t.r. was president would sometimes sends fossilized -- fossilized specimens to the white house and ask the president to identify what they were. a genuine scientist. in addition, commander who had a skeptical but respectful attitude toward organized religion. i give quite a lot of space in my book because of the modernity, contemporaneously as of the subject that he addresses so eloquently in 1911. in the course of which he read books in three languages, german, french and italian. truly impressive achievement for man who just a few short years before had been president of the united states. apart from his and delectable side, apart from his political side, which impelled him in 1912 to run the most formidable third-party campaign in our history, the famous vermouth campaign, progressive party campaign, campaign which he knew was doomed but which for ideological and idealistic reasons he felt compelled to wage. by doing so splitting the republican vote and making it inevitable that the ele

not every issue that t.r. took on all this, but it was the character of the man. >> in 1996 the economy was getting pretty row bust. the tech bubble was part of our economic fabric. bill clinton was the incumbent president seeking re-election. the republicans had nominated long-time senator from kansas and senate leader bob dole. and the big difference our guest said was during the fall campaign, ross perot was not permitted to take part in the debates. on the screen right now are the results on election night. 1996 with president clinton achieving 49% of the votes. 379 electoral college votes. bob dole, 169 -- excuse me, 159 electoral college votes so just 40% of the vote. ross perot, zero. and different showing than his four years earlier. just over 8% of the popular vote in 1996 elections. our next clip is ross perot on election night, 1996, talking about the future of the reform party. >> we're going to keep the pressure on, on the major issues. i think they've gotten the word on campaign finance reform. d

but with t.r. and his love of the navy and ross perot's devotion to the naval academy -- you cannot go to the naval academy and not admire theodore roosevelt. and then the cowboys side of t.r.. but when you get the bull moose party platform, there are many differences and decades apart. but the boy scout part, you mentioned that ross perot is an eagle scout. theodore roosevelt was the original -- i would not compare them in the way you are suggesting to the roosevelt or winston churchill, they're just people he admired and collects books on them like to read about. they inspired him in the same way henry ford or thomas edison a inspired him in business. >> i voted for perot in 1992 and i believe that's how clinton got elected and bush didn't seem like he got elected or not. >> thank you very much. do you think ross perot was responsible for the election of clinton? >> i do. i think there were two impacts. similar to teddy roosevelt, he split the republican vote. in that way, roosevelt denied taft a

not every issue that t.r. took on all this, but it was the character of the man. >> in 1996 the economy was getting pretty row bust. the tech bubble was part of our economic fabric. bill clinton was the incumbent president seeking re-election. the republicans had nominated long-time senator from kansas and senate leader bob dole. and the big difference our guest said was during the fall campaign, ross perot was not permitted to take part in the debates. on the screen right now are the results on election night. 1996 with president clinton achieving 49% of the votes. 379 electoral college votes. bob dole, 169 -- excuse me, 159 electoral college votes so just 40% of the vote. ross perot, zero. and different showing than his four years earlier. just over 8% of the popular vote in 1996 elections. our next clip is ross perot on election night, 1996, talking about the future of the reform party. >> we're going to keep the issues. i think they've gotten the word on campaign finance reform. don't you? [cheers and appl

so it's one thing for t.r.ving the rich support the poor a little bit more. but today we have a 36% income tax rate and that's federal alone. with the state and local you are up to 50%. >> t.r. was a foundational progressive. he laid the foundation stones for the kind of administrative and welfare state we have today if you were going to bring him forward 100 years he would be shocked i believe at scale of it where this massively progressive tax system with the top rates 50%, this huge entitlement state that will bankrupt the country if it keeps on going the what it is, and regulations that are much more widespread and denser than he could have imagined and affirmative dam --a -- damper on the creation of jobs in this country. megyn: historically the republicans are in favor of lowering taxes. now this payroll tax that helps the middle class. the tax break. they say, we can't do that until we pay for it. the president is saying you want all these tax breaks you want to extend except the one that helps out the m

want to introduce paul kirby, the senior editor with telecommunications reports which includes beard t.r. daily bulletin and he will also be asking you questions. >> guest: deal as peter said you are a member of the commerce department's spectrum advisory committee and their new two-year charter, they are called to look at how to help the government to free up 500 megahertz of spectrum over the knicks 10 years which is a goal of the obama administration of the fcc. give us a sense of what you hope they can accomplish in the next two years in advising the commerce department? >> guest: well, there are a think two parts to that. one is to advise them on what bands would be the most useful for commercial purposes. that is one thing, so we can keep this economic engine that is being provided by the use of spectrum with all these new devices, keep that moving, so we want to help them in that regard. and then help them in terms of what i just said a moment ago and that is to try to get the incentives right to provide mechanisms so the suggestions, the ways of ameliorating for reducing interfer

t.r.. bob came in a very weak cabinet position of the cabinet post but he used his underdog status to his advantage in he became known as someone who reached across the aisle and as someone who started his career in washington as the treasurer of the committee that would team surprising. but i think what helped them is the democratic party was so is what he was almost working across the already. in the party that has george wallace who ran for president white supremacists and barbara jordan and the same party yet he was friendly with both of them who can do that can work across the aisle in congress for republicans in carter saw that he saw what he had done as chairman of the dnc and so he also thought he could do that a broad. the tokyo round of the multinational trade negotiations had been solved for some time. they started in 1973 and there were over 100 countries involved so it seemed like a very daunting task for someone to take but bob was willing to do it because he didn't have a lar

and i love the teddy -- the t.r. analogies and metaphors are going to be coming fast and furious. but this speech is designed to be bigger than that when you talk to white house aides. this is the beginning of the president's re-election framing of the message. you heard jay carney on air force one, he used a couple of phrases that we're going to hear a lot from the president. "fair deal, fair shot" obviously a play off of square deal, the teddy roosevelt part of the speech. this is bigger than the payroll tax holiday discussion they will argue is part of the bigger fundamental argument that two parties are having. which is this, how much should the wealthy get regulated or not, what is the role of government in that regulation? where does this go? and that's what the president is trying to set up. now, he's using teddy roosevelt because he wants to use -- he wants to use a republican also to try to make the case that hey, this republican party isn't like republicans of the past. >> speaking of the republicans, they have really been beating the president up on his relationship wit

earlier this afternoon in kansas evoking the spirit of teddy roosevelt in the same kansas town where t.ronalism speech 100 years ago. obama's speech is an attempt apparently to make clear the middle class is facing a make or break economic moment right now. as he continues to fight republicans on his agenda items like the payroll tax cut and invoking roosevelt, a republican roosevelt, by the way, is this a clear attempt to paint his opponents as far right extremists outside the republican mainstream? doris kearns goodwin, a presidential historian, joins us to talk about obama and teddy roosevelt. are you doing to him what i'm doing to him with jack kennedy, saying be more like jack? somebody whispered in his ear, maybe somebody i know, he ought to begin to talk like the republican roosevelt, the guy who really invented basically progressivism. that word has become so popular among people who long for years called themselves liberals. >> well, you know, could be that i'm living with teddy roosevelt right now, but i do think there's a real message that can be gotten from teddy roosevelt, b

as t.r. at the time and currently that is the office of the united states trade representatives. they change the title and ron kirk is ustr. bob came in at a very weak cabinet position as a cabinet post, but he really used his underdog status to his advantage and he became known as someone who really reached across the aisle and he was friends with republicans and democrats. for someone who started his career in washington as chairman of the national committee that would seem surprising but i think what helps him them was that the democratic party, he was almost working across and i'll already. any party that has george wallace who you know ran for president many times and barbara jordan, the blackcomb were summoned, and the same party and he was very friendly with both of them. anyone who can do that can work across the aisle in congress for republicans and democrats and carter saw what he had done as chairman of the dnc. and so he also thought he could do that abroad. the tokyo round of the multinational trade negotiations had been stalled for some time. they started in 1973. a

t.r. is basically saying "i am not going to do it." he throws out a couple of names. leonard wood, a big army general, an advocate of preparedness. he has gotten in trouble with the wilson administration. or henry cabot lodge. neither one is acceptable to the progressives. he is throwing out that poison pill. in the end, the only one they can agree on, a progressive, to any extent, is hughes. but they still are in a great tiff, and they kind of dissolve the party. the party just evaporates. they go away. they do not run a third party. this is one of the great things of the legacy of hughes' race. we take the republican for granted as a continuing thing since 1916, since lincoln. it did not have to be in 1916. if he is not a guy willing to put it back together, maybe the progressives go back and we do not know what happened. maybe the republicans do go the way of the whigs. maybe the progressives replace it. who can say? the thing is, hughes takes the position. he did not want to do it. he is uncertain what to do. he walks away from the supreme court. what he had said

guest reporters here on "the communicators," with telecommunications reports and that includes their t.r. daily publication which comes out on a daily basis. thank you. >> guest: thank you. .. topics include health care, jobs and education costs. from the center for american progress, this is 90 minutes. >> good afternoon. welcome. i'm happy to have you. i'm the director of 2050 a project of the center for american progress to promote new ideas for an increasingly diverse america and we are excited to have this today. for one to be quick because i know you are looking for to the conversation and the wonderful speakers have very long by u.s. and i will try to being a brief and i will start with jamal a phill with the nation institute and a blocker and journalist and the washington, d.c.. since july of 2010 he has been a writing fellow for the american prospect and his work has appeared at the washington independent, cnn dhaka,, the luke 21 and a number of other outlets. next i'd like to introduce eduardo, an advocacy is a seat for progress. he is a graduate of california state university

now, i just want to say on that speech, where he was channelling t.r., i've read a lot of columnistsmer would be one of them, the "wall street journal" page would be another one that i thought had strong thoughts against that speech. the problem is there is not a national figure on the stage for the republican party running for president of the dwrits united states that can articulate clearly why that speech is offensive. i think the republicans are leaderless right now at the top. >> and chris christie on the set mocked it in the most, i think, kind of almost extreme way. >> well -- >> hold on. >> chris christie, though -- >> i like chris christie -- >> if you put chris christie on the campaign trail for a couple of weeks -- >> he will be. >> i promise you, he will punch holes in that speech. but he's not out there. >> but here's the thing -- >> please don't call him an extremist because you disagree with him. >> no, i think that the criticism of the speech was a little rough if you look back at the tape. i watched the interview, we got a lot of responses on both sides as to who was