and he did that in large part to try assert the mastery of the presidency over congress to is implement congress it is a leading institution or center of gravity in the american politics. prior to wilson almost all presidents fulfill constitutional requirement to fulfill information on the union as the phrase in the text by sending letters to congress and publishing them in the newspaper. well, wilson created spectacle we know today which all presidents followed with one or two minor exceptions and i i hate as much as i hate to say it, mag news as rush limbaugh calls him, contributed to the degradation to the state of the union speech which did not surprise us as the only president with a show business background. there is to be said to reagan s credit, however. his state of the union speeches tend to be much shorter than his successors. reagan s addresses were 4800 words long and delivered them crisply. often getting out in 45 to 50 minutes. by contrast clinton and bark
we know today which all presidents followed with one or two minor exceptions and i i hate as much as i hate to say it, mag news as rush limbaugh calls him, contributed to the degradation to the state of the union speech which did not surprise us as the only president with a show business background. there is to be said to reagan s credit, however. his state of the union speeches tend to be much shorter than his successors. reagan s addresses were 4800 words long and delivered them crisply. often getting out in 45 to 50 minutes. by contrast clinton and bark s state of the union addresses, many of them have been as long as 27200 words, clocking in at time to annoy even fidel castro. when we contemplate not the spectacle of the modern presidency but also the we also have to take into account the outsize pretensions and expectations promised by candidates and demanded by the people. it is then jaring to reflect on something harvey was bringing out the founders considered fo
ferrerio. it s an honor to be here. please join me in welcoming the three members of our panel today to the stage. [ applause ] you will be eyewitnesses with them to a very important moment in the cold war. and we will start as they come in, i will introduce each of them. you ll hear from them again, of course. ambassador gilbert a. robinson was coordinator of the american national exhibition in moscow where he brought together vice president nixon and russian premier nikita khrushchev in what you will know as the famous kitchen debate. currently chairman of new realm investments llc, president of garr inc., an international firm advising companies on international trade. from 1998 to 2003, he was national director and chief operating officer of the center for the study of the presidency with headquarters here in washington. from 1983 to 1985 ambassador robinson served as special adviser for publicdy ploemsy to secretary of state george shults. february 1981, president reag
we had briefed nixon on one thing. we said there is a new thing called tape. it s called ampex tape. he would learn the lesson very well. and none of us had seen it, and so we said if something happens and this is the stop button, this is the replay button, and if you ever need it. none of us knew that. we re going to show you something in a moment, this is this is the uncut tape, this part of it was shown on television but none of it was shown all of it wants shown. i want to you think of opera, part of it khrushchev and it is not translated.yo to watch, whas happened before, this is an 18 minute tape. you all. we ll show you just four minutes. i want to give back story. khrushchev loves the camera and he has given an eight minute harrangue how the soviets are passing the united states. he s saying we re waving bye-bye to you. we re a train waving bye-bye and you will try to catch up. when the tape rolls the vice president is saying is trying to say something in re
group and came up and wanted to see things and she was delightful. very very pleasant person. it was very nice to talk with her, it was easy, very nice, simple person, not complicated, not stand offish, i remember her distinctly as being very pleasant and the crowds liked her. stayed for a little while then she walked through. now, the next big moment of course is the let s look at the next picture. we took them in the studio the cameramen were ready, they stopped there, and were talking which became in effect a debate on, there were two debates, everybody thinks there was one. one in the rca color studio, and that was captured on television, and later on moved through. what was supposed to happen we re going to see this in a moment. what was supposed to happen here? what was supposed to happen we were going to show them color television, going around, the technicians and the other people they really wanted to get them to talk, and stop and so they did everything wi