eisenhower's biggest decisions. you may be familiar or you are likely familiar with susan's grandfather dwight d. eisenhower's the united states president between the years 1953 to 61 or during world war ii as the supreme commander of the allied expeditionary force in europe. today we want to focus on a lesser known but incredibly important aspect of eisenhower's legacy. his determination to document the crimes that we now refer to as the holocaust even as the allies continued their fight against nazi, germany. eisenhower's then that one day some might deny the truth about the atrocities committed against european jews and other victim groups. during the course of today's show these placed your questions for susan as a comment section and we will get to as many of them live as possible. so let's begin by understanding a little bit of the forces that shaped your grandfather's background susan. where was he born and raised what was family life like for him growing up? well ike was actually born in denison, texas, but grew up in abilene kansas and there he was part of a german-american community that

dwight eisenhower was a pretty straight-ahead guy. the best i could come up with eisenhower's definition of an atheist. he says, it's somebody who goes to a football game where notre dame plays smu and he doesn't care who wins. okay. i'm running out of time. so i'm going to tell you, i got to tell you a story about lyndon johnson. i've actually got a couple of more reagan stories i could tell you. but i'll tell you about lyndon johnson. this is one, lyndon johnson, ñ clear that lyndon johnson, lyndon johnson had much of a sense of humor. so stories were told about lyndon johnson rather than stories told by lyndon johnson. but here is one that does capture the essence of lyndon johnson. and it's told of the 1968 democratic campaign for the nomination for president. and lyndon johnson has thrown his hat in the ring. and the other two principal candidates are stuart symington, a senator from missouri, and john kennedy, a junior senator from massachusetts. and the three men are sitting in the green room ahead of this debate, they're about

dwight eisenhower was a pretty straight edge guy.nd the best i could come up with is eisenhower's definition of an atheist. eisenhower's definition of an atheist? is he says, it's somebody who goes to a football game where noted game plays smu and he doesn't care who wins. but i'm running out of time, so i'm going to tell you, i will tell about linda johnson, i've also got a couple in -- i'll tell you about lyndon johnson. and this is one, it's not all clear that lyndon johnson had much of a sense of humor. so stories we're told about lyndon johnson, rather than stories told by lyndon johnson. but here is one that does capture the essence of lyndon johnson. and it's told of that 1960 democratic campaign for the nomination for president. and lynda johnson throws his hat around and the other two principal candidates -- as senator from missouri, and john kennedy. or junior senator from massachusetts. and the three men are sitting in the green room, ahead -- about to have a debate. they're sitting in agreement, one of the green is called

kennedy, to dwight eisenhower, to ronald reagan. senator barry goldwater, the arch conservative senator from arizona, once told buchwald, you are one of those people who have the ability to make us think, make us laugh, make us cry, and love our fellow man. and for that, i thank you. but who was art buchwald the man? before talking about his extraordinary life and career, i would like to play a clip from a radio interview he did in new york city in 1964. this clip is courtesy of knee w. and why you archives in new york. in the interview he talks a bit about his approach to humor, his early life and how his career as a humorous came to be. many of you remember art buchwald, will recognize his accent. >> this is patricia marks. my guest today is a man who has been called the most comic american since mark twain. he is mr. art buchwald. columnist for the new york herald tribune and the author of the recent book, i chose capital punishment. mr. buchwald, did you always write as you do know? >> well, yes. in a sense i did. i never wrote

but even dwight eisenhower made a comment when dwight eisenhower was spring commander of europe and heard about the bomb even told the press he did not see the reason for dropping that quote unquote awful thing because an awful lot of the military felt the japanese were already getting ready to surrender. who knows, we will never have an answer for some of this. but, truman made the decision and he was at least comfortable with the justification even though this indications he regretted it later. >> harry truman of course left office in 1953 and live for almost 20 more years before he died in 1972. there was plenty of time to consider that very fateful decision. there are several essays in this book, who did you asked to contribute and why? >> luckily enough one of my colleagues in the history department the university of texas michael was writing are still getting ready to publish from we were planning this book we found out he was doing a search in writing a book about the aftereffects of the bomb and nagasaki. spent quite a bit of time working on the issues had gone to japan time there

kennedy to dwight eisenhower to ronald reagan. senator barry gold water from arizona once told buchwald, you are one of those people who have the ability to make us think, make us laugh, make us cry and love our fellow man, and for that, i thank you. but who was art buchwald the man? before talking about his extraordinary life and career, i'd like to play a clip from a radio interview he did in new york city in 1964. this clip, radio clip is courtesy of the wnyu archives in new york. in the interview he talks a bit about his approach to humor, his early life and how his career as a humorist came to be. many of you who remember art buchwald will recognize that distinctive accent. >> this is patricia marx my guest today is a man who's called the most comic american since mark twain, art buchwald. did you always write as you do now? >> yeah in a sense i did. i never wrote too seriously. you know, they say that humorists usually have unhappy childhoods. and i guess in my case that might be true. so at an early age i sort of had a -- k

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

dwight eisenhower was still president. richard nixon vice president.ill a junior senate from massachusetts. castro came to liver a speech to some newspaper editors but the visit was something more like an invasion in its own right. a charm offensive. he and his bearded entourage arrived in washington loaded with cuban cigars and cases of cuban rum, and castro spent most of his visit hugging and smiling and saying all the right things. there was some americans including some in the eisenhower administration including dwight eisenhower himself who had serious concerns. mainly he was a communist in the making. many found him to be quite charming and certainly charismatic, and 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 old 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. having less fun in new york city were the policemen who were ass

dwight. eisenhower was one of macarthur's aids at this point. they use some light tanks to drive the bonus expeditionary force down, pennsylvania avenue. hoover and hurley ordered macarthur not to pursue the marchers over the 11th street bridge to the anacostia flats. but might macarthur ignored the orders. according to dwight eisenhower, who was his aid at the time quote. he said he was too busy and did not want either himself or his staff bothered by people coming down and pretending to give orders in quote. the army units drove the families across the bridge and from the camp, which burned to the ground. macarthur went public held a press conference in the wake of this. it was a big uproar over what the army had done. he claimed that no one was seriously injured, which was not so he said that only about 10% of the bonus marchers were veterans not so 94% were bonafide veterans of the great war. and he also claimed that the mob he believed were led by communists were about to take over the government. and this was not so as well. the consequenc

according to dwight eisenhower's as a at the time quote. he said he was too busy and did not want either himself or his staff bothered by people coming down and pretending to give orders in quote. the army units drove the families across the bridge and from the camp, which burned to the ground. macarthur went public held a press conference in the wake of this. it was a big uproar over what the army had done. he claimed that no one was seriously injured, which was not so he said that only about 10% of the bonus marchers were veterans not so 94% were bona fide veterans of the great war. and he also claimed that the mob he believed were led by communists were about to take over the government. and this was not so as well. the consequences of this were that this incident seriously damaged his reputation. and he became very closely associated with the political right after this. it's interesting. there's a famous story about franklin roosevelt who was in governor of new york at the time. and he had a conversation in august of 1932 with the senat

susan eisenhower granddaughter of dwight d eisenhower on how ike led the principles behind eisenhower's biggest decisions. good morning, and thank you for joining us for the museum's stay connected facebook live series. i'm your host historian, edna friedberg. every two weeks we discuss holocaust history and its relevance to our lives today. during today's show. we're going to examine the actions and impact that young people in america had in responding to the nazi threat that they were hearing about in europe during the 1930s and 1940s. we have two special guests today. my friend and colleague dr. rebecca erbelding is a historian here at the united states holocaust memorial museum. hi there becky. hey, edna, i miss seeing you every day exactly in normal times. we sit on the same hallway just a couple of doors from each other. so good to meet in this virtual space. and we are also delighted to welcome leila braun a doctoral candidate at the university of michigan who recently completed research for the museum about american student responses to the nazi threat. good morning leila. good

on on january 20th 1953 dwight eisenhower's inaugurated as the 34th president of the united states. he entered office with a deeply developed sense of duty to serve his nation that sense of duty was developed during his years in the military where he did nothing but serve the united states. his duty as president though was was a little bit different than his duty. as general he no longer was there to simply seek victory over enemies. um, he was there to make sure that the nation as whole thrived and survived. he also felt an obligation to work for a lasting global peace in a world that was severely divided by ideology. as troy mentioned earlier. he used the word. peace. hundreds of times in his speeches up until the presidency. he concluded his inaugural address by highlighting the importance of cooperation in a world that was ever more closely bound economically and politically he said the peace we seek then. is nothing less than the practice and fulfillment of our whole faith among ourselves? and in our dealings with others. one of eisenhower's greatest tools in his effort to crea

dwight eisenhower, another republican president, set aside the national wildlife rescue -- refuge so future americans could enjoy this country the way the first americans sought. ronald reagan went after gasoline, george h dubya bush went after acid rain and signed the most environmental legislation in history, the clean air act which has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. even george w. bush and his last state of the union address said we have a problem in this country. we are addicted to oil. richard nixon created the environmental protection agency. this idea that comets and protection of our environment should be a red state or blue state issue, that this is a new idea. it is a pernicious idea, not moving us forward. we need to get around this idea that we are united in wanting to leave our children a livable world. it is that simple. host: sounds like you made an update to the book? guest: i'm thinking about it. thanks for the question. host: scott in utah, good morning. caller: good morning. i want to thank you for the work you are doing. it seems to me that some people want

dwight eisenhower, the interstate highway system. do not think you will find a republican today, maybe i am wrong, who doesn't think we have to improve our infrastructure. they know china and other countries are eating our lunch. there is no reason why it can't be bipartisan again. the divisions of the movement should not stop us from doing the right thing for the future. i'm going to bring republicans into the oval office, listen to what they have to say and be open to their ideas. we will have a good-faith negotiation. if any republican wants to help get this done. but we have to get it done. i truly believe we are in a moment, history will look back on this time, as a fundamental choice having to be made between democracy and autocracy. there are a lot of autocrats in the world who think the reason why they are going to win is democracies consensus any longer. autocracies do. that is what the competition between america and china and the rest of the world is all about. a basic question. can democracy still deliver for the people,

dwight d. eisenhower's self german american ordered that the horrors of the holocaust be documented as world war ii came to an end determined that the evidence be preserved for future generations. it was a signature move of the man who later occupied the white house next on the presidency his granddaughter susan eisenhower talks about what led ike to this decision. she's the author of how ike led the principles behind eisenhower's biggest decisions the united states holocaust memorial museum hosted this conversation and provided the video then in about 40 minutes we hear about the former president's diplomatic and peacemaking efforts throughout his military and political careers. today is international holocaust remembrance day. 76 years ago soviet troops liberated the auschwitz camp complex including its killing center. and people around the world pause today on this somber anniversary to honor the memory of europe's jews whom the nazis and their collaborators attempted to annihilate. it's a day to remember the warnings of the holocaust era and to defend the historical record now more than ever

dwight d. eisenhower's self german american ordered that the horrors of the holocaust be documented as world war ii came to an end determined that the evidence be preserved for future generations. it was a signature move of the man who later occupied the white house next on the presidency his granddaughter susan eisenhower talks about what led ike to this decision. she's the author of how ike led the principles behind eisenhower's biggest decisions the united states holocaust memorial museum hosted this conversation and provided the video then in about 40 minutes we hear about the former president's diplomatic and peacemaking efforts throughout his military and political careers. today is international holocaust remembrance day.

dwight eisenhower, republican, interstate highway system. i could go on. and i don't think you'll find a republican today in the house or senate, maybe i'm wrong, who doesn't think we have to improve our infrastructure they know china and other countries are eating our lunch so there's no reason why it can't be bipartisan again. the divisions of the moment shouldn't stop us from doing the right thing for the future

he was taking photos the same day that that he was at buchenval taking photographs general dwight eisenhower's the head of the us forces in europe in the allied forces in europe. he was touring the newly liberated or drift concentration camp nearby after that tour eisenhower to the pentagon and wrote about how important he felt. it was to document nazi crimes to make sure that no one could ever deny what had happened. so scott was really among the first americans to document holocaust atrocities. historians and anybody who wants to study in commemorate the holocaust. oh him and the other liberators a debt of gratitude for recording what they saw the long-lasting impact of his efforts demonstrate the power of a person's action. he was documenting the history of the holocaust armed with just his camera. and for those who are interested learning more about this subject, we did a program just last month as part of black history month about african-american soldiers who served in the us military and about what they saw and also about the ways that their own experience of even violent racial discrim

i would hesitate to guess ronald reagan would be booed at those meetings, dwight eisenhower would beed. we are at a time when the litmus test if you don't buy into crazy things of voter fraud or donald trump is the greatest president in history or whatever else that has become the elemental part of this, then you are isolated and you are put into cast doubt in this. we, the republican party today is in no, way, shape or form what it looked like 10, 12, 15 years ago. it's not the republican party anymore. >> i had to say, alberto gonzalez, the former attorney general, who you worked with helped get george w. bush elected. he thinks george w. bush could win a republican primary in texas now. is it a shocking thing to think of given where we are and what texas has been over the last many years? mathew, per share osborne has been the host of the show "the talk." she was pushed out over controversial comments about race and the way that meghan markle and prince harry's interview with oprah. she had this to say in her first tv appearance since leaving the show. >> i'm a fighter. i'm doing

dwight eisenhower. all is there tax cuts to the rich and tax custody corporation doesn't rank a day, that's what bush did, that is what trump did. and then i realize that at some point all my god they are lying. it is not to get us more moneyin or more jobs. it's not to balance the budget. we never get more revenue from it. we always get less revenue vefrom it. so cut the corporate taxes they will hire more people than those people or create a tax base will have higher taxes. when did that ever happen? and never because it's always been a lie. they will see you get more jobs, no wait a minute. trump before covid kept adding the jobs. he added less jobs than obama did. that's complicated to because obama recovered from yet another republican led recession. the put the politics aside obama was adding jobs at an incredible rate. they're like no, no that does not count that's no good et cetera. trump got more jobs but less than obama and they're like oh my gosh it's a miracle because he helps corporations.

it was not only supported but used by george washington, abraham lincoln, franklin roosevelt, dwight eisenhower, bill clinton, and yes, barack obama, whose administration approved capital prosecution. professor steiker told you the death penalty is dying. that support for it is on the run. i respectfully disagree, and i think the facts support a contrary point of view. according to the most recent gallup poll, the death penalty is supported by 55% of the public. a greater share of support than joe biden got in the popular vote and, as a matter of fact, more public support than any president has received in an election since the reagan landslide of 1984. it has had that level of support moreover for at least the last 40 years. although it has been eliminated in a number of states and now including virginia, and has never in our nations history [indiscernible] to the contrary and perhaps the most stunning example of its continuing populist support, california voted in a 2012 referendum to keep the death penalty and then four years later voted by an even bigger margin not only again to keep it but

this is like fdr, but also like dwight eisenhower.nd i think one of the things that led to our current divisions and some of the reflexive criticism of the administration is the sense that richard nixon, ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, george w. bush, these were republican presidents who were sent to washington by a conservative base that wanted -- at least in their minds, they wanted government to shrink. and it didn't particularly. there was still, as you were pointing out, there is still this largely the percentage of federal spending is part of gdp has been remarkably consistent or even risen under republican presidents. and so my view is that before people reflexively criticize what the president is trying to do, take a step back and let's see what has worked in periods of great american prosperity. what is worked is that the public sector and the private sector have largely been conjoined as opposed to competitive. >> niall, do you think that this marks some kind of turning point, the reagan in a sense did mark a turning point,

we did not have to interstate highway until dwight eisenhower made it a big infrastructure item. beyond what it has traditionally been. it's got to be broadband, affordable housing school construction. how do you bring our children back into school if we have not done what needs to be done for the hvac systems? if we have not brought these schools up to par, which we have not done over so many years? so this infrastructure program is going to be beyond that which we have imagined for decades now, but it will be the kind of infrastructure that's needed to get infrastructure done, to get health care done, to get business done. i tell you, i think we're going to leave that room on what we might call a good foot. >> the census, which comes out every ten years always a big event in congress. it can change the future of some members of congress if their district gets eliminated. we see the way the count is now, the democrats will be disadvantaged, to put it mildly, to the extent of three possible seats that might automatically go to republicans, three additional because of redistrictin

dwight eisenhower's interstate highway system was part of it. john kennedy's space program was part of it. lyndon johnson's great society program was part of it. during the 1960s, the federal government's investment was about 6% of gdp. that has since been squeezed, both by the growing share of the federal budget that's gone to entitlement programs, retirement programs and by the conservative movement that emphasized shrinking government. so now joe biden is -- has reached a moment where democrats have control the entire apparatus of the government, where they've got a shot, they hope, when the american public can see government potentially helping them. they just saw it in the pandemic. $1400 checks in millions of bank accounts. but this is a lot harder to do because you are pushing against that engrained distrust of american government. can the government get it right. can the investments in roads and bridges and research and human development be effective enough to really produce economic growth and can they persuade the american people and t

and the dwight eisenhower administration. but, you don't hear joe biden mentioning that stock market stuff the way the previous president would, because the previous president was actually our only president, who firmly believe that the stock market was, an accurate measure of good government. republicans no longer believe that they can win elections by turning out voters. so now, they are attempting to turn away voters, texas is one of the winner states in the census data released, that shows texas will gain two more members in the house representatives to separate the 20,000 people second only to california's 39 million people. through publican governor in texas will do anything they can to gerrymander congressional district so that the two new congressional seats will go to republicans. gerrymandering is no longer a enough for republicans to win elections. so, the texas legislature has introduced legislations that according to the new york times, quote, would make texas one of the hardest states in the country to cast a ba

>> we've been living off the legacy of dwight eisenhower.ystem with the threat threat. the new era is climb changes. the eisenhower era has aged out. bridges are collapsing. americans are tired of potholes, tired of water they can't drink. they're way ahead of congress on this. we can argue forever about how you pay for it. we've got to get this done. it's been put off for too long. we can rebuild it, resilient to climate change. we can electrify it to deal with fossil fuel pollutes. we can deal with issues of equity, which the president has emphasized and rejoin neighborhoods that were split asunder. and the minority who haven't been served by the system and we can put millions of people to work. the rate of return is phenomenal. moody's and georgetown we get 1 1/2 bucks back for every dollar we put in. >> how do you pay for it? where do you stand in this debate over how high to raise the corporate tax rates? >> i'm not on the ways and means committee. i don't get to say how to pay for it, but like every other democrat in the house and the

before president dwight eisenhower introduced the federal interstate system in the 1950s, we had a series of individual roads spread across the vast nation. think where we would be today without that. even at the time that was thought of as advanced thinking. joining me now is sheila kohar, author of "black edge." sheila, let's start with, i mean you can look up the word infrastructure in various dictionaries. oxford says it is the basic systems and services that are necessary for a country or an organization to run smoothly. under that definition it can be a lot of things. what we have here is the issue of is biden redefining infrastructure for the 21st century or, as republicans say, he is sticking a lot of democratic priorities into something and calling it a infrastructure bill? >> like everything in washington right now, your definition of infrastructure seems to be based on your political affiliation. of course, yeah, it includes all of these very traditional things, roads, bridges, railroads, parks, airports, improving amtrak, but i think one thing that the biden administration des

de dwight eisenhower, the republican, built the interstate system i don't think you'll find a ho republican in the house or senate that doesn't think we need to rebuild our infrastructure system. i truly believe history is going to look back at this time as a fundamental choice having to be made between democracies and autocracies. there's a lot of autocrats in the world who think the reason they're going to win is democracies can't reach a consensus anymore. it's a basic question -- can democracies still deliver for their people can they get a majority? i believe we can i believe we must. >> i believe we must president biden speaking in pittsburgh today, unveiling his proposal for a nearly $2 trillion in investment in infrastructure in this country and most of the first day stories about this newly revealed plan are talking about the price tag and the politics of how it can get done and also the big ticket headline items here -- roads and bridges and a sturdy electric grid for the first time in our country's history, and 500,000 electric vehicle chargers around the country. there's other p

dwight eisenhower, republican, interstate highway system. i could go on. and i don't think you'll find a republican today in the house or senate, maybe i'm wrong, who doesn't think we have to improve our infrastructure they know china and other countries are eating our lunch so there's no reason why it can't be bipartisan again. the divisions of the moment shouldn't stop us from doing the right thing for the future >> president biden visits the steel city to unveil his massive jobs and infrastructure plan but republicans are already pushing back the question is, will the president be able to get a bipartisan deal, the bipartisan deal he wants? >>> a dramatic day three of testimony in the trial of the former police officer accused of killing george floyd as a juror becomes ill and a witness breaks down on the stand. the question is, what will day four bring >>> and new york is now the 16th state to legalize recreational marijuana. the new law takes effect immediately. the question is, how long before the legal buying and selling begins it's "way too early"

he's the first president since dwight eisenhower who had a child dispatched to a war zone.11th, and the biden family had a lot of dealings with military family members over the year. the first lady was involved in a family program. this is very personal for him, and i think what you're seeing with this move is an attempt to try to say there have been things i've wanted to do other the course of my career including as vice president and i wasn't able to do it, and this is my chance to do it now and do it fast. he talked about fdr and lbj. one of the lessons from those administrations is about timing. you have to do it when it's available. he thinks the moment is now. it is risky. there are real chances this could go badly, but he's willing to put his name to it. >> there's some irony with john cornyn and some republicans to publicly question whether the president is all there, whether there are people behind the scenes pulling all the strings. again, i bring this up. it may be a good move. it may not be. it's joe biden let's move. it's clearly joe's push. some think it's odd

susan eisenhower granddaughter of dwight d eisenhower on how ike led the principles behind eisenhower's biggest decisions. good morning, and thank you for joining us for the museum's stay connected facebook live series. i'm your host historian, edna friedberg. every two weeks we discuss holocaust history and its relevance to our lives today. during today's show. we're going to examine the actions and impact that young people in america had in responding to the nazi threat that they were hearing about in europe during the 1930s and 1940s. we have two special guests today.

susan eisenhower granddaughter of dwight d eisenhower on how ike led the principles behind eisenhower's biggest decisions. good morning, and thank you for joining us for the museum's stay connected facebook live sie

big supporter of malden and dwight eisenhower in the end a big supporter of malt and that made the difference that allowed malden to go and succeed and do his subversive work during world war ii. you know todd i'll just throw and you mentioned you mentioned general lee three stars in the front and three stars in the back the sift the famous six star general as he called himself the definition of of the definition of the brass. um, mark clark tolerated and enjoyed the work of bill mauldin. that's up. that's a surprise to me giving clarkies on personality. rob is very much a surprise to me. i never quite got to the bottom of it malden himself remained mute on mark clark because he knew that clark was not popular. i think he didn't like him but clark was smart enough to protect malden malden had a constituency that clark needed and that was like the you know, the infantry commanders in in italy and so mark was was smart enough to tolerate malden. great. thank you. we'll get to the next question now. how much do you credit malden with helping bring about the combat medical badge? this is from jac

look at dwight eisenhower, kept us out of war after the french collapsed. >> we're seeing a powerful moment there of president joe biden walking through section 60 at arlington national cemetery. you saw him there in one moment stopping by the headstone of a soldier, looking down, reflecting on it. a very somber picture. it's a very telling photo of the sacrifice america has paid over the years in both of these wars. let's see if the president is going to make any comments. let's just stay here one moment. >> all right. that was the president there, paying his respects to the troop s, section 60. let's go back to him again. he's speaking. >> the men and women who gave their lives for the country. they didn't give it for their country, per se, but their brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, their uncles, their aunts. it means i have trouble these days ever showing up at a veterans cemetery and not thinking of my son, beau, who proudly wore that uniform, and going with his unit to iraq, giving up his spot as attorney general in the state of delaware, because he thought it was the right