This podcast, the eighth of eleven conversations with former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, features Shultz and former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker. Originally recorded in 2006, the conversation centers around the importance of individuals in influencing history. The two discuss what an individual can contribute within a framework of abstract forces such as technological development and economics. Shultz discusses his views on an individual’s impact relating it back to his years with Ronald Reagan. As they talk, the conversation moves into how these factors impact the global movement towards more open societies. Originally Recorded: 2006

This conversation with George P. Shultz is the seventh of eleven conversations with the former Secretary of State. Originally recorded in 2006, Shultz speaks with a former National Security Council member and colleague in the Reagan administration, Richard Pipes. During the conversation, the two talk about their time in the administration and specifically discuss how they feel their time impacted world history. Shultz shares insight into Reagan’s conversations with Mikhail Gorbachev while discussing several issues such as divisiveness in the U.S. at the time and Shultz’s activities as an emeritus professor. Originally Recorded: 2006

In this 2006 conversation, the sixth in a series of eleven, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz talks with former State Department legal advisor Abraham D. Sofaer. Having been colleagues in the Reagan administration, the two discussed their years together and talked about Shultz’s 1984 speech on terrorism. They further investigated what it means to be prepared to use force in defense of the country, and used personal examples from the Reagan era to illustrate the concept of self-defense in preventing international terrorism. From Iran to Lebanon and Syria, follow along as the two talk about how the Reagan administration dealt with these situations at that time. Originally Recorded: 2006

Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and former Stanford Professor Emeritus Henry Rowen discuss foreign policy and national security, particularly the organizational question of the proper roles of the State Department and the White House in running U.S. foreign policy. Shultz begins by detailing his experiences at the State Department and how they worked inter-departmentally with other areas of the government. The discussion then moves on to individual people and their roles within the administration at the time. Shultz continues to expand upon how the government grooms candidates for positions who end up in various companies outside the government before they reach their prime in government work. From the State Department to the National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget, follow the personal stories of how our government operates with George Shultz. Originally Recorded: 2006

In this wide-ranging conversation, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Economist David Friedman discuss the ways in which the world – especially the world of ideas – has changed over Shultz’s lifetime. This discussion dives into the ways in which peoples’ understanding of concepts like socialism are not what they were in the Cold War era. Using personal experiences, the two discuss the changing perceptions in the world about property rights, the role of government and even marriage. Originally Recorded: 2006

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

In this conversation with his granddaughter, Kelly Shultz, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz talks about his goals when he was her age and about to enter Princeton. They discuss family gatherings, his experiences as a young Marine, and the important lessons learned in sports. Originally Recorded: 2006

Today’s Free To Choose Media podcast episode features a conversation with former Secretary of State George P. Shultz. Shultz speaks with University of Chicago Law Professor Kenneth Dam and talks about his long and varied career in academia, government and business. During the discussion they expand upon Shultz’s views on terrorism, negotiation, Israel/Palestine, and the connection between open political systems and open economic systems. This personal talk dives further into Shultz’s experiences with the Reagan administration and what has transpired since his time as Secretary of State. Originally Recorded: 2006

The lines between science fiction and science fact are beginning to become strangely blurred. Technology is rapidly catching up to the stuff of imagination seen in movies. Could the confirmation of life on another planet be next? That question, and the research into it, have moved more into the mainstream over the years. Have we even invested the correct technology to connect with another civilization? What would happen if we ever did make contact? Nobel laureate, Dr. Charles Townes lays out the effect a first contact could have on humanity, “This is the thing that many people argue that well since there surely has to be some other intelligent life somewhere.  This other intelligent life might be a million years ahead of us that’s a very short time. They would be so much more skillful than we.  So much more knowledgeable. Maybe they’re watching us all the time.  They know exactly what we’re doing. They don’t bother to come by, they don’t want to disturb us and so on. But they have technology far beyond ours and of course if we could contact them and learn that technology just think what that would do. That would make us ashamed of ourselves.” Listen to the rest of this interstellar discussion in the latest episode of the Free To Choose Media Podcast, The Search for E.T.   Original Record Date: 1993

“Will Social Security be around when I’m old?” It’s a question that has been asked and sparked countless discussions for decades. As the years go by, the numbers change but the discussion remains the same. Is there a model already in place that will allow payers to see an actual return on their money? Or will we just keep finding ways to rob Peter in order to pay Paul? Originally recorded in 2003, Economist Casey Mulligan says that one solution, privatization, is not simply a catch-all term as believed by some, “Well, there’s two kinds of privatization I like to think about.  One is the kind of privatization we’ve seen in a few countries around the world, where we lay out really a seventy five-year plan for the economy, and at the end of that trajectory what happens is elderly people pay for themselves. The government doesn’t pay them anymore.  The second kind of privatization I see involves such a plan and actually sticking to it.  And those are two very different things. We don’t have much experience in the world with a country actually following through with these seventy five-year plans- which can easily happen- and has happened- is after the plan we’re getting closer to the end of the plan, political forces and other forces change the plan in such a way that the elderly still collect funds from the government, and the young still pay to support those programs.” Listen to the 2003 discussion between Milligan and Kevin Murphy as they explore the economic realities of the issue in the latest episode of the Free To Choose Media Podcast, Social Security. Original Record Date: 2003