when you were growing up, strom thurmond was the senator. strom thurmond changed over the years. the civil rights revolution has really taken hold, hasn't it? in all of the states, certainly in south carolina. if that is the case, it seems to me secession should be thought of as less threatening because the stakes are lower. in 1861, it was a big deal. to --r was justly flat justly foss to illuminate slavery. we don't have any of those horrible issues today. we have gone through the 1965 civil rights act, and nobody is much trying to undo that. but tooing to quarrel, think the quarrel's are over things that are a lot less inortant than they were 1965, 1865? united about a lot of important issues. what is dividing us in many cases seems to be far less important. host: janet on twitter comes back to secession light. it sounds like a plan to permit red states to go their own way in regards to civil rights. we are either the united states of america, or we are not. guest: that is the voice of liberal triumph is impaired in other words, -- voice of liberal triumph-ism. we are not talk

as i was taught as a boy, we didn't get civil rights because strom thurmond came to the senate floor one day and pronounced that he'd seen the light. no, this body responded to the demands of people and now is a time that we must demand to the highest virtues of our land and see each other for who we are, our greater hope and our greatest promise. we are a weary people in america again. we are tired. we are frustrated. but we cannot give up. that flag over there, we who swear an oath to it and don't just parrot words or say them with some kind of perfunctory obstacles, but those who swear --s perfunctory obligation, but those who swear an oath to this nation must now act with a greater unyielding conviction. we must act to do justice. we must act to heal harms. we must act to walk more humbly. we must act to love one another. unconditionally. and now, more than ever, perhaps we need to act in the words of a great abolitionist, the former slave who in a dark difficult time when america was failing to live up to its promise gave forth a sentiment in his actions captured in the poetry o

with thomas e dewey, the heavily favored republican candidate impeding with strom thurmond, the chief for the conservative states rights party at henry wallace, the choice of the small but enthusiastic liberal progressive party, harry truman on the democratic ticket walked away from the election as the victoire. this was one of the greatest electoral upsets in american history. ♪ -- as the victor. >> national conventions are a palooka process uniquely american -- a political process that is uniquely american. there are crowds, music thomas beaches and suspense. speeches andc, suspense. through the ballot box people determine who will assume the burden and power of the american presidency. ♪ steve, and looking at a film like this, i suppose there are some who would say well, this is all just tweedledum and tweedledee and really is not that important. elections do not really decide anything. what do you think? >> that passing parade of all those historical faces certainly suggests to me a personal response on one level to that question, dig. after all, and election by definition is a ch

in what you said today but don't you think things have changed particularly in south carolina strom thurmondwas the senator i guess and changed over the years and the civil rights revolution has taken hold. if that's the case it seems to me secession should be thought of as less threatening. in 1861 it was a big deal and the war was fought to eliminate slavery. but we don't't have those kindsf horrible big issues today. we've gone through the 65 civil rights act and nobody is trying to undo that. we are going to quarrel about shings but don't you think that it's over things a lot less important thanan they were in 15 for 1865? we are more united about a lot of important issues and what is inviting us frankly in many cases seems far less important. >> host: janet in florida comes back to secession and says it sounds like a plan to prevent red states to go their own way in regards to civil rights or the united states of america where wen are not. >> guest: that's kind of the voice of w liberal triumph. it's our country we have property rights to it and this is what irving kristol was saying in

when you were growing up, strom thurmond was the senator. strom thurmond changed over the years. civil rights revolution has really taken hold, hasn't it? in all of the states, certainly in south carolina. if that is the case, it seems to me secession should be thought of as less threatening because the stakes are lower. in 1861, it was a big deal. to --r was justly flat justly foss to illuminate slavery. we don't have any of those horrible issues today. we have gone through the 1965 civil rights act, and nobody is much trying to undo that. but tooing to quarrel, think the quarrel's are over things that are a lot less inortant than they were 1965, 1865? united about a lot of important issues. what is dividing us in many cases seems to be far less important. host: janet on twitter comes back to secession light. it sounds like a plan to permit red states to go their own way in regards to civil rights. we are either the united states of america, or we are not. guest: that is the voice of liberal triumph is impaired in other words, -- voice of liberal triumph-ism. we are not talking

. >> chris: he was close with titans of the hill like jesse helms and segregationists strom thurmond.costs. one ferment to filibustered the civil rights bill 244 hours straight. >> did a lot of things behind the scene -- suit to still mostly with senators doing what they don't do that all that stuff so you keep that to yourself. >> chris: by the mid-'60s he was on the foreign relations committee where he mentored a young man from arkansas. >> bill clinton was the messenger. we had fun, man. bill continues to blow the sacs. we used to do all five kinds of things behind that door back there. >> chris: these days, bowman prepares the room for committee hearings. checking mike's. >> sometimes i say -- >> chris: escorting witnesses. and keeping time period of one senator rich starts the hearing. >> chris: so i know you're the chairman, but who runs the committee? >> he does, clearly. we all take orders from bernie. >> chris: committee members recently celebrated bowman after the senate federal credit union announced it will name its new building after him. >> boy, they are showing me my ro

then a month later trent hospital9 went to strom thurmond's birthday party, and suddenly he had to resign as leader, a position you'd always wanted. youu would seem to be the logicl person to move up, but senator bill frist took the position. and then at the end of january, you have triple bypass surgery. so what was your range of emotions during that two and a half months about all those? >> guest: yeah. i think my feeling was that i probably never was going to have an opportunity to be the leader of my party in the senate because i was ten years older than bill frist. fortunately the health problem i had worked out fine. but i had doubts during that period. i hadt just been bypassed by somebody who was ten years younger than i am and had a significant health problem. is so, you know, i wondered if i would ever have an opportunity to have the job that i had clearly been hoping to have for quite a while. so it was a challenging period. but like other challenges i and others have -- i don't want to make my story seem all that unique -- if you just don't quit and just keep plucking, the cha

it's -- 1948, an amazing presidential election where strom thurmond breaks away from the democratic partygregati segregation. hentry wallace, former vice president progressive candidate, upper case p. tom dewey and harry troop didn't occupy center of left and center right positions, but here we are in 2020 and it's almost as though we have thurman and wallace, in the dewey and truman slots possibly as the nominees. >> right. >> so in many ways, right, that is a pre-codification, the full manifestation of the tribalism that's become the defining ethos of our era. >> and how frightening that from the center of that, of course, you've removed the two figures in 1948. >> yeah. >> who were actually people who knew how to make washington, d.c. run and mika, in this case, we have a president who clearly doesn't know how to make washington run, and if you listen to his colleagues, a democratic front-runner, who's never effectively done much in washington, d.c., either in the house or in the senate. >> well, let's get back to looking at some of the sound we have here. sanders also defended past co

we are in the state -- we are in the state where strom thurmond used the filibuster to block civil rightsislation repeatedly. no less a senate traditional faker than harry reid has called for it to go. it is got to go because otherwise washington will not deliver. i was in high school when the columbine shooting happened. i remember everybody in washington saying, never again. we will never let this happen again. it a second school shooting generation has now been produced. shame on us if we allow there to be a third. and also in terms of making the case, i think would be about toa different summer to illustrate from the perspective of a pattern why the kinds of weaponry, anything remotely like what i trained on an order to go serve in a war zone has no business being sold anywhere near an american school or church or neighborhood. [applause] >> senator sanders, please. >> thirty years ago i supported a ban on assault weapons. mike bloomberg has sought a very good organization, moms against guns. congratulations. furthermore, it is my view that the time is now, joe made this point, at the

where we are now, we may have the henry wallace progressive and the strom thurmond conservative withoutntermediary figures. >> right. >> and prohibitively, if bernie sanders is the democratic nominee, it is not a choice between, hey, here's a moderate and here's trump. it's here's a democratic socialist and here's trump. >> by the way, it's just, again, it's -- >> great. >> this is anecdotal, but anecdotal actually matters. donny, sure you've heard, heard from a lot of my florida friends, not big contributors, but my florida friends vote for anybody who is not donald trump saying i will not vote for bernie sanders. >> that is all i hear. >> heard it time and time again. what about trump? doesn't matter. what about trump? doesn't matter. i'm not voting for a socialist. >> either staying home or hold my nose and vote for trump is all i hear in new york, by the way. literally, either i don't know what i'm going to do or you're going to force me to vote for trump. this country is not -- by the way, 2018, 40 seats. all moderate. all suburban women. >> i don't know if any of those people talk

as i was taught as a boy, we didn't get civil rights because strom thurmond came to the senate floor one day and pronounced that he'd seen the light. no, this body responded to the demands of people and now is a time that we must demand to the highest virtues of our land and see each other for who we are, our greater hope and our greatest promise. we are a weary people in america again. we are tired. we are frustrated. but we cannot give up. that flag over there, we who swear an oath to it and don't just parrot words or say them with some kind of perfunctory obstacles, but those who swear --s perfunctory obligation, but those who swear an oath to this nation must now act with a greater unyielding conviction. we must act to do justice. we must act to heal harms. we must act to walk more humbly. we must act to love one another. unconditionally. and now, more than ever, perhaps we need to act in the words of a great abolitionist, the former slave who in a dark difficult time when america was failing to live up to its promise gave forth a sentiment in his actions captured in the poetry o