Transcripts For CSPAN3 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20151231

A double topping will not be compensated. But second is a more effective and relevant job. He actually reduced spending as a share of gdp. Because reagan instituted 86 straight months of gdp growth, the fact that spending is a bad job and increased proportion proportionally. Its president advocating for general spending cuts. In todays status quo, general spending cuts are not enough. We need specific policy. The final argument is about Calvin Coolidges Foreign Policy. Instead, his lack of mechanism. What we would say on Team Opposition is that leaders or dictators could potentially sign the pact and then not follow through on it. We dont need that as an effective Foreign Policy. President reagan instituted the belief of this doctrine by ending. Finally, most importantly, Team Government needs to come up here in 2015 telling us with specific analysis. Suddenly changing their tune and begin working with the United States. We have already offered them the possibility of collaboration for so many years. Ladies and gentlemen, when the carrot doesnt work, we give them the stick. The next we have to attacks about our discussion on immigration. A couple of things here. First, we are not just talking about amnesty. There are other reforms, for instance, say to the deportation system that over 70 of republicans would potentially be in favor for. Younger and minority voters are seeking more from the Republican Party on this crucial issue. Theyre waiting for a standard bearer to step forward and demonstrate strength and compassion which president reagan epitomizes. Team opposition is looking out for the Long Term Health of the gop even if Immigration Reform is not popular, the gop must adjust to changing demographics in the United States. Lets now approach or, excuse me, lets now approach the final attack that they offered on our argument act Foreign Policy. They make the contention that president reagan was a cowboy with a lasso who never listened to his state department. But first of all, cowboy Foreign Policy is likely the reason why the cold war ended. Reagan instituted realism based ondllism and understood when it was time to go hard line. Second we bould say that the u. S. Not yet a major superpower in president coolidges time. We carry greater obligations than in the 1920s and closer to the obligations of the 1980s. Now, lets go to Team Oppositions final substantive argument. President Ronald Reagan was a symbol of american unity. President obama who interestingly is a democrat himself said Ronald Reagan tapped into our feeling which was we want clarity, we want dina michl and return to the optimism that once belonged. Reagan united the country. The 70s before reagan were a difficult time. Economic malaise. The Arab Oil Embargo and general discontent with the president ial office. Reagan swept the nation with the campaign that not only captured democratic voters but spread a message of Bipartisan Team work. Why do gop hopefuls today need to emulate this . It seems as if some candidates such as mr. Trump are relying on rudeness to garner media attention. But more than that what we would say is that in Research Conducted in september other good morning hopefuls like jeb bush and marco rubio became most associated with strangely enough the phraseents said they wanted fighter. Not many of the gop hopefuls today have shown president reagans charismatic warmth. Instead theyre either too quiet or too bombastic. We need to leave the extremes. Aside from the appearances poll shows that current gop hopefuls unlikable because of the unwillingness to compromise. According to politico, when confronted with deficits, reagan reached to the democrats for a deal to cut spending. Now, when questioned about rising deficits in recent interviews, all the gop president ial candidates rejected reagans approach. President reagans take away is this. Political brinks ma brinksmanshr worth it. Today we need someone to clear the air for the gop and bring our nation back together. Thus, we oppose. Over the summer i was given the chance to visit the coolidge president ial foundation in plymouth, vermont. There, i came to recognize that while president coolidge may be little known he has lasting lessons to apply to todays politics and todays politicians. It is for this reason its integral for us to apply them to todays politics and todays politicians at this great juncture, not just in the history of the Republican Party, but in the history of the country itself. And so, lets begin by applying these lessons to todays round. Now, we can look at three. Firstly, that a candidate ought to understand that his demeanor defines him. Secondly, that Economic Policy is the priority. And thirdly, that a good Foreign Policy is a friendly Foreign Policy. Lets begin by engaging with sides opposition on their highest ground. The idea of president reagans demeanor and we agree a lot with what matthew had to say. He is the great communicator. He is the man able to unite the American People together. But just as he was told in the last speech, there are not very many men and women like reagan. Hes ra rarity, had to replicate and oftentimes many of what reagan has to say is lost in translation. Great things like mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall turn into, mr. Trump saying, lets build a wall. As it turns out, thats rather important. But the same messages is whats trying to be said. The only difference is while reagan because he was such a man of great character is able to unite the people. Donald trump, terrifies them. He divides them. And so, that is the difference between a United Country and a divided one. Its not the difference in model. Its the difference in men. And thats what the key distinction is in todays round. Calvin coolidge on the other hand provides a much greater model, one thats much more universally applicable. What he tells us to underpromise and overdeliver. We all ought to act within our means so that we can pursue success at a level at which we never before dream. He tells us that todays politicians ought not to tell us to achieve the impossible but instead they ought to work to clob rate and come together with the other side so that they can produce a more effective policy at every step. Fundamentally we believe that that is what changes the state of american politics. Further more, what we tell you is thats what wins elections. When todays candidates like Hillary Clinton are being criticized business they dont appear genuine enough and she has to keep on saying, but im a grandmother, we start to run into some problems. Similarly, when donald trump and Bernie Sanders are exceptionally well viewed because theyre v w viewed as genuine, we wont to say its important to the American People. And i ask you now what is more genuine, more friendly, more real than being trustworthy and delivering on your promises . That is what president coolidge embodied. That is the model we want to put on xwop candidates today and indeed the entire american political system because thats how we get out of the quagmire of polarization tas trapped us you should a debt ceiling, in a world we cannot compromise on issues from Immigration Reform all the way to tax policy. Crushing the American People under this burden of politics. The second area of analysis and lesson to be learned from coolidge, however, is the economy must be our priority. We have two main lines of offense. Ronald reagan tells us that president reagan produced great change from very hard conditions. And we say thats absolutely true. President reagan came at a time of great stag inflation. Lets not undersell president coolidge. Our stock market was down by 50 . Rather significant. Even more deadly than what happened in the 1929 Great Depression because it was even greater of a fall and able to turn that around. He was able to make it into a 200 growth. That is the kind of economic balance, Economic Growth that brought electricity to american homes, cars to american garages, food on to the american table. Ronald reagan talked about making America Great again. Calvin coolidge is what made America Great in the first place. And ultimately, it is that fundamental balance of Economic Prosperity which Calvin Coolidge was able to pursue to such an excellent degree which is why we american Economic Policy should look. The second line of offense we hear on Economic Growth is on trade and here side opposition stands up and tell you that he was able to pursue global and trade and connect to the world. This is true but like criticized president Calvin Coolidge because he didnt have a cell phone. The Technology Just wasnt there. We think this is interesting and irrelevant and not going to be see any sort of success on the matter because Calvin Coolidge did believe that the chief business of the American People is business and he worked to empower them in a global setting. Now, that looked fundamentally differently in the 1920s than the 1980s. We acknowledge that and believe that core principle of president coolidge applies whether he cant use a cell phone or lives in the 21st century. The second thing is about immigration and they say that president reagan able to pursue Immigration Reforms to a great deal. We say thats completely true and doesnt contextualize very well under the system. We have one tell you that the Republican Party and indeed the world as a whole isnt all that comfortable with the idea of some sort of Immigration Reforms, like amnesty. What think talked about a lot in their case, by the way. And even trying to apply the reagan model today it wasnt always work that well. Look towards president ial candidate marco rubio. As he tried to pursue a united front for Immigration Reform and instead only divided the country further. Only furthered the debate on Immigration Reform and stagnated the views on it. This is the problem. When you try to fulfill the model of president reagan but you are not the man reagan himself and not the great xhaun kay or the and you have the e verse effect of what we were going for. And then the other area of offense on this idea of immigration which side opposition is so proud of is the fact that in the current context, republicans arent seen as the party of immigration. Deexcite the fact that reagan was the great reformer, that still didnt translate to huge support amongst people of minorities or who are strong democratic voters like side opposition tells you it will. But then the third layer of analysis on Foreign Policy and how we deserve a friendly one. Yes. President reagan was an amazing Foreign Policy person but that doesnt change when you look towards the model. Because the model gets misapplied and misunderstood all the time and its what leads us to wars in places like iraq unpopular with the American People. Its what leads us to great interventionism when we ought to be seeking collaboration with our friends and neighbors. When we dont collaborate in the state department and with the outside world it is difficult to justify the Foreign Policy. Calvin coolidge did just that. Because we understand that demeanor defines us as candidates, that economy ought to be the priority, and that a good Foreign Policy is a friendly Foreign Policy, we are proud to support both the man and the model of president Calvin Coolidge. Thank you. The most terrifying words in the english language are im from the government. And im here to help. These sentiments from president reagan in 1986 highlight the disillusionment with politics that too many voters experience even today in 2015. In this speech, ill be examined how todays gop hopefuls can best improve their campaigns through three questions. First, which model best attracts voters to the gop party . Second, which model best bolsters americas economy and provides benefits for the common person . And third, which model best reasserts americas Global Presence . But on to the first question, which model best attracts voters to the gop party . There are a series of populations, the Republican Party should be concerned about in the context of the 2016 president ial election. Specifically, three demographics. Youth, minorities and women. By the 2020 election, millennials are expected to make up 40 of the electorate. Historically, glossing over the youth vote has lost candidates such as john mccain and mitt romney the presidency. Additionally, the republican president ial nominee hasnt won the female vote since 1988. A deep rooted problem for the gop. President reagan recognized the necessity of speaking the female voice and nominated the First Female Supreme Court Justice Sandra day oconnor. Today the extremist views ali alienates female voters. President reagan demeanor drew Many Democrats to the Republican Party. In the midst of the crisis, the Arab Oil Embargo and general discontent with the government, reagan was the Unifying Force that tied us altogether. Today more polarized than ever. We need a great communicator to unite us all but not only did president reagan unite the American Public, he united his own party as well as congress. President reagan led bipartisan support that passed important pieces of legislation such as the 1986 tax reform act. Silent cows demeanor may have been effective in the early 1900 us but this doesnt mean that Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is quiet and pensive, as well. We need a strong, unifying voice to speak for the republicans. Next, Team Proposition wants to equate president reagan to mr. Donald trump. First, president reagan had much better hair than mr. Donald trump. And secondly, unlike mr. Trumps standoffish attention seeking attitude, it was president reagans warm personality that made even democrats gravitate towards him. Im not asking that all of our politicians become hollywood actors and actresses. But the American People are more willing to vote for a man or a woman who proves to be human just like them. This might explain why so far the elections republican frontrunners are nonpoliticians. The American Public is not satisfied with politics as usual. The second question which model best bolsters americas economy and provides benefits for the average person . The fiscal policy of speculation, tipping the healthy investments of the mid1920s into gambling and for all the growth of his Team President coolidges policies exacerbated the uneven distribution of income and buying pow. President reagans policies of trickle down economics reinvigorated the economy. He still had to deal with the stagflation from the nixon, ford and Carter Administrations. Yes, nominal federal spending increased but federal spending as a share of the economy fell making goods a lot cheaper for the average american. And while president coolidge did make budget cuts, they occurred before the existence of big costly programs such as Social Security and medicare that are problem that is we have to deal with in the status quo today. On the topic of Immigration Reform, there are two crucial reasons why republicans must be more receptive to adaptation to succeed in 2016. First, the gops resistance to change alienates young voters and minority voters as explained under the first question. The republicans need somebody like president reagan to take a stand for the longterm good of the party. And second, the 70 of republicans as matthew spoke of earlier agree that theneeds a reform to the immigration system through deportation, for example. The gop cannot staunchly stick to oldschool ideology and hopes of keeping up with the 21st century today. We must be more open to adaptation and change. And moving on to the third and final question, which model best reasserts americas Global Presence . This is done through two ways. As demonstrated by president reagan. First, a globalized economy and second a tough Foreign Policy approach. But first, on free open markets and globalization, as president reagan once said, our trade policy rests firmly on the foundation of free and open markets. In response to this earlier, Team Coolidge said at the time there was really no such thing as globalization. However, that proves our point exactly. Given that we live in a globalized society today, how are gop candidates supposed to model the globalized trade policies on a nonexistent or outdated policy that coolidge himself never espoused . President reagan engaged in the Global Economy and created Numerous International treaties and organizations. Demonstrating his ability to cooperate with other nations. For example, he led efforts to create the world trade organizationization as well as facilitated agreements for the Free Trade Agreement. Isolationism has only stagnated growth in the u. S. Economy. Next, hard line Foreign Policy. The cold war was a terrifying time not only in america but the rest of the world. President reagan tried it the coolidge way with a negotiations and pacifism but after three years, president reagan recognized the importance of backing up his words with money and military strength. His directness was what inspired americans and eastern europeans whereas president coolidges laid back approach likely not placate foreign leaders like Vladimir Putin or xi xinping today. Todays gop candidates must understand the importance of cooperation of ones cabinet. At the same time, a strong leader needs to be willing to negotiate and be tough when these negotiations arent working. Not all president s should be war hawks but president reagan leaves a legacy that theres more to being a president than constant isolation and appeasement. Without a doubt, president coolidge and president reagan were the best president s for their time. In the ages of the internet and globalization, however, we see that president reagans model remains more in touch, more relevant for todays gop candidates. Campaigning is not just about electing a president. It is about offering a vision for transforming america. It is because today the American People need a great communicator, more than ever, that we are proud to oppose todays motion. The Republican Party is at a critical cross roads. Pundits are predicting its demise unless a new standard bearer is found to unite the party and the nation. Republicans must have a leader with dina michl, power and passion. We have had two such bearers in this debate. But the nexus question is this. Which model is most relevant . President Ronald Reagan. This debate boils down to three big issues. First, im going to talk about president ial demeanor. Second, im going to analyze the debate on Economic Policy. And finally, well conclude with a discussion on Foreign Policy. But first, president ial demeanor. In this new world of social media, entertainment and instant communication, we need a leader who can use these outlets to the partys advantage and president coolidges time of print media, less words may have been viewed as asset but today they very well may be drowned out by louder voices. Because republicans choose to be quiet doesnt mean bernie or hilary or donald will, too. Polls only indicate to gop hopefuls that voters want a fighter and refuse to engage with hopefuls like marco rubio or jeb bush because they feel as if theyre not occupying these spaces enough. To that extent, casting a ballot in favor of Team Opposition seems relatively obvious but second on the issue of immigration, we didnt say that we want to capture people so staunchly democratic theres no chance of them ever going republican. But there is a massive population of voters out there that want to vote republican but feels as if they cannot do so because of this nexus issue. To that extent, the gop loses a little footing in the short term by mending on immigration but gains the ability to thrive in the future. We need to shatter the myth that the gop is not the party for woman, minorities or younger voters. We need to reform the negative images that have surrounded the gop in 2015. The third part on the debate of president ial demeanor is team gfts claim that individuals like trump misinterpret president reagans legacy. Trump is not actually modeling reagans presidency. Reagan never, ever acted as childishly as mr. Trump is. We should model the passion of president reagan and bring the gop hoflfuls back from the extremes and back to warmth, kindness and compassion. That is what president reagans presidency was. The next issue is on the Economic Policy. This economic debate is not complicated. On Team Opposition, we advocate ideals of globalization. Whereas Team Proposition advocates ideas of isolation. President coolidge did not lead during a time of globalization so looking to his presidency may not give us the tools we need. The times have changed. Only president reagans presidency based in a similar reality. Not only but president reagan spearheaded the Free Trade Agreement of canada and the United States and the free trade organization. May not president coolidges fault he lived in the 1920s and doesnt mean we ignore president reagans achievements. Finally, on Foreign Policy, todays crises are most similar to the ones president reagan faced. We have enormous powers rising in china, russia and forces in the middle east. President reagan was effective but dealt with other kinds of global power dynamics. President reagans policy on the other hand ended the cold war. He offered the carrot and when that didnt work move to the stick. President coolidges philosophy to attempt collaboration or isolate. The kellogg pact exemplifies this. But when the usa may be losing the authority abroad and allowing leaders like putin to set the rules of the game we need to get back on the board and embrace reaganism. There needs to be a point in time in which the American People say, enough is enough and take a stand. President Calvin Coolidge was the right man for the right time. President Ronald Reagan was, as well. Today, the challenge facing the Republican Party is choosing the right standard bearer for this generation, for this critical time in our nations history. We believe that the model to follow is the one established by the great communicator, president Ronald Reagan. We fundamentally agree. Ronald reagan was a great man. But that does not necessarily mean that reagans model is the best one for gop hopefuls today. To sum up this debate, well look at three critical question that is we need to ask ourselves whether president reagan or president coolidge is the best model for gop hopefuls today. The first question is who best characterizes the presidency . The second, who best promotes Economic Growth . And finally, who best protects our Foreign Policy . So our first question. Who best characterizes the presidency . Now, side opposition tries to tell you president reagan, ge, the great communicator and unite the Republican Party as well as the American People. But what we would argue is that president coolidge while reagan able to unite the party and the people was able to do it better. His policies of collaboration ensured that everyone had a voice and actually rare political unity was reached. That is something the gop hopefuls need to push for as we already explained that the Republican Party is so divided today over issues such as tax reform and debt reduction. But more importantly what we need to understand is that president coolidges silent demeanor allowed him to listen, not just to the demands of the people of america, but also, to his own advisers. This is extremely important for gop hopefuls to emulate because it shows to the rest of the American Community and the International Community as a whole that if a gop hopeful were to start twaen actually endorse a persona like president coolidge theyll be able to listen to people abroad, listen to everyones opinion in International Negotiations and push for meaning Public Policy reform to benefit the lives of not just americans but people around the world, as well. But the second question we need to ask ourselves is who best promotes Economic Growth . Yes, we acknowledge president reagan promoted Economic Growth, able to establish economic globalization, but what were trying to tell you is that coolidge also killed two birds with one stone. By increasing Economic Growth and decreasing our debt at the same time. Thats something that president reagan was not able to do during his presidency business as he pointed out he tripled debt in america from 900 billion to 2. 7 trillion at the end of his 8year term. This is extremely important to acknowledge because when you follow policies like president Calvin Coolidge, then what we have is increased Economic Growth, decreased debt at a critical point where we are about to surpass our debt ceiling yet again. That is something we should push for and something president coolidge can promote. But more importantly, the final question is who best protects our Foreign Policy. We okay knowledge that president reagan was able to successfully broker a peace negotiation for the cold war. Yes, he said mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Were telling you that president coolidge acknowledged first better to engage in collaborative discussions instead of trying to push for military intervention and immediate action. That is something that Ronald Reagan hasnt done. We already told you how Ronald Reagan sidelined his own cabinet members to pursue the Foreign Policy goals. This not only further divides the American People and government as they try to tell you that he unifies but president Calvin Coolidge a better way for better stronger negotiations. But more importantly, we give you the examples of the kellogg pact and the monroe doctrine. Both of which have been successful in maintaining the United States Foreign Policy abroad prioritizing peaceful negotiations over military engagement. We already told you how military engagement under Calvin Coolidge was a last resort and should always be a last resort because if you can resolve an International Conflict with peace, that should always be prioritized over war. But fundamentally Calvin Coolidge was the man and model for driving the Republican Party in his time, it is also because hell be able to drive the Republican Party in the future in Todays Society we are proud to propose. Great debate. Good job. Great debate. All right. How about a big hand for the debate . [ applause ] okay. This is dangerous but im going to ask the room to vote. Okay . And so, now keep in mind that were not asking you whether you like coolidge more, you like reagan more or thought coolidge or reagan had better hair or the students cooler than these because theyre all great, but rather, which side did you think was more convincing towards the resolution . For those and im only giving you a second to think here, but for those who thought Team Coolidge won the debate, please go ahead and raise your hand. Okay. Rashad, will you help me count the votes . So keep your hand up. 20. Okay. And now for side reagan . 24. Okay. So by a very, very small margin, well declare the winner of the daeblt side reagan. But congratulations to both sides. Thank you so, so much. On the next washington journal, well look at the top stories of 2015 with Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page and terry jeffrey. Also, well take your phone calls and read your tweets and facebook comments. Washington journal live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Thursday night, American History tv on cspan3 fee churls president ial campaigns. At 8 00 p. M. Eastern, from 1999, former president george w. Bush campaigns in New Hampshire. At 9 00, also from 1999, then Vice President al gore speaks at a democratic fundraiser in New Hampshire. At 10 30 p. M. , former defense secretary Donald Rumsfelds 1987 president ial campaign an nounsment. 10 55, paul son gas announcement. Road to the white house rewind, 8 00 p. M. Eastern thursday night on American History tv on cspan3. Three days of featured programming this new years weekend on cspan. Friday night at 8 00 eastern, Law Enforcement officials activists and journalists examine the prison system and its impact on minority communities. But the first and i think primary reason we have prisons is to punish people for antisocial behavior and to remove that threat from society. Prisons exist to keep us safe, whether theyre going to rehabilitate the prisoner or deter future crime. I think those are really secondary concerns. Great if it happens but the primary purpose of the prison system is for people who are not in prison. Its to keep society safe from the threats imposed by those folks. Saturday night, a little after 8 00, a Race Relations town hall meeting with elected officials and Law Enforcement from areas experiencing racial tensions with police. Thats where it begins. Because they get the job saying, well, and go and do their job saying, im protecting the public. Their idea of the public are those who gave them the marching orders and thats us. Thats us who need to look at all of that and talk about transparency. We need to look at those rules that they havent started to using to engage them. Sunday evening at 6 30, a discussion of Media Coverage of muslims and how american muslims can join the national conversations. Account 59, young people from across the United Kingdom gather. This issue is so much more than buses, trains and expense. It leaves people disillusioned. As a child, i couldnt wait to experience a bus or train journey. I look forward to the children and the drivers. However, when we grow up, trains lose the smily faces and forget to notice the honking and worry whether we can afford the bus to school tomorrow. For the complete schedule, go to cspan. Org. Coming up next on American History tv, former president jimmy carter joins former Vice President Walter Mondale at a tribute to mondales life and legacy, they reflect on the work to expand the role of the Vice President during the Carter Administration from 1977 to 1981. They also talk about how many rights and the work of the Carter Center in atlanta. The Humphreys School of Public Affairs at the university of minnesota where mondale now teaches hosted this event. It is about 40 minutes. Im humbled tonight by president s carters presence with us despite his personal health challenges. I was honored to be his Vice President and to be with him at the center of most of his central decisions. We succeeded over together where many other president ialVice President ial teams have been shattered. What held us together is a deep shared common bond committed to truth and decency. I never doubted the president s commitment to those values and i dont doubt it today. We also succeeded because we always lived up to his promise to welcoming he lived up to his promise to welcome me into the center of his presidency. And to protect the dignity of my presence. He always, always kept that promise. We succeeded well for many of the reasons well discuss later tonight. We agreed on those issues. So im here with you tonight to celebrate the life of this remarkable american. I love the guy. And i know we share lets give him a big hand. [ applause ] as observer of this experience, one of the things that so impressed me has been the personal relationship that has developed and grown over the years between the two of you. Mr. Vice president , i know you went to atlanta a few weeks ago and you had dinner with president and mrs. Carter. Is there anything about that dinner you care to share with us tonight . Well, quite a bit, yeah. The floor is yours. I called the president when the news came out an i watched your remarkable news conference, one of the class acts ive ever seen. And i said, you know, mr. President , i cant help you on the health side but why dont i come down and well spend an evening sharing stories about the good old stories . And you said, thats it and down we went and we had a wonderful, positive evening and we had a chance to retell some old stories and to remind ourselves of what wonderful years they were. Mr. President , is there anything about that that you would like to correct the record . [ laughter ] or add to it . I think if we had recorded the evening it is more entertaining than it will be tonight. Oh well. Okay. All right. [ applause ] it was no audience except roes lynn and participated quite well and talked about joan and so forth. I would say that the mondale family and the Carter Family are just about as close as any two families could be and thats been the case since we first got acquainted with each other. We met for the first time extensively in plains when they came down to stay with me at plains. We had about 600 people in town then and he got along well with the peanut farmers and if anyone gets an i long that well with peanut farmers very good. Thank you. President carter, you have many significant legacies from your time in the white house and we talked about many of them earlier today. We certainly will get into more of them this evening. But one of the most important i think is what the two of you did together to shape this ab secure, neglected office of the vice presidency. Its been a remarkable thing to see and were very pleased that Vice President biden is here today. Absolutely. And he right. [ applause ] theres Vice President biden. And he spoke eloquently this morning about his and president obamas shaping of the office was really strengthened and shaped by your experience. I cant imagine well, let me ask you this. Had you thought about the vice presidency beforehand . I mean, what was it that you really wanted in a Vice President . Well, i would say all the way through my political career i have always said that my favorite president in my lifetime was harry truman. And i was in the navy when harry truman basically ordained the end of the Racial Discrimination with an executive order as commander and chief and i was really shocked to learn later that truman was never informed about the atomic bomb. And when i first began to explore possibilities of becoming president , before i knew i was going to win, i found out that until then, the Vice President had never been briefed by the department of defense on how to manage the atomic weapon in case we went to a nuclear war with the soviet union so that set me back and i began to realize that for all practical purposes the Vice President was still a part of a legislative branch of government. His main duty was to proside over the senate in case of a near tie and that sort of thing and i thought the Vice President ought to be an executive branch of government so when perch came down to plains and we had a long talk, fritz did most of the talking as you know. [ laughter ] but he had some ideas to explore about how the Vice President could become an integral part of an administration. Not separate like it always had been. So i suggested to fritz or he suggested and i accepted it, i dont remember, why dont you go and talk to Vice President humphrey and Vice President rockefeller, nelson rockefeller, get the ideas of what might be done to bring the Vice President in closer to the president , at least. And that was how the whole idea began. I think thats when he turned to you if im not mistaken. You pointed him towards two Vice President s that had very unhappy experiences in the office. That was telling. He did give it a lot of thought. Mr. Vice president , you said what president carter gave you was the most generous gift of any president in American History. Do you want to expand on that . Tell us what you meant. Yeah. I would say the thing that worried me the most was i was going to lose what i knew to be an independent position in the senate and that i might go down that same road that hubert and others went down where they slowly have their dignity taken from them. And they are not really involved in the meaningful role in government and its kind of pathetic what they went through. So i did not want to do that and i was not going to do it. So when president kafcarter and talked the first time, we went over that quite a bit and i became convinced, it was his idea as much as anybody. He was convinced he was quite aware of this possibility. And he wanted to bring his Vice President in to the center of his administration and then we worked out some of these principles like i didnt want to be doing other things. I wasnt no make work. I wanted to be a general adviser to the president. I wanted to be able to bring to him good news and bad news without going through censors. He agreed with that. In order to do that, i needed to have the information that secret and otherwise that allowed me to be a source of support. And then i was willing i wanted to be a troubleshooter, as well. And i wanted to do take on chores around the country and around the world. And so, we i think we agreed on when we had that talk, we agreed on that. And i was convinced he meant it. And after four years, im persuaded that it worked. I think the best thing with me was as a georgia peanut farmer, i needed a lot of help. [ laughter ] and i felt the Vice President would be the best one to give me the help i needed. I never had served in washington as you know and fritz was an expert at least for this help from Hubert Humphrey and others on what was going on in washington so that was the main thing. Right. And so we began really to explore every possibility of moving the Vice President close to the president. He never had been in the oval office, never been in the white house before. And i spent one weekend with Hubert Humphrey because i found out just before he died and while he had serious cancer that he had never been permitted to go to camp david. Thats right. And so i invited him to go and had a peach to make on the west coast and came back and picked him up in minneapolis and went and spent the weekend at camp david just me and him and his medical doctors, as a matter of fact. And he unburdened to me that weekend things that im sure he never had said publicly, never have since then and that was the deprivation he experienced as Vice President. Right. And the exclusion from any role of an authorityive nature, executive nature and deprived of taking News Reporters overseas with him and he had to get all the press releases from overseas trips approved by the president before it could be issued and he was never involved in any serious discussion that Lyndon Johnson had with any foreign leader and he was restricted severely on his ability to go in to the congress and they would start an original conversation with another member of the u. S. Senate. Things of that kind that were very embarrassing to him as a human being. Right. And also i think counter productive. So i decided then that i had done the right thing with fritz because all of those things were changed when fritz became Vice President. Thanks to you and thanks to that conversation. [ applause ] yes, indeed. Thank you. And as you know, Hubert Humphrey was a senator mondale and many of us from minnesota and and to me. And to you. And he suffered in the vice presidency. Yeah, he did. And even though he did, Vice President mondale, he urged you to be open to the idea. Right. You want to talk about that . Yeah. I went to see at your suggestion i went the see hubert and i said, you know, i think ive got a possibility of joining with mr. Carter and running for Vice President. But in light of the experience you had in this office, and the kind of painfulness and humiliation of it all, what do you recommend . And he said, i recommend you take it. If you can get it. He said its wonderful. You will learn more than any other way. You will have more influence in one day than all year in the senate. And he said i hope youll consider doing it. Now, i must say i was never sure whether he wanted me to be Vice President or he wanted to be minnesota senior senator. [ laughter ] [ applause ] well, he gave you the right advice and you did the right thing. Thats right. What did it mean to you to have the office in the west wing that president carter gave you . No previous Vice President had been in the west wing. Well, that i think that was your idea. It meant everything because if youre over in the eob where most of the Vice President s had been, where hubert was, used to say it was like being in baltimore. [ laughter ] its funny some of us spent a lot of time in baltimore. It was good for you. [ laughter ] i said, i learned i was there for a while and said nothing propink like propinquity and i was in this office. I was maybe five seconds from your office. All the key president ial aides, jody and so on, were right there. We would bump into each other. Talk all the time. And i think its at the center of the white house is that very small west wing. And if youre there, i think youre a part of a serious effort f. Youre outside of there, i dont know. So it was a big, big advantage to me. Right. And i think it helped me serve you. Mr. President , the other thing that you did besides coming up with the west wing idea, i know this because i heard you say it, you told your staff and your cabinet, i want to respond to a request from the Vice President as if it came from me. Exactly. And you said because you knew the experience of Vice President s rockefeller and humphrey and said if youre messing around with this guy, youre out of here, right . And that message came through loud and clear. Thank you for this. That was very important because in the past quite often the cheer of the staff or someone like that saw the Vice President adds a challenger to them and their own authority and their own influence and i knew that could happen with my staff, as well. So it was clear to me that everybody that worked in the white house should look upon me as ultimate voice but along with me Fritz Mondale so they knew that. And also i also knew that you were chief of staff for fritz monodral adale and i wanted youl that you worked for me and not just him. And you made sure of that. Thats true. Thats true. So when hamilton or jody got an order from fritz or suggestion from fritz, they knew it was the same as coming from me. Thats right. And i note we didnt have any disagreement because of this. It made a huge difference. It did. Senator humphrey was forbidden as i mentioned earlier to take an initiative and going to even a member of congress and talking about executive affairs. Right, right. I changed that, as well. I never had a meeting with any foreign leader from which Fritz Mondale was excluded. Right. And i never had a meeting with a member of congress from which he was excluded and one other of the things i was concerned about is disharmony then and now among the members of the National Security staff. Because we had the Vice President got in office and the secretary of state, secretary of defense. And National Security adviser. Sometimes the head of an intelligence agency. We met every friday morning. Right. To discuss every possible issue that might come up the following week in Foreign Affairs and then dr. Briz ski took notes and meet wednesday morning with the secretary of defense and secretary of state to make sure they were doing what we had decided and Fritz Mondale was always an integral part of that tiny meeting that shaped aumt Foreign Policy. So, so far as i know he was almost like another president. Thats what i wanted. Yeah. He thought that sometimes. I know he did. [ laughter ] there was one thing that fritz did, though, that i think exceeded his authority. [ laughter ] whenever there was a chance for me to go to norway, i country i really admired, i was always excluded from consideration. [ laughter ] and first thing i knew, fritz would be back and, mr. President , ive just returned from norway. I said, well, i was planning to go to norway myself. But he would give me a thorough report of what was going on in that wonderful country. You will be pleased to know that the foreign minister of norway and the ambassador of norway are here this afternoon and they can arrange the trip. Please. Lets have you stand up. You know, if you ask if you ask anybody would you please, can you please stand . Please . Lets foreign minister. There we are. Ambassador. Thank you. If you ask anybody from those ancient days in the 70s, so forth, they dont know that i was president. Really . Yeah. [ laughter ] this is a tough evening. Yeah. He can do that to you. I know, yeah. Now, we are going to shift gears here a little bit, mr. President. I think he would welcome that. In the introduction to your marvelous new book, a full life and let me just give that a plug. You should all read a full life by jimmy carter. This is an extraordinary book. You quote in the introduction Vice President mondales fairly wellknown summary of your four years in office. We told the truth. We obeyed the law. And we kept the peace. And you added in the introduction, and we promoted human rights. Thank you very much for putting that in there. [ applause ] now, we all remember how you embraced human rights. So firmly and consistently. And we became known in parts of the world in ways that we hadnt before because of that and still true in many parts of the world. What was the motivation that made you make human rights such a priority and then if you would, please, what do you see as the largest human rights issue in the world today . Well, to go back to when i was a child, i grew up in a community where my family was only white family there so i grew up in a group of about 250 africanamericans so my whole life was shaped by the africanamerican culture. And as i got older and older i realized that there was a great deal of discrimination there. They couldnt vote. They couldnt serve on a jury. They had very inferior schools and so forth. Thats the origin of it. My mother paid no attention to that racial segregation or discrimination. So ive always been a champion of human rights in small limited way. When i got to be president , of course, i pointed this out as a goal as president. And i saw soon that this resonated in russia with the jewish russians who wanted to come out and also id say just one quick example if latin america. When i became president , almost every country in south america was a military dictatorship. Colombia, peru, chile, argentina, paraguay, uruguay, brazil and so forth. The institution of a human rights policy there and our support for it, condemnation of oppression, i think made it possible for every country in south america to now become a democracy. And they have done it, they did it within five years after i entered office so i think the practical, the practical results very much pleased me while i was president but still looked upon by some as a weakness than a strength and to answer your question i think the worst nation worldwide human rights oppression is against women and girls. No doubt about that. [ applause ] including including in our own country. And not only do we have we dont have some of the problems but we have now more slavery than ever existed in the 18th and 19th century in the world. Atlanta happens to be the number one trading post in america for slavery. Really . We have more than 200 people every month sold into slavery in atlanta. And the reason for that is that it has the largest and most busy airport on earth and a lot of the passengers come in to atlanta on delta, so in other words, girls with brown and black skin and the New York Times did a very long article last february or march said that black or brownskinned girl in atlanta could be bought by a brothel owner for 1,000. Female slavery comprises about 80 and sold into sexual slavery and same thing in the universities now with oppression, sexual abuse of girls. And also in our military i think last year 16,000 cases of sexual abuse took place in the military. And very seldom is a person prosecuted, punished for rape even in the military or university system. So we have a long way to go not only in this country but around the world. Thank you for your leadership. [ applause ] Vice President mondale, you were very much a partner in this effort to promote human rights in the bochi case, meeting with the African Leadership on apartheid, in trying to save the vietnamese boat people who were dying at sea. You want the vietnamese boat people who were dying at sea. Do you want to talk about these issues or any others . These were all issues that you were directly involved in. We talked about them, and i would pick up various of them and particularly required travel and the rest, organization. And try to add my help to that. Boat people, horrible scandal of particularly in the southeastern asia. They had, we thought, clear evidence that the government of south vietnamese of was push, was pushing, particularly citizens of chinese extraction out to sea. Sometimes charging them for the honor of being kicked out. They were often to get into boats that were unseaworthy. The thousands lost their lives at sea. And the u. N. Was saying this was just poverty. That it wasnt any of that. And so we decided we needed to make an issue out of this. We, the navy didnt want to pick up, remember, we talked about that. The navy was hanging back, again, as it always does. [ laughter ] and we, but, so the navy agreed to pick up people, saved a lot of lives, and we set up a u. N. Conference in geneva on the boat people, and we were able to get a strong resolution there, and we set up an international system. We took, most of them, but some 20 or 30 nations also participated in a meaningful way, and i think the whole, whole world felt better about it, and i think the United States looked pretty good at that time, and id like to see us get involved now a little more forward. [ applause ] after the vietnam war, the refugees from vietnam and cambodia were be being persecuted, even assassinated if they were found to have been loyal to us during the war. So we began to receive these people after they were carefully screened. And just a lesson for europe, we were taking about 12,000 a month. And we took them, and the vietnamese and cambodians have made very wonderful citizens for the United States. Absolutely. [ applause ] president carter, one of the most difficult, and i think frustrating experiences in your tenure was when the iranians seized the hostages from the American Embassy in tehran. And even though they werent released until you left office, the release was work of your administration. Now president obama has secured an agreement with iran to prevent the development of a Nuclear Weapon for at least a decade. How, how do you view that agreement . In terms of what it means for peace in the middle east, and what it might mean for the future of iran itself internally . Well, what many people dont even realize unless they think about it a few minutes was when that shah was overthrown and the ayatollah hoe mainy was established, it was a government that i credited the hostages that were taken. So i believed then and now that we should deal with the countries with which we disaguy and build a barrier. So ive been long awaiting the time when the United States would have talks with iran. And i think that what john kerry did i met with him to discuss this this afternoon among other things and what president obama did was the right thing, and i hope and pray that the Peace Agreement that weve worked out with iran about Nuclear Weapons will prevail and that they will honor their commitments. So i think its a wonderful thing, and i hope the whole country will get behind it and support it and that the iranians will comply. [ applause ] do you want to add anything to that, mr. Vice president . No, i agree. I think that, it looks to me like the president is gaining a majority support in the United States. And the momentum is flowing to him because hes provided excellent and needed leadership. [ applause ] mr. President , were you known to a lot of us in the white house for taking on a lot of tough issues. No tough issue was safe if it came near your desk. [ laughter ] and your achievements have not always been fully recognized. But just to look back on it, you brought peace to the middle east at camp david. [ applause ] yes, indeed. You put the country on the path towards energy independence. [ applause ] you brought inflation under control, and its remained under control for 30plus years. [ applause ] you appointed paul voeker, i remember that very well. And then came panama, which was one of the toughest issues any president five of your predecessors had failed to solve that problem of the panama canal. But you took it on, and by all accounts, the canal today is a huge success. In terms of our security, economically. In every possible way. Do you have any reflections on that and comment on that. It was one of the most difficult things i had in my life, let alone president. For instance, there were 20 senators who voted for the canal treaties in 1978 who were up for reelection that year. Only seven came back following that january, seven out of 20. And the inflation great was almost two years in 1980, including a president who was not reelected. And i think this has been one of the best examples on the sincerity and the competence of the United States in supporting human rights of a tangible nature that i can remember. Because to give away the canal to use Ronald Reagans express was a crime almost against the United States, but in my opinion, it was the right thing to do. You may remember that reagan almost overthrew gerald ford as a republican nominee in 1976. And a lot of the issue was on reagans condemnation of any move toward panama canal treaties. But i had bipartisan support, and we laboriously dealt with undecided senators, about 11 of them, and were able to get this passed through. It was still considered to be an unpopular deal. When the year 2000 came and time for us to turn over the canal to the panamanians, the president decided not to go down there, and the Vice President decided not to go down there, and the secretary of state decided not to go down there. For the first time, they asked me to go down there. [ laughter ] sounds like a job for a Vice President , to me. The Vice President didnt want to go. So, and then a little bit later when the, they decide to expand the canal by doubling its capacity, there was a big ceremony down there. Once again, the incumbent Vice President happened to be republican. Asked me to go and represent the United States. So ive been honored twice since i left the white house [ laughter ] congratulations. Thank you. Vice president mondale. I told the story today in an earlier conference about how we trying to get those hardline senators who had campaigned against the treaty and all, and about senator haikawa who ran against the grounds that its ours, we stole it fair and square and so on. [ laughter ] and he told me, you know, maybe i could support the treaty, but he said the president is not very welladvised. He doesnt have good advice. And maybe if he could take my advice, i could vote for him. So i ran to the phone and called you, and we got him on the phone right away. And we went over the information of, and he said, yes, i think i can vote for shouldnt we meet about every biweekly or something . And you said lets not do that. Well probably need to meet more often. [ laughter ] and i think he was the deciding vote, wasnt he . Any one of them could have been the deciding vote. Right, but you spent a lot of time up there working on the ratification, and, as you would put it, that was grinding hard rock, wasnt it . It was, and your point of the number of is that rights who were going to lose the next election, many of whom knew that. I remember tom mcintire of New Hampshire said yes, ill vote for it. This is right, but he said dont expect me back in the next session, and i heard several others that told me that. And it was not popular. It was it was a strange issue for me. Usually its senator wanting to do something thats safe and not right. In this case, they knew to vote against it was wrong. So even though it affected their own future, they voted right. And it was an inspiring time to be up there. Well, president carter, you and rosalynn, and your team at the Carter Center have done an extraordinary job for 35 years. [ applause ] exactly. You set the Gold Standard for former president s. There ins to questi theres no question about that. And aid be grateful, i know the audience would be, about the kind of work the centers doing, what the hopes and aspirations are all about. Whats the Carter Foundation about . Peace, freedom and the aleve yags suffering. The Carter Center is free to go and meet with people around the world who the government normally wont meet, for example in khartoum. In nepal, and they won the vote in 2008 and were condemned as terrorists. We met with fattah and hamas. Thats one of the thins things y to do. The outcasts might be whos causing the problem with human rights, so we go right to them and try to change their policy. I never go into a troubled area without getting ahead of time, permission from the white house. Sometimes reluctant permission. I always make a report to the white house and state department. The second thing is, we started the policy of monitoring elections. Because we found out in trying to negotiate peace between two groups, quite often, if we say why dont we have an honest election, and im sure the people of your country will choose the right person to be leader, and boast antagonists know that theyre going to be the leader, thats the principle of politics is selfdelusion. So we began to monitor elections. And we just finished our 100th troubled election in gee guy on guiana. And now were working in myanmar. We will treat this year 71 Million People so they wont go blind or die from disease that is no longer known in the developed world. So health care is our primary way to expend money and to use our people. One example of that is in guinea, where we started out with 20 countries that had guinea worm. And 26,300 villages and 3. 6 million cases. And at this moment we have 15 cases in the world. And so [ applause ] wow. So thats what were working for. We go into a country and work side by side for the people in little villages, and it gives us an insight quite often into Political Affairs in that country, and thats what we share with our leaders in washington. Its extraordinary work. And one of the things in addition to that that i so admire is that youve planned ahead. Youve endowed the work of the center. Your grandson jason is going to be the chairman. Didnt want to rush it. Hes going to be the chairman. But youre planning for this work to go on in perpetuity. Thats right. We have a Legal Partnership with emory university. We appoint half of the board members, they appoint half. So we have a Great Institution backing us up. And we have organizations around the world with leaders. We have about 30 leaders in latin america who have been either present or prime minister. And we have a record of holding good elections, and we have an adequate endowment to tide us over when rosalynn and i are not there to raise money. We have to raise a lot of money. You and i were chatting earlier before we started. And youre going to hold the annual meeting at the Carter Center weekend in annapolis next year, and you said i could invite everybody here to attend, right . You and the Vice President going to be there . It will be a great event. We were going to have some questions. But we dont have any microphones. So [ laughter ] just a little issue there. So i think what we should probably do is to wrap this up, but, mr. President , i would like to ask you, invite you to say any final words about the Vice President or about anything you would like at this point. Well, i think what we did together was historic. Its changed the basic structure of the executive branch of government to bring the Vice President in as a full partner with the president. That had never within dobeen do. I think the reason it was successful was that every expectation that i had for that partnership was never betrayed by mr. Mondale. I dont think we ever had an argument during the years, which was better than the relationship between me and my wife. [ laughter ] [ applause ] okay. Mr. Vice president , this is your day, and you get the last word. Well, were just so thrilled to have the president with us. I know this was a great evening for all of us. You can feel it. The accomplishments of the Carter Administration, cartermondale administration really are an inspiration. Were thrilled that youre here. Im glad to be a part of it. We love you. Thank you very much. Thank you. [ applause ] thursday night, American History tv on cspan 3 features president ial campaigns. At 8 00 eastern from 1999, former president george w. Bush campaigns in New Hampshire. Then al gore speaks at a democratic fundraiser in New Hampshire. At 10 30, Donald Rumsfelds 1987 campaign announcement. And at 10 55, paul songiss 1991 announcement. Road to the white house rerun on cspan 3. This new years weekend, book tv brings you three days of nonfiction books and authors. On new years day, encore presentations of in depth. Nationally send cased host tim heartm hartman. His books include the crash of 2016. Then walter williams. His most recent book. Saturday at 10 00, karl rove, former White House Deputy chief of staff looks at William Mckinleys 1896 campaign, why the election of 1896 still matters. Mr. Rove discusses the political climate. He is interviewed by the Senior Editor for national weekly. He has seen the country descend into a deep depression, and the republicans think that the election of 1896 is going to be theirs, and he wants to be the nominee, but hes not the favorite of the party bosses. Join book tv as we attend a book party thrown for karl rove. Sunday, author david mariness. Once in a great city, a detroit city as well as first in his class. Three days of nonfiction books and authors on cspan 2. Television for serious readers. Coming up next, Harry Trumans eldest grandson welcomes an atomic bomb survivor to the president ial library in independence, missouri for the presentation of a rare paper crane. The crane was folded by a dying 12 Year Old Girl named Sadako Sasaki who was 2 when the atomic bomb was dropped. When she developed leukemia, she put her hope in a japanese legend that promised one wish in exchange for 1,000 origami cranes. Her death in 1955 inspired children around the world to fold the cranes and send them to her memorial in hiroshima. Well hear from Clifton Truman daniel and sadakos brother. This was hosted by the Truman Library and is just under an hour. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I im kurt graham, and it is my great pleasure to welcome you here for a wonderful program. Its always great to see people here and all the wonderful things going on. But were particularly delighted to have you here this evening for a program we think youll enjoy. Weve had a wonderful day. Weve been the recipients of a very special gift that has come to us from japan. And youre going to hear all about that tonight, so im not going to go into too many details but to welcome you and introduce the panel that youll be hearing from tonight. I think youve got programs in front of you, but to my left is Clifton Daniel truman. He is the honorary chairman of the library, the Truman Library institute board. And its always great to have him here in independence with us. Seated to his left is Masahiro Sasaki who is the brother of sadako. And i want to introduce the translator. When masahiro talks to us, it will be through the translator. She is the Deputy Director of Educational Programs for the Japan Society of new york. And its a great pleasure to have her with us. I want to introduce yuchi yuchi sasaki. And first wed like to hear from our two speakers. Thank you, kurt. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for being here tonight. This starts with thank yous. Thank you again for all of you for being here. And thank you to masahiro and to yuji for the gift that were receiving and for coming all the way to the Truman Library. We toured my grandparents home today so i could show them where i tore the curtains and peeled up the linoleum. [ laughter ] and generally at one point, masahiro gave me the new nickname that as apparently begun to stick bad boy. [ laughter ] the thank you also goes to kurt and the staff of the National Archives and Records Administration and to alex burden and staff of the Truman Library institute. Every one of them. In making, in putting this together, in asking for the crane and masahiros donating it. All of them have been welcoming. And i would like to extend thanks to john sherman. There are members of the board, past members of the board who fought in the pacific during world war ii. And i caught not only didnt catch any flak for this, but they behaved with empathy and with honor. And im very grateful for that. Im also grateful to the citizens of missouri and kansas city and independence, because its not just my legacy at stake here. Its yours. My grandfathers legacy belongs to all of us. So i really appreciate your being here tonight, and i appreciate the acceptance of this gesture. The first part of this story for me is the story of the teacher. When pie grandfather never spoke to me about the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki. To be fair, i never asked him to. We visited my grandparents out here on school vacations. And the last thing i wanted was a history lesson. And grandpa would give you one if he could catch you. [ laughter ] so i did not ask about the bombings or anything else. I learned about the bombings as most of you did, from our text books, and our textbooks dont have much. Mine had a page or two, picture of the mushroom cloud. Facts and figures, but nothing really about what happened to the people on the ground. In 1999, my son, wesley, who is now 26, wesley was 10 years old. He came home from school with a book. Sadako and the thousand paper cranes. For those of you who dont know sadakos story, she was a real little girl who lived in hiroshima. She was 2 years old when the bomb destroyed the city. She and her family, masahiro included, escaped pretty much unscathed. They were lucky. But nine years later, sadako was diagnosed with radiationinduced leukemia. In order to help herself, she followed a japanese tradition that says if you foiled 1,000 origami paper cranes you are granted a wish, good life, a long life. She folded about 1500 cranes during her month in the hospital but died of leukemia in october of 1955. Her friends and family, schoolmates raised the money to build a monument to her and to all of the children who had been killed, wounded and sickened by the pom. It stands today in hiroshimas Peace Memorial park. That it w that was the first human story i had ever seen out of hiroshima or nagasaki, and i remember telling wesley that i thought it was important for him to understand his great grandfathers decision but equally important to understand the price that was paid in hiroshima and nagasaki. Wesley said i liked the book, and he liked it for an unusual reason i thought for a 10 year old. He liked it, because it was realistic. It didnt have a happy ending. But his teacher did not just give him the book. She didnt just teach them the story. She taught them japanese history. She taught them japanese culture. She took them to a japanese restaurant. They had a japanese tea ceremony. I came home one afternoon from work and found wesley in the living room wearing a kimono, with green tea and sushi laid out on the coffee table behind him. The two of them, wesley and his teacher brought all of japan, not only brought japan into our lives but changed our lives. Its what brought me here tonight, what brought me to masahiro and what brought me here tonight. And that teacher, rosemary barill la, is sitting right there in our front row. [ applause ] and before i go on, this is, this is the book that this is not the book. Its one of the books that wesley brought home with sadakos story in it. And my wife polly, who was also sitting in the front row next to rosemary, polly found these at the second hand, half price bookstore. She found six or seven of them. Pulled them off the shelf and said here, youre doing this now, youll need these. And we took them home, and i think this is the last one we had. And i was flipping through it one day a while ago to see, just to remind me of something. And i opened the back, and i found barilla stamped on the inside of it. Its one of rosemarys books, and i thought that what we would do, masahiro and yuji and i signed this. And we thought we would give you back your book. [ applause ] so to go on. I, that story, i mentioned to a couple of japanese journalists that i had read this story, because on the anniversaries of the bombings, if youre related to harry truman, you get phone calls, and i mentioned this to a couple of japanese journalists and that story made it back to japan, and i had to phone call from masahiro sa sake who was in the United States for business or a few weeks, and we talked for a few minutes, and he said i think its interesting that you and your son read my sisters story. Maybe we could Work Together some day, maybe youd consider coming to japan. And i said sure. And Nothing Happened for six years. We made that connection, and that was great. And then six years later. This was in 2004. In 2010, we met at the World Trade Center memorial, the 9 11 Tribute Center in manhattan, where masahiro and yuji were donating one of sadakos last cranes to the center as a gesture of healing. And during that conversation, we met in a Conference Room upstairs, and during that conversation, yuji took out a small plastic box, and from it, he took a tiny paper crane, and he dropped it into my palm and said thats the last one sadako folded before she died. Would you come to hiroshima and nagasaki, and i said yes. The minute i said that, yuji said okay, if youre going to do that, we will give another one of these cranes to the uss airz memorial in pearl harbor, which they have done. It was almost simultaneous. I went to hiroshima in 2012, with polly and our sons, wesley and gates. And in september, yuji took that crane to the pearl harbor, to pearl harbor and to the uss arizona memorial. So they have, they brought that full circle for me. The trip to japan was, was wonderful. It was, it was difficult at times. We met, in addition to going to the, in addition to attending both ceremonies in hiroshima and nagasaki, we met and just listened to more than two does survivors. And they are remarkable people. Despite what they have been through, they reach out with only one thing in mind. They reach out without anger, without recrimination, and they reach out simply to tell their story so the rest of us understand what its like to live through a nuclear explosion. Masahiro did in hiroshima, for example, there was a mr. Ito, sub yoe ito, and mr. Ito lost his brother in hiroshima, and his son at the World Trade Center. And at the end of the day, on august 6th, in 2012, mr. Ito had created a lantern to his brother and his son, and he invited polly and gates and me to go down to the river with him and light that lantern and send it down the river as a message to the lost souls. Mr. Ito praise to his father to find his son, because they still have not found his sons remains in the ruins of the center. Shudeki mori, i dont know how many of you now this. Mr. Mori, there were 12 americans who died in hiroshima. They were prisoners of war. Crews from two bombers and a couple of navy dive bombers. And two of them survived the bombing for a time. They were in the basement of the building. And they survived. They had horrible radiation poisoning and they died a day or two later. And he began to find out people were drawing pictures of americans after the bombing. He spent about 20 years of his own life and a lot of his own money tracking down the American Families of those fliers so that their loved ones would know what had finally happened to them because of the secrecy of the war, the secrecy of the bombs, no one could tell them for sure what had happened. So i had found in hiroshima and nagasaki, and in japan i found great kindness, great openness to this idea of my being there. And before i introduce masahiro, in closing, i would like to say that i have found that here for them, and i have been enormously proud of you, of all of you here in end piindependence and kansa for the way they have been accepted here on this visit. So thank you for that. And now i would like to introduce you to Masahiro Sasaki who again reached out to me only in kindness and with the hope that i would help him help you understand what thats like so that we never do it to each other again. Thank you. [ applause ] good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Im Masahiro Sasaki, sadakos brother. Please allow me to speak in japanese. Usually i dont prepare prescripted speech draft, like mr. Daniel did, i usually speak without a note. But in order for me to convey our message accurately, please allow me to use scripted speech draft this time. Im very, very grateful and honored to be here and have this day coming true, the day that ive been really looking forward to and grateful to be invited here today. Actually, the donation that we had today was made possible greatly by mr. Clifton Truman Daniel whos here with us today. Because of him this day has come true. Id also like to express our sincere gratitude equally to all the people who are working at the Truman Library who put the effort and time to make this day possible and so that we can donate sadakos crane. Thank you very much. The significance and also the reasons why we are donating sadakos crane to various parts of the world is for us to wish to have the true end of war in our hearts that we may have between United States and japan im an atomic bomb survive, but i never held animosity toward the United States of america, and i also never had ill feeling toward this country. And i can tell you that sadako probably shared the same feeling. So we share that we conveyed our hearts this message to the president truman today. Im convinced and id like to believe that our message and our hearts have reached the heart of the president truman who is in heaven right now. I can say this because as you can see us on the stage, from Clifton Truman daniel and i share the agreement. The agreement is to deteach our future generations how to have a new understanding to even discuss how the education should be. And, as a result of this mutual agreement, that brought us here and us here to the Truman Library to donate sadakos paper cranes to leave a legacy to the past and the present. Earlier today we had a chance opportunity to pay a visit to the grave site for president harry truman. So during the time that we are standing in front of, at the site, i felt that its very necessary for us to understand president trumans position at the time that he had when he faced the very difficult decision to drop the bomb as the president of the United States, but at the same time, wed like to honor that also his humane feelings three may have exhibited during the time. Wed just like to honor that as well, and wed like to share this from the bottom of our heart to say to him to please rest in peace forever. As many of you know, sadakos cranes have spread all over the world at this moment as an embodiment of a peace and she resides in the hearts of each one of us. When you have the chance to see the paper crane that she folded, i probably think it will help us to remind how fortunate we are to experience ordinary dolly lives such as beautiful morni s mornings, and we can be very grateful. And if we have this compassionate heart, that can be a very next step to bond us, to unite us for a grander peace. And thats my hope that we can achieve that situation. You rather than me. Translator compassionate heart, in japanese, its intentional feeling which, as translated as you rather than me. What id like to do to sen the message of sadakos crane is to connect the people who are seeking for the peace. Thats what wed like to accomplish to connect the people around the world who are equally and commonly searching for peace. Also what wed like to do is to share our mission and goal of activities that we are doing which will teach you and why that folding paper cranes will actually help people in need of people in a difficult situation and help them have access to pencils, which means ed characteristic and help them to access bread, which i believe he means food to eat. And so wed like to explore that, the possibility that a wide folding paper cranes will make that movement possible. New york 9 11 trade center. Austria, belgium, iran, okinawa. Pearl harbor. Pearl harbor, hiroshima. Translator so, so far we have donated sadakos cranes to places like the september 11 Tribute Center in new york city and austria, brazil, iran, okinawa and a couple of cities within japan. And in particularly, id like to mention that mr. Daniel help us bring touch with the Pearl Harbor National park service, and that that really help us to donate one of sadakos cranes to the park, at the site. And with that, that signifies that sadakos crane that we donated to pearl harbor really helped us connect pearl harbor and hiroshima through this donation. So that donation to the pearl harbor actually became the very powerful first step toward the end of the war in our hearts between the two countries. We met mr. Daniel for the first time in 2010, in may in 2010 at the trade center in new york city. We believe that mr. Daniel is the one who truly understand the meaning, the significance of the sadako and sadakos story, and you are the one who understands the whole thing the most, and were very grateful to meet you in new york. We never met before then. We felt an immediate bond with you. I dont know why, but we felt an immediate bond with you. During our meeting, the first meeting with mr. Daniel when he shared with us was that his desire to have a better understanding of the effect of the atom bombs and also hed like to have a better understanding how atom bomb survivors have survived today. Thats what he shared with us very sincerely during the meeting. I also did some research to have a better understanding of president harry truman, and i was able to access one document that really reveals his human side. And that was available at the National Archives and the records of the administration. The document i was able to access, i was able to read was actually the respond, response to the one senator who had written or sent a telegram to president truman in saying that i just like to quote, our people in the United States believe that we should continue to strike the japanese so they are brought to their knees, and heres what the president truman responded to this senator, and ill read exactly what this document said. On august 9th, 1945. I read your tell gram of august 7th with a lot of interest. I know that japan is terribly cruel and uncivilized nation in warfare, but i cant bring myself to believe that because they are beasts we shouldnt ourselves set, we should not sit in the same manner. For myself, i certainly regret the necessity of wiping out whole professions because of the pigheadedness of the nation, and for your information, im not going to do it unless it is absolutely fesnecessary. It is my opinion that after the russians enter war, tit will vey shortly fold up. I have humane feelings for the women and children in japan. Sincerely yours, harry truman. So this correspondence probably took place after the day that the atom bomb was dropped on japan. And so when i saw this correspondence and the documents, i felt that i touched or i was able to access the human side of the president truman. Those who are engaged in a war or impacted the war remain hurt with a big scar. Thats what the war does on us. If the past scars is still affecting us in the daily life at this moment, regardless of who did this, maybe we didnt do it, but the people in the past did. And we really have to admit the mistake we may have had at that time. With regards to the attack on pearl harbor without a declaration of war, without giving them any warning, we didnt have to affect on our action. So this heart reflects the legacy and missions of the sadako legacy. So i think this kind of a thing is necessary and an intentional heart that we need in order to have a better understanding with the people who are actually looking for us and seeking for the end of war in our hearts. That is go beyond the differences that we can see in education in two countries, in japan and the u. S. So what id like to do is prepare and create an environment where we can talk about the common understanding of, related to the war in the past for the future generation. And in order to do so, wed like to create and take a lead on creating a facility, a paper crane summit for the educators for both countries as quickly as possible. So like mr. Daniel to be a big part of this initiative we are embarking on and then continue to work with us. E