i was a journalist and i was -- i was a lawyer. i was this and that. but basically i was a citizen. i was just a citizen who really thought the place was great, particularly when jackie won the world series that year. >> i had a last question for each panelist. you already answered the question that i wanted to ask you. let me just quote briefly from roger wilkin's lovely book in which he writes the greatest legacy of our founding fathers is the opportunity of this nation allows each of us to engage in struggles for decency. evil, he writes, is a basic element of nature. the seeds are in all of us. good has to be manufactured and pushed energetically into public affairs. it is willed into the world by human effort. roger wilkins. [ applause ]

final question for all three of you. allida, what would eleanor roosevelt say to us today as we are leaving this conference? >> she would say the last sentence she ever wrote -- staying aloof is not a solution. it is a cowardly evasion and that we cannot leave our problems to the government. we are the government. >> and from allida's book, she has a lovely quote in her book from eleanor roosevelt. you are going to live in a dangerous world but it's going to be an interesting and adventurous one. i wish you the courage to face yourselves and your prejudices and when you know what you really want to be and what you want to fight for, not in a war but in order to gain a peace, then i wish you imagination and understanding. god bless you, may you win. eleanor roosevelt. [ applause ] >> my girl.

>> so, charlayne, there's a lovely moment in your member/where you are there, a young student at the university of georgia. the phone rings. and it is james meredith. and james meredith is in the process of trying to integrate the university of mississippi. and at first you don't believe it is him. but finally you do. and basically he asks for advice from what he calls a fellow traveler. and i thought, what advice would you give to the fellow travelers, especially the young people today who are defending their own rights or the rights of others? >> again, to go back in history, my grandfather, who was presiding elder in the african methodist episcopal church, used to tell his son, my father, and his other son, my uncle, get an education, boy -- boys. that's going to be the key to your liberation. and i think that is what propels so many generations of young black people, but i think that if we bring it forward to today,

as a journalist, i tend to ask questions much more than i give statements. so my question would be who is educating our young people this next generation, i guess you call them now the millennials, you all are the millennials to be the giants for the next generation to stand on their -- whose shoulders you will provide to stand on and i think that, you know, edward r. murrow talked about television as an instrument that could teach, that could illuminate and inspire. as i said earlier, i'm not sure that most television is doing that these days with the exception of callie and ray and the news hour. but we need -- we need people, citizens, no matter what their ages, to be educated to the promise of this country and one

of the promises was, give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, send these, the homeless, tempests, tossed to me. in just a few years and i forget the exact year, maybe 2020, 2025, two-thirds of the american people are going to be people of color. and the people who are now in the majority are going to be in the minority. so we have a lot of work to do in terms of understanding our fellow men and women being receptive as we were to generations of immigrants going back to the days they put those words on the statue of liberty. we have to understand what kind of country we are living in and where our country is going and how we are going to keep it true to the thing that makes you happy and inspired that -- that makes you happy and inspired. because the -- the issues that you are dealing with now, even though there's controversy, when you get married, that's going to be another step towards acceptance and there are many

things. all of the things that all of us hope that we are doing are helping but we need more educated people to understand what this country is now and what it is becoming and what we want it to be when it changes into the permutations that it will go through and what it's going to become in the future. [ applause ] >> so i told ray i was going to quote from his first book, "the old neighborhood, what we lost in the great suburban migration," he writes this. we were among the first americans. why are we still strangers? the people we refer to as latinos or hispanics drew their first breath when an infant was born nine months after christopher columbus arrived in the new world. 500 years later we bus your tables, watch your kids, pick your strawberries, and lay your sod, and frighten you on darkened streets. we fill up your jails, fight your wars, and populate your

dreams of immigrant invasion and fabulous sex. yet we are still strangers. so, ray, comment on how the latino experience fits in this national conversation on civil rights and your daughter is here and my two children are here. and i can't quite i believed i talked about fabulous sex in front of them. but -- what's the advice that you give to young people today? >> well, right now i'm writing a book -- sorry, i don't have my book here to hold up. but -- >> you should be ashamed of yourself. >> you can hold up mine. >> but i'm writing a history of latinos in america since the end of the mexican war. and right now i'm immersed in the chapter about the latino civil rights movement which follows on the heels of the great struggles for black civil

rights in this country. and whether it is the brown berets or the young lords or in more establishment circles, henry gonzalez or ruben salazar, these men and women, cesar chavez, went to school on what black americans did, organizing with their bodies, with their lives, with their passion and understood that those struggles are never over, they understood it was going to be different because it manifests itself in a different way. and our history is different and the reasons we are here are different. but humanity is humanity and playing fair is playing fair. and those people, those men and women were going to do what was necessary to make america pay attention. i don't think they could have

imagined in 1965 in school strikes and l.a. unified, in attempts to force integration and school lunches in phoenix and in the rio grande valley in texas. i don't think they could have imagined a country where in 2010 for the first time more children were born in this country who traced their ancestry to africa, latin america, and asia than to europe for the first time ever. that's the front edge of the wedge that charlayne was talking about. but america is still going to be built on that same dna, america is still going to be america once that change happens and once those children reach their maturity and are running things instead of just being told what to do. and so it means everybody has to stretch a little bit. and we did it before. we have done it before. we have -- we are constantly

stretching and expanding that notion of who is worthy of my attention and my care and my inclusion. so we are going to do it again. but there is a lot of bad stuff that happens between now and the time that we finally get it. there always has been. every new people that's come to this country has had to get hazed first. and after they are hazed, then they are in. and once you are in, you eventually get to run things. so just think of all the people who are just part of our common culture today, whose own parents or grandparents never could have done the wonderful things that they are doing. that's the great genius of america, we are going to get it right, we always do eventually. and so i mean don't flag. roger is right when he says america needs constant care and

watering. but also, don't be discouraged because we always do eventually get it right. [ applause ] >> it is fun, you know. i mean, we've talked about struggle. we've talked about violence. we have talked about death. but the friendships that you make in the struggle are friendships that are unbreakable. they will last you if there is reincarnation, they will last you lifetime after lifetime after lifetime. and so for the young people that are here, go do this! if you are not doing it for your country, do it for yourself and do it for the profound relationships that you can make and the courage and the joy that that will give you. [ applause ] >> in his memoir roger wilkins

quotes one of his mentors, thurgood marshall who once told a reporter that he hopes subsequent generations will look back on his life and said, quote, he did the best he could with what he had. we tried to cover a lot of territory in this conference but want to hope that we did the best we could with what we had. i want to thank our wonderful conference speakers. and bring the screen down. let us end with the words of the man whose memory we honor in this library paired with images of the struggles, the civil rights and human rights struggles that we face today. john f. kennedy. ♪ >> the united states of america is opposed to discrimination and persecution on grounds of race and religion. anywhere in the world including our own nation.

♪ >> this nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. it was founded on the principle that all men are created equal. and this is a matter which concerns this country and what it stands for. >> i believe in an america where religious intolerance will someday end. for all men and all churches are treated as equal. >> it ought to be possible for every american to enjoy the privileges of being american without regard it to his race or his color. >> change has come to america. >> i ask the support of all of our citizens. thank you very much. [ applause ] you can learn more about the presidents each weekend on american history tv through speeches and discussions with leading his ttorians.

every sunday morning at 8:30 eastern and again at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. here on c-span 3. to find out more about the series and our other history programming including our weekend schedules and online video, visit c-span.org/history. this who wiholiday week we're featuring some of american history tv's weekend programs on c-span 3. over the next several hours we'll focus on the presidency and civil rights. first a discussion of the civil rights policies of franklin delano roosevelt, harry truman and dwight eisenhower. in a little less than an hour and a half we'll focus on president kennedy. after that, a look at civil rights then and now. the achievements of the past 60 years and civil rights issues today. sunday on q&a -- >> i think the problem is with walter cronkite people see him only as the avung lar friendly man, which he was to everybody, but there's another side of him

that wanted to be the best. he was obsessed with ratings, of beating brinkley report every night and he isba fiercest competitor i've ever written about, and i've wret en about presidents and generals. cronkite's desire to be the best was very pronounced. >> douglas brinkley on his new biography of news and core walter cronkite sunday at 8:00 here on c-span. next, a conference on the presidency and civil rights hosted by the john f. kennedy presidential library and museum. this panel looks at the internment of japanese-americans in world war ii, the desegregation of the armed forces, and president eisenhower's supreme court appoi appointments. this is an hour and 20 minutes. good afternoon. i'm david ferriero and it's a

pleasure to welcome you this afternoon. to this conference on the presidency and civil rights. the records we safeguard are part of the backbone much of our democracy, important pieces of the story of the american journey. they contain accounts of heroism and tragedy, of moments of pride and moments of shame, of sacrifice that is men and women have made to defend our country and to extend basic human rights to all of our citizens. this library and 12 others like it around the country contain the records of the presidents dating back to 1929. when harry truman lived in the white house. they tell the story of america. our holdings also include the charters of freedom, the declaration of independence, the constitution, and the bill of rights which are located in the rotunda of our main building in washington.

we also have 12 billion more documents, photographs, charts, and billions of electronic records and art i pacts that are part of the national archives. you don't have to read and study many of them to realize the story of america is a story of people struggling to achieve the rights or protesting because they were denied those rights. it is, of course, the constitution and its amendments the presidents have used to underpin major actions and upon which the united states supreme court has based so many landmark decisions involving civil and human rights. the list is daunting, and franklin roosevelt outlawed discrimination through the fair employment practices committee. harry truman ordered an end to segregation in the armed forces during the historic election year of 1948. dwight eisenhower sent army troops to central high and little rock so african-american

students could enroll. john kennedy put the effort behind the effort to integrate the university of alabama. lyndon johnson pushed congress relentlessly to enact the civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965. this city has played a pivotal role in the struggles as the cradle of our democracy at its founding is one of the centrist abolitionist movement and more recently at the heart of the debate how best to desegregate public schools it to comply with the historic 1954 supreme court decision in brown versus the topeka board of education. these struggles for civil rights have not always been easy. when they occur, they often revolve around the constitution, the rights that define us as a nation have always been secured. the first ten amendments to the constitution are known as the bill of rights. they spell out the personal

rights and freedoms that are guaranteed to every american, including freedom of speech, religion, and the press, the right to petition the government, the right to bear arms and the right to due process of law. most of the later amendments sought to explicitly extend rights granted in the constitution itself, to individuals who had been excluded from full participation in our democracy, when the constitution was adopted in 1787. three post civil war amendments abolished slavery, make former slaves u.s. citizens and grant them the right to vote. the 19th amendment grants women the right to vote and another grants access to the ballot by 18-year-olds. we may view these founding documents as timeless but the government they envisioned and that we inherited was not inevitable. it required the devotion of citizens like you and me, a national respect for the rule of law, and the wise exercise of

power by our elected leaders, who are held accountable by we the people. as i mentioned before, the holdings of the national archives chronicle our nation's efforts to live out the ideals expressed in the charters of freedom. they document president abraham lincoln's war time proclamation that emancipated the slaves to the signing a century later of the civil rights act of 1964 that sought to end legalized segregation. many of our documents are housed throughout the country. in this building, in one of our regional archives in waltham and in 42 libraries and regional archives around the country. understanding the stories surrounding the actions by our president helps us give context to martin luther king's observation that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. it bends not on its own, dr. king said, but because each of us in our own way puts our hand

on that arc and we bend it in the direction of a more just world. i'm proud the kennedy library is hosting today's conference and recognize and thank all of those who have put together this terrific program. i'm not allowed to say this in public especially in the presence of my friends from the fdr library, but this is, having grown up in beverly, massachusetts, this is my favorite presidential library. [ laughter ] [ applause ] i cannot think of a better day or a better place to mark presidents' day. i also want to personally thank all of our speakers, many of whom have raveled far, including one from south africa, to be here with us for these proceedings. and a special welcome to those of us watching around the world on c-span. i'm especially pleased to see so many young people and students in the audience today, those of us who lived through the kennedy presidency, now prepared to pass the torch again to a new

generation of americans, knowing that the fate of our country and the rights we hold so dear will lie in your hands. and considering our future, i'm reminded of the famous words president kennedy used in his inaugural address, he not only challenged us to ask what we can do for our country, he also observed that his election signified that the torch had been passed, and i quote "to a new generation of americans who are unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed and to which we are committed today at home and around the world." it's now my great honor to introduce the man who will officially open our proceedings, the 41st president of the united states, george herbert walker bush. [ applause ] >> let me start by saluting our friends at the john f. kennedy

presidential library and museum for launching their jfk 50 justice for all program. i'm particularly happy to single out carolyn kennedy and todd putnam as well as bringham mccutchen and jay zimmer for making this program a reality. your topic strikes a real chord with me, as a young congressman from texas, i well remember the open housing vote back in 1968. i voted with those who were fighting to give americans of all races and creeds the chance to buy a good home and a good neighborhood. later, as president, we got the americans with disabilities act passed, to make sure that tens of millions with disabilities had fuller access to the american dream. of course, these two instances are only part of a broader struggle for civil rights here at this forum and at other programs, you can learn how and why so many americans across

this great land came together for a noble cause, basic human dignity, equal opportunity under the law, recognizing our diversity as a strength and a blessing. these are the values that define more than a movement, but a nation realizing its destiny, our potential for greatness. barbara joins me in sending our best wishes for an informative and enjoyable event. [ applause ] >> so good afternoon, everyone, and thank you all so much for coming on behalf of my colleague, tom mcnaught, executive director of the kennedy library foundation, i want to especially thank the archivists of the united states for being here and opening our proceedings. i also want to thank the law firm of bingham mccutcheon, underwriters of a special

initiative called jfk 50, justice for all, and they've helped to sponsor today's conference. i like to thank our media sponsors wbur and the "boston globe." we could have an hour and a half or whole conference on franklin roosevelt and civil rights and you'll see from your schedule that we only have about 20 minutes to do that, and i was suggesting to allida, who is an expert on both franklin and eleanor roosevelt, that their courtship lasted about two years and trying to cover this topic in 20 minutes is a bit like the modern phenomenon of speed dating, so we'll do our best to cover this topic. fortunately, allida is not only a wonderful storyteller but a very fast talker, so allida, there's a debate among historians about franklin roosevelt and civil rights and when he came, became president he faced a country that was not only facing depression but was a

segregated nation. and like president kennedy and others, he faced conservative leaders in congress and within his own party and so as he was trying to put forth legislation, if he moved too quickly on integration in terms of some of that legislation, that could have held back some of his other legislative accomplishments. so give us the quick gloss of franklin roosevelt and civil rights. >> this is like doing my whole life in 15 seconds, just so you know. [ laughter ] well, i think first of all, we have to remember that the democratic party was profoundly southern and a western party so when roosevelt comes into office he has not yet realigned the party to become the party that we all know today, but so it's quite interesting to me that some of the things that immediately happen with the staff that he picks, i mean, you immediately integrate and i use that word deliberately, you abolish segregation in federal

cafeterias and the interior department and in other places, when, in fact, d.c. is a profoundly segregated city, and was segregated by a democrat, woodrow wilson. so his appointments, i think, are quite interesting in that way. you've got harold ickies, harry hopkins, aubrey williams, and of course the incomparable mary mcleod bethune, who before september 11th i used to lump with eleanor roosevelt and say they were the twin towers of the pre-war civil rights movement. so there's a huge risk taking mind-set there. now, does that mean that it goes as far as we want? no. but i have been all over the map on this and i have come to a very eleanor-like conclusion. and that is, you can look at a glass and you can see it half- empty or you can see the water keep increasing, and what i think both roosevelts did was

really introduce to america the concept that the federal government was not just for the forgotten man or for the forgotten woman, but as fdr said, when he spoke at howard, not only will there be no forgotten men, there will be no forgotten races. so we have policies. we have two executive orders that fdr issues, one for the wpa, the works progress administration, that outlaws segregation in wpa hiring practices, and then you have the fair employment practices commission doing that for the defense industry. now, do they work? no. do they help some people? yes. is there a long way that we have to go? yes. do we still have to do it now? yes. but when you look at this, i want you to remember that they were the first executive orders passed or any type of federal legislation since reconstruction, which i think says a lot. also, if you look at the risks

that they took in terms of setting up the civil rights division of the justice department, and although i'm supposed to talk about fdr and my colleagues at the project will expect me and pardon me as will the fdr library people to say you cannot talk about fdr and race without talking about eleanor. eleanor traveled without secret service protection. there were assassination attempts on her life, not threats, attempts, as first lady. the ku klux klan places the largest bounty in history on her head. they firebomb trees next to revolutionary era churches that she spoke in, in north carolina, in 1937, 1938, when she's talking about the poll tax, she joined polly murray in chairing the national commission to abolish the poll tax, and so there were profound risks that were taken. and if i may sort of goad friendly with great respect to

my colleagues who write on this, for once, just for once, please, as a favor to me, when you write about fdr and you write about race, will you, please, say that people were trying to kill his wife and that she could have shut up if he said to her on this she will not cross me, like he did in internment? there's a huge difference here, and the untold story of the roosevelts and race, which if i could ever go back and be a fly on a wall and engage in the what if school of history moment would be the conversations that they had one on one about the risk that she was taking to aggressively change her position from being truly separate but equal, but moving toward integration. captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2008 captioning performed by vitac