Knowing it would hurt goldwater in the november election . That is something that occurred to the goldwater people at the time. I have researched this for my book. Effective that afternoon, rockefeller rehearsed that speech and they had no idea that it was going to yen rate the response that it did. Might have been naive on their part but the notion that rockefeller, you know, in advance planned this to show up, if you will, the quote extremists mood is over reaching. How did richard nix on thread the needle to appeal to the more mainstream socalled chamber of Congress Republicans and the goldwater wing . Conservatives had been chastised. Chase ended is a better word. Gold condition water had lost overwhelmingly. People wanted to say the Republican Party was dead, conservatism was dead after 64. Two weeks after that Lyndon Johnson won, a gallup poll found an almost dead heat among americans who identified themselves as liberal or conservative. There was always that lark element that thought of itself conservative. Nixonts skill was to thread the needle, to be just conservative enough happy to 68 was a turbulent year a fairly moderate stoliberal wing. It was a tightrope act the book available at cspan. Org. Pat tree arkansas George Washington and the new american nation, their biography of Thomas E Dewey and the triumph of Herbert Hoover and your work along with robert dole laughing almost all the the way to the white house. The director or executive director of a number of president ial libraribraries including the lincoln library, the ford library in grand rapids, michigan, the Reagan Library in simi valley, california and the Hoover Library in iowa. Fred is joining United States from murianna, florida. Good morning . I was enjoying mr. Smiths comments i was 11 years old when i watched this convention in 1964. We had a t. V. Hello . Guest yes. Caller can you hear me . Host host we can. Go ahead, fred. i did watch the convention. Barry goldwater was right, his slogan was in your heart, you know he is right. What he predicted has all happened today. One final comment, i think if we had another 911 this country would collapse because we have no sleepered. Thank you for the call. Line about in your heart, you know he is right and in the tag line by the johnson, in your gut, you know he is nuts which is what campaign tried to paint Barry Goldwater. Rockefeller did achief, whether intended that night with considerable hells from from the galleries was an intelible image americans, in 1964, this was the First Television con convention. We were not accustomed to seeing people behave that batly, the republicans had in their convention. It came as a shock. And it did define for millions of people the goldwater acceptance speech unpromising as goldwater, himself could be. If you are joining us on cspan radio as we look back, gary goldwater, his nomination that began 50 years ago, greg from athens, alabama, good morning. Good morning, gentleman. Thank you for taking my call. I was two years old when this con convention came out. So i would have to say i wasnt able to watch it but a lot of things that struck me growing up, up through the early 80s, it was always seen as kind of like the loyal opposition and they were kind of pushed to the side by the democrats in congress a culmination of gary bold quats efforts when republicans took over the congress. I would like to get your thoughts on that. Thank you . Thank you. Yeah, time was good to goldwater. He was a man who ironically, he stands out. He is not a man i was willing to be drafted. Primarily because he believed he looked forward to running against john f. Kennedy. He had an idea of a modern lincolndouglas style exam pain. How likely that was to happen . Unlikely. It could have been a very different kind of campaign. He wanted to have a fill solve calf discussion and he thought if he could get 45 of the vote against a popular, glamorous incumbent president it would advance his real objective which was not to make Barry Goldwater president but which was to take over the Republican Party ant lay the foundation for someone down the road to win the presidency. Mat from springser, new york, good morning. At at a really september 16th, 1976, where we were protesting against rockefeller, always a staunch democrat, he came to support bob doles nomination and i just he gave a finalous iconic, could still get the picture on amazon governor rockefeller was signing copies of that picture to the horror of people on his staff, one who told me walked in one day and he found the Vice President of the United States signing the photo of the governor giving a onefinger salute to the protesters. He said you cant be signing this picture he got more mail, more friendly mail about that incidents than anything else in his entire career except dallas night at the cal palace in 1964 our guest Richard Norton smith and his book on rockefeller t on his own terms. Alexis is joining us from caller good morning. Thank you, mr. Norton smith . Correct . I just wanted to kind of reminisce with you. In 1964, i was a 19yearold student in atlantaa and there was a mock con convention at Emery University and the goldwaters were there. There had been a parade in atlanta for Barry Goldwater and then they came to emery, and i was almost swayed but not quite. There was so much going on, especially in atlanta. And i am a native georgian and with the desegregation and Martin Luther king was right there in town. And so much work needed to be done on that front that they didnt sway me but they were charismatic. I remember that and a great orator. A wondesh man. Thank you. Alexis thank you for sharing your recollections from 50 years ago. We will go to plymouth, new hampshire. Valerie is next caller good morning. How are you guys doing . Host host fine. Thank you. Caller i am glad to see a historian on t. V. Can you hear me . We can. Go ahead, valerie. Caller okay. I want to know are you aware that Ronald Reagan back in the 20s, before f. D. R. Was a communist . Ronald reagan was born in 1911 guest he would have had to be a junior communist. Host to learn more about the impact of 64, in 66 as governor of california and as president. Guest you could make the case that if goldwater never happened, if reagan would have had a presidency. Goldwater laid the ground work for the transformation that made it possible for Ronald Reagan to be nominated in 1980. This is a tweet from the jim saying, will we play the datesy ad . Somehow, i think not. A portion of the datisy ad. An iconic spot from 50 years ago. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. A speech that resonated 50 years ago in an ad that still resonates today . Yeah. The First Political ad, a negative political ad in a major campaign. Yeah. The ultimate negative ad, an ad that ran, i think, only once. In september of 1964. And 50 years later, we are still talking about it. We are still analyzing its influence on much the political discourse ever since. Why . Because it was so overthetop. Even at the time. But it does it was he you run an ad like that because you thing its going to find an audience. You think a certain number of voters are going to find it credible. They are going to be swayed by it. Only existed because of this quote extremim issue. What we had seen at the con convention and really by the campaign. One of the problems germaned force was that the conservative base did not trust him. Why, then, did he select neson rockefeller as his running mate in 1974, getting our dates right here. One of the reasons they didnt trust him in 1976 was because he had selected Nelson Rockefeller in 1974. Gerald ford was a man of capitol hill. He new the town. He new the lemming slafb process. What he wanted to do was to compensate he wanted someone with administrative experience, someone who had enternational reptation and, also, not least of all, someone who had access to talent and rockefeller throughout his career had a reputation for surrounding himself with the best people. In addition to that, they had a personal relationship. They had worked together on refers new sharing. Rockefeller was ininstrumental in leading the fight for revenue sharing and to keep new york precariously balanced and ford had been instrumental in seeing that it was passed in the house. So they had a personal relationship. And ford was completely comfortable. There were people who thought, you know, do you really want to put someone as electric, as c e charismatic as colorfoful and controversial as rockefeller on your ticket . Dont you worry he might overshadow you . And ford was always comfortable enough in his own skin that that didnt bother him at all. Final question, did you look at the republican field both in the midterm elections moving ahead to 2016 . Could we see a repeat of what we saw in 1964 in 2016 . Guest we could see a repeat in the sense that kind of the libertarian right comes to dominate the organized party. I dont think we would see a repeat of the landslide because i think america has moved considerably to the right of 1964. I think the Republican Base is much larger than it was. I think there was a certainly as we see every day, a strong core of antiobama forces who will turn out to vote for anyone the republicans put up. So, i think in terms of the party, yeah, we could see history repeat itself. Who knows what will happen in november . And the promise to repeat the phone number for the upcoming president s and patrii dont think so. Com. This is what in your turour. We have been doing this 20 years. First time was out of california. 2026577444. Is that number also on the website, president s patriots. Com . The rommckefeller comes out when National Journal correspondent, fawn johnson. Onl street journal reporter those who signed up for health insurance. And virginia secretary of transportation discusses the role of the Highway Trust Fund and legislative efforts to fund it. And well take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal on cspan. John seigenthaler sr. Died friday at the age of 86. He was a journalist, editor, political aide, and outspoken advocate for civil rights and the First Amendment. In 2005, he sat down with his son, John Seigenthaler jr. , to discuss their careers. Their discussion is about 40 minutes. Before we get to the first question, one subject that is important to all of us in journalism. ,hat is the First AmendmentConfidential Sources, and concerns that many of our colleagues are either going to jail, under house arrest or preparing to go to jail for doing their job. Talk about Confidential Sources and a shield law for journalists and why you who spent your life defending the First Amendment and promoting the First Amendment think this is so important. Well, Congress Shall make no law. And what you are asking about is a shield law. And a federal shield law, congress would have to make a law. I looked at the arguments on both sides very carefully and i think we are reached the point where a shield law would be helpful. Sources is it is abused. When johnticipated kelly i had problems he had fabricated and plagiarized. It was a difficult, difficult thing to get to the bottom of the cause the reporter and indeed the reporter for the New York Times jayson blair did the same thing invented not only information from sources, but sources and in vented covers invented covers for his reliance on sources. And it is not a wonder given the jack kelly problem and the jayson blair problem and given the difficulty that afflicted and the Dan Rather Network were duped by a source. It is not surprising is many people find Confidential Sources not believable, not credible. Still, there are times when people have information and this is the only way they can protect their jobs or security or sometimes their family. Sometimes they would be in danger if they spoke out. These times are rare. And i think the cases where journalists are facing jail is rare. You covered the case in providence not long ago where a Television Reporter went to jail, as he was provided a tape from a source that showed a politician accepting a bribe. The second tape ran on the air and he is now in the house of reps. He used that tape to let the people know about a politician. The prosecutors took the same tape, a copy of the tape and played it for friends and family. And was disciplined, got a slap on the wrist from a judge and did not go to jail or house arrest and so, it seems to me there is a problem in my own view is we have reached the point where federal shield law would be helpful. What would be far more helpful would be if editors of newspapers and the executives of news stories in television wouldve put down strict, definitive rules on the use of Confidential Sources. When you say it is a last resort , it should be the last resort. I was very impressed last week paulson, ast ken you all know, the editor of usa today was attending a meeting at the press club. And the New York Times late complemented for its rules regarding confidential rules, they are strict and well defined and they work. Concerned about citationsof contempt against now eight journalists. I do not think well will get a federal shield law but i think it will be helpful. I mentioned as a reporter and this is nbc on the operated television and jim is an employee. Spending his time in house arrest because he has a heart condition, a heart transplant patient and the judge saw fit to allow him to stay at his home as opposed wearing an ankle bracelet and having to go to prison where his health might be compromised. We should probably begin in the questions. Let me start with you. I am coyote rogers. How much pressure has there been to live up to your family example and how do the you have handled it . Tremendous pressure. It has been, theres been no pressure. I very freely decided many years ago i wanted to debt into Television News as opposed to the newspaper business. My fatherhed at home, would come home every night and talk about things that will be on the front of the telik on the front of the newspaper the next day. That led me to journalism eventually. I really was not sure i wanted to get into journalism until i finally got a job at a tv station. And began working there and i like Television News better than newspaper because it was more immediate. And reached more people. It was Something Different than but my father had done still journalism. I was excited about that. Career what led me to my in Television News. Almost 25 years. You talked about i am jordan from nevada. You talked about the tsunami and coverage. Do you think there is anything the media should or can it do to increase the American Public awareness . It seems like a long time the only time people Pay Attention to other countries is when we are bombing them. News is the definition of when there are events that go on in the world, sometimes tragic, it seems to be the time when our attention is turned. I am aware that we do not spend a note time on international stories. The broadcast we produce with Brian Williams and on the weekend as well that we i think especially since 9 11, west but a lot more time covering the world news than we did before. And maybe we shouldve spent more before. We would recognize there were things going on that we could only realize now. The criticismr constantly in order to remind us that there are other places besides the United States and those countries affect us. And have a dramatic impact on our lives and we should not forget that. It is a valid criticism. Fights to get those stories on the air when we can. There are people in our news organizations that risk their lives every day in baghdad to bring us news of what is going on and people risking their lives and other hot spots around the world. It is important that they are able to tell those stories and people get them out. I think we do a good job but we could do better. Question in what direction do you see the future of broadcast news going . Michael jackson scandal, breakup ben, they seem to entertain us. That is what a lot of the American Public wants. They have entertainment tonight after the nightly news. I think i have worked in c so i haveand msnb covered those stories. Sometimes those stories make it onto nightly news but not as often. It is howat part of the Important Stores to tell. Events,tive to world how important are they . There is in this country and stories for sensational hence o. J. Simpson story and Michael Jackson and others like it. I will tell you sort of the same answer i said before which is those of us in television fight every day the battles to get the stories we think are most important. And generally, the stories you just described are at the bottom of the list. At the top of the list are often sexy, dohat are not as not get as much attention. Of us think are more important. That is a battle we fight every day. We want people to watch our broa