Official papers are at the Hoover Library archives on Stanford University in palo alto, and lee availed himself of that obviously when he was writing the book, and in his acknowledgment makes the point there were some things he discovered in your own papers you fell were lost or had forgotten about. So as you talk about the book and your life, what is it like to go through all your archival papers and find things you completely forgotten about. It would scare me. Bad and good. A fascinating sound stupid when i said that . So, lee edwards, those who do not know lee, is really the one of the great historians of he conservative movement. He has wherein over 25 books written over 25 becomes, great biography of Barry Goldwater, written history of the Heritage Foundation where he is a distinguished fell flow conservative thought where i have got ton know lee and have come to admire him so much. One passion of lees that everyone should know about is going to come to full fruition next week. Founded and is the Board Chairman of the victims of communism fund, which ended up getting a memorial here in washington, dedicated by president george w. Bush and his passion, you can see that on the different pillars of conservatism, anticommunism, process sir vacation of liberty, that preservation of liberty, that boot sed of concerns us his real true, and if you look on the jacket, he has received awards from the captive nations who appreciated what he has done. Anyone who next week is 7th, 8th and 9th of november, major program, library of congress at Union Station to look at and examine 100 years since the bolshevik revolution and its one of those things where i think if we could all aspire to leave something behind, its that kind of a legacy is sos a mr. Able admiral and i appreciate. I. One scar on lees biography, despite trying to avoid connection with Ivy League Institutions he was a fellow of politics at harvard university, jfk school. Talk about your life and history and then turn to questions. Wonderful, well, thank you, mike. Its so tip typical of you, youre so generous in your remarks. I appreciate them and i appreciate being here at the d. C. Office of hoover. I did put my paper at the hoover archives because says so many other conservatives and also anticommunists rat the hoover as well. So its a rich, rich trove, and for those of you who are interested in writing about or learning more about communism and anticommunism, the place to go is the hoover institution. Which was founded by Herbert Hoover in 1919, as a matter of fact. Should know that the president s essay written by dr. Fulmer at the Heritage Foundation is going to be on mr. Hoover, Herbert Hoover, out in another month or so. So ive been helping doing some research and learning so much about Herbert Hoover, who was a mosts a admirable man but unfortunate was saddled with the idea he was personally responsible somehow for the great depression. Thats not the case. Ladies and gentlemen, what ive tried to do with this book is to look back, particularly at some of the thing ive written and the people whom ive known, and if you think about it, there are really giants, conservative giants, who walked the earth in the last half of the 19th 19th century the 20th 20th century. Those giants were in my opinion, Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater and bill buckley. And as a matter of fact, i wrote biographs of all three of them. Studied them and so trying to sort of sumup what do they have in common . Well, they consider charismatic leaders who could inspire an audience to action. They believed that Free Enterprise could bring more prosperity to more people than any other economic system. They looked to a transcendent being for guidance and inspiration. They werent believers. They were practicing men of faith. They hate communism. That was one of the reasons why i wanted to write about them. And every other form of tyranny over the mind of man. And they used the constitution as their north star. It wasnt just something they did on their own. Barry goldwater. I think if i were to ask the audience, either here or watching and listening and oh was Barry Goldwater, thy might have some vague idea of who he was. But he was essential to the conservative movement and to what we call the conservative revolution. Matter of fact he sparked the conservative revolution by the most unlikely revolutionary. The grandson of a jewish peddler, who born and poland, his grandfather, made his way to San Francisco during the gold rush, that did not pan out so well. And came next door into arizona, made his way down and wound up in phoenix, where he turned his little peddling operation into a leading Department Store in phoenix. Goldwater was a college dropout. He did freshman year, and then that was it. What happened was his father died early, unexpectedly and he had to go back and help to run the business. Although he was a college dropout, he wrote a little book called the conscience of a conservative. 120 some pages. If you have not read it, i counsel you to do. So it sold 3. 5 million copies. Published in 1960. Still worth a read. Still holds up very, very well. 3. 5 million copies. Only something i had written. Id even settle for 100,000. Come on. Got to promote this book. Never smoked a cigarette because of his mothers injunction. Never had a cup of coffee, but he did keep a bottle of old crow in his senate refrigerator for after 5 00 sipping, and he would bring over senators from the other aisle, democrats and republicans, would sit down over a little old crow, little bourbon and water, maybe not too much water, and talk over things, and begin to form relationships and friendships, and how i wish we could have more of that today. Many whatifs in politics but consider this. If there had been a president goldwater we can be sure of two things. The vietnam war would have been won in 1 months or else president gold would have brought the troops home, whether it was mining or bombing. No Nuclear Weapons. He made that clear during that campaign. About he would have said, either going to win this war in ha set time or we are going to come home, and certainly would have been no land war. He would take a lead from general eisenhower and generalling a arthur that said as a matter of principle america should not get involved in a land war in asia, and Barry Goldwater took that counsel there would also have been no Great Society and so that trillion dollar experiment in welfarism would not have been attempted. I was the director of communications for the goldwater for president committee, but before that, i was also the news director for the draft goldwater committee. I was hired late in the year. Matter of fact, consider this. My first day of work was supposed full day of work, i had been a volunteer assistant for months november 25, 1963. Consider that date, november 25th. Well, november 22nd came first. The day that kennedy was assassinated. I was the news director for the draft goldwater committee, and i ran back to the committee headquarters, as soon as that announce was made, and i was in the eye of the storm. You can imagine handling inquiries from the press, from the media, after kennedy has been killed, because everybodys assumption was almost everybody who killed him . Somebody on the right. So for about two hours there, there was no knowledge of who did it and, therefore, dallas it happen in dallas and one tv anchor said, well, this was the heart of goldwater land. Thats how described dallas. We had people banging on the doors, yelling at us. Assassins. Murders. There was a bomb threat. We had to bring some police in and a dog. Didnt find any bombs. But we were under tremendous pressure for those two hours, and then came the announcement that it was someone who had been with the fair play for Cuba Committee and we were so in a essence relieved because we knew this was a pro castro, pro communist cuba front, and we could say that is was not one of ours. It was one of theirs who was responsible for the death. Barry goldwater was a very blunt guy. Spoke very directly. Why he loved him as members of Young Americans for freedom, and i can see a couple of young people with their buttons, as a matter of fact. I can remember the first time that i had my first formal meeting with senator goldwater, as director of communications. Id put together this comprehensive campaign. Was going to be talking about how he had flown food and supplies to snowbound navajos who otherwise who knows smooth hear perished. Had been a member of both he urban league and the naacp in phoenix. He had been pro civil rights. I had i was talking about how he had again down the Columbia River in a wooden boat, flown over the himalayans during world war ii when that case dangerous. Way two minutes into my presentation when all of a sudden this big hand comes out from the center, he says, lee, stop. If you try any of that madison avenue crap in my Campaign Issue will throw you out of this office and out of the campaign. Is that clear . Well, he was a or two star general. I was a corporal. And i said, yes, sir. Yes, sir. He said this will be a campaign of principles, not of permits. Not of personalities. Marvelous, but wrong. Wrong. Because if we had been able to talk more about the human side and the nonpolitical side of Barry Goldwater, its possible people would have said she doesnt sound or look like a war mongerer or something that it is going to destroy Social Security, but he was going offer a conservative choice and not a liberal echo in that campaign. The other thing we should talk about is what happened in the last week. To a particular tv program called a time for choosing. A number of California Republicans had decided to buy time on a tv network, and to present a time for choosing by Ronald Reagan, praising Barry Goldwater. The day before it was to be telecast, goldwater called reagan and i happened to be there when this is going on. And he says, ronnie, my staff here is not too happy about this tv talk of yours. Talks about Social Security and we should put that to the side, and we road like to run Something Else etch want to rerun this half hour we have of me with ike at gettysburg, andonie says, well, gee, everybody seems to like the tv address. Ive been giving it and people like it and you cant i cant help you. You have to talk to the people who put up the money for it. And then he said, well, barry, have you heard it . And he said, no, actually i have not. Ill listen to it and call back. So they ran an audio version of a time for choosing and goldwater says, what the hell is wrong with that . Run it. So he calls back and says, go with it. That tv program, that one program, made Ronald Reagan a political star, National Political star, overnight. It raised easily 1 million within 24 hours, changed thousands of votes, and it led to a bunch of republicans coming to reagan and saying, we went you to run for governor the following year. Thats how important that was. And political shorthand one can say no candidate goldwater, no president reagan. Thats how important that speech was. Extraordinary. Ronald reagan, my first meeting with him, serious meeting, was in october of 1965, and he had been spending the last several months testing the waters, as he said to see if the people of california wanted him to run. He had pretty much made up his mind. I called him up and i said dish was working on a profile of him for readers digest, and i said, can i visit you . He said, come on ahead. So for two days, myself and my wife, anne, traveled with him. She had been active in new york politics, and i invited her judgment and she also has been an editor and a fellow coauthor with me, and so the there were four of news this limo. The driver, anne, up in the front seat next to him, me in the back, and reagan over here, and between me and reagan was my tape recorder. Now, dont get to to bet out an iphone. You know what an iphone is. Had a woolen sock which is this big. Its like a piece of luggage. Its an old reeltoreel, and i had that between us, a great big microphone and i was asking reagan questions. I asked about his political philosophy this is 1965. He quoted a 1947 interview in which he said that weather, quote, it comes from management or labor or government or the right, the left or the center, whatever imposes on the freedom of the individual is tyranny and must be opposed. That was his philosophy, which he had come to over years of study and reflection and reading. Well, at the end of that second day, we were convinced, ann and i both, he has it. He has really got it. And he said, well, come on up to the house, have some iced tea. Give you some cookies. We end up pacific pal saids so their home, very modest home. Not a great big sprawling mansion. Filled with ge gimmicks bag he had been work with ge and the went with nancy do she kitchen and put us in the den, which was very small. Looked over. Here were all of these shelfs and shelves of books, so of course, what did i do . Right . Got up, began looking at them. Looking at the titles. History, politics, economics, volume after volume after volume, and i began looking at the titles. Conservative classics, and there are four books in ill mention. The road to cerfdom, witness, by whittaker chambers, and an extraordinary auto biography of an exsoviet spy. And economics and hundred a lesson, a classic, and a back which i had not read, the law. I said who is he . I learned later a 19th century economist, a Free Enterpriser, and someone who had influenced many, many people, including Ronald Reagan. I said, okay, but maybe he hadnt read them. So i reached out and began taking the become out of the shelves. Ann said, dont do that. To i said, its okay. Picked them up, opened them up, dogeared, unlined, little phrases in the margins. He had read these im not saying he read every book that closely, but those classics im talking about, yes, he had. And here was a thinking, reasoning person, who had arrived at his philosophy the oldfashioned way, one book at a time. And i said right then and there that reagan is an intellectual. He is an intellectual. He is comfortable with ideas, understands the power of idea, and with that kind of intellectual foundation, a political leader can do all kinds of marvelous things, which, as we know, is exactly what he did. In my last book i wrote i wrote four books about reagan. Talked about various qualities he had. His courage and also his sense of humor, and id like to share with you, here was a bit of humor at a summit meeting he did with gorbachev. A story of the american and the russian. Arguing about the freedom in their countries. The american said, look, i can go into the oval office, pound the president s desk and say, mr. President , i dont like the way youre running this country. The russian says, well, i can do that, too; you can . The american said. The russian says, sure, i can go she kremlin, look interest the general secretary and say, mr. General secretary, i dont like the way that president reagan is running his country. Now, its a great story and funny as all get out. Then you see, theres a moral, lesson here, something that reagan was trying to communicate to gorbachev. Which is about freedom of expression, and how we must break down those barriers, if possible, between us. He had, as you know, rare ability to see what others could not. This is what we call a quality of wisdom. Think about it. Early 1980s, you had liberal intellectual liar arthur schlesinger, jr. And john ken neglect goal breath who were visiting moscow and lauding the economic accomplishments of the soviet union and they were lauding it. We now know that the soviet union was an economic basket case. When gore chef came in 1985 a couple of years later he was horrified at the shape of the economy. Theyd been spending so much money on arms and an arms race. So, what was Ronald Reagan saying at the same time that people like lessing erand golbraith were saying if was telling the British Government that marxism and leninism was headed to the ash heap of history. You can fine that people were poohpoohing that but he was absolutely right, and of course, before the end of that decade, and by the eastbound of that decade, the berlin wall was down and the soviet union in 1991 was no more. That sense of humor. In december of 1981, i had rewritten my reagan byow again and i wanted to present a copy of it to him, and my publisher said, look, be sure and have a chapter in there about the attempted assassination, which i did. So i added that to this edition. And then said, have to do Something Special on the cover. So in black, big black letters on a yellow background, complete through the assassination attempt. Very tacky. I dont like that. I dont like that. But this would be great for sales. Complete through the assassination attempt. I went back and forth. And okay, so, come into the oval office and there is reagan. He had almost died in march. This is december. He looked fabulous. Looked like about 50. Big smile, been building up his body. He looked strong, vital. He just made you feel so good. And i said, mr. President , heres a copy of the biography. Oh, thank you. So its a photo op and theyre taking pictures and were chatting back and forth, and he looks down i can see him at the cover, complete through the assassination attempt, and he raises his head and says, well, lee, im sorry i messed up your ending. [laughter] you know, who but reagan could make a joe out of member trying to kill him. Amazing. Bill buckley rescued me from myself. Id been over in paris at the occasionally going to class but spending time doing research at various cafe