ANYONE BELIEVE THESE RANGERS WANT AMERICA TO GO IT ALONE TODAY? >> JOINING ME NOW, DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN, PROFESSOR AT RICE UNIVERSITY, AND COAUTHOR OF "THE NIXON TAPES" 1971 TO 1972. I'M WATCHING RONALD REAGAN, AND WHAT AN ICONIC SPEECH THAT WAS. IT ISN'T THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE HEARD A PRESIDENT PULL FROM THE REAGAN PLAYBOOK. FOR THIS DEMOCRAT, JOE BIDEN, WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF HIS CHOICE TO EVOKE THAT FAMOUS SPEECH AND THE PARTICULAR DEVICE OF LINKING EVENTS TO TODAY? >> WELL, IT WAS ESSENTIAL FOR JOE BIDEN TO LINK IT TO RONALD REAGAN, BECAUSE REAGAN WENT THERE, AND GAVE REALLY ONE OF THE BEST SPEECHES IN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY JUNE 6th OF 1984. THE SPEECH WAS CLASSIC, BIDEN STOOD AT THE SAME SPOT. THESE WERE THE U.S. ARMY RANGERS, SECOND RANGERS OF DIVISION THAT CAME AND CLIMBED THE CLIFFS 100 FEET STRAIGHT UP TO DESTROY WITH GRENADES AND GUN-TO-GUN COMBAT, DESTROYED THESE GIANT BLASTING GUNS THAT WERE POINTING OUT OVER THE ENGLISH CHANNEL, AND BY THEIR VALOR AT POINT DU HOC IT ALLOWS SO MANY AMERICANS NOT TO GET SLAUGHTERED AT OMAHA AND UTAH BEACH. I'M HERE IN SIMI VALLEY. YESTERDAY I WAS WITH PEGGY NOONAN AND ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WERE PART OF GREAT STAGE CRAFTING BY MIKE DEEBER, THAT INCREDIBLE SPOT IN NORMANDY BY THE WHITE CROSSES AND THE STARS OF DAVID, AND IT'S BECOME A PLACE TO GO TO TALK ABOUT DEMOCRACY AND THE COST OF FREEDOM, AND SO I THINK BIDEN CONNECTING IT TO UKRAINE, TALKING ABOUT PUTIN BEING THE NEW AUTHORITARIAN THREAT LIKE HITLER WAS, YOU KNOW, BACK IN WORLD WAR II WAS APROPOS. >> PETER BAKER WROTE ABOUT THIS IN THE "NEW YORK TIMES," I'M GOING TO QUOTE FROM HIM. LIKE MR. REAGAN, MR. BIDEN WANTS TO USE THE INSPIRING STORY OF THE RANGERS AT POINT DU HOC FOR THE CASE OF AMERICANS AT THE FACE OF AGGRESSION AND FOR HIMSELF. THE DIFFERENCE FOR BIDEN OF COURSE TODAY IS THE GROWING NATIONALISTIC FERVOR, RIGHT, IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY LED BY DONALD TRUMP. AND THE MESSAGE MAY BE THE SAME, THE GEOGRAPHICAL BACKDROP IS THE SAME. HOW DIFFERENT IS THE POLITICAL BACKDROP? >> WELL, OF COURSE IT'S DIFFERENT, BUT THIS IS, YOU KNOW, I THINK IF THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SEES OUR PRESENT STATE KIND OF LIKE EUROPE IN, SAY, 1938, NOT WORLD WAR II, AND NOT THE GREAT VICTORY OF THE BATTLE OF NORMANDY. BUT THAT THIS IS AN ONGOING FIGHT THAT, YOU KNOW, FDR FRAMED WORLD WAR II. YOU HAVE A CHOICE BETWEEN TOTALITARIANISM OR DEMOCRACY OR COMMUNISM. THERE WERE THREE CHOICES IN THE WORLD. THE FACT THAT OUR SOLDIERS OF DEMOCRACY FAILED, BIDEN NEEDED TO BE IN EUROPE, HAVE A POWERFUL MOMENT WHEN ZELENSKYY CAME THERE TO NORMANDY AND TALKED TO A VETERAN, AND SAID YOU TO AN AMERICAN VETERAN, YOU SAVED EUROPE, AND TALK AND TRY TO GIVE NATO SOME MOMENTUM. I MEAN, THE WHOLE BUILDING BLOCK OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY FROM HARRY TRUMAN ALL THE WAY TO JOE BIDEN HAS BEEN NATO'S FIRST. PUT ALL OF THE ATTENTION ON NATO. KEEP THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE TIGHT AND STRONG. ONLY DONALD TRUMP HAS BEEN AN ABERRATION FROM THAT. HE'S AN ISOLATIONIST KICK BACK, AND WE HAD A LOT OF ISOLATIONISTS IN THE 1930s THAT WANT AMERICA TO PULL UP A WALL AROUND THE U.S., AND DON'T ENGAGE OR HELP COUNTRIES IN NEED. BIDEN, I THINK, CORRECTLY HAS UPPED THE ANTE THAT WE ARE GOING TO STICK BY UKRAINE, COME HELL OR HIGH WATER, HALF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS WITH BIDEN ON THIS. IT'S GOING TO BE A BIG ISSUE IN THIS CAMPAIGN, AND CURIOUS TO SEE HOW TRUMP TALKS ABOUT UKRAINE BECAUSE I WAS AGHAST WHEN HE BACKED OFF OF SUPPORTING ZELENSKYY AND OUR DEMOCRATIC ALLY IN UKRAINE, AND SEEMINGLY IS FAVORING PUTIN, AND TRUMP HAD SAID, YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH THE NATO COUNTRIES IF THEY DON'T PAY THEIR BILLS, AND SAYING ALL OF THIS UGLY RAW MEAT KIND OF THING. NATO IS THE UNITED STATES. IT'S HOW WE KEEP DEMOCRACY ALIVE AND WELL AT HOME AND AROUND THE WORLD. >> YOU KNOW, WE ALWAYS HAVE TALKED ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT WE AS CITIZENS HAVE LEARNED THE LESSONS OF HISTORY, AND IT OCCURRED TO ME AS I WAS WATCHING THE EVENTS UNFOLD OVER THE LAST 24, 48 HOURS OR SO, THIS WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY BE THE LAST U.S. PRESIDENT WHO WILL HAVE BEEN ALIVE ON THE ACTUAL D-DAY. WE LOOK AT THOSE INCREDIBLE MEN WHO TO QUOTE MY COLLEAGUE KELLY O'DONNELL SHOWED THIS LIFE FORCE TO MAKE THIS TRIP. THEY ARE IN THEIR 90s, MANY OVER A HUNDRED. PROBABLY THE LAST TIME THEY WILL GO TO NORMANDY. DOES THE LESSON START TO FADE AS THE PEOPLE WHO WERE A PART OF IT FADE OR HOW IS IT KEPT ALIVE? HOW ARE THE LESSONS OF HISTORY AND IN PARTICULAR THIS LESSON KEPT ALIVE, DOUG? >> WELL, I WROTE A BOOK CALLED THE BOYS OF POINTE DU HOC ABOUT THE U.S. ARMY SECOND RANGERS, AND I GOT TO INTERVIEW THEM AND GOT TO INTERVIEW ON TAPE 150 D-DAY VETERANS, INCLUDING PEOPLE ON THE FIRST WAVE AND THE ORAL HISTORIES WILL LIVE ON AND ON. PEOPLE LIKE TOM HANKS RIGHT NOW IS GEARING UP WITH THE HISTORY CHANNEL TO DO LIKE 36-HOUR WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATION PULLING TOGETHER ORAL HISTORIES, VIDEO, TAPE, SO WE HAVE TO CONSTANTLY REMIND OURSELVES OF WHAT THE SECOND WORLD WAR WAS. I MEAN, WE WERE ATTACKED BY FASCISM ON THE PACIFIC, JAPANESE, AND HITLER DECLARE WAR ON US. WE PULLED IT TOGETHER. WE WON. AND I WORRY THAT WAS THE WORLD WAR II GENERATION OR WHAT TOM BROKAW DUBBED THE GREATEST GENERATION DISAPPEARS. ALL OF IT, GUYS, I INTERVIEWED, CHRIS, FROM D-DAY, AND I BECAME GREAT FRIENDS WITH JACK COON, THEY'RE ALL GONE. HERE I INTERVIEWED THESE PEOPLE AND THEY'RE GONE. I CREDIT REAGAN FOR MAKING JUNE 6th THIS DAY THAT PRESIDENTS HAVE TO GO AND THINK ABOUT THE COST OF DEMOCRACY. BEFORE REAGAN, WE WOULD FOCUS IN OUR COUNTRY ON PEARL HARBOR. PEARL HARBOR WAS UNPREPAREDNESS. WE LOST THE BATTLE OF PEARL HARBOR. JUNE 6th REMINDS US WHAT A DEMOCRACY CAN DO, AND IF WE PUT OUR SHOULDERS TO THE WHEEL, THE DEMOCRATIC TRADITIONS CAN REIGN AROUND THE WORLD. I FIND IT VERY SIGNIFICANT THAT WHOEVER IS PRESIDENT, FOLLOWING THE WAR AND LIBERATION OF WESTERN EUROPE COMMENCED, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS A HARD RECORD AFTER NORMANDY IN THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE AND THE MARCH TO BERLIN, THE U.N. PREVAILED AND I THINK D-DAY IS THE SINGLE GREATEST MILITARY EVENT IN U.S. MILITARY HISTORY, NOTHING LIKE IT. >> MAYBE SOMEBODY'S CALLING TO GIVE YOU A REVIEW OF YOUR APPEARANCE, DOUG, CAN I JUST SAY THAT -- >> I THINK THEY'RE TRYING TO KICK ME OUT OF MY ROOM. >> HAVE YOU PASSED THE CHECKOUT TIME? >> I PASSED THE TIME. I SAW PEOPLE LOITERING IN THE HALL, WHEN IS HE LEAVING THE ROOM. >> WELL, WE WILL RELEASE YOU, BUT I'LL JUST SAY I'M A TINY BIT JEALOUS. I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO BE A FLY ON THE WALL FOR YOUR CONVERSATIONS WITH P
