like most conservatives of my generation, i was inspired by william f. buckley. i began reading "national review" as a high school student and can honestly say that to this day the base of my political thinking derives from two giants, bill buckley and friedrich hayek, both of whom will figure in my remarks. though i am today president of the national rifle association, i served for many years as chairman of the american conservative union, was a follower, a friend, and an ally of bill buckley, and i'm here today for that reason. as i was accepting this invitation i was reminded of what bill's brother jim told me he asked of his colleagues in seeking permission to attend the 40th anniversary banquet of the new york conservative party some years ago. jim as mallory pointed out, served a term in the united states senate as that party's nominee. and when i left the nixon white house, he asked me to be his executive assistant. jim eventually got a steady job as a highly respected federal appeals court judge. judges, you know, aren't supposed to participate in partisan

founded by the late william f. buckley, conservative legend perhaps there's not a publication that personifies the gop establishment, the wing of the party that mitt romney is part of. they said this, quote, release the returns. john kerry actually released returns from 1999 through 2003 and also released tax returns during his senate runs. as for teresa heinz, romney isn't the wealthy spouse of a candidate, but the candidate himself n 2008 john mccain released two years of returns, but he has been filing out financial disclosure forms for decades as a senator. what does mitt romney do on this issue where he's getting this much flack from the people that are closest to him? >> i think a lot of people thought they would try to ride this out. he has this trip internationally with -- themed around the olympics, then maybe make the vp pick. this story might go away. that might be something that they're still counting on, that they might try to do. you're right, the national review, that is, you know, another republican source

nation has made came despite conservative efforts to block it as famed conservative thinker william f. buckley said a conservative is someone who stands up for work history yelling stop at a time when no one is inclined to do so at each turning point to give more and more rights to americans to give more and more economic opportunity to more americans to make the workplace safety for more americans you name it conservatives have tried to stop it while progressives have fought bled and died to make sure these progressive things happen. and today nothing has changed today conservatives are yelling stop when it comes to marriage equality they're yelling stop when it comes to climate change legislation they're yelling stop when it comes to equal pay for equal work for women they're yelling stop when it comes to critical lifesaving stem cell research they're yelling stop when it comes to providing health insurance at an affordable cost to all americans they're yelling stop when it comes to immigration reform they're yelling stop when it comes to ending the failed richard nixon's failed drug war and

in history, david keene, president of the nra, talks about modern conservative fill offy of william f. buckley jr. who died in 2008 was the founder of national review magazine. david keene was a guest lecturer at sit dell military college in south carolina in a course called conservative intellectual. join us each sasat 8 p.m. and midnight for classroom lectures from across the country on different topics and errors of american history. "lecture in history" are also available as podcasts. visit our website at c-span.org/history/podcasts or download them from itunes. >> you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. for more information, follow us on twitter @cspanhistory. >>> during world war ii ruth cowan nash was a reporter for associated press, she traveled overseas covering stories on the war and often attached to women's army corps. coming up next an interview with ruth cowan nash from women in journalism project. this is about 50 minutes. >> well, let me ask you first, i time you. -- you did spend overseas in e the -- during world war ii. >> you did what thi

among the defenders of decentralization, the critiques of the new deal, you had people like william f. buckley and "national review" were defending southern, legally imposed racial segregation as, you know, local control. these people know best what they want. the sort of good-hearted defense of it that i think existed was if we don't have these rules in place, a lot of people are going to kill a lot of people. mostly, it's going to be white people killing black people and that's not good. too much blood thirstiness in this society. also black people killing white people and that's not good, either. i think that was the good hearted argument, that people didn't express publicly. the people that maintained this system would have told you if they were being exactly frank. you don't know how much those white people are going around killing these other people. we've had lynchings in the past. we don't see want to see that in the future. if you want an orderly society, we'll try to get black people treated a little more fairly and maybe even open up college for them and stuff. we're not going to --

president of national rifle association talks about the modern conservative political philosophy of william f. buckley jr. mr. buckley who died in 2008 was founder of "national review" magazine. david keene was a guest lecturer at the citadel college in charleston, south carolina. in a course called the conservative intellectual tradition in america taught by professor mallory factor. join us each saturday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern and sundays at 1:00 p.m. for classroom lectures from across the country on different topics and eras of american history. lectures in history are also available as podcasts. visit our website at c-span.org/history/podcasts. or download them from itunes. >>> during world war ii ruth cowan nash worked as a reporter for "the associated press." she traveled overseas to africa and europe covering stories on the war and was often attached to the women's army corps. coming up next, an interview with ruth cowan nash from the women in journalism promject. this is about 50 minutes. >> let me ask you first, i want to concentrate on the time you did spend overseas during world

. >> as william f buckley says, you are a pie pie row -- piromaniac. the government does president do anything. >> he just said that, where were you? in the bathroom? >> i had the thing in my ear. >> you were not listening. >> if you point out half of the salaries you will find a man on the moon 50 years ago. congratulations. >> five minutes later they say nobody ever said it. where are we going with this conversation? don't sit there and tell me you didn't say government goes no where. the government does nothing. >> government hinders business. >> you didn't say it that way. >> i screamed it that way a thousand different times. >> i got here on a road. the road was built by the government. >> it was between the opening and back. >> i don't think that was the argument. >> gavin said we talked about taxing and it was a good example. they said they are selling for upwards of $100,000 and two sold for $1 million because the government creates an artificial shortage. let's move on. unbelievable, you people. >> what do you mean by you people? >> i actually

even more so, the mayor of london who's the william f. buckley of politics.ven today's comments about iran and romney kind of fuzzing it, i mean this has not been a kind of demonstration of steadiness, a mention they were going to send. >> ron brown steen, good insight, thank you. ron. >> you can catch the full speed at 5:00, top of the hour. >>> it's day two. some of the swimmers are back in the pool and we are following their strokes. tically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. maybe even a little better. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. visit seemoresights.com for your chance to win the ultimate sightseeing dream vacation and more great prizes. brought to you by transitions lenses, the official sponsor of sightseeing. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where

quoting from a book about this chapter of history that i wrote, while william f. buckley and america's beloved tough guy, john wayne, yes that john wayne, campaigned full on for the rat faction of the treaty, reagan said the loss of the panama canal would contribute to encirclement of the united states by hostile naval forces and thereby threaten our ability to survive. even after john wayne sent reagan a private and personal note offering to show him point by goddamn point in the treaty where you are misinforming people and offering fair warning that's it's time for him to shut his pie hole, if you continue to publish these remarks, someone will release the letter saying that you're not as thorough in your reviewing of this or you're damned obtuse when it comes to reading the english language. he doubled down, and we ended up giving the canal back to panama, and the united states did not cease to exist. ronald reagan was totally wrong ability that being a major threat to us. from his private correspondence, it seems like ronald reagan knew that. but publicly, he carried

i think that william f. buckley jr. would be spinning in his grave.ot the republican party that used to be, you know, sort of disciplined and sort of organized and restrained. i think something -- the pin has come out. they've come a little bit unhinged. >> rush has a bain connection. premiere radio networks, which broadcasts rush's shows, is a subsidiary of clear channel, which is owned in part by bain capital, which apparently owns everything in the world that could in any way be helpful to mitt romney. but charles, rush himself has made your point many, many times. it's not about romney, romney's a flawed candidate. he's said it time and again. i think we actually have some sound bites of him doing it, but we don't need them. and it's all about defeating barack obama, getting him out of the white house. rush has never made it about anything other than that. >> right, right, right. and no -- romney's just a tool, right? >> yes! rush is plain about that. >> he's just thirsty. he just wants to get in so bad, he can taste it. he just wants to get in th

them, is that ty have really thrownoverboard what i see as one ofthe mot powerful stres osat william f. buckley, jr.'s very last book, or one of his very last books he wrote so many, was it the cold gratitude, where buckley tlked about our usurs ndteback to theie robert nisbet, as some of you may know, is riding is one of our -- u-boat a book called the quest for community. he was a great ritic of the nw ba iori by the new left because the new left was so interested in ideas of participatory democracy. i think the conservatives are going through what i hope is a pahtumu.ora veering off tha i think it's very important it's current form cannot succeed. becaus i think it goes aainst isatdi oer la ju ant us i would love to do q&a, and i'd particularly welcome dissenting questions from either my right or my lef it seems to me when you go back -- many ofoum e an tegnghaohe of the heart, they talk about how commit really want to understand the american idea you have to understand that we have sortof two streams of individuals toluence us, and to treams ofcommitghin. ifi ran self improving sort of cons

pretend your care -- >> if you expended the energy to put your hands in the air -- >> thank you william f buckleyo the yard. >> that's a lot of yard. >> unless they are lactose intolerant. [ laughter ] >> ronnie in richmond virginia. hi, ronnie. >> hey how are you doing steph? >> i'm good how are you? >> fantastic. hope you are loving the heat. it is hot here in richmond. >> well, i'm not in richmond, but thank you, yes. >> what i would like to bring to your attention, i watch the news all the time, and it seems to me that the government is controlling what is put on to the news and they let us know what they want us to hear and a lot of things slip through the cracks that are never brought up. i'll give you an example -- >> like what? >> i'll give you a good example. >> okay. >> when -- when bin laden was killed, they sent the navy seals in there, right? >> yes. >> why didn't they just take an m-60 tank and there and blow the place up -- >> because they were detroy evidence -- >> and kill innocent people -- >> well, if they would have taken him hostage, and brought him home we would have got a l

he was askedome time before di wheug authat ha beer cate movement and answered it in a very william f. buckleyay. he replied the movement was in need of repressed naon-rep --repristinati --repristination. which probably sent people to the dictionary. i don't know if that answers your question. i miss him terribly and i often mentallyeachor t phone to h t soin in some ways i am glad he is not around to see it. >> i am here because o the book you wrote about your late parents andeled tit ouishe times when there could be an element of complexity among politic persona? i grew up with a father who was a registered republican. always voted republican. hewaa d oth eson. socially i didn't realize there were certain things that were ises. i didn't realize being gay was tant.ue or -- we were taught to is i he t cld a immigrant. i think that depression informed his being a republican but at the same time, he could embrace c rpe -heas very dn't era voltaire in his views. i miss him desperately but i find that is missing. we have become a nation of a lot of fundamentaltsseto mendnkt j or my perception. >>

we all remember william buckley's famous admonition to deservives, he said that the role of conservatives is to -- quote -- "stand athwart history yelling 'stop'" william f. buckley. the role of deservives is to stand athwart history yelling 'stop'." we will, congress paled social security providing basic retirement security for every american. republicans yelled "stop." 75 years later they they're still trying town do social security. in 1965 president johnson and the president passed medicare. ensuring seniors access to decent health care coverage. the republicans yelled "stop." they fought it bitterly. 45 years later they're still trying to undo medicare. well, here they go again. here they go again in trying to undo the affordable care act. as i said before, they are on the wrong side of history. i think we should listen to the american people, leave our ideological obsessions behind. we need to work together to make the law even better. the choice is to go forward or to be dragged backward. it is time to come together as a united american people to create a rue formed health care system that works not just for the healthy and the wealthy but for all