Intellectual forum where scholars interpret the past and policymakers debate the future. What do the Ronald Reagan president ial Foundation InstituteVirtual Event series. To fulfill present regulation making the Reagan Library dynamic intellectual forum hosted for Public Affairs programming offers lectures and forms presenting a prospectus of important Public Policy issues of the day. Each you would bring to 20three vince from politicians, authors, be of them needed, and more. Since of march 2020 closures many businesses across our great country the Reagan Foundation best upbringing if its on my to ensure were still delivering worldclass content even if you cant get to our hilltop to watch in person. In this weeks center for Public Affairs event we bring Chris Wallace, 2014 marks the 50th year the broadcasting industry. Hes participate in coverage of nearly every Major Political event and is also secured highprofile interviews with dignitaries and u. S. Leaders. For the past three years he has broadcast the sunday morning show live from the Reagan Library and unforced pavilion follicle Reagan ReaganNational Defense form in december if you chew. Chris wallace is with us today to speak about his new book, countdown 1945. Which is an unforgettable account of the life of the ordinary american and japanese civilians in wartime as was the american soldiers fighting in the pacific wading into the order to launch a possible invasion of japan. Its a story about in 116 days harry truman goes from being a Vice President who is been completely cut out of the fdr white house to suddenly become president. Its not only his story, its a story a scientist, the flight crew and others. We invite you to enjoy our Virtual Program come to you from our air force one to the Leadership Academy oval office with Chris Wallace and executive director john heubusch. Chris wallace, congratulations. What a terrific book. As you may know weve a lot of guests come to the Reagan Library and enough able to read them all. I could not put this one down. This is a terrific book, a thriller really, historical thriller that i just loved it and so congratulations on not just a first effort but a great first effort. Thank you. Thats awfully nice. I will say this idea of the historical thriller it seems to be out there because my favorite review was one in the Washington Post that said i know what happened in 1945 but this book is a thriller here a lot of people have said its a page turner, they couldnt put it down. Im thrilled because frankly its exactly what i wanted to do. I think so much history is written, in the distant past, we know what happened, why did happen and dost thou what i wanted to do. I wanted to take you into the moment and in this case countdown 1945, 115 days to hundred 15 days to change the world, the key moments in those hundred 16 days from april 12, 45, when truman is some to the white house. He thinks to talk to president roosevelt and then you find out that roosevelt is dead and he is sworn in and Henry Stenson in the sector report them aside afterwards and says i need to tell you about an immense project to create the most devastating weapon in history which is the first inkling Vice President now president truman has of the existence of the Manhattan Project, and to take you not just truman as you struggling and making the decision but the scientists at los alamos, dont know whether the gadget as he called the atom bomb would even work until 21 days before the bombing and the flight crew of the enola gay who, on the nation during their mission to hiroshima, the 1500 miles to hiroshima, dont know if the bomb may drop it because it never been dropped out of a plane come whether the aftershocks will knock them right out of the sky. Thats what ive tried to do and the fact that you and some other people, john, have said it was a page turner and a thriller. Im thrilled. Chris, my father after it was a b29 pilot in the Army Air Force so i was riveted as you can imagine which are followed doesnt need to be in the Army Air Corps to like this book so really well done. You put us in the room for happens on many occasions and thats just a masterful job, so well done. Thank you. Thats exactly what ive tried to do. There are so many dramatic moments. Truman has has been meeting wis war cabinet on june 18, and Henry Stenson, the secretary of war is there, George Marshall the general of the arm is there, all of the top brass and their discussing now that the nazis have surrendered on may 8, how theyre going to finish in when the war against the japanese. For about 45 minutes theres a long discussion of the invasion of japan, how many troops that will take, how long it will prolong the war, how many hundreds of thousands of casualties there will be on both sides. At the end theres quite a junior men in the room, assistant secretary of war named john mccoy who ended up becoming a major figure in mid century america. He was the High Commission to germany, a member the warren commission, he was the head of the world bank but it was a junior guy there. Truman says nobody gets out of the room without telling what they think. Book lloyd asks Henry Stenson his boss at the war department, and Stenson Cisco had. He says i think were out of our heads examined if we dont least discussed the bomb. That was literally in this war cabinet the first time in this meeting theyve been talking about the casualties and the length invasion and a bloody was going to be and nobody ever said that we might have the bomb, until he said basically it was dismissed at that point largely because itd never been tested. It wasnt tested until july 18 just 21 21 days before the boms used against hiroshima, and at that point back in june, treatment did it as a science project. If it worked, right, if it didnt we had to go ahead. So many historical moments you wrote about, chris. I wonder, i know youre a student of history. What is it that made you choose this particular moment . Well, its a funny story. I had the idea of doing exactly what i talked about, to take a key moment in history and try to put you in it. At the time they didnt all these, they are faced with these momentous challenges and didnt know whats going to happen. It would be like reagan talking up what ended up in terms of arms control of gorbachev. I was fortunate to cover pictures of reagan including reagan and gorbachev summit spirit but having covered it in real life, the drama of reykjavik and his enormous discussions and the possibility they might ban all Nuclear Weapons and then it all falls apart to just say reykjavik failed is one thing. To save they went there with these hopes, creates a tremendous sense. I wanted to get but have a subject. In february of 2019 it was the day that President Trump was going to deliver his state of the union address. And nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house, invited several tv anchors over to her hideaway in the capital, this was the hideaway about the speakers have and theres a tradition in washington that if the speaker and the president are of opposing parties, this is true for republican president , democratic speaker and vice versa, that the speaker will deliver a prebottle which is basically before the president even delivers a speech to tell you all the reasons that its bad. Were sitting in this room and nancy pelosi says this is the board of education. I dont think the other folks in the room knew but i knew the board of education had been sam rayburns hideaway and this is where he would have people come after hours to gossip go to plot strategy for love of urban and water. Vice president truman was regular there. On april 12 at 3 finish presiding over the city. Pelosis telling us the story. It was in this room truman called the white house have used all the one to speak to him, and he calls and speaks to white house official who says you need to get to the white house as quickly and quietly as possible. Truman sits ten the phone and says to the room, jesus christ and general jackson. [laughing] which i had never heard before. But i thought to myself, thats it. Thats my story. Thats the one im going to delve into and try to create a historical thriller. As it turned out i didnt know then, 116 days from when he is alerted that roosevelt has died and he is president until the bomb has dropped on hiroshima. Your first book, chris, some writers report after the first book they just had a fabulous time, they loved the experience, and some found it miserable. How did you find writing your first book . Yes. [laughing] you know, it is a very odd experience. Its a roller coaster. There are times when you get a delicious fact. Thats really what is so exciting is, i didnt know that when truman, i knew the story about jesus christ and general jackson saw thought that would be a good start but i didnt know when i started the project that when truman gets to the white house and its warning he is alerted for the first time about the existence of the Manhattan Project, and there so many juicy Little Details like that. One of the details is the fact that they only have tested obama once on july 21. Im sorry, july 16. 21 days before the internet using it. For now they are at tinian island which is a launchpad for the flight to hiroshima about 1500 miles and somebody says look, if we put this 10,000 10,000pound bomb, which is very inappropriate called little boy, in the front of the plane and then we have to put a bunch of extra gas in the back of the plane so it wont fall down, it will be more weight than weve ever carried and the plane might crash on takeoff. If theres an atom bomb, we could have an atomic explosion at the u. S. Base on tinian island which will destroy all of us and wont do anything to the japanese. A suddenly study say this is ao days before the mission, we cant take off with a life. We will have to arm the bomb on the plane during the mission. They turn to the chief officer, geek parsons and they say can you do that . He said i never have but but is i will learn. He sits in the plane on the ground in tinian island in sweltering heat working on it trying to do it. When they finally do take off with an unarmed bomb, get off safely, and they are on the way to hiroshima come he gets down, cradles in the bombay next a little boy and his to take off some of the casing, do some of the wiring and then they have to take off the safety plugs and put in the arming plugs, and it is only then midway through the flight that they say the bomb is actually armed and ready to go. Thats a detail that you know is just a joy. Not to go back to your question. So moments like that its a joint and then there are times when youre just trying to, how do i tell the story and how do i put all these disparate elements together . You think, man, this is hard work. My daughter is in publishing and at one point shes been a publishing for ten years, not my publisher. Theres no reverse nepotism here. Here. I said to her, boy, writing the book is hard work. She rolled her eyes and said, gee, dad, im glad you discovered that. [laughing] its tough to make a living. Chris, did it surprise you it did me truman didnt know the first thing about the building of this bomb. I read you would written that he and roosevelt and unspoken a couple of times during this fourth term of the presidency. It just seems almost inconceivable as a Vice President to not have been made into something as important as this but i guess that was the case . A lot of people have asked me about that. It does seem incredible. Even Vice President he had been Vice President for 82 days and he met privately, he been in big meetings, but hed met privately with roosevelt twice in the 82 days. The fact was you have to remember this was roosevelts fourth term. This wasnt his first or even his second Vice President. He had gotten pretty good at ignoring Vice President and i think he thought, you know, Vice President , and go. I have my war cabinet and those of the people i count on to make these decisions. And it just sort of shunted truman off to the side. I mentioned the fact that stinson takes them aside on the day hes sworn in and says im going to talk about this project. By the nose truman is overwhelmed. Ps just become the president say since im going to give you some time to settle in and then i will come back. On april 25, 13 days later, he comes into the oval office to brief president truman now that you settle in and not even quite two weeks. And meanwhile general Leslie Groves who was the real military commander of the Manhattan Project is snuck in through underground tunnels. One of the reasons was that given this a lot of thought at the pentagon. They thought if the two of them come in the front door together and people are going to wonder at what if gross, who built the pentagon, he was the big mission man, what grows in stinson were doing together. So he stuck in and they gave truman a detailed document to read, which really explain the Manhattan Project in historical detail and technical detail, and treatment complete picky said i dont like reading long documents like this here groves said mr. President , we cant say anymore briefly or succinctly. Its a complicated project. You know, thats how out of touch he was with them but, of course, by the end of the thymic and we made the decision he knew he had mastered all of them. Another remarkable fact i found from reading your book is 125,000 people, americans, working on this Manhattan Project, and not a word gets out. That just is amazing. Youre exactly right. Its one of the things that astonish me, too. People say to me, what was your cover trump and coming all the ups and downs in the ins and outs of washington today. What was it like writing this book . I said one of the things i enjoyed most about writing, researching and writing and a talk about this book is that it absolutely nothing to do with donald trump. [laughing] thats not a knock on the president. Its just to say that it took me away from all the stuff were in and it goes precisely to your point because youre exactly right. They had been working on this project for almost three years, to plus years. 125,000 people at book which tennessee uranium enrichment, los alamos working on the bomb, or enrichment and hanford washington flight crews in wendover utah and not one word leaks about the project. I thought to myself, if you had 125,000 125,000 people today working on a secret project to bake apple pie, by day to somebody would tweak this is outrageous, its immoral, im going to blow the whistle on this thing. John, it was a simpler time, a time when all of the country was more unified. Everybody went together in common cause to win the war against the nazis and the japanese, and boy, could we use that now. Youre not kidding. Youre not kidding. Another fascinating thing you wrote the book is of course you covered major, major default in the project from truman to gross and oppenheimer and the rest which also chose to focus in on stimson and and tell us, tell the listeners about those too. I thought is a great juxtaposition throughout the book. One of the things we wanted to do with this book is, i very much wanted, you know, it not just get on the top level because the war wasnt just on the top level of the scientists. It engage all of america and one of the stories i wanted to tell was the home front. We found their websites where theres commentary about the various people. Amazingly we found two people who are still alive. Obviously all of the big players are long gone. Ruth stimson was a 19yearold girl she had volunteered to work at oak ridge at the uranium enrichment facility. She didnt know what it was. She just knew it was a big factory and there were these giant machines called electron machines. The women, a different time, they were called the hell a tron grows. At a bunch of knobs they had to keep the meter in the right place, not go into the red. They had no idea. They were just told keep the meter in the rich and you help win the war. I had no idea what they were doing was enriching uranium creating you 235 235 and plutom to fuel the atom bomb. What made her story especially special was not just that she was in the home front but she had a boyfriend, laid her husband, lawrence, who was in europe cohabitant army medic and survived all the fighting. On the eighth the war in europe ends. The nazis surrendered and like a lot of other people she is delighted because her boyfriend has gotten through this but shes terrified because hes not going to come home. The expectation is hes not going to be shipped to even bloodier conflict in japan. What she didnt realize, you know, kind dramatic irony of this is she is helping create the weapon that if it is used could save her boyfriends life. Thats exactly what happened. Even more dramatic story and again its one of the great things as you know as as a stut of history, oftentimes history, there are plot lines you would never dream of in thinking yourself if youre going to write a novel or do a movie. Parents worsen their children out to the countryside so if there were a bombing they be safe. What they thought was a score ended up being a work camp and the lieutenant hated it but you couldnt send them home because the school censored it. I think they were saying to their parents get me out of here so shes snuck into town and she mailed a letter in the post office saying get me