susan swain: thank you. michael: my question is, politically, was there a position or ideology that they sometimes disagreed upon or that the staff disagreed upon? susan swain: ok, thank you. were there any issues that the reagans did not see eye-to-eye on? carl m. cannon: well, not that i know of, but the staff, absolutely, and there was open warfare on many issues, the most important issue, iran-contra, dealing with the soviet union, and nancy would push -- and nancy had a point of view and she would push on the soviet union. she thought -- she believed strongly in negotiating with mikhail gorbachev, and she pushed -- she didn't push reagan, because they saw eye-to-eye, but she pushed back against staffers who she thought didn't have his agenda at heart. carl m. cannon: now, you have to think about this. there's differences in the reagan administration over armament talks with the soviet union. there's not a difference of opinion in the reagan family. nancy knew where reagan was. he was there in '76, the c

susan swain: thank you. question is, politically, was there a position or ideology that they sometimes disagreed upon or that the staff disagreed upon? susan swain: ok, thank you. were there any issues that the reagans did not see eye-to-eye on? carl: well, not that i know of, but the staff, absolutely, and there was open warfare on many issues, the most important issue, iran-contra, dealing with the soviet union, and nancy would push -- and nancy had a point of view and she would push on the soviet union. she thought -- she believed strongly in negotiating with mikhail gorbachev, and she pushed -- she didn't push reagan, because they saw eye-to-eye, but she pushed back against staffers who she thought didn't have his agenda at heart. now, you have to think about this. there's differences in the reagan administration over armament talks with the soviet union. there's not a difference of opinion in the reagan family. nancy knew where reagan was. he was there in '76, the campaign that judy was talking about. g

susan swain: it took him a while.anson: it was an agonizing period when the president did not want to recognize this was taking place. ultimately what he said was, it happened and i didn't -- i can't believe it happened. it was a sort of a convoluted explanation but he did say that ,, in essence it was a mistake , and that broke the ice and the american people turned at that point. susan swain: i want to underscore this. we are talking about the image and influence of the first ladies. if i was a biographer this was a , key moment. carl cannon: this was an important contribution. and she had many of them. we were talking earlier about the dinner in 1982 but people forget, by the second term, by 1986, reagan at the white house correspondents dinner is joking about nancy's influence. he says don regan and nancy had a lunch and they each brought their tasters. and so by the second term, , nancy's influence is acknowledged on the staff and on policy. kirby hanson: she is never acknowledged as much as others did but it was

susan swain: now, there's a much too long and complicated political story to be told about ronald reagan's career from leaving the governorship in '75 and mounting his first presidential challenge one later -- one year later in 1976. but let's look at it from the first lady's perspective. what was nancy's role in encouraging ronald reagan to seek the challenge against gerald ford in 1976? judy woodruff: there was a group of influential, al

susan swain moderated a discussion about how his or he might hurt nancy reagan's legacy will stop here is a clip. >> nancy davis was an actress in the blacklistng area. she found her name on a blacklist. she was a young actress without much clout. she go to theted screen actors guild and he would help her. ronald reagan. into a longturned dinner and romance and ultimately she was aware of his lyrical ambitions because the screen actors guild was very much involved in politics. she had some early missteps in washington. was always known throughout their political partnership as the person who had his back. she was called the personnel director. she watched everybody that's rounded that president and made sure they were with him first and foremost and of a were not, they were -- >> ronald reagan really was as nice a guy as he appeared. he was as close to being without guile as any president in american history. he believed the best in people. he did not automatically assume that people had agendas of their own, which is all admirable traits, but it places a particular word in on someone

we have a feature with c-span's susan swain and richard norton smith, discussing the book "first ladiesand the first lady's project that has been crucial. first ladies, presidential historians, the lives among 45 iconic women. a book that was produced out of it was in conjunction with the year-long series produced by c-span entitled "first ladies: influence an image." i will very shortly handed over to the experts to run the program. when he briefly say --let me briefly say -- who are these people sitting in the room? c-span.ain, co-ceo of a long history with a network. she was an on camera host for more than 30 years and interviewed murmurs public officials and historians. she has edited other c-span historical publications, including abraham lincoln, great american history's on her 16th president. and the sum in court -- the supreme court, a c-span book featuring justices in their own words. joining us is richard norton smith, an authority on the american presidency. he has held numerous directors of presidential libraries, which i am envious of. all the different titles he has brough

in march of next year we will welcome susan swain and richard norton smith to discuss their new book, first ladies. we continue to add new content about martha washington, and we acknowledge the charm, grace and wisdom of mary wiseman, our own very special martha washington, who delights and educates visitors here on the state. it is impossible, as we will learn tonight, to fully know george washington and understand him and mount vernon without knowing the story of martha washington. in 1816 john adams posed this question: would washington have ever been commander of the revolutionary army or president of the united states if he had not married the rich widow of mr. custis? so as you know, ever-jealous of the deep affection shown by the american people to washington in both life and death, he frequently cited washington's stature, his rugged good looks and his luck in marriage as evidence that that's all that took him to where he got to. [laughter] so in her book, flora fraser turns adams' rather derisive question on its ear and makes the argument that, in fact, washington's marriage

we have a feature with c-span's susan swain and richard norton smith, discussing the book "first ladies" and the first lady's project that has been crucial. first ladies, presidential historians, the lives among 45 iconic women. a book that was produced out of it was in conjunction with the year-long series produced by c-span entitled "first ladies: influence an image." i will very shortly handed over to the experts to run the program. when he briefly say --let me briefly say -- who are these people sitting in the room? c-span.ain, co-ceo of a long history with a network. she was an on camera host for more than 30 years and interviewed murmurs public officials and historians. she has edited other c-span historical publications, including abraham lincoln, great american history's on her 16th president. and the sum in court -- the supreme court, a c-span book featuring justices in their own words. joining us is richard norton smith, an authority on the american presidency. he has held numerous directors of presidential libraries, which i am envious of. all the different titles he has brou