An Inconvenient Genius

An Inconvenient Genius

The Timeless Legacy of an Untimely Man

How often has one person affected humanity to such a degree that were the fruits of his labor withdrawn immediately from our day-to-day existence, the world as we know it … would essentially stop? (more…)

Acceptance Bridge: Crossing the Great Divide

Acceptance Bridge: Crossing the Great Divide

Acceptance Bridge: Crossing the Great Divide,” is now available on Amazon and Kindle. It’s the latest book by Steven Kayser author of “The Greatest Words You’ve Never Heard: True Tales of Triumph“; and Margins and Missions… Not Moonshots: Pathways to Better U.S. Higher Education.”

Acceptance Bridge: Crossing the Great Divide,” is a story about overcoming insurmountable odds, emotional twists, humorous turns, and a spiritually uplifting climax. And… it’s a lesson in the life-changing POWER of never giving up and never looking back.

This story has everything it possibly needs to become a smash success. It will make every possible reader happy.”  –Frederick Marx, Warrior Films.org– Producer, Director, Writer, “Hoop Dreams,” Named Best Film of the Decade by Roger Ebert.

Acceptance Bridge: Crossing the Great Divide

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What a fine story and screenplay! What heart! Acceptance Bridge will make a memorable film.” – Mark Miller, legendary leading man, producer, and writer of “A Walk in the Clouds,” “Savannah Smiles,” “Christmas Mountain,” and “Diff’rent Strokes.”

Acceptance Bridge is so entertaining and exciting I couldn’t put it down. It’s ‘Glory Road,’ ‘Hoosiers’ and ‘Rudy’ combined as teams and individuals overcome handicaps and roadblocks on all levels. Inspiring is not a strong enough word for Acceptance Bridge… but it certainly works.” – Donn Burrows, Director, “The Big O: The Oscar Robertson Story.” 

 

Media copies are available for review, email [email protected]. For information on bulk sales or speaking events email [email protected].

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The Most Important Thing I Have Learned  –  Interview with “Rich Dad Poor Dad” Author Robert Kiyosaki

The Most Important Thing I Have Learned – Interview with “Rich Dad Poor Dad” Author Robert Kiyosaki

I had the opportunity to interview Robert Kiyosaki, author of the #1 bestselling personal finance book of all time, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, on the radio. His “Rich Dad” series of books has been translated into 52 languages and sold 28-million copies in 109 countries.

Robert was great. Straight-shooter. Salty (almost had to beep him once – but I was laughing too hard to do it) and hilariously funny. If you ever get a chance to see him speak – do it.

But that’s not what I wanted to talk about.

I wanted to see what shaped his attitude in life. Because he has one. Powerful, true, ingrained.

LITTLE-KNOWN FACT ABOUT ROBERT KIYOSAKI

STEVE: I was going to start off with, “What’s it like to sell 28-million copies of Rich Dad Poor Dad?”‘ but I won’t. Probably bore you to tears. I’m a Vet and know that you are as well.  When I learned you served as a marine helicopter gunship pilot in Vietnam, winning an air award medal, it intrigued me.

How did that time, that job, that place shape not only your business and leadership style, but also prepare you for the battlefield of business and life?

ROBERT: Being a gunship pilot we had a life expectancy of about 30 days because we got shot down so quickly.

“The most important thing I learned is that there’s no second place. “

For most of my life, I was kind of a screw-off—average in school, average in sports. I remember the day at Camp Pendleton in California when they strapped the missiles and guns onto my helicopter; it kind of sunk in that there was no second place anymore. Then one day I was flying my first actual mission in Vietnam, and I realized the school days were over. There were rounds coming up at us and I thought, “These guys are trying to kill us.”

Then, my crew chief taps me on the helmet and said;

“Hey lieutenant, you know what sucks about this job? There’s no second place. Either he’s going home or we’re going home, but we’re both not going to go home today.

“You better make up your mind who goes home today.”

Thank God we came home, the other guy didn’t, unfortunately. Once you learn that, it kind of takes the complacency out of your butt.

I decided if I was going to do something, I wasn’t going to do it average anymore; I was going to do it as if my life depended on it. I think that gives me the competitive edge.

BS DOESN’T DECIDE

I was a C student all the way through school. I failed out of high school two times because I just didn’t care.

I still have a Bachelor’s of Science degree that stands for BS, but other than that, it had nothing to do with my education.

It depended on how well you wanted to live your life.

IT’S YOUR CHOICE

If you want to live like a schmuck, that’s your choice, but it’s not my choice.

STEVE: How did you translate those experiences into leadership? You said the Marines changed your whole perception of leadership.

ROBERT: I went to four years of military school also, and they don’t teach you much except how to lead.

The first thing they teach you is,

What’s the mission?

It’s the most important thing of any military officer.

The next two things are,

Can you take orders?

Can you give orders?

In other words, can you follow and will other people follow you?

That was impeccable discipline.

One of the reasons people aren’t successful is NOT because they didn’t go to good schools; they just lack cojones as my Mexican friends would say. They lack discipline.

Discipline simply means doing what you need to do in spite of the fact you don’t want to do it.

That’s all it takes for success; you have to be disciplined.

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How to Create and Finish Anything

How to Create and Finish Anything

THE WORK BOOK

International bestselling author, screenwriter and renowned military historian Steven Pressfield  has a book called Do the Work.  It’s about how to create and finish anything. A business. A book. A song. A philanthropic venture.

Whatever point  you are at on your life’s journey –  take the time to read Do the Work.  It’s not work. It’s a joy. It’s not long. Takes about an hour to read – if you’re slow like me. It’s not dull, it’s brilliance, wrapped around hard-earned knowledge,  deep inside timeless wisdom.

I met Steven Pressfield in  2007 when I interviewed him for an article called How to Defeat Your Inner Deadbeat.Since then I’ve had the pleasure of doing a couple other articles with him; “Non Vi Sed Arte – Not by Strength, by Guile,” and “The Power of Resistance.” The breadth, depth, and clarity of Steven’s ideas and writing are unparalleled in today’s world. They don’t teach this stuff in school. I don’t think they can. Some things are just ineffable.

BULL-SHIITAKE

To that, Steven would say, “Bull-Shiitake,” and laugh when he said it. Then he’d say, “You can do it too – just DO THE WORK.” He’s one of the true renaissance writing geniuses of our times. Why do I say that?

I don’t.

HIS WORK DOES

Steven Pressfield has written or co-written 34 screenplays, and is the author of international bestsellers “The Legend of Bagger Vance” (also a movie),; “Gates of Fire, An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae,”; “Tide of War,” ; “The Afghan Campaign,”;“Virtues of War,”; “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Creative Battles,” “Killing Rommel,”; “THE PROFESSION,”; “Do the Work”; The Warrior Ethos,”; and his latest book, “The Lion’s Gate,” which film rights were recently aquired by Basil Iwanyk, who backed ‘The Expendables.’

THE SEARCH FOR MEANING, ART & WORK

I first became aware of Steven – not from any of his famous books or movies – but because a writer friend of mine gave me his book War of Art.” Anyone that has ever met me knows, “art” is not the first word that comes to mind when describing my reading fare. Not the first word, but maybe right after the last word. However, my friend was dogging me out for always spouting off about what a great book should be – short, clear, emotionally powerful, life-changing – and he said “War of Art” was right up there with my all-time favorite, Viktor Frankl’s “Search for Meaning.”

I didn’t believe it. I only read the “War of Art” so I could refute, belittle, and humiliate my well-meaning, but almost-always-wrong, friend about the absurd deficiencies of the book in comparison to “The Search for Meaning.

I read “The War of Art.“  I was wrong. Completely. Utterly. Embarrassingly. It was just as good in a different kind of way.

The Search for Meaning was about finding a way to survive in any environment – even a death camp  – and how to find meaning in it.

The War of Art is about how to find a way to create in any environment – even a boring or bad one – and how to experience meaning while doing it.

Do the Work is a companion to The War of Art. A workbook. A shut up and do-it guide. It treads some of the same turf  as the War of Art. It fights the intractable, implacable, insidious foe of mankind  – Resistance. But it’s also an indispensable guide to winning at business or  life.

NOT TAUGHT AT ANY SCHOOLS

Quotation-Steven-Pressfield-work-trying-day-Meetville-Quotes-2039

The lessons in Do the Work are not taught at any business school. Couldn’t be. This is  wisdom of the elders secret knowledge type of stuff passed on only by someone who has experienced it. Someone who has seen further, accomplished more, experienced more because they DID THE WORK.

THREE-CLASS ACTS

Do the Work is a 1-2-3 type process of getting a project accomplished, a book completed, a business started. Music, science, business and writing all seem to follow a similar three act structure.

Musicians (which I don’t claim to be but hack around at it) have the Sonata form which consists of a statement, development and recapitulation.

Scientists use the hypothesis, inference and verification method.

Philosophers use hypothesis, anti-thesis, synthesis (Hegel’s dialectic).

Writers focus on three acts; the beginning, middle, and end.

Do the Work shows you DaVinci, the Vietnam Memorial and Facebook – in three acts.

WHO TEACHES THESE GEMS?

What school or teacher would tell you …

  • To start before you’re ready?
  • To stay stupid?
  • To be stubborn?
  • To stay primitive?
  • To go on a research diet?
  • To swing for the seats?
  • That the problem is not you … the problem is the problem?

These gems are like master ideas. Once you get them, you never forget. But these ideas and lessons are necessary to get your work done. Any work. They’re also necessary because the creation of any great thing is born in chaos. Not ease.

Babies are born in blood and chaos; stars and galaxies come into being amid the release of massive primordial cataclysms.

The most highly cultured mother gives birth sweating and dislocated and cursing like a sailor.

The hospital room may be spotless and sterile, but birth itself will always take place amid chaos, pain and blood. – Steven Pressfield

AND…

When I was writing “The Greatest Words You’ve Never Heard: True Stories of Triumph,” and mentioned it to Steven he had the perfect comment to me … and it led to me actually finishing the book (you’ll have to read the intro to see what it was.) I thanked him in the intro of the book for his inspiration and help through the years. But, there’s one thing that he said, and I heard but didn’t hear. Didn’t understand it until I finished.

We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause.

That’s hard. Really hard. But when you do that you will become the consumate pro. You will concentrate on making meaning … you won’t have to search for it.

So … how do you create and finish anything?

Work the DO

Do the WORK.

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Riding the Alligator: Strategies for a Career in Writing … and Not Getting Eaten

Riding the Alligator: Strategies for a Career in Writing … and Not Getting Eaten

Interview with Pen Densham, Writer & Producer of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; Moll Flanders; Rocky II and More…

I had the great pleasure of talking to Pen Densham about his book, Riding the Alligator: Strategies for a Career in Screenplay Writing … and Not Getting Eaten.

One thing I know for sure; without writers, we in the entertainment business are aimless wanderers looking for a place to be. My thanks to Pen for this inspirational book.” – Morgan Freeman

 

As a director, I cannot achieve my goals without the help of creative and courageous writers. Pen’s book is unique in that it addresses the entire landscape of movie writing as a career, and most especially encourages artists who write from the heart and strive for originality.” – Ron Howard

While doing my research on Pen and his book, I was amazed. Amazed that his life story hasn’t been made into a movie.

Maybe Father Doesn’t Know Best?

When Pen was very young, around five years of age, he got his first role in the movies—riding an alligator. His dad filmed him. He suspects his mother was not in attendance. At age fifteen, Pen quit high school. He spent his early years doing everything he could do to conjure himself a career in film and television. And, in an industry so full of rejection, so littered with broken dreams, he made it.

Pen Densham has written, produced, consulted and directed movies and television shows. His eclectic string of projects includes Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Backdraft, Moll Flanders, Rocky II, Blown Away, Footloose as well as the TNT movie Houdini and the successful reboots of the classic TV series The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. He’s worked with and learned from people like Morgan Freeman, Jeff Bridges, Robin Wright, Bill Murray, Kevin Costner and Jodie Foster.

This “B” Is Still Big Even Among Q’s

The films and television series Pen Densham and his partner have produced have grossed over $1 billion. I suspect the “B” should be capitalized in Billion. If it shouldn’t, it ought to be. Even with the new monetary policy of quantitative easing (Q2, Q3, QinfinityPlus2, or whatever we’re on now) of the money supply, that’s still a heap of money.

Just One Thing

And of all thing things that Pen did to create a successful Hollywood film career, he credits just one thing for his long track record of success. Just one key factor that we will get to at the end of the interview. (You didn’t think I was going to spill the beans that quickly did you?)

STEVE KAYSER: What a life story you have. You dropped out of school at fifteen; you traveled a path that was filled with hurdles and rejections. You not only survived, but you thrived. It’s a wonderful story. Sounds like a movie. Is anybody ever going to make it?

PEN DENSHAM: I don’t think so, I guess I’m sort of still living it. One of the things I’m most content with is not making myself exceptional. I think as an artist, what I’m most content with is that I did have a rough time, but it doesn’t mean that it makes it impossible to succeed. I’d hate it if anything you’d speak about me made me seem more exceptional than other people.

STEVE’S THOUGHT BUBBLE:

I’d like to be “not exceptional” like Pen. Does that mean I’m exceptional? Nah, impossible. You see how great writers and storytellers work? They use words that confuse your own thought bubbles.

PEN DENSHAM: I think anyone with a passion, whether business or art if you care about something and it’s not knocked out of you, it helps you to keep going forward.

I’m not all that special.

ANOTHER STEVE THOUGHT BUBBLE:

I’d like to be “not  special” like Pen. But if I’m “not special,” that must mean I’m special. That’s not true either. See how crafty that is?  Penned again!

PEN DENSHAM: I’m scared a lot, I fail sometimes. But in our business, you fail more than you succeed—it’s kind of like the gold rush. You’re out there trying to find the next great nugget, and as long as you don’t quit, sometimes you do find it.

STEVE KAYSER: Riding the Alligator, the title of your new book, is a wonderful metaphor. The grappling, the wrestling with the creative and critical side of writing and the business side of pitching and story-selling. But it’s not just a metaphor is it? You did ride an alligator, a  seven-foot-long gator when you were a little kid. Isn’t that true?

PEN DENSHAM: Yes. I was with my parents when I was very young, three-to-five years old. They were making short films in England. Going into the theater was like watching magicians. Watching my father as kind of a sorcerer who put these magic images on the screen, and they did put me on an alligator for a short film about people who kept weird pets. I don’t think my mother was there that day, but it was unnerving for me. This woman had an alligator and a crocodile. She had the crocodile in a large tank with glass sides to it. I can remember her standing in between the crocodile and me; I remember it to this day. She was admonishing me not to go toward the tank. The alligator she didn’t seem to care so much about. But that experience, I jokingly say, was my first job in show business.

STEVE KAYSER: What is Riding the Alligator, all about? (You can download a free chapter of “Riding the Alligator” – HERE.)

The Rules Are Simple … 

PEN DENSHAM: I tried to create a book that would not give rules about how to be creative because I think the most powerful thing is that creativity comes out of you naturally. That’s something Hollywood doesn’t necessarily teach or help you with.

A lot of books are great at articulating the mechanisms for laying out a page or for plotting a structure, but the magic comes from letting something come out of you that’s never existed before.

There shouldn’t be rules against it.

That’s why I say in my book to ignore anything that I say that goes against your creative process.  If I can encourage people to take the risk of putting ideas down and overcoming the fear and doubt, good things will happen.

STEVE KAYSER: Trust your gut. Go with your heart.

PEN DENSHAM: Yes.

STEVE KAYSER: I love your movie, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In fact, Friar Tuck might be my favorite character of all time. He had such a grasp of the divine. Worldly and otherwise.

This is grain… which any fool can eat. But for which the Lord intended, a more divine means of consumption. Let us give praise to our maker, and glory to His bounty, by learning about….. beer. – Friar Tuck

What a wonderful story on the screen.  But getting it to the screen was a story as well. A complex one, full of fear and doubt.

PEN DENSHAM: Yes. What happened at that time, I had just had the privilege of watching my wife give birth to my son via an emergency Cesarean.  It caused me to think, “Where are the people that actually protect people as opposed to killing people?” It made me want to make a movie about Robin Hood, and the idea came to me to put a Muslim and a Christian side by side where they both collaborate against a greater dark force.

Best Stupid Idea Ever Heard

I pitched it at three different studios—Disney, TriStar and another one—and they all told me it was

“The stupidest idea they’ve ever heard.”

One of our assistants who now runs the SyFy Channel said, “That’s a really good idea; why don’t you just start?” It was his little touch of inspiration that made me sit down and see what would come out of me. As I uncritically let these ideas flow, my partner, John Watson was reading the pages as they came out.

Stupid?

There’s this weird thing when you create; you frequently feel like this stuff is stupid. You have a little critic that sits above my back and gnaws at everything I do. He can’t judge; he just seems to be there telling you it’s a waste of time. People are going to laugh. And sometimes it gets so big that you think lineups of people are going to point and laugh at you as you walk down the street. So having other people look at it is what helped me get this one-hundred-page story out. My partner was looking at it; we collaborated in turning it into a screenplay and having been told that no studio wanted it, we were doing it purely on the gut instinct that I should not give up.

Don’t Give Up

That’s when we heard that Fox was going to green-light another Robin Hood. My partner said, “Well let’s not bother finishing this,” and I said, “I gave up on one idea I loved, and I hated myself for it. Let’s just at least finish it.” That’s how close we came to not making Robin Hood.

STEVE KAYSER: And it went on to be …

PEN DENSHAM: It was one of the largest-grossing Warner Brothers movies of all time at that point. ( It’s grossed over $500 million since being released.)

STEVE KAYSER:  My wife told me once that Moll Flanders was her fourth-favorite movie of all time, right after the three screenplays that I’ve never sold and turned into movies ( was that a blatant plug or not? In radio they’d call that plugola).

 

How did Moll Flanders come to be, and how did you pitch it?

PEN DENSHAM: You’re talking about something that’s very heartfelt to me. The thing I’ve noticed in my life is the stories I’ve written for myself, the script for Houdini, the script for Robin Hood and for Moll Flanders were not written inside the studio systems. You understand? I wrote them for myself, and they ended up on screen.

And yet I wrote Gulliver’s Travels with Arnold Schwarzenegger attached, and it didn’t get made. The head of Disney said, “It’s a wonderful script, I don’t know why I’m not going to make it.”

But the ones where I felt I was failing myself by not being at my desk when I just snuck away to write, were the most passionate, like Moll Flanders. It came to me, I knew I was going to write a woman’s story and I heard a little piece on NPR about an orphan, and I had this idea that I would write about a woman who lost her child and then was writing a message to the child she may never see again to tell the child everything about her to see if the child could ever love her for who she really was.

I only told my assistant, who was a woman, and we worked on it in secret and it poured out of me. I didn’t pitch the story, I just wrote the screenplay. It was like having an affair—it was intoxicating. This stream of consciousness happened. In five weeks, I wrote Moll Flanders along with doing all of my normal work, but in secret. My wife would be looking over at me and I’d be typing away at midnight in bed.

STEVE KAYSER: You just ruined my relationship with my wife. You wrote Moll Flanders in five weeks, at night and still did your regular work? I can hear her now, “Moll Flanders in five weeks? And you’ve been doodling around with your stories for how long?”

PEN DENSHAM: But let me put it in perspective. I have one screenplay that took me sixteen years to write.  And that’s why creativity is a magical, sacred thing. We shouldn’t criticize ourselves whichever way it comes out of us.

The magic is that the things I’ve written that intuitively came out of me got made more often.

I firmly believe that we are happiest and most productive when working from our true nature and not trying to guess and fake what someone else wants. The scripts that are written with a powerful sense of your inner vision are more creative, complex and rich somehow. I call these “life scripts.” They contain something more profound that derives from your spirit, from your unconscious. These scripts are special. You will instinctively fight harder to get them right. Others see them as deeper and more significant as a result. For me, “life scripts” seem to get produced more frequently than the scripts that are less personally inspired.

Passion

When I was asked by USC to go teach the Cinematic Arts students, I thought it was kind of corny and weird, but I decided just to be myself and be authentic. So I taught the first lesson on passion. It sounds like a cliché, but it really isn’t.

When I look at my life, the things I’ve gone furthest for, the things I’ve been humiliated for, the things I’ve taken greater risk for have been the things that have come out of my soul, not the things I try to contrive to meet someone else’s  perspective of what was fashionable. Those things seldom succeed, and when you get rejected, you give up very quickly.

When you have something that comes out of you as part of your nature and someone rejects it, you try to figure out how to change it, so you keep what was special to you, but you can mesh with the buyer.

I’ve got stacks of scripts that haven’t been made, but I’m very passionate about them. But I’ve got more scripts made than I probably ever anticipated in my life.

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That One Big Thing?

And that one thing that Pen Densham credits for his success? Having the guts to follow his heart. Follow it down through the valley of ridicule, loss, humiliation, rejection and up to a higher plain—not of Hollywood success, but of living his dream.

DOWNLOAD a free chapter of “Riding the Alligator.”

Connect with Pen:

Website: Http://www.ridingthealligator.com
Twitter: Http://www.twitter.com/PenDensham
<strongFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/pendensham
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/pen-densham/9/9bb/393

An Affair Shakes the Presidency

An Affair Shakes the Presidency

In Scandal or Crisis, Character is the Still the Coin of the Realm

These are tough times. Unstable times. Uncertain times that will test the vision, spirit, and mettle of everyone – in life and in business.

These are times when things could go radically and drastically wrong, or … a person or persons will step up, and by force of one character trait – mold the future direction of our world in a positive way. It’s a test really.

Do we have what it takes to pass?

Do you?

Sometimes you’re confronted with a scandal or crisis, not of your own making and that becomes your true test of character … especially when everyone in the world is looking.

“Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”

 – Abraham Lincoln

FLUNKING THE TEST

When the test of character is flunked …

  • families and friendships can be ruined,
  • businesses destroyed, and
  • governments brought down.

The story and interview that follows are not about avoiding a scandal or crisis, but how one American President through the strength of character dealt with a situation that threatened his presidency, his reputation, his place in history and America’s credibility.

AN AFFAIR SHAKES THE PRESIDENCY

In the mid-1980’s, President Ronald Reagan’s presidency was threatened by a looming scandal – The Iran-Contra affair. His reputation and the ability to lead the United States forward in hopes of ending the Cold War were in imminent danger.

At that critical moment, President Reagan decided to call the Ambassador to NATO, Dr. David M. Abshire, back to serve in the cabinet as Special Counselor.

TRANSPARENCY EXPEDITIOUS (not a disease)

Dr. Abshire’s mission?

Ensure a full investigation of the sale of arms to Iran in exchange for freeing American hostages and the subsequent funneling of those funds to Nicaraguan rebels. And (here’s the tough part) do it expeditiously and transparently, to restore the confidence of the nation in the shaken Reagan presidency.

That phrase sound familiar? To restore the confidence of a nation?

WHY DR. ABSHIRE?

Character. Competence. Commitment. Objectivity. Experience.

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Dr. Abshire co-founded the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. His extensive experience, including service as Assistant Secretary of State and later as NATO Ambassador, gives him a perspective both unique and insightful. He was the president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and also president of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation.

Dr. Abshire was Ambassador to NATO where in reaction to the threat posed by Soviet SS-20 missiles. Dr. Abshire also was the United States point man in Europe for deployment of Pershing and Cruise missiles. It was this NATO success that convinced the Soviets to sign the historic INP Treaty and withdraw their missiles. Ambassador Abshire initiated a new conventional defense improvement effort so that NATO would not have to rely heavily on nuclear weapons. For this, he was given the highest Defense Department civilian award – its Distinguished Public Service Medal.

Dr. Abshire has received the John Carroll Award for outstanding service by a Georgetown University alumnus; the Distinguished Graduate Award of the United States Military Academy; the 1994 U.S. Military Academy’s Castle Award; the Gold Medal of the Sons of the American Revolution; the Baylor Distinguished Alumni Award; the Order of the Crown (Belgium); Commander de l’Ordre de Leopold (Belgium); the Medal of the President of the Italian Republic, Senate, Parliament and Government; Grand Official of the Order of the Republic of Italy; Order of Diplomatic Service Merit Heung-In Medal (Korea); the insignia of the Commander, First Class, Order of the Lion of Finland; in 1999, the Order of the Liberator (Argentina); and in May 2001, the Order of the Sacred Treasure Gold and Silver Star (Japan). In addition to the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, he was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal.

Dr. Abshire received his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

In the Korean War, he served as a platoon leader, company commander, and a division assistant intelligence officer. He received The Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster with V for Valor, Commendation Ribbon with medal pendant, and Combat Infantry Badge. He was awarded his Ph.D. in History from Georgetown University with honors (Gold Key Society). He received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1992 and a Doctor of Civil Law, honoris causa, from the University of the South in 1994.

SAVING THE REAGAN PRESIDENCY

In 1987, Dr. Abshire served as a Special Counselor to President Reagan with Cabinet rank, to coordinate the Iran-Contra investigation, and had authority to meet with the President alone.

THE INTERVIEW

Steve: What was your most memorable moment in the crisis with President Reagan that best showcased his strength of character and determination?

Dr. Abshire: I would say that my most memorable moment with President Reagan was the initial phone conversation that I had with him in December 1986. At the time, I was at Truman Hall, my NATO Ambassadorial residence, and I had read all about the trouble the President was in regarding the sale of arms to Iran for hostages. The President requested I come back to Washington to be his special counselor – with cabinet rank – during this crisis and that I would report directly to him.

There are two very important things about this phone call that show Reagan’s strengths and character as a leader:

The fact that he called me personally and did not leave it to one of his staffers shows just how serious of a situation he was in, and just how important it was to him personally to climb out of this dilemma.

Other leaders in his position – who did not care about setting things right – would have left this job to somebody else. The fact that he didn’t says volumes about his determination to get ahead of this crisis.

The fact that he even requested a Special Counselor to help facilitate the crisis from the White House – with the job of getting everything out with no executive privilege – shows that he was concerned with setting things right.

President Reagan was concerned with his reputation as a leader and didn’t want to offer an opportunity for anybody to impugn his integrity and character saying that there was a cover-up.

 Steve: What was the most important thing you learned from this experience?

Dr. Abshire: The most important thing I learned is that when you get in a hole, do not dig it deeper; come clean, get outside help, and climb out of it.

 If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything. 

– Mark Twain

Steve: Examples?

Dr. Abshire: There are many instances of presidents – take Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton for example – that dug their hole deeper until they couldn’t get out.

Nixon did not know about the initial Watergate break-in, but he covered up the investigation.

Clinton, instead of admitting to his infidelity at the onset – which is not a crime, made the mistake of lying to a grand jury to hide it from his wife and family and came very close to impeachment.

Reagan, on the other hand, took the necessary steps to save his presidency, which leads me to my second point: the creation of the Tower Board.

Reagan empowered a bipartisan committee to investigate his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal. This step was essential to show the public and Congress that he was serious about investigating any wrongdoing that may have happened on his watch. The President could not get out of his hole or create the Tower Board without “reaching out” – both to myself and to other Members of Congress.

By reaching out and involving Congress in the progress of the investigation, the President gave them a stake in its outcome and also a feeling that they were intimately involved in the process as a whole.

Steve: What surprised you most about this experience with President Reagan?

Dr. Abshire: I was most surprised by the practical nature of the President. For all talk of a Reagan and Conservative Revolution in the early 1980s with its anti-Communist sentiments, I was pleasantly surprised by Reagan’s philosophy – he was not an ideologue. I was impressed with his ability to shift America’s strategy to face the shifting currents of the times and not to strictly adhere to any ideological plank.

Steve: Example?

Dr. Abshire: A fine example of this characteristic was when – after he had referred to the Soviet Union as the “Evil Empire” – he came to an agreement with Mikhail Gorbachev at Reykjavik, Iceland to reduce nuclear weapon stockpiles and to limit production of entirely new types of nuclear weapons.

“Sow a thought; reap an action.
Sow an act; reap a habit.
Sow a habit; reap a character.
Sow a character; reap a destiny.”
– Charles Reader

Steve:   So, in the end – for pauper, prince, president or pope …

Dr. Abshire:  In scandal or crisis, character is always the coin of the realm.

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