On RFD-TV: Joseph Weber

RFD TV Author

12/09/2021 Added

63 Plays

Description

University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism professor Joe Weber talks live about his new biography of international trade pioneer Clayton Yeutter. Aired December 7, 2021 on RFD-TV.

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:00.360]Well, much of what American farmers and ranchers produce is
[00:00:03.270]exported to other countries.
[00:00:05.070]But the importance of overseas markets for us agriculture is
[00:00:08.160]a fairly recent phenomenon.
[00:00:10.560]The late Clayton Yeutter was a former US Ag Secretary and a
[00:00:15.420]force behind the growth in international markets.
[00:00:18.270]University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism professor Joe
[00:00:21.030]Weber recently authored the Yeutter biography, Rhymes with
[00:00:25.410]Fighter, which was published earlier this month.
[00:00:28.710]He now joins us now for a deeper look at the book he's put
[00:00:32.040]out.
[00:00:32.340]And thank you very much for taking the time to chat with us
[00:00:34.470]here today.
[00:00:35.130]So what can you tell us about Clayton Yeutter and of course,
[00:00:38.040]also the impact that he's had on trade, especially in regard
[00:00:41.340]to agriculture.
[00:00:42.960]He was an extraordinary man, just an absolutely
[00:00:45.720]extraordinary man.
[00:00:46.800]He grew up in the depression in a little town called Eustis,
[00:00:50.070]Nebraska, had a small family farm, and he rose from there to
[00:00:54.360]go to the law school, get a doctorate in economics at UNL.
[00:00:58.380]And then then he went into government and he wound up
[00:01:00.540]serving four presidents.
[00:01:02.040]He was in the cabinets of two of them, Ronald Reagan, and
[00:01:06.210]the elder George Bush.
[00:01:08.540]And one of the charges that he had when he worked for
[00:01:11.630]Reagan, was to go out and change the world.
[00:01:15.080]That's what one of the aides told him he had to do.
[00:01:18.410]And he did that as US Trade Representative, and he literally
[00:01:22.460]did change the world.
[00:01:23.900]I mean, much of the products that we wear, the iPhones that
[00:01:28.160]we use, the globalism that has occurred is thanks to Clayton
[00:01:33.920]Yeutter. And in terms of the ag sector, he opened up US
[00:01:38.210]agriculture to global trade.
[00:01:41.210]He opened up closed markets all around the world, he
[00:01:43.760]encouraged farmers to look beyond our borders, and really
[00:01:47.150]was a sea change in US agriculture.
[00:01:49.760]What was it that allowed Mr. Yeutter, or Secretary Yeutter
[00:01:54.020]even, to make such a big impact not just on agriculture, but
[00:01:57.590]beyond?
[00:01:59.150]Well, a lot of it was his personality.
[00:02:02.090]He was a Midwestern.
[00:02:03.810]He was able to get along with people.
[00:02:06.870]And frankly, it's the kind of cross the aisle collaboration
[00:02:11.520]that we don't see today.
[00:02:13.260]You know, people are at each other's throats in the two
[00:02:15.720]parties.
[00:02:16.470]That wasn't the case when Yeutter was working for Reagan and
[00:02:20.010]when he was working for the elder Bush.
[00:02:21.900]He was able to find common ground with people and they would
[00:02:25.050]move forward on things like farm bills.
[00:02:28.530]They'd find common ground and they'd work together.
[00:02:31.440]He also had an ability when he worked overseas, to work with
[00:02:34.830]these foreign leaders and build rapport with them.
[00:02:37.890]One of the biggest things that he did, for instance, was
[00:02:39.870]open a lot of the Japanese market to American industry.
[00:02:44.760]And Japan at the time was very much a trade adversary.
[00:02:47.910]It was kind of like the China of the current era.
[00:02:50.640]And he was able to bridge that gap.
[00:02:52.800]A lot of it was personality, a lot of it was simply just
[00:02:55.650]hard work too, he really put in the time.
[00:02:58.080]Joe, what would you say is Clayton's legacy.
[00:03:01.320]His legacy is globalism, his legacy is the expansion of
[00:03:05.730]world trade, which has enriched so many countries and helped
[00:03:11.160]so many people around the world, including the American farm
[00:03:14.430]world.
[00:03:15.720]Well, thank you very much for joining us.
[00:03:17.160]Congratulations on pulling all this information together.
[00:03:19.710]We certainly appreciate it.
[00:03:21.120]University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism professor Joe
[00:03:23.820]Weber connecting with us.
[00:03:25.290]You can go online to yeutterinstitute.unl.edu for additional
[00:03:29.100]information.

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

On RFD-TV: Joseph Weber

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments