history tv on c-span3. >> john mcgreevy professor at the university of notre dame talks about 20th century catholic politics and politicians. he compares the challenges faced by al smith and john kennedy when they ran for president. he also addresses the current sexual abuse scandal in the catholic church. was 15 minute interview recorded at the association meeting. >> your book which came out of few years ago, what did you learn? prof. mcgreevy: i wanted to look at how american ideas of freedom intersected with the catholic global tradition. what i learned is there were moments of conflict and overlap. in the 19th century there was conflict over slavery.

there is lots of overlap in the economy. there was overlap in the 50's on ideas about americanization. there were issues around sexuality, divorce, a lot of the cultural issues of the last 30 years. >> more than 90 years ago, al smith ran for president. why was that significant? who was al smith? prof. mcgreevy: al smith was an immigrant kid. he was of irish descent. he never got beyond eighth grade. by the 1920's, he runs in 1928, catholics are pretty significant percent of the population. they faced considerable discrimination in the 19th century, even the 1920's with the ku klux klan. smith being on the ticket was one marker that catholics were making it in national life. the fact that he lost was a

marker that to run for president as a catholic was a disadvantage. he lost pretty significantly in the south. >> they have a dinner in his name every year. what was he like as a person? prof. mcgreevy: charming. immigrant, very new york accent. that was controversial in the 1928 campaign, which had the first discussions on radio over american politics. he became a little bit bitter as an old man. he was bitter that franklin roosevelt, rich, sophisticated became perceived as the candidate of the common man and became a leader in the democratic party. in the 1930's you see him shift a little bit ideologically. >> how so? prof. mcgreevy: he is kind of mad at roosevelt. he wants to see less government programs. it works against what he was

doing as a pretty liberal democrat governor of new york state. there is a little bit of a sour end i would say to his career in the 30's. what we remember him for his becoming governor of new york. he became quite successful. implementing all kinds of social welfare programs. that made him an icon for a lot of american catholics. >> why were catholics scorned? why did they face racism? prof. mcgreevy: the tension in the 19th century was very much i will obey the american government or the pope in rome? it seems odd to us now. that was a powerful fear in the united states in the 19th century. not just the united states. it was a powerful fear in europe, australia, canada. it was a great issue of the 19th century. by the 1920's, some of that fear has persisted, especially in the south.

that was mixed up with smith as an immigrant, someone who did not support prohibition, and smith as a catholic. those three things kind of combined to make smith seem like a dangerous foreigner. to a lot of americans, especially third and fourth generation americans who lived in rural parts of the country, they won't accept that. >> 32 years after his defeat, john kennedy becomes the democratic party nominee. what did he face in terms of anti-catholic bigotry? prof. mcgreevy: it is a different story by 1960. remember, kennedy and his generation of politicians, most had served in the war. it was hard to assail their patriotism. something like pat brown in california and other catholic political figures who become prominent in the 1950's and 1960's, that was lifted off the table. you can see catholics can be patriotic. even kennedy faced real

questioning about controversial issues such as contraception, age-appropriate schools, divorce laws. are you going to obey the pope, or are you going to obey the constitution? he famously gives a speech in houston in 1960 where he says listen, i am absolutely going to obey the constitution and i act as an american. not simply as a catholic. some catholics thought he went too far in 1960. he made a point of saying my religious life is entirely separate from my political life. that is not something we would say to martin luther king jr. or other people in the 1960's whose religious life very much informed their politics. some people say he would too far, but in retrospect, he probably handled it pretty well. he reassured enough white protestants to support him. he had overwhelming support from the catholic community. >> how significant was the speech in houston? prof. mcgreevy: a big deal. at least in the media at the

time, it really took the issue off the table. the speech was early in the campaign and it really made it very difficult for richard nixon, his opponent, to talk about catholicism. even though nixon in some ways wanted to. some of his advisers were doing it behind the scenes. his dad was a very famous strong-willed irish catholic businessman and ambassador to england. it is a good joke because people were worried that joseph kennedy had too much influence over his son. >> today, the catholic church is dealing with another crisis, the abuse by priests that dates back almost 70 years ago, how was the church dealing with that? prof. mcgreevy: they have not been successful so far. it is a terrible -- it is the biggest crisis in the history of united states catholicism. >> in the history? prof. mcgreevy: absolutely, no question.

in terms of struggle to figure out what the right messages and effectively dealing with the problem of sexual abuse and the trauma it causes young people and all of those who are abused. in a certain sense, it has been going on as you said 40 or 50 years. the public scandal has been going on since 2002. there are famous early cases we can trace back to the 1980's and 1990's. i think the frustration has been since 2002 and it is seen as to have not been resolved. the good news is that it does seem like there are very few new cases since 2002. that is what we are seeing now. we are still seeing, uncovering, more signs of cover-up. everything has to be opened up. >> the pope, how do you view his role in all of this? prof. mcgreevy: i'm sympathetic to it.

he is an 82-year-old argentinian male. we have to keep that in mind. this is not somebody who thinks about gender and sex issues the way maybe an american who is 25 does. that said, i think his instincts have been pretty good. he is learning. he is willing to admit when he makes mistakes. it will be interesting to see what happens in february with this global meeting. this is a huge issue in australia, germany, ireland and chile. it will be interesting to see how far they can go to develop global policies around sexual abuse. i'm not alone in this, in the united states, germany as well, the policies around sexual abuse by priests are well set and maybe working. that is post 2002. what we haven't had our -- are

clear punishments and clear policies around bishops who cover-up sexual abuse. >> you teach at a catholic institution. when you are talking to students 18-21 years old, probably more progressive than previous generations, does this come up? prof. mcgreevy: yes. we have students on all points of political spectrum. it is something we are quite proud of. you hear a kind of disillusion and a sense of what is this institution? the headlines of the new york times over the last year, most of which were on sexual abuse, might not be the institution you join. i'm a catholic. i worry about that. i worry about the future of the institution. it is much better than that. this problem is significant, severe, and has to be dealt with. >> we go back with the issue of the catholic church and politics. there is a nice history to that.

prof. mcgreevy: catholics are clearly associated with the democratic party from the 19th century through to the 1950's. the data we have tells us they started to shift more, especially affluent catholics. eisenhower is very popular with many catholics. kennedy stopped that. kennedy was unbelievably popular with catholics of all income backgrounds, and ethnic backgrounds. we think he got 75%, which is a huge number. since then, broadly, euro american catholics drifting toward the republican party, maybe it is 55-45 now. latino catholics, who are a huge percentage of the church are increasingly democratic. >> do you remember his assassination? prof. mcgreevy: no, i was two days old. >> what was the church going through? what were catholic priests and

nuns dealing with? prof. mcgreevy: it is hard to recall. we learned a lot about his personal life over the last 50 years. i think our culture is generally less empathetic to heroes and people who are perceived as leaders. kennedy was a hero for american catholics. the country was in trauma after his assassination. nothing like this had happened since the death of lincoln. kennedy was so young and charismatic. his life was in front of them. i think it did hold a particular point with catholics. he was their hero. he was not an ordinary catholic. the kennedys are not ordinary catholic family. they were very wealthy, they went to harvard, they are very sophisticated family. they were catholic family and subconsciously so. there was a similar pride. having him killed like that i think was a great trauma. >> those who do remember that recall they were in school, the

nuns were crying. they dismissed classes. it was obviously a national crisis. prof. mcgreevy: it was traumatic and overwhelming. >> who are the catholic leaders today? prof. mcgreevy: that is an interesting question. in the political sphere, there are quite a few. you can talk about nancy pelosi, joe biden, a lot of figures. you can talk about the young congresswoman from brooklyn, alexandria ocasio-cortez, she is a self identified catholic. she talks about how catholicism shapes or politics. i just saw today that catholics are about 30% of congress. that is a pretty high number because the catholic population is maybe 20% of the population. >> a majority on the supreme court. prof. mcgreevy: if you'd said 30 years ago or 50 years ago that catholic have a majority in the supreme court, no one would

believe that. that is an interesting story about the conservative catholic legal culture. it has really propelled catholics to the forefront. that is a great story. very interesting. in terms of politics, those are leaders. beyond politics, there are catholics scattered all over american life. corporate leadership, media leadership, universities. the president of stanford who just to step down as a catholic. they are deeply embedded in american life. catholics run the gamut of american life, they are some of the poorest immigrants and mostly recent immigrants, as well as some of the most powerful people in the country. >> in terms of research, teaching this to your students as well, anything stand out?

any particular stories, individuals, or things you have come across that surprised you or intrigued you? prof. mcgreevy: when you teach this material to students, i have been a dean for 10 years. i have not done as much teaching as i would like. some of the figures students don't expect, there is dorothy day, a great catholic radical of the mid-20th century. a pacifist, very strongly antiabortion, very opposed to nuclear war. to tell her story is to startle university students in 2019 because she seems so anomalous. she was an immigrant -- she was an american student who was a radical. socialist in the early 20th century, lived in greenwich village. she converted to catholicism and stunned all of her friends.

she had an abortion before she converted to catholicism. she may have looked out on that with regret, but it was part of her life then. she devoted her next 50 years to willing the catholic worker movement, a radical movement. reminding people around us how unequal in many ways our society is. that is a story that is striking in terms of culture. sometimes i will have them read stories about o'connor. those are deeply catholic stories. i have to think about that a little bit more. there are leaders across american life right now. >> clearly you find this interesting. prof. mcgreevy: generally, being a historian is an amazing occupation and i always have to remind myself how lucky i am to be in this business. writing and teaching.

the history of religion and catholicism in particular, my own fascination right now is with catholicism is a global institution. how you compare the american experience to other experiences. i find that endlessly interesting. >> we thank you for your time. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] america, two reel films from the 1970's dealing with the vietnam war. >> american boys of been fighting and dying in vietnam for four years. for 12 months our negotiators have been speaking with the other side in paris and yet the fighting goes on, the destruction continues. brave men still die. the time has come for some new initiatives. >> each day it becomes clear to us that we consume -- we consumers must act in self-defense for the health of our families and society.

we must stop fighting wars. sunday, tour the rise up -- on the the anniversary of the stonewall rights. on the gayoplepreyed wall street workers that hung out there. not the nicest place but at least it was a place that gay people can call their own. >> at 8:00 on the presidency. here about the watergate tapes 45 years later. >> if you listen to all these tapes, the president said this, the president decreed that, the president told pat gray to do that. you will not find anything that says the president gave an order or acknowledged criminality. it is just not there. >> this weekend on american history tv on c-span3.

tonight on lectures of history, weaver state university professor brandon little teaches a class about military innovations and the role of american factories during world war ii. here is a preview. a particular battle in november 1943. it was a three day battle. it was intense and ferocious. what it represented was america's first amphibious assault in the central pacific about a heavily defended japanese garrison, numbering almost 5000 troops. the reason to take this island was to build a runway and to weaken the next island chain called the marshall's. the marines have a grand total they5 of these vehicles have scratch together. they discover that is not enough or barely enough. the margin of survivability was

grim. 90 or so of these 125 vehicles were damaged or knocked out by enemy action. what they did was carry the first three waves of assault troops to shore. at that moment, the amphibian tractor had shifted from basically in the minds of the marines from an ocean carrying truck but not as an assault dickel. thisshifted to include vehicle in an assault role. it worked quite well. it delivered the marines to the seawall and they ultimately fought to overcome the japanese garrison. >> learn more about military vehicle innovations in the role of american factories during world war ii tonight at 8:00 p.m. and bit that eastern on american history tv, where we bring the classroom to you. >> author richard carwardine spoke at the abraham lincoln

symposium about lincoln's sense of humor. the abraham lincoln institute ord's theater society hosted this symposium and washington, d.c. to highlight the 16th presidents of life, career, and legacy. this is 50 minutes. michael: good morning, ladies and gentlemen. my name is michael bishop and i am a board member of the abraham lincoln institute. the former executive director of the abraham lincoln bicentennial commission. thank you for joining us today. unlike that of winston churchill, abraham lincoln's humor tended to go toward self-deprecation. during one of the debates in illinois, the spectator shouted that lincoln was being two-faced.