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How will Richard Nixon be Remembered? — Transcript

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0:28right
0:33this thing work today
0:35good I'm glad Sandy on on many occasions
0:39can't get the sound system right I'm
0:40glad he got it right
0:44today uh let me welcome you
0:48uh to the sixth Nixon legacy
0:53panel we are happy today that C-SPAN is
0:56covering this event and we welcome them
1:00Clare Booth loose told President Nixon
1:04that in a thousand
1:06years they will say Nixon went to
1:10China we all know that Watergate is a
1:12part of our
1:14history but there was much so much
1:17more not just a great foreign policy
1:21agenda but a lesser known domestic
1:27agenda I think you'll be pleased to hear
1:29the panelist
1:30today talk about some of those other
1:33initiatives Legacy moments as we like to
1:35call
1:36them the past Legacy forums have been
1:40the organization of the domestic policy
1:43program the use of the president's time
1:46an environmental policy forum and a
1:50forum on
1:51Watergate our next panel will be in
1:54September and it's the peaceful demon
1:58desegregation of our Southern schools
2:00which President Nixon gets very little
2:01credit for that'll be held here at the
2:04library in October the Pat mouran in the
2:08White House his story has never been
2:11told and his papers have just been
2:13processed by the National
2:15Archives so with that let me introduce
2:18our panel
2:19today I'm doing it in alphabetical order
2:22not as they are seated Barbara Franklin
2:26very distinguished corporate entity at
2:28this stage was a assistant to the
2:30president and led the task force to
2:33recruit women into the Nixon
2:36Administration Larry hicky was Deputy
2:39assistant to the president and chief of
2:41staff for Bob
2:43halman he's also a new member of the
2:46Nixon Foundation
2:48board Todd hullen was President Nixon's
2:51domestic Council and associate director
2:53for Housing and Community Affairs later
2:56at the Department of
2:57Defense Fred Malik was the man that was
3:01put in charge of presidential Personnel
3:03he was a special assistant to the
3:04president for presidential personnel and
3:06I I think most of us give him credit as
3:08you'll hear today for the caliber of
3:10people that were brought into the Nixon
3:12Administration and then subsequently
3:14went on to many other
3:16presidents he was also the deputy
3:18director of The Office of Management and
3:20budget so with that Todd let me start
3:24with you
3:25andby oh Bobby I'm sorry I'm
3:28sorry actually I I should have been
3:30doing it the way I was doing it here uh
3:32Bobby kilberg excuse me was a White
3:34House fellow and she was staff assistant
3:37to the president of the United States
3:38and the domestic
3:40Council uh sorry about that
3:43b um and with that I'm going to ask Todd
3:46to sort of set the stage for what it was
3:50like in the fall of
3:521968 as we were
3:55elected presidents have are defined by
3:58their times it's true in in these times
4:00and it was true in those times and after
4:0340 plus years we tend to forget what it
4:05was like in 1968 during that
4:07presidential campaign let me just review
4:10some of the quick quickly some of the
4:11issues um the Cold War was raging Soviet
4:15Union was the Soviet Union not Russia uh
4:18we each had thousands of warheads
4:20pointed at each other and our allies
4:23there was tension across the world at at
4:25every spot and we felt probably that
4:28China might align
4:30with Russia should there be some kind of
4:32a conflict it was a very tense and
4:34dangerous world and the probability of
4:36us having an exchange frightened the
4:39entire world the Soviets had in had
4:43invaded
4:44Czechoslovakia the North Koreans had
4:46taken down a spy ship called the pleo in
4:49disputed Waters um so this was a time
4:53with Soviet Union in the US really
4:54squaring off today we look as at Russia
4:57as a competitor economic competitor more
4:59than than a military
5:01threat Vietnam was raging there were
5:04550,000 troops in Vietnam when President
5:07Nixon took office tragically we were
5:10losing a thousand military service
5:13people a
5:15month we just after nine years in
5:17Afghanistan we just crossed a thousand
5:19Mark tragically also but we were losing
5:22a thousand a month when he took
5:25over student demonstrations across the
5:28country were disrupting campuses and
5:31communities there were um there were
5:34riots at the 68 convention which I'm
5:36sure we all remember uh in in Chicago
5:40which kind of set the tone for that for
5:43that
5:44campaign and LBJ because of the war
5:47pulled out of the nominating
5:49process uh and turned it over because
5:51Gene McCarthy was making so much run a
5:54good run for the nomination we had
5:57assassinations that year that were
5:58tragic Martin Luther King was
5:59assassinated that led to urban riots
6:02throughout racial riots throughout the
6:04country and all and just about all the
6:06racial racial centers and we had those
6:10those riots created a loss of around 50
6:12lives in a very short period of weeks
6:15racial tensions were high Robert Kennedy
6:17was assassinated in
6:19June so the country was a little bit in
6:24shock Vietnam was standing there and we
6:26were losing our leaders there were there
6:28was D ruption in our youth and
6:30disruption in our in our racial
6:32relations this was a tough time lbj's
6:35Great Society was announced with great
6:37flourish but it had left a number it had
6:40first it had created vast bureaucracies
6:42in Washington to make decisions for the
6:44local level and it had left a number of
6:46issues
6:47unaddressed the me welfare mess was as
6:50it was called frequently by the by the
6:52Press was creating a culture of
6:56dependency School desegregation had been
6:58ordered by the courts but hadn't really
7:00been
7:01undertaken we had um women's rights were
7:05coming into their their own there was
7:07the erra amendment the Equal Rights
7:08Amendment for women was being proposed
7:10for the Constitution Native American
7:13rights the Indian movement was taking
7:15form them the those of us who were in
7:18The White House at the time remember
7:19well in' 69 and 70 the formation of aim
7:22the American Indian movement which was a
7:24militant operation uh that was formed in
7:271968 Russell Means headed that so the
7:32environmental issues were just coming to
7:33the FL we were continuing to pollute our
7:36Rivers our Waters and our skies at an
7:40alarming rate and America was just
7:43Awakening to
7:45that in 1969 when the pr well when
7:48president took office but in the
7:49November election of 68 it was not a
7:54landslide
7:5643% vote he won by $500,000 votes I Todd
8:01I can add a little bit to that because
8:02we were tracking every day how the uh
8:05polling every day on how the election
8:06was going on Saturday President Johnson
8:09came out and made a statement that he
8:11thought the peace was at hand in Vietnam
8:14on Sunday Hubert Humphrey went ahead of
8:17us in our tracking polls on Monday
8:20President Johnson came out and sort of
8:22recanted his statement it backed off and
8:24on Tuesday we won the election yeah and
8:27you may recall that actually we didn't
8:29know that he had won until 11:00 the
8:31next morning so went to we had won with
8:34that that's a nice transition to let me
8:36make one additional point because
8:38politically the president took office
8:40with both houses of Congress against him
8:42the first newly elected president in 100
8:44years to take office with both houses
8:46dramatically against him so the
8:48political climate was not a walk in the
8:50park here nor was the climate of the
8:51United States right right Larry I think
8:55it would be at this point January 20th
8:57he's sworn in in 1969 well actually what
8:59did we do no November 8th I think it was
9:01uh we realized we won the election at
9:03about 5:00 in the morning I think we
9:05finally when we were at the walor ftor
9:08hotel that night um and uh we
9:12immediately realized we had a whole 90
9:14days to set up the largest corporation
9:15in the world the United States
9:17government and uh one of the first
9:20things my boss Bob halderman asked me to
9:21do was go out and find all the books
9:24that had been uh published on how to set
9:26up
9:27presidencies and there were grand total
9:29of two and the one that made any sense
9:32was a guy named Andy Andy good good
9:35pastor was the staff secretary during
9:37the uh Eisenhower Administration and
9:40basically he had set up a a a government
9:44and a and a white house that was really
9:46focused on on the cabinet it was a
9:48cabinet run kind of
9:50organization uh you go then to President
9:53Kennedy who just had sort of a circle of
9:55advisers around him but no sort of real
9:56formal process and frankly lot the same
9:59thing for Lyndon Johnson everything was
10:01wherever Lyndon Johnson went this
10:03President wanted to get a lot of things
10:04done had a lot of problems on his plate
10:06as as Todd clearly laid out and it
10:09became very clear that you had to set up
10:11a different kind of white house if you
10:13were going to be successful um probably
10:16the one thing we took from the uh past
10:19administrations was the National
10:21Security Council which was an
10:22organization that worked very well on
10:23foreign policy and defense matters and
10:25this sort of thing there was nothing
10:27that was even an equivalent to that in
10:29prior Administration on the domestic
10:31side and clearly with a number of
10:32domestic problems and issues we wanted
10:34to deal with we had to have some
10:35mechanism for getting that done which
10:37led to the establishment of the domestic
10:40policy Council which Todd served as the
10:41deputy on for a period of time but this
10:44allowed us to begin to organize the ad
10:47the the initiatives we wanted to get
10:49done in the white house uh in a very
10:51different way the other thing the
10:53president did is he clearly looked at
10:55the government differently he thought
10:57decisions should be made in the White
10:59House and executed by cabinet members
11:01prior to that cabinet members Had Each
11:03run their own fum and just sort of
11:05reported in periodic meetings into the
11:07White House so it was going to be a very
11:09different White House one that was very
11:10White House focused in terms of
11:12decisions and actions and how we were
11:14going to get things done the other piece
11:16that was unique was setting up what I'll
11:18call the office of the presidency which
11:21was something nobody had ever thought of
11:23before and this was an organization that
11:25Bob halan really started as Chief of
11:27Staff to really com Bine all of the
11:30disparate functions that usually go on
11:32in a presidency from how you do
11:34accountability how you track papers
11:36through a staff Secretariat how you get
11:38your speeches done what press relations
11:40should be what congressional relations
11:42should be all these things coming
11:44together particularly in terms of how
11:45you move the president how the president
11:48spendy time was really thought about so
11:50you had a very different very
11:52professional White House that was being
11:54set up to deal with the complexity of
11:57issues that Todd realized and we had a
11:59whole 90 days to get that done so it was
12:01a very exciting and very Furious kind of
12:05period as we went into January 20th now
12:08once we did that we had to also have
12:09this have a government that was
12:11organized along those same kinds of
12:12lines and that's where Fred became
12:15infinitely valuable because his Fred and
12:17his team really were the people that
12:19architected not only how the rest of the
12:21government got to be organized but more
12:22importantly how it got to be staffed the
12:24kinds of professionals really meaningful
12:27people you wanted to bring into the OR
12:30organization that's you well the
12:32Personnel process was a very fascinating
12:34one in fact U uh R I think mentioned or
12:38Todd the first thing I remember about
12:41the administration I'm just a a humble
12:43tool manufacturer in Orangeburg South
12:45Carolina running a company I'm 31 years
12:48old and I tune in a television and
12:49there's President Nixon announcing in
12:51early December his entire cabinet stood
12:54behind each Cabinet member talked about
12:56them why he selected them what their
12:58qualities were
12:59and and and what he expected him to do
13:01in in the new Administration it was very
13:03inspiring to me it truly was and little
13:05did I know that three and a half months
13:07later I would end up coming to
13:08Washington as the deputy under Secretary
13:11of the department of health education
13:12and Welfare U well it was a poignant
13:15moment too at the shm hotel when he did
13:16that and it was televised nationally and
13:19it was just one of those moments I think
13:20everybody was captured by never been
13:22done since which is kind of interesting
13:24I've never seen anything quite like it
13:25we had the whole cabinet there and and
13:27and pretty much in place that very early
13:29stage um the quality was was was
13:32breathtaking um about 18 months later my
13:35experience with Personnel really started
13:37I was recruited over uh from HW to
13:39become the presidential assistant for uh
13:42White House personnel and President
13:45Nixon's premise was that we can't just
13:48rely on the people we know the people
13:50that have supported us politically the
13:52people that other political leaders
13:54senators and governors recommend we had
13:56to go out beyond that universe and
13:59broaden ourselves and find the best
14:01quality people in the country to come in
14:03and staff the government because that's
14:05the only way where you're going to truly
14:06be
14:07effective someone else would have to
14:09judge whether we're successful but let's
14:11look at a couple of at at some of the
14:13some of the merits of the people that we
14:15did we did have in that government and
14:16what they went on to
14:18be most or I shouldn't say most but an
14:21abundance of modern day and recent
14:25leaders in political history were a
14:27product of Richard Nixon's
14:30selection we had future presidents we
14:33had future vice presidents we had future
14:35secretaries of state Secretary of
14:36Defense secretaries of Commerce um we
14:40had future Supreme Court Justices future
14:42Senators future
14:44CEOs let's look at a couple of those I
14:47remember in maybe three months into my
14:50tenure maybe two months into my tenure a
14:52White House person now I was meeting
14:54with the president and Bob halman and we
14:56were discussing various
14:57appointments president said we have a
15:00very talented young man we recruited to
15:01run for the Senate he lost in Texas it
15:05was George H W bush and he said I think
15:07we ought to make him secretary that's
15:10secretary ambassador to the United
15:12Nations he did he made him ambassador to
15:15the United Nations without Richard Nixon
15:17reaching out they never would have been
15:19a President Bush there would have been a
15:21President George W bush um others who
15:25were in that white house uh there was a
15:28very young assistant to don reld don
15:31Rumsfeld was a counselor to the
15:33president a very young assistant who we
15:35didn't pay much attention to at the time
15:37uh his name was Dick Cheney he went on
15:39to be Vice President of the United
15:40States we had future secretaries of
15:42State Henry Kissinger of course George
15:45Schulz Al ha and my om executive
15:49assistant Coen Powell four secretaries
15:52State came out of that white house then
15:55you look at the future economic
15:56leadership of the country herbs Stein
15:59was the chairman of the council and
16:00economic advisers one of his Junior
16:03Associates was a man named alen
16:05Greenspan he was in that white house of
16:08course there was the speechwriting staff
16:09they didn't amount the whole lot but you
16:11had guys like panan and Bill
16:14Sapphire Bill saffer who probably was
16:17the best you know political columnist
16:19I've ever read um bless his soul and and
16:22uh David gurgen a Ray Price I know I'm
16:25missing a lot of good people I better
16:26take a take a peek at my notes Here to
16:28make sure I didn't
16:30paon yeah two secretaries of Treasury
16:33Hank Paulson and uh and Paul O'Neal and
16:36then there was Pat moan Nino Scalia and
16:40oh yeah there was this young assistant
16:42in the Press office he was kind of
16:43pretty but nobody returned her College
16:44because she's too Junior we do now that
16:47was Diane
16:49Sawyer but you know the president wasn't
16:51content just to rely on the strength of
16:53personnel they also wanted to organize
16:55in a way that would make government
16:56effective he had he had one basic
16:58premise that guided a lot of his his
17:00thinking and that is the government was
17:02too big sounds sound familiar government
17:05is too big too cumbersome too unwieldy
17:07too bureaucratic so he coined the phrase
17:10the new federalism I think he coined the
17:12phrase I guess he in Moran did and the
17:14idea was let's delegate more to the
17:16states to the cities to the to the other
17:19authorities in the nation let's take
17:21away from the federal government we
17:22shouldn't have that much power we're too
17:24cumbersome we're too unwieldy we're too
17:26complex let's put more out to this
17:28States well also read on that what was
17:31happening with the accumulating power in
17:34Washington the decisions were being made
17:36by bureaucrats of what kind of sewer
17:38systems were going to go into San Jose I
17:40mean it it was really and he also
17:42believed that the level of government
17:44closest to the problem should be making
17:45the decision and that while the federal
17:48government had this stainless steel tax
17:50machine to accumulate money he created
17:52the wue sharing which is going to push
17:54money from the federal government back
17:56to the communities and have them make
17:58the decision decisions given very broad
18:01guidelines instead of specific
18:02regulations exactly and I think that
18:04takes us to to Barbara you know former
18:05Secretary of Commerce and things that
18:07she did in the White House to recruit
18:09women and it's just as extraordinary as
18:11to what Fred talked about and oh I I
18:14yeah let's talk about women I think what
18:17President Nixon did I'm going to give
18:19you my bottom line first then tell you
18:21how it happened what he did to advance
18:23women in the federal government actually
18:27served to bring equality for women which
18:31was kind of a bra burning contentious
18:34movement over here in the left he
18:36brought it right into the mainstream of
18:38American life and that rippled through
18:40our society changed our society terribly
18:43important now how that happened is is I
18:46mean I think Pat Nixon was right in
18:48there lobbying but what happened at an
18:51early press conference is that Vera
18:53Glasser was a very attractive person
18:55stood up and said Mr President out of
18:59your first 200 appointments only three
19:01have gone to women and then she said
19:04something like this I'm going to
19:05paraphrase are we going to see more
19:08Equitable representation of women or are
19:10we going to continue to be the Lost
19:13sex and she said the president seemed a
19:17little surprised but but then he said
19:20you know we'll have to do something
19:21about that and things started to happen
19:24after that and then by the time we got
19:26to April of 19
19:291971 there were three things that
19:31happened I mean Fred was crucial to this
19:34but the president sent to each cabinet
19:37secretary and agency head a request well
19:40not a request I mean it was you will
19:43send me an action plan about how you're
19:46going to train and Advance women in your
19:48department and I want them in a month
19:51and then I was brought in again Fred
19:53recruited me to inter turn recruit women
19:56for high level jobs in government and
19:58then then Jane Spain was put at civil
19:59service to look over the career service
20:02and we started out it was a managerially
20:04oriented effort here and we set a goal
20:07of doubling the number of women in these
20:09high jobs in a year Well by the time we
20:11got to a year we had nearly tripled
20:14those numbers and some of these people
20:16fact most of them in jobs women had
20:18never held breakthroughs and you you
20:20hear names like Helen Bentley and
20:23Virginia now and Katherine Bedell and I
20:25could go on and on Carla Hills and Carla
20:27Hills and Marina Whitman yes who who
20:30went on to to other things it was it was
20:33a great great start and that just opened
20:36Pandora's box and it continued but maybe
20:38even more importantly during this time
20:41we had the first Admirals and Generals
20:43who were women we had the first FBI
20:46agents and forest rangers and Tugboat
20:48captains these jobs that were were Park
20:50Service Rangers made we made huge huge
20:53move on the Park Service well and and
20:55that's when it happened a lot of things
20:57like this happened and I I think it's
20:58totally uh escaped the the American
21:01public that that this is where we went I
21:03remember one particular instance and
21:05that has to do with the Supreme Court in
21:081971 there were two
21:10vacancies I had all kinds of women's
21:12groups coming to me Liz Carpenter came
21:15with a bunch of names I had a lot of
21:16women's groups who were angry anyway
21:18visiting me my job was a little more
21:20than recruiting was was doing some of
21:23this you were sounding board cuz I can
21:24remember them coming down the hall at
21:26Old e to see you down the hall oh yeah
21:29they're pounding on my door you those
21:31times they thought it was we were you in
21:33our offices and we had to fend them off
21:35those are days you can just walk in and
21:37pound on the door you didn't go security
21:39well so I got into all kinds of other
21:41issues but anyway we we really tried
21:44hard to find women candidates for that
21:46those those two slots and really there
21:50just weren't enough women in the
21:51pipeline who were philosophically
21:53compatible and really qualified however
21:56the justice department was in on this
21:58and they floated the name of a woman
22:00from actually this area Mildred Lily if
22:03anybody remembers that oh yeah the
22:05American Bar Association took her apart
22:09and that was kind of the end of that
22:11effort however the seed was planted that
22:14there would be a woman on the court and
22:15Ronald Reagan ended up doing it 10 years
22:17later now we understand also that Pat
22:20Nixon was very much for this and that
22:23when her husband didn't appoint a woman
22:26she let him know about it
22:29and so we we thank Pat but bottom line
22:32here I think President Nixon really did
22:34something uh of great importance in our
22:37society that started there and has just
22:40continued and now equality is a great
22:42legacy moment right
22:43there I I want to hold up one thing we
22:46decided a few of us uh almost 15 years
22:48ago to try to document what happened
22:50because it's not known so we started an
22:53oral history project we have 50
22:56histories from the women who were there
22:58and were appointed some of the men who
23:00helped to make this happen Fred and
23:01Bobby are both in in it and it's called
23:04a few good women uh advancing the cause
23:07of women in government 1969 to 74 that
23:11the The Collection is that the Penn
23:13State archives it would have probably
23:14been here but this the library wasn't
23:16equipped to do that at the time but
23:18we're linked we are now our web web is
23:20now linked okay um we have a book coming
23:24out to document this a copy coffee table
23:27type book and because young people don't
23:29have a clue what happened or how it was
23:32back then we have teaching AIDs that are
23:34already out grades six through 12
23:36modules that can get stuck into Civics
23:39and and history so that the this Legacy
23:42of Richard Nixon which I really think is
23:44important should live on that's great
23:46right a couple other Legacy things
23:47before you move on if I might um we what
23:50we didn't mention is the pioneering in
23:51in the environment you know we
23:53Republicans are often looked at as as as
23:55as not being for the environment well
23:57who created the Council on economic
23:59quality Council on Environmental Quality
24:01who created the Environmental Protection
24:03Agency it was Richard Nixon yeah that's
24:05a first Clean Air Act the clear first
24:07Clean Water Act who created the Office
24:09of Management budget the domestic
24:11Council the office of telecomunications
24:12policy Richard Nixon right Bobby you
24:16were instrumental with John Erman and
24:18the domestic Council uh with Todd and uh
24:22all of that crude but you were also very
24:25important in the development of the
24:26Native American um among other things
24:29but I just find that very interesting
24:30people don't know what President Nixon
24:32did they don't but I before we get into
24:34that I think it is really important to
24:37understand that I personally believe and
24:39I think probably everybody in this panel
24:40agrees that there has been no presidency
24:43since who has brought the caliber and
24:46character of individuals to government
24:48that Richard Nixon did I mean it it's
24:50just extraordinary that's true
24:54uh and that and that's not a partisan
24:57statement that's Republic Republicans Or
24:58democrats it was really an extraordinary
25:01time with an extraordinary group of
25:02people and two of those I had the
25:03privilege of working for as a White
25:05House fellow uh my husband bill was a
25:07White House fellow and Jeff Shepard was
25:09here who's White House fellas I had the
25:10privilege of working for John Erman and
25:12Ken Cole and um they are no long sorry I
25:15don't mean to cry but they're no longer
25:16with us but I think we all ought to
25:18recognize the wonderful job that they
25:20did and the commitment they had to uh
25:22the American good for you both of them
25:24absolutely u i was a very young staffer
25:27I was White House fell I was right out
25:28of law school and so in contrast to
25:30these guys I didn't see the President
25:31Nixon very much I think maybe I had five
25:33conversations within a 22mon period I
25:36stayed about 10 months o over my White
25:39House fellows year but my first five or
25:41six months I was in the staff
25:42Secretariat and therefore I saw every
25:45piece of paper that went into the
25:47president and then I moved over uh with
25:49Todd to the domestic policy Council so I
25:51saw it from a different perspective I.E
25:53developing the policy versus moving the
25:55paper into the president but from both
25:57of those perspectives I came to a
25:59conclusion that Richard Nixon was number
26:02one one of the most Progressive
26:03Republicans of his generation and number
26:06two that he really did
26:09believe in attempting to further a just
26:13Society in America and I think people
26:14don't focus on that they focus only on
26:16the foreign policy but Ed Cox and I were
26:19talking on the plane this morning about
26:21a law professor of Juris Prudence at
26:23Duke uh that the president had and what
26:25impact those discussions that the
26:28president had with this law professor
26:29about the elements of a just society and
26:31then you think about his Quaker
26:32background and the fact that his
26:34grandparents or great grandparents were
26:36part of the Underground Railroad and all
26:39of that I think had a major impact on
26:40them this was looking at it from an
26:42outsider and so I made a list and it's
26:43not a comprehensive list but I made a
26:45list of the domestic initiatives that I
26:47most remember and if you look at each
26:50one of them they are all parts of an
26:52element of a just society that enables
26:54you to to have empowerment to have
26:58choice to have opportunity and also to
27:00have protection for your citizens and
27:02some of these agencies which we created
27:03have gone a little overboard over time
27:06but nonetheless uh they were clearly
27:08needed when they were created and they
27:09still have important roles to play and I
27:11bet they're
27:12not 40 historians who even know that he
27:15did all this as Fred said the
27:17Environmental Protection Agency he
27:18created Arisha Arisa pension reform he
27:21laid the groundwork for OSHA the uh in
27:24the labor department uh protection for
27:26workers the first action plan and the
27:28construction trades the Philadelphia
27:30plan a welfare reform hr1 the family
27:33assistance plan negative income tax
27:35revenue sharing healthc care reform we
27:37may not like hmos now but boy when they
27:40were created they were revolutionary in
27:41the sense of of reforming Healthcare uh
27:44Health family health insurance plans
27:46Native American policy uh the National
27:48Endowment of the humanities the National
27:49Endowment of the Arts he implemented
27:51that that had been uh passed just before
27:53Johnson left office but it had not been
27:56implemented and he put a specific
27:57emphasis on participation in the Arts
28:00and Humanities by young people he was
28:01very worried I think that young people
28:03were not having a broad liberal arts
28:05education School desegregation in the
28:07South and Major increases in funding to
28:11historically back black colleges so
28:13people actually had a choice and black
28:15capitalism uh and then if you take a
28:17look at Native Americans and if you want
28:18me to I can talk about that now or I can
28:20wait more for Q&A whatever you'd
28:26like wanted to just one standpoint
28:29someone mentioned this morning about Ted
28:31Kennedy before he passed away on
28:33Healthcare was that you yeah one of the
28:36things he said I guess a few things he
28:37said was one of his biggest regrets is
28:39not supporting Nixon on Healthcare yeah
28:41and if had he we could have gotten that
28:43through the finance committee in and it
28:44wouldn't be the albatross we have now it
28:46wouldn't be the albatross but also you
28:48know the 18-year-old vote uh people
28:51forget that uh
28:53weft and we got rid of the draft at the
28:55time we were pulling in sever 100,000 a
28:58year into the draft and the 18-year-olds
29:01didn't have a vote and the rallying cry
29:02was old enough to fight old enough to
29:04vote uh so President Nixon established
29:07the 18-year-old vote he eliminated the
29:09draft and we have now the old volunteer
29:11Force which I think by any measures the
29:13greatest fighting force the world has
29:15ever known and has been for quite some
29:21time you know I are you done well I just
29:23one other thing going I think the
29:25thinking behind some of his policy both
29:27on foreign policy and domestic policy
29:29was Innovative thinking and there was an
29:31empathy throughout on the domestic
29:33policy that people don't talk about
29:37um this president was the one who
29:39indexed Social Security to inflation y
29:42well that was inflation was going at we
29:44are in a wartime economy and inflation
29:46was over 6% a year so it was really
29:49sucking dry the elderly in this country
29:51which relied very heavily at the time
29:53more so than now on social security so
29:55there are a number of things that he
29:57took from principle and drove into
29:59policy and drove into politics um even
30:03with both houses against us uh Barbara
30:05you were going to make a point well
30:06besides the women initiative consumerism
30:09came to the Forefront there and I he
30:11appointed me and and consumer product
30:13safety commission was one of the things
30:15that came into
30:16being absolutely yeah so that's just one
30:19more to add to your list Larry let's
30:22move a little bit just for a moment to
30:24sake on foreign policy well I think
30:26everybody we you hear the word Nixon you
30:29the next word is China and I I think
30:31that China will be remembered for a
30:33thousand years but in terms of real
30:35impact upon uh our society and upon the
30:38world I think you have to take a broader
30:40view than that uh first of all he had an
30:43incredible vision of the world overall
30:45where it was headed and the issues that
30:47you had to deal with and he put a lot of
30:50that together in what Henry Kissinger
30:51later later described as the linkage
30:53Theory understanding the common needs
30:56and how people operate and how countries
30:58interact with each other to really make
31:00something happen probably the biggest
31:02example of that that was really
31:04successful wasn't just China but one
31:06that nobody talks about which is the
31:08Strategic arms limitation agreement or
31:10assault talks as we like to call them
31:12then which was the first attempt and
31:15became successful in limiting nuclear
31:18weapons and limiting Warheads in the
31:21world and led to a complete change in
31:24terms of how the Soviet Union View
31:27viewed Us and how we viewed the Soviet
31:29Union and when you combine that with
31:32what he did in Europe plus what he did
31:35with China you have a complete
31:37reordering of the world and the template
31:41that God established there is how the
31:43world operates today and I think people
31:46say well Reagan ended the Cold War and
31:48on and on and on the fact of the matter
31:50is all this got changed because the
31:52direction got changed during the Nixon
31:54Administration so we could talk about
31:56forign policy all day and I'm not a
31:58foreign policy expert although I did go
32:00on all of his trips with him but I think
32:02just that reordering really sets a very
32:05different world today than what we have
32:07well it was also very important with the
32:09relationship that he had with Indira
32:10Gandhi and not only that but golden my
32:13ear those were I mean y Yan ker War I
32:16mean he even at the height of the
32:18problems with Watergate and stuff he he
32:20moved right in there to help go to my
32:22ear if you go to that room we have here
32:24with the great leaders that he's met I
32:25mean he was one of the Statesmen that
32:28was able to know all of the people from
32:30World War II when the time they came up
32:32all the way through till they came to Le
32:34leading countries and really what their
32:36point of view was and was able to deal
32:38with all of them on a totally different
32:39basis because he had known them for so
32:42long and interacted with them on so many
32:44things and and Larry makes a a great
32:46point about um the the original salt
32:48strategic arms limitation talks with the
32:51with the Soviet Union to reduce the
32:52level of warheads on each side I I was
32:55at a luncheon in in New York where Henry
32:57I mean in Washington where Henry
32:59Kissinger had a Q&A and he was talking
33:02about he was going up the next day to
33:04testify on
33:05the nuclear Rock reduction that Obama
33:08had put in place with M Mev and
33:13Kissinger's point was he supported this
33:15he thought it was a really good deal but
33:17the with the us today and with its
33:20relationship with Russia there was a
33:22virtually zero chance that they would go
33:24into conflict with each
33:25other back in the 1970s the probability
33:29was much higher that that first
33:32strategic arms limitation agreement was
33:36huge and it did order the psychological
33:38impact of the West and the East and it
33:42started a cascading going down of
33:45separating as potential military ad
33:47adversaries and then it ended up
33:49becoming into economic competitors a
33:51very very big change can we talk China
33:53for a minute sure that's a nice segue um
33:57I I'm and and this is going to be fast
34:00forward to show you how how current
34:03President Nixon was even when he was out
34:05of office I I think the China initiative
34:08is is the most stunning stroke of of
34:11foreign policy and now economic policy
34:13that I think I've ever seen that we will
34:15you're right in a thousand years this
34:17will still be talked about uh and and
34:20the relationship that that was built has
34:23continued to grow over 40 years through
34:27different administrations Democratic and
34:29Republican and it it's it's now one of
34:32the well it is the the most important
34:35bilateral relationship in the world and
34:37part of of the economic Fabric and peace
34:40for peace fabric that we have in the
34:43world today and just stunning he should
34:45be remembered for this fast forward 20
34:48years to
34:491992 I was Secretary of Commerce now
34:52while this relationship has grown there
34:55have been some hiccups along the way and
34:57one of them occurred in June of 1989 at
34:59tenanan Square when Chinese government
35:02cracked down forcibly on the Democracy
35:04wall
35:05movement one of the sanctions we placed
35:08eight sanctions on China after that and
35:10one of them prohibited highlevel people
35:12from talking to each other which meant
35:14that some wonderful thing called the US
35:16China Joint Commission on Commerce and
35:18trade uh which was a Commerce Secretary
35:20to Commerce Secretary thing couldn't
35:22function and it was building
35:25business President Bush lost the
35:27election in 92 and then he decided that
35:31I should go to China on a special
35:33mission to reconvene this entity that
35:36was more abund at that point and take
35:39away this sanction and give a gift in
35:41effect to the new
35:43Administration this was controversial
35:45this mission was going to be
35:47controversial there are people who
35:48really didn't like China a whole lot the
35:50politics were very different then than
35:51they are
35:53now well as I was about to go we threw
35:55this Mission together there appeared a
35:58lead story in the New York Times on the
36:00front page that called this trip a
36:03boondoggle well uh President Nixon saw
36:06that article he called me and he said
36:10seen the New York Times ignore it you're
36:14doing the right thing go that was
36:17reassuring then I asked him if he had
36:20any words of advice and he gave me a
36:24oneliner don't slobber over
36:30them a little rewind on China uh uh it
36:35was when you talk about Vision actually
36:37the thought of going to China occurred
36:39in
36:401970 and it took him almost two years to
36:44put that whole thing together and
36:46several times when uh Henry was
36:49supposedly going over to Paris to do
36:51peace talks he actually was was talking
36:54with the Chinese and I'll never forget
36:56the time he came into the office and
36:58said he had to see Bob for a minute and
37:00walked out and left I said he I I
37:02understand Henry's on his way once again
37:03to Paris and Bob said no he's going to
37:05China I said you got to be kidding me
37:09and he said you're one of four people
37:10who know it if anybody tells you're
37:12going to be in really big trouble but
37:14can you imagine the the difficulty of
37:15trying to get Henry Kissinger into
37:18Pakistan to go into China uh to begin
37:20these
37:21negotiations Dick Allen tells the story
37:23that the time that it took came out he
37:26walked back into the office and said to
37:28Dick gu said the president's going to go
37:30to China this guy's
37:32crazy Henry was the one that was crazy
37:35wait wait a minute we need you advance
37:37it say something about Ron Walker who
37:39who advanced yeah that trip when there
37:42was nothing there no communication
37:44activity no diplomatic relations why
37:46don't you tell a story about
37:49that well
37:52um Dwight could help me on that um
37:57it was probably the toughest advance I
38:00ever did I mean we arrived with a
38:02hundred men had no Embassy we took a
38:05Xerox in uh we took a suitcase satellite
38:08in that the Chinese could not fathom
38:10what it was like they wouldn't let us
38:12hook it up I had to drive for the first
38:15four days out to the c141 at the airport
38:18which is about an hour's drive to be
38:20able to talk to Dwight in the morning
38:22and in the
38:23evening um 4 days into this uh still
38:27trying to get the suitcase satellite we
38:29had a an incident at 1:00 in the morning
38:32one of the chief warrant officers in the
38:33communications came flying into my and
38:36he was an African-American and all I
38:37could see was his white t-shirt white
38:39pants and his white eyes and he said the
38:42hotel is on
38:44fire uh I got up and there was Smoke
38:46everywhere Mike schroth one of our other
38:49Advanced men was in the other room and I
38:51said Mike we got to get that suitcase
38:54satellite so I went running down the
38:56hall Hall and as I'm going down there
38:57are Chinese coming down and there's a
38:59water water hose are going down and
39:00water's coming out every one of these
39:01hoses I mean they hadn't move used that
39:03hose since the hotel was built so I got
39:06back got the suitcase satellite came
39:08back went to the fire escape to get out
39:11and the fire escape was
39:13chained I took the suitcase tore the
39:16door down and as we got into the hallway
39:19it was stored with chairs and tables and
39:21we had to work our way to try and get
39:23out of that hotel it started in one room
39:26it was one of the huge
39:27satellite uh you have to realize China
39:30had never the largest delegation they
39:33had ever had in their 25 years uh since
39:36the great March was one from Pakistan
39:39and there were 30 people in that and
39:41we're bringing 300 plus um but it was an
39:46interesting which hotel were you at
39:48Ron it was the hotel of the
39:51nationalities you own it now we we we
39:54have several Hotel ventures in China now
39:55and I go there fre
39:57and and and and in fact we have an
39:59association partnership with the B
40:00largest hotel company in China Jing Jang
40:03and and and this is where the
40:05celebratory did and I believe the the
40:07first treaty was signed in the Jing Jang
40:09cor but but the point I wanted to make
40:10is you go over there today and you talk
40:12to the Chinese people and you say you
40:14worked for Richard Nixon you're you're
40:15you're on a pedestal he is revered over
40:18there um fisha and U uh son and Ed Ed
40:22son Chris is running for the Congress in
40:25Long Island if he want to China and they
40:27had elections and he ran for us he'd be
40:28he he'd went in the last SL he'd be El
40:31Ron can I use that Ron can I use that as
40:33a segue to go back to domestic policy
40:36for a second talking about a place where
40:38President Nixon is revered and that is
40:41among uh the Native American the Pueblo
40:43Indians in Northern New Mexico uh no
40:47demographer can ever figure out why it
40:49is that there's this pocket Northern New
40:50Mexico and come Hecker high water they
40:53vot Republican every time and that is
40:54because of Richard Nixon and it goes
40:56back to also you talked about the Sal
40:58treaty and his focus on foreign policy
41:00but he also it seems to me had a a
41:03streak of stubbornness in him that if he
41:05thought something was right uh even if
41:07it was going to have an impact on
41:08something else he thought was important
41:10he would stick with it on a matter of
41:11principle and that goes back to Native
41:13Americans as well
41:15um the president had a a coach when he
41:18played I guess Ed said it was fourth
41:20string football at w here but they let
41:22him go in every once in a while for some
41:24plays and he had a coach named coach
41:25Newman who was Native American and in
41:28one of the few conversations I had with
41:30him he looked me in the eye and he said
41:32Bobby he said that coach should have
41:35been playing in the big should have been
41:36coaching in the big what do you call it
41:38I'm not a football person top 10 NFL
41:40whatever top 10 in the college and he
41:42couldn't because he was Native American
41:43he was discriminated against and that's
41:45wrong and he said and the policy that we
41:47have towards Native Americans is
41:49paternalistic and is wrong and is
41:50preventing them from having the
41:51opportunities everyone else had and I am
41:54going to do something about it and he
41:56did and I'll you know and it was in a
41:58way a variation of the new federalism
42:00and I'm going to go through that just
42:01very quickly but then I want to focus on
42:02Blue Lake which is something he's known
42:04for particularly and which affected
42:07foreign policy in some interesting ways
42:09but what the president basically said
42:11was that we wanted to have
42:12self-determination without termination
42:14that me without ending the special
42:16trustee ship relationship that we had uh
42:18that the Native American tribes have
42:20with the federal government but he
42:21wanted to be able to give people an
42:23opportunity without forcing them to be
42:25assimilated
42:26into the broader um angle Society if you
42:29will if they did not want to if they
42:31wanted to that was fine but he believed
42:32in self-determination he believed in the
42:34right and he put all this in legislation
42:36the right of Indians tribes to contract
42:38to control and operate Federal programs
42:40uh he was determined to do something
42:42about uh Indian education the average
42:45number of school years that an Indian
42:46child had in 1970 was six and they were
42:50dropping out two times the national
42:52average from high school he put in a
42:55number of proposals to to improve
42:56Economic Development uh both in urban
42:59Indians and in in tribal reservation
43:01entities he did a major Indian
43:03Healthcare initiative the average um
43:06death death Death age of Native American
43:09men and women was in 1970 44 years old
43:14he established an Indian Trust Council
43:15Authority which was very controversial
43:17and Jeff will remember this uh he
43:20believed that independent of the justice
43:22department and the Interior Department
43:24there was the Indians had the right to
43:25have independent legal representation
43:27when they were seeking to protect their
43:29natural resources rights and he
43:31eventually made a very major settlement
43:33that enabled us indeed to have oil come
43:35flowing from Alaskan Alaskan native land
43:37claims but I want to talk about Blue
43:39Lake Blue Lake was something that caught
43:41the president's attention and his uh
43:44determination and his spirit and his
43:46just emotion it was a s a lake sacred to
43:49the to the T poble people without which
43:52they could not practice their religion
43:53and they had 48,000 48,000 acres of land
43:56around it in a watershed uh that land
43:59had been taken from them unfairly and
44:00unjustly 64 years before and had been
44:02put in a national forest thank you very
44:04much uh and they desperately wanted it
44:06back the president said that land
44:09belongs to them they need to have it
44:11back there was absolutely no as there
44:14was with all the other measures of the
44:15Indian policy there was absolutely no
44:17political gain for him in doing any of
44:19this the western states didn't like the
44:20Indian message they didn't like the
44:22concept of turning anything back to the
44:23Native American people but he did it
44:25anyway because it was right one
44:27particular Senator Clinton Anderson this
44:29is in New Mexico by the way one
44:30particular Senator Clinton Anderson was
44:32very senior he was a Democrat he was on
44:34the Foreign Relations Committee and I
44:37was taking this message the day it was
44:39actually delivered was July 8th 1970 but
44:41I was taking it about two weeks before
44:43that to The Press Room to be released
44:46and I was literally tackled by a
44:47wonderful guy named Ken Balo who was uh
44:50head of the of the president's uh Senate
44:52legislative team and he literally pinned
44:55me against the wall says you cannot all
44:57the papers flew up in the air said you
44:59are not releasing that I said why why he
45:01said because uh Senator Anderson Clinton
45:04Anderson is going to vote against the
45:06ABM Treaty if this goes forward and I
45:08said you got to be kidding me he said
45:10I'm not kidding you and he turned around
45:12he kind of pushed me towards the Oval
45:13Office and he called up um in the
45:15outside office I don't know if that was
45:17where you were and he said to John Elman
45:18you better get down here and johnman
45:20went down there and I wasn't allowed to
45:21go in the Oval Office but John Erman and
45:23Kimo went in the Oval Office they turn
45:26Duran came back and John had this big
45:27smile on his face and Ken looked like
45:29he'd been hit with a ton of bricks and I
45:30said what happened he said the president
45:32said that Ken that Clinton Anderson can
45:36go we are going to have Blue Lake and he
45:39did and Clinton Anderson voted against
45:40the ABM Treaty but the president
45:42believed in this firmly it was the first
45:44time that a I guess those of you who
45:46know Congressional relations better than
45:48I do um in those days when a a committee
45:51voted on something that was it the
45:53Senate interior committee had voted
45:54against return to Blue Lake
45:56president looked at us and said go up
45:58there and turn that around and we did we
46:00overturned a senate committee which had
46:01never ever happened before uh and then
46:04it was a very interesting bipartisan
46:05Coalition I mean everybody says oh the
46:07President Nixon couldn't work with
46:09Democrats the Coalition was Richard
46:11Nixon Senator Fred Harris Democrat from
46:14Oklahoma his wife Lonna Harris a
46:16commanche Indian from Oklahoma and Ted
46:18Kennedy they were the oddest quartet I
46:21have ever seen but they were
46:23extraordinarily effective and and uh
46:27when we signed the bill uh on December
46:2915th 1970 again I was this young kid
46:31this was my first signing ceremony and
46:33the president sat um and this in the
46:35East room and he sat at the table and
46:37the kasiki who's the old religious
46:39leader must have been 96 years old at
46:41that point stood there next to the
46:42tribal secretary a guy named Paul Bernal
46:45and it was the ceremony and the Kiki
46:47would say maybe 10 words and then Paul
46:48would translate for about 10 minutes in
46:51English and the president was sitting
46:52there I went oh gosh I'm going to be
46:54fired I know this' and he just sat there
46:56and he looked he looked totally
46:58attentive and totally inspired and he
47:01signed the bill and we had lots of other
47:02present uh pleasantries and then he said
47:04walk with me and I thought you know he's
47:06never asked me to do that before so I
47:08started walking down the colonade and he
47:09said you know he said I'm really late
47:11for my next appointment I'm supposed to
47:12be at HUD and I have a thousand people
47:14waiting for me and I went I'm sorry he
47:16said no never be sorry he said that was
47:18the most wonderful ceremony I've ever
47:21participated in he said those people
47:23deserve to have the ability to celebrate
47:25and practice their religion and I am
47:28proud that our white has made that
47:29happen and I just was I mean I it was
47:33overwhelming and there's just an there's
47:35a humanism to Richard Nixon that I think
47:37people don't see and understand but he
47:39would stand up for what he believed was
47:40right I have a following to that
47:48because while uh while director of the
47:50National Park Service uh any number of
47:53Native Americans have since been brought
47:56into the the ranger ranks and Blue Lake
47:58was part of the UN United States Forest
48:00Service not the park service thank you
48:02I'm Sor but I've had uh any number there
48:05was one individual that was a fifth
48:06generation Cherokee John Cook who's now
48:09mayor of paig Arizona that when I became
48:13president of the foundation wrote me a
48:15note and said I want you to know I'm a
48:17Democrat but I think Richard nion did
48:20more for the Native American than any
48:21other president in the history of the
48:23country he
48:24did you know he also did a lot he he
48:27also pioneered in addition to women uh
48:29recruiting of Hispanics to high level
48:31positions in government um and and he
48:33was very successful uh I think the head
48:35of the SBA uh the one the one that I
48:38most poly remember is this one though uh
48:40he called me in one day and he said we
48:42need more women in of Hispanic his we
48:46need more people of Hispanic heritage
48:47and we need more women of Hispanic
48:49heritage this Administration here's an
48:51opening high level position at the
48:52Department of Treasury the treasury of
48:53the United States I want you to find
48:55find me a qualified woman yes sir so we
48:59went out and we went I got a couple of
49:01my recruiters together and we start uh
49:03looking for a qualified woman to be the
49:05treasury of the United States and lo and
49:08behold we found out that we had a woman
49:10named Ramona ban whis from from
49:13California right near here uh Ramona ban
49:16whis ran a big food company she had
49:18started she had built it up it was big
49:20it was maybe 10 12 million of of Reven
49:23but a very successful businesswoman who
49:25had built this business so uh we thought
49:28we had really struck gold and we had
49:31actually uh and we went in we
49:33recommended Rono Willers to the
49:34president and he and he nominated her uh
49:37this is a position that has to be
49:39confirmed well after that great Victory
49:41uh Marlin and I got in our car and we
49:42drove across country to Illinois to my
49:44brother's wedding on the way there
49:47unbeknownst to me state troopers all
49:48over the stage between Washington and
49:51illino looking for me and it's Bob Hall
49:53on the phone saying did you realize that
49:55they just ra her plant and they've got
49:56all these legal
49:59aliens well they were all they were all
50:02Democrats we
50:04thought well but nevertheless she was
50:07she was treasur and she did a good job
50:09really good job she in in in fairness
50:11here Bill maroto who's no longer with us
50:13was the minority recruiter and he was
50:16working on the Hispanic side I got into
50:18it but really I would credit um Mo and
50:22and Fred we have Roman Banuelos in our
50:25oral history uh series and I have to say
50:28something also about minorities and the
50:32whole women effort we really focused on
50:35on uh minorities as well Hispanic and
50:38African-American and and whatever else
50:40and we were fairly successful on that
50:43too which I think is sort of escapes uh
50:46escapes recognition and well one of the
50:49most prominent African-Americans was Bob
50:51Brown well who was just elected to the
50:53Nixon Center board you just tying all
50:56that together I mean with Fred did and
50:57Barbara and all the recruiting and stuff
50:59there was a real different feeling in
51:01the country than Executives who were
51:04making a ton of money would leave and
51:06come and serve oh good point people I
51:09mean I'll never forget uh when I the
51:11first week we were in the white house we
51:12were setting up the White House staff
51:14well you know these people do have to be
51:15paid something you know it's not cheap
51:17to live in Washington DC and I I was
51:20absolutely struck by how many top level
51:23people like Bob halman Henry Kissinger
51:26and these guys that were in the White
51:27House staff were were making $228,000 a
51:30year that was their salary now the most
51:33they ever made the whole time they were
51:34there was $42,000 a year that was the
51:36high Watermark so you can imagine all of
51:39the people who came who made less than
51:41that but they came to serve and I think
51:44it was because the president really had
51:45put a culture together that suggested
51:48service to this country this country
51:50being great when you see the the the as
51:53you walk in out here in the exhibits
51:54sing God Bless America there was a
51:56genuine feeling that he' created like
51:59that service of service we've lost we've
52:01lost some of that and and the other the
52:04other thing that was in play there and
52:06and why what he did to advance women
52:09created this climate in which a bunch of
52:10other things happen like Title 9 the
52:13equal employment opportunity commission
52:14got got more power and you could name a
52:17whole series of things uh government was
52:20a model then and a model that states
52:23wanted to follow and that the private
52:25sector wanted to emulate somehow um and
52:29I give him credit but somehow we've lost
52:31that in this country and I think well I
52:34think we can blame part of the
52:35confirmation process on that too I mean
52:37and we were able to get a number of
52:39people came into the cabinet sub cabinet
52:41that Fred recruited that were going to
52:43make 10 and 15% from the government
52:46salaries what they were in private with
52:47law firms and companies and they took
52:49that sacrifice to come in and serve and
52:51they got confirmed and they served and
52:53nowadays the confirmation process
52:55process is so difficult and ugly and if
52:57you're an executive or a lawyer or some
53:00like coming in that you get really
53:01hammered well and also very
53:04expensive just say no also you can't
53:06make a living when you leave right
53:08because everything that you can't do
53:10this process just a financial uh I mean
53:13it's a thousands of dollars for some of
53:15these individuals just to do the
53:16paperwork for it's just I talked to
53:19somebody who took a senior job economic
53:21job in in the Bush Administration who's
53:23a prominent a prominent Finance here uh
53:26he took the job eventually he spent over
53:28a million dollars of legal fees getting
53:30all the papers in order do everything he
53:32had to do in order to take that job but
53:34by the way you remember we had very few
53:37turndowns very few people we offer jobs
53:39to take 10% or 15% what they were making
53:42very few people turned this down I would
53:43bet you we I bet you three out of four
53:45accepted when we made them an offer well
53:47there was there was a different
53:49ethic given the tone that was in the
53:51country at the time which was hostile
53:52and we were in a war and we were having
53:54raal problems and crime rates and high
53:56inflation to have those kinds of people
53:59not say no but come and serve I mean it
54:01was really it was a patriotic thing to
54:03do and there was an honor to it now it's
54:06they didn't leave and turn around and
54:07immediately write a book either right
54:09yeah well no no that ethic has changed
54:11too I know we've got about five more
54:13minutes and I'd like to take uh that
54:15five minutes and have each of
54:17you uh in your own way uh how
54:21should president Richard Nixon be
54:23remembered Tod with you well should I
54:27think there's we have a lot of work to
54:28do um but clearly China and the salt
54:31talks on the foreign side I think are
54:33going to be preeminent I think legacies
54:36are things that um presidents
54:39presidential legacies are things that
54:40presidents do that lasts for
54:43generations and I think uh I was
54:47recently talking at this forum here with
54:49uh Bill ruckles house and I think on the
54:51environmental side bill made the comment
54:53who was a first director of EPA
54:55uh made the comment that uh Richard
54:59Nixon environmental policies touched
55:00every American and improved their lives
55:03forever that's a very big deal powerful
55:06so it's it's very powerful and I think
55:09when you combine the things he did on
55:10the minorities for black colleges uh and
55:14for so senior citizens the whole his
55:17empathetic work on and changing policies
55:20to work for those disadvantaged I think
55:23that's where he should get credit and we
55:25have as a foundation and those who have
55:28served need to work on that because
55:30that's getting put aside I think now
55:32that we've 40 years after this and the
55:34hysteria of is down even though the
55:37country is more divided right and left
55:39than before um we have a chance to to
55:42lower the tone and look at the substance
55:44and I think uh on the Environ he was
55:46Innovative on healthc care his healthc
55:49care bill was really Sensational his
55:52welfare bill was one that had work
55:56incentives and didn't penalize work and
55:58helped the Working Poor set a national
56:00income floor um got it through the house
56:02did not get it through the Senate um it
56:05later became law under Bill Clinton uh
56:08with a republican Congress by the way
56:09it's so um he's his Innovation he set
56:13the mark that other presidents and other
56:16administrations accomplished but he did
56:19the thought process and he and his team
56:21put together some really Innovative
56:23far-reaching longlasting things that
56:25made this country better on the well
56:27stated I I can't really improve on that
56:30but I'd like to see his his vision in in
56:34a number of Arenas both the domestic and
56:37I mean the women thing is just a piece
56:39of that but the foreign policy piece
56:41also the the vision and then the
56:43implementation the execution of actions
56:47that that made the vision a reality and
56:50we're just we haven't seen quite the
56:52likes of that since and I'd like to see
56:56all of that recognized plus I think the
56:58the empathetic side which has come out
57:01here as as we've been been talking here
57:04I think all of these things need to come
57:06to the the
57:08four Larry uh well I think they've all
57:10said it very well I I I guess from my
57:12standpoint I think one thing we forget
57:14this was a bipartisan president he had a
57:16democratic Congress practically the
57:18whole time he was here yet he passed
57:20amazing amounts of legislation got the
57:22country through a war and success y
57:25concluded it and did a number of things
57:27on the foreign policy scale that'll last
57:29for a lifetime I thought one of the most
57:31interesting sort of picking up on the
57:33theme of bipartisan that I heard was
57:35when Bill Clinton was out here and
57:37actually gave one of the eulogies at the
57:39president's funeral and he talked about
57:41I think the quote was I won't get it
57:42exactly right but it's time that the
57:45American people re realize the fullness
57:47of his contribution and all that he made
57:50and I think as as the ranker of his life
57:53is what he the the ranker of of uh of
57:56the 60s and priet anti-vietnam all this
58:00sort of stuff sort of goes by and people
58:02begin to take a much more scholarly and
58:04objective look uh at his presidency and
58:07at his life I think you're going to find
58:09one of the truly extraordinary people
58:11that ever walk this Earth if I might
58:13insert just in what you said on Vietnam
58:16um as I mentioned earlier there were
58:17550,000
58:18troops at the time he took
58:21office in May 1972 there were
58:2670,000 that's a massive deescalation all
58:29combat elements had had uh ended Richard
58:32Cohen from Washington Post columnist
58:34wrote a column a few weeks ago where he
58:36talked about you know Nixon massively
58:38de-escalated ended combat operations and
58:41did all these different things on
58:42Vietnam and where were all the
58:44protesters outside you know uh talking
58:46about his magnificent peace efforts no
58:49they were still anti-war but he made
58:51amazing progress in what we called then
58:53Vietnamization which which is what
58:55basically is happening in Iraq and
58:57eventually at some point will happen in
58:59Afghanistan Bobby um back on the
59:02domestic side um a progressive innovator
59:05who furthered the concept of a just
59:07Society well stated good it's hard to
59:11add to all of that but let me try he
59:14dealt with the Democratic Congress he
59:16was one of the most intelligent
59:18Visionary men women we've ever had in
59:22office but he de with the Democrat
59:25Congress and he got all these things
59:26done he wasn't what you would call a
59:29hail fellow well-met people person he
59:32was a serious serious guy but yet
59:36somehow or another he was able to bring
59:38people of both parties senators and
59:39Congressman of both parties together and
59:41Forge consensus and get things done it
59:44doesn't just happen you can't just
59:46dictate when you're in the Oval Office
59:48you need to build consensus and he was
59:50able to do it and it was a great model
59:53for what I think president
59:55Chief Executives could learn a lot from
59:58he did not grandstand and when you don't
1:00:00grandstand you can get things done
1:00:03president Administration should maybe
1:00:04learn in the 72 reelection after after
1:00:06the after the after the squeak after the
1:00:09squeak through
1:00:14yeah you know after the very close
1:00:16election in 68 please remember the 72
1:00:19election was one of the greatest
1:00:20landsides in presidential history so um
1:00:23in terms real progress had been made in
1:00:25the American public noticed we need to
1:00:28do that again ladies and gentlemen it's
1:00:30one more notch in the lick Nixon legacy
1:00:32and if we can get this message out maybe
1:00:36one
1:00:37day he'll be appreciated like we do God
1:00:40bless you and thank you
1:00:53panel
1:01:04h

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