possibility, his belief that we can, every single one of us, narrow the gap between the world as is and the world as it might be. today, let us remember the legacy of robert kennedy. let's build a country that is more equal and more just. and let's refuse to accept things as they are. let's add dream things that never were and say why not? [applause]

♪ >> in this generation we have seen an extraordinary america. the greeks wrote so many years ago, to attain the status just of man and make gentle the life of this world. let us dedicate ourselves to the s and say a prayer for our country and for our people. >> it is the right thing to do. every time you say we're going to do this, because it is the right thing to do. ♪

>> at this critical moment in history, he brought something to the department and to the job which helped transform the sense of possible. it is impossible for me to imagine my life without having known him. >> the standard for attorney past, andnow, in the in the future is robert kennedy. tothere's a tendency mythologize not only what would he been but what he had been. at the same time, what happened in the kennedy administration was real. it has been recorded. its successes were meaningful and a change the nation.

>> no matter what talent and individual possesses, no matter what energy he might as, no matter how much integrity and honesty, he may accomplished very little. >> what he did at the start of his term was set the tone for everything that followed. it remains the most extraordinary group of deputy assistant thattorneys general tt perhaps ever grace the department of justice. it was a wonderful place to be. at the end, the morale of the department was amazing. everyone was working all the time. but it was fun. >> he was serious without being serious, if you know what i mean. >> it was clear to robert

kennedy when he all right that he would have to breathe life into this big bureaucracy. it was something that he was used to doing. he stepped into campaigns they were slow, inefficient, if they were overly hierarchy of, any energized by the force of his personality, and his commitment to the overriding goal. >> when i first joined the department, i was lucky if i knew who the attorney general was. much less meeting with him and having business with them. kennedy change that and not only met with attorneys but was -- if they used to wander around the building and go into individual offices. >> he walked the halls. he would invite all of the new lawyers up to his office and talk to them and ask them about where they were from and what they were interested in, so that

everyone had a sense of being connected. but it was also the case that you could be sitting in your office, doing whatever, and he would pop in. it was both terrifying and wonderful. >> we just all loved him. it was impossible not to. but simply because of what he was personally, all the that was important. but because of what he represented in the public life of the country, because of the ideal that he sat out, because of the standards of strength, of patriotism, of love for and service of country, and of all of its ideals so that you are always doing something of which you could be proud. you are never doing anything of which you are ever ashamed.

deal of had a great talk in this century in the past 100 years about equality. deeds, not talk, is what is required now. it is only relatively recently and we must recognize that that we as a nation have again gathered our strength, our will, and our determination to act boldly and vigorously to lift from all of our citizens the degrading burden of intolerance, bigotry, and discrimination. >> what he wanted was results. he wanted results. he wanted something done about mississippi. he wanted something done about louisiana, about alabama. and he wanted it done the day before yesterday. lawyers who worked for me

believed in him, believe that is what he wanted, and that is what they wanted. they wanted to get something done. and they put it all out for him. >> his great achievement as attorney general was civil rights. he himself grew through that period of time. he had an instinct, he always had an instinct for the underdog, for those who were not in power. >> in virginia, the schools were closed in 1959 rather than meet the requirements of browning -- brown v. board of education. they took the position that the constitution did not compel states to offer public education, and that therefore they would close their schools in prince william county. and then they opened private schools for the white children and the african american children have none. this is something he did not have to do. but he and president kennedy

felt that those children had to be given an education. there was a school system in prince edward kennedy was probably the best in the country. [inaudible] that was a very personal response to a problem, not just as a lawyer, but as a leader. >> we have to learn from robert kennedy and kerry on -- and carry on. we have to make sure that people's dreams become a reality. it is encouraging to know that there are people who care enough about america to sacrifice everything. [inaudible]

>> he could swirl in his chair and looked away for a second after you had told him a terrible bit of news, and then he would come back and say -- >> he was very reasonable and pragmatic about it. he did not want to bump in the head against a window. he wanted something to be done. he looked for achievement and for a bottom line of a result. but he was open enough to many imaginative, creative avenues to reach a result. >> i think one of the great accomplishments of the kennedy justice department and the kennedy administration was this very careful and successful management of the standoff with governor wallace. this was high-stakes politics, and it was particularly high stakes for the african americans trying to get an education and

who were literally block by the governor himself. >> is talking directly to the governor? >> i come here to ask you now for an unequivocal assurance that you will permit these dividends who only want a education at this university. we do not need you to make a speech. >> i was in the process of making my statement. i am asking for you that you will not bar entry to these students and that you will step aside peacefully, do your constitutional duty as governor. [inaudible] >> is he getting to talk to the governor? >> it was typical of him. he sets his sights, boom. no turning back. and not too many people like

that. it was really something. >> he discovered himself in action. it would go down to these places in appellation -- appelachia, and you could feel it was palpable that he identified with this kid and yearned to be able to make things better. >> he was a ball -- above all a man who deeply loved this country and its people. and had such a sense of justice and decency and right conduct. he can get an entire department and indeed later a great part of a country to understand and to follow what he was trying to do. >> he never backed off doing

what was the right thing to do. >> there was a seamless next to his life. when you watched footage of the. , you can see how his family is part of his life of the department of justice, and his work comes home as well. he is back and forth between the white house and the department of justice. he was in constant motion and his family was in constant motion at the time. it was a dedicated father, he was dedicated to those children. >> it was clear to a lot of people that he had as kids' pictures in the office and they then hugged their kids' pictures in their offices. >> he had as children around him. he would hand the phone to one of the children and let them talk to whoever was. maybe it was the president. >> [unintelligible]

>> yes. hi, terry, how're you doing? i am way down in the southland. way down south. do you know what the temperature is down here? 98 degrees. just tell your father that. >> its kerry, heh? >> say goodbye. say goodbye. >> goodbye, goodbye. >> hello?

why don't we plan that? >> he was serving his brother president in countless ways, not only at the justice department, but in the highest councils of farm policy. it was set at the time and it was absolutely true that if it was important, president kennedy wanted bobby involved. >> there was a time when he was having a meeting of people who were working on developing what became the war on poverty. out,he had gone in and ho leave for 15 minutes to an hour, and come back. not miss a beat, into the conversation as if he had been there all the time. it turned out that he had been going down a hall to discuss what to do about the cuban missile crisis. completely car minimalized -- compartmentalized, totally kong. -- calm.

he was car ran around the world, religious issues, russia, europe, and his job, which was run in the department of justice. >> robert kennedy got the terrible news from j. edgar hoover in a phone call. his world turned upside down. >> the attorney general was not running the halls and popping jokes for a long time after that. there was always a sense after that of a different light, a different reality. >> he came out of it after period of several months.

he was back to his normal, hard- hitting set out, because he could do everything. >> history does not revolve -- reveal an alternative. you cannot be sure of anything. that is why you have to make every moment counts. and he did. >> if i had a chance to talk to robert kennedy today, i would tell them we are not done yet. i would say for myself that i think of him practically every day. if i saw him today, i would say, you did fabulous amounts for this country. you inspired us and you made a lot of wonderful things happen. but we are not done yet. ♪

here seenanybody my old friend bobby? ♪ ♪ [applause]

>> this is a doubly auspicious day for attorneys general past and present. would you join me in wishing attorney general holder a very happy birthday? [laughter] [applause] >> the attorney general reminds us of part of the story of arequipa us rfk -- rfk's first day here. the guard asked to see his past. he said, well, i do not have one, but for heaven's sake, i am the attorney general. and the guard said, well, you do not get into the building

without a pass unless you are j. edgar hoover himself. [laughter] the next day he brought up pass and with it, a thirst for excellence, rolled up shirtsleeves, constant curiosity, a black bear of a dog named brumus, and humor. not many days later, he came to work on president's day weekend and was impressed by all the cars in the garage. he soon got -- he sent notes to all the owners complementing them on their devotions. he got a note that from here reeves who was then assistant deputy in the office of legal counsel. it said something like, especially on washington's birthday, i cannot tell a lie. i was parked there while we were

shopping at the holiday white sails. [laughter] what a different department it was them. 30,000 employees compared to 100 -- 100,000 or more today. if you ask them who was the highest ranking woman in the department, people probably would have to stop and think and finally say, well, isn't the rosenberg in criminal division? the dignified driver of the attorney general may be the only non-white face off the fifth floor. i am not sure there was even one african-american lawyer in the department then. i am sure rfk would be gratified to see how the first the department would become and how warmly he would think the attorney general holder for bringing us together today. [applause]

in 1961, it did not take long for people in the department to form impressions of the new attorney general because he soon demonstrated several kinds of strengths. one example was that provided by the mayor of gary, indiana. he had helped jfk win 70% of book.'s yes, he was well known as a

prosecutor, but what is less well recognize that he also displayed strength on behalf of defendants. that was a time of rising crime in the streets. but he was determined, as he said, that they should not be the department of prosecution. but truly a department of justice. establish the alan committee on criminal justice, created a national conference on jail reform, and sponsored legislation that for the first time provided paid federal counsel for corporate defendants. just down the 5100 corridor, he had david hackett and richard boone creek the president's committee on juvenile delinquency, the forerunner of the war on poverty. it was also physically struggling but never has more of his colleagues and of himself. on a cold february saturday in

1963, along be in docca now, he took care of a challenge that president kennedy had put to marine corps officers, to hike 50 miles in 20 hours. rfk did it in 18 icy hours in dress shoes at that. when my mentor dropped out at mile 35, a rfk said, you are lucky. your brother is not president of the united states. [laughter] of course, the most historic dimension of robert kennedy's tenure as kent -- as attorney general concerned civic rights. talk about strength. he was moved by the strength of all of those who sat and road and marched and sometimes died for their, that is our, civil

rights. we are honored today to be joined by representative john lewis, whose life virtually spans the whole of the civil rights movement, from the cities to the freedom rides. he was elected to the house in 1986 and soon became what nancy pelosi called a conscience of the congress. john seigenthaler, a giant in modern journalism was rfk's aide. a montgomery mop cracked up in his skull during the freedom rides. he and job lewis given the interview about the freedom rides. it is soon to be shown on hbo. the first african-american woman admitted, she was a valued colleagues at the new-york

times, and has won repeated honors for her print and broadcast journalism in this century and south africa. and john doar, the pride of wisconsin. he joined the department during the eisenhower years, soon came to admire, and for much of the 1960's, personified justice to voter registrars throughout the south. you may remember him on the mississippi street facing down an angry crowd alone. each of them will tell what they remember best about, why he came to stand for civil rights, and what we have to learn from him. let's start with congressman louis. -- congressman lewis. >> thank you, jack.

i am honored to be here. i want to thank the attorney general for inviting us all to be here. mrs. kennedy, kathleen, and other members of the kennedy family, and my family -- fellow members of the panel. i think the first time that i got to really know of the work of attorney general robert kennedy, and i know john doar and john seigenthaler will have much more to say about this, was during the freedom rides. i think it was the first real test in the area of civil rights. just think in 1961, black people and white people could not board a greyhound bus or a trail waste

bus and leave washington, d.c. and be ceded to the header and travel through virginia, north carolina, south carolina, georgia, alabama, mississippi, into new orleans without the possibility of being arrested. or jailed. or beaten. and that is what happened. we were testing the decision of the united states supreme court, 13 of us. seven whites and six african- americans,. railways and greyhounds. violence in south carolina. between atlanta and birmingham, our bus was burned.

one organization stopped the freedom rides and a number of us decided that we should continue. blacks and whites, o'connor, the police commissioner of birmingham, stopped the bus at the birmingham city limits, the greyhound bus, a rusted two young man, a white man and a black man sitting on the front seat, and ordered their regular passengers to get off the bus in birmingham. and he'll went around and lifted our tickets. nashville, to birmingham, to montgomery, to jackson, to new orleans. and he made the decision an hour and half-hour show to place us all in jail in protective

custody. and then 11 of us came through nashville, as john doar and john seigenthaler will tell you, and on a friday evening, after being in jail that wednesday night and thursday night and early friday morning, bull conner took as to the state line and said you can make it back to natural. -- to nashville. but we went back to birmingham. and we tried to board a bus that friday evening, 5:00 p.m., and the bus driver made us write a statement. he said, i have one life to live. i will not give it to core or to the naacp. and he refused to drive. the attorney general was concerned that we were stuck in birmingham that evening. we stayed in the bus station all

night. he started negotiating with the local officials. at what time he became so upset that he said, let me speak to mr. greyhound. and he wanted to know whether there was any black bus drivers in birmingham that would take us from birmingham on to montgomery. that evening, apparently sometime at dinner, you were in the department of justice in you know. he negotiated us leaving and arriving in montgomery at 2:30 p.m., and made an arrangement where there would be a car -- a patrol car every 15 miles, and then there would be a private plane flying over the bus. the moment that we arrive at the greyhound bus station in montgomery, and started down the steps, an angry mob came out of

nowhere. leading members of the press, reporters, photographers. and then they turned on us and started beating us. this young man was there. the public safety director of alabama, while some of us were bloodied, fired a gun into the air, saying there will be no killing here today, and the mob disbursed. on the next day, we had a meeting at reverend abernathy posset church, -- abernathy's church. the church was full. john doar and others were trying to interview us but for the alabama people. and we were disguised of members. i had been hit on the head and

had a pact on my head and a place to cap on my head. members of the mob started marching on the church. throwing stink bombs, apparently trying to burn down the church. dr. king went down into the basement of the church and made a call to robert kennedy. and said, we need help. . apparently the attorney general spoke to his brother, the president, said in the federal marshals, and i believe the alabama national guard, and it had not been for robert kennedy, president kennedy i am convinced, some of us would have died in that church that evening. robert kennedy used his power, used his ability to save lives

that evening. in montgomery. i just want to thank john seigenthaler and john doar for all that they did to help. thank you. >> i think you so much -- i thank you so much, john, attorney general, kathleen, the sons of robert kennedy, friends of his legacy. how moving it is to be here today. i do not think i can walk into this building without thinking back on the first time i came here, and it was before the

swearing-in that we witnessed on tape a moment ago. it was shortly after the president and bob had talked about finally is becoming attorney general of the united states, and attorney general bill rodgers was his predecessor and his friend, he offered him a suite of offices. and he came over the first week in december, and we'll lost in a few days ago as we did a sarge. the attorney general came down with regularity to make the transition easier. and there have been criticism of the president's appointment

of robert kennedy as attorney general. the media echoed with words like nepotism. there were members of the conservative bar who questioned whether someone who had not been in court room a turning, for all of he had done as a mother of a kind of attorney, was capable of taking the job. and he was cognizant of that. i remember on the data general rogers left, he gave bob it presents, two presents. congress was a pass a new law authorizing with the 100 new federal justices. bill rodgers left a bottle of aspirin. and a fountain pen.

to sign all of those recommendations for the president. i think his first concern was a rending himself with -- surrounding himself with peoples whose talent and abilities in professional law or admired both inside and outside the bar. on the night after he and the president talked finely about his becoming attorney general, his first call was to byron white. it was byron and marion on the phone, byron who had already been mentioned as secretary of the army, he invited him to become deputy attorney general, and byron said, bobby, i think

you're going to be where the action is and that is where i want to be. i think of the talented lawyers who then came to surround him. byron and sarge shriver, both -- byron rely heavily on lawyers. those he had known through his work with the american bar association. and rely heavily on former yalies. burke marshall came from an anti-for us -- and that as trash firm. he kept john doar there who had broken ground in voting rights cases in the south.

they kept him back, he had the office of legal counsel. jack miller, head of the criminal division, a distinguished lawyer. he later represented president nixon and his troubles. archibald cox was solicitor general, agreed to come down from harvard and balance the yale contingent. ramsey clark, head of the claims division. it was an exciting time. fred kaufman handled press and remain in for john. it was a moment to be in the company of people who meant so much to the law, the head of the

dax division one on become a distinguished judge here -- of the tax division went on to become a distinguished judge here. it was an exciting experience to come to lunch, to come to work every day and to go to lunch once every three of four weeks with that talented circle, and to listen to the work of justice unfold by these giants of justice. i think that on those days -- back on those days, and john is right, the first crisis was the civil rights crisis in my coming, it was that moment with the freedom rides.

i'm so happy to be part of that's panel -- this panel because my work in the justice ,epartment's with john that day when he almost died, what he did not say is that had floyd man not fired the pistol that day, both john lewis and jim might have lost their lives. i remember so well, charlayne, his first beach at the university of georgia, a senior in the law school came to him. he invited him to come to make the speech and robert kennedy said, young man, if you ask me to come, i will speak on civil rights. you may not get what you wish. and i remember so well he said

to him, mr. attorney general, i remember reading that when you were senior at the university of virginia law school, you invited ralph bunche to appear at the university of virginia law day. and there was an uproar. the president of the university said he could not come. and your classmates would not support you, but you pushed it, and ambassador bunche said he would not speak before a segregated audience, and mr. returning, somehow you integrated that audience. and so we went to georgia where

i laid eyes for the first time on that, and the president from athens called and first tried to discourage the visit, and then try to discourage any possibility that he would have any encounter with charlayne because she had entered the university, been rejected the first time, the court of appeals said you must take her in hamilton holmes, both times, their lives were in serious risk. and of course he went, and of course he met with her. i think back on those days and what a great experience it was for me as a young journalist to simply be a part of the vitality, the vision, the

energy, the daring that it was to cross -- and it is not a cliche -- to cross the new frontier within. and i think how often i remember those words, how often they echo and reechoed in my mind as crises occur, how often i think his words were almost prophetic. i relate meaningfully to what peter edwin's said in that tape. we're not through yet. the movement was about non- violence. non-violence in a pilot society. -- violent society. you can only think of a few days

ago in arizona. the impact, the power, the passion of those words he uttered again and again. let us take even the sadness of man, let us make gentle the life of the world. >> i wish i had gone first. [laughter] attorney general holder, kennedy and among families, members of this audience and fellow panelists, it is a real honor for me to be here. i do not think i needed the attorney general to remind me that he was 5 years old 50 years

ago. [laughter] i was 19 -- i am not good at math but some of you can figure it out by now. i was 19 years old, and on january 9, i walked on to the campus of the university of georgia as its first female black student. there was a riotous crowd of white students shouting racial epithets and indeed calling for the crowd to kill me and hamilton holmes, my colleague to it introduced -- into the university with me. -- who had entered the university with me. four days later, i thought about -- i heard about what day and i thought about it with irony.

despite this gentleman john goode spoke about, the law students were among the organizers of the rocket. outside of my dormitory. that led to windows to my room been broken and ultimately to my suspension for "my own safety," although we were returned within a few days. i approach to this day with a certain anticipation, a certain concern, and also, i think i was encouraged because so many of the georgia officials were refusing to come. i was not encouraged by that, but i was encouraged by the breeze and they were giving for not coming. if they were afraid their robert kennedy was going to deliver a bombshell on civil-rights. and indeed, none of the top

officials of the state came to hear robert kennedy that day. and griffin bell, who later became assistant to jimmy carter, i believe it was, attorney general, was to introduce robert kennedy and at the last minute got cold feet. someone else had to introduce him. it was a room like this, a little bigger, and i got there early so i could get a good seat. and my anticipation turn to anxiety has robert kennedy praised on some of georgia's arch segregationist, including gov. vanderburgh, who as my, but -- as my application was wending its way through, said, no, not one black student shall ever

attend the university of georgia. i wondered, where was this going? he was saying, he appreciated -- he named all of these are segregationist. and i became an easy. -- uneasy. i relaxed and laughed when kennedy spoke about being advised by georgians to identify with georgia kinfolks. i have looked around, and we do not have any kennedys in georgia. but in point of fact, georgia had given his brother, he said, the largest, biggest percentage majority of any state in the union. and that was better than kinfolk. there was a little bit of laughter, but not everyone was pretty everyone was still tense.

i was thinking about the march and that he got was probably due in great part to the number of black people who were won over to the kennedys when john kennedy called coretta king when martin luther king was taken to reidsville prison on a trumped up charge, he called the find out if she was ok, and then quietly worked with his brother to speak to the judge to get martin luther king out of the prison. when he said that, i thought, ok, that helped a little bit. my anxiety. but my anxiety gave way to others has kennedy started to -- l bout the lo andse aw.

when one person's rights were blocked. i knew then that the reason for the boycott of robert kennedy's speech was justified. he was indeed about to drop a bombshell aimed at exploiting the resistance that still continues throughout the south to the law of the land. i wrote about it and as i recall in the book at the time, i said he started out by saying the southerners have respect for standards and plain talk. they certainly do not like hypocrisy. and then i wrote, he proceeded to lay some candor and plain talk on them. including struggling for freedom at home to the countries of the united nations that were not white. and as far as i was concerned, what came next was the coup the gras for the whole day. as i was thinking in my mind

that this was a of a speech, highs sarin -- suddenly heard kennedy say, in the worldwide struggle, the graduation of charlayne hunter and hamilton holmes will without question a then assist the fight against communism, political kill filtration, and guerrilla warfare. and i said, my graduation is going to do what? [laughter] and then i said, i do not care how many people storm that stage, when robert kennedy finishes speaking, i am going to be up there with him. two weeks ago, i spoke at the 50th anniversary of the university of georgia's the segregation -- desegregation. i said i was there because people did the right thing.

i had a life that i had -- when i was a young girl, i wanted to be like brenda starr, and now she can eat her heart out. i've had an amazing life as a journalist and as a human being. they're good people like the lawyers to press our case, the judge on the federal bench to a firm did and ordered our issues, and good people like robert f. kennedy who believe that the a lot is the glue that holds our civilization together. and that every day must be law day or our civilization will collapse. that is what he told us that day. on that day 50 years ago, robert f. kennedy also talked about the dearth of black faces in the federal government, especially in the justice department. how proud he would be today to see the man at the helm of this institution who was there by

virtue of his ability, but who is also unashamedly black. and what there is no way i could define what rfk was saying about our society day, i would wage an educated guess that he would be unhappy about the schools that are resegregate it and failing are black and minority children, and the dour it's -- downward spiral that leads to the disproportionate number of black men in prison. michele alexander tells the start oxtail in irrefutable relief. and i would help that rfk would not embrace the false claim of the post-racial society.

there is nothing post racial about these statistics. and many others that i do not have time to articulate at this forum. but what hope that those who celebrate robert f. kennedy on this stage would also elevate his message, the message that each of you has emphasized today, including the words from the attorney general earlier, the words we've heard from robert kennedy himself. it is the message that is timeless and transcendent, the message that urges us to keep on keeping on. thank you. [applause] >> everyone here, i wanted to be

asked to speak on behalf of the lawyers in the civil rights division who served under robert kennedy 1961-1963. i am thinking particularly of the bird marshal -- burke marshall, harold greene, and bob dole and, none of which -- none of whom who are present today and cannot be here. but all of us in the division, i think i can speak for them. i first met robert kennedy on the second or third day after president kennedy was inaugurated. john seigenthaler had prepared the attorney general for a visit to my office on the first floor of the justice department. and he had asked for some information about what the

division was doing. there was a black former from east carroll parish, louisiana, named -- and independent farmer with 100 acres of land under which he grew cotton and soybean. he had eight children and he and his wife had educated all of them. they had gone off to various places in the united states to work. and in november or december 1960, the civil rights commission had held a hearing in new orleans and asked him to come down and testify about the fact that there were no black citizens of east carroll parish could register to vote, because in order to be registered, you had to have a voucher of registered officials and no

white person would block -- about 4:00 a.m. white man or woman. -- vouch for a walk -- black man or woman. robert kennedy came to my office. this was before any of his assistant attorneys general had been appointed or sworn in. he was there to find out what was going on in the division. i told him about this case, and he said, you picked a bad place to start. that is where he grows cotton.

he had his front door by the sheriff and the sheriff said, do not bring your cotton to the ginners in east carroll parish. why not? the sheriff said, civil rights. we brought a suit to compel theginners of the parish to register the cotton -- gin the cotton. this was the first matter that came to robert kennedy's desk after he became attorney general. for the next week or so, he devoted a good part of his time to trying to persuade the ginners of east carol paris to gin that cotton. he was successful after about a week, and he said, the ginners

will gin the cotton. and i said, we have to get an injunction. we have to make sure there are no subsequent boycotts. or they might try to drive the farmer out of the paris. we fought back and forth about it. he called frank ellis, i think, and worked out an arrangement whereby all of the ginners of east carroll parish on the record would tell the judge that they were gin -- they would gin the farmers cotton and not deprive him of this there is is that he needed to continue to look run his farm. all that was done by the third of february. i know that because -- i have to

be sure that this was going to deal working out a way that he said it would work out. he went down there to appear before court before judge hawkins, and before the ginners, to hear them tell the judge that they will gin the cotton. the attorney general from his first day put his mind and energy and drive just to help one cotton farmer in east carroll parish gin his coffin. there was a good omen for the country, believe me. it really was. in that first year, i thought an awful lot of robert kennedy and i could remember his words. you've got to do more. what are you going to do about mississippi? that's not good enough.

i want suits in every parish, every county in mississippi and alabama and every parish in louisiana. so we started and first there was macon county, alabama, and then we filed just about at the time of the freedom rise the first case under the kennedy administration, dallas county, selma, alabama, and then in yull, two cases were filed in mississippi, at the same time, pursue -- the student nonviolent coordinating committee's representative wrote and said that sncc was going to work on voter registration in mississippi and that put another burden on robert kennedy to see that the law was going to be enforced.

all through that -- those months in 1961, there were cases filed in clark county, mississippi, forest county, mississippi, ouachita, louisiana, jefferson davis county, august 4, montgomery, alabama, august 4, panola, mississippi, october 16, manderson parish, louisiana, tallahassee county, mississippi, then before the end of the year, great case, u.s. vs. louisiana and then shortly after, the beginning of 1962, the other great case, u.s. vs. mississippi. those were remarkable times. i've been asked to -- what i

remember best about robert kennedy. i remember his drive, his ability to get attorneys to work for him, his yen rossity, and his sense of humor. i've been asked, what do you think was his legacy. hear this, robert kennedy's legacy was the voting rights act of 1965. i've been asked why doening he stood so strong were civil rights. i think the words that expressed it best, he was such a strong advocate for the

public accommodation the lunch counter acome dailingses of the civil rights act of 1964. he said, i know bob kennedy always thought, i know it without a glimmer of a doubt, that just because of the trust you know, the need to keep the black kids, black students to believe in their government, we had to support them on this issue of public accommodations. at least it was the morally -- the moral thing to do. that was the robert kennedy i remember. [applause] >> i wonder if we can change the pace a little, let me ask john seigenthaler, what was it like to go visit hickory hill?

>> what was it like to go visit hickory hill? it was -- to begin with, chaos. no, it was a wonderful experience to visit hickory hill. i look at his six children who are here today and you couldn't go to hickory hill and have dinner without seeing those angelic faces beaming, smiling, sometimes tearful faces, without hearing ethey will lead them in their night -- ethel

lead them in their night prayers, without seeing rob rough house with them. there was something called the hickory hill seminars. leading lights to the administration came to hickory hill to conduct those seminars, bringing their own expertise from their own backgrounds to share with other members of the administration. it was bob's vision that these seminars would bring the administration and those who were leading it together in interaction that would promote cooperation and understanding throughout that administration.

to go to hickory hill, for whatever reason, and there were some tough decisions made there , was always, for me, a sheer joy. it was an exciting experience and so many memories reside there and i think to understand the fullness of his humanity, you needed to see him at home with ethel who knew him best and loved him most and with those children who are indeed the most vital segment of his legacy.

>> john, i wonder if we can recall a little bit the night of ole miss, i remember -- i was in washington in the department, the attorney general was at the white house during that -- it was one of the worst nights of my life, i was just a spectator. there was so much danger, so much threat, so much violence but about 4:00 in the morning, the attorney general's phone rang and there was nobody else there to answer it, so i answered it, and it was the president. he said, is my brother there. i said, no, he's on his way to the white house. he said in that case, i'm free to ask you, how is he doing? could you talk about that night from your perspective? >> well, several weeks before i

was working on a voter registration case in forest county, mississippi, it was a contempt case against a registrar and there was a very peculiar three-judge court judging that case. the three judges were three justices of -- judges of the court of appeals, judge john miner-wisdom, judge brown of texas and judge bell from fwea. during that time -- from georgia. during that time, james meredith was pushing to get into university in the state of mississippi one way or another -- and the state of mississippi one way or another was trying to keep him out. he'd been rejected by governor barnett for the first time. the attorney general said to me, he said, i think if you go to louisiana, new orleans with jim mcshane and get james meredith, i think that they

will register him. her -- register meredith at the office of the university of mississippi in jackson. so we went there and there was a crowd around the office building and we went up to the seventh floor, the state office building, and when we got to the door to the university of mississippi's office, the door opened and there stood the honorable ross barnett. and at that time, the television lights went on behind me and governor barnett looked at me and then he looked at james mcshane with a map of ireland on his face, then he looked at james meredith and said, which one of you is james meredith. well, from -- we got turned back there, so then we went to

memphis and there was maneuvering back and forth about getting us into the university and we went halfway down to jackson one day and said it wasn't safe, go back, so finally on a sunday afternoon, it was worked out that we could enter the university and suitable, very suitable quarter, secure quarters were provided for james meredith, about 200 yards behind the lyceum building, where all the trouble started. and it began as a kind of a rally after a football game with the students jeering the marshals who had surrounded parts of the lyceum building. as it got dark, it got awfully mean. there was real, real trouble. it was very, very fortunate and

it turned out as it did because it could have turned out much, much worse. but anyway, the next morning, james meredith was registered and he started his class. he continued to go into his classes and he graduated from the university of mississippi. now six months before that happened, i sat with an attorney in the jus toties -- justice department, civil rights division, burke marshall and that attorney expressed doubt that james meredith would enter the university that fall. he was sure that there would be some deal made that meredith would not enter the university. and burke said to him, there's not going to be any doubt about it. he is going to go to the university and he's going to be

able to stay in the university and if he wants to, he's going to be able to graduate from the university. he was speaking for robert kennedy. that's what happened. [applause] >> congressman, john mentioned, rightly, the voting rights act of 1965. one could say that was the ultimate achievement of the department, as burke once wrote, only political power, not courted orers or other federal law, well ensure the election of fair men as sheriffs, school board members, police chiefs, county commissioners, and state officials. think of those words, fair men, you're a wonderful example of what happened because of the

voting rights act. could you talk some about its effect to your knowledge? >> without the voting rights act of 1965, we wouldn't be living in the society that we're living in today. the voting rights act of 1965 transformed not just the american south but it transformed our nation. just think, just a few short years ago, john doar, john seigenthaler, charlene hunter-gordon would tell you and the lawyers who worked in the department of justice, that hundreds and thousands of people stood in unmovable lines. john, on one occasion a man was asked to count the numbers of poofers soap, on one occasion he was asked to count the

number of yellly beans in a jar. the county was 80% african-american, there was not a single registered african-american voter in the county. you had to be table interpret a section of the constitution of the state and people were beaten, shot, killed. evicted from their farms and plantations system of the voting rights act transformed not just the south but all of us. bobby kennedy said on one occasion, i think during the campaign, i think this is what happened, he would be very proud that this happened, he said on one occasion there must be a revolution. not a revolution in the treats. not a revolution of violence. but a revolution of values. and a revolution of ideas. and that's what has happened in the american south. i've said over and over again, without the voting rights act

of 1965, without the bridge in selma, there would be no barack obama as president of the united states of america. >> the congressman just mentioned changing the spirit of the south. could you tell us about the legacy of robert kennedy's contributions as they affected the world from, for example, south africa? >> well, i think, you know, he began even then in the maye that he came to the university of georgia to talk about the importance of the emerging nations of the world and how our own destiny was linked to that. i think this was the first time that a lot of those people in that room had ever heard anything like that.

he had foresight to see where things were going. and he laid it out that day and he talked about, you know, the countries where, like south africa, where people were still under the awful racist system of apartheid and i think that his vision was about, as he said so often in so many of the speeches of his that i've read, including that law day speech, his vision was about not only an american society where justice and freedom and equality were values that everybody embraced, but a world society that embraced those vols. and i think that's where he was at. i think that's where martin luther king was headed. to talk about how the

interconnection between the justice here and the justice elsewhere and i think that's something we still grapple with today. but as i said earlier, his values, the values he articulated, were values that, you know, i don't know that that many people come along in a lifetime whose values are so timeless and transen daunt. -- and transcendent. martin luther king was one. we listened to john f. kennedy. i still quote him in graduation speeches, ask not what you can -- it's still relevant. he was visionary in his think, not only about our own society but how we fit into the larger global community. >> it's a wonderful note to end on. thank you to the panel for an extraordinary presentation.

>> the notable qualities, as john seigenthaler said -- is that better? was his extraordinary capacity to size up people. that was evident from his choice of colleagues. stellar lawyers like byron white, lou douglas, bob morgenthau, a star among them was r.f.k.'s deputy and then successor as attorney general.

one of my favorite moments in years of friendship with nick came at ole miss when the army -- it started probably a little before midnight. the army was ready to move from memphis about that time. but it took them five hours to get what should have been about a 45-minute trip. and at least two people were killed during that time. there could have been many more had it not been for the courage of the marshals. when general aprograms and his command team finally arrived at the lyceum building, he said he couldn't understand, how did the attorney general know so much? how had they been able to communicate? because the military, their elaborate signal corps facilities hadn't worked. nick reached into his pocket, took out a dime and pointed to the pay phone.

we're pleased indeed that nick could join us, at least by video. i think he probably wouldn't mind my reminding you of something that harold ace tyler, who had been the deputy attorney general when john first came to the department under bill rogers, when nick was appointed finally after five months of waiting, ace tyler sent him a note and said, congratulations. what this country needs is a bald attorney general. >> i wish i could be with you physically today but age interferes. i'd like to wish the attorney general a happy birthday, tell him not to worry about his gray

hairs, and say a few words about one of my heroes, bobby kennedy. i think people forget that when bobby was apointed attorney general, he was the most -- least popular appointment that the president -- that president kennedy made. he was criticized as being too young, too inexperienced, and probably too political. so it's interesting that 50 years later, i think nobody would have predicted, except of course ethel, that we would be celebrating him as the greatest attorney general of the 20th century. how is that possible? it's because he was himself a remarkable person, but also because -- which nobody, i

think, understood, really, he was dedicated to government, to making government work, and to law. and he was determined that he would make the department of justice the face of law in the united states. as it should be. after he was made attorney general, he continued to get criticism. he got criticism from the civil rights people because he wasn't giving them sufficient protection. which he didn't see how he could do under the laws that then existed. he did appoint many new attorneys he went to court with them. he sought to vindicate their rights. that wupt enough at that time. he also got criticized for being ruthless.

i think because of his attitude toward jimmy hoff fa. but ruthless is -- jimmy hoffa. but ruthless is probably the most inappropriate word in the english language to describe a person as compassionate as bobby was. why did he go after hoffa and organized crime, which he did no not because of the criminal activities so much as because of their capacity to corrupt government. that was something he wouldn't stand for. so it's interesting that today celebrate bobby for his accomplishments in civil rights, his ability against all odds to get the passage of the 1960 civil rights act. but i'd like you to think of it in a broader context. i don't think it was his

accomplishment in civil rights alone that gave him that reputation. what he did while achieving the goal of equal protection for blacks, what he did was to preserve the federal system and to preserve the government of law. and for that, it doesn't make any difference what your race or politics are. the country ought to be very grateful. i often think of bobby as a leader because he was a leader. he appointed exceptional people into the department of justice to help him run it. but you never forgot at any time that bobby was the attorney general, that he was the person that made the decisions, that he was the person who supported you in doing what you believed to be right. let me add that no attorney

general could do it for himself. and that the success of an attorney general depends on every single person working in the department having the same determination, the same outlook, the same capacity to view law as -- and its importance to the democracy we all love. [applause] >> as the attorney general, i'm going to take a couple of privileges here. i want to first note that we have former attorney general benjamin silvetti here with us today, he was one of my first bosses when i joined the justice department. welcome.

and i think i'd also like to can the members of the kennedy family to stand so we can recognize you all. [applause] >> there are a lot of them, aren't there. i want to thank each of our panelists for sharing their insights and remarkable experience with us today. now it's my honor to turn the program over to kathleen kennedy-townsend, the first of robert and ethel kennedy's children. like her father and like so many in her family, kathleen's life and career have been defined by a commitment to public service.

and we are honored she has returned to the department today to help us honor her father and to speak on maff of her family. plose join me in welcoming kathleen kennedy-townsend. [applause] >> thank you so much. thank you, mr. attorney general, for welcoming us all here including so many members of our family. you're a brave man. can i mention two other people who i think are very special here. secretary cohen and his wonnerful wife janet who joined us. thank you so much. thank you very much. and my own attorney general from the state of maryland, doug gansler, thank you for coming as well. this has been an amazing weak. there have been many joys and

much sadness as well. as you've all heard, my uncle, sarge shriver, died this week. he had led a life of dwote service. he accomplished so much. the peace corps, the war on poverty, and his work with special olympics. his support for his wife, which as a wife, i'm always big on men who help you, so i love that about sarge. and also what i loved about the slivers, what i do love about them, what an extraordinary family they are and how the children help one another and so i'm -- i want to say on maff of our family, how much we'll miss sarge. the other person who died this week was angie novelo. my father's secretary from the jungest, i can't remember life without angie. and i remember she used to -- she was very devoted to him. she would come to our house on sundays and take dictate -- dictation. that's when you had to do shorthand, i couldn't

understand what she could possibly understand from her scribbles. but she always said, yes, bob. with a very wonderful smile and great sense of calmness. and really helped him so much. her brother-in-law was carmine belino, who was a great accountant and who could figure out where the money went and who profited and because of his help, my father was able to go after many people in organized crime. so that wasthat's the sadness of this week. there's been a lot of joy as well, our family has gotten together. caroline and ed did a wonderful job in celebrating president kennedy's administration and his extraordinary inaugural address. weir here with my aunt and god mother jean schmidt who, i have to say, brought peace to ireland. and of course it makes me remember her wonderful husband,

steve smith, who is a great friend of all of ours. vickie is with us and has, as was said yesterday, helped so much, teddy, be the person he could be. thank you very much for that and for your family. there are lots of others brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, fi mention all of them, we'll be here forever. so i'm moving on. but it's good to be here with all my cousins and i think there are a few others as well. it's good to be back at the justice department. i often visited here with my brothers and sisters when i was young and i was lucky enough and fortunate enough to work here under janet reno. we came here as children because our father wanted us to know what was going on, what challenges he was facing, whether with brar net or george

wallace or j. edgar hoover, which i'll get to in a minute. we came to the attorney general's office which is now a conference room he was chose it as an office, the largest room, probably, in this building almost because he liked to work collaboratively. you could see from from the pictures, there are always a lot of people in the room he liked to listen and hear what everybody liked to say. when we came here, we often came for dinner, we played with our large, drooling newfoundland and we tossed footballs and we often saw how many of our pictures, our water colors, daddy had put up against the wall. as you know, it is a large room. it had tall ceilings and marvelous wmple p.a. murals at either end. even in the midst of the activity at the lower level, i

always found myself drawn to those murals, of muscular men and women walking together up a hill, always striving forward, the work for justice as a continual and constant challenge. that challenge, the work of taking on difficult and intractable questions, excited my father. he wanted to be better and to do better. every night around our parents' bed we would pray that he would be the best attorney general ever. can i have some water? thank you, mr. attorney general. very kind of you. i first saw his dedication to justice even before he was attorney general. he was in the counsel to the

senate racket committee where he was investigating corruptionful when other mothers were taking their children to the playground to make castles in the sand box to ride on the seesaw to climb the jungle gym, my mother brought my brothers and i to the senate racket committee hearings. some of my first words were, i refuse to answer that question. on the grounds that it may tend to incriminate me. that was probably a useful phrase for a 4-year-old. but my father was able to see that organized crime was closing its vise on us. infill straiting -- infiltrating unions that should have been defending working men and women, taking over what was once legitimate businesses. he said either we're going to be successful or they will own the country. looking back after 50 years, it's hard to grasp the respect and deference that j. edgar hoover commanded in government

and to the nation at large. however, hoover said there was no such thing as organized crime. but my father wouldn't be intimidated by conventional wisdom or by the mob. and his efforts led congress to pass a law on organized crime and to authorize the federal government to prosecute the thugs who would rob, intimidate and kill their fellow citizens. the thugs weren't happy. they threatened my brothers and sisters and myself. they threatened to throw acid in our eyes. and when we were at our lady of victory parochial school, while the other children could leave at the final bell, we often went up to the principal's office to wait for my mother to come and pick us up. to make sure that we were safe. as you know, once my father became attorney general, his

attention increasingly turned, as you have heard today, to civil rights. during the fry dom riots of 1961, civil rights activists were met by white mobs and kansasmen with lead pipes, baseball bats and chains. just another part of the grey hound bus driver story. at one point, drivers were so frightened they refused to drive. the riders could have been called off. my father called up the grey hound supervisor demanding they get someone, anyone to drive the buses. the government is going to be very upset if this group doesn't get to continue the trip. somebody better get in that bus and get these people on the way. he also mentioned that the grey hound's license to ormente was up before the internate -- interstate commerce commission. grey hound found a driver. in 1963, charlayne hunter

became the first african-american to graduate from the university of georgia. at that time, she said it eloquently and this is why i thought of it today, that the united states could only win the cold war by living up to the promise of equality and freedom for its citizens. he knew that it wasn't enough to mouth principles. we had to get results. i still have a letter that my father wrote me on june 11, 1963, at 4:45 p.m. it says, dear kathleen, we are in the midst of registering two negros at the university of alabama. despite the opposition of governor wallace. i hope by the time you get to college these problems will be far mind us. love to you, daddy. one of those students was vivian malone, whose sister, dr. sharon malone is here with us today and with her family and once again, good going on

choice of a wife. my father worked hard to get the 1964 civil rights act passed and he was pleased that they figured out it should come under the commerce clause. in 1968, my father predicted that in 40 years the united states would predict an african-american president. he would be thrilled not only that barack obama won but is now fears willly tackling the toughest challenges, beginning with the near collapse of our economy, moving on to health care -- [applause] and nuclear arms control. like president obama, my father also understood that justice is not simply about passing laws or enforcing them, but also about creating a country that is just, a country that acts fairly and exwit pli -- equitably, that understands that some children are born

fortunate and others are not. he said, there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly as the shot or the bomb in the night, this is the violence of faceless institutions of indifference and inaction. what robert frost called "the slow, smokeless burning of decay." this is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. this is the slow destruction of a child by hunger and schools without books and homes without heat. in the winter. my father knew that we who are fortunate have a responsibility to open our hearts an minds to those who are plagued by poverty or poor health or broken families or inadequate education. so he launched the juvenile justice initiative to create opportunities for children who

didn't have access and out of these efforts grew the poverty freshman and -- program and eventually the office of justice program, where i was fortunate enough to work under janet reno. she created the comprehensive immunities effort that brought together education, h.h.s., h.u.d., and justice department to build safe, ivie brant, healthy communities. when i became lupet governor i took this that example to maryland and we were able to reduce crime in our most violent neighborhoods by 35% in three years. i was also privileged to work with janet rene on the federal assault weapons ban. if that statute were still in place, the tucson shooter would not have had such an easy access to guns or easy ability to keep running his deadly errands. i believe -- i believe that

this department and this country has got to do a better job on gun regulation and gun control and making our citizens safe. as my father said, we glorify killing on movies and television screens and call it entertainment. we make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire weapons and violence breeds violence. repression brings retaliation. and only a cleaning of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul. after my uncle, john kennedy, was killed, my father was devastated. he stayed on for justice for a time but his heart was broken. all that he had worked for seemed torn apart.

j. edgar hoover regained his ascendancy and stopped work on organized crime. so while the work at justice continued, the spirit was surely weakened. at that time, my father loved to walk. in fact, he'd always taken our family on walks in the neighborhood. we often ended up at archibald cox's house who wasn't really sure what to do with the attorney general, his wife, seven kids and four dogs. one thing he did know to do was not to invite us in. my father also loved shakespeare. growing up, my room was next to his bathroom and every morning he would do his situps while listening to shakespeare records. one evening, he asked me to walk with him and recited a passage from henry v. from this day to the ending of

the world, we shall be remembered. we few, we happy few, we band of brothers, for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. those words capture the camaraderie and purpose that animated the kennedy administration and this justice department. my father saw that spirit because along with his brother jack he helped to create it. the band of brothers at justice applied themselves tirelessly and courageously to the great moral questions of our nation and helped african-americans secure their civil rights. many of us today, many of us here today were not part of that band of brothers. we may wish we had participated in that heroic work. but i think that my father would say that every generation has its own challenges and its

own need for heroism. he was a great attorney general because he saw in justice -- injustices that to others had been invisible and he called on his colleagues at justice and then on the nation at large to see it and address it. all of you, mr. attorney general, are involved in important and critical questions in this day, at this time. as you make your climb up that hill toward a just, peaceful, and equitable america, thank you for remembering my father's legacy. [applause]

>> thank you, kathleen, for those wonderful words. i think that is a very fitting way for us to end the commemoration and tribute to our nation's greatest attorney general. i would like to invite all of you to join us on the fifth floor, where we're going to have a reception. i'd like to say in my office, but it is not truly my office. it is his office. the only -- he only lets me borrow it. please join us upstairs on the fifth floor and we'll continue this celebration of attorney general robert f. kennedy. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> coming up, c-span's documentary "inside the white house," following that, at about 3:00 eastern, a look at

wikileaks, we begin with a discussion of how it impacted newspapers with the editors of "the new york times" and "the guardian" and then a look at wikileaks' influence on foreign policy. and then at 5:30, how politics affect the judiciary. we mentioned the discussion coming up on the wikileaks website, here's how academics view its impact on foreign policy. >> let's talk about a few myths of wiki leaks, myth number one is the idea that these documents that have been released are facts. documents are not facts.

one of our colleagues says, a cable or memo is one person's perspective and is usually designed to do three things. advocate a particular position, report information and make the author look smart, not necessarily in that order. so a cable, for example, hypothetically that says a u.s. government official has met with a foreign official and that foreign official believed that the u.s. should attack a third country, call it country x, does not mean that that foreign official's government actually holds the position that the united states should attack country x. it could be that that's the case. but it could be that that is actually the minority view in the foreign government and the official is trying to convince the united states that in fact it's the majority view and not the minority view. maybe the foreign official is posturing to get something from

the united states. maybe the u.s. official misunderstood. -- misunderstood the conversation. maybe the u.s. official had his or her own agenda and is reporting this particular meeting and omitting other meetings that don't serve that foreign policy agenda. or maybe the entire cable has been overtaken by events, things have changed and actually that conversation is so outdated that it is not the position of that foreign official anymore. that the u.s. should attack country x. so we need to be, i think, very cushes and very careful even of press reporting of wikileaks documents and not treat these things as ironclad facts. for not. so that's myth number one. and i think that the upshot here is that in some way the wikileaks data dump actually obscures some realities of u.s. foreign policymaking as much as many people believe it

clarifies those realities. so some caution in how we deal with those kinds of documents. myth number two, i think, which is really pop gated by julia asang and wick yieleaks is that secrecy is always bad and transparency is always good. now i'm a researcher that writes and publishes open source information about the intelligence community. so i'm a big fan of transparency and openness in government. i have a great first amendment lawyer and i work very hard because i think it's important to try to make public some of the critical decisions -- deficiencies of our secret agencies. but that said, there's a limit to transparency. there is a careful balancing that has to be done between the interests of protecting informing to guard national security and the interests of making that information known to promote the public interest or to promote transparency. secrecy, in fact, has been used since the early days of the

republic, george washington was a spy master, he favored invisible inc., ran his own spies, got the first funds authorized by congress and secrecy has been a part of the american government since our earliest days. bing there's a sense in wiki leaks' tapping into this in american culture that we are skeptical and rightly sew of secrecy in a democratic system. harry truman was worried when he thought about creating the c.i.a. about the possibility of creating an american gestapo. he had nazi germany in mind. we are naturally -- naturally, in our d.n.a., wary of creditcy in a democratic society. i think it's that wariness that wikileaks is tapping into. which leads me to the big difference between wikileaks and mainstream media. this is a policy matter, not a legal matter. i can't speak to the legal

issues. but in my view, when you think about "the new york times" or "the washington post," traditional, mainstream media, they are owned by americans who explicitly consider the balancing between keeping something secret and publishing it in the newspaper for everyone to see. and they take that responsibility quite seriously. transparency is important but transparency has limits because they are considering national security interests. at the same time, they're trying to publish information. wikileaks, by contrast, is run by an australian who considers himself more of an anarchist. his interest is in exposing the united states and his view is that transparency should have no limits. that's what he thinks is the noble enterprise of wikileaks. there is no balancing or very little balancing in what wikileaks is doing. think about what is in the interest of american national

security to reveal or to withhold. just to give you some historical examples, as many of you know, in the cuban missile crisis, the "washington post" and "new york times" got wind that something was afoot in cuba and kennedy's white house asked those papers to hold publication of any information about what was happening on the island of cuba for those critical 13 days. so that the president and his closest advisors could deliberate in secret. and i think it's fair to say that the historical consensus is that those 13 days led to a much better decision making process and jut come than had that information been made public and kennedy been forced to act in the first few days of the crisis. in fact the transcripts show if kennedy had been forced to make a decision the first day, the consensus was leaning toward the side of an air strike which could have much more likely

triggered nuclear war than the blockade he ultimately choose. there's balancing in the mainstream media and i don't see that in the wikileaks case. let me turn to a few implications. i think to a great extent, we don't know yet how much potential harm there is from the release of these hundreds of thousands of documents. my co-panelists may disagree with me. as cal mentioned at the outset, the administration is divided about how serious this is, with secretary clinton arguing it's very serious and another secretary saying it's not that big a deal at all and it's up to each country. >> new credit card rules are going into effect. the head of the new consumer protection bureau will lead a discussion of those changes tomorrow morning at 9:00

eastern. joining her, industry executives, academics and consumer advocates. you can see live coverage on c-span2. then at 3:00 eastern, c-span will be live with future of social security hosted by the woodrow wilson international center. >> now, c-span's feature documentary "the white house," inside america's most famous home.

>> i'm speaking to you from the room where i have worked since april, 1945. this is the president's office in the west wing of the white house. >> go down the hall and up the stairs from this office is the part of the white house where the president and his family live. >> i never forget that i live in a house owned by all the american people and that i have been given that trust. >> this house is only on loan to its tenants. we are temporary occupants linked to a continuity of presidents. >> it's a very, very public house and a wonderful private home for our president. >> this is the people's house which means we want to make sure we leave this place in as extraordinary a condition as we found it.

>> this is the story of a house located at the center of a nation's identity and the focal point of international events. whose occupants have a chance to leave their own legacy on the official residence of the president and the symbolic home of the american people. it is a place alive with activity. and quiet at times when you feel the presence of the past. it's a public museum with a collection that helps tell the story of those who have lived here. an office building where momentous decisions are made and announced to the world. and a private residence where first families can retreat as an ever-increasing spotlight is shone on them. created by the founders as a symbol of the newfound democracy and its freedom, it is built by free men and slaves

alike. its story of survival an growth over time mirrors that of our country. >> it withstood war and fire and bull doysers, just as its inhabitants have faced a stern test or two. >> it's a house -- it's the story of a house that in many ways in longer exist. its insides have been burnt, gutted and rebuilt but even those parts of it that have long become land fill or that we now see only in faded photographs are part of our nation's collective memory and our national heritage. and now, we walk inside the white house and through time into its grand state floors where the rooms and spaces all tell story os they have past. and -- stories of the past. and where history still unfolds. and past the velvet ropes of public tours to those places

few get to see as we explore presidents an first families who have changed this home into what it is today. >> the helicopter lands on the back lawn here. >> it is a place of rhythms based on the first family. >> there's a tremendous urgency about the white house. you have the tranquil state rooms and nothing else is tranquil. >> ladies and gentlemen, preset for the president's statement in the roosevelt room. >> when they're here, activity hits the peak.

in the west bing wing, the business of the pecktive branch is conducted and transmitted to the world by the ever-present media. in the east wing, the first lady's staff plans both private and official events down to themy newt details. and in the center, the -- to the minute details. and in the center, the staff works hard to ready the white house for those events. >> the house is a metaphor for the country. it's roughly as old as the country but it is as relevant as this morning's headlines. it receives a fresh injection of life with every family that moves in. >> when the family is away, there are no events, but changes that a first lady wants made to the rooms in the home get carried out. five days a week, along with all the other demands on the home, a constant stream of visitors come into this american house museum that

stands as the symbolic home to the people of a nation. >> every time i come in here, it's still a thrill to see the beauty of it, the simplicity of it, the knowledge of what took place in these rooms. for those of us who love history, the layers of history that are still alive here makes it magnificent. for me, it is that what that allows you to go in. this house really can be open to everybody. >> sitting in the middle of 18 acres known as president park, the white house is home to each of the chief executives since john adams. it has undergone many changes. the core house remains a place

everyone would recognize. the ground and first floors are open to tourists. inside the central mansion, there are 130 rooms. the ground, state, and central floors have an oval shaped room. the central space is a diplomatic reception. with a library and china rooms complementing it on the side. one floor up is the eighth floor. anchored by a room in the center. with the state dining room at one end, the east room at the other and the red and green rooms. on the second floor, a private residence, the oval room is the

central space bordered by the treaty room, the red room, and the queen's room. - private dining's room. >> if you took the white house and pulled it out of the ground, it would be huge. you would not imagine how enormous it would be. the west wing with sellers and basements and the east wing with a bomb shelter. you would have enough for six or seven stories that . >> stretching from the west wing, the complex is over 300 feet long. it is equipped for a huge political staff as well as the present staff of about 100 w ho helped run the mansion. it was not always this way.

>> sitting at my desk in the white house, i make my first radio report to the people. >> when franklin roosevelt arrived in march, 1933, the yearshouse's 13was 130 old. perhaps no chief executive before or since paid closer attention to physically transforming the buildings and grounds care than roosevelt, it's long as president. >> roosevelt revolutionized how we see the white house and its occupants. >> faced with the challenges of the great depression and world war ii, fdr expanded the role of the central government and along with that, increasing the size of the white house complex to what we see today. on one side, he adds on to the west wing, bringing it to its current size. inside, he had the new oval office build in a location that

all presidents since have used. outside, he hired famous landscape architects to design the current look at the south grounds with his beautiful gardens and groves and historic trees. on the other side, he builds up the east wing to its size today. >> i wish very much i could be out there rolling eggs with all of you. i had my eggs for breakfast. >> we love the white house. -- he loved the white house. his work with the country was parallel. he had an architect who met him and they had an project every day. he created the east wing which he could not get the money from congress and he waited until the war started and he built it for war purposes. he meant -- he was collecting things to go in the museum.

he was an amateur architect. roosevelt enjoyed his life there. everyone came to him. he would have been happy on the porch in a rocking chair. >> while the country sees him standing at a podium, those who lived and worked at the white house view him in a wheelchair or in the metal leg braces he wore after contracting polio. the white house is the center of fdr's presidency and he uses it and a handful of rooms inside to his advantage. >> i am happy to address this evening in this unique manner -- >> utilizing the growing power of film, he transformed how the building is seen by the nation. increasing visibility far beyond

any president before him. >> he had acute awareness of the power of the white house. the message was in the historic white house. >> just below the south portico is the entrance to the white house reserved for presidents, first ladies, and their guests. leading into the first home they see. the diplomatic reception room. centrally located on the ground floor, it is beyond the bounds of public tours and it is made famous by fdr. >> never before since plymouth rock -- >> fdr made the first of many fireside chats to the nation during his presidency. >> i will tell you what has been done and why and what the next steps are going to be. >> mainly through radio but sometimes allowing the newsreel cameras in for portions of his

jobs. like so many of the rooms here, and has had uses over the years and its connections between different presidents and first ladies are many. originally, in 1902 -- 1902, his cousin turned it into the diplomatic reception room as part of his work on the white house. as you look at it today, its visual features are a legacy of first lady jacqueline kennedy as part of a restoration of the home. >> this is the broom that people see first. everyone who comes to it -- this is the the room people see first. everyone who comes to it. it should be a pretty room. this is wallpaper printed in france in 1834. it is old scenes of america.

mrs. roosevelt was the first lady to hold -- first first lady to hold press conferences. she walked into the red room with a box of candy which was passed around and booklets. she was the first first lady to hold a press conference. there were no male reporters allowed. >> had to he their first female reporter. they say a generation of female journalists got their job because of eleanor. she would do radio shows and she was riding her columns. >> the question to have sent me

is on the various stages of life in the white house. >> with world war ii comes the need for secrecy and the transformation of another room in the home. in part due to one of the most famous visit ever to the white house. >> this is an inspiring secret. winston churchill's is here. after a bearing 10 day trip, he began conversations with the the president roosevelt. >> he worked setting up temporary headquarters in the white house. fdr had his staff assemble his war room inside the home. located next to the diplomatic reception room on the ground floor of the white house, and with his positions on the other and, fdr's staff took over

converted it to a office where he and a select few monitored and planned the war effort. >> you feel that fdr in the map room. you know what happened there. it looks so radically different. they have things all over the walls and maps. old beat up metal desks and telephones. funny little desk lamps and things like that. it was the brains, the brains of the white house. for the president personally. >> entering the map room from the vantage point while in his wheelchair, he traveled toward the center of this space. imagine what it would have looked like. you see the last map made for president roosevelt. on it are the projected european troop movements in april, 1945. >> he was always interested in the maps that would show the

locations of ships and where his sons were in relation to the war and he was extremely interested and extremely well informed on the movements of the military and information came from there. >> they would spend time there and it is the story of eleanor witnessing them. she did come in a couple of times but she saw them in the room playing with the pins on the wall and she said they look like two little boys playing soldier. there were in animated conversation and a look like there were having a wonderful time and she paused, and said, "may be too wonderful." they should not be looking like they were having fun moving pens around on the wall. >> as he grappled with the country at war, mrs. roosevelt wrestles with tensions in the home. she and her head housekeeper citing austerity reasons and

leaving the service staff would function if it is one color, dismissed all white members and hired only blacks at a lower cost. >> that darky in uniform is john mays. seen ashitehous house is the central american place. part of that centrality is because it took place and grappled with questions of race. it was a question that -- it reflected its time. it is a symbol of america for good and ill. a symbol of what is possible and a symbol of america falling down. '>> the employees today are as to persons the nation's population. they provide continuity to the white house two different administrations as well as making this place a whole man

stage for the presidential family. >> they are part of a sense of privacy. you do not see them sharing all their stories. they feel that part of their professional life is to do work. have been some of the guardians of tradition when it comes to helping you administration understand what the white house is and how to use the white house. >> the white house staff is -- has figured out how to accommodate families and make them feel as normal as possible even though there are dozens of people dropping of flowers and fixing things up all the time. you begin to see them as family in some ways and that is the duty of this place. it is the staff who make it home for so many different families over the years. >> as the work here, the offense they prepare for provide a window into the home today -- the events they6 prepare for

provide a window into the home today. this offers a window into its storied past. they are being made for a dinner honoring the original architect. >> he was george washington's man. >> i think it is important to understand where it came from. so many things are there and are unique about white house life and white house usage. the living comes from that time. >> it was after all, george washington who created it and was the cornerstone, who had a major say in its design and location. >> with the nation's capital

scheduled to move to a new federal city by 1800, in 1792, washington and thomas jefferson announced a design competition to build the president's house. after the selection of washington's favorite, the designer and architect, problems re the befoire cornerstone was set. >> he said we do not know where to put it. do we put it to the north or south or east to west? the avenues are converging on it. they have to see it. he came and took off his coat and drove the stakes in the ground to where it stands today. he had a very certain case that was out of style. it was out of style or a state. it was loaded with carpeting in

washington ordered that. he wanted it. if you go on a tour and got the north door, there is a 14 foot garland carved with roses and into the face of this down. you would think it was stuck on. it was carved into the stone. it was 14 feet wide. before his retirement, he said something about the stone cutting. i think there is not the tortase for ornament there once was. >> entering the white house your washington's garland, come into the state floor and into a layout where he and the other presidents would recognize. today with the state dining room at the west end of the hall, red, blue, and green parlors, and a large public room at the east end of the floor and as you walk down the corridor, you come into the east room.

the most public and perhaps the men's room in the house. with a direct legacy to george washington. >> the east room, the great ceremonial public room of the white house was something of which he to a particular interest. >> it is the grand ceremonial room of the white house. hear, public history unfolds in front of a nation. it has borne witness to a historic treaty and bill signing. white house winnings. countless musical performances. visits by head of state and events celebrating history. >> this house is renewed by the ageless fidelity of its founders and the boundless promise of its future heirs. >> it is the nation where the -- the area where the nation mourns together. more and a place of morning, the

east room is symbolic the unfolding history and where george washington's idea of a public audience room connects to our nation's past. >> it is a room that has been sanctified. a portrait of george washington. now kept company by the martha washington. >> it is this painting that is the only portrait hanging in the white house on november 1, 1800. the day his successor, john adams, becomes the first president to occupy the home. >> the house was woefully incomplete. no rooms were furnished. barry fritts -- q rooms were plastered. there was no running water. there was an outdoor privy. the grounds were withered with

what you'd find on a construction site. there was no light. it was not a very livable house. >> inside this unfinished tom, abigail adams used the east room for anything but what washington envisioned. >> she did use it as a drawing room. it was not finished. it was leaking like crazy. she set up the clotheslines in there. it has no other functions for us. john adams was compared to george washington on favorably. washington would receive in a black velvet suit and he was stately and tall with his silver soared. adams would stand in front of the portrait that was always there of washington and he would sit there, he did not have many teeth and he smoked his pipe and smell that way. he would stand beneath that

portrait and kind of get some titters. >> this is one of political defeat and personal tragedy. within days of moving in, the president learned his presidency would be brief. he was defeated for reelection by no other than his former friend, thomas jefferson. and then to make matters worse, their son had died. it was a house of gloom. they holed up inside the white house. >> i pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings upon all who shall inhabit it. may none but honest and wiseman ever rule under this tha roof. written on his second

night, fdr orders it inscribed and it is the lasting gift to thomas jefferson and all presidents since who have lived here. >> this is one of three dining rooms in the white house mansion. >> as visitors go through, they have a president to thank for allowing the public to come in for taurus. his presence is felt throughout the rooms and parlors. >> everything has a specific purpose. >> it was opened in 1801 by jefferson. it was originally utilized as the official white house dining room. by thomas jefferson. >> there is a feeling in the green room of jefferson when he used it as is every dining room. he had his round table and he

did all the talking. i can imagine him with thomas paine. that is where most of his dinners to place. always political. people did come to call. he was famous for having these meals where he invited everyone he knew who was brilliant to come and have these dinners. kennedy said, never has so much talent been assembled since jefferson. this is in the terms these pieces would have been made in his era. probably better than jefferson could afford to put in the white house in his time. a wonderful portrait of benjamin franklin hangs over the fireplace. ththe coffee urn that was owned

by john adam was bought when he was the minister to great britain. the wonderful scene of philadelphia that hangs above the sofa, it is mid-19th century. it shows independence hall. talking about the great people who had something to do with the declaration of independence and the constitution. >> there is enormous symbolism. he became the first president to shake hands. talk about something we take for granted. that was a gesture. >> in addition to his symbolic impact, thomas jefferson is the first president to change the structure, adding colonnades for

stables and servant quarters. with the columns to the west still standing and he is the first southern president to bring in slaves to a home partially built by enslaved labor. as was the capital. >> labor was involved in the construction of the white house and the maintenance. it was always there. there was that the economy. the land of the free and hear these people who are the slaves. labor wasof provided by african-americans. whether it was the stone that was found, working as laborers. african-americans are such a part of the fabric of america that they have built everything. >> what you have in the building of the white house is the kind of contradictions that are at the heart of america. contradictions of equality,

opportunity. contradictions of race. from day one, the white house is a symbol of all that was good. and all that needed to be addressed. >> for any american that understands the complex history of this country, you feel it. especially when you look at the drawings of how this home was built and you see many slaves who could not enter the building create the building. some of those folks could be my ancestors. there is a profound power an sense that comes from the fact that we are the first american family to occupy this residents over the years. that is our history. >> this is one of three

original documentaries. get your copy for $24.95. order at thic-span.org. for more interviews and other resources, go to c- span.org/whitehouse. unique,s book is a contemporary perspective from $56, and writers from his early years as a springfield lawyer to his presidency during one of our nation's most troubled times and his relevance today. and now, the publishers are offering a hardcover edition for the special price of $5 plus shipping and handling. click on the abraham lincoln

book and be sure to use the promo code lincoln. we now return to "inside the white house". >> designed by washington, added onto by jefferson and built to its current size by fdr, it is the home of the constant growth and change one president who never ordered a theer lifted to order thchange structure changed forever. he asked the band to play "dix ie". here where he writes and signs

documents that change our nation. here, where he comes to grief on thursday afternoon following the death of his son, and here, where his body lay in state. s leftsically, the lincoln' little imprint on the white house. in other senses, they arleft a legend. >> the mystique of the white house comes from the lincoln period. >> the house had 31 rooms of which six or seven were set aside for use by the lincoln family. there were on the second floor. >> these are the private family quarters where cameras are rarely allowed. the entire floor is set aside for the family's use. in lincoln's time without a west

wing yet built, family life and the demands of the presidency share the same space. with bedrooms at one end of the hall and offices at the other, it is here where you will find the most famous room in the house. >> i remember walking upstairs and to turn the corner to go in the place where lincoln saw and wrote, where he drafted parts of the emancipation proclamation, the gettysburg address, for me, maybe more than any other place, this is sacred space. >> the most famous room in the home is a bedroom but in lincoln's time, it was anything but a place for rest. >> this room was the office and the cabinet room. he got here around 9:00 a.m. and

he worked through the day here under the most trying circumstances and under the most demanding routine that can be imagined. a routine that is nothing like what our modern chief executive s. interfacing with the public, a constant flow of people. >> he would meet with members of the public, an incessant stream of office seekers. somehow, he managed to maintain his sense of humor. one office seekers came to complain and basically denounced the president to his ace and he said, ", ii helped put your." -- you here." lincoln said, "what a mess you got me into."

>> he had shaken so many hands that when he went into his office to sign the emancipation proclamation, his hand was shaking and numb. he put the proclamation down and said, "if i sign with a shaking hand, posterity will say he hesitated." he put it down and that is a great moment to remember. >> in the room today, it is one of the five original copies of lincoln's historic speech at the dedication of the cemetery there. and the only one signed by the 16th president. >> it encapsulates the genius and the majesty of the man. this very simple speech. it was not appreciated at the time. it is one of the great speeches in the history of the world. it is prismatic in that room, reflecting lincoln and what he

did for history. >> every once in awhile i will speak in just to read the gettysburg address. especially when i have a big speech. i am reminding myself that that was three minutes long. it is useful to look at that piece of genius. >> i can imagine the struggle he had tried to figure out how to make decisions. how do you make decisions that war? how do you make decisions about questions of race and slavery? in this space, he wrestled with so much of that. >> it is here in the most historic room where one first lady will leap her biggest imprint on the future of the white house. she reclaims part of its past and connects lincoln to his successors.

subsequent presidents continued to use the room as their office until 1932 when the west wing was completed. it would be decades until harry truman had the idea for a bedroom dedicated to lincoln. >> when truman read that the house in -- redid the house, he lnt up that room, the lincohn bedroom. it was the rum the the in which he signed the emancipation proclamation. -- room in which he signed the emancipation proclamation. >> the bedroom has undergone a variety of changes. different administrations presented it in different ways. the first major renovation was under the guidance of first lady laura bush. >> the carpet was over 50 years old. someone had worked with the white house historical association preservation board

and curators and historians, and we look back at the wallpaper he had. at the carpet he had in his office, and we did reproductions of those. >> the bad dates back to 1861. -- bed dates back to 1861. it is 6 feet wide, 8 feet long, made of carved rosewood. >> the bed with the purple and gold and fringe and leas has victorian decorations. we have photographs eithe of hoe dressed it. >> it was this bed that holds the key to understanding the lincoln family's time here.

>> the famous bet that was one of mary lincoln's many extravagant purchases as she began a campaign when she got here to redecorate this building. >> they held the bill back so he would not see it and he did and flowed into a rage. while the soldiers needed blankets, she was buying things for that damned old house. >> it was in february 1862 his middle son willie died after a bout with typhoid fever. after that, mary would never go into the room again. she never looked at the bed again. >> she never was able to absorb willie's death in the white house and lincoln said to her, he took her to the window and let her look across the river pat the mental hospital and said

if you do not get hold of yourself, you will be put there. now is the time to absorb it. upthe president will hold woule thursdays toroom on agree. how they can handle their grief goes to how we see them today. in the case of mary, it unhinged her. it melded the elements of his personality and his grief and sense of loss over willie, it morphed into a nation's sense millions of homes through the union. >> relief comes to a white house

that has been home to not only a family but union troops for the past five years. peace between the north and south came in april, and 1865. with the civil war at an end, president lincoln appears before a crowd gathered on the north lawn. looking out from the center window, he asked the marine band to play "dixie." his last speech was made from that window. he was looking at a jubilant crowd. the marine band was on the porch and he was making a conciliatory speech, when he had written out. he was throwing them on the floor. >> in the speech, he talked about the fact he thought that voting rights should be extended somehow to especially

blacks who could read and write and to soldiers who had fought in the war. >> there was someone in the audience on the lawn who was listening and turned to his friend and said, "that means negro citizenship, that is the last speech he will make." that was john wilkes booth. >> it catapulted into an assassination and is considered one of the turning points. when i think about that second- floor window, that is what i think about. >> without that melodrama, the white house would not be there today. because there or better buildings, better functioning buildings. not only the public but the presidents themselves found a certain comfort and a certain assistance in having that house. quex in the decades following

lincoln, the white house is draped in black following the assassination of james garfield. the home grows dark as well reflecting the victorian taste of the time. as a structure, the building stays the same size even as the country grows and the demands expand. just after the peace treaty ending the spanish-american war is signed, president william mckinley will be mourned in the east room after being gunned down by an anarchist in buffalo, new york. the white house needs an injection of life and a new president and his family were about to give it just that. [applause] >> welcome, everyone, to the white house. thanks for joining us. celebrating teddy roosevelt's 150th birthday. president roosevelt once said, "i do not think any family has

enjoyed the white house more than we have." >> no greater champion ever existed then theodore roosevelt. >> he had this wonderful, rambunctious family. these children who roller skated in the east room. coffinwilliam mckinley's had rested. this surge of energy. his children got into the act. >> some of the stories after the roosevelts, it was more extravagant. it was certainly not going to happen again. they were extremely conscious of propriety in that sense. the father did not allow it.

>> if you want to ask yourself, to whom does the modern zero the most, it was the roosevelts. this is a home, not the office building and was responsible for the west wing. >> the white house is over 100 years old. upstairs, edith roosevelt dr. oz this map showing how crowded things are with the family in the offices -- and the offices still sharing space. the needs of the large family colliding with the growing responses of the -- responsibilities of the presidency. they are converted into family bedrooms on the stand and it will stay that way. when looking for a space to put the president, he had his own ideas. looked at the

conservatory is where the west wing is located. "smash the glass houses." saying, i am not that kind of president. the glass houses disappeared. and then the west wing. >> considered temporary, the new office building is one story tall and i and it is a rectangular office where the president hangs a portrait of his favorite. > there are two kind of president, lincoln types and buchanan types. there was no doubt which he belongs to. it is not an accident that he put lincoln's portrait in a

place of honor. he said when i look about that portrait, i asked myself what he would have done. the day he had sworn in in march 1905, theodore roosevelt puts on a ring with a lot of lincoln's hair. there are few instances of a president identifying so strongly with the predecessor. >> as the wing is being built in a four month period, tr and edith are busy making over its ceremonial roles and transforming its floor into a style more appropriate for a growing international power. ms out went the potted pals a and stained glass screens. he took it back to the austerity of federalist times. if washington or atoms or jefferson had walked in, they

might have called home. >> walking in the footsteps, you see his legacy. he takes the east room back in time and at the other, he modernizes the state dining room to fit his needs for bigger, official dinners, enlarging it to its size today. >> when you walked into the dining room, on one level, it was simple and grandly simple.

>> by eliminating a staircase, 124 people could be fitted into that space. the wall paneling is almost all original. the sconces, the chairs, the side tables. the only thing he would not recognize is in his day there were a paneling and he had the animal heads he hung all around the room. if he saw these white walls, he would have said it is not the way i left it. >> the feature is the portrait of a thoughtful, per pack -- perhaps perplexed abraham lincoln and it is a powerful image. that painting was big waste in 1939. robert todd lincoln is said to

have said this is the best portrait of his father. >> it is still seen today. >> the buffalo heads are there because of theodore roosevelt. the mantelpiece is not original but it is a copy which was put there after the 1902 renovations with lions on the front of it. roosevelt had a thing about lions. all the architects loved lions. he made a speech against the ones at the new york library. he ordered those had to be carved as bison heads so you had buffalo on the mantelpiece. >> looking down, you see a portrait of theodore roosevelt hanging in the east room that

george washington designed and tr refined as part of his renovation. >> when i look a that portrait, i have to look at the painters. they could not get a pose. roosevelt put his hand on the post of the stair and sargeant said that i sit s it. >> if he were to step of that portrait, he would say, my east room. it is largely not changed. since the 1932 renovation. after 100 years of that room being kept very up-to-date, and

it got progressively more victorian and exotic, he thought it should be more stately. more something a european would understand, as the diplomatic set piece. a place where he could do his business with foreign visitors. although it was gutted in the truman renovation and they would work and plaster was replaced, the woodwork was copied to match what had been put in in 1902 and they reinstalled the chandeliers and the cornices and drapes. the ideas that they were gold and white dates from that period. he would be pleased that he got the american institute of architects saying the white house should be left teddy roosevelt created it. which was a little presumptuous to think that no president or first city would have a say in how it would look. -- first lady would have a say

in how it would look. >> on the state court, tourists can see the impact of tr and other presidents. his lasting imprint is what he left in the part of the home that is only first families and invited guests. it is the second four presidents. since the executive offices were moved out during theodore

roosevelt's time, the floor was reserved for the families use and it is here where they come to live private lives out of the public spotlight. >> the white house has always been a place for tension, between being a public side in someone's home. that tension plays out all the time in every administration. the visibility they constantly face is part of the stress of being in the house. one of the challenges is to make peace with that. to recognize that to survive, we have to realize it is ok. part of my life is in the public. the other part is to find that space. find those things that allows you the privacy in need, but in thelows you to liv ie house.

>> it feels like you are living in this beautiful hotel. you will interact with a range of people when you step out. maybe see some staff members or special visitors. you feel like reading them -- greeting them, and you go into your personal space and it feels like you're the only people living there. >> ronald reagan said it is the best public housing in america. it has always been that way. >> i assume the occupants pins themselves every day. -- pinch themselves every day because they're there. >> the dining room and the kitchen were added by jackie kennedy. the family ate dinner downstairs in the family room. mrs. kennedy had little children, so she wanted an

upstairs kitchen and dining room. >> in the middle of the living quarters is the yellow oval room. it is the most formal room on the second floor. it reflects the home today. and our country's past. it is here where john adams holds the first white house reception and where benjamin harrison displayed the first official white house christmas tree and here where fdr spends more time than in any other room during his presidency. >> that was where roosevelt could go in relax. he loved to play cards in that

room. he played poker, games with his family. on the night that congress was set to adjourn and the rule was the minute the speaker called to say we are adjourning, whoever was the head would win. on one of these occasions, roosevelt takes the phone and pretends it is someone else. they keep plowing and at midnight, he pulled ahead and whispers, "bring me the phone." he would play poker and he loved to sort his stamps. he loved to read. it was where he could relax. this is a very warm house, the way it is decorated and the stories of it. this is a south facing room. even on a cold january day, the sun pours in these beautiful curved windows. a lot of this was done this with

both by jackie kennedy. we did have a luncheon for queen elizabeth ii and prince philip. we were able to point out the mantel set, the clock and torchieres that were her gift when she visited as princess elizabeth. there is history in nearly everything in this room. >> for more information, including a virtual tour, interviews with historians and curators, as well as other video resources on the history of the presidency and home, go to c- span.org. to get your copy of our original documentary, part of the

american icons dvd collection, go to c-span.org/store. it is $24.95 plus shipping and handling. >> did you know i asked you to come here this evening so that we can immediately here a report regarding negotiations that have been going on in europe? >> you can look at this as a historical curiosity, or you can look at this as in many ways a forerunner of today's managed news. >> find something you did not know about the 43 men you did not know who served as president with the c-span video library. what what you want when you want. the -- watch what you want when you want. >> we return with our documentary, "inside the white house". >> it is a house full of history

and stories of those who have lived here and offered this home over time. while some presidents thoroughly enjoyed their time here, others who claimed to have not can still leave a lasting impression. >> you youngsters, you better start studying the presidency. one of you one of these days will be president. there, you will be sorry. the happiest day is when i left. >> when the tremendous move in with their daughter margaret, the president is determined to make the house a home for his family. the home they move into is 145 years old and beginning to show its age. >> won best german come -- when bess truman came in, she was

appalled. the car wrecks seemed threadbare. she could not imagine living in that gloomy place. > theretheey were great accumulators. it looks like the hotel that people have moved out of. their big -- there are big cracks in the wall. >> the wooden home is rotting and is deemed a fire hazard. it is obvious direct it -- a drastic changes needed ever were. the most obvious changes to add an amenity. enhancing private life. if you look at film, the south portico is missing one key feature you see today. something controversial during its time.

but cherished by all first family's sense. located off the yellow oval room, the truman balcony is where the first families can come to relax while looking out over the south lawn. without having to go through the public part of the house downstairs. something president truman deemed essential. living in a cage was not appealing. they have a beautiful view and reagan liked it. queen elizabeth ii and everyone in the world enjoy it. >> everyone uses that balcony often. no matter what the weather, they know the weather can be pretty oppressive in the summer. it seems like there is a

beautiful, cool breeze flowing through that of any that makes it a joy to sit out, especially as you watch the sun go down and the lights on the monument start to come out. it is breathtaking. >> realized by all first family since its completion in 1948, president truman is criticized for changing the architectural look at the white house. -- of the white house. >> it is a metaphor. something that has not been done before. something that will desecrate a national treasure. it was characteristic of harry truman. he saw the comfort and relaxation that the balcony would provide and everyone of his successors have been grateful to harry truman for making it a little bit more livable. >> i did not understand what all the fuss is about. all innovations in the white ho