>> you are watching american history tv, all weekend every weekend he spent reading. like usthe conversation on facebook at season history. -- cspan history. >> this year marks the 100 anniversary of the women's core is by franklin delano roosevelt. about american women in the armed forces with her book. this was recorded at the cincinnati va medical center. in 2010, it is a little over it

was about 45 minutes. >> thank you, kelly, and want to thank the veterans' affairs medical center here in cincinnati and the all-women's american legion post 644 for making it possible for me to be here today. and i want to make a special thank you to booktv for helping us spread the word about the long-buried treasure of america's military women. this program has given us an opportunity to tell you about a national treasure which has been all but completely absent with leave from america's historical memory. even when united states history was required as a summit in high school and -- subject in the high school and colleges and many universities, textbooks and courses had very little to say about women, how they had

contributed to the winning of world war i, world war ii, the wars in korea and vietnam. as a writing team of a nurse and a psychologist, co-author dr. evelyn monahan, we have a combined 50 years of experience with the department of veterans affairs. now, you may be as surprised as we were to learn that the agency and the majority of its employees knew little, if anything, about the service of of america's military women any more than the average person on the street. this is undoubtedly the main cause that in 1989 the va published a bulletin for veterans' day that had only male veterans on the cover of that bulletin. it was evident to us that including women in military history had a long way o go. our interest in world war ii history started when evelyn and i were kids.

evelyn grew up in new jersey and hearing war stories from world war ii. on a weekly basis, she went to the vfw with her father and listened to the male veterans talk about their military experience in world war ii that they shared with each other. my experience was really different. i had two female cousins and an aunt who served in the world war ii. my aunt was in the army nurse corps, the cousin was in the wac, and the other one was in the marine corps. and i cannot remember anyone discussing their service at any of our tamly gatt -- family gatherings. i knew i little about what my own relatives had done in the war. now, back then most veterans' organizations did not accept women as full members of their organizations, and women who wanted to join were told they needed to join the ladies' auxiliary that's primarily made up of veterans' wives, and they would hold separate meetings

that were apart from the real veterans. it took me a long time and a lot of research to learn that military women had served in every theater of war, had suffered the wounds inflicted by enemy fire and had been held as prisoners of war. there's an old kenyan proverb that says until lions have their own historians, the tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter. as historians and authors, we have spent as much as two decades becoming the lions' historians. we have spoken to active duty, reserve national guard troops who have worn our country's uniforms. we were hearing their stories and researching their units and interviewing and corresponding with thousands of women who have

served in the united states military. today i am pleased to share some of the history of america's military women who were kind enough to talk with us. our fourth book is a few good women: america's military women from world world war i to the wars in iraq and afghanistan. the most difficult part of getting ready for today's program was to decide which women that we wanted to talk to you about. now, if you leave here today and you have a better understanding of how american women have contributed to the freedoms that we all enjoy today, i want you to go home and tell your friends and your relatives and neighbors about it. in 1999 at age 20, marine corps corporal patricia leavengood enlisted.

that reserve unit was based in evans burg about 11 miles east of pittsburgh. the corporal arrived as part of an advance party in ramadi, iraq, and she was assigned to work at base operations at unit movement control center. let me share patty's words with you. i was an e3 corporal, and i was taking over for a lieutenant and a staff sergeant. i was nervous about that. i was taking on ability way beyond my grade. the purpose of my job was to insure that the convoys that were either leaving our base or coming to our base did so safely. it entailed checking route safety, keeping track of the number of vehicles and personnel and then tracking them by satellite as they traveled. now, the marine corps had

assigned patty to that billet. after they evaluated her civilian work experience with computers and her military occupational specialty in transportation. she said, it was really tough. you were dealing with hundreds of lives, and if you made one tiny mistake, someone might get hurt or even killed. i coordinated over 300 to 400 convoys, and we had no losses. i was relieved. today it is not unusual to watch a newscast on tv and to see the faces of female soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors and coast guardsmen intermingled with the military personnel serving in iraq and afghanistan. it is not unusual to hear the media speak now about our sons and our daughters stationed in baghdad, kandahar, kuwait and other places that are hard to

pronounce, let alone find on a map. the air miles these women have traveled there the united states to their duty stations can easily be expressed in hours in flight or miles flown. the historical road women traveled is another story. from 1913 to 1923, daniels was the secretary of the navy. daniels was a native of north carolina, had gone to law school there and passed the bar in 1885. president woodrow wilson appointed secretary daniels in 1913, and his assistant was franklin roosevelt. with war raging in europe, daniels became increasingly concerned about the preparations that they needed to make to insure that the u.s. navy could operate at the maximum efficiency if and when america entered the war. in the early 1917 -- in early

1917 concerned about having enough navy men to man the ships, daniels asked his advisers about having enough navy -- about the word in the navy regs. he said, now, does the asterisk before the word male before be u.s. citizen allow him to enlist women in the navy? and with a thumbs up from those advisers, daniels ordered the u.s. navy to enlist women. and women flooded to recruiting stations, and they signed up, and they were sworn in to the navy. after world war ii ended, the united states congress decided to change what they saw as an error in the navy regulations. and they changed it back to, from u.s. citizen, they put the word male in front of that. now, this is an example of what

a difference the presence or the absence of a single word means in the united states official document. just as the words in the united states constitution are extremely important when granting full rights to citizenship to men and women in our country. the words u.s. citizen automatically include women when rights and privileges are conveyed. however, both the use of the single word men beplacing the word male before those words excludes women. however, daniels had crossed a ruin -- rubicon in enlisting women to serve in the united states navy and the u.s. marine corps. now there was a record of the military service of women in the united states' armed forces, a

record that testified to the patriotism, the courage and the contribution that helped mightily to the u.s. numbers and for the winning of the war. in fact, one could argue that military service of women in world war i was a significant turning point in giving american women the right to vote. once again women were barred from serving in the u.s. military, and the battle to change that fact was just beginning. as in a game of monopoly, women were told they had to go back to the starting point as if their service in world war i had never happened. the battle for the rights of america's women to serve in the u.s. military was just beginning and had a long way to go.

in 1941 the battle was joined again when representative edith north rogers from massachusetts, one of nine women in congress at that time, wrote and presented a bill on christmas eve, 1941, to include women as a permanent part of the united states army. to say that congresswoman rogers received little and grudging cooperation from a large part of the army and the united states congress is putting it mildly. members of congress rose to object to the real idea of taking women in to the united states military with statements such as, i think it is a reflection upon the courageous manhood of the country to pass a law inviting women to join in the armed forces in order to win a battle. translation in the vernacular, this would be damaging to the

image of men by saying they need the help of women in things masculine. take the women into the armed services, who then would do the cooking, the washing, the mending, humble homey tasks that every woman has devoted herself? translation, who will take care of the men and the children if women go into the military? think of the hue humiliation. what has become of the manhood of america? translation, there's no way that the male ego can deal with losing face by having women in an institution that has been male-dominated since it began. we need to keep the status quo. from the u.s. army and navy nurses who were serving in the military field hospitals in the philippines and in may 1942 when they, the nurses were taken

prisoners of war, congress argued and the legislation dragged. when a version of the bill passed on 15, may, 1942, the women's army auxiliary corps was established. women would serve with the army, not in the army. this meant that members of the wac had no official military status, they would have a separate system of grades and ranks different from men, they could not be placed in charge of any job or mission that involved men, and they couldn't give orders to men, and they did not rate a salute. it would soon be apparent that the women in the waac -- just like the women in the army and navy nurse corps -- could serve in combat zones but were not afforded the military protections, privileges and rights enjoyed by males in

similar situations. meanwhile, legislation to create the women's sea services had come to the attention of congress. this bill would establish women's branches in the u.s. navy, marine corps and coast guard. edith north rogers along with eleanor roosevelt had put the fear of god into the navy admirals back in december of 1941. so the navy supported the bill that passed, and it was signed into law on 30, july, 1942. of now, guiding the creation of these new women's military branches was the women's advisory council. members of the -- they were civilian educators who represented the five sister colleges which included mount holyoke and smith college in northampton, massachusetts, where women marines and women accepted for voluntary emergency service were trained.

the women of the advisory council were some of the brightest and most well-educated women in the country. the chairman of the council was virginia, dean of barn ard college who overheard -- who was overheard at one point in the deliberations regarding the acceptance of women in the navy, she said: now, if navy could possibly have used dogs or ducks or monkeys, either of those certain admirals, the older admirals, would certainly have greatly preferred them to women. in november of 1942, the waacs and can the army chief of staff, george c. marshall, found out exactly what it meant to not have full military status. five waacs in an advance party

flew to england and took a ship to north africa because they were told it was too dangerous for women to fly by aircraft at that point. and they were to set up the clerical support at general eisenhower's headquarters in north africa. and give support to the casablanca conference. one day out of that north african port, their ship was to -- torpedoed at sea. now, along with the other passengers, the five waacs were adrift in lifeboats throughout the night, and their night's activities were pulling survives out of the -- survivors out of the water and onto the raft and rowing. they were rescued by ship the next morning and taken into port and to general eisenhower's headquarters. there they met general george marshall, the army chief of staff who was there for the casa conference.

he met the waacs and he said to them, i will, we will have your gear and your uniforms and all of your personal belongings that you lost at sea, have them replaced. so when george marshall got back to washington, d.c. and checked with the army, he learned that this could not happen. the waacs were an auxiliary. they were not in the army. marshall paid out of his pocket for the gear that he had promised he would replace as well as to ship it back to africa. now, the waacs had no protection of the geneva convention, no military life insurance, no veterans' benefits, no g.i. bill and no dependents' benefits. edith north rogers crafted the women's army corps bill, the wac, and introduced it to

congress in this january 1943. it passed into law in july 1943. the waacs had to rejoin the women's army corps through a three month window. the women's army corps lost 25% of those women who had been in the auxiliary because they had, the army had changed the physical examination standards. there had been a major slander campaign which you can read about in our book, "a few good women," and there were families and boyfriends and husbands that did not want these women to go into the women's army corps. after world war ii ended, legislation to continue the women's branches was introduced into congress. during congressional debates about this legislation, some of the legislators were not happy to grant permanent status for women in the military.

representative margaret chase smith in exasperation, no doubt, said the issue is simple: either the armed services have a permanent need for women officers and enlisted women, or they do not. if they do, then the women should be given permanent status. i am convinced that it is better to have no legislation at all than to have legislation of this type. now, i'd like to introduce some of the outstanding women that we included in our book, "a few good women." during world war ii, jean holme joins the waac. she was a young 19-year-old who was from oregon. and while jean was in basic training, she stood out from some of the others because she knew what close-order drill was

because she'd belonged to oregon's women's ambulance corps before she'd joined the army. well, jean trained as a truck driver, and she found that she really thrived on army life. when world war ii was over, jean was discharged in this 1945, and she went off to college. meantime, this legislation did go through on the permanent corps for the women's services and recruiting of women who'd served in world war ii for these corps, now, was going full tilt. so in 1948 jean holm got a got a postcard that describes the air force, she told us that i thought that sounded very nice. it was something new and

exciting so i checked off the air force and a box and i put the postcard in the mail and went back to college and forgot all about it. well when the next break in college came up she decided she wanted to go back to the army. she had a friend named evelyn who also served rea. they discovered -- decided they were going to drive to virginia. at night along the way when they stop they slept in the car all the way up ross country. virginia arrived at jean was recognized by the kernel of the fort. and her friend got sworn into the army at fort lee.

jean's commission had not come through. she said what has happened to my commission? onel called washington and told her she was not going to commission, you are on the list for an air force and the are not going to let you go. i her ways to the air force base jean met some men who were traveling to the base and they were telling her they had an assignment to go to the depot. base and sheo the was asked where she wanted to be stationed so she talked about the supply depot which was in germany. they said you want to go there? nobody wants to go there. they were collecting some of the wreckage of world war ii and

storing it there. guns and theyher said ok. there are three posts available. which do you want? there is a make attendance off cer or aenance offi war plans officer. she decided that she wanted to do that. the russians had just blockaded berlin at that time. herjean having war plans as job she had to get busy and apply the war plans to the supply depot. she said it was common sense that i was able to do that. she said the one thing that was difficult was trying to take care of the evacuation, she told us that here she was with this

top security clearance in the secret war plans and the russian blockade of berlin had started. we were expecting the russians just to walk in the door at any minute and take us prisoners. we were the most forward base in europe. well, as war plans officer, she knew she had to get that evacuation plan figured out. she had an army friend who was there near munich as well stationed, so she and he went out, and they rode all over the back roads of between munich and the swiss border, and they finally mapped out an exit route in case their base got overrun that they could get there people out and to switzerland. years later when jean holm became directer of the women's air force and when she was awarded her second star, she became the first woman in the united states military to claim two stars, major general.

the cold war heated up when north korea was invaded by the -- south korea was invaded on 25, june, 1950, and 134,000 north koreans swarmed across the 38th parallel. reserve units in the united states were called up, and they had a tough time finding some of the women because women had gotten married and their names had changed. they had children by now, and they'd moved, and they were just really hard to find. well, they did locate a number of them, and they were called up for the korean conflict. but there were m.a.s.h. hospitals and m.a.s.h. units and military hospitals supporting the war in korea, and the 24th infantry division landed on the west coast of korea, and with them came the fourth army field hospital.

anna may mccabe was the daughter of salvation army parents who lived in buffalo, new york. and she was a veteran of the china, burma, india campaign of world war ii. when we interviewed general hayes, mccabe hayes, she told us we went in with a 30-foot tide. i remember climbing down the side of the ship on a rope ladder and getting into the landing craft. the marines had gone in first and secured the area as far as it could be secured. then the army troops went in, and then we entered. that was probably the worst war for me because it was so cold. we had little water and firewood and a few supplies. it was so cold, we wore pile jackets under our scrubs in the operating room. in 1956 anna may mccabe was the

head nurse at the emergency room at walter reed army medical center. when she was pulled by the chief nurse, reassigned, to stand a special watch on the president of the united states, dwight d. eisenhower. during that long illness, eisenhower and mccabe became friends. and as a result of that, mccabe was a friend of the eisenhower administration for the rest of her life. when anna may mccabe-hayes became the first woman in the united states' history of military history to reach the rank of brigadier general, mrs. eisenhower presented the stars that had been pinned on her husband when he made general years before. anna may hayes told us, i was very touched by mrs. eisenhower's kindness and generosity.

now, years later coast guard captain jane hartley had laughed at the very idea that she would ever have joined the military. she told us, i'm a child of the '60s, the thought of going into the coast guard or any other military branch was about as far from my mind as it could get. however, during a dinner party at their home her husband's boss kept insisting that she should think about joining the coast guard because he said they really needed women, especially one with a master's degree in environmental biology. well, she said, anyway, i couldn't get this guy to shut up. and i needed to serve dessert. so i told him i would check out the coast guard in the very near future. well, she did. and that is how it came to be that lieutenant jane hartley happened to be at the port of wilmington, north carolina.

the jumping-off spot for the majority of troops and supplies and equipment that were deploying to the middle east for operate desert shield and desert storm in 1990. the united states government had planned a naval bloc aid to expect vessels that were in the the u.s. navy had asked the coast guard to provide cutters and crews to aid the naval blockade. lieutenant hartley was aware of in decisions being made desert shield.ren she said the navy was not happy when they look at the roster. they wanted the coast guard to take the coast guard to replace the coast guard women in positions of leadership on all those vessels. guard explain the coast

was a small service and could not afford to squander their people and talent because they needed that to shape the best .ossible coast guard in her words, the navy got its .nderwear in a bunch that was a real shakeup for them. that.aid, you can't do and then we said, well then you can't have the ships because you cannot take the commanding officers the vessel.

for many years the army did not permit single women to have underage children and join the army. at that time carolyn carroll was a 19-year-old divorced mother, and she wanted to enlist in the army. well, the army recruiter advised her, he said, well, join the national guard and then you can transfer to the army. so carolyn was planning to

enlist in the national guard and then do what he said. but then she discovered that this recruiter had never submitted her application paperwork to the army as he said he would, nor her test scores as he said he would. and she decided he had some plans of his own for her. so carolyn learned that she could enlist in the civilian-acquired skills program, go to basic training two or three weeks and then return to the guard unit as an e3 with two years of college or two years of experience in her mos. further, she learned that she could do six months on the job training in this her mos and then receive an automatic promotion to e4. well, when the first opportunity arose, carolyn moved forward with her plans and joined the national guard. now, in 1976 for the first time women could attend the state national guard noncommissioned officer academy, and there was a course, and it was basic leadership training for ncos. bnoc was a three-week summer course, and there were about 300 people attending that course. carolyn did very well physically, academically and in her leadership evaluations. she also won the land navigation competition. carolyn was so outstanding that she was nominated as distinguished graduate by her

peers and the faculty. the sergeant major of the academy told carolyn, we will not have a woman as a distinguished graduate. carolyn appealed to the state adjutant general. the only other woman in this class happened to be the secretary to the state adjutant general, so she called her boss and explained what had happened over the phone and told him what had gone on. carolyn went through with the closing ceremony as the distinguished graduate. the battalion personnel section back at the national guard headquarters where carolyn worked had never had a female nco. despite the fact that carolyn had had her e5 stripes pinned on her at that bnoc celebration and graduation, when she returned to her unit, she was told that she

would be a specialist five, not sergeant. she told us, i said, no. i earned those stripes. it was, like, you can't be a female in charge. you look good, and you're smart, you've got it, but you're still a woman. i was a feisty young kid, and i was, like, in your face. i said, you're not going to take my stripes away. carolyn got to keep her stripes. when lieutenant carroll transferred to the u.s. army, she excelled in her army career. she was accepted for flight training in helicopters. when she graduated from fort rugger, she was rated on a cobra, front seat on a cobra. later, she flew the huey, the blackhawk, the kiowa, and when carolyn was assigned to her role in war games later on, she flew the soviet helicopter, the hip.

in august 1990 major carroll deployed to operation desert shield/desert storm where she was executive officer of her unit and with the attachments to that unit, 300 military soldiers. on the day that the u.s. and coalition troops started moving across the desert in the direction of baghdad, major carroll flew her cobra helicopter above and in front of the advancing american and ally troops. a sight she would never forget. she said, i was in desert storm in the first infantry division. they led the attack across the berms. i think one of the most exciting things that i did was i actually flew missions on the ground attack. it was like a world war ii movie because you had tanks and ammo

carriers and big tracks and refuelers moving across the desert in a line, and it was like the whole world was rumbling. in 2005 colonel carolyn carroll deployed to afghanistan. she worked closely with american soldiers and special forces. she was executive officer of a nato unit for the canadian army. she was acutely aware of the dangers that were inherent in iraq and afghanistan war zones. she said, there's a chance that every time you go out, there's a chance you might not come back. now, all these women who have served in the u.s. military have traveled many ground miles and can point to their military service in thousands of miles on maps. however, their journey along the road of military history has far outdistanced all physical miles and leads, clearly, into the future.

even so, women are still fighting for equality in the military and as u.s. citizens. all of these military women who we interviewed could not be included in this today's program, of course, due to time constraints, but they have of earned our respect and admiration. they have a place in our memories and hopefully in the national memory. said tohistory that was be the soul of our nation, and it is a historian's job to keep that soul healthy and bright. like to closed within email we received last spring from the young woman marine i introduced you to at the beginning of the talk. when a few good women was published, we sent a copy of the book to each man and woman who

we interviewed and were gracious enough to share their stories with us. we were delighted to hear from patty. her email touched us and we are aware how fortunate we are to be historians to the lions and chroniclers. i was so thrilled she wrote, i am so proud to be part of such a wonderful thing. thank you for making me a part of this. if i showed it to the people in my work place and the word spread like wildfire. they came to speak to me and look at the book. i was so choked up by it, my eight-year-old son, who was when i left for iraq, actually understands because of your book what his mom went through and achieved.

it is a display how far women have come, and definitely what is to come. sincerely, patricia, united states marine corps. i invite you to stand with patty and become a link in the remembrance of women in the united states military. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, rosemary. that was such a nice talk and it is so important that women veterans remember our place in history. if we don't chronicle our place in history, nobody else will do it for us, and rosemary is one of the women veterans looking so

working so hard to do that, and we thank you so much for that. [no audio] >> we would like to present rosemary with a certificate of appreciation in recognition of her outstanding contribution as keynote presenter at the 2010 women's veterans appreciation luncheon. thank you for coming all this way. [applause] >> thank you very much. [applause] >> does anybody have any questions for rosemary? we have time to take a few questions. mar?ma'am question >> i just want to say thank you for the history of us! [applause] >> i must say that it has

[applause] >> i must say it has really been an honor to do this. a lot of people i interviewed -- i want to tell you a quick story. the last one i talked about, i was in new orleans, we were at the program at the world war ii museum, and when i was in the after i leftirport the program, i came up behind a woman with a huge pack on her back. it was a backpack from the desert storm and all with a zipper unzip on the back came up to her and i said, would you like me to do that? she was very gracious. here is a woman i might be able to interview so i hold out my

business card and she came out of that store. we stood and talked and it was the most interesting, wonderful -- and gracious to let me interview her only on the telephone. she had a son in iraq as mine was. she was in afghanistan and he was in iraq. and devotion to what people go through on multiple levels and being active in the military at the same time. i thank you for being here today and having a chance to tell you some of these great stories about wonderful women and i bet everyone of you in this has a super story to tell as well. i encourage you to talk to the families and write things down. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you. announcer: on history bookshelf, here from the country's best-known american history writers of the past decade every saturday at 4:00 p.m. eastern.

you can watch any of our programs at any time. visit our website, c-span.org/history. you are watching american history tv come all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. night,er: sunday elizabeth rosenthal examines the business side of health care, how health care became big business, and how you can take it back. >> i was wondering if your book gave you any thoughts about whether health care is a free market? whether we can solve our problems in health care through free market forces? what we have seen is the answer is probably not. at the beginning of the book, i

put a list of of the economic rules of the dysfunctional health-care market. if you think of health care as of business proposition the market will solve, you get to a lifetime ofike treatment is preferable to a cure. i am not saying for a second that anybody really thinks that, but that is where market forces put you right now. the last time a president fired and fbi director was 1993, when president bill clinton dismiss william sessions. next, president clinton's white house announcement, takes questions from reporters, and for janet reno.

>> good afternoon. recent months comes to his questions have been raised about the director of the fbi, we sessions. the office of professional responsibility has issued a report on certain conduct. i asked janet reno to assess the director's tenure and the proper response to the turmoil now in the bureau. of mr. thorough review sessions leadership of the fbi, she has reported to me and no uncertain terms that he can no longer effectively lead the bureau and law enforcement community. this matter could be resolved within the justice department. withttorney general met judge sessions and ask him to resign, but he refused. in accordance with the recommendations of the attorney general, i called director moments agoew months

and informed him i was dismissing him immediately as the director of the fbi. we cannot have a leadership vacuum in an agency as important as the fbi. the fbi is the premier investigative and enforcement agency. law-abiding citizens rely on the fbi to handle complex and sensitive matters, protect our shores against terrorism, our neighborhood against guns and drugs. the agency's brilliant detective work in the wake of the world trade center bombing has shown even at a time of difficulty that the men and women on the street and in the labs have continued to give their country the best. with a change in management at the fbi, we can give the crimefighters the leadership they deserve. tomorrow i expect to make an announcement about my nominee to

be the next director of the fbi. asked meanwhile, we have someone to be the acting director of the bureau. what did he do wrong? and are you confident there was not an internal vendetta against sessions to take on more hispanics, blacks, and women? >> let me answer the second question first. i think that will be remembered is the best thing about his tenure, trying to broaden the membership of the fbi, to make it look more like america, and follow the lead of some other agencies and the united states military. but beyond that, if you read the the office of professional responsibility and do with the attorney general did and assess the capacity of the

and thedirector to lead incapacity of the director to meet, she reached a judgment he ought to resign, and i fully agreed with that. >> does this create the impression of the fbi being politicized? >> absolutely not. as a matter of fact, that is one of the reasons we have taken the amount of time we have. that in thegreed normal course of events, the director of the fbi should not be changed is because administrations change, especially when there is a change of political party in the white house, so the attorney general was delivered and thorough about this. thank you very much.

there have been two tracks in the allegations against the fbi director. one, the ethical problems in the original report, and the other is that he has lost the confidence of his agency, and therefore the ability to do his job correctly. which is it, for which of those two things is he being dismissed? >> this is my letter to the president. i was immediately faced with the issue of whether william sessions should be retained as director of the fbi. the acting attorney general had advised me that in his opinion that the director had exhibited law judgment, which had an adverse effect within the fbi. i wanted to make my own independent assessment of his ability to lead. i feel very strongly that the director of the federal bureau

of investigations should be above politics and not automatically subject to replacement with a change of administration. therefore, i wanted to move carefully and deliberately and make sure i've based on my own experience in this office considered all the circumstances surrounding director sessions. law enforcement and the federal bureau of investigations faced many critical issues. the director must have the confidence of the men and women of the bureau and all those agencies and individuals with whom the bureau works. i have completed my review of all the circumstances, including the report from the office of professional responsibility of the department of justice, and the responses to that reports emitted by director sessions. aced on this review, i have concluded that the director has exhibited a serious deficiency and judgment involving matters contained in the report and that

he does not command the respect and confidence needed to lead the bureau and the law enforcement community in addressing the many issues .acing law enforcement today > >> if i could follow up for a second, sir. did you find he violated any laws or government regulations as charged in the original report? where did that fall in terms of the confidence? >> i concluded based on the report and the responses to the report that the director had exhibited a serious deficiency and judgment regarding matters in the report. seen in agency maneuvering the white house, the press, and the public and getting their own head of the agency they want. we have seen them push out a man here. don't you think it is time to

protect the american people from any actions, operations of the fbi? they only exist by an executive order which teddy roosevelt wrote in 1908. >> i don't agree with the characterization of what occurred, so i can't comment. >> you have obviously not looked into that. announcer: this weekend on american history tv on c-span3. today at 6:30 p.m. eastern, an author and historian on the black women who worked as nurses, soldiers, and spies for the union army during the civil war. of edward the wife bannister, one of the leading african-american artists, and she became involved in the underground railroad. she was a proud and consistent supporter of the u.s. color

troops. announcer: at 8:00 on lectures the 1960 eight presidential election and evens that affected the outcome. >> hero after hero is slain, john f. kennedy, martin luther king, and now robert kennedy, so kennedy's assassination, just like king's assassination, precipitates a broader national throws thend now it democratic nomination into even more turmoil. announcer: sunday at 2:00 p.m. eastern, lynne cheney discusses president madison's personality, health problems, and political career. >> madison was lucky enough to encounter doctors lucky enough to tell him to exercise. what a modern thing to think. it is often recommended today for people who suffer from epilepsy. announcer: john f. kennedy's 100th birthday, and sunday, stephen kennedy smith and

douglas brinkley reflect on the life and career of the 35th president. >> he was a decorated combat veteran. and a stronge military, but he had a much broader conception about what american identity really was. >> he reached out across the aisle, launched the peace corps, and incredible program for young people, and he engaged in the space race. announcer: for the complete schedule, go to c-span.org. ♪ announcer: c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. it is brought to today by your cable or satellite provider. announcer: