the white house itself stands as the centerpiece of a grand 18.7 acre site, which we know is the white house grounds. having been established in 1790, the white house grounds in fact constitute the oldest continually maintained landscape in the nation. the grounds are older than the mansion itself. george washington is rather famously the only president who never lived in the white house. but every single u.s. president including washington as walked upon the grounds. this right here is where the grounds look like today. they burdened green sloping grass lawns and groves of grand trees. this is definitely the grounds look like in 1790. for one thing, the grounds originally stopped here. basically where this road is. it stopped there for about the first eight decades of the ground existence. the far south grounds were not added until 1872 under president grant. and the addition was to compensate for the loss of land on the east and west that was eaten up by the expansion of the executive offices. that's the treasury building and the state war and maybe building which is the eisenhower e

any circumstance and i was involved in one in the white house, which the white house's legal position is different than the olc's, the general press is that the olc is correct and the white house is wrong. so olc is very powerful in that respect. the other thing i wanted to raise and don't have to discuss this but it came up in steve's answer is the extraordinary episode involving the dismissal of u.s. attorneys and congressional response in the bush administration. because that is a facet of how people have thought about the department of justice, norms, where the authority over those matters are located, that is a very significant and i would say it is forgotten, but it left a mark that the democrats and the congress launched an investigation into the grounds for the dismissal of u.s. attorneys and then there were a number of assumptions that started to build about what level of accountability congress -- the president had publicly and to congress for deciding that a u.s. attorney ought to be dismissed and an acting u.s. attorney a permanently replacement ought to be considered. it

side the white house. it's a little bit deceiving but i understand that george washington increased the plan size by 20% but hoban. lowered it from the three visual levels to two. what was the ballots between those two decisions and won't you suppose was the conversation between the two and the result that they intended? well, uh the increase of what to 120% of the original plan size was indeed something that george washington suggested after seeing the original plan because it was afraid the rooms would eventually be too small for the presidency, but it was also indeed hoban as you said who suggested that the house lose a story that basically one of the floors be taken out and the reason he said this was because he was afraid of the cost. he thought that of the house were built at a at the three-story size with the expanded dimensions that it would be that would cost too much. he actually compared it to the royal exchange in dublin in terms of the money. that would be spent and he was also apparently afra

we revisit first lady jackie kennedy's televised white house tour from 1962 and her extensive white house restoration of the executive mansion this 2012 presentation at the john f kennedy presidential library

have a special presentation for you yesterday at the white house. i had the privilege of presenting two president biden the very first copy of the book that the white house historical association will release tomorrow on the life of james hoban the designer and builder of the white house and we have our wonderful publications team led by marsha anderson and her colleagues here that do all of our wonderful publications, and this is one that we're particularly pleased and proud of so ambassador you and the president of the united states have the only leather-bound copies of this book. and i presented to you here. thank you very much. and it says you thank you very much says presented to daniel mold hall and master of ireland to the united states by the white house historical association, march 17th, 2021. so hold it till tomorrow and tell her read. thank you, very thank you. and now we have two elements that in a non-covid. commemoration such as this i would invite our participants up and we would have a traditional wreath laying but given covid we we

so i had a lot of contact with the white house, and particularlyh the white house counsel's office. w one thing i want to say and we've kind of glided over this, but i want to make it clear. when i said at the outset, thati enforcement issues were really in the hands of the department of justice and i included civil in those, i did not include civil litigation in the ordinary course. judge mukasey has talked about disagreements with the white house over civil litigation. my view was and is a position in the supreme court or the courts of appeals on key issues of policy are totally appropriate for the white house to weigh in on. i don't know if we have a disagreement there, but i wanted to tease out that issue because i think it is an important prerogative of a president to say, i don't think we should be challenging this law, or i do, or i think we should be weighig in on this, on this legal issue which has these policy implications. soen i would distinguish betwee the enforcement matters and the other -- and the other civil cases.iv >> i think that's a fair point. from my perspecti

a lot of white south africans and white southerners who are in europe start these riots. in the european press we get a lot of accounts of these soldiers saying things -- or their representatives saying things like, well, you europeans thought you were so great, and incapable of racial strife. but when you have no rules you have people who don't know their place and hence we have to get involved in have these riots. it is very interesting reading. and then we have all of this fighting that occurs on the very ships bringing back these veterans. in the case of canada, and its black soldiers, there are so concerns about this fiery mood that they have their black soldiers remove their uniforms while at sea. i want to say the last thing about uniforms. one of the reasons that black soldiers are encouraged to keep their uniforms for 30 to 90 days after returning is so that a grateful nation can we stow its gifts. right? and those thanks can be anything from food to sex, to booze, to words. so we when -- when we require that soldiers take away or when we are ripping off their yo

hayes, all the way to the trump white house. >> jonathan pliska, you have worked with the white house historical association to read a young readers book about the white house easter egg roll. before we get into history, tell us about it today. how large is it in 2018? >> it would be a lot larger than it actually is, except the popularity is so high that everyone wants to be a part of this. they kept the attendance at about 30 to 35,000 people. >> where is it held today? >> it's held on the south grounds, the south lawn of the white house. that's what i like to call the president's backyard. >> and are the eggs real eggs? >> the eggs are sometimes real. they also use wooden eggs. >> i think we have some right here. >> they're collectibles. >> definitely. there are traditionally some real eggs used and in the past it was all real. >> who gets to go? >> anyone can go, but you have to submit a request online in advance. and then a lucky lottery winner gets to go. the other thing is, you need to have a small child with you. otherwise, it's really an event for the kids, and otherwise you j

to beaver these white guys and make the big bucks by telling all the other white guides to be less whitethe wretched penn state university host and and utterly worthless class less ignorant rate with party and great with white solidarity. do you think about that just more or less recognizing the advantages you have in mind whatever that may be. he thinking yourself superior because of that. to. >> what white people with for evidence of? >> to conservatives i guess it. >> what is, what is the point it's trying to say? >> canceled i try to be careful what i say. >> who you guys are pressed they ? >> have and are suppressed anyone today. >> 'sst are you sure of that. you're grieving have you left your house today? be back yes. you may have a oppressed somebody. >> you have may have oppressed somebody vibrating went up in country americas at the only place on earth where whites could be, multi- good zillion errors it by declaring all othe whites are bleak holes. >> i will never forget asking a group but okay what if he could just give a feedback on our inevitable and often unaware racist ass

so, i had a lot of contact with the white house, and particularly, the white house counsel office. the one thing i would say i am delighted over this, but i want to make it clear that when i said that the outset judge enforcement matters was really in the hands of the department of justice, and i included sink civil in, those i did not include civil litigation in the ordinary course. the judge has spoken about disagreements with the white house over civil litigation, my view was and is that a position in the supreme court, or in the courts of appeals on key issues of policy are a totally appropriate game for the white house to weigh in on. i don't know if we have a disagreement there, but i want to tease out that issue because i think it is an important prerogative of a president to say i don't think we should be challenging this law, or i do. or i think we should be weighing in on this legal issue which has these policy implications. i would distinguish between the enforcement matters and other civil cases. >> i think that is a fair point. my perspective when i was at the departme

we revisit first lady jackie kennedy's televised white house tour from 1962 and her extensive white house restoration of the executive mansion this 2012 presentation at the john f kennedy presidential library museum marked the 50th anniversary of her televised tour, which was watched by millions and later awarded an honorary emmy. this video was was courtesy of the kennedy library. good evening and welcome everyone. i'm tom putnam director of the john f kennedy presidential library and museum and on behalf of atomic knott executive director of the kennedy library foundation members of our foundations board of directors and all of my library and foundation colleagues. i thank you for joining us this evening. let me first acknowledge the generous underwriters of the kennedy library forums lead sponsor bank of america boston capital the lowell institute raytheon the boston foundation and our media partners wbur and the boston globe. we considered having this form last night on the actual 50th anniversary of mrs. kennedy's tour. but did not want to make any of you choose have to choose betwee

i know it drove the white house crazy. what happens if the cbo says it doesn't add up to the spending in the bipartisan framework? anita dunn: the bipartisan group of united states senators put together and they feel comfortable, is going to be enough to pay for this. let me point out infrastructure and a lot of the expenditures are traditional investments. if you are company, you would be taking this off of your annual books and been it into your capital budget. these are long-term investments. they are not stimulus. the ones that were agreed upon and the context of the larger plan. i think the group of senators and the president felt confident. ryan lizza: let's talk a little bit about the bill. there's a big difference right now between what the president has proposed and what the senate budget committee led by bernie sanders is writing. probably the biggest difference is over the medicare provisions that sanders wants to put in. both an expansion of prescription drugs reform and reducing the eligibility age of medicare

their higher portions of white and way higher proportions of agents of that category.mic racism, realities of who is ready for the jobs, whatever their causes exist. gerry: you know one of the objections, a lot of people have they see the test scores themselves are poor indicators they are themselves a product of a systemic racism then they are promised they measure things that whites have traditionally valued and these are not the right way to judge actual levels of ability or performance between races, what do you say to that? >> they measure things like math skills, reading skills and the ability to use language and visual light things and three dimension all of which are things that are related to performance at certain cognitive demanding more from jobs, that is not a white construct, if you're gonna do particle physics you have to be really, really good at math, similarly if you're gonna be an attorney have to be really, really good at all sorts of verbal skills, this is not a figment of racism, this is a reality of what kinds of skill sets are useful for what ki

women, and a white woman -- we don't know exactly what happened, but a white woman was walking down the street and was jostled by two african-american men walking the other way. we know that happened. >> right. >> but that became -- did you hear about two -- >> absolutely. >> -- men raping a white woman and that leads to mayhem. >> so in 1921 just a couple of years later in the worst of all race riots in american history, the tulsa race riot of 1921, it all begins with people bumping into each other in an elevator, right? ? >> right. >> so these small spaces where, again, the complicated relationship across race, racial lines and across gender lines, becoming a separated or amplified. of course, 1919 also reminds us that violence moves on rumor. violence moves on rumor. so it is so often the case that we hear that this happened, that that didn't happen and before you know it no one even remembers why we're fighting in the first place. so kind of like a middle school brawl, right? >> and as a reporter today i can't tell you how -- how constant a problem that remains in terms of tryin

not white. and there you know when you consider that plus he was not identifiable and this plays into that long continuum. about the question of passing which is rich in in us literature. um, he had to be identified. to the conductor to create the challenge that carried the case forward. so we are at a point now where we have. continuing almost riotests discussions about individual identification whether we're talking about sexual preference whether we're talking about transgender. whatever we're talking about is the question of who gets to determine. what a person's identity should be is this a situation where? we are routinely asked to identify ourselves. in some context but in doing that we're asked to check a box where someone is already determined what the label of our identity. will be and so in that regard, the plusy question is one where we ask who am i right? who do i get to be? do you determine who i am? what about the complex? of identity because we all carry multiple identities we ha

she reflects on her family's time in the white house with former abc news white house correspondent ann compton. they focus on first lady betty ford and her impact on american society. the white house historical association hosted this event and provided the video. >> doesn't it always seem that the most chaotic time in our country is right now, the greatest risks and the greatest challenges. well, that isn't really true. when i was first assigned to come to washington by abc news in 1974 the nation was deeply divided in protests over the vietnam war, the economy was wrecked with inflation and for the only time in american history a u.s. president resigned in disgrace. it was at that moment that abc news gave me the great honor of assigning me to the white house to what came next. it was the administration of gerald ford and with that came, of course, the energy and the grace of betty ford. on the eve of mother's day we're going to explore those memories with her daughter susan ford bales, and she is going to take your questions using that q&a function down at the bottom of your screen.

are white women. from that perspective and thinking of residential segregation exists in the country, we have to recognize there is a particular population of people who are in charge of teaching a predominant amount of children in the country. there is going to be some racism that exists. because of the way the united states is structured. but we can't pretend that the people who are in school buildings all understand and love and care about children in the same way. those are things i tried to tackle from a teacher education perspective. i want any student who comes to my classroom to understand the world as it operates and think about how they can love children to get them, the children, to move beyond the systems and navigate through rather than thinking they can save children. individuals cannot save anyone else. people have autonomy. they can do all the things they need to do. my job is to help teachers recognize the barriers that are in place to help their students and abolish them, ratted that

we had two teachers who were white. one taught us public speaking, trying to learn how to be a preacher. and there was jw brandt who taught us the bible. that was my first real direct contact with them. the preacher who was the president of our school decided his responsibility was to grow and recruit students and raise money, and he went to these black churches and decided that he would take some of these little boy preachers, let them preach. they would go to these black churches, and he would tell them you send us your boy, and we'll send you a man back. i got to be talented pretty good little preacher because he took me around, so i went throughout the southeast. when i finished high school, i knew a little something about preaching. i came back home, lived on the west side of montgomery, and i was going to attend alabama state college for negros. that it was then. it's now alabama state university. it is on the east side of town. so i had to then ride this public transportation system. i would have to walk about th

subpoena-ing the secret white house -- white house tapes that would approve or disapprove mixers complicity in the water get cover-up. i've done a lot of work on this era of the american political history, that's why it is one of my favorite topics of all. i know most of your parents weren't even alive at the time of watergate in 1973, 1974. when all of this was taken place. i thought i would step the stage today and take you back to october of 1973 during the darkest months of the naked -- nixon presidency, this time the wounds of watergate are fresh. the wounds of the vietnam war are just receding, and the country is being consumed by a growing scandal called watergate. so we are going to show this video. >> october of 1973, the senate has begun hearings investigating possible white house involvement and the burglary at the watergate hotel, and the subsequent cover-up. the big question, what did the president know and when did he know it? investigators learned that president nixon has made secret tapes of every conversation in his executive offices. special prosecutor archibald cox has su

black or white -- whether you were black or white last time around?o one knows that. that's a theory. i don't think that children should be getting this this early. they have enough pressure right now with a pandemic at all this stuff, missing a year of school, and you want to bring this up right now when children have broken the barrier of racism during the obama era and now the raid on the capitol. you see that group and in the protest you have other groups. that's where your racism is within them groups. host: let's go to beecher, calling from port washington, maryland. beecher supports the teaching of critical race theory. good morning. caller: good morning. real quick. i don't know how many times you will have to read to people what critical race theory is and is not. i don't think they ever will understand. the same tactic we saw with black lives matter. it was never anti-police but folks did an amazing job of making it blue lives matter. you take off the uniform at the end of your job. what the anti-critical race theory people have done massive

we saw the white house surpass its expectations the white house hosting 1,000 essential workers and militaryths later, this idea of having 70% of americans at least getting a single doles of the vaccine, and having 160 million americans fully vaccinated. the white house missing on both of those goals, but the president casting this -- you saw the tension reflected in that as he said that the single most patriotic thing you can do as an american right now is to get the vaccine, that we don't, as he put it, want to go back to where we were a year ago. joshua, think about where we were a year ago. president trump then at the time speaking to a similarly crowded gathering on the south lawn of the white house with the virus very much in full bore, no masks, no vaccines in that audience. it was a superspreader event. the white house having this event on south lawn today with a numbaced. audience was expected to have a covid test. many having been vaccinated. but the white house in the weeks leading up to this soundsing the alarm about the delta variant, the fact that this is a pandemics that still

jones, founder of the institute, author of "white too long" legacy of white nationalism in christianity. it's always great to talk to you. want to show you a clip of something that happened once the insurrectionists broke inside the senate chamber on january 6th. take a look. >> jesus christ, we invote your name. amen. >> amen! >> patriots that love christ, thank you for allowing the united states of america to be reborn. thank you for allowing us to get rid of the communists, traitors of the federal government. love and thank you, in christ's holy name we pray. >> amen! >> explain to us given the data you've put together and book you've written, does it make sense to you to see those people inside committing insurrection and praying? >> well, you know, i think what we're seeing right in front of us, if we're willing to take it in, is a demonstration of this historical entanglement in many ways of white supremacy and extremism with american christian. if you pull out and look at broader sweep of the pictures from that day, what we saw, trump signs, white supremacist signs, confederate s

white supremacy. no matter what they say to our faith. and i think that black people need to use the roadmap that white people used or not and treat them the same way and if they're going to forget our history when we get in the majority and people of color getting the majority. we're gonna be right there history. okay, if they can do the same thing and then look in our face and so no we didn't do that on purpose and all of this stuff we have to show proof that that they they had intention to do this and of course, we know that white people did the whole time and they're now trying to write out that there wasn't intention to do a lot of things but also, reparation. what do you think about paying the reparations from all the businesses destroyed and how white a black were affected for all? these years thank you. thank you. nancy hannibal johnson your response to that sentiment. well first and foremost, i would say that this history is our history. it's all of our history. and so it's impossible to unde

whites have been using race and are using race. >> guest: whites are not -- this is where we are not -- whenever i hear about an asian being racially assaulted in california somewhere and they don't mention the race of the perpetrated, i know it's a black person. 80-90% of the attack on asians are being done by blacks at the press will not report that because it does not fit the racial narrative. and it's a shame that we are being misled because there's an incentive not to be truthful about what is happening in the country. but whites are not attacking blacks. we are killing our children. they are not come into our community shooting our children. 94% of the murders are blacks on blacks. >> host: on that note, and, of course, we could go on for hours, this is a huge subject, but thank you very much for this conversation and i look forward it sometime to being able to meet you face to face. >> host: . >> guest: . i hope so. you are a good iset within the halls of the us supreme court. >> this evening's featured author of course, stacy abrams here to discuss the new thriller while just

. >> racism is more than a group of bad white folks, you see. it is built into the society. >> why is critical race theory at the center of a new national debate? >> the crusade against american history is toxic propaganda. >> john mcwhorter is a best-selling author. he's a professor of linguistics, a contrarian, and a commentator on race in america. >> "yes, we can't" has never been the slogan for black america, and it's not now. >> someone who has long followed critical race theory, he criticizes both what it's become and how it's used as a political punching bag. >> they're not trying to educate. they're trying to indoctrinate. >> what does john mcwhorter say now? >> "firing line with margaret hoover" is made possible in part by... and by... corporate funding is provided by... >> john mcwhorter, welcome to "firing line." >> thank you for having me, margaret. >> look, before we launch into critical race theory, which i'd love to talk to you about, i want to give our viewers a sense of your background and perspective. you are a prolific author,

terrorism and white violence. this tilt black people in tribal council and indian territory. and so they see this difference. this is why it's a turn-of-the-century relates a larger population. that is why mixture of black and black people wealth from their land allotments. sometimes oil and gas wealth. but also people willing to farm, get education, things like that. they really create the community we think of as black wall street. >> thank you. like i said we have a number of questions in the chat here. i'm going to try to get to as many as i can. we have a couple questions about gender. i will start there. one person ask you talk about the role gender played when the sports tribe that have access to the lands. the role that is native women are perhaps a black women played in marriages and black people during this period just wondering how gender played a role as the allotments were playing out. >> there has been a lot of writing on the allotment process as it relates to native women. let me see if i can over t

where is the white house? ms. dunn: the president has had two red lines, the first and most important was in action which was not an option for him. we were going to get something done and address these. the second redline has been that he is not going to agree to tax increases for people who make less than $400,000 a year. those have been the two red lines we have defined and we have negotiated on. in terms of the overall number -- and we are at the beginning of a reconciliation process. the house and senate have their own processes. the president has been clear what he thinks should be in the resolution. he sends it to congress, it is our build back better agenda, and that is his preference. he was in the senate for 36 years. there is a congressional process and a negotiation. the understand there will be a lot of back-and-forth between now and then and probably playbook is going to enough their agenda before this is all over a few more times. no matter how many times we say that is true, it never happens. it wi

but that tact was getting a little bit of push back in the white house briefing because the white house press secretary, acknowledge science is evolving and what is deemed misinformation now might not be 2 years from now. and so there were questions about whether or not the white house is engaging in censorship. and what is an open leap public platform, something that the white house has acknowledged? so it is a very strong debate in the united states, as is vaccinations which have been politicized. in the united states, it's clear that the messaging around getting back to native as we see cases up picking is also continuing to be a point of controversy in the u. s. kimberly, thanks very much indeed. that's our white house correspondent. kimberly hawkins. ok, i want to take you to south africa. the president said, i'm a pose is speaking following the protest in south africa after the jailing of former president, jacob's in less than ordinary citizens and criminal networks to engage in opportunistic acts of 110, rooty. then, suing careless is used as a smoke screen to carry out economic

let's begin with red, white and blech. what is red, white and black supposed to signify? >> it significant phi knees that -- signifies that black americans are a part of this nation, that we are not some species set apart and, therefore, we claim this heritage and blacks fought in every war in the country and died, my father was a veteran of the first world war and died as a result of war related wounds. so it's supposed to signify that black americans are an integral part of this nation and deserve to be so. but we also know that there have been people who have profited off of racial grievance and in fact i left the civil rights movement in the '60s because i believe that a lot of those who suffered and sacrificed did not benefit from the change and that i remember demonstrating outside of wyatt laboratories and when they desegregated they hired nine black phd chemists. we asked them to join us. they said they were qualified not because of people who were janitors, hairdressers, factory workers, who did not benefit. i realized after two or three such encounters that i wa

a white man tried to take a black man's gun. and according to one of the survivors, all hell broke loose after that. that's the beginning of the 1921 tulsa race massacre, which ultimately devastated the thriving greenwood community. now, black men put up a vigorous robust defense initially against this onslaught. but the teeming white mob spilled across the frisco tracks, the racial dividing line, burning, looting, shooting, murdering people. some of these men in the white mob were deputized by local law enforcement, and we know that members of the mob prevented the tulsa fire department from putting out the fires. at the end of the day we believe that somewhere between 100 and 300 people, most of them black, lost their lives. hundreds more were injured. property damage, conservatively estimated at the time was tens of millions of dollars today. at least 1,250 homes in the black community were destroyed, as were a number of other establishments, including a hospital, schools, churches, et cetera. some people in the black communi

think white act white, be white. they lost their names and were given a number there in the middle is a small girl. number 658. my great aunt eunice grant. imagine a few when you were a child or a baby even. and the authorities came in and snatch you from your mother or your father, your mother, any father and your siblings. and you are removed and brought up totally separate from, from your family. how would you feel about that? and let them say once so, not too good and be pretty bad here in this me. you've got to try and walk shoes for a little bit. the sorry, this is our last were to relax. read, you know, about your reading, but the read read very well, you more than your mouth was really and one, you know, we're going to be that, you know, we're doing more about this, whereas your land is for edge really regularly and yup. and do cool by rhetoric, validate read, you know, modeling. yeah, we're entering. i am over read to remain on the scene proudly for rhetoric. these are my parents, my bobbing father, young an

whites have been using race and are using race. >> guest: whites are not -- this is where we are not -- whenever i hear about an asian being racially assaulted in california somewhere and they don't mention the race of the perpetrated, i know it's a black person. 80-90% of the attack on asians are being done by blacks at the press will not report that because it does not fit the racial narrative. and it's a shame that we are being misled because there's an incentive not to be truthful about what is happening in the country. but whites are not attacking blacks. we are killing our children. they are not come into our community shooting our children. 94% of the murders are blacks on blacks. >> host: on that note, and, of course, we could go on for hours, this is a huge subject, but thank you very much for this conversation and i look forward it sometime to being able to meet you face to face. >> host: . >> guest: . i hope so. you are a good interviewer. >> host: thank very much. be well. >> guest: thank you. >> afterwards is available as a podcast or to listen visit c-span.org/podcasts

i had black and white kids in the classroom, but i had white kids that were racist. i had black kids that were racist. i had black kids told me they weren't going to listen to me because i was white. now is that racism? >> chuck in georgia, one more call william houston in texas. thanks for waiting. go ahead. >> caller: good morning, everybody. hello c-span. i'm 65-year-old gentleman who grew up in segregated schools. one of the things that's lost in this whole discussion is just trying to find out why there's so much disparity between black and white. i want to refer to employment. in fortune 500 companies i have worked for in the past 20 years, i have yet to see an all black department. i challenge anybody to tell me if there is, even in hiring positions. so it's not a question of is there or will there or has there ever been discrimination? most people don't realize they have a prejudice until they have an opportunity to exercise it. until you live in that environment, until you walk in and to this day, 2021, i would love for anybody to take this challenge, tell m

we have at least one political party that's affiliated itself with white nationalists and white supremacists but we also some progression, a vision of a multi-racial america and it's only that vision that will actually take us beyond plessy versus ferguson and dred scott and a number of other cases. it requires structural changes, requires imagining not just blacks and latinos and asians and native americans but also whites in a country where we all belong. for us to think about things that are white not just think about them but put things in place in terms of our structure our money. and i will just end by saying there is a book called "race between technology and education" it's written by two professors at harvard and they argue that what caused the united states to explode in terms of being such a powerhouse to the world is we apparently were the first country to begin to educate women in large numbers. not fair, still inequities, but it's like we tapped into half the population that we had been ignoring. today more than half the people entering kindergarten are kids of color. we don't