And now we kick off weekend with Craig Shirley recounting president reagans political life from 19761980. [inaudible conversations] good afternoon and welcome to the gaithersburg book festival. Im a resident of gaithersburg and a member of the Democratic Central Committee representing district 17 which encompasses the beautiful city of gaithers burg, so welcome. Gaiters thug proudly supports the airports and humanities. We are pleased to bring you this event thanks in part to the generous support of our sponsors and volunteers. So when you see them around and theyre Walking Around here, please, take time to say thanks. Appreciate that. Like to get right to this event here, but first a few announcements. Please, silence all your devices. Ill wait. [laughter] ill wait, go ahead. Silence all devices. Thank you. And if youre on social media today, and we hope that you are, please use the hashtag gbf be, gaithersburg book festival. Your feedback is really valuable to us, so there will be surveys available here in our tent and b on our web site. But by submitting a survey, youll be entered into a drawing to win a 100 visa gift card, so i encourage each one of you to enter that survey. At the end of this presentation, mr. Shirley will be signing books, and copies are on sale in this tent and around the grounds here, so make sure you take advantage of having mr. Shirley here. Take advantage. A quick word about buying books. This is a free event, but it does and i emphasize does help the book festival if you buy a book. The more books we sell, the more publish beers will want to send their publishers will want to send their authors with us. Politics prose benefits our local economy and supports local job, so if you enjoy this program and youre in a position to do to so, please, buy some books. All right. Let me introduce this esteemed panel we have here. Tackling the familiar is a challenge for even the most seasoned author. The task is even more daunting when the familiar is an icon and a hero to m. Done well, the best books often illuminate a subject im sorry, let me try that again. They provide texture, context, nuance. W the really good ones speak tote the soul. Noted reagan biographer Craig Shirley is that author, reagan rising is that book. The son of charter members of the new york state conservative party, mr. Shirley comes by his love of reagan and conservativism honestly. Reagan rising is more than a mere biography. Ev it chronicles the journey of a who, having just suffered a devastating defeat in 1976,uf picks himself up and becomes the leader of a new brand of brand conservativism. Trumps presidency, perhaps, offers the perfect backdrop against which to study reagans ascendance. With the Republican Party struggling to define itself, it offers meaningful insight into the development of the philosophy that it serves as a touchstone for conservatives across the country. Ne reagans philosophy still inspires to this day. As a special aside in researching what id say in this introduction, i learned that mr. Shirley played an instrumental role in having the sport of lacrosse designated as the state sport of maryland, and for that im sure he will always have a special place in the heart of all marylanders, so gaithersburg, welcome me in welcoming mr. Craig shirley. Y. [applause] and interviewing mr. Shirley today will be juan williams, a man who almost needs no introduction, but were going to introduce him anyway. [laughter] an Emmy Award Winner and Fox News Contributor since 1997, hes a celebrated author in his own right. Many williams has been a prolific chronicler of the black experience in america. Selected titles include eyes on the prize americas civil rights years 19541965, and thurgood marshall, an american revolutionary. For the sake of time, i truncated to those two. Be finally, as the treasurer of the Montgomery CountyDemocratic Party, im pleased to announce the democrats are almost a 3 to 1 majority over registered republicans in our county, so, juan with, welcome to friendly territory. [laughter] if you ever need a respite from fox news, we welcome you here with open arms. [laughter] gaithersburg, please help me welcome juan williams. [applause] thank you. Great pleasure to be here with Craig Shirley who i have known since the Reagan White House. Early 80s. Early 80s. I did not know about lacrosse, that is fabulous. But i wanted to start with a very basic question for the people who have been so kind to come into our tent here at thees gaithersburg book festival and ask why did you write this book, because youve writtenen extensively about reagan beforea well, first, thank you. First of all, i guess if youre in friendly territory, im behind enemy lines. [laughter] not quite, not quite. Well, im retired from all that anyway. [laughter] but i did think that for making us late, we ought to rename his tv show the four. [laughter] i wrote this because its an important part of american history, an important part of reagan history because its never been explored before. Like winston churchill, martin im going to pull this a little closer. Martin gilbert, who was Winston Churchills most famous, most important biographer, wrot a dozen books on various aspects of his life, and one of his books was called the Wilderness Years. And it was about that time in the late 20s and early 30s when churchill was cast aside by the conservatives in ending gland, great britain, and england, and em embarked on a new career. It mirrors reagan, because reagan in 76, as you pointed out, had been cast aside by his party. Churchill was spending most of his radio commentary and hisis columns running about the rising threat of adolf hitler and naziism, things that most people in england were ignoring at the time or poohpoohing. Reagan spent his Wilderness Years writing, doing radio commentary warning about the rising threat of the soviet soviet union. So theres a lot of parallels. Of course, there are many, many issues we can get into later. Its serendipitous, but its also because he forced them to the fore, issues like prop 13 in california, the panama canalth treaties, other issues you were covering, i was involved with to come to the fore that helped produce his election in 1980. So thats why i wrote it. You know, doug brinkley, who terrific historian and whola edited the reagan diaries said the realm of reagan scholarship is just beginning to open up. And i think every time i start to sit down and think about Ronald Reagan, i think a new aspect of his life, his career and his times that has been either underreported or hasnt been covered at all. So lets get you to friendly territory behind these lines and talk about the elephant, unintended, in the room which is donald trump. Oom [laughter] w so when no no [laughter] no i dont want to do it. No, no, no, i mean, no is the answer to his question. Oh. [laughter] i see, youve seen into the crystal ball. [laughter] but heres the question. People say, well, gosh, how would you compare i wouldnt. Reagan [laughter] to trump, and then they say what has come let me turn it around. Of conservativism from reagan to trump. You covered the grain white house for how many years the Reagan White House for how many years . Four. And the campaign. Yeah. Let me ask you, is there anything about donald trump that reminds you remotely of Ronald Reagan . No, and so this is [laughter] okay. [inaudible] yes, i did. But i must tell you so many people in the Republican Party really hold Ronald Reagan up as inspiring and with good reason. A paragon of the party and conservativism and with good reason. But then theyll say they are now with trump. Well, thats just a matter of practicality. Okay. You know, you can be with reagan, but you can also be in the modern age and say im for trump because he wasnt hillary, im for trump for whatever reasons, hes taken on bureaucracy, whatever else. Comparing the two individuals, there is no my wife is looking at me. [laughter] are you yeah, of course i am. Ive been guilty for 35 years. [laughter] lock, reagan was an intellectual, reagan was thoughtful, reagan was an american conservative, reagan was kind, he was gentle, he was thoughtful. You know, even in his diaries he wouldnt swear. He wouldnt write hed write d, dash, dash, dash instead of writing damn. But thats how genteel he was. There was a story that when he was president , you know, he had one of the first, second female secret Service Agents. And he kept standing aside as he was walking through a door to met the secret Service Agent go through. [laughter] because his mother, and he said my mother told me ladies always go first. The head of the treasury county had to sit department had to sit him down and say, mr. President , she is not a woman, she is a professional. You have to let her do her job. Reagan was reluctant. I cant imagine anybody be ever saying anything like that about donald trump. [laughter] reagan was a populist. He was an american conservative. He was committed to his principles, but he was also flexible. Ican c he was kind, he was thoughtful. Not always particularly thoughtful but, you know, more so than most men. And i think, look, dont turn to me for evidence of reagans importance to american history. John Patrick Diggins who in many ways was the official historian of the american left in the 20th century, he wrote books about the civil rights movement, he wrote books about the environmental movement. His last book and, actually, he had done battle with thengovernor reagan over the whole Free Speech Movement and the riots of berkeley. Done rhetorical ballot, not physical battle. But his last book is could Ronald Reagan fate, freedom and the making of history. And in this book, this liberal historian rates Ronald Reagan as one of our four greatest president s because they saved or freed many, many people. He said that is the best definition of greatness, do american president s save or free many, many people. Craig, when we think about reagan and the Republican Party, conservativism, i think i go back to Barry Goldwater sure. To 64. Right. To reagans famous speech. Right. So for the sake of this audience before we take them into the wilderness which is where you take him here, explain to us howe he comes to be. Because one of the great distinctions between reagan and trump is that reagan has a Strong Political history [inaudible] before he challenges the party establishment. T. Thats right. Well, hes already had a lot of executive experience as head of the screen actors guild. You know, a couple years ago reagan negotiated residuals which became important to a lot of old, retired actors and actresses who were out of work who were still getting stipend and residuals from the work they have done in tv and movies years ago. Because the studios would pay, previous system was the studio would pay the actors and actresses one time to appear be, and then they could rebroadcast it and pocket all the royalties with impunity. Reagan, in his last term as president of the screen actors guild, negotiated residuals so that they werent just their images and their voice and their acting wasnt sold without compensation to them. Reagan was the one who did it. I had, i was having lunch with fred barnes a couple years ago, and he was in one of those washington movies, had a little role, i think it was dave. And he was telling me about it, the movie had been rebroadcast in hungary or Something Like that x he got a residual check for 12. 98. Li [laughter] and i said do you know why you got that check . And he said, no. I said, you got that because Ronald Reagan negotiated that with the studios. So all these anyway, my point is that he had very good executive skills and very good negotiating skills long before he ever ran for governor. But, of course, his movie career had faded. He liked hollywood, he loved hollywood. But by 1962, 63, you know, he only made one movie after that called the killers which was an adaptation of hemingways novel. And he hated the movie so much, he never saw it. He did 57 movies, and its the only time in 57 movies where hes depicted as a bad guy. He slaps Angie Dickenson in the movie. He hated that, so he would never see the movie. But he himself was in the wilderness several times including after 63. And hes kind of like a professional host in Southern California introducing political candidates and various things. And hes starting to develop a speech which became known as the speech. For local candidates but mostly for goldwater in 63, the draft goldwater movement actually started in the fall of 63. My parents came here to washington, went to the draft goldwater convex. Walter convention. Walter brennan kissed my mother. [laughter] does anybody remember Walter Brennan . Sure. Okay, the real mccoy. Excellent. Its odd to think of the Walter Brennan in my mind kissing your mom [laughter] kind of an old man. Your mo [laughter] but so anyway, hes developing this speech, and finally a group of southern, wealthy Southern California businessmen go to reagan and his brother neil, because neil was an ad executive in Southern California, and they say to reagan we want to put this speech on television to help goldwater. So they put up the money, and it was broadcast on nbc, and it was an enormous hit. Raised millions of dollars for the Goldwater Campaign and the Republican National committee. And, of course, goldwater losesi in a historic landslide, but david broder wrote for the Washington Post, our old friend, that the ray of sunlight in an otherwise dismal campaign was reagans speech. And, of course, goldwaters defeat is devastating for the Republican Party. I mean, theres the republicans are in the minority in the house, theyre vastly inn the minority in the house and the senate. They have very few statehouses,n very few governorships. And in many ways, the Republican Party is functionally dead. It doesnt have a coherent philosophy. So reagan now is embarking, hes traveling to california, and he says a group of businessmen come to him, the same group, and they say, well, we want you to run for the senate. He said, no, i dont want to run for the senate, i dont want to run for congress. They said, what about governor . That piqued his interest, so he began going around the state taking soundings, doing local business groups and civic groups and other, you know, organized groups and getting feedback. And the feedback from the people was good. So thats when he decided to run for governor of california. But, so, i mean, he now is just completely broken from hollywood. Now hes fulltime but he called himself not just a politician, but a citizen politician. So lets go forward from a time to choose, can which was the title of this speech which remains an amazing speech. You can go on youtube ask watch it, very clear. Theres a landslide for johnson over goldwater. We come forward in time then through the time he spends as glove right. As governor in sacramento, and now were in the nixon era. And here comes Ronald Reagan to challenge the party at a moment when the party is shaking and things arent clear, but they want gerald ford. Hes the establishment candidate. Right. And in this book, you take us through some of these very difficult shows for a man whos popular, who says that he is in keeping with the real conservative ideology of the time right. But finds that his party is somewhere else. The party is still in the, somewhat in the wilderness, juan. You know, the Republican Party kind of from 1932 up until the late 70s doesnt have a coherent philosophy. The democrats have a coherent philosophy, and they have theyre also the party of optimism, the party of hope, the party of the future. E. Franklin roosevelt runs for president , you know, and happyut days are here again. John enty says we need kennedy says we need to get this country moving again. The Democratic Party from 32 until, basically, 76 and beyond is the party of hope, optimism and the future, and the Republican Party is the green eye shade, eat your spinach, balance the budget party. Right. And their message is basically me taoism. In fact, that is what a lot of conservatives accused moderate republicans at the time, is me tooism. We can manage government better than the democrats, well just do it better. That was basically their pitch, and it wasnt a very inspirational pitch, obviously. Which is why theyre in the minority from 32 up until 68 and even beyond, actually, because 68 was an aberration. So, but reagan comes forward, and the early leaders of the conservative Movement Like bill buckley and others have a coherent message that was based on the framers, based on the founders, based on the constitution which had been kinn of cast aside or at least put on the sidelines from 32 on. And, but were reaching an era, now, i have to go backwards. From 32 to the 60s, most americans believed thatrd government is working and government is working for them. It didnt solve the great depression, but it did a good effort, and people appreciated it. But it did defeat the empire of japan, it did defeat nazide germany, it did build the interstate highway system and Public Education. At one poi