States, and her time serving under president s george w. Bush and donald trump. This is 35 minutes. Where sadies, lets begin with your story. You came to the u. S. When and why . Mercedes i was born in miami, florida. My parents fled the castro regime. My father at the time was in prison under fidel castro. He was a political prisoner. Fought to help free cuba, when obviously the dictatorship came in in the late 1950s. Jail, and ite in was a trying moment for my family. States,e to the united and it was one of those things where they started with nothing. Father, being the entrepreneur and hard worker he he started working as a carpenter and electrician. He made ends meet for his family. It was those lessons with my father, who would constantly remind me of the importance of reagan and democracy in america, and how we have a responsibility to preserve these values. This is something i talked to my kids about as well. Steve your parents are still alive . E mercedes they are. They are pr
Things. When we get to the qanda part of the session. But we ask if you have a question first put it in the form of a question in the second, make your way to the microphone because we are videoing both for our own page and cspan tv is here this evening as well, and they would like to be able to hear your question. And at the end before you come up to get the book signed the stuff was appreciated. The presidency was profiled in a new book by tim weiner thats receiving a lot of attention. Hes quite familiar to many in washington and he lived and reported here for 15 years in the previous books. He got it into the newspaper business after earning a masters degree in journalism at columbia 30 sixes ago and by the early 1980s he had landed at the Philadelphia Inquirer where he worked for a decade. They were right up ready to put the budget to sponsor the Defense Research and that led to the first book. They joined the New York Times in the mid1990s covering National Security issues that he
Watergate scandal. [inaudible conversations] im going to put this down here for just now. Okay. Good ioning. Good evening. Im bradley graham, coowner of politics prose along with my wife, lissa muscatine. On behalf of the entire staff, thank you so much for coming. A few quick administrative notes. Now would be a good time to silence any cell phones or other things that might go beep. When we get to the q a art of the session part of the session, we invite anybody to ask a question, but we ask that if you have a question, first, you put it in the form of a question and, second, you make your way to this microphone up here, because we are videoing both for our own youtube page and cspan tv is here this evening as well. Theyd like to be able to hear your question. And at the end, before you come up to get your book signed, our staff would appreciate it very much if youd fold up the chairs that youre in and lean them against the bookcases or a pillar. The topic this evening is, of course,
That kind of political gamesmanship. Reading his diaries, but was his attitude during my presidency . Was it worried, concerned . There were no diaries. This is just interviews. On january 201993. When did you start interviewing . 2,006. Really . Of course he was worried about you and mrs. Bush hundred dollars. You know the stories. He wants to much news, read the New York Times. I agree. There is another difference. I didnt. It honestly was. He worried a lot, of course. One of the fascinating questions which i ask you a length and should parenthetically say insofar as this book is true as i hope it is my great deal of that, i owe a debt to president bush 43 for giving me an immense amount of his time and insight and wisdom. He sat there for longer than he wanted to. Wait a minute. Do you know why . My knew john would be fair. I was a little concerned when he approached me about the book. A little skeptical. I was able to read his intentions. I want to ask you something. We are out of
Politicking prose along with my wife melissa. On behalf of the entire staff, thank you so much for coming. A few quick administrative notes. Now would would be a good time to silence yourself owns or other things that might go beep. When we get get to the q and a part of the session we invite anyone to ask questions. We ask that if you have a question, first you put it in the form of a question, second you make your way to this microphone up here. We are videoing both for our own youtube page and cspan tv is here this evening, they would like to be able to hear your question. At the end, before you get your book signed our staff would appreciate it if you would fold up the chair that you are in and lean it against a bookcase or pillar. The topic this evening is Richard Nixon whose tragic presidency is profiled in a new book by tim weiner that is receiving a lot of attention. Tim is an experience, prizewinning journalist who we are familiar here within washington. He was here for 15 yea