Newt and Daughter Jackie's Five Principles of Success

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," May 15, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is back with his daughter Jackie Gingrich Cushman. The father-daughter pair just co-wrote a new book, "Five Principles for a Successful Life from our Family to Yours."

And moments ago, they both went "On the Record."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAN SUSTEREN: Mr. Speaker, Jackie nice to see. Brand new book just out, "Principles for a Successful Life." Have you applied them?

JACKIE GINGRICH CUSHMAN, COLUMNIST: Definitely. Are you kidding? That is part of why we are here is to find (ph) all five principles.

VAN SUSTEREN: What are the five principles?

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: Dream big, work hard, learn every day, enjoy life, and be true to yourself.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did you learn them from him?

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: I learned it from watching him, and then from him telling me about them.

(CROSSTALK)

VAN SUSTEREN: How did you write this book together?

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: The principles started when I used to go as a congressman to talk to seventh and eighth graders. And I figured out one day they actually didn't care about legislative process and all that, but the cared about life.

And so I began -- first of all, I was a congressman talking about them. And then with I left the speakership, when I would do book signings, if somebody bought a book for young person, I would always add those five principles.

And that's where it got to. Jackie had begun writing columns, and then something happened I'll let her tell you about with the two grandchildren, and that kind of got us to the book.

VAN SUSTEREN: What happened with the two grandchildren?

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: I have two children, Maggie and Robert. And about two years ago, they started asking, how did grandpa become Speaker? And I did not want them to think, one day he woke up and was Speaker.

No, this took a long time. It was a lot of hard work, a lot of big dreams.

And so we started chatting about what is the best way to convey it. He brought this out, principles, and we said, let's do a book. Let's include other people.

VAN SUSTEREN: There are a few of them in here. One of my favorites is rather short. This is comedian Jon Stewart, and he says, "I have not necessarily been blessed with the most talent, brains, or height. But one thing I do believe in is hard work. Hard work is the magic elixir that allows one to develop competence.

Not that I'm against sitting around, it's just that that has proven less helpful, speaking for myself."

How did you get Jon Stewart to add to this?

GINGRICH: Well, I have done his show a number of times.

Actually, if you got through the list, we have 42 people in there, very wide range of backgrounds.

People, as they got the idea of the book, they kind of liked it. And they said, I see how this relates to me.

VAN SUSTEREN: And 41 were particularly successful and inspiring, right?

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: No, there were 42. That includes you.

(CROSSTALK)

VAN SUSTEREN: I gave him a chance.

GINGRICH: I did not want to bring up the fact that you had, because I knew that it would warp the show to realize you are already so deeply biased in favor of the book.

VAN SUSTEREN: I thought maybe you were feeling sorry for me, and that's why you asked, since you had some of my successful colleagues in the book, that I thought, we can't really ignore Greta.

GINGRICH: Actually, I don't think of you as Jon Stewart.

VAN SUSTEREN: No, I was thinking of -- Bill O'Reilly is in the book, and Vince Lombardi. He has a quote in there.

GINGRICH: And Lou Holtz.

VAN SUSTEREN: And, of course, Vince Lombardi, who says that "The only place "success" comes before "work" is in the dictionary."

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: That is exactly right. You have to work hard.

VAN SUSTEREN: So tell me the actual practical writing or gathering. One of you had to come up with it, one of you had to contact people, and one of you had to like put it together. So I can't believe it was all fun.

GINGRICH: Actually, it was kind of fun. Again, think about folks like yourself. Jack Horner, the paleontologist. Jackie had some special friends who is a personal friend who is a pro football player.

The two that are most interesting, the woman who is the --

VAN SUSTEREN: One of the three. You said the two most interesting people.

(LAUGHTER)

Go ahead, I'm sorry.

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: Patrick Hearny (ph) was actually the first person that provided a submission. And he is a professional football career. At the time he was in Atlanta. Now he's in Seattle.

And then Jill Rag-Long (ph), she was actually in an air show. She is a woman pilot and we saw her at Dobbins (ph). And she met Maggie and Robert. Robert was enthralled with her because she is a woman pilot.

So I asked if she was contributor to the book, and she said "yes."

VAN SUSTEREN: You said the two most interesting and I am right here standing in front of you.

GINGRICH: I cannot believe the sensitivity here.

(CROSSTALK)

VAN SUSTEREN: I'm teasing.

GINGRICH: Who's the woman who is the professional manager?

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: Jackie Kaylin (ph).

GINGRICH: She is both a pilot, and she is a manager in boxing?

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: No, no. No, she is a manager in boxing, and then Jill Rags-Long (ph) is the pilot.

GINGRICH: I had no idea who these people were. That was my point. I knew you. She found these two people I had never heard of, and both of whom are fascinating.

VAN SUSTEREN: On a serious note -- if you go through these five principles, you really can almost change your life if you apply them. I am joking with you a little bit about it, but they are profoundly important to people's lives.

GINGRICH: When you think about it as applied to your own life, do not all of them actually fit in one way or another to what you've literally done, what you do every day now? I know how hard you work. And I know you learn every day, because --

VAN SUSTEREN: I am so stupid that you cannot believe it. I have to learn something, right?

GINGRICH: No. But I am 65, and I try to learn every single day.

VAN SUSTEREN: When I was 22, I thought I knew everything. As I've gotten older, I've learned that I sure do not know a lot. It's terrifying, isn't it?

GINGRICH: That is the way life is. I think what we're trying to say to people are, if you have the courage to dream big, which is the starting point, and then you're willing to work hard to make your dream come true, and you're willing to learn, so even if you fail, you say, OK -- like, I lost twice running for Congress. She was young at the time --

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: It was not fun.

VAN SUSTEREN: It was not fun? Was he horrible?

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: No. He was fine. It was just not fun to fail.

VAN SUSTEREN: I have been there. Believe me, I got that one down.

GINGRICH: But tell them about your one teacher.

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: I'm going to tell you two things about that. First of all, after he failed twice, the next morning, we got up the next morning and went and shook hands at the Ford factory for to thank them for their support. The next morning the whole family got up and went.

And that shows a lot of perseverance and a lot of optimism, because he is obviously coming back for more. He is not done.

But I did have a teacher who came up to me after he lost, and said, you know what? I'm glad your father lost.

That was obviously a very traumatic moment for me, because I still remember it today.

GINGRICH: Imagine, you're a kid in elementary school and your teachers said "I'm early glad your dad is a loser."

VAN SUSTEREN: I think probably in reading it, for me, we all get adversity in our life -- if you can pick yourself up after losing. That is the key is to take the knock and get right back up on the horse.

GINGRICH: That is exactly right.

VAN SUSTEREN: It's "Principles for a Successful Life" by Newt and, of course, his daughter Jackie. But then we have to show this picture on the back. See this picture? That is a picture of Calista, the speaker's wife. And, of course, he buried her name in here, deep inside here.

GINGRICH: And then there is also her older sister was also involved.

VAN SUSTEREN: Is her name in here?

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: Yes, her name is in there as well, Cathy placed the book for us. She's the agent for the book.

VAN SUSTEREN: So it is the whole family?

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: Yes, it's the whole family.

VAN SUSTEREN: Anyway, it is a great book. It is inspiring. And thank you both.

GINGRICH CUSHMAN: Thank you.

GINGRICH: Thank you, great fun.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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