Conservative heroes 14 leaders who shaped america, from jefferson to reagan next on booktv. [inaudible conversations] that afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon. Special welcome to those watching us on cspan2 booktv today. Our mission is to help policymakers and the public role in their understanding of the freedom and free markets, we are committed to this work because Research Shows these principles represent the best path way to Economic Growth and prosperity for every person regardless of background, regardless of circumstances. You can find out more about our work at johnlot. Org. We are delighted to have with us entrepreneur and author garland tucker iii who will tell us about our countrys great conservative leaders leaders to embrace the principle i described and that helped to propel our country forward. In his latest book, conservative heroes 14 leaders who shaped america, from jefferson to reagan will beyonce able to our interesting guest following the presentation. Garland tucker iii is a highly successful entrepreneur. A publicly traded companies in raleigh, n. C. The president , ceo and chairman. He also holds a b. A. From washington and lee university. In Harvard Business school. In 2010 he authored the high tide of american conservatism. David coolidge and the 1924 election. I am honored to introduce to you the author of conservative heroes 14 leaders who shaped america, from jefferson to reagan, garland tucker iii. [applause] thank you. Thank you all for coming. I am glad to be here. We have a lot to cover today so i will jump right in. In the introduction to this book, the name of it is conservative heroes 14 leaders who shaped america, from jefferson to reagan. We do have a lot to cover today. In introducing the book i have used the quote from secretary of war newton baker. One of his friends late in his career, looking back on his career as a conservative. This is the quote, he said i was one of a faithful band fighting a battle for philosophy as old as the republic itself. The book begins with a definition of american conservatism which i offer to you is a philosophy as old as the republic itself. And it traces development in implementation of this philosophy through 200 years of American History in the lives and writings of this faithful band, in this case, 14 meters. Some of these leaders are very well known. Jefferson is the first one mentioned but some of them are not well known at all, and are relatively obscure. Just an aside on this i got to pick my own 14 heroes and as an eddie said in her forward to this book not everybody would pick the same 14, you may want to add your own heroes or exclude some that i dont like, it sparks some debate and examining these leaders it allows us to bring the foundational principles of conservatism into sharp relief and into action overtime. I begin with a look, the basic tenets of conservatism and i suggest there are five concepts foundational, most conservatives would agree with these five concepts. There are some that could have been added but these are pretty basic. It is not necessarily an exalted list but most conservatives would be comfortable with lease. The first concept i would offer is what i would call a realistic view of human nature. Let me explain what i mean by that. Conservatives believe there is nothing in Human History that would suggest that man is perfectible. Left to his own devices man tends to reverts to violence, aggression, Patrick Henry and other founders often wrote of, quote, the depravity of human nature, of this feat of human nature from accepting progressive notions that mankind is inevitably advancing and getting better, it would suggest mankind is perfectible end in fact that government is the means to achieve that perfection. Conservatives dont agree with that and we think there is plenty of intrinsic evidence that would suggest otherwise. Conservatives believe the American Republic was founded not through reforming human nature but to establish boundaries within which human nature might flourish. The second principle, because of mans fallen nature the primary roles of government are just two, number one is to establish order and number 2, to freezer of liberty. A conservative beliefs our liberty is not granted by the government but is godgiven and therefore it is up to government to help preserve that liberty. It is fair to say it there is definite tension between these roles a team general the conservative could advocate maximum degree of personal liberty while maintaining the most basic level of order. At the very beginning of the republic there was the real threat of anarchy and this was something the founders certainly fear. They did not want the new government to sink back to any form of an arty but at the same time they recognized the threat of anarchy they were worried about government encroaching on personal liberty so they were seeking a balance in this and we will see in the very first chapter of the book the balance is addressed. Third principle closely linked to the second, a conservative recognizes the two primary roles of government i just mentioned but a conservative stops at that point and says there really is no third world of government, no significant third role of government. In other words government should be limited. Jefferson spoke for most of the founders in his first inaugural address when he said these words. A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. The founders feared any governmental power that extended beyond the barista protection of liberty could itself become a threat to liberty. The fourth point i offer as a basic challenge is Property Rights and human rights, inseparable bound together, in john lockes the use of property. Predates the american revolution, paul johnson the historian, all the founders derive from john locke and notion that security of ones property was intimately linked to ones freedom. The fifth and final point of conservatism or a tenet of conservatism is the social and political life of the community and a country depends on private virtues, virtues individuals hold. The marxist critique ran ville hicks once wrote contemptuously, is quote was the tory has always insisted if men would cultivate the individual virtues, social problems would take care of themselves. Carries more than a grain of truth in that. Edmund bork often called the father of modern conservatism wrote what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue . It is the greatest of all possible evils. Conservatives draw history believe virtues flowed from a particular culture, a culture that individuals hold, and that is judaeochristian virtues. These the five fundamental concepts, very introductory chapter to the book and again i think almost all conservatives would agree on all five of these. The remainder of the book, the big majority of the book deals with 14 lives and that is what i want to do today is ripped through this quickly. Got a lot of ground to cover and i will try to do it quickly. Let me say up front it will not do justice to any of these 14 leaders, i hope i can pick your interests in little bit and hope you will be interested in reading the book and hopefully you will want to pursue all 14 of these and there are some good biographies of each of these men. That reminds me, let me say up front, why are none of the 14 women . I looked pretty hard, tried to figure out a way to work Margaret Thatcher in but couldnt figure out how she could fit into the shaping of American History although she had some impact. It was very much my hope when this book is updated by somebody else and i believe there will be, i dont believe the fourteenth leader is the final leader but i hope there will be some Women Leaders highlighted. I dont think there will be one as good as Margaret Thatcher. Okay. 14 leaders. We begin with jefferson and madison. The first chapter is on these two men. It focuses very narrowly on the 12 years before jeffersons election as president , 1800, madison following 188 obviously there has been lots and lots written on jefferson plenty on madison as well so there is nothing i would offer that is new in what i have written but this chapter does two things. It ties the thesis that american conservatism is as old as the republic endangers it back to the beginning of the republic and by focusing on that narrow 12 year period, i think that is the best period to see the development of jefferson and madisons views on limited government which is one of the foundational stones of american conservatism. Jefferson, madison, enjoy it a 50 yearyear friendship that spend 50 years and their correspondence is on a bunch of topics. If you focus on these 12 years these were the 12 years they were in the opposition opposing the Federalist Party and centralized government. Jefferson and madison were wrestling with the two primary purposes of government, the establishment of a quarter and the preservation of liberty ended is interesting to read their letters. They didnt see exactly eye to eye. Jefferson in general would come down more on the preservation and protection of individual liberty. Madison a little more on the establishment of quarter. On the relative scale of famous they were both very much believers in limited government. Madison wrote these words. The essentials characteristic of the federal government should be composed of limited and enumerated powers later defenders of jeffersonian principles with quote a maxim from Thomas Jefferson that we think now he probably didnt say but he probably would have claimed it and that is government is best which governs least. That is the beginning of the book, tied to the beginning of the republic. Second chapter, considerably less wellknown, John Randolph of virginia and nathaniel of North Carolina. Out of curiosity how many of you know about nathaniel . I know troy does, a few hands go up. This was an interesting chapter because they are not wellknown and deserve to be better known than they are. In some ways they were the quintessential political odd couple. They have 30 year friendship which spanned airtime in congress, making randolph was from virginia, megan was speaker of the house under jefferson, randolph was the leader of what was called the republicans in the house, and they shared lodging together in washington for this 30 year period so they were very close personally but different personalities. Megan could be described as scholar cautious, reserved, even somewhat severe. Socially very democratic, very down to earth. Randolph on the other hand was brilliant, intellectually brilliant, volatile spontaneous, observant socially aristocratic. So they didnt fit the same mold personally but they were very close friends. Under jefferson, and did the jefferson and madison administrations, megan and randolph started that period is leader is speaker of the house, leader in the house that it wasnt long before in their view the view of most historians, jefferson and madison became more expansive on their view of limited government and meghan and randolph werent determined to hang on to what they viewed as the principles of 1800 which would they fought with the old republic philosophy. Russell kirk was a very conservative thinker writing in the 1950s gives randolph in particular and often taking credit for preserving those concepts of limited government, extremely consistent over 30 years in office and oftentimes very lonely. After megan was not elected speaker of the house and randolph was not reelected or selected, they headed of faction, latin for the third famous, the old line hardcourt jeffersonian republicans thought too expensive, a quick quote russell kirk said of randolph there is nothing in american political philosophy more brilliant than John Randolphs speeches. There are quotes in the book from that and if you have a chance go back and read some of them quite extraordinary. A couple of using famous, when he retired in 1828 nearly 40 years in congress, ten members give as many negative vote. Meghan probably still jesse helms was contending, had been made an out on that but still some controversy about that. A close friend and megans once said should happen to be drowned, up the stream of. The passing the last of the romans, both of these men were very well regarded in their day. The third chapter is the most controversial of the 13 leaders, john c. Calhoun. As amity right in her forward, quote, calhoun and support of slavery has been enough to see him wiped out from childrens textbooks, yet the omission leaves younger citizens in the dark about valuable history. I submit amity is right on that. All of us regret calhoun was the founder of slavery, it is sad that his career is overshadowed by that fact because his writings for the majority of his career is focus was on the national bank, centralization schemes, playing americans plan and other plans like that and defense of slavery came later in his career calhoun in john f. Kennedys book profiles of courage for his courage and honesty, hailed as one of the truly great u. S. Senators and russell kirk recognized in calhoun and randolph the beginnings of the american conservative tradition. From calhoun we will be over the civil war and into the 1880s and land on a figure who is not very wellknown, grover cleveland. Grover cleveland was the last conservative democrat to serve as president. Doesnt get much credit from his fellow democrats today. Cleveland i suggest was a very Formidable Political character, formidable intellectually as we will see in a minute also formidable physically 280 palace ounds cast quite a figure and his rise to the presidency is meteoric which he went from a mediocre lawyer in buffalo to mayor of buffalo, governor of new york to president of the united states. And there is a quote in a letter to cleveland from one of his friends, he had been in the white house a few months and i still wake up rubbing i eyes, could i possibly be here . Too much to imagine in three short years. His main biographer wrote in some ways cleveland was an ordinary man but he imposed himself upon his time in a way that no media command couldocre man could for a moment have done and it is interesting that in that period the Republican Party was the party of centralized government and cleveland was the only democrat elected between the civil war and woodrow wilson. He came in with some very basic jeffersonian views of limited government. Scrupulously honest in a corrupt period and was very focused on preserving personal liberty. He was relentless in his pursuit of economy and limited government and exercise 500 vetos which is still a record. Most of those were spending bills. I will read you just these three words from one of his veto messages from 1887. The prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of the federal governments power and beauty should be steadfastly resisted to the end that the lesson should constantly be enforced those who support the government the government should not support the people. That is a comment conservatives everywhere can agree on. From cleveland we jump over the progressive era, the era of Teddy Roosevelt and woodrow wilson, the high tide of american progressivism the 1912 election and we landed in the middle of the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge and andrew mellon. I submit to you that coolidge was the most successful conservative president in history and mellon was his key partner in that. Let me explain why i say that. Coolidge and mellons record can boast several things. That reduce taxes, instituted significant tax reform, reduced the marginal incometax rate from over 70 present to below 70 reduced federal regulation ignited a great economic boom and finally, this is most critical, they actually reduced the size of the federal government and that last point is the point that the first three points i things that could have been said about reagans tenure, the last point was one of reagans objectives, republicans cannot controlled congress, to reduce the size of the federal government but to do these things was a very successful president and popular president. One of the interesting concepts, not only believes an economy, and moral reasons for it. A famous quote from him was the policy of the economy not to say money to save people, he is really afraid of people becoming dependent on the government on a moral issue. To write about that, really confident, i was pretty sure nobody would know anything about Josiah Bailey when he asked does anybody know anything about josiah daily . John hood does. Not many hands. Joy as i and bailey was from North Carolina was actually from raleigh, spent his carinthia in raleigh. And served as a democratic senator from North Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s. He lead congressional opposition to roosevelts new deal. The two primary focuses of this chapter, the first one organized and led a successful fight to defeat fdrs Court Backing scheme, roosevelts plan, so much of his legislation was overruled 54 by the Supreme Court, they decided the answer was put more justices john on bailey reacted, he responded immediately to this organized support and was successful in killing that theme which was the first pushback against the new deal after roosevelt that stunning reelection in 1936. The second example of bailey and leadership followed very closely the fight on the Supreme Court and that was not as wellknown, end he actually wrote and sponsored a document called which came to be known as the conservative manifesto of 1937. It has been compared to Newt Gingrichs contract with america. Their were ten points, basically for 0 free market, it wasnt any new deal specifically but new conservative underpinnings of it made it very objectionable to roosevelt and the new deal. Whichever you want to do for manifesto and advocating for it. While it was unsuccessful, it was the first attempt to create a Bipartisan Coalition conservative Bipartisan Coalition in congress, and the groundwork that bailey did on working with the manifesto was used by the next person, robert taft. Actually thats not quite true. Taft is two chapters over. One more democrat before taft. Davis was a contemporary of coolidge. He actually ran for president in 1924 ran against coolidge, when he was defeated by coolidge he continued to become the most outstanding lawyer of his day. He was viewed by virtually by anyone as greatest lawyer in history. He argued more cases in the Supreme Court except for daniel webster. His real contribution came in the 1930s 40s and even into the 50s when he took he did a legislation primeary Supreme Court and was successful. Roosevelt gave him the nickname public enemy number one. Interestingly davis greatest victory came in 1952 when he was 79yearold. He argued on the winning side of the case, at which time truman was president. The court ruled the truman spill mills was unconstitution. The pending case of the Supreme Court over obamas immigration actions is supposedly the case in dedeciding deciding the immigration case. Now, robert taft, Time Magazine had a quote had a cover article about taft when he was a u. S. Senator. U. S. Politicians like to brag about coming from nothing coming up with no family health, wealth. They said quote taft came up from plenty h. His father was the only man to serve as president and chief justice of the Supreme Court. His father had been an attorney general. Taft was number one at hopkins number at yale and harvard law school. In the words of Time Magazine, he came up from plenty. But he was an interesting politicians, in some ways like coolidge, he was very reserved man of not too many words who was incapable of small talk or back slapping, but use universally respected for his intellectual honesty. Hes one of the main chapters in jfks profiles and courage. He basically layed the ground work for the conservative in the last half of the 20 century by cementing the con congressional nomination. Ran in 1952 but never made. He wrote quite a chapter in american conservative history. Okay, the last chapter. And the last chapter focuses on three modern, or almost mod eastern, depending on how old you are William Buckley Ronald Reagan. I think its very interesting the extent to which the lives of these three men were very, very intertwined and i would suggest that it start with buckley when he burst on the National Scene in the early 1950s. Conservativism was viewed as a dead a dead philosophy. It was hard to find anybody to say he was a conservative. The consensus was that the new deal liberalism had won. There really wasnt much of a dialogue. The only choice was a Democratic Party maybe more to the left and not any force that would call conservatism. Buckley conceived more than what the public realized. He was determined to become the individual voice of what he called responsible conservatism. He pulled together in founding the National Review and going around the country speaking and debating. He pulled together strengths traditional, conservative, pulled them into a cohe group and he ran some of the coo just became the voice of conservatism. And buckley was so attractive and so intelligent and so obviously intellectual that she he was the perfect candidate to demolish myth that the conservatism was a national force. As he began to have success, it played in the arena. Buckley was very involved in that movement. And even though gold water was defeated in 1954, the Campaign Launch Ronald Reagan campaign in california which launched reagan on the way to the presidency. Reagans victory was the triumph a recent edition of the economist magazine made this observation. It said that the idea set forth in the conscious of conservative led him to losing but it is striking how much goldwater for country. These three men really dominated the last half of the 20th century. And i think as we look at the Republican Party today, i dont know i kind of lost track of how many candidates there are 14 or 18, whatever it is. All of them say they are conservative. I feel like they have to say theyre conservative to get nomination. Goldwater, buckley and reagan. Finally in summing up the 14 im going to give you a summary. I never thought of myself as a great man, just a man commit today great ideas. Ive always believed that individuals should take piratey over priority over the sate. History has thought me that sets america apart. Jefferson, reagan. I want to thank you all for letting me come today and if we have time we well have a few questions. How about that . [applause] here we go. As far as i know nothing biblical about 14 or nothing too well, double seven i guess. Maybe there is something biblical about it. But as i went through there were people that i really thought about adding and took out and as i went through there were couple like bailey that i hasnt known so much about. I didnt start out by saying that i have to find 14. Okay. Who were those who quite didnt make the cut that you thought about or didnt quite get into that well, lets see. I started on the chapter on bailey. I start today make started to make it burkely carter glass. Maybe because bailey is so obscured i thought it would be more fun to write about him. I did think about andrew jackson, i dont know, sort of a mix, several ways to read his career and i wasnt quite comfortable with that. Also on the chapter of macon and Randolph Taylor was a name he would have been a good fit with the old republicans, but i decided to limit it to macon and randolph. And then there were a couple of other democrats like samuel he didnt have the impact that cleveland did. You mentioned about conservatism. It appears that no one who says theyre conservative will govern as conservative, they all expand government. Well, thats our challenge. Let me back up one second and make one thing clear. Several people have asked me about the final chapter. I dont think thats the final chapter of conservatism. I think youre right. If you look back at the leaders who have been successful, i suggest look at coolidge and reagan also, i mean, cleveland is just a great example. He vetoed stuff right and left and didnt care what the public he said what good is it to be elected if you dont stand for anything. He was adamant about continuing in that course. Coolidge is a great example. He met literally every friday of his administration, he met for at least half a day with the budget director and went through the budget line by line marking things out. He was determined to reduce the size and scope of government, and if you dont have that focus, its probably not going to happen. Thats one of reagans attribute. He didnt have many good ideas or maybe any ideas and you know, i think we would say that one of his great strengths was he had a handful as he said, great ideas and he was focused on implementing them. You dont need to many ideas if you make sure you implement them. Okay. Out of curiousty you said we were going to skip over the progressive. You consider Teddy Roosevelt as progressive . Oh, yeah. Roosevelt is a fairly multifaceted person. He was way out there. [laughs] he was arguably certain less progressive when he was president , but no question that he was the first progressive elected president , and you know, by the time he died in 1919 he appeared to come back to the Republican Party because he waited wilson so much. I think he was arguably less progressive certainly than he was in 1912. Yeah, if you look at essentially Coolidge Coolidge started his career very successful political career moved up to massachusetts, but he was a roosevelt progressive and he increasingly became more and more conservative. E echoing, who would you be watching today . [laughs] i think you know, back to the question a minute ago from the gentleman across the table oftentimes we dont know, if you look back at 1880s even the democrats who elected cleveland supported cleveland didnt know what kind of president he was going to be. He was in the office for such a short period of time. People werent quite sure what he was going to be so its difficult to be sure exactly who youre electing, but and its dangerous to look at what worked for two or three people in history and absolutely apply it to somebody today. I cant help to two really defining events were how coolidge handled the Boston Police strike of 1919 where he it was a very controversial strike and the red scare and all of that was going on coolidge thought very hard to come up with a solution so he finally just acted to break the strike. One of his top political advisors said if you sign that your political career is over and coolidge said, youre probably right and signed it. He issued a statement that no one has the right and that quote resinated with people and was responsible for him being nominated as Vice President in the 1920. Thats how he handled the strike really defined him in the publics mind. And then the famous with reagan with the air controller strike which sent a very strong message both domestically and internationally that reagan said what he he meant what he said and said what he meant. Thats one of the reasons that the potential campaign is resinating with people because they actually saw on tv how much pressure he took up there and i think thats what we what we conservatives are hoping will get somebody in there scott walker or somebody else really govern with the principles that they talk about when theyre running but will actually implement them once they get in. Okay. One last. Was John Randolphs daughter married to robert lee . No, there was robert e. Lee was married to like George Washingtons granddaughter or great granddaughter or Something Like that. But randolph was
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