. >> next, from the eisenhower institute, susan eisenhower talks about her grandfather, and dwight d. eisenhower, and his leadership skills. her remarks were part of an all-day symposium commemorating the 75 year anniversary of d-day. this is almost 20 minutes. >> we have a couple of special guests here today. we are fortunate to have general lessee. [applause] lessie's chairman of the eisenhower society board of trustees, and while at west point, a certain john eisenhower class of 1944 taught him how to roll and pack a field pack. we are privileged to have mr. guy whitten here. mr. whitten jumped into normandy on d-day as part of the 101st airborne. [applause] to both of these men and all veterans in our audience, thank you for coming and for your service to this country. our first speaker -- charlie scott who was on our board of trustees -- i said, i have a few remarks and he said, there is a high bar for that here in gettysburg. our first speaker today is susan eisenhower. has aappropriate that she unique relationship to dwight eisenhower as a family member and someone who has spen

dwight eisenhower was pretty straight away and the best i could come up with is eisenhower definition of an atheist. his definition of an atheist is he said it is somebody who goes to a football game where notre dame plays fmu and he does not care who wins. i'm running out of time so i'm going to tell you a story about linda johnson. i have a couple more reagan stories i can tell you but i'll tell you about linda johnson. this is one, linda johnson is not all clear that linda johnson had much of a sense of humor. so stories were told about johnson rather than told by johnson but here's the one that captures the essence. it is told of the 1968 democratic campaign for the nomination for president, linda johnson has thrown his hat in the ring and the other two principal candidates are stuart simonton, a senator from missouri and john kennedy. a junior senator from massachusetts. the three men are sitting in the green room, ahead of this debate. why the green rooms are called the green rooms i don't know not one of them has been green but nonetheless there are sitting there and making sma

thatwill just say quickly the historians i admire the most are democrats who read about dwight eisenhower or other republican presidents and conclude something different than what their party line is. i think we have to hold the war historians to the same standard. it is very easy to argue the same set of arguments. testing those assumptions against all the politics that overlay everything after the war including the memoirs of the various generals and others lower down. >> i want to go back to the history textbooks. in the realm of the historians world, we believe that the peopleks are written by who go in and write the textbook material all but the dissertation. upse who have given [laughter] a dissertation pathway because they need a job. i am appalled. i am so appalled by the textbooks where i gave you that example. i did this in dozens of places. with the textbooks. i was at the harry truman library. there were 50 or 60 teachers out there. programown part of my and madeent eisenhower my drop in on the wooden floor of these that textbooks and told thise why this this and was all wrong

there were some americans including some in the eisenhower administration including dwight himself who had pretty serious concerns about eisenhower. mainly that he was a communist in the making but many found him to be quite charming and certainly charismatic. after a few days in washington castro took a train to new york city. from the moment he arrived at penn station, where he was greeted by 20,000 people, he had a grand ole time. he went to the top of the empire state building. he shook hands with jackie robinson. he went down to city hall. went up to columbia university. the policemen in new york city assigned to protect him, because there were all these assassination plots surrounding castro, and these were reported in the press every day, none of these turned out to be real but the police didn't know that and castro was completely impossible to protect. he would throw himself into crowds hugging and kissing people with no concern for his safety and one afternoon on a whim, he decided to go to the bronx zoo. the press followed, federal agents followed, the new york city police fo

dwight eisenhower changed the name to camp david and might rather marvin lobbied for a while to get me marvin. [laughter] thankfully i didn't we have got a lot of fond memories of camp david a lot. is a place where laura and i invited a lot of world leaders. first visit to the united states we took him to camp david. laura decided to have a movie there. they have a nice movie theater there. i was asleep. [laughter] like to exercise, it is a fabulous place to get outdoors and exercise. we had mountain bike trails, a wonderful gym. the thing i remember most about camp david was christmases. it is big enough for our big family each to have their own cabin. mother and dad would come, jeb and his family, neil and his family, camp marvin and his family. it was spectacular. emphasize the family aspect is because during -- itesidency, sometimes is hard to count on certain people but you can always count on your family to bring you comfort and >> watch the entire event on camp david sunday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern on the partisans he -- the presidency. you're watching american history

dwight eisenhower changed the name to camp david.change it to camp marvin. [laughter] >> thankfully, i didn't. we have a lot of fun memories of camp david. a lot. you know, again, it's a place where laura and i invited a lot of leaders. tony blair's first visit, we took him to camp david. have a nice movie theater. -- they have a nice movie theater. parents."et the i was asleep. [laughter] >> we had met and bike trails, wonderful gym. abouting i remember most camp david was christmases. it is big enough for our big family for each to have their own cabin. it was just spectacular. spectacular time. the reason i emphasize the family aspect is because during the presidency, sometimes, it is hard to count on certain people but you can always count on your family to bring you comfort and love. >> watch the entire event on camp david sunday at 8:00 p.m. at midnight you are watching american history tv only on c-span3. a spacek el-baz is scientist who trained astronauts and led the lunar landing site selection process for nasa's apollo prog

eisenhower and the naval decisions that led to the d-day victory. mr. simons is author of "operation neptune." institute atr gettysburg college and the dwight d. eisenhower society coast goat -- co-sponsor this event. history here at gettysburg college, and it is my distinct pleasure to welcome dr. craig simons, the distinguished ernest j king professor of maritime history at the u.s. presidentcollege and emeritus of the u.s. naval academy. theeceived his ba from university o california and completed his mba and phd in florida. bucks written over 100 and scholarly articles in journals and magazines, as well as chapters in historical anthologies. 2009, whichooks in was administered by gettysburg college, "lincoln and his admirals." -- awarded the samuel for his book "neptune." he published "world war ii at sea, a global history." he is speaking today on logistics at d-day. dr. simons? thank you. -- >> thank you. welcome to gettysburg, if you have not been here before. i am very impressed at the management and organization of this, and i'm honored to be asked to talk this morning about the naval side of d-day. i also want to spend some time talki

with the public investment are the contributors of the belief the student aid from dwight eisenhower and the cold war. nor is it about the impact of black america slave policy makers with the harmful effects the grand program would have on the emerging black middle class even though white house special assistant but then those vehicles of mobility and they are not likely to vote for them anyway. the rather than contributors to be slashed by a quarter. and with nine years running and then to outpace inflation. shifting from grants to loans and in the eighties the president submitted the budget 26 percent of total federal dollars allocated and by the end of the decade the numbers were almost reversed with the majority of the total dollars available. and in the 19 nineties and to allocate those cost and to share the cost of education the universities had to pick up the tab consequently with the tuition where lee's consumers could afford to pay. the financial deregulation with the opium markets to serve those underserved communities. with those dances of how the employment education and

in his oval office, and of course he was succeeded in 1953 by former general, now president, dwight eisenhower. truman left the globe in the office for eisenhower when he got there. >> harry s truman took the momentous oath of office as president of the united states. with the world at war, he accepted the gravest responsibility in world history a new commander in chief to lead our nation to ultimate victory. >> just a few hours before he had been notified and summoned to the white house and notified that president roosevelt had died and this photo behind me is a scene of truman being sworn in as president. you can sort of see the shock on the people's faces. the bible that you see in the photograph is also on display behind me. he obviously was not prepared to be sworn in as president. and so they just searched around and found a bible in the usher's office at the white house. truman used the same bible to be sworn in when he was reelected in 1948. most americans had no idea who harry truman was. franklin roosevelt was president longer than any other president. a lot of people e he was the on

. >> next, from the eisenhower institute, susan eisenhower talks about her grandfather, and dwight d. eisenhower, and his leadership skills. her remarks were part of an all-day symposium commemorating the 75 year anniversary of d-day. this is almost 20 minutes. >> we have a couple of special guests here today. we are fortunate to have general lessee. [applause] lessie's chairman of the eisenhower society board of trustees, and while at west point, a certain john eisenhower class of 1944 taught him how to roll and pack a field pack.

i am sure dwight eisenhower would have appreciated john's work. eisenhower always said the real bureau of -- hero of world war ii is g.i. joe. introduce dr. john mcmanus. [applause] mcmanus: thank you. everybody hear me ok? i will try to keep the microphone at the proper level. thank you for that wonderful introduction. i appreciate it. i would like to thank all the folks that made this possible, our hosts at eddie's berg college, the eisenhower society, eisenhower institute. thank you all of you for making time today to listen to me and these brilliant scholars that preceded me. tough act to follow. what struck me when dr. simons was talking so movingly about eisenhower's weather-related decision, what always struck me about that moment, before he made that decision, you could argue he is the most powerful man on the planet, or one of them. at hisall this airpower disposal, naval power, technological power, the ground power of the soldiers, this prodigious military might, this coiled spring. he makes that decision, and then it is out of his hands

i mean, dwight eisenhower was president and he kind of tried to say it wasn't that big of a deal.ome were calling it a grapefruit satellite. lo and behold with the headline you just showed on the "new york times," a panic kind of swept the land. this was the era of mccarthyism. now they're beating us into space with satellites. jack kennedy seizd on this. he started saying there was a missile gap, a space gap. so did lyndon johnson. in fact, lbj helped create nasa in 1958. our whole creation of nasa was a response to sputnik. in the late '50s, everything became nik. they put a dog out there and it became poochnik. so sputnik kind of motivated kennedy, and with the debate with nixon, kennedy charged nixon, if you're president, i see a soviet flag on the moon. if you elect me president, there will be an american flag on the moon. >> this calls for an assessment, but you're a historian, after all. how would lbj and jfk take the news on this very day, if we want to get our astronauts up to the national space station, our ride is the russians'. we don't have a spacecraft ready for the

dwight eisenhower was a member of augustine national. taft was the first commander-in-chief to pick up a set of clubs. herbert hoover passed on the sport, thinking it was inappropriate, while harry truman and jimmy carter did not like the game. fdr did not let polio stop his love of golf. he made the sport a matter of public policy, turning the sport into an engine of the nation's economic recovery. the most prolific player was woodrow wilson, who racked up an estimated 1200 rounds of golf during his two terms. lbj used golf as legislative sport. even president trump is not above putting to pass a bill. >> play golf with heads of countries and people like yourself, when you're looking for votes. do not play with your friends, play with everyone. david: presidents are not know just for the game but who they choose to play with. eisenhower counted legendary golfer arnold palmer is friend and partner. presidents clinton, and obama have all played with big names like tiger woods and rory mcilroy, who even offered obama some advice. >> i did

dwight eisenhower left office at 70 and not in great shape. it really depends on the person. let's not forget the first former president to live to 90 was john adams. john adams would have been a fine president, at least physically in his 70s and he was our second president. so, it's genes, it's nutrition, it's medicine and it's a little bit of luck. >> let's talk about the message that often comes with the younger candidates, that youth, that new generation, the message of change. look at obama in 2008. you have clinton in 1992. you have kennedy in '60. in this cycle, it's interesting that some of the younger candidates are making the experience argument against the 72-year-old sitting president. >> well, victor, first of all, this is a president who, despite his age, gives the impression of activism. remember the disruption, the theme of the trump presidency, is not something you associate with older people. now, i'm not sure if we actually looked at what donald trump does during the day, we would think he was an active, vital president. he spends a lot of time playing golf

the eisenhower institute at gettysburg college and the dwight d. eisenhower society co-sponsored this event. ian: my name is ian isherwood. i teach history here at gettysburg college, and it is my distinct pleasure to welcome dr. craig symonds, the distinguished visiting ernest j. king professor of maritime history at the u.s. naval war college and professor emeritus at the u.s. naval academy. dr. simons received his ba from the university of california and he completed his mba and phd in florida. he has written over a dozen books and scholarly articles in journals and magazines, as well as more than 20 book chapters in historical anthologies. indeed one of his books in 2009, men lincolner layer prize, which was administered by gettysburg college, "lincoln and his admirals." in 2018 he received the samuel eliot morrison award for literature for his book "neptune ." just this last year he published "world war ii at sea, a global history." this morning he is speaking on the mulberry matter, logistics at d-day. dr. symonds? [applause] craig: thank you,

he had been selected to be the vice presidential nominee with dwight eisenhower.of eisenhower. eisenhower wanted to fight for the job and what nixon decided to do was to go on television and give what we know now as the checkers speech because he talked about his dog that his kids received, and he uses television magnificently and it drives real people to send real telegrams to say keep him on. what happens to richard nixon and that's what is so extraordinary about this film, which is a film without talking heads, it's a film just of nixon talking and you see nixon change on screen. it stops -- the tv stops being his best friend. he not only ages visibly but his control begins to fall apart. he's no longer projecting the image of the presidency that he had in his own mind and by the end of the fourth episode, by the end of his administration, the tv makes him look guilty in a way that was not true in the beginning. >> what was nixon's relationship with the press like and how did that change overtime? >> he's right. he started seeing himself as a victim of the pres

dwight eisenhower built the interstate system and st. lawrence seaway.at americas s believed could do big, giant things. >> i really can't wait to read it. the book, again, is called "american moon shot." >> thanks. >> john f. kennedy and the great space race, but mr. douglas brinkley. >> thank you, don. >> and thank you for watching. our coverage continues. when you rent from national... it's kind of like playing your own version of best ball. because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if it's a better car class than the one you reserved. so no matter what, you're guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] (vo) go national. go like a pro. see what i did there? a business owner always goes beyond what people expect. that's why we built the nation's largest gig-speed network along with complete reliability. then went beyond. beyond clumsy dials-in's and pins. to one-touch conference calls. beyond traditional tv. to tv on any device.

dwight eisenhower continued to support south vietnam. after the geneva accords, he continued to agree to put a small amount of advisors in vietnam. john kennedy continued to increase the number of advisors. he increased military aid to south vietnam. we learned in a prior class that kennedy would not have had the united states remain in the vietnam. in fact, he had specific plans for a withdrawal of the advisors. after john kennedy's assassination, lyndon johnson rescinded the jfk order of withdraw. in the case of kennedy, johnson was concerned about the upcoming election to guide his options in vietnam. even after winning the election of 1964, lyndon b. johnson was not clear about what to do with what he called the little shit country in asia. the tapes and documents of the time indicate he knew he could not win in vietnam. he nonetheless chose war. when nixon was elected in 1968, he ordered the strong-armed technique of massive bombing, to bring the north vietnamese to the peace table. from the statistics we reviewed in class, we learn

on earth before whom he least wished to be appear to be in need of tutelage, his predecessor dwight eisenhower. as daniel patrick moynihan once said brilliantly, no one once a predecessor or a successor. think about it. it is actually very insightful. he knew that he needed to learn how to do this. eisenhower drove over from gettysburg, where he had retired. they meet at camp david. wonderful political pictures from this. two men walking up the path to the cabin. eisenhower walks him through. he said did you have a meeting? did everyone involved -- were you able to do the pros and cons with everyone there? kennedy said no. he had run it in a disorganized way, so the stakeholders were able to spin him without being fact checked and counterbalanced by the other voices in the room. eisenhower said you can't do that. cut to october of 1962, kennedy is shown photographic evidence of the deployment of nuclear weapons in cuba. put it 15 minutes away from washington, 90 miles away from florida. estimates of an exchange of nuclear weapons in the fall of 1962 range between 70 million and 100 million ame

dwight eisenhower changed the name to camp david. my brother marvin lobbied for a change it to camp marvin. thankfully i did not. we have a lot of fond memories of camp david. it's a place where laura and i invited a lot of world leaders. tony blair's first visit to the united states, we took him there. laura decided to have a movie there. they have a nice movie theater there. it was called "meet the parents." i was asleep. [laughter] if you like to exercise, is a great place to exercise. we had mountain bike trails. a wonderful gym. the think i remember most about camp david was the christmases. it's big enough that everyone has their own cabin. mother and dad would come. jeb and his family. marvin and his family. it was spectacular. the reason i emphasize the family aspect is that during the presidency, sometimes it's hard to count on certain people, but you can always count on your family to bring you comfort and love. that's what we're going to hear about. a true shangri-la. we will interview michael george lyons who was the base

kennedy use sputnik 1957 and the fact the soviets put a satellite to slam dwight eisenhower but the truthmissiles and space but kennedy found an opening with it and in 1960 debate against nixon, kennedy said if you are elected to come i see a soviet flag on the moon. if i'm elected, an american flag and lo and behold he becomes president john f. kennedy and the soviets put in space, the first human in kennedy wanted to match and didn't want to lose. he made the big leapfrog of going to the moon. >> bret: amazing detail in the book but what you forget to rewind the time and how tough this was and how big of a task it was at the beginning. >> douglas: it was. it cost the country $25 billion and that would be a hundred and $85 billion today. and it came about winning. we used to do big things come with the whole country took part and the aerospace industries loved kennedy for it. do you think president historian looking at this time, we can do big things, even in this current environment? >> douglas: it is tough and not the current of 2020, just knock down drag out fight donald trump versus

. >> absolutely, i mean, dwight eisenhower was president and he tried to say it wasn't that big a deal people were calling it a grapefruit satellite. but a panic kind of swept the land. the era of mccarthyism red scare and the idea soviets had a nuclear weapon they detonated in 1949 and hydrogen weapons and beating us into space with satellites, and jack kennedy seized on this, he started saying there was a missile gap, a space gap. so did lyndon johnson. l.b.j. helped create nasa. in the late '50s everything became nik. we put a vanguard rocket and it was flop-nik. sputnik motivated jack kennedy. by 1960 in the debates with richard nixon kennedy charged nixon if you're president i see a soviet flag on the moon if you elect me president there will be an american flag on the moon. >> doug, this calls for a judgment. how would lbj and jfk take the news that in this very day if we want to get our astronauts up to the international space station our ride is the russians, we don't have a spacecraft ready for the task? where did we lose it along the way, our jets still fly at the same speed

dwight eisenhower did not listen to von braun much.ou would think you would have because he was the army rocketeer. he went with vanguard, which is navy. if you look at old clips of the navy launches, there were crumbling on their pads. it was by default that von braun and his ex nazi rocketeer's out s out of huntsville were given a green light. it was jack kennedy who believed in werner von braun. they first met in 1953 when henry luce of "time magazine" had written the introduction to jet kennedy's where england slots. he was very close to him so he -- where england sleeps. he was very close to him so he picked young senator jack kennedy who won the senate in 1952. werner von braun, who was in colliers magazine, and being embraced by people like walt disney, asked the two judges for time and man of the year. they got to hang out together, kennedy and warner von braun. both were handsome, both debonair, both had an eye for fashion and women. they were kind of a tag team of sorts. they got along well. kennedy never held his nazism agai

[laughter] host: to each of you, does dwight eisenhower or anyone else on this list move up into the top five or beat out abraham lincoln, george washington, etc.? guest: no one is going to beat abraham lincoln or george washington eight -- anytime soon. and franklin is quite remarkable. times,t that he won four 32, 30 6, 40, and 44, that he guided us through the great depression with his new deal programs, you know, social , we all now live in a social security america of franklin. and being the commander in chief for world war ii, facing off against not see germany and many of theing so top generals and admirals, putting them in the top slot, there's a group of books from nigel hamilton about fdr pointing out how he is the mastermind of d-day, not winston churchill or someone else. he is very secure at number three. there are people who think he should be number one because of thelong we have lived in shadow of fdr, all the way from 1945 to 1980, when reagan gets elected and starts saying that that's enough of federal government overreach. even though reagan actually continued to d

dwight eisenhower changed the name to camp david, and my brother, marvin, lobbied for a while to get me to change it to camp marvin. [ laughter ] thankfully i didn't. we've got a lot of fond memories of camp david, a lot. and, you know, again, it's a place where laura and i invited a lot of world leaders. tony blair's first visit to the united states, we took him to camp david. laura decided to have a movie there. they've got a nice movie theater, and it's called "meet the family" -- oh, "meet the parents." i was asleep. [ laughter ] if you like to exercise, it's a fabulous place to get outdoors and exercise. we had mountain bike trails, a wonderful gym. i think the thing that i remember most about camp david was christmases. it's big enough for our big family each to have their own cabin, and so mother and dad would come. jeb and his family, neal and his family, camp marvin and his family, and doro, and it was spectacular. a spectacular time. and the reason i emphasize the family aspect is because during the presidency, you know, sometimes it's kind of hard to count on certain peopl

dwight eisenhower changed the name to camp david.other, marvin, lobbied for a while to get me to change it to camp marvin. [laughter] thankfully, i didn't. we have a lot of fond memories of camp david. a lot. it is a place where we invited a lot of world leaders. tony blair's's first visit to the united states. we took him to camp david. laura decided to have a movie there. they have a nice movie theater. it is called meet the parents. i was asleep. [laughter] like to exercise, it is a fabulous place to get out doors and exercise. wonderful gem. the thing i remember most about camp david was christmases. it is big enough for our family to each have their own cabin. mom and dad would come, jeb and his family, cap marvin and his family. it was just spectacular. a spectacular time. aspect.ize the family you can always count on the family. to bring you comfort and love. >> watch the entire event camp david sunday on the presidency. you're watching american history tv. only on c-span3. >> during world war ii, the u.s. marine corps recruit

dwight eisenhower, he made it from number nine spot into the top five.l clinton, i told you that he was in the number 15th edition but when he first came into the survey he was in 21st, that was in 1999 right after the impeachment process and he moved to 15th by the second time we did it and there he stays in our 2017 service. finally, us grant, and edna, you have a specialist on this you have to help me understand this one, grant is the person the president who changed the most going up 11 points over the course of our surveys. i love to hear your perspectives on what historians are looking more favorably. that's a bit of an overview of how presidents rated by 100 historians now you have three fabulous historians so much a part of c-span programming over the years we are going to add some context to that. thanks for your attention [applause] this book is what it is because of susan's fabulous editing capability and thank you susan for this presentation. [applause] pa richard norton smith comes to us today from grand rapids. brinkley from austin texas an

about the fact that richard nixon was a criminal, by the way, judge sarecta was appointed by dwight eisenhower. he was no democratic partisan. and leon jaworski was a democrat but a conservative democrat. in fact that's why the nixon white house chosen. they both concluded nixon was a crook. and the problem was how do you get that information to the house? and one of the weaknesses in the constitutional approach to impeachment is that it is not clear that a criminal president doesn't have enough power to prevent evidence that would prove him to be criminal to get to the house. so you have, in a sense the constitution rests on the assumption that either the data unique to make this judgment is available or the president will willingly handed over. and the problem here was that richard nixon was engaging in an act of cover-up and obstruction of justice. the tape they heard, they got it because nixon wanted to stave off impeachment after the saturday night massacre and he turned over the eight tapes that had been requested. but there were many, many more including the famous smoking gun conversat

dwight eisenhower mated from number nine spot into the top five. bill clinton. i told you he was in the number 15 position. but he was in 21st in 1999 right after the impeachment process. he moved to 15 by the second time we did it and he stays there in the 2017 survey. and finally, u.s. grant. and edna will have to help me understand this one. grant is the president to change the most, going up 11 points over the course of the three surveys. i would love to hear your perspective about why historians are looking more favorably on him. now you have three fabulous historians that have been so much a part of c-span's programming over the years that will add some context to that. thanks for your attention. [applause] brian: this book is what it is because of susan's fabulous editing capabilities. thank you, susan. [applause] richard norton smith comes to us from grand rapids, mr. brinkley from memphis, and edna from howard university. i would like to start by asking doug because lincoln's number one, he discovered got back from the lincoln library in springfield. an

dwight eisenhower, he made from number nine spot into the top five. bill clinton, i told you that he was in the number 15 position but when he first came into the survey, he was 21st. that was in 1999 right after the impeachment process. he moved to 15th by the second time we did it and there he stays in the 2017 survey. finally, u.s. grant, your specials on this you have to help me understand this one. grant is the person the president to change the most going up 11 points over the course of our three surveys. i would love to hear your perspective on what historians are looking more favorably upon him.>> it is a bit of an overview of how presidents are rated by 100 historians. now you have three fibers historians have been so much a part of c-span 's programming over the year and will and context to that. thank you for your attention. [applause] >> this book is what it is because of susan by bliss editing capability. thank you, susan, for this presentation. [applause] we have douglas brinkley from austin texas and edna greene medford from howard univ

this year we are celebrating president dwight d eisenhower. it usually has some sort of theme relating to their presidency. this year is the helicopter because president eisenhower was the first president to ride in a helicopter. host: you came to the association with a relatively new president. tell me the story of how you came to be -- you are associated previously. then he recruited here. i would like to hear that story. matthew: i first met stuart many years ago when i was at mount vernon doing research. my dissertation was on george washington's tomb and the memory of george washington in the 19th century. i started researching there in 2012. 011. it was before they had the fly very. at that point, the staff and materials were crammed into the administration building. it was tight quarters. we inevitably crossed paths. i asked if he wanted to grab coffee sometime. we kept in contact. then i continued in my graduate studies. he left mount vernon, and then he ended up landing at the white house historical association and then two years late

and dwight david eisenhower, when he expanded the program thought it should be done. and lyndon johnson when he expanded the program. and when ronald reagan agreed to improve and expand the program. we do it by way of introducing legislation and then by doing the time-honored thing of increasing the contribution. this is an insurance payment. an insurance payment. and americans in poll after poll after poll are saying, my god, we're willing to pay more so that we can reap the benefit. why don't -- or why doesn't congress make it actuarial sound so that we're able to do this? o by increasing the payment by 1.2%, but then phasing that in over 25 years, we're able to come up with an incremental adjustment that takes place of what should have happened in 1983, which would have been the gradual indexing and payment of the program. this way we make the program actuarially sound and we make sure that it's sustainably solvent and that people can have the benefits that they need. how do we know this? how does any senior, how can anyone rely on it? they can because we have the

if president dwight d. eisenhower had come back to life and read the actions that were detailed in this report he would not associate that with the president of the united states. he could not comprehend that operatives in a presidential campaign, the highest office in the land, had constant and continuous interaction with russian operatives, military persons, hackers and never once reported it to the fbi. he could not comprehend it. and then secondarily -- >> do you -- yeah i think the question becomes, congresswoman, excuse me for interrupting you, i think the question becomes what do you believe democratic leadership will be supportive of doing? because as you know what nancy pelosi house speaker said back in march is that, you know, it's not worth it, impeachment proceedings right now, and then steny hoyer, the number two democrat, the house majority leader said today, and i quote "based on what we have seen to date going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point." is he right? >> well, my analysis to

gave the speech the president shouldn't given today, today is the 70th anniversary of nato and dwight eisenhowerlles that, generation, and our president couldn't even thank people for the past and stoltenberg gave a brilliant speech. >> switching gears a little bit, i don't think that i could overstate how central your work and your expertise in our strategy to combat isis, starting from yo role at the nsc during the bush administration and war in iraq and afghanistan and your role as the forefront point man in that battle. what do you see right now with our alliances in the region and donald trump says that isis has been defeated. do you agree with that assessment? >> i think the campaign against isis has been a success. we designed the campaign under president obama to draw on all the lessons learned over 15 years, relying on local actors and it's been a success. and president trump carried on with the strategy and it's been a success but it's not over. there's great uncertainty now about our staying power in syria and this has led to concern with our allies. the arab league did get together l

[laughter] host: to each of you, does dwight eisenhower or anyone else on this list move up into the five or beat out abraham lincoln, george washington, etc.? guest: no one is going to beat abraham lincoln or george washington eight -- anytime soon. and franklin is quite remarkable. times,t that he won four 32, 30 6, 40, and 44, that he guided us through the great depression with his new deal programs, you know, social , we all now live in a social security america of franklin. and being the commander in chief for world war ii, facing off against not see germany and many of theing so top generals and admirals, putting them in the top slot, there's a group of books from nigel hamilton about fdr pointing out how he is the mastermind of d-day, not winston churchill or someone else. he is very secure at number three. there are people who think he should be number one because of thelong we have lived in shadow of fdr, all the way from 1945 to 1980, when reagan gets elected and starts saying that that's enough of federal government overreach. even though reagan actually continued to do bi