New book explores Queen Elizabeth's relationships with 13 U.S. presidents

[0:00] To countless powerful women throughout history, Queen Elizabeth II was routinely underestimated. [0:05] But during her record-breaking 70-year reign, she deftly managed the important strategic [0:10] relationship between the UK and the US, meeting with 13 sitting presidents, more than any [0:15] other American or foreign leader. [0:18] USA Today's Susan Page traces this and more in her new book, The Queen and Her Presidents, [0:23] The Hidden Hand That Shaped History. [0:25] I spoke with her earlier today. [0:28] Susan Page, welcome back to the NewsHour. [0:29] It's so great to be here. [0:31] In this book, you make the point that Queen Elizabeth had no formal power over policy, [0:36] but you argue that she was genuinely consequential. [0:39] What did her influence look like in practice? [0:42] Well, you think about, say, her first trip to the United States as queen. [0:46] It was in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis. [0:49] Relations between the United States and the United King were as bad as they had been since [0:54] the start of the special relationship. [0:56] And somehow, through her charm and her personality, her connection with President Eisenhower, she [1:03] peeled that wound. [1:05] And in the aftermath, suddenly relations kind of resumed again. [1:09] It's not that she negotiated with the president. [1:12] It's that she laid the groundwork for the kind of special relationship that was so important [1:17] to Great Britain and so important to her. [1:19] You mentioned President Eisenhower. [1:21] You described her bond with him as something special. [1:23] She knew him when he was a wartime general before he was president. [1:27] How did that early relationship differ from the ones she had with presidents she met only [1:33] in their official capacities? [1:34] So she revered Eisenhower, and he was like an uncle. [1:38] She was a friend of her father's. [1:40] They had had a real partnership. [1:42] But by the time you get to say President Reagan, she is a peer. [1:46] And she and President Reagan became, I think, as close as she was to any of the 13 American [1:52] presidents she met while they were in office. [1:54] They were, they bonded over horses, as you might expect, and over Hollywood because she [2:00] was an enormous fan of the movies and had seen Reagan acting in movies before he went [2:05] into politics. [2:05] That special relationship, she saw maintaining that, you write, as really central to her role. [2:12] How conscious and strategic was she about that? [2:15] So she was, as it turned out, a deft diplomat. [2:18] She was a smart politician. [2:21] She was a shrewd judge of character. [2:24] And I think these are things people didn't recognize in her because it was so behind the scenes. [2:29] You know, she didn't write a memoir. [2:30] She didn't give interviews. [2:31] But she did deal with presidents in a way that protected the interest of her country [2:37] over seven decades. [2:39] I didn't know this until reading your book, but she had access to extraordinary intelligence [2:42] briefings. [2:43] How did that work? [2:44] So almost every day she would get briefing papers. [2:47] Every week she would get top secret intelligence documents. [2:50] And so over the period of decades, she was as informed about intelligence issues around [2:55] the world as any other person. [2:57] Over a longer period of time than any leader, and even over issues, say, contingency plans [3:04] for a nuclear war. [3:05] Really? [3:06] She was the one person, I think, who was involved in, aware of what the contingency plans were [3:12] over that whole narrative, over that whole time when nuclear war was such a threat. [3:19] You write that there were presidents who were smitten by her, to include Truman, Reagan, [3:23] George W. Bush, but soft power can only go so far in many respects. [3:28] So give us an example where she tried to use her influence, but it simply didn't work. [3:33] Well, no one was more smitten with her than President Trump. [3:36] He told me when I interviewed him for the book that one of his earliest childhood memories [3:41] was being six years old, sitting next to his mother, watching Elizabeth being crowned on [3:48] television. [3:49] And when Queen Elizabeth met with him during his first term, there were high hopes that [3:55] this would lead to a trade deal that would be beneficial to Great Britain. [3:59] That didn't happen. [4:01] There were other factors, of course, in that. [4:04] There was finally a trade deal. [4:05] It was after her death. [4:07] So it didn't mean that she always delivered, but she was very disciplined, and she was always [4:14] out there trying to deliver. [4:16] Winston Churchill told her, stay close to the Americans, and that is what she tried to do. [4:21] That Trump meeting, you report that a senior British official described the Queen wearing [4:26] the Obama brooch on the day of President Trump's arrival as a silent act of resistance. [4:31] That is a striking claim for a monarch who was really studied in neutrality. [4:35] A rare example of that. [4:37] But this was a brooch that Michelle Obama had given her. [4:40] She had worn it only once, and that was for the reciprocal dinner with the Obamas. [4:44] For seven years, she had not been seen in public. [4:47] Then on the day that President Trump arrives in England, she is in a formal meeting with [4:53] some religious leaders, and she's wearing it. [4:56] And I think those close to her told me there was no other way to interpret that but to interpret [5:01] it as a statement of resistance to Trump and a statement of support for President Obama with [5:07] whom she was actually quite close. [5:08] The Queen, as you mentioned, gave no interviews, never wrote a memoir. [5:12] She kept a diary. [5:13] How did you go about reconstructing her inner life? [5:16] Yes. [5:17] So watch what she did, not what she said. [5:19] Because what she said was, let's toast our special relationship. [5:24] She was never critical in public of any American president. [5:27] But there were presidents she clearly liked and wanted to spend time with, and there were [5:31] presidents she did not. [5:33] You know, she spent a lot of time with Reagan and a fair amount of time with George W. Bush. [5:37] She spent very little time with Jimmy Carter, and I think there was a message there. [5:42] You've covered Washington for decades. [5:44] What did you learn about the presidency itself, not just the Queen, by looking at 13 presidents [5:51] through her eyes? [5:52] You know, we think about the force of history, of historic events, and maybe it's easy to forget [5:58] the power of personality, and the way in which these relationships can really matter, can [6:05] have an effect. [6:06] Thinking about the Falklands War, there were some in President Reagan's administration [6:10] who didn't want to come down on the side of Great Britain. [6:13] And the relationship between the Queen and President Reagan and his very strong interest [6:19] in that horseback ride in Windsor Park contributed to the decision to come down hard on Great Britain's [6:27] side. [6:27] Susan Page, the terrific new book, is The Queen and Her Presidents, The Hidden Hand [6:31] That Shaped History. [6:33] Always great to speak with you. [6:34] Oh, it's so nice to see you. [6:35] Thanks. [6:35] Support journalism you trust. [6:48] Support PBS News. [6:50] Donate now, or even better, start a monthly contribution today.