american school children. >> guest: thank you, donna. ..

>> good evening. i am the executive director of the library foundation under the john f. kennedy library and museum and all foundation colleagues i thank you for coming. was a dollars a generous

underwriters, bank of america, raytheon, boston capital, the boston foundation, and our media partners "the boston globe" and w. b. you are. tonight's forum is special for those who work at the presidential library and use the and it is a testimony to the hard work and dedication for those employs to work hard to preserve the nation's history and of president kennedy. this secret recordings of jfk which is now on sale sale, would not have been impossible if not for the incredible skills, talent, professional ism, dedication of our library staff in the. government employees. one person in particular rely to a knowledge its

which is then archivist of these white house recording as the archivist who knows more about these taped conversations and any of the american. please join us to acknowledge all of our colleagues work here at the kennedy library. [applause] and we have a wonderful panel with us tonight. joining us is presidential historian, ted widmer has selected the most compelling and important recordings then wrote annotations to put them into context. also ellen fitzpatrick professor of history at the university of new hampshire. also frequent contributor to

our forum. tom putnam the outstanding director to bring energy to preserve our nation's history. and our good friend tom oliphant who will serve as tonight's moderator. the features speaker is really president kennedy who'd july 1962 installed hidden recording systems and the cabinet room and office to have a record of deliberations and exchanges during his of frustration. plc used a dictaphone to record his personal observations after meetings and events. we that you would like to see the actual dictaphone he used before becoming president. we invite you to look at after the forum. this is the real thing when he used in the senate would use stapp as the president is in the museum for the

cuban missile crisis those who wrote for kennedy, a servant him comment to him as a friend had their own take, interpretation and their own spin. now the visible speaker tonight, the voice we and 48 you to listen to is kennedy. we see this book as the one kennedy never had the opportunity to write. now individual who is the most responsible, caroline kennedy conceived the idea that presented the most compelling and fascinating excerpts of these recordings and she championed the publication. i can personally attest of reword, every caption come in every photograph had

caroline's eye for detail and accuracy. i am sure to 90 writing that as well. also the author and editor of nine best-selling books of american history, politics. poetry. you can make that 10 best-selling boop -- books we heard "listening in" is now on the top 10 best-selling list. [applause] caroline serves as president of the kennedy library foundation for some of the programs the government could not support index airlines' request all proceeds will go to the kennedy library to support its programs. have financial and this is on sales? [laughter] she is graciously agreed to remain -- remain behind to sign books.

it is my pleasure to welcome to the stage caroline kennedy. [applause] >> thank you. that is so nice. welcome to all of you. it is wonderful to have you here. it made -- means a great deal 50 years after my father's presidency so many people still share his ideals and vision for america. his greatest legacy assume the inspired to enter public service everyday someone tells me there ran for office, got a ball then their community to volunteer in the inner city are out airspace because he asked them to give back to this

country that has given us so much. the generation and he inspired has pass that on two grandchildren for a more peaceful world. as we approach the fifth anniversary we thought how to celebrate an honor my father's service and patriotism. his time is becoming history and not living memory. both parents loved history and passed that on to me and my brother john. myron dad read about civil war and the road for in my mother preferred ancient world and 18th century europe. for them the past is not a dry affair but full of exciting people brave he rose and events that could

teach us a great deal about our own time. here we decide to concentrate to make a history of the kennedy administration accessible to the widest audience in the hope the treasures of the kennedy library will inspire people today the same way those of the past inspired my parents brought a 50 anniversary of my father's inauguration. with a digital archive putting them on line so people all over the world could have access. so that kids could learn about the most important moments and reach translated into more than 40 languages. this is a combination of

digitizing an amended tag the partnerships to make is the first presidential archive, a digital presidential archive. then my mother's oral histories seven -- seven conversations of have been sealed since 1964 and to commemorate the cuban missile crisis we publish a book called "listening in" the secret white house recordings of john f. kennedy." president kennedy takes to do 65 hours of meetings, conversations are private dictation between july 62 and november 1963. you'll hear more about this in seems silly people that knew for certain where my father, his secretary and the secret service agent and tell making -- made white

house state being famous and infamous and other recording systems were revealed. with the backdrop of watergate it contained problematic but it is the invaluable historical resource. history unfolds in realtime and the most dramatic possible way. recede the most intense confrontation and the life and death decision made with the cuban missile crisis. people ask why they love the system six keep an accurate record for the memoir he planned to write after the bay of pigs disaster he wants to remember who said what in case they later changed their tune. although much of the

material has been available it is not been easily accessible. the original recordings are of varying quality. working with our archivist and her colleagues, ted widmer did an incredible job to highlight the most significant crisis along with a range and complexity of issues. at the election season and it is fascinating to listen to my father talk about what type of person succeeds in politics. he was right for the time. to apply the standards to the current campaign to talk about those with money and the factors coming into play. i know where i come down but i encourage you to make up your own mind. as a child ishares were my

brother and i are on the tapes. i would walk into the office before school and visit in the afternoon to play under the desk. it was the highlight of our day and a delight in my father's voice shows he feels the same my bell fortunate to listen and coming here his mind at work, tone of voice, a chuckle, frustration, and since the purpose. and politics is a way to solve problems and nothing is more rewarding thing giving your life to serve our country. prisoners will be inspired to answer his call. think you. [applause]

do you know, romney? asking this question and all these years later. [laughter] we have a tough job because time presses on us and i will do best to the the progressive moderator you may not have seen on television. [laughter] last night. [applause] we will introduce the fascinating collection of more than 245 hours of tapes

and telephone conversations and we will place them we will not have time to discuss in depth but i will make sure there is some after each tape. so let's get -- let's get started. how long has the library then in possession? describe the process that was done to prepare them for the public. >> i also quickly want to thank caroline kennedy for the initiatives she describes to make this the cutting edge institution and also the executive director for the library foundation is part of this book which

could not be possible today without him. right after the assassination the taping system was dismantled in the president's secretary move to the executive office and it went to a variety of storage locations and ended up at the kennedy library the existence was no by a few people before 73 and kennedy -- robert kennedy use them. >> it is a long and involved story but there is two different types there is the real to real and to to phone so it is publicly acknowledged we have the tapes the kennedy family gives them to us and we have the first opening and it is

a curious fact the system was installed 1962 and in the year 2012 we opened 10 declassified and so it took us 50 years it is the first book to include all of the tapes. >> of these people wanted to browse where would they go? how are they organized? >> even more exciting they have been digitized and they can go to the website and then the educational portion level website where they come to life so some people come to the research room. >> the word excess sabol does come to mind? >> you should really appreciate what ted widmer

did if you ever have to work with research material of of all tape recordings of any kind has some appreciation of a horrible treasury to go through this so on behalf of history, thank you very much. but want you to explain this system and the way it was set up in the cabinet room and the oval office. described it there was a switch? >> double answer but i also want to ignore the question then briefly to give my thanks to the great library to make the right thing possible and the library could not be more supportive

started with caroline's phone call and tom mcnaught it was essential but steve and karen and the library, a great team working here know the story and can do the work without the preliminary work of the librarians. mentioning playing under the desk it is then the and the whole fell one microphone was placed. one secret service agent who 1977 described where he put the microphone and that is our only source of knowledge. >> host: the agent had a

particular specialty in the secret service that makes this interesting. >> he was to protect kennedy from electronic surveillance. [laughter] and trying to keep the outside from less than eight days listening and but helped kennedy himself. >> is 22 years before 1984? [laughter] one was in the knee hole then on the coffee table then in the cabinet room there were drapes there were a couple of their. he said there is some in the residence but there is no indication any tapes came out of the residents. >> host: so far. what naturally occurred is

it would be impossible to find any document terry record of a decision to do this a some discussion. do you know, what produced this? >> no. the own eight evidence is the oral history. it is speculated related to the cold war and evelyn linkdin speculated the bay of p.i.g.s. but wonder if that is true it was 1962 that the system went in. lies a key was getting ready to write a memoir. he would say our put this in my memoir of your not careful. this is the idea of a

historian. >> host: is there much credence after the bay of p.i.g.s. and during it a great deal lough what the president was told before was not accurate and this was a check? >> it was the added bonus. the historian reason is the most clear he got bad advice about military operations in the bay of p.i.g.s. awakened him to the problem. q. but was heating up already. there were already tremors it was highly oppression to have this in place with a nearly perfect record of all conversations of extraordinary value and those conversatconversat ions include those by his

top military advisers after he left the room which are critical of him. >> and they were falmouth. >> to get the professors interpretation the prdvisers afr he left the room which are critical of him. >> and they were falmouth. >> to get the professors interpretation the president had to make a conscious decision to visit the switch in the cabinet room and the phone and the dictaphone and having absorber all of this, can you find in a pattern to his switch flipping? >> as a historian who appreciates the high quality i think he knew when the important one was coming.

it was a push button. but i don't know the recordings they were very high quality. >> there is one great recording of the most delicious leave petty. we are left without much guidance. >> okay. >> scott brown. i am afraid. [laughter] and there is a great story there. the one that he did successfully was pat moynihan running against william f. buckley he turns to him and says professor. moynahan looks up with the

smile and says the mud slinging begins. [laughter] here it is an honor. [laughter] generalize for us historians typically did not have access to anything resembling this material with the exception how do you regard that source of information? >> is good to go. what is wonderful about the tapes is the immediacy. we do have other tapes to

listen to but one thing that i love in is the conversations between president kennedy and his brother. the nixon tapes of a certain quality and then the brothers talk about how mean he is. i am sure other words were used but it brings you back to reduce crime moment in time. >> is a possible to get fresh insights about a president has actually works? and to have access to his

give-and-take, how does that add to the record? >> what is more powerful from my point* of view is the way brings kennedy to life he was masterful with television. we have a lot of media one of the things that i find moving is the way the portrait kennedy emerges and is so consistent with the fortress drawn someone who was

thoughtful, funny, aggressiv e, warm, we could use adjectives but there is a veracity that is powerful and helpful for students who tried to learn about kennedy. >> host: was his mastery of detail typical? how did he handle subject matter? is all over the lot say you can hear him in a number of settings. he seems extraordinarily in control of the most detailed aspects of policy. was that unusual? >> he is very well informed

with the searching intellect some presidents are more gifted than others sell eight -- shall we say? [laughter] his range of issues and his ability to sort through the dimensions on specific issues about how cautious he was with military intervention and trying to find a moderate. on more specific issues you see the substance of the way his mind works. >> with a civil rights agree story told not to much time

to find a moderate and take the aggressive path was difficult politically and unpopular then fide a courageous path for word. >> civil-rights seems to be the one area he is acutely aware there is no political gain at all. >> yet he does it anyway. >> and then with the campaign of 1960. >> he been to set up the

first tape and famously he did not have achieved a staff. he wanted information to flow directly to him. >> host: six tapes and one is almost fall down funny. first was recorded with consent. just three days after he declared his candidacy of the caucus room in the senate. kennedy. mrs. kennedy, then bradley and his wife called tony. brad day, washington and your chief brought his

reporter who later became an jim cannon who served president ford. they decided to make a tape not his decision but the kind of person that he is. we will talk about it after you listen. >> when was the moment you were absolutely ?

>> to get the support it is just long long long. why?

>> host: one thing that has been said about president kennedy he could be dispassionately analytical to talk about himself. right as a presidential campaign is beginning like he is the third party. >> what struck me about the dinner party conversation was how much he enjoyed politics. his passion. this is true with the tapes of the oval office. the delight of political life comes through very powerful and his conception was absolutely right.

of the 19th century presidents did not do much with the tariff, slavery issue, but by the time of the presidency it was seen as a vaster institution of political life. >> host: feel free. >> i love said dinner party tape it was just given to the library five years ago. we're still gathering the materials. it to italy be published 2011 with the death. so why do duet? it is full of ambition not self doubt to the self knowledge how he was said

different politician and his grandfather who would stand upon the table singing sweet adeline whether he was asked to or not and john f. kennedy was a different type of politician. >> host: the only other element is the zest for being at the center of national life for the intrinsic merit apart i think oliver wendell holmes said at one point* another i heard come out of the amount of kennedy with the actions had passion at the peril of being judged not to have lived. he has assessed that is palpable. now he has won the election when of the first crisis is

desegregation of the university of alabama. this is from the 50 years ago to the day old mrs. march gain there 50th anniversary. if you have never been to the civil-rights museum they have these recordings but this is the president talking with of principal face of segregation at the time the safety of james meredith safety is in doubt. and they are doing and elaborate dance where president kennedy insist a

couple of things have to happen. here is how it unfolds :

[laughter] >> host: what was president kennedy's seat gain to accomplish? >> there is so much happening. you can hear in the tone that you don't get for reading the transcripts. he is asserting the right of the president of united states to order the governor of mississippi to restore order in a perilous situation. meredith is in danger of his

life. parenthetically he was inspired to register for the diversity of mississippi hearing the inaugural address of kennedy. then tom lane dover i wish we could hear the chickens. the previous phone call they talk about civil-rights but there politicians and then he says think you what you have done for the poultry program. he stifles a laugh he cannot believe the blowhard mentioned the poultry program. then we hear they're not being polite and go right into it. >> and the south at that time governor barnett's was sort of known as a bit of a dimpled. [laughter] and two years before during

the presidential campaign one of the flashpoints in bald to nationalist chinese islands. right after this argument erupted barnett was out in the reporters asked him what about the to a palin's? the look around lost and said isn't that the two fellows that i put on the fish and game commission? [laughter] but if you hear the tape when barnett brings up the poultry program you can hear kennedy give they have a laugh. >> he says don't go up there

to make any speeches until you talk to me first. they had a deal the elaborate scheme to register and jackson and then rehash of ross barnett at the the ballgame standing up to give a speech to resist the tyranny of the federal government to evoke nullification, and into position the. >> he folds like a cheap suit on the telephone. >> but he did not. that led the president to send in federal troops and the national guard. >> one of my favorite stories of president kennedy he was to say to equally bad

segregationist mayor of jackson, mississippi, i don't care if you denounce me in public but don't you dare do it and private. [laughter] that is leadership. >> robert kennedy tells arnet i taped that conversation. >> exactly the. >> they were released in nearly 60 is. >> is an exhibit and it is a delight to watch people dissolve now that he can no longer do harm. the next eight may be a little arcane. this space program to show whether real president sounds like. this is president kennedy 1962, not a year and half

after he made the announcement of the "state of the union" speech of the goal to get to the moon meeting with a reluctant leader of nasa, a james webb. listen closely see if you can get a sense how a real president pushes his government.

>> host: is it really that hard even for a strong president to move the mountain called the government? >> apparently left left it is wonderful to get the point* across. there is no way this would be a great scientific experiment. the science of pfizer's for interested in the dimensions. he had a clear goal. >> he is leaving no doubt.

with the two advisor stock back to hem and that is not easy to do. >> host: he liked that. >> i give him credit to hire people to talk back. it is good conversations. the book also gives a transcript of a conversation one year later. the smart people have reversed their position. is it too dangerous? the advisers said we will spin off amazing technology. we will define the sixties it is another great conversation. >> host: i love the change of mr. webb one year later the president asks this is a top priority? >> absolutely. [laughter] >> he also asks if it could

be done unmanned? perhaps the shift comes from a lessening of kennedy's old cold war perspective. >> host: this meeting takes place about a year-and-a-half after the "state of the union" speech. i year-and-a-half later and the government is not on board. how can that have been? >> on-again off-again employee that is the case. [laughter] i have seen that on display the says why eight hour redoing and now? what can be done? he was on it but it is worth pointing out.

1963, and a very different year politically, the cold war calm down and kennedy and christians where working together and he proposed a russians wanted a joint blinder landing and they did not accept that but he proposed that. >> host: with another part of the space race come to the freedoms of than space capsule to see the technology which is a new exhibit. >> is so little. >> host: the cuban missile crisis. in the audio cents almost completely documented? >> we have a short piece october 22, 1962, president kennedy made the famous speech where we heard for

the first time of what was happening. the day before he got on the phone to predecessors. one of them was president eisenhower. first in is interesting to hear the mechanics to a predecessor but because of what they talk about at the beginning we will talk about it. >> i willow read one paragraph first. general. what if khrushchev denounces tomorrow, which i think he will if we attack q but it will be nuclear war? what is your judgment to the chances they will fire the

is off if we invade cuba? >> eisenhower :i do not believe they will. a point* not elaborated. allen, when you're a tape and read the transcript was saying that fascinates me is how berlin was on kennedy's mind almost hourly. here we go. >>

>> host: talk about this 50 years later, important considerations about berlin and our allies were zero the missile crisis? >> it is clear there is a transcript where the president kennedy is an

overview of what is at stake and the concern was if we were to attack and have a strike the soviet union would feel emboldened to take over berlin. it was the issue of greatest concern. he felt the soviet union felt they were justified. they could not have day western presence. if we could not tolerate in our neck of the woods they would not tolerate in there's. throughout the crisis, to not read this before you go

to bet. the casual discussion of nuclear war will keep you up. it is very sobering. >> host: to elaborate tease four . .

however it is not known what was not at the time that the russians, there were 40,000 russian troops in cuba, not 8000. >> and there were actual warheads. >> they have tactical nuclear weapons, they have a short-range nuclear weapons that would have wiped out america on the beaches and about 100,000 men had gathered in florida and we might have had a total number of deaths as the vietnam war. in a couple of days after the invasion of cuba and the nuclear exchange following that in europe and around the world, so thank god president kennedy was thinking three or four steps ahead of everyone else. >> my favorite transcript for years has been the meeting with the joint chiefs of staff, where general curtis lemay said bombs

away with curtis lemay. he makes it tasteless crack at the end of the meeting about the situation and he says in effect, mr. president you are really in a terrible fix here. and you would hear kennedy say, what did you say? and lemay stupidly repeats himself, you are really in a terrible fix here. kennedy says well in case you haven't noticed, you are in it with me. [laughter] now we have to wind up and i apologize in advance that we are so near the end but it's not all nuclear war and taxes and whatever. near otis air force base from which the family often traveled back here from the cape, trying to anticipate of first families need, of course this is what staff members and military aides have been doing for thousands of

years, somebody had a special room equipped at otis air force base in case mrs. kennedy were to go into labor, while they were on the cape. somehow or other somebody let a picture be taken of this move and the furniture in it that appeared in the paper. not a good idea if it is a paper that the president is going to see, which he did and this is the resulting conversation with one of his military aides.

[laughter] [applause] >> the next time somebody asks me what leadership is -- [laughter] >> we should tell quickly the following story at "the new york times" last weekend and sure enough the gentleman's picture bill dupuis is still alive. and living in new mexico. he writes for for "the new york times" and the interesting thing is he never heard how angry the president was so there were no repercussions to his career so

that was his five minutes of fame. >> he is likely -- lucky because -- moving to alaska. [laughter] >> one of the things that i hate most about this duty is having to call a hault to the proceedings, but i have to. and and i hope we have given you enough to realize that those the book and the cds inside are goldmines. please enjoy them and thank you very much for coming. [applause] >> "500 days" and the author is

kurt eichenwald. he joins us here at the national press club. mr. eichenwald what are the 500 days you referred to? >> well this is a book about the period of time between 9/11 and the beginning of the iraq war. the reason i am covering that is, this is the period when all the major decisions were made in terms of policy -- international policy around the world, about how the west was going to respond to al qaeda and the 9/11 attacks. >> so when it comes to president bush, vice president cheney, how proactive were they? >> pre-9/11 there were some serious problems, those being the bush administration -- the president received a lot of ravings about the coming attacks and was told that there was going to be mass casualties, was told that there was a --

in the united states but unfortunately the pentagon said this was all a big deception being done by bin laden to take everyone's eyes off of saddam hussein. after that, after the attack, they got very aggressive in terms of the policies, the policies they took on and what you see it in this book is what when and to the decision and how fast they were made, sometimes how badly they were made, but also some of it they came out was clearly the right decision. >> d. kurt eichenwald secrets and lies. what were one of the lies he found? >> there aren't quite so many. some of them had to do -- some of them had to do with simple things such as the knowledge they had within the government about the actual connections between al qaeda and saddam hussein. one of the most surprising

things to me was, there was a defense intelligence agency report, a classified classified report that came out in 2002 that specifically said, our intelligence and weapons of mass destruction is terrible. we can't acknowledge any of the things that we are saying to the public and i quote from that document pretty extensively. so, that was disturbing on the level of, it really didn't seem like something that fit the pre-consumption and if you did and it was tossed aside. clearly the people who were doing the good work were the ones who were saying there was nothing there. >> how do you research a book like this? >> you willingly subject yourself to a great amount of agony. the reporting on this started in 2006, and here we are in 2012.

when i started i really thought i was doing a book about the eight years of the bush of administration and after many hundreds of hours of interviews, i realize that i could write few volumes on that and really the part of the story was in that 500 day period. i selected as many documents as i could. anybody who sat down with me would say, i pretty much said give me everything and i want it now. i take doctrines even if i don't know what role they have an in the end, i put everything into a massive timeline. this one was 3000 pages. that is also an index to all the information i have. from that it was a reconstructed history of what happened. >> did you have to make prior requests and if it president or former vice president speak with you about this? >> the only thing i will never do is talk about who did or did

not speak with me. in fact nowhere in the book do i disclose that. i disclose every document i use but i don't talk about the speech. the foia requests are not a lot of fun. in one of my books, i put in there for your requests for certain documents, manage to it gained them another way and a year after the book came out, got something saying those documents don't exist. so, i do a much better job getting them on my own band hoping that the government will be nice to me and let me have them and plus, i tend to find out that there are documents that i would never know to ask for, things that i don't know exists, that i get a winning people's confidence and being able to persuade them of the reasons why i should get them. for instance, if the presidential daily briefs from before the 9/11 attack.

only one of those has ever been publicly raised and none of them will be released under foia except for the first one at this point. and so, i have more faith in my ability to get things than the governments ability to give them to me. >> kurt eichenwald and his most recent book, "500 days" secret and lies in the terror wars.