political career of truman, a topic she writes about in her book, "citizen soldier." book married couple whose tells the story behind president truman's decision to officially recognize the state of israel. and paul read on the life of winston churchill as depicted in the final book of a three volume series he finished for william manchester. you can find those interviews online at c-span.org. you're on c-span this morning. washington journal is next. the members of the but caucus speak from the house floor to honor the legacy of martin luther king jr.. and proposed changes to the criminal justice system and rehabilitation process. onouncer: coming up "washington journal" we will discuss race relations in the u.s. with strong williams

and leonard stein horn. on thehat, max boot trump administration's handling of key foreign-policy issues. ♪ is live --illiams host: a live view of the martin luther king jr. memorial, granite, designed by a chinese sculpture -- sculptor. as we are asking you in her first hour to give us your thoughts on the current state of race relations in the united states. you can bring up your own personal expenses, as well as the current events of the last few days. (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zones.

you can post on our twitter feed at c-spanwj, and if you want to post on our facebook page, it is facebook.com/cspan. at the end of last year, p research center conducted a poll on race relations. you can go to the website and find the complete poll. when it comes to race relations, here are some of the findings -- thinkings to people's at the end of the first term of president trump and the end of the first year for barack obama. for those looking at them generally bad, 56% of those in 2015 said race relations were generally bad compared to 2009, when only 22% said that race relations were bad. generally good, 30% in 2017. if you look there is relations as good when it comes to breaking down the racial backgrounds and backdrops, blacks saying 20% that race

relations were good, compared to 59% saying the same in 2009. 2017, whenng 40% in asked if race relations were good, 65% saying they were good in 2009. the complete polling is done at the pew research center and you can go on to see the complete poll on race relations. it is the top of the first hour on this holiday, and we want to get your thoughts on the current state of race relations. here again is how you can let us know. democrats, -- for i am sorry, (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 for mountain and pacific time zones. throughout the day we will show you shots of the memorial of martin luther king jr. in washington dc, you will see it as we go on. our first call this morning on

the state of race relations, jerry, from detroit, michigan. you are first up, go ahead. caller: good morning. greetings yet again from motown. when i listen to, i am black by the way, when i listen to white people" martin luther king -- quote martin luther king, i've always wondered, because they seem to think that he was as much of a hero to white people as he is the black people, and you know, also, when i listen to white people, especially on the republican line on "washington journal," they always use martin luther king as an excuse to bash the current movement. they will use it to trash current civil rights leadership and the current movement.

headinginion, we are into dangerous times in this country, for black people, especially under this presidency. this seems to me, this is just my opinion, that i just do not think in terms of, in terms of their views and beliefs about white people, i mean, about black people by the way. that whites really have evolved, because there are still white people, especially on the conservative side, whether they want to admit it or not, they still deny, that they do indeed hate black people. yet these same people try to quote martin luther king, like he was as much an inspiration to him as he is to my people. host: do you think dr. king's

arguments and statements over the years, do they transcend to all races or just a certain ones? caller: i mean, i think that they do transcend, but with regard to what people, they often use it and they will try to use it to silence any black person who dares to call out black people when they want to be seen or heard, especially on this program. white people, they like to beat up on the former president barack obama. the one line i hear why people use all the time, especially on the program, is that they always blame the former president for racial tensions that in my opinion preceded him. host: ok, next call. patrick, new jersey. caller: good morning.

happy holiday to you. i am a white man that lives in trenton. i have lived here my whole life. back when i was a little boy, we knew every neighbor and it was a safe town. we could walk around in because letter women -- let our women walk around. we have blacks running my town. the water is poisonous. it is causing cancer, they just sent a notice. crime is rampant. the street i ride on -- live on, they do rap videos on the street. all black people. host: how do you attribute that to african-americans directly? caller: it is the policies that it is the policies that they implement, stopping police from doing their jobs, they say it is racism. it is not the color of their skin, it is their actions. we are observers and we observe what is going on, and i want to say the real meaning of this

holiday is happy james earl ray day. host: we will go to jim in north dakota. hello. caller: how are you doing? i grew up across from trenton, across the river, can you hear me? host: go ahead. you are on. caller: i moved west and i go back and forth, i do a lot of traveling. in general, when you are traveling, you are at a truck stop or maybe a truck rest stop, or you are at a diner, most people get along pretty well. i think the media kind of drives this, they want division. and hollywood does movies and television. if you noticed lately, whites have been portrayed pretty viciously in the last 10 or 20 years and it is only getting worse.

these bumbling idiots, or racists, and blacks are idolized. caller,er, the first -- first of all it is time for black people to learn a little bit, we are not white people, but we are german, hungarian, ukrainian, we all have different stories, we all came from a brutal background in europe. wordtimes enslaved, the slave itself comes from the slavic people of eastern europe who were enslaved by the muslims for about 400 years. every single race on earth was enslaved. my ancestors were. they were dominated by the romans and mongols for 1000 years and they fought against them. host: so you would say your general view is that race relations are good at this point? meler: well, it seems to

that the quote unquote "white people" seem to have dismantled their racial consciousness. they do not really, every race has a sense of peoplehood. whites had that for hundreds of years and they were very successful. but they have been trying to live up to this dr. king idea. it is blacks and other groups that have a resentment and anger, almost a sense of tribalism. host: you would say that wholesale as far as the african-american as a whole, or certain ones? caller: certain ones who call the show. i have been observing the show for 20 years, and i have noticed, if you look at c-span2 and 3, everything i said to preface my first point, i would quickly get off the phone, but

everything is afrocentric. it is slavery, slavery, slavery -- they build up the hate. everything is about racism. host: i think we have covered the topic a lot, i would not say everyone. birmingham, alabama, you are on. caller: thank you for having this discussion today on martin luther king jr. day. as a person that lives in birmingham and dr. king wrote a letter from a birmingham jail, i feel like a social economic conditions that black people live in attributes a lot of racism. we as a race of people have that had the opportunity the caucasians have had. i challenge black leadership to address the socioeconomic ills that black people live in an america. theou think back over report that identified the

reasons why people would carry on, that has never been addressed down through the years. c-span brought on dr. eric dyson a few weeks ago and he addressed the social ills we have in american society, what you can see from a lot of the caucasian callers, their sentiment about how they feel about it. iwill close on this note, would like to also point toward hollywood and music and the movies that they make attribute a lot to this. unless black leadership, those who have positions of the mayor, congressmen, senators, whoever, address the socioeconomic ills, we will never correct the racial part of it. along socially and economically i would care less about the race. host: there are headlines this morning out of montgomery, alabama, an advertiser

celebrating my mother can junior day, a caricature or drawing of dr. king with the quote that is famous, "i have a dream." also available on the front page. atlanta journal-constitution, story about dr. king's classmates recalling the young leader. and if you go to the pages of the st. louis post dispatch, his voice were sound, a picture from earlier on. a story about that in the st. louis paper this morning. dallas, texas, a discussion about racial tensions. hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think race relationships are at an all-time low. dr. king had a very good thing when he said, "i have a dream." but the people of the world, not just the united states, does not understand that the dream dr. king had for us as a black race, not just a black race, but all

humans, was for everybody. what we are doing today is not having a dream, but we are having a place in time where people are trying to make one others.ear over the this goes to the president of the united states. what he is doing is causing bigotry toward every race, except the race of white people. but white people are not bad people, they are just people of a race who want to be superior. but what we have a failed to realize is the world is watching, what he is doing to not just america but in africa he is giving china a chance to implement what they want to do. if you look at what china is doing in africa, they are spending big money and all donald trump is doing is tearing down america. for: ok, (202) 748-8000 those in the eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 in

the mountain and pacific time zones. you can post on our twitter feed at c-spanwj, and on facebook.com/cspan. a caller bringing up the president of the united states, he is in florida. alongside kevin mccarthy. the president for the first time directly addressing this morning topics of racism and triple the statements -- attributable to statements from the white house last week. here is the president responded to reporters. >> no, i am not a racist. i am the least racist you have ever -- that i can tell you. host: apologies for the audio for that. that again from mar-a-lago. legislators responding, we will show you that as we get up the hour. cj, minneapolis, minnesota you areour next --

next. caller: good morning. think audio let me in on this. i want to say that you will notice that the people who think america is so great are the people who are doing [indiscernible] you never ask people who might not think america is the greatest country. america is great by 12th, but -- wealth, but everybody does not get in on that wealth. we have the most incompetent congress and everybody blames the president, but the congress is the one that breaks the laws more than anybody does and they play the race card and a pit us against each other. because most of the stuff going on, especially last year with the police and everything, has always been the law and the law people who are supposed to make the difference, they are breaking the law. host: so what or how does

congress correct that specifically? caller: you have to get rid of them, because they are set in their ways. they do not even see what is wrong with it. host: but where does it start for congress, where does it start legislatively with a lawmaking? caller: they seem to have a stranglehold on the voting system. with all the corruption they are doing, they seem to be gaining -- getting elected. and we need to look at the way that the voting system is set up, it is like when they are able to win and then they will set on certain districts, so they cannot vote. they are getting away with that, i do not know how they keep doing it, it seems like every election they seem to be able to manipulate the system in a way -- and they are good at it. host: that was cj in minneapolis.

asking respondents about racial issues and the attention paid to race. 44% saying too little attention paid to race compared to 32% saying too much. 19% said about the right amount. in 2016, 30 5% at the time saying when it came to attention paid to race, too little was paid to it. too much attention paid to it. 26% the right amount paid lisa -- amount paid to it. lisa, go ahead. caller: good morning. happy martin luther king day. when i listen to your colors, -- wasers, one said that race talked about too much, but it is talked about and nothing is done. so many americans do not even know the history of america, and i and i am american-born for

generations, i am probably more american than most of the europeans calling in. i did not come here through immigration, i was brought here from one of those -- nations. which one, i do not know. i was born from one of those backns and we need to look at our history. you talk about immigration with the el salvadorans and mexicans, a good portion of the current united states was mexico, so that is why it is difficult to close off the borders, because california was mexico, texas was mexico. so when i hear these angry white people calling in and talking about taking back their country, and we are not white, we are german, where this or that, what do you tell the black americans who do not know what land your

people still us from -- stole this from. host: that was lisa from maryland. on twitter, thomas says race relations have become worse. both parties picking and choosing what to fit their agenda. called the race relations better, but definitely not good. joanne from minnesota. caller: good morning. i would like to say that i think race relations are also probably at an all-time low. and they shouldn't be. we are all americans, no matter where we have come from, in this country. and we should all try to get along. and things that have happened to people from all the different countries that live here, it is in the past. there were some terrible things that have happened to some nationalities

that are now here, but we cannot keep living in the past and keep bringing this up. we need to move forward, we need to work together. and i have noticed, i know most people will not agree, but people think that racism is just white people against the other communities, but in the past couple of years it sounds like a lot of the black people, and other people, are very racist toward anything that is white. there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the different communities to give everybody a fair chance at a decent life. but all this diversity is not going to help us. all the talking about slavery and boycotting is not going to help this country. i had five for exchange students

ign exchange students and they have called me to tell me what they think about our political system. fou happenr to like the current system, one does not, but they are appalled at the stuff that comes out and how it makes the united states look throughout the world. they feel they cannot trust anything that they hear through media or from the entertainment industry. they feel that we are not a democratic country anymore. and we are giving the wrong impression to the world, so instead of boycotting and everybody wanting their own point of view without sitting down to talk to one another, what would have happened back in the civil rights movement if the people in congress and in charge

had said to all the people for civil rights, i'm not going to talk to you, i am not going to sit down with you, i do not want to hear anything you have to say? host: ok. that was joanne. charles in florida. charles, hello? caller: i will cut you what, race relations in my lifetime, i am less than 40 years old, they are worse than they have ever been. i am from fort walton beach and until 2007 i did not realize there was an issue with racism in the country at all. everybody gets along, white, blackmun everybody. lack, everybody paid i got out of that -- everybody. i got out of the part of the country and i started going to birmingham, memphis, new orleans, and racism is very

prevalent. host: why do you think that is different in those locales versus the one that you came from? caller: i do not have any idea. we have a lot of military in northwest florida and i have spoke with people in the military, in my industry, that were former military and they all said that it was, you know, it was -- you were a service member and you had your service member's back. it was not recognized. racism was not recognized. i do not think it has to do with northwest florida, it is so cal m. there are not a lot of protests. if someone of color is beat up white would someone have gotten the same beating for the same time. host: ok, charles in florida

giving us his thoughts. you can do the same on our phone lines about your view of race relations on this martin luther king jr. holiday. (202) 748-8000 for those in eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 in the mountain and pacific time zones. twitter is available too at c-spanwj. from washington, laura. caller: hi, good to see you. you always do such a good job. my comment is that we have struggled a lot with race relations and martin luther king was a man that gave us all some sanity and respect for each doer, regarding the color, not judge a man by the color of his skin but the content of his character. and that has been a guiding principle for me all of my life. and i have not had to hate very many people because of that. i get mad at them, but i am very grateful for that, and it was

not until obama got into office the all this stuff started stirring up. the slave trade started in africa and it is just a fact. and, but the muslims are hunting down the black africans and telling them and that is because that they were armed and financed by the last administration. our black people today are working, ok? they have the highest employment rate in history and they are buying nice homes and they are having a good life. that has happened in a year. we had nothing before. we had people use that card to build themselves up and make themselves filthy rich and a stick their nose up and leave everybody else in the dirt. host: you are saying the issues are a result of the lesson ministration? -- lsat and minute

-- last administration? caller: yes, say we are all racist, but he was elected by white people. not once, but twice. nobody seems to think about that. very much so. and the stuff going on in africa, he gave those people billions of dollars, why can't he help those people in africa? host: ok, richard in kentucky. you are next. good morning. caller: good morning. man is a historic day for a who during the 1960's marched through the country, and as a young highschooler myself, but to my attention all the crazy things that were going on in the south. and this man died for this country, not just the african american people, he died for this country, knowing that there

was a much more that could be done for all people. i was aell you, democrat for 44 years. then barack obama came in and all of a sudden i am going, what is going on? i wish thatk, somebody in the african-american community, someone with knowledge of what barack obama had done during his presidency, can you please tell me what it did barack obama do for the african-american community? he let in hundreds of thousands latinos,ants, muslims, but what did he do for the african-american community? one last thing and i will get off. federal, the supreme court passed the roe v.

wade. there is about 30 million african-americans in this country, i could be wrong on that a little bit, but i do know millionmillion -- 20 african-american baby girls and boys were aborted. host: ok, bob in california. caller: hello there. - am ap or of our president - president. of our i was born in los angeles. i got to live in colorado when i was, up till nine years old. and i came back to california. my little town in colorado never saw a black. our closest town, trinidad, colorado, they never saw a black, because they were all caps where they were supposed to they were, because

all caps where they were supposed to be kept. i came back to california and blacks were still fighting to go to public schools, they had segregated schools, and i was here in the western state of california, the progressive state of california. we have just as many races as they do in the slave states. the only thing is, they are not afraid to express their racism and they do it more stinky. obama did cause on this disruption during his administration, because he was a black man that was elected anyway country. that scared the heck out of the slave states and a lot of the people in the midwest. workersntry quit liking in the 1970's and we have been taking away their money since then of all colors. host: bob, giving us lots of this morning. a couple pieces taking a look at

statements attributed to the current president. rump the new york times, "t is a racist." must on believing that the president's actions are clear of his convictions, everything he does is an articulation of what he believes, therefore all policies he supports and appointments he makes are suspect. we have to stop giving a pass to people who support and defend his racism. if you defend racism, you are part of racism. it does not matter how much you sorry that you -- how much you say that you're interested in people's policies and not races." washington times, this also talking about statements attributed to the president. they write, "the president gave the snowflake particularly on

capitol hill and the snowy media said thatn when he everybody understood what was confidential, and certain -- drive him up the wall. he forgot that nothing is confidential. the president was is a rough language, the kind that somebody might hear in a teenage camp, a construction site or on a ladies night out. several u.s. senators were around the table with him and he should've remembered that roughly would unsettled schedulers -- the senators. about those countries raking as an outhouse, he should be more careful. tact is not his virtue. and it is a mistake to think that several nations agree with his description of his countries." to read more of that you can do so on the pages of the washington times. one of the people on the show

talking about the president's, the news out of the white house, statements attributed to the utah,ent, a senator from talking about statements, her interpretations of it. here is her from yesterday. >> where the comments racist, do you think? yes, that think that they were unfortunate. i do not know if they were taken -- i was not in the room. i know the comments were made my do not know in what context they were made by am looking forward to finding out what happened and more importantly i'm looking forward to fixing the problem. we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard. host: against that backdrop, your view of race relations, the topic for this following half-hour up until 8:00 a.m. (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 for the mountain and

pacific time zones. it again, a video shot of the statue erected to memorialize dr. martin luther king jr. here in washington dc, we will show you that throughout the morning. dennis from indiana. caller: i would like to remind people that donald trump is not a racist, the man we had previously was a racist and let me give you some examples. "my grandmother was a typical white woman." what did he say about republicans? they can ride along but they have to get on the back of the bus. and as far as dick durbin, the man accusing the president of racism, let's remember that he compared soldiers to stalin. that is the kind of piece of trash he is. host: that shot, that is granite, a chinese sculptor constructing that in washington

dc. you will probably see people taking a look at it as we go through out the course of the morning. robert in california, hello. caller: hello, first of all i want to say thank you for everything that you guys do. you guys are honest and straightforward. a lot of this has to be put in historical context, real quick, melissa king was a great man, but his words -- martin luther king was a great man, but his words are used in reverse to get rid of affirmative action, which is really sad. you know, the whole comment of donald trump is really sad, because we do not put that in historical context. africa was invaded by the british, white people, the united states was invaded by white people, china was invaded by white people, so if they are as whole countries, it is because the united states and white countries have invaded all those countries and made them

into the countries they are today. we have an opportunity, we are at a crossroads now where we need to start looking at historical context and putting everything, educating our minds in a spiritual way, because we are in the cracks of a nuclear war -- crux of a nuclear war. and if we do not get started in getting rid of racism, why people are like alcoholics, they refuse to admit that they are racist, which is a really sad case. host: from florida, we will hear from maryland -- marylin. caller: please let me say, do not cut me off like everybody else, yes, martin luther king, great man, everybody can understand his message. was, you cansage pull yourself out of anything. we want to blame everybody for

our problems except ourselves. i found in life if i blame myself for everything, i have a lot better life. a lot better life. i do not blame anyone for my problems. perfect, to me, i am because the most high made me. i do not care what anybody else say. my father always told me when i was a little girl that the most important opinion is the opinion you have of yourself. not from anyone else. unless itbel myself, is perfect want because my most high god, my creator, greeted me. host: how does that play into race relations and your view of it? caller: race relation is what you label yourself as. i do not believe in that word at all, that is just me. i have to live my life, nobody else can live it for me, not my

mother, father or anybody except myself. if i go through this world negative about everything, it will be negative for me, my life will be negative. i refuse to listen to somebody else, even my mother and father, even though they are hanging out with jesus. host: from twitter, steve says "i agree that most people are less racist than in the past." interviewersays, brought it up earlier about the employment rate for blacks at an all-time high. on can tell us your opinion twitter and facebook. .on, you are next good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling in to make a comment about race relations in america. the first premise is america. was founded on false premises. the founding fathers were confining condors in american

history is also dealing with nothing but falsehoods and untruths. the main problem in this country is white supremacy. the white supremacy has already heard people of color and we ought to know what is expected, that white supremacy is now affecting white people. you look at health care, you see white people having a problem with what is going on with republicans, and you have the enron scandal, the scandals, the great recession, all things from white people mainly. you have ronald reagan with reverse discrimination in 1980, so from the civil rights act until 1980, white people and the government were pushing back to stop the gangs from -- host: so how do you make things equal for all races? if you are saying that both black and white have been affected, how do you make those equal? caller: the question, that is a

good question, pedro. you can look at cotton, they may try to tell the truth to confront racism. you have the government in general, the republican side, and all these callers, they want to say the truth -- the bottom-line, this country is heading for a downfall unless the leaders, especially the startleadership, says to writing the ship. -- righting the ship. white supremacy is affecting white people now. everybody cannot make it to the ozarks when the bombs start flying. host: state senator in the room when the president made the statements last week, was on sunday's show, was asked to clarify what he heard the president say. >> your view on this? >> i did not hear that word.

i headed not hear what senator durbin said, senator durbin has a history of misrepresenting things that have happened. >> sorry to interrupt, you did not hear the word or it was not said, because senator graham said he that this is what happened, senator flake was in a meeting afterwards where he was told by people in the meeting and happened, so just a button that up, you are saying it did not happen or you do not recall? >> i did not hear it and i was sitting no further away than dick durbin was and i know what dick durbin has said about the president's repeated statements is incorrect. >> is the centerline? -- senator lying? misrepresented what has happened before. host: this is from twitter. race relations going to on a sleep slope. whatever happened to judging

people not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character? connie in california. caller: i wanted to ask a question. did washington or anybody there take into account your show, what people say, do they consider it? i mean, what influence does your show have on people calling in compared to washington? on race, i have mixed grandchildren. i have black, mexican and white, they are all different and i love them equally. but i call them racist names. i called them oreo cookies, i call them being there's, and -- beaners, and we laugh it off. i tell them, when you go out in the world and people call you racist names, you remember grandma and you laugh about it and it is water off of a duck's back. host: are you sure that they feel the same way that you do?

caller: yeah, because they love me and i love them. we laugh about it. peopleell them, i -- if hurt your feelings, it does not matter. it is not really, that is not the point. the point is that you know who you are and you remember grandma loves you. no matter what, because i am white and they are all mixed. and i love them, heart. host: ok. patty in connecticut, north branford. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you. i saw the division happened when obama was in office and it started in cambridge, massachusetts. when the police officer went to a house that they thought was being robbed. it was a harvard professor. he resisted arrest and he would not show his id. there was a problem there. obama came out and said that the cambridge police acted stupidly.

then he continued with trayvon martin and the zimmerman case, he got involved in that and he was taking sides. so that was the start of the division right there. host: you do not think that existed before the previous president was in office? caller: this was very obvious, very obvious. bush stickingber up for one race or another, no. host: what does that mean for the current president, given the reporting of the last few days? caller: he did not do any worse than what obama did. it is always, trump this and a trump that. obama'sre many flaws in administration. i could be your own i telling you, so many things that were never examined because of the media, they are biased. host: sean in california.

you are next. caller: what is going on? host: go ahead. caller: i want, one thing i want to say is all those people that are putting down obama and his administration, you cannot blame all this on him. this was well before him and he tried to right the wrongs, even though it got worse, everybody is going to blame him for it. what i wanted to say is i agree with the person on twitter, a couple minutes ago you said that martin luther king's belief was all about, it is not the color of your skin, but the content of your character. and i cannot lie, i mean, the color of our skin has to do with a lot of the content of our characters, but everybody is cannot base itou on color and skin anymore, but or something--

wants to rely on judging people on the color of their skin, which i believe is wrong. host: that was shone in california giving his thoughts on race relations but we will continue on this topic for 15 minutes, the larger topic of race relations, and we will continue in our second hour with two guests. usa today this morning reprinted a piece from the cincinnati inquirer about dr. king and the work left unfinished, that is the title of the piece. he writes, after the passage of the voting rights act, dr. king looked to build on his success by focusing on what he considered three main evils, war, poverty and racial injustice. interdigital -- he brought in his civil rights agenda to include people of all races who had been left behind economically, and move that drew controversy, and perhaps even ire. he asked for the major distribution of wealth. most people look upon that

of whatights -- much america look at the civil rights gains and said we will not give you any more. but dr. king had a different vision, a version where we should of been going for the last 30 years, that is the unfinished business of the 1960's. that was usa today. immemorial to dr. king -- a memorial to dr. king is what you see on the screen. ry inll go to a very -- ave alabama, you are next. good morning. caller: good morning. my humble opinion about race relations is it is no better than it was 50 years ago, when this man gave his life to try to make the country live up to what the creator of the country was supposed to be -- the creation of the country was supposed to be. it is only going to get worse, because this country from its founding, written into the

constitution, is predicated on white supremacy and the oppression of black people. so long as the constitution is still in effect, then we are going to continue to have this schism over race, which is not even a real thing, because there is only one race of people created by the creator. host: so, we had a previous caller say, as part of your argument, that we had a majority of white americans who voted for barack obama twice, how do you factor that into the current state of race relations as you see it? caller: say that again, because people voted for obama twice, what? host: how does it factor into the current state of race relations? caller: i would not put too much into the fact he was elected twice and true a lot of white people voted for him, but i think he kind of set off and

ripped a band-aid off of the scar of racism. a lot of people were not able to handle the fact that he became president, so these people voted for him twice, true. host: that does not suggest the improving of relations on any front or any level? caller: absolutely, not at all. for the most part it has been made worse, because of that. it might have been better had hillary or john mccain become president, because his presidency sort of really exposed this country for what it is really about. int: ok, that was avery alabama. we divided the lines -- so (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 for mountain and pacific time zones. ron in washington. caller: you are doing an

exceptionally good job, i appreciate the conversation. i have never seen in my entire life, after serving 25 years, my nation more divided. we are more divided than i've ever seen. we believe in the hype of america, we divide ourselves between black and white. and with regard to martin luther king, he was a good man and he america, we divideaccomplished i would like to see the same attention paid on president's day and the marches and the program from the media, covering things like abraham lincoln, who died for our country also. we need to come together, undivided, to sustain ourselves. and -- host: how do you make that happen? caller: first of all, recognize yourself as an american first, and as a human being, but as an

american. that is a problem, we divide ourselves so much today and our media and the movies and so forth are dividing us more than i've ever seen before and it is sad. in the military, we do not see the color of a man, but his character. we all believe the same. we believe in america first, we believe that all people are created equal. thank you so very much. host: one of the people on the sunday show talking about the events of the last couple days with civil rights activist representative john lewis, who was on abc news this week, and talk about the president's reported statements, asked by the host if you got the president was racist. here is his answer. >> i think he is a racist. >> had you explain it and what we do about it? >> we have to stand up, speak up, and not try to sweep it under the rug. >> what does that mean?

i have heard many in the congress have said that congress will try to bring forward a motion to center the president -- sensor the president? >> when that resolution comes up, i will be one of the people to speak out. i think we should do it. we must educate our children and the generations yet unborn. host: also reported in the news, our c-span crew, not only can you see the main statue but quotes about dr. king, as seen by the crews putting it out there, so you can see it today. if you come to washington dc you can see it in person. memorial, we will show you that as the morning comes. the representative also alluded to congress, senator jeff flake of error is expected to make a speech this week, pointedly

talking about the president's statements, so look for that later this week. john in mississippi, taylorsville. good morning. caller: good morning. um, my question, or suggestion is that we see more history on this relationships between the blocks and whites. i have never seen anything on any station or any news about that line of compromise, the that,national anthem after the compromise. there has been a lot more good things, cooperation being made, than what you hear about on the television. and especially the movies, everything is made to look so terrible.

read you go back, when i "the 12 years a slave" then saw it in the movie, it was ridiculous how much worse things were in the movie than the book. seeing what everybody is and it has to turn people against, uh, box against whites. they think of themselves as being that much worse treated than they actually were. host: american history tv, which is on the weekend on c-span3, a lot of tapings and interviews, lectures, some dealing with the issue of race relations. if you want to learn about the historical context, we invite you to turn there on the weekend, or you can go to our website, we have a lot of content specifically looking at this. not only on history tv, but across all our platforms.

you can find more on c-span.org. caller from new york. caller: i want to say one thing to my think first of all it is unfortunate that for some people race relations are at an all-time low. in new york city, there has differently been progress. however, i think that there is room for improvement, particularly in affirmative action. i think that as one person said, for race relations to get better you really have to enhance the economic state of a lot of whites and affirmative action does that. i think we have to focus on expanding it and not limiting it, like some politicians are trying to do, and the courts. host: do you see that directly play now in the bronx, and if so how? aller: i personally, i have had the opportunity to benefit from affirmative action by being

enrolled in a higher education institution that is primarily white. i think my race was considered in admissions, but i think a lot of people are not given the same opportunity. it is to be expanded. host: that was from the bronx. callers calling in on this topic. this is senator rand paul, when asked about the president's statement and if he is racist. >> i do not think the comments were constructive, but i think to be fair we should not draw conclusions he did not intend. i know personally about his feelings toward central america and haiti can't because when i was not a candidate -- haiti, because when i was not a candidate and he was not a candidate, i went down to haiti and did surgeries and when we asked donald trump as a private citizen to support the troops he was a large financial -- trips

he was a large financial backer. it is unfair to draw conclusions from a remark that was not constructive and i think it is unfair to say he is a racist, when i know for a fact that he cares deeply about the people in haiti, because he financed the trip where we would give vision back to 200 people in haiti. host: caller from georgia. caller: i've been listening to several of the comments and one of the things i believe is that racism is real, but it is a learned behavior. little children do not care what color you are, they just want to know if you are going to be their friend. racism is a direct result of poverty, because everybody is trying to be the top dog, everybody wants the most money, the most toys. the civil war was not because of black and white, it was about the almighty dollar. everything america has we have almost stolen. we fight with afghanistan

because we want other oil. we have those that later the railroad tracks from east to west. everybody wants to be rich, and that is what is happening now. the stock market is going to the ceiling because the rich are getting richer. that is no longer a middle-class. i am an educator, i consider myself upper lower class because i am living from check to check. we have to get to the root of racism and to our children that it is not supposed to be this way. until we stand up and we fight against it, that is what is happening now, we are at a racial war where people are not going to tolerate you being mistreated or mistreating me because of the color of my skin, or because of my religion, or because of anything else, even my level of academic status. we want to be equal, or at least given the opportunity to be equal. i am originally from new york. i was called a nigger for the

first time when i came to georgia, but unfortunately the little stuff they think is normal, and i am saying, are you kidding me? and as far as the president, i will tell you, all we can do is pray for him. because he is entitled to his opinion, but he lacks diplomacy, that is his problem. because we all have issues and things we do not like, we have all had something that we do not want people to hear in our private conversations, whether it is at the dining room table or the country club, but he needs to learn diplomacy because you cannot spill out everything that comes into your mouth, not as the leader of the greatest country. when i teach my students, whether you like him or not, we must respect the position he holds as president of the united states. does he still need to remain

president, i do not think so, because he is misrepresenting us as a country. host: penny in georgia. eyrely in hot springs -- shirl in hot springs, arkansas. caller: good morning, i listened all day yesterday to people talking, it seemed like they talkjust trying to -- uh, president trump into going to other countries and sitting across the table from someone that even, i know i heard on the thatearlier in the year or -- host: only because we are running out of time on the topic of race relations, where are we, what are your thoughts? caller: all these things people are talking about, racial andgs, i live close to -- they need help over there in the black section. host: ok.

that last call on this subject. to guess will join us in our next segment and talk about this issue. -- two guests will join us in our next segment and talk about this issue. later in the program, we will hear from a policy expert on foreign relations on his new book on vietnam and other matters of foreign policy. on this martin luther king jr. holiday, we will be right back. ♪ ♪

>> tonight on the communicators, murrayat bell labs in hill, new jersey where they conducted danced communication research. is5ghe most exciting thing communication. it's been a hundred years since we had marconi with wireless to medications and this has changed our species. that's all wireless communication is. we want to go to a new era of communications. that's direct beam communications. we want to target the beam as individuals. we want to do this is the search for data is never ending so we want more and more and we have saturated our spectrum.

we have to go to a higher frequency. we cannot do broadcast in the traditional sense. i have to direct my beam at directly at you. this is a complete lee changing paradigm. it affects the entire wireless industry. >> watch "the communicators" tonight on c-span two. the c-span bus continues its 50 capitals tour this month with stops in raleigh, columbia, atlanta, and montgomery. we will speak with state officials during our live "washington journal" program. a.m. for our30 stop in raleigh, north carolina.

"washington journal" continues. host: this is the memorial in washington, d.c. of martin luther king jr. are quotes around there. if you have a chance to see it in washington, d.c., you are more than welcome to do so. in our studio, or discussion continues on the a about the state of race relations and two guests are joining us. leonard steinby horn from american university. also armstrong williams, radio and tv talk show host, thank you for joining us. i will start with the title of of raceic, the state relations in the united states. what is your snapshot? where are we now? there is no question that

progress has been made in this country from congress, to corporate america, to philanthropic america. even the education system. in any experiment, especially when you have people who come from human slavery, segregation and civil rights, slavery and the many isms considered to be cousins of segregation and bigotry still exist. you'll always find people who cannot cleanse their heart in how they judge people whether they are black, jewish, latino. this is something that was taught to me by my parents, your skin is a mutation and is the least of your qualities. that's why dr. king is so

remembered and celebrated today. he reminds us that we should not judge people by the color of the ir character.he you also have the systemic racism that is institutionalized. for the most part, i want to believe from my experience of being on radio and hosting television shows across the country that americans have made it -- tremendous projects -- progress but we don't celebrate the progress. we would rather focus on the incidence of racism and bigotry and hate crimes in the things that happen in the inner-city. the good that we do is never celebrated so we believe that is the narrative and sometimes that's what people have become but we have made progress. guest: i agree, i think we have made a lot of progress. 300-400 years trying to get this right.

young people are the most liberal my generation. enter upon't need to but we are having an issue with your microphone. let me pause so we can correct that. want to join in the conversation, you can call in on the phone lines and make your thoughts none on twitter. you can also post on her facebook page. race andscussion on the united states with our two ascertain this. you talked about the current state, how do you change the narrative? what elements have to go into changing the narrative? we cannot save the world that we can make a difference in the community and the skill set that we have. you got to help people where they are.

whether they are mentoring or tutoring or stressing the importance of an education, or stressing discipline and respect. i think the biggest thing that has come out of the white house over the last few days is while the presidents policies, there are things we can celebrate with his economic plan, unemployment is at an all-time low, the regulatory market and you look at the courts and his tax plan but if the rhetoric is not respectful, if it does not heal people, if it does not bring them together, it doesn't make them feel that they are a part of this fabric of america, you can have all the economic success in the world but if you leave people out that you don't , you still have not made the progress you should make. compassion matters seat cannot the way it's been advertised. you must have compassion for

people and compassion for the least among us. the reason why the president is in the white house today is who have less,le not more. until the present has the respectful rhetoric where people feel he cares about them and they can trust him and he believes in their progress to, we will not make the progress that is necessary. what he president says, does is also very important in terms of how he balances his policies. host: that's armstrong williams and we are joined by leonard stein horn. i think we are at a point where we magnify the tension but tension on race is actually good right now. i see it as a sign of progress because it means are wally -- or body politic is working through the issues that go deep down hundreds of years old.

you think about the issues related to the police, that is positive that being brought out. that suggests that african-americans, people underrepresented are actually speaking out and having a voice in talking about the things that affect their lives on a daily basis. if we'll -- if we feel tension because of that is because we are working through some of those issues that have existed for many years. not as a negative side of race relations but a positive side and that's very consistent with what dr. king was saying in the 1960's is that tension is a sign of progress. he created and norma's amount of tension in our society. that wasn't for the march on washington or all of the activism that went on at that time, that upended the status quo and we wouldn't have had the progress we have now. i think some people focus on the controversy and they think it's negative when in fact the controversy may be positive

because it's brought to the issues we still have to wrestle with as a society even if we made a tremendous amount of progress overall the years. i appreciate what you are think all theould advances we have made in technology and how the society .as developed from years ago the only thing that is not advances the human condition. while we may say the human condition has gotten better in many ways, it's gotten much worse. i don't think we should live in a society where we have to tell a law enforcement officer or anyone that you don't stop someone just because they are black. you stop them because they are breaking the law. you don't deny someone a job because of their race, you deny them because they are not qualified.

the nonsensical conversations are based on ignorance and stereotypes. at some point, we got to move beyond then deal with the real issues. i have not personally experienced racism and bigotry. just because i have not, doesn't mean it's not real for someone else. with got to get away from judging people based on things that are meaningless. the way we can realize dream that not only dr. king and others have that america remains the shining city on the hill. guest: i agree with you but disagree with one thing. i do think we are in a better place and because of the 1960's, we are in a better place than we were. the human condition before the 1960's was jim crow in this country. the human condition before the sad and horrible thousands of lynchings. the human condition before the 1960's was the inability of an african-american to rent an apartment or get a job simply

because of the color of his or her skin. i think we have made progress and i see that in my students and younger people. this is the most inclusive generation in human history. they are the least prejudiced generation human history. it may not always be manifested in the way we want but it is progress. we will not get there overnight. we will not going to be able to wave the magic wand to get to the promised land. as dr. king knew, you have to work hard at it. in so far as we as a society continue to work hard at it which means raising the issues which means black lives matter, which means talking about the hidden assumptions that people may have that they bring to conversations on hiring decisions or that police bring to interactions with people on the street, those are the things we have to get out and if that creates tension, tension in that sense can lead to progress. our callersl weave into this conversation.

go ahead with your question or comment. caller: good morning. i don't want to sound like the weird guy but i turn on the television and i look at c-span and that's about it because we can engage with the commentators. this mainstream media and beyond has a way of using the notion of race and religion and these different things that divide us for centuries. they are keeping us divided among ourselves. people are too reliant on not just the television but the people we call our leaders. whether it's president obama or bush or trump, these people in power have no connection to any of us every day real people. i'm dealing with things on the ground level, people into life, i'm not sitting at the table making a decision on who will get the meat.

those are your puppets in office. i have to go to the market and deal with human beings who look at me because i have brown skin. they, and black and everything else and show me their attitude. where did they get that attitude? maybe it was their environment or their you will treat me as what somebody on television says. host: thank you for the comment. race is a very personal thing. we have to be able to root for this out at a very individual level. andtarts with the schools the educational system. it starts with the national conversation. it starts with all of the issues we bring out like corporations dealing with issues of diversity and inclusion and how you would actually advanced people through

the ranks. in the military, what are the most integrated institutions in united states, what do they do in terms of promotion? if they promote somebody and there are two people competing an be a white person and african-american, they will go back and redo the whole thinking through to make sure that if they promoted the white person that prejudice or stereotyping was not at all involved in their decision. they are drilling down into those core attitudes. what we have to do at an institutional level and political level and the social level and an individual level is dig down deep but not feel threatened by it because we are all in this thing together. we may be black or brown or white or whatever particular view of our skin but we are all in this thing together. folks in the military are in the same foxhole. it does not matter what their ethnicity is, they have to look out for each other and protect each other because they are protecting the larger values of

the united states. if people don't step back and see this is a great experiment in democracy, that they have to work at it and i cannot be complacent and i have to feel the people asking them those questions are part of the same society, that's the unfortunate thing. it's our work to make sure that all of that hard work gets done. to the larger point about the media, that truly resonates for everyone. we are the media. he feels he is part of the conversation and that's why he watches c-span and the media feeds the racism and crime and bigotry. i'm not necessarily certain anymore, because it makes money in hollywood is doing these movies that have values and virtue. the box office does very well but i don't understand why goodness itself, why you don't

see more of it. leads itand if it bleeds but you also need to tell people there is hope in the world. i appreciate what the professor is saying. it gives me a lot of hope for perspectivend the that people have that there is still life in the world of the media plays a significant role. i take great responsibility and great introspection into the shows we put on the air and what we want to say to the children and what we want to say to adults and the media needs to become more responsible and accountable for what they place on the airwaves. i think the caller is spot on and it's refreshing to know the american people who were once the sleeping giant has finally awakened to the fact that they are being manipulated and condition to become something they are not. guest: i might disagree with you a little bit because i think the

media have gotten better over the years. the media are far more inclusive and storylines are far more inclusive. we are not where we need to be. we need to have more african-american writers behind the shows writing the storylines. it's better than it ever has been. if you look back 25 years, you would constantly see perpetrators on tv who were racialized. crime that's being shown, it was always with the black perpetrator. i think the media has become far more cognizant even though they are not where they need to be. in media is like a raw nerve our society. they are reflecting some of these controversies. when the president says hole,ing about the s* * the media makes a big deal out of it and it creates a mad -- a national conversation. the mediagative about these days but i think the controversies we are dealing with magnify because the media

likes to outrage, they like to sensationalize. they sort of magnify these controversies to make them far more pervasive and extreme than they may actually be when we can have those conversations one on one and not racially decibel level you see on tv. i find you interesting but i would like to see more decide to ownans the media like the jews did. like to see more african-americans, not just work as writers, but in an ownership role where they can control the images of how they are portrayed on television. host: let's go to teresa, centerville virginia, republican line. i am listening to the speakers and i think the each of

a valid point. when you are talking about the article of martin luther king, i feel we are missing a whole component of any quality across the board. blacks, they will have to really pay attention to where they spend their money. spenteir money should be on business that support them, businesses that hire black people and put them in managerial positions. they have to be more responsible about where they spend their money. i am in agreement we need to be and leadershipip positions for anything to start changing. host: what do you think about that insight? guest: the issue is not where anyone spends their money but which community has money to spend. because of the history of slavery and segregation and jim crow, african-americans have not had as much money and is well to the types oft into

businesses. after world war ii, quite a america was able to buy homes for the most part. the federal housing administration enabled white people to buy homes but they redlined neighborhoods were black people lived. for all of those critical use -- years after world war ii when america's buying homes and having a great suburban expand the khamenei black people or left out of that and therefore were unable to accumulate the that wayealth -- people can. joseph leavitt said if i sold a wouldo a black person, i not be able to sell a home to 95% of my white people. labor kept many african-americans out of those into the got people up middle class letter and help them create those lives. is thect, what you had greatest wealth creation machine of human history, the post-world war ii era, black people were

largely left out of that and unable to kimberly wealth. -- unable to a cumulate well. accumulateable to wealth. black people are investing money the same way white people are but they never had the same resources to do it. the other angle to what you are saying is important and it goes back to the idea of the american dream. the american dream says if you work hard, you succeed. the flip side of the american dream is this -- if you have not succeeded, therefore you have not worked hard or you haven't been responsible. what we have done is a culture is associated people who have not succeeded as much with moral failings. i think that is deeply unfortunate in a society that ultimately reinforces prejudices that ultimately her black people and ultimately keep them from joining the mainstream society that they need to be in.

let me speak from experience. sirius.not a plug for talk tohance i get to real intellectuals, successful entrepreneurs. there is a point where i had my own stereotypes. i have learned from that , thesence every night individuals are some of the brightest people i've ever spoken to, they are wealthy and some of them may have graduated ivy league schools or some may not have a high school education but they understand the art of hard work. the art of investing in education for their children, the arch of sacrifice and the art of moral striving. they believe there is an they believed and they can's exceed if they work hard and do it they need to do.

i think far too often, we may think many blacks in this country don't have the wealth and don't have the resources but i don't think that's true. i don't think they want to talk about it because that's what they do. it's a private thing they do with themselves and their families and the community at something they don't post about this think there for more there are far more successes in the black amenity than you'll ever be aware of. the human conditions has shown no matter the circumstances that you can always breakthrough and thereinancial success and were her always those who feel they will run into a brick wall but i talk to people every day that find a way to make it work. they know what work ethic is, they know with second vice is, they know what difficulty is, and they understand. they believe they should hold back 10 to 15% of what they say.

i think black society is not as poor as most people make it out to be. guest: interesting point. one of the great stories that has not been told is the rise of the black middle class once civil rights were obtained from the 1970's onward. you have an enormous amount of accomplishment in the black community. look at the well statistics, they are skewed in terms of the amount of wealth that white has versus the amount of wealth that blacks have an you have to go back to some of the original ability to a cumulate wealth in society in society and the barriers that existed for certain people to accumulate wealth. ways, yes, there is a great story that has not been told, but we cannot deny the facts of history the cap certain parts of the trinity from a accumulating that well. host: let's go to stephen ohio, republican line. much.: thank you so

you do a fantastic job. i've and a 70-year-old vietnam veteran and there is no such thing as a utopian society. growsd people and need [indiscernible] i am 70 years old and i have seen tremendous change. when you talk about financial issues, you are right. that's all i got to say. this is a touchy issue for me. we shouldim say invest with their community. we should keep money in our community. to me that is racism itself and i understand that there was a time in this country where we had to go to our own institutions.

i understand america forced us into this as a race but america today, you should put your money with people who respect your money, who will advance and grow your communities. --n you start talking about what we have done in this society, we made success out to be someone who is white. people have white no problem but that's a fallacy. they struggle as much as anybody else. there is no perfect human being but perfection is is how you perfect your self. we have to get away from the stereotype that blacks means suffering and white means success. that's ridiculous. you are an individual, not part of a group, part of the human experience. choose how youd want to spend your money but in terms not give you of your hard work any kind of advantage. they havebe clear,

done those experiments with resumes and if you have k a name ken and a name of jamal, gets called back more frequently. this the same thing with them turning -- with obtaining rental apartments. it's not that we are in a colorblind society, there strong, lingering prejudices and stereotypes they keep people from advancing the way they want. it's also important to keep in worker in america who worked harder in this society than african-americans. people who had to work every single day for absolutely no compensation, to be able to build a country, that's an enormous accomplishment that our country has yet to reckon with. when you hear some of the prejudice and stereotypes about

like people not working hard enough, shame on those folks are not looking at the history and realizing black people have often had to work twice as hard to get half as far in american society. may, the great society program, no matter how benevolent and what best intentions the government had, has not worked for black people overall. it has crippled them. it has created in some areas ghettos. they are in these cesspools among crime and drugs and they have no way out. they don't have the skills or the vision so instead of the government continuing to use the same programs that have failed, we should tweak these programs and make them better and revamp them if you want to make them work. the government is intelligent enough to make these programs work.

just like changing medicaid. it does not impact the elderly, it does not impact the mentally ill but it does impact young people. i believe that every able-bodied young person, an adult who can work should work. they should not take from the government and not earn it. they should have some skills and if they don't have a skill, they should volunteer. that's the kind of meaningful legislation that will make a difference. it cripples them and their children that will come after them. guest: you make the assumption that people don't want to work. people do want to work. sometimes, the circumstances work against them. the first use of the word underclass was before the great society was created. when black people came up from the south to work during world war ii, to work in factory jobs and the white

soldiers came back, guess who got kicked out? it was the blacks who came from the south to work in the factories and make our war effort succeed. you had prejudice, wereimination of laws that not redressing the situation of black people until the great society. time, the greatest economic engine in american black people were left off of the ladder to the middle class come you had an underclass that existed before the great society. let's be clear, programs like stamps, schoold breakfasts for kids, medicaid -- those are programs that actually help people get on their feet to be able to earn that living they all want. guest: there is no disagreement here. i spoke earlier about the fantastic people i get to talk to every day. and argue sit here

against the fact that there are people, not just black people, across the country who have taken advantage of the government programs and are able-bodied and can work. guest: people take advantage of the system all the time. host: guest: that's why we should tweak it is much as we can. if we only focus and the people at the bottom of the latter, we make a big mistake. host: angelo from new orleans, go ahead. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. i would like to know your what the present attorney general has done, one of the first things he did was took the kkk and the white supremacists off the domestic terrorism list. is that helpful? also, he doesn't like the kkk because they smoke pot. they are creating an environment

to separate the people. they want a race war. host: bring that into it as you will. guest: the kkk has existed since the end of the civil war. it's a horrible mark against our country. ridre never going to ourselves of racism or bigotry extremism. it's all over the world and in this country as well. i find it unfortunate that after the charlottesville incident that the president spoke about some very fine people that were marching. what we can do as a society is -- is not give hate any permission. we cannot enable hate. we have to create and establish and reinforce those norms that say that this type of language, this type of behavior, this type of extremism is on acceptable from the highest levels of our society through every institution.

if there is any enabling going on tour this type of activity, the kkk or alt right or ultranationalist groups or white supremacists, that has to be condemned at the highest level repeatedly and not given permission and not enabled. in many ways, that's been an unfortunate failing of this administration because after charlottesville, the president should have been unambiguous and what he would have said. that was very harmful and very hurtful for many people and it doesn't help. i certainly condemned the president after charlottesville in no uncertain terms. it was a lack of moral leadership. the president has to set the example. racism and bigotry of any kind are unacceptable in our country. i think we make a mistake when we think we can only find this

kind of bigotry and racism among conservatives and the alt-right. about what label you wear, it's what's in your heart. we are all capable of them a focus on more what comes from the right instead of the left. host: the president had to address reporters lester day and said he is not -- yesterday and said he is not a racist. guest: do you think he would say he is a racist? host: what about the perception that he is? guest: i have spent time with the president. i don't think the president is a racist. i know people would be shocked me say that. i just think he lacks compassion. in my opinion, he has an issue with the poor which bothers me. he sees them as weak and vulnerable. is an equalt opportunity offender.

i think he is anti-intellectual. if you look at him, when you try to reduce things to race come you miss the boat. i think the president really has to work on his moral compass. i think he has to believe in something greater than himself. andpresident needs humility he has to admit that he is human and admit mistakes and apologize. he also has to take responsibility for the things that happen within his cabinet. he said i'm the president. they work for me and i take refer -- and i take full responsibility. me ask you a question. take that word racist away. do you think the president is a bigot? that's not related to race. he's offended everyone. guest: >> has he offended white

people? best: everyone should s* *hole offended when he used the word. when he goes after mexicans and muslims, he's gone after haitians and africans and people all over the world, yet he praises people from norway. has he been any way, shape, or form gone after white people? earlier, it's not an issue of race. america is a place of high ideas and principles and virtues. there are certain things that the world expects from us. sometimes there are things the president does that many people across any line find to be embarrassing, find to be unacceptable. . into himoing to get offending white people but many people are offended by the president's tweets, his lack of judgment, his lack of temperament and his behavior.

he is our president and we expect better from him and we know he can be better. we just keep hoping and praying that he does do better. host: we will take a call. guest: the president certainly has issues, no question. these are issues when it rates -- when it relates to minorities or not like him. whatever we call it, he has a number of issues and i agree he is not risen to the level of he needsdership that to to understand that we are all in this together, we are a nation richer because of all the different people that live in this country or come to this country from many other communities in other parts of the world. his unwillingness to a that and by his enabling of those types of organizations that don't want to ignore the richness of this country, don't want to acknowledge the america of one out of many, whatever we

want to call it, this is deeply unfortunate. there is another side which fascinates me. on the campaign, he talked about the forgotten america. to him, those forgotten americans are largely white people. those are the people he campaigned around. there are so many forgotten americans in this country. there are forgotten americans in the mississippi delta when no politicians go to, nobody represents them at the highest level. they are forgotten americans among native americans throughout this country. if we look at those people who have been forgotten, we incorporate all of them. the very nature of his campaign was not very inclusive in terms of the people he sees as forgotten americans. correctlove to see him that and start to think differently about who is forgotten and how we bring everybody forward for the future. and iseonard stein more

a -- leonard stein horn is a professor. mr. williams is a broadcaster. both gentlemen are joining us on this martin luther king jr. holiday. indiana, independent line. caller: good morning. i was watching tv yesterday and rand paul said before he got , mr. trump, the president, financed a group to go to haiti and central america to look into cataracts and he financed the whole thing. i don't think he is prejudice either. like he hase something against the poor.

they want to give the tax breaks to the rich, i don't understand that. that's what i see on tv yesterday. the other thing i heard was that there were more whites that do than blacks but more blacks are locked up for it. host: let's go to elaine and missouri. caller: thank you so much. this is a wonderful program. say that the professor is hitting it on the nail and so was the commentator. i agree with both of their points of views. the professor is giving us the thatstics that illustrate we live in an oppressive society. and it's about economics.

stood bys dr. king let's integrate, fine, but as soon as he talked economics, we see what happened. the economic picture has to be addressed. that trump believe is a racist, let them improve that minimum wage. if we don't believe donald trump a racist, let's address the electoral college. vote,s one person, one why should the most important be dictated by the electoral college? host: thank you very much. will the black employment rate improved? guest: the bureau of labor statistics bears this out. i will give credit to former president barack obama who

started this but president trump has done a good job of tax cuts and his economic plan as now he's looking at infrastructure. take away these unnecessary regulations in the market and has done a good job of the court system. let me emphasize this again. like most americans, i really want this president to succeed. i respect the office of the president and i respect mr. trump because even though he says he is a stable genius, it is genius what he a competent as life in real estate and winning this presidency is almost miraculous. shownk the president has his flaws and it resonates with many people because he is so transparent that he has no filters. still, the president can do a lot of good. i think the president is sincere but i think it's on-the-job

learning in the learning curve he has had is very big. i would have thought he would have been much more sophisticated in the times and places he is travel in the world shocked me is how wrong he is what comes to diplomacy. when he is on a teleprompter, he is out -- he is excellent. i'm sure we will see that in the state of the union. his flaws resonate with the american people. onn the president fell short charlottesville and the s* *hole comment, i cannot become an enabler of a president who does that and my criticism does not mean i want him to fail but i want him to be better because we all have something at stake in all of this. guest: let's be clear, he has been divisive through his , theric and what he tweets

things he says and that's not very helpful. we need a president who will be a uniter and not a divider. you say he resonates with the american people. his favorability rating is below 40%, an all-time low for anyone at this stage of a presidency. they are resonating with a certain number of american people and the divisiveness seems to charge that base rather than unite this country. i think if he changes course, he is a chance to reach out and incorporate those people he has divided but he has not done it. caller, this the is also about empowerment. you talk about the courts, you can talk about the justice department. right now in place in many states are voter id laws which conservatives on the courts seem

to like. many of those laws were designed pretty much to exclude black people from exercising their franchise in our democracy. many people may not have those types of ids that enable them to vote. in texas, you cannot use a use ae id but you can concealed carry permit. if we want to address those issues of inequality or address the economic issues, we have to have the full and franchise meant -- full enfranchisement of limitingson and the barriers to vote so everyone can howinvolved all stop guest: is this different than the gerrymandering of the democrats? let's be honest. guest: gerrymandering across the board is not good but you have to admire states like california which are set up independently

to divide up congressional districts that don't involve the political parties. if you do that around the country and all those states that are controlled by republicans, the vast majority will not want to do that because it will dilute their power. in look at pennsylvania 2012i think it was. if you aggregate the congressional votes in the state of pennsylvania that year, i think the democrats won by 200,000 votes approximately. how many of the seats went to the democrats? five out of 18. gerrymandering takes place, it's toxic and it takes away people's representation in government. we have to be able to change that in the california's model is something we should look at. guest: i don't think people who are not register should be voting. i don't have a problem with the id. there is more to this story as

why they don't want a voter id in place. they have done the research even in the george bush's administration and looked at cases of voter fraud and it was inconsequential. just like the media did the research on the presidential election and president trump ends up winning. it depends is putting together the statistics. host: let's go to bob in pennsylvania. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span, one of the best shows on television. this has been an interesting show. neither fellow is wrong. they are absolutely right in what they are saying. put it together and you have the whole story. there's really no argument there, they are both right. racism, it has changed in

many ways in some ways you can see like on television alone. you would never see a black person or at on any television show. now it is mixed. there is still hate in people's hearts. that is what has to change. suggestions would be that when they take the census, they need to know where people are at but why do they need to know what race they are? we are all the human race. i think the need to eliminate that question from any questionnaire and our history books have to be rewritten. when i went to school, it was all about white people and they talked about slavery but they never talked about the quality and what happens to those poor people. so kidsot to be taught can understand what happened. host: thank you very much. there is a lot of

revisionist history that goes on. history should reflect everyone's contribution that has been made. i have not been on a show where a caller said that we are both correct. that doesn't happen. the good news about this show is that people really care about this country. done withus to be racism and bigotry and hatred and they want us to get onto real issues. you are right, they don't want the president to do divisive. they want him to do well. we have a lot of issues in this country but i'm appreciative that the professors on this day have reminded us what's good about america. there is hope where we can build. i think it's necessary in any

conversation. dropping caller said race from the census -- my office is filling out a form, i will not check the race box. guest: i always think the more information we have the better, particularly in a plural society , knowing how we break down ethnically is very helpful. we can related to issues of economic empowerment and progress and poverty. and a goal of that is very hateful to know -- is helpful to know. i encourage it and it's not the information that matters, it's how it's used will stop i think that's the big deal. in a funny way, i agree with the caller that in many ways we

agreed more than we disagree. the important thing here is even though we may disagree on some issues, we have to do it in a civil way in this country. this is where the president is pouring poison into the body politic. it has not been civil. the more civil we are in discussing these issues, the better it is in the more information we have. you said about statistics, benjamin disraeli said there are lies, dam lies, and statistics but we have to respect the knowledge and information that is out there. we cannot claim that everything we disagree with is fake news or not a fact or that they are alternative facts. we have to be able to agree on a common set of information as a society which is provable and documented statistics to be able to work together and figure out some of those problems and bridge some of those gaps. guest: i agree that some people

use statistics and polling numbers to get to a belief and reach a conclusion that they already have concluded. sort: polling numbers are of irrelevant. they are a snapshot of the moment. somewhatls were accurate because they reflected the popular vote in the united states at that moment in time. what they did not have was good information on the statewide polls and they completely blew it. to be honest, i gave donald trump a 50-50 chance of winning the presidency and i told my students two weeks before the election not to be surprised of hillary clinton wins the popular vote and donald trump wins the electoral college. this is why it's incumbent upon everybody in the society to know our history and know our culture and read the media but not to attack the press but to engage them. they will become better informed

to make decisions about our democracy. if we can agree on that than we can bridge some of these divides we have in this country. it's got to be based on a common sense of knowledge. host: this is from henderson, nevada, dave is next. caller: good morning, c-span. i have three comments to make. racism.d be about i think it needs to be looked at as racism and being scared. most people at least here in nevada were watching the news to 90% of the crime done by as basically certain race. i will get further into that but that is to be looked at. i think there is a whole segment of the population who is scared and it's considered racism but

they think they're different. next is the unemployment rate and it's getting better. i look at the fact of yes the economy is doing better but also we have less people coming across the borders to take the jobs for lower rates. is donald trump and his comments. he was trying to tell the group and can't -- and congress that it's america. who cares about africa, who cares about the other country. let's get on point, it's america first. host: thank you. what do you think about the first point he made? it's an inaccurate statistic about the amount of crime. yes, lack crime is disproportionate but much of crime in this country is by white people. much of lack crime is black on

black crime and white crime is white on white crime. what happens goes back earlier to some of the comments that my colleague was making about the tens which over the years, to magnify the prevalence of crime, the immediacy of crime, and because we see it on the news come in makes it more real than it may actually be in our daily lives. to some extent, we have to distance ourselves from the immediacy of those reports in the press and be less scared because the probability of somebody being a victim of a crime is not high. crime has been going down this country. people in this country about crime, they would say new york, it's probably out of control. yes, in new york. but homicides are at record lows in the for -- in the last few decades and we have to look at the statistics and look at what is going on and be a little less fearful of those things that are just different from the rest of us.

guest: i agree. certainly down and we focus so much on it. also with the caller said, he talked about africa and america first. everything should be about merit, not race or where you live. the president can say what he said but he does not have to say it in a disrespectful way. there are more jobs that have been created. as president of the united states coming you don't want people in el salvador in haiti in their predicament because of the earthquake through no fault of their own coming you don't want them to feel our leader of the free world feels about them that way. it's just respect for language and saying the same thing without harming and alienating people for no reason all stop guest: let's be clear, he was

not really talking about those other countries. he was talking about people from those countries migrating to the united states. we have had people from pretty that countries over the centuries migrating to the united states. there was famine in ireland and now we have many people of irish dissent in this country. i am assuming the president could have described ireland with this s* *hole comment. about germany or ireland, it's about the people who wanted to come to this country seeking a safe haven an opportunity to be able to better their lives and become americans. that's why africans want to come to this country and haitians want to come here and el salvador is want to come to this country and they enrich our country. they are the flesh blood of this country.

they give us new perspectives and give us energy and entrepreneurs and they give us people who want to build this country. what the president said was about those people and that's why it was so unfortunate and that's why it triggered so many issues. a lothad said haiti has of problems and stop of there, that would've been one thing but he busily set i don't want them coming into this country. that's about the people, not about the country. when many africans come here, they do better financially in terms of salary and income than americans. he needs to understand what actually happens when these people he poked -- he spoke about come to this country and how they enrich this country. he just doesn't know. that's armstrong williams, radio talk show and also joined by leonard steinwarned.

nhorn. thank you for joining us for this discussion. coming up, we'll talk with the council on foreign relations about a new book on the annan. -- new book on vietnam. we will be right back. ♪ ♪

we have to go to higher higher frequency have many other challenges. we can't do broadcast in a traditional sense, we have to

directly at you. stops in raleigh, columbia, and montgomery, in each visit we will visit with state officials during the live "washington journal" program, follow the join us wednesday 9:30 a.m. eastern for the stop in north carolina, where washington journal guest is stein.ey general josh >> "washington journal" continues. host: max booth is national ecurity senior fellow and author of "the road not taken,"

vietnam, thanks for joining us. guest: thanks for having us. a flavor what ve it is about, what was your purpose there? about coverta book operative landsdale, who helped the early ippines in 1950s and went to vietnam and helped create south vietnam. the quietwn to be for american, covert operative, never had the full story about is what i try to do in the book, based on papers and to ives nobody had access before, tell the story about andsdale, including the tragic finale, he was at odds and in see how he did not troops thrashing around in the jungle of vietnam, his viewpoints were ignored by kennedy and johnson administration with tragic consequences. host: the book as he wrote it,

we'll talk about that in a bit. we go on, i want to ask you about current foreign policy matters in the united states. end of the year you wrote a piece about donald trump, how you grade the president's first year, particularly on foreign policy? probably give him maybe a c minus, largely and largely because the hede high as c minus because has exceeded in a lot of ways to professional his foreign policy establishment. in somekled that advice areas, pulling out of the paris has done cord and he real damage, i think with his rhetoric, but it could have been lot worse. there is still substantial amount of continuity in places syria and nd afghanistan. in the rn i made clear

article is that trump may be more unleashed in year two than year one, there are a bunch head,that could come to a whether a possible conflict of with korea, a trade war china or with north america and mexico or da possibly may face constitutional if donald trump tries to mueller.ial counsel host: front page of "new york times" highlights story taking a at military plans undergone by this administration looking korea.flict of north how much reality do you think this might be? no-kidding ossibility, the chances are conflict with north korea are at highest point and this is the administration is giving serious consideration to, they are looking at the of a pre-emptive

-- could kill millions and i would hope we earn from lessons of history, including ones i point out in my book in "the road not taken" of vietnam.s in the 1960s, you had policy akers in the johnson administration who imagine air strikes would suddenly make a adversary triumphant. that led us deep into the vietnam war. should be wary of air power in north korea, imagining that strike on korean issile base or air force base would somehow make kim jong-un maybe that would happen. it is just as likely it would unleash war with consequences foresee.n host: do you think the trajectory would happen under administration or because of action by the trump administrati administration? largely trump

administration, you didn't see this happening under bush or that point, north korea was making progress on nuclear weapons. o some extent, this is being driven by development necessary north korea, north korea is on the virge of having an icdm nuclear warhead that could hit washington. that is increase in capability. remember, they may have dozen like r options, something that, but for decades we dealt soviet ersary in the union and that could hit the united states with one missile and with thousands of missiles and we dealt with that containment and didn't talk soviet unionin the and that is the way to go with north korea today. host: in your mind, live with nuclear north korea then? are living with nuclear north korea, they have had weapons for a number of ears and no evidence they are suicidal or crazy, i don't think they will launch a nuke for the the blue. they have nuclear weapons

because they want to safeguard horrible tyrannical regime, but eechtually some day regime will collapse, it is so illijit mat it can't feed its people, sooner or later, north korea will collapse and peninsula will be in seoul, we need to keep the going e on and sanctions and not trigger catastrophic conflict, that would be height i think. host: i know that the talks korean and north south korean governments are about the olympics largely. indication of further talks on expanded things including north korea? it is possible. if you look at the history of north korea, there is no reason they will ever negotiate a true freeze or give program and ear they tend to zig and zag, what

a zig, agreed is to limited talks with south indication of the future, there will be another before rean provocation long and will be back in a more tense environment.

-- in the middle, you are creating more enemies than eliminating, you are pitting hatred against the government as brotherstary act to people, win over the population and when they did rat out people would insurgents in their midst, this 101, has r insurgency become conventional wisdom today. 1950s pioneered in the and disregarded by the u.s.

government with horrific consequences in vietnam in the 1960s. does that indicate sense of hearts and mind change the engage in?es could guest: we need to do what we can to help the people of iran help obviously they are suffering under tyrannical and regime.r rights, for human president alienating the world comments aboutnd africa and haiti and other for example, , tweeting vile anti-muslim to os, makes it very hard win hearts and minds around the world. some ways, i would say donald the anti-edward lansdale, he believed in to people and really iving the ideas or declaration of independence and unfortunately, donald trump

repulses much of the world and undermines our ability to win friends and influence allies. of theur guest is author book "the road not taken," tredgy indsdale and the vietnam. you.ave calls for first from rick in minnesota. democrat's line, you are on with boot. go ahead. you.r: thank i believe mr. boot, all our roblems, both collective and individually are the result of self-interest. for your time. don't cryptic comment, know what to make of that. host: john in south hampton, republican line. yes, good morning. 've been familiar with mr. booth and reading his work for

unfortunately mr. booth advice has been a disaster the he united states for american people. his aggressiveq, oo-conservative positions have resulted in catastrophe, with mr. booth refugees, made reference to president rump, but the israelis are in the process of expelling 60,000 refugees from south sudan s in area. jewish ticle in the forward, only a week or so ago, indicated only nine ndividuals have been given legal status in israel since 2009. caller, thanks.

guest: i don't know what the caller is ranting and raving policy d what israel's have to do with donald trump. israel, by the way, welcomes the world. all over give citizenship to any jew who and treats igrate christians and muslims with dignity and respect. i don't know what that has to do with donald trump or my foreign policy record. say, yes, i was in favor of the iraq war, because i anticipate the catest rofty it would become. were in favor of the iraq war and i've since had serious thought and believe it is imperative to learn lessons of history. ne lesson is be cautious about launching preventative wars, in other words, attacking other before we ourselves have been attacked. that is something we should be case of north korea, trump administration is giving serious consideration to a preventative strike. ost: when you hear articles or

recordings about the islamic state, how much credence do you put in that? encrypted tactical -- how lasting are defeats going to be, inflicted major tactical defeats in al qaeda and iraq, isis and of course, isis was aqi2.0 risingecame out of political chaos in iraq and syria. is something we need to be cognizant of in the future. constantly preached the only way to win wars against the political on front. you had to have a stable government that would win the people and it is hard to say we have that in iraq and tosyria or he extent sunnis perceive governments are dominated by shiites with support from iran on victimizing sunnis make

it hard to have any kind of those rm stability in countries and raises the risk that you will see isis 2.0 the road.wn host: go to montana, carmen is next. hi. caller: i will try to make sense as -- said, gentleman from the that he said was cryptic. i have personal involvement, necessary vietnam, as a young man. navy, n the brown water task force 116. was pretty here, i scared, we were getting ambushed and i couldn't make sense of it. my second year, i had grownup a ot and i realized that we were fighting for some pretty heavy interests. dutch and minnesota mining and manufacturing. was still me most the ambushes, how much we got

ambushed. striking, by the third year, i had attitude and out, hing and when i got it couldn't make sense of and watched pbs special, and one of my buddies asked what are you for, carmen, stuff it will drive you crazy. what the want to know war was about. went to see president trum an, he said, i ant to be part of your democracy, all men are created equal, he started quoting our constitution word for word and so he said, please let me be part of your democracy. so we sent envoy over there, ss, turned into cia later on and looked at the country and said holo crap, look at this place. there is nothing, but oil and minerals here. host: carmen, we'll leave it guests d let our

respond. guest: thanks to the caller for his service. with t sure that i agree his interpretation, he is repeat something myths. fighting ink we were vietnam because of royal dutch the dominobecause of theory. administration after administration did not want to to south vietnam fall communists, they were afraid other countries follow them. argue about what there was accurate or not. there is evidence to contradict it, that was from u.s. accurate to and not say

-- -- ho chi minh. be better listening to edward landsdale, who had accurate read on vietnamese society. landsdale respond to ideas being rejected? policy youof foreign see today? guest: landsdale was very advice was n his

rejected. you know, he was not effective operative, that was his achilles heel. e was good at winning over foreign leaders like from the hilippines and south vietnam, but not good at winning over his own leaders. e clashed with people who were arrogant and assumed they had all the answers, even though they had little understanding vietnam.going on in landsdale tried to tell them the penetrate ouldn't ande true preconceptionists was sidelined and forcibly retired. you can is two lessons draw from the landsdale experience, one is how important t is to understand the country where you are operating, to listen to the people, not to know context of insurgency that you are involved in. how do you sson is communicate insights to american policymakers and landsdale was effective in doing that.

it was very hard, there are so obstacles to tic truly understanding these very ifferent and war-torn societies, but if they're going to be effective headlines today, to have to figure out how win over their governmental superiors in better fashion than landsdale did. host: win the hearts and minds people.overnment and guest: exactly, that was he sdale's biggest failing, lost hearts and minds here in washington and turned much of u.s. government bureaucracy against him. host: republican line, you are on with our guest, go ahead. hello, i have two things this thing talking bout max here, one to johnson administration and one toward and the kim thing going necessity t thing is

road not taken. -- put to the american people, the mel gibson all 300 against 3000, we seen how effective our bonding was and our fighters were. once they were taken away from and actual lm bombing and everything later in -- war

i hate to interrupt yo yoyou -- ibm's?these on i do believe the time to do something is now. it therey, we'll leave and let our guest respond. guest: i think the caller is misconceptions about the war in vietnam. he is making what might be conventional military critique of the war effort, we used insufficient firepower and dropped more bombs. that is false, in vietnam we more bombs than all of world war ii. we were not rants going to bomb and kill our way to victory and imagined he could the viet congs faster than

could be replaced. it would not work out that way, only way you could outgoverning them, offering better ideal, winning over population of south vietnam them a government they would follow more willingly tragically ice was disregarded and would not have been more successful if we killed more bombs and more people in vietnam, we killed an awful lot of people. lesson we should keep in mind for present day as we jihadist insurgency around the world. our way out, we killed islamic fighters since and guess what, probably more islamic terrorists in the 9/11, that than on countries to focus on like iraq, afghanistan, somalia, until we heed landsdetails

lessons and establish policies countries, we'll never victory no matter how many we kill. viewer want to -- what does your book cover about him? is little about dr. martin luther king jr. in my book. landsdale. ed of dr. king became opponent the vietnam war, he was rightly appalled by the bloodshed that inflicted in southeast asia. the guy i write about, ed landsdale was idio san accuratic. e was neither hot nor -- dr. king became a well-known pponent of the war effort and landsdale was neither hot nor dutch. e disagreed with the dutch, he didn't think we should abandon

south vietnam, he didn't think ruled bye wanted to be communistic dictatorship. hawks, greed with the like the caller you just heard, he didn't think we would kill victory. our way to he thought what we were doing was counter productive, landsdale had ideosynchratic and if you look in hindsight, in some ways has been vindicated. host: from michigan, joe is next, hi. caller: good morning. what i was a lot of oing to say, especially about ho chi minh. petitioned the newly minted united nations, who turned him down again. he was basically a nationalist. indo china, rench vietnam, for the vietnamese. suppose those

elections had been held and suppose he had possibly lost, he thought he would win or he wouldn't have petitioned for them. united states on harlem on the east coast and san francisco on the west coast. the s well informed about united states and his way of life. often wonder what would have happened? was that the road not taken, really, not to supervise the vietnam when he asked for them? thank you, i'll listen. guest: again, i think the caller not really representing the full historical reality of ho minh, he question he was a vietnamese nationalist, he was also dedicated communist and moscow and was operative of the communist international. any contradiction between communist and nationalist beliefs, he was a liberal democrat ho was going to create a proto-america in vietnam. the caller eluded to the issue

of elections, which was a the geneva conference divided north vietnam to north and south geneva and the conference conference -- those were never -- , the united states and were not parties to the ge neva believed and it was ho chi minh would win the he controlled e north vietnam, more population han south vietnam and had nationalist legitimacy as leader of the war that had defeated the colonialists. from the standpoint of the eisenhower administration, they going to allow communist to take over south circumstances,any whether by an election or by insurgency and you can argue road not taken f.

that had happened, we would have would e vietnam war, we have lost without fighting and ithout sacrificing 58,000 americans. ed landsdale had a slightly different vision, he was not in allowing the communist to take over south vietnam, but to sending troops to vietnam. his road not taken would not resulted in ave victory, at least if we had lost, defeat would have been it wouldn't have cost the lives of 50 or thousands of americans caught in the conflict. hi.: pennsylvania, caller: yes. good morning. i just have a question. by saying last night i was speaking to a friend ghana, we t lives in were laughing about trump, the about people in other countries, the way he put hem down, just how they feel and how it makes us as americans

feel when he talks about people other countries and to say america is first is fine, that have.t a problem that i i have a problem with how you look at brown people, black people in how other other countries feel about this so-called hat is the president. i'm totally disgusted by him, i jobs he e how many brings to this country, the way feel as an american is horrible, horrible, and so around the to people world and how it makes them feel to orrible, i just wanted know your views on how people eel in other countries about this president? guest: you know, i agree with the caller. that donaldcomments trump has made are terrible, they are racist, repugnant, this is not the kind of language you hearing from the president of the united states. i think what he's say suggest relations ing to race in the united states, but also

damaging to americans standing abroad. have vital africa,ts in flplaces like on the front line of the war on terrorism, we need to work with africa against our common it is much harder to do when the president of the nited states is insulting the entire continent of africa in terrible language and basically want africans 't or haitians coming here. that undermines our attempt to do what landsdale did, win minds, donald trump is not winning hearts and minds, repelling much of the world and that makes job of soldiers and diplomats harder. talking to a friend in special operations command undisclosed oad at location in the greater middle east and he was saying he has to of with representatives various countries and get them to try to work with us against al qaeda e isis and and so many others and he just

thinks it is donald trump making his job much, much harder because people don't want to cooperate with us. a situation now where president trump keevent visit britain, our close sxeft dearest ally because there is so uch opposition to him in the united kingdom. that is a terrible situation to be in. undermining oury soft power and i think security.ng our host: how did the presidents that had to manage vietnam view landsdale? guest: that is a great question. i would say president eisenhower president kennedy were big fans of ed landsdale. landsdale was great favorite of c.i.a. duluse, who saw him as can-do covert action super star. john f. kennedy was enamored ith him initially and saw himds as the american james bond, the

ugly american, the quiet saddled him with this impossible task of trying overthrow fidel castro, when that didn't work out, president him, then ured on along came president lyndon have a who did not personal relationship with landsdale. landsdale back to vietnam. hubert humphrey likes the he had e approach, but little impact on the policy in the johnson administration, so his career, landsdale had become what he had d a bastard child, he run out of eye-level champion necessary washington. ost: from missouri, rover, you are next. hi. caller: good morning. for s senator:. i'd like to bring one point to mr. boot. about the vietnam war.

was a ight, mcnemara disaster, probably the worst there. we could have had but the war was actually lost offensive in '68. destroyed it was we at that point, the vc were after that, the only opposition we were fighting north out was from the vietnamese army. protected by the act that we could not bomb north vietnam. north vietnam was under the un, practically ready to collapse, but our great hampions in the u.s. congress xtolling the vc victory, one, ted kennedy, but there was a

and the followed that fact they made sure the pressure not go n, that we could into north vietnam and bomb them all their strategic and dikes, their their lakes, canals and wiped out their economy. thanks. guest: i agree with the caller in part and i disagree in part, historically accurate to say we didn't bomb north vaem slaem. bombing, te a bit of there was not much infrastructure we could actually hit. right about the said offensive, which occurred month, in somehis ways was military victory for the united states. far more killed attackers than we ourselves lost triggering s of massive uprising in south vietnam came to nothing. what landsdale perceived, he

was in vietnam at the time, this military een a victory, it was psychological defeat. emanating ed message from mullin and the johnson dministration, there was light at the end of the tunnel. retained potent capabilities and that is what eally destroyed public support in the united states for the war effort. and irony is that after the said under the general and they started to make progress, but by that point, it was too late, the war effort lost public support in the united states. sl virginia, joyce is next, we are running short on time. in.p caller: i feel sorry for the in iers who were -- fought the many wars and got so many

they think that soldiers, they went thinking hey were fighting for their country, but i think the only eople that really benefited from their fighting were people weapons, paid for the the people that sell the weapons were destroyed all over the world and both sides received injury, but if we start to love each other and see each other as one race, the race and stop the greed nd the killing, try to talk to each other, kim jong-un, i don't calling his name correctly, he's trying to keep his wealth and keep his status. thanks, caller. guest: well, i think the caller right to point out the horrors of war. with a ink she paints very broad brush when she

suggests our soldiers were diluted and didn't know what they were get nothing for and hated the experience, case.s not the there were surveys of veterans done after the conflict that veterans were satisfied with their service and proud to have served. talking y experience with vietnam vets and veterans f iraq and afghanistan and conflicts today and going to our countries there is high moral along u.s. forces and especially today when our troops are all-volunteer force, they genuinely want to be there. but that is not to take away hope of service with the risk of injury or from ptsd, suffering you know, rising suicide and rates in our services today, these are real issues we let's not front, but denigrate the service of men and women, who are proud to serve volunteer to do

so. host: one from twitter, any landsdetails we should be listening to? modern there are landsdale type people, i met a few in recent days. for example, a fellow named malcasian, an advisor that was embedded in local society and others out there, over the world, operating in a large degree of anonimity. to be effective promulgating in insights within the united states government by unthinking bureaucratic structure that what they have learned and what they have to say. it is hard today to cultivate people. we tend to rotate people in and out of these countries every often landsdale was in the e, he

vietnam for many years and we people today, te some of whom are out there even ow and not only allow them to stay in these countries, but listen to their insight and take and that is onboard something we have failed at. "the road not taken" written by max boot, who joins us, thanks for your time. our program, of we're going to go back to the question we started with this of race your view relations, particularly on martin luther king jr. holiday. call from the eastern and time zone, 202-748-8000. mountain and pacific time zones, 202-748-8001. will take those calls when we come right back.

>> we are in new jersey, they communication d research. >> on the forefront, the most excite suggest for 5g communication. is?hich >> 5fw is an interesting thing, hundred years, we -- has changed and this is what we do .ith all wireless communication what we want to do, go to new communication and that era of communication is directed at communication and most broadcasting everywhere, want to and -- thendividuals reason we want to do this, never ending,a is we always want more and more and saturated spectrum. go to higher frequency and other frequency have many challenges, one challenge is

that signal lost through the air too much. we can't do -- traditional sense. you, i direct to my team directly at you and get the from you and move to next person. this is complete change of paradigm and -- entire industry is excited about this. communicators tonight 8 eastern on c-span 2. >> "washington journal" continues. ost: on your screen, the memorial to dr. martin luther king jr. located here in of ington, d.c., series granite columns, including statue of dr. king himself, there from round dr. king and these are visitors that you are seeing as they washington, we'll show you that as we finish our program today in this 20 minutes taking a look at race relations particularly on this

king.ay for dr. 202-748-8000 for the eastern and central time zone. the 202-748-8001 for mountain and pacific time zones. et's start with barry in medinna, ohio. barry, you are first up this morning. go ahead. well, i'm an independent person. ack in 2008, when president obama was in office, elected, i oted for him and i thought we were finally turning the corner on race relations. democratic party continue to divide the country, used it over and over and over again. trump and on everything he says is taken to comment, it's not a black and white issue anymore, this is an american issue and we get away from it. host: ellen in knightstown. morning, ellen, thanks for calling. go ahead.

caller: good morning, i agree man.the last i'm 84 years old, white, and i thatto talk about the fact number one, i'm not degrading the african but americans that were brought to merica, they were under slavery, too. i don't think very many of them living herethey are in america now, like i certainly am. the fact talk about has actu ent trump actually had ben carson going to broad table and there was a talk that he had, i believe it christian program, where he explained all the was s they were doing that helping the african americans to own property, instead rent where they lived. so the idea that trump is not americans orfrican

he's racially prejudice is just o wrong in my opinion and we certainly ought to all pray for him. ost: richard in missouri, richard from grandview, missouri. go ahead. caller: yes. my opinion is that until black america starts paying attention to what the -- mericans are doing to the economy and the world, we will always have conflict. texas.linda in victoria, hello, you're on. caller: yes. the ld like to say that previous president obama started his to enflame the people against each other. i'm an american hispanic, fourth and i love america. host: how did president obama then?it caller: well, i believe he by trying to divide this

country. these problems before. i've been around and i've been politics for probably about 30 years now and never -- i grew up in a middle lass neighborhood in the suburbs of los angeles. never, i played with every race of and worked with, okay, and nobody was against each other. specifically what policy of president obama's started then? caller: well, black lives officers,gainst police that they're racist and they're on and that get picked hispanics, well, and now we have allow immigrants to come in -- that we need to close our borders, we can't to come here y anymore. host: from missouri, sandra,

hello. caller: hello there. last ad you did ask the caller what specifically did president obama do to back up statement that it is all his fault and he started this. she didn't have anything say.antial to her argument was weak. she did not make her case. i personally do not think race relations are as good as they come a long have way, but i like the segment we william with armstrong excellent.hat was they would see, based on history facts and not just anyone's opinion, that race way, ions have come a long we have a long way to go. that is what i want to say. sandra, when you say you upload it, posting on facebook

something like that? caller: i post today on my excited page and i'm so about just the way that whole segment went with the two people interviewed, you did such an excellent job. i love the way that even though views, they osing were civil and diplomatic and it conversation.ve i want to say one thing, i personally have a dream, my own dream, that if and this is a lofty, but if there could be a president, any could make a national apology for slavery and books reflect contributions of my people of country, cent in this as well as other people that think we ibuted, i could move forward better. host: okay. hat is sandra in missouri, she posted that segment on her facebook page, we invite you to

do the same. go to our website at c-span.org, that is where the segments end to check it out on your tablet or computer, go we haven.org, view what on this topic and other topics nd feel free to link to other pages, too. host: from california, don. hello, good morning. good morning. how are you? just curious and it wasn't covered by your two guests, there is interesting demographic going on in several states and elections. i don't think everybody has paid much attention to it, but single women between the ages of 18 and banding seem to be together regardless of race. i particularly in virginia, think 80% vote democrat and i gets a lot of ress coverage or coverage by

analysts that particular is growing quickly. women and men are getting age now and later t seems as that particular demographic, regardless of race, don't know, bonding together with political beliefs. a bad think that is thing, i'm retired marine, corrections. was life-long republican and recently i changed over to no party preference here in california. but, when i was growing up, i went to a school down in the early '60s and i think we have made progress. okay. caller: particularly with one demographic. host: okay. maurice in georgia, go ahead, you are next.

pedro, good morning. how are you? host: how are you? go ahead. want to get on why armstrong williams was on, he need to get t we past race and get to the real guess, oncerning, i where america needs to go. he was mistaking it in that race is -- race and racism is the issue that we need to be talking about. that is the most substantive issue this country has faced and going into the future. it is the reason we don't have single-pay single-payer insurance and our disparity in student performance metrics and hat have you, because of the idea that a certain fwrup of people want to keep another having the ple from opportunities to rise up socio ladder.c host: how do you directly connect those instances you

of race?to matters guest: well, read carol i erson's book "white rage," won't go into it, you probably she er on at one point, thinks the country after civil war and past that step is that this country as relates to issue of race, has white people of employ ing employing legislative measures and social measures to keep having the from opportunity to rise up socio economic ladder because they equal ant them to have outcomes. host: okay. pennsylvania, , you're next. aller: thanks for taking my call. yes, i'm a 53-year-old white guy pennsylvania, college educated and i consider myself

some people ssive, say a liberal person. i have to say, probably the my entire rprise of life has been the reaction of of society to the election barack obama, as our president. at the you know, i look way starting with the death affordable care act and everything that went on, -- one term president, on and on and on. much of what's happened in my society today with election of president trump and the language he chooses, the og whistles, just the overt that s to this mentality eroding. it's on its way. country, 36% of our country will stand with this or high water or russian army, the reality is,

he rest of the country is moving on. i listen to c-span today, i've been struck by discourse that having as society because american democracy is percolating. thanks, dave, in pennsylvania. we've been showing video from shall overcome is going on currently. let's listen to it. ♪ ♪ host: that is from the memorial. we will continue to show you on. as we go gerald in indiana, go ahead. caller: yes, here is where i'm on all of it. here is only one god and being one god is not practice in our

institutions of learning and in higher learning and we to jesus and every man n the planet could be jesus' light if he was serving god and commandments, which are very simple and very to obey. e will need armies and police and security and race, that can't even st, you find a 10 commandments in the koran,ible, let alone the and all the other books, religion. juan is next, ia, good morning, your view of race relations, go ahead. caller: good morning. all of this onversation can be one thing, contemporary president of ab raham lincoln -- rest in peace, said one thing that will settle

people just if lived it. he said among individuals, among each other'sespect rights as peace. to learn to -- have respect themselves so they can love others. otherwise, it is not going to work. ost: to donna, she's in virginia, donna, good morning. caller: good morning. i love this topic and i truly appreciate being able to express your show. first i have to say that i'm a a family that, you know, came from an era where you didn't speak about societal or political issues, so i literallyn 1959 and i come to the place of understanding that i grew up civil a lot of thing, rights movement, the vietnam know, so rything, you this is where i'm at right now at this point in time.

we have come a long way as far as race is concerned. blatant and not as, you know, in your face as it very subtle, is but still there and never going to go anywhere. not common sense, it will go anywhere tochlt have a president, have a person in been allowed to ehave in the way that the 45th have because for me, he's to ced himself in my book call him the 45th. i can't call him the president earned that.sn't host: okay. mike next from woodstock, virginia. go ahead. yes, thank you and good morning. generation old, american, my parents are from shenandoah valley. i had the privilege of seeing at the lincoln memorial in '63, my father was

the time, agon at took me as an eight-year-old kid. tremendously s impressed. essentially i went to school in systems, ton school one of the first in america to integrate. obama, when leader mitch mcconnell stood up and going to do nothing o help this president, to me, that kind of said what the approach was to the first president.erican i also agree with your caller comment about the deceased mexican leader in that americans start to reat each other as americans, whether u.s.-born citizens or naturalized citizens, whether we look at individual individual worth and

accomplishment, individual opportunity, then americans versusg against trying to elevate or pull up or support one another. host: thank you for the calls and for the rest of you that called this morning. that is it for our program this morning on this holiday, but another program comes your way at 7:00 tomorrow morning. we will see you then. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [indiscernible]

>> if it had not been for this -- we owe azation gratitude.of [applause] very briefly, in just a -- but we must evaluate where we are. 4, we will observe that all over our nation and throughout our world.

the question becomes, what will we do? tocommunities across america fulfill and envision and make the dream become a reality. i am not here to talk about what i has not happened because we know what has not happened. we look to the future to figure out how we as a nation will come together as the nation that we always have been. not just to provide leadership for our nation. addressy, we want to leaders of racism, poverty. my dad and mother dedicated their lives for that eradication. in this station of the united states, it is a perceptible to have more than 60 million people living in poverty was almost a $20 trillion economy. something is wrong with that. martin luther king, junior, i

elieve would stand and say we cannot allow that to happen. he was mobilizing before the campaign in 1968. he was talking about a living wage than. i could go on, but i am not going to. cold.of all, it is [laughter] >> you have been here for a while. second of all, i hope if you don't remember anything else i was so thankful to visit my mom's undergraduate institution. institution, there is as statue of a harvard graduate. the us government says to be

--amed >> a live picture from the side of the mlk memorial in washington, d.c. lee memorial itself covers about four acres in west potomac park next to the mall. the centerpiece is the 30 foot high granite statue of the civil rights leader. surrounding the statue is a 450 foot long inscription. lee memorial itself was open on august 22 of 2011. showghout the day, we will you scenes from the site as visitors come to pay tribute and make speeches. congress is back tomorrow facing a government shutdown deadline of midnight on friday. the house gaveling in at 2:00 p.m. for work on extending government funding and consideration of an abortion bill. the senate will be back at 4:30 p.m. eastern debating e-house

approved pfizer reauthorization. later, the senate will have to govern a -- the senate live on our companion network c-span2. coming up tuesday, kiersten nilsson will be testifying at a senate judiciary committee hearing on oversight of the department of homeland security. live coverage of that starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. congress --ver the members of the congress and cbc had a session on martin luther king, junior. it included remarks from college and john lewis of georgia, a friend and civil rights supporter of mlk. i would like to thank my colleagues as i said earlier for this opportunity. this is truly an opportunity for a young man who comes from the city of philadelphia who grew up in the streets of