JIM LEHRER: Mr. President, welcome. We want to go through and talk about the presidential debates that you've participated in, and also get some general comments.

First, 1980 there were two debates. You debated John Anderson, then you debated President Carter. What led up to the decision to debate Anderson by himself?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, he was a candidate, as you recall, independent -- there were three of us, and they wanted a three-way debate, and Carter refused to do that one, and I didn't see any reason why Anderson should be excommunicated. So I said no, I would go forward with it. It became just a two-way debate.

JIM LEHRER: How did you feel about that debate? How did you feel you did? Were there any special preparations you did because it was John Anderson? Do you remember?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: No, and I felt that I did all right. The questions were pretty legitimate questions on policies and so forth, and they were answered. I did say that one, he had made some very complimentary remarks at a time about Teddy Kennedy, and I couldn't resist, as we were sitting there waiting for another question, I asked him aloud if he really thought Teddy Kennedy should be president.

JIM LEHRER: On President Carter, President Carter said that he wanted three or four, even more debates with you, one-on-one, and the end result was only one. What was your thinking, the campaign strategy about taking on Jimmy Carter, and how many debates there should be, etc.

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, frankly, I thought that the position I had taken with regard to Anderson was one of the reasons why two men debates, then why should just I should join him in isolating and eliminating Anderson from the debates. And then it was down to-- we're getting right down to the last days of the campaign, and it was pretty obvious that we were the two candidates out there, and then when it was offered again, I accepted and said all right, we'll do this last debate, the two of us.

JIM LEHRER: What was your feeling about your own abilities as a debater, whether it was Jimmy Carter, John Anderson, or whatever? Was it something you looked forward to, something you dreaded? How did you feel about debating?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, I didn't dread it, and having gone through a couple of elections with regard to the governorship, I saw some value in them. It was a chance for a contrast between the positions of the two individuals, and this is what the people should be voting on. And so when it finally came down to the wire, it was obvious that the race was between the two of us. I proposed, or I said yes, I would debate.

JIM LEHRER: What kind of preparation did you go through for the Jimmy Carter debate?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, we had come back for the final days here and had a place down in Virginia that had been loaned to us, a home down there, and so we could be campaigning more here in the East and all. And yes, we would get together, and they would throw questions at me and so forth, our people would, and we had several days of this, and I thought it helped to do that...

JIM LEHRER: What was the difference between the preparation and the debate itself? When you got there, did you feel like that you had prepared properly for it?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Yes. Yes. It was just things of him trying to think based on the campaign positions that both of us had taken to where there were differences and so forth, well, to zero in on those differences so the people had a right to see what views each one of us had on specific things.

JIM LEHRER: Did you have a strategy going into the debate that you wanted to accomplish the following, if nothing else, or establish a certain thing?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, I believe that I had a program, that I wasn't just going in there and asking for the job and then saying now what do we do. I had some things that I thought very definitely should be done, and that was what I felt should come out of the debate. The people had a right to hear what were our plans, what were our philosophies.

JIM LEHRER: President Carter said that his strategy going into that debate was to show the people that you were not that well informed on national security and foreign affairs policy. Did you know that going in, that that was his target?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: No, I didn't really know that, but I think he was a little off base in that because as governor, first of all, I was governor of a state that if it were a nation, would be the seventh ranking economic power in the world, California. But also, President Nixon had asked me on a number of occasions to represent him on trips abroad. And I had been in 18 countries and actually meeting with the heads of state of 18 countries while I was still a governor. And I think that I had a pretty good insight into our foreign policy and those foreign affairs.

JIM LEHRER: That debate is remembered for several things. One of them is your line, "There you go again." Tell me about that. How did that come about?... It was about Medicare. It came up in a discussion about Medicare, and whether you had favored it or not, early on. And you said, "There you go again."

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Oh, yes. Well, at that time, some of the people who were proposing this, and I wasn't against the Medicare bill that finally came along, but some of the people that were proposing this, it was obvious that they, in reality, wanted socialized medicine. And I know a little bit about socialized medicine as it's practiced in a number of other countries...

JIM LEHRER: Was "There you go again" a line that just came to you spontaneously, or was it something that you had worked on?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: No, it just seemed to be the thing to say in what he was saying up there, because it was to me it felt kind of repetitious, something we had heard before.

JIM LEHRER: The other thing that came out of that debate was President Carter's statement about his daughter, Amy, and that he had talked to his daughter about what the big issue was, and she had said nuclear proliferation, nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament. When he said that, as you were standing there on the stage, did you were you aware of the fact that he had made a terrible mistake?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: It seemed to me he had, because the whole thing sounded, and I think you could almost feel an attitude from the audience on it, that the President was going to make a major policy based on what a child told him? And I'm sure he didn't have that in mind, but that's the way it came out. And I was prepared to say to the people, I promise them I wouldn't ask my kids what I should do.

JIM LEHRER: That's how you felt that night. You didn't do that when he said it. Generally, how important do you think that debate was to your having defeated President Carter?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, I think there were some things. As a matter of fact, I think a very telling line was at the very end of the debate when I told the people that if they believed they were better off than they were four years ago, then they had no other choice but to vote for my opponent. But if they thought they weren't better off, and there were things that could be done, I'd like to offer myself as the candidate for their selection. And I did feel that there were very definite shortcomings; that we were being told by our government before that election that we should lower our sights. That never again would we live at the level that we had lived as Americans, that the world was different now and we must be willing to tighten our belts and not have the things we used to have.

Well, my philosophy and my belief was that there was a long way for us to go in improving what we had ever known before, that this country of ours was a country of constant improvement. And so I thought that my whole approach was based on the promise of a better America...

JIM LEHRER: Let's move to 1984. You debated Walter Mondale twice; the first debate, Louisville, Kentucky. The consensus afterward, Mr. President, was that you were tired, didn't do that well, etc. Do you agree with that? Were you tired?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: No, it wasn't tired. I was overtrained. We then-- being there in office and all, everyone available, I want to tell you, I just had more facts and figures poured at me for weeks before than anyone could possibly sort out and use, and I call it overtraining. When I got there, I realized that I was wracking my brain so much for facts and figures on whatever subject we were talking about, that I knew I didn't do well. And the second debate, I wasn't overtrained.

JIM LEHRER: And you feel you pulled that one out, no question about that one, right?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Yes.

JIM LEHRER: And do you remember your line about because the first one, the age factor was raised as a result of that.

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: I couldn't believe that question when it came at me from that press board that was there and asked me about my age, and was that going to be an issue in the campaign. And I thought, that had to be turned around and that was when I said that no way, that just for political purposes I would take advantage of my opponent's youth and inexperience.

JIM LEHRER: Was that one you were laying for?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: I never thought about it until I got that was really off the top of my head.

JIM LEHRER: And you did not do the kind of preparation at all for the second one you did for the first one.

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: No, I felt we had learned our lesson.

JIM LEHRER: You won that election by a huge margin. How important do you think the debates were to your victory?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, I have no way of knowing how much they might have contributed. I think if you judged them at all, they had to contribute something; if you won, then it was favorable to you. But I have no way of knowing how many people it might have swayed or changed.

JIM LEHRER: Generally, Mr. President, do you think these debates should be a required part of the political process, the presidential election process?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: I'm inclined to lean that way, yes, because and they could be in different formats than maybe we've had in the past. But the contest is finally there before people. The people have a right to know all they can in comparison to make a decision. But if the debate is concentrated then on the major issues and the views of the two individuals on those issues, then it is of service to the people.

JIM LEHRER: Do you think that there is a correlation between a person's ability to debate and how he or she might perform as president of the United States?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, I was thinking of it more of getting the views on these issues. What does each person say they are going to try to do, and how do they see the issue. That's the thing the people need to know.

JIM LEHRER: Have you given any thought to a process that could institutionalize this, or should it always be subject to negotiation, and each election taken individually and be subject to the whims of the particular candidates?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Well, maybe what we should do is put together a pretty scholarly team first to look at that whole subject, and then see what would be the best way first of all to decide on what do you want to accomplish. You want to accomplish what are the views of the two individuals on the problems of the day and their proposals to deal with those problems. So then I think it would take some experts to say how best can this be brought about.

We've done the things of just having press representatives answer questions. But one of the things wrong is that many times they don't ask the same question of both people. They've got a different set of questions for each one. Shouldn't it be have a questioner or questioners there, and they have a set of questions that they believe are the questions necessary to be answered for the people to make a decision, and then each candidate is asked the same question...

JIM LEHRER: Mr. President, thank you very much.

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Thank you. It's a pleasure.