Ronald reagan biographer and historian craig surely joining us once again on the washington journal. On the same day that Bob Woodwards highprofile book on President Trump officially gets released. In a run up to that release today you tweeted about it. Sing unlike other american president s, Ronald Reagan never fell into the bob woodward trap. What is the bob woodward trap . Guest i guess i have known bob for many years, i have played poker at his house. He is a very, very charming man. It has a way about him. He works his way into peoples confidence in virtually every president since Richard Nixon has sat down to do a lengthy, extensive interviews with bob. Im to their old ultimate regret, they did so. President reagan is one who didnt. I checked in the library yesterday and nowhere in his eight years of presidencies, his diaries, his records, and his journals or anything did he ever meet with bob woodward. So reagan was spared the headache of having to deal with bob woodward book about his presidency that he might not have liked priest mike is it just far but woodward they would have concerns about as a communication professional advisor to a president . Or should any president be doing lengthy interviews to the tune of 18 phone calls totaling ten hours of interviews . Guest i would not advise any president to engage in that type of behavior. Or those lengthy conversations with any reporter whatsoever. Winston churchill, john, was famous for having once said, history will be very kind to me be because i intend to write it. John kennedy was very smart about it to print because he remembered what Winston Churchill said. And he brought his own historian on the white house staff, the jfk white house staff. He won its lessons are to write his history the way he wanted it. He did not went outside reporters come outside journals, outside historians to interpretation of his history. And if i was advising donald trump, yes talk to reporters, yes will press conferences. But these deep lengthy long introspections about you, your psyche, your presidency or whatever else, save that for your own memoirs. Save it for your own diaries like reagan did. Reagan kept his own diary for eight years until long after he was president. He wrote his inter most thoughts in those diaries. His inter most observations. He once wrote his diaries that insanity yuriy is hereditary, you catch it from your children. There is one political opponents that he described as a schmucker in a pompous notes about it one political opponent in the diaries. But remember the diaries are therapeutic. Because every night he sat down at his desk in the residence, and he expressed his innermost thoughts about people, issues, the Washington Post, whatever. And he never ever told anyone about them. And that is what i would advise donald trump, and all president s. Keep your own confidences, dont open up to everybody about everything for you keep your own diaries. And control your own history. Host Craig Shirley helping to give some Historical Perspective this morning, joining us once again on the washington journal. Always a good time to have you on. Any good time for callers to call in as well. If unit chat about these topics phone lines if you support the bidenharris ticket. If you support the trump pence ticket, if you are undecided or support others 20274800 to pay it have this conversation at less than 50 days from election day 2020. Craig shirley you just mention the Washington Post but heres one of their headlines about donald trump and how he is choosing to run for reelection. Calling him the permanent outsider. President trump they write has no idea how to run for reelection as an incumbent. Can a president run as an outsider . Guest yes. I love that question. The right type of president or the right type of individual can run as an outsider. Ronald reagan, was head of the National Government for eight years. But no one ever thought of Ronald Reagan as being of washington. He was always an outsider to the washington system. And even when he ran for reelection in 1984, he was fortunate to run against senator Walter Mondale who is the ultimate insider. Had been a washington insider since he worked in the senate in the 1960s. And then jimmy carters Vice President. Never cast himself as anything but a believer. A very good man too. Walter mondale was a very good american. A good patriot. I once interviewed him for a lengthy period of time he was utterly charming and utterly helpful with my book. But he did believe fervently in the uses of government to solve peoples problems. And therefore, that made him an insider. Ronald reagan was always an outsider to the system. You know, you think about issue issues, he always went against the establishment, the status quo on defense initiatives. On gorbachev, on tax cuts, on so many issues, write down the line through his eight years. He never saw himself as being part of what he called the washington buddy system. He was always an outsider. And he ran in 1984 as an outsider as a reformer to the washington buddy system. Craig shirley are our guest taking your phone calls. Edward starting with bob on california on the line to support President Trump in the election 2020. Bob go ahead. Caller i think President Trump make a good leader i think he will be even better than reagan. I voted for reagan but he thought he was rather liberal and some of his actions. What she proved by leaving all these illegals overeat in our at that time, here. So we had you known deal with them as far as working. Sue and i are still on there . Probably heard you. Guest may answer that . Versus 30 some years ago in different attitudes about illegal aliens in this country, illegal citizens in this country that we do now. Also as a minuscule number of people as compared to now. But the bigger issue, john, is that reagan was president for eight years in the shadow of the cold war. That fell over everything he did, including immigration. Note for five years he had been living in an global debate in the soviet union against brezhnev, later with gorbachev. He was on the world stage and he is casting freedom versus tyranny. Liberty versus enslavement. And he was winning the world debate. Now it would have been awkward for him, he handed gorbachev a big pr bonanza if he had forcefully evicted those several million illegals who were here at the time. It was better. By the way to comment many of those illegals had come from communist cuba, communist nicaragua, communist el salvador. They were political refugees. Youve always had different policy in this countrys First Political refugees as opposed to economic refugees. Its better to bring them into the american system. But also what he signed in 1986 which was the bill the gentleman was referring to allow the illegal citizens mostly from south america, mexico and cuba to stay in this country. Is that it did have strict requirements of learning english and paying back taxes. There were many restrictions that had to be met big or they could achieve citizenship. And unfortunately, the subsequent administration the george h. W. Bush did not enforce those rules and restrictions on the people who are here illegally. So the program just kind of faded away, disappeared so to speak. Host this is al, on that line for those who support President Trump, go ahead. Caller yeah, i just wanted to say how ridiculous this Democratic Party is. I mean years ago, it did not matter to me which party was in there. Now i think it is more important than ever to keep them out. If you look at us, they make up all of these lies. The media runs with it. Fifty books come out right before the election about how bad President Trump is. It is just a joke. Everybody knows what he has done and how quickly he has done it. When all of the time why he has been doing it, they have been doing nothing but writing his back the whole time. Impeachment, lies, lawsuits, it is just a joke. And when people want someone, like anyone in the Democratic Party and there, just blows my mind. Host Craig Shirley . Guest the loyal opposition has been writing the back of the incumbent president since the days of George Washington and the rebellion. The election of 1800 between adams and jefferson, the horrible things were said about both sides. In the election of 1860, lincoln was referred to a zig gorilla, and ape, and all sorts of things. The job of the loyal opposition is to oppose the party in power. And it has happened down to the ages. Its the counter balance in our representative system. And it is just part of the game. You cant have you nobody of opinion on anything in this country, nor should you. All sides need to be heard from. All sides need to be debated. That is the beauty of our system its really about compromise. The beauty of the american system has been we have compromise our way through our problems, really from the beginning. In fact the very nature of creation of the government was a compromise between the jeffersonian and how they viewed the establishment of the National Government. And so yes things get hot and heavy, awful things are said by both sides. But i think if you step back and put it in perspective, is that you realize this election is no more vicious or personal or filled with vindictiveness or nasty statements than previous elections. I made reference to russia in the 1860s, supporters of adams refers to jefferson as a horrible hermaphrodite with neither the firmness of the man or the softness of a woman. [laughter] i dont think anyone has called joe biden or joe biden that. Biographer, president ial historian, his latest book, the untold story of George Washingtons mother was released this past december. And he is with us for about the next 15 minutes. What is the next project youre working on . Guest john, i am working on finishing a book, april 1845 which is the companion book to my other book, one of the other books ive written december 1941. Which came out on the 75th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. It was a look at actually the domestic side. What happened in this country in those 31 days between december 1 and december 31. And what happened was remarkabl remarkable. It is astonishing. The moral, economic, national defense, political, cultural changes that happened in this country almost instantaneously. And i really had fun working on it. Because my family was deeply involved in world war ii, i hadnt uncle that was shot down and killed in the pacific in 1945 on his 20th birthday. I had a grandfather who tried to list three times but was turned away three times. They kept telling him you are 41 years old, youre blind as a bat. We are not that desperate. So he became a Civil Defense a block captain. Both of my grandmothers were rosie the riveters. Mamas a bomb inspector which i never got a chance to ask her about how she inspected bombs. The other tested machine guns. And then i did talk to her about it. Many times, my grandmother shirley. She worked at this factory in syracuse, new york. Shed stand there and machine guns would come down the line. She would pick it up, testfired at the range, set it down, the next him a come along as you testfired that. My mother had a Victory Garden which produced some of the the amount of vegetables that came out of Victory Gardens was quite impressive. Like 50 or 70 of all vegetables consumed in america during world war ii were produced by Victory Gardens. This little backyard patches behind peoples homes. My father was a boy scout and the federal government use the boy scouts to distribute promotional posters throughout america and restaurants, bars, Grocery Stores and churches. Loose lips sink ships and other promotional posters all during world war ii. So my family was very, very deeply involved. In a group as a child with sunday dinners. At either grandmothers house or my mothers house or my aunts house. We would go to church and go have sunday dinner with tablecloths, handkerchief linens, napkins, and a big turkey or big ham or roast beef or something. And invariably the conversation returned to the war. As my grandfather would say i had that de soto before the war but i sold it after the war. They would talk sacrifices they made during world war ii about the meat rationing, milk rationing, but are rationing, but are rationing, blackouts, brownouts, all of the sacrifice sacrifices. Sue any with as a longwave explaining why i wrote decembe december 1941. But i had so much fun writing it and i had a good response. So i decided to write a companion book which is april 1945. Which is the linchpin of the end of the war. Franklin roosevelt dies in april 1945 before the end of the war. Adolf hitler committed suicide april 1945, before the end of the war. It is discovered, or reveals to the world once and for all about the straw cities of germany and what they did to the jews in the polls, the gypsies, the homosexuals in europe. It is a terrible, terrible awful thing. And there were other things that happen in april 1945. Anyway i am finishing that. And then im working on several more books on Ronald Reagan as well as other projects. Might dance card is almost filled. Host always a busy man. About ten minutes left lots of calls for you. John spring hill, florida good morning. Caller how are you this morning . Host doing well go ahead. Caller im really confused about how people can look at donald trump and blame him for the fires in our countries and the things going on in our country this point in time. When you look at how negligent the democrats have been in the states, they havent controlled any of the fires in california. And the other question i had is, how can the United States solve Global Warming problems when no other country in this whole world contributes . Donald trump is brought to the attention of the American People that we are the only country that has contributed to Global Warming. Historically he brought every country to the table, showing that the American People have been taken advantage of for many years. Ronald reagan, when he ran california, he put into effect that if you were in california who had worked there for a certain amount of years before he could collect any type of welfare or any type of government subsidies. And when he became president , he also enforces rules. Host Craig Shirley . Guest thats an interesting point. That is always one of the debates of modern politics is how much, how soon, how often can the United States take leadership in the world. Especially now with the demise of the soviet union. That we stand alone today is the worlds only superpower. Although china is coming up quickly, red china. China is coming on quickly. Its always the debate over how much i think ultimately is that we do have an obligation to set a standard for the world. But not enforce it on the other others. There is a common there is a specific race of people called americans. And we are the melting pot. It is the wretched refuge of the nations of the world. But out of that, we produce good people i believe. I believe america is a great country. It is populated by good people. So that we tried to do the best we can. And part of doing the best we can is admitting our own mistakes and our own shortcomings. Showing the worlds we are not afraid of the truth. We are not afraid to improve on her own failings. So ultimately, it is in some place, there in that middle part between the 40yard line, we tried to do the best we can while setting an example for the rest of the world. We went oklahoma, this is chuck on the line for those supporting joe biden. Good morning. Caller yes, i have got a lot of problems with donald trump. I am the same age as he is, well i am actually six month older. But i am a vietnam that. And i disagree with him talking about people being people being stupid for being a vietnam vet. I heard him say it on televisio television. So i know he believes that. You know, and this is america and anybody can believe anything they want. But, i disagree with his belief beliefs. His father was a, was a racist. And he is a racist. And i dont like hearing that. Host Craig Shirley . Guest well, i think any American Family than as members of its family who served in the u. S. Military, which has to be considered the most honorable profession of all. Because if you are going to put your self as soon as you put on a uniform there is a risk you will take a bullet for this country. There is a chance you might have to lay down your life to save another american. And i think that is the most noble act of all. You are willing to give up your own life to defend others. My own family is my son is a navy corpsman. My nephew drove a tank in iraq for the u. S. Government. My father served in the korean war. His brother was in the marine corps. After world war ii we had an oldest uncle, my fathers oldest brother was shot down and killed in the pacific in world war ii. It goes back to my mothers great, great great grandfather, who was in the connecticut militia, went to boston to fight in 1776. And later joined the regular army and served under George Washington. He went to valley forge and lots and i do to smallpox, and later went to yorktown under washingtons command for seven years. So i can only look at this personally and say, if he said those things they were wrong. They were deeply wrong and deeply offensive. And i think that any family that has members of its family who served in the military should be offended by that and take that into consideration in november when they make their choice. Host just two or three minutes left. One more call for you its mike out of stockton, california. On the line for those on decide decided. Michael what is good help you make up your mind as we go to the last 49 days of election 2020 . Caller first of all good morning to you. All this other information keeps coming out, weird enough to wait and see. Stars trump this concern, all i know is there have been hurtful comments donald trump is made up out of his own mouth. The first one was about africa, haiti and whatever countries. He said that out of his own mouth. He came the next and tried to clear it up. S whatever country,. [inaudible] and the other thing that he said people come from sweden or norway or whatever set of people who were dark. It is clear. Now. [inaudible] in the 60s when i was nine years old. I was about the person that was a government that was aspiring where he really wanted to be, what he considered ahead of the most to powerful entities in the world. One was the ku klux klan and the other was the president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. You can look at Time Magazine i cant forget which one. So when i would let you go there so want to give Craig Shirley time to respond. Guest im sorry, i miss the collars points. Hes a rag and oppose the ku klux klan . Sue and im not sure what is going with that but wanted to give you time on the first point as well. Guest when he was a boy, his father refused to allow reagan and his brothers to see birth of a nation because of its racist content. Down through his life when he was a hollywood actor, long before was politically smart thing to do her good publicity, he was asked to join a country club out in los angeles. He found it had a restrictive policy that did not allow jewish members. So he actually resigned as a member of that country club because they refused to allow jews. This is a man of immense moral fiber and character who always did the right thing. As governor as private citizen as president , he oversaw people as individuals members or anything like that. When he was a college student, he was making a road trip to africanamericans on his team are not allowed to stay at the local hotel, we took the two teammates to his parents home where they were warmly welcomed by both of their parents. This is a man whose complete inability to understand anybody judging anybody the on they themselves judging about the content of their character as Martin Luther king once said. Host for plenty more in Ronald Reagan, plenty of books from Craig Shirley about that topic. As a president ial story and as welford we always enjoy you and appreciate you stopping by the washington journal. Guest thank you john very much. Oc oco oco hello, hello, i am chairwoman of the county commissioners and i am so excited to welcome you here to the county. As we prepare to welcome the Vice President , right here, i could not pick a better and more perfect day. Because we are in the kickoff and here in osceola county, women overwhelmingly hispanic population
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