she was critical of ronald reagan, governor reagan's staff.e was criticized by the press for her glamorous friends and expensive lifestyle. and she had a number of issues, including veterans. those were many of the same things. >> interesting, isn't it? she developed a thick skin during those years. she didn't like the criticism. she is specially didn't like the criticism of her husband, and she talked about that. she knew it was not going to be easy, but she underestimated how much the press -- and it does everywhere going to be critical of politicians everywhere. she had to develop an even thicker skin. they looked at her choice of causes. and she and the press had a testy relationship. >> she shopped in beverly hills, and sacramento did not have stores like that. she was used to cool breezes. sacramento gets hot. and mostly, she hated the "sacramento bee." it was a very democratic newspaper. they were relentless in their criticism of reagan. she canceled the subscription. people asked reagan about this. he said, it is ok, i get it in my off

ronald reagan was a member of the bohemian grove. d nancy reagan ever express any feelings about that? ms. swain: do you know what the bohemian grove is? mr. cannon: yeah, it's a club. it's based in san francisco. george shultz belongs to it. all i can tell you about that -- this is very indirect -- is that, when she was first lady of the -- ms. woodruff: it's men-only. we should say that. mr. cannon: yes, yes, it is. and they walk around in the redwoods naked and do other things that seem out of time. but george shultz is one of the great members of the bohemian grove, and nancy was very close to him, so apparently she didn't hold it against you if you were a member. the calls between shultz and nancy that's coming out, as the scholarship, the papers are being released, many -- many more conversations, alliances between them than we knew. shultz was in bohemian grove, so i'm inferring she didn't mind. ms. swain: now, there's a much too long and complicated political story to be told about ronald reagan's career from leaving the gover

she passed him on to ronald reagan. after the installation of missiles, they worked together to bring about the peaceful end. everyone deserves credit here. but the credit goes principally in my view to my three heroes. two heroes, one heroine. >> both margaret thatcher and ronald reagan realized this wasn't just a military or diplomatic issue as far as communism. they felt there was a moral dimension and the pope being a part accelerated the concept of the moreality, if you will, of freedom versus communism. i think his participation for that reason was very important. how subtle was it? it was proper from the position that he held. he wasn't doing things that tried to be a secular leader, if you will. he properly represented the theological view of things and the moral view of things in a very important but at the same time proper way. so that was -- the fact that he handled it extremely well, he was -- he understood psychology very well and so i think it was a very important part of the whole thing and that he did it

she passed him on to ronald reagan. after the installation of missiles, they worked together to bring about the peaceful end. everyone deserves credit here. but the credit goes principally in my view to my three heroes. two heroes, one heroine. >> both margaret thatcher and ronald reagan realized this wasn't just a military or diplomatic issue as far as communism. they felt there was a moral dimension and the pope being a part accelerated the concept of the morality, if you will, of freedom versus communism. i think his participation for that reason was very important. how subtle was it? it was proper from the position that he held. he wasn't doing things that tried to be a secular leader, if you will. he properly represented the theological view of things and the moral view of things in a very important but at the same time proper way. so that was -- the fact that he handled it extremely well, he was -- he understood psychology very well and so i think it was a very important part of the whole thing and that he did it

>> shortly after meeting ronald reagan. >> no, not meeting ronald reagan.pudiated while he was in the white house under heavy pressure. do you know michael dever. [ laughter ] >> what are you laughing ating,will? do you deny that he repudiated under heavy pressure. >> i deny that you know that he repudiated under heavy pressure. >> do you know who michael dever is. >> of course. >> tell who he is. >> long time assistant to ronald reagan. >> okay.a here is a quote from michael dever, all right? after a day and a half of briefings but without seeing the president they delivered to baker a stunning report he would have to be prepared at any time continue to vehicle the 25th amendment, which would remove a president if he was unfit to serve. they, the president, had had concluded was on the brink of being physically and mentally incapable of carrying out his responsibilities, unquote: michael dever, behind the scenes, that's a quote in his book. do you deny that that happened? >> the memo is presented to howard baker who commissioned. >> dever, his friend, clos

it was clear that ronald reagan was interest in politics. and he was hired by ge and 55 and from that moment on the friends they made in los angeles decided he was a great candidate for governor in the receiving amount elected governor 66. who -- the person cult of the personnel. she made sure that people around her have you always have his best interest at heart. it was one of the principal want to show reef trip from role of a lifetime where she talks about what she brings to the ownership. i see the first lady to keep them from being isolated. i talked to people they tell me things and if something is about to become a problem i'm not beyond asking about it. her a woman who loves husband and i make no apologies for looking out for his wealth there. >> she said she was the personnel direct her. political consulting culture that. its nancy of self-awareness to? them he was only on the campaign because -- and spencer only work the reagan asked one person within his client when it was going to come back to the reagan campaign. and that was na

but he also is a formidable challenger. >> ronald reagan was challenging a sitting president in his ownively conservative president and basically calling him a liberal sellout. >> in the texas primary reagan wiped out the president in a stunning victory. >> in august of 1974, this country had some very difficult, formidable obstacles ahead of us. >> and you blew it! >> we blew it in the right direction, young man. and those of you -- [ indiscernible ] >> this was period of time right in the wake of watergate. americans were very suspicious of government and about people who had spent too much time in washington, d.c. jimmy carter could run as someone who called himself an outsider, a guy who wasn't tainted by washington, d.c. and its corruption and its culture. >> i remember when i announced for president there was a major headline on the editorial page of the "atlanta constitution," jimmy carter is running for what? i'm running for president. >> jimmy carter. >> jimmy who? >> i don't know who he is. >> i picture him like one of us. >> jimmy carter grew up in a very small town in the so

. >> host: so ronald reagan's big tempt, dead? >> guest: well, it could be revived but in a different way. ronald reagan was a big tent republican. he had a little bit for everybody. of course, back then the cold war was a big thing, too, and he was a good, staunch, anti-communist as well. but what happened in the interim is you had the rise of two factions, two groups. first of all, the religious right. and, again, this was the moral majority. it was in the late '70s and the 1980s that a lot of activists started to mobilize religious people who were not bringing in necessarily just limited government, a limited government philosophy, they were bringing in we want a social agenda that we want to push. another group came in as well starting in the '70s and the '80s, and those were the neoconservatives. these were, basically, disillusioned liberals and leftists who said, well, that whole approach doesn't work terribly well. we think the republicans have better ideas, but we are social engineers from the right. we're not limited gove

which is ronald reagan. and reagan comes can back strong and knocks bush out. >> it looked like it could be the end of george bush's political career. he'd not exactly been tough on reagan, but he did say this -- >> he's promising to cut taxes by 30% and balance the budget and increase defense spending and stop inflation all at the same time. it just isn't going to work. what i call a voodoo economic policy. >> but at the convention, reagan shows him as his running mate. >> reagan made the decision himself, ultimately, to turn to bush. >> bush had wanted to leave, but he knew how to be a good team player. >> bush was the quintessential perfect vice president for ronald reagan. he never once articulated a view or a feeling or a policy that was at odds with the president, and they became extraordinarily close, very, very good friends and an extremely good team. >> as ronald reagan's second term was drawing to a close, bush was ready for the biggest moment of his life. but while you'd expect the second in comman

i'd now like to bring in edwin meese iii, my colleague here at heritage, attorney general under ronald reagan. and mr. meese, you had an opportunity to meet with margaret thatcher on a number of occasions. and you were instrumental as well in setting up the first white house meeting between president reagan and prime minister margaret thatcher in 1981. although the first meeting between reagan and thatcher being too place in england in 1975. several years before. and my understanding is that ronald reagan had only planned a few minutes to speak with margaret thatcher at the time, the leader of the opposition. but that that short discussion was expanded into a two-hour discussion. and immediately, the two figures got on incredibly well. what were the qualities that margaret thatcher possessed that so attracted reagan, and why did reagan admire margaret thatcher's leadership and qualities so deeply? >> well, i think it started out as a matter of philosophy. and in that first meeting, they discussed various issues.im%z you think she showed then-governor reagan, or he had just recently left the g

>> well, ronald reagan's the most successful republican president in our lifetime by far. dwight eisenhower would be second. and reagan not only helped the country dramatically by bringing the economy back and stamping out the evil empire of the soviet union, bankrupted them pretty much. but he made people feel good about the united states, and not just republicans. country when he was president, especially his second term. and he worked well with tip o'neill, the democratic house speaker, and so he -- and he had an optimism. and he loved his country. reagan really loved his country, and it came through. and people felt good about it. and now, we're in this partisan where everybody is, you know, running everybody else down. reagan will give you a shot or two. i mean he took a couple shots at mondale, and he didn't like jimmy carter at all. >> jimmy: no. dhe thought he was a little s word. all right. [ light laughter ] and then we, it's true. >> jimmy: really? >> he called carter a little s word. didn't like him all. but mondale, he would give you a little lip, but he wasn't

something really huge and fundamental is happening this year on the republican side in politics. 1976, ronald reagan went up against euro for to decide one question. will the republican party be conservative? moderate liberal or conservative. 1980 landslide, 84, reagan landslide. the modern republican party will be conservative. this year, i think we are answering the question, what does conservatism mean? what does it mean in the 21st century? and the entire republican party is having a brawl about it. is it your responsibility to help them define what it means to be conservative? peggy: no. in part, my responsibility and joy to share my talks about this. about where conservatism should be going. i don't feel any pressure being a guide or a guru. charlie: because of barry goldwater and then ronald reagan. buckley, barry goldwater, then ronald reagan. reagan was a movement conservative. that still exists? peggy: it does, but that's a bit fractured. there are three or four things. not higher taxes, lower. not regulation higher, lower. it's all gotten a little bit more complicated now. things started

which is ronald reagan. and reagan comes can back strong and knocks bush out. >> it looked like it could be the end of george bush's political career. he'd not exactly been tough on reagan but he did say this -- >> he's promising to cut taxes by 30% and balance the budget and increase defense spending and stop inflation all at the same time. it just isn't going to work. what i call a voodoo economic policy. >> but at the convention, reagan shows him as his running mate. >> reagan made the decision himself, ultimately, to turn to bush. >> bush had wanted to leave, but he knew how to be a good team player. >> bush was the quintessential perfect vice president for ronald reagan. he never once articulated a view or a feeling or a policy that was at odds with the president, and they became extraordinarily close very, very good friends and an extremely good team. >> as ronald reagan's second term was drawing to a close bush was ready for the biggest moment of his life. but while you'd expect the second in command o

at one end of the hall were three tables for george bush, ronald reagan, and the moderator. but since this afternoon, reagan had been trying to enlarge the debate to include all the republican candidates. the sponsor of the encounter, the national telegraf, refused. reagan said that since he had paid for the confrontation, he had the right to change the ground rules. a quarter hour after the debate was supposed to start, george bush entered the hall. a moment later, a very angry ronald reagan strolled on to the platform. he didn't come alone. he brought four other candidates with him on to the stage. then the moderator, john green, an editor of the paper, set the rules for the debate. when ronald reagan tried to protest, breen attempted to have his microphone cut off. >> the first 40 minutes of the program, approximately, will be a -- would the sound man please turn mr. reagan's mic off? >> mr. breen -- >> can you turn that microphone off, please? >> i am paying for this microphone! >> with that, reagan accompanied the four candidates to the edge of the stage as they left, a

and in the end, ronald reagan did pick george bush to be his vice presidential running mate that year. and vice president under reagan is the job that george bush had for the next eight years. and 1988, it was time once again for the republicans to pick another presidential nominee. and again in 1988, both george bush and his nemesis, bob dole, decided they would go for it. and in that year, in 1988 in iowa, first contest is iowa, right? in iowa in 1988, bob dole won huge. bobby bush didn't just come in second in iowa that year, he lost to both bob dole and to a televangelist. he came in third in iowa. after iowa was on to new hampshire, where george h.w. bush just blanketed the state of new hampshire with really, really negative ads against bob dole, bob dole had kicked bush's butt in iowa. bush ended up kicking bob dole's butt in new hampshire. and there was just miserable an tip thi between them. in the book, he quotes diary entries in which george bush calls bob dole a no good son of a -- thing that rhymes with witch. quoting, bob dole, he's a desperate, mean man and people see it

i don't think he saw his father as the governing model and i think he thought that ronald reagan basicallyn dismissed by his father not as significant as he may be. i think he saw reagan as kind of a model and to a certain extent the george h.w. george w. bush relationship developed over time but karl rove and george w. himself realized to be a conservative the party had changed and no longer a northeast republican party. you could not lose 29% of the republicans and be successful. you had to reinforce that base and i think that's what drove a lot of it. and i think you started to touch on it at the end here. i also thought katrina, even though the war was verier very important, katrina was the breaking point. katrina was the point where people all of a sudden were saying this is not a competent administration. let an american city drowned. you can't do that and be competent and the complication of brownie and the rest of it was a significant breaking point. that's the only thing i would say. just my own knowledge. >> thank you, ed. >> do you mind if i say something on that? >> i think one

ronald reagan won the 1980 republican presidential nomination with george h.w. bush finishing a distant second. he went on to defeat incumbent democrat jimmy carter in the general election carrying 44 states. >>> ladies and gentlemen, ronald reagan. >> good evening. i'm here tonight to announce my intention to seek the republican nomination for president of the united states. i'm sure each of us has seen our country from a number of viewpoints depending on where we've lived and what we've done. for me, it's been as a boy growing up in several small towns in illinois, as a young man trying to get a start in the years of the great depression, and in california. i've seen america from the stadium press box as a sports cast, as an actor, soldier, office holder, and as both democrat and republican. i've lived in an america where those who often had too little to eat outnumbered those who have had enough. there have been four wars in my lifetime. i've also seen the great strength of this nation as it pulled itself up from that ruin to become the democrominant for the

in 1976, ronald reagan went up against gerald ford to decide one question. epublican party be conservative? that's it. moderate liberal or conservative. 1980 landslide, answered the question, reagan landslide. the modern republican party will be conservative. this year, i think we are answering the question, what does conservatism mean? what does it mean in the 21st century? and the entire republican party is having a brawl about it. conservatives have been having brawls about it for a while, as you know. it as part you see of your responsibility to help them define what it means to be conservative? peggy: no. it is, in part, my responsibility and joy to share my thoughts about this. about where conservatism should be going. and where the party should be going. but, i don't feel any pressure being a guide or a guru. charlie: because of barry goldwater and then ronald reagan. first bill buckley, then barry goldwater, then ronald reagan. aagan was what was called it movement conservative. that still exists? peggy: it does, but that's a bit fractured. i mean, an

ronald reagan had been an actor and then he was a governor. now he was a governor of a big state, as you well know, but i think these are such unusual times. i believe that at some point in this primary season, the focus is going to shift to the national security-foreign policy. and that' s where some of these people with some of that experience may gain some traction. >> up next, what advice does john mccain have for jeb bush? media to avoid detection? it's called a rigged economy, and this is how it works. most new wealth flows to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics where wall street banks and billionaires buy elections. my campaign is powered by over a million small contributions, people like you who want to fight back. the truth is you can't change a corrupt system by taking its money. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message. fernando: welcome back. now, more of my conversation with senator john mccain. fernando: let me ask you, you' ve had historically a good relationship with secretary clinton. she seems, at le

ronald reagan had been an actor and then he was a governor. now he was a governor of a big state, as you well know, but i think these are such unusual times. i believe that at some point in this primary season, the focus is going to shift to the national security-foreign and that' s where some of these people with some of that experience may gain some traction. >> up next, what advice does john mccain have for jeb bush? fernando: welcome back. now, more of my conversation with senator john mccain. fernando: let me ask you, you' ve had historically a good relationship with secretary clinton. she seems, at least today, the likely nominee of the democrats. senator mccain: without a doubt. fernando: do you think she would make a good president? senator mccain: um, i think that she has some qualifications. i have difficulty getting over the benghazi thing. i was very close to chris stevens. ambassador chris stevens who was killed. i was there when the bodies came back to andrews. i was there when she spoke directly to the families and said that "i'

it praises ronald reagan. yet you didn't call me when you said you would, that's a fact. >> why do reagan loyalists not want this -- >> because they wanted a deification. you play right into the hands. >> that is a lie. that, by the way, is a lie. >> that isn't a lie. we can prove it. you are a hack. >> jonathan, you can tell that george will knew exactly how this was going to go. and had his game plan, i'm going to sit here. i'm going to let the angry man be the angry man. i'm going to get in the words where i can and those words are going to include "that's a lie." >> repeatedly. the george will is a hack by bill o'reilly's standards, bill o'reilly is a liar by george will's standards. it's more fun to watch than referee. george will is an intelligent guy who knows a lot about the reagan administration. and bill o'reilly is an entertaining. >> yeah. and, david fromme, what is the -- how do republican viewers of that kind of segment divide as they watch it? >> very first question. that is an interesting one, w

i would have been different. >> is she younger than ronald reagan? >> almost a year. >> that we are living in the age when we live longer and we have part of the magic of medicine. so that's -- the point is that yes, there is a big overwhelming force that changes things. but why do we care so much about the presidential campaign and about what another president did because the president also affects things and as a single individual not just in the united states but around the world who sets the tone that really makes a difference. >> having written this book, and it is a great book -- spinnaker going to get a check from my mother who's right over here to get >> is your mother here? >> my mother and father. [applause] >> having written the book are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future? >> that is a big question and the answer is yes. [laughter] >> now you sound like a politician. >> where i am optimistic is the weakest of the chapter i call it the function and we have a tendency we journalists and historians and citizens have a tendency som

despised ronald reagan. remember and 76 reagan had the primary of gerald ford. if you want to make republican leadership in washington load view, come within an inch of the incumbent republican president in a primary and reagan led a grassroots level revolution that swept in and turn the country brown. neil: but you raised a complexity. 76 wasn't easier, 80 was to let me go forward and say 2016 might not be your year in 2020 might. >> 2016 has to be. the stakes are too high. we are bankrupting our country. it's now or never and i do think the parallels are uncanny uncanny. think of celebrities between barack obama and jimmy carter are striking. neil: they made the solidarity with you and barack obama, roughly the same age and not a lot of senate experience. >> if you think about how did obama get elected? he turned out in. every time we nominate a candidate that runs to the middle we lose and if we nominate another candidate in the mold of the bob dole or john mccain or mitt romney all of whom are good men. n

. >> dickerson: one of the people that moves the country was ronald reagan whom you worked for. who you worked on speeches with. one interesting thing you said that those who worked for reagan knew him even when he wasn't in the room. when i talked to other staffers for other presidents they said that is the presidential difference. is that good presidents you can intuit what they want even if they haven't talked to you. >> that's so smart. dickerson: tell us about that with reagan. >> a speech writer for jimmy carter, i'm jealous of you. he said, why? you knew what reagan thought, you knew why he thought it. you knew how he put it. you knew where he'd come at it. i got to say working for jimmy carter we never knew what he was going to say or where he was going to come out. if your philosophy is clear as president, your history is clear, and how you speak is clear your speech writers are going to be fine. they know you, they studied you, they're with you. >> dickerson: that goes for other parts as well. >> yes, of course. dickerson: tell us about the speech you worked on with ro

president ronald reagan.f the candidates show any reaganesque qualities former speech writer for president ronald reagan author of the new book "the time of our lives" peggy hayden goes "on the record." >> very good to see you. thank you. >> i'm not going to ask you who you are going to vote for. you wrote the most elegant speeches for ronald reagan. who of the candidates would be the most fun for you to write for. >> i love writing about all of them. >> but i mean the speeches? i misspoke. >> listen, i think all of these candidates have little pieces of reagan and we will see at the end if somebody puts a few pieces together. chris christie has reagan's joy of politics. reagan really liked going out there and persuading you and grabbing you and saying see it this way. ted cruz has a certain ability to logically apply a case. marco rubio has real political talent. so they have all#z little pieces there. i think reagan would be kind of flattered at how much is invoked some years after he left the presidency. >

. >> ronald reagan was strong but ronald reagan. >> ronald reagan walked away at reykjavik. he walked away, he quit talking when it was time to quit talking. >> can i finish with my time. >> why does she keep interrupting everybody? >> terrible. >> yeah, i would like to finish-- i would like to finish my response, basically. >> trevor: yeah, boo! boo, donald trump. don't you dare shush carly fiorina. she may have another great fake abortion story to tell. (laughter) (applause) now it's pretty clear. donald trump old wants women talking on stage after he has awarded them some kind of sash. (applause) some signature policy, of course, is to deporlt upwards of 11 million immigrants. now jeb called it impossible. john kasich called it silly. but trump had history on his side. >> let me just tell you that dwies eisenhower moved a million and a half illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. they came back. moved them again, beyond the border. dwight ice en-- eisenhower. you don't get nicer. you don't get friend leer. they moved a million and a half

ronald reagan, the speech you wrote after the challenger. ose things settled us down at moments when we could have gone off of the cliff. >> greatness has a way of comforting you. i write about reagan after reagan nostalgia kickedcaked in which interestingly enough did not happen after he left the white house but was 2005 to 2006 and certainly after his death in 2004. there is athere is a lot about him in the book but what i call the greatness game, men and women coming forward running for the presidency and trying to reach for greatness but also to make this a better place. charles: you are a prolific author. why this book at this time? did you feel that the country needed this book? i know you were feeling nostalgic. was there something special? >> i finally did what people have been asking me to do, do,do, went through 30 years of essays, commentaries, columns, op-ed's command was shocked to find that every thing that had been preoccupying me was everything that was going on right now, the same themes. america is still in some new way tryi

the republican candidates are vying for the man like ronald reagan. reagan would not go off the quips with flags flying, he was not as ideologically rigid as people might think. once signed a bill, and one of his aides asked him, why did you sign that will? it is not keeping with your principles that all. reagan said, well, i got 80% of what i wanted and i just declared victory. that was sort of eisenhower's approach to things. he was very good at compromising. gerald ford said that compromise is the oil that makes government go. ford also understood how good an -- how good and important it was to work with members of the opposite aisle. one of ford's best friends was tip o'neill, a golfing partner. publicly, tip o'neill would criticize ford savagely, but after 5:00 ford and tip o'neill got together and golfed and drank together and had a very good relationship, as did eisenhower with members of both parties. >> i don't think it's particularly well-known, but john kennedy, despite his speeches on the moon, basically had the same opinion as i did. -- as

gentlemen, ronald reagan. ronald reagan: good evening. i am here tonight to announce my intention to seek the republican nomination for president of the united states. i'm sure that each of us has seen our country from a number of viewpoints depending on where we've lived and what we've done. for me it has been as a boy growing up in several small towns in illinois. as a young man in iowa trying to get a start in the years of the great depression and later in california for most of my adult life. i've seen america from the stadium press box as a sportscaster, as an actor, officer of my labor union, soldier, officeholderand as both democrat and republican. i've lived in an america where those who often had too little to eat outnumbered those who had enough. there have been four wars in my lifetime and i've seen our country face financial ruin in depression. i have also seen the great strength of this nation as it pulled itself up from that ruin to become the dominant force in the world. to me our country is a living, breathing presence, un

and that year ronald reagan and his vice president george bush did win re-election against mondale andraro. but when reagan and bush won that '84 election, they won ronald reagan a second term in office. you only get two. when it came time to pick another nominee four years later it was george bush's turn to try to win in 19 8 without ronald reagan. for better or worse, he was not seen as having the same gift of communication as ronald reagan had. so improving that aspect of george bush as a candidate became a major priority for the republican party and for the white house tuning up george bush for television, getting him to lower his sometimes high pitched voice, teaching him to speak in a way that demanded command and ease. getting him to speak in a way that just worked better on television. then vice president george h.w. bush worked for years. he worked for two solid years when he was vice president in advance of his presidential campaign, he worked with two media gurus with two republican experts in the art of how to appear on television. and one of those gurus was a man named rog