great political coverage. his book are the 1957 pulitzer prize for biography. a panel of former kennedy recount their white house experiences. this program was hosted by bonhams and northern trust. it is about an hour. fromis is an event birthed a number of sources. it started for us for the collection you see against the back wall. that is one of the finest collections of documents and ephemera related to history. the collector who put it together was trying to focus on finding objects, documents, printed matter that bring you as close as you can to the contemporary events described. i encourage you to have a look after the event at these

incredible documents, spanning from everything from papal ambassador from the congo in 1608, to the first printing of the u.s. constitution, and so forth. it's an opportunity to get close to history through interaction with documents. what's exciting about this evening is that we not only have the documentation, but we also have living witnesses to history to 11 and deepen our understanding of these events. from the karen archive, we decided to expand the event. figure was on her way this evening and was instrumental in organizing the event by introducing me to jean the otherand panelists, but who unfortunately got stuck in denver in a snowstorm and was unable to join us. part of her collection is on

display in the corner which she generously lent to us to show. through sue, serendipitously, by chance i came back to washington and have been to meet mary gallagher, who contacted me here in washington. collectionincredible she shared with me and has been kind enough to share some of her treasures with me as well. subsequent to that, i met preston bruce, who was sitting here in the front row. was the secondr longest-serving member of the white house staff in the 20th century. he was the chief doorman from the eisenhower and ford administrations. he's generously offered to bring some of his collection to show here. we encourage you to have a look at the collections at the end of the evening and learn about their stories individually. we have kathy rafferty tolleson who works in the white house and

his friends with all of these individuals here. we had a wonderful luncheon meet two weeks ago to everybody and share some of the stories of their days in the kennedy administration. we thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to partner with this exhibition by sharing some of their recollections. all the members of the panel were in the kennedy administration in one form or another and are -- and have been generous with their time or it one of my first friends in washington, who understands the history,documents and to moderate the panel. thank you so much. [applause] i was not in the kennedy administration. -- he went onuce and got his doctorate degree, and i think that's remarkable. his father was in the white house from eisenhower until

ford. there is a wonderful anecdote that perhaps we will get later, where eisenhower intervened and helped him to realize his own aspirations athletically. the president of the united honing a head team to recruit you, dr. bruce. very happy to have you with us. thank you. [applause] preface, hece -- actually made these comments which are quite fitting to start with. nnot single out any one day as the time i began to understand john kennedy is a human being. gradually i discovered the simplicity of this man's taste and demeanor was, well genius and genuine, deceptive as well as disarming. that thisrned in time cool, analytical mind was stimulated by a warm, compassionate heart.

kennedy,one new john the more one like tim. those of us who came to know him well, though we rarely heard him discuss his personal feelings, came to know the strength and warmth of this dedicated man and his logic. as he himself said about robert frost, his sense of human tragedy fortified him against self-deception and easy consolation. this evening were extremely fortunate to be with six exceptional ladies and men senators. [laughter] six individuals whose lives intersected with mr. and mrs. kennedy who have unbelievable story straight two weeks ago we had lunch together, and i assure you, this is the most -- this is a most entertaining group. we would haveht,

stories all night. but we only have an hour. i hope that in our fellowship afterwards we might be able to continue these wonderful stories and conversations about what it was like when they all worked in the kennedy administration. i would like to share with you two observations i took away from that luncheon. a brightnesse was on the face of each of these individuals when they spoke about their years in the administration. the second observation i made was that everyone spoke of his concern and care about the individual, his stepping outside of his senate office, talking to a secretary, and he's making the assumption or the claim that they knew everything. all of a sudden they started to realize, yes, maybe we do know everything. we want to know everything. a sense of an courage meant in their own growth, individually

-- and he tracked them and kept in touch with their kids. some of the homes of these individuals. this is how we will proceed. i'd like to introduce each of the panelists individually. i will ask each of you won our two questions, and then i would like to go back to the panel and ask you another question. there one memory or recollection you have from those years that you will forever hold onto? the floor to q&a. the floor will open to q&a. he helped to cofound the peace corps and later served as united states senate from pennsylvania. president,s college

bryn mawr. i like to ask you, tell us about how instrumental you were introducing martin luther king to jfk. >> martin luther king was skeptical about kennedy. he had actually been impressed with nixon when they met him. it was not an easy thing for kennedy to win him over. i would say it was -- i need the help. can you hear? the moment that i realized that the gifts that kennedy has, that he enjoyed displaying, and that

counted a lot, was his smile. martin luther king liked his smile. let me tell you one reason why. question on the first television debate was, what do you think about the questionable language that president truman had used about his adversary, nedy -- the smile began saying, if mrs. truman get control his language, i'm not going to try. [applause] answeringixon started . a long, pious answer about his heart that was broken. he went on and on about how the terror of america are in because of this terrible

language. throughout this holes be a -- whole spiel from nixon, they kept showing kennedy with a careful smile. afterwards as well as on the spot, he lost by 120,000 votes -- that smile in that moment was probably worth more than 100,000 votes. i have 2 or 3 other moments of smiles. --hink you might smile at me if you get back to me, i will give you your revolution, your position here. it isn't the tangible artifacts that we can see and touch, but it is something as intangible as

a real and good smile. ator, you were with president kennedy at the founding of the peace corps. can you tell us about how that was inspired? edy was very late at the university of michigan, where he was going to spend the night after a television debate with nixon. it was approaching 2:00 a.m. they got there with no plan for . talk he looked at the 10,000 people estimated, mainly students and townspeople and faculty. and he winged it. he had a strong feeling coming back from southeast asia about how american diplomacy needed to be very different. he started giving a sense of it and then asked several questions, would you be willing to give 3, 4, 5 years of your life serving in ghana?

he asked for or five of those questions. he got a big roar each time, but there was no press. he went to bed. and the students went to work. sargent shriver who built the --ce corps for kennedy others who were helping him knew came from one of our civil rights agents in michigan, called to say her daughter had heard kennedy, and they are all excited, and they formed a committee, michigan students for world responsibility, and they are taking a scroll around. they have almost 1000 students saying, we will go if you give us a way. they called me because they wanted to find a way to get there scroll to the candidate. that was a quick talk to fred

it.n't, who ever arranged ted sorenson says, it's when ass phone call came to them they were touring the midwest, when it came, kennedy said, this idea is really catching hold. let's make a major proposal of it. and he did, in san francisco. that is the beginning of the peace corps. smile i remember from kennedy and the peace corps was as i was leaving the white house to go to the representative in africa and for two years, directing the program, he had sworn in the white house lawn, 600 peace corps volunteers in the first wave going to africa or anywhere else. it had -- he had already gone to

ghana once. having veryack, appropriate remarks -- on the way back you looked at me with his smile and said -- and i have to say, he had his doubts about the peace corps off and on. he no longer was thinking out of the things that were dubious for him. he was thinking of what in two done,they hd done, -- had and here was another group of 600. he said, this will be really 100,000 peacet's corps volunteers a year. that would mean a million americans in a decade with first-hand experience in asia, africa or -- africa, and asia.

and then we will have a constituency for a good foreign policy. that came with a big smile. >> wow. this is jean lewis at my left. i have to let you know that right before we actually met at lunch, one of your colleagues said that is jean lewis. she's 97 years old and drives a convertible. then i later discovered we have something in common. we are both from alabama. she came to the senate in 1950 -- 1958 in soren's old office and work for larry o'brien who went on to the dnc. he was also associated with the watergate reagans. you worked in that office for a

long time and all the interesting people would come and go. give me a physical description of what the office was like and what you experienced on a day-to-day basis. >> when i reported in 1958, i had already heard about what a glamorous person senator kennedy was. i was really looking forward to getting into the office, looking around and being part of this operation. i expected my colleagues, the girls would look like models. i expected a very glamorous setting. much to my surprise, here was this office with about seven desks lined up into rows. my desk was at the back of the

office facing the wall. my colleagues were nice-looking women, but they were not model types. the office was a mess. it was piled high with books and papers and later on, i found onion skin copies of profiles in courage all stacked up on a chair. one of the things i did was get the files off the chair. we had many visitors. many of them were nuns that would come in. we had a stream of visitors all the time. one of them would be vice president nixon whose office was across the hall. one day someone came in very charming and shook our hands will stop when he left, i said he was that. it was hubert humphrey.

we never knew who is going to come in one day or the next. sorenson's office, this was a time when kennedy was running for reelection in massachusetts. he was out of the office a lot and ted sorensen was with him. i decided it was good to have the -- to have to clean up tents office. they were well overdue and i gathered them up and sent them back to the library of congress in the first thing he did was to order them all back and stop -- order them all back. >> did you have any interaction with senator kennedy at the time when you are working with o'brien? >> o'brien came on the scene later. he was still in massachusetts when i worked for ted sorensen. he was writing speeches and i

was typing speeches. the male was coming in from all over the country as well as massachusetts, so my job was to answer all the mail from side massachusetts and you can imagine there was a tremendous quantity of mail. i would see kennedy from time to time and my desk was about 10 feet from his office door. he was out of town quite a lot that all. >> thank you so much. [applause] you make alabama proud. >> mrs. gallagher, you have the microphone with you. mrs. gallagher was the chief personal secretary to jackie kennedy. we have some wonderful stories we will share. you came to work for senator

kennedy when he was in congress, correct? >> when he was first ready for the senate election in massachusetts as a congressman. >> tell us how you came into the life of mrs. kennedy and took on that role. >> it's a wonderful story because it engaged me to be able to remain in the service of the then senator kennedy when i was forced to leave after three and a half years into the tenure with him in the senate because i had a child due to be born within two weeks and if i stayed another day longer in the senate , my associates would be having a nervous fit.

about two weeks before the birth of my first son, the senator stop my my desk and asked how i was feeling. i was sitting at the typewriter instead i feel just great. he said then you will be around a while longer. i said maybe so if you consider two weeks and my longer -- two weeks a while longer. he said you felt fine. i said first things first. from there, my son was born four days after that an he's standing in the back of the room. there he is in the back of the room. that was 60 years ago. and there is risk. >> now we know how old you are. >> than a year and nine days later, son number two, gregory. when i left the senate office, only because of the fact i was

forced into it and had the great pleasure of having this new person in a happy life, i decided that i had that urge to serve the senator and they would him him and call me at home every day. he kept asking if mary was able to come back to work. long story short, three months later, when they knew i could not do full time in the senate, i had a call from the senator's mother-in-law, mrs. kennedy's mother who called and said jack suggested she call me and she him was calling because she needed a secretary to go to her estate and wanted to know if i had the time.

i said if i could get a babysitter to sit with chris, i would be happy to. after i did three or four months with her, mrs. kennedy called from georgetown and said i understand you are going today's week. will you alternate the other two days and come to georgetown? suddenly, even though i couldn't work full-time in the senate any longer, i was on a part time basis with mother and daughter. for the years of 57, 58, 59 until 1960, now it became a matter of having to be with mrs. kennedy in georgetown, all day, every day, 24/7. i just thought i would be so happy when this year is over because after that, i had every intention of resuming my domestic life -- motherhood,

caring for my husband and all of that. it was in palm beach florida on a trip with jackie before the inauguration. three days before we were ready to leave is when they wanted to send out the announcement of this secretaries mrs. kennedy was taking to the white house. prior to that, i heard nothing about being asked to go to the white house. i'm in the firm belief that when this year is over, i will go back and look. the press secretary, i was in palm beach at the time and he came from one of the president's bedroom to mrs. kennedy and she was dictating to me at the typewriter. he said the president wants a press release to go out and she sat up and he said i know you have your social secretary and

then, he said i'm sitting there, how about mary? without even asking me, she walks over and said yes, mary has to come to the white house. i was so stunned, i looked over and said are you to buy any chance discussing this mary? [laughter] she came over and said yes, you must. i said this is the first i'm hearing about it, i don't think i can do it. i tried for the next 20 minutes to convince her it would not work because it would not be a part-time job. supposedly, i started with her part-time and i was hoping that this isn't the end, having done this campaign and i fulfilled my obligation.

mary, i need you again. we won't be working every day. when i'm away, you can have those days off and go back to part-time like georgetown. i tried to let her understand that it would be more like to secretaries full-time. eric said we only have an hour here. >> i have one more question for you. can i give you one more question? [laughter] >> i have already talked about five minutes. i tried to the ground work there so you can understand it was 12 years later that i was seated -- i was leaving the service of jacqueline kennedy. i have with me my cards, i wrote a book in 1969.

for everything i can tell you this evening and enjoy talking to you about it, pick up a copy of "my life with jacqueline kennedy your cap -- jacqueline kennedy." [laughter] [applause] >> there was nothing part-time about your commitment to mrs. kennedy. but she relies on you so much, all the way to the end and i'm hesitant to ask you this -- it's a rich part of this narrative of your life. you were with her that day in dallas. could you give us a bit about what that was like? >> i will try to be as brief as i can because that's one memory that when it comes back always brings chills to my arms and

shoulders and all over. but i remember it like yesterday. it was 53 years ago -- could it really be that much? it is. it was a case where i think i can only talk about how difficult it was to have an right there, but i'm glad i was because for mrs. kennedy's sake, i could embrace her when we got into the plane and we were ready to leave. i won't go into the details but it was one of the saddest experiences i have ever been through. when i look back on it now and try to recall it, it is almost too much to do. i'm almost speechless. where do we go from here? i don't know it is difficult.

[applause] i will say i go into detail in the book. the memory that comes back to my mind is being on the vip bus and the president's car and motorcade, seeing this policeman climbing the grassy knoll with his run drawn and that is when i knew something serious happened and i said to the president's secretary, something awful, terrible has happened. look at the policeman climbing the grassy knoll. we went to the luncheon that was scheduled and it was just utter chaos with everyone screaming about the president being shot. from there, i talk about going to parkland hospital and the next few hours, however long it

took to go back to washington. it is a very sad note and i would rather think about the happy times when his kennedy visited our house. mrs. kennedy and the children visited the day before she left for her big trip to india because she needed a day to get away and caroline wanted to visit tom kitten. this was part of the relationship i had that i enjoyed. it was like family. after we soon got into the white house, mrs. kennedy asked if i would have tom kitten board at the house has -- board at the house. i was not aware of the president was allergic to animals. but caroline's cat, because she was the same a's -- same age as

our two sons, they would come to visit and she would come periodically, mostly on wednesdays to come and visit, but before mrs. kennedy went on her trip to india, she wanted a day to herself so caroline and she could come visit with tom kitten and that would give her a day of relaxation. that was one of the happier moments and there were several others, but there is so much to talk about, it could not cover it in just a few minutes. >> i have read the book and i would recommend the book. [applause] >> nancy hogan dutton worked in the campaign for fred dutton. she worked in his office in the white house and he went on to run robert f kennedy's campaign. your husband was special assistant to jfk.

tell us about how you met and what that experience was like. he went on to found earth day as well. >> let me tell you a bit about the white house because it is so different today. the kennedy white house had no chief of staff. eisenhower was the first president who had a chief of staff. he was military and it kind of fit and he wanted one but when he came time to organize the kennedy white house, bob kennedy was his closest advisor and nobody was ever going to be more important than body. let's get a group of people and make them all equal, which meant they had direct access to the president. they didn't have to go through anyone else. highest title in the white house

was special assistant to the president. now it was right below chief of staff. there were 95 what i call political appointees in the kennedy white house will stop everyone who works in the white house is a political appointee. the ushers, butler's, switchboard operators, the drivers, they are not civil service. they tend to fit into a category that is a holdover group. the political appointees came from the campaign and other places. of those 95, 41 of us are still living. >> and you know all of them? >> most of the people with direct access to the president who had commissions are gone.

harris is still with us and dan sims became a special assistant in 1962 or 63 and that is about it for those that were at that level. the rest of us were political appointees. there was no one telling us what to do, which is quite interesting when you think of today's white house. i was asked to be a panelist on a show called "to tell the truth " in april 1961. i said to fred is it ok if i do this? he said yes, but you better check with pierre. here said you better answer all the questions right and not look stupid.

[laughter] nobody told me what to do with the money if i want any. i gave it to the university of michigan. and by the way, for those of us who did go to michigan, the university of michigan has more peace corps graduates than any other university in the country. i did not work for fred during the campaign. i worked for someone named byron white and how i ended up on the campaign working for byron white. i'm in ohio and came from an irish democratic, pretty well-known family. the chairman of the democratic party, his secretary and my dad secretary were best friends and i worked downtown. right before i graduated from college in june, i was planning on coming out of the campaign on july 20 and ran in into the

chairman and he said where are you going to mark i said i'm just going to volunteer. he said we can do better than that. he got out his little black book and dialed a number and said who is he talking to? the chairman of the democratic party was a guard for the detroit lions and he was fused your -- future mr. justice byron white. they were roommates and he said he was sending me up and that's how i ended up working for byron and the happy assistant was fred dutton and for me, the rest is history. >> and what a rich history.

thank you so much. [applause] thank you so much. she has been our point person on this. i want to introduce you to marry white to happens to be a neighbor of mine. a real pleasure. she was a kennedy administration staffer who worked for ted sorensen and you were instrumental. tell us what sorensen was like. >> he was unbelievably intelligent and i wasn't going to mention this, but i was going to give you a sample of what it was like. having worked for a speechwriter, i write speeches. it was a sunday evening in

january of 1962 and i shared a large georgetown apartment with three other women and two of my roommates were hosting a party. the phone rang and one of the guests answered the phone. it was ted sorensen asking me to come in immediately. i said i was babysitting my three month old nephew. ted said bring the baby and. and i said ok, send the car. by the time i got the baby ready, the driver was there and i placed a note on this door saying if you want your child, come down to the white house.

the white house man did help me and we placed him in fred dutton's office and after a while, the white house guard ushered in my sister and husband and then i learned they had arrived at the northwest gate in the guard said -- that was another one. the baby is fine. i was checking on him and he was sleeping. nice to see you, drive up to the west gate and someone will take care of you. at that point, sorensen came out and i remember he was impressed the babies middle name was

emmett. >> don't leave out the part about what ted sargent said to you. >> he did say i bet your friends were impressed. though they are all republicans, they think i am nuts. [laughter] so, we got right to work. he was working on a draft of the state of the union address. he wrote, i typed, and the baby slept. [applause] >> may i inject a little note here that brings back memories? it won't take more than a minute. when you mentioned ted

sorensen's name, it would be ted sorensen without a secretary and she would be on vacation and he would ask me to fill in for whoever it was. ted sorensen has to be one of the best dictators i've ever taken dictation from in my two careers after my 12 years with the kennedys and my eight years in boston. after 17 years into my second career, all the wonderful executives i work for, none compared with the dictation i took from ted sorensen for senator kennedy. i just have to make that note. >> thank you, mary and mary. you can tell a are inseparable. lili donnelly also work for the kennedy administration and work for dave powers and was

extremely close to the president. >> running for congress -- >> tell us about that relationship and how you came to it. >> i worked in the first campaign office with stephen smith, the brother-in-law, married to jean kennedy and went to the white house and i was fortunate to be assigned to dave powers. he was a wonderful man with a great sense of humor and he was one of the first people to start out with president kennedy. when he was running for congress, president kennedy did not know a great deal of people in boston. he asked who can assist me and they all suggested they powers. he had just returned -- he had been with the flying tigers.

he had been working on that. he climbed up a three decker, knocked on the door and said i'm john kennedy and i want to run for the house of representatives. everybody said you would be the perfect person to help me. he said i certainly will be and i'm glad you didn't get tired and stop on the second floor. they were together for every single trip the president took, including the last day in dallas when he was in the car behind him. he was a joy to work for because he was such a delightful man. my three greatest remembrances of the white house, we know he was dedicated in all sincerity and robert kennedy as well. this is a funny little incident, but one day i was going from the east wing to the west wing and

the presidential elevator stopped and mrs. kennedy was away and out came the president with john john. he had one pajama rolled up and down and there's a little aetrium where the white house pool was that is no longer there where the secret service man said you can go ahead. when i got inside, there was the president of the united states and john was hollering at the top of his lungs. mrs. kennedy used to take him out with macaroni and pull them he was screaming he wanted to go on that sleigh and here was the president of the united states saying, but john, daddy has to go to the office. i cannot help you. [laughter] >> good morning, mr. president. i kept right on going. he was like every other father,

frustrated. i am going to tell to stories and finish it. the other one was november 22. while i was not there, everybody came running saying, the president has been shot. secret service, who had a small office upstairs in the east east wing, came downstairs and said, we are going to use your office, we need a lot of people and have only one line to parkland hospital and you will have to hold it because you can work upstairs and take things in their office. do not put it down. that is the only line. and so, he was getting the notes back and forth and no one actually knew what was happening. they were killing him in -- they were filling him in with details

between the other agents that were there, and clint hill came on the line and i remember it, jerry banes saying, what is the story with the president? he said, he is dead, sir. i excused myself. i did not want them to hear me. they started calling all of the family to advise them. all of the sisters were saying, oh, no. not jack. it is not jack, is it? is everything all right? they said, no he is wounded but they did not know he was dead. it was amazing, robert kennedy with his courage he said, the attorney general is on the line and he came on the line in the first question he asked was the last question he wanted to hear and he just said, is he dead? and i thought, of all of these people on this line asking and not wanting to ask, you asked first what you wanted to hear last, and that was amazing. the other thing i'm going to finish up with, and if you do

not mind, jean and i were blessed to be part of the white house staff that was chosen to go to ireland on that great trip with the president. all my god. -- oh my god. it was so wonderful. they were holding an irish like an american flag on the other side. i think to everyone who knew him, especially dave who said it was like a journey of the heart for the president because i think, and perhaps i'm not qualified to speak on this, maybe other people more so, but from what everybody said and from what we gathered, it was probably the happiest trip of his presidency, which was two years, 10 months and two days of shining moments. for us, they were shining moments, too. [applause]

>> now, i'm going to ask each of you. i asked each of you to share one brief memory that you would like to hold on forever. i will start with you senator. these are your last words. [laughter] >> for tonight. [laughter] >> i was delivering a driver to -- sergeant driver to a big assembly at an american university for the national association of students, and shriver and i arrived and they said, mr. shriver, robert, do you want to read the message from the president or give it to me to read? he took me aside and said, do you know anything about a speech? i said, no.

i said, but i can get you one by the time you get to it in the talk. he said, i will read it. so, i did a very nice speech that got handed in handwriting up to sargent shriver. he gave it and a big applause for it. the head of a student association called me and said, i am just so happy. we are sending that speech from president kennedy's personal hand. [laughter] >> they were sending it out to be framed. i said, give me a few minutes to find the proper thing to do. he had no idea.

i had to call and say, i am sorry. there is a definite role that any document, any original goes to the president. [laughter] >> it stood in the association but not in the same position. so somewhere there may be that handwritten speech that kennedy in 1961 gave. [applause] the reason it was kennedy, he heard about all of this and gave a very good smile. i do not think he ever read the speech though. [laughter] >> thank you, senator. jean, will you share with us your memory? jean: i was out in california

six weeks before the convention, carrying out the arrangements for the convention before, and i was in the convention halls with when president kennedy was nominated. he was nominated on the first rollcall but not until the very last vote for the delegates were counted. they were from the state of wisconsin. you can imagine, the delight, the ecstasy that we felt that moment he was actually receiving the nomination. i must say, the crowd went wild. [applause] >> in the first two weeks of the administration, the president was showing off the west wing

with some frequency. he would have a guest over, and an old congressman friend from boston or a number of people, and after dinner, he would show them the oval office. one night, he walked into the office that i shared with four other people, first floor, west wing, right behind the doors. you went all the way through the windows from the front door, and it was about 10:00 at night and i was working. because i had not been a part of the campaign for a long time, i had never had a conversation with him. i introduced myself at his request, and he wanted to know something about my background. i got to the fact that i had gone to his old college and his eyes lit up, where his mother went, his sister, his other

sister pat, his sister-in-law ethel kennedy. [laughter] >> at that point, it was a single sex college run by the margins of the sacred heart, female jesuits. it was a voting precinct. he looked at me and said, did they vote for me? [laughter] >> anticipating that i might get that question at some point, i had checked, and in fact the nuns who were known as the little sisters of the rich -- [laughter] >> did not vote for jfk. [laughter] the second half of our conversation had lasting meaning for me. i had a book on my desk. i had not read it.

i had just bought it. the president picked it up, and it was actually a book about marxist socialism, and he wanted to know what it was about. i have learned to never have a book showing that i have not read. [laughter] >> of course, the best memories are just being a part of that new frontier, of that spirit, of what we did not get accomplish ed, as well as what we did get accomplished. i was in the state department during the cuban missile crisis and during the nuclear test treaty, and those of the memories that i am so glad i got to work on those projects. totally coincidentally, some of -- someone said to me the other

day, where do you get your appreciation for art? and antiques? and i woke up in the middle of the night last night and i said, i think jackie kennedy had something to do with that and i never thought about it that way. [applause] >> thank you, nancy. >> i am going to pick up on dean ave powers. it starts with, you work with ted sorensen, every third night , a state as late as he stays, around 9:00, if that was my day around 4:00 i would go down to lincoln's office and get fresh chocolate delivered to her office. i figured that would get me through 9:00. one time i was there in the cabinet door opened and it was dave powers with a very attractive, petite blonde woman dressed in all white at which point the door at the other side from the president's office, he

threw his door open and he was right there and he swooped this woman up and took her right into his office. it was melina deric. she did come. that, --ple knew about [applause] >> mary, the other mary, mrs. gallagher. >> i oftentimes like to look back on the service to mrs. kennedy from the early georgetown days into the white house. it enabled me to handle all of her expenses, bookkeeping wise. it all began in the early 1950's when i sat with her in georgetown. the president, senator at the

time, was home in bed with puffed up cheeks due to a tooth abscess. it was march 17, and when i arrived at the home in georgetown to take care of mrs. kennedy's bookkeeping affairs, i went up to the second floor to the study pass the bedroom he was in there reading the newspaper and he said, good morning, mary. i said, good morning, senator. i wondered when i saw his face like that. i found out after several hours of working that day that after lunchtime when i had had enough time to pile up a whole stack of checks i had written out for mrs. kennedy, that he patted in his bare feet, bathrobe and said, how are you doing, mary? i said, just fine. i am ready to wind things that. he started spreading all of the checks and bills and statements all over the desk and said, what is this and what is that? i had to explain what mrs.

kennedy was purchasing and where and why and how. [laughter] >> he issued the statement to me, from here on out, you furnish me with bookkeeping reports. monthly. quarterly. semiannually. annual. i want to know all of mrs. kennedy's expenses from here on out. if that was not a job in itself. being a personal secretary, which i loved the shorthand, that typing, the regular run-of-the-mill appointments and family liaison. it became double duty. the bookkeeping took about as much time, which i was able to manage actually, weekends and evenings when the boys were put to bed and all that, and i enjoyed every minute of it. when people read my book though -- [laughter] >> they cannot believe it. a big question is, how did you

manage that in keeping house at the same time? i attribute it to my mother-in-law and my husband. i dedicate my book to both of them and chris and greg. if it was not for them, i could never have succeeded in doing what i did. the person at the front desk, the gatekeeper or what you would call it, i was checking out and she was reading my book and she screamed at me and said, how did you ever keep up doing all of that? i could never. i said, relax. relax, do not let it worry you. i did it because i enjoyed doing it for the president. my loyalty for him never wavered all 12 years i spent with him and her. i will say that i admire for one mainnedy

reason exactly. when i first met him as a senator at his apartment in tall,, when he was a skinny, tousled haired, short sleeve rolled up regular kind of a guy, 12 years later, or unfortunately, 11 at the time, when he was president and that awful day, november, he never changed from being a regular down to earth individual, who was really so natural. i cannot rave enough about him. as the president, he never hair.d the always remained himself and i respected that. lovely. [applause] >> i thought i'd already said everything. saying itse you up by was one of the most wonderful experiences of our life.

i think we can truly say that everyone who works for president kennedy truly loved him and truly believed in him, and that they really did care. to thoseid earlier, whom much is given, much is expected. he was raised by that with his family. to those whom much is given, much is expected and they gave delightful measures. [applause] >> mark twain once said that history does not repeat itself, but you have given us a wonderful sense of history tonight. all of you. it has been a pleasure to have , andew friends in my life years are profiles of courage. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. >> thank you. [applause]

>> i am sure we have mary's for sale somewhere in the house. [laughter] i encourage you to meet these lovely individuals and thank them personally for their time and commitment. thanks to northern trust as well. thank you, martin. any last words? >> nothing other than i wanted to introduce said davis -- sid davis. tonight and was also in dallas and was a member of the press and was one of the three individuals got onto the johnston'stness inauguration, so i wanted to recognize you as well. of you for coming. this wonderful group of people, please, join us in meeting them and sharing their stories are

there. thank you for coming. [applause] >> you were watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. on the weekend presidency, dwight d. eisenhower behind-the-scenes mentoring of ronald reagan and the role the former president played in reagan's political revolution. here's a preview. reagan followed his advice. he made eisenhower seek the common sense in that first letter that ike advised him to do twice as the actual campaign fame in 1966. eisenhower admitted he had been studying reagan and did not give

the mass and extreme white wrangler -- extreme right-winger. he ended up advising reagan on polling and emphasized northern california in his campaign for the governorship. to bring in his primary opponent, the former mayor of san francisco, to bring in his supporters to reagan's campaign. dwight eisenhower helped ronald reagan fight charges of being an anti-semite. onenhower mentor drake and speech delivery. this is the well-known speaker and actor ronald reagan. eisenhower critique some of his speeches and thanked him. seek oute should democrats and independents. in my opinion, this is the true origin of her reagan democrats began. eisenhower publicly endorses reagan and donate to the campaign. watch the entire lecture on sunday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern on american history tv, only on c-span3.

visit the society of the cincinnati, where author ick talks about "american prisoners of war in the revolutionary south: 1780-1782." whenoks at the period british forces actively campaigned in the south and fought a series of battles with continental forces. he is also the director of the charleston museum in south carolina and addresses the 1780 seized of charleston, when about 6000 americans were taken prisoner, the most of any engagement during the war. this is about one hour. >> good evening. i am kenzo casey, the museum manager for the american revolution institute. i am pleased to welcome you to our lecture tonight. for those of you new to us, the american revolutionns