 Hi, how are you? Can't come to meet you, they got me already wired. Hey, how are you? I'm fashionable lately to compare you with Franklin Roosevelt as president. This was a man who had some influence on your own life when you were a young man. Can you tell us a little bit about what it is about the way he conducted his presidency that appealed to you then and that perhaps you have tried to emulate in your own presidency? Well, of course, my first vote in 1932 was for him, but I must confess came from a family that had always declared themselves Democrats, so it was kind of natural. But then I think that it was, you'd have to have lived in the Great Depression to understand how different that was than any recession we've ever known since. The Great Depression was one in which even some of the most prominent business people were declaring that our system had failed, that maybe free enterprise was not the answer and so forth. And there were no prepared programs for, well, like in my own hometown of around 10,000 people, suddenly 2,000 people in one factory, a cement plant, not a factory, but an industry cement plant, just without any warning whatsoever. One night we're told don't come to work in the morning, the mill is closed, and suddenly 2,000 families and there they are. And there just were no provisions for dealing with that. And he came in and from his first words, which I think did so much for the country when in his inaugural address he said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And you came away feeling, yes, we are going to do something about this. And so there was quite a great leadership, but I can't answer this just that way without also saying something else. My now being a republic does not mean a great change in philosophy. Most people have forgotten that Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran on a platform of reducing the cost of government by 25 percent of eliminating useless boards and commissions and of restoring to states and local communities the autonomy and authority that had been, as he said, unjustly seized by the federal government. Well today that would kind of fit our platform, not the Democrat platform. But there was something textural, wasn't there, about his leadership that he conveyed to the American people? Oh yes, well you know about the fireside chats, it was radio then not television. I guess to this day he became the most popular program on radio. No other show quite equalled his audience ratings. And he was on frequently, he took his case constantly to the people. Do you think you have the same ability to communicate with people that he does? I wouldn't know how to rate that and I'd be embarrassed to try. As I say there's very facts, the figures that show on his, the reception of the people to him on his radio programs. No, I just, I believe in talking to the people and I believe in taking the big issues to the people. I've always believed what Thomas Jefferson said was true, that the American people, if they know all the facts, will never make a mistake. The only problem is too often they don't get all the facts. You have according to the polls, you are immensely popular according to the polls at an all-time high right now, which indicates that you have a particular affinity with the American people and you seem to talk about the American people as if you have a special relationship with them. Do you think you have a special relationship? Well, I know one thing. I like them. I like people. And I think they're deserving of that. I think the country out there is full of heroes. A lot of fellows that are just getting up and going to work in the morning and bringing the paycheck home to the kids. Maybe it goes back to a small town beginning in which you were known and you were aware of how people rallied around whenever there was a need. And then another plus that I would repeat if I had it to do over again, I went to a quite small college. And in a small college, there's no way you can be anonymous. The college needs everyone's help if they're going to have anything from a glee club to a student body, senate to athletic teams, whatever. And so many students that had never tried before find that they're literally pulled into extracurricular activities and discover new facets about themselves that they didn't know. And, well, as I say, I don't think even like is enough of a word. I love people. The polls, again, referring to the latest figures show that between a quarter to, excuse me, two-thirds to three-quarters of the people approve of the way you're doing your job. The flip side of that, though, is that somewhere between a third and a quarter of the people don't approve of the job you're doing. And they seem to be skewed towards the lower socioeconomic group. Does that bother you? And is there a way that you want to redress that? Yes, it does bother me. And I recognize that there has to be a number of people who legitimately disagree with my approach to things and would do it another way. But that thing you just mentioned about at the lower end of the scale, I think there is, again, a lack of those facts that Jefferson spoke about. They have been told over and over again with a drumbeat of propaganda that I have, my system and my way of doing things is taking away from the poor the things that they need. And that isn't true. We're spending more today on nutrition than has ever been spent. The bulk of the cuts that have been made in any of the so-called social programs were cuts in overhead, in administrative waste and some fraud, the fact that there are people that, well, as Milton Friedman described it, he said if you start paying people to be poor, there could be a lot of poor people. But any of these, the farm problem right today, we're spending more than has ever been spent on them. So I think that there has been this, I see it all the time, these stories, constant references, and it's immediately described, well, this problem is due to the fact of the President's budget cuts. I didn't get the budget cuts. What we really tried to do was cut to reduce the rate of increase in spending. But even so, from 1982 through 86, in domestic spending, the Congress, had they passed the programs that I asked for in 1981, the cumulative deficit for those few years would be $207 billion less than it is. And the only thing they've been willing to cut is defense spending. And that they've cut $64 billion. But $64 billion, and that is offset by a considerable amount that they increased over and above what I think was treating real need. Mr. President, you mentioned a minute ago that you love people, but love is not always requited. Why do people love you? Why do people look at you and get a certain feeling of confidence or of warmth? Well, I don't know, this is hard for me to answer or talk about. As I said, I came from a small town, a small college, and then I certainly have never abandoned my roots. I shoved them behind me and pretended I came from someplace else. We were poor when I was young, but the difference then was the government didn't keep coming around telling you you were poor, so we didn't know that. And you could always find somebody that was worse off than you were. My mother, God rest her soul, was the kindest God-loving person I have ever known, and my mother was always finding some family or someone that needed help and that we could help, and yet we were poor. But that, I had to work my way through school and did, and I think back of all the... Instead of boasting about I myself, maybe I know, when I think back of all the places along the line where somebody stepped out of line and helped, and it has always been that way. The kindness of people and the people that led a hand at a time when you needed a hand, and they weren't necessarily relatives or very close. When I got out of school in the depths of the Depression, a successful man gave me some of the best advice I've ever gotten about getting a job. And during that period, the federal government was putting radio commercials on the air, urging people not to leave home looking for a job, because there were not. And I left home looking for a job and taking that man's advice and wound up as a sports announcer in radio. A year ago, sir, it was... A lot of people talked about how long it was going to take before you became a lame duck. And here we are a year later, and you don't hear much talk about lame duckery much anymore with a tax reform bill going through. How are you doing this? How do you avoid lame duckery? How do you plan to continue to avoid that as you go through your term? Well, I've been there before as a governor, and I found out, looking back on it, too, that my second term there, we got some of the biggest things in all the years that I was governor. And I think that there is more delay when you start before you can get into the swing of things and begin to get things accomplished, and you just keep going in that second term. California, while I was governor, we put into effect the most comprehensive reform of welfare that I believe has ever been attempted in this country. And we did it all in the second term when I was supposed to be a lame duck. To what extent has your show business experience helped you in communicating with people? And you've got a reputation of being able to read a crowd instantly to walk into a room and see exactly what... Well, you can't deny that, yes, everybody, whatever person's profession or trade is, has a certain effect on them and certain things that advantages they have in certain areas, not in others, and yes, the very soul of show business is communicating. There's an old rule in Hollywood that when your face is up there in the screen and a close-up, if you don't believe the line you're speaking, the audience will know it and they won't believe it either. And it's been true. And since you mentioned that, and this goes along with the previous question also, speaking of those people that help, in that golden era of Hollywood, there I arrived under contract to a studio, a sports announcer, and suddenly, well, I'm shoved into a picture and in the leading role. It wasn't the greatest picture in the world. It was what they called the B's in those days that was for the second run on the double feature, but a whole new world. But you'd be surprised with all the people may think about performers. I look back there and the big heart of show business, the stars, the people who'd really made it and were big, would go out of their way with pointers and to help. And I remember there was a table in the corner of the commissary. It was kind of a special table. It was known as that corner table because of the little group, Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien and a couple of great directors and people like that that usually had lunch there together. And I suppose maybe it was because of my background in sports and they were all lovers of sports or something, but the first thing, you know, I found myself as a regular at that corner table. And then when it came your turn, as you progressed, you just had been indoctrinated that you went out of your way to help somebody that was new and struggling and just getting a start. How do you want to be remembered? It's a question you've been asked before, but I'd like to ask it again. How do you want history to remember Ronald Reagan as president? Well, I hope they'll spell my name right. But I've been asked that question a lot and it's a very difficult question to answer because I haven't given that any thought. I haven't sat here saying I'm aiming at history or anything, but I once answered that question with regard to what someone had asked about what would I want to see in my tombstone and I guess I'd be satisfied if they just said he did what he said he would. He did what he said he would do. A couple of your predecessors didn't particularly take advantage of some of the opportunities that the presidency affords them. We don't need to name any names. But what is it that you've learned from the last ten years, say, of the way this office has been conducted that allows you to keep your eye on the horizon and see above the hubbub, shall we say? Well, maybe some people have become president and I've never thought of it as that way. The presidency is an institution over which you're given temporary control or possession and there are things about the institution that you have no right to change. I know some with the utmost of sincerity and have wanted to do away with a perk or playing of the hail to the chief or whatever it might be. I don't think whoever sits here has a right to do away with those things that belong to the institution. So I'm not going to sell Camp David. And you would have kept the sick lawyer. Yes, even though I prefer horses to boats. Can I ask you one question about this campaign you have been conducting in recent months, putting yourself more and more with young people? There's been a pattern since the middle of May with the Rose Garden ceremony, of course, Glassboro with a high school graduation. Why do you feel this desire, what is it about being with children, not just children but young adults, answering their questions as opposed to other groups that appeals to you so much? I don't know. If you really do like or love people, it's awfully easy to like those young people out there that are so fresh and eager and so ready to go and so unspoiled by things. I do. I get a great kick out of that. There's some other things in this job also along with that, that if you don't ignore them or let anyone else ignore them for you like keeping them away from you, particular letters for someone who finally has resorted to writing to you because they think all else has failed and then to be able to solve their problem and get something done is I think one of the great rewards that this job has to offer. To use the power of the presidency to transcend all this bureaucracy and get through and help someone, that's something that really appeals to you. How do those letters get through here though? There's a special code, I understand, that gets mailed into you. Yes, we can do that with people that regularly correspond and so forth. Otherwise, there's about a half a million a month and there is a department over there and incidentally with all the talk of bureaucracy. It is a department that handles the mail and the bulk of the people doing that work are volunteers who come in as if they were employed and work a full day and every day ending this mail. But the young lady who is in charge, Ann Higgins, she sends me every once in a while a packet that she calls a sample and says, I don't have to deal with them, just wants me to see them and usually I answer most or all of them myself. Because she has picked out that kind of letter and it says, I only once in my life as an actor did something or almost did something for which I would. It was, my father was an invalid and couldn't work. He died later of the heart condition that he was bothered with. But I knew that he was bothered by having to depend on me. So he and my mother, and I asked him one day how he'd like to pick up the mail and handle the routine things like that for me and make it a job and get him a secretary's pass at the studio. Well, he jumped at it. And one day he brought me a letter and it was from a young lady who said she was dying and all she wanted was a picture of me. I said, well, it made me kind of mad the way she, I said, wait a minute. Somebody who's dying doesn't do something like that. I just thought this is a phony. Now I've never reacted to things like that except it was just maybe the way the letter was written. And I told my father, I said, oh, you know, that's a phony and I'd forget it. My father persuaded me that, well, just in case, so I did. I inscribed the picture and so forth in the best regards and all of that and signed it and sent it. Two weeks later, I received a letter from a nurse in the hospital that told me that the girl who'd written the letter had died holding my picture in her hands and she wanted me to know how happy I'd made her. And if you think I didn't learn a lifetime lesson there that never again will I feel that impatient or come that close to saying no to anyone. But that story is an exception to your general perfect intuition about events and people. Well, it was, as I say, whether it was my mood that day or what, I don't recall ever having another situation like it, or whether that the letter, it just smacked of, that it was a phony, that someone was inventing a story of at death's door and so forth, thinking that, I guess that's what it is, that they would think that they had to do that in order to get a photo. And for heaven's sakes, it was for real. Oh, yes. I know you've read and thought about this, but you've been called an intuitive leader and manager. How much of your success do you think is due to something you were born with and how much is something that you learned along the way? I think learned along the way, but also it isn't all that just being psychic and getting something out of the air. I have surrounded myself with people that I trust and believe in. When I became governor of California and never in my life had I ever thought or thought that I would serve and want to be in public office and my first instructions there to the cabinet to all those others was that any issue that came up, I did not want to hear the political ramifications. I only wanted to hear, is it good or bad for the people? And I've repeated the same thing here. That all came from when I was president of the Screen Actors Guild and in a very trying time. And I discovered that many times I could stand up and speak to the assembled actors in a mass meeting and so forth and they'd accept my word and do something. And it bothered me. I thought, you know, how do I know I'm making the right decision that affects the lives of all of these people? And I wasn't sleeping very well. And finally I just said, what I have to do is in my mind look at the entire thing and decide what I honestly feel is the best for them. If I make a mistake, it's a mistake, but do that. So I took that into the governor's office and I've taken it into this one. And this is what we do. I hear every side and all this rumors and talk about friction in the executive branch. No, that's exactly what I've asked for. I want to hear that person that disagrees with this and that. And finally it's like a board of directors meeting except we don't take a vote. When it's over and sometimes not then I come in here and then on the basis of all I've heard and if I haven't heard enough I'll go back and say we'll discuss it some more and then I make the decision based on what I believe is honestly, morally right for the people. First of all, thank you very much. You and I can get up easily. Yeah. You have the feeling that you're doing the right thing or something.