Live from the Reagan Ranch Center, Reagan the Movie, & Dr. Paul Kengor | Liberty Mail | S4:Ep. 1

Intro welcome back to Liberty mail I'm Katie kenline and while we may have a couple more days of summer we had to bring you this very exciting special episode because um one of our favorite guests of all time of the podcast is out in California with some um just exciting news we will be back in the studio with Institute for Faith and freedom on campus with a new um Junior co-host at the podcast very soon as the school year gets started but for those of you on YouTube you can already see our special Dr. Paul Kengor guest at the Reagan Ranch in California Dr Paul kangor thank you for joining us and when you tell us why are you out there we there's some great pictures of Reagan behind you you got the the Reagan Ranch shirt on why are you out there Catalina it is great to be reunited again yes so so I'm I'm out here in la la land we flew into LA on uh let's see when was it Tuesday Morning the morning Reagan Premiere of the 20th and came out with most of my family so not everybody but my oldest son Paul stayed home cuz he's working he couldn't get off that week daughter came in from New York but most of the family was on the plane and we had the premiere of Reagan the movie on the 20th and it was a it was the literal red Carper Premiere right bromen's Chinese Theater and it's based on book on Ronald Reagan the Crusader Ronald Reagan the fall of Communism so the movie stars Dennis Quaid as Reagan um David Henry who plays younger Reagan during the Lifeguard Rock River years and then another um third young actor who plays like the little boy Reagan but his name is like I'm sorry I forget it Tommy Reagan or something like that he actually has Reagan in his name it's kind of weird thing yeah but it's it's it's spelled differently and John Voit plays Victor the KGB agent um Mark Moses actor I didn't know of one of my favorite roles in the movie He plays my my wonderful friend the late great Bill Clark who was like a a grandfather to me he was really good and kudos to Penelope and Miller all right now I had I didn't know of her I'm not a modern movie person I love classical kind of old movies movies but but I didn't know of her and and uh Katie she played a just a terrific Nancy Ragan I mean she was so good I I I Quaid was great as re John Voit is terrific I mean I think some of these people ought to get Oscar nominations I think she should like a best supporting actress she was great so we were out here for the premiere on Tuesday night August 20th and then after that when I'm out here I usually go to Reagan Ranch Center the Reagan library and I always visit my friends at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara yes young Americas Foundation run by Andrew coffen Ro city college grad who the first course that I taught at Grove City College Catalina it was B 1997 comparative politics a class that you should be taking and and there in the front row was this young man named Andrew coffin wow who is now runs the r manance Center his daughter Maggie actually graduated from gr City College was it just was it just this past may I think if not this past May than the one year before yeah yeah so you know you're getting old when when the students that you had sending sending their kids to Grove City College but Andrew runs the Reagan Ranch Center I love here I wish you could see a kind of Panorama view um they had this great museum about Reagan the Reagan Ranch um I actually wrote the content for the exhibits so I'm up here and did a podcast with Grace Riley yes good friend right the weekend spectator through the American spectator we did two podcasts and now the most important thing all week I'm doing this podcast right now with the great Catalina kenline wow thank you thank you back to school this is different kind of red carpet Premiere right here oh my goodness well it is it's really exciting for if anyone is listening who's in Grove City or student See the Reagan Movie here the movie will be at the Guth three um in downtown Grove City um I believe the Friday Saturday and Sunday um so I know we're really excited about that to have it right yeah so it will be yeah we're going to be doing um Robinson Township and that will be um August 29th I think the Cinemark there two screenings and I'll I'll kind of speak it both or staggered a little bit so I could talk and then it'll be at the Guthrie that weekend of August 30th 31st and September 1st and I'll be speaking one of those nights and then there's also going to be I believe a Grove City College event where alum event at the Guth three I think September 14th okay and we'll be sure we'll put some of this information um in the bio because it's really it's really exciting that's coming out how early what was the process um you wrote this book a number of years ago yeah and what was the process like to get to today where you were standing on the red carpet I don't From Book to Movie know did you get to meet any of the did yeah I mean I met I met most of them on the set in G Oklahoma back um they had a covid situation there before and it kind of delayed everything but that was probably was that 2020 or 2021 I think it was summer of 2021 and I met Dennis then Dennis Quaid then um met uh David Henry um spent a lot of time with David David is um as I said plays the young re he was on Wizards of Waverly Place David yes with Selena Gomez met a bunch of the other actors actresses um you know you know was pretty cool who I met um I didn't know that I knew him from movies but the guy who plays um Rabbi uh bi kirchman in the in the in the movie a Russian dissident and he's played by Ilia he's a Russian actor who does um in Spider-Man like I asked him I said have I seen you in any movies before you look kind of familiar he said have you seen Spider-Man and I said yeah I think so I'm the guy that says rent rent rent and I said yes I know who you are he did 2001 A Space Odyssey a few other things he was in the guy so I've met a lot of them uh back then but but this has been going on since 2004 when Mark Joseph who's the hero Mark Joseph made this happen he's the producer of the movie this is his baby and he called me from the Rock River in Dixon Illinois which is how I opened the book the Crusader with the chap Rock River rescuer he said my name is Mark Joseph um I'm a Hollywood uh producer I've been involved with Chronicles of Narnia all these other different things um I read your book God and Ronald Reagan this is the book that I've been waiting for right this is the book I wish I would have written I was waiting for somebody to write does anybody own the movie rights to it and I said well no you know he said you know can I buy the movie rights I'm like I think so probably let me think about that and so it eventually ended up and I told him during that phone call I said wait till you see my next book it's called the Crusader Ronald Reagan and the fall of communist and where you are at the Rock River you know Mark Mr Joseph you can't imagine I mean that's where it really begins and you're gonna love that book and that story so the book actually ended up technically being based on the Crusader yeah and then it took the Crusader came out 2006 and here we are 2024 20 years after that call and Ronald Reagan came out it took that long to get a movie made about a Conservative Republican icon and the most popular president since Eisenhower if not FD and that really tells you a lot about what Hollywood is like yeah wow I think the interesting thing is the title of the book is the Crusader um and the movie is just Reagan which is really Snappy and great for a movie title you know it looks great on the all the promotion and the trailer will link that all it's just wonderful but um you have said you were The Crusader really thrilled that there was still um many uses of the Crusader in the movie and and even talking about God when you talked about your book God and Ronald Reagan um yeah yeah because that phrase so I Came Upon that phrase by reading through old Soviet archives and I I knew I knew that Ronald Reagan had referred to a crusade for Freedom that will undermine communism that will put Marxism leninism on the ash Heep of History So Reagan used that phrase Crusade all the time you know not like a religious Crusade like Crusaders a medieval period but but in a way it is kind of a religious crusade in the sense it's a positive Crusade against atheistic deadly Soviet communism right um Eisenhower even talked about the liberation of beaches of Normandy as a great Crusade so so in that sense right very very positive phrase but I didn't know until I started reading through old Soviet archives that um wow the Soviets referred to him as the Crader right all the time over and O over and over again and here I actually have a book right here oh yeah which I haven't I didn't crack this book until probably in about 10 years until I wrote in a coming in on the airplane and I thought I should ref familiarize myself with just some of these quotes right because I know I'm gonna get asked about this but the book opens with three quotes uh Yuri cran from is vestia the Soviet publication wrote a piece called unrestrained June 11th 1982 this was right after Reagan met with Pope John Paul II of the Vatican and where they decided that God had saved their lives the previous year to take down Soviet communism then Reagan goes straight from there to Westminster and Britain meets with Margaret Thatcher and calls for a crusade to undermine Soviet communism and Yuri writes the US president really does see himself as some kind of latterday Crusader and then a year later in Pravda um vadom zaglin article called the Great truth of our time think about that this Crusade declared by US President Reagan is not just talk it is an action program aimed at rolling back communism that is a program of allaround struggle against World socialism so they they understood it that's why they called him the Crusader and I was really pleased to see in the film um Victor the KGB agent who played by John voy I mean he must have used the word Crusade Crusader talking about Reagan at least a half dozen times maybe oh wonderful yeah so it's kind of cool to see it because I thought um yeah you're sitting there thinking well you know I know the movie is based in my book but I wonder how much right is it really going to be and then you hear those words you the Crusader is like oh wow looking around like yeah I guess I did that respon wonderful did you have another favorite how many times have you seen this you said you were on you were on set yeah how much were you involved in I mean the only time that I had seen this was the version about two years ago in Nashville oh wow I went to a private screening we took a our family went down there to visit um my wife's brother who's a musician in Nashville and Dave and I went and we saw private screening and I thought it was great and I I told Mark Joseph at the time I said he said what you think I said you know don't take this the wrong way but I was really surprised I was really really impressed and a number of people had told me including Andrew coffin and others um governor Scott Walker who runs ya and by the way he's a great guy and and will be our will be our Reagan lecturer this year Grove City College and L that's wonderful Walker that's awesome yeah and Scott said um he and Andrew said well if you saw it two years ago it's different um it's not dramatically different but but there there's some different stuff and when I saw it a few days ago I can't recall really Katie what they took out I'm really I mean I did I I I there were two or three scenes that I knew that they took out but um I it doesn't it didn't seem dramatically different but it did seem better and so it was um it was really excellent I was really impressed no that's that's really wonderful what do you think I was just Dangers of Communism wondering about you know the the timing as we as we approach the election this fall and where we're at in our world right now um and you know I think I believe like your book makes a very strong um argument just about the dangers of Communism and and why um Reagan's efforts were really essential and and really um like changed the the 20th century um and got gave us the world we have today what do you think about just this moment like you said it's it's wild that that Hollywood made this movie right um what do you think about the just the moment we're in and why I I don't know more than ever people should watch the movie we should learn about what Reagan his Legacy by the way no thanks to Hollywood right I mean this was Mark Joseph really really leading this but but you know the rise and fall of Soviet communism where the book ends of Reagan's life he was born February 6 1911 in tampo Illinois Bolsheviks take over October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and then Soviet Union implodes communism implodes 1989 1991 you know Reagan left office January 1989 and informs the world that he has Alzheimer's November 5th 1994 beautiful letter we show that in the movie and so yeah this is really the story of the 20th century and this guy's whole mission um was all about taking it down and defeating it and and you will really like this everybody will other than Nancy Reagan um Bill Clark my buddy Bill Clark is a major character in this film but Ronald Reagan's mom Nell is just a thread throughout the film and she's always telling you know Ronnie God has a plan for you God has a plan God's plan the divine plan Reagan and Bill Clark used to call it the DP Bill had an acronym for everything DP divine plan and and that's preserved throughout the movie I mean there are 10 or 12 references to God I mean maybe I didn't count maybe next time I watch it I might actually count it might be an interesting yeah um I did a review of the movie Cabrini about sister St Cabrini and I was so angry that beautiful cinematography and everything else there's not one mention of God of Jesus anywhere whole movie about this little Italian Saint who gave everything in her life every breath for her Jesus it was a deliberate Purge right this movie didn't do that there are more references to God in this movie about wagan than there are in but but it's authentic and and also you will see they make this book that printer of udal which was written by Harold B Wright 1903 um I have a full chapter on it in godam Ronald Reagan that's a central theme of the movie and that should really Inspire some interest I think in in that book he was Herold Bell Wright was a was a a reverend a pastor and a kind of a historical um kind of Christian fiction writer and that book played a central part in Reagan's life given to him by his mother now wow well and so this makes me wonder um just all Research of the research that you had done for um both Reagan the Crusader and God and Ronald Reagan um just did you ever think that it would be um turned in it would be the almost research basis for a movie when you when you were writing these how long did it take you to put those together well I mean so many of the different stories that I've told in books I feel all the time like boy this would make a great movie right yeah and and what what often drives me is and people say all the time why do you write so many books and I I feel this compulsion to tell stories great stories that people don't know in fact you know a pope and a president the stuff I discovered about the Soviet role and trying to assassinate John Paul II connecting that to Reagan shooting and everything that was one of those things that that was the hardest book I ever had to write but what kept me going the whole time was thinking people need to know this people need to know this people need to know this and you're thinking wow this would make a great movie although never what I did I actually think it would be a movie you don't write it to be movies but you think in your head great story this is like a movie um but in this case Mark Joseph stepped up you know real guy from Hollywood and agreed and boy Mark gave his you heart mind and soul to this for 20 years and speaking about the D the DP the divine plan yeah we were my family was leaving the Hollywood Lowe's hotel which is where we had all the different events related to the to the release of the movie on Tuesday and we had a really late night the night before and and time zone change everything just wiped out and I was thinking boy I wish I could just see Mark right now right and kind of say good bye to Mark we're headed to the escalators and we're carrying all of our stuff and there's like 10 of us and here comes Mark you know around corner with this little boy and uh it's was like and I like we did it man you know we did it wow we were a Band of Brothers the whole way through and I had um well should I say this on air I don't know uh but I had different people at different times say um don't trust this Mark Joseph guy he ought to be giving you a check for $10,000 every year to renew the the the agreement on this in order to you know he short changey unit but Mark and I said no we're two Christian Brothers and of brothers and we're gonna stick with each other on this and I had people say leave that and come over here and write a script with me for this movie for that because Mark's never going to get that done and I said no Mark and I are sticking together man and uh and we did we got it done wow that's qu was key once we had Dennis Quade then everything after that started rolling it shows the importance of getting a major actor like that right when did you when alonger did you get it was you were filming before Co well they were I don't know the I don't know the timeline on this like I should I think they start So Co hit 2020 so they started filming either 2020 or 2021 I think it was the fall and then they had a covid Outbreak on the set and they cut the whole set down after they they had built everything they lost millions of dollars wow in fact Mark has often said that he can make a movie about the making of the movie not just covid but also the the outrageous problems of Outrageous Problem of Funding trying to get conservatives to F films right Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies and she's not even buried in the ground and there's already three scripts on a major studio desk in Hollywood all funded with enormous budgets to make a movie about RBG right and we can't even get a movie made about the most popular president since Ike or FDR who who who who was reelected by winning 49 of 50 states and winning the Electoral College 525 to 13 winning almost 60% of the vote we could even get a movie made about that guy and part of it is because conservatives you know shame on you guys uh don't give money to to to to to movies to the Arts and they need to they need to support it no that's yeah that's a really good point um just the another thing for our Other Kengor Movies audience to know and everybody is this is actually not your first movie right you've been you've had two others yeah I've been involved in a number of them I have to stop and think about it and you I I don't keep a list right of like the stuff that I've done and people like my students will laugh all the time and they'll say um have you ever done this and it'll be something kind of like a big thing I'll say I don't I think I probably have they like you don't remember I'm like no done so many things but I was walking we were in ventur California which is where we used to stay in the Summers when I would do uh research at the Reagan library and we stopped at our favorite restaurant there the busy be which is like a 50s themed Diner and we were walking along the street in the movie theater was there and I told them turned to my to my daughter Gian I said hey this movie theater maybe about 10 years ago uh me and your two brothers we sat there and watched Obama's America the denes dza film and I was in that movie and I remember sitting in there when I came on the screen I'm talking to denesh about Obama's communist Mentor Frank Marshall Davis right and I just kind of you slouched down in the the theater in California I hope you know when I walked out kind of walking out like this making sure no one's looking but yeah it was that was um that was like the first or second largest selling um political documentary ever and they basically threw denes in jail over that no Ken G they threw him in jail know he made enemies and they went after him that's what they do and then I my book of Pope and a president there's a script for that and that's oh that's wonderful Yeah by Pon Productions my good friend Scott sander and he's got a great script he's got a really good script for it he Scott just did a movie called hard miles which is good and that um hopefully we'll get that one done and I've been involved in a bunch of others yeah divine plan with Rob Orlando I think Rob is coming to campus in late September to show his film on the shroud of Trin which is really good okay check out check out the Divine yes so the DP the divine plan we actually did a follow-up book to a pope and a president called the divine plan and Rob and I did a documentary together and uh we we showed that at the Guthrie when it came out few years ago that that's really quality work people should watch it's really good oh that's so it's really cool to have all kinds of projects not only books but also to see lot going on no that's so exciting do you have any just any without without spoiling the Favorite Movie Moments movie um but many of us if you have read the book you know what happens you know his life um president but do you have any favorite parts that you people shouldn't Miss yeah I mean so many so many favorite Parts the scene which um I really push to put the scene in there because Reagan is being attacked right now on race and I have a book on Reagan and race which we're thinking about publishing um through the institute for Faith and freedom as because the publishing industry is so messed up right now there's a lot of self-publishing going on by organizations so we might just do it through us so many conservative houses have shut down it's really insane but there's this really touching moment in young Reagan's life where his best friend at Eureka College a black kid football player William Franklin Bergie bergart they be they were best friends until Reagan called him in 1981 August 1981 I think it was from the white house because B's going in for surgery and was worried and his old buddy Dutch called him and Bergie did not survive that surgery he died W but they Bergie and another black player on the team Jim ratton they that they're denied a hotel because because of the color of their skin and Reagan tells the coach Matt McKenzie um and and I was in Guthrie Oklahoma when they were when they were doing all the football scenes and they and and they Reagan told Mac McKenzie Mack just give me cab Fair I'll take them home to my house because we don't want the whole team to have to sleep on the bus because of because of Jim and Bergie I mean you the team might take it out on them they won't get a good night sleep we got a big game tomorrow and McKenzie's like boy I don't know Dutch you think your parents would be okay with that and and Reagan's like oh yeah you don't know my parents W they'll be fine with it and say they knock on the front door and Nel and Jack open the front door and Nell says come on in boys and wow two black players come in and that I was really pleased to see that scene in there and uh we kept that that's an important scene but but a lot of Reagan's dad young Reagan dragging his dad out of the snow because Reagan comes home he's like 11 years old February 1922 and his dad is passed out drunk on the front porch Reagan said arms out stretch crucified crucified and he drags him into the house father's drunk can't make it to the front door drags him inside that scenes in the movie um so many good scenes the Berlin Wall stuff is great did a beautiful job with the Berlin Wall stuff W no that that's really exciting and even just the behind the scenes part that many of us have seen the speeches and um the political side but um those parts just sound really really touching and um will be really special to see in the theater yeah because because the movie will work through how you get there like Reagan just doesn't show up one day and say Mr gorbage have tear down this wall the speech writers that were involved in that um Peter Robinson Tony Dolan my good friends and I've heard the story a million times from Peter on how that went about how it happened and they and they show that in the film good for to see the assassination scene is really good too attempted assassination and they even showing it show Reagan saying to the surgical team I hope you're all Republicans Oh that's oh that's really great that's so that's really exciting um I think just yeah I think we all should um be sure to get tickets we'll put some links below um it's coming out See the Movie August 30th we heard there might be if you live around Grove City College there might be some opportunities um day before that um to hear from Dr kangor about his movie um from the book the book I believe has been it's it's back in print yeah it is I don't know how large of a print run they've done with it I'm not sure um and I would encourage people so it's gon to be in 3500 theaters I think starting August 30th so that's a major print release right our divine plan film I think we had maybe 800 theaters and that was a big deal that was a fathom event but this is you know four or five times that but I would urge people go see it in the theaters because and and do so right away because um that's what will allow it to continue to be run in the theaters if it doesn't have a good opening week it might not get a second week so you so you really do I know you want to go out and see it on DVD and everything but look if you're like me you think you don't like many modern movies because they all woke here's one that's not right I I I mean I think the last movie I saw in the theater was maybe the movie about Churchill with Gary Oldman four or five years ago this is that kind of a movie so you know this a chance to actually go out go see a high quality film and not without a bunch of garbage and language and smut my kids were able to watch it and uh it's truly a feel-good movie about an icon right that's wonderful well thank you Dr kengor from for joining us from California I hope you enjoy the rest are you going up to the the ranch no I'm not going to go up because Andrew and the team Andrew coffin and the team are actually in Dixon Illinois for the premere movie there because YF was heavily involved in this because so much of the movie was filmed at the Reagan Ranch and they wanted me to go there too but I just couldn't had too much else going on and doing some work for uh Institute of faith and freedom here it grows uh with Olivia Whitman and others so uh we had to come up to Santa Barbara here for a couple days no that's wonderful well we look forward to having you back on campus and we'll have a lot more Institute for Faith and freedom um just events and our podcast will be back soon um and we look forward to seeing everyone back in Pennsylvania or online be sure to like And subscribe um follow us on Facebook and Instagram and um just be sure to share with your friends um and family this really exciting movie based on our very own Dr kangor's book um movie Reagan is out August 30th in theaters near you um we'll see you soon L Catalina ciao