Transcripts For CSPAN2 Reagan Rising 20170402

[applause] no stranger to any of us, Monica Crowley and i would like to thank ron for putting together this program so please enjoy. [applause] thank you very much, robin. I want to make a couple of announcements. If you could please turn off your cell phones. Please make your questions directed to the author. We are privileged to have two Extraordinary People as our guests, the worldrenowned author Craig Shirley and the incredible woman he chose to be the interviewer for the evening Monica Crowley. [applause]moni monica is a wellrespected journalist, bestselling author, radio talkshow host, tv analyst and the land spokeswoman for the American People. [applause] a true believe are in the constitution and its incredible founder monica is a great patriarch that speaks for those of us that have no voice and we thank her for that. So now i introduce to you someone you know very well, Monica Crowley. [applause]roductio thank you for that incredible introduction. After that i think im going to have to take her everywhere i go. Having m thank you for having me here today and good evening to everybody thank you for takingan the time out of your day. I am so honored on a personal note that credit extended this invitation to me to join youyor. Tonight. I so respect Craig Shirley. An extraordinary man and hes also been a good friend to me for many years. Weve had a lot of ups and downs politically. He has been loyal and decent and kind and i want to thank him onl that level. [applause] for those of you that are not familiar and i cant imagine very many of you are not he is a widely respected and widely known president ial historian and one of the most important biographers of Ronald Reagan. Shes the author of rendezvous with destiny, the final years of the emerging legacy and New York Times bestseller december 1941 which is one of my personal favorites. Hes also a visiting scholar at Ronald Reagans alma mater in and also lectures at the library at the ranch if you havent spent time i would kindly advise you go because both places are beautiful and important to u. S. History. He is a major guru throughout his firm and is the author of a brandnew book that we are here to celebrate tonight the decisive year 1976 to 1980. Please give a warm welcome to my friend. [applause]id mid the definition of middle age is when you choose temptation and the one that gets you in home by 9 30. I plan on being back at my hotel bed at 9 30. This is about eight minutes long a speech by Ronald Reagan because i consider it to be maybe himaybe his most importanl speech of his life. The speech launched him into one of the most important in the 20th century. It sets him on a path that leada to the president ial campaign and the response was enormous as money flooded into the Republican National committee and everybody viewed it as one of the bright spots in an otherwise Dark Campaign but this one in 76 let me set it up for you then we will watch it, he lost the nomination to gerald ford. Hes been out of office for two years as a private citizen hes going up against gerald ford was not elected but becomes president of the United States. Florida has all the powers at his disposal, he has air force one, marine one come invitation to state dinners, private meetings in the oval office. And we dont have uncommitted delegates in the market in 19766 there were about 150 uncommitted delegates to go to theown convention and vote the way they prefaced the not the way that anybody would tell them. They voted for who they thought would make the best nominee. I turned off my cell phone and the president of the club doesnt turn off her cell phone. [laughter] some are more equal than others. Do you have a swear jar ora Something Like that [laughter] so, reagan gets into the campaign dont forget to gerald ford as an elected, Richard Nixon picked him confirmed byesa the congress. He had little hold under the Republican Party because nobody ever made a connection by casting a vote for him outside of the Congressional District in michigan. But he still controls the Party Apparatus and do so he eventually gets the nomination. There was the chairman o at the time from rochester who people referred to as the iron chancellor because he ran the party like a general and exacted reed and john anybody and actually my stepfathers brother was the state senator from rochester was a delegate in 1976 and his life was made very uncomfortable for a long time. So they would go through the primary conventions and over that period of time then they go ahead with winning north carolina, texas and a convention thats literally a seesaw battle between the two political heavyweights for the republicann nomination of 1976. Ty then the kansas city convention. My wife was there and was on the floor. He has now won the nomination but is presiding over a divided park. He knows if he has a chance in the Convention Meeting rate in new york city which was unusual in that they were hospitable and the democrats carper is ahead of the poll by 30 pints. So they have to unify the party but millions around the country are watching live. These are the days of gavel to gavel coverage and many people watch the convention and if you think the last 30 to 40 years they were divided and lost a. In 76 they united and it looks like the republicans are going to be provided until four calls Ronald Reagan to the podium to make a speech pleading for the party unity. There is something quite different. Ford they expected him to give a concession speech and to kind of fumble. Acterly go for had given a good speech. He practiced before a teleprompter and his speech was actually quite good especially for gerald ford because of his propensity for crawling downstairs and air force one and dumping his head into marine one and getting in. Remember that was the beginning of chevy chase was all sorts of things like that but hes still presiding over the party. Truth be told mrs. Reagan and mrs. Ford wouldnt even be in the same room with each other. Why dont we go ahead august 1976 the last remarks ofa the convention in kansas city. We are all a part of this great republican family that will give that leadership to win on november 2. I was honored to have governorwt reagan to say a few words. [cheering] mr. President , mrs. Ford, mr. Vice president , mr. Vice president to be [applause] distinguished guests here and you ladies and gentlemen, i am going to thank those that are watching from a distance and other democrats and independents who i know are looking for a cause which to rally but i believe we can give them. That with your kindness and generosity from bringing us down here would give us a memory that will live in our hearts forever watching on television the last few nights i have seen with the warmth that you have created nancy and youve also filled my heart with joy when you did that may i just say some words therea are cynics who say the Party Platform is something nobody bothers to read and doesnt amount to much whether it is different this time than it has ever been before, i believe the Republican Party has a platform that is a banner of pastels with no shade. [applause] we have just heard a call to arms based on that platform and a call to us to be successful in communicating and reveal to the American People the difference between this platform and the platform of the opposing party which is nothing besides the late show that weve been hearing from them for the last 40 years. [cheering]nd i if i could take a moment, i had an assignment together day someone asked me to write a letter for a time capsule that is going to be over in 100 years from now. It sounded like an easy assignment they suggested i write something about the problems and issues of the day and i set out to do so looking at the blue pacific on the othen and the mountains at the other and i couldnt help but wonder if it would be that beautiful 100 years from now as it was on that day. Then as i tried to write, but your own mind t turned to the task. There will be people that know all about us and we know nothing about them. We dont know what kind of a world that they will b they wild suddenly, i thought to myself there will be the domestic problems which the president spoke here tonight. The challenges confronting us and the freedom that is taking place under democratic rule in this country. The invasion of private rights,t the controls and restrictions on the vitality of the economy that we enjoy. These are the challenges we must meet and then again there is thv challenge that we live in a world that they are aimed at each other, Nuclear Weapons that can arrive and destroy. Virtually the civilized world we livthat we live in and suddenlyt dawned on me and those that would read this letter 100 years from now wil well know whether those missilesfr were fired. They would know whether we met our challenge. Whether they have the freedoms that we have known up until now would depend on what we do heres will you look back with appreciation and say thank god for those people in 1976 who kept us now from Nuclear Destruction and if we failed, they probably wont get to read the letter at all because it spoke of individual freedom and they wont be able to talk about that. This is our challenge in july here in this hall tonight better than we have ever been before, we have to quit talking to each other and about each other and go out and communicate to the world that we may be fewer in numbers than we have ever been that we carry the message they are waiting for. We must go forward from here united, determined, and as a great general said a few yearsfe ago is true there is no substitute for victory. Apostolate share [applause]t a couple words about thatreme speech. Some of you will remember the actor was in the audience and was an old friend of Ronald Reagan. The widowed father of the sitc sitcom. And as he is heading down veryg reluctantly coming he turns to an old friend and says he will think of something, and he does a. Hes going to speak before an audience, but for millions on the networks. He has no prepared speech, notes, teleprompter. They used to talk about grace under pressure. Talk about this speech with no preparation, no notice then he comes down and gives the speech that right there is the beginning of the campaign because gerald ford obviously loses and after he gets the speech, as popular as he was, both mike and his partner who was also a friend of mine passed away said as he was traveling around the country giving speeches for candidates, doing fundraisers and going on the tonight show with johnny carson, they knew there was an enormous upswing in the grassroots support for the Police Officers and chambermaids and clerks and hotels and they would say you have to run again. That more than anything convinced him he needed to run. So i think that this speech is the beginning of the campaign. The other thing that strikeso me as you could hear a pin drop in the convention hall. For anyone that has covered a convention you know how hard it is to do yet he has the audience in the palm of his hand. That charisma partnered with thr message that he was delivering, you could tell his political career was not ending. I showed the speech years ago and have dinner with some of the faculty including the head of the communications school. I remember saying what did you think and she said a perfect perfect perfect greeting from an academic in terms of content, delivery, audience attention, all the criteria that goes into making a great speech, it was utterly perfect. Lets get a couple questions than we will opethen we will opy that you might have. I want to begin with the idea of the movement. Before the current populist movn movement led by one man, donald trump, we had the conservative movement led by one man, ronaldl reagan so im glad you played the speech. Ns speech. If Barry Goldwater got the conservative movement in 1964, reagan picked it up in 1966 and a ticket over the finish line in 1980. Talk about whats said Ronald Reagan apart from other republican and conservative leaders that stopwatches and as the intellectual political and practical leader of the conservative movement. E the Democratic Party from the time of 32 until 66 was the party of the future and america has always been the country of the future. We always believed in a Better Future for ourselves. That is part of being an american is that it makes us unlike any other country in the world. We believe that if we can improve our lives we can improve our economy and we are always in the search of a more Perfect Union so in the democratic parto from the time of Michael Roosevelt through john kennedy who was Famous Campaign was lets get this country moving again has been the party of the future until 1976. The Republican Party has been kind of the green party of balanced budgets and no you cant do this and no you cant do that. So they were always saying no to the kid. We can run better than democrats. That was the only message they had tickets to the compelling message. Jimmy carter does something remarkable letter 1976. Rk he throws away the mantle of the party as the party of the futurr and embraces a future of scarcity and sacrifice. Part of it is because of the culture. Its meant to be a sacrifice and is known to the temptation and to achieve a better afterlife but this is the cultural outlook al combined with a prevalent outlook at the time one of the famous books of the time the left is also preaching so many predicted the wildlife famine in foundation and nuclear war so they adopted this at the same thing occurrejimmy carter is eld president so he made the Democratic Party into the party of the past but now his own message begins to change. Remember it was a great speech that he was often angry and that speech. By 1977, 78, 79, his fundamental conservatism hasnt changed but hes talking about the future and opportunity and prosperity and we can defeat the soviet union which was radical thinking at the time, it isnt a panacea. Rely on your self, rely on your community. His message becomes one of conservatism and defend the Democratic Party rises up to the Majority Party and they become the party of the future so i wont say that he was happygolucky because that is too superficial. But he was always learning. He didnt fly from 1944 until 1946, so almost 4 40 years. He ran into a terrible storm and a couple years later he was landing in chicago and again that the circumstances, he gets out, kisses the ground and says im never flying again. So all those years remember he also had his contract he had to go to the factories around the country and meet with employees and gives motivational speeches and there were hundreds of factories all over the United States so if he is going from los angeles to boston he gets a private compartment of articles and books and the whole time he is traveling across the country and then years later a friend of mine was doing an interview and while he was waiting he was at the library and starts pulling g out books and every one of them there are passages on underlined and dogeared. He did this to teach himself. Hes a fully functioning intellectual conservative by 1976 and now he has been the at his disposal to communicate to the American People, appearances, radio commentary, columns. I did an interview earlier with breitbart and i said if he were alive today he would be using twitter just the same way donalh trump has been. Think about it in the 1930s, commercial radio is the new phenomena yet he mastered it. Later in the 30s, talking pictures were new phenomena and he mastered that. In the 1950s, commercial television was a new phenomena and he mastered that then later as a politician he mastered the press conferences and soundbites and used radio commentary andlu columns and im convinced today if he were alive he would be using facebook and twitter. There was the famous phrase of o the 80s, going over the heads of washington. It was a phrase that emanated from the white house he would talk above the heads of washington and go to thet American People, which trump is doing now. He wouldnt be saying exactly what trump is that he would be using the technology. Lets talk about the commentary that you write in thc book because ive always beenrih fascinated by what Richard Nixon called the Wilderness Years which church also referred to theres a book called theth Wilderness Years. They used the time to regroup and rethink their positions in society and the Political Landscape and to reinvent themselves for what ends up being the ultimate triumph and i remember President Trump. The ultimate victory of 1968 was nixon said to me is i that was a period of reflection and he appreciated the time because he said i couldnt just think in solitude and silence and it was bath time he came up with the opening to china and that ended up being the opening. He thought that was the greatest period of intellectual study and thought and reinvention. A bit of Ronald Reagan look at that period in the same way nixon considered his . Theres no doubt about that he was out there publicly but also spending time with nancy. When he wasnt writing letters were clearing the brush, he would go for long horseback rides by himself, first thing in the morning when he got up and last thing in the evening before supper he would go out by himself and just thinking about things than he would come back and write it all down longhand. Between 1976 and 1980, he gave 186 Radio Broadcasts and he wrote all of them himself. If you go back some of them aree just timeless. Of course he was writing his column is dedicated to hundreds of newspapers and speeches himself. He was constantly reading, writing and thinking like churchill and nixon and i think that he considered about a very important time in his lifeim because it got him thinking about not only running for president but what he wanted to be president and help to project a message to get enough votes to win. He makes an open appeal toal democrats and independents awaiting the message in 1980 hes giving his speech in detroit and again makes an open appeal to democrats and independents and joins the shared values and refuses to believe. If you had in the microphone and audience he could convince the majority of the audience position and he was always recruiting democrats andeals toh independents. I am a Firm Believer in that everything happens for a reason. Its a cliche because it is generally true. And i think when we see him in 1976, there would have been an extraordinary president having been elected but in the full view, 1980 was the perfect marriage of man and woman. So you are writing about this period that was so close as you say but it wasnt meant at that moment. So there was political growth and reflection. 1980, everything happened for a reason and he became president at the exact moment that he was meant to. There is something to that. Many times, historians have the synchronicity. Basically things happen for a reason. The dominoes all fall together sometimes to produce a result that maybe isnt seen closeup. But in the fullness of time in consequence, lets talk about the parallels with today because i think we are all living in a moment of today with the new president , donald trump. In 1977, and i got this from your book this is one year obviously after he lost the republican nomination and that was an interesting speech. He introduced the crowd to the new Republican Party and said we are going to move beyond the stereotype of the country club n Corporate Board rooms and corporations. He said we are going to embrace the factories, the farmer, the cop on the beat. One party must be the party of the individual. It must not be the individuals that cater to the group. Talking about the men that the similarities of being elected in 2016 especially the comparisons between the two men with the conservative movement and now the nationalist and populist movement. America is populism has a distinctly different velocity that overlaps the government the labor, big lobbyists. It is true populace. It is corruption of power. Reagan believed that it was collecting and would diminish personal freedom. So cunnane appears between, traditional american populism with anticorruption. In fact reagan and donald trump, there are similar and most important ways is that they are part of a american history. Every generation to have an uprising in which the antistatus quo and this argument of anticorruption. And it was with jefferson in the 1800s. He reverses a lot of the programs. He cut taxes, he cut bureaucracy and then now we have all been getting a refresher course with the election of donald trump. And all of the cisco anticorruption. Thats right. He was also victimized by the media at the time. They were called the coffin pamphlet. They were anti zero the most awful terrible things. They were called coffin pamphlets. And they were attacking him about all manner of things. And then of course, they were antistatus quo. The Republican Party was a revolutionary party. By 1850 they were antislavery and basically the philosophy three men it is a very traditional American Party which is maximum freedom for all individuals. Then of course Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt again was in many ways a popular performer because he had corruption in 1932. And then of course donald trump 20 something years later. So when you look at american history, i am mad at myself because i found that i think everybody else, everyone thought hillary was going to win. I held myself as a student of history to realize that donald trump was not foretold and it was not inevitable. But he was better than any of us realized only because of american history. What you think Ronald Reagan would think of donald trump . I think you would appreciate that donald trump is a unique politician. I think you would also appreciate the fact that donald trump and against and continues to go against the establishment. Reagan was, his whole career was defined by antiestablishment. In 1966, the entire public was San Francisco. By the way dino and that time the mayors of baltimore, new york, los angeles and San Francisco were all republican. And then he was just right, picturesque, moderate republican. And reagan runs a primary and smashes christopher. Paul. [inaudible] reagan was always better with people, they always understood him better. I think again that is the only similarity. He understands and appreciates donald trump. I think Ronald Reagan would look at donald trump and be amazed. And have all probably the greatest we have seen in recent history. Let me ask you about the conservative movement. Because i think many of us most of us in this room consider ourselves conservatives. Donald trump is, he is more what would he say about the conservative group in the growing populace . A lot of people are saying donald trump is not the end of Ronald Reagan and his bro legacy but donald trump himself is remaking the Republican Party. But is now remaking them party in a different direction. Out that he would have a problem with the because reagan himself as a force for change in america. And american liberal, historian and writer, philosopher or whatever. He wrote a book called the liberal in 1950 when he said conservatives were irritable. [laughter] and it did not have a coherent philosophy. Which of course was nonsense because you know, the founders had a coherent governing office. Which was based on individuality. And they had this Money Changer in london and whether you believe in popular or judeochristian heritage or is to be left unencumbered. And so that was part of populism and conservatism. Reagan would appreciate very much Donald Trumps skills politically. He would appreciate those. He would appreciate probably some of the way that donald trump regular certain fashion when it came, when he was president when the first secret service agents, kik app standing aside and she said the president , the and reagan said my mother told me ladies always go first. And it was a real problem for reagan because he just couldnt bring himself to walk through the door ahead of a woman. And head of the Treasury Department was, had to say mr. President , you can look at her as a woman. She is a secret service agent. You have to do this and is what we are told to do here but he had a heckuva time getting past this. He was extremely but a true gentleman serious and on a personal note p had a he was such a gentleman. When i went to see nixon presidency can see you monday. She had great conversation and a photo was taken with me spending between the heroes ÷ around both of them [inaudible] my most prized possession. That is the kind of man he was. We will open this up for questions in a moment. What do you think of Ronald Reagan were around today and had the opportunity to speak with President Trump do you think what would he tell him . Questions people. Go on top of the American People. Which is what reagan did. Very very important. Im glad you asked me that. Reagan read his mail. When a person into the white house, he told the secretary, both i want to read tempe senility. So it would be people who loved him, people who hated him and people who were hurting. In virtually all of those letters, he wrote letters in response. And so there are treasured letters. You got it pete into the window of the american psyche. Not wanting 60 minutes or dan rather or whatever else. By reading his mail. He got a letter from a woman who was started. And he wrote her back and sent her a check for 100. And he said next month no subject hadnt been cashed. So close to woman. And you know heres the president of the next is calling this woman in indiana. He says, after she gets over disbelief, he says what when you cash the check . And she said once i realized it was really from you i wanted to keep it as a souvenir. And he said look, im going to send a second check so you can cash it. But do not catch both checks. [laughter] he gained a perspective on the American People. He also went out and give a lot of speeches out among, which is what donald trump is doing. It is so smart and so important. Get out of washington. Gilly from the city, get away from msnbc. Get away from the Washington Post and go out there and to the American People because ultimately, reagan actually, if you are to speeches he was sometimes slow and halting and then as the speech went on and as he drew energy from the audience he became more alive and more animated. And then by the end of the speech he was on fire because there was so much behind him. I would say dont listen to the elite, get out of washington, read your mail and talk as much the American People as possible. Thats what reagan would probably tell donald trump. Good advice. I think that is advice he is already following. And he said repeatedly i will never lose touch with the people who put me here because this is what Ronald Reagan would do as well. Okay now we have to take some questions. Give a question please line up. Dont be shy. [inaudible question] he was in a receiving line. There were four or five occasions where reagan was president and donald trump was there. A patron of the arts and a couple of other times when they met. But it was always very cursory. You know they never, not that they had dinner together or you have been tough in the oval office. But they were two ships passing in the night. Yes . I was wondering if you think of any public figures only who matched Ronald Reagans practicality and chivalry . Reagan, i enjoyed the questions it forces me to think. And i thought many times. There are certain elements in certain parts that you have made appointment reagan or you know, future oriented like reagan or hadley principles Ronald Reagan. But everything anybody out there who is the whole package. I have not. As much as george washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt are unique, and a liberal historian wrote that seven years ago, a good friend of mine wrote, in many ways he was the official story of the american left of the 20 century. He talks about the Labor Movement in an attempt but his last book is Ronald Reagans freedom in the making of history. And he says reagan was one of our core greatest president s. He saved many people. And consider that to be the most important story for an american president. You know to measure whether or not theyre successful is that they help many people here for someone to come around and try to do ai think it will be difficult. Every politician including barack obama. I had a cover story a couple of years ago of obama and reagan and unites obamas best friend or something. Its nonsense. But even so obama did pay homage to Ronald Reagan. And it was nice complement. But bill clinton tried, and donald trump probably most recent president s coming closest to be reagan and nothing antiestablishment hes not afraid to ask the status quo. But reagan exploded many Many Political dispute ported, kant, franklin, emerson. Anti washington but never said you know i want to be the next Franklin Roosevelt. I want to be connect dwight eisenhower. He either he was perfectly happy just being Ronald Reagan. There was never any doubt. He never had expressed a doubt about himself. That you know even nixon sometimes. Reagan you know, theres one thing to say about reagan selfconfidence. In 1980 he was giving an interview to a reporter with the New York Times. This is in the process of getting the nomination. And he said something, i thought that maybe one that should be president. Is that you have effective selfconfidence that you should be president. Breast all the [inaudible] thank you for today. There are couple of things that confused me. Particularly in the middle east. When irans there were, were. He wrote and regretted sending troops and. Sending them into this vulnerable position. And not providing them with enough material to defend themselves. He was really really struck by this. But you know, reagan went to the middle east. What was on his mind, several years after the presidency he is giving a speech in los angeles. And they asked him you know one of the crowd asked him about the middle east. He said, once there was the nile was rising. To flood stage. And on the banks was a scorpion. And the scorpion said to the frog, he said carry me across and i want sinew. Within a settlement by Terry Presley my statement on the scorpion said thats ridiculous for both. During the process. Faith is a disability dispute of the scorpion gets on the frogs back. Halfway across the nile, the scorpion stings the frog. In the foxes like to do that now we both going to die . And slip into as well i think that was reagans view of the middle east and that it was a problem that had been for thousands of years. We couldnt solve the problem. Of the warsaw pact and the soviet union. The middle east just in excess. The only time we ever really took any action other than was sending troops to beirut. They were cleaning out and he requited to stop the israeli. [inaudible question] i think theres always something that has to do in private the start of it. But he also, president of the United States. He has to Say Something that looks reassuring to the world. And so, but you this is geopolitical because it undermines the soviet union. He sold to the sounds and they didnt show gratitude. And the president marking consumer dropped. But also undermine the soviet oil in the world market. They were getting western dollars for their oil and they were able to keep their war machine going. That was the real reason that this started. It was a so they can improve the defensive perimeter. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for coming tonight. And writing this book. donald trump ainstincts, he needs to be a little bit more like reagan. My question is about nancy reagan. And comparing nancy reagan to Melania Trump. What was nancys role in creating Ronald Reagan as president . And can Melania Trump help donald as much as she did . I think every time Melania Trump goes into public she helps donald trump. Another mean that in a good way. Obviously a very self accomplished woman. And i think that it speaks well of donald trump that she would marry him. Right . I mean, it says a lot about their marriage and her regard for him. And his willingness to let her pursue her own dreams and goals and things like that. Nancy reagan is a signature in american history. She never ever got involved with policy. She never said you know ronald, im not sure about this. She was never there as far as that goes. You know she never said anything about those things were as carter sat in on cabinet meetings when jimmy carter was president. We know that nixon never got involved either. But they had a marriage that rivaled abigail and john adams. They were married for 54 years, they were madly in love with each other. Spencer just had his 90th birthday. A good friend of mine. A longtime political advisor, very close friend of nancy reagan. And ran the campaign for governor for reagan. He told me once about nancy driving down to the train station in los angeles. Driving reagan. And getting out and two of them are in the lobby of the train station. Theres this whole swell of activity and the two of them are embracing. And the only two people are in the world. And the city never witnessed singular devotion that he did that day watching the reagans together. They were crazy about each other. They prefer to be in private with each other. You know somebody once said jimmy carter once said if nancy had been married to reagan when he was in his pecan hollywood he wouldve won two academy awards. But the other thing that was said about reagan was that ap wanted to be a shoe salesman, nancy would have made sure he was the best shoe salesman in the world. But she did not get involved with policy because she was you know, sometimes with staff when she thought they were hurting ronald. She can find herself finding out he was eating and had enough rest and properly briefed and with his speeches and scheduling. She put her attention there. But not the policy around Ronald Reagan. Hi am jeff not good enough for that. I have one comment into question. The comment on donald trump and nixon. I believe i read that pat nixon had predicted that donald trump had a real good shot at being president of the United States. Yes, in fact this donald trump on an episode back in the day. And she told the president how incredibly impressive donald trump wasnt how she thought he has essential to go into politics and she huge things. All the way to the presidency. So president nixon then turned around and wrote a note donald trump say mrs. Nixon site on donahue and says you are incredible and when donald trump was running lester he put that letter out. Check the question i have is, with reagan. How did he come how was he able to work with the independents and democrats as well as the gop . Because he was a conservative he was able to draw them and at the same time [inaudible] the two parties are much different than they are now. The reason many times as they were able to reach a compromise as they had some liberal democrats and liberal republicans. And part of the reason for this is that the parties both practice what was known as the balanced ticket. The liberal Franklin Roosevelt leader a very conservative harry truman. The moderate was the conservative nixon. The moderate. [inaudible] the parties operated in a sense of equilibrium for generations. Goldwater is nominated in 1964. And when logic says they should have sought to unify the party, they have miller who is a littleknown congressman from buffalo new york who is even more conservative than he is. And at the time he said no he was asked he said Something Like he thinks about Lyndon Johnson more than i do. [laughter] but this conservative ticket begins to process driving moderate liberals of the Republican Party. So john lindsay becomes a democrat. But also leaving interprocess attracting conservative democrats. So they go from democrat to republican and then from democrat to republican begins the process of reorganizing two Major Political parties. And it continued and 72 by George Mcgovern who was a liberal. So the two parties today represent pretty much monolithic ideology. One is liberal and one is conservative. So we are able to work less together than they were say, a generation ago when reagan worked with he was the moderate democratic chairman of the house and ways and Means Committee who reformed the tax policy in america. That was to live under today. And we still have essentially three tax brackets which were created by reagan. There was also bipartisanship on National Defense on the navy. There was a lot more comedy between reagan and the democrats done there is no between donald trump. And actually, they are defensive, it is that astonishing how much has changed. Because in 1975, 49 states had near total democratic control of the governorship in the legislature. Republicans only down to about 128 members of congress. They could have passed any legislation. It would up to 32 senators which means they couldnt filibuster. How much is change in just a generation. The republicans control the statehouse. Republicans control the congress could republicans control the presidency and the national but all of that is changed in many ways because of reagan, reagan conservatives and attract conservative democrats later known as reagan democrats. It really shook up things. And when reagan lost in that time. , [inaudible question] he said, it wasnt in gods plan. If god wants me to be president i will be president. I thought that was very interesting. Yes. I would like to follow up on what you said about reagans failure in lebanon. And this will be one of his legacies to us. That we have nearly full control right now that had reagan done the right thing this would not have happened. You had a similar situation with another popular president eisenhower. When he backed along with the soviet union. It took two more wars in the middle east but eventually they made peace with israel and todays egyptians are a keystone of american policy in the middle east. I do not see any exiting in lebanon unless you have the state with the break up and. [inaudible] i would also like to ask. [inaudible] Franklin Roosevelt was his favorite president. He voted for him. Let me just go back to the lebanon and beirut. I never met anyone yet and i just turned 60 years old. Who can confidently no president has that special talent. I dont know anyone who does. They do the best they can under the circumstances. Certain dynamics, they know what happened but you know when it comes to especially like the middle east, with so many factions and so many in the age of hatred, it is almost a fools errand to try and get in there and evolve is what many people see as a problem. Another president who was guilty of not peering into the future was franklin was about because he tried to defeat the evil nazi germany but nobody could fault him for contributing to the buildup of the soviet empire. Because he was trying to defeat the greater evil which was hitler. In the and of course the empire of japan. So they do it they can do. They do the best they can do. Most of them. I think actually all of them. I think we been lucky as americans. We have had bad president s but we havent had, we have had incompetent but weve not had bad president s. We have not had bad men. And j in hamilton and madison you know, over and over the only two qualifications for president of the United States are experienced and character. I think these the word character 20 or 30 times. And so we have had you know 45 president s. And something in me that one of them maturely a person with bad character. Weve had people that were incompetent, people that were lost in power. Weve had people, presidency didnt know when to say no, not say no to the plumbers or to watergate. But also other president s who did not know when to say no. But i dont think it is a long way saying that reagan did the best he can wear that he could with the middle east. I think results with incomplete. But most president s since the 40s, the results, really corner, they are still in force today. You may be quarter probably have the greatest success of any president in the middle east. I appreciate your not characterizing a lot of people look at him as evil. No. You have to realize what washington was like in that time. Can you imagine going to work every morning trying to walk over thousands of protesters defecating, swearing, throwing bags of urine that staffers were just trying to do their job and trying to the white house to work for the president. Washington, it was, there was, the student protesters are out of control. And it didnt just start with him by the way. It started with Lyndon Johnson. During one of the weddings. You know there were so loud that Lyndon Johnson cursed about because they were talk is allegedly here during the wedding bells. In the white house. And 100,000 were anti war protesters out there chanting. And you know the National News is never done justice about how in control he was in the 60s and 70s and how much of a threat the antiwar protesters were to our very existence as a republic. Having worked with president nixon myself every day for four years, he was brilliant and generous and kind and visionary and warm and funny. [applause] thank you. Final question. Hi another guy from queens. I followed the other guy from queens. I think his political ability to manage, set up that shiny object. I see some parallels in the way that reagan was able to manage, not in the same manner but is that, if it was part of the success politically advised. I think that he handled the national is better than republicans president s gerald ford, they never give him a chance. In nixon, there was restricted nixon but they really didnt like nixon it was cultural warfare. It was dominated by one set of people in one set of values and one culture in connection had a completely different culture. And so there was always you know, there was never ever, they wouldnt give him a break. Reagan went out of his way to not report the media but contain them. Oneonone. He was very good as far as with the media. They still made fun of him and you know even at the funeral the Washington Post was merciless. In accusing him. The weekend of his funeral they wrote that reagan, that he may have ask another womans hand in marriage before nancy. And they said now she has to read that . Even questioned his football career. Thats how petty the Washington Post was. For reagan on the week of his funeral. It was atrocious. You know day after day after day. The, this the new yorks [inaudible] the nearest City Government the new york City Government did not close the funeral of Ronald Reagan. Thank you very much. [applause] my wonderful guest tonight, Craig Shirley. Thank you so much. [applause] i also want to tell all of you to please line up, mr. Shirley will shine his books right here at the podium. Thank you all for coming. I really appreciate it. [applause] [inaudible conversations] tonight on the rhode island limited Sheldon Whitehouse examines how government has impacted my money and interest groups. , the corporate american democracy. Hes into the New York Times Investigative Reporter eric lipton. When you one corporate front rope spending 700 million plus in the last election, and that any planning to spend 400 million in the next election in the midterms, that is just a huge footprint. And theres a lot more going on behind it. The second piece of that has been kind of brought home the longterm effort of the Republican Party and the social business friendly judges in the courts. So that the courts have become increasingly hostile to regular folks and increasingly interested in protecting corporations. Watched after words tonight at nine eastern on cspan2s booktv