of the united states and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states, so help me god. >> [cheers and applause] >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 179 c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and today by youryou cable or satellite provider. presidency"n "the history professor gil troy looks u.s.-israel relations through the views, policies and actions fromerican presidents harry truman to barack obama. the richard nixon presidential library and museum hosted this hour-long event. >> gil troy is professor of history at mcgill university.

orst fall he was a visit scholar. an historian, he is the author of 11 books, including the recently released "the age of clinton." it was hailed as the best book on president clinton in his time. the book is for sale in the store right after the program, and professor troy will be here to sign it for you. his previous book, the award-winning "moynihan's moment: america's fight against zionism as racism" was designated by jewish ideas daily as one of the best jewish books of 2012. other works include "morning in america," "leading from the center," "hillary rodham clinton, polarizing first lady," and two books which in previous years brought him to the nixon library and archives for research -- "see how they ran"

and "mr. and mrs. president from truman to the clintons." he wrote a weekly column for the daily beast and contributed to the campaign section of the "new york times" in 2012 and 2016. he has been widely published and quoted in american and canadian media. recent natural "time" and "politico". a professor at mcgill university since 1990, from 1997 to 1998, he served as chairman of the history department. in march of 1999, he was promoted to full-time professor and has repeatedly been designated as one of their most popular professors. he has been voted one of the top .2 young historians please join me in welcoming professor gil troy. >> [applause]

professor troy: good morning and thank you for coming out. thank you, mike, for your leadership. it is amazing to see the collaboration between the csp and the richard nixon library and birthplace. the private tour was amazing. i was lecturing this week about nixon to my students and it started with the same thing this exhibit begins with -- the chaos of 1968. i said, you thought 2016 was crazy? we had a crazy campaign but in 1968 -- kenny assassination, serious trauma going on in this .ountry when richard nixon was elected by just a few votes, people from the center and left were in trauma. they were saying, what is going to happen? the country is not going to survive. the country faced challenges, but the country survived. the message i gave to them and am starting off with today -- the country will survive,

our constitution is strong, our people are strong and decent, the constitution is resilient, and we should stop moaning and groaning. love him or hate him, we have a president-elect who is going to become president, and we as americans have to be good citizens, give him a chance to succeed or fail, and trust the constitution. go on, applaud. >> [applause] professor troy: we have to be patriotic dissidents when we criticize but also when we deal with the complexity of the president who is both our king and prime minister. how we deal with that is a whole other lecture. but that's not what we're talking about today. i want to start by apologizing, because i have a very long and complicated journey to take with you in the next three hours. >> [laughter] professor troy: i saw the anxiety go up. what i'm going to do, because we are in the nixon library, is give a quick intro and focus a

little bit on the 1970's, then a quick exit and look at some conclusions. i want to start with the notion that also creating another distortion, which is that the title of the lecture is u.s.-israel relations through the oval office. the relationship between any two countries -- like people -- is multidimensional. we are trying to tell a narrative thread that helps us by going through the key individuals. we are blessed with caesar, who is going to help us advance. let's go to the first slide. we start a professorial way, with a pop quiz. who said, "the survival of israel is not just a political issue, it is a moral imperative. that is my deeply held belief, and it is shared by the majority of the american people. a strong, secure israel is not just in israel's interest, it is

in the interest of u.s. and the free world." in fact, he said -- it is a he, it is a president -- "i told the house of representatives i would commit political suicide if i did not support the state of israel." this is the audience participation part of the program. who said it? >> truman. professor troy: truman, right? he is so proud when he supports the state of israel and says, i am cyrus, evoking the bible. no, it is not truman. it?said >> [inaudible] professor troy: it could have been david ben-gurion imagining what the president would say. no. i am helping you in that it is a president. maybe nixon, right? it was said in memoirs that he was the best friend israel ever had. one more guess?

eisenhower, because although he had his frustrations, he supported the state of israel. innovation is one thing, but when you establish something, it is more important. in fact, it was said by jimmy carter in 1977. fooled you. first message is that life is a river. >> [laughter] professor troy: history is a journey. one of the things that frustrates me, especially in the political period we're going through right now, is we are so quick to judge, so quick to label. anti-israel, pro-israel. every single persowe are talking about today is -- from the american .residential side is pro israel there are truly anti-israel forces in the world, and i never want to recruit someone who is a critic of israel to those awful forces who reject the right of

israel to exist. we have to be more careful, more scientific, more deliberate in our language, even if we criticize someone for not being superficially supportive of israel or israel policy. when jimmy carter said that in 1977, the start of his journey -- just because he said something then, it does not stop him from writing an awful, evil book accusing israel of apartheid when he did not even make the case in his book but simply put it as his title. this is a way of saying, let's enter into a journey where we will see complexity. just as ari told you to put your phones on mute, let's try to put our partisanship on hold. let's put our partisan on mute. what i say to my students is, can we talk about politics without being partisan? can we open up and just listen and learn? as somebody predicted -- we are

going to take the next slide. we are to see the model as a relationship. we are going to think about this relationship. when i warn you about all or nothing -- it is also she loves me, she loves me not ism. we are talking about a complicated and special relationship. what has been extraordinary is that since 1948, it has been very solid, even with the ups and downs. those have been felt in the newspapers and in the oval office, but the solidity of the relationship between the people and eventually the military, the economies, continues to be there. so we continue. we start with, as somebody mentioned, harry truman. it's 1948. harry truman, who still is not fully accepted as president by many americans, because the president, of course, was franklin roosevelt. the classic truman story is that

one of his aides writes in his diary the day after franklin roosevelt dies -- harry truman, this unknown senator from missouri who became vice president partially because he was not a threat, is now president. the guy writes in his diary, i promised myself that when i sit down with the president, i was going to call him mr. president. i walked in and said, harry, how you doing? he was just such a harry. he was just one of those guys. by 1948, truman is establishing his presence and there is tremendous pressure. what do you do? november 29, 1947, the united nations has recognized there is going to be a jewish state it's not yet called israel. what should the united states do? truman is under tremendous pressure. george marshall, the legendary hero and secretary of defense, has all but offered to resign. lots of people in government all

but offer to redesign because they don't really want to redesign. he says, what do you want to do, you cannot support this country of 600,000, which we are not sure will survive, when there are tens of millions of arabs out there. when are we going to do? don't do it. there is lobbying from the jewish community. this story everyone likes to tell of what happens. harry truman had been in world war i back when they called it the great war. they did not realize there would be a world war ii. he was a haberdasher -- used.ly time it was they had a store with a -- he had a store with a friend. the store went bankrupt. the two of them worked hard to pay back all the debts, and they have a bond for life. they were war buddies and now arrive in economic catastrophe. the story people like to tell is that eddie jacobson calls up

truman and says, mr. president -- he remembered to call him mr. president -- i want you to meet a great man, who would end up being the president of the state of israel. low and behold, 11 minutes after the announcement of the state of israel, harry truman recognizes the state of israel. i hate that story. >> [laughter] professor troy: it is lovely, charming, but it reduces a very complicated multidimensional act by a president simply to sentiment and old ties to a haberdashery. i'm not saying the story is not true. it evokes an old-fashioned, medieval vision of the court jew, who would intervene to through personal relations. again, it is a phenomenon. what else is going on? what year did this occur? 1948 is the actual establishment of the state of israel. what is going on? elections.

historians always say, what is my favorite text? context. take the camera and pull back. don't just look at the u.s.-israel relationship through the presidency, but understand, what is harry truman thinking about? he is thinking about the start of the cold war and the shock americans are going through. he thought we finished the wars. what is the geopolitical dimension involved here? on november 29, 1947, both the soviet union and the united states had voted for a jewish state. important to remember because they are both vying for the jewish state's support. there is also the political angle. there is the famous memo from clark clifford saying, you're in trouble, dewey wins. the prediction was that thomas dewey was going to beat harry truman. he said, you have got to build a

new coalition. that coalition includes the jews of new york, who care about this issue. because of the electoral college -- we have learned recently that it has relevance -- the jews have a disproportionate impact on the votes of new york. so there is a political calculation. when harry truman makes the decision, he is balancing different factors. i prefer to see it that way. i take in the personal. i take in the values. i also have to tell the story of harry truman, who grew up reading that book, the bible, and he understands, as so many presidents understand, the connection of the jewish people to that land, to the holy land. he understands the values of the jewish and american people, shared by common democracy. shared by common values. so it is a whole picture.

during this very difficult moment when israel does not just want recognition but they want arms, need weapons, need oil, truman gives the support, and that is about it. i want to give a shout-out to my father, bernard troy, who helped smuggle weapons to israel -- probably illegal at the time -- but i think statute of limitations is ok. there was a whole smuggling operation going on from new york to the fledgling state of israel. the united states government maybe turned a blind eye. fundamentally, no formal weapons agreement, no formal military pact, no formal alliance. nevertheless, harry truman continues, feels great about what he did, and he passes on to dwight eisenhower this complicated and growing relationship. eisenhower feels truman is too sentimental, that he was too political. you should not have let

political calculations come into effect when you are deciding the middle east. and the famous moment with eisenhower is -- again, pro-israel, supporting the right of the state of israel to exist -- what happens is in october of 1956 -- 48 plus four is 52, 52 plus four is 56, another election year. on the eve of the presidential election, what happens? the campaign where israel, being egypt in the south, not onlyth united states but france and united kingdom and goes in and -- you fill in the blank. liberate, conquer, recruit the sinai peninsula. it is on the eve of eisenhower's re-election campaign. he feels double-crossed. how come you did not tell me? i'm supposed to be the representative of peace and

prosperity, and you do this on the eve of my reelection? i deposit even know about it. been the even know about it. he pressures israel. this is the short version. he pressures israel to pull back, and the u.s. puts a buffer zone between the egyptians -- an army between the egyptian border and the israeli border and says, ok, we will have u.n. buffer troops to make sure there will be peace for the next 50 years. oh no, it did not work. second.t to that in a eisenhower is remembered as a kind of critical friend of israel. nevertheless, a friend. there is an interesting book that came out, that we are going to see again that points out, as eisenhower got closer to retirement and as things in the arab world got complicated -- when we look at our multidimensional perspective, we have to remember that -- and as nassar starts aligning with the soviet union, we start seeing in the last couple years of

eisenhower's administration a move toward israel, but still no formal arms exchanges. .gain this flirtation we continue on our journey, and we get to john kennedy. of course, the jews know going into the 1960 campaign that kennedy is not their friend. why? because john kennedy is the son of joe kennedy, a notorious anti-semite. joe kennedy, when he had been ambassador to england in the again, iad been -- like to be careful in our language. i would not call him pro-nazi, but he was certainly, in the debate that was going on, someone who was a little bit softer on germany and not pushing for war. and so he was the notorious son of an anti-semite, he is not going to be any good. one of my favorite stories about that has to do with the 1960 campaign, when martin luther king was imprisoned in georgia on a traffic violation and thrown into the depths of the

georgia prison system. without polling, without consulting, john kennedy picked up the phone and called coretta scott king and said, we are going to watch out for him. we are going to make sure he survives. robert kennedy, not even consulting with his brother, called the georgia attorney general and said, this man does not die. you watch this man. coretta scott king is very grateful. she goes to daddy king and tells him the story. he says, we are going to take a whole heap of oats and put them on john kennedy's doorstep, even though he is catholic. of course, he is the first american catholic running for president since al smith. smith lost. john kennedy is hoping it's a generation. traditionally, african-americans had been republican supporters. who is that guy who ran against him in 1960?

i feel the spirit. richard nixon. john kennedy arrives on an airfield. he's asked, well, what do you think about the fact that the father of this great civil rights leader seems to be a bit of a bigot? kennedy hesitates without missing a beat, he says, [imitating kennedy] we all have fathers, don't we? >> [laughter] professor troy: i would say that in some ways, john kennedy's father encouraged him to reach out to the jewish people and the fledgling jewish state. he actually visited palestine and saw what was going on. he comes in -- again, i apologize, we are telescoping horrifically. he understands the importance of having a deep relationship with israel, but he has a problem. he says, ben-gurion comes and gives me some $10 bible and i

have to say thank you. my wife jackie is getting amazing stallions from saudi arabia, what am i going to do? he turns to a diplomat and says, can you tell jackie to hold off on the stallions? she says, tell jack i am keeping them. nevertheless, let's continue. kennedy was building on what truman had done. truman was so proud that he supported the state of israel. he saw it as biblical, and he remembered that cyrus had -- the persian king had brought the jewish people back after the destruction of the first temple -- the truth is he invited them back and many of them stayed in babylonia, but that is a whole other story -- and kennedy understands that it is going to be about shared values. he speaks about the state of israel and the deep connection that we have. look at that last line -- "it carries the shield of democracy and honors the sword of freedom." we started to see shared values

and not just shared interests. two democracies in a world which does not have many. under kennedy, we see the first arms agreement. a very important image. it is missiles against -- antiaircraft missiles, so it's defensive. we are not going into an offensive relationship. who is the main supplier of israel at the time? france. now we jump ahead, and john kennedy is tragically assassinated, and lyndon johnson comes in. especially after the trauma of a presidential assassination -- again we warn -- when you go into the presidency, you never know what is going to happen, for better and for worse -- and johnson says, everybody thinks that john kennedy was israel's

best friend, but i am truly israel's best friend. let's talk about the fact that part of the reason americans -- kennedy was so charming and so ivy league and so perfect, and especially after his assassination, he becomes this martyr. so americans just feel he's one of us. and johnson is this crude southerner with an accent from texas. he likes to relieve himself while his aides are watching to make them squirm. this is not an elegant -- not our idea of a president. johnson says, you don't understand. in world war ii -- ok, he was a bit a showboat. he feels, like so many presidents at that time, feels the power of the need to support the jewish state, because they saw what happens when there is no jewish state, saw whenhappened anti-semitism is rampant -- the holocaust. it affected john kennedy, it affected lyndon johnson, it affected all of these presidents

from what we call the greatest generation, including richard nixon. he says, i'm going to be their best friend. i'm going to look out for them. continue.d, we he, too, in a speech will talk about our society's illuminated by the spiritual insights with the hebrew prophets. we have a common love of freedom. he also says, my christian faith springs from yours. we are brothers. what an amazing thing. did not happen in poland, didnb't happen in russia, morocco. the extraordinary bond between the american people and jewish people, not only american presidents but americna people who accepted jews as one, is not something we should take for granted and should say thank you for. the prime minister of russia

you have got 3 million jews at the time and 80 million arabs. lyndon johnson says, because it is right. for all the love of israel, the relationship can get complicated. while there is the start of military leadership, the question of what johnson will do in may of 1967 and what israel would do is very complicated. let's go back to context. nassar has united egypt, jordan, syria. they are threatening every day to throw the jews into the sea. it's 1967, not so many years .fter the holocaust when somebody threatens to do that, you take that threat seriously. the jews in israel are in trauma. they planned 10,000 graves in tel aviv because those are the casualties they expected. what are we going to do? how are we going to survive? if france pulls out, who is going to stand up for us?

we look closely at the next memo, and we see the u.s. was unsure. during this difficult month of may, 1967. there is a memo from an adviser to president johnson. they talk about the israeli aid package. we see the military relationship building. he says, i have told the ambassador we will substantially meet their requests. that is coy. there is a game going on here. game.cs is a what i particularly like is that in the fourth paragraph, it says, you may want to ask if they have any intention to attack syria. they don't know? you are president and you are still trying to figure out what this guy is going to do in the middle east. the next slide is a memo from gene rostow to ambassador harman. in the second column, he says, we're going to support you and i want you to know that should there be any attempt to

interfere with free and innocent passage through the strait or in the gulf, united states government would consult immediately with the government. hmm. don't you want more enthusiastic support? united states supports israel, but during that difficult month, ultimately the prime minister goes in with a preventive ive strike and we know what happens. i want to emphasize that for all the growing intensity and support, there is also a kind of dance going on. that is the intro to the richard nixon period. so now there is a greater bond. we are now in a period of more interdependence. can't live with them, can't live without them. we see that this is an era of richard nixon, henry kissinger, golda meir, the israeli prime minister.

while thes up and down, she was of those people that just had that ability to tell the line.story in one we jews have a secret weapon in our struggle with the arabs, she would say. we have no place to go. we do not rejoice in victories, she would say, we rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries blossom in israel. about old age, she said, old age is like a plane flying through a storm. once you are on board, you can't stop the plane or the storm or time. you might as well accept it calmly and wisely. words to the wise. she also said -- and to this day people quote her -- that we will have peace when the arab world loves their children more than they hate our children. i don't want to demonize or go into stereotypes. don't want to talk about the

entire arab world but there is a certain truth to that that still holds, and that yearning for peace continues. anyway, nixon is charmed by her. she is very charming, born in russia, grew up in milwaukee. she has an american accent. she is little bit of a margaret thatcher, an old jewish lady. and it works. and the two of them spend time together. nixon is going to be the first president to visit israel. if we had time, i could do a whole lecture on nixon and israel. you can see a tape on youtube of richard nixon greeting golda meir at the white house. it's a very moving moment when the marine band plays. the jewish national anthem. young,israel was fragile, vulnerable. it was being accepted in the white house.

we will rush ahead to 1973. israel realized that there -- their intelligence was wrong and that american intelligence was wrong. there was going to be this message surprise attack. these memos give us a sense of what is going on. the israelis are asking for support. the americans are debating what do we do. if we oversupply, what about the day after? consumeables is like weapons but constructive.more it if we oversly then, will the tooelis come out of it strong? at the same time, golda meir is worried about the destruction of a third temple. do we have go nuclear? what are we going to do? 2,700 israelis died in that way.

-- that war. michael oren points out that israelis tend to tell the story of yom kippur is a great military defeat. in west point it was taught as an amazing military victory. eventually, israel won. oren points out there was this other war, a surprise attack, 75 years ago in december. nevertheless, america won, pearl harbor, right? .orld war ii .merica teaches it as a victory this is for the group therapy session afterwards. henry kissinger, they're talking this resupply and henry kissinger is talking to investors in the state of israel. he says you have to paint it all out. the planes that are going to be used -- once they pass on armaments, how

we pass them on? you don't want to make it too obvious that it is coming from the united states. they are going to come in generic-ooking plants. the tension is growing, what do we do? there is a great line. kissinger says it is absolutely essential that senators and congressmen don't go around attacking the president. they called me to tell me that there is a story going around saying that i kept you from preempting. henry kissinger goes from don't attack the president to don't attack me. there's a whole question of was stopped by kissinger in at strike duringtive those difficult days. the real tension is the resupply. nixon who supports the state of israel, has a good relationship with golda meir. again, it's occurred in 1972. january, february, march, april, 1973, the watergate revelations

are coming out. nixon is frustrated, terrified. nixon now has an opportunity to lead. he finally says -- everybody says don't do it, be wary. he said we would take as much heat for sending three ad much as 30, so they did. golda meir hears that and she cries. the israeli people feel so abandoned and terrified. you see those planes coming and over the streets of tel aviv? ,hey sing in the streets ♪ god bless america and richard nixon is seen as the savior of the state of israel. i can feel the power in the room right now. the conservatives of orange county are in love with me.

but now, buckle your seat belts. we're going to go ahead. these are more memos showing the complexity. continue. there is a mystery about richard nixon. win, these. one more. no, one more. at the same time, we know that richard nixon said some pretty nasty things about the jews. buck yell your seat belts and listen. [recording inaudible]

professor troy: ok, thank you. we are going to continue. the context is it is april 19, 1972. nixon is about to go to russia. he is going for this pre-election. .ixon to china, nixon to russia he is worried that the jewish community is making trouble over the issue of soviet-jewish immigration. he says to kissinger, if they i'm goingis summit, to blame them and put it before .0 million people they put the jewish interests above america's interest.

it is about time that the an in america realizes he's american first and a jew second. and he says, i couldn't agree more, mr. president. he reconciled the two. i direct you to the words of len garment. this was richard nixon's law partner. he was in political exile. they became good friends. garment was a proud jew from brooklyn. lawyer.on to become a he also was in a jazz trio with alan greenspan. that is another lecture. >> [laughter] professor troy: garment is appointed. to all the people nixon didn't know and didn't like.

in fairness, they did not like him. garment says that nixon was a champion hater. he hated people who opposed him. if you are in his way, he pushed through. to a says -- he also adds, kid who grew up in the 1930's. if you show me a christian or a jew who does not have some trace of anti-semitism in his or her soul, i will show you a human being who has a body that contains no germs. he says that i live in is this complicated world, i understand that sometimes when he was angry he used these ugly words. i understand that he appointed me and henry kissinger. he supported the state of israel. in another tape which i won't play this for you with billy graham. nixon has a little secret for that. he says that the best jews are the israeli jews. what we see in nixon's mind is

that american jews and israeli jews. i'm not supporting anti-semitism, i'm not justifying it. but as a historian, i want to in context.t you say, how does this guy who saves the state of israel also ended up saying these ugly things. as historians, it is not our job to sit and judge. we need to explain and contextualize and see complexity. if we understood the complexity of the relationship more, the depth would be less nervous all the time. we see gerald ford emerging as supporter of the state of israel. but complicated. pushes ae hand he reassessment, freezing u.s. relations. because? to put pressure on israel because now it's the end game. we continue but under gerald ford we had that moment where

daniel patrick moynihan stands up and says "i must stand." zionism is being accused of racism, in the form of the united nations. said, you know, i never israel.ose tie to as a professor i was never invited to one of those fun trips. he sees this as an attack on .emocracy if i could share one moment, very powerful. in the weeks before, the resolution is passed in the general assembly. they go to the human rights committee. and what happens? of course it passed. speak.n doesn't len garment gets up. he says this is an obscenity. as a trial lawyer, what word would i use?

it's an obscenity. why? it demeans us all, sullies us all. the united states will turn this into a battering ram. rights, hurthuman the u.n. the u.n. ambassador to the u.n. are not jewish people on trial, the united nations is on trial. it doesn't fulfill their ideals. they passed a resolution on to the general assembly. the delegates breakout and mock applause. herzog is watching this display and told the israeli delegation to hold -- to clap their hands. he knew how angry they would be. the jewish people, you represent the democracies. from across the room, a tall, 6'5" irish catholic kid came up. a remarkable display of bipartisan which was so needed

stands up, straightens room,e, crosses the hugs herzog and loudly yells. they walk arm in arm out of the u.n.. that is the tension. that ugly resolution shows to us what the real challenges are. that ugly resolution shows us that anti-israel forces really exist. they single out one country. despite the fact that it was voted in. they say that is the country that is a legitimate. that is the country that is not acceptable contingent on good behavior. that is the country we will demonize. that is the country we will minimize. they said the country doesn't have the right to exist. who does that? you don't question the right of pakistan to exist.

even if we diswhat it does. it is only israel that is on probation. in that context, that ugly context that started, moynihan called it the big red lie. you want to use the uglies weren't word in the international vocabulary and that is racism. see today that even though it's a national conflict, we see racism always used. apartheid, this ugly analogy. and lies about colonialism. what kind of empire is this? do you want to criticize the settlements? fine. but why use those words? when we see the role of the united states and we see how as a result of those moments, those bonding moments, jimmy carter comes in and despite the issues he had, they negotiate the peace treaty. that sets a standard. president since has wanted to throw that hail mary pass and solve the problems of the

east conflict. doesn't always work. we see after carter, in comes ronald reagan. during the difficult days -- google them at home to give you some things to think about. one of the things we start seeing is the pattern with eisenhower. with reagan and george w. bush. with george h.w. bush, we see often the relationships are a little rocky and bond and become clear as reagan saw how important israel was in defending the west and defending democratic values and defending america. what we see with george h.w. bush is that he is most famous for the fight with israel over loan guarantees. we forget that in 1991, george h.w. bush had his chief diplomats working the phones to

rescind the racism resolution. we then see bill clinton working so hard to match the high standards set by jimmy carter. indulge me, one important anecdote. oslo process, that's why it's called the oslo peace process. clinton goes in and embraces and tries to get -- remember that famous picture shaking hands. it was the magic of the 90's. it was the magical time when the soviet union is falling apart and germany once divided and now is united. there is peace now breaking out in northern island. there is peace breaking out in south africa. it seems like we have a shot at peace. the clinton is very clear, he is criticisms of the israelis but in his memoirs he says that in his last days of the white visitasser arafat came to him and says, you're a great, great man. failure booze

because of you! we could have had peace and you make that.dy to so he goes back -- when palestinian leaders are willing to do this is what will happen. it was only after 9/11 and after the korean incident where armaments were being shipped from iran to the palestinians were intercepted by the israelis. despite the fact that the israelis sent george w. bush a big stack of documents showing the linkage but forgot to tell the media, the media only showed the picture of all the armaments. george w. bush says you get to

lie to a texan once, not a second time. that led to a greater intensity in the relationship. with the barack obama relationship, they said that he was the greatest friend of israel ever. i think others have more valid claims to that. it is a mark of immaturity and a marked resource the conversation. he believes in tough love toward israel where bill clinton believed in love - love toward israel. when they feel supported, they are more willing to compromise. if you ask me how i feel, you can call me every ugly name in book. i go to my defensive crouch. if everyone doesn't talk about my legitimacy, i trust them, psychology 101.

i want to end with three thoughts. to give a sense of? the complexity and depth. it is a three dimensional relationship. they are connected and bonded. the united states of america understand that we need each other. it is not some artificial relationship that emerges only because of powerful lobbyist. there is no lobby powerful enough in the world, not in the united states, to shape this kind of depth. to shape the kind of love that moynahan showed. you captain make up those values. you can't make up that .imensionality i will end with two different expressions. everybody likes to talk about shared values and shared interests. i think we have seen that. in a longer version we'd look at even today how the united states

on israel. it's stable, democratic society, eastnow, in a middle that's gone mad. we have seen how it is not just a one-way relationship but a two-way relationship. the american people, 60 or 70% remain supportive of the state of israel. i would say shared interests and values. i would add a third, shared challenges. the united states of america is going to a difficult time right now in its democracy. israel is as well. let's learn together. let's learn about what it is like to create a vibrant, healthy democracy in the 21st century, in the age of the internet. with all the ugliness there, in growing polarizations and partship, how do we learn

together? twin democracies are sister democracies. finally, i will end with three words that were said and sung by israelis in the streets of tel aviv. god bless america. god bless america for supporting ae state of israel, for being model to the state of israel for a constructive liberal democracy that can function. israel was made up of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from nondemocratic countries. the united states taught israel how to be democratic. god bless america, we are so lucky to be in a country with all of its flaws and challenges. it is still a stable, decent and knows how to do the right thing. thank you very much. >> [applause] professor troy: we have time for a few questions. questions are short, pointed and

they end with a canadian "eh?" just as a canadian scholar. >> you talk about the relationship of tough love or love-love. do you think that would work with the u.n.? or is the u.n. a lost cause? professor troy: excellent question. this gets to the heart of the problem. the united nations is the world's greatest social service agency. the united nations is the greatest force in world history fighting disease, fighting illiteracy, for good in many corners of the world. as a result, when something ugly is said about israel, so many people in developing countries experience the u.n. as their

savior. they believe that it is racist. that is where we get this bizarre thing that the former u.s. ambassador talks about. we talk about going to landlocked countries in africa. one of the problems is how do you condemn a organization that does so much good? at the same time, we have this general assembly. have this big "human rights .ommission" rather than focusing on the horrific slaughter in syria and the ugliness in saudi arabia, the death penalties that are in iran. we have no choice. we have no choice but to try to fix the united nations. mentioned, i briefly we saw that in 1975 moynihan hard. he got more votes than were expected against the resolution though the resolution passed. said, you're not being diplomatic. tone down. he said, what is this toning

down? i'm supposed to tone down when fighting a lie? he says being diplomatic doesn't appeasing. he said being diplomatic sometimes means being tough, yourimes standing up to adversaries. he stood tall and made an impacts. in 1991, it led to the first time in u.n. resolution was side tabled. it wasn't formally -- rescinded side-tabled because of effective leadership and, pull back our camera, remember our favorite text? context, fall of the soviet union. changed.namics we have no choice but to be there, to fight. when i say we, i mean a big of people whon care about human rights, care about democracy, care about the ideals. its founding we have to hope and pray that we have enough leadership and luck advantage of the changing world to push the u.n. to be what it should be and it often isn'tat yes, sir?

>> with a pun intended, there's inelephant in the room regard to the president-elect. newe do you see the administration going in regard to israel? professor troy: thank you. president-elect is donald trump, right? >> [laughter] is,essor troy: the question where do i see the president-elect going? i always say -- and this election season showed it -- as a historian, it's hard enough to can't beginpast, i to predict the future. but three things. let's quote -- let's quote donald item. trump was the grand marshal of the israel day parade best07 and it was the parade ever! that to me goes down in america one of the most embarrassing foreign policy credentials ever. for those who hate donald trump, what does it emphasize?

we don't know he don't know. fairness, even if you're a supporter, part of the appeal was he's an outsider, that he .as no governmental experience part of the danger of donald outsider, thatn he has no governmental experience. so we really don't know what to do.ing that's number one. number two is when he says that, anhink does he have understanding of these shared interests and shared values. i don't think he's really into the shared challenges piece. he has an understanding that israel -- we see he's a politician who goes by the gut. me.re with me or against so he feels israel with me. israel with you, israel with me. but what's the concern? a concern that you're feeling in israel -- i'll israelis so iing can continue to be non-partisan. israelis have two fears.

statesen the united catches a cold, israel catches a fever. is a period that we're going into of instability, of immaturishness, insanity it will be bad for the united states, bad for the world, bad for israel. the concerns you're feeling. and the second concern, frankly, the art of the deal he said when he was speaking to the jewish coalition, i can do it, i'm a deal maker. he comeworry is, will in with a heavy hand? and if israelis don't march to tune, will he turn on them? those are the concerns. and to flip it around one more hand, thee other other thing is there are many in world, especially orthodox jewish world and conservative jewish world who with barackrated obama's tough love that they feel that it's time to try a new to goch and they want back to the bill clinton love-love. if he does that he'll be good. think about.ngs to

as you can see i don't want to be partisan. to predict thent two p's that historians try to avoid. any other questions? have time for one more or just my summary? ok. so my summary. i want to go back to when i began. arewell aware these difficult times, that it's hard to sit down in a public forum trumplk before donald respectfully and talk about donald trump without getting angry. we're in ad that time now where it's also hard in the jewish community itself to sometimes talk about israel. people are so quick to go, you're anti-jewish, pro israel -- what do we start with? a big we're in a time now where it's also hard ie with. thedon't we start with common value that we have? why don't we start with a campus -- campus , rather than finding a and right wing jew arguing about 6,000 miles away,

start with what does it mean to me? why don't we see the shared values and concerns and then get to whatever fights we we start with have. similarly, in the united states, theould go red-blue all time but one of the gifts of the bipartisan -- i have not mentioned republican or democrat there's adon't think republican style in supporting israel, there isn't a democratic style in supporting israel. there's a presidential style in supporting israel. one of the things i was talking about the mutual, the gift that has given to the united states is in the same way the united states has given israel a friendship onisan a whole, that's a gift to the united states because a healthy whichacy needs issues on left and right, red and blue, republicans and democrats agree. so that is the vision that i want to leave with you. we need to issue our proclamations when we disagree but we also need to remember there are things on which we agree. that was the message, by the way, of ed koch who said if you with me on seven of 12 things, vote for me.

agree on 12 out of 12 things, please be a psychiatrist >> [laughter] professor troy: i think we need a mass intervention. thank you very much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> thank you. thank you for coming out. we tried to finish so you can get lunch. stay around, check out the .useum "age of clinton" is for sale. if you would like it autographed, professor troy will stick around a bit. have a great week. happy hanukkah and merry christmas, everybody. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] --lysis analysis [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> this weekend on american c-span3, tonight 8:00 eastern on "remembering yours in history" university evan friss on the evolution of suburbs from the day. 1900's to present

>> the suburban style takes off and peopleivil war begin to emphasize having a detached home, a could theback-style house -- cottage-style house, having fresh air accessible, space, a , a garden. p.m. eastern,5 history professor elaine france costumesalks about the of the ku klux klan and how the dress and rituals were used as intimidation and terrorism. >> these costumes wrapped a layer of meaning around these acts of violence. they ended up, the costumes, interpreted what the violence violence tolped the tell a story. >> sunday afternoon at 4:00 on america," the 1967 cbs news report on the apollo one disaster that killed the during the launch ago onal 50 years january 27. >> there was a flash and that nasat, according to a

spokeman, in watching the television screen a few hundred launchpad 34.m the screen went blank. and he said there was no theunication from astronauts. they died silently and apparently swiftly. president's views on slavery. >> the fight must go on, hey. would write to a friend after his defeat to douglas in the 1858 senate race, because of civil liberty, must not be surrendered at the end of one or even 100 defeats. announcer 1: for the complete "american history tv" schedule, go to c-span.org. on december 12, 1991, president george w. bush -- george h.w. bush signed the soviet nuclear threat reduction act also known as the nunn-lugar act. it began cooperative storage of