Ronald reagan from 1976 to his election of president in 1980. From washington journal, this is about 45 minutes. Is Craig Shirley, the the author of reagan rising. The decisive years, 1976 to 1980. He is here to discuss that book which examines president reagans political ascendancy after losing the nomination for president in 1976. Thank you for joining us today. So youve written several books about president reagan. Why did you focus on this particular era, this 1976 to 1980 in this book . Guest its a missing chapter to his life and its very important because without the developmental years of 76 to 0 he doesnt become president. After he lost the nomination to gerald ford people said all right hes been around the track twice. He tried in 6768 and lost tried in 76 and lost. Now hes 65 years old. The issues have moved beyond him. The campaign, the parties have moved beyond him. And he and mrs. Reagan thought otherwise. Even after the 76 campaign, reagan can convened a meeting at his house in california. With his old Campaign Staff to let them know that they are going to run again. A lot of the staff was very reluctant with the exception of the californians around reagan and a lot of them actually moved on to other campaigns and candidates for 1980. Thats how reluctant they were to sign on one more time with reagans run. So this era is very, very important because not only is president carter presiding over the nation, but a lot of his policies are being rejected by conservatives. And theres a conservative enlightment thats taking hold in america over the panama canal treaties, and the creation of the heritage foundation, and prop 13. Theres a lot of creative conservative revolt going on across the country in this time period. Host with that frame minde of what was happening to the Republican Party. Remind our viewers what happened at the Republican National convention in 1976 and how it opened up some new wounds within the g. O. P. Like a battle between the establishment and outsider . Guest it is the quintessential battle between the insiders backing gerald ford and the outsiders backing Ronald Reagan. The entire Republican Party establishment from the the National Committee to the state parties to all the elected officials are all supporting gerald ford his nomination because wasnt renominated because he was appointed by nixon as his successer. So the entire establishment. And reagan has very little support among the republican establishment. Senator jesse helms of north carolina, phil crane, congressman from illinois and a few others but he ran an outsider rag tag operation. W hes supported most of the movement, human events, bill buckley, others, note worthy of the movement. But even so they couldnt entirely movement, human events, bill match the fire pow of the National Committee. So it is literally over 30 primaries and conventions over 76. Its a see saw battle. Ford wins the first five primaries. Reagan comes back and withins texas, indiana, georgia, alabama. Strongly. Thenford comes back and wins another handful of primary, tennessee, kentucky. Then reagan comes back and wins a lot of state conventions. So they go to the convention in cabs city in august of 1976 kansas city in august of 1976 not knowing who the nominee was going to be. It was that close. The First Time Since 1952 when republicans gathered in chicago not knowing who the nominee was going to be. Senator of ohio or general Dwight Eisenhower. So the situation is identical in that they gathered in the Convention City they dont know who the nominee is going to be. Host we are talking to Craig Shirley the author of reagan rising. The numbers are on the bottom f your screen. After during that convention, first lets take a look at president reagan at the 1976 convention. Hat he said there. The challenge is confronting us. The erosion of freedom that has taken place under democrat rule in this the challenge is country. The invasion of private rights. The the controls and restrictions on the vitality of the great free economy that we enjoy. These are our challenges that we must meet. And then again there is that challenge of which he spoke that we live in a world in which the great powers have poised and aimed at each other horrible missiles of destruction, Nuclear Weapons that can in a matter of minutes arrive at each others country and destroy. Virtually the civilized world we live in. And suddenly it dawned on me, those who would read this letter a hundred years from now will know whether those missiles were fired. They will know whether we met our challenge. Whether they have the freedoms that we have known up until now will depend on what we do here. Will they look back with appreciation and say thank god for those people in 1976 who headed off that loss of freedom, who kept us now 100 years later free, who kept our world from Nuclear Destruction . And if we failed, they probably wont get to read the letter at all because it spokes of individual freedom and they wont be allowed to talk of that or read of it. This is our challenge. And this is why here in this hall tonight better than weve ever done before weve got to quit talking to each other and about each other, and go out and communicate to the world that we may be fewer in numbers than weve ever been, but we carry the message theyre waiting for. We must go forth from here united, determined, that what a great general said a few years ago is true there is no substitute for victory. Cheers and applause] host that was then governor reagan speaking at the Republican National convention. Give us the background to that moment and why it was so significant. Guest ford has just won the nomination the the day before. He goes over the top. Reagan loses the nomination by 67 delegate votes out of 2,276 cast. Theres a lot of animosity between these two warring camps. A lot of bitterness. Ford has just given his acceptance speech which was uncharacteristically good. Ford was not a good public speaker but he practiced doing the speech. But he is presiding over a divided Republican Party and he is running 30 points behind governor carter in the polls in august of 76. He has to have a unified convention. Way to unify the convention is to ask governor reagan to say a few words. So reagan very, very reluctantly goes to the podium. But only af way to unify the convention is to ask governor reagan toter 17,000 assembled in the arena are all chanting and calling for him to come down. Now, this is grace under pressure. This is what john kennedy talked about grace under pressure. Because reagan gives the speech no notes, no teleprompter, no time to prepare. 17,000 people have all of their eyes on him and its being broadcast live on all three networks. Millions of people are watching at 17,000 people home. This is part of the speech that he gives which im convinced rivals 1964 speech for goldwater as his most important political speech. And it may be more important than 64 because while 64 sets m on a path to run for the california governorship, this speech sets him on a path to run for president in 19 0. Because afterwards, hes campaigning all through the california governorship, this speech sets him summer and fall of 76. Everywhere he goes people are eading with him, cops, firefighters, chamber maids, saying governor youve got to run one more time. Ost carol from texas. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I just wanted to ask something since youre a historian about Ronald Reagan, what do you think Ronald Reagan would do today given hes the man who asked gorbachev to bring down he wall in berlin and in germany. What do you think he would do given the interference and influence that putin is showing not only in our election but especially in brexit and in the dismantling of the european euro zone and the Common Market . I wonder what you think. Good question. Reagan was a party man. Once he switched to the Republican Party he supported g republicans of all stretch. A course he was running in primary against them, of course, like gerald ford. He didnt get involved in any primaries after 1976. As far as russia goes of course he was very a skeptical of and opposed deeply the soviet union. Of course now were dweeling Something Different not the soviet union but russia. None theless, putin is an olegark and would have been very skeptical of dealing too weakly with putin. I cant i think its dangerous for some historians say well, reagan would have done this or john kennedy would have done that. We dont know what they would done. Keptical of all we can do is go on their history. And their behavior as president of the United States. Reagan was very tough on the soviets and yet he was also signed the imf deal with gorbachev. I recall one situation where the soviets captured a western reporter by the name of nicholas dan love and accused him of being an american spy. And reagan retaliated by releasing the names of 1,000 soviet agents on rating in and around the united nations. Basic response was ok youre going to arrest him ill show you what i can do in response. He usually dealt with these and ions with strength determination. But to say what he would do today i think it would be reckless for me to say what reagan would do today. I can only go on what he did in the past. And determination. But to say what he would do today i think it would host bill from tennessee. Caller good morning. I was just wanting to ask the form his w did 1968 thoughts for the four years . What was it i believe Ronald Reagan was the last person to ever announce on the day of the first day of the convention. How did that form his thoughts . What was that like . A lot of people dont talk about that a whole lot. Guest talking about 68. Right . 68 taught him he needed to prepare better to run for president. People dont realize how close he came. And youre right, he announced s can dassy in 6968 in miami beach that year. Of course Richard Nixon won that nomination but nixon had a very, very tenuous hold on the Republican Party nomination. Of course they polled alphabetically in those days, alaska, arizona, arkansas. And nixon did not get the nomination until wisconsin. Until the ws. Reagan actually had three, 400 delegate votes at the convention. And if he had started earlier, and worked it more aassiduously he may well have won the nomination in 1968. So that did teach him that he late clerveend a meeting with some campaign aids and talked about the future. But of course nixon was elected in 68. It looked like he was going to serve for two terms. And then the question became would reagan be too old by 1976 because he would be 65 at that point and would there be another candidate. Of course John Connelly was Richard Nixons and nixon wanted to ensure that connelly got the the nomination in 1976 and did everything he could to ensure that happen. The scandal kind of derailed his candidacy. But with 68 the bottom line taught reagan that if you want to be president youve got to prepare for it. Host Craig Shirley, latest ook looks at the reagan years. Tell us what happened after this 1976 loss. What did he do after losing this fight . Guest he started campaigning for 1980. He forms a political committee, citizens for the rea public. He uses that as a platform to speak out on major issues of the day to help conservative candidates running around the country. The panama canal treatedy is raging as an issue. Gerald ford supported what was called the give away of the panama canals to the country of panama. And jimmy carter also supported. Reagan opposed it. They had been taught it was one of the seven great wonders of the world and he would campaign and give crowds to go crazy. He would thunder, we built it, we paid for it. Its ours and were comboing to the keep it. But he becomes the leader of the opposition to the panama canal treaties. And hes so potent that jimmy carter gives a speech one night on National Television advocating the passage of the treaty in the senate. In the speech he indirectly attacks governor reagan. A private citizen Ronald Reagan in 19ru7. Cbs news the next day called him and says would you like a half hour of network time prime time to respond to president carter . And reagan of course jumps at the chance. But this would never happen today. But a private citizen is given a half hour of prime time to respond to the president of the United States. So reagan is the leader. He leads the truth squad around the country. And the panama canal treaties thereafter only passed the senate by one and two votes more than the two thirds necessary for a treaty. But the potency was there. Carter gained no political currency out of the issue but reagan got a lot of currency. Host we are continuing our discussion with reagan biographer Craig Shirley. Just a reminder the phone numbers are at the bottom of your screen. Campaign. The 1980 lets take a look at president reagan making his announcement for president then. I believe this nation hungers for a spiritual revival. Hungers to once again see honor placed above political expeedsy. To see government once again the protecter of our liberties. Government should uphold and not undermine those institutions which are custodians of the very values upon which civilization is founded. Religion, education, and above all family. Government cannot be clergy men, teacher, and parent. T is our servant beholden to us. We who are prilidged to be americans have had a rendevous with destiny since the the moment in 191630 when john within throp told the little band of pilgrims, we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us so that if we shall deal falsely with our god, and so cause him to withdraw his help om us we shall be made a story and a bye word throughout the the world. A troubled and afflicted mankind looks to us pleading with us to keep our rendevous with destiny. That we will uphold the principles of selfreliance, selfdiscipline, morality, and above all responsible liberty for every individual. That we will become that shining city on a hill. Host so tell us the significance of that speech in announcing his 1980 president ial campaign. Important ses a very phrase there rendevous with destiny which he used if the all his important speeches. In 64, this one in 79. Accepting the Party Nomination in detroit in 198 o 0. He got the phrase from Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt unveiled it in 1936 accepting his partys renomination for president of the United States and reagan at the time was a radio broadcaster in iowa known to his audience as dutch reagan. He is listening to Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt says to the audience there is a mysterious cycle in the human events to some generations much is given, much is expected. This generation has a vaund rue with destiny. Reagan hears that and falls in love with that phrase. Its lirkle, its poetic. So he used it for all his important speeches even though it came from a democrat. Host billy from texas. Caller good morning. Thank you. I want to say im a frequent caller. I want to ask your guest about the legacy of Ronald Reagan and the contra situation. With me being african american, theres a controversy surrounding oliver north, the the c. I. A. , and Ronald Reagan. And that they put crack cocaine on the streets of america. We never did get a clear understanding of how that situation was handled and we dont know what role that Ronald Reagan played in it. From the streets the the word on the streets was he was behind it. And we know what devastation it has done to black people, crack cocaine on the streets of america. Im in the age group where i watch when he first came on the streets. It devastated america. It devastated black america to this day. I want to ask the guest, since reagan, grapher of what responsibility does he think the former president have . Guest theres no evidence whatsoever. What happened in iran contra was that oliver north and john opinion desmter put together a plan to give arms to the nick in exchange for the sale of military weapons to in the middle east, is that i will say is that in their defense is that there wasnt for personal enrichment or power gain. It was bad policy to the achieve a good end which was in the reedom for the people. Nicaragua was being terrorized by the communist thugs. The Freedom Fighters reagan compared them to communist thugs danny Freedom Fighters. Reagan compared them to our own founders. For their ighting personal freedom just the same thing as our founders and 1776. S were in ironically up working out. Reagan had no knowledge of it for ugh he took the blame it and took a lot of political damage as a result. On the hill arings and he suffered in the polls but diary how in his angry he was at north and how orth had never been at camp david to brief him and he had no of the saleatsoever arms. It was a scandal. He weathered it and moved on and now hes considered one of president s. T he took full responsibility nstead of running from it although he wasnt complicit or it. Wledgeable about im not an advocate of theres y theorys but and bushas shot reagan was his vice president. Itd seems to me its a small club of inner works. H. W. Nstance, like, george was the head of the cia at the time. Nothing has changed. Everybody at the top is still at top. Dribble i etting the is that w the question ronald was a decent, good man. George h. W. Bush 41 man who d an honorable served the nation honorably and and to great effect from the time of world war ii up to the time of his presidency with george thing w. Bush. You can disagree with them but i you could charge them be being anything other than good and decent men. Ou might disagree with their policies but the idea that they were somehow involved with a is just nonsense. Host do you see similarities in the battle between the establishment and an outsider in 1976 and the battle republican establishment and an outsider in 20162017 guest yes, i do but i wouldnt Ronald Donald trump and reagan. Theyre vastly different men. Reagan was an intellectual conservative meaning he believed power resided with the individual rather than the state. E believed in the privacy and dignity of the individual coming from the enlightenment and the payne was nd thomas one of his favorite philosophers and writers. Claims to be more popularist. Populist. E liulist terms of milar in there are challenges to the establishment and similar in erms that they trust the establishment but after that, i would say theres very little the two men. Tween host okay. Bill is calling from connecticut on our republican line. Bill. Caller hello. On. T youre go ahead. Aller i would like to im former member of the Electoral College. Would like to have your opinion on the Electoral College process of electing the president. Guest im in favor of it. Think that the framers were creation wise in the of the Electoral College. It worked. Our system of government or at least our electoral process is very messy. But usually it cleans itself up Electoral College because the Electoral College system weve had half a dozen elections that i think were decided by the Electoral College popular vote it was obviously, you know, the original madison was fearful of power of nce of the new york city and philadelphia and the big cities and the big tates over the rest of the country. So in devising the constitution, they came up with a system which protect the rights and the oting rights and otherwise of the small localities and small states. He system has worked for over 200 years so i would say, you know, its probably pretty good then. Host okay. Helen is calling on our democratic line from michigan. Morning, helen. Caller hi. Yeah, i was wondering, this is a about reagan because absolutely, you know, liked reagan. And like i said, the last two were very informational. Is happening today is just really so scary. You know, ing about, okay, we went over there and ombed syria and i was just wondering what would reagan have done . I mean, wouldnt he have it around the hing tarmac was bombed but not actually where the planes take off. Now thats a question but they also gave an hour notice to giving them enough time to inform syria, you know, that these guys were coming. Know. So it makes me wonder. We only that but north korea got to think about. That theyre now in eminent danger and maybe know,l have a tie to, you fire first. If you know what im saying. Host lets let aller basically my question is, you know, how do you think handled this ave situation where were at right now . Guest you know, i dont know. Know he was moved by humanitarian causes and arguments. Took unilateral action many times in his administration. The german of the kidnapping and seizure where he sent the and get in to seize it it back. Rag aen contras nicaraguan dor contras. He did that in concert with thatcher and the pope. I dont know what he would do. Paste can do is go off his behavior and past work and past xperience and talk about those things but i dont know what he would have done in this case lthough he did as i said many imes take unilateral military action for compassionate civilian reasons. Host you talk about enlightenment in these years you focus on in the book. What is that . Its a would say reawakening of conservative arguments and issues. So many things that are appening in the 1970s, the emergence of conservative new conservative books, free to other books, many conservative books of the 1970s. Foundation was created in the 1970s. He fund for a conservative majority. Many, many conservative tanks, ations, think writers are all in the 1970s. Government to a lot of people by point has failed. He government that didnt defeat the Great Depression but hope but ite people was also the government that japan, the empire of nazi germany, built the highway system is now the government cant win the vietnam war or stop political assassination. Stop gas lines or high inflation or interest rates. These people, people are turning away from government and 60s ng for answers in the and 70s. He conservative movement moves into this vacuum and starts giving people answers which is essentially federalism which is take power back from washington and send it back to he states and localities and ultimately to the individual because they can solve their problems better than bureaucrats can. Ashington ost william is calling from chicago. Morning. Good im calling because i am a seemed of history and it bias in favor of reagan. I know that when individuals texas called about crack problemine, you founded that. Question is id, my do you have any information or in your l documents the t illustrate guest that has come up several times before and thats a good question. I think, yes. Reagans ideology in fact is still present in the Republican Party today. New war thats developed and its or a new developed. Ats its the republican i in the showed up discussion and debate over obamacare. Paul ryan and more Establishment Republicans were advocating one Freedom Caucus was advocating a more position. Ue this tension inside the Republican Party has been going 1962 with taft representing more gold water and, you kefeller know, reagan and reagan bush. Been going ion has on inside the Republican Party for over 50 years. This book is about the period from 76 to 80. Its not about the presidency im going to tackle that at some point and then ill into the issues about aid to the contras and things like that. Ut i just want to say when reagan left office, his overall pproval rating was Something Like 75 but among africanamericans, his approval was 42 which was astonishingly high for a republican. Ou would have to go back to Dwight Eisenhower to get that type of Approval Rating for africanamericans. In fact, he had a high approval everybody. Ng young americans, his Approval Rating in some polls was 75 . Presidency was considered to be a very successful presidency in terms of elimination of and high interest rates. Creating 19 million jobs and and ng the cold war defeating the soviet union. Obviouslyther reforms took place as well. But his presidency is widely een as a successful one and it showed up in his approval righting and all the polls host dale is calling from our independent line. I would like to have our guest speak on the 243 no that were put in and were killed reagan regretted that until the day he died saying it was the greatest failure of his administration. Wrote in his diaries what a failure beirut was. Felt terrible about it. Hed been ill advised. In there without sufficient protection, without a sufficient mission. Really was kind of an ill efined mission and he outlined actually after beirut that military trine of involvement which was four points including having a call ied mission and the for military action didnt have contain these four support of was the the American People, define objective, define date for exiting, things like that. To take asnt going that action again. President s make mistakes. They all do. Others. E more than reagan took steps to ensure that t would not happen again and regretted beirut for the rest of his life. Talk about similarities and differences between president reagan and our current president. Terms of tone, president reagan talked about hill. Hining city on a President Trump talked about american carnage. Other big me differences and similarities that you see between the two . Poor well, reagan grew up in the midwest. Gained a parish perspective from his father. Followed his father into the Catholic Church but he was still raised with a parish so he used pronounce us pronouns we, us, and ours. Me, and my. Y i, reagan was a student his entire life. You know, most men reach a point in their life the they kind of accept world view, a world framework. Become as they static. Reagan was dynamic in that he reading, writing, thinking, and hes evolving as, know, he used to be in his 20s and 30s he described himself not just a bleeding heart hon hemopheliac liberal. He voted for Franklin Roosevelt. Hollywood for truman in 1968. Reagan is constantly evolving. He doesnt even change parties 1964 when hes in his 50s. Hed been a democrat his entire life. Here he is, you know, competing for the nomination in been a hed only republican for 18 years but for he previous 30 years hed been a democrat. His agan arrives at conservetism not out of convenience because conservetism seen as the losing side in. Merica in the 50s and 60s all sophisticated people believed in government. Elieved in government bureaucracies and government planning was the solution to america. Ed but reagan, by reading, by he ening, my writing, arrives at a position. But even then, hes still it. Ning in 64, hes kindf a beginner. Speech and hes angry at the student protesters and hes ngry about the conduct in the vietnam war and at lyndon johnson. 1980, his conservetism has become refined but his message changed. Its more optimistic. Its more projecting a belief in privacy idual and the and dignity of the individual. So it becomes very, very subtle nuanced by 1980 host david is calling from maryland on our democratic line. Hi, david. Caller hi. The political divide oday, i wondered if people wonder when it started and i reagan heory that when was elected, he came in and tore panels on the demonize e and democrats. I wonder if you have any comment he demonize ose emocrats in the same way they demonize him. Thats politics. Town the he did take solar panels. They were symbolic. They didnt work. Electricity than they generated. So reagan had them taken down symbolic for carter to have them put up, it was symbolic for reagan to take down. As far as the political divide, you would have to go back to has always ation been divided. There were political scientists who will say that its possible that a majority of americans were actually opposed separation from the british crown. Benjamin franklins own son was prison as a tory spy. We were divided over the war of 1812. The civil war was about our very division. War i, dozens of members entering s opposed into world war i. The cold war, we were divided. Actually, the history of america is more about our divisions than our unity. Only choice in the history of america weve been unified of was the afternoon december 7th, 1941, and then we the pretty much united for duration of the war although republicans made big comebacks 1942 elections because the American People didnt think that Franklin Roosevelt was the war as quickly as they wanted. Nd then we were united after september 11th, 2001, but that months. Sted for a few so the fact is that the history of america is more about our our coming an together. Host bob is on the independent line from west virginia. Bob, you have a minute or so to shirley. Stion of craig caller yes. Thank you, mr. Shirley. Wondered if you would maybe offer insights, contrasts, omparisons with the hollywood and Entertainment Industry majority view on conservatives versus maybe oday reagans ere in re time. Michael landon and John Wayne Jimmy Stewart and bob hope, supporters. Ll reagan basically i think the 60s changed everything. The academy and some ood and radicalize other institutions in america today. Reagan always loved his time in hollywood. Presidencyend of his a reporter asked him mr. President , did anything in become d help you president or help you be president . And reagan responded, he said i you can do this job and not be an actor. Shirley y. Craig author of reagan rising, cspans washington journal, live every day with news and issues that impact you. Monday morning, sharon from lambda legal will talk about lgbt workplace discrimination. Matt walsh will talk about his book. And irs Taxpayer Advocate will join us. Be sure to watch washington journal at 7 00 a. M. Tomorrow, the American Enterprise institute hosts a discussion on using Charter School accountability institutions in Public School districts. John king takes part live at 9 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan two. In case you missed it. 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