around the capital, and another picture we will show in just a moment, they have these contraptions where they don't want you to drive in some where, and you will see it has a picture where it says in big red letters, "stop," what would you think? .

yet, they would find that the u.s. capital building is the most open public building of any building in the federal government. to get into any cabinet office you have to go through much more security than you do to get into the capitol building. that's because every citizen is a constituent and a potential voter, and the members of congress want their proceedings to be open to constituentses. and so they have always they're in session, go to committee meetings, wander in the halls and past your members of congress who are conducting business. >> you became historian last

year. >> yes, i've been associate historian since 1976, and dick baker retired last year, and i became the chief historian. >> and we've done many programs together, lots of talk over the years about the history of the senate. going back to those pictures, they've only been here a short time, a couple years at most, took a long time after 9/11 to do that. what are the big changes you've seen? >> certainly security was very different in the 19 -- i could walk into the building. the only metal detectors were those going into the chambers themselves. any citizen could sort of wander really at will. over time parts of the building have been closed up. you need to show a badge, you need to be escorted through those. but as i say, the major historical rooms are still open

for public tours. the chambers themselves are open. lots of other changes have happened over time. one of the biggest is television. c-span going into the house in 1979 and into the senate in 1986. when ever i do oral history interviews, i ask them what changed the most? and inevitably they say television. television both in terms of the campaigns that the members conducted and the type of people who get elected, and then in the way in which people communicate with their constituents. and they also, how aware so many citizens are now of what goes on in congress because they get to watch the proceedings. and then also, how empty the chambers are. because even in fact the press gallery is empty. they're watching on c-span, too. they don't need to be hovering near the chamber at any particular time to know what's going on. if something happens that catches their attention, they can quickly go into the senate

chamber. tech nog -- technology changed enormously. reporters and press galleries were e typing their story, and yelling western. and a guy who worked for western union would take their copy and run it back to the telegraph operator, and they were telegraphing their news. they didn't take the telegraph operation out until 1990. now, everybody is using their laptops as they're writing them in the committee rooms which are all wireless. even the telephone booths, where reporters used to jump out, they don't need them any more, everyone is on a cell phone. they've kept six of the boottedses so you can have some privacy while talking on the telephone, but the need has gone along with the other technological changes. and every one is working on a computer, using e-mail, all

sorts of teleconferencing going on. all of that was happening in the -- none of that was happening in the 1970s. >> you've sent us on a little bit of a mission and we're going to start some of that now by mentioning movies. mr. smith goes to washington. 1939. jimmy stewart. when did you first see it? >> i probably saw it on a late movie show back in the 1960s for the first time, but i've now seen that movie many times. i've watched it, the different circumstances, i've also given lectures about the senate using mr. smith. and all sorts of visitors to the capitol know mr. smith goes to washington. even non-american visitors who have seen the movie. and they think that's the way the u.s. senate operates and they think that's particularly the way fill busters operate. and so we have to explain to

them that it's a movie. and while some phil busters might resemble that most don't and most aren't quite that dramatic. but it's a wonderful film in the sense that they created a set in hollywood that looks just like the senate chamber at that time and they created the atmosphere, i think they used jim preston who was the super attendant of the press gallery and i think he helped to capture that it's not totally accurate. and senator byrd who once gave a speech and he had never seen mr. smith and we got him a video and he went home over the weekend and came back on a monday with a parliamentry procedures critique saying that's nots the way the senate does business. he took it very literally in that sense. but he also appreciated that it was a movie and that hollywood takes some license. >> the main character was jimmy stewart playing jefferson

smith, a brand-new senator, here he is walking into the chamber for the first time. and coming by the assistant to the previous senator that he replaced. he was appointed by the governor. i don't remember what state. >> some mid western state. >> against the advice of all the what would you call, the heavy hitters, the political pros. right. >> let's watch and you can pick up some things that they talk about. >> this is it, senator. >> the united states senate. >> this is senator smith. >> how do you do, senator. glad to see you. show senator smith to his seat. >> right this way. >> good-bye. >> wish me luck.

>> so that's the boy wonder. ? >> i don't know what the senate is coming to. >> hello, sir. >> hi, son. >> you've got daniel. >> nice job, you and the ambulance chasers did in the papers this morning. >> you like it? >> great. >> there you are, senator. not a bad desk, either. daniel webster used to use it. >> daniel webster is not here? >> give you something to shoot at, senator, if you figure on

doing any talking. >> i'm just going to sit around and listen. >> that's the way to get elected. >> anything else, you want just snap for a page. >> where's the majority leader? >> the majority leader? right over there. that's senator barnes the minority leader. >> where's the press gallery? >> right over there above the vice president's chair. >> what's that? >> that is reserved for sight seers who come in for five minutes at a time to rest their feet. that section over there is reserved for the senator's friends. the empty one is for the president and white house guests. back there over the clock is the diplomatic section. >> how much of that is true? >> well, surprisingly there's a lot that's accurate. the page was pointing out where the galleries are and there is still the press gallery in that

place, the members gallery. we still have a diplomat gam gallery. we have a lot of other set-aside galleries. we still depend on pages on the floor, although they're a little older now. they have to be high school juniors so they would be considerably older than the boy in the picture. the chamber looks the way it did in 1939. it had the glass ceiling. the decorations that existed in 1939. interestingly, the senate cure rator has just purchased the desk that jefferson smith was sitting at which the page tells him was daniel webster's desk. and that is made of plywood and painted orange because that was the way hollywood could turn something to look like mahogany in a movie. that he made this wonderful set about one third smaller than the chamber that gives you the absolute feel for the senate. what's different today is mr. smith walked into the chamber everybody wouldn't be sitting into their seat, the salry

wouldn't be packed unless something significant was about to happen. only the people who are engaged in the particular debate will be there at any particular time. >> here's another clip. and this is where she explains to senator smith and he is an appointed senator. by the way, how many are appointed right now? >> i think about six or seven. >> how does that fit in history? >> it's not the maximum but it is a larges number. >> she's talking about how a bill gets through the senate. >> your bill is ready. you take it over there and introduce it. >> how? >> you get to your feet, take a long breath, and start spouting. but not too loud because a couple might want to sleep. then a page takes it up to the desk where a clerk reads it, refers it to the committee. >> why? >> look, committees, the small groups of senators have to sit the bill down, look into it,

study it and report it. you can't take a bill and discuss it among 96 men, where would you get? >> i see that. >> good. where were we? >> some committee's got it. >> days are going by, days, weeks. final thy they think it's quite a bill. it goes over to the house of representatives but it has to wait its turn on the calendar. your job is to do way back there in line. >> what's that? >> steering committee? >> do you really think we're getting anywhere? >> oh yes. tell me, what's the steering committee? >> committee of the majority party leaders. they decide when the bill is important enough to be moved up. >> oh, this is. >> pardon me. this is. where are we now? >> we're in the house. >> oh yeah. more amendments, more changes. the senate doesn't like, they

make more changes. the house doesn't like those changes. >> so? >> so they appoint men to go each into a huddle and they battle it out. finally, if your bill is still alive, it comes to a vote. yes, sir, the big day finally arrives and congress adjourns. catching on? >> have you ever seen a senator asleep in the chamber? >> yes, i have. the very first time i ever went into the senate chamber was in 1968, i was a graduate student. i walked across, in those days we before the tv cameras were there the chamber was much dimmer, and senator dirkson had put his head down on his arms and never raised his head the entire time. so i assumed that he was probably taking a few

winchings. and it was probably a lot more prevalent when things were quieter and calmer in the afternoon. members in those days did have to be on the floor more. and one reason was, and i talked to old timers who say the only way to know if your bill was anthly up was to either be on the floor or in the cloakroom. even the people in the cloakroom didn't always know what was going on in the floor. they would have to call someone, a senior page who just kept tabs on what was happening. lobbyists, staff sort of hovered around. and that meant you had to be there when other things were happening that you weren't particularly interested in. so i suspect during those periods when you were waiting for those bills, a number of people probably closed their ice from time to time. in these days, with the bright lights and the tv cameras, no, i've never seen anybody in modern times sleeping in the chamber. >> i want to show you a picture of the three senate office buildings.

because you write about them and there are three individuals that they're named after. it is very interesting to ask anybody today, can you tell me who richard russell was, dirkson and hart. the picture one of them shows the russell senate office building. who was he and why is it named after him? >> originally the building was known as the senate office building and it was known as the so b. and it was built in 1909 and it was the only office building until 1958 when the new sob was built across the street. but in 1971 the senate decided to name it for an individual. so rimprd russell was chosen as the person to name the first building and then dirkson the second and hart the third building. >> that's the hart building on the right and the dirkson building beyond that. >> these buildings are along

constitution avenue. each one is a different style. the russell building is a classcal style, sort of a neo classical style on the dirkson building and a modern style on the hart building. they're all connected, by tunnels and corridors. they provide offices for the senators, space for the committees to meet. richard russell was a senator from 1933 until 1971. he was known as a senator's senator. even if you disagreed with him, people respected him. he had a great dignity and a bearing that the senators admired. in fact, he was the leader of the southern caucus. he often led the phil busters against civil rights legislation. and i suggested that the senate name the building in spite of his politics. they named it for him because of his character. >> let me stop you there. if you read about him, people will say that he was a white separatist.

how, where is the morality of all that of naming a building after somebody who clearly thought the whites and the blacks ought to be separate? >> unfortunately, it was a reflection of representative democracy. senator russell believed that he was reflecting the views of his constituents. in those days it was almost impossible for an african american to vote in the state of georgia, so senator russell's constituent's were white and he felt that he was preserving a system that his constituents wanted and he saw this in terms of states rights. senator russell himself was a very complicated individual. there's a very good biography of him. he was a bachelor. turned out he fell in love with a woman who was catholic and he couldn't marry her because his constituents wouldn't accept that. and in a lot of ways he was trapped by his need what he thought was the viewpoint of his state. i interviewed howard shoeman

who talked about russell in the days that he was in the days of the legislation. and he was fighting for civil rights. and he remembered one day waiting for that elevator outside the senate chamber and talking to senator russell and russell said, it's a heck of a way to make a living. and he got the sense of him feeling the weight of this representation, in a sense a losing caught that even he realized it was doomed to fail. >> i think it was 8 when it was opened -- 83 when it was opened. you say he was the content of the senate. he was there 17 years. who named him? he was a democrat from michigan. >> he was elected in 1958 in the big class of 58. and he was a kind of person in terms of representative democracy who actually stood against sometimes what his squonets were interested in. and there's an issue as to

whether or not you're there as a delegate for your constituents or you're there as a trustee, in other words, are you there just to reflect what they have in mind or are you there to reflect what you think is right in a sense convince them that it's right. so here is hart, from michigan who stood up against the auto industry and who stood up against the gun lobby, and a number of cases where a lesser politician would have simply gone with what the prevailing sentiments were regardless of what he personally believed at the time. and i think everybody respected him on both sides. interestingly, he is the only senator to object to naming the ruzzle building and dirkson building. he thought they should have waited longer to determine whether or not those individuals truly meritted that type of recognition. but in december of 1976, senator hart was dying, his term was coming to an end, his colleagues respected him so

much, they named it for him. >> i counted 49 senators in that office building, 37 in russell but only 13, and i'm missing one, i can't find the one in dirkson. >> dirkson was meant as a committee building and it was built into the 0s when television had come -- 50s when television had come into its own. so most of the committees, they thought all the committees should be in there but most of the committees would be in the dirkson building and the chairman of the buildings would have the offices adjacent. and that happened at first, but the chairmen like the russell building more. it's a classic building. it's got gorgeous views of the capitol. the dirkson building is much more functional. so over time a lot of the veteran senators moved back. so the idea of having the

chairmen right next to the committee went by the wayside. but the largest number of committees are in the dirkson building. that's the reason why fewer senators are there. >> let's go back. 1939, here is snartsdz jefferson smith. these movie folks like the name jefferson. he rises on the senate floor to introduce his bill, set aside a portion of willow creek in his home state to be used for a boy's camp. why did the boy scouts of america, and i don't know if you're aware of this, not let their name be used in this movie because there waws controversy? >> i'm not sure all the reasons at the time. but a lot of people are sort of shy about being presented in a hollywood version. there's a sense that somehow you're going to be misrepresented. and so they became the --

they're not the boy scouts, they're the boys rangers in the movie. but in fact, the boys rangers are the heroes. they're the ones who ultimately rise to senator smith's defense. but similar sometimes with the military, which is a little uneasy about what hollywood will do when they make a presentation, especially if they don't have control over that depiction. >> senator pane is played by claud range who was born in britain but became an american citizen. >> mind telling me what's going on? >> that is the principal actor. over here one of the supporting characters. >> who? >> that gorilla in man's clothing.

>> you mean pus and boots. >> mostly pus. another prominent character, the silver night. >> you wouldn't be a little goofy, would you? >> this, done keetie will get to his feet and speak. when that happens the silvernight will fall off his tight rope. >> so ordered. >> mr. dirkson the new bill is in joint resolutions. >> the chair recognizes the rather strong-lunged junior senator. mr. smith. >> i'm very sorry, sir. i have a bill. >> you may speak a little louder, senator, but not too loud. >> afe bill to propose, sir.

>> order, gentlemen. >> our junior senator is about to make a speech. you may proceed, senator. >> be it enacted by the senate and the house of representatives that there be appropriated as a loan a sum sufficient to create a national boy's camp to be paid back to the united states treasury by contributions from boys of america. this camp to be situated on the land at and adjacent to the head waters of a stream known as willow creek for the purpose of bringing together boys of all walks of life from various parts of the country.

boys of all cedes, kinds, and positions to educate them on american ideals and to promote mutual understanding and to bring about a helpful life to the growing youth of this great and beautiful land. [cheers and applause] >> you know they were walking out. today they would probably get kicked out. but what did you see there? >> well, interestingly, the vice president of this moveie i think is loosely based on cactus jack garner who was former speaker of the house, had a very folksy approach. and the vice president is sort of a folksy character becomes a simple thetyirk person toward mr. smith in this move eafplt senator pane is the more senator torl person, but actually more in control, being controlled by the political

bosses, one of whom is seen in the gal riss up there. it's interesting, harry truman when he saw this movie hated this movie. and at the time harry truman was seen as a senator from kansas and i wonder if he didn't think that moveie was looking at him and his relationship with the political machine back home and trying to depict it. that may be one reason he disliked it. the only thing truman liked is that it showed the press gallery in its true drunken state because the reporters are all seen at the bar at the national press club in a later scene. but the fact that they're all up there keeping an eye, thomas mitchell is the reporter that mr. smith's aide keeps advising what's going on. by the way, she is the only staff person that she seems to have. and in their offices in the russell building senator smith

has one room and his staff has one room. and that's the way it was in 1939. most senators had only two rooms. that was all -- two or three at the most. they had very few staff because there wasn't much place to put them. today, senator staffs are much larger, senator suites are much larger, and the amount of mail is much more than it was in those days so you need to have a larger staff to advise i-and handle that correspond bs. so this is a look at the senate in a moment in time. but the senate has evolved a lot since then. >> totally out of the blue, you mentioned him in your book, senator robert a. taft, ninth majority leader of the united states senate. on the capitol campus is this huge monument to this man who, other than being majority leader for i think one term, that was it, the son of william howard taft, there it is on the screen, you'll see a photograph of him, how did this get there?

>> senator taft was a dominant figure in the senate for a long time. a senator from 1939 until 1953. he had been in politics much of his life because his father has been president of the united states and chief justice of the united states. and when i was doing my research on my dock tral dissertation, i was reading the papers and one day i came across a let tore his father written on a piece of yellow legal paper that he had scratched out a message and chief justice taft wrote back and said, son, you must use better stationary than this. and here i was in the library of congress reading their mail. but robert taft was mr. republican. he was the leader of the conservative forces in the republican party. he was a man of great integrity. even people who disagreed with him admired him. john f. kennedy, who didn't vote the way taft did, chose him for his book profiles in courage.

and when he chaired the committee depicted the five most significant senators picked taft as one. he also reflects that problem that a lot of senior senators have of who want to be president of the united states that all the thing that is made them successful in the senate make them less successful as presidential candidates. and senators have to vote on all sorts of controversial issues. you have to go on record. you can't dodge a controversial issue. the longer you serve in the senate, the more difficult votes you cast, you in a sense reduce your political base rather than expand it. so it's not surprising that the three presidents of the united states who have gone directly from the senate to the white house have actually not been sort of the front-row senators. they've been in many ways the back-row senators, who had less of a track record. harding, kennedy, and barack obama in 2008 where as the senators, the famous senators over time from henry clay to

robert taft, ho humphrey, in many ways made themselves too controversial as senators to be elected presidents of the united states. when taft died, he had only been leader for six months when he became ill and he had tried for the presidency several times. he had a lot of supporters. he had really been running things in the senate long before he became majority leader. he only formally took over when president eisenhower took office and he wanted to be there to guide ines hours programs through the senate. but he had such a large body of support in the senate and in the country that they felt that some special memorial was needed. and so they constructed the taft care lon which rings out every hour and a little bit of music, and the statue of senator taft in front of it. >> cost $12 million only in 1955 -- $1 million. the next movie, advise and

consent, written by alan drurey from the united press and with the "new york times" and also readers digest. let's watch a little bit of this. we're going to see henry fonda who was nominated i believe for secretary of state. >> i've seen this movie many times. as a matter of fact, every time i taught, i always showed this movie. >> senator moneyson -- munson. >> wait a minute. dad, senator munson on the phone. the phone. >> tell him i've gone out. >> why? >> because johnny will want me to do some things that will obligate me. >> i mean, why would you want me to lie? >> son, this is a washington, d.c. kind of lie.

that's when the person knows you're lying and you know he knows you know. senator munson will understand. >> ok. if you say so. he's not here. he went out. >> do you know where i might reach him? >> no, ma'am, he did not leave a forwarding address. >> thank you. >> the hart building wasn't there when that was -- >> the building he was going into is still there. that's the national women's building. >> a washington, d.c. kind of lie. >> the times in which people will go on record as saying something that's essentially the opposite of what is

happening because it's a safer response to something. sort of the same thing as memorandum that are written to not let you know what actually happened at the particular meeting. in this case, henry fonda is playing a character who has been nominated to be secretary of state and it turns out he has a secret in his closet that is being -- that the senate is investigating to see whether or not he should be -- they should consent to his nomination. this is a story based very loosely on real events. drurery was a reporter from 1943 to 1945. he kept a journal of his observations of the senators. and one of the events that he observed was a clash between an old southern senator and the head of the tba. and so the probability is that that was the clash that they were looking at but he also

grafted on to it the mccarthy hearings, grafted on it the hiss case. a lot of things that were happening. he always claimed the characters were composites although they were clearly based on individuals. for me, much of the movie was -- much was filmed in the russell building. and the major characters, all the other personnel that you see, the policemen, the elevator operators the senators staff, the committee staff, the reporters, the photographors, they were all real people on capitol hill doing their real jobs. they were recruited for the movie to do on screen what they did every day. the movie was filmed in 1961 and released in 1962. >> here in the heart of washington, the pulitzer prize novel, advise and consent. the story of the men and women

who live and work in washington, their private views and public conflicts which affect the lives of everyone everywhere. to tell this story, his cameras move in where no motion picture cameras have ever been permitted. in the very room where the investigations and hearings. a word of warning, these people are all fictional, so don't try to guess who they are. >> we want to know which give way to the communist. >> i don't intend to give anything away. >> what do you know about him? >> he as communist. >> walter pigeon stars in the most important role of his career. >> you call that a deal? >> i call it extorsion. >> actual members of the white house correspondents association become actors to recreate their annual dinner for the president of the united states. >> you can tell your readers that the president hasn't changed his mind about his nominee one fraction of an inch. he is going to fight for that confirmation no matter what.

>> the blonde young man leading the applause, from the broodway stage starting a new career in film. >> what do you think the world is like? you want to get us bombed out of existence for some country that cannot feed itself? >> we will waken the moral fiber of our great nation. >> today, the future of the world is being decided in two cities, one of them is washington, d.c.

>> i came in 1976 and i ackbtly knew many of the -- actually knew many of the those people. but that movie was so disruptive. so many people went down to watch it being filmed, particularly the united states senators, that they, the senate rules committee said no more films inside the russell building. >> what about the chamber scenes that we see? >> they're actually in the reconstructed model of the chamber and it's the same chamber that was built for mr. smith goes to washington. but because between 1939 and 1961 the actual senate chamber had been remoddled, they had to remodel the hollywood set to make it look like the chamber as it existed in 1961. >> i read to interview you today you had no idea i was going to ask you. how do you remember all this?

what techniques do you use? >> i've sort of lived this story for the last 30 years. and of course we deal with this all the time. we write thing force the senate, we do a lot of material on the senate website some of which deals with advise and consent. for ten years i taught a course on the senate. i showed some of these movies to my students at the time. and we answer questions every day from senators, senate staff, reporters, the general public. and after a while you absorb that kind of information. >> we started talking about your book. we've got all these ideas. the u.s. congress. and basically do you have to go on the internet to buy these? >> they're in book stores actually. >> and they're called a very short introduction, or the vsi series. and there are hundreds of them. >> i promise it lives up to its title. it's very short. >> here's another scene. there are three women sitting

in the balcony of the senate looking down on the senate. it's just a short thing. we want to watch this. >> i wonder if the minority leader is qualified to speak for the majority. >> on the right is the minority and on the left is the majority. >> it's purely jee graphiccal. i mean, you're all republicans or democrats, no communist or

that sort. >> they do have liberal types but they don't -- the conservativeses don't sit necessarily sit on the right. >> that man, harlemmy hudson, the vice president of the united states. he is very attractive. >> yes, dear. he's very sweet. >> he was governor of delaware. >> he is the president of the senate. >> you said he's the vice president. >> it's all very confusing. his job as vice president of the country is to preside over the senate which makes him its president. >> so he's also a senator. >> no, the vice president presides over the senate. he is not the senator. he can't even vote. >> the senate will come to order. the chaplain will now offer

prayer. >> has there ever been a catholic priest chaplain? >> i think very briefly. there is a catholic priest who is chaplain of the house right now. most have been protestant but i think there was one catholic. >> you see that thread running through there. >> drurey, it's a wonderful story, he was writing this in the 19 40's but then in the evening in the 1950s the vice president cha you saw is very much based obharry truman, the president is based on roosevelt. the majority and minority leaders that you saw were based on the democratic leader and republican leader at the time. and the reporters were doing what was then known as dugout chatter. the reporters were able to come down and interview the majority and minority leaders. that is no longer done.

now they interview the leadership outside the chamber, not on the floor. but drurey in 1954 was working at the "new york times" trying to write this novel when the united states senator commited suicide in his office and it was a very dramatic moment and a shocking moment and drurey then grafted that story on to this novel about the 19 40's that he had been writing. and that gave him the dramatic centerpiece for his novel. that novel in 1959 became a phenomenal best seller. it was 102 weeks on the best seller list, it was a book of the month club selection. it became a stange play and a motion pick -- stage play and motion picture. none of his other books lived up to that story. and i once corresponded with him about that and he said he wished he kept his journal longer than he did because he would be able to can ballize it

for more storeas. it is a very good account of the senate in the 19 40's. and as you read it, you can see lots of the shadows of the characters that he would create in his novel. >> by the way, walter pigeon playing a senator. a couple things you referred to that we may have never heard of before. as a reflection of senator torl courtesy, in 1913, from your book, started to practice the blue sheets for all branch nominations. blue sheets in quotes, what are they? >> if you go down to the national archives and you take out any judicial nomination file folder, it will be by the name of whoever was nominated to be a judge, you open it up stapeled on one side will be a blue piece of paper with space for two signatures, and those are the two from the senators from that state. and unless you see the two names of the senators from that

state, you pretty well are assure that that person was not confirmed. and that was in f a senate from a state had a personal objection to someone from that state being nominated, the other senators would not vote that person in. that was senator torle courtesy. with the idea that if they had an objection, the other senators would similarly honor that. that was the way it existed for a very long time. and in the last decade or so, things got a little more politically divided, some chairman of the judiciary committee began to move away from that automatic system, and only requested one signature from the senator from the state. they didn't want to have senators having an automatic veto over some of these nominees. and you can still see the blue sheets in more modern files, but it's not as systemic as it once was. but it was a way of showing that senators had a lot of influence over who got nominated. the president makes the

nominations but presidents consult with senators about the nominees from their state. i once did an oral history with a senator from florida and i asked him what was the best thing about being a united states senator and he said getting to name so many people, judges and u.s. marshalls. of course the president names them but what he meant was the president asked him who he should name. and other smatsdzers recommended to the president and the president then nominated the people that he recommended. so he really saw that, he said that was a big difference between when he was in the house of representatives. that he never had that authority in the house. but when he became a senator, then certainly presidents began turning to him for that very reason. >> i feel the next clip from advise and consent should be -- the trick here is finding peter lawford, he was part of the -- he married patricia kennedy. jack kennedy's sister.

this is a woman still alive, she's been in the news a lot lately but she is playing a woman senator back then in 1962. let's watch and see if people recognize her. >> it is not enough that the subcommittee has permitted a great man to be smeared. now the chairman of that subcommittee is deliberately blocking the committee vote. it is just one more thing to add to the most unfair hearing in the history of the senate. >> mr. president, will the senator yield for a question? >> will the senator yield for a question. i'll yield to the senator from kansas. >> i must admit i'm not a supporting but i watched the hearing on television and it seemed fair to me. >> mr. president, i'm sorry if the senator from kansas was not perceptive enough to grasp what was obvious. i'm telling the senate what hained. >> as much as i appreciate hearing about the senator's particular view, i will need more substantial proof than the senator's personal description.

>> is the senator calling me a liar? >> the record must stand as it is. how the senator interprets that record is his own problem, not mine. >> i'm sure she is welcomed to take advantage of her sex. >> oh, fred, come off it. you think it's funny? you think the world thinks it's funny? you think the world thinks it's funny that the senate is trying to smear a man who believes in peace? >> oh, fred, come off it. chances that that would be said. >> no. they do not address each other by first names. they're always the distinguished senator. the role is clearly based on mccarthy. this is in favor of peace at any price with the soviet union. and but he's opposed by the sole woman member of the senate. and played by betty white in this movie. but in fact, everyone would have seen that as margaret

chase smith who was the only woman senator at the time. and she was one of the very few senators to have the nerve to stand up to confront senator joseph mccarthy. and she issued her declaration of conscience, which was an attack on smears as a political process. and very few of the men in the senate in those days were brave enough to side with her because senator mccarthy had a reputation of destroying other people's political careers. in a few years the senate finally did sense surhim but for a while he was a power to himself. so i think people would read into that. in the movie, peter lawford plays the playboy senator who is always dating very attractive women. and there's always a question as to who that was. and drurey insisted that was a composite figure but there certainly were men who were in the senate who were real lady

killers at the time and he sort of represented that character. >> quick update on you. born where? >> i was born in new york city. >> what part? >> in queens. i came from queens. >> where did you go to school? >> i went to new town high school, then the city college of new york. then i came down here to the university of maryland to get my phd. >> what was your dissertation ob? >> i wrote a book on a man who was dean of the harvard law school. and it was the man who really created the securities and exchange commission, the second chairman after joseph kennedy and had a lot to do with the financial regulatory laws of the country. >> you have a figure in your book that 42% of the members of the congress, house and the senate, between the years 1998 and 2004 lobby for a living. >> people who left the senate. >> who left the senate.

>> a very large number of people who leave congress, retire from congress stay in washington, d.c. and they, since they use the talents that they developed when they were in office to promote issues, to represent concerns, to give advice to people on how to get bills through congress. there's a large lobbying contingent in washington. members used to have a great advantage because doors were always open to them. their colleagues would always invite them in. they could go on the to the floor of the house and senate. they could use the dining rooms and that gave them an advantage. ethics rules have gotten much tighter. and if a former member does lobby, a lot of the privileges of being a former member are very much restrained or taken away, and that includes going on to the floor because no one is to lobby on the floor of the congress. >> last movie, made in 1992. you don't talk about this in your book.

called distinguished gentlemen written by marty kaplan who used to write speeches for vice president monday dale. edie murry is the main character. he ran for congress after the previous congressman, if i remember right, died. i think having sex with his secretary. we won't show that part of it. but his name was jefferson smith. and eddie murphy's name is jeff johnson and he doesn't show up in the campaign. you don't see him. here he is. he has been elected. let's watch what happens in this clip. >> how are you, pete? >> very good to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> american tobacco council. >> you all know mrs. bretta

from my office. >> as soon as i saw how you got elected, i knew you were a real comer. >> on the left up there. chairman gulf coast power. big constituent of yours, client of mine. pays the rent. >> could i host a welcome to washington fund raiser for you? law firm on k street. at $500 a head. you could pick up 25 grand to help get started. >> and how much of that are you going to get? >> it doesn't come off the top. down the road, i'll bill each of them 500 an hour whenever i take you to lunch. >> you know, you andry going to be so close. >> i want to welcome the new members to washington. we haven't had a freshman class

this big in a long time. well, congress needs your new blood and you in turn are going to need new friends. that's quite a nite. we unite the two great pig lars of our system, political and financial. now, you know congress has taken many hits of late. but look around you. the people you see here tonight are the ones who have stood behind us. and they are the ones that will be invaluable to you in your next campaign, which i might remind you is less than two years away. now, this is our system of checks and balances at its very fibest. -- finest. >> run for speaker. raises more money than any other member. of course, he's on the right committee, which makes all the difference. >> yeah. of course. >> but i'm not telling you anything you don't already know. >> no. he's on the right committee so i guess that makes all the difference. >> not just on the committee. he's chairman of it.

the big boys have to line up to take numbers to throw money his way. >> that is the senate, the chairman is named dick dodge. marty wrote this. he knew this town. fair representation? >> this is a movie about the house of representatives. it's about a con man who gets elected to congress and it was written by people who actually know how things are going. it's a great spoof on everything and a great exaggeration. but there are lots of small touches through the movie. and in this case, of course it's the idea the lobbyists and the politicians coming together, he says finance and politics. of course lobbyists represent all sorts of interest including like school teachers and environmental issues and everything else. it's certainly not just the financial industry. but one of the things that lobbyists do is run fund raisers for members. and it costs a lot of money to run for congress.

will rogers said it cost as lot of money to lose a race for congress. so members are constantly looking for ways to raise funds. and then there's always this question, is there some quid pro quo. again, ethics laws are much tighter now, but campaign finance becomes a very difficult issue that congress has tried to pass a number of laws. the supreme court hasn't cleared those laws so congress is still trying to address how to deal with campaign finance. but they want to avoid the perception that there's anything that is somehow giving unfair advantage. >> i know you are -- we didn't talk much about the house. on the house side are three office buildings. the main ones. cannon on one of them, long worth on another, ray burn on another. if those three men, if you had a chance to sit down with,

which would you pick? >> that's tough. sam rayburn clearly was a major player from the 1930s right on through to the 1960s. and it would be hard to turn down an invitation to meet with mr. sam. on the other hand, joe cannon was extremely powerful person. i would have to sit through a lot of cigar smoke if you had a meal with him. >> you have a great picture. >> and then nick long wortteds was a very swave person married to alison longworth. very friendly with his democratic counter pat. when he was a speaker he had one of the few cars that was available to the house of representatives and the republican speaker used to stop and pick up the democratic minority leader and drive him to work in the morning. on the election that when the democrats won the majority back, the speaker long wortteds sent a tell gram to garner and

said whose car is it? and garner wrote back and said, think it mine but you're welcome to ride. and that was just the way in which you got those bipartisan friendships that existed in those days. >> near the end of your book, i visit the u.s. capitol twice in their lives, once as children with their families, or with their classes, and again as parents bringing their own families. >> this is what the tour guides tell me, when people talk about coming into the capitol building. we have a lot of students, lots of groups right now lots of boy scouts in town for the jam boree, there are all sorts of visitors coming. but then you also see the families coming in and taking the children around and pointing out what's happening in the capitol building. right now with the the capitol visitors center there's a lot more opportunity for them to learn more about what's going on in the congress. and i worked for many years in terms of the exhibits that are there to talk about what is the

senate, what is the house, what is the differences between them, how do they function. and that's the same type of thing i tried to do in this book is give an introduction about these very different bodies. and hopefully they'll get curious to have more questions to ask. >> done richie, a little tiny book here called the u.s. congress, and you can find it called a very short introduction. and we thank you very much for joining us. >> i don't want any part of cruise if iing this boy. >> i see. our smoges are getting too hot for your sensitive soul. the silvernight is getting too big for us. >> my methods have been all right for the past 20 years since i picked you up and blew you up to look like a senator.

>> and now you can't stand it. >> well maybe we can fix it. >> it's all right. it's all right. seems ashame though to part company like this after all these years. especially now with a national convention coming up. >> coming up on washington journal, we'll take your questions and comments. and later, secretary of state hillary clinton delivers a speech on the global health initiative. this morning on washington journal, lawrence houston has an update on the market and rates. then campaign fund raising efforts. also, a discussion with the executive director for the safe and security internet gambling in