The Presidents: Carter, Reagan, & Bush Sr.

> WE CONTINUE TO FACE A GRAVE SITUATION IN IRAN WHERE OUR EMBASSY HAS BEEN SEIZED AND MORE THAN 60 AMERICAN CITIZENS CONTINUE TO BE HELD AS HOSTAGES.

MR. GORBACHEV, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL.

READ MY LIPS -- NO NEW TAXES.

DEFINING MOMENTS IN THE PRESIDENCIES OF JIMMY CARTER, RONALD REAGAN, AND GEORGE H.W.

BUSH.

THIS WEEK, THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SPECIAL SERIES 'THE PRESIDENTS', CONTINUES ITS EXPLORATION OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY WITH A LOOK AT THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS THAT THESE THREE AMERICAN LEADERS FACED WHILE IN OFFICE.

AND JOINING ME ONCE AGAIN TO GIVE HIS INSIGHTS ON THIS RECENT PRESIDENTIAL HIS TORY IS TIM NAFTALI, THE FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE RICHARD NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM.

WELCOME BACK.

THANK YOU.

LET'S GET RIGHT TO IT.

JIMMY CARTER.

ACCORDING TO CONVENTIONAL WISDOM, HE WAS AT BEST A MEDIOCRE PRESIDENT WHO BECAME A GREAT POST PRESIDENT.

H IS CONVENTIONAL WISDOM RIGHT?

I THINK THAT JIMMY CARTER IF YOU ASKED HIM WOULD AGREE THE PRESIDENCY WAS NOT HIS GREATEST MOMENT.

I DON'T THINK THAT HISTORIANS HAVE CHANGED THEIR VIEW.

WHAT HISTORIANS HAVE FOUND IS THAT JIMMY CARTER WAS PRESIDENT AT A VERY, VERY TOUGH TIME IN WORLD HISTORY AND ECONOMIC HISTORY AND THAT THE TOOLS THAT MANY PRESIDENTS HAVE BROUGHT TO THE OFFICE AND JIMMY CARTER BROUGHT TO THE OFFICE WERE INSUFFICIENT FOR DEALING WITH THESE NEW CHALLENGES.

I THINK HISTORIANS WOULD BE SOFTER ON HIM, BUT NO ONE DESCRIBES --

WHAT WERE THE CRISES HE HAD TO DEAL WITH?

HE HAD TO DEAL WITH HIGH INFLATION.

HE HAD TO DEAL WITH THE FACT THAT YOU HAD THE BEGINNINGS OF ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM AND YOU HAD AN ANTI- -- IN IRAN, THE CONSEQUENCES OF WHICH WE'RE STILL DEALING WITH TODAY.

YOU TOLD ME WHO IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE MATTERS.

YOU'RE NOT SAYING THE CRISES CARTER FACED NOBODY COULD HAVE HANDLED BETTER THAN HE.

PEOPLE FORGET JIMMY CARTER ORDERED THE HOSTAGE RESCUE ATTEMPT.

HE PUT HIS CAREER AND HIS PRESIDENCY ON THE LINE TO RESCUE THE HOSTAGES.

IT FAILED, BUT THERE'S NO EVIDENCE THAT JIMMY CARTER SAID, BY THE WAY, DON'T HAVE AN EXTRA HELICOPTER.

SO, THE QUESTION IS, WOULD ANY PRESIDENT HAVE MANAGED THE RESCUE OPERATION BETTER?

IT'S HARD TO ARGUE THAT.

PRESIDENT OBAMA YEARS LATER WOULD HAND IT WILL ATTEMPT AND ULTIMATELY SUCCESSFUL KILLING OF BIN LADEN BETTER BECAUSE OF THE EXPERIENCE JIMMY CARTER HAD IN 1980.

YOU SAID ABOUT JIMMY CARTER THAT HE WAS UNABLE TO CONNECT WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

WELL, THE PERSON WHO BEAT HIM BADLY AND WHO SUCCEEDED HIM, RONALD REAGAN, CLEARLY HAD THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, BUT I REMEMBER THE 1980 ELECTION.

DEMOCRATS WERE GIDDY THAT HE WAS RUNNING.

HOW COME THEY MISSED THE FACT THAT HE WAS CONNECTING WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?

THERE ARE TRAN SEN DENT FIGURES IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

RONALD REAGAN WAS ONE SO MUCH CHARACTER, ONE SUCH FIGURE IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

HONESTLY, IT'S HARD TO KNOW AT THE TIME, BUT THOSE WHO REMEMBER THAT ERA WILL KNOW THAT THE MIDDLE POINT IN OUR POLITICS ON THE SPECTRUM SHIFTED RIGHT.

RONALD REAGAN JUST CHANGED THE WAY WE THOUGHT ABOUT POLITICS.

I THINK THAT REAGAN IS BEST UNDERSTOOD AS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSE OF ANY AMERICAN'S HEAD AFTER THE DEFEATS OF VIETNAM, WATERGATE, AND THE AWFUL ECONOMIC EXPERIENCE OF THE 19 70s.

RONALD REAGAN SAID, LET'S BE OPTIMISTIC.

OUR BEST DAYS ARE AHEAD OF US.

AND AMERICANS NEEDED TO HEAR THAT.

WAS IT JUST THE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE OR WAS IT THE ECONOMY AND COLD WAR?

THE BIOGRAPHY, THE 'AMERICAN EXPERIENCE' BIOGRAPHY ARGUES, AND HISTORIANS AGREE THAT RONALD REAGAN WAS MUCH MORE IDEOLOGICAL IN HIS RHETORIC THAN ACTIONS.

HE WAS QUITE PRAGMATIC.

HE RAISED TAXES.

CALLED IT REVENUE ENHANCEMENT.

HE SHIFTED THE VIEW OF THE SOVIET UNION.

HE CALLS THEM THE EVIL EMPIRE.

BY THE END OF HIS SECOND TERM, HE NOT ONLY THINKS HE CAN WORK WITH GORBACHEV BUT IS SIGNING AGREEMENTS WITH GORBACHEV THAT ARE SHAPING THE NATURE, CHANGING THE NATURE OF THE COLD WAR AND ENDING IT.

YOU GIVE HIM CREDIT FOR BEING ONE OF THE KEY PLAYERS.

ENORMOUS.

ONE OF THE THINGS YOU LOOK FOR I BELIEVE IN A PRESIDENT IS THE ABILITY TO LEARN FROM DATA.

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE PRESIDENT UNTIL YOU'RE PRESIDENT.

IT'S A CLICHE, BUT SOME CLICHES ARE CLICHES BECAUSE THEY'RE REAL.

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, YOU WROTE A BIOGRAPHY OF HIM AND CONSIDER HIM ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE PRESIDENTS.

WHY?

THE 1988 CAMPAIGN WAS UGLY AND TERRIBLE.

ONCE IN OFFICE, GEORGE H.W.

BUSH'S COMBINATION OF PRUDENCE AND DEEP FOREIGN POLICY UNDERSTANDING WAS EXACTLY WHAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NEEDED IN THAT MOMENT.

YOU NEED ED A PRESIDENT WHO WOUD IN THE TAKE A VICTORY LAP AS GORBACHEV'S EMPIRE WAS DISSOLVING.

YOU NEEDED A LEADER TO TAKE HIM BY THE HAND AND LEAD HIM INTO A NEW WORLD.

HE DIDN'T MAKE A BIG DEAL OFF THE FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION BECAUSE HE WANTED TO PROTECT GORBACHEV.

YES.

HE FELT GORBACHEV WAS OUR BEST HOPE AT A POST COLD WAR WORLD, AND THE BEST EVIDENCE OF THAT WAS THE WAY IN WHICH HE WORKED WITH GORBACHEV TO COME OUT AGAINST SADDAM HUSSEIN.

IMAGINE A FORMER SOVIET ALLY WOULD BE ATTACKED BY THE SOVIET UNION POLITICALLY, AND IT HAPPENS BECAUSE PRESIDENT BUSH CONVINCED GORBACHEV THE WORLD NEEDED TO CONSTRAIN DICTATOR WHO IS WANTED TO CHANGE BORDERS THROUGH FORCE.

SOME OF THE OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE IN 1988.

HE SAID, READ MY LIPS, NO NEW TAXES, AND HE DID THAT BECAUSE OF CONSERVATIVES.

HE SEES THE DATA AND REALIZES HE HAS TO BECAUSE OF THE STATE OF THE BUDGET ECONOMY.

THE BUDGET WAS HURTING US.

HE BREAKS HIS PROMISE.

HE THOUGHT HE HAD A BIPARTISAN DEAL, BUT WHAT HAPPENS IS HIS OWN REPUBLICANS TURN AGAINST HIM.

NEWT GINGRICH.

SO HE HAS TO NEGOTIATE JUST WITH DEMOCRATS.

HE AGREES TO --

AGREES TO DO IT, BUT NEVER, EVER ESCAPES THE POLITICAL PRICE.

HE AGREED TO DO IT AND YOU CREDIT HIM WITH REVIVING, HIM AND BILL CLINTON WITH REVIVING THE ECONOMY, NOT RONALD REAGAN.

RONALD REAGAN SUPPLY SIDE ECONOMICS DIDN'T WORK.

GEORGE BUSH AND BILL CLINTON, BOTH ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE 1990s.

IN THE LAST 30 SECONDS, WHAT SHOULD VOTERS BE LOOKING FOR, LOOKING AT WITH THE CANDIDATES AS THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION GETS UNDER WAY?

BEING PRESIDENT IS AN ENORMOUSLY DIFFICULT JOB.

IT IS IN FACT THE MOST DIFFICULT JOB IN THE WORLD, BECAUSE YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF THE BIGGEST ECONOMY, THE BIGGEST GROWING ECONOMY, AND YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL MILITARY.

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, BECAUSE OF OUR CONSTITUTION IS HEAD OF STATE, HEAD OF GOVERNMENT, AND ALSO COMMANDER IN CHIEF.

THOSE THREE JOBS GENERALLY ARE NOT IN THE SAME PERSON IN A DEMOCRACY, BUT THEY ARE IN OURS.

YOUR DECISION ABOUT WHO'S PRESIDENT IS A DECISION ABOUT WHO HAS THE JUDGMENT, THE ABILITY TO DO THAT JOB.

WHO CAN LEARN IN OFFICE?

WHO CAN RESPOND?

WHO IS FLEXIBLE -- INTELLECTUALLY FLEXIBLE AND CURIOUS ENOUGH TO RESPOND TO THE WORLD AS IT IS, NOT THE WORLD AS THEY THINK IT SHOULD BE?

ALL RIGHT.

WELL, TIM, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

WE'LL INVITE YOU BACK AS THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DOES CONTINUE.

THANK YOU.

IT'S BEEN MY PLEASURE.