Books written by fellows of the cooper institution at Stanford University. You will hear from former secretaries of state schultz and rice, economist, soul, kissinger biographer and historian neil ferguson. Former George W Bush justice departmendepartment official, ad winning author Shelby Steele in the first, heres a portion of the 2013 interview with george schultz, secretary of state during the Reagan Administration he talked about his book issues on my mind. And the issues in my mind, you right when it comes to terrorism, lee in this country must think hard about the moral stakes involved. If we truly believe in our Democratic Values in a way of life, we must be willing to defend that. Passive measures are unlikely and active defense must be considered and given the necessary political support. Is a if you have the Law Enforcement approach, you say okay a terrorist attack happened, and you find out who did it. They might try them in the u. S. Court and make them guilty. And their endless appeals, then they go to jail. What does that accomplish. A certain deterrence but in the meantime, the terrorist act has taken place. The terrorist act of 911 can kill a lot of people. So if you know something is coming at you, why not stop it. Stop it from happening because it was prevention. And i think, when i first said that in 1984, it was very controversial. But after 911, people said of course, should we should be trying to stop it. We should stop those events from happening. So i think trying to permit things, is very important. As become common if we do a great deal this country. They did been lots of terrorist acts that of heaven because we have found about them through intelligence and prevented them. Georgepete and work talking wie former secretaries george schultz, issues on my mind. Mr. Secretary, what was your favorite job you ever had. George recent job, job in place something that you have to do in order to get some money. If you say that i never had a job in my life. Ive always done things that i have found rewarding and interesting. If i want of doing something that wasnt that i would find Something Else to do. But in government, is a great privilege and an opportunity to serve. And i had a succession of jobs and all of them other tough moments but they were rewarding. Starting with my two and half years overseas in the United States marine corps in world war ii. And i was, fighting for my country. And it was victorious. He didnt much to do with it but i was one person. I served in the Eisenhower Administration as counsel and economic advisers. It was a great privilege and i remember going down to my office, it was in this Big Office Building right next to the white house. Part of the allstate building anyway, i had an office with a window that looked out on the south lawn of the white house. In my father, who died not too long after that, he came and i took into my office and he saw this view. And he said son, you have arrived. So its great to work there. And when youre working in the white house complex, you have a view of the whole government. And i learned a lot about how you put the statistics together that we talk about all of the time. That was a great experience. And then i was secretary of labor. I knew the subject matter very well. In a new the department while because i dont some things about the kennedy and johnson administrations and that gave me that exposure. Didnt know anything about washington politics. Or the present all of that. So i had a good base of knowledge from which to learn about these things. I was fortunate in situating the man and joke. To come and be the press person. Joe had worked for the New York Times for decades. He was a labor reporter. Anywhere and he was really good. Everybody read his stories. He really knew the subject. He said he would sign on but he had conditions. I said okay joe, what are your conditions. He said will first of all, im going to be the spokesman, i have to know what is going on. I have to be able to work. I dont want to be blindsided. If im blindsided, that i am over. And a symbol of course, you can go anywhere you want. Anybody would be glad to have you there. What else. He said will dont like. And i said come on joe, i dont like. Youd be surprised what happened to people. They come down here in the get under pressure, maybe they dont live that they mislead. Misleading as bad as lying. So you have got to expect to be straight. And i said okay ill be straight. What else. He said never have a press conference unless you have some news. And i said well, reporters like to look around. You dont understand, reporters are guys who are trying to make a living. In the way you make a living is to get it is during their name on it and he gets on the front page of your paper. You call news conference, and he comes and you dont have any news, what is he going to do pretty is going to start asking you question and try to make you Say Something stupid. Had a whole bunch of things like that. So i learned a lot about the press from joe. And while some peoples right things that you dont like on a whole, he had a constructive attitude. You help them get the facts straight. You be much better off. Then there was a guy in the white house who was the political counselor and congressional relations guy. He should be a grizzly to a certain extent. And he had roles. He said never make a promise unless you can deliver on it. And if it turns out its really hard to deliver fight all the harder. People only deal with you if they trust you did and they trust you if you say youre going to do what you are what you do which were to do. Trust is the coin. So it always try to remember that. And then in the Labor Department has a big, my first big battle in congress. And i learned something about that. It was a great morning thing. Then i went from there to be director of the budget. There you have the whole government out in front of you. So that was great friday night became secretary of the treasury. It was a time where we were heated the International Monetary system. So lots of dealings with people all of the world. I learned a lot about how to do something internationally read it so was a great experience for me pretty morning was fun. I enjoyed the people. Some are still good friends today. But of course when i was secretary of state, the world changed. When Ronald Reagan and i took office, the cold war was just as cold as it could get when we left, was only a shadow. So it was a huge thank to be involved in. And watch it unfold. Pete in your book issues on your mind, it rules for leadership in a couple of those you have already expanded like the rules, but your first rule was to be a participant. George thats what democracy is all about. Ronald ragan gave me a type. Another type says democracy is not a spectator sport. So be part of it. Be part of the politics be willing to serve. Be a participant. Pete rule number five, competence is the name of the game and leadership. George is a great start. If you not competent, you will get in big trouble. In a tough experience and i told you when i went to washington secretary of labor i was kind of innocent of politics. And i had a bunch of pointy spots to fill. I realized you trying to work with a diverse just constituency. So i 70 best management guy in this industrial relations field everybody told me there was a guy named jim. I talked to him and i said we have to have a real labor guy. Somebody who negotiates the contracts. A real union guy. We found him gotta get somebody who really knows them in our training. Delegate somebody is working in area of how to deal with discrimination in the workplace. And a lawyer who knows the labor markets. I get a lot of these people and president elect nixon felt it would show progress in his administration so he wanted to bring him to the hotel. They will have a little meaty. Then will take him down to the press. So we have a meeting. In a introduced him. And they asked him all kinds of questions. It was ready obvious that jim was a real pro. He knew what he was doing. Some guy in the back of the room was hennepin he said are you democrat or a republican. And in my innocence i have never even asked him. And he said i am a democrat. So the next thing that happened, was dazzling. Same guy was hennepin settlement democrat. The last guy was jeff our nominee to be head of the Bureau Labor Statistics and he was a stabbed tension. He was very close to president nixon. Something that he wanted i wanted. In the same guy asked him a question. He was like a cow the scud. And he said i guess you have to say im an independent. Anyway get back to my hotel room the phone was ringing off the hook. It in the republicans in the Senate Labor Committee or say, was a selection. Visible look i cleared this the white house and the ranking republican, and he was republican pretty all of my guys were terrific. They were competent. He was some of the people called me and said we like you guys. And jim succeeded me a secretary. He later became our ambassador to japan. He went on, and he was a brilliant North University person and so on. If i had rolled all of these people out because they were registered democrats, i wouldnt have had the competence. Im not saying that i shouldve asked the question and does something about it but anyway, if you have competent people, you will do much better than if you dont. Your first job is to form your team and get people who are competent in the slots. George schultz was one of several others we interviewed in 2013. You can find them on all on our website book tv. Org. Up next another former secretary of state and soontobe director of the Hoover Institution, price and in this portion of the program she talks about her book democracy. Stories from the long road to freedom. But i think about democracy, its actually kind of a mysterious thing the people are willing to trust these constitutions, rules and laws. The road to go over the falls and elect people to represent them. Rather than going into the streets or rather than buying into the family plan or religion. They trust constitutions and the rule of law. As a very mysterious process. I think is a good, a child growing up in birmingham, alabama, was perhaps one who very early on felt something even more mysterious. I thought in segregated alabama, where you couldnt go to a Movie Theater tour our restaurant if you are a black person, are you are most certainly is in class citizen, i saw black citizens absolutely devoted to the institution of american democracy. At one instance in the book that encapsulates it for me. I was six is years old and my uncle alto, my mothers brother had picked me up from school and it was election day. But there were long lines of black people pointing to vote. Listen to my uncle, this must mean that the man wallace, George Wallace cannot win. My own sexual way public did not want him to win. As a medical said, no, we are a minority so he will win. I look to my uncle and i said, why did they bother. My uncle said that maybe one day that but will matter. As i went around the world and i saw a long line of afghans or iraqis or south africans, latin america, people voting sometimes for the first time. They know that one day that votes will matter. And we are blessed with this extraordinary gift, democracy. Americans in particular were blessed with Founding Fathers who understood and institutional design that would protect our liberties, our right to say what we think. To be free from the secret police at 92 have the dignity, it comes with having those who are going to govern you, have to ask for your consent. But if we were blessed but thats we believe that we are endowed by our creator with those rights rated and cannot be true for us not for them. And one of the marvelous legacies of the United States of america and the building in which he said, the library in which we set. Most marvelous legacy of Ronald Reagan, was that he never forgot our obligation to speak for the voiceless, never forgot her obligation to do the right thing in supporting those who just wanted the civil freedoms we had. And he delivered. Because he believed that the United States of america, is an idea. And it is an idea that universal. And so that is why i wanted to write this book read. [applause]. When you work secretary of state, you are in the position to the opinion of the United States actions im sure. And i no United Office now. So just over 100 a sense you have had the Trump Administration and power. I wondered if you would ever speak to, is amending a change in your mind as to how americans are viewed as we transition from president obama to president trump. Lives in europe not too long after the election and the first thing was to save us to settle down. [laughter]. The United States of america is engaging in a little bit of the democratic experiment. [laughter]. With just elected somebody is never been in government before. Susan never even been there before. And that president is going to take some time, bit of a learning curve rated the one thing that you can trust us that american has institutions that are absolutely firm in absolutely concrete and will hold america in check. So if you look at the president , i think it is getting used to the fact that actually is not as easy as it looks in there. That the american presidency is not just one person it is an institution. In the Founding Fathers were very terrified of executive power. Ms. Rice if they were leaving a king, they didnt want to create another. His thinking created it congress, a separate and equal branch of government. Its an article one is the congress will constantly mind you in the executive branch. And today, that congress 535 people and most of them think they should be the president of the United States. He has courts which he learned his talents and he has governo governors, 50 of them in half of them thinks they should be president of the United States and they have legislatures. On the way because the press as well. Civil society and americans who are ungovernable. And so, the job of getting to be president is one thing. Once youre there, it is quite another. As the learning curve i think is steep but i think we have seen some things that really the world likes and what they see in america. I think the decision to strike the syrian airbases after the chemical weapons attack by this man by his own people was a very important directive. We had laid out a redline for five years ago. We have done nothing in the meantime. And then eroded american credibility. And that single strike, the administration said, this far and no further. If theres just some things that are intolerable. I saw Something Else to in the way this present did that. You remember he said, i could not set by and watch babies choking on chemical gas. But he was really saying was as president of the United States, i do not set by and watch babies choking on chemical gas. I think it is this still a lot of water to pass under that bridge. And we are still learning in many ways. What is like to get up and not just react every time. This american things have happened. And the one thing i will say as an american, we have only one president at a time. We have to do everything we can to try to make our president successful. In the streisand. [applause]. John a very smart percentage of our audience here, is just an absolute waste of our tax dollars. When our schools need to be rebuilt and our bridges and all the rest of that predict so the questions, do you think theres a foreign aid group that is really important for the american people. Condoleezza rice for me, its a little bit the same argument i would make about democracy. And promoting democracy. You can say, this Pay Attention to our own affairs. We could to build our bridges in pennsylvania, so why are we building ridges in afghanistan. You can say our schools are not in great shape, so why are we trying to send girls to school in nigeria. You can say all of the things. But i think there are two very powerful arguments against that kind of thinking. One is a moral argument and one is a practical argument. The moral argument is this. Americans is an idea. And if life liberty and the pursuit of happyness are universal, and again for us, than it can be good for us and not for them. And we are at our best when we need for both power and practical. Now the principal the no man woman or child should have to live in the direst of poverty in the worst of circumstances, because we are also compassionate nation. But actually believe that as many problems as we have, we have been given an extraordinary bounty. If you go to some of the places in the world, i dont care how bad it looks in the United States of america. Its much worse. How can you turn a blind eye to those children playing in the dirt in haiti. And how can you turn a blind eye to an ebola pandemic in liberia. [applause]. We are two good to be that way. And so, the moral argument is that i am christian. I have been told that but you do for the least of my brothers, you did for me. And whatever your tradition is in whatever that impulse comes from, for the compassion, americas hat has had it may have to keep it pretty that is the moral piece. Now the practical case. Democratic states that can deliver for their own people, dont invade their neighbors. They dont traffic in child soldiers who are ten and 11 years old. It of traffic in the human six died so that women and open brothels in Eastern Europe and southeast asia. They dont harbor terrorists as a matter of state policy. As democracies dont fight each other. Its called the