figures,but flawed who, before they were history, were family. news reele to draw on footage, radio broadcasts and personal documents, notably a trove of newly discovered letters between fdr and his daisy and well as an enormous volume of photographs. nearly 2,400 stils series.d in this burns has always rejected using the voice of god approach to narration, relying instead on contemporary voices to bring his words to life. in the roosevelts, you will hear some of america's greatest herman asward franklin and marilyn street as elmore. ken burns, like his films, he never becomes outdated. me in welcoming the

club member ken burns. >> thank you all very much for coming. i'm so happy to be back at the press club. it's really been a home base for our long arduous for the film.urs exception. e -- i do feel compelled to edit. was negative three years old back then. though i was already working not yetlls, i had perfected what we call the ken effect quite then. i also feel, now that you war, that ihe civil reminded you 24 years ago, in the, when we came with civil war, that i reminded you

felt aboutm sherman newspapers men. he hated newspapers men so much was sure if they killed them all, there would be news breakfast.efore and, of course, unfortunately, unscathed withpe the rooseveltss roosevelts, thol eleanor, who held twice weekly news conferences with first time a the first lady did that -- and franklin, because he had been an the harvard crimson, felt that had made him a newspapers man himself and loved to develop and cherish the development of personal relationships with the newspaper that he crowded in -- men -- for crowded in 998 times news conferences during his presidency. equally adeptas at manipulating the press and making them feel like they were ushering them into his private world, though he did have a special purgatory for

displeased himo with his writing. them the -- he called ancientclub, from the instantaneouslytant stricken down from telling a lie. you were in that club, you were not in his good graces. of walk it back a little bit. he'd often confide to the reason he'dt the criticized him so heavily had less to do with their writing sob who owned the paper. and he was merely taking it out messenger. first of all, i do not come here assistance of hundreds of people. tose of you who had a chance watch last night's film, there was a credit sequence that went many, many minutes that thanked, quite correctly,

hundreds of people. all, because this is public television, we are dependent not on our sponsors our underwriters. there's a huge and very important difference between them. take aould just like to moment to thank the bank of our solewhich had been corporate sponsor since 2006 and throughs to be involved 2020. they have been an enlightened us.oration that has helped i'm also grateful to pbs itself and the corporation for public broadcasting, for major funding. i also am grateful to the national endowment for the humanities. i began this business an awfully ago and i had the great good fortune to work with duffey, who, joe turned up today, not like a bad penny but as a welcome old friend. to have joe here. thank you, joe, for all the support you and subsequent aboutans -- there must be a dozen now since you -- that have been supporting our work.

sustained support of the arthur davis foundations, contributions, significant individual contributions from jack taylor roselyn. we also enjoy the support of a called the better angel society and john and jessica fullerton. and joan newhouse newton and bonnie and tom and the file foundation, have all contributed film. and i would literally simply not support,ithout their nor would i be here without the support for the corporation for for mybroadcasting and long-time production partners, 35 years, the washington, d.c. based public affiliate, sharon rock felrockefeller.

extremely grailtful to our network. i think the best in the business. a place in which we are saturated, buried in information, a little bit more on that later. but we also enjoy one home where know reliably, whether it's our children delving into issues science or nature, whether it affairs orblic artistic performance, whether it affairs or history, we have the best place on the dial, and that's pbs. honored that my president, paula, is here today. like about what we do, it's them. forthe pick that they set me. these films are also not made by person. writers have that and reporters, are notmost part, who having to -- now having to blog

thato video posts, have luxury of working alone. but i also have what i think is even the greater luxury, of in anipating extraordinarily collaborative medium. peoplere are many responsible for this film, paulrs and producers, buckham, that help us collect the more than 25,000 still photographs that the 23, 2400, that into the final film. same to the never-before-seen photographs, moving pictures, all the sights from warm springs,n to where the roosevelts made their them united states park service sites that opened their doors and let us film at ungodly hours. but the most significant person involved in this project has collaborator,ime collaborator of 32 years,

here, i'mrd, who is also to say happily with his justdiane, and we have been making films together for beginning long time, not, again, editing your text -- war, but we began when he was an advisor on a film sel celibatee the shakers, and another film on the turbulent demigodthe southern hewey long. we have been making history together. and we have been talking for almost all of those about making a film or a film series on one or more of the roosevelts. has written two extraordinarily great books on on franklints, roosevelts's early life. one of them is called before the trumpet, which takes him from his birth to his marriage to

eleanor. is one ofcond, which the greatest biographies i have ever read -- please run to your notepads to jot this down -- a first-class temperament that takes franklin roosevelt from his honeymoon to his election of governor of new york. remarkable story, and it is a remarkable story about an extremely complicated human being overcoming one of the most illness you can imagine and still managing to become president of the united states. part of the story we want to tell. so now that i have completely buried the lead, i will be rescued by myron, who is to say thatorrect for the last seven years, jeff and i and our team have been producing a seven-part 14-hour ofies on the history theodore, franklin and eleanor roosevelt. began broadcasting this series nationally in an

unprecedented fashion last showed thee they first episode and then showed the first episode again at 10:00. each subsequent night, we'll show another episode until this 20th. saturday, the we believe it's the first time, short of a national tragedy, network hase shown -- taken up an entire prime time and then some. from 8:00 until midnight, an hour out of prime time, for one single show. we're very happy with public television's confidence in the work we've done. few moreike to spend a minutes, before the good part where i have a chance to have an tell you ath you, to little bit about what we're trying to do. last night, who saw saw the table-setting episode in which we set in motion what is complicated and intertwined and interbraided i'vetive that i think that ever undertaken. i certainly think that jeff thinks so as well, even though we have tackled together a

history of the civil war, baseball, jazz, second world war, and are working on the the war in vietnam. we were drawn to doing all three in part because of that avalanche of information that i mentioned to you earlier. we live in a media culture in we think we know everything. we have lots of information and understanding. we are drowning. and one of the default positions this excessive information is we tend to form superficial, conventional wisdom about the subjects we think we know about, either those happening today or those that took place in the past. and so it seems that for almost entire history of the -- of this country, since the have been, we compelled to focus either on theodore, and there are a lot of books and very good books and films on him, or franklin, and a hasof good books, and jeff written two of them, and franklin and eleanor and a

little bit less on eleanor. no one has put it together as the complicated family drama that it is. i guess this has to do with the fact that in that superficial theodore andok at say republican and we look at franklin and eleanor and say democrat, and we think we can segregate them into their own silos.ual it is interesting as individuals, and certainly franklin and eleanor as a pair, is exponentially more interesting if you have the opportunity to get to know them concert. and that's what we've tried to do. it is a complicated, russian novel of a story that has not only these three primary but dozens of secondary and tertiary characters. and of course, a world that they compelled and a world that compelled them, that is, dealing 19th century, coming out of the civil war, the of monopoliese and trust, the roaring 20's, and

age, the second world war, and the cold war, from when theodore roosevelt was born in 1858, when our series began, to when eleanor dies in 1962, when our series ends this coming dealing night, we are with a century, 104 years, an century, in so -- in a place and time where so much of the modern world was created, and these three people are as world asle for that anybody that i know. we say and we say with conviction and confidence in the opening of our film, which you might have seen night, that no other family has touched as many americans as the roosevelts, and that is true. you only need to stop and think in.t the world we live if you've ever flown out of you're in --port, you're in something that

franklin roosevelt did, or took a drive on the skyline drove or blue ridge parkway or rode the chicago, expected in the tennessee valley to see turnedcome on when you on a light switch, or in the northwest or southwest, you have traveled over thousands of bridges built during their era. you have seen or attended thousands of high schools. you have driven on miles and miles of roads that they originally blazed in this country. and more importantly, you will or you are enjoying security check. you like the idea that our government takes its soldiers their college education with the gi bill. thature you're thrilled your children do not work in mines seven days a week, 14 that there are such concepts as a minimum wage and live hours. think you are certain that big

monopolies ought to be at least regulated, if not broken up. i think you enjoy visiting our national parks and national other sanctuaries of the beautiful wildness that our has preserved, in large part, thanks to these two extraordinary presidents, theodore and franklin roosevelt. legacy, this is only a small, small portion of their legacy. they, of course, raise questions are not always positive. way want to in any suggest to you that the film a've made is in some ways valentine to these three human wayss, that it is in some worship., hero in fact, we are interested in telling a complicated portrait of their great strengths but their great weaknesses and flaws and my goodness, ladies vividntlemen, they are on display with these three characters.

their deepportantly, wounds, and that's, i think, where the subtitle of our time in.s this is the roosevelts: an intimate history. feelg said that, i qualified in the early 20th century to have to warn you that tabloid history. we are interested in getting to know them. we often debate in our films the between a top-down history.nd a bottom-up this has been for many years the argument in history. also about so-called ordinary people, women, minorities, labor, people like me, for whom the real history of america is written? that it is a mixture of the two. and even in a film like this, we engage a top-down bottom-up history to tell something more complicated,

et cetera.ow, but this is also an inside-out history. i don't mean to suggest that ways filled with psychobabble, but we're curious peoplehere these three came from. after all, it is a family drama. we want to understand about parents. we want to understand about their childhoods. to understand about their spouses and their children and their lives within their families. feel that by understanding it, particularly people,e three ordinary and ladies and gentlemen, biography has been a constituent almost everyk of film we've worked on. it is hugely important to understand the world they created, and that is essentially the world we have inherited, at and socialpolitical fashion in this united states. it is hugely important to where they came from. ad just stop to consider for moment the topicalness of their

story. the central question of theodore's time, the central question of franklin and eleanor's time is the central question of our time. government?role of what can a citizen expect from his or her government? what is the tension between ideology? and what is the nature of leadership? formoes character leadership? lifeoes adversity in create character, which in turn forms that leadership? questions we ask, the testing we apply to our own asders today, and they are relevant now as they were back in the time and vice versa. essentially an exploration of their lives, inner and outer, the way they this country, and to try to deal on the fault line of that. that sameve in an age media culture, whose default position is also to lament the

heros. of we're constantly saying, oh, and doing a film like this, and a film like this has brought out myriad comments that herost don't make anymore. but let's just remember that we are expecting, in this superficialalti, expecting perfection in our leaders. let us examine the very nature the word hero. it is, we get, from the greeks. greeks in no way defined it as perfection. in fact, they understood hero --heroism to be a very complex negotiation, sometimes a war person's obvious strengths and their equal and not-so-obvious weaknesses. and it is that negotiation, it and withar sometimes, these three people, it is indeed heroism.at defines

achilles had his heel and his hubris to go along with all of his strengths and fine characteristics. and maybe what i hope in some ways -- people ask what do we want from the series, and we say we want you to enjoy what we think is a rip-snorting good story. we might also want you to reexamine the way in which we superficialatty, so we might gain a little bit more tolerance in our conversations. justthing will not be black and white. now, the roosevelts provoked that in some people. but what we've tried to do is offer a nuance portrait. let's consider the oldest of them for just one second. theodore roosevelt, born in a sickly asthmatic child. childhood thatn he was not destined to live.

hiseard a doctor telling parents that he was going to die very early on. all his life to remake his body, to turn it said --as his father get action, be sane. and all his life, theodore as hard as heed could to maker and remake -- to and remake his body. he never escaped the asthma that child.ed him as a but he did remake his body and he became somebody. family,branch of the the oyster bay branch, was also ofceptible to a good deal depression, susceptible to alcoholism, susceptible to illness. and he felt all his life that he just toe in action, not escape is the specific gravity of his physical element but to escape the dark gloom that seemed to overtake him when he constant, frantic

rush. he once said black care rarely behind a writer whose pace is fast enough. it's a wonderful 19th century way of saying something very understandable in 21st century, which is you can outrun your demons. and theodore roosevelt spent his entire life not for a moment hesitating trying to outrun his demons. if you look at the oldest can think of in an comment -- an theodore roosevelt -- it is an amazing life, dedicated to this specific gravity. and he also had to overcompensate for a deep flaw, his wonderful father, a man he adored more than anyone else in life had. an mother was

unreconstructed southerner and not fighter husband in the civil war. he did what many wealthy people did in that time. he paid someone else to fight for him. and this was a flaw which ate at made him,oosevelt and i feel we should also say, habits,all of his great and may i say this evening, youode 2, his presidency, will get to meet theodore roosevelt in all his wonderful all of the great things. you know, he always thought that if you didn't have a crisis on your hand as a president, you couldn't be judged a great president. example of sterling that, as david says in our film, many people thought he was the crisis. [laughter] and perhaps we were lucky that have a major crisis on his watch. but his presidency is a model of engagement with its citizens. the united states was in a period not dissimilar to now was a huge disparate

between the wealthiest and the poorist. the middle class was under assault. and theodore roosevelt rose to the rescue. he understood that government had to be an agent, a player in a complex dynamic between was unchecked and between the worker that was not a fair deal.are or and he did that all his life. alli invite you to revel in of the great strengths and delights of getting to know theodore roosevelt. definitelye, he's the person that you go out and have a beer with or drive across with.untry and i engage you to spend this week driving across the country roosevelt.re but he did have this thing. he thought war was a good thing. day onreckless that san juan hill. he was disappointed he didn't get a disfiguring wound. was very proud of the fact sufferedre regiment had the worse casualties, to the horror of the united states army. horror of the united states army, he lobbied --

something you never do -- to win. you never do. you are honored with the congressional medal of honor. look at theodore roosevelt. as you will see in our episode which is tomorrow night, tuesday, he pushes his four sons as close to world war i and to mostt and danger, with the horrible tragic consequences you can remember. to weigh make you want very carefully -- and i would urge you not to make a final weigh very carefully these twin polls of one of the presidents,dinary theodore roosevelt. franklin, we know his story, we think, pretty well. infantileicken with paralysis, polio, at age 39. up to that point, he had been the pampered only son of his older father james and his much wife.r they pampered him and instilled in him, thank goodness, all the

optimism that any child has ever had. but he was essentially a very lonely child. a little bit too thin, a little bit too ambitious, a charming, as he tried to hit all the marks, all his more famous cousin theodore, as he too tried emulate his preposterous and trajectory to the presidency. it's only when he could not take thiser step that extraordinary empathy entered into him and he became what we the greatest president of the 20th century. and arguably and for a lincoln not difficult anymore to say, but has come up to parity eyes as arguably the greatest president in american history. is infuriatingly manipulative and we need to take franklin balance those scales in the same terms.

andvite you to watch as he eleanor, in this episode tonight and in the next one, begin to from theodore roosevelt, who dies at the end of our third episode. then 4 through 7 is really largely about franklin and eleanor and the world that they well as the ghost of watching overis everything magnificently, and never fails to make an some kind in each one of those subsequent episodes past his death. saving perhaps the best for last. eleanor roosevelt, though not a president, as we say in the film, was the most consequential lady in american history and arguably the most important woman in american history. is, as jeff word likes to say, a miracle of the human spirit. she should not have escaped her childhood. she -- her father, the

president, theodore roosevelt's elliott, was a hopeless alcoholic. he was also mentally ill. very young. she spent her whole life, you idolizing him unnecessarily, i think. exquisite was this beauty, but very remote, and was daughter'sd in her looks and called her own daughter granny. by therents were dead time eleanor was 10 years old. she and a younger brother, for always feel responsible, who died in her of delirium throws tremors many years later, we to grim and pious relatives. terrified ofutely everything. but out of these experiences, she began to notice that if she other people, she could be loved. and she decided to translate that problem, that fear, into action. every day she got up and she

faced her fears. it's an amazing thing. i've got four daughters that i of.o proud my second daughter was terrified cleaner.cuum whenever it was roaring, she had to be out of the room or asleep house.of the but one day, when lilly was a year and a half, two years old, wherelked into the room the monster was roaring and walked over and sat down on it. [laughter] and in our family, sitting on vacuum cleaner is our idea of what you do in life. you move forward and you face that worries you the most. and eleanor roosevelt sat on a cleaner every single day of her life. the nationalm on parks and it was said of theodore roosevelt that he had eyes, that hes could maybe see around the and understand what was going to happen in the future.

i believe all three of these remarkable i believe all three of these remarkable people had distance in their eyes and no one more so than eleanor. liberated from having to represent constituencies as her favorite uncle and her husband did, she could see all the oming issues of race, poverty, women, children, labor, of absolutely everything that is on the front page of our discussions today. on every issue, a testament indeed to the human spirit. these are our three roosevelts. flawed, wonderful, deeply wounded, who all basically reduced their philosophy into one spectacularly simple equation -- we all do well when we all do well. it is very fashionable today, ladies and gentlemen, to blame the united states government on absolutely everything. it is now somehow something

other. but we are only to blame either by not voting or by voting for the wrong people for however that government is. and if you don't like it, stop moaning and complaining and do something about it. that's what the roosevelts did. and theodore roosevelt said, he government is us. you and me. thank you. >> that's right. we have enough questions to go for two hours, so please, i apologize in advance, i think maybe do a rapid fire. i'll try to ask it and you just give the answers as quick as you can. that would be great. >> i have brief, nine-part answers. >> sure. seven parts. t.r. and f.d.r. were strikingly different personalities with

t.r. being boisterous and brilliant and child like f.d.r. being charming and manipulative. which of the figures did you find harder to grasp and why? >> that is interesting all the adjectives describing theodore are all positive and two or three of them for franklin are negative. so there is a little bit of a scale we didn't feel comfortable doing. they are both equally disturbing and equally magnificent. franklin roosevelt is the much better president and the much better in some ways human being i think. you will be infuriated by his manipulativeness and opacity and at least early on his sort of over meaning ambition. they are all complicated people. william shakespeare was described as having negative capabilities. the ability to hold intentions when the rest of us want to make a judgment, whatever it is, we have to superimpose on the other. and the best figures in our lives and in our drama, our

art, our literature is where we have held the very complicated facets of a human being in tension. i think that's what we tried to do in this series. >> most historians rank f.d.r. just after lincoln and washington on the list of great presidents with teddy not far behind. that being the case, why does it seem the roosevelts have faded in the public's view compared to, say, reagan and j.f.k.? >> when you live in a media culture and a consumer culture that is focused on this all consuming and thereby disposable moment, blissfully unaware of the historical ties that brought us here or those ties that will take us away, it's very understandable that we'll forget our past. but each one of those presidents that you mentioned, jfk and particularly ronald reagan whose great hero was franklin roosevelt, you begin to understand how they shaped, particularly franklin

roosevelt, shaped the world we live in today. it may be just the myopia of our existence that we don't have distance in our eyes, backwards or forwards to understand the centrality of the roosevelts to this present moment. >> the roosevelts lived in years when public figures could preserve a modicum of privacy in their personal lives. how did this affect your research and ultimately your ability to create an intimate portrait? >> well, you know, they wrote a lot. they are hugely important. so they have been written a lot about. we tend to romanticize as simpler those early days. simpler like the 1930's. when the greatest economic dislocation in the history of the world happened. simpler like the 1940's when the greatest cataclysm in history happened. franklin roosevelt was the most accessible president ever. he had 998 news conferences. those reporters who may have turned off their news reel cameras just as he went into

the process of standing up or sitting down and the sweat dripping, painful process which we would not do today, we'd be grasping for every single moment of it to feed hungry maw. nevertheless, knew exactly what it cost him to stand up, to sit down. understood even more intimately what was going on in the dine amics of the administration and in the pressing issues of the world. we now have a presidency surrounded by a gigantic moat, a bubble we call it, that does not permit, we think, him or her to understand us but, in fact, it's the other way around. we don't understand him and so default again to that conventional wisdom. i think we know as much about the roosevelts. we also know a lot, a good deal with their private life and that's been extremely helpful especially with regard to the letters of daisy sukely you mentioned later that have given dimension to what has been often a one-dimensional

portrait of franklin's very complex personality. >> f.d.r. and eleanor each drew on a wide circle of friends and supporters. both professionally and personally. what did they draw from one another? >> well, as much as our tabloids sensibility wants to accent their differences, this is one of the most remarkable if not the most remarkable partnerships that i've ever come across in my life. she was his conscience, the conscience of his administration. he was the pragmatic politician who knew how to get it done. he betrayed her with an affair when he was assistant secretary of the navy in the 19 teens during world war i. had an affair with her social secretary. that, in some ways, became a liberating moment for eleanor roosevelt. i think it's important to understand that sometimes out of this adversity great things. it gave her already spectacular social conscience a kind of goad that allowed and permitted her to go out however angry or

wounded she was into the world abdo the kinds of things she did, become the kind of woman she did. they never lost sight of each other. they knew where each other was and in good times and bad, when they were mad at each other and when they weren't, they were working together. and how important for the rest of us the thing they were working on was us. that is to say they had translated their problems and their adversities and figured out as jeff says in the opening of the film it would be helpful and theodore is the same it would be helpful if he taught other people how they might be able to escape the things that afflicted them. >> we have a question. what did your research reveal about eleanor's alleged extra mayor daley relationships? >> nothing. she had spectacularly close we would call them intimate and passionate friendships with a number of women some of whom were committed to one another. beyond that we don't know anything.

i would also remind you the film details not only these relationships and their tenderness and genuineness, but also her just absolute passionate relationships with three men other than her husband though not sexual that were in her life. at the end of her life she was living with another man who she said i have loved more than anyone else. i invite you to stay tuned to episode seven to find out what that is. >> i'm glad we asked the question. [laughter] >> thank you for your answer. some press media related questions. f.d.r. was famously accessible to the press. carefully cultivating his media image at press conferences and over martinis. can you talk more about his relationship with the press and how it shaped his historical image? >> that is a really good question. he was famously accessible as i describe. i don't think it shaped his historical image. in fact, the image that comes down to me is this one that i

was describing a little earlier, a sense of how kind of naive earlier times were, where they turned off the camera, that the secret service would turn off your camera or confiscate your film or it was just a gentleman's agreement that we wouldn't cover the degree that their president was afflicted with polio. there's discretion but it is in no means naive. they knew as franklin roosevelt visors knew that to see this process, there were many audiences and all of this was on full display so if it was a secret it was a secret held by hundreds of thousands of americans who got to meet the president or see the president or hear the president up close and in person. but he -- this is, you know, a sort of red herring about him. they knew about it and didn't think it was necessary. they understood that if people pitied him as you would do if

you saw and understood the full dimension and jeff and i are as proud of that part of the story telling as anything, to tell the full dimensions of what polio meant, most people say, he got polio and here's what the press didn't show and leave it at that. it's really important and a good deal of our fourth episodes the 1920's is dealing with what it took for this human being, still a human being, to actually figure out how to go from being paralyzed for the rest of his life to being president of the united states. and it is a hell of a story. they understood if they pitied him that was political poison and everything was over. >> how important was radio for f.d.r.'s leadership? i know you'll say it's important but if you could elaborate on that, please, ken. >> jonathan alter has a wonderful, wonderful passage in our film about the time he is delivering the first of his fireside chats and, you know, theodore was a master at using

the press and using the bully pulpit and using the great moral office that both men felt the presidency had to become to communicate to citizens about what they thought their country needed. and they were really good at campaigning for that. but as alter says in our film, every politician had up to that point talked like this when communicating with their citizens. and franklin roosevelt could talk like this. he could lean into the mike and he could explain to you about the banking system. he could tell you what the bankers had done wrong. he could tell you what the whole principle of banking was. he could tell you that hoarding had become a very unfashionable pastime and he really hoped the next day monday morning when the banks quit their bank holiday his cheery name for it, that you might put your money back in the bank. and the run that had been

expected the next morning didn't happen. people put their money back in just as their president told them to do. a lot of it had to do with the way he spoke to them, just like this, in the intimacy of their homes, leaning in, which is what happens when you lower a voice. and you create an intimacy. it's not manipulative. it's smart. it's good. it's right. and it works. as it was said after that speech, eight days after he was inaugurated, that he had saved capitalism in eight days. and there's good evidence that that's exactly what he did. >> why didn't the political opposition use f.d.r.'s polio against him? >> i'm not sure they used that against him. the principal argument against him was he was a traitor to his class and a socialist and a communist and i'm sure if they were convinced he wasn't born in this country they'd go after

that, as well. [laughter] >> but, you know, there was concern that he was not up to the task. roosevelt had hired a journalist. let me repeat that. roosevelt hired a journalist to write a report on his health and that journalist in turn with the urging of the roosevelt campaign hired three independent doctors who all attested to his health. so one of the doctors was a republican and said he couldn't guarantee above the head. but then as a result of that article, roosevelt and his team felt compelled never to come in -- comment on it again. they would say it's not a story. as much as people tried to bring it up and it became less the polio and more his physical health as he visibly decayed in front of his fellow countrymen and women that became an issue and certainly was an issue in the third term and a huge issue

at the fourth term. but people weren't willing to throw the captain over in the middle of the second world war. >> was it wrong for the press, journalists, to cover up f.d.r.'s disability? >> i don't think so. i think my argument would be and jeff and i have talked a lot about this, that i'm not sure that theodore roosevelt -- that franklin roosevelt could get out of the iowa caucuses today. that is to say, that we would be focusing on the extent of his illness. we would be distracted by the superficial things and not the content of his character or the content of his programs. and we would be distracted by that, certainly many commentators would say that he couldn't possibly be able to have the stamina to get us through any crisis. and this is the man who handled the two greatest crises since the civil war -- the depression and the second world war. >> a slight elaboration.

how do you think f.d.r. would have fared in today's media and political environment? >> well, you know, i say i don't think but then again having franklin roosevelt after something it is hard to imagine. we did have a democratic senator from georgia, max cleland, who was a triple amputee from the vietnam war. we're doing a series on the vietnam war and we've interviewed him. he made it to a fairly high level of political office, united states senate. and so i would never say never on franklin roosevelt. i feel the same way about theodore. you know, he was irresistibley himself. people loved him even for his coke bottle glasses and his harvard accent, his upper crust stuffy accent and nasally voice and rotund characteristics. they loved him because he didn't try to be something else other than he was. but he was hot and excitable and that may have jared with the cool medium of television. he might have had ten howard

dean moments a day. and maybe not gotten out of iowa. but look. i don't put it past any three of these roosevelts just being handed the ball and being able to run down the field to the end zone. >> how were the voices selected for theodore, franklin, and eleanor? >> well, you know, we have a remarkable supporting cast and one more edit and this is it. we do like third person narrators. jeffrey ward has been my collaborator who writes the third person narration all of his life. we are very, very proud of that and we believe that in the beginning was the word and that the word is not the enemy of images and that they can co-exist and so our films are very much written in the third person and read spectacularly after being written so spectacularly by jeff by peter coyote. but we did want to temper that voice of god which by itself sometimes is just a voice telling you what you know,

which is like home work rather than a voice sharing with you a process of discovery which we would like. and so we have for the last 35 years tempered those -- that third person voice with a chorus of third person voices reading diaries and letters and journals. we've had theodore roosevelt a number of times and had various actors reading him and wanted very much to try one of the finest actors of our day in paul jamadi and i think you'll agree after last night and certainly in the next couple evenings he is just spectacular. his agent wrote today and said, good casting. [laughter] >> it may have been him. and we agree whole heartedly, whoever that was. ed herman has played franklin roosevelt, has got that hudson valley lock jaw down perfectly and has played him on the stage and the small screen and the large screen for many, many years, and has really taken him in. and then most fortunately we're

able to get a little known actor named meryl streep to do eleanor roosevelt. it was a transform tiff name. all of you should remember that s-t-r-e-p. i believe she is going places and has a future. we were lucky to get her early on before she broke out. she is obviously the greatest actor of this or any other generation. r gift to us is inkale culeable, unmeasurable, and we don't have the words to thank her for what she brought to our production. >> a few personal questions. don't worry. did you get good grades in history as a young person? [laughter] >> yes, i did actually. and i was -- it was the farthest thing from my mind of what i was going to do. i knew from age 12 i wanted to be a film maker. that was it.

the fact i did well in history, i remember bumping into somebody from junior high who said, you were so good in the world history class. we all knew you'd be an historian. i don't even remember that. i remember the history class and liking it but i don't remember ever giving the impression that was where i was headed. i was headed to be a film maker but was fortunate enough to bump into history very early on. i'm completely untrained and untutored except by the genius of my dear friend jeff ward and all the other advisers we employed to do this. the last time i took an american history course was 11th grade where they make you take it. >> how do you juggle so many projects at once and how do you select your projects? do you take requests? i apologize for a three parter. >> you mean like sing a song? i'm not a very good singer. i don't think you want to take requests. we are working besides promoting the roosevelts, which is itself a full-time job, we

have five films in production. we are, and they're all in various stages, so it is not juggling. it's just timing and management. it's like playing -- plane landing. this has already landed and is taxiing up to the gate. we have a couple on final approach, the histories of cancer, which will be out next spring. i'm executive producer and cowriter and sort of senior creative consultant. i am producing and directing and writing with my daughter and son-in-law sarah burns and david mcmann a two-part history of the whole life of jackie robinson, not just 1947. jeff and i are in the middle actually more than half way through editing with our colleague sarah buxtein, a ten-part, 18 plus hour history of the war in vietnam which will be out in 2017, early 2017. then we are already shooting a massive series called i can't stop loving you about the

history of country music and we're also begun shooting early stages a biography of earnest hemingway. we have four or five films threatening to sort of go from development and ideas into production. once they do, we'll start talking to you about them. i'm already in discussions with pbs to talk about what the 2020's look like. it is very clear jeff and i sort of feel that if we were given a thousand years to live we would not run out of topics on american history. >> you have a new app that draws from your many documentaries. you describe it as not a collection of your films but as an entirely new way of looking at american history. can you tell us a little more? >> well, that sounds like it as written by somebody in p.r. so we have an app called the ken burns app. what it attempts to do is sort

of take moments, little tiny scenes from all of the films. you know, up there, 25, 26, 27, whatever it is, and sort of curate them among the themes i've seen take place. the recurring themes that i've seen take place in american history on innovation, on art, on politics, on war, on hard times, and on race. and we just added a new thing on leadership and we'll continue to add them as we continue to add films. it's a way to access all the films. at any point anybody can jump and go look at them from pbs.org or you can go to i-tunes or netflix if available there and get the films. but this was a way to curate these themes from many different films and show the it's rican history, how related. i don't think there are cycles to history. i don't think we're condemned to repeat what we don't remember as sort of lovely as that statement is. i do think human nature remains

the same and superimposes itself on the randomness of events and it becomes the amateur historian's responsibility to try to perceive some of those patterns and to reflect them back and the app is just a way to curate in a much more manageable way the magazine wire decided it would take three and a half, five and a half days to watch all of our films back to back not including the roosevelts. we're into the fourth day, sixth day and this is a way to sort of get samples. >> thank you. we're almost out of time. i would just like to make a few two-point part conclusion. first of all i'd like to remind you of our upcoming events and speakers. this wednesday september 17th john stump president and ceo of wells fargo. this friday, september 19th, larry boro president of cbs corporation. on september 23rd former senator jim webb of virginia.

second i'd like to present our guest with the traditional national press club mug to add to your collection. you now have this. >> i now have a complete set. >> and your new national press club member card. >> thank you. [applause] >> and the last question, with 45 seconds left, have you ever considered doing a documentary on the palins and if so where would you begin? [laughter] >> so this is a very important question. i think i would begin in russia so that i can have the best view of the pailins that one could possibly have. and this would be another dynamic american family. in fact, i just read a recent news report in which there were punches thrown at a party and so we know it's not going to be lacking for drama in any way. >> thank you, ken.

thank you all fo >> next, a challenge on this challenges facing america's youth. than a news conference with janet yellen. debatean campaign 2014 coverage continues monday night at 7:30 with the pennsylvania policy governors race -- pennsylvania governor's race. between -- and the iowa senate bait between bruce -- debate. c-span, 2014. 100 debates for the control of congress. >> now the discussion on the

challenges facing american youth. from washington journal, this is just over 30 minutes. now is damon williams. -- i want to have you explain what the organization does. >> we are one of the oldest organization serving youth in the nation. we have been in existence for over 100 years. serving 4 million youth. our mission is to serve children, particularly those who need us most. we focus on three areas. academic achievement. ensuring they have a space that

fosters good care and citizenship. the healthy lifestyle. health lien -- helping people have a healthy lifestyle. we focus on the afterschool space. afterschool, during summers. that is, mentally to read we believe it is essential to developing the leaders for today and indeed for tomorrow. facedy children have obstacles to achieving those goals. there was a report entitled kids in crisis. tell us a little bit about what exactly some of the challenges are. >> we have a generation of young people today. it is estimated they will not do as well as their parents did a generation ago. that is not good enough. when we look at the educational achievement data from a global perspective, we see the u.s. -- our young people graduate at a level that is 22nd out of 28 about nations. -- developed nations.

we see our children are being raised, one out of every young -- five young people are raced through poverty. and one out of three kids is obese or overweight. the collective impact of those points is a generation of young people who are in crisis. there is a cost associated with that. more thaninto the, $150 billion that we estimate it will cost the nation. when young people don't graduate you read additional burdens in the health care system. it is not just about prevention but about stabilizing the foundation of the nation in terms of leaders. in terms of the workforce. in terms of reducing the burden on our health care system. >> we want to let you know you can call in and join the conversation about what the challenges are facing the youth

of today. or share your own experience with the boys and girls club of america. if you are under 18, you can call. if you are a parent, you can call. us.others condyle -- can call us or correspond with us at twitter. or facebook. or send us an e-mail. understand you actually have a personal experience with the boys and girls club of america. it helped you in your past to your current career. >> absolutely. i grew up in dayton, ohio. i was a member of the boys and girls club's of dayton. part of theportant ecosystem that helped put me on the path to what i think has been a great career. and a healthy and happy life.

i have published multiple books. i have worked at the highest education -- levels of higher education administration. to be withpportunity boys and girls club's of america which makes a difference in the lives >> we look at our alumni data, my experience similar to other alumni. we found that over 57% of our alumni said that the club actually saved their lives and served as an anchor to keep people on the road to great futures which is what we focus on each and every dayful >> the report that you put has an alarming statistic that said

-10 hirn will not graduate high school on time. what are some of the major barrer ys that they facing both getting the high school diploma and getting it in four years? >> absolutely. one of the four spaces that we know is an incredible detriment is summer learning laws. every day during the school year, roughly 15 million school people tonight have a place to go. those young people that are unsupervised, unsupported during the school year it gets even more dramatic in the summer where 43 million people are not in a learning and rich space. what happens is that many young people lose capacity in math. they lose capacity in literacy because they're practicing their skills. what happens is a summer slide. that summer slide results in often as much as two to three months of learning loss in math

and literacy. the slide sends you crashing. and you're performing at a lesser level. what we know is that over time by as early as the fifth grade many young people are as many as two years behind academically. but we belief as a par of our impact agenda that we can make a difference. when school's out the clubs are open whether that be during the school year or during the summer. in 2013 what we did is we drew a line in the sand and we launched our summer learning loss prevention program. we served about 15,000 students in that program. this past summer we just completed 201, we served nearly 100,000 in our prevention program. what we learned in the pilot data and we still await our continuing data is that there was no loss in summer learning capacity in materials of math and literacy from the evaluation that we have.

what we see is there has been some strengthening in terms of leadership skills, teamwork, problem solving, collaborating with others, not only the academic achievement but indeed foundational terms of being leaders in this country. >> damon, we want to turn to the phone lines now. ur first caller is jasper from new york. jeff, go ahead you're on the air. >> hi, ms. williams. i'm from dayton, ohio also. and i attended the boys club. and it did a lot for my life. currently i'm an educator in new york state. i'm very concerned about -- you talk about education how to help these kids. i'm very concerned that legislators across the country are not funding public education like it should. and i wondered if the boys and girls club of america have any

sway with educators to ge public education. in ohio they have charter schools. right now they're going through some turmoil. was think public education is the key. i'd like to get your opinion on that. >> absolutely. fist offing with on the line with a fellow day tonian of the boys an girls club, i appreciate your question. our vision is that the out of school time space is a highly comely mentary space to what happens during the school yearful we see it as a space where we can really enrich the learning of young people and strengthen them academically. what we know from the research and the research is clear -- i've espn my life as a thearcher scientist is that out of school time space they attend school her often. they get wetter grades. their behavior shows less of the negatives which lead to druckive

pathways. and so for us it's all about expanding that complimentary space to the school year and strengthening the work that we do after school and during the summers. >> next up is dina calling from houston, texas. dina, you're a parent. how many kids do you have? >> actually i'm a parent and a stepparent so collectively i have five. this past summer i actually had the opportunity to have my 14-year-old join the boys and dwirls club. it was my first experience with the program. and she was the one who turned me on to it. we were trying to do something for the summer and she side, hey, let's try this. and we went and it was probably the most awesome experience she had all summer. brilliant child and it really did give her the opportunity to continue her own interest. so mr. williams, i just wanted to commend you, thank you for your very clear and

comprehensive overview of the program and the use of the data. it rally helps -- really helpsful i wanted to commend your work. you kid an awesome job. my daughter really, really valued and appreciated it. >> what i tell you on behalf of the youth professionals which get up every day, we appreciate hearing that positive story. that's a story we know took place a-- all across the nation. one of things that we focused on is we want our environment to be number one to be safe, number two to be fun. three to be enriching. four to really, really have the highest expectations if our young people. and five we want to recognize young people if they doing great thingsle that for us is what it's all about. it's a great organization in houston that we have. >> diana is our next caller from college park, maryland. you're also a parent?

>> sure am. i'm a single parent at that. mr. williams, good morning. i see so many children especially like in urban areas trying to break cycles now. and when i say "breaking cycles," i mean, many of our children particularly in the black community and the latino community are being brought up by single parent households. will's a continuation of a lack of resources. there's a continuation of these children are sometimes the older children are placed in an adult role for the younger siblings. your you feel about program and just making sure that these children have our children theyheir continue their childhood more so

than, you know, you've got to get your younger brothers an cysters tucked in. and if i'm not there by the time you leave for school give them breakfast and then go to school yourself an concentrate on what you're supposed to concentrate. it's very hard. i see some kids are struggling with that. how to you address that? >> well, i appreciate that question. and i appreciate your real qualify kigs of what a true challenge in our communities. young people can beat children. hey can be tweens, betweens. they can come into those places an they can explore their interest. they can define purpose and identify pathways an resources to help him to get there. we could have fun and just explore life. and that's -- it allows for young people to be young people and to not all the time be

burdened and obligated to some of the responsibilities that many of the young people care. by giving a caregiver or a qualities that we know serve young people in the long hall. and for us what woe try to do is focus each and every young person that comes through the door helping them to move forward and having alan inner the future. which beliefs is not essential really, really building that -- whether it be at the community college level or the back lariat level. >> you had said earlier that you estimate the obstacles facing the country something like that. omething like $150 with. what are the factors contributing to that? >> we've looked at a couple of things. we worked with economists who worked with us.

there's a true burden that comes when young people don't graduate from high school. there's a true burden of childhood obesity. there's a true burden when young people are disassociated youth. and also too that they're not employed. in terms of keeping young people on the pathway towards great futures, keeping them on a pathway towards okay demic success. and really helping them to understand -- it's going to be crit a in terms of recting your health. so when we talked about those numbers taking all of those factors into account. some might say it's a modest number. when we look at the impact of the challenge that we face today. >> good morning. thank you for receiving my car.

it's one thing -- i really recent and is that most people all children kids and a lot of -- a lot of em them have been referred to as kids. ly superintendent wouldn't allow us to call -- he said that's a go get, not a human being. >> our next caller is dick from calling.ichigan who is >> thank you so much about the program. many people would love to talk about the problem and craws the problem. you're talk about solutions. and i hope that you and i can talk further after this program is over. because we're trying to putting

to they lose it. in the summer time we know we can do a lot. but what we're proposing is bringing them two days a week. worked them in the guard den. set up a shop pro wram. each them some basic nutrition and anat -- one of things that were in here and we surely loved to talk with you -- >> what organize do you work for? i'm a board member after the -- the campaign. we're not looking if tax dollars. we know whether the pie vat sector money is. >> all right. next collar is paul. you're a parent. how many children do you have? >> i have four adult children and i have seven grandchildren.

but my concern is the children you can take them to school. you can give them food. they have to zpwo back to the same environment they came from where they have parents that don't give a damn about them. so i have a problem with yes, ere's some social into the same method they came out of. how do you resolve that? - we see ourselveses - ourselves as a powerful and that means that schools, family, other faith-based organizations lots of organizations and lots of different parties are going to have to play a role in terms of what's happening to the your pee. the one thing that we know is that we want it to be a safe vironment, a nurturing environment. there are factors that are beyond the control of any one

organization. for us we really focus into those young people and insuring that we're enriching them every way that we can. we know ultimately that will make the difference in terms of her outcome. >> and mentoring. how has your strategy changed over time. how do you adjust to fit their needs? >> that's a powerful question. you know, i think one of the things that is has truly sen. but helping young people who need us most. we're fine clubs. you'll find clubs in rule environments. you'll find clubs on military installations. you'll find land and find him in

public housing. you'll find many of our clubs actually in schools and moving towards a tighter integration. the school day and out of school day. that's been a key evolution of our strategy. as we look towards the future, we will be engaging. not only complimenting what we do in terms of bricks and more tors. but also how we move forward really embracing the facts that -- they're known as digital natives. theyly in the digital world. >> we will continue to embrace that. well, we continue to maintain safety.est standards of >> tina is calling now from nashville, tk. >> how many children do you have? >> we've got one. >> you've got one kid.

>> my comment is, it's not about a boys and girls club. it's aren't about two pashes coming together. >> to pressure that a lot of kids are this the world. hey didn't get no allowance. teach them how to be doctors and go around the world and help other teams. but two weeks there the united states. and then send it to -- she's got nobody to talk to. ven wanted to talk, instead of trying to forget about them. >> you know, each and every day,

young people that come through our club doors, we get them involved in service activities an aley trying to make a difference in their communities locally. t's a key component of what we eally imbrares -- embrace. we are in d.c. for the identification national youth of the year. each and every year thousands and thousands of kids across the country where members of our organizations. the youth of the yearly program which really celebrating our three priorities of academic achievement. a identified mariah sullivan, wonderful young woman. boys an girls club who is now a first-year student. embodiment. en the e carries north of a 4.4

g.p.a. she was cast as an honor student and deeply involved in service and involved in helping to make any difference and being an empowerment leader in her community. at the end of the day it's those three aspects an qualities that we want all our of youth to know. couldn't be anymore sitch -- callingthe mariah from -- >> the point i that wanted to make was the program that i've been involve with helping with -- our youth and people that are going to grow up and some day lead our society, involves a specific thing. and that is that they can come into a program with little or no knowledge of what it is really about. and each one leaves feeling like

they've been a successful par of a group. and i think that's very important was a -- and the studies have shobe, there was a study by the university of edinburgh. some in l.a. where the ramifications were recognized by school principles and teachers who said wait a minute. know this -- this group is flight yearsing with like some of the other kid. and they're active and participating. >> they ended up tracing back to the program that i was involved with. >> but whatever program it is hether it's taking kids in the garden. all those things that you mentioned swr it's important

that they field like they -- how successful at something new and part of ink is a key hatever program we're doing. jam from michigan mentioned habitat for humanity. don't any of our youth understand a lot of what our kids are going through. >> i want to ask you about another statistic which is in the other record which is three out of 10 kids are overweight. that's from the america kids in crisis report. is this a health care problem. is it an access problem? how do you begin to tackle it? >> absolutely. you know, one o things that has always been fundamental to the

d.n.a. of boys about girls clubs is having an active lifestyle whether that be getting involved . whether that be just happening into the swimming pool and swimming some laps. we'll be playing a game of dodge ball or kick ball in the field or the yard. that's always been a part of the d.n.a. you're going do continue to see that color. but some of the other things that we've been focused on particularly in the last several years. this really is focused on helping them appear really helping them the importance of consumption. this is a challenge for many of our young people. in many communities where they don't have access to good food. and so one of the things we placed an incredible priority on is really helping young people to understand nutrition and to have a level of nutrition

literally moving forward. keeping them moving and active instead of coming that foundation. >> a lot of times you're going to end up -- more often austin to have the unt to consume fresh fruits and vegetables also something that carried into their life >> tim from fort wayne indiana is calling on his parent. oh, hi, damon. you mention the education of our public schools. our children were raided 22-28. >> the public kids have our kids nine months out of the year. isn't that long muff? >> i think children need to stop being institution ooled. i went off home to my parents. the problem is we can't be

having baby sisters. since 1996 boys an girls club .hey gathered 775 million there's no parent. this single parent distance has nothing to be prout of. you're being selfish. >> one of the things that we know is we see ourself as a highly complimentary subject to what happens and reating an enriching vimplete that makes a difference. we can look across the data and see if she's very powerfully young people who wsht involved in our clubs 10 to graduate if with we compare them. they want to live a healthier life tile. and at the end of the day we go back to our alumni survey. we go back and what the alumni said that the club helped us

save their lives. particularly those who need us most and to really do anything and everything we can to help our young people to be on a math h pathway to go in a great future elaine you're a parent. how many children do you have? >> four. >> four children. how old are they? >> they're in their 50's and 40's. >> grown children. elaine, what's your question today? >> it's not a question. it's -- i want to tell you that 68 years ago my youngest brother was a ping-pong champion of the boys club of america. it was only -- i was a little girl and i was allowed to go to the boys club movies on friday night. and i think if it wasn't for the boys club, my two brothers would

have been probably in a lot of trouble. it turned out to be great, guys. >> all right. >> next up is ron from pennsylvania. also calling as a parent, >> yes. i don't know. i'm a little late this the program now. but i don't know if this was touched on. but a lot of these things with the kids is a pattern. now you see my generation or buddies with their tip. so have their friends over drinking beers. and i don't think that's a right thing because it's not teaching a kid anything. >> how do you travel that line between being a comforting presence in their lives and be an authority figure. >> you know, we really focus into the work when young people

walk through the door, we want to send a value system for the >> we have an education level of how you think the behavior should manage in terms of character, ethical decision-make. caring. of being being able to look at the world. and that really all raps up into our character development work that we do with clubs who is also do that. perhaps like -- smart moves. man ams like passport to high school. to make great decisions in their lives. >> that's the pace that we can really play in. that's the space that we know we can make a difference in. and that's the space. i think we have time for one last caller and that will be betry from florida.

also a parent. >> yes, i am a parent. my name is betty mitchell. we have boys and girls club. and you know, that's the point. i didn't understand. just -- o for -- education. . so i have twin boys. they couldn't go to the boys an girls club any time they were -- >> also i had to take care of my grandchildren. this time boys an clubs. -- and the oldest grand daughter, they lay the whole time. she's been in the yuste of florida. and now she's getting her mastersful but the boys club i . ways say didn't you have

and the governor an everybody trying to get a boys club. need a boys & girls club so bad. >> final words? >> the thing that we say is that great future start each and every day in our clubs. and this year we launched our great futures impact plan for america's youth. you had a chance to hear about that from me -- but i encourage for you to go to learn more. i courage you to get on there. give me the treasure of your time. that you might give because american youth needed so much. we pressure so much an thank you for the up the to be here today. >> thank you for joining us out of damon williams.

. some of the solutions to their problems as well. thanks again. >> thank you. >> on the next "washington journal." thomas it willman. talks about the u.s. effort to join a co collision. bloomberg news reporter alex wayne details the first report on reducing the number of uninsured herbsful then we'll talk about some of the midterm lections and kebful as always, join the conversation on face book and twitter. live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> on the next washington journal, thomas it willman of the middle east institutele they alked about the arab states. loomberg news reporter alex --

the the subcommittee will come to order. the chair will recognize himself. according to the world health

, and timeout grow threat to- amr is a global public health. increasingly serious threat to global public health. british prime minister david cameron warned in july that if we do not confront the threat of antibiotic resistance we could be, quote, cast back into the dark ages of medicine where treatable infections and injuries will kill once again, end quote. in just yesterday, the president announced an executive order focused on efforts his administration plans to take with regards to the antibiotic resistance issue. in 2012, this committee sought

to help combat this global threat bypassing the gain act as part of the food and drug administration safety and innovation act of 2012. it was the first step in the fight against antibiotic resistance and a great example how bipartisan collaboration on this committee can save lives. and i want to commend the bipartisan authors that made gain possible, including representatives gingrey, green, shimkus for their leadership. i want to commend the fda for its role in making gain a success since its passage but what is clear to many in this room is that gain did not fully fix the problem, and much more is needed if we are to incentivize the type of drug development needed to combat

this global threat and to that end congressman gingrey and green have introduced another piece of legislation, the adapt act which would seek to address problems related to fda approval process of antibiotic drugs. it is one of a series of proposals that warrants serious consideration by this committee as part of our 21st century cures and i want to thank them for their continued efforts in this space. i would like to thank all of our witnesses for being here today, and yield the remainder of my time to the vice chair of the subcommittee dr. burgess. >> thank you, mr. chairman and certainly appreciate the fact we're having this hearing today. it's necessary as we proceed with cures initiative to talk about some of the things that are important and relied upon in our ability to fight infections.

antibiotic resistance specifically resistant strains is a growing problem equally troubling despite widespread supersport a lack of a pipeline of new drugs that can improve on previous generations or fight drug resistant strains. a lot of facets to this issue and there's no single silver bullet solution. but here's the deal. our drug arsenal is our drug arsenal. today the committee continues to probe the various market reasons why we're not producing new antibiotics and if the proper market incentives and regulatory pathways exist to encourage the development of new drugs. important strides have been made in fda safety and innovation act most notably through the gain act but they were the first steps. part of the deal is once nature adapts it's hard to force nature to unadapt. these resistant strains are out there and they aren't going away. once this evolutionary leap takes place we're not going back

and that's why we need a continuous pipeline of new drugs. i would point out on a historical note, since the election in scotland was yesterday and scotland will remain part of the british empire of course a famous scotsman that's credited with the discovery of penicillin. but sir alexander fleming, the is only come he couldn't produce a lot of penicillin. and it was andrew moyer, from indiana, who actually develop the deep fermentation process that allowed penicillin to be mass-produced and really made a significant difference in the lives of our soldiers, or the saving of lives of our soldiers returning from world war ii, and parenthetically dropped the cost of penicillin from $20 at that time, a significant amount of money, to less than 50 cents. we know we can do this, and we know we should do this. we have done it before. the forefront of innovation and

that's what the gain initiative is all about and i think that's an important part of our discussion. but i will submit this article on andrew moyer for the record. >> without objection. you'll be entered into the record. >> the chair now recognizes the ranking member of the subcommittee. thank you. in 2006 in my the state of new jersey a 17-year-old honor student named rebecca went to the hospital and within days died from a resistant strain of mrsa. although doctor identified the infection and treated with available antibiotics, it failed to respond to treatment advancing rapidly and cutting her life short. the stores are all to comment on all the more frustrating given the remarkable advances of american medicine. the threat posed by antibiotic resistance bacterial or superbugs is growing as the supply of new antibody drugs is dwindling due to drug manufacturers declining interest

and ability to produce new drugs to meet this threat. in the cdc report released last year they find too many americans are infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria each year, and, unfortunately, 23,000 will eventually die of the consequence of their infection. additionally, 5% to 7% of patients in american hospitals will acquire infection during the course of the treatment and though the majority of these infections can be treated, this complicates the recovery process and ultimately imposes greater costs on patients and the health care system. due to the current state of the market, manufacturers are incentivized to focus efforts elsewhere at the expense of r&d with new antibiotics to combat these rapidly evolving strains of bacteria. this reason why congress include many of the provisions of the gain act in today's legislation which was signed into law in 2012, the gain act was an important step for solving this problem. through gain we're supporting

manufacturers in the development and introduction of new drugs, largely through the use of marketing exclusivity. so far we've seen meaningful progress because of being committee has approved a number of new drugs, and with priority review these drugs are able to combat an imminent infectious disease threat and reach patients at an accelerated pace. we should also number by other laws such as the hatch-waxman act is so successful. if congress intervened, we should be sure that it achieves the necessary impact on the pipeline of new drugs to safeguard the public health. in pursuit of the greater good, government struck a balance between the interests of private industry and the public in society reaped the benefits. so that's why i have concerns about ideas such as transferable exclusivity, the practice of giving a specified period of exclusivity to accompany to use of any product it wishes as a report for developing a new antibiotic.

this is the recipe for higher cost drugs with no direct connection to the cost of developing new antibiotics. but there are some ideas worth further examination such as the adapt act introduced by congressman green and gingrey. that would establish a limited population approval pathway that would permit fda to approve drugs based on smaller clinical trials. there are a number of angles the government and private industry can take to make this problem head-on and i think we agree this is an issue which warrants further action and i welcome the opportunity to hear from our witnesses. and a special welcome to adrian thomas from johnson & johnson which is headquartered in my district and i'm always pleased to see you, representative in front of our committee. i would like to yield the remainder of my time to mr. green. >> thank you, ranking member, for yielding. few issues in the public health is as grave and urgent as combatting the antibiotic

resistance. yesterday the white house announced the president's executive order, the national combatting antibiotic resistant back terrifia carb strategy. we need to control bacteria and carbs i district recently both the world health organization and the united kingdom joined the united states and recognizing antibody resistance as a global threat. fighting antibiotics consistent with both the public health at a national security priority. it's a threat i take seriously. the fda has played a central role in this important effort and i think the agency for the work. we must all work together to ensure we have effective antibiotics for the future. in 1929, alexander fleming invented the process for the first antibody wonder drug, penicillin. such discoveries for the 21st century can happen as well if we encourage greater investment to develop new novel antibiotic drugs. antibiotics have saved billions of lives, major therapies like

surgery, chemotherapy and care for neonatal infants if possible. by nature bacteria become resistant over time. in addition may choose an inadequate diagnosis contributed to the antibiotic resistance. most antibiotics are less effective or ineffective against infections. the consequences must not be underestimated. with each day more patients will have few or no therapeutic options because of the resistance available. i thank the chair and ranking member for this hearing today to antibiotic resistant must be a high priority for this committee and central of our way of how we treat and cure disease in the 21st century. i want to thank my colleague congressman gingrey for partnering both on the gain act last congress. >> the chair thanks the the gentleman and recognizes dr. gingrey for five minutes. >> thoonk you for calling

today's hearing. within the 21st century cures. initiative entitled on the antibiotics resistance a new drug development. let me first commend chairman upton and a colleague from colorado for spearheading this bipartisan endeavor that looks at ways we can address emerging challenges in health care industry. i have participated in a number of hearings and roundtable discussions and found each to be very beneficial to all the members of the subcommittee. mr. chairman, we all understand that antibiotic resistant pathogens are a growing concern not only across the country but across the globe. according to the cdc in atlanta, each year more than 2 million americans get infections that are resistant to antibiotics resulting in the death of some 23,000 people, and costing our health care system nearly $20 billion in direct costs, probably $35 billion more in indirect costs, lost time from work, et cetera.

this year alone both the world health organization and the uk have acknowledged this looming threat. just yesterday the obama administration took action on antibiotic resistance as well. through the signed executive order, the national strategy on combating antibiotic resistant bacteria and the president's council of advisors on science and technology, referred to as pcast, and they will be issuing a report. this is an issue that is now receiving global attention. unfortunately, according to the fda new antibiotic approval has decreased by 7% since the mid-'80s. combination including of course the high cost of drug development and the small profit margins have helped drive companies out of the anti-infectious space to markets where return on investment is much higher. you think your favorite drug whether it's for arthritis or

whatever, they said they can make a lot more money and there's a lot bigger market. these few incentives for companies to produce new antibiotics had yielded a stagnant research and development pipeline for antibiotics, and it is ill-equipped to keep up with the evolving bacteria. mr. chairman, i am glad congress has been a true leader in this arena. where t-- with the partnership f my colleague from texas as the other author, sponsor of the gain act, we could find a path for this legislation to be signed into law and it was in july of 2012. as many of the witnesses testimony today, the gain act has been an important step to encourage new development of antibiotics by focusing on economic incentives to keep companies in the game, in the market. however, despite these advances, there's still more work that needs to be done. that's precisely why mr. green and i authored h.r. 3742, the adapt act during this congress.

this legislation is a logical next step to the gain act to develop a new pathway at the fda for antibiotics aimed at treating merging threats and limited and high need populations when they have no available option at their disposal. the adopt act will also streamline the process by which the fda updates breakpoints information so doctors and medical researchers have the most up-to-date information which to expedite decisions in the drug approval process. mr. chairman, the model of the 21st century cures initiative works on the gain act and the adapt act has been a true bipartisan product, and i commend mr. green for his continued efforts with me on both pieces of legislation.

earlier this morning both of us spent an hour on "washington journal" discussing our efforts addressing drug-resistant bacteria with a sense of comity, befitting our committee. and i think mr. green as a moderator and hopefully all the viewers and listeners would agree with that. and with that in mind i look forward to hearing from all of our witnesses today, the first and second panel. i had the pleasure yesterday of meeting with dr. barbara murray who will be on the second panel, the president of infectious diseases society of america, and and at the hearing some of her accounts of life-threatening infections with her own patients. i'm even more motivated to continue the fight against drug-resistant bacteria. i will give a quick anecdote, mr. chairman, i know i'm running out of time but my brother is one year older than me and in 1941 he was sick as a board home with pneumonia and the family doctor came to the house and told my parents, said he was going to die unless they gave

him a shot of this new antibiotic called penicillin. my brother james got that shot of penicillin, and fortunately he lives. there have been some days since then i wish he hadn't. he beat me up every day since then, and still does. but that's my my own little and -- anecdote. mr. chairman, as we continue with 21st century cures initiatives we must work in a bipartisan manner to address this growing problem across the country. ultimately i believe the adapt act is the next step in the fight and it's my hope we will pass this legislation during the lame-duck session later next month. until then i welcome the testimony that we'll be hearing today to further educate members

it will raise awareness on this important issue. thank you for allowing me the time normally reserved for chairman upton and i look forward to continue network with my colleagues as this process moves forward. thank you for the extra time and being a little soft on the gavel, mr. chairman as i yield back. >> chair thanks the gentleman and thanks him for his leadership. now recognizes the ranking member of the full committee mr. waxman for five minutes. >> thank you very much. we have hearings in this committee in 2010 on the problem of antibiotic resistance and the fact that it's a growing and dangerous threat to public health. it certainly is an issue that deserves the full and complete attention of this committee so i'm pleased you're holding this hearing. our overarching goal is to assure people can continue to benefit from these life-saving treatments here in the united

states and around the globe. this is a difficult goal to achieve. after all when we use these antibiotics it leads to the development of pathogens can no longer be treated by those antibiotics. rather than use it or lose it with antibiotics it's use it and lose it. so we're at great risk of losing much of the progress that has been made in fighting infection and subsequent disease. many americans die each year. we pay a high price in other ways as well for hospital stays, moment readmissions, increased doctor visits. all at unnecessarily to the nation's angel health care bill. it will take a multi-pronged approach to overcome this very serious problem. there's no question that our arsenal of effective antibiotics is dangerously low today as a result of antibiotic resistance.

so we need to replace ineffective antibiotics with new ones. in the 2012 fda user the legislation we enacted a law designed to trade incentives to companies to replace those antibiotics and develop new ones. that legislation included provisions from what was called the generating antibiotic incentives now act, called the gain act. and that granted a five year period of exclusive marketing for new antibiotics for serious and life-threatening diseases. i look forward to hearing today from our witnesses about what impact that legislation is having on investments in these drugs, exclusivity, rewards drug companies by allowing them to charge higher prices. as a result it also imposes a

significant burden on patients and on the health care system overall. so we need to approach this particular form of incentive with great caution. one bad idea, in my opinion, is the concept of transferrable market exclusivity, which is sometimes called the wild-card exclusivity. this form of exclusivity would give a company that developed a new antibiotic the ability to transfer a term of exclusivity to another drug. any other drug that they have. this is a hugely costly idea that leads to unfair cross subsidies. if astrazeneca were to develop a specified antibiotic, they could earn a term of exclusivity that it could transfer to nexium, a treatment for heartburn which is the second highest grossing drug last year, and earns over $6 billion.

even if the term of exclusivity were just six months, that would result in a reward of almost $3 billion. that means nexium patients pay higher prices for longer even though they may never actually take the antibiotic itself. as we tackle the problem of antibiotic resistance, we need to ensure that whatever form of the incentive takes, bears some reasonable relationship to the amount of the investment the company is making. i hope we'll discuss today another approach to getting new antibiotics on the market that's referred to as the adapt act. that bill would establish a limited population approval pathway that would permit fda to approve drugs based on smaller

clinical trials. this is an idea worth examining. if we do create such a pathway, any drugs approved as a result would need to be clearly marked with a prominent symbol to alert providers and patients that the safety and effectiveness of these drugs has only been assessed on a limited population, requiring a designati designation. providers have to know these drugs are to be used only when absolutely necessary otherwise not only put patients at risk but will contribute to the more rapid development of anti-microbial resistance of the drugs. in addition to incentives and developing new antibiotics we ought to find ways to cutback on the overuse and misuse of these drugs. patients cannot expect to get them every time they come down with a cold. and physicians should only

prescribe them when they are truly necessary. perhaps most importantly, the indiscriminate administration of these drugs in animal agriculture operations needs to stop. we should mandate an end to this practice. but if we cannot take that step we should at least have a better data, have better data about how and where antibiotics that are important to humans are being used in food animals. we know practically nothing about this situation. as a recent reuters article point out the data exists in the hands of major corporations producing these animals. mr. chairman, another few seconds. like purdue and tysons. i have a bill and i hope it can be included in the 21st century cures legislation. i thank the witnesses for being

here today and their testimony. mr. chairman i would like to ask unanimous consent a statement produced by congresswoman louise slaughter be added to the record. she talks about anti-resistance drugs. >> without objection so order. i have a unanimous consent request. i would like to submit the following for today's hearing record. first a letter from the flag and general officer's network, an official veterans organization representing three quarters of all living u.s. armed force flag and general officers. secondly, a statement from pharmaceuticals, a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in lexington, massachusetts. thirdly, a statement from the california health care institute, the statewide public policy organization representing california's leading biomedical

innovators over 275 research universities and private nonprofit institutes, venture capital firms and medical device diagnostic, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. without objection, so ordered. all members written opening statements will be made a part of the record. at this point we have two panels to present testimony. on the first panel today we have, again, dr. janet woodcock, director of the center for drug evaluation and research, u.s. food and drug administration. thank you very much, dr. woodcock for coming. your written testimony will be made a part of the record and you'll be given five minutes to summarize your testimony before questions. so at this point you're recognized for five minutes for opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman and members of the committee for holding this hearing on this really important issue. there is broad agreement that anti-microbial resistance is a worldwide crisis that's going to

require major efforts combat. in 2012 congress took a significant step in passing gain act, and we have been implementing it. in europe the innovative medicine initiative has launched a major research effort on anti-microbial resistance. yesterday the administration released a national strategy for combatting anti-microbial resistance. a high level task force was established by executive order to carry out and develop an action plan to carry out the goals. the strategy is a multi-sector effort to attack this problem in all its diverse forms. by bolstering basic research, enhance product development, improving the surveillance, which has been alluded to. resistance and use of microbials, modifying the use of

antibiotics in food animals and strengthening international collaboration. pcast which is the president's council of advisors on science and technology released a scientific report and scientific recommendations yesterday. over the past year the center for drugs at fda has been very busy on this issue. we have issued many new or revised guidances on anti-microbial drug development. we approved three discussion designated under the gain act. we recently co-sponsored a workshop on this topic with the national institutes of health. and, of course, the center for biologics have been working on vaccines another way of addressing this problem and working on testing methods. despite all this progress, we must recognize that at that robust pipeline of new investigational anti-microbials does not currently exist.

nor are there large number of drug discovery laboratories out there working to bring forth the next generation of candidate drugs. so, we don't have a robust pipeline. the reason for this apparently is primarily absence of commercial incentives to anti-microbial development. this problem must be solved one way or another if we're going to prevail in our fight against the ever changing microbes. we don't just need right now which we do need urgently new treatments for resistant organisms although we need it urgently we need to keep introducing new treatments against common conditions as well. since our existing armory will weaken over time so we need to respond the current crisis we

need a robust plan going further. we must work together to prevent the loss of these critical weapons against disease. so i'm very happy to answer any questions. >> i'll recognize myself for five minutes. dr. wood corks yesterday fda commissioner posted a blog post titled fda's take on executive order national strategy combat antibiotic resistance. she wrote few issues are as critical or time urgent as combatting the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. it's a high priority for fda to work with our partners to find solutions for this serious public health problem, end quote. would you explain the urgency of this situation for public health and national security? >> as many members have already stated for public health we're already seeingce