Not so. Time, and yourme men left columbia university, graduated from columbia, joined the st. Louis postdispatch, became an editorial writer, and along the way, he met Richard Nixon. That began a magnificent journey. Carpet rideargin from Richard Nixons defeat through years of what Richard Nixon described as the wilderness years, to the achievement of the highest office in the world, president of the United States. Pat buchanan was with him every step of the way and its reported in this great book just this is thet week, Pacific Coast launch of it, the greatest comeback, of how Richard Nixon built the new majorityand the silent , and how he won the presidency. This is a man who spent every day with him, strategizing, and hes aeating firsthand eyewitness to the magnificent brilliance of the 37th president. Pat buchanan. [applause] mr. Buchanan thank you very much, sandy. I was going to mention all the folks i served with over the years, even going back 4 and 5 decades, and id like to single out one who is with the Richard Nixon for the campaign of 1960 before i was there, campaign for governor in 1962 before i was there, and who rode richard. Ixon on that plane around and that is shelley buchanan. Want to stand up, shelley . [applause] i would also like to say a few words about sandy quinn, who i got to know Richard Nixon up in new york. Told me, cats, when you get to washington, theres three people you want to see. Sandy heston i magnificent job for the foundation and everything, and i know you heard him tonight. I think he deserves more than one round of applause. [applause] the greatest comeback is not definitive history of thats my timebut a memoir of and those three years of Richard Nixon before he became president. Man whos the story of a rose from one of the worst defeats in american political history and the worst occasions and came back from basically a broken career to lead a shattered and ruined party, not only to victory in 1968, but to thate a Great Coalition exceeded fdrs coalition and dominated the presidency. Ive often told friends that what Richard Nixon did in the 20th century is matched only by fdr. Ther man, let me tell you a little bit and go back and try to tell some of this story, as much as i can do in the limited time we have available. The first words i heard from the president of the United States where these, buchanan, was that you throwing the eggeggs . [laughter] been inaugurated, delivered his inaugural speech, was coming up pennsylvania avenue, and his limousine was showered with debris and rocks and eggs and everything and he showed up at the white house, and shelley and i were walking into the reviewing span along these doors the secret service had put down because it was so boards the secret service had put down because it took was so muddy. I stepped off the boards and in came the president of the United States, and thats what he said. Buchanan, was that you throwing the eggs . [laughter] that incident is a metaphor for the city that president nixon came into. Loathed orither detested Richard Nixon by a large. The bureaucracy had been built up and the new deal, fair deal, and Great Society, it was overwhelmingly democratic. It was a hostile city that that hadixon came into just broken the presidency of Lyndon Baines johnson, who after winning a landslide 1964 had stood down in 1968. Men. Was the america of mad the america we saw on that film, take a look at what happened in those years before i got to meet Richard Nixon. 1963, john f. Kennedy assassinated. 1964, first uprising at berkeley of the great campus disorders of the 1960s. This was the beginning of the revolution, in 1965 folks out here will remember the watts riots, the worst race riot at its time since the civil war. Of the the beginning revolution. I was a young man, editorial writer in st. Louis. I drove back to washington to delivertin luther king famous speech at the lincoln memorial. I was up in the memorial with him. Agoyear later, 50 years this month, i was in what shobha county, mississippi before they found the bodies of the three civil rights workers. The civil rights revolution of those days which started off so well was rapidly disintegrating into disorder and riots and black power and black panthers and all the rest of it. That was the world we came into. Lets look at what nixon himself was in that period. Talk about 1962 in 1964 and they are correct. But you go back to 1950. That was the last election that Richard Nixon won in his own right. He won the biggest victory california had ever seen over kill and the hagan douglas. Eisenhower could have been elected on any ticket trade 1954 when the was leading the Republican Party, the Republican Party lost both houses of congress. They lost 13 senate seats in 1958, 1960 he lost narrowly in a we all heardction of what happened in chicago and texas. 1962, he came out and ran for governor and was defeated by governor pat brown. Then he had that famous press conference where he said, this is it. He had had it with the press. He said, think of all the fun you will be missing. You wont have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore. This is my last press conference. He was finished, down and out. In 1964, even though he was out of it, he not only introduced Barry Goldwater at that convention, Richard Nixon went campaigned all across america for Barry Goldwater harder than Goldwater Campaign for himself. Look at where the party was in 1965 when i arrived. Had 140 seats in the house, 32 in the senate. Outnumbered more than 2 1. They had 17 governorships outnumbered 2 1 and governorships. State legislatures were outnumbered 2 1. Talking about the Republican Party as the party that had lost its head. It was split between the goldwater win and the rockefellerrodney win. That is what nixon inherited. Thats when he began his great comeback. Thats a situation i encountered when i joined Richard Nixon. How did i get aboard with Richard Nixon . I was an editorial writer at the st. Louis globe democrat. And having some difficulty with my publisher at the time. I thought maybe i ought to get out of this office and get into the real world. Invited by derksen to fill in for him at a speech in belleville, illinois. But across the river, 15 miles across the river from st. Louis. He was going to speak there and then he was going to go to a Cocktail Reception given by don the cartoonist at the globe democrat and a good friend of mine. I said, youve got to be invited to your party and youve got to get me to meet Richard Nixon at your party because i want to meet him. He said, ill do it for you. House, ando hesss me into the he got kitchen, introduced me to Richard Nixon. I said, mr. Vice president , how are you . If youre going to run in 1968i like to get aboard early. Direct approach was best. And he said, what you do . Im the assistant editorial editor of the st. Louis globe democrat. He said, i dont want to know what your title is, i want to know what you do. I said, i write editorials. We have two editorial writers and the st. Louis postdispatch has 8. I write on everything. Local politics, statewide, county politics, foreign policy. I write on everything. He seemed pretty impressed and just to convince him i was not putting him on a bit, i said weve met before. He said, what . I said, we met before, sir. Caddy at the country club when i was 14 years old. I was on a caddy log. Pete cook and i integrated the caddy bench at the country club. They were all black folk folk kids who were unhappy. We never got bags and the black kids would go out in the afternoon in the morning. Outcomes this golf bag. I said, its a Vice President s bank. Bag. The two of us were sitting there. He said, come on over. We went around with the Vice President of the United States for 18 holes, 4 hours. Wasntince the and i making this up, i gave him the name of the proand assistant pro at burning tree. The next morning, after this meeting with you in, hes driving out to Lambert Field for an hour and the cartoonist says, nixon talked about you all the way out to lambert air force. Thats a good sign. Then i didnt hear anything from him. Two weeks later i get this phone call and it is the familiar voice. Can you come to new york and continue our conversation . I said sure, and so i went to new york. For three hours i sat in Richard Nixons office. He quizzed me on everything i could think of, foreign policy, domestic policy, tax policy, congress. It was exhausting for three hours and when we were done, he said id like to hire you for one year. If we dont pick up seats in 1966, the nomination will not be worth anything in 1968. Then he offered me a salary, which was 50 higher than what i was making. Said, im interested in this i said, i will take it, but youd better call my publisher first because he doesnt know that im here. Richardow i got aboard nixon in 1965. The first with him, thing he said my three assignments were, youre going to help write a column for me, youre going to travel with me in 1966, work for me in a 1966 campaign. I said fine, but i had larger dreams of what my functions would be. I said, the first thing we have to do, were going to win the nomination. You have the center of the Republican Party. You. Re still with im a member of the goldwater movement. I said, if we can put together the goldwater movement with the the Republican Party, theres no one that can stop you from getting that nomination. Rockefeller is too far out on the left. Did nixon had said something about bill buckley and the buckleyites being more dangerous than the birchers. I said, we are going to have to clear this up great and so i wrote this letter explaining what mr. Next had meant to the publisher. We healed that breach. With my friend tom charles houston, we started holding meetings, all during 1966 with leaders of various conservative groups nixon had not met and i certainly had not met. Then weith them, started inviting every columnist who was a conservative to come up and meet Richard Nixon and have an interview with him and give him time. We kept building this alliance with Richard Nixon and the conservative movement. The center of the Republican Party and the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Then nixon went out on his own in 1966 and campaigned in 35 states, 80 congressional districts, every single republican who asked for him, he went in all 11 Southern States, working for the Republican Party. Itwas a move that i set in my book. It was an nixons interest to do this, but it was also consistent with what he believed. N was a fighter. He loved his party, he was loyal to it. I traveled with him that whole time. He was a spartan. Worknever seen anybody harder than that. There were occasional incidents. Mr. Nixon had some trouble with the rockefellers. Let me tell you one story from the campaign of 1956. We were in fort smith, arkansas. Nixon got up and he had a press conference and did an event for john paul hammerschmidt, who eventually was the one guy who Congress Clinton for he bill clinton. Were in fort smith. Nixon goes to the motel and its a rectangular thing. Its on the inside, but only one story. Here and heis room says, i do not want to be disturbed. Ive got a nap. Ive got a big speech tonight. I said, you got it. Around my moseyed own room. I saw this huge fellow marching straight across the quadrangle of this motel straight towards nixons door. He was yelling, hey, dick. Nixon was sleeping. I started running and i did not get there in time, and this guys pounding on the door, and the door opens and Richard Nixon let him in. I thought, thats the end of that buchanan. Says, have you met when rockefeller . This was the brother of nelson and david rockefeller, the youngest of the brothers. He was a great war hero. A great fellow. That was my first introduction to the rockefellers in that campaign. We got to was oregon and during this campaign, and hellings comes up to me. My views of Nelson Rockefeller just its hard to describe how harsh they were. Hellings comes up to me and says, hey pat, the old man is going to endorse old rockefeller. I said, what . I took off down the hall, i get to nixons suite and open the door and hes not there. Bathroom. Door to the hes about to get into the shower. I said, youre not going to endorse that blanket he blanketyblank, are you . He said, dont worry pat, we will get something for it. This tells you something about the man. He had been treated brutally by the people in new york. Practice, they did not invite him to any advance or anything. Here he is con here he is, comet to endorse rockefeller. To have to come together, weve been deeply divided, goldwater and rockefeller. This is the right thing to do. Rocky. Rsed Richard Nixon we were in we heard word that Lyndon Johnson coming back from the manila summit, summit meeting 1966, october. He was going to campaign in all of these states, in a dozen states. I mistakenly went in and told the president is coming back. Said, we will have to see about that. But he was clearly shaken. He went out that night and he endorsed tom a call except he kept calling him bob mccall. Until the audience finally said, its tom. So thats a lesson if you are in politics, do not give your candidate that news before hes about to go make a speech. But i will say this, nixon came back and he was very down. He said, if johnson comes back, we could be cut from 40 seats. He was down, and i went back to my room. About midnight, he called me in. He said, take some notes. He dictated a speech on vietnam great i mustve taken 12 pages of notes. He said, you work on this speech and prepare it for me. Im going to go campaign in the state of washington. Im going to come down to boise. We worked on it as we flew around the country, and just before the election, nixon dropped it in the New York Times and appraisal of the manila communique by johnson prayed johnson showed up at a press conference. November 4, 19 66, critical moment in the comeback of Richard Nixon. It was in the front page of the New York Times. From Lyndon Johnsons tapes, he called Hubert Humphrey and said, did you see what that sob said about us in the New York Times this morning . Johnson went out in a press conference and slammed bench Richard Nixon as badly as any president has ever attacked a leader of the opposition party. Those of the worlds words of jewels would cover. Mike wallace had been at the airport. I was reporting to nixon on what i heard. I was on the plane listening on radio. Nixon came out to the plane. I said, youre not going to believe what the president is saying about us. We flew up there, and mike wallace flew after us. Out and handled it beautifully, was gracious to johnson. Ssaid, hes a little tired from his trip right we have questions on vietnam that need to be answered. The whole country, the media said, Richard Nixon is saying the right thing. All of a sudden, end of 1966, Richard Nixons vaulted up into contention by Lyndon Johnson for the republican nomination. However, 1966 election win, we won. Big time. Get to the weekend after that, our celebration at the drake hotel. Richard nixon took us to the restaurant, out with the wife and everything. We had a good time. Wsweek come out after the election. Whos on the cover . Six republicans. The new republican leaders. Governor reagan, rockefeller, romney, senator percy, center brook, senator hatfield. No Richard Nixon. A real downer for us that he had been left out after all the work he had done. They did us a favor by leaving. S out of the news just before that election day, nixon told the National Press that after the selection is over, im going to take a sixmonth moratorium from politics completely. Laternixon a day or so and i said, is this wise . Governor romney, George Romney is ahead of Lyndon Johnson by eight points in the national polls. Hes running far away first from the republican nomination and we are going to drop out for 6 months and do nothing. Nixon said in his own manner, pa t, let him chew on him for a little while. I gather he meant the press corps. That isead my book, exactly what the press did. In myrness, i put a line name about mitt romney, how tough it mustve been when he was 20 years old in paris, seeing how it happened to his fathers launch in the presidency. Ive never seen, it was not an outstanding performance. And he got out,