Fox News host Bill O'Reilly fired back at critics of his latest historical biography,
"Killing Reagan," saying they are trying to stifle the truth.
On Tuesday's episode of
"The O'Reilly Factor" the host said he and his co-author Martin Dugard are regularly threatened over their "Killing" series because they write about history in an "honest and successful way."
But, he added, this time it’s not the left attempting to deceive us. It is zealous supporters of Ronald Reagan."
Even before "Killing Reagan" was completed, former California Gov. Pete Wilson and former Reagan White House staffer Christopher Cox called Dugard and warned him "not to say anything negative about Mr. Reagan," O'Reilly said. "The Reagan guardians even went to my bosses to try and spike the book."
He said he has invited both on his show to discuss their views.
O'Reilly also mentioned a "hit piece" written by four Reagan historians in
The Washington Post, who challenge O'Reilly's sources.
O'Reilly called the piece "almost comical," especially, he said, because they deny Reagan was a "ladies man" while a Hollywood actor. Well-known ladies men Errol Flynn and William Holden were Reagan's "running buddies" at the time, he noted.
O'Reilly said he and Dugard actually "played down the Hollywood stuff," but had to include it to show how Reagan went from a "somewhat shallow celebrity to a great man."
But the biggest complaint from critics, O'Reilly said, is the inclusion in the book of a meeting by Reagan's staff after the 1981 assassination attempt to determine whether Reagan still had the mental capacity to function as president.
The event happened, O'Reilly said, pointing to two articles written about it.
Craig Shirley, one of the historians who authored the Post piece, responded in a statement reported by Mediaite.
"So far, I’ve written four books on Ronald Reagan, written dozens of articles, given dozens of lectures, am a Trustee of Eureka College, taught a course there entitled Reagan 101, and have lectured at the Reagan Library and the Reagan Ranch," Shirley said. "My co-authors [Paul] Kengor, [Kiron K.] Skinner and [Steven F.] Hayward are equally knowledgeable about our 40th president. Thus it is fair to say we probably know a little bit more about Ronald Reagan than Bill O’Reilly."