Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book Discussion On Conservative Heroe

Embraced the free market. We are committed to this work because Research Shows these principles represent the best pathway to Economic Growth and prosperity for every person regardless of background and regardless of circumstances. You can find out more at johnlocke. Org. We are delighted to have garland tucker who will be telling us about the leaders who embrace the principles that ive described and helped propel the country forward. He featured in the latest conservative heroes 14 leaders that shaped america from jefferson to Ronald Reagan three of this will be on sale for the guests following this presentation. In addition to being a bestselling author and historian, hes also a highly successful entrepreneur. He founded the capital corp. A publicly traded Company Based in raleigh North Carolina. He holds a ba from washington and Lee University and an end ba from Harvard Business school. In 2010 he authored the high tide of american conservatism. Davis, coolidge in the 1924 election. I honored to introduce to you the author of the conservative heroes 14 leaders that shaped america from jefferson to reagan. [applause] thank you all for coming. I have a lot to cover today so im going to jump right in. In the introduction to the book as donna just told you is conservative heroes and the 14 leaders that shaped america from jefferson to reagan so we do have a lot to cover today in introducing the book i use used a quote from the secretary of war. He wrote this to one of his friends late in his career he was looking back on his career as a conservative, and this is the quote he said i was one of a faithful band fighting a battle for a philosophy philosophy as old as the republic itself. So it begins with american conservatism which i would offer is a philosophy as old as the republic itself. As this philosophy grew 200 years of American History in the writings of the band in this case the 14 leaders. Some of the leaders are very well known. Geoff earnest of one that is well known in some of them are not well known at all and they are relatively obscure. One of the fun Things Writing this book as i got to pick my own 14 and as a niche play is said not everybody would pick the same 14 but thats okay. I am hoping this would spark some debate and you may want to add some of your own heroes or pull some of them out. But in any event i hope it sparks some debate. In examining those leaders and allows us to bring the foundational principles of conservatism into sharper relief and see how those principles have been put into action over time. I began with a look at what i said would suggest are the basic tenets of conservatism and i suggest that the concept is foundational and they would agree with these concepts and others could have been added, but i think these are pretty basic. And while this isnt necessarily an exhaustive list, again i think that most conservatives would be comfortable with ease. The first concept that i would offer is what i call a realistic view of human nature. Let me explain what i mean by that. Conservatives believe that there is nothing in Human History that would suggest that man is perfect to the. Left to the devices, man tends to revert to balance, dissolution, aggression. Patrick henry and other founders often wrote to the brevity of human nature and this keeps conservatives from accepting the progressive notion that mankind is somehow an avidly advancing and Getting Better and progressives would suggest that mankind is perfectible and in fact government is has the means to achieve the perfection. Conservatives just dont agree with that and we think that theres plenty of in transit evidence that would suggest otherwise. Conservatives believe that the American Republic was founded not to reform human nature but rather to establish boundaries within which human nature makes might forage. Because of the nature of the primary role of government are just two. Number one is to establish order and number two, to preserve liberty. A conservative believes that our liberty is not granted by the government with its godgiven and therefore. They would advocate a maximum degree of personal liberty. There was a threat of anarchy. They didnt want to seek that to any form of anarchy that but at the same time they recognized this threat of anarchy they were aware of the government encroaching on personal liberty. So they were seeking the balance in this and we will see in the very first chapter of the book that the balance is addressed. The third principle is closely linked to the second. The conservative recognizes the two primary goals of the government which i just mentioned that a conservative would stop at that point and say there is no third role of government. In other words, the government should be limited. Jefferson spoke for the founders in and the first inaugural address when he said these words a wise and frugal government for every stray men from injuring one another and should leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuit of industry and improvement and shall not take for the mouth of labor but it has earned. This is the sum of good government. The founders feared that any governmental power that extend beyond the protection of liberty could itself become a threat to liberty. The fourth point i would offer is that Property Rights and human rights are in inseparably bound together and well grounded and john locke had the rights of property so that this particular thought certainly predates the American Revolution and as the historian has written all the founders they arrived from the notion that the security of ones property was intimately linked to ones freedom. The fifth and final point of conservatism or the tenet of conservatism is that the social and political life of the community and the country depends on private virtues that the individual told. They once wrote a very contemptuously and the quote was the fault is insisted that if men would cultivate the end. Co. Individual virtues than the social problems would take care of themselves. There is more than a grain of truth to that. Edmund burke often called on the mall conservatism rate. But what is the pretty without wisdom and virtue . It is the greatest of all possible evils. Conservatives throughout history belief that virtue flow from the particular culture that individuals and that is judeochristian virtues. The remainder of the book deals with these 14 lives and thats what i want to do today we have a lot of ground to cover and im going to try to do it quickly. Let me just say up front that will not do justice to the 14 leaders. So we hope we can pick your interest of the pulpit and you will be interested in reading the book then hopefully you will want to pursue all 14 of these into there and there are very good biographies of each of these. That reminds me why are none of the 14 women i tried to figure out a way to work Margaret Thatcher and and it was very much my hope that it webody else and ip leave that it will be i dont belief that the 14th leader is the final year and i certainly hope that there will be some Women Leaders that will highlight it and i hope that they will be as good as Margaret Thatcher. Okay. The 14 leaders. We begin with the jefferson and madison. First is on these two men. It focuses very narrowly on the 12 years before jeffersons elected president and madison followed him and etoh, and obviously theres been lots and lots written. So theres nothing i would argue that there is nothing theres nothing new in what i pretend that i think that i this chapter does two things. It ties the piece is that american conservatism as old as republican anchors us back to the beginning of the republic and by focusing on a narrow 12 year period i think that is the best way to see the development of jefferson and madisons views on the limited government, which is really one of the foundational stones of american conservatism. Jefferson, madison and enjoyed a 50 year friendship that spans literally 50 years into the correspondence is truly voluminous over 1200 letters and they wrote all kinds of topics. There is plenty of material to look at and when you focus on these 12 years, these were the 12 years that they were in the opposition opposing the Federalist Party and at the central federal party of the time was the party of more centralization. Jefferson and madison were wrestling with the two primary purposes of government that i mentioned here to establish the order and the preservation of liberty. And its interesting to read the letters. They didnt see exactly jefferson in general would come down more. Madison a little bit more on the establishment of the order but on the scale of things they are very much believers and the limited government. Madison wrote these words. It should be composed of limited and innovative powers. Later the defenders of the principals principles would quote the maximum from Thomas Jefferson but we think now he probably didnt say that i think he probably would have claimed it and that is the government is best that governs least. So thats the beginning of the book. There are a few hands, so this to me is an interesting chapter. Randolph is from virginia and a speaking in the house under Jefferson Randolph was the leader that was causing the republicans in the house and they should have lodging together in washington for this 30 year period but he could be described as but even more severe and so shortly democratic screwed onto earth. So they didnt exactly pick the same mold but they were very personal closeparen. Under jefferson and madisons administrations they started period as leaders as the speaker of the house and the leader in the house but it wasnt long before their view and probably the view of most historians jefferson and madison became a bit more expensive of their view of limited government and they were determined to hang onto what they on to what they viewed as the principles of 1800, which they thought were the old republicans philosophy. Russell kirk in the 1950s gives randolph in particular also made him a lot of credit for preserving the concepts of limited government they existed in the 30 years in office and often times very lonely after he wasnt elected speaker of the house and randolph was not reelected were selected as the leader of the house and they had it at the faction that was lacking life in and they were the only hard core jeffersonian republicans who thought that jefferson had gotten a bit too expensive in his use of government. Russell kirk said that there is perhaps nothing in american political philosophy more brilliant than John Randolph speeches and i would encourage you for some quotes in the book for that and if you have a chance of it and read some of them. They are quite extraordinary. A couple of amusing things about when he retired in 1828 it was nearly 40 years in congress they gave the vote and they proposed to that the public still use the record by jesse helms to contend that he had beat him out on that but there are still some controversy about that. And a close friend of his once said if he should happen to be drowned i should not look down doctrine for his body but up the stream. And finally jefferson wrote with his death the republic would mark the passing. It was the most controversial of the 14 leaders and as amadeus leis writes its been enough to see him wiped out from the childrens textbooks and if they leave the other citizens in the dark about the valuable history i would submit that Amadeus Amadeus leis is right on that and the defender of slavery it is sad that its career is so overshadowed by the fact because the writings for the majority of the career his focus was on the National Bank and centralization schemes and other plans like that and interestingly calhoun is cited for his courage and his honesty. Over the civil war and into the 1880s. He was the last conservative democrat said he wouldnt get much credit from the fellow democrats today. He was formidable intellectually and he was formidable physically the 280 pounds that cast quite a figure his rise to the presidency can only be described from new york and buffalo and the mayor of buffalo and the governor of new york to president of the United States and there was a quote in a letter from cleveland to one of his friends that he had been in the white house a few months and weve still wake up nsa can i possibly be here. He composed himself upon his time in the way of no mediocre manhood for a moment. He was a reformer in the postcivil war and us all a lot of what we would call crony capitalism today and its interesting that in the period the Republican Party was the party of centralized government and he came in with some very basic jeffersonian views of limited government. He was very focused on preserving the personal liberty. He was relentless in his pursuit of economy and limited government and he exercised over 500 vetoes which is still a record. Most of them are spending bills and i will read you just these few words. This is from one of the veto messages in 1887, quote the tendency to disregard the limited vision of the federal governments power and duty should be steadfastly resisted to the end of the lesson should constantly be enforced as though the people that support the government the government should not support the people. From cleveland we go over the progressive era of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilsons high tide of american progressivism in the 1912 election and we landed in the middle of the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge and andrew melling. I would submit that coolidge was the most successful conservative president in history and he was his key partner in that. Let me just explain why i would say that. Coolidge vastly reduced taxes that he instituted significant tax reform and the marginal income tax from over 70 below 25 reduced federal regulation and ignited a great economic boom and then finally come into this is most Critical Committee actually reduced the size of the federal government, and that last point is the point that could have been said. If this was covered during coolidge time. He was very vocal about what he saw as the reason for it. The famous quote was the policy of the economy, not because i wish to save money but because i wish to save people. He was afraid of people. The next figure. There might be a few people that know about nathaniel and i was pretty sure that nobody would know anything when he asked. But he was from North Carolina and he was from raleigh. He spent his career and served as the democratic senator from North Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s. He led congressional opposition to roosevelts new deal and the primary focuses of the chapter. It was for fdrs game. They have organized support and Successful End of the first pushback against the new deal after roosevelt in 1936. The second example of the leadership followed very closely the fight on the Supreme Court and that isnt as well known and its he sponsored a document which came to be known as the conservative manifesto of 1937. Its been compared to Newt Gingrich contract with america something similar to that with ten points basically the free market and any new deal new deal specifically, that the conservative underpinnings certainly made it very objectionable to roosevelt and the new deal. The plan was to sponsor this piece of legislation and he was hoping to sign a Bipartisan Group come even a majority of senators would sign on. They would be rounding up the support and above story was leaked to the New York Times and they ran a frontpage article on it and some of the more skittish senators ran for cover and they delivered quite an outstanding speech on the floor of the senate and taking credit for the manifesto and advocating for it. While it was unsuccessful at was the first attempt to create a Bipartisan Coalition, conservative Bipartisan Coalition in congress and this groundwork working on the manifesto is used very much by the next. John w. Davis is a contemporary who actually ran for president on the democratic ticket ran against coolidge and then when he was defeated by coolidge he went back to new york and became the most outstanding lawyer of the day. His contribution to the conservative visit came in 1930s, 40s and even into the 50s when he took the new deal legislation into the courts primarily the Supreme Court and he had a number of projects overturned and in fact roosevelt gave him the nickname public enemy number one which davis cherished that nickname alike. Interestingly the greatest victory and a little bit in the book about this came in 1952 when he was 79yearsold he argued that on the winning side of the case which at that time truman was president and the court ruled that trumans seizure of the steel mills was unconstitutional and you may have seen references to this case over the immigration action is supposedly the steel seizure case is one of the important precedents in deciding the immigration case. Now robert taft. Time magazine had a quote, had a cover article when he was a u. S. Senator and he made the interesting observation that u. S. Politicians like to brag about, quote, coming up from nothing, coming to the log cabin or coming up with no family help. Well, they said, quote, he came up from 20 because his father was the only man to serve as president and chief justice of the u. S. Supreme court. His father had been the attorney general. Taft was number one and hotchkiss and his class number one at yale command of the undergraduate class number one at Harvard Law School in his Research Shows<\/a> these principles represent the best pathway to Economic Growth<\/a> and prosperity for every person regardless of background and regardless of circumstances. You can find out more at johnlocke. Org. We are delighted to have garland tucker who will be telling us about the leaders who embrace the principles that ive described and helped propel the country forward. He featured in the latest conservative heroes 14 leaders that shaped america from jefferson to Ronald Reagan<\/a> three of this will be on sale for the guests following this presentation. In addition to being a bestselling author and historian, hes also a highly successful entrepreneur. He founded the capital corp. A publicly traded Company Based<\/a> in raleigh North Carolina<\/a>. He holds a ba from washington and Lee University<\/a> and an end ba from Harvard Business<\/a> school. In 2010 he authored the high tide of american conservatism. Davis, coolidge in the 1924 election. I honored to introduce to you the author of the conservative heroes 14 leaders that shaped america from jefferson to reagan. [applause] thank you all for coming. I have a lot to cover today so im going to jump right in. In the introduction to the book as donna just told you is conservative heroes and the 14 leaders that shaped america from jefferson to reagan so we do have a lot to cover today in introducing the book i use used a quote from the secretary of war. He wrote this to one of his friends late in his career he was looking back on his career as a conservative, and this is the quote he said i was one of a faithful band fighting a battle for a philosophy philosophy as old as the republic itself. So it begins with american conservatism which i would offer is a philosophy as old as the republic itself. As this philosophy grew 200 years of American History<\/a> in the writings of the band in this case the 14 leaders. Some of the leaders are very well known. Geoff earnest of one that is well known in some of them are not well known at all and they are relatively obscure. One of the fun Things Writing<\/a> this book as i got to pick my own 14 and as a niche play is said not everybody would pick the same 14 but thats okay. I am hoping this would spark some debate and you may want to add some of your own heroes or pull some of them out. But in any event i hope it sparks some debate. In examining those leaders and allows us to bring the foundational principles of conservatism into sharper relief and see how those principles have been put into action over time. I began with a look at what i said would suggest are the basic tenets of conservatism and i suggest that the concept is foundational and they would agree with these concepts and others could have been added, but i think these are pretty basic. And while this isnt necessarily an exhaustive list, again i think that most conservatives would be comfortable with ease. The first concept that i would offer is what i call a realistic view of human nature. Let me explain what i mean by that. Conservatives believe that there is nothing in Human History<\/a> that would suggest that man is perfect to the. Left to the devices, man tends to revert to balance, dissolution, aggression. Patrick henry and other founders often wrote to the brevity of human nature and this keeps conservatives from accepting the progressive notion that mankind is somehow an avidly advancing and Getting Better<\/a> and progressives would suggest that mankind is perfectible and in fact government is has the means to achieve the perfection. Conservatives just dont agree with that and we think that theres plenty of in transit evidence that would suggest otherwise. Conservatives believe that the American Republic<\/a> was founded not to reform human nature but rather to establish boundaries within which human nature makes might forage. Because of the nature of the primary role of government are just two. Number one is to establish order and number two, to preserve liberty. A conservative believes that our liberty is not granted by the government with its godgiven and therefore. They would advocate a maximum degree of personal liberty. There was a threat of anarchy. They didnt want to seek that to any form of anarchy that but at the same time they recognized this threat of anarchy they were aware of the government encroaching on personal liberty. So they were seeking the balance in this and we will see in the very first chapter of the book that the balance is addressed. The third principle is closely linked to the second. The conservative recognizes the two primary goals of the government which i just mentioned that a conservative would stop at that point and say there is no third role of government. In other words, the government should be limited. Jefferson spoke for the founders in and the first inaugural address when he said these words a wise and frugal government for every stray men from injuring one another and should leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuit of industry and improvement and shall not take for the mouth of labor but it has earned. This is the sum of good government. The founders feared that any governmental power that extend beyond the protection of liberty could itself become a threat to liberty. The fourth point i would offer is that Property Rights<\/a> and human rights are in inseparably bound together and well grounded and john locke had the rights of property so that this particular thought certainly predates the American Revolution<\/a> and as the historian has written all the founders they arrived from the notion that the security of ones property was intimately linked to ones freedom. The fifth and final point of conservatism or the tenet of conservatism is that the social and political life of the community and the country depends on private virtues that the individual told. They once wrote a very contemptuously and the quote was the fault is insisted that if men would cultivate the end. Co. Individual virtues than the social problems would take care of themselves. There is more than a grain of truth to that. Edmund burke often called on the mall conservatism rate. But what is the pretty without wisdom and virtue . It is the greatest of all possible evils. Conservatives throughout history belief that virtue flow from the particular culture that individuals and that is judeochristian virtues. The remainder of the book deals with these 14 lives and thats what i want to do today we have a lot of ground to cover and im going to try to do it quickly. Let me just say up front that will not do justice to the 14 leaders. So we hope we can pick your interest of the pulpit and you will be interested in reading the book then hopefully you will want to pursue all 14 of these into there and there are very good biographies of each of these. That reminds me why are none of the 14 women i tried to figure out a way to work Margaret Thatcher<\/a> and and it was very much my hope that it webody else and ip leave that it will be i dont belief that the 14th leader is the final year and i certainly hope that there will be some Women Leaders<\/a> that will highlight it and i hope that they will be as good as Margaret Thatcher<\/a>. Okay. The 14 leaders. We begin with the jefferson and madison. First is on these two men. It focuses very narrowly on the 12 years before jeffersons elected president and madison followed him and etoh, and obviously theres been lots and lots written. So theres nothing i would argue that there is nothing theres nothing new in what i pretend that i think that i this chapter does two things. It ties the piece is that american conservatism as old as republican anchors us back to the beginning of the republic and by focusing on a narrow 12 year period i think that is the best way to see the development of jefferson and madisons views on the limited government, which is really one of the foundational stones of american conservatism. Jefferson, madison and enjoyed a 50 year friendship that spans literally 50 years into the correspondence is truly voluminous over 1200 letters and they wrote all kinds of topics. There is plenty of material to look at and when you focus on these 12 years, these were the 12 years that they were in the opposition opposing the Federalist Party<\/a> and at the central federal party of the time was the party of more centralization. Jefferson and madison were wrestling with the two primary purposes of government that i mentioned here to establish the order and the preservation of liberty. And its interesting to read the letters. They didnt see exactly jefferson in general would come down more. Madison a little bit more on the establishment of the order but on the scale of things they are very much believers and the limited government. Madison wrote these words. It should be composed of limited and innovative powers. Later the defenders of the principals principles would quote the maximum from Thomas Jefferson<\/a> but we think now he probably didnt say that i think he probably would have claimed it and that is the government is best that governs least. So thats the beginning of the book. There are a few hands, so this to me is an interesting chapter. Randolph is from virginia and a speaking in the house under Jefferson Randolph<\/a> was the leader that was causing the republicans in the house and they should have lodging together in washington for this 30 year period but he could be described as but even more severe and so shortly democratic screwed onto earth. So they didnt exactly pick the same mold but they were very personal closeparen. Under jefferson and madisons administrations they started period as leaders as the speaker of the house and the leader in the house but it wasnt long before their view and probably the view of most historians jefferson and madison became a bit more expensive of their view of limited government and they were determined to hang onto what they on to what they viewed as the principles of 1800, which they thought were the old republicans philosophy. Russell kirk in the 1950s gives randolph in particular also made him a lot of credit for preserving the concepts of limited government they existed in the 30 years in office and often times very lonely after he wasnt elected speaker of the house and randolph was not reelected were selected as the leader of the house and they had it at the faction that was lacking life in and they were the only hard core jeffersonian republicans who thought that jefferson had gotten a bit too expensive in his use of government. Russell kirk said that there is perhaps nothing in american political philosophy more brilliant than John Randolph<\/a> speeches and i would encourage you for some quotes in the book for that and if you have a chance of it and read some of them. They are quite extraordinary. A couple of amusing things about when he retired in 1828 it was nearly 40 years in congress they gave the vote and they proposed to that the public still use the record by jesse helms to contend that he had beat him out on that but there are still some controversy about that. And a close friend of his once said if he should happen to be drowned i should not look down doctrine for his body but up the stream. And finally jefferson wrote with his death the republic would mark the passing. It was the most controversial of the 14 leaders and as amadeus leis writes its been enough to see him wiped out from the childrens textbooks and if they leave the other citizens in the dark about the valuable history i would submit that Amadeus Amadeus<\/a> leis is right on that and the defender of slavery it is sad that its career is so overshadowed by the fact because the writings for the majority of the career his focus was on the National Bank<\/a> and centralization schemes and other plans like that and interestingly calhoun is cited for his courage and his honesty. Over the civil war and into the 1880s. He was the last conservative democrat said he wouldnt get much credit from the fellow democrats today. He was formidable intellectually and he was formidable physically the 280 pounds that cast quite a figure his rise to the presidency can only be described from new york and buffalo and the mayor of buffalo and the governor of new york to president of the United States<\/a> and there was a quote in a letter from cleveland to one of his friends that he had been in the white house a few months and weve still wake up nsa can i possibly be here. He composed himself upon his time in the way of no mediocre manhood for a moment. He was a reformer in the postcivil war and us all a lot of what we would call crony capitalism today and its interesting that in the period the Republican Party<\/a> was the party of centralized government and he came in with some very basic jeffersonian views of limited government. He was very focused on preserving the personal liberty. He was relentless in his pursuit of economy and limited government and he exercised over 500 vetoes which is still a record. Most of them are spending bills and i will read you just these few words. This is from one of the veto messages in 1887, quote the tendency to disregard the limited vision of the federal governments power and duty should be steadfastly resisted to the end of the lesson should constantly be enforced as though the people that support the government the government should not support the people. From cleveland we go over the progressive era of Teddy Roosevelt<\/a> and Woodrow Wilsons<\/a> high tide of american progressivism in the 1912 election and we landed in the middle of the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge<\/a> and andrew melling. I would submit that coolidge was the most successful conservative president in history and he was his key partner in that. Let me just explain why i would say that. Coolidge vastly reduced taxes that he instituted significant tax reform and the marginal income tax from over 70 below 25 reduced federal regulation and ignited a great economic boom and then finally come into this is most Critical Committee<\/a> actually reduced the size of the federal government, and that last point is the point that could have been said. If this was covered during coolidge time. He was very vocal about what he saw as the reason for it. The famous quote was the policy of the economy, not because i wish to save money but because i wish to save people. He was afraid of people. The next figure. There might be a few people that know about nathaniel and i was pretty sure that nobody would know anything when he asked. But he was from North Carolina<\/a> and he was from raleigh. He spent his career and served as the democratic senator from North Carolina<\/a> in the 1930s and 1940s. He led congressional opposition to roosevelts new deal and the primary focuses of the chapter. It was for fdrs game. They have organized support and Successful End<\/a> of the first pushback against the new deal after roosevelt in 1936. The second example of the leadership followed very closely the fight on the Supreme Court<\/a> and that isnt as well known and its he sponsored a document which came to be known as the conservative manifesto of 1937. Its been compared to Newt Gingrich<\/a> contract with america something similar to that with ten points basically the free market and any new deal new deal specifically, that the conservative underpinnings certainly made it very objectionable to roosevelt and the new deal. The plan was to sponsor this piece of legislation and he was hoping to sign a Bipartisan Group<\/a> come even a majority of senators would sign on. They would be rounding up the support and above story was leaked to the New York Times<\/a> and they ran a frontpage article on it and some of the more skittish senators ran for cover and they delivered quite an outstanding speech on the floor of the senate and taking credit for the manifesto and advocating for it. While it was unsuccessful at was the first attempt to create a Bipartisan Coalition<\/a>, conservative Bipartisan Coalition<\/a> in congress and this groundwork working on the manifesto is used very much by the next. John w. Davis is a contemporary who actually ran for president on the democratic ticket ran against coolidge and then when he was defeated by coolidge he went back to new york and became the most outstanding lawyer of the day. His contribution to the conservative visit came in 1930s, 40s and even into the 50s when he took the new deal legislation into the courts primarily the Supreme Court<\/a> and he had a number of projects overturned and in fact roosevelt gave him the nickname public enemy number one which davis cherished that nickname alike. Interestingly the greatest victory and a little bit in the book about this came in 1952 when he was 79yearsold he argued that on the winning side of the case which at that time truman was president and the court ruled that trumans seizure of the steel mills was unconstitutional and you may have seen references to this case over the immigration action is supposedly the steel seizure case is one of the important precedents in deciding the immigration case. Now robert taft. Time magazine had a quote, had a cover article when he was a u. S. Senator and he made the interesting observation that u. S. Politicians like to brag about, quote, coming up from nothing, coming to the log cabin or coming up with no family help. Well, they said, quote, he came up from 20 because his father was the only man to serve as president and chief justice of the u. S. Supreme court. His father had been the attorney general. Taft was number one and hotchkiss and his class number one at yale command of the undergraduate class number one at Harvard Law School<\/a> in his Law School Class<\/a> but he was an interesting politician in some ways like coolidge he was a very reserved man of few words incapable of smalltalk or backslapping. That was universally respected for his intellectual strength and his honesty. It was sad he was known never to have broken his word his whole life of politics and hes one of the main chapters of the profiles of courage and he basically laid the groundwork for the last half of the 20th century by submitting a party and he was never able to get the nomination. He ran for president in 1940 to 1948 1952 and never made it. But as a congressional leader he wrote quite a chapter in american conservative history. I think its interesting the lives of these three men were very intertwined. The new deal liberalism and there wasnt much of a dialogue and the only choice is between a Democratic Party<\/a> that was a little more to the left and Republican Party<\/a> that maybe would slow things down a bit. Its our conservative than they realize. Its the individual voice of the responsible conservatism and the different strands of the conservatism and anticommunism. He ran some of them through what we would think looking back. It really became singlehandedly the voice of conservatism and buckley was so attractive and so intelligent and so intellectual and he was the perfect candidate to demolish the conservatism. As he began to have success in this it played out in the political arena. In the Gubernatorial Campaign<\/a> in california. Ronald reagans victory as one historian that was the triumph of the suffocating liberalism but dominated america in the 1950s and a recent edition of the economist magazine made this observation that said the idea is set forth by Barry Goldwater<\/a> that led to losing 44 of the 50 states in 1964 crushing defeat but its striking how much of what goldwater wanted the country, for the country eventually the country eventually got under reagan so they dominated the last half of the 20th century and i think that as we look at the Republican Party<\/a>. That is contributed to goldwater, buckley and reagan and finally in the summing up these 14 liters im going to give you a quote from Ronald Reagan<\/a> that he set himself to think it could be said of all 14. He once said i never thought of myself as a great man can adjust a man committed to great ideas. Ive always believed that individuals should take priority over the state. History has taught me that this is what sets america apart. So there you have it. 14 liters, jefferson to reagan. I want to thank you all for letting me come today. And if weve got time we will have a few questions. [applause] as long as i know theres nothing biblically about 14. Seven is a member so maybe there is something difficult. But as i went through there was something that i thought about it and took out and then there were as i went through there were couples i didnt know so much about and he deserves to be in there so somehow it just wound up as 14. But i didnt start off by saying ive got to find 14. For those that didnt quite make the cut and didnt quite get into that. I started on the chapter they were great friends mentioned in the book. There were some quotes and also from carter glass. But maybe because bailey is so obscure. I did think about Andrew Jackson<\/a> and the several ways to read his career and also in the chapter on Randolph John<\/a> taylor was also a name that he would have been a good fit with all of the republicans but i just decided to limit it. Then there were a couple of democrats like samuel who ran for president who was a pretty conservative individual but he didnt have that much impact with Grover Cleveland<\/a>. It appears that no one who says they are conservative will govern as a conservative. They all expand government. That is our challenge. Let me back up one second. I certainly think there will be future chapters certainly hope so youre right if you look back at the leaders that have been successful at governing and i would suggest looking at Grover Cleveland<\/a> and coolidge particularly. But cleveland is a great example. He vetoed stuff left and right and he didnt care. He said what good is it to be elected if you dont stand for anything and he was adamant they were going to continue on its course. And coolidge is a great example as amadeus claims points out he met every friday of his administration at least half a day with the budget sector he went through the budget line by line marking things up. He was relentless and it just determined to reduce the size and scope of government. And if you dont have the focus from its probably not going to happen. That is one of his great attributes. Hes an intellectual lightweight and he didnt have very many good ideas or very many ideas. And i think we would say one of his great strengths is he had a handful of great ideas and he was very focused on implementing them and you dont need to too many good ideas if you can just make sure you implement them. Out of curiosity who said we will skip over the progressives. Do you consider Teddy Roosevelt<\/a> progressive . Hes a multifaceted person but if you read what he said in the candidate he was way out there. He made wilson look conservative in the 1912 election. He was arguably less progressive there is no question he was the first progressive elected president and by the time that he died in 1919 he appeared to become to the party and he was less progressive than he was in 1912. But if you look at coolidge, he started his career, very successful political career that he was a roosevelt progressive in progressive and adjust increasingly became more and more conservative. Echoing the question that the gentleman had if youve thought about it anymore who would you be watching today . Would you have enough to be added to your book clicks. From the gentleman across the table often times we dont know. I think its maybe encouraging to look back at the 1980s and even the democrats elected cleveland and the support of the cleveland really didnt know what kind of president he was going to be here he had been in the office for such a short period of time and certainly when coolidge succeeded harding people were not sure. And its dangerous to look at what worked and absolutely apply to someone else today but i cant help. They tried hard to come up with a solution so they finally just acted to break the strike. If you find that your political career is over and he said youre probably right and issued a statement nobody has a right to strike against Public Safety<\/a> anytime and anyplace and that resonated with the American People<\/a> and was responsible for him being nominated as vice president. That really helped to define and indians did with reagan with the controller strike which sent a very strong message both domestically and internationally he said what he meant and meant what he said there is no question about the context. The campaign is designated with people because they actually saw on tv how much pressure he took up and i think thats what we are hoping will get somebody in whether it is scott walker or somebody else to govern with the principles that we will act to implement them once they get in. Was John Randolph<\/a>s daughter married to robert e. Lee . No. Robert e. Lee was married to George Washingtons<\/a> granddaughter were greatgranddaughter or Something Like<\/a> that randolph was just about akin to everybody in virginia and was very wellconnected. Thank you so much. [applause] stanek thank you for joining us everyone have a wonderful afternoon. We appreciate you being here at the foundation booktv visited capitol hill to ask members of congress what they are reading this summer. I am inspired by many different areas when it comes to picking books that i want to read. So one of the books is the arc of justice, the civil rights and murder. This book was recommended that i read from a persons very passionate about history. The partisan divide in congress i campaigned","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia601205.us.archive.org\/31\/items\/CSPAN2_20150727_030000_Book_Discussion_on_Conservative_Heroes\/CSPAN2_20150727_030000_Book_Discussion_on_Conservative_Heroes.thumbs\/CSPAN2_20150727_030000_Book_Discussion_on_Conservative_Heroes_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240629T12:35:10+00:00"}