you are watching american history tv all weekend every weekend on c-span3. >> but many of us, first families to vacation time. -- take bridges and arm. and good read can be a companion for your summer journeys --take vacation time. a good read can be a companion for your summer journey. "first ladies." a great summertime lead available from public affairs as a heart over or e-book -- hardcover or e-book. >> author diane brady discusses john brooks, and his work to integrate the student body in 1968.

when the students he recruited future supreme court justice clarence thomas and edward p jones who would go on to win the pulitzer prize in journalism. this is about 50 minutes. >> good afternoon, i would like to welcome everybody and start the program if we could. good afternoon and welcome. this is a wonderful turn out and we are happy to have everybody this afternoon. on behalf of the college as well as though -- as the holy cross public radio of boston by want to welcome you to this monthly lunch. i am greg. thank you for being here as we celebrate the publication of "fraternity" with author diane brady. an exceptional and accomplished journalist, diane has done all

of us a great gift in telling the story of father bob brooks as well as in -- an extraordinary group of black students and how they are tied together at holy cross in the late 1960s to help shape their lives and changed the course of history. as one reviewer commented, "fraternity" brings to our attention for the first time an unsung hero of the civil-rights movement. another called the book incredibly inspiring, noting that diane had captured the story not just of a group of amazing black men and their mentor but an era. the senior editor at bloomberg business week diane uirst wrote about this time at holy cross history in the 2007 article for business week and has worked since then to expand the story into a book. we are delighted she is with us today to share her experiences

researching, interviewing, and writing "fraternity". and we are equally delighted to welcome any jenkins, class of 1972, -- eddie jenkins, class of 1972, who is over here to my right, who is one of the prominent men featured in the book. i have to kid eddie. he played for the patriot and the giants. and i don't think he has the superbowl. i hear you had it in new york last night. [laughter] greg: he also -- we were kidding about who he might be rooting for this weekend. he remarked that he was cut by the giants. shortly after he was designated the team's player rep.

i think he learned leadership skills at holy cross as we all know and carried on to the nfl. it is my pleasure to welcome diane brady who will offer remarks before opening before to -- opening up the floor to questions. welcome, diane. [applause] >> thank you. thank you for coming to this. where is mr. cahill, senior? oh, thank you. who purchased, by the way, 252 books and distributed them to the entire class of 1949. a compatriot of father bob brooks. thank you for that. [applause] matt: -- diane: i think eddie got tired from showing off the super bowl ring last night and is officially in fact rooting for the patriots. i don't think we established that. i am a very timid giants fan in the midst so i will quickly move on to the book itself. i thought i would just talk

a little bit briefly about why this story intrigues me so much. a little bit about the reporting process. and bring it forward to today because that intrigues me and open the floor to questions and i will admit first of all i am sadly not a holy cross grad which somebody thought naturally i must be an alumnus of the school to know this story. the way i came across the story was one of the men in the book we were having lunch and it was the same day that ted wells was a front-page story in the new york times representing scooter libya at the time and going way back, he started to talk about his classmates, the other black classmates. he started to talk about father brooks and i was intrigued . i was partly intrigued because clarence thomas was one of those classmates and i have not read much about the interaction between justice thomas and father brooks.

so that just got me intrigued. i am a business journalist. it was not a classic business story but i am always interested in leadership. i always interested in mentoring am and it took quite a while to get justice thomas to speak with me. i think in part because he didn't necessarily trust the agenda that i had which is i would like in fact it talk about 1968, 69, 70. those years. and what amazed me was when i did go in to see him, the depth of passion he had for holy cross, the feelings and emotions he had about father brooks. i am not sure who was at his presentation last week when he got his honorary degree but that came up again. i think that when you contrast how he feels about holy cross versus what he said about his experiences at yale there's a profound difference and one of

the big differences is his classmates and the way he felt treated at the college and what -- the way he felt treated by father brooks. i just basically set out to do an article. i decided that it was in fact ground for a book and this being my first book project i went on all sorts of directions that ultimately didn't work. one of which was lots of history of the jesuits. the publisher said no, enough of that. a lot is the history of western -- worchester, which took me awhile to pronounce. like everyone else not from the area, not wor-chester, it is worcester. my editors that i am getting confused keeping track of all these people. focus on these men, focus on the fraternity they formed and use

that as a microcosm for when they experienced at holy cross and what was being experienced across the country at the time. and i think that there were a couple things i tried to be careful not to do. one was heightened the drama too much with a love interest and dialogue. the main thing that was important to me that holy cross was both special and unique but was a microcosm of what was happening in the country at that time. i am not american. i actually grew up in scotland. i am half catholic but brady's a handy name to have when you're reporting at holy cross. i was intrigued by this. league. -- currperiod. i was born in the late 60s and never fully understood the

notion of the time. the book opens right after dr. martin luther king has been killed. also father brooks intrigued me as someone who was a pioneer who went out and basically circumvented the admissions process. he was very controversial. as you know, those of you who read the book and who know him . he was a very strong-willed man and basically went out in a car with jim gallagher, drove to the school to personally interview lot of these men, not the men who came in through other means such as eddie who came in through an athletic scholarship and i think -- oh, m i popping -- am i popping? can everybody still hear me? probably better. and sat in a coffee shop one night and decided who was going to get in, the two of them and then he presented the bill to the father who was in charge of

the time. for a college that had a million dollars in endowment at the time it was quite a cost to bear. what i was looking for, how do you decide anybody who is a parent in the room knows that intelligence is not something that is a hallmark of success. it doesn't necessarily lead to success. when you talk to father brooks he was looking for leadership qualities and drive, he was looking for people who had a work ethic, people who were hoping to reach beyond their grasp, black and white. also he was fighting to get women into the college. sadly for the class of 72 they did not arise until the fall of that year and that was after father brooks became president and said he managed to shake up the trustee board a little bit and get people who finally did pass a resolution to let women

into the college. when i look at this story and i will take your questions, what really struck me when i look at today is first of all the network. and it is the network of these men. it is called "fraternity" because this is not about one man, a geology and later a dean and president -- a theology professor and later a dean and a president, who went out to save a group of men. these are men who were highly motivated and being given an opportunity they would not have had. there were african-american students but they tended to be one or two a year. as art martin would say one would come in on athletic scholarship and one would be the catholic school network and that is about it. this is the first major group that came with 20 men. clarence thomas transferred after dropping out of the seminary. and so it was the first time they had critical numbers on campus. and what i think happened was

father bob brooks and the college never feared on academic standards. -- veerred on academic standards. all of them had to work as hard or harder in many cases. ted wells and clarence thomas tended to close the library according to everybody at talk -- i talked to. where they did make concessions was socially. he understood how difficult it was. the college paid for a station waiting for them to get off of campus as -- why jim for them to -- wagon for them to get off campus as often as they could. he paid for them to have the s u. he allows them to live together on a black quarter which is very controversial. he has one of the editors of the crusade at the time and i remember reading a lot of articles that students were

upset about this resegregation they called it. when i talk to the men it was the idea that at the highest level at the college they understood people cared about their success. the understood that people had -- they understood that people had faith in them and understood with father bob brooks there was an open door. had that philosophy for-eight -- he had that philosophy for you think 2,000 students who were there and many people here feel close to father brooks. he was certainly in worcester last week for clarence thomas's event. when i talk to him today he felt the college was missing out on being the best institution in this country by not reaching out and getting leaders from all parts of society. women, black, white, asian. i know, holy cross made great strides in diversity. certainly there has been a strong generation of leaders of women. i met jane roberts who was in the first class and many other women who were pioneers there.

so when i look at today one thing that is interesting is there has been great success great faith in terms of what has happened with african-americans. ted wells i know went on to harvard and some classmates include ken, from american express, and kenna frazier. a lot of highly accomplished men from that generation but also a lot of disappointment and what of disappointment in what happened with the black middle class in this country, what happened with education and the erosion of opportunities. frankly i think what also happened in terms of the decisions, some of which have been made by justice thomas in terms of, you know, opportunities, affirmative-action and such and a sense that the next wave for this generation is going to be financial. it is going to be encouraging entrepreneurship, it is going to be basically giving people the tools to start their own

businesses and to inspire the same -- i think that is my phone -- inspire the same leaders. in closing before i take questions one thing i want to set it is another -- say is another thanks to the holy cross community because one thing this reporting process has reinforced to me is the strong fraternity that this school had at the highest level of giving which is amazing especially for people at canadian university. we just do not give. we are like the government will , do it. the holy cross -- when i look at the networks that have been formed, the friendships, the power of the cross as they call it, and the way people support each other and love each other across the generations is very inspiring and a test of how -- a testament of how leadership really happens. in this country it happens everywhere else and the love

and support people have shown for father brooks in this process, that they have shown these men in appreciation for how difficult it was to be pioneers on that campus, i hope in the stories that we will come back again and again. as a reporter i have to say given the support i got from holy cross i want every story to be based on the holy cross campus. so thank you very much, thank you for supporting the book. i don't think it does justice to the period or to father brooks but at least it is a start. and others will come forward. and continue to tell the story. [applause] matt: -- diane: i just i will now take questions. eddie is here. very busy not just because you're going to the super bowl. if you have a question for eddie before he leaves, if you want to -- we can come a but

feel free to ask questions because it is their story, not mine. any questions you would like to ask? >> i know that we will have lots of questions, and this is terrific. i did want to mention c-span is here today. this is being filmed and will be shown at a future date. we are going to pass the microphone around is what i am saying. speak into the microphone so we can get it. diane: speak to the camera. >> and the jesuits don't have fraternity. we do feel we are fraternity in many ways. diane: eddie, good. eddie: first of all i would like to thank diane for chronicling this special experience and people who live through it. before i begin to tell you about my session i want to recognize the pioneer that was one of the

only african-americans. can you stand up please ?>> --> --? [applause] eddie: bob does great work in the area of affordable housing. last night we all got together at 11:30 and finish everything and ted loves to be close to the job which is on fifth avenue above st. patrick's cathedral. and we were looking down at st. patrick's cathedral and he says 40 years later what did we do that was so special that not only people remember us but on the cover of the book i know i -- of a book? we thought about it and i said, i know i give you that quote last night.

diane: it was a good quote. eddie: it was in a broken somebody to it. but that is all right. the holy cross -- it was in a book and somebody took it. but that was all right for what -- all right. the holy cross community would never do anything like that. in the book at a quote from our luther king who said you look at the measure a person not at the times where they stand in comfort and convenience but you look at them where they stand in a moment of crisis. that was our moment of crisis. it was the vietnam war, it was the civil rights movement, if you remember yourself, those times, do you remember what you did? you watch those reports on television and you figure the reports were enough and some of you after the riots read the commission report. where the top -- where he talked

about two societies we're developing, one white and one black and one rich and one pour -- poor and become further apart. some of you put your toe in and did a little something. for those of you who took the plunge and lost the sense of security. we jumped in the river and did not know where we were going to end up and those turbulent currents of racism and cynicism pulling out us and just let them -- pulling out us -- pulling at us and just let them leave the leader of the we don't need them anymore but we continued to swim and father bob brooks continued to swim and he said it is not important they jumped out. it is important we give them silence. because we got to the other side the river that was formed where love overcomes racism, that is the part i challenge each and every one of you that there are additional rivers that you must plunge into today.

then talked -- diane talked about the economic crisis and i would add to that the incredible number of african-americans that are in jail today. more in jail than in college and we have an extraordinary problem in america we have to address. don't just look at us as some memorial some old guys who did something great 40 years ago. that was our river. this is your river and your chance to jump in. thank you very much. [applause] diane: i can't top that. you know, the other thing i think that was interesting which came up last night and with clarence thomas as well, what has happened to the catholic school network home on the elementary school network, the high school network, especially the cities -- school network, the high school network, the elementary school network people say the charter school that came in to perhaps fill the void but there was a real sense of loss. these men feel and the lot of people feel this was a real steppingstone for a lot of urban families to get their kids the

type of education, the type of discipline, the type of values that would help to make some leaders in society and there is a certain wistfulness that that network is not as strong as it was, you know, perhaps when they were students and a feeling that there would be some way to make it stronger again so that has -- has home -- come up as a theme as well. anybody have any questions. we have to wait for the microphone. you have to raise your hand. >> my name is dean and i was a student. i haven't read the book yet but a couple questions. is there anything in the book about the impact of what was going on on the white students? i said that because it was a positive influence on me. i remember playing cards in the

cafeteria with clarence, i remember working on the breakfast program with eddie jones. the friendships you developed and how it impacted later on. i would like to also mention that what father brooks did was not just for the black students. i was from a low income family and -- in brooklyn and he did the same to me and it changed my life. and after holy cross i worked six years in africa. i would like to say the combination of those experiences gave me that direction. diane: that came up as a theme. i am going to actually -- go ahead. >> another comment or question. something that came up when we were freshmen which we became aware of which annoyed us and bothered us. i am wondering if that came up as well. it was the "sports illustrated"

article about -- diane: jack donahue. that comes up on the book because sam grayson is one of the men who was deeply affected. this was a "sports illustrated" article where jack donahue who was the basketball coach at the time of holy cross. i believe called -- >> he had been a coach at howard so they recruited him to holy cross. diane: kareem abdul-jabbar. he had made racist comments and so that does come up at the moment in the book and talked about the interaction with coach donahue over that incident but i know your time is tight. so i don't know if you want to talk about that but certainly one of the themes that has come up is that father brooks understood this was not something that was simply just good for the students. he felt it was good for the

college and felt it was good for the other students and it is telling the books that were assigned. those of you that were there at the time, one of them was in 66 art martin saying the autobiography of malcolm x was one, "poverty in america" by one of your fellow alumnus, i will but eddie -- let eddie address it because he knows better than me. eddie: in my opinion not only jumps in but swam the nile. is brian here? brian was -- one of the white students that walked out with us. i would like brian to tell his own story. diane: and the black quarter was only three quarters black. there were not enough black students. that was -- >> three minutes or less.

brian: thank you. i think dean's point is we gain at -- gained a great deal from being at holy cross during this time. meeting people from different backgrounds. i played football for one week and busted my helmet and jack dickerson was my roommate. so we got along. so sophomore year we decided to room together. we were up on haley 4 and i recall interesting story. onei share this with father mcfallon. jack dickerson's that was an architect and i didn't know architects carried marbles. next door was a jesuit priest who lived next door, father o'connor. i think he was the resident manager of the building or

architect. he had marbles and i remember a day they were kneeling on the floor in our room rolling marbles. and i thought this is pretty cool. my mother was a marble champion in 1935. so i could relate to this. i didn't realize. that is the kind of thing we were exposed to. >> the walkout. [laughter] diane: that is right, enough with the happy memory. brian: it was very difficult. we felt there had been too many -- that all the black students had been identified and only a fraction of the white students that took part in the demonstration. we felt there was overt racism and we were going to support all the students and i remember it was very tumultuous. thinking, what am i going to do? i am walking out. how will i explain this to my parents?

you know, what is going to go on? but then over that weekend the people realized how important it was and father brooks and ted and clarence and art martin all got together and discussed this and talk to the trustees and eventually work said -- worked everything out. it was a traumatic time, a powerful time. we all learn from it. i happened to be -- one last thing -- i was on the college board my senior year and there was a demonstration on campus and students could have other students represent them in the disciplinary hearing. so we had several great students, ted wells represented

the student and all i could think of afterwards was, i hope i never have to face ted on the other side. he represented this fellow. he is very intense and years later i saw him on so many venues. diane: and he says that was the start of his pro bono work. he never quite recovered from not getting paid. >> thank you very much for your time. diane: i think there was another question over here. >> eddie, don't go away. my question is for the students like eddie, a freshman college

going through the process, father bob brooks was an intense guy making the pitch to holy cross. what was it like for your parents to contemplate something that was probably difficult even to think about in 1968. diane: it will be interesting. you had several options as well. you talk to ed jones it was the only school that both let him in and gave him money and eddie was mulling over several choices. holy cross not being your top. eddie: i go down south -- kathy! you know what this is? diane: this is p g rated tv here. stop that. eddie: her husband was one of the finest at holy cross history -- diane: buddy, he is in the book. eddie: he is a great man. glad to have you here. if any of you have relatives you

would like to do like the executive program at harvard business school this is the lady to see. i thought i was really good, really fast coming from new york. all-america and so forth and so on. i go down to florida a&m and they are interested in me. we all lineup. the first three or four players who win this race would get scholarships. we line up and we are running around the first thirty or forty killing everybody. and i end up finishing last. and i said, god, who were those last four people? those are people in the band. [laughter] eddie: but the band was that fast. i did not get a chance to go to florida a&m but thank god they did not have a fast band. anyone else? i have done my job. look, i have got to go because

this new job i was just appointed the new diversity officer for the harvard department of transportation. got to go do my job. thank you for everyone for sharing our lives with us. diane: thank you, eddie. [applause] diane: and he believed to us -- will wave to us from the super bowl if you are watching sunday. ted will be there. on the opposite side. go ahead. jim: my name is jim and i was in the class of 1970. high was one of the two students on the college judicial board for the walkout. i saw it from other side, the first thing i did was look at the index and i wasn't in there. [laughter] diane: you were one of the names taken out because you were in the archives. who is that? i can't.

jim: the process, we cross-examined the event. mr. shay, i think his name was. he was in the open and we went at him and when we got into deliberations it was really the two students against the administration and faculty and the decision was made over objections of btw students. i think we wrote a -- thwe two students. i think we were to defend but i am not sure. i can recall for sure but the drama was so intense and as you said it ended at 3:00 in the morning, we came back and this had happened which was such a brilliant move but it was incredibly intense. haven't gotten through the whole book yet. it was great reading backpack. diane: -- at bringing that back. i think diane: -- diane: i think

what was interesting is this was in fact what they had done with a clear violation of policy. technically according to policy that was just passed even days before specifically to avoid this type of situation they had broken the law. so it is interesting what it was that really bothered these men was the fact that it was an organizer, and it was called at the time -- these random black students who happen to be with the same kind of demonstration crowd that would probably show up to a lot of demonstrations. father brooks clearly thought of racism. but i think just getting people to understand the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of what was happening. i hope one thing that comes through is this wasn't a tactical move where they thought we will just get them to come back. these men thought they were essentially abandoning their education and they knew many of them would not have other

options. clarence thomas for one knew he could go home because he was kicked out for leaving the seminary. jim: the other focus in the hearing was the fact that not only was it the black students that were chosen but was the leaders of all of the political groups in the school and they admitted that at the hearing that they picked out the people that they knew. the leaders. and there were many people in that car. they picked out the ones who were the leaders in this sense -- [talking over each other] diane: an opportunity to get them off campus. jim: exactly. diane: it is a very dramatic time. it crystallized -- certainly with what made the relationship with father brooks so strong that he personally fought hard to bring them back and get the college to reverse its decision. thank you for sharing, thank you. >> i have a question.

what was it like interviewing the gentleman? where they all cooperative? did everybody buy into this right away? diane: you know, i think -- like i said, justice thomas was challenging. when we first met the first thing he said to me was the problem with your industry is journalists lie. i said, thank you for having me. [laughter] diane: you know what, i think that i did not come in with a strong agenda about clarence thomas. i do not have the history. he proceeded to give me three and a half hours of his time and met with me since then and the warmth that he showed, the sense of humor that i had not seen in public settings took me by surprise and also i think very specific memories of holy cross

and very warm memories. what was surprising is those who read his book he wrote memoirs "his grandfather's son," he spent very little time at holy cross. very little time. he dismisses out of hand the way he was then. considers himself a radical who has changed and transformed. i think what became clear through this process, and i will move to the other men, is that he shares many of the views he did have at that time and feel a closeness to these men that continues today. he and ed jones were close through gil hardy. who died, those of you that know gil. part of that process in recent years is that he has reconnected with the college and i am hopeful this book is part of that but it shows a more nuanced side of clarence thomas and he understands and appreciates holy

cross at this point in his life much more deeply than he might have several years ago. the other men were generally cooperative. you know? edward jones is not a wild extrovert and is a brilliant writer so writing about someone who won a pulitzer prize for literature is intimidating to say the least. but very deep memories and in many ways many of the issues he fought for then he thinks continue unabated today. ted wells is a lawyer through and through. there's a difference between writing an article and writing a book. and so there was some discussion with him and stand when i suggested the idea of a book all of a sudden the book -- you start getting into girlfriends and relationships and problems with mother and everything else which he didn't have. ma wells was wonderful.

but he wanted to make sure it is accurate. and i made sure everything was accurate. one thing is i didn't really go heavy on the dialogue because there were disputes over what people said it is natural there is revisionist history so you try to get multiple points of view on what happened at a certain time, how people behave d. and at the same time can't give them complete approval to go through and take out whatever they don't like because strips -- that essentially strips the book of a lot of interesting details. all of them were cooperative. very generous and i think the reason was father brooks. certainly for clarence thomas. the reason he did this was how strongly he feels about father bob brooks. >> hi.

just a couple of comments. i was class of 77. diane: the women. >> that is right. which was an interesting addition. it helped us grow significantly. but a couple of observations with regard to the black quarter. i was struck by the fact that how few, both black-and-white students had very little interaction. coming from places like d.c. philly, or heavy inner city areas. a lot of black folks had little interaction and a lot of white folks had little interaction and i think it created an awkwardness that really, i think the school attempted to navigate through but still a fair amount of work to do because there was a general sense among black students that the burden was on them to reach out and not necessarily in any other

direction. the second point that i would make with regard to an emerging black middle class at the time that a lot of this stuff was happening, i think the world looked very different from an industry standpoint. there are the general motors of of the world. i grew up in western new york and that was a big part of our lives that helped promote unskilled workers into professional ranks and people were sending their kids to college. given what is going on now economically, i am more concerned as my kids head to college and some are on their way, what happens with some of the diversity objectives? what is the way forward? diane: it is interesting, and i think it is an excellent point. i wrote an article about this recently and looking at the fact that this generation -- the fight was for integration and in fact there had been a lot of

your trip in the black community in part -- entrepreneurship in the black community in part because it was necessary under jim crow. one of the things that is interesting to me is as a group, of the new businesses started in the united states 25% were started by hispanics and latino entrepreneurs. as a group african-americans have lagged. one reason is because of integration there are some cultural issues of starting a businesses, access to capital. with the unemployment rate a lot of a very highly accomplished african-american college graduates went into the public sector and the public sector is shrinking even as the private sector hires. will continue to shrink this year.

one reason is that they were posted and transparent. not like the private sector which is byzantine, how did that guy get that job? it wrecked incredible havoc on the middle class. it is an issue that jesse jackson have a summit on, but kevin thinks about and eddie thinks about. there is a lot of focus on small business and entrepreneurship and silicon valley. there is attention on venture capital and what is happening in silicon valley. it is a different world. thank you. i think that might be it. >> who else is here from the late 60's or mid 60s and want to reminisce a bit. diane: quick, reminisce. [laughter] >> ed joyce.

ed: i am ed joyce, class of 71. one of the interesting things to me having been there and a couple other people mentioned in -- mentioned being in the college beautiful board. i think i was in between you. part of what came out of this was the college took the position that if an incident happened and there was a racist civil rights element to it it would be considered as a defense in future judicial proceedings . and i was on the board in the first one of those. and it was very difficult to deal with, this issue. it was an issue where most of the white students on campus didn't think it was a racial issue but most of the black students did. you are on this college judicial board as one of the two student representatives and faculty

members and you are trying to do with this because you know that the black students involved clearly thought that it was a racist issue. and you know that almost everybody else didn't. the most interesting thing to me was the first situation where ted wells was the defense counsel. and i am a lawyer now and look back at that being the judge seeing ted wells handled this situation and one of the defense witnesses was clarence thomas. we were sitting there -- i am looking back 40 years -- and for those who don't know, ted wells was one of the most prominent litigators. diane: he is. he was lawyer of the year. ed: obviously know about clarence. to be in the situation you are observing and even then ted was incredibly impressive. really was impressive.

i think he was a year behind me so maybe a sophomore or a junior at this time. just to deal with -- i would not call it a repercussion but what came out of blacks leaving campus and the rest of the community trying to deal with it, we got through it and it worked out ok. but it was a very difficult time. diane: yes, and you forget about how passionate people were and when we talk about our policies we put ourselves mentally back there and forget these were kids. they were 18-year-old and 19-year-old kids and the judgments you make at 18 and 19 are quite different. the emotions you feel and some of the things they ask for bordered on ridiculous . the emotions you feel and someespecially when muslim students came to look at the grocery list of what they expected the college to buy right down to particular brands of tea that couldn't be purchased in the boston area. that is what kids do.

you push push push and see how far you can get. so, you know, there were in fact -- i think the black students took over another building in their senior year and ran into another group that was protesting and had to divide up who did the student where. -- the sit in where. it was the times and it was difficult and not in every case can you say they were always on the right side. in this case they were and father brooks did and history shows they were but there were many incidents where the good things where -- they did things where the college should have fought back and said enough already. first of all, such an amazing moment of history from the fact that the entire football team came down with hepatitis. a case that was written up in the new england journal of medicine. you had the vietnam war. you had women -- many different

groups that were fighting to get an equal slice of the pie and to get a chance to see this microcosm with this group of men who happened to do very well and men who did not do very well. those of you in the class know that there were many men who dropped out. african-american men, white men -- not everybody makes in college and that was a tough time to go to college and many were coming to a white college for the first time and discovered that they were in fact not prepared. bob, i mention those of you who know him. the top student by far at his school and him and discovered he was not prepared for chemistry. he had simply not gotten the curriculum that prepared him for the curriculum he had to face at holy cross. and that sort of thing happen again and again but a chance to look at that period and look at father brooks and look at the network that was formed at the college again and again is a story i hope right now is

inspiring to this generation who might not necessarily remember that period of history and hope the future of holy cross as well. so thank you so much for having me here. thank you for your support of the book. and, you know, i look forward to i hope to hear more stories as i go on and meet more of you. thanks again. [applause] greg: thanks very much. that was really terrific. and certainly puts it all in perspective. as we reflect as a community on an important era in time in holy cross history and certainly the determination of father brooks , certainly his leadership meant a lot not only to those in the book but many of us here in the

room. and i can't help but tell this one little vignette that the last time father bob brooks was here a young woman asked, what was the talk in the jesuit residence when the vote was taken to go coed? he paused very, very briefly and without hesitation replied we thought we all died and had gone to heaven. [laughter] greg: he has meant an awful lot to an awful lot of people. as recently as yesterday there was an op-ed piece in the boston globe. a great piece particularly about father bob brooks. i would like to thank the harvard club for everything you did day. mike shanahan and my assistant who is over against the wall. appreciate everything you did. very much. tom and christine maloney. thank you very much for coming

down from the college. c-span and everything you have done as well. finally books will be available for purchase. diane is here to sign books. that will be in the room where we had a buffet. lots of things going on at the local club level so check the holy cross website in particular, a great raffle for a big trip. a major trip. so it is a great opportunity to support the club. we look forward to seeing you again in march. thanks very much. thanks. [applause] >> with live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span and the senate on c-span2, here on c-span three we complement that coverage by showing you the most relevant hearings. on weekends c-span3 is the home to american history tv with programs that tell the nation's story including unique series.

the civil war's anniversary. american artifacts, touring museums to discover what artifacts reveal. history bookshelf, the best-known american history writers. the presidency, looking at the legacy of commanders in chief. lectures and history, with top professors. and our new series, real america -- reel america featuring educational films c-span3, created by the cable industry and funded by your satellite provider. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> all weekend, american history tv is featuring omaha, nebraska, the starting point for the union pacific portion of the continental railroad. union pacific, along with the central pacific railroad, was tasked to build the route from a

law to sacramento california -- omaha to sacramento, california. we recently traveled to omaha to explore the city's rich history. learn more about omaha all weekend on american history tv. >> this is the gerald r ford website. gerald ford was the 30th president of the united states -- 38th president of the united states and he was born here. when he was born here he was born as leslie king. july 13, 1914. he stated in for about two weeks. gerald ford's mother and father did not really get along. this was evident from the beginning, apparently. and so they separated. and they moved from here to

around the chicago area and then to michigan. he took his adopted father's name, gerald r ford, and that is how we know them today. i think it is very interesting that someone from a single-parent family was able to go on to be president of the united states. this was a vacant lot when gerald ford became president. the republican community supporters in omaha, james m paxton, saw the site, nothing more than a lot, and thought it was not a place the fitting a president. he decided to -- the fitting of president -- befitting a president. he decided to make something of the lot. i am part of the team that won the competition for the gardens right here.

to start with, there was a student design competition with the university of nebraska at lincoln for the architectural students and they developed the winning design there it depicted the basis for the worksite here. which we are standing in right now. and that basis was to develop the pattern garden walls in the pattern of the foundation of the home. so these would be the front stairs coming up to the home. you can imagine sitting on the porch out here overlooking hansen clarke -- hanscomb park. artest was to develop a plan that would show president ford going from his birthplace to his place in the white house. that is the second half of this

project. president ford visited the garden several times but the most memorable time for me was the dedication of the betty ford rose garden. we are standing in the north half of the garden. this was part of the design. that the landscape professionals were asked to participate in as we move from the worksite -- birth site to the white house. the presidential colonnade is patterned after the south portico of the white house. visiting that day with president ford, we walked up to the central plaque commemorating his presidency. there is a quotation of his inaugural speech. included in the plaque.

the brass piece is unofficial u.s. treasury -- an officials u.s. treasury that we worked with the treasury to obtain. we call this the presidential colonnade because we have a listing of all of the presidents past and present on each one of the tablets. when we were standing at the plaque he was telling me about the museum that is going to take place in michigan and he was wanting to have at that time more connection between that museum and the birthplace. it was just fun to stand there with him and talk about some of the things that he was seeing here that he would like to see in michigan as well as that connection between his birthplace and where he grew up. we are located at the interpretive gazebo. this design of this gazebo is representative of the high

portion or power of the home. in each one of these windows there is a little segment of president ford's life. the next window around covers some of his presidency. and things that were important to him during his administration. the window directly behind me is dedicated to betty ford. as the first lady. this particular one we are standing in front of shows president ford as an athlete. he loved golf and skiing. we actually have some of his golf clubs that were donated here. now we are standing in the betty ford rose garden. this is a plan that was developed in 1979, 1980. it was originally thought that

once the project got started mr. paxton started securing property to the west which became the rose garden. the design allowed for a passageway through a wall. and then what we called the governor's circle where we talk about the history of nebraska and all of the territorial and state governors are listed here. and then we get down to the rose garden area. in the rose garden, there are two bronze busts. president ford was always extremely honored to be here, very grateful to jim paxton for developing the site. humbled by it all.

but when it comes right down to it is just like you and i visiting here today. very down to earth, warm person. just wonderful people. >> throughout the weekend american history tv is featuring omaha, nebraska. our city to her staff traveled there to learn about rich history. learn about stops on the tour. you are watching american history tv, all weekend every weekend on c-span3. >> michael kaufman the author of "american brutus." he talks about lincoln's legacy in the united states and around the world and john wilkes booth's motives for killing the president and how security has changed. mr.