this 34-minute recording comes to us courtesy of the ronald reagan presidential library. tom: you have come a long way from that small town in illinois, dixon, and the protective warmth of your mother. what is your earliest memory of your mother's influence on you? pres. reagan: i had a brother a couple of years older than i am. she was the kindest human being i have ever known. looking back, i know we lived close to poverty all of the time , we did not know that at the time, because the government did not come around and tell us that we were poor. she was always finding someone worse off that we would help, and i remember that about her. at the same time, she could be firm, like the time in a smaller 800 where i was born, people, we lived across the park from the railroad station. in those days, the biggest treat was at the ice picking. kids would get chips of ice. the iceman was chipping pieces from the ice boxes. the ice lagan pulled up and my brother and i saw it and he took the lead, and we started across the park. a train pulled in between us and the ice widen. my mother came out to see us crawl under the train to get to the other side. we were barely through to the ice wagon when the train pulled out. she met us in the middle of the park, and we felt a firm hand. both of us. applied about midway our backs. tom: did she teach you other things, like how to read and how to get on in life or the values of life? pres. reagan: yes. she was always talking about things like that but making great sense with them. with regards to the reading, i do not know that she was aware she was teaching us. when we were young, we lived in gaithersburg in a rented house, my father was traveling around, looking for better work. she would read to my brother when we went to bed, she would get between us and read bedtime stories. she always did it while holding the book and a running her finger under the lines she was reading. the two of us and watch and hear. i do not know whether she did it deliberately. i have no recollection of ever learning to read. but i was, one night when i was five, i was on the living room floor with a newspaper, and my father came in, and he said, what you doing? i said, reading the paper, and he thought i was being a smart alec, and he said read me something and i did. next thing i knew, he was yelling for the neighbors. he brought the neighbors in and made me read for them. there was no kindergarten. i had never been any place but home at that time, a year away from starting regular school, but yes, i was reading the paper. tom: your mother had very strong religious values as well. pres. reagan: yes. she believed in the power of prayer. you believe in the power of prayer. pres. reagan: yes. tom: can you recall incidents in your life when you have prayed and god has answered your prayer? pres. reagan: yes, i can. i believe very much in what abraham lincoln said when he had this job, he said he cannot perform the function for 15 minutes if he did not know he could call upon one who is wiser and stronger. in that connection, i think my mother, a lesson that was hammered over again as i grew up, i began to realize. that is, when there is a great disappointment, she would say, look, everything happens for a reason and for the best. she said, you may feel bad now , but down the road, something will happen good, and you will appreciate that and look back and say, if that had not happened, that suppose it bad thing, this good thing would not have happened. i had a classic example in my growing up. i graduated from college in 1932. i was hitchhiking. i set my mind on a career in entertainment. i felt if i could be a sports announcer -- radio was new in those days. finally, i was disappointed. i had advice to try to get a job in a station, never mind what , and then move on from there. but i couldn't. a wise woman at a major station told me i was going at it the wrong way, i should not be trying for big stations where they could not afford to hire an experienced. go to a smaller station. well, i hitchhike home and arrived and was told montgomery ward had opened in dixon, and they had a sporting goods department and were looking for someone well-known in the town for athletics. i applied. i did not get the job. a couple of years after me in high school, he had been the basketball star, he got the job. i was disappointed. my father -- i told him all the things i had been doing -- i took the family car and drove 75 miles to the tri-city. there in the station in davenport, iowa, i met a program director. he still could not use me. but where was i, because they hired an announcer a few days before. i did not tell him i did not listen to his station. on the way out, talking to myself, really, i said, how do you get to be a sports announcer if you cannot get a job? i went down the hall and i heard a clumping, he was a man crippled with arthritis. he was yelling out, you big so and so, wait. he caught up with me. he said, what did you say about sports? i said that's what i want to be. he said, do you know anything about football? i played for eight years. he said, could you tell me about a football game and make me see it? i said i think so. he took me into a studio, stood me in front of a microphone, and he said, when the red light goes on, i will be in a room listening. you start broadcasting an imaginary football game. i stood there waiting for the light, and i knew i had to have names. i remembered the previous fall, my senior year, playing in a game in eureka and we ran 65 yards on the last play for the winning touchdown. it was the last play of the game. i knew all of our players' names and i knew enough of the opponents' names that i figured i could. i started in the fourth quarter. i had a long blue shadow settling over the field and wind coming from the stadium. we did not have a stadium. we had bleachers. i ran a few plays and finally, i came to the big play. i made the touchdown with only 20 seconds to go. the guy grabbed the microphone, and he said, that's all. he came in and said be here saturday. i will give you five dollars and a car fare. you are broadcasting the iowa-minnesota game for us. tom: do you think it montgomery hired you for the sport department -- pres. reagan: i would still be working at montgomery ward. tom: not president of the u.s.? pres. reagan: all the things in between would not have happened. tom: we come from similar roots. i grew up in a small town, as well. life has changed for both of us. , obviously. on many of the grand occasions i have been privileged to be a part of, i often go back to my roots with friends or incidents in my life, does that happen to you? when you are at a state dinner or at the kremlin or presiding over a grand ceremony at normandy, does dixon flash the your mind? pres. reagan: i think it takes reminders. i am so far removed from that way of life and this one, but there are reminders every once in a while, like this one i gave you at length. you will think back and say, hey, this may be had a beginning there. tom: you went from dixon to eureka college and studied economics. you are reminded of that from time to time. what have you remembered from your eureka economics courses that helped you in dealing with the national economy? pres. reagan: i majored in economics and sociology. they were combined. so it was a single major. but then, you were really studying at a time when life was in the raw, the depths of the depression. we had a wonderful professor, danny gray, he used to give us outside reading, books by economists. we would come in with a book report and discuss it. i remember him. he had a sense of humor. there we were in the depths of the depression, a book by a noted economist, and when we finished reporting as the class was concluding, he would say, it is interesting to note that the author of this book five weeks before the crash said he saw no reason why stocks should not continue to rise indefinitely. [laughter] that set you a little straight. tom: did it make you suspicious of economists forever more after that? [laughter] pres. reagan: at that time, we were really studying in a classic example of economics and what was going to happen. this was prior to the election of fdr, and all of the recessions we have had since, no one who did not go through the depression can ever visualize what it is like. 26% unemployment. the government going on the radio with announcements, do not not leave home looking for a job, there are none. there were no government programs at that time to take care of the people who were just suddenly destitute. my father was managing issue a shoe store. the shoe store was gone. this was happening in little towns like dixon as well as great cities. the national guard in illinois was mobilized and sent to because therey were so many people living in doorways on the streets of michigan boulevard that there was concern about rioting and so forth. they did that as a show of strength. tom: there are still people homeless, struggling economically. for some of them, it is a continuation of the depression. is there a parallel between what is going on for some families now and what happened then? pres. reagan: there are a few spots in the country where due to a change in industry, the principal industries in communities are gone. there are a few trouble spots. but basically, as you know, 19 million new jobs have been created. and the largest percentage of those have gone to people most in need, and they are better jobs than ever before. and over 90% of them are full-time. not part-time jobs. so it is not a situation comparable to that. you have tothat recognize that some of the people in the streets have chosen that. because right here in washington, shelters, private and public, have been open for these people. they have space in them. people can go there but prefer to be out on the grates and so forth. whatever the reason is, remember, just recently in new york, a young lady took a case to court to force them, under her constitutional right, to let her go and live in a box on the street. tom: you went from a job in des moines, iowa as a radio broadcaster at the height of the depression to hollywood, where you made $200 a week at warner bros. pres. reagan: yes. tom: did you begin to think, maybe there is a lucky star hovering around me? pres. reagan: whether i called it luck or answered prayers, i realized i was very blessed, and that is why i thought i would pay my way by doing whatever i could in return for others. tom: we are all starstruck in this society a little bit. when you arrived in hollywood, who were the big stars you are member seeing that made an impression on you? pres. reagan: this was the wonderful era of hollywood that exists no more. when the seven major studios all had a list of contract players and stars. directors were under contract. it was like a family in the studio. and at warner bros., there was o'brien,ney and pat bette davis. wayne morris had become a new star. powell, jeff carson -- we could go a long -- i am trying to think of them all. we would eat in the commissary at lunch. they would be all around you, be at the same table with you. it was a wonderful time. but also, you were made to realize you were under contract. they took me in and sat me down. it was as if i could not hear. because they were all talking about me in front of me, and they trying to decide on a name for me. i always used my nickname dutch as a sports announcer dutch , reagan. they were talking, and i was getting uncomfortable and i said, look, my name is rather well-known and a large section of the country. they said, dutch reagan? i said, my real name is ronald reagan. i had never used ronald. i liked dutch better. they said, ronald, that's not ronald reagan, hey that's not bad. i got to keep my own name. tom: who were the actresses you liked playing with in those days, starring with in films? pres. reagan: the lane sisters had just come in. i was in a picture with bette davis, and it was a wonderful experience. great actress. jane bryant, good lord, i am forgetting some of the names. ann sheridan. i did pictures with ann sheridan. she was a great gal. tom: you watch films now. it is possible they will make a story of ronald reagan. who would you like to play the part of you? pres. reagan: i would rather they did not make it. i cannot play it. i would not recommend anyone else. tom: do you like current stars? do have favorites? pres. reagan: i tell you, the lack of continued publicity that we had, when fan magazines existed, and the studio publicity department were assigned to a group of performers to see their names were constantly out. i find a difficulty in remembering the names. i will see a face and say, i saw them in another picture. but the names do not linger. tom: you recently talked in your farewell address to the nation about films with strong moral values and celebrated america patriotism. what are some of the films that you remember that did that? pres. reagan: well, if you remember, constantly, there were movies made, i cannot member titles, but movies that were made about west point or annapolis, movies of that kind. what took place in the story with regard to contest that were there in those schools. and then there were of course the service pictures. warwhen the war came, pictures that were built and based on patriotism and so forth, and they were pretty portrayal ofe those times. i think there is a good thought in hollywood to make pictures that tied into the thing that people understood and new. thereou also said in that will speech, you directed american children to sit with her parents and talk about what america stands for. if you could lead that discussion at a dinner table, who would be the people you would put forward as the patriots, the model americans who would serve to inspire the coming generations? pres. reagan: i think there are any number. you can start with people who go abroad and to go into space and the shuttle, but you would come back to the heroes of our time. but also, i think it is more general than that. as a little kid, you knew that when the flag went by, you were to stand up and put your hand on your heart. you knew that you were to stand and sing the national anthem. you learned to recite the pledge of allegiance. you also -- history was required. and therefore, you knew the beginnings of this country, and you knew the names of the great patriots and who george washington was but all the others. i do not think that is true today. so often -- well, and i will not name the university. i do not want to embarrass anyone. not too long ago, a third-year students, juniors in one of our large universities could not tell anyone which side in world war ii hiller was on. is there anything wrong with thinking the history, not with regard to whether it will help you make a living, but that everyone should know the background of history of their country? how it came to be? and that thus what our citizen'' responsibilities are. and isn't it shameful that in this country, which had to fight for the independence of, that we the people, is now smaller and smaller in the number of people who know about it. how does anyone have the nerve to complain about any level of government if they did not go to the polls? will rogers once said that people elected to public office are no better nor worse than the people who send them there. but they are all better than those who do not vote at all. tom: mr. president, you have had an extraordinary life, starting in the small town in dixon, illinois, coming-of-age in a working-class family. you have risen to these great heights to be president of the united states. you leave office with the goodwill of the american people behind you. what is the difference between being in this kind of position , a member of the haves, if you will, at this point of your life, and the earlier days of your life, a member of the have-nots? pres. reagan: i recognize that , for whatever reason, i have been blessed. never a day goes by that i do not say thanks for that blessing and also i ask that i be given the wisdom to do something to show my thanks for that blessing. tom: i am going to just pause here for a minute, because there are a couple of things we have not been able to get to. i would like to get back to the anecdotal stuff. >> [inaudible] yeah, if we can agree on that. you had a very strong relationship with margaret cleaver. pres. reagan: yes. tom: you were all but engaged to her. pres. reagan: i was engaged. pin on her.lege tom: you talked about your future together. pres. reagan: yes. she was the daughter of the minister of my church, and i know she was going to eureka college, and i had already made the decision to go there when i was younger. my biggest hero happened to be the son of the minister of the church. he was a high school football star, and as a kid, i thought he was great and he went to eureka. he later, i think, was a chaplain at yale university. but yes, we went together in high school and eureka college. before we got out of college, i don't know whether it exists today, but yes, engagement, you buy rings and put your fraternity pin on her. tom: how did you think your life together would take shape? what were your hopes then when you are going with margaret cleaver? pres. reagan: i knew from my background that i had to achieve a level of income before i could contemplate marriage. that is the thing that our romance did not survive. she became a schoolteacher, and i was in iowa as a sports announcer. a long separation. there was not a chance or possibility of visiting each other frequently. then one day, i received a notice that she was engaged and marrying someone else. tom: she broke it off. you didn't break it off? pres. reagan: no. a former teacher in high school of mine, the one you always have that every student remembers throughout your life, he had also seen what happened, and he wrote me a letter, telling me how i was to react , and i was not to do any foolish things like going off , the deep end or anything. i've remembered him, but again, it must have been one of those things, a disappointment that now you look back on and say if that had not happened, what i have now would not have happened. tom: there is a story about one eureka college, one of your college football teammates, william burkart, a black member of the team. he could not get into a hotel, so you took him to your home where he was put up with another black teammate. people say, ronald reagan seemed to be more sensitive about these things than that he has as a president of the united states. pres. reagan: that whole thing has been the hardest burden of all. the idea that i am not sensitive and somehow i am discriminating. and so forth. that is not true. the household i was raised in -- my mother and father -- the things my brother and i grew up knowing there was no greater sin than prejudice or discrimination. this was in the days when there was discrimination generally. in eureka college, yes, what happened was we had to stay overnight in our hometown. the busload of players on a way saturday game. i took the coach in and introduced him to the manager of the hotel. he said he would take everybody but those two. our coach said, well, we will sleep on the bus. the man said no other hotel would, either. there were not many hotels in that little town. we started out and i said, we cannot do that. said they will know what the reason is and be embarrassed. he said, what can we do? when he had told me that i could not stay at home, even though i had a home there. i said, let's say there is not enough room for everybody, and you put me and them in a cab, and we will go home. even then, he, feeling as upset as he did, he said, are you sure you want to do that? i said yes. i am in my home. i ring the doorbell and nelly came to the door. my brother and i called her parents by their first name after we got to a certain age. she came to the door and i said, there was not enough room in the hotel, can we put up here? she said well, of course you can put up here. we came. that was not unusual for the way i was raised. i still feel the same way. as governor of california, i appointed more blacks to executive and policymaking positions than all previous governors of california put together. tom: i ask about your family, because it was such an important part of your early childhood. you did not have a lot of money in that family. your father, as you have written, drank too much. he was not able to hold a job. you always stay together as a family, even though there are differences between you and your brother about how you conduct yourselves. and yet here you are, president of the united states, your financial future is secure, you have a good marriage. but within your own family, there are strains. book patsy written a , and mrs. reagan are not talking. is that an affliction of modern life? pres. reagan: well, it might be. patty came up at that age when all the righrioting was going on in the campuses, and i went the book by mike, an unusual book. mike was adopted. this was a book about this. the first part of the book is his attitude which he is now confessing to. the last part of the book is as different human being. nancy was the one who told him how to find his real mother when e wanted to, and she was dead, but he found he has a brother. so the last part of it -- and we are as close as could possibly be, and i would recommend that book to anyone with adopted children. he was writing about the resentment that was within him because of his situation. and it is a fascinating book. tom: you are about to go out into retirement. richard nixon studies international affairs, president ford sits on a commission and plays a lot of golf, jimmy carter sits on the board of his library, focuses on the middle east and problems in the inner ities. president reagan: i want to go back out on the mashed potato circuit and tell the public things they should demand. the line item veto for the president, the balanced that most states had but the federal government doesn't have, thomas jefferson called attention to that. nd there are things, for example the 22nd amendment that was passed by our own party is revenge for roosevelt, that says two terms is the limit for a president. that is an infringement on the rights of the democratic people. now that i am out of office so they can't accuse me of doing it or myself, i'm going to see if the people can't demand the repeal of that amendment. it is an invasion of the right to vote for whoever they want to vote for, and for how long. tom: will we see a lot of ronald reagan, speaking around the country? president reagan: yes. tom: as you look back on this extraordinary life you have had, covering most of the 20th century in america, from dixon, illinois, to the heights of power, president of the united states, what is the one thing that sticks out in your mind, that made the difference, made it possible? president reagan: maybe the teaching that i had and the faith that i had in prayer. incidentally, we are leaving out a lot of hometowns. and when you mention my father's drinking, he was an alcoholic, yes, our family stayed together because my mother took the two of us aside, my brother and myself, and said we would see things sometimes in our father, but you must not turn against him. he has a sickness, and a sickness we must try to help him ith. it wasn't a case of a lush coming home. i have seen him go two or three years without a drink, but he was in the classic sense an alcoholic. and once that first drop went down, that is the thing with an alcoholic, they are no different than anyone else until they take that first drink, and then it would be a bender all the way to where he would be flat on his back, and you would call the doctor. tom: did that make you conscious of your own drinking habits? president reagan: yes, yes, i hink so. i have never felt anything of that kind, because it is an illness. i can remember very much the -- medicine can't explain it yet. someone who looked for a psychological reason, others look for physical. there has been one about a shortage of sugar. i know that in all the periods of soberness, my father was the biggest dessert eater i ever saw. and he would good-naturedly say, what is that out the window, and i would look at the window and he would take a spoonful of our dessert. tom: was that the key, the family strength that you had when you look back at the last 50 years of your life? president reagan: yes, there was never a hint in our family that could -- that there could be a dissolution of our family. and we were even split religiously, my father was a catholic and my mother was a protestant, and if we were going to get any religion it was from her, because toward the end of is life he gave up lent, but toward the end of his life he went back and was in the church. and hometowns started with tampico, chicago, galesburg, monmouth, illinois, back to tampico and then to dixon. i was about 8 or 9 years old when i went to dixon. tom: thank you, mr. president. >> up next on reel america, 30 years ago, the day before he left office, president ronald reagan met with wire service reporters in the oval office to reflect on his two terms. the wire service provided photographs, news reports and video to thousands of magazines, tv and radio stations and ewspapers worldwide. one of the reporters is the late international white house correspondent helen thomas, who covered 10 presidential administrations during her career. this recording comes to us courtesy of the ronald reagan presidential library. indiscernible] president reagan: you all know what this is for, and case your machines don't work we will have

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