a way that bush would admit that he wasn't that he ne

we were at the reagan library, getting ready for the reagan defense forum this weekend. it really is fitting that we are here because obviously, president bush was president reagan's vice president, but he was also such an integral part of all of those years, that really changed the introduction -- the trajectory of the entire countr country. as we look behind me, the air force one air force one that president reagan took around the world, you think about all of the things that not only president reagan, but president bush did to change the dynamic of the u.s. presence in the world, and where that stands today, in large part because of the actions of those administrations. just moments ago, dan quayle, president bush's vice president, released a statement saying, "i had true affection for the man, george bush. he was a completely genuine, decent, and honorable person. what's more, he went into and out of the office as absolutely the same man. i think that example five his character. i've often told my children, if you want a role model in life, look to president george h

how did you get to know ronald reagan and when did you get to begin serving ronald reagan? >> well, it all began right after he was elected as governor of california in 1966. at that time, i was in the district attorney's office in alameda county. that's the county in california that has both oakland and berkeley. both rather significant cities for various reasons, and i enjoyed my work there, i enjoyed working with the police. i enjoyed trying criminal cases, and i'm going to say reasonably successful, so i was not looking for a job. but one day out of the blue, i got a call, would i come up and meet the new governor or the governor-elect at that time? december of 1966. i guess i really didn't learn until much later how he had gotten my name, but actually, when i was in the district attorney's office, our boss, the district attorney of alameda county was the chairman of what was called the law and legislative committee of law enforcement in the state. the chiefs of police, the sheriffs, the district attorney's all had one committee that represented them in the state legisl

he was deeply loyal to ronald reagan, and reagan praappreciat that.e was different kind of conservative than reagan, but he added a lot. he came in with a loft foreign policy experience that reagan did not have, and i think he was a steadying voice in the reagan administration, and a person that president reagan really trusted, playly on national security matters. and that shows when he became president as well. >> i want to play this now. this is george h.w. bush the letter to president-elect and mrs. reagan written november 10th, 1980. you are vice president-elect. >> this will be all right for me, i think. >> this is just a quick thank you. thanks for making us feel so welcome. thanks for the joy of working with you. thanks for those little touches of grace and humor and affection that make life sing. please let us know that we both want to help in every way possible. i will never do anything to embarrass you politically. i have strong views on issues and people, but once you decide a matter, that's it for me, and you'll see no leaks in evans and n

previously served as vice president to ronald reagan, and had beeniu president to ronald reagan, and correspondent for the daily beast, andrew,, i wonder what do you think some of the details will be about any kind of funeral or ability for americans to mourn? just ability for americans to mourn? just a couple of months agojohn mccain, the us senator passed away, and there was this outpouring of emotion, notjust in the united states but worldwide, and he was given presidential treatment in a way, as someone who was given presidential treatment in a way, as someone who was widely regarded of course as an american hero, just as george hw bush was, and body who served in our military and body who served in our military and almost died many times doing so, i think you will see at least some sort of ceremony in the capital rotundo, where the former president will lie in state which is the highest honour any individual could receive in american politics —— rotunda. i think we will see other things in his home state of texas in the houston area where he lived and resided, and i think at the

and ronald reagan epitomizes all of those things. >> reagan is building a coalition, bringing in cristianle. to sell conservatism, you have to do it with a smile and a way that makes people feel good, not scold them. >> we can turn this country around and we can turn our economy around. and the time to do it is now. >> we want ted. >> there were many democrats worried carter wasn't going to win. ted kennedy, senator from massachusetts, decides to take him on. >> today i formally announce that i am a candidate for president of the united states. [ cheers and applause ] >> many democrats believed carter moved too far to the center and that he abandoned the traditional ideas of the party. >> jimmy carter and kennedy became the polar opposites within the party, and jimmy carter on top of that had a feeling that the kennedys felt they were above we southerners. >> it's a nasty contest. when someone asked jimmy carter in passing, what do you think about being challenged by ted kennedy? jimmy carter says, i'll whip his as. >> this is a special report from cbs news. >> the 174th day of the iran c

ronald reagan doesn't think that. brit: one incident that dispel thunder that notion was when he stood up to dan rather. >> it's not fair to judge my career by this one thing with iran. how would you like to be judged' for the 7 minutes you walked off the stage. >> it's interesting that it expressed doubt. you think it went okay. better okay. brit: bush won the nomination by getting tough with his republican competitors. >> bush went negative and won the primary and pushed on to victory. brit: his first big decision was to pick a running maitd. he picked a relatively unknown senator from indiana, dan quayle. >> he said we want to keep it a surprise. i said i just was watching television and they said it's not doait'snot dole,'. they might figure out it might be me. he said this is your first assignment. don't screw it up. >> i'm proud to have dan quayle at my side. >> bush wanted to be bold and generational. the quail decision was the first decision bush was able to make a totally independent way since he went on the

then president roosevelt, winston churchhill, president reagan. and the incumbent understands the vernacular of reality tv and social media. we know that the presidency has not changed the incumbent, right? we don't know whether the incumbent has changed the presidency. i think one thing he has changed is it's hard for me to imagine a successor not having an authentic ongoing social media communication with the country. >> you think that's permanent? >> i do. >> twitter, the whole thing. >> i think that if you start -- if you look at -- i think going forward, if you look at something that comes out from a candidate or an incumbent and it looks as though it went through four layers of people, i think that's going to have an affect. i could be wrong, but we are all the media now. >> so if you're thinking -- i don't want to get -- i was trying to focus on the past but let's bring it -- >> sorry. >> let's bring it up to now. are you saying jon meacham, that in order to be successful in electoral politics in this country, you've got to be able to maste

my relationship with reagan -- and after this came out, we had calls from nancy reagan, a lot of people, fred ryan, reagan did not feel this way about you. apparently there was a put down in the book about how he disdained barbara and me. all these people, we were there, we know. i know. ronald reagan's marvelous secretary called me afterward and said i feel so hurt reading this. i would hear him talk after you left a meeting, and he would say, be sure georges informed. we had a close relationship, and to have it diminished, i found it quite hurtful. brian: what did you talk about with president reagan on a regular basis? pres. bush: no agenda. it was more, i hope for him, a relaxing meeting he looks forward to. we would tell jokes, if there was something going on in a big way in the world, we would talk about that. but it was totally relaxed. we usually had what was called a white house mexican plate, because it was usually on a wednesday or thursday. i think he knew i was not going to blindside him. a lot of people would call me, you're going to see the president tomorrow, please tell

it wasn't reagan's book. it was a book written with a collaborator, and it was written -- it was like a tailor made series. it was written to specification says. -- specifications. and i think the public kind of knew that. interestingly, many years later, a collection of reagan's letters, diaries, letters, was published, his voice, and it was a huge success. so many, many more times than the memoir. and why is it? well, the interesting thing about ronald reagan, one of the many interesting things about ronald reagan is, ronald reagan actually was a writer, better writer than people would have guessed. and he was especially good writing letters where he could express things that he would never say to you personally. reagan, in person, was almost extraordinarily impersonal. friendly, warm, gracious, elegant, but not there. on paper, there was a particular correspondence he had with a 14-year-old black kid in the district, which, if you read it, is really impressive. in person, very different. i worked with nanc

president reagan died in 2004.s year his presidential library found a way to bring him back to life. here's a look. >> hello, mr. president. >> hello. chris: ronald reagan greets visitors to his library, at least a three dimensional hologram of the president does, using remarks he made on a train tour during the 1984 campaign. >> we see america's best days ahead. chris: in the oval office. >> you don't just give speeches in the oval office, you also say prayers. chris: and at his california ranch. >> it truly is america the beautiful. chris: it took 18 months for a visual effects studio to bring the giffer back to life, using computer generated imagery, a silicon cast of reagan's head was photographed at various an gets. hiangles. his head was digitally placed on the body of an actor playing the president. >> we've got to do a better job of getting acros across that ama is freedom. chris: the exhibit is the first of its kind in a presidential library. >> we think we've made a good beginning but you ain't seen nothi

with regard to reagan, he was young. a different reagan than i thought the white house in 1985. i think reagan would have gone for victory in vietnam. no limits. what other timeline issue? >> he gives a speech in which he finally comes out. and goingup in favor to peace talks. some people think if he had done that earlier. perhaps because of johnson's decision. to theo made a reference president of south vietnam. there is a great book called chasing shadows about the back channeling that was being done between the nixon campaign and the president about the peace talks. george bloomington, illinois, republican line. caller: good morning. concerningestion president johnson's tardiness and supporting hubert humphrey. wondering, what if the president had come out sooner? between humphrey and them over the war? >> indeed. there will always be this historical what if. against hisas personality. he was such a brilliant positive and such a loyal character that it was hard for him to turn on his president. it is possibly the case that if he had come out sooner for the ,eople in support o

ronald reagan doesn't think that. one incident that dispel thunder that notion was when he stood up to dan rather. >> it's not fair to judge my career by this one thing with iran. how would you like to be judged' for the 7 minutes you walked off the stage. >> it's interesting that it expressed doubt. you think it went okay. better okay. brit: bush won the nomination by getting tough with his republican competitors. >> bush went negative and won the primary and pushed on to victory. brit: his first big decision was to pick a running maitd. he picked a relatively unknown senator from indiana, dan quayle. >> he said we want to keep it a surprise. i said i just was watching television and they said it's not doait'snot dole,'. they might figure out it might be me. he said this is your first assignment. don't screw it up. >> i'm proud to have dan quayle at my side. >> bush wanted to be bold and generational. the quail decision was the first decision bush was able to make a totally independent way since he went on the ticket

you're maybe a bit too young to remember the reagan campaign, but when reagan ran for president people laughed. ronald reagan an actor running for president? and then he won a surprising victory. so that was areas they are alike. the area where they're different ronald reagan was idial ageical, reagan wasidia logically econservative, and obama too. reagan understood the free market, and he grew up with bill buckley, trump is not ideological, we are the way we look at the world. trump looks at it as a businessman. now, fortunately because most of the things we believe in are the things we believe in he comes around in most cases to the solutions we believe are the best way to grow the economy. there are two issues that he is really taken on conservative dogma. and the first is on trade. where he's not a conventional free traders, and the second is immigration where he's been vere of what he wants to do. so those are areas where he has conflict with the party. one last thing -- >> veronique: i can think of a few others. paid leave -- i am concerned that because there is no ideology there

time later he accepted reagan's offer to be his running mate reagan won in a landslide.ears as vice president bush is credited with softening reagan's view of the soviet union and pressed hard on issues like deregulation and the war on drugs with a natural progression he became the republican party's nominee in 1988 with senator dan quayle as the running mate. beating michael to caucus and benson. >> i do solemnly square on - - swear some of the soviet union dissolved during his presidency and manwell noriega was arrested securing that when everything came to a head with neighboring kuwait. >> we are not walking away until this invader is out of kuwait. >> he reacted quickly with over 400,000 us troops building a strong coalition. operation desert storm had begu begun. the majority of americans support the president's decision to thrust him back into iraq and the popularity was at an all-time high looking unbeatable a second term but he broke the campaign promise. >> read my lips. [applause] . >> that would come back to haunt the 41st president and in the fall of 1990 th

ronald reagan." i think i speak for all of us when i think secretary baker and president obama, because they have strayed out a hell of a lot for us. thank you. mr. obama: thank you, very much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [applause] >> coming up on c-span, a look at women in the workplace. elizabethtain's queen ii delivers her annual christmas message. after that, a program on combating loneliness and social isolation. then, constitutional law experts and attorneys discuss freedom of speech. >> washington journal is live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up wednesday morning, we will look back at key developments in this year's trade policy and what to expect in 2019 with a bloomberg trade reporter. harvard law school professor alan dershowitz joins us to discuss his latest book, "the case against i

it was not reagan's book.t was written with a collaborator and it was written to -- it was like a tailor-made suit. it was written to specifications. the public kind of knew that. ,nterestingly, many years later a collection of reagan's letters , diaries, was published. his voice. and it was a huge success. many more times than the memoir. why is it? the interesting thing about ronald reagan, one of the interesting things is, ronald reagan actually was a better writer than people would have guessed. he was especially good writing letters where he could express things he would never say to you personally. reagan in person was almost extraordinarily impersonal. gracious, but, not there. a paper, there was correspondence he had with a 14-year-old black kid in the district. which if you read it is really impressive. in person, very different. i worked with nancy reagan on her memoirs. i will tell you if you have time to quick stories. -- two quick stories. we had to describe the nature of their relationship. we we

my relationship with reagan -- after this came out, we had calls from nancy reagan, a lot of people, fred ryan about reagan did not feel this way about you. there was some put down in the book about how he disdained barber and me. we were there. ronald reagan's marvelous secretary called me and she said, i feel so hurt reading this. i was there. i heard him talk. does george know this? be sure georges informed. -- george is informed. we had a close relationship. to have it diminished, quite hurtful. brian: what did you talk about when you met with president reagan at lunch? pres. bush: no agenda. it was a good opportunity to see my view on whatever it is. it was more, i hope for him, relaxing. if there was jokes something going on in a big way in the world, we would talk about that. it was totally relaxed. we had the white house mexican plate because it was wednesday or thursday. i think he knew i wasn't going to blindside him. we had a lot of people call me and say please tell him we have , to do this on the airline strike or something. i would not do that. he knew i would not do it

ronald reagan." i think i speak for all of us when i thank secretary baker and president obama, because they have straightened out a hell of a lot for us. thank you. mr. obama: thank you, very much. [applause] >> c-span's "washington journal," live with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up this morning, we'll look back at developments in this year's u.s. trade policy and what to expect in 2019 with bloomberg trade reporter. also, a harvard law school professor talks about his latest book "case against impeaching trump." watch c-span's "washington journal" live at 7:00 eastern this morning. join the discussion. saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, conversations with three members of congress. all discuss losing reelection bids and reflect on their time in congress. >> we go on our devices, we want things quickly. yet jefferson wrote this 14 years after he wrote the declaration of independence. the ground of liberty is to be gained by inches. we get be content what from time to time and eternall

but with regard to reagan, reagan was young. that's a different reagan i saw in the white house. and i think reagan would have gone for victory in vietnam and would have gone all-out bombing and used american power and there would have been no limits on going into laos or cambodia. >> late september, vice president humphrey travels to salt lake city to do what? >> he gives a speech in which he finally comes out against the johnson policy on the vietnam war. and he speaks up in favor of peace and going to peace talks and de-americanization of the war. and some people think if he had just done that earlier, because as pat said, he was coming on strong at the end in part, perhaps, because of johnson's decisions, baa you also made a reference to president tu of south vietnam. and there's a great book called chasing shadows about the back channeling that was being done between the nixon campaign and president tu about the peace talks. >> that's a matter of some controversy. >> we're going to debt to that. >> george bloomington, illinois, republican line. go ahead with your question, g

but like president reagan did with the s.d.i. initial nfib 1983, i think this is the in-- initially in 1983, i think this is the inflexion point. we have to look at technology that dr. kennedy's talking about, we need the capability to look across the entire spectrum of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles and icbm's because our adversaries and potential adversaries use every single one of them. and when we put that architecture together, and this is a little different than what happened in 1983, i think when you put that architecture together, in 1983, i don't think we really thought about the position. because the soviet, if you remember, their economy was -- it was draining in their social structure -- and their social structure was falling apart and gorbachev had to turn to something because he knew he was in a bad way. i think as you go forward with these technologies and move forward, then the cost imposition part of this strategy is going to be a key component of this. if you think about it, especially with what we looke

. >> george bush and ronald reagan had a very vigous campaign where george bush famously dubbed reagan's economic plan a voodoo economic policy. after a hard fought battle, reagan tapped george bush to be his vice president. the reagan/bush ticket won by a landslide. just two months into the term, an attempt was made on president reagan's life. vice president bush is credited for his response as he raced to the white house as reagan went to surgery. >> we discussed bringing him directly into the white house lawn. bush vetoes that idea. when asked why, he said because only the president lands on south lawn. i think ronald reagan appreciated that. the two become very good friends. >> george bush traveled to 75 or so countries during the course of the presidency. reagan would call on the experiences of george bush to understand more of what is happening around the world. after eight years of being vice president, he decided to make a run for the presidency. when george bush was around reagan, he curved his body in deference. >> we need a hook. >> my opponent won't rule out raising taxes. >>

president reagan actually viewed sdi or the strategic defense initiative as an organizing principle for a much larger commitment that would involve the entire nation and including both the military and our industrial base and he articulated this vision in 1983. one of the things he said in his famous speech, and i quote, was tonight we are launching an effort which holds the promise of changing the course of human history and there will be risks and results take time, but i believe we can do it. end of quote. his vision that was defending against a ballistic missile attack from the soviet union was a more moral way of deterring such an attack and potentially being able to win if deterrents didn't work than trying to outdo them with offensive capability and getting into a situation of mutual assured destruction and the assured part would be the most important part of that. he felt that by having a defense you had more moral way of blunting the potential attack from an enemy, and he always saw it, i believe, as a deterrent. not that this would win the war and not that we would be able to

reagan was president. the personal enigma he was gregarious and liked to spend time by himself with his wife. a typical evening was to eat tv dinners or at least a tv tray and watch old movies together. that is how they like to be. one could never get too close to ronald reagan. nobody that we could call a true friend. >> host: what are the chances that he would have been elected president if he were not selected by ronald reagan as vice president? >> guest: i've never considered that question. i think he would have answered in 1984 to 88 election as one of the pack. one of the remarkable things about the primary in 1987 and 88 is how far most of the candidates are trying to run away from the legacy. we think of ronald reagan of course through the lens of history as someone who is remarkably popular at the end. he was personally popular when his policies were not so specially the cold war and he still had to change the iran contra so most of the candidates were trying to criticize the legacy and i think gi

in the sense that reagan was slow that he did not respond. reagan was slow but he did respond. the elder george bush was slow but he did respond and the younger george bush came along and blew me away with the money to put into fighting aids in africa. he was starting to get by his connection with a christian evangelical community. a lot of things can happen like you said, peter. it's a different thing from the inside and looking at d it from the outside but over time we should all learn some lessons and use them to make all of our life better. hope our current president picks up on that. >> host: boston, massachusetts, good morning. >> caller: g this is ron from massachusetts. can you tell me why president trump if these doing this, i'm trying to get a drop out of massachusetts. i didn't get. to see senator jon mccain and now it is president bush. i thought he was going to help the military. >> host: robert in boston. we will stick to the conversation but like the legacy of george h. w. bush. it brings up the question of trump at the state funeral today, the use of air force o

before we go, a special thanks to the reagan library an end the reagan national defense forum for inviting stay tuned for the station and fox news channel for continuing coverage of the nation's farewell to president bush. and that's it for today, have a great week and we will see you back in washington next "fox news sunday" ." ♪ >>> good morning welcome. >> your weather coming up on the sunday but first what is making news. from world leaders to local politicians attributes continue to go in fortran 25. >> ceremonies begin tomorrow night. >>> there has been a lot of speculation about whether the senator will run for president in 2020. >> and she still isn't saying but she has given a timeline on her decision and we will also continue to follow this frightenin

president ronald reagan. >> i happened to be with ronald reagan, watching j.p.get off the airplane in poland. descend the steps, bend over, and kiss the ground. really, really emotional. i looked at reagan, and he had a tear in his eye. i interpreted it as having an enormous historical experience. >> reagan recognizes what this pope represents because reagan, of course, is this anti-communist, and he recognizes this kindred soul who he believes is going to change the world. >> an estimated 3 million people attend his mass. the pope tells his countrymen that they cannot be controlled by their government. he urges polish catholics to persevere with the strength that comes from faith. >> the people who had gathered en masse began to sing, we want god, we want god. what could the authorities do? the pope's assistant whispers to him after a number of minutes, perhaps we should put an end to this. and the pope said back, no, no. this is why i came. >> he spends nine days there, nine very significant days. he tells people, don't listen to what the government says about

reagan bush, we worked there, if it weren't for reagan bushy wouldn't be here. >> neither would have. >> laura: none of us would be. >> it would be a different world. >> laura: but i have to believe that the man he was, wouldn't have loved a lot of the stuff he is hearing. >> you know it's amazing is that, you know when eisenhower was in office, they dreaded eisenhower, he couldn't read if his lips were chapped, then he became a battering ram. richard nicks nicks was an exemplary president, you remember how they treated him. gerald ford was mocked when he was in the white house, then they made him an exemplary figure, they like republican presidents who no longer have power. they bashed the heck out of george h.w. bush when he was in office, annoy the media, vote for bush. >> laura: we're going to get to that. >> in 88 he had famous dust ups with the media, banned newsweek from his private plane. >> laura: boyden the white house counsel, you knew the bushes so well, it was just at the end of the bush era in 1992 when i met you, it was a heart breaking loss. but listening to bill crys

this is a distinct last, pro business, republican party, and that tension with reagan, reagan reaches out to try to unite the party by tapping hum vice president after a bitter primary. but talk about that tradition that h.w. was representing and the tension with the rising conservative movement, even within the reagan administration. >> the reverence to eisenhower was very pointed. asen hour battled conservative forces as well. robert taft was competing with eisenhower for the republican nomination in 1952 and there were very radical elements on that side, too but ike's just sheer likability was enough of a force to carry him over the top, sheer popularity and prestige as a general who had helped to lead us through world war ii. gets the nomination but the reference to eisenhower as a moderate is pointed. you can see through the bush family the progression in publication politics. in prescott bush, northeastern, moderate, pro business republican, very moderate on social issues, particularly compared to today. he would be almost a liberal compared to most voters today. and he is sort