and his farewell speech. >> the machinery of defense, with our peaceful message and goals. so that security and liberty may prosper together. >> watch our series, speeches that defined a presidency. saturday at 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span2. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more. including comcast. >> you think this is just a community center, no, it is way more than that. >> comcast is partnering with a thousand community centers to create wi-fi enabled places so students from low income families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. >> comcast supports c-span as a public service, along th these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy.

>> all week we will be introducing you to the newest members of the u.s. house of representatives. with nearly 80 new members, c-span spoke with more than 40 of them about their upbringing, careers and political philosophy. next, new member, nathaniel moran of texas and greg landsman of ohio. >> republican nathaniel moran is thnew member representing the first congressional districtf texas in the 118th congress. he told c-span about how seeing >> he told c-span about how running for ronald reagan sparked his own love of politics and why he studied russian in college. and how his parents ended up raising him on the campus of a bible college in texas. moved from arizona to east texas to help start a bible college there in southern smith county, i was just shy of being two years old, but me and my three brothers packed up in a car with my parents and moved across half

the country to help start a bible college in east texas. >> it was your family and others, what was the idea? rep. moran: the idea was to follow that great commandment of matthew 22, to get out and love others. that is about serving god and serving others. my parents were involved in ministry for many years, and this was just their opportunity to help start something new in the center of the united states, in east texas, and help build that ministry for families going forward. >> how did the mission shape the man? rep. moran: i really modeled after that commandment, but going up on a bible college campus was fantastic. because you get the energy of young college student, you got to be around so much activity, but you get to see others giving to their communities, learning about the scripture and dedicated to a life of faithful service to jesus christ. >> what sticks with you today from that time or from your faith?

rep. moran: for me, that opportunity as a young boy for a -- fantastic for a number of reasons. and i still tell my stories to my kids today. we roamed the woods, we had county roads we went down every which way, we shot our guns off of the bridges and -- and in the woods, i had a wonderful time just growing up. really being able to explore and live in independent life and -- an independent life and figure out life on your own. we had a clothesline in the backyard, where week play -- we play football, we climbed trees we did the things that , young men and women would expect to do, and along the way, we had four broken bones and a lot of bruises. >> when did you first become interested in politics? rep. moran: it was in 1984, when, after we have established ourselves in the really big city of white house texas, just a local town not far from that. my dad helped bring me through

that pathway of watching ronald reagan run for his second term in office, 1984. as we went through that journey together, and we did a mock election in amateur school, and -- elementary school, i remember that to this today -- day. i cast my ballot for president reagan, that began to instill a love of public service. my dad modeled that. he was a small town mayor growing up. but that is about getting back to your community, not about holding a position of authority. it is really about how can you serve those around you. it started there. >> what do you remember your father telling you about why ronald reagan should be president? rep. moran: simply because you know, we are talking about liberty, we are talking about taking government out of our lives on a day-to-day basis so we can make good decisions for ourselves and our businesses, so we could have opportunities to work hard and have those decisions create opportunities. that is what it is about. government gets in the way most of the time. if we get government out of the

way, people are left to be able to make their own decisions and see those decisions where fruit -- bear fruit down the road. my dad did that when we were in white house and started a business out of our garage. it was just him and a little vending truck and a bunch of candy and chips and cookies in our garage. he started a little vending company, got up every morning later than 4:00 a.m., and by 30 years had passed, he and my brother had grown that business to a larger regional vending company. but it took years, in fact, decades of hard work. >> tell us about your education. rep. moran: i started my education adventure at the united states military academy at west point, i was there for two years. loved that time there, they were valuable to shape who i was, the the moniker of duty, honor, country, was instilled in my heart. it still guides me as to who i am and who i want to become. ultimately i decided to pursue the civilian career, so i

transferred to texas tech university, got a russian degree, finished my russian degree, started that at west point. then i got an mba and a law degree and began practicing law after i left texas tech in 2002. but i would not give up that time for anything, both places shaped who i am today. >> why study russian? rep. moran: there's a lot to be said about understanding other cultures, understanding not just the russian culture but other cultures worldwide, and knowing how we need to interface with those cultures, understanding that our perspective is not the only perspective. but truly we see today, and who knew back then, that area of study would be so important today. understanding in some senses how do we push back against a foe that is really trying to be imperialistic, and do some things around the world that they should not be doing. understanding their culture and their history is vitally important. >> when did you start your

political career. rep. moran: you know, i don't call it a political career, i call it a career of service. my first elective service position was on a city council back in 2005, i remembered to -- distinctly, my brother-in-law telling me now when will you run for your first office? and you know what i thought now is the time to do it. i stepped out and one that first election in 2005. i was glad to serve on the council level, and then many years later at the county level. i have had both the city and county levels of experience. county judge, the last six years before i was in congress. but one of the things i love to talk about in that journey is right after my second term in office in 2009, i left the city council and had been elected there for the third time, and been elected mayor pro tem, but my son had needs, needed special schooling in houston. he is deaf. so my family knew we needed to get down to houston for him.

and we walked away from that, and walked away from that time of service to give him that opportunity and the gift of speech. we were incredibly blessed to be able to do that. my son went from four years old and unable to speak to seven years old, three years later, speaking. it was a gift for him for the rest of his life. but we had to walk away from that vocational call of being a public servant. never thinking we would ever be able to get back to that time. but in 2012, we moved back and began serving our committee -- committee again, -- community again starting a nonprofit and an education foundation, of america. teaching sunday school, basketball teams, whatever we could do. and then in 2016i became county judge. >> you have had a lot of titles. high school teacher, trombone player, coach for your

daughter's basketball team, church deacon, which you like the best? rep. moran: being dad's number one, and being a coach. my little girl, not so little anymore, she is almost six feet tall, they loved calling me coach on the basketball court instead of dad, so they look that opportunity. -- left that opportunity. and i think i love coaching that team, just about more than anything, and spending that special time in the cub scouts with my older son. my smallest son is a kindergarten and i am looking forward to when he starts getting big enough to play basketball, and helping with that team and showing him the ropes. >> how many kids? rep. moran: for kids, my wife and i have been married 23 years, we had our first two who are now 17 and 60 we had then because of the need to focus on my oldest son we waited a year, and we got him on the right track and said let's have some more kids. we have a little seven-year-old and a little five-year-old. two boys and two girls. >> what was the reaction from

your kids when you won the seat and he became a member of congress? rep. moran: well, you know, back to kind of the days of campaigning, try to involve them as much as they could, the little ones don't quite understand, but they love to repeat the campaign commercials, and they are involved every step of the way. love being here is part of the -- as part of the process. i am hopeful as they grow older they will see really what i am trying to do is to build in an opportunity for them. so that one of these days they can have the same opportunity, to come from a trailer home on a bible college campus with parents that did not have anything more than a bible college education to be able to achieve anything you want in life by working hard, by staying steady with good values, by treating people right and giving back to your community. i think that is the formula to get somewhere in life. not for ourselves, but for others. i tell people all the time, that the point of government is to help people get to prosperity. prosperity is not the end. posterity should be the middle

pot.