Transcripts For CSPAN2 After Words 20150927

Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. I am delighted to talk about your new book killing reagan this is the first in a series . Guest thats correct. But jesus and patent and kennedy and lyndon kneepad was accidental but violent but with Ronald Reagan was an attempt. Is a bit different. Why reagan . We think the story evolves with the assassination attempt was it in context with this series. Ronald reagan was shot very shortly after he was elected president at a certain age when you get a trauma like that it affects you physically and mentally and that certainly happened and it was the most of miracle that he pulled through so we wanted to tell the of story in the context to kill him and how that went down and the repercussions after words. Very of. Fair enough day you consider that attempt change the course of history . Guest yes. No doubt he was different after he came out of the hospital. Because he was so robust and vigorous that when he appeared with nancy reagan shortly after he was shot and i said this myself what a miraculously recovery. Looked at him in his bathrobe smiling with his wife and cracking jokes to the medical staff before the operation. But we didnt know that was never told that he had a lot of changes that took place in his persona physically and mentally and that is what the book is about to chronicle the situation. Host it that had affected him would reduce delaware adversely that he could have done more they he was less capable after words because of physical and emotional and mental changes . Is that what you are suggesting . Everyone who worked with Ronald Reagan after he recovered said he had good days and bad days. No one said that about governor of california. There was a change. I believe reagan somehow miraculously lifted himself up by sheer will to overcame the physical destruction but upon his body. Not every day some days he was so detached he did not even come to work and would watch soap operas is a private residence of the white house. We chronicle all of that but something in him told him together to allow him to have a very successful presidency. Top10 of all president s. Host interesting this attempt occurred within six weeks of his taking office. He goes on to win a number of elections and debates with the exception of one to inspire a nation to lift them up economically and the cold war. What more could he have done . Where did it change things for the worser didnt empower him to do more . Guest it is impossible to say but all i can tell you is you ask where could he have done more . He delegated a lot of authority may be she could have done more himself. Perhaps if he had his full energy level he would have known about the irancontra situation which we believe he did not know that was taking place without his knowledge but it is all speculation. But his own advisers at one point after the election were saying we might have to remove him from office because he is not concentrating he cannot grasp things. His own guys. That is the up key part of the book. You say a study was done they observed him for a few days after they were concerned and he passed with flying colors no reason to take it to the neck step but the concern may have had a bad day. Just a concern you dont want to investigation without a reason so a wasnt just an investigation. They were worried. Baker, they were worried about him and they were loyal by the way. And they were so relieved when she came into the oval office that day and could engaged all of the issues they felt a sigh of relief they didnt have to go to the Vice President george bush to invoke the constitution, but believe me there was concern at the highest level and was not undertaken lightly. I was with the president different capacities over nine years of the campaign 1980 the year before the attempt, it was very clear during the primaries that mrs. Reagan made it clear that he should only go out four days a week and then it went down at three days. Monday through thursday he was an older candidate you dont want him to look old and be tired. This seems that he did tire easily he was almost 70. It happened so to suggest all of a sudden there is an attempt to comes out to have a couple of days he takes naps in the afternoon and read about that he would joke about that himself how to jump to the conclusion he had these terrific eight years following the you suggest he was arms mentally physically in a way that would cause him to do things differently than otherwise . You made my case for may. Host i did . You said before the shooting he needed rest and was an older man and had to look like they and had to give him time off. And then he was shot dead almost dies he is on the operating table they dont know if he will pull through the trauma is so intense are you going to tell me that did not effort when dash effect of adversely from that moment for word . If he was already being paced and pacing him . But for good reason. Guest a trauma like that can only exacerbate the condition that was plaguing him before but i do believe he was a very strong man of lesser man would have died of the operating table. Rigo throat one dash three his ranch and horseback riding and regiment and very physical and he embraced the vigorous life as Teddy Roosevelt said and that is what pulled him through. He fought against that trauma. Then he rose above it and became a great president. That is what we have been the block for gore doesnt diminish reagan but enhances his legacy. Guest . Host you think . Okay you say he was a great president he did just too good things but people love him and there is a reason for that. But because of the person he was. One of those qualities was it good and decent man and a kind man there are many opportunities to have taken to talk about Affairs Several years ago or onenight stands. Women talking about Different Things that would suggest intimacy with of president after the divorce of jane wyman. I am understand if i was reading kitty kelley but why is this in their . If you felt it was necessary to know his wild side you just needed to say that so why go into details . What is the purpose of all these women nobody knows what really happened. We dont go into great detail. We also dont use anything that was not double source with the names on it. We took out a bunch of stuff that we found out but could not nail it down and people would not put their names on it so we did not use it. Just as in killing kennedy or killing linkedin the same thing. We want to present them as human beings were all sinners of how our downside every single human being does that but the overarch of the book is that Ronald Reagan was a great man and this was the essence of his greatness and respelled that out but to ignore that what he did, and he did it nothing in the book is not true while i wrote about kennedy and the same vein and even patent George Patton had an affair with a girl while on the battlefront. So were not in the business to deify anyone and i do stand by people may not like that but when you read it killing reagan you will get a picture of Ronald Reagan as he truly was with their good and bad. I agree. I think he was majestic the way he inspired fellow americans, his kindness but he was not a saint. Nor did he ever suggest he was. Thats right. Ice the key would like this book very much. I disagree. Added he said she said affairs and one nightstands. That is fallacious. Day you have evidence . All the things that we rightabout have a footnote that you know, if you have read the book. Did you not to read the book . Is at the bottom also in the back. As all sourced note nothing is anonymous. Guest why is nancys personal life tossed in their . She was three people. First the one who wanted to marry Ronald Reagan we have to explain why and what happened and how she got to hollywood then the deep the because nancy was very smart and very protective of Ronald Reagan and people believe he did would not have become governor or president without nancy reagan. I cannot say that yes or no but i can say the portrait of her is accurate. She was a diva in the white house to some overbearing or cruel but then she emerges in the end of the president s life as a true hero. Somebody who was unbelievably sensitive to her husbands ailments, protecting him, making sure he had the best care and devoting her whole life it is an amazing story of love and we portrayed that very vivid they. You do in the end but with every chance you take nancy reagan to put a very negative light on her. Let me state this for this cspan viewers. You were reading this book on the ideological level. You adore ronald and nancy reagan for me to put anything negative against them offense you. I did stand your the ideologue and you were reading it that way but i am not. I am presenting these people the way they were. Everything is sourced and has a footnote if it is controversial. There is still a tabloid stuff there is no irresponsible allegations it all happened the way we wrote it and we take painstaking, we went over this with reagan scholars is it accurate . Out of context . Overstating or understating . You didnt say anything about jfk or Abraham Lincoln and but if youre reading from the ideological point of view you will not like it. I knew the man as Many Americans did he was good and decent. That comes through on every page. Lets go through another aspect strong and courageous you did a great story through the Screen Actors Guild when he was Vice President at the time and there was that strike. Tell the readers about the kind of person he was there were suggesting to go through the tunnel rather than break the picket line. Guest it is an astute question i scolded you know, i will complement you because you put your finger on the genesis of Ronald Reagan when he first arrived was a shallow i would is a naive, and he wasnt but she was intelligent but not sophisticated he made in an almost miraculous way which we document but politically he didnt know what he was talking about and he would almost joined the communist party but they did not want him. Because they didnt feel he had the grappa toss but then there was a strike as they try to shut down the studios against the Screen Actors Guild that wanted to continue making movies endicott so vicious that the communist strikers were threatening the actors if they came to this that. The actors had to go underground into a tunnel to get to the studio or they had to go on a bus and go on the floor. Ronald reagan refused to go back door or on the floor he sat on the bus everybody could see him and because of bad he was threatened and so was his family by the communist directly threatened he got a gun. He carried a gun in protection. He never wavered and he never backed down when it was clear he was a man of courage. That turned against the communist and that stayed with him his whole life and that is the centerpiece of his president ial administration. Relayed that out vividly as a man of courage, all the things he did and stood up for but we also say he did inform all and others to the fbi. We are telling the truth about Ronald Reagan and that is why this book if youre really interested is well worth reading. We present a balanced picture as he did with jesus and patent and kennedy and lincoln. Host i agree then talk about the sitdown meeting and how he used to try to intimidate and reagan came to the meeting and there is no intimidation and whatsoever. Gene kelly singing in the raid was that the meeting and through his prison we write about that. Re again never back down he never did. Host on page 50 right nancy reagan has that inner steel there has been lax. What is something that occurred before he knew the its year before their marriage he was close to 40 years old when he married nancy so he is incredible. Enormous courage and you were suggesting he lacks that inner steel . Host. Guest you took that out of context that she would do the dirty wet do the dirty work because he is a very kind man. He didnt have a hard to fire anyone or to School Anyone like jimmy carter. Reagan was not like that. While he was a man of courage and stood up for his convictions and wasnt afraid for those who wanted to hurt him they could not yeld added but your fire them and that is what nancy reagan brought and she did it and that is what were talking about. Host let me go back to the point is is the first note that i took. Dnc is the individual that is running the show. Causally referring to her as the one that is dominant at one point to say and he has more influence over him and his aides. No doubt about that. She had the last word. This is where the clarification is to take place she had lost from personal and social ben never interfered with a policy. Guest i thank you are correct on that. She was is lockstep with Ronald Reagan on policy made identified any disagreements that they had politically. He was an anticommunist and so when she. He was pro private marketplace capitalist and Smaller Government and so was nancy we did not see any tension there. But after the assassination attempt she took off all of this stuff she felt he should not have to do with which was a lot. Nobody got to see him with our her saying yes. That is power in three chronicle that but you are correct where nancy reagan and Ronald Reagan pretty much agreed on all policy we never found where she pulled him aside to say do this or that is incorrect. They were pretty much of one mind politically. There is a mixed message to the reader in the book on his religion and a depth of his beliefs and it is mention he didnt go to church for curtin doesnt make it issue out of his belief in a god. But at the same time you mentioned there is a spiritual outlet a. In your words what message are you trying to convey . Is there a deeply a was he a deeply religious man . He was spiritual and certainly he used his belief with god to define his Public Policy purpose i will give you an exclusive. Are you ready . I have a handwritten letter by Ronald Reagan that he wrote to abortionrights person in 1980 that says he opposes abortion because it is his belief that god created all human life and it is that synchronous st. So he formed his position on abortion, which he changed by the way of his spiritual belief system he wrote that in his own hand. I have dapper organized religion never really attracted Ronald Reagan. He is protestant his ancestors are from ireland but he never really embraced it very much but i do believe that he believes this country was founded to have a special place in the world and of that came from god and that drove that shining light on the hill concept that he endorsed. To not be enamored of organized religion. Host and i learned along the way i interviewed his pastor when he was in pasadena. I would talk to him about that i was thinking of writing a book myself. And he said the reason he did not attend churches when he went into the church for the sunday Services Every petty would turn and look to him and there was an excitement he thought that was unfair to disrupt the spirit that was there by his arrival. Assertion that was true with secret service attending with him and he preferred to have the minister come to his house and would have a service there. So maybe he was a religious person in all aspects that it was of the service or the scripture . The you know, who will says he doesnt go to church because it is disruptive . Barack obama. Is pastor told me that. He probably stole the but i will tell you when Ronald Reagan got married the sacrament of marriage, he got married in a secular way eddo made to people at their wedding. Mr. And mrs. Holden they were fighting during the ceremony and they despised each other. [laughter] i think we can all say organized religion was not at the top of his list his marriage was conducted in a way with no religious connotation at all. His children are all secularist except michael i think he is religious but i am not sure. I think once again agree tell you about the man what he did and did not do with very accurate way. Host just to stay on this point, do you believe this crusade against communism was part of a spiritual struggle . That he saw it as such . It is and what i believe that what he believes. He believed that communist totalitarians violated the laws that god gave us. To be free and express ourselves to earn a living the way we want to Ronald Reagan really believe that weaver a shining light in the world and the communists were the evil empire and the forces of darkness and that belief was centered around spiritual of the more than politics. I think youre absolutely right. And he did have this Strong Spiritual basis but on page 76, you indicate of course, no man is perfect with his idiosyncrasies that must be kept quiet both he and nancy used stargazers to align the future and i see a terrific contradiction. Guest he couldnt care less about the astrologer. Nancy loved the astrologer. So to make nancy happy and keep her happy he went along with it. Host i agree but that is not what you say. We absolutely say that. We say reagan, it was nancy driving the train it was a reagan making these appointments or phone calls it was nancy. Nancy reagan was so involved with astrology the inaugural ceremony when reagan won the governorship it was held at midnight. White . That is on the stars would align. To you think he wanted to be there . Come on. [laughter] i have no problem that he is the good has been. Guest we did. Relayed data out we would lay that out. His trust in the astrologers. That is rather have the issue to a wide he went along with nancy just like she went along with him politically he met with her on the stars but in my opinion he couldnt care less they kept him up late at night he wanted the inauguration of 2 00 in the afternoon. I just wish you had written that for the reader. Down another issue. At least twice you said reagan was not a great intellect having struggled to maintain a c average in college. To say he doesnt have a firstrate intellect but then you say he hides his knowledge so what is it . Guest an excellent question by bay buchanan everybody. Reagan was not a philosopher. He was not a proactive thinker that he was introspective. But he had a brilliant talent to absorber information cut out to the bs to communicate the pieces of information to the people which made him successful politically but was he a great thinker like jefferson or lincoln . No. Could you define problems that were adversely affecting the usa . Yes. It was a different kind of intellect he wasnt book smart but he was a good reader and he absolutely and sort the information given to him up and tell the time of the shooting and then after the shooting he had a little more trouble with that. But some days he was brilliant other days he was not. That was the lynch point we wanted to make. Host after the shooting with respect to the difficulty he was having a went on to inspire a nation. Wasnt up to it and he went in there and kicked his butt not physically but he said youve got to bear down and heres what you have to do, and as i just said, he absorbed everything he gave him and he went out and he pounded mondale. Let me tell you what happened in the first debate because i was working with the president for some time to read all of us knew what he was capable of. We have seen him so many times stellar in this performance. We knew right away they pumped him with information. They said we need to show how smart you are and he wasnt a policy wonk and he threw out the figures up the figures in his personality didnt come through and he lost the debate. What you suggested the book is that he wasnt up to his game. If you will read the part he says he came in and was overwhelming with all these facts and figures and was becoming befuddled, you had to strip away to the heart of the matter. You use this as one of the examples of shoving the president faltering but this kind of situation was moving in here. He wasnt comfortable observing a tremendous amount of information into spitting it back that wasnt his strong suit. Before the assassination attempt he could have done it better than after. He never was a policy wonk not because he couldnt be that it wasnt he was. Guest he had to develop contrasted all the other stuff. He had to be a detailed man and he was the secretary before he was the president. He was capable of always doing that but thats not how he wanted to be. But not after he was shot. You and i disagree. So we should move on. Your suggestion is after he was shot that particular incident brought on elements of the disease we all know as alzheimers. It accelerated according to a lot of the doctors that examined him. We went to minnesota and this wasnt something off the top of my head. This was based on medical exams it accelerated us this as it would with any human being. If you have a weakness in your physiology and h. , the weakness is that exacerbated by the trauma and thats what happened but the nobility come into this is an opinion of mine he slowed it down by sheer will he slowed down what could have been disastrous situation he slowed it down because he had this passion to defeat communism and interviews optimism and he said you know what im not going to disagree with our to get through this and he did after he got out of the white house you know what happened so i think part of it is the will of Ronald Reagan and the courage that he had to overcome this trauma. It is clear after you pointed this out in your book after the shooting he says im turning myself over. He told me he was on borrowed time and he had a calling to do something while he was here. If that is the case then this attempt actually made him stronger realizing i had to use every minute wisely. He had to fight to maintain his physical and mental acuity and he did. I was so stunned that people wouldnt feel that this book more than any other book makes him a human being that has deficits but has tremendous courage and that is on display and we get into that so hard. Yeah she did some bad things but in the end she was a woman encourage who had an overwhelming love for her husband and sacrificed her whole life to make sure that his last years were comfortable and i think thats nobility really shines in this book and the other stuff is true that this is the most important part of it. And its unfortunate. My son loves reagan and read this book along with me and he says i think i prefer jimmy carter after reading this book because he thought he put so Much Negative spin on everything you looked at it through the eyes of his neck and said this is that into this is that. Here on page 215 you refer to the New York Times speaking about evidence of the signs of alzheimers and they go through several different points here and say that it was reported as early as 1980 and the contradictory statements forgetting names in the general absent mindedness. Are you suggesting even before he became president that there are signs of this terrible disease . I think it was in him as heredity and as you know it comes at different times and different peoples lives. I dont remember names the way i used to. We are not trying to make any medical diagnosis. We are giving the reader the record. But im distressed that your son took such a negative view. Its a very positive book. He overcame tremendous trauma and could be listings for the country and is in the top ten of all president s which i said. To have your son say i prefer carter, carter is a good man but he was a terrible president. It broke my heart to be honest. I feel that writing i think your son should watch this interview and then reread the book and he might take away Something Different. I dont know how much time that we have here but you raised interesting points about john. Talk to us about what you think of that young man. There are so many places in the book where you say these 17 things could have happened and if all of them did and this ended up the president being shot it was astounding and the last minute at the last minute to give us a little insight into that. As with all killers, he had a psychosis and was mentally disturbed but he didnt know right from wrong and he was intent upon killing someone. Jimmy carter tried to kill him in nashville. Ted kennedy was on the list and thought about killing ted kennedy but the opportunity presented itself to kill reagan succeeded because he was delusional and about the disparate health and jodie foster the actress would somehow respond to him. Its crazy that but he trained himself at the gun range. It should never be allowed out and hes responsible for what he did. Ronald reagan we heard recently attempted to want to call him. I heard something about that. What about his parents . The doctors i guess said to him not to call, that it wouldnt make things better because it could make things worse actually. But i imagine they called his parents. They come across in your book and i think accurately so as people that were concerned trying to do the right thing. Its heartbreaking. When you are the parent of a child that does something heinous the pain is tremendous. It wasnt their fault their size. It goes back to the spirituality that he believed in the tradition upon which the country was forged that forgiveness is paramount and that he did sincerely believe that and wanted to show the country that his forgiveness was there even in this terrible incident. Interesting in that morning you write about the morning he comes to dc and its just a fluke that he sees what the president s schedule is going to be. In the Washington Post he sees the route of the speech. He wanted to kill somebody. Its amazing how kuwait after coincidence at the last minute he thought i will go up and kill myself in front of jodie foster. It was a lot like oswald. Oswald and hinckley are the same guy just delusional lunatics that want to kill somebody and then the opportunity presents itself created the parallels are startling. Hinckley read about president kennedy in the paper. Hinckley read about Ronald Reagans trip to the hotel in the paper and then they decide to do this to be and however, before that, they were training themselves to be assassins and they knew how to train themselves and what buttons to get and all of that. So keep that in mind. I found it interesting that you dont have anything about the Pivotal Moment its not a policy book. Thereve been plenty of things we dont really do that its just a stylistic thing. We didnt get into the policy a lot. We tell the story all the way through and we dont do a lot of policy. Well of course it was when he took a walk it wasnt the policy it was the strength and the courage and convictions in the belief of protecting America First and foremost. Its a great deal about the man do you not believe that . We covered that in the interactions with the most elite have Margaret Thatcher, gorbachev and the soviet union. I think we made that quite clear that the way that he structured the administration but he was successful and the foreignpolicy realm if you combine the two and have a great president. Relationship with Margaret Thatcher lets touch on that you have great stuff in here. Interesting it it wasnt always smooth sailing they were both very strong individuals. We got the transcript of the phone call after america invaded grenada and thatcher was here and had a right to the end of this is what i mean when i say there are some things about Ronald Reagan that were not noble but he didnt tell his best pal they were going to go in they said the United States isnt going to do this and he would tell me all of a sudden he doesnt tell her and she invites him up on the phone call and we have a transcript of the phone call its fascinating but again this is what we do in the book. We lay out the whole thing and thats why i think these books are so successful because people get the big picture. Who was at the funeral and tears and had forgiven him and was his best friend and champion . Margaret thatcher. So we show you that even though there was this detachment over grenada they came back together again because they were both a century of likeminded. They both essentially wanted freedom to override to authoritarianism. You spent a great deal of time on the balkans war. Because it was the military stick point of view that was supplemented their and again this is the fascination of Ronald Reagan. He didnt want the war. He opposed Margaret Thatcher fighting over the islands in the middle of the south atlantic. So all of the warmongers how many times have you heard in your career he was a warmonger . We put that into show he wasnt a warmonger he didnt want the war. He didnt think that it was worth it to do that but then invades grenada and what would the difference be . It was the communists were in grenada. Thats what with his views so the whole thing that we leave it gives you what he really was he wasnt a warmonger and thats why i spend time on the deal. But again thats something where he crossed purposes with his close friend of Margaret Thatcher that shows the two leaders very much in line but faded they did what was best for their own countries. And if it meant offending someone it meant offending somebody that they had to make certain and isnt it clear reagan didnt tell her because they didnt want anybody to know . That he could have told her and she was such a good friend she would have kept his confidence. Why he didnt tell her i dont know but when you read the pages of the transcripts from hes really sheepish like im really sorry, you know so it is a very good about what they were the same person, reagan and thatcher, they would steal, we are going to get the bad guy is coming to protect the nation and thats what bound them together. And Margaret Thatcher was there and gave the eulogy at the funeral and it was beautiful. You wrote the letter as the last acts as president a beautiful letter talking again about the communism and how they pulled this off, humility do you find as you study the new reagan did you find a depth of humility . Its hard to say. He wasnt a guy that went in for selfaggrandizement. John kennedy did. Lincoln didnt, reagan didnt, but i dont know if you would describe him as pope francis. I think that he had a confidence that was right he had a certain swagger like listen i know what im doing and doing the right thing. So that he wasnt a braggadocio or anything like that. The finest quality was his humility. You have an advantage over me i didnt know Ronald Reagan i covered the inauguration i didnt know him so thats an interesting insight. He had a plaque im sure you read about that said you can accomplish anything if you dont care who gets the credit and he lived by that. I agree with that. And that is probably one of the reasons that he came across as a great person because because when you could see him come everybody was equal and a great aspect to the man as a human being to the president of the United States of the humblest man i ever met in politics isnt saying much but he was. Let me ask and then after he left office, and this again goes back to your thesis you are taking the assumption was an attempt on his life spread up the signs of alzheimers but its also true for people that are in high position and demanding positions when they needed a position if they dont keep very busy mentally and have some challenges they will deteriorate mentally. So he leaves office and hes still very vibrant. He goes to mexico and thats what nancy thinks is the key part for the victims of alzheimers is to push back the fall from the horse where he had a concussion and subsequent operation. Talk about that. Do you think that nancy may have had something here . Again, all of that, accelerated whatever you have inside you and a hereditary kind of way. But again it wasnt our intent to the medical people here it was our intent to show what happened and take it from a very historical point of view and tell people who lived through both like and dont like him i want everybody to read the book and what he was really like and to replace the mess with the fact and we accomplished that on both sides. He wasnt a warmonger, wasnt someone who didnt care about the folks. He didnt care about the poor people or the Little People or the minorities. That isnt true. As scenic as it was i his embrace of the freemarket system that he believed if you allow american capitalism the freedom to prosper that everyone will work once to work and thats exactly what happened. So we show that pretty vividly that the two successes were defeating the communist soviet union and india, and jimmy carter have destroyed. Both of those are a superlative accomplishment and we walk you through what it was. Ronald reagan didnt want to do the economy just for him. He was interested in the folks and he didnt like the fact that they were struggling to get jobs and had to wait for gas lines in office and he cleaned it up. And i think that he would say he didnt. He would say that he believed in the people and that it was up to the people that he inspired them to greatness. And he was an inspirational man but his policies allowed for people to prosper. The people to prosper. Spec and thats what he said we will get off your back but you have to do the work. And that is what made him great. He was a good and decent man who had an honest humility, deeply religious, great courage of convictions and strong and he went forward and accomplished great things and i dont know that the case has been made but in any way the attempt on his life has caused a change in history that caused the eventual death of a president , for a president to fail. I disagree with you entirely. Thats whats fun about reading killing reagan as you can have your view and i can have my view and i will submit this to you if reagan hadnt been shot by John Hinckley junior there wouldnt have been in the Oval Office Meeting with the top advisors that left him considering removing him from the presidency never would have happened. I believe that he ran the governorship efficiently and there was no problem with him on the job. I believe that he campaigned in a way that was very efficient and he was very energetic and the first weeks of the presidency he had a goal he was going to accomplish and get a shot and then it all changed their thats what i usually documented pretty strongly that you are free to have your opinion and i like your opinion. Im not saying anything other than im glad you read the book and im glad youre having the conversation and folks can read the book and decide for themselves. Whats what to do what you say most significant aspect of people that knew and loved him to be able to take from the book what is new and fresh . Everybody is going to take Something Different just as your son just as they did with jesus and lincoln and kennedy i got heat on all of those books on every one. I didnt say in killing jesus he didnt talk didnt talk about the spirituality or the resurrection i got it from that side now im going to get it from you didnt make consistent. Thats not what i than the business to do. I laid out the man in a fair and methodical way and entertaining way and i hit on things that i think are important people didnt know about. We got a lot of new stuff in the book. Its really entertaining to read this stuff and then you can put it together yourself that we did a fair balanced job and im proud of the book and i think that he would like the book. He probably knows about the book and way to go. I have to disagree. I read the book and was delighted to think i would be able to read and talk about Ronald Reagan. I did love him and share millions of americans appreciation as a man and as president for all the accomplishments for america and how he continues to inspired and then i handed it to my son and i got the sense that you are undermining and demeaning to greatness by throwing in a lot of stuff that is irrelevant to the scene and by suggesting he wasnt really worth it. I stand behind the book and i know that you are attached. I am not. I write an honest buck and nothing we say will be challenged because we can add it all up and this selection of what we have in the book that is debatable but its not to write Ronald Reagan had to write here is what made him greater and here is what he overcame more than that human human beings could never overcome i think it is a compelling and a dramatic story and we did a good job and im happy to talk to you about it. Im divided and i have to give the last word. Its going to be controversial. Email me or write me and tell me what you think. Its always a pleasure to that was booktv after words in which authors of the latest nonfiction books are interviewed. Watch the programs online that booktv. Org is. Who funded the right brothers . Of the only funding that they had is what they took from the rather modest earnings on the shop and they not only funded their efforts but they virtually made everything that they were indeed made to create the first fighters that they built in the first flying machine as they called it with the exception of the motor of a devils made of aluminum or i was made as a Startup Company as we call it today in the pittsburgh. It was the first aluminum engine woman engine ever built and when it was first used, it split and rather than saying i guess thats not going to