Randal Teague on the History of TFAS

Join Roger in this week's Liberty + Leadership Podcast as he speaks with Randal Teague, chairman of The Fund for American Studies. Roger and Randy talk about his career journey in law and politics, while covering history, economics, international trade, and civil society. 

They discuss the need for a fresh approach to journalism and how America’s polarization can be countered with courageous student leaders – both issues that TFAS strives to address. Randy and Roger also talk about the significance of teaching American history in high schools, his work with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation & Museum and his pride in his four children. 

Randy Teague has been a member of TFAS’s Board of Trustees since 1979 and was elected as chairman in 1998. Randy worked closely with one of TFAS’s five founders, David R. Jones, at the time of the organization’s incorporation. He served as editor of TFAS’s publications in the 1970s; was a co-founder of TFAS Prague in 1993 and the founder of TFAS Greece in 1996. He also helped conceptualize the Capital Semester program in 2003. 

Early in his career, Randy worked for former Rep. William C. Cramer of Florida, volunteered for the Goldwater presidential campaign, worked alongside Congressman Jack Kemp during the transformative tax reduction of the 1970s and practiced law in both Boston and Washington, D.C. Randy holds a bachelor’s degree from American University, and J.D. and LL.M. with honors law degrees from George Washington University. He has also been conferred two honorary doctorates in law and humanities.

The Liberty + Leadership Podcast is hosted by TFAS President Roger Ream and produced by kglobal. This episode was recorded at Reason Magazine’s podcast studio. If you have a comment or question for the show, please drop us an email at podcast@TFAS.org. To support TFAS and its mission, please visit TFAS.org/support.

To read a full transcript of the episode, click here.

Transcript

Roger Ream: 0:00

Hello and welcome. I'm Roger Rehm and this is the Liberty and Leadership Podcast a conversation with T-FASS alumni, supporters, faculty and friends who are making a real impact in public policy, business, philanthropy, law and journalism. Today, I'm excited to be joined by Randy Teague, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fund for American Studies. Randy has a deep history with T-FASS and has been involved in the organization almost since its start in 1967. Throughout the decades, Randy has had an illustrious law career while also serving on the board of T-FASS and a variety of other organizations and in other capacities. While playing a major role in T-FASS's success, randy also has managed to find time to write a book, pursue his interests in history, economics, international trade and development and civil society generally. Randy, thanks so much for joining me today.

Randal Teague: 1:05

Well, Roger, thank you very much for this opportunity to talk about TFAS.

Roger Ream: 1:09

Well, I am looking forward to the discussion here on our Liberty and Leadership Podcast. You were one of those really the main person encouraging me for a number of years to start a podcast, and we've been doing it now for just over a year. We've had more than 50 episodes, most featuring TFAS alumni who are doing marvelous things around the world, and also bringing on some professors in our program. So it's going to be great to interview you as chairman and a key member of our board of trustees.

Roger Ream: 1:44

For many years, I remember resisting doing a podcast, saying I don't know if the world needs another podcast, but since it started, I realized the many benefits of it the chance to talk to our alumni, faculty and other friends, hear what they're doing and to reconnect them to our organization. Well, I'd like to talk with you today about your involvement in T-FASS over the years, as well as some of the many things you've done in your career. But let's start with the man, I guess, most responsible for the fact that we've worked together these number of years, and that's David Jones, a key founder of the Fund for American Studies. Now, you met him as a high school student in St Petersburg, Florida, I think. Yep.

Randal Teague: 2:27

St Petersburg, florida. How did that come about? Well, it came about by the right coincidences, to phrase it that way.

Randal Teague: 2:35

David had been teaching at Clearwater High School and I had been elected at St Petersburg, one of their high schools, as president, and the faculty advisor was a fellow in the history department that David was joining.

Randal Teague: 2:51

And after about four or five weeks of the fall semester the teacher said I've got a guy I think you should meet because this guy shares our view of the world. And our view of the world was a deep attachment to American history, american values etc. And so I met David first as a person teaching a history course that I was not in for that semester. I did that course the second semester and it was remarkable to me because, without a syllabus misguiding him, he taught American history the right way, including what was in people's minds in supporting a democracy. And David became involved in an organization called Young Americans for Freedom and eventually became Florida chairman, southern regional chairman, national board, national executive director. And we felt that we had a common bond at that point in working in all kinds of efforts to bring about a better understanding. And the 1960s were at the very beginning of the student left-ward movement in this country, and so the timing of this turned out to be perfect for the both of us really.

Roger Ream: 4:01

So you mentioned Young Americans for Freedom, an organization I also got involved in when in college. That led me to meet David Jones. About a decade later, I guess. Tell me, was your involvement in YAF something that started in high school, or was that some of the way to tell college, because they're mostly active on the college?

Randal Teague: 4:23

level. Right, right, right. It did start in high school and would not have started in high school had it not been for David. And David went to New York City for a YAF national rally, came back really energized and eventually moved to Washington to become the national executive director. And I had been studying marine botany, marine biology in high school, felt that my career was headed in that direction. I'd done a lot of good work in good oceans, as they say, and I had a not a scholarship, but a loan from the University of Miami. And my mother and I couldn't quite figure out how we were going to pay this loan. And David said rather than spending six months a year at C and six months in a formaldehyde laboratory, you need to go into politics and law and things of that nature. So David came to Washington and a year later I came behind him.

Roger Ream: 5:16

I guess marine biology or marine botany is something that occurs to a student growing up in Florida more so than someone like me in Wisconsin. I don't think I ever that ever entered my mind as a profession. I'm sure that would be true. But you, you came to Florida from the Carolinas, right, right. And how long did you live there?

Randal Teague: 5:37

before. Well, I was, I. My family lived in Durham, so I was born in the city of Duke University. My dad took a position in Chapel Hill and so we went to Chapel Hill for three years, which was a fascinating experience for me in many, many ways, because the cities were remarkably different, culturally, attitudinally and everything else that flows from that. And then dad took a position in Florida and so, at the age of 13, went to Florida and went to St Petersburg, which is amazing. It's a peninsula surrounded on three sides by salt water, and so what it was? Swimming, beaching, sailing, scuba diving, surfing, whatever. It was a paradise for a teenager. And that's really how I got involved in the marine biology through an organization called the Science Center at St Petersburg, which I became the student president of. And I stayed all of these years, all of these decades, still interested in oceanography and marine sciences, and so that's frequently on the front page of the newspapers these days. So I've maintained that interest.

Roger Ream: 6:43

Yeah, I know you've done some things with William and Mary in that regard.

Randal Teague: 6:46

Right. I served on William and Mary's Virginia Institute on Marine Sciences Board, which really brought it all together for me in a great way, but not sacrificing anything else I was doing for the fun.

Roger Ream: 6:56

Yeah, yeah, well, I we can't dwell too much on those early years, as much as there are interesting things there and you've written about them. But David eventually left St Petersburg too and you mentioned you became executive director of YAF. You went off to college and stayed involved with YAF. I take it with David when did you first kind of connect with the Fund for American Studies, which, I should remind our listeners, was founded in 1967?

Randal Teague: 7:25

Right. When David was the executive director of YAF, he saw a great disparity in our country in terms of youth, political activity, public affairs, and it was at the left organizations all had tax exemptions and the right organizations the conservatives, the libertarians and so forth at that time did not have tax exemptions. And so he talked to Bill Buckley, governor Charles Edison of New Jersey, thomas Edison's son and several other people, and out of that grew the idea that became the Charles Edison Youth Fund as a 501 C3 organization and that carried that name forward as the Charles Edison Memorial Youth Fund and then in the mid 1980s became the Fund for American Studies. So that happened on Ronald Reagan's birthday, february the 6th 1967. And I was working for Florida Congressman, but I was on the YAF board and therefore David said all right, now that we have reached this point, why don't you come down and be my state and local director? So I joined David's staff at that point.

Roger Ream: 8:25

Well, one thing I recall from your time at I guess it was when you were working with YAF. You shared with me a few years ago a photo of you with Milton Friedman and I think Senator Barry Goldwater was tested. You were testifying on the hill with them, right.

Randal Teague: 8:43

There was a fourth person, general Thomas Lane, and he was more or less the military community to support spokesman, the face of support for a voluntary military, and Senator Goldwater, that was a conservative but he was primarily libertarian. Milton Friedman from that standpoint, general Lane from the military standpoint and me from youth standpoint, were testifying before the Senate and the House committees. Before the Senate committee, I think the chair of the committee was Walter Mondale, who became vice president later. But there was broad support at that point, as it remains today I think, for a voluntary military and it was good to have an ability to bring this forward with the support of senior retired military executives. So it was not seen as anything coming from the left. It was seen as something that was very broadly supported, including the military. They felt that one way or the other it would help them in what they were doing in their mission.

Roger Ream: 9:45

Well, if I leave something out here you can fill in a gap. But I'm really intrigued in talking to you about a position you held in the early 70s beginning in the early 70s on the as chief of staff to Congressman Jack Kemp. Jack Kemp should be familiar to everyone listening to this. Maybe some of the young people don't remember as well, but after a career in the American Football League, a little bit in the NFL, I guess, he ran for Congress from Buffalo, new York, got elected. You became his chief of staff. He gathered some great minds around him, maybe somewhere on the staff, some from the outside. That led to a very important event in our country's history. Could you talk some about working for Jack Kemp and the tax reduction?

Randal Teague: 10:30

Well, working for Jack Kemp was really a remarkable experience. Jack was elected to Congress on the very same ninth that Jim Buckley was elected to the Senate in New York. It was 1970. 1970, and the youth for Kemp organizations in Western New York and the youth for Buckley organizations throughout the state interacted a lot with each other. The consequence of that was that we knew each other and David Jones was in fact the number two person in the campaign for Senator Buckley.

Randal Teague: 11:08

The way this came about was Jack was looking for somebody that had a tax background and at that point I had a graduate degree in taxation and somebody that also understood public works, because Lake Erie was overtaking his congressional district. He said it would be impossible to find this, and since I had been the Republican clerk for the House Committee on Public Works that dealt with those water issues and also the tax experience, that came to work for him. And it was really remarkable because Jack was. Every answer to every question was we can do it. That symbolized his life.

Randal Teague: 11:44

He had been an executive assistant for a short period of time during the off seasons for Governor Ronald Reagan, and so he was totally tied to the Reagan agenda and he had an idea that we needed to reduce tax rates on the American people. But he didn't quite know how to go about that. It was different from what others had proposed and so he came forward with an idea, supported by the Wall Street Journal editorial pages primarily, that we needed to reduce individual income tax rates, and so the Kemp legislation moved forward in the House. Senator Roth from Delaware moved it forward in the Senate. The initial Republican support was not there. Republicans were nervous that it might mean reduced income and therefore balanced budget issues.

Roger Ream: 12:31

Higher deficits, higher deficits.

Randal Teague: 12:33

And so it was shown by Art Laffer, jude Wynanski, bob Bartley and others that that was exactly the opposite, that reducing it would produce more economic activity and in fact, generate more income to the Treasury. And so we slowly went over Jerry Ford and Mel Laird and other Republican leadership to this idea, and in the early Reagan administration it was in fact enacted. Several years later, there was a slight back off, with the lower income rates we have in this country today, in 2023, are all the progeny of that initial enactment.

Roger Ream: 13:09

Yeah, and it led to what I remember the Wall Street Journal editor, bob Bartley, titled his book the Seven Fat Years. The Reagan Revolution led to this tremendous economic growth and a very important point was proven, because I know the left used to always talk about free market economics being trickled down economics, and this showed that cutting taxes on wealthier people and everyone across the board would lead to prosperity for all. Right.

Randal Teague: 13:41

And every time they would accuse us of trickle down economics, we would remind them that it was flow down economics, not trickle down. Exactly yeah, and the middle class really did significantly move forward, as did the lower tax bracket classes as well. It really did revitalize the country for essentially 40 years. Great achievement.

Roger Ream: 14:02

Jack Kempzbar. Well, I want to make sure we have adequate time to talk about all you've accomplished as a member of the board as well as chairman of the Fund for American Studies, and so let's shift over that for a bit. The organization's grown considerably in the past 30 years. Much of it while you were chairman became chairman in 1998. It's become international in its focus. It's picked up high school programming. It's doing a lot more in journalism. Talk about kind of how you see the organization has evolved since the early years. You were involved, not as a board member really, but as it evolved in the program still and with David, and then to where we are today.

Randal Teague: 14:46

Roger, I really appreciate the opportunity to do that because I think persons that even know the organization quite well don't understand exactly what happened in the wake of David's death. David died very surprisingly for you, me and others in April of 1998. David had been chairman, he had been CEO and he had been president. He carried all three titles and what really started this growth in the organization was that we split those responsibilities. Because you became president, I became chairman, we sort of split the CEO duties, but it meant that instead of one person thinking through where we are and where we're going, we had a very positive cathartic effect between the two of us as to what if this, what if that? Should we consider this, consider that? And that was relevant to program. And you know, roughly almost a decade ago we did bring in a sophisticated high school program in the economics area. You did not just mention it, but we're also doing graduate programs now, especially in law and economics, and that came about because we had more persons you, me and others working on it, where we were and where we ought to be going, than David.

Randal Teague: 16:00

And I think that the success of the organization today, with tens of thousands of alumni spread out all over the world, not just here, so that they understand the economic way of thinking. And that means you don't come up with a political idea and force it through Congress or any place else. You weigh whether economically it will work, financially Will it work, will it not work, and then you develop policies on that. And it's too bad that the White House or White Houses, because it's been certainly more than one president and the Federal Reserve, the Council of Economic Advisers, don't understand the importance of letting the economy and the economic issues drive political decisions which are for the benefit of the people. If you don't do that, you're spending money that they give you through taxes. You confiscate it through taxes and if you don't confiscate enough I would throw taxes. You bring it in nonetheless through borrowing, which in debts future generations.

Randal Teague: 16:56

So this idea that it was brought forward through the program platforms for the fund enabled us to reach now several generations. David would be so proud of the work that you have done in this respect that we were going year to year to year and now we're going decade to decade, decade, decade, program, program, program. And I think the consequence of that is going to be felt If you look at the outstanding alumni of this organization that came through the initial six-month, six-week, then seven-week, then eight-week program. Some of them have done more than one. You see where they are in major sectors of the American economy and public life. You really do. It's quite a success.

Roger Ream: 17:39

I think one thing that was a change when we shifted from David Jones in all those roles and he died sadly at the age of 60, and you and I then took on primary responsibility for this organization was you always were pushing for and I won't say growth in numbers, because we want to reach more students, of course, but for growth and impact and to do more, and it led to us starting more institutes that we called them at the time In the summer.

Roger Ream: 18:11

It led to year-round programs that then eventually led to us taking on the Robert Novak Journalism Program and the Foundation for Teaching Economics and all the high school programs for students and teachers, and we continue to grow with the Joseph Rago Fellowship and more programs for alumni. But first let me ask you about the international area, which is one area where we did grow and David, of course I always had a keen interest in international, was involved in programs that went internationally, as were you. But that's when I first was getting connected with the organization in terms of coming on the staff and I remember attending the first board meeting before actually joining and you were chairing a committee on international programs and it was unclear then exactly what direction that would go. David gave you the mandate to figure that out and you did, and so talk about how it evolved into the international programs we do today.

Randal Teague: 19:07

Well, you know, america During part of his history was secure for reasons that were fading. In a world of instant technology, communications, military systems, etc. America could be more secure in the world, americans themselves could be more secure in the world if more Areas of the world, more countries, more regions, were committed to political and economic freedom. And this was not true in many areas. It was halfway true in other areas. So we took a look at Central and Eastern Europe, particularly because the overwhelming majority of Americans are derived from European heritage, and we knew that Western Europe was committed in some ways, but not always, and we knew that Eastern Europe had been under the Kremlin heel for sent for decades. At that point in time we you, dean Collins, michael Collins from Georgetown, bill Tucker, a member of the board originally from Oklahoma, the four of us Visited different cities, different universities, trying to find a match, and the thing that was terrifying I'll use that word to me was that these universities, not one single person in the economics department, a professor, an alerted person, knew how to teach free economics, free enterprise, economic freedom, because they had been forced to teach Marxism their entire lives. And so we knew at that point we had to bring people from the United States in, and so we chose Charles University, founded many centuries ago in the heart of Prague, and bring students from throughout Central and Eastern Europe, including Western Europe and including the United States, because at the student level, you wanted people that had experienced American freedoms, and so that program was launched.

Randal Teague: 20:54

Several years after that, we decided to take that concept with modifications, some serious modifications, into the Middle East, eastern, mediterranean, and that eventually resulted in a program in Hong Kong, when Hong Kong was free, as it's not now, and so that we could teach why freedom, free economics, political systems, individual liberty, etc. Or should follow the American or the European model rather than the Chinese model. And then, lastly, we brought that program to Latin America. We're no longer in Hong Kong, we're working even now as to whether or not Singapore or Australia or someplace else might be the most appropriate place for it. But you know, the importance of that is that we sometimes will take what we always take what we believe to them. But sometimes, if the monies are available from our donors, we'll bring the top students from those programs to America the first time they've ever been here and they'll see what political and economic Freedom is really all about. So it works in both directions.

Roger Ream: 21:56

But it makes America more secure than just having armaments, weapons and navies and so forth, because we have a common bond to individual liberty rather than state control of people's lives and the start of those international programs in the early 1990s were the fulfillment of one of the six objectives listed in the organization's founding documents and it was to provide opportunities for international enrichment for young people. And You're right, those Americans who participate in that program are as profoundly impacted by these programs as the students from those regions that attend. And to look at many of those graduates we keep in touch with, we have two graduates of the Prague program who serve as ambassadors to the United Nations for their countries, poland and the Czech Republic, the deputy to the Polish Ambassadors, and alum or a program. We've had them in parliaments and ministries as ministers and deputy foreign ministers and other capacities.

Randal Teague: 22:56

So it is Remarkable check impasse to the UN that you are working with now was actually the minister of foreign affairs for the entire Czech government.

Roger Ream: 23:04

That's right. That's right. So it's amazing. The impact that's had in the opportunity which you grabbed at at that time was that the changes were so profound that a whole new generation of leadership was going to be coming into power In these countries and they needed to be trained, they need to be educated about our country, about the free market. Yeah, it's. I remember that first trip we took over there with Dean Collins and Bill Tucker and we met the first dean we met with in Prague at the faculty of social sciences. On his business card it said Vladimir Suhi, window washer, because that's what he had to do because he was kicked out of the University. So those who were teaching economics, teaching Marxian economics, because the good guys had been kicked out of the University. You've always been involved in that part of the world. During the Cold War you, I know, had did legal work as well as Volunteer and civil society work in the Soviet, former Soviet Union and elsewhere. Any experiences to share about that? I know you made multiple trips, many multiples, you know, and David.

Randal Teague: 24:10

Jones was involved in that as well. David was president of the American Council of Young Political Leaders, which was a strictly bipartisan so strictly was painful bipartisan organization that had been created for American young political leaders to interact with young political leaders in countries all over the world. And David was asked by President Reagan to take an Assignment at higher education. So he had to leave that presidency and so I became president and stayed in that position for some period of time and we had an extensive program with the Soviet Union and with other countries as well, and we worked hard at this. You know they they had a lot of work to do. The the, the young political leaders in Moscow, had been told that capitalism was going to collapse next week, that America was completely falling apart. So when they came the United States we would fly them to LA, because if the only way to land at LAX is to fly for miles and miles and miles, and Behind every single home is a swimming pool, you know and you can have more impact on, you know where we are, where they are.

Randal Teague: 25:13

But I must tell you one of the most amazing experiences I did a lot of. I'm a Protestant but I did a lot of work for the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic, even before it became the Czech Republic was Czechoslovakia and everybody had a real life. That was invisible if the state police had not figured that out. And so there was a particular order of the church that the head of that order was a janitor in the Communist Party headquarters, because they didn't know what he really was in the church and what was his job. Every night he and his crowd emptied the waste paper bastard. So the central committee of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic, which obviously meant all the paperwork going on in the Communist government for control of the people, was going to the church for its uses, disseminations in survival, and so those kind of just really heartwarming experiences of how strongly people are committed to freedom Because they were risking their lives. They literally were risking their lives.

Roger Ream: 26:14

You know, david Jones was a mentor of the two of us and he had this uncanny ability that is rare in many people. When you talk to him, you thought you were the most important person in his life or in the room. You know he would focus on you, he'd inspire you to try to achieve things in your career. I think that's a A characteristic you have as well. Students love to talk to you and you inspire them as well, and then you've been a mentor to many of them. But since this is Liberty and leadership and I'm just kind of thinking about this here on the spot, but you know, what is it about leadership that Creates that kind of personality that inspires others? Do you have any thoughts about leadership you could share?

Randal Teague: 26:58

I'm not sure my thoughts are coherent.

Roger Ream: 27:02

Yeah, my question wasn't, so that's fine.

Randal Teague: 27:04

No, no, no but you know, I think, there are different reasons. We stress at the fun is part of our five-year strategic plan underway right now the importance of personal courage. But you never know whether you're going to have personal courage or not, because it's easy to hide in the back of a room when a great debate is going on and just not participate. And so there are lots and lots and lots of examples. But what we do, I think, in our work with the students is to prepare them to understand the role of personal courage and the changing of history.

Randal Teague: 27:44

It's amazing to me that at the Department of Justice, for example, in this town, the only statue outside of it is of Nathan Hale, a Teenager Yale student. What he have ever known that morning, that he was going to become a fixture in the American Republic? And the answer is no. He would not have known, he would have suspected, he would have been cautious, but he would not have known what was going to unfold, and there others in the American revolution as well. And then you have that throughout American history, and you also Certainly do not understand how somebody that learned to read by Firelight candlelight could become a person who would free people throughout this entire nation, and so you don't know.

Randal Teague: 28:27

But I think it's a combination of Values and they have to learn the values. If they've gone through education and not learned those values, or not learned them at home or wherever it might be, they're not going to have them, because you have to understand values to want to defend Right. And so if we do that and we also have them understand the role of Organizations and networks and things of that nature, so that you don't feel alone. And to go back to Nathan Hale, for an example, nathan Hale was hung for being a spy for George Washington, but he knew the other spies for George Washington Were in fact going to continue. It gave him confidence that he was part of something larger than he was.

Roger Ream: 29:07

Yeah well, those are excellent insights, so I appreciate that. Well, let me move forward to the past decade. At T-FAS we the same at this, virtually the same time I think it was the same month we took over the Robert Novak Journalism program that our friend and former board member, tom Phillips, had started with Absolutely the great journalist Bob Novak, and we took on, through a friendly acquisition, the Foundation for Teaching Economics from Jerry Yeum, an organization based in California, working doing great things at the high school level to teach economics. Let's talk first about journalism. The state of journalism is still not good. There are lots of problems. We've kind of our countries become divided and if you're on one side of the spectrum you watch one set of media and the other you watch another. You don't. That does not difficult. You read everything and you're a great source of information to me by clipping articles and sending them to me that I might have otherwise missed. Where do you think we stand on journalism and any thoughts about our Novak and Rago programs you want to offer?

Randal Teague: 30:20

Well, as I think both of us know, and certainly our viewers know, journalism is a profession under attack. There's no question about that right now. The inherent rights in journalism arise from protection of their sources and things of that nature that's under constant attack by agencies of the US government that get warrants when they're on warranted, etc. Etc. But not all journalists, not all great journalists, went to journalism school, and I think Fred Barnes, who's known to everybody, I'm sure, brought that to our attention at a very perfect time that you need to bring the opportunities for journalism beyond journalism schools, because a lot of those schools are closing up around the country anyway. And so what you have been able to and this you, roger, is not the organization, it's you have been able to bring forward in journalism is there are the relationships with particular journalism entities that are out there each day, printing, putting on the air whatever they might be.

Randal Teague: 31:22

When you said at the beginning we don't need another, that, my observation was we don't need another podcast in America. You know we may not, but we need another podcast that conveys what it is you are doing at the fund, as to what you're doing and what the fund is doing, and so the importance of that is journalism. It's one of our sweet spots. The other sweet spot that really dominates us right now is economics, and has dominated us for some period of time, because economics and politics are tied together. That's why we know as a discipline is political economy, and if we can concentrate at the high school level, the college level, the post-college level, post-graduate level, on those, I think we can accomplish what it is that we can accomplish. I really do.

Roger Ream: 32:05

Yeah, yeah. Well, we have a lot to show for our journalism programs in terms of the young people we've prepared for careers who are really, you know. Hardly a day goes by where I don't come across an article by one of our graduates who's covering uncovering something or writing about the latest hot events in the world. The FTE merger, or acquisition, really took us into that high school level. We were so focused on college and above and now, suddenly we've got this large program. We hit a record number of students in our high school programs this summer, lots of programs for teachers. We're still keeping the offices open in Davis, california, and what are your thoughts about having taken our work down to a level below college?

Randal Teague: 32:56

Well, I think it's absolutely essential. If you think in terms of the polarization of American opinion right now. You know you have to work with students before they get to college. Working with them at the high school level is essential and we had a significant increase in the number this year. But you know, I think your high school experience, my high school experience, you know we saw people around us then in ways that are different today because there's so many diversions from. You know, we had sports, we had our academic programs and so forth, but now there's so many other attractions, and getting them refocused so that they understand how it will reinforce their college participation, that reinforce graduate school applications and that, you know, reinforce their job opportunities Absolutely essential.

Randal Teague: 33:45

There are some organizations now that are already experimenting. They haven't run out there yet full blown, but they are experimenting with whether you can move even further down than high school. And there are legal issues there in local parentheses issues, things of that nature that we lawyers would worry about. But you know, you can never get somebody too young in terms of their ideas and I think when I look at the authors that have come through your program, many of them up here in the academic area, et cetera, et cetera. But some of these authors are in fact doing children's books, et cetera.

Randal Teague: 34:22

You know, at that level, trying to take good ideas that grandparents, parents and students, young students, can understand and agree on, to reinforce their views about America, because the views about America are essential, that it was truly a city on a hill and it had values that helped define the world community. Think what the world community would be today, roger, if we had not intervened in World War I and the imperial powers that conquered all of Europe, or if Hitler had in fact conquered Europe in World War II and shared it with Stalin. American values are essential in the entire world community and that's what I think our students are doing now and that's each one of these. It has to be said, it's a good graphic, it's a good image, like when our journalists go out. You know, it isn't that our program alone is the center of a network, but each one of them, when they go out there, becomes the center of a network. So you're constantly spreading these ideas of freedom as far as you can.

Roger Ream: 35:25

Yeah, you mentioned the idea of America as a shining city on a hill, and that's certainly, sadly, not something taught in a lot of high schools around the country anymore. We're taught as having a background history that we should apologize for, and that's why I think you know we've been exploring, as you know. Is there a way we can get more of that kind of civic understanding, that history, into our programs? We are doing economic forces in American history, but it is vital that we reach into the high school level and be below with the idea of America as a shining city on a hill. But that brings me also to an aspect of what you do in life related to history and your passion for American history and other history. I know you went to England when the Magna Carta anniversary. That would have been about 2015. Yeah, seven, eight years ago, Eight years ago. You're a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, some other organizations like that. Where did you get this passion for American history and talk a little bit about how it's manifesting itself in these different organizations.

Randal Teague: 36:36

To me it operates at two levels. It operates at that level of a shining city on a hill because that early period when they came to America were from England and of course that later changed. I mean, you added the Netherlands and you added Germany and so forth, but these were people coming here to get away from big government. That's why they came here was to get away from big government. So it operates at that level. But it operates also at where does my family fit in this, where do I fit in this?

Randal Teague: 37:05

And when I tell people you know, hey, x, y or Z, I make sure to point out that what pride I might have that I'm descended from whoever it might be, they might be descended from that person as well. And when we went to England there were supposed to be 100 and 100 of us that were descended from the barons that running me and we ended up in the night before the meeting with the Queen and so forth that we were 106. And somebody at my table said why did we end up at 106th? So it was supposed to be 100. And I said it's easy politics, transatlantic politics, right. But the next day it was remarkable to see what it meant to America to have this dramatic event of where the King accepted the demands of the barons, which are right to jewelry and things of these nature that flow down to us in 2023, and I would tell you that bad King John tried to change his mind that very afternoon.

Randal Teague: 38:02

And Then Magna Carta went through several revisions and I regret. You know it was originally known in history by its real name, the great charter of liberties, and Somehow in the 19th century, even in America, the liberties part got dropped out of the Appalachian. So we call it the Magna Carta now rather than the Magna Carta of liberties, and when I talk to people I get that liberties back in because that's right, was. But I think it's neat to understand history by seeing Gee, my ancestor was a farmer in Maryland, or another one was this in France, or whatever well you, speaking of Families, you wrote a book called families a few years ago and.

Roger Ream: 38:43

I even brought my copy of it here, subtitled, where we each begin it's, it's, it's. This is not a promotion, no, no. But it's large part biographical. But it's also fits fills in all the context. It's not just about hey, I was born in Durham, I grew up in Chapel Hill. You tell history of Durham and Chapel Hill and it's fascinating, and as well as all the organizations you've been involved in. But I'm gonna touch on families, in the sense of asking about your four children, because they're T-Fast alums.

Randal Teague: 39:13

I think all four oh, for our alums, and they had great pride in being that yeah.

Roger Ream: 39:19

I was remember comment your daughter made about her experience in our I think it was our journalism program and of course she took with one of our outstanding professors and how much that meant to her well, you know it's, it's their mother, and I take great pride in them.

Randal Teague: 39:36

And I take great pride in them also because of their relationship to the Fund for American Studies, and one now is let's call him a defense analyst in terms of what's going on in appropriations and things of that nature. I have another one who's a Broadway producer. He has one Tony nomination should have got to my opinion. The daughter that you mentioned, you know, is raising a family. What a great book called the soul so you will shine. And our youngest son is with the Lord, and so they're all having their own lives, their own families and experiences, and but they take the alumni role, positioned in pride, with them wherever they go.

Roger Ream: 40:19

Yeah, yeah. And you shared with me, like just last week, your son, who was the Broadway In the Broadway business, his new documentary About a bike trip in Wyoming, which was remarkable.

Randal Teague: 40:35

It really is remarkable. It's a great story and I think they can find it online Under the teak theatrical group and that's not a promotion either. Well, it's just to get you to the website to see this remarkable story. If he and his wife Doing a terrifying mountain bike trip out in Wyoming, and what it meant to them as a two-some, bringing forth their own family.

Roger Ream: 40:59

Yeah, I watched it. It was grueling and painful at times to 105 miles across that terrain, but at the same time I was saying, oh, I want to do that. You serve on many boards, as I mentioned, but one which is dear to you, I know and and I admire a lot as the victims of communism Memorial Foundation. Of course they put up a memorial on 4th in New Jersey of the goddess of democracy, which is, uh, you know. Often there are reef laying ceremonies there by countries that have been captive nations, and now they have a museum in the heart of downtown Washington. Talk about that program. I had Elizabeth spalding on in my podcast earlier in the year. Who's director of the museum now? But Are you excited about what that museum is? You know more excited than ever.

Randal Teague: 41:54

It grew out of an organization called the captive nations committee. Captive nations were those that were under the Soviet or the Beijing heel during the Cold War and it was very difficult, as we moved into victims of communism. Memorial Foundation, a new organization, define support for it because people would say but communism, that's an old thing. It was reputed in 1988, it was reputed in 1991 in the Soviet Union and you know, it may be reputed in China someday. But it was very hard to find support, is so unfortunate that the rise of communism in other countries now, you know, create for us the need for the museum.

Randal Teague: 42:34

It's only a block and a half from the White House, it's a Petite museum, is not large like a Smithsonian, but it does tell the complete story of the origins of communism as an ideological doctrine, moving way back in history, the more present history, and it does it country by country and it also does anti-communism, country by country. So Valkylai hovel and lecbalin, some people of that nature that helped Achieve independence for their countries, freedom from the Soviet control, and so forth, is there. But there is so much work ahead for us, as we all know, as communist countries, you know, under the guise of communism, like China, carry forward and come post-communist countries it may be pre-communist countries under their non-communist governments, speaking to Russia quite that complicated way you know are out there trying to reestablish total control of people's lives, so that you know individual choice from the cradle to the grave is not there for anyone. So we're working very hard at that.

Roger Ream: 43:36

Oh, I've had the opportunity to go there for several special exhibits I think one on Cuba, one on hobble Toward, the, the, the, the standard exhibits that are there all the time. It's remarkable what's been done on, unfortunately, probably a lower budget than most museums have in this town. But it can only grow from there, and I had a breakfast this summer with about eight or ten of our students and In July, toward the end of our summer program, and I asked them if any of you been to the victims of communism museum, and they all their hands went up and I was thrilled. All the students in that program were taken there for a visit and we need to see that a lot of our students go through there, because the memory of Communism is a fading memory. They have no Real practical experience with what it was like, at least during the Cold War.

Roger Ream: 44:23

We still have Cuba and Venezuela and North Korea and, as you said, china and Russia, but I think it's different today. So it's more incumbent on us to make sure the rising generation understands the real nature of communism, totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and so I'm glad you're on that board and that museum's accomplishing so much. Well, we're running out of time, I see. I don't know if we've covered everything, randy, that we should cover today, but it's been a pleasure to recount the tremendous growth of , your role in it, our work together in that regard, any thoughts about the future and what needs to tackle next in terms of? You've touched on some of that already, I guess, but right.

Randal Teague: 45:13

You know, at this point I don't think the what else Is really programmatic. I think that what else is expanding the programs that we already have. I think that we've demonstrated that if you get the right number of students, you're going to have the leadership in that number, but your chances of finding somebody that really turns out to be an amazing star in the freedom or liberty movement is Greater if you do have more students, and we have been accomplishing that. We haven't been reducing them, but we need to do more of it in and in more places. High school would be an example if we could double the number of Campuses where we have these programs, week-long programs, if we can expand our college programs.

Randal Teague: 45:58

You know it's a good thing to do, but you know money is the fuel that drives eating organization and with more contributions In the door we can do more. It's a matter that this point, I think of getting more support from individuals, foundations and so forth, and you have been doing a fantastic job in that respect. But given the totality of the Socialist movement, let's call it that the pro government movement. They have government do all movement. You know, in this country and globally for that matter, we're really up against a lot of competition, and it's competition that, in an Olympian sense, we can win the gold medals only with more resources.

Roger Ream: 46:43

Yeah, I kind of. I was on the phone today with the director of our high school programs and I said to him he said he was doing some planning with his team for next summer and they did have a record number of over a thousand high school students this summer. And I said, well, you figuring, are you trying to figure out how to double the number next year? And he said, well, you get the development team to raise more money, I'll double the number next year. That would be, it would be easy to double the number next year if I had more money. And so you're right, I mean we, you're right, we can increase the numbers as we raise more money.

Roger Ream: 47:15

And fortunately, donors have been responding to our requests for more money to have more impact and to reach more students, because they are aware of the fact that We've just got to do more in this world. With the way the this country is going and the direction of things in the world, absolutely true. Yeah Well, thank you very much, randy, for being a guest today on the Liberty and Leadership podcast and for inspiring so much of what we do and for us to do this podcast. It's been a real pleasure.

Randal Teague: 47:40

It's quite an honor to be here with you, roger. Thank you very much.

Roger Ream: 47:44

Thank you for listening to the Liberty and Leadership podcast. Please don't forget to subscribe, download, like or share the show on apple, spotify or youtube or wherever you listen to your podcast. If you like this episode, I ask you to rate and review it, and if you have a comment or question for the show, please drop us an email. At podcast at tfastorg, the Liberty and Leadership podcast is produced at K Global Studios in Washington DC. I'm your host, roger reen, and until next time, show courage in things, large and small.