push eisenhower has that idea and kennedy it agreed to a peace agreement that gave congress is half the country so clearly have the importance to official at the time to the negotiate the deal. so to by way of thinking, a kennedy had ideas to develop the kreme array the heroic forces was fighting the early wars even he by the third term in office started to pull american troops out so it would strike me that kennedy would be seen to try to create a government to

have the values the government could support and give vietnam to form the leadership capabilities to make us do south korea just like south vietnam. they did not have it. kennedy approved the overthrow of the ruler in 1963. the cia helped to engineer that and of course, president kennedy himself was to be assassinated himself three weeks later. so historically and early to prevent the tremendous loss of life that follows the administration of president

johnson and president nixon. bearing in mind as the americans died under nixon as did other jobs and. -- johnson. so my colleague wrote the best and the brightest at the wrong place at the wrong time and i did not necessarily agree with him that but i do now but even the extended effort could have forestalled the ultimate dash a list victory which would have meant the us a promise a of vietnam's at that time. that is the best i can do in the allotted time.

>> we will wrap it up. >> we will be hitting around for a little while. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> jfk and the senate halfway through the president say. with the 50th anniversary of the kennedy assassination , was it a benefit to publish your book at this time or did it hurt? >> it was a mixed blessing of course, there was a tidal wave of interest but yet it's there was an avalanche of books for. it was almost a very crowded field parker the perfect world that may have come down at a different time but the book is ready to go and the publisher wanted to go now. with kennedy he seems to be interesting battle times. a character that is a compelling public official

that he is hot now but five years from now so many unanswered questions about his presidency and political career he will always be popular to write about. >> we don't think of him as a senator very often. >> that is what drew the end because we always think of him as president but he was a senator for eight years and six years of the house before that. he was not a master like lyndon johnson that there really active of policy debate and discussion of vietnam and also did something interesting to chair a special committee this is what lyndon johnson and created for himself he

ticket very seriously and came up with a list of the five greatest senators and it came out of his identity as a young politician but also someone steeped in american history. >> there was robert taft as the to 20th-century once but the biggest was john calhoun and to the free civil war era so his committee quickly decided on the top three end they had a longer debate and then yvette back at that point george norris was a progressive but then there was a thought it could be a filibuster so kennedy had to back off so even then there

was a hint of of filibuster. >> host: what would you say was one of kennedy's substantive pieces of legislation? >> he was very active on labor issues. it was thus a huge issue at the time it was the issue that he mastered now understanding the nuances of the of labor law with that complex political battle but to give some marvelous speeches with the french involvement algeria and how

that u.s. should try to re-emerge in the cold war. the most compelling person that i expected and of course, had great contemporaries. head with a scoop jackson did was an interesting time. >> host: what was the relationship with lead did john said? >> guest: i spent time at the kennedy library at his file was thick with letters asking for better committee of sideman's. kennedy was the junior senator so he said the lot of letters asking for different committee assignments but johnson would put them away. said he appointed kennedy as third or force pitiers some type of harvard commissioned and then to say we're making period great progress.

it was a competitive relationship but in the end he respected kennedy as the tough politician not heavy hitter on policy but compelling political figure. >> host: did president kennedy's senate career benefit him as president? >> he understood foreign policy issues very role with the good schooling yet developed an appreciation of how congress works. he spent 40 years there. and exactly the second u.s. senator to win the presidency before him it was of the warren harding 1920 and since then is barack obama 2008. that is not unnatural jumping off point but

kennedy could use it to advance his ambition of. >> host: the book is jfk and the senate. [applause] thank you for that lovely introduction. and also for coming out on a school might. i know how hard it is to do that if you have kids or not. also for postdate this event i would like to make a quick plug if you have any changes in your pocket by a book to support your local independent bookstore.