Working for a Cowboy President - with Special Guest John Peschong

Sam visits with who he calls his most elusive guest, John Peschong.  John is a Supervisor for San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors in California.  Sam and John were business partners for 16 years before Sam retired.  

John worked for President Ronald Reagan during his 2nd term.  He talks about the experiences working every Saturday with the President in the Oval Office and at Camp  David.   

Transcript

Working for a Cowboy President with John Peschong v2
Wed, Dec 06, 2023 9:47AM • 47:16
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
ronald reagan, president, people, california, cowboys, work, reagan, big, give, oval office, white house, call, eggheads, story, radio, parr, speech, number, county, day
SPEAKERS
Sam Fischer, Intro

Intro  00:00
Welcome to cowboys, not eggheads home of the brave, not home of the fearful. The world needs more cowboys and fewer eggheads. We're everywhere podcasts are found. So tell your fellow cowboys, and let's keep the conversation alive on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Remember to subscribe, rate, review and share. And now, cowboys, not eggheads. with Sam Fischer

Sam Fischer  00:33
Well, we are today welcoming, officially my most elusive guest to cowboys, not eggheads. It is true. My second most elusive guest had a we had a podcast a few weeks ago. But this is by far and away my most elusive guest John Paul Sean from Templeton California, my former business partner. And before we get started, I just want to say, if I were president of the United States, there was no one I would trust more to be my chief of staff than John Peschong, that is God's honest truth. And we actually used to I used to use that on people for pitches didn't work, but that's the way I feel because I'm feeling these days. John, you are I am empathy. Ideal that that's that that is that is indeed. In fact, would you like a hug? No, please, no. But I just tell a quick story when we put together our business a long time ago. I remember being very, very serious about it. I was very buttoned up until the point where we signed the papers and we signed the papers at the drover in Omaha, Nebraska. We did the drover and I was just happier than a puppy with to that point because I got to be in business with my friend John Sean. I was like a kid in a candy store. So I am thrilled to welcome you to cowboys not a kid

01:59
I'm very excited to be on cowboys not a live from Templeton Calif

Sam Fischer  02:03
live from Temple downtown temple, California. I wanted John to come on today because we want to do a little episode about the cowboy president, Ronald Reagan. John has got some unique perspectives on that because John worked for President Reagan in the 80s. Right when he was president, you were in your 20s. Right. I was I worked in the second administration at the White House, a second administration White House now, lots of people can say they've worked at the White House. 1000s of people can say that. But John will let you I guess, talk about what you did. But John was with the president every Saturday morning. I was I did the radio addresses helped on those in the second administration.

02:48
I was one of the office that I worked out of was the office of White House Media Relations. So as broadcast and television relations, and we did the produce the radio addresses on the weekends, either at the in the Oval Office or up at Camp David.

Sam Fischer  03:03
Now. Did you get any days off for that particular job?

03:06
Well, Sunday Sunday's Yeah. Okay. So,

Sam Fischer  03:10
so for like Monday through Saturday, you were preparing for the radio dress? You're right. No, we

03:16
did a lot of other things, too. So we didn't write them. We didn't that there's a speech writing office. Yeah. One of the people that was in the speech writing office that I'm still friends with was friends with was Dana Rohrabacher, who became a congressman and 10, a 10, term Republican congressman from Huntington Beach, California. He was in the speech writing office, as well as my friend Barbara sardonic, and a bunch of other people that that helped on those speeches.

Sam Fischer  03:38
Gotcha. And so I think that the natural question would be, well, how long did you do that? How long did you How long ago was

03:48
there two and a half years,

Sam Fischer  03:49
two and a half years? And so when you sat down with the president every Saturday, let's talk about Saturday's alone. Was it? Was there anybody else? I mean, obviously, there's some production people, but what was your role specifically with the President on Saturday mornings?

04:02
So if we were in the Oval Office, it was to basically to keep him on time. So he, he grew up in radio, as you know, he came to California for the first time as the announcer for the Chicago Cubs for WGN. And actually, that picture, there's a picture up there of him, I think, with a microphone, which you can see. Yep. Well, if you want to take it and put it on your website, sure. But um, you know, there was a he used to do WGN. So he came out for spring training, because the Chicago Cubs trained on Catalina Island. And so I remember him telling me a story of the first time he was all excited. He had a couple hours off before a game that the Chicago Cubs were playing on Catalina Island, he was gonna go swimming in the ocean, because he was a lifeguard as you remember. He saved the number of lives as a lifeguard in Illinois, and we clarified that John, what did he said they say bla bla bla bla bla, okay. Yeah, he told me that. Okay, so Well, he didn't actually talk about that very much, but people credited him with saving people's lives has been documented and has been documented. Yeah. And so he got all excited. He got his swim trunks on and he went out to the end of the pool. You're in Catalina jumped into the Avila Bay. And it was freezing because it's the spring in California. And he said he never went back in for a good and quite a number of years. So he that's the first time he came to California. And so he did radio announcing at WGN. And then came out to Hollywood to to be an L being. And it was very natural for him to be on the radio. He loved that, oh, he loved it. And he was had incredible timing. And so what I would do is I would, at the Oval Office, sit at the desk in a chair next to the desk, and then I had a copy of the speech and we would he read 16 lines a minute, I swear to you 16 lines a minute, that's verified. And that's what he did saw, like 14 lines a minute, four beats per minute. And so he does what he did have a five minute speech, and it was exactly the way it should be. And I would I would always give him a mark at one minute. So he knew whether to speed up or slow down. And pretty much on time when 95% of the time he would end exactly five minutes. So it was it was it was done by the pool. So it was usually AP that would put it out into the into the press room. So it just the one reporter and was the White House communications folks, they were called Walker, and they would be there to turn the sound off and on. And so what happened is that they would do a count, I do a countdown, we'd go live. He gives the it was 12 noon, Eastern Eastern Time, every single Saturday. And he would do it. I think he only recorded out of eight years. I think he only recorded two or three of those. Only two or three radio over justice. We have recorded them like

Sam Fischer  06:30
they're all doing a count cat David or there was at the White House. I used to go to Camp David on Saturdays when they were up there riding horses into Camp David. I have that's awesome. Yeah. And I said it and I learned something today

06:40
I didn't I go up. We go up by the White House has a motor pool. Yeah. And I think it's run by the United States Army. So they pick somebody up and I'd go up there and do the radio dress at 12 o'clock to 1205. And then we'd have lunch in the mess up there at Camp David and then come back to back to the town.

Sam Fischer  06:59
So you're a 27 year old kid doing all this? I think I was man. You're an adult. But yeah,

07:05
so this would have been I would have been 26 by six when I started. And so what was that? Like? It was pretty exciting.

Sam Fischer  07:12
Were you I mean, was it? Did you have fun?

07:14
I had a blast. I mean, it's a great job. I remember going to the Rose Garden for many different presentations. I found some pictures the other day of when Margaret Thatcher was there. And you just just wonderful but wonderful times.

Sam Fischer  07:29
What would? So did you get it? I mean, you got to know him, right? I mean, he knew he knew by first name. I mean, I don't know if it's still a fact or not. But when I was at the Reagan Library, it's been Gosh, it's been 15 years now, but in that entire library can only find one photograph with the president and a staffer. And that one photograph was with my friend John for Shawn, I know you still have that photograph, too. We're gonna post that on Instagram. Okay. And the President. So he, I mean, he knew you he knew John and John knew the

08:03
President. Well, it was the second administration to I was one of the few California and so it was still there. That was important to him. He knew well, he knew he liked California. And, and, you know, it's interesting, because when my boss Elizabeth Board, who was the director, so I was the Associate Director of Media and Broadcast relations. She was the director of medium. She had a lot of television experience worked at NBC, I think it was and so she had a lot of production, you know, experience in producing things. And so she did a lot of the television, live television things. I remember, one of the things that I remember distinctly was the farewell address to the nation that he gave and I was in the one of the one of the four people in the Oval Office when he gave out that when he gave that

Sam Fischer  08:46
speech to farewell, and that's not too shabby. Now, did

08:49
he picked one of those four people are you just were lucky enough to know because I did production with Elizabeth Ford. So I was there with her. And then Peggy Noonan was in the room. And then two, there was two secret service agents. And then the President. Most of the cabinet secretaries were in the Roosevelt Room across the hall, right

Sam Fischer  09:06
watching and that's something that you remember, right? I mean, it was like it that at that moment, you knew you're part of history.

09:12
I still have a copy of the speech, that speech that I held that night, but

Sam Fischer  09:15
but I'm asking you when you were that age, and you experienced that moment, you knew it was special, right?

09:21
I knew it was pretty cool. Yeah. You know, I'm just a kid from Los Angeles. I did majored in Communication Arts at Loyola Marymount University, which by the way, I believe is a better university than Creighton Salthill that for your listener, I completely agree about their basketball programs better it used to be I'm not really sure it is right now. But um, I you know, so I had production experience and then I did I didn't do a lot of one of the other things we do a lot of was television, you know, video so we would do video tapes for different organizations around the country when the President went wanted to leave a message for but couldn't go to and a time it was video so it was actually video cartridges and so we would Do a production we'd bump out we go to the library in the in the White House in debt, which is downstairs on the on the kind of basement level. And we would go in there set up a kind of a television recording studio with a crew that we would bring in, and then they would shoot it and they would then edit it and then put it on and send it out to everybody on videotape. And then like let's say the podiatrists of greater Illinois or you know, South Carolina would have their convention everybody come together and they get a message from the President knighted states it's big deal.

Sam Fischer  10:30
And this wasn't part of my scripted questions. But it came to mind like what would Ronald Reagan in today's age with the internet and you know, social media and cut offs of five seconds to four seconds and you know, tick tock and this and that and the other Ronald Reagan would thrive in this wouldn't

10:46
be he would he would be unbelievable. I, I'll tell you because he wrote a lot of his own materials, right? When he before he was in the presidency, he had a really good memory for kind of one liners and you know, be able to deliver the one liners and the jokes and under, even under pressure in front of large crowds. And I think he would have loved it. I think he would have written some great, great material,

Sam Fischer  11:08
he would have thrived. Yeah. I mean, and he could deliver it like nobody else. Yeah, abs absolutely unbelievable.

11:15
I remember when I was probably when my first election, I turned 18 and got to vote in the election. And that was he was on the first ballot that I got to vote in for President United States. And I voted for him. And I will never forget when he got elected, then he did a speech about inflation. And he had some coins that he showed and they had cutaways to be able to show the coins in his hand and what what $1 would buy now what it would buy, you know, 10 years, sure, that kind of thing. And it was a great ability to be able to communicate kind of complex ideas, simply so everybody could really get their arms around them.

Sam Fischer  11:50
So at least naturally, what did you learn from her? All right. I mean, we all learned something from Ronald Reagan. If we're in politics, or a political operative, or whatever, I think we all learned something. But what did you learn being that close to the best communicator and the last 200 years in American politics? I mean, besides Abraham Lincoln, I don't know if there was a better communicator? Well, I

12:15
think the one thing that I learned, which I actually have had brought up a number of times, because I'm a local elected official here in California now. So I'm a county supervisor, which I think you call County Commissioner Commissioner, so

Sam Fischer  12:26
I'm a clinical supervisor, Chairman, right.

12:28
I'm the chairman this year, and it just rotates. But I so this is San Luis Obispo County, California, we have about 300,000 people. If war was declared on Cherry County, I do believe we'd win just because we have more bodies to throw at it. Yeah. But I will tell you that I think one of the things I learned which came from Ronald Reagan is that we can disagree. We just don't need to be disagreeable. And you can see that in the way he dealt with people. He just said, um, you know, I, there's a number of quotes that I use all the time, but one of them was about, you know, there's something about, you know, I'll find this quote, and then maybe you can

Sam Fischer  13:04
let me find it. Well, as you're finding that one of the one of the things that comes to mind, for me, being a young kid watching it all, I mean, I was a kid that had probably watch, I don't know how I was 70 years old or younger than you. So I was a teenager, and I would read US News and World Report. Every single week. My parents got that. And actually, 30 years later, I was cooler and US News and World Report, which I for me, it was the full circle. But anyway, you made it I made a do. But one of the things that always fascinated me was his relationship with the speaker, Tip O'Neill, another Irishman. And they couldn't be farther apart on policy. But at the end of the day, they they kept things going because of that relationship. And maybe you can talk about that while

13:53
you're I think it was one of the best relationships and it actually allowed them to accomplish a lot, which is you know, which is really tough right now watching what's going on in Washington DC, with who used to be our our Congressman Kevin McCarthy. Yeah. So I've known Kevin for a number of years. I'm a big fan. He's a really good guy. He's, he's an honest,

Sam Fischer  14:11
you know, when you tell me he's a decent human being, he's a decent man. Rexrode, who's sitting over here tells me he's a decent human being, you know, these two guys have done business with for a long time. And I know he's a decent human being.

14:22
And and so, you know, from that perspective, you know, President Reagan decided that I need to be able because we have we have, you know, obviously the US House is in the damn hands and I'm a Republican president got to figure out how to wait to work these people because we have to deliver some things, some serious things, be able to get the economy going get people back to work, be able to make it easier for people's lives to get a little bit better, because they were coming out of you know, what he called his the malaise of the Carter administration. You know, it was it was something that they had to actually set up. One of this is this is a quote from Ronald Reagan that I just love. It says, The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant. It's Just that they know so much that isn't so. And I actually use that a lot. But you know, on the board that I'm on, because it's not, it's not that I dislike these folks. But sometimes, and I've said this in the paper, I've been quoted in the paper about one of my, one of my fellow supervisors who is not from my party, but sometimes they have very vivid imaginations. And you know, we have a lot of a lot of problems right now in this county, in this state, and in this country. And if we can't get together and fix them, we're not going to we're not going to be able to fix them. Ironically,

Sam Fischer  15:31
my next question, which I think segues Well, here is what would Ronald Reagan say about eggheads? Well, I can tell you what my grandfather said about please tell me what you because he probably my grandma, my father's father, you never met him? He would call him a bunch of goddamn pencil pushers. That's what he would call them. That's how he would describe an egghead. How would what would Ronald Reagan? And I guess maybe I'm leading you, leading you down a path of saying that, that liberals are eggheads and I don't necessarily want to go there. But there seems to be some common characteristics between the two groups. So what would what would Reagan say about eggheads?

16:18
I think what he would say, as along the lines of You know, what we've what we've been talking about. But I think that he, he had a different worldview. He had a view, obviously, there's a generation of people that are now gone, my father included my grandparents, my mom that lived through the Great Depression. Yeah. And they had a different they had a different view of kind of self sufficiency, yes. And being able to take personal responsibility. And I think that that's where, you know, sometimes we get off where we people, people want the government to do more things for them, so they can do less. And and I think government should be, and I think Ronald Reagan felt this way to government should be the last resort, not the first resort. And so we've just been through COVID, and we've been through here in this county, just as we've been through across the country. And there were some, there were some things that were taken away from people that I believe were liberties that had been fought for, and had been settled. And they were they were taken away from people. And I, I don't agree with that. I still believe like the with the COVID vaccine, if you want to get the COVID vaccine, that's a choice between you and your doctor, you go get it, but it's a freedom question. You know, I don't have the government mandate that I have to get something I personally did get it just so you were on the same page, I got it. And, and, and the third, the third booster, put me into the hospital. I went into the hospital with palpitations. And so I'm not getting another one. And I don't hopefully nobody will mandate it, you know, that they're going to tell me that I have to do it, or I can't do certain things. But it's to me, it's it's like mandating the business has shut down. Why did we shut down businesses looking back on it? We could make this case that right now, you know, that families are worse off because of the business shutdowns. I know, our school children certainly were isolated and felt, you know, felt like they had certainly, you know, been mistreated with this whole thing. Now, I'm not saying I'm not saying that I'm against the vaccine, but I'm what I'm saying is that if, if you and your doctor make that decision, which I believe HIPAA, Allah says that medical, that medicine like that, and in medical decisions should be based between a patient and a doctor, not between the government and a patient. That to me is is kind of the direction I believe that Ronald Reagan would take. And that's the direction that I believe in,

Sam Fischer  18:45
well into my next thing I want to talk about was Ronald Reagan was a big flag waver of freedom. It was it was a core core principle and belief of his. And you and I have talked a number of times over the years about Western values, you know, the cowboy code, the cowboy ethic. Can you talk a little bit about that? Like, why did Reagan identify so much with these, these values? Well,

19:19
I think because of the workplace, firstly, where he was from, which was the, you know, the, the Midwest, and then and I believe that that's where he learned his values, you know, he was raised. I think this has been reported everywhere by an alcoholic father, and it was really a tough upbringing. But he did believe in the promise of America. And I think one of the big things that he believed in was loyalty. And this country had provided for Him and given Him things that he didn't expect or probably, you know, didn't expect to get but was able to get a college education. You know, he served in the armed forces, and he was elected. You know, he worked in a great industry that you know, back in the 50s and 60s, the film industry And California was a really big deal. It was a great, great gig. And then he decided to run, you know, he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, and then he did a bunch of other things. But, you know, television, but then he decided to run for governor of the state, and he was able to win that. And, and that's what if you look here on my giant, my giant Governor Reagan signed from that, from that first election, you know, the second election, that is his reelection one. But to me, it was loyalty to the country that had provided so much for him and his family, and allowed him to excel. And I, I think that that's kind of what we're missing a little bit today, I use a quote a lot of loyalty above all else, except honor. And, and the cowboy value of you know, you, you dance with the one that bring you or, or, you know, any of those, I think really drive home, the ability to be to be honorable, to be loyal, and to be courageous. And I think that those are all values that that that he he looked for in people that because he had them, and he was able to, you know, project them to people

Sam Fischer  21:11
This podcast was founded under the premise of me not be understanding why everyone was so afraid during the pandemic, just the fear alone. And maybe you've already answered but I'm gonna ask you directly. I mean, he was he was a very brave leader. Here's a guy that took on the Iron Curtain. How do you think Ronald Reagan would lead us in the last three or four years that might have been different than the way we've been led?

21:39
Well, I actually think that he would, he would tell us a few things about, you know, because he, he of all people valued hard work, right. And he always said that he was going to hire the best people and just let them do their job. Didn't need to micromanage them at the White House or the different departments. He just said, Okay, I'm gonna hire the best people and we're gonna do you know, we're gonna get some things done for America turned around and economy, you know, was able to kind of stop communism and in in the Caribbean, you know, there's, there's a number of good things that he did, I mean, met with Gorbachev, like he did to be able to, you know, to be able to, you know, push it so he could get some treaties, but working hard so I and I was writing these down and I thought I saw this the other day, and I thought, this will be a good one for for the, for cowboys, not eggheads, but I believe this is why he would say work hard, be humble, don't quit good things will happen if you just keep working. And I think we you know it because it was simple. It was simple to understand. It wasn't it wasn't any you know, it did a PhD to understand it it it drove the messages home you know it's time to get America back to work. And and people you know, people right now because of the way the economy is these working families are working two and three jobs to be able to make ends meet be able to afford groceries, be able to afford insurance, or here in California right now. I just paid $7.28 per gallon for diesel gasoline. For all those people in Nebraska when you're driving around right now looking at your gas prices were ours are really bad. Probably because we pay the highest gas taxes in America. That's not a way to help working families. Do you know we have we have we pay the highest taxes I think second highest taxes overall, behind New York in America, highest gas taxes. I could go on and on about all the tax or freedom makers are tax free. And Rando Connecticut says like I think Connecticut sales tax, but I actually would say September 14. In other words, you have to work from January 1 to September 14, to take care of take care of all that, then the rest is for you. But But here's that that's insane. Here's that freedom. Okay, so we pay the highest taxes, and we're supposed to get all the services, we still have the highest poverty rates in this state of any state in America and where we have more homeless people, we're spending more, you know, how much do we spend on homeless people, we've devalued the value of work? Yeah. So I'll give you an example. This is this is something that that we talk about all the time because homelessness is the number one issue in California, right now. So in California, we have 41 Different homeless programs, 19 different departments, this state departments, we spend $12 billion for 165,000 homeless people. So what does that work out to? I think it works out to roughly no $75,000 $125,000 per homeless person. And are we getting our value on it? See, so what we're just threw in is throwing money at things and not caring whether they're actually getting the help and this Greg is says to my biggest one is that and I'll just go off on my little tangent here. Yeah, this has directly has to do I believe, with drug addiction and mental health crisis. Yeah, I believe this country and this state and our county. We do we should take care of our neighbors who are suffering from these but We have to have some accountability. And the only way I think to do that right now in California at least, is to have court mandated drug rehab and court mandated mental health services to get people off the streets. Because otherwise they are, they have this freedom to choose. And so they're going to stay off their meds. If they're schizophrenic and they're going to stay. They're going to continue to use fentanyl or methamphetamines. And we can't do anything about it. And this is my plug for the wall, which I understand today. Mr. Biden has started the construction on the wall again. Wow. So but my belief is that most of the fentanyl in my community is coming across the southern border. And we need to stop it. Yeah. It's crazy. Well, one

Sam Fischer  25:42
of the I, occasionally I'll get a little, little thing because I'm an idiot, and I'm on social media all the time. But so they know how to algorithm me. But I'll get these little clips from like Johnny Carson. And the other day, there was a little clip, when Ronald Reagan was on the Johnny Carson program in 1975. And he sent me six and he just very simply said, he goes, government doesn't fix the problem. government is the problem. So

26:07
they're law. Yeah. And and you brought up you brought up the cowboy, you know, and there's a number of, you know, people that talk about the kind of cowboy ethic and I pulled some of these offline and you and I have shared this actually, but I'm just gonna read a couple of these into that. So please do the cowboy ethic is and you can you can find this online and

Sam Fischer  26:29
Matt rushers or there were this influencers that listening, but I would like to think that the company that we we had together for many years, was based on most of these. Yes, it was. So first one is live each day with courage. So especially in this day and age, you know, it's gonna go out there and you're just gonna, you're gonna rip, you're just gonna just go, you know, how can I can I say, kick ass on this program? You can say the F bomb, okay, well,

26:55
I don't actually use that word. We don't. So no, I'll just say go out and kick actually. Take Take, take pride and take pride in your work. You know, because if you're going to do something, do it the right way. Always finish what you start, always finish, which is a big one. I try to teach my son here, you know, because he's, as you said, he's a football player here at Templeton and we're playing our big rival tonight. So Larry, get her done kind of a thing. Right? Do what has to be done. So just do it. Be tough but fair. When you make a promise, keep it. That's it right for the brand. Right? So be a one that everybody in Nebraska understands and it certainly in my area here, which we do have I believe more we have 300,000 people in our county we have a lot of lot of cattlemen in our county. I think we have the largest town San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County has the largest cattlemen Association chapter in the state of California. And so ride for the brand. Talk less and say more. I love it. That one's a matt Rexrode one because he told me from very early on, I did not actually have to talk about every item that's on an agenda.

Sam Fischer  27:55
There's you know that when I I've ever told you the story, but when you Matt and I and Tom were on an initial conference call to form my company. I had three letters on my on my notes, and it was sym. That was a note to me. Sy M is shut your mouth.

28:16
There it is. We don't Yes. So talk less and save more. Remember that some things are not for sale. And this one is a big one for me. I don't accept gifts as you know as an elected official. I've never actually I've never taken any any reimbursement money so I don't I don't send in a reimbursement form. I don't. Here in San Luis Obispo County they when you get elected, they give you a gas stipend and they give you a cellphone stipend. I've never taken that. And so I to me, these all come across as gifts and I don't accept them. People come to my office and they want to give me a bottle of wine. And for you know, you don't know San Luis Obispo County, we have over 250 wineries and vineyards in the wine County. But in my district alone, there's 250 wineries and I will tell you that in the First District in San Luis Obispo County, they come to me and they'll say Oh, would you like a bottle of wine and I tried it. I don't want your gifts because I don't want to ever be perceived. I don't want to have a conflict and I don't want ever be perceived as being for sale and then know where to draw the line. And we've had some problems here in this county. You know, we the White House when I was there, they had some problems that they cleaned up everywhere has problems. And you have to attack them. You have to attack them and go after him. I mean, there's no place I believe in a government where we represent the people for waste for audit abuse.

Sam Fischer  29:38
Yep. Yep. I mean, those are those are also every one of those. I can give an example of my life if I know my perfect No, but they're all principles that that I can give examples of me going you know, just it no one ever I don't think anyone's ever No one ever said these are the seven things you have to know. But the way that you and I grew up, they'll make very much sense to us. Yeah.

30:06
I mean, it's yes. And it's amazing to me because I'm a third generation Angeleno. Right. So my father was from Los Angeles back in the day. My grandfather, when it was a very small town was a dentist in Venice Beach, California, and then Santa Monica, California. I bet they needed some dentistry back then. And they did so. But um, I tell you, you know, those values still mean something to me. And they mean something to the people of California. Now, that's not what you hear about. You don't hear about our little County. You hear about Los Angeles or San Francisco, you heard about their values, and it's a completely different state, where, you know, to kind of separate worlds way. Yeah. And, and to me, you know, a handshake, and, and your good word is enough to actually get a deal done. Yeah.

Sam Fischer  30:54
Yeah. Absolutely. Amen. shifting a little bit back to the President. Yes, sir. Most, most elected officials, for better or worse, have a public persona. And a personal persona was Reagan's, what my my image of Ronald Reagan is, what you saw is what you got. But it was that is that truly the case? I think it is the whole time I saw him. I remember I saw him after he was shot in the assassination attempt, which changed his life dramatic. I think it did. And I think he was, he countered His blessings for what he was had had been granted. And he also, I think, really felt like he was really there for mission that he made it through that in a way, right, I think so. And that he had a purpose. And the purpose was to do specific things to make people's lives better. And I think he was able to deliver there. And so I think that that's, you know, he was, he was honest guy, I think he spent a lot of time, obviously, with his family and with his wife, you know, he didn't go out every night, you know, in the, you know, Presidential limousine going to big dinners all the time, you know, he he stayed and did the job. And he followed through and finish the job. So there was nothing that you saw behind the scenes, that would indicate that the team was a different person. Besides behind the scenes, he was what he was, he knew what he was, he did and he was comfortable in his own skin. He was comfortable with who he was, and the direction that he wanted to take places. And it was easy to because he would use talk about how he was a conservative, and conservatives know what they want to get accomplished. And they know what they want to do. You know, and it was to me it was, it was refreshing. Yeah, especially after growing up at the end of the 80s in the Carter administration, and then here in California, and then you know, somebody like that can get elected president united states and make a difference in people's lives. And I say that a lot. Because, to me, that's what public service is about. If you if you're going to run for office, you got to come with a list of things that you want to get accomplished. And then focus on those items, and all are the things push them aside and focus and drill down on those things that are going to make people's lives better. Alright. What was the magic? Magic is quite the loaded term for me. But I think it applies in this question, what was the magic that you saw in Reagan's personality that made him different from any other president we've ever had, it was his ability to get and I talked about this earlier, his ability to communicate very, very complex ideas and issues, simply so everybody can understand and get on board. But not only understand him, but trusted him. And well, they always trusted and that's how he was able to get elected. But then he had to back it up. So you have to backup that trust with actual action, right and results, because I can tell you that I've got the greatest homeless program in the whole world, and we're going to solve the problem. But until you have results, measured results, so I can prove to you that we've actually made a difference. You're not going to truly trust me. And then once that happens one time, then you can move on to the next I remember when he had to walk out of a meeting with Gorbachev, I think it was in Reykjavik and he had to walk out and he and he proved a point and people were second guessing him, Oh, you've destroyed this, the world is gonna fall apart. You're gonna start a nuclear war. But they got back to the table, you know, and he proved his point that I'm not going to be taken advantage was that the day John that historically is pretty interesting. Because they were they were were they record their Iceland? Yeah. And it was cold. Yes, cold and Iceland. And Gorbachev had a big ol coat. He was all layered up. But Reagan came out no top coat, no nothing. And that was just he he got the imagery also. I mean, he was an exon of that. It was

34:37
his years in Hollywood, his years on television, the way he presented. And remember when he was before he was governor, I think he did hundreds of speeches around the state, you know, getting basically building a coalition of support so you could run for governor. And then after he was out to remember he was a nominee in the 1976 Republican National Convention, and Gerald Ford beat him at that convention. And I'll never forget Get this because I was very friendly with Lynne off singer and John Harrington who was Energy Secretary friends of mine. And and Lynn said, I guess he told me the story about how they went in after they lost the floor vote and he was not going to be the nominee of the party. It was going to be Gerald Ford, who was currently the president, the the the president United States, and he was going to be the standard bearer for the Republican Party. They asked everybody in the room, what should our demeanor be? And this is this. So how do we go back out onto the floor after losing? What is our demeanor? And it was it was and this is the beauty of Ronald Reagan, he surrounded himself with people like linen off singer and Linden offspring or looked at everybody and said, demeanor, the better. And they went out to the floor. So that's how that's how they dealt with, you know, the serious situations, you know, because it didn't, they knew that they were setting themselves up for another, you know, Ron, they took out a sitting president of the United States, which is not always easy to do. And so I think it was, I think, from that standpoint, Ronald Reagan provided the leadership that allowed people to be able to do the best that they could possibly do, and support him in his vision. And to me that one of the things as I said earlier, his way the way he communicated the way he thought about issues and ideas, we still on this radio station here in my community on in Paso Robles, California. We have a radio station called que PRL and they still pay they still play every day. I think it's at noon, a three minute Ronald Reagan radio thing, how much radio and it's always about when he was got brownie time he was running for president. So this is pre president's here. And it is awesome, because the issues are a lot the same as they are today. Yes, they're they're basic common sense, good government ideas. And I love listening to them because it really does talk about, you know, some some basic conservative principles that are common sense.

Sam Fischer  36:57
Yep. fan tastic. I have two favorite stories about Ronald Reagan, one of which you've shared with me, which I'm going to have you share in a minute. Story number one, this guy by the name of Jerry Parr. Jerry Parr was the secret that he was he's called a sack for the Secret Service, the special agent in charge of his presidential detail. He was the one that pushed Reagan into the limo when Reagan was an assassination attempt by Hinckley and so I got to see Mr. Parr after he retired speak at my mother's book club in North Platte, Nebraska. And I think par was pretty surprised that all the questions that I had just about the secret because I have a secret service jokey this that another so I actually had an opportunity to talk to him for about 2030 minutes after this book club just me and Jerry Parr was unbelievable. The guy later became a minister and he passed away here I think, about 10 years ago, but great American Great American. I mean, his story alone is unbelievable. He he when he was a kid, he dreamed of being a Secret Service agent because there was a guy by the name of Ronald Reagan who played one Brian Ross Ross, rent Frank offer some there's some old movie that Reagan actually portrayed as a secret service agent. And here years later, he's Reagan's s sack. But he he told me, I asked him a similar question, what's your favorite question or, you know, story, and he told me, he said, You know, one day he was on duty, wherever he's on, I guess they have an office there in the White House. And he wasn't standing posts or whatever and other guys stand posts when you're at SAC but they he's got a call the President would like to see you which is pretty unusual kind of deal. And so he's, you know, like what's going on? And Reagan like, held up the this this little little rubber thing that you used to take out contact lenses, but it turns out like three weeks earlier, par and Reagan were out on the ranch, chopping wood or something and they're just talking about how pars I don't know family members Son or Son doesn't really matter. Was having a heck of a time with contact lenses. And so Reagan, Reid did his research for Jerry Parr and he gave him these little eyes you know, just just just a just a good guy. I mean, you know, and I remember asking Jerry Pryor said so I assume that you know, your exchange Christmas cards list you know, and or cards and he just he just smiled at me. So that's my favorite mindset. My other favorite is your your story in the Oval Office, I think is Big Bird. Is it the Big Bird story? It is the Big Bird story. So will you please tell us the big bird story now we haven't Johnson turn here Rachel and my wife Heather back there and I don't think they've heard the big birth story. So listen to this. This is listeners. This is funny. So this is years ago. Obviously this was towards the end of the administration. Everybody's dead except for us. Probably No, I actually there's quite a few number of people still still alive. And my boss Elizabeth board at the White House. She was the one that had to come talk to me. She's still alive probably in Virginia. So the story starts out where

40:16
Dana Rohrabacher, who was a speechwriter, found out that the President had a real affinity for people that were really large and may have come from his early days in Hollywood, or, you know, what the time period of curiosity, affinity he loved him. loved him. Okay. So so he just, yeah, they wanted to talk to what we're talking about, you know, 456 100 pounds are really big. Yeah, not not my size, your size but begins right for our friend Chris Carr calm begins. Okay. So yeah, just would definitely call them that from Southwest Louisiana. But here in California, I think there's another term for them a very low, you know, we have some sort of politically correct term, but they were large people, yes. 600 700 pounds obese. And so Dana would write there was a gentleman by the name of Walter Hudson. At the time, he was like 1200 pounds and hadn't gotten out of his house. And there was a gentleman by the name of Dick Gregory, who was helping him diet, so he get outside, and they it was kind of captivating for the New York audience. You know, a lot of people were talking about, you know, Walter Hudson. And so Dana picked up on it and wrote it into speeches that, that the, the inflation is shrinking faster than Walter Hudson so and the president love that that line, you know, and he would say things like that, you know, just kind of spice it up. This is in the second administration. So they, they did some pretty funny stuff like that. And so, people talked about that, you know, the, the government is shrinking out of the, you know, faster than Walter Hudson. So, I was in Safeway, Marquette one evening after work up on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, DC. And I saw a world weekly news, which usually had a picture of an alien talking to Tip O'Neill or something like that, on this particular one. It had a gentleman by the name of big Bert. And if you opened it up, it was a story about an Austrian man who was 900 pounds, and all of the stuff that he ate, he ate, supposedly ate eight chicken fried chickens a day and 80 bottles of beer to keep his 900 pounds and he was a big dude, he liked being diner and he liked it. He enjoyed eating that much. And he lived in Austria. So you know, I don't know anything about Austrian, you know, Weight Watchers, but they, you know, they, he seemed to enjoy it. So I bought the little newspaper, and I tore out it was a one page sheet inside, I tore it out. And I was at a radio address. And I gave it to the President of the United States. And I said, Oh, you might like this. This is about a really large and he just loved it. Right? He looked at and he goes eight chickens a day, you know, he was very interested in to the day this is the leader of the free world. Talking about his favorite, you know, what a great story, right? He was just like, very excited that I had given this tool a fat. So he, he actually took it, folded it in half and put it in the top drawer of the oval office desk. Now he did not use the oval office desk the same way. It's used by some presidents. He was empty. He used the study that later became everybody kind of know about, you know, another president, another president used the hallway in the study, but that he used that that's where he had his papers. So he left in the oval office desk, and I had forgotten about it. And about a month and a half later, France, one meter on French leader had come to Washington, and they had translators and they had been talking and they were signing some treaty or some they're gonna do a Rose Garden ceremony, walk out of the Oval Office to the Rose Garden and give a speech. But they had some time to kill waiting, you know, they're still standing there. And President Reagan couldn't converse in French and I guess they didn't talk. So what the President decided to do during the middle of you know, just waiting, is he went over to the oval office desk and picked out the the magazine article and started to explain to France while meter on the president of France, that this was big burden Austrian, it was 900 pounds. And and I guess Francoise was was very, you know, looking at this picture and going, you know, why is the President United States showing me a picture of a 900 pound Austria. So anyway, he put it back in the drawer, right? Close the drawer. And then they went out and did their their press conference, and they everything was great. So I got a call from my boss, Elizabeth. She called me and she said, Did you give the president of United States an article on big Burt? And I said yes, about two months ago. Why

Sam Fischer  44:41
don't you ask?

44:42
I said, Well, it appears that there was some sort of international incident where, you know, the President in the middle of you know, while they were waiting for something, brought it out and started talking to friends one meter on and I was like I and the Chief of Staff, who was Ken Duberstein, was the gentleman's name had contacted Elizabeth said what is John doing? And so I didn't get fired. But I was told never to give the president Don't do that again. But but I didn't really believe it to be honest with you. I didn't believe it. So I went to the White House photography office, which they have. And I actually own a picture of France one meter on and the President looking at the article about Big Bird with his pinky, confronts Swami Ron's pinkies up around Dr. Evil or wherever they're from. Yes. So that's that's what

Sam Fischer  45:28
that's the international incident that I that is that is so good. You couldn't make that up? No.

45:35
I'm gonna have you take a picture. So you can put the picture on the take a picture to put on the website? Absolutely.

Sam Fischer  45:39
Absolutely. Awesome. John, is there anything we didn't cover that we need to cover anything you want to get off your chest? About the President that I didn't, that I didn't cover? No, he

45:52
was just a wonderful person to work for. It was a great experience to be a 26 year old kid who really did not have much job experience. So I had worked my whole life, I'd worked started working, I was 14, you know, in all kinds of different jobs, just trying to, you know, make some money and do what I needed to do. And my parents were wonderful. They let me do all kinds of different jobs. You know, I did everything from being a I worked at a hardware store. I I was a summer camp counselor. I was a shopping mall Santa Claus for for 333 weeks or four weeks. So I went to a chauffeur also I was I worked for a limo company for a while driving

46:31
around Yeah, I

46:32
did you remember that? Because your Raiders fan. You know, as part of the Who dat nation I will tell you that. He was a really nice guy. Lila was it it was a really nice guy. Yeah. So that's awesome. Yeah, wonderful stuff. But i i You know, I've just been very fortunate, I believe to grow up in this country with great people, a great family. And I think you know what, I get to return some of that right now as an elected official and try to help people and make their lives better.

Sam Fischer  46:59
Yep. Well, I'm glad to have you on the podcast and even more grateful to have you as a friend my friend.

47:06
I appreciate that Sam very much. You are definitely a friend now. Do you want me to give you a hug? No. Okay.