A longtime friend and contributor two the library hugh hewitt. My wife and i have been friends of the library for a wild. I came of age during the nixon years and have vivid memories of the 1968 Republican National convention watched on a black and white tv late into the night breathlessly hoping for his nomination. We have come to learn more about Richard Nixon and that marquis left on our country and world and as i look at the state of our nation in the world today i reach into the archives of the 72 campaign, nixon now more than ever. We have had the opportunity two meet wonderful people through the library tran and betsy hewitt among them. Hugh is a frequent figure at library interviewing Authors Panel discussions, participating in debates and as we saw today conducting his nationally syndicated radio show. He served in the Nixon Administration as a speechwriter and was critical in the construction of this facility and for that a debt of gratitude by all who have benefited from it. Hugh hails from ohio claiming to be some form of buckeye. [laughter] he did however, choose to purchase his law degree from the hated university of michigan something i do not understand. [laughter] he is a practicing attorney professor of law at Chapman University and a remarkable influence in the Republican Party at all levels across the country. He is a frequent guest, a nationally Prominent Television shows, networks that would not otherwise have my patronage except for sporting events. Most prominent, i believe, is being the host of best talk show in america. He has the most impressive array of guests senior elected and appointed government officials authors opinion writers and National Influencers for heat ohs educational series with the president of Hillsdale College that is a graduate level intellectual experience. His style is insightful and engaging. He is respectful never talking over his guests and always allowing them too have their savior and he provides a platform for those with whom he disagrees as well of those he does disagree dry out from them the challenging questions and engaging in an intellectual exchange. It is smart radio and all who listen to turn ones show are better informed people to read he is an author and tonight object of our attention rather than he orienting our attention on someone else. Direct the queen is his recent release. I think you will find be on the astute analysis of the former secretary of state is a bit of a fortuneteller, rolling the dice on such a long shot that she may consider a second run for the white house. Hugh the gamble has paid off. I have not read read the queen, holding out for a free copy. [laughter] so, it is with great anticipation i welcome to the podium hugh hewitt. [applause]. Thank you very much. I cannot i bent traduced a lot of times and im highly honored that general spiese and filomena and he would make a special trip to the library. They are dear friends of it that the admin and we first met downstairs at an event here where former secretary of defense rumsfeld was a guest of honor and i was downstairs and you have to remember i married the daughter of a marine corps colonel three my brotherinlaw is retired marine corps colonel so you would think i would have figured out i was talking to a marine or about 20 minutes downstairs when he was active duty at the time and he has since retired and i didnt because i was a little dense and i finally said, wait a minute are you a marine because they had been laying on the ocean side comments and i got married at Camp Pendleton so i said are you marine and he said, yeah. Are you active duty because if he was given his age that meant there would be a couple of stars on his shoulder and he said yeah. I said are you a general and he said yes as very selfeffacing as general legals are and isa general, im sorry i have been rambling on and on thinking to myself my fatherinlaw were he alive would be so deeply ashamed of me. I have grown to know and love and respect the service that both of them have given an merle its military spouses serve alongside their men and women in uniform, so filomena would you stand up and let everyone say hello. [applause]. I went to thank the library for having me tonight. I brought along a bag of props, which will explain themselves as we go along and i also want thank my Los Angeles Home the answer the media group of which i am apart and we have great sponsors that are here tonight first off. The money guys california deluxe windows at radio would not exist in america but for great terrific sponsors like these and across the United States if you listen to the radio and the people who put the radio on because without it it would go away and patronize them. I want to thank my partners at eric fox they allow me a great deal of ability two go back and forth across the country and the last three weeks i have appeared in secession on meet the press, face the nation, state of the union with chuck todd and John Dickerson and jake tapper and that means im not practicing law during that period of time and a kind of overlook that as a go back and forth and with associates who pick up the pace. I very much appreciated. Im here to talk about this book, the queen and im holding that up for the benefit of our cspan friends from book tv. Hillary in the coming of the second clinton area, there is a law called the once law. If you have watched frank luntz you know he is the best media analysts in america when it comes to understanding Public Opinion and words that work and frank told me what once if you dont say the name of the book seven times you wont sell the book, so i will talk about the queen on my long and if i mention the queen a lot its because right tomie if i dont say that the queen seven times you will remember the queen and then you wont find the queen, so i think ive already said the queen six times and without i will put it aside and come back to the queen a little bit later. [applause]. I was downstairs talking with general spiese and filomena about leadership and mel serves an extraordinary role helping people become leaders and im currently going to talk tonight about getting ready for something im going to be asking questions at the president ial debates and this is because of their rights. Rights previous is a great chairman of the Republican National committee and he has brought order out of the chaos of the last debate schedule. He has brought order to the primary calendar and he has brought the convention two cleveland, ohio, four which i think he can be canonized. [laughter] as a son of the great state of ohio im glad the Cleveland Convention will come on the heels of a brown super bowl in a Second Consecutive National championship for the ohio state buckeyes. General spiese is his ally and i. I think that football, dont they . Im not sure, but i think they do. Because rights and the Republican NationalCommittee Looked at the fiasco that was the debates, 2012 and they said they would do this differently. They said we are going to organize nine at least nine and maybe as many as 12 debates and we are going to have Media Partners and if a candidate goes to a debate not on our schedule than they wont be in our schedule. Those are rules. You need to bring order and by the way they will be our media partner and they will include conservative media voices, which is what a surprise what a shock that in the gop president ial primary system you would actually allow someone from their side of the spectrum two ask questions that might be a primary interest to gop primary voters. That does not need you exclude and it will not be excluded great journalists like chuck todd and meet the press or j tapper of cbs. I believe Chris Wallace and brett there and make them telling all the rest that fox ought to do their journalistic best, but at the same time journalists who are understood to be not merely observers, but participants in the process will be welcomed in too ask key questions, and i think this is going to revolutionize the process and it went to talk tonight about how you prepare because wherever i go in the United States, i have just come from colorado Kurt Christian university for a week where i was teaching young conservative leadership conference. Hundred 50 young people in the western conservative summit that was held in Denver Colorado and i interviewed scott walker in front of all these folks and everywhere i go, what are you going ask and its not the candidates and their team that are asking, though, they are always listening to its republicans and conservative spirit what are you going to ask you whenever one says what are you going to ask i have a suggestion, so i listen and how do you prepare and i am happy to have been selected for this thing. I want to talk about how you prepare for it, but it has launched a weird thing. At this moment i am still the only conservative who has been officially named i will be doing the three debates and i will be asking questions here im not the moderator thank god. I love donald trump, but i do not want a moderate his debate. It is going to be very hard. Donald trump has been my guess all of the republican nominees will be guest have been guess on the radio and the one who is most interesting and entertaining is always donald trump and he covers that side of the line and he does not stay in his lane and it really doesnt matter what the question is that you ask. [laughter] and thats okay. Thats five your its great radio, but i have been preparing and there was a cover story written about me too read i was a little amused by this term i have never been a coverboy before and he said i was having a media moments that makes me laugh also because of media molding is like the rain we are having in california today in june. Everyone notices it and it doesnt mean a damn thing. Is going to be over before you know it and nevertheless i take very seriously these debates. And i dont believe in emdash questions. I believe in preparation and i want to talk a bit tonight about how you prepare to do this sort of thing. And how you prepare to earn the praise for someone like mel spiese, which is high praise indeed there and when someone says you were on the best radio show in america and he is a to start marine general and when his colleagues talk about Stanley Mcchrystal that is the best interview by a longshot that i have ever done. When craig morel writes that in my book i am happy. Had you get there . How to get ready for a debate . Thats what i want to talk about my. First i want to thank book tv for being here and i go to my bag of tricks. There are a lot of them here. First, i hold up a book called sundays at eight and if any of you it came to my studio and we spent three hours talking together. Hes my model of an interviewer and i hold of the second book on the first ladies of the United States by susan swain who is also along with brian lambs book tv and i urge all of you to letter were no that book tv exists as an oasis on the weekends for People Like Us who love the books appeared to die next in library invites here always authors, so does the reagan library. In the land of soundbites actually have conversation and i think brian lan and peter and others who work at book tv and susan are so relentlessly fair and thorough that if everyone studied the wet them the way i have studied brian and charlie rose does this well you would have a lot better media and in fact the one we have already mentioned, j tapper, chuck Todd John Dickerson, they are all themselves authors. They have written very good books. The stranger by chuck Todd John Dickerson wrote a great biography of his mother, Nancy Dickerson turn of course, j tapper wrote the outpost about command post in far off providence of afghanistan, a history that is riveting a movie and actually very emotional to talk about and read about and if you take the time to watch the best in the business they are not only journalists they are writers. They are readers and so i have been preparing for a long time for these debates by doing one thing, which is what i want to encourage everyone in the audience which is too read widely and deeply with things which you are not familiar. I will hold up if you books here as example of this. Coming soon to this library the fellow is in my studio yesterday, evan thomas, wrote this book, which i am holding up for the benefit of the camera. Mi doing that that right, guys . Its called being nixon. This is an unusual book. Evan thomas is part of the georgetown set to refuse a harvard man but he was working for Katharine Graham and he has dug deep into the nixon story and i know there are some lovers of this book and not lovers of this book within the nixon family of which im a proud member, but i found it so compelling that i had him on for two hours yesterday, nearly two hours talking about being nixon and hes coming to the library and i was glad when i saw evan even though he was not part of the Nixon Administration or part of the nixon family he was able to treat fairly the strength and the weaknesses of a great american. When i asked him was he a great man he said yes i read a segment about that about saving israel in 1973 we talked about it and evan thomas is relentlessly fair. Yes, there are downsides in nixons career and upsides in nixons career, but their relentlessly and chronologically covered in a fair fashion. Thats what we want our authors to do. The day after im talking to you i will interview ted cruz about his new book a time for truth and a day after that i will welcome into my studio ambassador michael oren to talk about his new book, ally which is this is not my reading copy. My reading copyist patter. This is my signature copy to put in my collection. This is a moving book about the history of being an american who becomes an israeli who becomes a warrior and then ambassador. I will ask about israel and about this horrific deal we are about too sign with the ron to the investor this week because i will have read his book and he fairly chronicles and understands the perspective of the territories here he has been there and he has waged war there and he has been in gaza and he records it all and its an amazing book, but i will be prepared to ask questions of these candidates not because i know anything about gaza and i have never been there. I been to israel, but ive not been to the west bank, but ive rented eyes of someone that has and i deeply impressed as a result. Last week i have to keep going up and down. Is not good for the cameras i know. Not last week Daniel Silver was on here at how many of you listen to my silver interview . If you have not read his novels this is number 15. He comes one comes on one hour every summer. I always get it early and some of you are listening for this. Its a readers you cant have it. I told my kids at colorado Christian University that they would read the novels beginning with the english killer. The killer angels is what is called actually care his first novel and then read for they would have a history of modern times told through fiction, but also deeply enmeshed in Vladimir Putin and they would understand the world in which they live through fiction not all just novels hat is that get me ready to talk about a . Because novelists take you to places like Vladimir Putins kremlin and they talk to people and imagine places and get you ready to ask questions of the Vladimir Putin primary. I have been asking each of my candidates as they come to radio and i will ask again for the benefit of American People, what you think lattimer putin would think of you as president because that is the Putin Primerica read who would you least like to be the president of the United States. And we rather have the former secretary of state whom he knows and gave him a button and read poorly in russian . Didnt really say reset and i will come to that again. Or i asked Chris Christie this a couple of months ago and he kind of laughed at me who do you think Vladimir Putin would least like a guy from jersey and there are some quality to that. Combativeness is a quality to that. After that, to books i want to talk about three in fact. Im getting ready because the left wants you in discussion about silly things and these are the things that we want to have a discussion about and you have seen this will be on the New York Times bestseller list read Mary Catherine and guide our friends but in a discussion is vitally necessary and we sped a whole day when they were my cohost trying to bring up the things that the left does not want america to talk about. When to end the discussion and effect we will not do that. We had to open the discussion, but with questions framed in such a way at the debates that they will listen from 16 republican candidates, informative looks into how they would govern. Is next two books are about the great war in which we are engaged in one is by Stanley Mcchrystal king of kings which is change the way i do my radio show already. Im sure i was talking with joan specie downstairs and the reason the Mcchrystal Group are in demand in the private sector is because they bring clarity to a lot of confusion. They bring absol