Today. I am Donna Martinez with the john locke foundation. Our mission is to hold policymakers and the public grow in their understanding and embrace of freedom and free markets. We are committed to this work because we believe Research Shows these principles represent the best path way to Economic Growth and prosperity for every person regardless of background regardless of circumstances. You confined more about our work at johnblock. Com. Were delighted to have with us today entrepreneur and author garland tucker iii who will be telling us about some of our countrys great conservative leaders who embrace the principle i have described and helped propel our country forward. Leaders featured in his latest book, conservative heroes, conservative heroes 14 leaders who shaped america, from jefferson to reagan, this will be on sale for hour in person guest following this presentation. In addition to being a bestselling author and historian garland tucker iii is also a highly successful entrepreneur. He founded Triangle Capital corp. A publicly traded Company Based in raleigh, North Carolina. He is its president , ceo and chairman. Garland tucker iii holds a b. A. From washington and Lee University and m. B. A. From Harvard Business school been 2010 he authored the high tide of american conservatism, a 1924 election. I am very honored to introduce to use the author conservative heroes 14 leaders who shaped america, from jefferson to reagan, garland tucker iii. [applause] we have a lot to cover today so i will jump right in. In the introduction to this book conservative heroes 14 leaders who shaped america, from jefferson to reagan, we do have a lot to cover today. In introducing the book, i have used a quote from the secretary of war newton baker he wrote this to one of his friends late in his career looking back on his career as a conservative and this is the quote. I was one of of faithful band fighting a battle for a philosophy as old as the republic itself. The book begins with the definition of american conservatism which i would offer to you is a philosophy as old as the republic itself. And implementation of this philosophy in American History, and this faithful band in this case of 14 leaders. The first one mentioned, and some are not well known at all and are in fact relatively obscure. Just an aside on this one of the fun things about writing this book, i got to pick my own 14 heroes and dance and amity said not everyone would pick the same 14. As you read the book you may add some of your own heroes or may want to pull some out some of mine you dont white as much as i do but i hope it sparks some debate. Examining these leaders that allows us to bring foundational suave conservatism and see how those principles are put into action over time. I begin with a look at the basic tenets of conservatism. And most conservatives would agree with these concepts, some were added and some were basic and not necessarily an exhaustive list, most conservatives would be comfortable with these, the first i would offer is what i would call a realistic view of human nature. Let me explain what i mean by that. Conservatives believe there is nothing in Human History that would suggest that man is perfect double. Left to his own devices man tends to revert to violence, aggression, Patrick Henry and other founders often wrote of the depravity of human nature and this view of human nature keeps conservatives from accepting the regressive notion that men, and is inevitably advancing and getting better. Regressive some would suggest mankind is perfectible and in fact that government is the means to achieve that perfection. Conservatives dont agree with that and we think there is plenty of intrinsic evidence out there that would suggest otherwise. Conservatives believe the American Republic was founded not through reform human nature but to establish boundaries within which human nature might flourish. The second principle because of mans nature of the primary role of government, just two, to establish order end number 2, to preserve liberty. A conservative the leaves our liberty is not granted by the government but is godgiven and it is up to the government to help preserve that liberty. It is fair to say there is definite tension between these roles and in general the conservative would advocate maximum degree of personal liberty while maintaining the most basic level of order. At the beginning of the republic there was a real threat of anarchy and this was something that the founders certainly fear. For they did not want the new government to sink back into any form of anarchy but at the same time, they recognize chris threat of anarchy they were wary of government encroaching on personal liberty and the receding of balance in this and we will see in the very first chapter of the book that that balance is addressed. The third principle is linked to the second. Conservative recognizes the two primary roles of government which i just mentioned but a conservative stops at that point and says there really is no third role of government. In other words in other words government should be limited. Jefferson spoke for most of the founders in his first inaugural address when he said these words a wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has turned. This is the. This is theearned. This is the. This is the sum of good government. They believe government could become a threat to liberty. The fourth point i would offer as a basic tenet is Property Rights and human rights are in separate the bound together. Founders were well grounded in john lockes views on the rights of property. This particular shot predates the american revolution. Paul johnson has written all the founders derived from john locke the notion that security of ones property was intimately linked to ones freedom. The fifth and final point of conservatism or tenant of conservatism is that the social and political life of a community and the country depends on private virtues, these are virtues the individuals hold. The marxist critic Granville Hicks once wrote contemptuously, his quote was the tory has always insisted of men would cultivate the individual virtues social problems would take care of themselves. There is more than a grain of truth in fat. Edmund burke often called the father of modern conservatism, wrote what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue . It is the greatest of all possible evils . Conservatives throughout history have believed virtues from a particular culture, culture that individuals hold and in our case that culture is judaeochristian virtues. These are five fundamental concepts identified in introductory chapter to the book and almost all conservatives when agree on all five of these. The remainder of the book, the balance of the book the big majority of the book deals with these 14 lives and that is what i want to do today is 3 through those pretty quickly. We have a lot of ground to cover and i will try to do it quickly. Let me just say upfront that it will not do justice to any of these 14 leaders. I would encourage you and i hope i can pick your interests of little bit and hope youll be interested in reading the book and hopefully you will blend to pursue all 14 of these and there are some very good biographies of each of these men. That reminds me, let me say up front, why are none of the 14 women . And to work Margaret Thatcher in, how she could fit into the shaping of American History although she had some impact but it is very much my hope when this book is updated and that somebody else and i believe i dont believe the fourteenth leader is the final leader but i hope there will be some Women Leaders highlighted and i hope there will be one as good as Margaret Thatcher. The 14 leaders. We begin with jefferson and madison, first chapters on these two men. Now, jefferson and madison enjoyed a 50year friendship, friendship expand 50 years and correspondents is voluminous, over 1200 letters and they wrote on all kinds of topics. Theres plenty of material to look at. When you focus on the 12 years these were the 12 years that they were in the opposition in the Federalist PartyFederalist Party of that time was the party of more centralized government, and jefferson and madison were wrestling with the two primary purposes of government that i mentioned here, establishment awarder and the preservation of liberty. Its interesting to read the letters. They didnt see exactly eye to eye. Jefferson in general would come more on the preservation madison on the establishment of order, on the relative scale of things they were both believers of limited government. Should be composed of limited an enumerated powers. A quote from thomas jefferson. Government is best which governs least. Thats the beginning of the book the beginning of the republic. Two men that are considerably well known ro macon. How many know macon . They are not well known. They deserve to be better known than they are. May con and randolph. For macon was from North Carolina and jefferson from virginia. But they were, they share lodging together in washington for this 30year period. Theyre very close personally, but very different penaltieses. Macon could be styled severe and social democratic, very down to either. Randolph was bril aint very volatile. So they didnt exactly fit the same mold personally but they were very close friends. Under under the jefferson and madison administrations macon and randolph started that period as leaders speaker of the house and leader in the house but it wasnt long before in their view and probably the view of most historians, jefferson and madison became expansive in their view of the government and macon and randolph to hold off to the old philosophy. Russell kirk great conservative thinker writer in the 1950s give randolph and macon credit for preserving concept. They were consistent over there. 30 years in office and often times very lonely. After may macon was not elected peaker of the speaker of the house they had third things and were the old line hardcore republicans who thought jefferson had gotten a bit to expansive in his views of government. A quick quote theres perhaps nothing an american philosophy more brilliant than John Randolphs speeches. Theres some quotes in the book from that. If you have a chance go read some of them. A couple of things on macon when he retired. His nearly 40 years in congress, no ten members gave negative votes. In fact, theres a bit of controversy in North Carolina, macon probably still has the record although jeffrey contending maybe he had beat had beaten macon out on that but theres still controversy about that. A clois friend close friend of macon once said, if he happened to be drown i should not look down the current for his body but up the stream. [laughs] finally jefferson wrote with macons death the republic. John c. Calhoun. Calhoun support of slavery has been enough to see him wiped out. I would submit that is really right on that while all of us regret that calhoun was the defender of slavery its its sad that his career is so overshadowed by that fact. His writings for the majority of his career the focus on tariff, national bank, schemes american plan other plans like that and defensive slavery came somewhat later in his career. Interestingly calhoun in kennedys book profile and courage. Courage and honestly hes held as one of the true great u. S. Senators. Reck recognize it had very beginnings of american conservative tradition. From calhoun we are going leap over the kiln civil war into the 80s. Cleveland was the last conservative democrat to serve as president so he doesnt get much credit from flow democrats today. Cleveland was a political contractor. Well see in a minute. Weighed about 280 pounds. Rise to presidency can be described as mediocre. Governor to president of the united states. Theres a quote in a letter from cleveland to one of his friends that he had been in the white house for a few months, i still wake up and rub my eyes and say could i possibly be here. Just three full years. In some ways cleveland was an ordinary man but he imposed himself upon his time in a way a mediocre man had done. He saw a lot of capitalism today. Its interesting that the Republican Party was a party of centralized government and cleveland was the only democrat elected between the civil war and wilson. He was screw up honest in a corrupt period and relentless in his pursuit of economy and limited government. He exercised over 500 vetoes which is still a record. Most of those were spending bills. Ill read you his words from one of his veto messages. Quote, previous should be steadfastly resisted to the end that the lesson should be enforced that though the people support the government the government should not support the people. Thats a comment that conservatives everywhere can agree on. From cleveland we jump over to progressive era era of Teddy Roosevelt and wilson with a high tide of american progressive. We land in the middle of 1920s can calvin and melon. Coolage was the most conservative president in history and melon was his key partner in that. Let me just explain why i would say that. I think records vastly reduced taxes, significant tax reform, reduced from over 70 to below 25 . Reduced regulation, ignited an economic boom and if i believey finally they reduced the size of the federal government. And the last point is a point that the first three things are things that could have been done of reagans tenure. Because the republicans did not control congress, he was not able actually to reduce the size of the federal government. Was a very successful president and popular president. One of the interesting concepts in the chapter and this was covered a good bit in the press coolage not only believed in economy and government but he was very vocal as to what he saw the reasons for it. Famous quote from him, i favor the polly of policy not because i wish to save money but because i wish to save people. He was really afraid of people becoming dependent on the government and he saw it as a moral issue. The next figure is probably the one i enjoy writing about the most. I was pretty sure that nobody would know anything about bailey. Let me ask does anybody know anything about joe bailey. Bailey was from North Carolina, he but it has been sis career in raleigh and served as an democratic senator in North Carolina in 1930s and 1940s. He led congregational opposition in new deal. Two primary focuses of this chapter, first one was an organized and lead the successful fight to defeat fdr pact scheme, the plan when so much legislation was overruled by the Supreme Court they decided the answer was to put more justices on and bailey reacteddeded. He responded and was successful in the scheme which was successful. Followed very closely the fight on the Supreme Court and that was something thats not as well known. He actually wrote and sponsored a document called which came to be known as the conservative manifesto of 1937. Its been compared to newts contract. Just a profree market. It wasnt adding new deals specifically but the conservative certainly made it very objectionable to roosevelt and the new deal. Baileys plan was to sign a Bipartisan Group even a majority of the senators would sign on. Unfortunately before he got very far down the road and rounding up supporting the story was linked to the new york times. They ran an article on it. Some senators ran for cover and bailey delivered quite an outstanding speech taking credit or blame for the manifesto an advocating for it. While it was unsuccessful it was the first attempt to create a Bipartisan Coalition conservative Bipartisan Coalition in congress and the groundwork that bailey did was very used by the next person, next chapter robert taft. Actually thats not quite true. Taft is two chapters over. One more democrat before we get to taft. John w. Davis ran for president on the democratic ticket, 1924. Then when he was finally defeated davis went back to new york or continued to become the most outstanding lawyer of his day. He was viewed by everyone as the greatest lawyer in u. S. History. He argued more cases before the Supreme Court than any other individual except for daniel webster. His real contribution to the movement came in 1930s and even into the 50s when he took new deal legislation into the courts and argueed had pet projects overturned. Roosevelt gave him the nickname enemy number one. Interesting davis greatest victory and theres a little bit in the book about this came in 1952 when he was 79yearold. He argued on the winning side which that time truman spill was unconstitutional. You may have seen recently, the pending case over obama immigrations axes actions one of the most important president s in deciding the immigration case. Now robert taft. Time magazine had a cover article about taft and made interesting observation that u. S. Politicians like to brag about quote coming up from nothing, coming up with no family help, wealth they said taft came up from plenty. His father the only man to serve as president and chief justice his grandfather had been attorney general. Taft was number one at Harvard Law School class. In the words of Time Magazine he came up from plenty but he was an interesting politician in some ways he was very reserved man of not too many words. He was incapable of small talk or back slapping, but was universally respected for his intellectual strength and honesty. It was said that he was known never to have broken his word in a whole of life of politics. Hes one of the main chapters of jfks encourage. Interestingly taft was never able to get the no, nomination for preside