Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Hoover Institution Fellow Shelby Steele discuss Shultz’s role as Secretary of Labor in the Nixon administration. Shultz also further reveals personal experiences in the Reagan administration that formed his thinking on civil rights and discrimination.

As the discussion carries on, Shultz describes the difficulties he had in the Nixon administration dealing with race and immigration. As Shultz says during the discussion, “It’s a big problem because we’re a welfare state and people come to the health system. They come to the welfare payments and not just to work and that’s an issue. And of course there’s the other end of it, too. A student comes here, does extremely well and then you say you’ve got to go back home. Well, maybe they want to go back home. Of course that’s for them, but we shouldn’t force them to if they have a lot of contributions to make here. We should be able to bring people here who we want who will contribute to our society.”

Take a deep dive into new areas of the Reagan and Nixon administration through the personal experiences of George Shultz.

Originally Recorded: 2006