If you want want to do with the frustration many to have an environment where we are not exploiting those people. Host gary segura is the coauthor of this book Latino America how americas most dynamic population is poised to transform the politics of the nation. He also teaches at stanford. Professor segura thank you for your time on and booktv. Guest all right. Thomas read former Campaign Manager for Ronald Reagan in 1960s talks about president reagans Political Development and argues that reagan was a political grandmaster. This is about 40 minutes. Ronald reagan experienced several beginnings in his career history whether starting as a radio broadcaster in iowa becoming a successful hollywood actor, serving as spokesman for the General Electric Company Hosting a number one rated Television Program becoming governor of california and seeking the presidency. Each of these as a specific new piece to our understanding of the man and his character and we continue to learn more about him even as we will be today. Our guest author thomas read was present at more than one of these beginnings and in todays book the reagan enigma shares his personal archives for the first time having share them with so many others in the past. Mr. Reid served as secretary of the air force during the ford and carter administrations, was the youngest ever director of the once covert National Reconnaissance office and later served president reagan as special assistant to the president for National Security policy. His technical background includes Nuclear Weapon design and low temperature physics which we are getting ready to experience tomorrow to washington. He has advised the joint Strategic Planning staff on policy and intelligence matters. He is also has also authored three books, at the abyss the nuclear express and the durand triangle documented the history of the cold war and its principle players. As a fellow Reagan Administration alumni member im a is pleased to welcome my former colleagues and we do so today. Tom its a pleasure to have you with heritage and we look forward to your remarks. Thank you very much john. [applause] im glad the snowstorm did not come come speak at all, to play. It is good to be here. John talked about the book ive written but i think a little consumer warning that the the reagan enigma is not another iowa spare book. Its not a phony biography filled with fictional people who never really existed. It is not hero worship hagiography. The reagan enigma is a publication by a distinguished Research University the university of Southern California that explores the topics of what made reagan take which many authors have written about but none of them got it right so lets give it a try. Lets start at the beginning 50 years ago. 50 years ago reagans political opponents described him as a actor. 30 years ago Clarke Clifford called him an amiable dunce. They were all wrong. Ronald reagan was not an actor, who is a master of the political stage. Winston churchill and the battle of britain think henry v. Ronald reagan was a master of the political stage. His mind was immense. It operated at 10 times the speed of awesome mortals. That is what all the people missed. Reagan was in fact a great communicator. He was known that way because of his performances on television by this trick to a squared was that he was a great communicator with everybody. Example, in the 1966 his First Campaign for governor i was taking him to Northern California to meet the editor of a small town paper in the healdsburg tribune could on the way up i briefed him on the problems of water and sonoma counties. The corps of engineers wanted to reverse the river and all that kind of stuff. We get to the healdsburg tribune and hes ready to talk about the big issues. The editor comes out beaming and i look in the door and holy macworld theres blood all over the wooden floor. They floor. There are two halves of a writhing snake. This man is just kill a rattlesnake on the floor of his office. Reagan never missed a beat. He comes in laughing and starts talking about rattlesnakes are dangerous critters. He talks about the best way to deal with rattlesnakes. He talked about a rattlesnake that spoke his horse on the trail. His host at the healdsburg tribune talked about all the time. We never talked about that youll river. We didnt talk about water. Ronald reagan established a rapport with that fellow and when we left reagan and the editor of the healdsburg tribune were handshaking and hugging and laughing. They were friends for life and of course the man in healdsburg took good care of us in the news. Thats the kind of man that Ronald Reagan was. He was amiable. He was very amiable. He was fun to be with. He was lots of fun to be with but strangely enough he had a few close friends. In my years in companionship with reagan he never talked about his hopes and dreams, his kids achievements his financial woes if any, is help. We never talked about any of these things because reagan had no close personal friends which really seems strange but that is the way i think it was. And his daughter maureen wrote about that trait inherited memoirs talking about his relationship with his wife nancy amare and brode quote sorry nancy you were not his best friend. His forces his best friend. Thats the way he was. His press secretary put it more succinctly in his memoirs. Quote reagan would have made a superb hermit. Exactly. It seems strange. Reagan had no friends but he had compartmented allies. Though clarke was one. He was a fellow cowboy that clarke in the early days helped run the state government. He was close with ed meese who is here today and one of your colleagues. Ed was a counselor but im not sure he would classify himself as a friend. Reagan had pastors and he talked about higher beings. He trusted me with his political life. He was wonderful in that regard. When we decide to do something in the campaign we will do it x and there is no micromanaging. He trusts me with his political life but i was not a friend. Nancy was his lover and his wife but at times she became the keeper of the bubble. She became a surrogate for nancys protective mother now. Neither nancy nor any of the rest of us were really reagan friends. Nancy confirmed that in her memoirs. She said kohl ronnie doesnt let anybody get too close. There is a wall around him. John sears was the Campaign Manager during the 70s said quote is the second son of an alcoholic reagan grew up being a people pleaser alone or. Thats how they coped. Reagan was an upbeat man. He was pleasant to be with but part of that was every story had to have a happy ending. In the case of a defeat it simply the incident had to be erased and be forgotten. He simply could not mentally deal with defeat. He wanted every story to have a happy ending. Example reagan broke quote running for president in 1960 was the last thing on my mind. I wasnt interested. Thats absolute baloney. Iran that campaign. 1968 by the summer of 68 we were flying around in the 727 jet. In august we were in miami in sweltering hot trailers with no windows trying to break nixons hold on the delegation chairman and yet basically reagan said he was a campaign. I wasnt there. Thats because while i was a campaign he didnt work and therefore needed to be erased and that is why believed he wrote what he did in his memoirs. Fastforward to the irancontra. After all the documentation and Committee Reports nonetheless reagan said to the American People quote i did not trade arms for hostages. My heart still tells me that is so. Interestingly enough Ronald Reagan was devoid of political ambition. He knew what he believed in and he knew what he wanted people to follow but he was not drunk with the thoughts of power. Unlike Lyndon Johnson, unlike Richard Nixon reagan had no for power. He found the Brooks Office to be funny. I think ed meese would confirm that. He thought the trinkets of the governor were funny. He thought when i traveled with him with nixon he thought those accoutrements of power were funny. He really didnt have a driving political ambition. He was competitive and we will come to that in a minute but he wasnt ambitious. It was nancy that provided the driving ambition. One earlier report comes from reagans son michael to an earlier conversation shouted down the hallway from their home in 1965. Nancy was shouting if you dont run for governor ronnie i want a divorce. Now she didnt mean that of course but the point is that is evidence that the drive came from her. Fastforward to the inauguration in 1981 Johnny Carson claimed the moniker nancy ted to equate nancys ambitions with those of abe peron. Exactly, i agree. Without nancy Ronald Reagan never would have been elected to anything. She was the one with the driving ambition, not ron. Another misunderstood aspect of the reagan story is his conversion from new deal democrat to eisenhower republican. That was not just an instantaneous flash. Occurred over a decade. During the early 40s while fighting communist infiltration into the Screen Actors Guild reagan was threatened over the phone with an asset acid in the face of taghavi persisted in blocking the communist penetration of the union. In response the Burbank Police department offered protection and they also offered a concealed weapon permit. Not well understood the three years he was head of the Screen Actors Guild he was also packing heat. Reagan came to understand the lofty ideals of communism simply could not be enforced without terror. That was part of his conversion. Further Political Movement came in the early 50s with the korean war. Reagans enthusiasm for roosevelt transferred to harry truman. He believed in harry truman but as the korean war dragged on reagan grew concerned. The war began in june in 1950 with the norths invasion of the south but two years later there was no end in sight. The korean war had become a mindless meatgrinder alight like the war in vietnam a generation later. In the spring of that year of 1952 reagan wrote to his war hero Dwight Eisenhower urging eisenhower to seek the presidency or the general welcome that offered support. Reagan campaigned on ikes been up to 1952. He continued in 1956 and he then worked for the eisenhower designated successor Richard Nixon in 1960 but always as a concerned democrat. It was only in 1962 decade after his original connection with eisenhower the reagan reregistered as a republican and that was as he put it because his party had left him, not the other way around. Interestingly enough as a result of that relationship eisenhower became a reagan mentor not wellknown. Those men developed a solid relationship and at the end of 64 at the end of reagans time at reagans time time for choosing speech eisenhower began to Pay Attention because the reagan performance stood in stark contrast to the harsh goldwater defeat of 64. At years and reagan was seeking to rebuild the republican party. Eisenhower and reagan had stayed in touch through the years. They exchanged letters and then phonecalls and eventually personal visits. They stayed in touch through ikes last visit to palm desert in the spring of 1969. The concept of peace through strength was probably born during those conversations. I was not there for many those conversations but we know about these because of the records come the letters in the telecom letters that are at the Eisenhower Library in abilene kansas. Reagan had a hero in the form of eisenhower but he also had a villain. Not well understood is the archvillain in reagans life robert kennedy. He became reagans supreme nemesis for unusual reasons. In 1961 upon becoming his brothers attorney general Bobby Kennedy pursued corruption with a vengeance. As a sidebar he also targeted political opponents. In february of 62 kennedy hauled reagan before a grand jury. Two weeks later after that the Justice Department subpoenaed reagans tax returns. The matter never resulted in an indictment that reagan lost his job as host of the General Electric theater. Reagans kids got that news over lunch on sunday. I just lost my job the future president told his son michael. The kennedys threatened General Electric. His daughter maureen confirmed that conversation in her memoirs saying quote Bobby Kennedy had a hand in this cancellation. Now this may not be accurate. Another point the General Electric was losing ratings but in reagans mind Bobby Kennedy caused the cancellation of the General Electric theater in the loss of Ronald Reagans job. Peace out retribution during a telstar debate with Bobby Kennedy and a bunch of students that were sitting in europe but reagan went on when kennedy entered the president ial campaign in 1968. Its when reagan got actively involved in campaigning for the president ial nomination. It was when kennedy jumped in and 68 and then he relented upon kennedys death. Reagan was a very religious man. His minister Stewart Mcburney was one of the halfdozen people present in september of 65 at the kickoff meeting in reagans home in reagans career really crystallized. My insight into that relationship comes from a conversation with bill clarke that i had in the late 1981. Bill clarke had been serving as deputy secretary of state. He was getting ready to move to the white house to become the National Security adviser in december of that year. I was having coffee with bill and the state Department Conference room. We were just brainstorming. Bill, what are you going to do . What is sure todo list when you get to the white house . Well he said without missing a beat i want to remove the communist oversight and i want to for Eastern Europe from a communist from konas control. Well i thought thats an interesting ambition. Thats going to be kind of hard to do. How do you plan to do that . He pushed himself back from his table and said we have a secret weapon. Whats that . He reached in his pocket pulled out a crucifix and slammed it on the table. Okay, he understood. He was a believing catholic, inactive catholic. Five months later bill clarke are ranged for reagan to meet with the polish born pope to discuss putting the pieces, the components for destabilizing poland and eventually the disintegration of calm menace control in poland. Reagan wasnt avid reader of the bible. He read revelations in the sphere of armageddon was a force in his determination to end the cold war. As we noted earlier reagan was devoid of political ambition but on the other hand very differently once into a contest bid for Public Office or the survival of the free world break in was among compromising competitor. Like deaver said in his memoirs quote reagan was the toughest competitor ive ever known. And that is how the cold war phased out. Thats how it played itself out without spirit of not accepting second prices ever. This all came i was involved in january of 1982. It was after reagan dealt with the economy and an 82 he recruited bill clarke and myself to come to the white house to help on National Security matters. One of the first mornings i was there i had known him very well and we were talking about silly things that dictators have done in republics far away. We got 30. Over his glasses and he said tom we have a problem. I thought he was talking about the airconditioning doesnt work. Tom we have got a problem. What is that . The soviet union. Yes, thats a problem. Tom, why dont you get the fellows together and figure out how we are going to end the cold war. Holy mackerel. [laughter] okay. We talked about the pieces of all that and i ended the conversation thinking about how i am going to get these people from state and these people from defense. I close the conversation with mr. President what is the endgame here . That is simple tom, we win, they lose, period. [laughter] thats the way he was. During the next few months we put together a plan that was articulated in a document called nspd 32, decision directive 32 which was a plant for prevailing in the cold war. The war would abate on a lot of fronts, economic, technical, political but the end of the paper we thought through what is the objective and we wrote down what is the endgame . Poppies who was a terrific secretary of defense came to write if you get into a fight you need to think about how youre going to get back out. So we thought that through. We concluded that tanks in the red square pulling down statues of lenin is not the answer. We rode our definition of victory. We seek to convince the leadership of the soviet union to turn their attention inward to seek the legitimacy that comes only from the consent of the government and thus to address the hopes and dreams of their own people. Thats exactly the way it turned out. Reagan cements mind understood the failings of the soviet system. He was a good enough little chessplayer to exploit those failings while he was connecting with the soviet leader who had no choice but to seek the consent of his government. Reagans fast mind in his ability to connect with anybody anywhere were the keys to understanding the reagan enigma. Thank you. [applause] your turn. 25 minutes, like you said. We do have a microphone. If you would please raise your hand i would be glad to call a new and we would appreciate you at least giving your name and affiliation if you are so comfortable. Andrew we will start down here. Tom thank you for being here. You have written two books the abyss on the nuclear express about the threat of Nuclear Terrorism and i was wondering if you could give us a brief update from where you ended up in those two books of whether we have made progress or lack thereof . The question is have we made progress for Nuclear Terrorism . That in a way is a long way from the reagan enigma but its key because Ronald Reagan read revelations and he feared armageddon on his watch. That is what drove him we have got to end the cold war. It was a driving force in his Strategic Defense Initiative and so forth. I think we have made progress because as the introduction to these books that you inquired about the books are dedicated to the cold warriors. The abyss is dedicated to the cold warriors on both sides that fought the cold war and a belief in their own gods would have more time was a Nuclear Weapon fire. Thats really an achievement if we have come a long ways to see thats weapons are safe and under control. The problem is theyre sorry for the possibility of a getting their hands on a weapon but not likely. They may get their hands on fissionable materials. The real problem is there is one muslim state pakistan that has Nuclear Weapons. Even in the run up to 9 11 the al qaeda people tried to make a deal with the Pakistani Nuclear types. They didnt succeed but the problem of Nuclear Materials getting into bad guys hands are real. The problem is not a weapon being stolen. Thats not going to happen. The nations that control Nuclear Weapons theyll have serial numbers and we know where they are. Theyre still locked up that we could have a new care and you cant make it a lot. The problem is fissionable materials in the hands of people willing to make weapons and that is the problem that remains. I can hear you without the mic. Al milliken did you ever have the opportunity to talk with Ronald Reagan about his divorce from jane weinman . Looking over the legal documents i guess he was accused of extreme mental cruelty but my understanding from what ive learned is he really didnt contest that whatsoever. I was wondering what you find out about that . Do two things i talked about. One he had no friends which means he never talked about that to me. On the other hand book the reagan enigma is factbased. It was published by university. The introduction is written by the president of the university. One of the sources for the book was Stuart Spencer who basically was the political genius. He was the political strategists that won every election. Stu did talk to jane weinman as he was getting ready to run for his campaign. He met with jane weinman and talked about Ronald Reagan and she was very forthcoming about their relationship. She wished him well but she made it very clear that there was no acrimony. There was no difficulties. It was just that ron got more and more interested in politics and her career was to verging into her career into stardom. She did kohl one of her fellow stars in hollywood who said quote dont ask ronnie what time it is. He will tell you how do you how to watch his mate and i think that was the problem. There was no acrimony whatever so. Just wait for the mic. Thank you very much. He mentioned he was a catholic. Bill clarke was catholic. Reagan was very religious. He believed in a higher being which is really the contrast his government is not the higher being. There is a higher being that deals with right and wrong and higher purposes and he believes in a higher being. He didnt care what particular building he went to. He didnt associate with any particular religion. He had ministers from the very beginning and Stuart Mcburney was there in september of 65 when he kicked off and other ministers became close over the years. He believes in a higher being which is why he did not believe that government was the answer in communism was the arch type of all of that. But he was not secular in any type of way. Bill clarke was. Down here in front. Wait for the mic please. My name is bill. I just came back from a long trip to china. Im curious if reagan were alive today what do you think his approach would be to dealing with the communist party in china . The question what would reagan do today often pops up and thats essentially unanswerable because times are very different. You can only apply this mindset. He had an immense mind and he could connect with people. That is what you really miss. I think of reagan were alive today he would look at the problem and assembled the great guys like ed meese and say lets put together a plan. He would have put together a plan for dealing with them. He would not do at ad hoc and whether was china or other confrontations Ronald Reagan clearly would say heres the problem. You guys put together a plan and he would listen to it and say yes, no and then he would pursue it. That was his strength. Tommy mentioned in the discussion now his mother briefly and then you mentioned in the book his father. Do you want to at least share a little of your thinking about the fact of course we knew his father had an alcohol problem and in some ways with the president did was either withdraw into knowledge in books and learning or escapism some would argue with the radio personality and the television and all of that. What do you think about that . That moves from what i know to what i believe and i have tried in the book to be meticulous about what i know. Two of the researchers for the book as we plowed through this why he was raw and always wanting to please people . Why did he not want angst around him . Why did he not connect with friends . He got to know him all lot longer so i have a seniority but only a few weeks. [laughter] but since we are the surviving colleagues and etfs title was counselor. That was important because to relieve brainstorm to make indispensable contribution and sousa success of the cold war. From the Heritage Foundation what part of the eisenhower Foreign Policy influence reagin if any . Web e understand they got to be quite close. After the 64 election eisenhower looked at the famous beach like we did and said here is somebody to make sense. A hint he began to connect with a lot of people. He first asked his golf playing buddies in los angeles tell me about him. We know about this because of the letters in the Eisenhower Library. Then he started to talk to reagan and met with him. He went to the eisenhower ranch in gettysburg. Also talking about National Security. From the notes of those conversations they often talked about vietnam. This was 66. It was a key issue. And the observations were if we get into any war plan to win and to be disdainful of the johnson approached that eisenhower said it gives me a division without any casualties. The message was is if you get involved think through why, dont do it without the end game but go full force all the way. I believe the concept of peace through strength was that relationship. From Public Policy research did the one who occupied the al blair house have the sense of his plays in history . And how did he see his place in history if he did . With Bobby Kennedys cbs thoughtless have kennedy and reagan talking to students. This sow reagan agreed to do that. So with a history of vietnam what was he doing there . He spent a week to study that said he practiced just like in a president ial debate. In he really prepared because he understood. And that is why he is understood the cold war cannot go on forever. I was fortunate to have met or new tarascan mr. President , mr. Ford how do you envision the cold war ending . Old gentleman said once we got there the threat of annihilation was so terrible i really became focused on not letting that have been. How do you envision the cold war ending . To put that containment then have the thought of as how will it end . Anything he may have been asking a second aspect i a agree he did understand history in had a sense of it but he did not have been egotistical since. Absolutely not. By i believe he was to avoid of political ambition. And that was not negotiable. With the legislators he knew what he believed and he pounded that if people want to follow that is just fine. But if not file gets on my horse. He was not an ego maniac like Lyndon Johnson i want my place in history. He thought that was funny. What is your understanding of his connection with astrology . Obviously nancy seemed influential but how do you see him of . I think it was essentially zero. [laughter] the anc was his lover and wife but was the keeper of the bubbles all the things that she talked about he was very thoughtful loved but when it came with her involvement of the affairs of state he would tune her out. For example, having dinner upstairs in the white house after he gave the evil empire speech. Nancy was on his case you cannot say that it is terrible. We have to get along with the soviets. And then he turned it used to and said what you think . He said he said it is true you will scare a lot of people it is the evil empire and without missing a beat he said is the evil empire we will push them over backers. What is for dessert . Been mitt he viewed all the astrologys stuff as much as he was doing but he was not impacted at all. How did his sense of humor play in his role as the enigma . He had an enormous sense of humor. I think it was the escape route to not talk about the serious stuff. He regularly talked about movies and that growth his wife and thats a and we understood that. Lead suddenly he talks about gary cooper and then he says lets do whats right to baby dangerous and then talk about grace kelly he is not talking about a lady from monaco but admiring a woman who sticks with her husband no matter what. So when faced with places he did not want to go he would use of movies to make a point or turn to humor because it was an escape route for not going into the dark corners lot. How did age affect his presidency . I dont know the answer to that because i was there to do the things i wanted to do as a specialist for National Security policy to put together the plan to end the cold war and a few other things but i left in 1983 for girl he was very hearty and what happened during the Second Administration i dont have kirstie and the knowledge. To talk about the reagan enigma i wrote about fax. Not what i believe. And then he went in your seventies is no small accomplishment. Faq for this special look and it is very fact based and interesting focus on the president s life that we often dont see as clearly. Thanks for joining us. [applause] [inaudible conversations]
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