i am ronald reagan! i am ronald reagan! the problem with it is if ronald reagan were allied -- alive today he would be 106. maybe he doesn't have the best grasp of what politics today requires. one of the problems the gop had gotten caught up in is to become obsessed with purity and principles. i like those principles, dedicated my life to those principles. for a living i espouse and promote conservative principles. the thing is once you get into a contest of who is the purest you lose sight of what politics is supposed to be about and that is about persuasion. go back to aristotle, this idea that i use reason and logic, i can explain why your self-interest are better reflected in my coalition any other guy's coalition. that is politics but instead it is i am the purest guy on the stage you by definition are excluding people rather than enticing people and bringing them in. the republican party has lost its way to the art of persuasion. this gets me to my key point about ronald reagan. ronald reagan's success had a lot to d

they routinely savaged ronald reagan. ey were writing articles about whether or not he had affairs, articles about the state of his and mrs. reagan's marriage. the "washington post" was to run this to ronald reagan for all eight years and even into his death. "the new york times" was not much better. he never really shut them out. he never criticized them, never went after them. there is the time he wrote a letter to cal thomas in "the l.a. times" had been criticizing him and said "the l.a. times" is not my corner. loops. that was not the extent of it. this guy made 55 movies and some of those were really bad. but he developed a thick skin through much of his career. get criticism, certainly widely panned. so by the time he was in politics, he's going to take criticism and not take it too personally. in his diaries of people he didn't like the reporters he didn't like, he once wrote in his diary about global wake her from connecticut gives up on this, no good fathead. he later wrote something else very, very nasty. he had

", henry olsen argues that ronald reagan was an heir to the legacy of fdr's new deal. and more progressive than today's republicans. he spoke about reagan at an event hosted by the american enterprise institute. following his remarks he is joins a panel to discuss ronald reagan and his book. this is an hour and 1/2. >> good afternoon everyone.i am karlyn bowman is a great pleasure for myself and my cohost to welcome all of you and there was c-span artist to this afternoon's event to celebrate the publication of henry olsen's new book "the working class republican: ronald reagan and the return of blue-collar conservatism". henry is a senior fellow at the ethics of public's health policy center a former colleague and a member in good standing of the election watch team. henry arrived at aia in 2006 and was soon bonded over politics and especially what was then a somewhat obscured demographics with what they call some college, people with a technical vocational or community college education. this group was large. about one third of voters and had a near perfect track reco

that ronald reagan actually exhibited in his life. let me talk about both of them. the reagan point is the one most controversial because it is in the face of what we have been told. we've been told what i call innate reason magazine the high priest of reaganism. that he is little more than -- committed to the overthrow of the new deal as was goldwater in the early conservatives and libertarians. in fact nothing could be further from the case. from his earliest days he exhibited fidelity in the sense that government at local and state level is necessary but at a federal level, possible the federal level was necessary should ensure that americans have a hand up in the american life and everyone has a chance to live a life of their own choosing. even if requires government assistance. then i'll move on to the second point which is why it is that the republicans have lost their way and how it is that in a very odd sense, donald trump has recaptured some, not all, but some of the reagan insight. it is no surprise that ronald reagan and donald trump are the only two peopl

for some ronald reagan was god with a g. there is no better person to pontificate about reagan, his faith, and the roman pontiff then pope canker. he's a political scientist at grove city college, which along the institutions as hilldale college, they don't which any federal money, means he doesn't have to bend. he can tell it as it is. that is fabulous because we -- we do not accept any of taxpayers money. paul kingery is a public intellectual on the conservative side. he's one of the few who has to break through he has written a number of books on conservative issues, including very , including gays marriage. thingswritten a few about ronald reagan, including the crusader. last but not least i would like to recognize talking her for appreciating the institute of politics. he has been around the institute , including my mentor such as it is onlyofessor -- because of the junkyard dog qualities at some of the dinosaurs keep even cap. i have begged them forever, please write books, please provide the truth. narrative alternativ

gues >> i have to say, steve, writing a chapter on ronald reagan, doing a research on ronald reagan was one of the most eye-opening parts of the book for me. i didn't predict where i would come out. ronald reagan was really first president to recognize this problem. he understood presidents were doing too much. he tried to step back. in a sense he made progress with the soviet union. shifted american policy, ended cold war. he was able to see the big picture. not allow the crisis of the moment to drive him. but he did not show the same discipline i argue, did not show the same perspective when he dealt with many other issues from terrorism to problems in the middle east, to the aids epidemic at home and inequality in the u.s. even reagan, who understood in problem of overcommitment and overstretch found himself sinking into the mud that other presidents sunk into. >> host: let me read another excerpt from your book, based on the obama presidency, how you would assess his eight years in office. you wrote the following. no recent american president has been prepared for overwhelming power

helped the two great powers find common ground at the height of the cold war advisor to president ronald reagan russian scholar and author. is with me today. twenty five years since the end of the cold war the u.s. and russia once again find themselves a broiled in a standoff with aid rivalries regenerated and tensions rising with the white house changeover there is hope that personal goals are we. may be remembering spiralling out of control. of a new us president be able to pour in common ground with moscow and shakes there's more oil to settle clashes of economic and political interests a little more personal approach by the two leaders really be a decisive factor in lifting the relationship out of the rubble. suzanne massie advisor to president reagan on russian foreign policy it's really great to have you on our show today welcome thank you until happy to be here so the washington post says that the white house doesn't have enough capable experts on russia and a more compared to reagan times what do you think is our people who are behind the russian foreign policy in washington misinformed

president ronald reagan.plause] i have to tell you is iranian to into ron and frank backstage and all of the years we spent together, i just can't tell you how genuinely humbling it is for me to think that i am standing before you today because of their encouragement and support them because of folks like you all over this of the, because confidence and generosity of our new president that i stand before you today as the 48 vice president of the united states of america. on behalf of my family, thank you for the opportunity to serve. [applause] vice president pence: you know, it is remarkable to think about the young america's foundation history and contribution, not just to my small life at the conservative movement itself, and to this entire country. since its founding in 1960, why af has been able work -- a bulwark. you fight for the constitution of those timeless principles individual freedom, strong national defense, free enterprise and traditional moral values. doubt, because of the work of all of you a

ronald reagan is not here. ronald reagan had faith in generations that followed him. we're that generation. if you look around and you interact with folks, all across the political spectrum today. there's a real desire to have things get done in ways that benefit everyone. i have a great deal of confidence in our capacity joined by our friends all across the spectrum who are engaging on this process. we can get tax reform done and have real growth and real buoyancy moving forward. >> we are also joined by david schweikert of arizona key member of the tax writing committee. schweikert: as you approach the microphone, you start thinking about what do you share. how many of american people had the experiment -- the experience of when you just finished filling out your tax forms, you did it online and you hit the button. you have that sort of sinking feeling in your tummy. did i get it right? him i going -- am i going to be in trouble? you wake up, you get your mail and you have a letter from the irs, that horrible feeling of am i in trouble. we need to make that go away.

-- its the days of ronald reagan. [applause] we're going to cut taxes across the board for working families, small businesses and family farms. [applause] vice president pence: and president trump is going to cut business taxes in america so american corporations can compete with companies around the world that create good paying jobs right here in the good old usa. [applause] vice president pence: it is about health care, it is about tax cuts and under this president's leadership and with the support of this congress, we are going to keep rolling forward. we will make those historic investments in the national defense to make america stronger and safer than before. we will keep raining in those unelected bureaucrats so they can't cripple our economy from those taxpayer-funded metal desks. we will give families more choices and make it possible for every child to go to the school of their choice and have access to world-class education. every child deserves. there is a lot of work to do and i know when i -- i am looki

do what ronald reagan did and years prior to that what john f. the same results. what do you think of that, bob? >> i think it's a great idea, neil. when reagan did that, he rolled over a democratic-led congress. trump has a republican-led congress. so that was his show-down with tip o'neal and tip o'neal, speaker at the time, later admitted that reagan beat him. you want to use all the tools of the bully pulpit. so trump is very good at campaign rallies. the one thing he has going for him is the economy. he can talk about the economy and say if we pass this bill, the economy will even be better. >> neil: i think an oval office address gives the president a chance to explain what he wants. john f. kennedy wanted to cut tax and winning over republicans could be beneficial. these came into effect after his death. but the idea was to reach across the aisle and in ronald reagan's case, get 40 southern democrats, and john kennedy did the same with the republicans. what do you think of that? >> it's going to be up to president trump. remember, paul ryan

and we're back with suzanne next adviser to ronald reagan on russian relations russia scholar or dug in whether lessons of the past can help mend ties between washington and moscow today suzanne well we're all waiting to see what happens in america if they want to ask you a little bit of about what's going on right now because people over here they're really wondering why has russia today become a scapegoat for everything bad that happens in america i mean i don't know if you're big on twitter or instagram but there is even a stack russians did it i mean that's kind of funny it's now become a joke as a cartoon that i don't know if you've seen that but it's very funny and one is actually too polite to even say. that i will say there's a picture of two dogs and the dog says to one of the i guess what the russians pooped in the hall you say blaming blaming even on the us. it's all over the place there are all kinds of jokes about that people realize you know the stupid that this is excessive i happen to agree with you i think it's very dangerous i have for this as much as i could becaus

. >> i like to see a focus on technology and again, going back to ronald reagan with star wars and brilliant defense system, a lot of people laughed at that and mocking him at first but we got tremendous number of advancements and key negotiating point with the soviet union. >> bruce, one of our allies, takes advantage, it worked in certain cases, doesn't always work, it's not fail-proof but the fact that it does work it means it saves lives, right? >> certainly technology, that's the thing when we talk about throwing around the gdp percentages, how do we know that that's even the right measure. i mean, if there's -- if we have technology that can, you know, do cyber-attacks which can be less expensive and save lives why not pursue it? my rule of thumb since regan days if we have enough bombs to blow up the world enough times over, i think that's enough. >> is that simplistic? >> yes, it is, you're not going to love nuclear weapons on cuba and north korea if you can avoid it. by the way, cutting down we cut back sharply after world war ii so much that that's why north korea invaded south kor

everyone gets up on stage, i'm ronald reagan. no, i am ronald reagan. full disclosure, i like ronald reagan. what has two thumbs and thinks ronald reagan is awesome? this guy. ronald reagan was put on this earth to do two things, chew gum and kick ass. and he ran out of gum in about 1974. what people do not appreciate about ronald reagan was that, yeah, fine, he had principles. love those principles. yeah he was a conservative. love that. he was also a really good politician and he understood how to talk to people and persuade them. this is a huge part of the problem with conservatism. a lot of the campus speakers that conservatives bring to campus these days -- again, normally under normal circumstances, historically i come to these things and you know i just become a sprinkler system of red meat, bowls of liberal tears are delicious and all that stuff. fine, i get it. but there's a problem. the last decade or two it's gotten to the point where first of all you could make a pretty good living only talking to groups that already agree with you. you coul

there's a great story about ronald reagan been visited by george scholz. e worked in the reagan administration scholz wanted him to take a look at a speech reagan redden said this is good. it's not the speech out there, but it's good. he says here's what i would do, i would go fact, fact, argument story. fact, fact, argument, story. that's how you convince people that they can relate to through stories and jokes. i wasn't always this jokey guy, i have a very strong dirty tendencies. but i learned that a lot of conservatives cannot tell jokes which i think is weird. i also learned that when you talk to liberal groups, if you can make fun of yourself makes it harder for them to hate you unless you give them a good reason. also runs against the stereotype of conservatives that we need a truckload of -- just to crack a smile. so i'm saying, is learn how to tell stories. most of you want to go into something related to conservatism, there's a reason why you are here. you take something away from my talk today is simply this, learn how to persuade people that don

i give ronald reagan huge credit for mr. gorbachev. >> i'm tearing down this wall. >> but that was one thing. but his willingness to initiate gorbachev, they met in iceland. they met in geneva. and that was the human side of -- that was the side of ronald reagan that i appreciate enormously and deeply. only he could have done that. >> yeah. >> only he could have done that and met with gorbachev. >> y & r, i was surprised to learn, started out really as a three month stinlt for you. >> yeah. >> how do you take three months and turn it into almost 40 years? >> most important thing is the change of story lines. >> yeah. >> and there was a moment which wh my wife nicky on the show played beautifully by her all these years asked me about my background. this mysterious character who rufus and billionaire and she didn't know anything about him. so they came up with a story line that made me stay. i then explained to my wife that had i been left on the door steps of an orphanage at the age of 7. once i did that scene, i said i'm sta

you mentioned ronald reagan. made americans feel good about being americans. is donald trump not doing that to the common everyday people every day? he's unleashing us. that's why the stock market is on the move. we have hope today. i wish we could get away from this russia junk. this man has real stuff to deal with. can you imagine dealing with iran and north korea and all the different things, healthcare, tax reform. david: that phrase, make america great again, it was first coined by ronald reagan. that was one of his campaign slogans. so they both represent a rejuvenation of the american spirit. best of luck to you have as a republican. >> come to west virginia. david: i sure will. the mueller russia witch hunt continues despite no evidence of collusion. >> we had a great team, and i guess i did a good job. david: my next guest says mueller has stacked the deck against president trump. this biker turning the streets ♪ hey, i'm the internet! i know a bunch of people who would love that. the internet loves what

. >> ronald reagan in the middle. david: ok, ronald reagan. anybody want to guess the other two? they are a little hard to see because you don't get the tops of their heads. >> nancy davis, next to ronald reagan? david: no, that is a good guess because it is hard to tell who it is. ronald reagan, humphrey bogart. it is a little hard to see. you're right. then george jessel. it is a little hard to see, this is ronald reagan before he became republican. there is some correspondence -- this is the only letter we have between harry truman and humphrey bogart. there is a bet with someone i made a few years ago, then president truman writes back. in the second paragraph, humphrey bogart would appreciate to have it to frame it -- if i may say, my son who may run for democrat and that democratic ticket in 1999, unless you still hold office. [laughter] david: this one is at a theater in new york on april 22, 1964. any guesses who is in the middle on the right? >> on the right it is dewey. david: yes, thomas dewey. we have a gentleman in the back. >> george montgomery? david: no. any other

so back to ronald reagan. when reagan was elected in 1980, america's international prestige was at a low point. domestically, inflation was on the rise and many americans were out of work. adding insult to injury, calls for justice and equality from women's groups, people of color, and gays and lesbians threatened long-standing assumptions of cultural authority. many whites, especially white men, felt attacked and marginalized. throughout this talk, i will give you headlines. we can come back to any point during the q&a if you want me to follow up on something. reagan appealed to disaffected white voters by promising to make america great again. those of you of a certain age can remember that, those of you who are not quite that old, -- ps, trump did not make that one up! reagan promised jobs, a strong military, strong support for policies to end abortion, and return prayer to the nation's public schools. embracing richard nixon's southern strategy, he warned southern democrats, kicking off the 1980 presidentia

more counties than any president since ronald reagan. 30 of 56 states. the truth is, with your support, president donald trump turned the blue wall red. i came here tonight to pay a debt of gratitude to all of you who helped elect the president who is fighting every day. fighting every day for the values and ideals that unite us and fighting every day to keep the promises he made to the american people. for my part, it's a privilege to be back at the young america's foundation. i worked hand-in-hand with yaf going back more than 15 years. not from when that picture was taken, but when i first arrived in congress in 2001. in 2005, my family had the great privilege to visit the reagan ranch where yaf has wonderfully preserved the wisdom and legacy of my second favorite president of the united states, president ronald reagan. [applause] but i have to tell you as i ran in the ron and frank backstage, thinking of all the years we stood together and all the encouragement they have been to me as a conservative, i just can't tell you, how genuinely humbling it i

because i was very fortunate and came in just before ronald reagan won. side economics.d worked the campaign to convince reagan to run on tax cuts and worked with him for eight years as a member of congress. much of what he did in the '90s was really standing on reagan's shoulders. so there are certain patterns. and for all of you who want to learn this business, it's important to remember that ronald reagan was an fdr democrat. he was not a regular republican. he was somebody who voted for fdr and caught a radio commercial running for the senate in 1948 and he cut a commercial for harry truman. after '48 he became a republican, but he had a long background of thinking like a democrat. and that was important because the two parties were culturally very different. and it's still true. the republican -- part of the republican weakness goes back to a pre-reagan republican-ism that assumes its a minority. now, reagan always assumed we were a majority. and think about it, if you think you're in the minority, maybe you have had this experience in your own life,

there was a cure -- a core humility to ronald reagan. he really didn't think he had all the answers. he made mistakes and had ethical problems, refused to it knowledge the aids epidemic and thousands of people died because of that. nonetheless, he had a humility that led him to believe, for example, that he had to compromise with the soviet leadership. that he had to work with mikell gorbachev. the wouldn't -- he wouldn't tell him, he had to pay for the wall, he wanted a deal that was good for him. that humility comes deep from within and we should be searching for when we choose leaders rather than the opposite , which is what we have chosen in the last 20 years. care and ingo to north carolina. thank you for waiting. caller: good morning. i used to be a democrat. i voted for barack obama twice. obama hasat barack done so much damage to this country. he has turned the democratic party into an anti-white people anti-whitecially an christian people party and we are seeing the results, the fruit of his labor to turn this country against wh

it's called "the education of ronald reagan." now, the reason it matters, it's a very small book, but the reason it matters is evans goes back and looks at the eight years that reagan works for general electric. and general electric had a very sophisticated education program for their employees, and the reason was that they had seven unions, two of them were communists, and five of them were very, very left wing, and they knew they couldn't negotiate with the leaders of the unions because they were hard core, committed left wingers. but they could educate the members about economic reality so that they would not vote for a strike. and so they built a very elaborate education program, and they wanted a happy, positive celebrity to be the front face of the program. so they hired reagan, who was at the end of his movie career, and reagan spent eight years criss crossing the country, giving speeches, largely to blue-collar workers, taking questions and then getting photo ops and having pictures with people. reagan was in a period in h

ronald reagan did three dozen. former speechwriter, "wall street journal" editorial board member, listening to him this morning, bill mcgurn. good to have you. >> thank you. neil: i was hearing you, wasn't just early hour, if makes a lot of sense. >> right. neil: there is something instantly impactful about an address coming from the oval office regardless of president. >> it is begin, oval office address like gems have certain rarity. president presidents go to the american people. president's one chance for his party to present the narrative the wayç he wants to appeal to the american people. we miss that in the health care debate. one of the things in the blame game, a lot of people deserve blame, the bills republicans were proposing, i liked them but they were unpopular with people. people didn't really know what is in them. in the as sense of this, of overarching defense of it, what it was trying to do, i think democratic narrative that republicans were just stealing from the poor to give to the rich was allo

the interesting thing, not only is it a great likeness of ronald reagan, ronald reagan's got the clenched jaw, optimistic eyes but he's looking to where the capitol is, and i was thinking, i said there, he's looking to make sure that with this freedom you use it wisely to improve opportunities for the people in bulgaria. that's what i'd like to talk about here in this speech today, is kind of a report card on this historic opportunity we have for a conservative action. this conference is one really at a great time because the opportunity for conservative action in washington really has never been better. when ronald reagan got a lot of things through, he had to get through a democratic-controlled democratic party controlled house of representatives. we now -- in fact, how many of you all voted in the election last year? okay, and you voted for house members and senate members as well, right? of course you did. we have a pro-free enterprise president who wants -- he's a successful businessman. he likes to be competitive. he wants to put america first. theoretically we have a pro-free enter

ronald reagan really didn't think he had all the answers. he believed in a few things straight as i point out in my chapter, he made a lot of mistakes and had a lot of ethical problems. to acknowledge the aids epidemic in our society and thousands of people died because of that. nevertheless he had a certain humility that led him to believe that he had to compromise with he soviet leadership, that had to help michalek or which have. he couldn't tell gorbachev, you're going to pay for my wall. instead what it gorbachev to get a deal -- you want to gorbachev to get a deal. that humility comes from something deep within the individual and it's something we should be searching for when we choose leaders rather than the opposite, which is what we chose in the last 20 years or so. host: good morning. thank you for waiting. caller: i used to be a democrat. i voted for barack obama twice. i think that barack obama has done so much damage to this country. he has turned the democratic party into an anti-white people party, especially an antiwhite chri

so reagan went out and raised the money and aired the speech himself. >> ronald reagan: and this ideahas no other source of power, except the sovereign people -- is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. this is the issue of this election -- whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the american revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. >> mann: the speech was called "a time for choosing," which may be ronald reagan's best speech ever, and that's saying a lot for ronald reagan, 'cause he gave a lot of great speeches. but this speech was a masterpiece. and it probably made the best case for barry goldwater that anybody, including barry goldwater, had made for himself. >> our democratic opponents seem unwilling to debate these issues. they want to make you and i believe that this is a contest between two men -- that we're to choose just between two personalities. well, what of this man that they w

it came up off hand at a press conference, he ended up losing three months to that policy. >> ronald reagan is another good example. we associate him with a major moment in american history because he resided over the beginnings of the end of the cold war. [applause] >> mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. >> reagan was elected to increase defense spending, but he was elected principally on an argument that government should be shrunk and welfare should be transformed. the budget should be balanced. he was going to be a conservative in the white house. that was his ticket to victory. he wanted to focus on domestic affairs as well. of course, the contrast with the carter years was dramatic. well, he set out a goal at the beginning to end the cold war, tilde defense spending -- build up defense spending, and he did those things, and those defined his presidency. >> i will promise you as your president, i will raise the bar. i will insist on accountability systems that refuse to leave children behind. we will put in place programs that will say we will give our children the building blocks to l

two wonderful books on ronald reagan. he was also the inaugural visiting scholar and -- on conservative thought and policy in the university of colorado-boulder in 2013-2014. he writes frequently for the new york times, washington post, wall street journal, national review, weekly standard claremont review of books and , other publications. ones author of six books, on churchill which is great, including a two chronicle on ronald reagan which i already mention. he writes for forbes. he writes daily on "power line blog" which is a great political website. please give a round of applause to our fabulous analysts -- panelists. [applause] the way that we usually do this format, is that each panel member will have 10 to 15 minutes to make a statement about the topic. after these statements, the panelists will respond to questions from the audience. i guess i could ask a question, i do not know if i will. or other panelists. the panelists, as i said, they have 10-15 minutes. then afterwards, when the panelists are done we will

[applause] [laughter] >> that actually is ronald reagan's joke! [laughter] thes apt today because challenges we face, specifically around journalism, ethics and democracy all have roots in the reagan administration. students, you cannot understand the present without understanding the past. so i want to go back to the future for a moment. but before i do, some words of introduction. my talk will address three points, one is the religious disposition of our country, 2 the crisis facing the news the ethical, challenges facing not just journalists but all citizens. to be clear, i speak as someone who believes we leave and a -- we live in a dangerous time. the behavior and policies of our current administration in my opinion threaten not only the health and welfare of all americans, but also the future of our civil society, our democracy and the safety of our world. so -- [applause] i should not smile, that is not a smiling moment. so back to ronald reagan. 1980,eagan was elected in america's international prestige was at a low point. domestically, in

so i really did not have much interaction, but i will say that i think president ronald reagan's presidency was successful for many reasons. two i will cite that pertain to me. one is i was actually independent. i was not very much involved in politics at all. but president reagan's inaugural message, and his goals of smaller government, stable monetary policy, less regulations, really resounded with me. that kind of, kind of like touched a chord that made me realize i am actually conservative. so president ronald reagan was actually able to reach out to parts of the population that did not view themselves as republicans, who nevertheless connected with his message. secondly, because he had such simple but clear principles, it was actually relatively easy to be in his administration, because you knew what he stood for. and every day when he went to work, you knew the principle that you are supposed to follow to carry out daily tasks. host: george h bush, you had a number of appointments, including peace corps director. elaine: i was in his administration, as well as being the peace corps di