And now during the Carter Administration with the National Reconnaissance office and later served as special assistant to National Security policy. The technical background includes Nuclear Weapon design and a low temperature physics that we will experience tomorrow in washington. [laughter] with the joint planning staff with Intelligence Matters and also author of three books the nuclear express and the toronto triangle documenting history of the cold war and the principal players. As say alumni number i am always pleased to welcome my former colleagues and we do so today it is up pleasure to have you at heritage if we look forward to your remarks. [applause] thanks to all of you. I am glad the snowstorm did not come see you could come out to play. So with a consumer warning the reagan enigma is not another i was their book. It is not a phony biography with fictional people. It is not a hero worship. The reagan enigma after a distinguished Research University of what made him ticked but none of them got there right to. Lets start at the beginning 50 years ago. Reagans political opponents describe him as a dime actor. 30 years ago he was called a dunce. And as a master of the political stage dancing winston churchill. And a master of the political stage. His mind was immense. And operated at 10 times us mortals. And in fact, was a great communicator but he was the great communicator with everybody. For example, is 1966 the First Campaign for governor i was the chairman taking him up to Northern California and i briefed him on the of problems of Sonoma County and the corps of engineers wanted to reverse the floor. The editor comes out and theres blood all over the floor into halves of arriving snake still on the floor he just killed a rattlesnake on the floor of his office. Reagan never missed a becomes and laughing and starts talking about rattlesnakes are dangers critters and the best way to deal with rattlesnakes and a host at the tribune and we never talked about the river never. [laughter] we did not talk about water he established a rapport it when we left they were handshaking and hugging and laughing and friends for life centocors they took good care of us in the news. That is the kind of man Ronald Reagan was. He was able. He was fun to be with. And he had few close friends. In my years we never talked about hopes and dreams, that kids achievements, of the financial blows, his health and we never talked about any of these things because reagan had no close personal friends and it seemed a strange but that is the way it was. His daughter Maureen Roosevelt that trait in the memoirs and sets are a dance you are not his best friend that is the way it was. The press secretary put it more succinctly in his memoirs. That he would have made a superb permit. That seem that way. But as a fellow cowboy help to run the state government. He posed with ed meese who was here today. I am not sure if you would classify himself as the friend. He talked about higher needs he was wonderful in that regard. He said there was no secondguessing micromanaging he trusted me absolutely with his political life and i was not a friend. Nancy was his lover and wife but in time she was the keeper of the of bubble the surrogate for the protective mother. None of us were really friends and she confirmed that her memoir and said rodi doesnt let anybody get too close. There is a wall around him i feel that barrier. John, who was a Campaign Manager said as the second son of about polychaete blood being a people pleaser and a loner that is how he coped. He was upbeat and pleasant to be with the part of that was every story had a happy ending. In the case of other a defeat the incident had to be erased he wanted every story to have a happy ending. From his own memoirs he wrote running for president in 1968 was the last thing on my mind. That is baloney. I ran the campaign by the summer of 68 we were flying around in the 727 jet with 40 newspaper reporters in the back. In the sweltering hot trailers in miami trying to break hold on the delegation and chairman. And basically he said it was not a campaign i was not there because it didnt work so therefore it needed to be erased so that is why he wrote as he did in his memoirs. Fast forward to the irancontra after all the documentation and Committee Reports he said i did not create arms for hostages my heart tells me that is so. Interestingly enough Ronald Reagan was to avoid a political ambition. He knew what he wanted people to follow but he was not drawn with the thoughts of power. He had no lust for power. He found the office to be funny and ed meese will confirm that. He thought that the power was funny. He did not have a driving political ambition but he was competitive. But not ambitious. Nancy provided then driving ambition and its earlier report comes from his son heard shouted down the hallway in 1965. Nancy was shouting if you dont run for governor i want a divorce. Now she did not mean that of course, but that is the evidence that the drive came from her. Fast gore to the inauguration 1981, as Johnny Carson talked about her ambitions exactly i agree. Without nancy and Ronald Reagan would never have been elected to anything she was a driving ambition. Another misunderstood aspect of the reagan story is his conversion from new deal democrat to eisenhower republican. That was not just instantaneous but occurred over a decade. Ordering federal the four days, reagan was threatened if he persisted to block the communist penetration of the union and in response the Burbank Police department offered protection and also offered a concealed weapon permit. Not well understood during the years he was head of the Screen Actors Guild he was also packing heat. He came to understand the folly of the lofty ideals of communism could not be forced without terror. That was part of his conversion. In the 50s of the korean war reagan is enthusiasm transferred to harry truman but as the korean war dragged on reagan Group Concern to with the north invasion of the south that there was no end in sight it was a mindless meat grinder just like vietnam in the spring of that year reagan wrote to his hero Dwight Eisenhower to seek the presidency and the general welcome to that support than he campaigned on his behalf in 1952 and began 56 and worked as his successor as Richard Nixon but always as a concerned a democrat only in 62 a decade after his original connection with guys eisenhower did he reregister as a republican because his party had left him not the other way around. Interestingly enough as a result of that relationship eisenhower became the reagan and george not wellknown but they developed a solid relationship and at the end of 64 eisenhower began to Pay Attention because the reagan performance was in stark contrast to the harsh goldwater defeat and years and the of the breakin was seeking to rebuild the republican party. Eisenhower and reagan had stayed in touch through the years and exchange letters and phone calls and personal visits eventually. They stayed in touch through ikes last visit to palm desert in 69 the concept of peace through strength was probably born during those conversations i was not there for many of those conversations but we know them because of the record at the Eisenhower Library in kansas. Reagan had a hero in form of eisenhower browser the arch villain named Robert Kennedy he became the supreme nemesis for unusual reasons. In 1961 on becoming his brothers attorney general Bobby Kennedy pursued corruption with a vengeance. As a sidebar he also targeted political opponents. Hed called reagan before a grand jury two weeks later the Justice Department subpoenas reagans tax returns. It never resulted in the indictment but he did tuzes post at General Electric theater. His kids got the news over lunch one sunday. I just lost my job he told his son that kennedys threat and General Electric. His daughter confirmed that conversation in her memoirs saying Bobby Kennedy had a hand in his cancellation. This may not be accurate the General Electric theater was losing ratings but that is not what counts but reagans mind Bobby Kennedy had been donald electric to cause the cancellation and a loss of his job. He sought retribution in 1967 in a debate with Bobby Kennedy the reagan went all out when kennedy entered the president ial campaign sweepstakes when reagan was actively involved in campaigning for the president ial nomination and kennedy jumped in 1968 then he relented. He was a very religious man. His minister was half a dozen people president s timber 65 at the kickoff meeting in reagans home when his career crystallized. My insight to that relationship comes from a conversation with bill clark that i had late 1981 he had been serving as deputy secretary of state getting ready to move to the white house to become the National Security adviser of december that year. Was having coffee in the state Department Conference room and we were brainstorming what you going to do . Would issue our objective at the white house . He said without missing a beat, i want to remove the communist oversight and three Eastern Europe from that communist control. I thought that is an interesting and vision that will be hard to do. How you plan to do that . He pushed himself back and said we have a secret weapon. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crucifix and slammed on the table. Okay. He understood. He was a beating acting catholic five months later bill clark arranged for Ronald Reagan to meet with the polishborn pope to discuss putting together the pieces to destabilize poland and essentially eventually the disintegration of control he was an avid reader of the bible and read revelations and the of fear of armageddon was his determination to end the cold war he was to avoid a political ambition but on the other hand, very differently once into a contest reagan was uncompromising competitor. He was the toughest competitor i have ever known. That is how the cold war phase out. And played itself out with that not excepting second prize is ever a cave in to my a i was involved jerry 82 after reagan dealt with the economy than recruiting bill clark to come to the white house to help with National Security matters i had known and very well and we talked about as silly things dictators had done we got through he peered over his glasses and said taub we have a problem. I thought he was talking about the air conditioning now working. The soviet union. Yes. That is a problem. Tom, why dont you get the fellows together to figure out how to end the cold war. Holy mackerel. [laughter] okay. We talked about the piece as a follow them and i ended the pieces column i going to give it this people i was just as chief clerk but i oppose the conversation what is the endgame . That is simple. We win, they lose period. [laughter] that is the way he was. During the next few months we put together a plan that was articulated decision directive 32 that was of pay and a plan for prevailing it was to be on a lot of fronts political and technical. But at the end of the paper we thought what is the objective . What is the endgame . Bob gates was a terrific secretary of defense and said if you get into a fight they can you get back out. So we concluded pulling down statues is not the objective. So we wrote our definition of victory and for them to turn their attention inward twoseat legitimacy with only from consent of the government to address the hopes and dreams of their own people. That is exactly the way it turned out. And did reagans mind understood the feelings of the system and was a political chess player while he was connected with the soviet leader who had no choice but to seek the consent of the of government. His ability to connect with anyone anywhere to understand the reagan enigma. Thankyou. [applause] your turn. [laughter] 25 minutes just like you said. We have a microphone. Please give your name and affiliation. 84 being here. Henhawk at the American Foreign policy counsel you have written two books about the threat of nuclear terrorism. I was wondering if you could give us a brief update from where you ended off if we have made progress or lack of . In ways that is from the the reagan enigma because Ronald Reagan read revelations and feared armageddon so that is what drove him to the cold war. It was a driving force in the strategic defense initiative. We made progress because of the introduction of these books that you write about those humble size that fought the cold war but at no time was a Nuclear Weapon and fired. There were safe and under control but there is always a possibility of a screwball to get a hand on a weapon vet not really. The real problem is there is one muslim state pakistan that has Nuclear Weapons even to the runup of 9 11 the al qaeda people tried to make the deal with of pakistan the types but the problem of Nuclear Materials getting into bad guys hands is real. Those that control the Nuclear Weapons the soviets really got serial numbers they are so locked up. The problem is materials in the hands of people to build a lowtech weapons and of problem remains. Did you ever have the opportunity to talk to Ronald Reagan about his divorce from jane wyman . He was accused of extreme mental cruelty but might understanding is he did not contest that. Click to things that i talked about. He never had friends and he did not talk about that to me but to the book deal levin is fact based published by a university that introduction is written by the president of University One of the us sources was Stuart Spencer who was a political genius. A political strategist. He did talk to jane wyman as he was getting ready to run the First Campaign and the mets with her and talked about Ronald Reagan and she was forthcoming about the relationship and she wished him well but made it clear there was though acrimony, no difficulties just that he got more interested in politics and her career was diverging into stardom. She did one of her fellow stars in hollywood that said dont ask romney what time it is he will tell you how the watch is made. [laughter] there was no acrimony that i saw. He mentioned he was the catholic . No. Bill clark was. Reagan was very religious. He believed in a higher being which the contrast is not a higher being this is one that deals with the right and wrong and he believed in a higher being. He did not care what particular building he went to or associate with any particular religion tour was there september 65 with the other ministers became close over the years and believed in a higher being and communism was the arch type of that but bill clark was. I just came back from a long term in china. I am curious if he was alive today what is the approach with the communist party in china . The question often pops up that it is not insurable because times are different you could only apply his mindset had an immense mind to connect with people. If reagan was alive today he would look at the problem and look at the guys to say put the other plan for dealing with it but would not do it at hot if it was in china or other confrontations and Ronald Reagan clearly would say here is the problem then he would pursue it. Given ginned in the discussion briefly then you mentioned in the book his father. Guest to share a little of his thinking that his father had an alcohol problem and what the president did either with true into knowledge with bookstore escapism. That moves from what i know to what i believe. I tried to be meticulous about what i know but two of the researchers that why was ron always wanting to please people . Why did he not connect with friends . To researchers said that is because his father was an alcoholic. We are Adult Children of alcoholics. Let me tell you how it works they gave me a couple of books about how children of the alcoholics react. And i have to come to believe the fact that reagan was the child of an alcoholic led him to not connect with other people. I cannot prove that that i had some senior people come to meet you have their rights. I dont trust people. His father was that happy and alcoholic he just could not keep a job. He was not being the dog. But what talks about putting him to bed but the mother was the patron saint may worry essentially homeless in illinois and the mother jolts with all this to keep the family together and that have a lot to do with the inability and unwillingness to connect. Ed got to know him longer so i have seniority but but only a few weeks. [laughter] a and i are the surviving colleagues. But that was important because ed was there to brainstorm what we are going to do to make indispensable contributions to the administration at the end of the cold war. What are elements of eisenhowers Foreign Policy if any . Eisenhowers influence . That is one of the understand is. After the election eisenhower look at that speech and said here is somebody who makes sense. Eise